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Interactive TV Seen Coming Sooner than Bankers Realize
(Oct. 9)  - Many of the bankers inching their way onto the
information highway see interactive television far in the distance, not
requiring much immediate thought.
Technologists would tell them otherwise.
Despite repeated delays in some highly touted tests of two-way communications
via televisions and their set-top boxes, many networking experts contend this
will ultimately prove to be the most powerful such medium, far outclassing
telephone-like or personal computing devices.
Banking companies with well-developed home-delivery strategies  among them
Citicorp, NationsBank, Barnett Banks, and Meridian Bancorp  are known for
testing, or being open to, numerous communications media and devices including
interactive TV.
But no more than half the financial institutions responding to the Bank
Administration Institute's recent home-delivery survey expect to be providing
TV-based services by 1997 or 1999.
While many bankers, focused on shorter-term concerns, may not have been
noticing, major technological leaps have made interactive TV imminent, with an
almost unlimited potential for delivering information and transaction services
along with on-demand videos, games, electronic mail and bulletin boards, and
even virtual reality.
Among those making this claim is Norman Winarsky of the Sarnoff Research
Laboratory in New Jersey, an affiliate of SRI International.
To a recent meeting of the Financial Services Technology Consortium, which is
exploring banking uses of the information highway, Mr. Winarsky pointed out
that the recent debate over high-definition television, or HDTV, standards
distracted from the real implications of the technology. It makes possible the
delivery into homes of vast amounts of digital information going far beyond
video, for banking, and countless other purposes.
He said the technology existed, and within about a year would cost "in the
hundreds of dollars," to receive information at home in all digital forms
measured in terabytes  trillions of characters  a day.
Few banks have bought into what sounds like so much hype, but they could end
up as big winners if interactive television pans out.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce got in at the start of a 200,000- household
cable television test in Quebec, now moving into a second phase with other
financial-institution participants.
Speaking at the BAI's home banking forum, Canadian Imperial marketing manager
Ronald Shuttleworth said the bank was thinking in terms of a "virtual
community" that might resemble a shopping mall.
A bank would be one mall tenant, linked to consumers via a telecommunications
or cable utility, with perhaps another intermediary managing the "mall"
alongside other interactive services and data bases.
"We completely buy into Citicorp's concept of the virtual bank," said Mr.
Shuttleworth, referring to the New York bank's desire to serve customers
"anytime, anywhere, any way."
Some observers have wondered if consumers would turn to the television set for
reasons other than entertainment or gratification, as in home shopping. But TV
and personal computer technologies are converging; soon the devices might be
much the same.
Bankers see pragmatic reasons to think TV.
"Television is a very integral part of people's lives," P. Sue Perrotty, group
executive vice president of Meridian Bancorp, said at the recent BAI meeting.
"Young people are spending eight hours a day in front of it. These are our
future customers."
"Societal forces (e.g., fear of crime, dissatisfaction with retailing
services) are driving consumers back into the home," said Catherine Corby, a
retail banking strategist at Barnett Banks Inc. And the home is increasingly
loaded with electronics gear and computer intelligence, from videocassette
recorders to PCs  evidence of the public's rising comfort level with
technology.
"The increased data-transmission capacity of (new television technology) will
allow millions of customers to have online interactive access to banking,
shopping, entertainment, and other services," said the recent Bankers
Roundtable report on payment systems and competitive threats to the banks'
control over them.
"Companies from the telecommunications, cable television, entertainment,
financial services, and retail industries are currently preparing for the new
information age," the report added. The fact that 98% of households have
television and 60% have cable "makes television banking an attractive delivery
option."
Payment Systems Inc. data, cited at the BAI conference by Peter M. Gorog of
Visa Interactive, suggests that interactive TV is every bit the mass- market
opportunity that telephone-based service is, with a potential 40% penetration
for banking services and 31% for bill payment.
Mr. Gorog also said consumers would generally prefer to use a local bank for
interactive services, rather than a large national bank or telephone company.
That could give community-focused institutions an edge over the "phone- cable
alliances" that Navtej Nandra, senior associate of Booz-Allen & Hamilton in
New York, predicted would be in the powerful central networking role, capable
of doing many things that bank-owned payment networks now do.
"What happened in mutual funds can happen here," said Mr. Gorog. "Too many
parties want to get between you and your customer. Unless you act quickly, the
game could be lost."
Offering a calmer perspective was Richard Neustadt, a former Carter
administration official who as president of DCT Communications in Santa Monica,
Calif., has been involved in numerous startups of telecommunications ventures.
"There is a reality (to the information superhighway hype) but no onehas any
idea where it is  except somewhere between the post office and 'Beam me up,
Scotty'," Mr. Neustadt said.
He said he was still not certain how big interactive television will become,
adding, "Many people like going to Blockbuster" for videotapes.
He advised against "picking one part of the future to believe and invest in,"
but said some directions of change were taking form:
* The notion of channels, as in the vaunted 500-channel cable system, will be
replaced by interactive probings through the information networks, assisted by
"intelligent agents," or programs that help sort through the volume.
* Advances in computers and chips will bring more and more intelligence into
the home. "The television and computer will merge, driven by the same
integrated circuits," Mr. Neustadt said.
* With the costs of voice recognition technology falling, it will be practical
for widespread use by the end of the decade.

**************************************
IBM Sells Out of Aptivas; Agreement With Apple Is Rumored
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Oct. 8--On Wednesday, Apple Computer Inc. got a boost from
a Wall Street rumor. Friday, it was IBM's turn, thanks to its connection with
Apple.
The story: that IBM and Apple are nearly finished with an agreement for the
basic design of a personal computer that could run both IBM's OS-2 operating
system and Apple's Macintosh software. The machine would be based on the
PowerPC microprocessor the two companies developed in conjunction with
Motorola Inc. and thus could provide a much-needed boost for the PowerPC
against Intel Corp.'s Pentium chip.
The rumor was strong enough to outweigh a more immediate and
better-substantiated report that surfaced Friday: IBM had sold out of its new
Aptiva line of consumer-oriented personal computers, and according to some
analysts faces a strong chance of missing out on tens of millions in revenue
during the holiday season.
IBM shares were the most actively traded issues Friday on the New York Stock
Exchange, rising $2.38 a share to close at $71.13. More than 4.5 million
shares changed hands.
If the two companies can agree on a design for a machine that can run
Macintosh or OS-2 software with little or no modification, it could pose the
first credible challenge in years to computers that use Intel microprocessors
and Microsoft Corp. operating systems. Software developers in recent years
have devoted the majority of their resources to making programs for
Microsoft's Windows because it controls a huge and growing share of the
personal computers being sold.
While OS-2 never enjoyed substantial developer support, the Macintosh once
played host to development of most of the "leading- edge" software. But, with
Apple's market share seemingly steady at about 10 percent of the world market,
and IBM's share slipping, software developers are unlikely to shift focus away
from Windows without a machine that would offer them a substantial alternative
market.
Apple and IBM acknowledged Friday they are talking about such a design, called
a "hardware reference platform." Neither, however, would comment on the pace
or status of the talks, which insiders characterized last month as running
alternatively hot and cold.
Nor would the companies elaborate on a Wall Street Journal story Friday that
quoted unidentified industry executives saying the talks are accelerating. "We
continue to work with IBM, and we're optimistic," Apple spokeswoman Betty
Taylor said.
Nonetheless, Wall Street apparently liked the idea. Investors pushed up IBM
shares, and Apple was carried in its wake.
Apple shares, which had taken a roller-coaster ride this week on a rumored
buyout by Motorola, rose 75 cents to $37 a share on the IBM report.
Tempering any agreement, according to the Journal report, is the likelihood
that it would take the companies two years to bring machines based on the
hardware reference platform to market. That might be too late to stall the
Windows juggernaut, leaving Apple and IBM no better off than before they
started talking.
Of more immediate concern to IBM and its investors is the report IBM had sold
all the Aptiva computers it could produce by the end of the year and couldn't
fulfill the orders it had received. That had some analysts wondering if IBM
had planned the rollout too conservatively, a move that could cost it millions
in lost sales at a time it desperately needs a winner in the PC business.
But some analysts said Friday the reports did not necessarily reflect consumer
demand for the Aptiva line, which IBM announced only two weeks ago. Instead,
retailers - apparently convinced Aptiva will sell well and afraid of being
left with insufficient stock to meet holiday season demand - increased their
orders with IBM, believing they wouldn't get all they asked for.
"Sometimes the channel response is more than expected," said Bruce Stephen, an
analyst with International Data Corp. in Framingham, Mass. "I think it's
probably true that this is based on underforecasting channel demand, not
customer demand." IBM said it would have no trouble meeting the initial
retailer orders for Aptiva but could not fulfill the orders that increased
after the machine was announced.
"We will ship what we committed to ship for the Christmas season," IBM
spokeswoman Tara Sexton said. "What's going on is they put in late orders."
She acknowledged IBM took a conservative tack in forecasting Aptiva demand,
especially after its experience earlier this year, when retailers demanded IBM
take back $600 million in a slow-moving PC inventory. But she said it was too
early to tell if IBM would really come up short on Aptiva.
Analyst Stephen said he doubted IBM would see enough unfulfilled consumer
demand by year's end to really matter on the bottom line. "This will give them
momentum to carry them through the first quarter next year," he said.


*********************************
-Missouri Man Plays Unique Role in Human Gene Research Project
Oct. 9--The last time the Post-Dispatch visited Paul Gold, he was basking in
the luxury of having doubled the size of his company.
He had added a lab assistant to what had been a one-man company in downtown
Maplewood, housed in a second-floor office above a dress shop and an
exterminator.
Three years later, life and business have changed dramatically for Gold. He
still owns Gold BioTechnology Inc., which distributes chemicals for scientific
research, but he also is co-owner of another medical research firm, Genome
Systems Inc.
He supervises 20 employees at an office in Overland, whose spacious 12,600
square feet provides room to grow for his booming new business.
But most importantly, Gold has become involved in the most ambitious medical
research project in history.
He is playing a unique role in the Human Genome Project, a collaboration of
universities, private companies and the federal government to unlock the
secrets of life.
Scientists, including those at Washington University, are preparing maps of
genes, the building blocks of heredity.
By determining which genes cause disease, scientists can build a foundation
for developing diagnostic tests, treatments and cures for many diseases.
Genome Systems Inc., is assisting in that research, acting as a reference
laboratory for genetic researchers. Genome Systems sells them copies of genes.
"We can do a small piece of the puzzle efficiently," Gold said. "It's cheaper
than if everybody was doing the same thing for themselves."
Gold didn't set out to become a gene merchant. Three years after he earned a
doctorate in microbiology from the St. Louis University School of Medicine, he
created Gold BioTechnology in 1986.
He wanted to create a research and development firm, but first he had to pay
the bills. So he began distributing chemicals and other products to medical
researchers while he formulated his R&D plans.
In late 1991, he got a call from David Smoller, who had been doing
postgraduate work at Washington University on the Human Genome Project.
Smoller inquired about one of Gold's chemicals, and their conversation turned
to the difficulties that researchers had in getting gene fragments for their
research.
Small biotechnology companies don't have the space or money to stock an entire
library. And even university research departments are hard-pressed to find
space for a full collection of genes.
So Gold, 39, and Smoller, 31, decided to create a a new service. They licensed
a "gene library" from DuPont-Merck, a joint venture between the biggest
chemical company and one of the biggest health care companies in the United
States.
DuPont Merck wasn't distributing its genetic inventory, and that's where
Genome Systems stepped in.
"We give small laboratories the same access that big laboratories have,"
Smoller said.
The company doesn't have any patents on the genes, he said. "Our mission is to
make everything accessible."
To fend off potential competitors, Smoller and Gold are touting their
company's speed, service and price in assisting researchers.
Smoller and Gold incorporated Genome Systems in February 1992 and started
selling gene fragments in October 1992.
Gold BioTechnology provided most of the funds for Genome Systems until the
young company began paying for itself.
Gold is chief executive of Genome Systems; Smoller is president. Each owns
half of the voting stock.
A tiny division of Amoco Corp., the oil and chemical giant, has a small equity
stake in Genome Systems, but it has no vote on company policy.
Genome Systems occupies most of Gold's time and provides most of his revenue.
The company had sales of $850,000 for the year ended June 30. Gold
BioTechnology's revenue was $325,000 for the same period.
But Gold isn't ignoring his first company. In addition to selling research
chemicals, it has branched out to selling film to scientists for photographing
genes and to providing supplies for gene-splicing.
Gold also is preparing Genome Systems for the inevitable competition. "We're
working not only on the next generation of products but on the generation
after that," he said.

********************************
-Quicken Computer Finance Program Wins First Prize for Popularity
SAN JOSE, Cailf.--Oct. 9--Quicken for Windows by Intuit is by far the most
popular personal finance program. The company claims 6 million users. Those
numbers will grow with new versions for Macintosh (version 5), DOS (version 8),
Windows (version 4) and Windows with CD-ROM. The CD product puts the manuals
on screen and adds video, sound and animation to show you how to use the
program and advise you on money matters.
Intuit also sells a Deluxe version for Windows, on floppy or CD-ROM, that
contains more utilities and reference materials than the standard Quicken.
The Deluxe floppy version has a home inventory utility, a tax guidebook, the
tax link assistant, the electronic stock guide, Quicken Quotes for on- line
stock prices and a collection of 101 Quicken Tips. The deluxe CD-ROM has all
of that plus a Mutual Fund Selector, financial advice (with video of Jane
Bryant Quinn and Marshall Loeb) and more.
There's even a version of Quicken called Pocket Quicken for handheld computers
and electronic organizers.
Intuit also makes the two most popular tax-preparation programs, TurboTax
(which links directly to Quicken) and MacInTax, plus the small-business
accounting program, QuickBooks.
Quicken first made a market for itself because it made check printing easy -
the company name came from intuitive. Entering the information on screen was
simple because Quicken displayed an image of a traditional check. Printing was
accurate because of a patented printer-alignment technique.
The product retains those elements, with on-screen checks and registers that
look just like their paper equivalents. When you're typing information into
these, however, the computer can guess at and complete entries from their
first few letters, because it keeps track of previous, similar entries.
Accounts can be balanced and reconciled.
A calendar shows the scheduling of payments and lets you drag payments
directly from registers to specific days. The reports and graphs summarize
what's in the accounts, and can be double-clicked on with the mouse to drill
down to the details. The new Snapshot feature gives a summary of financial
health, and budgets can be automatically created from spending patterns.
New budgeting features include savings planning - graphs of progress toward
that vacation or big purchase - cash-flow forecasting and tax planning. The
Deluxe version has the Quicken Tax Guidebook and a Tax Link Assistant utility.
On-line features include a Quicken Visa credit card that lets you check
balances and transactions via modem. Intuit has also set up its own on-line
service, which will at first provide basic financial information such as
portfolio prices. Eventually, it's designed to be the hub for many services.
To make it all easier, the New User Setup routine leads you through creating
accounts and entering information into them. The new HomeBase window organizes
the basic tasks Quicken can perform so they are easily found even by those
without much computer experience. And the CD-ROM versions have clever
multimedia tutorials where Intuit workers appear on the computer screen in
video clips, pointing at Quicken features and explaining them.
The Macintosh version 5 is a step behind the Windows, only now adding the
financial calendar and some of the other simplification and planning features.
Quicken 4 for Windows by Intuit, [phone]. $39.99 for DOS, Windows and
Macintosh; $59.99 for the Deluxe versions for Windows; registered users of
previous versions can get a $10 rebate.
Scheduled to be available Oct. 13.


**********************************
Simply Money's Fresh Interface Sets it Apart from Other Computer Pr
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Oct. 9--Kiplinger's Simply Money 2.0 comes from one of the
world's largest software companies: Computer Associates. Haven't heard of it?
Not every company is as successful as Microsoft at getting touted in the
press. In fact, when CA tried to use its name as part of the program's moniker
- CA-Simply Money - people kept calling to ask about the California Simply
Money program.
In Simply Money 2.0 you'll find all the basics - check printing, savings,
credit card accounts, reconciling and balancing, budgeting and importing from
Quicken.
You won't feel shorted in the reports area, where you can choose from table or
graph reports on income & expense, assets & liabilities, investments, and so
on, with options in each area.
You'll also find advanced features such as auto-budgeting, portfolio tracking
and updating - through your modem to an on-line 900 quotes service- and even a
scheduler for setting dates for transactions, such as reminders that it's time
to write a check. CompuServe customers can avoid the per- minute charges for
investment quotes. CheckFree's on-line bill payment service is also available.
Check out the calculators for loans, refinancing, interest, dividends,
investments, adjustable rate mortgages, life insurance and college funding. I
like the extension of expense categories to larger groupings of expense
classifications, which lets you separate what comes in and goes out for
different projects or areas of your life.
For example, you don't have to just lump all "supplies" expenses into one
category, but can sub-divide them into supplies for your home-computing
business, supplies for your travel-writing business and supplies for your
personal use.
That's solid stuff but very similar to the competition. What is unusual about
Simply Money crops up in interface and advice. There are few menus. Instead,
almost every command or option or account is represented by a stamp- sized
picture, or icon, on the screen. You can drag and drop information from one
area to another, pulling it around on screen with your mouse, instead of
looking for special menu commands to cut and paste it here and there.
At first this seems friendlier, and some may prefer it to the standard look of
the other programs. I find it frequently annoying because it forces me to
scroll through screens full of icons when the one I want doesn't show up at
first glance.
Advice comes in the form of suggestions and explanations from Kiplinger, a
company famous for its financial magazines and newsletters. Kiplinger's
computer genies are always in the background of Simply Money, watching what
you do.
When they have a good idea related to your actions, a note pops up on screen
offering several pages of suggestions and warnings on everything from
automobiles and budgeting to mortgages and taxes.
CA won market share last year by offering Simply Money 1.0 for the price of
shipping and handling, about $8. The company claims to have shipped 400,000.
It's not a giveaway this year.
Kiplinger's Simply Money 2.0 by Home Productions-Computer Associates, (800)
225-5224.  $39.95, for Windows. The upgrade price for registered users of 1.0
is $19.95 (plus shipping and handling) directly from CA, or registered users
can buy at retail and mail in the $5 rebate coupon. From Nov. 1 to Jan. 31 the
company is planning to stick another rebate coupon, worth $10, on the outside
of all the retail boxes.
Shipping in mid-October.

****************************
-Microsoft Money Really Shines On-Line
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Oct. 9--Microsoft Money 3.0 looks a lot like Quicken.
Previous versions of Quicken, that is.
Money has the on-screen checkbook (for entering transactions, then printing
the checks), as well as registers for tracking the transactions and balances
in all other types of accounts: cash, credit card, and so on. These can come
from your own typed entries or from imported Quicken files.
Financial Wizards step you through loan, mortgage, savings, interest and
retirement planning, asking you to enter basic details and then calculating,
displaying and explaining the results.
You can view lists of your accounts in Money, and of your payees, expense
categories, loans, investments, and even of currency exchange rates. A
"classifications" feature lets you allocate expenses by projects, clients or
properties, not just by their main categories.
Reports on transactions, income and expenses, budget, net worth, loan payments
and taxes are quick to come by, as are investment reports on transactions,
capital gains, market value, performance and price history. Previous versions
of Money were weak here.
Money's flair is its on-line features. There's an on-line bill payment option
that's something like CheckFree. On-line updates of stocks, bonds and other
securities are also available. Microsoft has announced that it also will start
shipping Reuters Money Network Lite with Money. This is a well- known
investors' program for getting on-line quotes, research, analysis and even
investment alerts (such as on price changes) and trading through on-line
discount brokers. This version will let you sign on for a free month of
Reuters, after which you have to pay the monthly fees of $13 to $20 or more
for continuing service.
On-line banking is where Money tries to be unique. I say "tries" because Money
may be ready, but the banking world isn't. Money lets you check your balance,
transfer money between accounts, do pretty much anything except pull cash out
of your printer. The clinker is that it works only with three Midwestern banks
so far: First National Bank of Chicago, Michigan Nationalbank and U.S. Bank.
Three is better than none - what most of the competitors have so far - and
will surely expand to other banks.
Microsoft Money 3.0 by Microsoft Corp., [phone].  $29.95, for Windows
only.
Shipping now, though with Reuters Money Network scheduled to be added in
mid-October.

*****************************
-Managing Your Money with MECA Software
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Oct. 9--Managing Your Money is as far behind Quicken in
popularity as the Macintosh is behind the PC. That may have more to do with
superb marketing by Intuit, or Quicken's traditional ease of use, than
features. In fact, until quite recently, Managing Your Money was often rated
as the most powerful of the personal finance programs, particularly in the way
it handled investments beyond checking and savings. Other programs are
catching up in the features category, and Managing Your Money is working to
become easier to use.
This program always has featured the humorous and sound advice of Andrew
Tobias, author of best-selling books on finance. Now it has an interface
called the SmartDesk. Instead of finding each area of the program through
menus (which are still here) or graphic icons and buttons (which are here,
too), you click on objects in an image of a typical office. The objects
represent such activities as accounts, insurance analysis, investments,
entering transaction into the register, printing checks and scheduling
payments in a calendar. SmartDesk appeared in Version 1.0 for Windows, but
MECA says it will now be in all three versions: DOS, Windows and Macintosh,
which will also have nearly identical abilities.
Underneath this interface is still the long list of features MYM has long
boasted, though here, too, there are changes to make it easier to understand
and use. The checkbook, for instance, looks more realistic than ever. You may
not even remember you're using a computer. The lists of accounts, categories,
payees, loans and reminders are here, along with a long list of reports and
the freedom to build custom reports. Also look for the Getting Started module
to help you set up and balance your accounts, pay bills and track expenses.
Then there's the new Home Inventory Manager, where you can note and then track
the value of your belongings (including software). That's useful for keeping
contracts and warranties current, and for handling insurance claims. Only
Quicken competes in this area.
MYM is still a formidable force in investments and planning. You can analyze
investments, such as for bond yields or liquidity, and directly generate
information for investment taxes including Schedule D Capital Gains. It will
even tackle puts and calls and collectibles without turning to a separate
utility to do any of it.
Home, mortgage refinancing, tuition, life insurance, three-year budgeting and
retirement are more thoroughly planned than in most competing programs. And
the answers aren't just calculated numbers, but include Tobias' suggestions
and advice. That's a big plus for MYM.
MECA also makes TaxCut, a popular PC program for preparing tax returns.
Although TaxCut will accept Quicken data and other standard personal finance
information, it links most easily to MYM accounts.
What Managing Your Money didn't have in its previous version was on-line
strength. The new version adds some. There's CheckFree for paying bills.
You'll also find the QuoteLink service, which works through CompuServe to
automatically update stock prices. You still don't find on-line banking or
on-line credit card accounts. But MYM stores all of its information as
standard DBF data base files, and MECA is working with other software makers
to create add-ons that will handle these and other sophisticated chores.
Successful developments here could push MYM ahead of Quicken in more niches.
Managing Your Money by MECA Software, [phone].  $39.95, for Windows,
DOS, Mac.
Shipping in mid-November.

*****************************
-Money Counts Has Matured - Will It Survive?
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Oct. 9--Money Counts started as a bare-bones checkbook
program for PCs running DOS. By last year it had grown into a robust entry in
the personal finance market, available in both DOS and Windows versions.
Parsons also makes other software, including the tax preparation programs
Personal Tax Edge and Tax Mate.
Although Money Counts 8.0 doesn't have the latest virtual-office interface,
nor the on-line bill payment or credit-card information services,
it does have all the basics: an on-screen checkbook for transactions, check
printing, automatic register balancing, a variety of account types,
reconciling, budgeting and lots of reports. You'll even find business cash
flow and general ledger reports. A unique facet to these business reports is
that Money Counts comes with expense categories for not just general home and
business use, but also for church, farm and rental property business.
Though you can't monitor your investment status on-line with Money Counts,
there are investment reports you can produce on earnings, valuation,
sales, market value and history, ROI (return on investment), and maturity
dates. Money Counts also comes with an Address Book program that lets you
record and sort people's names and numbers.
What Money Counts doesn't have is a clear future. When Computer Associates
started plastering the country with nearly-free copies of Simply Money,
Parsons fought back with Money Mate, an $8 version of Money Counts minus the
advanced features such as investment reports and business accounting. In the
meanwhile, Quicken and Managing Your Money prices dropped significantly, to
about $35 at some discount outlets.
This summer Intuit announced that it was buying Parsons, which makes Money
Counts. There's no real price difference between Quicken and Money Counts. The
same company owns both, but Quicken represents the bigger investment and
dominates the market. Quicken offers more advanced features. Money Counts had
just fought its way into a competitive position, but you have to suspect it'll
disappear in the next several years. That may be the part of the why behind
the buy.
Money Counts 8.0 by Parsons Technology, [phone].  $29, for DOS and
Windows


******************************
Among Personal Finance Computer Programs, Quicken, Managing Your Mo
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Oct. 9--Whichever personal finance program you buy, you're
going to invest time in learning to use it and in storing your information
within it. You don't want to hit a wall a year or two out if that program
disappears, even if the company offers a conversion utility or upgrade
program. For that reason I'd count Money Counts out, even though I like its
features.
If you're truly on the tightest of budgets, you might look at Money Mate. It
will handle basic checkbook stuff just fine, at the lowest possible price,
and you may not care about upgrading for years.
For me, Simply Money simply isn't easy enough. This is a very personal
judgment, based on the interface of the program, the feel of its menus, icons,
buttons, mouse movements, and so on.
Money is stronger than Simply Money. The basics are easier to learn and use.
Its on-line banking carries great promise, though it's limited today. If you
get Money bundled with your computer, you probably should use it. But I
wouldn't pay extra for it.
So it comes down to Quicken and its only consistent challenger, Managing Your
Money. MYM adds the SmartDesk to become easier; Quicken adds the Financial
Suite. Both add Home Inventory records. Both have links to excellent tax
programs.
Quicken gives you SnapShot summary graphs of your financial condition. MYM has
planners that don't just calculate but tell you what to do with the numbers.
MYM also has general financial advice from Andrew Tobias; while Quicken has
multimedia advice in the CD-ROM version. Quicken has the credit- card feature
and calendar, which MYM doesn't match.
It's a split decision: If you're serious about investments and planning, or if
you are a Macintosh owner, Managing Your Money is the way to go.
Quicken is the best for other users, especially if you're running Windows and
a CD-ROM drive. It has all the basics, more utilities than ever for financial
planning and record keeping, a promising on-line connection and, with the CD
versions, great training and advice for inexperienced computer owners.


****************************
Sprint, Cellular Talks -2-:  Multimedia Combinations
  AT&T hasn't been sitting this out. Seeking its own cable alliances, the
 world's largest telecommunications company wants to join its long-distance
 lines to cable's high-capacity transmission facilities to the home and offer
 the cable companies use of the AT&T network to deliver video programming to
 subscribers. AT&T could also provide switching and billing services for the
 cable companies' wireless services.
  But AT&T recently broke off talks with TCI, the nation's biggest cable
 operator, rebuffing TCI President John Malone's proposal on how to cement a
 deal with his company: Let TCI buy a stake in AT&T's recent acquisition, the
 much-coveted McCaw. The individuals said AT&T is still determined to form
 partnerships with TCI and others, particularly in interactive services to
 the home. But AT&T declined to comment on its discussions with TCI and other
 cable companies. TCI officials weren't available late Friday to discuss the
 matter. Meanwhile, the once-savvy MCI Communications Corp., seeking to be
 more than just a long-distance discounter, is searching desperately for a
 battle partner in the wireless revolution.
  MCI has its own high-profile international partner British
 Telecommunications PLC and $4.3 billion, after selling BT a 20% stake in
 MCI. But MCI's recent courtship with Nextel Communications Inc., the former
 highflying dispatch-radio carrier, failed to produce an alliance. Now, with
 the FCC's critical PCS deadline approaching, MCI finds itself with no
 wireless partners. While MCI could still pull off a deal with the Bells, its
 ill-timed plan to build competitive local phone networks in major cities has
 antagonized the Bells, according to several Bell executives.
  An agreement between Sprint and the cable companies could still fall
 through, as several planned multimedia combinations have done since January.
 If they do, executives said talks with Bell Atlantic and Nynex could be
 reignited. Bell Atlantic was said to be particularly keen about closing a
 mammoth cellular deal that would merge Sprint, Bell Atlantic and Nynex
 operations into a wireless giant to fight off the juggernaut being formed by
 AT&T-McCaw.
  But it seems unlikely that Sprint will end its mating dance with the cable
 players, as their interests are growing increasingly synergistic. Like its
 larger long-distance rivals AT&T and MCI, Sprint is seeking alternative
 transmission for its phone traffic in local markets where the Bells enjoy a
 virtual monopoly and charge stiff fees to the long-distance carriers.
  Cable lines could conceivably cut Sprint's transmission costs
 significantly.  And with the multimedia stampede now under way, cable and
 its links into the entertainment world could help Sprint reach into new
 markets here and abroad.


*****************************************
-Great Bear unveils Corporate Profile on  CD-ROM
MORAGA, CALIF.  -Oct. 10, 1994--Great Bear Technology
Inc. (NASD/EBB:GTBR) today published a complete corporate profile on an
interactive, multimedia CD-ROM.
The CD-ROM brings to life Great Bear's company philosophy and strategic
direction, introduces viewers to its worldwide staff and includes product
demonstrations for the company's 17 consumer software products.
The Great Bear Corporate Profile not only exemplifies the quality of the
company's extensive family of CD-ROM products, it is also an example of the
development services that Great Bear provides to other companies interested in
creating corporate communications and marketing materials in a multimedia
format.
The Great Bear CD-ROM's interactive design allows viewers to learn more about
the company by navigating six major sections, including Bear Facts,
People, Development Capabilities, Marketing, Products and Sales & Support.
The CD-ROM combines video, pictures, text, sound and animated graphics to
communicate the high-energy, creative environment at Great Bear.
"There is no better way to tell the world about Great Bear than through the
technology medium that is our business," stated Doug Cole, president and CEO
of Great Bear.
"Putting our Corporate Profile on CD-ROM is the most powerful and dynamic way
to show our customers, shareholders and strategic partners the real strengths
and capabilities of our team.  It also shows the human side of our company and
the passion behind our success."
Corporate use of CD-ROM format for market and investor communications is
becoming more prevalent as CD-ROM drives become increasingly affordable and
popular.  According to Channel Marketing Corporation, sales forecasts of PC
units sold for home use is nearly 10 million home PCs in 1994 with double
digit growth to over 50 million annually by the end of the decade.
Approximately 40% of these PCs are projected to be equipped with CD-ROM
drives.  The interactive CD-ROM format and use of various media types allows
the user to gain a multi-dimensional, personal view of a company.
When produced well, this has much more impact than traditional print
materials and corporate videos.
The Great Bear Profile CD-ROM will be mailed to Great Bear shareholders later
this month.  It will also be provided to the investment community,
distribution partners and strategic partners as well as members of the
editorial community.  About the Company
Great Bear Technology Inc., located in Moraga, publishes interactive
multimedia software titles within two brand name product lines: Great Bear
Software and HealthSoft.  Great Bear Software publishes writing productivity,
education and reference titles; and HealthSoft focuses on family
health-related titles.  Great Bear is located at 1100 Moraga Way, Suite 200,
Moraga, CA 94556.  Tel: [phone].  Fax: [phone]. For sales inquiries
customers may call 1-800/795-4325.


*****************************************
-SYMANTEC ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT TO LICENSE HELIX SOFTWARE'S CLOAKING T
 Memory Management Technology to Enable Expanded Functionality
   in Utility Programs Without Increased Memory Requirements
     CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 10 -- Symantec Corporation (Nasdaq:
SYMC) today announced an agreement to incorporate Helix Software's Cloaking
technology into their DOS memory resident utility packages.  In upcoming new
versions, Symantec plans to utilize the Cloaking technology to provide
increased functionality with no loss of memory.
"As users demand more functionality from their software, the size of the
programs needed to provide these features increase," said Joseph Fusco,
Symantec's business unit director for the Peter Norton Group. "We want to
provide the most advanced features to our users without having to overload
their memory.  By using Helix's Cloaking technology, we will be able to
provide powerful features and yet use only a small amount of conventional
memory."
"We are very excited that Symantec has joined the growing list of vendors
using Cloaking," says Mike Spilo, President of Helix Software. "With the power
of protected mode, Cloaking allows drivers to run faster and more reliably,
and to use far less memory."
Helix Software developed the Cloaking technology to allow device drivers and
TSRs (terminate and stay resident programs) to run in protected mode using no
conventional memory.  Helix's technology operate with all major memory
managers, including MS-DOS and Novell DOS, NETROOM, QEMM, and 386MAX.
Founded in 1986, Helix Software is a New York-based developer of high-quality,
award-winning memory management software for PCs and LANs. For more
information, contact Helix Software at 718-392-3100 or 800-451-0551.
Symantec Corporation develops, markets and supports a complete line of
application and system software products designed to enhance individual and
workgroup productivity as well as manage networked computing environments.
Platforms supported include IBM personal computers and compatibles, Apple
Macintosh computers as well as all major network operating systems.  Founded
in 1982, the company has offices in the United States, Canada, Australia and
Europe.  Information on the company and its products can be obtained by
calling 800-441-7234 toll free, or 503-334-6054.


*****************************************
DELL REDUCES PRICES, CONTINUES TO DRIVE PENTIUM PROCESSORS INTO THE
MARKET
     All New Lows on the Dell Dimension(TM) Product Line
     AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 10,  Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) today
reaffirmed its leadership position in the Pentium(TM) processor transition by
passing on even greater cost savings to its customers with reduced prices on
its Dell Dimension line of products.  Driving Pentium processor-based systems
into the mainstream market, the new prices are effective immediately and
reduce all models of the Dell Dimension XPS P90 and the Dell Dimension XPS P60
systems by $200.  The Dell Dimension systems are designed for small to
medium-sized business and small office/home office customers.
Customers can now purchase a Dell Dimension XPS P60 at a starting price of
$1,899 and a Dell Dimension XPS P90 at a starting price of $2,399. With a
robust configuration, including many features that typically require added
investment, the Dell Dimension XPS P60 comes configured with 8-megabytes (MB)
of RAM, a 528MB hard drive, 1MB of video memory, a 15" SVGA color monitor, DOS
6.2, Windows(TM) 3.1 and a mouse and the Dell Dimension XPS P90 comes
configured with 8MB of RAM, 528MB hard drive, 1MB of video memory,
double-speed CD-ROM drive, 15" SVGA color monitor, DOS 6.2, Windows 3.1 and a
mouse.
"We have consistently lead the market in the Pentium processor transition in
both price and availability," said Tom Martin, Dell's vice president of
worldwide marketing.  "With today's announcement, we are continuing to drive
Pentium-based systems into the mainstream market and providing customers with
yet one more reason to move to the more powerful platform -- price points they
can't ignore.  We believe that customers currently considering buying a
486-based PC will be impressed with how far their PC dollar can go with Dell."
Offering advanced technologies at an attractive price is the hallmark of
Dell's award-winning Dimension XPS line.  Ideal for small office or business
customers who prefer a pre-packaged personal computer solution with the latest
technologies, the Dell Dimension XPS P90 and XPS P60 systems include an ISA
(Industry Standard Architecture) bus with fast PCI technology; Intel's 90MHz
and 60MHz Pentium processors respectively, which execute faster memory
transfers and reduces wait states; and a 64-bit PCI local-bus video card,
supporting up to four megabytes of video memory.  Each of the Dell Dimension
XPS systems are available in mid-size desktop and floor-standing models.
The Dell Dimension XPS P90 and the Dell Dimension XPS P60 systems are designed
for customers using processor-intensive, Windows(TM)-based applications such
as Microsoft(R) Office or Lotus(R) Smartsuite, as well as advanced database
programs, high-resolution graphics for desktop publishing, CAD (Computer Aided
Design) and compute- and graphics-intensive multimedia applications.
For example, a business user who has just powered through a spreadsheet on a
Pentium-based system can then develop a comprehensive marketing presentation
complete with images, graphics and quotations. By simply pushing the
easy-slide door of the CD-ROM drive, putting in a compact disk and double
clicking on the video icon, the user can pull images directly from a photo CD
and integrate the images into the presentation.
Utilizing full Pentium processor power and the systems' 64- bit local-bus
video, the Dell Dimension XPS systems can display the completed financial
management document quickly and in real time.
A Global 500 company, Dell Computer Corporation designs, develops,
manufactures, markets, services and supports a complete line of personal
computers compatible with industry standards.  Dell is the world's leading
direct marketer of personal computers and one of the top five personal
computer vendors in the world with annual revenues of nearly $3 billion.
Information on the company and its products can be obtained through its
toll-free number, 1-800-BUY-DELL (1-800-289-3355) or by accessing the Dell
Worldwide Web server, at http://www.dell.com/.
Dell is a registered trademark and Dell Dimension is a trademark of Dell
Computer Corporation.  Intel is a registered trademark and Pentium is a
trademark of Intel Corporation.  Microsoft is a registered trademark of
Microsoft Corp.  Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and
names of others.


*****************************************
-AT&T Announces New Multipoint Videoconferencing  Offers; First to D
Multipoint Data Collaboration
BASKING RIDGE, N.J. -Oct. 10, 1994--For the first
time ever, several people in different places can see each other, converse and
work simultaneously on the same computer document, using the new AT&T
MultiPoint Control Unit.
"Since we introduced our original MultiPoint Control Unit last year, customers
have told us they want more," said Marty Welt, director of visual
communications, AT&T Global Business Communications Systems. "More flexibility
in choice of endpoints, the ability to hold several conference calls at the
same time, more control in managing the system and a working experience as
natural as being in the same room," continued Welt.
AT&T today announced new system features of the AT&T MCU to meet those needs,
the company said.  Flexibility in Voice, Video and Data Endpoints
AT&T's MCU allows businesses to better manage their video conferences among
several locations because it's based on international standards, commonly
referred to as H.320.  Thus, customers with standards-based group and desktop
video systems can be linked through the MCU on a call-by-call basis,
regardless of the manufacturer of the equipment. The AT&T MCU can support a
number of conferences operating at different speeds, all at the same time.
Customers can now choose bandwidths from 112 Kbps to T1.5 speeds.
The MCU also brings the improved video quality of 384 Kbps to customers who
don't have wide-band services, through bandwidth on demand, also known as
BONDing.
Beyond videoconferencing, AT&T will support the addition of data collaboration
using the T.120 standard, as found in the AT&T Vistium(tm) Personal Video
systems.  AT&T will combine its MCU and the Vistium Personal Video System 1300
to demonstrate voice, video and data collaboration -- application sharing
simultaneous with voice and video communication in a multipoint environment --
this week at TeleCon XIV in Anaheim, California (Booth No. 487).  This is the
first such demonstration worldwide.  Flexibility in Growth
The AT&T MCU is now the largest system of its kind, supporting up to 64 ports
on a single MCU.  "Customers can start with four endpoints and add ports and
feature functions incrementally as their business needs grow, thus protecting
their investment," said Welt. "Our MCU architecture also gives us the
flexibility to provide large system configurations to teleconferencing service
providers," he added.  Enhanced Administration Features
Customers can easily integrate the AT&T MCU into existing networks with AT&T
DEFINITY(r) Communications systems or other vendors' PBXs, as well as connect
directly to central office or toll switches.  Network management becomes
easier as the MCU automatically reconfigures for upcoming conferences, even as
speeds change.
AT&T offers an optional conference reservation system for the MultiPoint
Control Unit that uses a windows environment with simple icons. Administrators
can use the conference reservation system to schedule meetings years in
advance, automatically send conference reminders, generate reports on usage,
collect data for chargebacks, and display scheduling conflicts and offer
alternatives.  More "Natural" Conference Experience
AT&T avoids the annoying "clipping" of voices as speakers begin and stop
talking, through full duplex audio conferencing.  One of the new features AT&T
is offering is Universal Conference Control, allowing users to easily manage
endpoints among a variety of videoconferencing participants.  For example, the
conference director using an ordinary phone line, can mute the audio of the
various participants, thus controlling extraneous noise when necessary.  The
conference director can drop participants from the call without disrupting the
meeting in progress.  And, he can pass control of the conference to chosen
participants.
"Using the AT&T MCU can be better than being there,"  Welt said. "You can get
the right people together to work on the right information and make faster,
better-informed business decisions."
AT&T's new multipoint systems featuring increased port capacity, increased
bandwidth and BONDing are available today to enhance videoconferencing.  Data
collaboration, Universal Conference Control and enhanced conference
reservation system features will be available in the second quarter of 1995.
Prices for the AT&T MultiPoint Control Units range from $46,000 for the 4-port,
basic model to more than $200,000 for the largest, full-featured model.
Starting in second quarter of 1995, a pre-configured entry level model will be
available for less than $30,000.
AT&T offers superior service and support before, during and after the sale,
the company said.  The AT&T MultiPoint Control Unit, designed by AT&T Bell
Laboratories, is a member of the WorldWorx(tm) family and is the underlying
technology that supports WorldWorx (sm) Personal Conferencing Services.
Customers can call 1-800-VIDEO-GO to receive more information about AT&T's MCU
and other WorldWorx products and services.  The toll-free number connects them
with AT&T's Video Technical Center in Denver where dozens of specialists
provide a range of services, including the video, data and telephony design
and project management of complex, multi-location video systems.


*****************************************
Creative Tech Unveils Chinese Document Processing For Windows
  SINGAPORE  Creative Technology Ltd. (CREAF) unveiled HansVision, a
 Chinese document processing package for Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Windows.
  In a press release, Creative Technology said HansVision contains a
 bilingual word processor that supports WYSIWYG, printing and Chinese
 character input methods.
  HansVision will be available next month, the company said.


*****************************************
Toshiba - New Notebook -2-: Available In November
  IRVINE, Calif.  Toshiba America Information Systems Inc.'s Computer
 Systems division introduced the T4900CT, its first Intel 75MHz Pentium
 processor-based performance notebook computer, as its latest flagship model.
  In a press release, the company said the T4900CT offers a 10.4-inch color
 TFT active matrix screen, integrated AccuPoint pointing device and a new VL
 local-bus graphics accelerated video controller to provide multimedia
 capabilities for graphics/processor-intensive applications.
  Toshiba America is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba
 America Inc., a unit of Toshiba Corp.
  The company said the T4900CT includes Intel Corp.'s (INTC) new 3.3-volt
 75MHz Pentium processor, newly-developed high-speed EDO memory, and high
 capacity 810 million byte hard disk drive.
  The company said enhanced multimedia features include built-in 16-bit .WAV
 and MIDI audio functionality, built-in microphone and speaker,
 headphone/speaker jack, microphone jack and pre-installed software
 consisting of Windows Sound System 2.0, RunTime Video for Windows 1.1 and
 Intel Indeo Video 3.2
  The T4900CT will be available in late November through traditional
 distribution channel, including VARs, distributors, dealers and select
 retail outlets, with a suggested retail price of $7,499.


*****************************************
Apple, IBM -2-: Cos. Also Seen Talking On Common Standard
  NEW YORK  Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) was up 6.4% after the San
 Francisco Chronicle suggested International Business Machines Corp. (IBM)
 might be interested in taking an investment stake in the company, one
 analyst said.
  Also, the two companies are involved in negotiations that The New York
 Times reported today could result in a common standard that could make the
 two companies' computers compatible.
  Dean Witter Reynolds analyst Eugene G. Glazer, commenting on the Chronicle
 report, called an investment stake ''possible'' and more likely than a
 Motorola Inc. (MOT) buyout of Apple, the subject of a marketplace rumor last
 week.
  Both IBM and Apple, with their jointly developed PowerPC microprocessor,
 are eager to weaken the grasp that Intel Corp. (INTC) and Microsoft Corp.
 (MSFT) have on the personal computer industry, Glazer said.
  It ''looks like they are getting serious,'' he said.
  Apple was up 2 3/8, or 6.4%, at 39 3/8 on Nasdaq volume of 2.9 million
 shares, compared with average daily volume of 1.9 million shares.
  The speculation that IBM might be interested in an investment position in
 Apple drew doubt from some analyts.
  Apple isn't hurting for cash and has strengthened ''financials,'' said
 Brown Brothers Harriman analyst William J. Milton Jr. The company appears to
 have no compelling reason to want an infusion of cash, he said.
  At the same time, IBM has adequate cash on its balance sheet but is
 interested in paying down debt, he said. The company also is continuing to
 cut costs with the aim of generating a positive cash flow, meaning that the
 prospect of it trading cash for stock looks unlikely on the surface, Milton
 said.
  Others, however, speculate that IBM might believe it needs a computer
 platform that could run a variety of operating systems, even if that means
 acquiring Apple.
  An Apple spokeswoman declined comment on the question of an IBM investment
 stake. But she said both companies are engaged in talks on developing a
 common reference system for their computers, allowing the machines to run
 several operating systems.
  Apple is optimistic the two firms will reach an agreement, she said.
  Apple has said it is interested in the broader industry compatibility not
 only for its PowerPC-based machines, but that it is interested in ''backward
 compatibility'' for its existing line.
  An IBM spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment.


*****************************************
Mac Computer Buyers Have Fewer Decisions to Make than IBM Fans
Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.
Oct. 9--There are fewer decisions to make when buying a Macintosh. Macs are
made by only one company: Apple Computer Inc. Apple recently said it will let
other manufacturers make Mac clones, but only for foreign markets. That
doesn't help you much.
Here's what to look for among the many Mac models: - The microprocessing chip:
The basic choices are an 040 chip or the Power PC chip.
The 040 chip is standard. The 040/33 is the minimum you should accept, said
Andy Frueh, a sales representative at Lexington Computer.
The second number indicates how fast the processor is. The higher the second
number, the faster the chip.
The Power PC costs more but can process information more quickly. "If you're a
completely new Macintosh buyer, go ahead and get a Power PC model," said Jim
Burton, technical editor of Mac Home Journal.
Here's why: While an 040 chip is fine for most software, the Power PC chip
will do more.
It processes information more quickly, and it lets you use software written
for IBM-compatible machines, he said.
The faster Power PC chip won't become obsolete as quickly, said Pete Dueben,
Macintosh group leader with the Central Kentucky Computer Society.
"You're going to fall behind eventually," Dueben said. "It's better to start
out as far ahead as you can."
If you're looking to save money, the standard chip is OK. Most newer Macs can
be easily upgraded to a Power PC.
- Memory: If your budget will allow, get 8 megabytes of memory. Four is OK,
but you might have trouble running more than one program at a time.
- Hard drive: A 250-megabyte hard drive is standard on newer models, Burton
said.
Monitor: A 14-inch color monitor is included in most computer packages. If it
isn't, most Mac buyers get a Mac monitor, although others are available, Frueh
said. There is little difference in most monitors for Macs,
he said. Try the monitor before you buy it.


*****************************************
 Full-motion, full-screen realism without  MPEG chips in GameTek's
CD-ROM, using Duck TrueMotion video
 NEW YORK (Oct. 10) 1994
--The Duck Corp. (New York City) has licensed its TrueMotion(R) "S" video
compression and decompression technology to GameTek (Aventura, Fla.) for use
in its dazzling new CD-ROM action game entitled: Quarantine(C). A high-energy
battle escapade, Quarantine begins and ends with several minutes of
full-motion, full-screen video, yet plays on a native PC without any dedicated
decompression hardware. The CD-ROM disc will arrive in stores nationwide this
month at a suggested retail price of $69.99.  Versions will address:  DOS 3.5
(5 disks), PC CD-ROM, 3DO. "Quarantine represents a major new step forward for
GameTek as we move aggressively into the area of high-end, high-performance
CD-ROM games," said Jeff Sass, marketing director at GameTek.  "We are very
excited to be utilizing Duck's TrueMotion technology to pack state-of-the-art,
full-motion video into Quarantine. TrueMotion's picture quality is outstanding,
and it is truly cutting edge, requiring no special hardware or MPEG board.
This kind of full-screen, full-motion video is a perfect match for a ground
breaking game such as Quarantine." Quarantine is a first person driving and
shooting game with a brand new lightning fast 3D engine, digitized speech, a
booming original score, full-motion video prologue and epilogue, and
spectacular moody graphics.  It's an awesome action sci-fi adventure on wheels
set in a grim future.  Players assume the role of Drake Edgewater, a 21st
Century cab driver, desperate to escape from the Quarantined city of Kemo.
Edgewater drives a modified '52 Checker "hovercab" armed with headlight
mounted machine guns.
Players must remember their defensive driving lessons, because to escape Kemo
they'll have to brave rockets, bullets, mines and annoying pedestrians.  But
they can always pick up and deliver taxi fares to earn money for more weapons.
A good set of wiper blades is advised to help players see through blood, which
is occasionally splattered on their windshield as they navigate this city's
mesmerizing thoroughfares.
"We are delighted at the caliber of production that has come to recognize the
TrueMotion difference," said Stanley Marder, president of The Duck Corp.
"GameTek has a solid hit on their hands with 'Quarantine, ' and we're just
happy to be a part of it."
The Duck Corp.'s TrueMotion video compression algorithm is a revolutionary
alternative to emerging committee-based compression compromises.  Because
TrueMotion uses a unique intraframe non-DCT (discrete cosine transform)
algorithm, it offers superior, editable video quality with much simpler
technical implementation.  This enables leading video game systems to process
the algorithm without an expensive decompression board.  It also enables
unique interactivity development based on Duck's Comprending technology.
Quarantine is just one example of the superb new CD-ROM titles in GameTek's
fall lineup.  In addition to Quarantine, upcoming titles include the acclaimed
Star Crusader, Bureau 13, Hell and Saturday Night Live 20th Anniversary CD-ROM
set. These titles represent a major commitment by GameTek to develop and
distribute high-quality entertainment titles for CD-ROM and other interactive
platforms.  Headquartered in Aventura, Fla., GameTek (NASDAQ:GAME) is an
international publisher, marketer, developer and distributor of computer,
CD-ROM and Sega and Nintendo System software, with operations in the United
Kingdom, Germany, and France. The Duck Corp. was founded in 1992 to develop
TV-quality video playback and interactivity on computer and video game
platforms.  The company's core technologies were designed to enable the future
of entertainment, computing and education through interactive video and the
information superhighway.  The company's TrueMotion compression is the
highest-quality video algorithm available, yet runs without dedicated
decompression hardware on DOS, Windows, Macintosh, Unix, Sega and 3DO
platforms.  The Duck Corp. is based at the Tribeca Film Center in New York


*****************************************
Apple Computer Says Macintosh Pdt Updates Now Available >AAPL
  CUPERTINO, Calif. -DJ- Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) began general
 availability of updates to AppleTalk Connection for Macintosh and TCP/IP
 Connection for Macintosh.
  In a press release, the company said the updates provide maintenance and
 enhance support for industry standards.
  Version 1.1 of AppleTalk Connection for Macintosh provides the newest
 version of Apple's networking software for Macintosh computers, the company
 said.
  Version 1.1 of AppleTalk Administration for Macintosh, which includes all
 of the components of AppleTalk Connection for Macintosh (Version 1.1), also
 provides comprehensive documentation and utilities for centralized
 management of the MacSNMP software, Apple said.
  Version 2.0.4 of TCP/IP Connection for Macintosh provides standard support
 for all Macintosh-based TCP/IP network applications and includes a full
 protocol implementation, a domain name Rrsolver, support for hosts files and
 a testing/diagnostic application, the company said.
  Version 2.0.4 of TCP/IP Administration for Macintosh, which includes all of
 the components of TCP/IP Connection for Macintosh (Version 2.0.4), also
 provides comprehensive documentation and utilities for centralized
 management of TCP/IP and MacSNMP software, the company said.
  Apple also added the MacTCP software that is one component of TCP/IP
 Connection for Macintosh (Version 2.0.4) to its new operating system,
 Macintosh System 7.5.
  The company said single-user prices for the products are $39 for AppleTalk
 Connection, $199 for AppleTalk Administration, $59 for TCP/IP Connection and
 $199 for TCP/IP Administration.


*****************************************
-APPLE COMPUTER STOCK HIGHER ON SPECULATION OF DEAL WITH IBM
Cupertino, Calif.-Oct. 10---STOCK OF APPLE Computer jumped today on
speculation that International Business Machines (IBM) Corp. may either invest
in the personal computer maker or reach an agreement on a common standard to
make each company's PCs compatible with one another.
Apple was up $2.25 to $39.25 a share in late afternoon NASDAQ trading. The
issue gained 75 cents last week on rumors that Motorola and AT&T were
interested in making a bid.
Representatives of the companies have confirmed that Apple and IBM have been
in talks but have declined to provide details.
Traders and investors on Wall Street believe Apple needs to find ways to
attract new users, since its share of the PC market has fallen from 13% to
10%. Analysts believe that making available a single machine standard that
would run different operating systems--IBM's OS/2, Apple's Macintosh and
Microsoft's Windows--would kick up sales.
For the companies, a common standard would give software developers incentive
to write new programs for a bigger potential market.
Apple, IBM and Motorola have been working together since 1991 and have
developed a powerful microprocessor, the PowerPC, but have not yet agreed on a
standard for PC operations. Their failure to do so has meant that Intel Corp.
has continued to dominate the chip market for PCs and Microsoft has widened
its lead in operating system software for PCs.
Even if all three companies can agree on a standard, new machines based on it
will not be available until 1996, giving Intel and Microsoft more time to
develop new products. Microsoft will ship a new version of its operating
system, Windows 95, sometime next year.
IBM has invested more than $1 billion into OS/2 but has not been able to take
away market share from Microsoft Windows.
The speculation about Apple was also fanned last week when Motorola rolled out
a a line of personal computer products powered by the PowerPC microprocessor.
According to predictions by the research firm Dataquest, about 2 million
PowerPC chips will be marketed worldwide this year compared to 4.6 million of
Intel's Pentium chips. Only Apple currently produces a general purpose
personal computer using the PowerPC.


*****************************************
PC Docs Unit To Release Software For World Wide Web
  TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - PC Docs Inc., a unit of PC Docs Group International
 Inc. (DOCSF), plans to release PC Docs Interchange for World Wide Web, an
 Internet information-retrieval system, next year.
  In a press release, PC Docs Inc. said PC Docs Interchange will closely
 follow the release of PC Docs Interchange for Lotus Development Corp. (LOTS)
 Notes.


*****************************************
New early learning software delivers best of  "edutainment" to kids
CALABASAS, CALIF. (Oct. 11) 1994--With its mission to
deliver powerful, yet easy-to-use software to the youngest users (3-7 years),
Nova Development Corp. Tuesday introduced Playtime in the Park CD for
Macintosh and Windows computers.
Bringing high-quality interactivity to early learners, Playtime in the Park
provides fun and entertaining activities that accelerate children's learning
of basic skills such as counting, memorizing, reading, and painting that they
will draw upon for their entire lives.  Available wherever children's software
is sold, the anticipated street price is just $29.95.  Five Software Programs
in One Make $29.95 Playtime a Real Value
Drawing upon children's love of teddy bears, Playtime in the Park features a
family of bears on a visit to the park.  Each bear serves as an entry into a
different set of learning activities, giving the child five software programs
in one, all for less than $30.  The integrated programs include a painting
program, brain teasers with four separate games (including concentration and
mazes), word-and-picture book, and a storybook with animation, sound, music
and hot buttons that help build basic skills by reinforcing words, pictures,
colors and activities related to the park environment.  A bonus audio track of
the theme song is included and can be played on any audio CD unit.  Computer
Requirements
For Windows, Playtime in the Park requires any PC running Windows 3.1 or later,
VGA or SVGA graphics (256 colors), sound card and a CD-ROM drive.
For Macintosh, any Mac running System 6.0.7 or later, 4 MB RAM, color monitor,
and a CD-ROM drive.  Compatible with System 7 and PowerMacs, too.
For more information, call 1-800-395-NOVA (6682).  International inquiries
should call 818/591-9600.  Fax: [phone].  Company Background
Nova Development Corp. is a software development and publishing company based
in Southern California.  Its product line includes fun utilities for the
Macintosh on CD-ROM and disk, including Kaboom!, the best selling sound
software program for the Macintosh, Windows and CD-ROM.


*****************************************
IBM to Make Enhanced Migration Tool  Widely Available to Applicatio
Developers; For Faster Conversion of WIN-32 Applications to 32-bit OS/2
Applications  Business & Computer Industry Writers  NEW YORK (Oct. 11)
 -October 11, 1994--IBM today announced that it will make widely
available a new, enhanced version of One Up Corp.'s SMART, Source Migration
Analysis Reporting Toolset(R), to help developers migrate 16-bit and 32-bit
Windows(TM) applications to IBM's OS/2(R) Warp as well as other versions of
OS/2. IBM has signed an agreement with One Up to distribute the SMART toolset,
including current and future versions.  Through this agreement, IBM is making
available SMART Version 2.0 generally available for the first time, giving
developers significant enhancements over earlier versions.  SMART 2.0 doubles
the speed of conversion efforts, resulting in tremendous time and cost savings
for developers converting to 32-bit OS/2 applications from 16-bit Windows,
32-b
  In a separate release, IBM said it will distibute a new, enhanced version
 of One Up Corp.'s SMART, Source Migration Analysis Reporting Toolset, to
 help developers migrate 16-bit and 32-bit Windows applications to IBM's new
 OS/2 Warp operating system as well as other versions of OS/2.
  IBM also said it is withdrawing from marketing the Mirrors migration
 program. It said One Up will continue to provide service and support for
 Mirrors through Dec. 31, 1995, for current licenses. IBM said SMART now
 replaces Mirrors as the recommended approach for application migration to
 OS/2.


*****************************************
DELL COMPUTER, IBM CONCLUDE MARKETING AGREEMENT
Austin, Texas-Oct. 11---DELL COMPUTER CORP. SAID today that under a
licensing agreement with IBM Corp., it will offer IBM's Operating System/2
Warp as a preload option on its Latitude notebooks and its desktop products.
The Warp is IBM's next generation of OS/2. Sue King, Dell's director of
software marketing development, said, "We are particularly excited about Warp
and its potential for our portables customers."
The Austin-based personal computer maker said its Latitude and Latitude XP
notebooks are ideal for Warp users, showcasing Warp's multitasking
capabilities while offering customers extensive run-time when on the road.
Warp offers customers important performance and feature improvements over
earlier versions of OS/2, including smaller memory and hard disk requirements,
improved multitasking capabilities and on-board applications, such as access
to the Internet and CompuServe on-line information services.
Lee Reiswig, president of IBM's Personal Software Products division, said,
"Dell's decision to make OS/2 Warp available for preload on its highly
regarded systems will put our software in the hands of thousands of new users
who will quickly come to rely on its stability, performance and true
multitasking."


*****************************************
  NEW YORK  International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) officially
 unveiled its OS/2 Warp operating system.
  In a press release, the company said OS/2 Warp ''has all the multitasking,
 crash-protecting power of OS/2, runs 32-bit and 16-bit DOS, Windows and OS/2
 applications, requires as little as 4MB of memory and will be available in
 two editions.''
  The company said the product will ship in mid-October for users who already
 have DOS or Windows, with a list price of $129 and an expected retail price
 of less than $80. The second, ''fullpack'' edition, for users without
 Windows, will be available shortly thereafter at a list price of $199, and
 expected retail price of less than $130, the company said.
  In addition, IBM said both editions will ship with a BonusPak of more than
 a dozen popular applications, including easy access to Internet and
 CompuServe via the IBM Information Superhighway.
  IBM also said that OS/2 Warp will come preloaded on systems from the IBM PC
 Co., Toshiba, CompuAdd and other PC manufacturers, and that Dell Computer
 Corp. (DELL) will offer Warp as a preload option to customers when they
 order PCs.


*****************************************
Stac makes OS/2 Warp, Version 3  commitment; new release of Stacker
within 90 days of OS/2 shipments
NEW YORK (Oct. 11)  1994--Stac Electronics
(NASDAQ:STAC), the leading supplier of compression products for data storage
and communication, Tuesday announced it will ship a new version of Stacker (a)
for IBM's new OS/2 (b) Warp, Version 3 within 90 days of its release.
"Stacker for OS/2 users have told us they need better performance, more
storage capacity and new features that make Stacker drives easier to use, "
said Bruce Behymer, Stacker for OS/2 & DOS product manager.  "We intend to
fulfill those expectations by bringing Stacker 4.0 technology to OS/2."
Behymer added that the new release of Stacker will also include a special
conversion utility that make drives compressed with DoubleSpace (c),
DriveSpace (c) or SuperStor/DS (b) compression software fully accessible to
OS/2 by converting them to the Stacker format.
The new version of Stacker for OS/2 & DOS will be fully compatible with hard
disks compressed with Stacker 4.0 for Windows & DOS (c).  The Stacker family
of award-winning data-compression products is relied upon daily by millions of
computer users worldwide to increase the storage capacity of DOS, Windows,
OS/2 and Macintosh computers.
Stac Electronics is the leading supplier of high-performance compression
products for data storage and communications.  Implemented in software and
silicon, Stac's products are sold direct from the company and through retail
and OEM sales distribution channels.


*****************************************
ABC News, NBC News to be on Time Warner News-On-Demand service
     New York--Oct 11--Time Inc. today said ABC News and NBC News will
 participate in its interactive news-on-demand service, to be offered
 on Time Warner's (NYSE:TWX) Full Service Network in Orlando, Fla.,
 next year.
     "The News Exchange" will allow television viewers to watch
 programs, stories and background reports whenever they want on
 subjects of their choice.
     The range of topics will include news, sports, weather, personal
 finance, health and entertainment reviews. It will be first publicly
 demonstrated at the Radio and Television News Directors Association
 convention in Los Angeles on Thursday.
     NBC and ABC will offer access to evening newscasts, magazine
 shows and other programs in their entirety. Also included will be
 content from the networks' local affiliates in Orlando.
     WFTV television, the Cox-owned ABC affiliate, has agreed to
 participate with various offerings, to be announced later, and NBC is
 arranging participation by its local affiliate in Orlando, WESH-TV.
     This is the first interactive field test where broadcast networks
 and their affiliates have participated together.
     Other, previously announced, participants in The News Exchange
 include CNN and the Orlando Sentinel.
     The service will also include television programs and stories
 produced by Time Inc.'s magazines, including Time, Sports
 Illustrated, Fortune, Money, Entertainment Weekly, People and Life.


*****************************************
-Broderbund lets kids create multimedia  productions with new Kid Pi
"This is a whole new dimension of Kid Pix fun," says Harry Wilker, Senior Vice
President of Broderbund Studios
NOVATO, CALIF. Oct. 11, 1994--Broderbund Software,
Inc. (NASDAQ:BROD) today released Kid Pix(R) Studio, a magical paint and
animation program that helps kids create multimedia productions on Macintosh
computers equipped with CD-ROM drives.
Based on the award-winning Kid Pix program, Kid Pix Studio is loaded with
exciting new features that enable kids ages 3 to 12 to create their own
multimedia paintings, animations, movies and stories on Apple Macintosh
computers equipped with a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) drive.
"This is a whole new dimension of Kid Pix fun," says Harry Wilker, Senior Vice
President of Broderbund Studios, the company's product development division.
"Rather than reacting to a previously set multimedia program, with Kid Pix
Studio kids create their own multimedia experiences complete with sound, movie
clips and animation."  New Projects
In addition to more than double the number of original Kid Pix painting tools,
Kid Pix Studio offers new animation projects designed by original Kid Pix
creator Craig Hickman, including Moopies, Stampimators and Digital Puppets.
Moopies -- Short for "moving pictures," this project enables kids to bring
their own drawings to life instantly by painting with any of 28 Wacky Brushes
in the Moopies' collection.
Stampimator -- This new feature lets kids choose up to four Animated Stamps
from a collection of 336, or instantly animate any of the 560 Rubber Stamps,
and set them loose on a single page. Animated Stamp characters can bounce,
twirl and dance across the screen one by one, in groups or all at once.
Digital Puppets -- Kids first select a favorite from this troupe of 10
animated puppets and then control its motions by tapping different keys on the
keyboard.  Dozens of musical and visual backgrounds are available,
and Digital Puppet shows can be captured, edited and replayed.
New Features
Other new features included in Kid Pix Studio are:  --  Stampscapes - colorful
background graphics that can be used in drawings, slide shows and movies --
Backgrounds - over 100 drawings, photographs and graphics that set any scene
--  Musical Sounds - over 80 musical and environmental sound effects that kids
can draw upon to enliven animations.  Updated Features
Many of the original product features that Kid Pix fans know and love have
been updated and improved to take advantage of today's more powerful CD-ROM
technology.  These items include:  --  Wacky TV - a bigger and more varied TV
to play 100 new video clips --  Wacky Brushes - 28 new musical paintbrushes --
Rubber Stamps - two new sets of static stamps for a total of 560 stamps in all
--  Electric Mixer Effects - twist and distort drawings in 14 new comical ways
Additional updated features include a new three-dimensional interface, 56 new
multicolor fill patterns and 6 new text fonts.
For all of its bells and whistles, Kid Pix Studio retains the ease of use and
intuitive interface that are hallmarks of the award-winning Kid Pix family of
products.  Children will find the interface familiar and fun.  Kid Pix, A
Brief History
Since its commercial publication by Broderbund in 1990, Kid Pix has earned
dozens of awards from education, parenting and software industry
organizations.  Co-developed by Craig Hickman and his then three-year-old son,
Ben, the Kid Pix line has sold more than 600,000 units and has consistently
ranked on lists of best-selling personal computer software.  System
Requirements
Kid Pix Studio requires a 256-color Macintosh with a 13-inch (or larger)
monitor with 640 x 480 (or higher) resolution, 4 MB RAM and a CD-ROM drive.
Kid Pix Studio is available in stores for approximately $45.  About Broderbund
Software
Broderbund Software, Inc. is a diversified consumer software company that
offers a broad selection of fun, award-winning products for use in homes,
schools and small businesses.  Founded in 1980, the company is committed to
creating imaginative personal computer software of lasting value for every
member of the family.
Kid Pix and Broderbund are registered trademarks and Kid Pix Studio is a
trademark of Broderbund Software Inc.


*****************************************
IBM'S NEW OPERATING SYSTEM FOR PCS A CHALLENGE TO MICROSOFT
New York-Oct. 11---INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Machines Corp. (IBM)
unveiled today a new version of its OS/2 operating system for personal
computers (pcs), dubbed OS/2 Warp and targeted at taking away business from
Microsoft Corp.
The new product, due out later this month, is designed to appeal to home and
small business users.
Warp is the third generaton of seven-year-old OS/2, which has been a costly
and embarrassing flop for Big Blue. Reviewers have given Warp strong praise,
and IBM is planning to spend $50 million as it challenges Microsoft's top-
selling Windows system.
Microsoft could be vulnerable since it has delayed release of its new
operating system, Windows 95, until mid- 1995.
Toshiba and CompuAdd, among other manufacturers, have agreed to use Warp. Dell
Computer will offer the system as an option on its PCs.
The announcement comes as stock of Apple Computer has jumped in recent days
partly on speculation that IBM may either invest in the personal computer
maker or reach an agreement on a common standard to make each company's PCs
compatible with one another.
Such an alliance would also pose a significant threat to Microsoft even though
machines running on the new standard would not be available until 1996.
Personal computers based on Intel Corp. microprocessors and Microsoft
operating systems have dominated the PC business in recent years.
Reviewers have noted that Warp requires less memory than earlier versions of
OS/2 or what Windows 95 is likely to require and comes with applications such
as spreadsheet, faxing, personal information manager and access to the
Internet.
Warp will carry a list price of $129, meaning it will retail for less than $80.
"If you're not using Warp, you're not getting the most out of your PC," said
Lee Reiswig, president of IBM Personal Software Products. "The product's ease
of use and small memory requirements make it attractive to mobile users,
medium and small businesses, and home users. For PC users, Warp is the right
product at the right time."


*****************************************
IBM Launches OS/2 Update, Beating Windows 95 to the Computer Market
Oct. 12--Why wait? That's the question computer users can expect to consider
in coming weeks from IBM Corp. as the company peddles OS/2 Warp, its improved
software product to control a PC's basic functions.
Big Blue's personal software products division on Tuesday announced the third
generation of its Windows-like operating system, touting it as quicker,
easy-to-use and designed for small business, home computer and corporate
users. New features include one-step access to the Internet, the global system
of computer networks, and the ability to view and transmit personal photos to
friends or family. Starting price is about $80.
Launching the Boca Raton-based OS/2 Warp sets the stage for a formal IBM vs.
Microsoft Corp. battle over which company's product computer users will
prefer. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft - once a partner with IBM until a split
five years ago - expects to unveil its new operating system product,
Windows 95, by mid-1995, several months behind an original winter 1994
release date. "We're getting all the bugs out," said Kelly Stremel, a
spokeswoman for Microsoft.
Even with a headstart of sorts, IBM has much ground to cover. Microsoft sold
about 18.5 million copies of its Windows program in 1993 and IBM sold 1.7
million copies of OS/2, according to San Jose, Calif.-based Dataquest, an
industry research firm.
IBM poked fun at Microsoft's time delay numerous times Tuesday, making the
point that it's provided "a window of opportunity." Big Blue's roll-out of
OS/2 Warp even employed first-generation and third
actors Leonard Nimoy and Kate Mulgrew to promote the OS/2 Warp name.
"This is going to take you where no man, woman or operating system has gone
before," Mulgrew said during a closed-circuit television presentation at a
packed Broadway theater.
Laura Sanders, director of the OS/2 Warp program, said IBM has taken its base
systems and added some front-end pizzaz. "We've built in a number of
user-friendly features and taken the scare away from the user."
There are many commercial applications. For example, real estate sales
presentations can be enhanced by incorporating photos of a property with a
computer listing, said Jack Boyce of the OS/2 Warp development senior
technical staff.
Bill Robbins, an IBM spokesman in Austin, Texas, said Big Blue is targeting
about 6 million users of its earlier multi-task operating systems,
which have been around since March 1992. IBM also is going after an estimated
50 million to 60 million users of Microsoft's Windows products, Robbins said.
IBM said that the OS/2 Warp system upgrade for users who already have OS/2 or
Microsoft's Windows will list for $129, but have an expected shelf price of
less than $80. Expect to find OS/2 Warp in stores by the end of the month. A
second edition, for users without Windows or OS/2, will be available shortly
after the first version with a list price of $199 and an expected store price
of less than $130.
Both editions will be shipped with a BonusPak of popular applications
including word processing, spread sheet, database, networking, Internet access
and multimedia programs.
Because the market is extremely expansive, the Boca Raton-based software
programmers deserve a tremendous pat on the back, Robbins said. About 1,100
programmers were involved in developing IBM's OS/2 Warp, a project under
development since earlier this year, Robbins said.
The software group, which crafted the new OS/2 Warp system, has reportedly
hired 100 new people in the past year. It also is not affected by the move to
Research Triangle Park involving about 1,000 IBM workers in the personal
computer hardware division.


*****************************************
Microsoft-License Pact  -2-: To Improve Interoperability
  REDMOND, Wash. - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) licensed at no cost the core
 networking technology in its Windows 95 operating system.
  In a press release, the company said it licensed the technology to Artisoft
 Inc. (ASFT), Banyan Systems Inc. (BNYN), Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC),
 Novell Inc. (NOVL) and Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW).
  Microsoft said its network virtual device driver, or VXD, source code will
 provide for better multivendor network interoperability, higher performance
 and enhanced network reliability.


*****************************************
Prodigy Developing OS/2 Version Of Service >IBM S
  WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. Prodigy Services Co., a partnership of
 International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) and Sears, Roebuck & Co. (S),
 said it is developing the Prodigy online service for OS/2 to be released in
 1995.


*****************************************
New Katzenberg Studio Called Extraordinary Group of Talent
  NEW YORK  The formation of a new Hollywood movie studio by Jeffrey
 Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen is remarkable if only for the
 combination of talent gathered in one company, analysts said.
  ''The only word is 'extraordinary,''' said Harold Vogel, entertainment
 analyst for Merrill Lynch & Co. Vogel called the three men the ''best
 connected, best financed and most experienced'' group of movie executives in
 Hollywood.
  The new venture, which still has no name, will be an equal, self-financed
 partnership, the trio said at a Los Angeles news conference broadcast by the
 Dow Jones Investor Network.
  The conference, marked by ribbing and frequent expressions of mutual
 admiration, was unofficially moderated by Katzenberg, who last month
 resigned as studio head of Walt Disney Co. (DIS) after failing to secure a
 more senior position. Spielberg today credited Katzenberg with the idea for
 the new project.
  Katzenberg called Geffen the ''most successful entrepreneur in the
 entertainment business'' and Spielberg ''genuinely without peers'' among
 Hollywood directors. ''This has got to be the Dream Team,'' Katzenberg said.

  Details of the project remain sketchy. It is expected, however, that
 Katzenberg will run the new operation. ''Six weeks ago, I began a journey to
 find a new adventure,'' Katzenberg said.
  Initially, the company won't seek outside financing, although Geffen said
 that ''strategic alliances'' would be considered. Analysts were unanimous in
 predicting that the studio would have no trouble raising capital.
  It was unclear what role Geffen would play. Geffen founded Geffen Records,
 which he sold to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.'s (MC) MCA Inc. for
 about $700 million.
  The three men said they plan to devote almost all their time to the new
 venture, while promising to fulfill previously made obligations. Spielberg
 added, however, that he will retain the right to direct movies outside the
 new company, citing the need to maintain a certain level of independence as
 a filmmaker.
  Spielberg's most successful films include ''Schindler's List,'' ''E.T.''
 ''Jaws'' and ''Jurassic Park.''
  The company will focus on developing products in five areas - motion
 pictures, television production, animation, records and interactive
 entertainment products - what one analyst called the ''full-service studio
 approach.'' Katzenberg declined to specify the relative importance of each,
 stressing that the output would be marked by quality rather than quantity.
  Analysts said the new studio has a good chance of being successful.
  ''This is the way studios were created in the old days,'' when ''legends
 and moguls'' got together to form new ventures, said Seidler Cos. analyst
 Jeffrey Logsdon.
  Logsdon said four ingredients were necessary to have a successful movie
 company - creative resources, production expertise, distribution clout and
 financial ''renewability,'' qualities possessed by the three men.
  Asked if he thought the new company would build its own lot and production
 facilities, Logsdon said that was a ''1920's concept.''
  ''The studio of today is a software creator, not a physical facilities
 manager.''
-Hollywood's dream team up against tough realities in setting up new
The imposing threesome of Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen and, above all,
Steven Spielberg _ who brings along his Amblin Entertainment Co. _ may look
like a dream team when it comes to starting a new entertainment company.
Each has enjoyed success _ and Geffen and Spielberg boast considerable
personal wealth. Spielberg's Amblin is itself a ready-made production unit
that handles everything from development to product licensing.
But setting up a company that will almost immediately produce a major
studio-sized schedule of 12 to 16 films a year, while entering television
production and interactive media and undergoing the strategic complexities of
setting up an animation unit, may require more resources than even these three
and their rumored backers (software billionaire Bill Gates and cable magnate
John Malone) can muster.
If the three are happy with being a production company and leaving
distribution _ where the movie business's real money is made _ to others,
the new company will still have a daunting overhead. A development staff to
winnow scripts, a production staff to handle budgeting and production
realities, even physical facilities in a soundstage-squeezed Hollywood will
all come dear.
Income from productions will come only down the road, and if an early hit
doesn't appear the financial squeeze could be crippling.
Setting up the animation unit may be trickier than it seems. Katzenberg, who
oversaw Disney's animated features, and Spielberg, who produced ''An American
Tail,'' and other animated films could be victims of their own success. Thanks
to new permanent animation units at 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros., as well
as independent but sizable outfits such as Nest Entertainment, there are very
few unemployed animators out there.
Given Spielberg's long-term relationship with Universal, it may be the new
company will let that colossus handle its distribution. But if the new company
wants to really control its fate, it will have to set up a nationwide _ and
perhaps international _ network of branch sales offices,
as well as in-house marketing, advertising and publicity divisions.
The last major Hollywood producer-distributor to be formed was TriStar
Pictures in 1983, the result of a three-way partnership among no less than CBS,
Home Box Office, and Columbia Pictures. Years of ups and downs followed, even
after the company became a component of Sony Pictures, along with Columbia and
Sony Pictures Classics.
Before that, you have to go back to 1935 and the merger of an ailing
producer-distributor, Fox Film Corp., and a robust production house, 20th
Century Pictures, which resulted in 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. The nearly
60-year gap wasn't coincidental.
Setting up a studio is no dream _ as the new team will soon find out.


*****************************************
Founder insists The Transom is not 'the on-line service for Generatation X
AKRON, Ohio _ The Transom, its founder insists, is not ''the on-line computer
service for Generation X.''
Never mind that the service is targeted at the same 18-to-34 generation
saddled with that unfortunate title. Forget that The Transom is marketing
itself as the youth-oriented Fox TV of the on-line world. And pay no mind to
the fact that it appears to be winning the duel of cool against the relatively
staid and established Big Three _ America Online, CompuServe and Prodigy.
''I would never use that phrase,'' said 26-year-old founder Michael Collins.
''We would never describe it that way.''
Age, insists Collins, should not be the decisive issue on choosing a
commercial on-line service.
''What we didn't do was look for a niche and set out to fill that niche, ''
said Collins. ''We want people to look at this and really connect with the
editorial content. What we're really looking for is a 'psychographic.'''
Semantics, Michael. Semantics.
The Transom is a service that provides a spot where the
twentysomething-activist group Third Millennium can discuss theory. It's a
news service that will search the Associated Press for topics ranging from
women's issues and censorship to sex and alcohol. And it's group talk sector
where contributors give a different spin to timely topics.
''The personality behind the network is the young-at-heart, media-savvy and
very interesting,'' said Collins. ''It's going to have a certain level of
intelligence to it. We want people to think they can always find something new
of interest on The Transom.''
Judging from the initial content, the ''psychographic'' Transom _ available
through Reach Media, Collins' limited partnership with New York City-based
Reach Networks _ appeals to the intelligent, wary and culturally hip.
Subscribers take left-field looks at politics, popular culture and life in
general that are unusually well-informed and thought-through arguments
compared to the bulk of online service fare that consists of ''That movie
sucked'' or ''That band rocked.''
For example, one California subscriber takes a weird wallop at the current
cultural darling Forrest Gump.
''I will not get sucked into this mawkish, sentimentalized movie about someone
who lives his whole life in a state of suspended reality, never picking up any
kind of wisdom other than his folksy gee-whiz chocolate-box homilies,'' wrote
the Malibu resident. ''This movie is evil.''
Such commentary is mixed with serious discussions about politics and
presidential contenders (Ohio's Gov. George Voinovich is considered a serious
Republican contender in 1996) and with unique looks at daily life like a
column about being a Nielsen household; and humorous takes on the news.
Collins himself posted his dream cast for the miniseries about the O.J.
Simpson case _ including LeVar Burton as Simpson, Goldie Hawn as Nicole Brown
Simpson, Grant Show as Ronald Goldman and Joe Pesci as attorney Robert Shapiro.
So far, this mix seems to succeed.
''We're growing at a breakneck pace,'' said Collins. ''Our core user group
came very quickly. Now, we're good to go.''
According to Collins' projections, The Transom needs about 2,000 members to
break even.
Since coming on-line across the country in mid-August, The Transom already has
about 1,500 members, with several hundred requests for software still to be
processed, Collins said.
That success may be a result of good niche marketing.
When the phrase ''Information Superhighway'' plowed into the American
consciousness last year, the race to package it kicked into high gear as well.
Family-oriented services, business-oriented services, top-of-the-line and
low-cost connections all revved up their marketing campaigns with high-profile
advertising and partnerships.
But Collins, who cut his advertising teeth initially with Spy magazine, said
he has been concentrating on honing his product.
Unlike other ill-fated attempts to market to the mysterious 18-to-34
generation, The Transom doesn't pander or trot out already-tired topics like
Kurt Cobain's death or body piercing's resurgence as its sole editorial
content.
''We're not trying to be all things to all people,'' said Collins. ''We're
gearing toward the interests of people in our target group.''
Collins commissioned a pack of young, accomplished writers to submit articles
to the service on a variety of hip topics and then held online discussions
about the submissions. He formed alliances with large interest groups with
members in the targeted demographic like Third Millennium and Gen-Art, a New
York-based group of young art supporters.
And he got the jump on his larger competitors by immediately offering the full
Internet access that CompuServe and America Online are hoping to launch later
this year and that Prodigy may get next year.
This sort of niche marketing should work well against the larger competitors,
according to Collins. ''Those are some pretty big dragons to slay,'' Collins
said. ''But with this strategy, we are going to compete.''


*****************************************
Prodigy, America Online Slash Rates In Price War
  Two of the nation's biggest computer on-line services have declared war --
 on each other's prices.
  Prodigy Services Co., prodded by lower prices at fast-moving rival America
 Online Inc., changed its pricing strategy in an effort to gain new
 subscribers and keep pace in an ever-more crowded field. America Online
 promptly matched Prodigy's rate cuts by late afternoon.
  Prodigy began offering minimal users of its services the option of a lower
 monthly rate -- $9.95 for five hours, compared with the flat monthly rate of
 $14.95 for unlimited use.
  "We have found that the entry price point is critical and has to be under
 $10," said Brian Ek, a spokesman for Prodigy. "We had to be there."
  But Prodigy may have to go even lower. America Online, which also charges
 $9.95 for five hours of basic service a month, quickly fired back, matching
 Prodigy's hourly pricing. America Online dropped its extra hourly charge to
 $2.95 from $3.50.
  America Online may have been primed for a price cut even before Prodigy's
 move. The company's customers, complaining of the service's "high rates and
 lousy service," have been passing around electronic mail calling for members
 to boycott the service by refusing to log onto America Online on Nov. 1.
 "The extreme drop in revenue for one day may clue Mr. Case and his staff
 into what reality is," the letter said.
  Still, America Online is profitable. Prodigy, a joint venture of
 International Business Machines Corp. and Sears, Roebuck & Co., hasn't shown
 a profit since its start in 1984. Prodigy had forecast it would make a
 profit this year for the first time, but Mr. Ek said that now depends on how
 well the company does in the fourth quarter.
  He said Prodigy chose to "reinvest heavily" in the business whatever profit
 it made this year. These investments included adding new features like the
 Internet's popular on-line bulletin boards that have attracted users to the
 other services like America Online and CompuServe Inc. Prodigy also added a
 new on-line screen display for users and new media services like Newsweek.
  Competition is stiff. America Online tripled subscribers in the past year
 to about one million. CompuServe, which is owned by H&R Block, has around
 two million subscribers worldwide, analysts say. Prodigy, which is most
 popular in the home market, says it has members in more than one million
 households.
  Now, Prodigy is borrowing a screen from its rivals. "They're moving right
 in lockstep with what's worked so well for America Online," says Gene
 DeRose, president of Jupiter Communications Co., a New York media-research
 concern.
  CompuServe, considered the most expensive of the services, charges a flat
 monthly rate of $8.95 for 70 basic offerings such as news, e-mail and chat
 lines, and then between $4.80 to $9.60 an hour for "plus" services, such as
 more sophisticated news reports and stock prices. A spokeswoman for
 CompuServe said the company doesn't respond to price changes by its
 competitors.
  To further appease its members, Prodigy changed its e-mail billing policy.
 Subscribers now can send as many messages as they want during their five
 hours, and after that be billed according to on-line time. Messages can be
 composed off-line, meaning Prodigy users will be able to return to their
 practices of sending lots of e-mail. That is a big change from two years
 ago, when after finding users were sending out literally thousands of
 mailings over the system, Prodigy changed its rates allowing only 30
 messages to be sent as part of the basic service and then was charging 25
 cents a message.
  Prodigy's flat rate for unlimited usage of basic services will remain at
 $14.95 and will continue to include five hours of plus services.


*****************************************
Internet's Mosaic Software   Designers Plan New Version
  NEW YORK -- The company formed by the developers of the Internet's popular
 Mosaic software is expected to release at no charge its own version in a bid
 to establish it as a standard for navigating parts of the global computer
 network.
  Marc Andreessen, who started Mosaic Communications Corp. with Silicon
 Graphics Inc. founder James Clark, said "we want as many people to use the
 software as possible."
  The software provides an easy way to navigate a portion of the Internet
 known as the World Wide Web, an information-retrieval system that can
 present graphics and sound. Already, it is freely available on the network.
  It has become so popular -- about 70,000 Internet users download it monthly
 -- that more than a dozen software companies have licensed the
 university-developed software to enhance it for commercial use.
  Mosaic, like many applications on the Internet, is based on "client-server"
 architecture. The client software is used to browse information stored on
 databases configured with the server version.
  Mr. Andreessen said his company would give users a free version of its
 Mosaic Netscape client software because "that's not where the money is
 anyway."
  He said Mosaic Communications, Mountain View, Calif., plans to sell the
 server software to companies seeking to be suppliers of information and
 goods on the network. That software will cost $1,495, or $5,000 for a
 "secured" version that would allow a company to work with sensitive
 information such as credit-card numbers over the network.
  Meanwhile, the client version will also be sold, for $99, to users who wish
 to receive customer support.
  Mr. Andreessen estimated that Mosaic Netscape is about 10 times faster than
 any current version of Mosaic. But that may not benefit too many users.
  To run Mosaic via a modem, users must have a special connection, called
 SLIP or PPP, which only some Internet access providers offer and which
 typically costs more than $40 a month. Even so, the software can be slow to
 access information -- sometimes taking several minutes to download complex
 graphics files. Only users with faster connections, such as corporations and
 universities, can receive information quickly.
  The software was originally developed two years ago at the National Center
 for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois by Mr.
 Andreessen and others. Swamped with interest, NCSA licensed the software
 company Spyglass Inc. to handle all relicensing.
  Companies including Quadralay Corp., Digital Equipment Corp. and
 International Business Machines Corp. have obtained licenses to make and
 sell their own versions of Mosaic.
  But Mosaic Communications hasn't obtained a license. Larry Smarr, director
 of NCSA, said the "the university is considering its options" with respect
 to legal infringements.
  "There's a lot of people, including the University of Illinois, who would
 like to set the record straight" said Tim Krauskopf, vice president of
 Spyglass. Spyglass said it has sold about 10 million copies of the software
 to companies that will roll out their versions within the next year.
  Mr. Andreessen, who has since hired from NCSA five other programmers of the
 original Mosaic, countered that his company's version has "been completely
 rewritten from scratch" and "doesn't contain a line" of the original
 software code.


*****************************************
Video game king invades cyberspace jungle; Nintendo of America enters
information super highway to launch Donkey Kong Country
REDMOND, WASH. -Oct. 13, 1994--Nintendo of America
Inc. today announced that it is merging onto the information super highway to
launch its 1994 flagship video game, Donkey Kong Country, for the 16-bit Super
Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES).
Nintendo's entry into cyberspace marks the first time a high-profile hardware
and software video game manufacturer has utilized on-line technology to launch
a new product.
Nintendo's three-month on-line campaign, available exclusively on the
CompuServe Information Service, will feature four exciting, interactive
activities leading up to the worldwide release of Donkey Kong Country on Nov.
21.  CompuServe is the leading worldwide information service with 2.3 million
members.
The on-line campaign will kick-off with a live conference hosted by Nintendo
executives: Minoru Arakawa, president; Howard Lincoln, chairman; and Peter
Main, vice president, marketing.
Subsequent activities include: a challenging "Donkey Kong" on-line trivia
contest; an exclusive preview of Donkey Kong Country via downloadable video
clips; and a live, technical on-line conference hosted by Donkey Kong Country
game developers and other experts answering technical questions and offering
game tips and "inside information" on Nintendo's revolutionary new 16-bit game.
"We believe the launch of Donkey Kong Country is the ideal time to merge onto
the 'information super highway,'" said Peter Main. "Our customers are using
on-line services everyday, and as a technology leader, we feel this is the
next logical step in reaching them."
"Three Men and a Modem": Nintendo will kick off its on-line campaign with a
one-hour, live on-line conference hosted by Nintendo executives Minoru Arakawa,
Howard Lincoln and Peter Main.  Video game enthusiasts, media and CompuServe
members worldwide will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to "talk"
directly with these top Nintendo executives about the record-breaking launch
of Donkey Kong Country.  The conference will be held on Oct. 19, at 6 p.m.
(PDT) in CompuServe's Electronic Convention Center (address:GO CONVENTION).
Cyber-Trivia Contest: Die-hard video game enthusiasts will be able to test
their knowledge of video game history in an on-line Donkey Kong trivia
contest.  Donkey Kong was first introduced in arcades more than ten years ago
and remains one of the most popular video game characters in history.
CompuServe members correctly answering five trivia questions will enter a
drawing for the fabulous grand prize of an all-expenses-paid trip for two to
Nintendo's Redmond, Washington, office; a Super NES; Donkey Kong Country game
pak; Donkey Kong Country safari vest and T-shirt.  Ten lucky second-prize
winners will receive Donkey Kong Country game paks -- even before they hit the
stores.  Fifty third-place winners will be awarded Donkey Kong Country
T-shirts. The Donkey Kong trivia contest runs from Oct. 24 to Nov. 14, and can
be found in the Donkey Kong Country area on CompuServe (GO NINTENDO).
Cyber-Screening:  CompuServe members will be the first to get a "sneak-peak"
at Nintendo's hottest game of the year, Donkey Kong Country.  Beginning
October 24, CompuServe members will have the exclusive opportunity to download
and view a series of "never-before-seen" Donkey Kong Cou
clips in both IBM and Apple Macintosh formats.  One new video clip per week
will be released over a five week period.  The video clips are located in the
Donkey Kong Country area on CompuServe (GO NINTENDO).
"Tech Talk"  On-Line: A panel of Donkey Kong Country experts will host a
one-hour, on-line conference discussing Nintendo's proprietary, never-before
used design technology, Advanced Computer Modeling (ACM), that will set a new
standard for 16-bit game play.  During this interactive conference,
representatives from the Nintendo and Rare Ltd. game development team, Silicon
Graphics Inc., Nintendo Power magazine, and Nintendo marketing executives,
will field a wide range of technical questions relating to Donkey Kong Country
as well as provide game tips and "inside information."  The conference will be
held on Nov.  8 at 6 p.m. (PST) in CompuServe's Electronic Convention Center
(GO CONVENTION).
Donkey Kong makes his Super NES debut in Donkey Kong Country, a one-player
action/adventure game in which players manipulate the Donkey Kong character
through numerous levels of jungles, mines, caves, snowy mountains and
underwater sequences.  Donkey Kong Country will be available on Nov. 21 for a
manufacturer's suggested retail price of $69.95(a).
Nintendo Co. Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, is the leader in the worldwide $15 billion
retail video game industry.  More than 40 percent of American homes own a
Nintendo system.  As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc.,
based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in
the Western Hemisphere.


*****************************************
MOSAIC COMMUNICATIONS OFFERS NEW NETWORK NAVIGATOR FREE ON THE INTE
 Mosaic Netscape, Available Now, Builds On Tradition of Freeware
                     For the Net
     MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 13  -- Mosaic Communications
Corporation today announced that it is offering its newly introduced Mosaic
Netscape(TM) network navigator free to users via the Internet. The new
Internet navigator, developed by the six-month-old Silicon Valley company led
by Silicon Graphics founder Jim Clark and NCSA Mosaic creator Marc Andreessen,
is available immediately for free downloading by individual, academic and
research users.
By making Mosaic Netscape available free to individuals for personal use,
the company builds on the tradition of software products for the Internet
being offered free of charge.
"Making Mosaic Netscape freely available to Internet users is Mosaic
Communications' way of contributing to the explosive growth of innovative
information applications on global networks," said Andreessen,
vice president of technology at Mosaic Communications.  "We expect Mosaic
Netscape's ease of use to spark another major leap in Internet usage by making
the net a powerful tool for a broader base of users.  By incorporating
security and advanced functionality, Mosaic Netscape now lays the foundation
for commerce on the net."
The initial version of Mosaic Netscape available today on the net is a public
beta version, enabling users to provide feedback on the software's features
and functionality across a wide range of computing platforms.  The company
will also place the final version of the navigator, due out in November, on
the Internet for free downloading. This version delivers security features
such as encryption and server authentication.  When paired with the Mosaic
Netsite Commerce Server due out in November, Mosaic Netscape lets users take
advantage of such commercial services as online publications, financial
services and interactive shopping.
Available for all popular desktop environments, Mosaic Netscape is a powerful
commercial navigator for the Internet, offering point-and-click network
navigation.  It is optimized to run smoothly over 14.4 kilobit/second modems
as well as higher bandwidth lines, delivering performance at least 10 times
that of other network browsers.  Mosaic Netscape provides a common feature set
and graphical user interface across computers running the Microsoft Windows,
Macintosh, or X Window System operating environments.
Mosaic Communications' network navigator achieves its dramatic performance
improvements through new capabilities such as:

     -- Continuous document streaming, enabling users to interact with
documents while they are still being downloaded rather than waiting for the
entire document to load.
-- Multiple, simultaneous network accesses, allowing several documents or
images to be downloaded simultaneously.
-- Native support for the JPEG image format.

     "Mosaic Communications' new Mosaic Netscape provides cruise control for
the information superhighway," said Tim Weil, senior systems engineer at
British Telecom and an early user of Mosaic Netscape.  "It offers excellent
Internet navigation capabilities, intelligent usage information, faster access
and great in-line graphics.  It's a monstrous improvement over NCSA Mosaic."
"Mosaic Netscape is the first Internet tool that lets the average user with a
14.4 kb modem work with the Internet interactively," said Todd Haedrich,
principal of Point of Presence Company in Seattle.  "It's fast,
simple and elegant.  The resources that Mosaic Communications provides for
its novice users in Mosaic Netscape, such as the Internet directories, rival
any other site on the net for their quality and depth.  Mosaic Netscape will
help bring more people on the Internet than any program since the original
NCSA Mosaic."
Mosaic Netscape, available for Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh, and X
Window System environments, can be obtained via anonymous FTP from
ftp.mcom.com.  Users of other network browsers can FTP the software from
mosaic.mcom.com.
Customers who download the software do so for personal use only. Commercial
users can purchase supported, licensed copies of Mosaic Netscape directly from
Mosaic Communications.  Pricing starts at $99 per user, which includes a
90-day warranty and customer support.  Volume discounts are available for
multiple user licenses.  For information on volume licensing of Mosaic
Netscape, send electronic mail to salesmcom.com.
Mosaic Communications Corporation is a premier provider of open software to
enable people and companies to exchange information and conduct commerce over
the Internet and other global networks.  The company was founded in April 1994
by Dr. James H. Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics,
Inc., a Fortune 500 computer systems company; and Marc Andreessen, creator of
the NCSA Mosaic research prototype for the Internet. Privately held, Mosaic
Communications Corporation is based in Mountain View, California.
Additional information on Mosaic Communications Corporation is available on
the Internet at http://mosaic.mcom.com or by calling 800-NETSITE.


*****************************************
KB-Silicon Graphics Internet Navigator Going for Free
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Oct. 13--The new software company founded by former Silicon
Graphics Inc. Chairman Jim Clark has adopted a very competitive price for its
first product.
Free. Zip. Nada. Beginning today, users of the Internet computer network can
download Mosaic Netscape, an improved tool for navigating the Internet's
"World Wide Web," without charge.
The Web links computers worldwide with a set of simple commands. Users simply
click on highlighted words to access computer "pages" from museums,
libraries, individuals and - increasingly - corporations. The pages can
include photographs and sound in addition to text.
An early version of Mosaic, developed at the National Center for Supercomputer
Applications, has been available for free since last year, and more than a
million copies have been distributed. The popularity of the program is
considered to be one of the keys to the explosion in use of the Internet.
A number of private companies have been rushing to bring out commercial
versions of Mosaic, or similar programs for browsing the Web.
But that market niche has become increasingly crowded and is likely to be
swamped altogether when Microsoft introduces the new version of its Windows
operating system next year, which will include a Web browser.
So Clark took a different tack. He joined with Marc Andreessen, one of the
creators of the original Mosaic software, to found Mosaic Communications Corp.
in Mountain View in April.
They intend to make their money-selling "server" software to companies that
want to do business on the Internet. Next month, the company plans to deliver
software that Clark says solves many of the obstacles that have kept
businesses from embracing electronic commerce. Chief among those problems was
ensuring security so customers can use their credit cards to make electronic
purchases.
To stimulate interest in their business software, Clark and Andreessen decided
to help create a customer base for electronic commerce by giving away the $99
software to individuals. The move is also part of a tradition of free software
on the Internet.
"People need to be able to get access," Clark said in an interview. "The
people who have the money are the people with a product to sell. That's the
server, the merchant."
The Mercury News is expected to be one of the first companies to use Mosaic
Communications' software. The paper has announced it will begin publishing an
electronic version on the World Wide Web before the end of the year.
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED: Internet users can obtain Mosaic Netscape for Windows,
Macintosh and X Window systems via anonymous FTP from CHftp.mcom.com . Users
of other programs can FTP the software from CHmosaic.mcom.com . For more
information, call 1-800-638-7483 or use the World Wide Web to go to
mosaic.mcom.com .


*****************************************
Open Market To Help Firms Set Up Shop On The Internet
  NEW YORK -- A new company, staffed by high-tech executives, is helping
 other companies set up shop on the Internet, The Wall Street Journal
 reported.
  The company, Open Market Inc., has signed up Reed Elsevier PLC's recent
 acquisition, the giant Lexis/Nexis database, to run its data to customers
 via the vast network of data networks. Another client is Digital Equipment
 Corp., which plans to sell software over the Internet.
  Each wants Open Market to "take the technology barriers out of" going
 on-line, said Shikhar Ghosh, chief executive officer. "We're trying to
 automate the entire process of putting businesses on the Internet." Mr.
 Ghosh formerly headed Appex Corp., an electronic clearinghouse, which has
 the daunting task of matching millions of moving cellular-phone customers
 with their proper phone charges.
  Open Market's service, which Mr. Ghosh plans to launch on Oct. 24, is
 designed to get a prospective Internet shop running quickly. Clients will be
 able to construct their own "storefront" simply by filling out a set of
 forms on-line at a cost of around $2,000. Open Market turns it into an
 electronic storefront that can be seen on a computer user's screen.
  The venture is just one of many that is seeking to cash in on businesses
 looking to cut their teeth on-line. But Open Market may be taking the most
 comprehensive approach. It is offering clients advertising services, and
 helping them set up the proper security measures for on-line payment; and
 its tracking systems generate detailed customer feedback and information on
 the popularity of its clients' products.
  Consumers can set up an on-line account and pay for things with a special
 Internet card serviced by Open Market.


*****************************************
IBM To Unveil New PC Line For Businesses,Strong Takeoff Vital
  International Business Machines Corp. plans to unveil a new line of
 personal computers aimed at businesses on Monday, offering aggressive
 prices, new names and user-friendly features in the biggest overhaul of
 IBM's PC line in years.
  But the new models won't provide much of a boost for the current fourth
 quarter. The first products won't start being shipped for about a month, and
 some models aren't expected until early next year, said Richard
 Zwetchkenbaum, an analyst at International Data Corp. Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM
 will continue to sell the older models for some time. "They are headed in
 the right direction, but it's going to take a lot of time for them to get to
 the top," he said.
  A strong takeoff is vital to IBM's effort to turn around its lagging PC
 division. Stung by oversupplies of some models and shortages of others, IBM
 has fallen to fourth place in U.S. PC sales this year from its historical
 first rank, complicating attempts to restore the operation to profitability.
  The new machines, called simply the IBM PC, will replace the PS/2 series --
 IBM's mainstay corporate brand for seven years -- and the two-year-old
 ValuePoint line. The name changes are intended to end customer confusion
 about what the two old brands stood for, as they overlapped in price and
 power.
  The new line is split into two series: the 300 series will be IBM's "value"
 brand, starting at about $1,200; the 700 series will be targeted at big
 corporate customers and is expected to start in the range of $2,500. They
 join the Aptiva home models announced last month, which replaced the PS/1
 line.
  All 700 series machines are powered by Intel Corp.'s top-of-the-line
 Pentium microprocessor and include a slot to plug in a credit-card-sized
 memory card such as those used in portables, allowing users to easily swap
 files with a portable PC. In addition, these models can be ordered with
 MicroChannel, the IBM-proprietary internal wiring plan introduced with the
 PS/2 line.
  Both new desktop lines feature "Rapid Resume," technology that allows a
 user to turn off the PC with software on the screen, and restart the machine
 with the software returning to its place. They also have a system that
 allows the PC to turn itself on when the phone rings, take a phone message
 with a built-in answering system or accept a fax, and then turn itself off.
  IBM also plans to announce new models of its ThinkPad portables -- its only
 big PC hit -- including one of the industry's first multimedia notebooks, a
 seven-pound package with a built-in CD-ROM drive and stereo speakers. This
 model, as well as other high-end ThinkPads, also now features a digital
 telephone-answering system and an infrared device to "beam" files from one
 machine to another, similar to the infrared transmitter on TV remote
 controls.
  The company said it will boost production of color-screen ThinkPads by as
 much as four times the level of the first half of the year. But it still
 doesn't believe it will meet demand.


*****************************************
Musicians Adopt -2-:Personal Computers To Book Tour Dates
  Tail Spins helps to spur local chitchat about independent music, though Mr.
 Ritzel says he hasn't tracked its impact on Chicago-area record sales. A
 recent issue carried a 2 1/2-page mail order section for 30 independent
 recording companies around the U.S. But only one order -- for $17 --
 resulted. Still, Mr. Ritzel says musicians quoted in the magazine report
 they get numerous calls from friends and fans.
  Other musicians use their personal computers to line up tour dates
 directly. In July, Boston rock band This Is Not Here began posting
 promotional information about itself on several computer networks. Ten radio
 disk jockeys from around the country requested copies of the band's
 recordings and gave them local play, says Brett Fasullo, its bass player.
 The air time led to several new bookings for show dates in Maine and Rhode
 Island -- outside of the band's normal Boston-area market, he says.
  As a result of the on-line promotion, the band has doubled its skimpy
 monthly revenue to $600, Mr. Fasullo adds. "All we did was send out some
 messages" without people even hearing the music, he notes. The band pays $75
 a month for three on-line services.
  Meanwhile, some musicians say recent advances in film quality and editing
 technologies lower the cost of producing their own quality music videos.
 Such a video usually costs between $20,000 and $40,000, producers say. But
 last year, New York rock 'n roll band Bad Sun made one for $5,000.
  Greg Demirjian, a band member and video maker, created the band's Old
 West-style story line about a bad marriage and a woman's revenge. He
 bankrolled the project through his part-time job as a nightclub security
 guard and video editor, including $6,000 to cover duplicating and mailing
 costs.
  Last spring, Mr. Demirjian sent copies of the music video to more than 100
 television and cable-TV stations across the country. About 45 stations aired
 it, including several serving millions of households, he says. With widened
 interest in the band, Mr. Demirjian says he is preparing to use the video to
 market its recordings on-line.
  Independent musicians usually have scant production or distribution
 capability to handle a sudden surge in demand, however.
  Harris G. Thor, leader of a blues-rock-jazz band, in Vestal, N.Y., has been
 cutting album-length audio cassettes for 10 years. He says he has sold only
 about 200 in his local area, however.
  He recently signed up to market promotional video and audio clips of the
 band on-line world-wide. "It means millions of people can hear my music,"
 says Mr. Thor. "That's the coolest thing on the planet."
  But if he hits it big, can he quickly fill thousands of orders? The
 prospect, Mr. Thor concedes, is "a little frightening."


*****************************************
"Earthquake" CD-ROM title rocks to retail  next week; breakthrough
title includes Loma Prieta, Calif. quake footage
SANTA MONICA, CALIF. -Oct. 14, 1994--With the
five-year anniversary of the Loma Prieta quake occurring next week, Sony
Imagesoft's Monterey, Calif. product development group and ABC News
InterActive, together with San Francisco-based multimedia developer Haukom
Associates, have combined forces to develop the CD-ROM multimedia title
"Earthquake."
Utilizing ABC News' immense library of news footage of earthquakes, and
featuring Ted Koppel as chief moderator, the multimedia CD-ROM title is
scheduled for retail availability next week.
"Earthquake" features more than 40 minutes of video and thousands of
photographs, maps and charts. "Earthquake" provides in-depth coverage on all
significant quakes that have occurred in the 20th century, including Anchorage
(1964); Tangshan, China (1976); Mexico City (1985); Loma Prieta, Calif.
(1989); Landers, Calif. (1992); Maharashtra, India (1993),
and; Northridge, Calif. (1994).
"With the Loma Prieta quake's five-year anniversary occurring on the 17th,
combined with the clean-up efforts from the Northridge quake still under way,
Californians' fascination with earthquakes is greater than ever," said Rick
Fisher, director, product development, Sony Imagesoft's PC Division.
"In addition to elaborate footage and commentary, we believe that this title's
instructional sections -- what to do during a quake, tips on survival supplies,
and how to deal with the emotional stress of a quake -- would greatly benefit
those living in or near Northern California, or any earthquake site," added
Fisher.
The renowned multimedia design group, Haukom Associates, created the design
and product interface for the title.  In addition, significant text from the
book "Terra Non Firma" -- written by Stanford earthquake scientists James Gere
and Haresh Shah -- is included.
"ABC News InterActive has been a pioneer in interactive multimedia development,
" said William Abrams, vice president of business development and marketing at
ABC News.  "'Earthquake,'" our first consumer CD-ROM, will give users access
to the video, graphics and information we use in preparing our network news
broadcast."
"With the obvious practical, educational and entertainment elements of
'Earthquake' -- making it as appropriate in government offices and corporate
human resource departments, as it is in high schools and homes across the
nation -- we believe this title will be a great resource for anyone interested
in the phenomenon of earthquakes," said Fisher.
Available initially for IBM-compatible multimedia computers, with a Macintosh
version to be released later this year, the manufacturer's suggested retail
price of "Earthquake" is $59.95. "Earthquake" is available at most software
retailers, or direct by calling 800/922-SONY.
ABC News InterActive, a unit of ABC News, produces interactive multimedia
products for the educational and consumer marketplace. Formed in 1988, ABC
News InterActive focuses on three subject areas: health issues, social and
political issues, and historical events, and uses producers and anchors from
"World News Tonight," "Nightline" and other ABC News programs.


*****************************************
PC World Magazine  October - 1994 - In This Issue  IBM and Apple Fu
Windows Challenge
 With Windows 4.0 nearing its release date, three imminent
 events make this an important time to judge Microsoft
 challengers. IBM will soon ship its PowerPC models with
 desktop operating systems, and it plans to release a new
 version of OS/2 this fall. Apple is about to announce the
 first licensees for the Macintosh Operating System. Will
 these industry giants succeed in delivering greater choice
 in the look and feel of your desktop?
 Because Apple and IBM are involved jointly in the
 development of the PowerPC chip, and because the Mac OS will
 be licensed only for PowerPC-based machines, let's begin by
 examining that area. As of this writing, Apple has sold
 350,000 Power Macintosh units. IBM's PowerPC sales to date
 have all been for UNIX systems. PowerPC versions of Windows
 NT and Sun Microsystems' Solaris are coming, too, but IBM
 has always put its emphasis on developing OS/2 for the
 PowerPC.
 That's already five different operating systems dividing the
 installed base of PowerPC hardware.
 The Great Divide
 There are other divisions as well: Apple's Power Macs and
 IBM's PowerPC systems suffer from hardware
 incompatibilities; IBM's "human centered" interfaces for the
 Workplace OS will force changes in OS/2 apps; and the
 installed base of Power Macintosh users is divided into
 three groups with varying software needs: publishing
 industry professionals, academics, and individual home or
 small-business users.
 The net effect of all this is that the software market for
 the PowerPC- wonderful family of processors though it is-
 is increasingly fragmented. This inspires hesitation rather
 than development, which means fewer applications to make
 buying a PowerPC worthwhile.
 The best hope for the PowerPC as a market force is that one
 of these segments will engulf the rest. Apple's 350,000
 installed units makes the Power Macintosh the clear leader.
 Unfortunately for Apple, many software developers lost
 interest in the Mac when its market share dropped to 10
 percent. And the Power Mac has yet to penetrate mainstream
 business- a failure Apple attributes to the delay in
 availability of Microsoft Word and Excel for the Power Mac.
 Some at Apple believe that the dearth of OS/2 applications
 will force IBM to adopt the Mac OS on IBM's PowerPC systems.
 Conversely, there are people at IBM who think their company
 doesn't need Apple, since putting the same operating system
 microkernel in IBM PowerPC units, workstations,
 minicomputers, and mainframes will generate hundreds of new
 applications for OS/2. Both groups are dreaming. Apple's
 dreams will shatter because IBM can't simply convert to the
 Mac OS when it's still unavailable for IBM's Intel-based
 PCs. IBM's dreams will also be dashed, because future
 microkernel-based workstations, minis, and mainframes offer
 little enticement to developers, who favor the volume
 economics of the PC over anything that these types of
 hardware can offer.
 Missed the Point
 Apple and IBM announced their joint effort on July 3, 1991,
 promising a cross-platform operating system that would run
 DOS, Windows, OS/2, and Mac applications. More than three
 years after this grand alliance, meant to give the industry
 an alternative to the Intel-Microsoft axis, Apple and IBM
 seem to have missed the point. Apple now promises preemptive
 multitasking and memory protection for apps in the 1996 Mac
 OS release. But OS/2 offers those features now. Similarly,
 IBM promises human-centered interfaces in future versions of
 OS/2, when the Macintosh already has an appealing user
 interface. An effective alliance would have harnessed each
 partner's strength, created a large and uniform installed
 base to attract developers, and beaten Microsoft to market.
 Taligent- IBM and Apple's joint venture that will offer a
 high-end environment for developing custom corporate
 applications- may be a serious potential rival to NextStep,
 but it will hardly be a best-seller at Egghead.
 Windows 4.0 will soon arrive with a friendly user interface,
 preemptive multitasking, memory protection for each 32-bit
 application, and backward compatibility with thousands of
 16-bit programs. The introduction of Windows 4.0 is also
 going to prompt a great rush of new 32-bit applications. By
 concentrating on the fundamentals, Microsoft may well have
 shut the window on IBM's and Apple's hopes of becoming major
 operating system providers.


*****************************************
-PC World Magazine  October - 1994 - Real Problems, Real Solutions S
Effects Win New Customers
 First there were cave drawings. Then came grease pencils and
 overhead transparencies. Next came the PC, presentation
 graphics software, and slide carousels. People are always
 looking for better ways to dazzle audiences.
 Today, do-it-yourself presentations incorporating video
 clips can be as realistic as 60 Minutes- and they can be
 more effective, easier, and cheaper to produce than the old-
 fashioned transparency-and-overhead-projector rout
 month Rob Stuart, communications coordinator in the Atlanta
 regional office of commercial real estate giant Cushman &
 Wakefield, describes how his company is redefining sales
 presentations with PC video-capture-and-playback technology.
 One Movie Is Worth a Thousand Words
 When companies need new products or services, they usually
 ask a few different vendors to each make a presentation
 demonstrating its ability to handle the project. For the
 most part, these competing vendors are all capable of doing
 the work. So how does one vendor win the assignment over
 another? Unless the vice president happens to know somebody
 who can provide the service, the decision often rests on a
 single presentation.
 In my business- commercial real estate- we are regularly
 asked to make a presentation explaining how we would move a
 company into a new office space, lease its warehouse, or
 sell its shopping center. Regardless of whether the company
 is a small local manufacturer or a Fortune 500 firm, our
 presentation must be effective enough to get us the job.
 In the past, preparing a presentation to show off real
 estate offerings was an expensive and frustrating
 experience. To create 'tours' of potential commercial sites,
 our brokers would drive to the office building and take
 pictures of its interior and exterior. Then we would pay a
 service bureau to develop slides or enlarge and mount
 expensive color reproductions, including the logo of the
 project or client. Brokers and agents often had to work into
 the wee hours making the necessary last-minute changes to
 the presentation.
 The cost of producing the photographs and the fat binders
 full of testimonials, specifications, and other materials
 added up to anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several
 thousand dollars. And because the logo of the prospective
 client was often placed predominantly on the mounted
 photographs, we couldn't reuse the photos in presentations
 that we made to other potential clients.
 The High-Tech Fast Track
 Though many of our likely clients rely on state-of-the-art
 computer technology, real estate itself has generally
 remained a low-tech business. In 1991 we decided to change
 that. We gave 50 new 486-based networked PCs to the brokers
 and staff in our Atlanta corporate offices. Before long a
 few forward-looking folks were using presentation graphics
 software- even adding on-screen animation to their
 presentations. Unfortunately, our competitors were doing the
 same thing. We won 60 percent of our bids, but nothing we
 did stood out.
 One day I saw a magazine ad for the $500 Smart Video
 Recorder from Intel (800/538-3373). It includes a plug-in
 board and software to let you capture, edit, and play back
 video images on a PC. It seemed just what we needed to
 sharpen our competitive edge, so in October 1993 our office
 decided to invest in one.
 We already owned a camcorder but needed a multimedia system,
 so we chose an $8000 Compaq 486 Portable with a 510MB hard
 disk, 16MB of RAM, a Sound Blaster card, a CD ROM drive, and
 speakers. We also bought a scanner and Asymetrix Compel
 presentation software. The total came to just under $12,000-
 a significant but easily justified outlay, since we spent
 that much money preparing presentations for a handful of
 prospects.
 Talking Heads
 Installing the video board was simply a matter of slipping
 it in and adjusting IRQ settings. Right away we were
 operating in a new dimension, creating movies rather than
 assembling presentations.
 To create presentations now, we videotape a tour of the
 building. Then we plug the camcorder into the computer and
 press the camera's play button and the record button on
 Windows' Video Recorder software. Once the video is
 recorded, we can edit, copy, and paste it into any document.
 Then we import the finished clip into our presentation.
 The presentations themselves are amazingly effective. We
 take our portable computer to the client's office and plug
 in a VGA monitor. Usually we start the presentation with a
 video clip to capture attention. For example, when trying to
 interest a potential investor in a shopping center located
 at a major traffic intersection, we show a video clip of
 cars racing by, slowly pulling back to show the center. And
 rather than trying to describe a building's classy lobby, we
 run a video tour. When we recommend that a client move its
 offices to a new city, our presentations are likely to
 include videos of local authorities discussing market
 forecasts and job growth in the area.
 We also use the video technology to show tapes of past
 clients (with names and titles superimposed) recommending
 us. Watching and listening to them is infinitely more
 compelling than reading reference letters.
 Since going high-tech, we've won 20 to 30 percent more bids.
 In addition, we save at least $500 a month because we don't
 have to pay for slide preparation. And we no longer write
 proposals, copy them, and put them in binders. Instead, we
 just print the presentation screens to a color printer. We
 can keep customizing the presentation right up until the
 meeting, and no one has to work all night making copies.
 Of course, we're not naive enough to think this technology
 will keep us ahead of the competition forever; it's only a
 matter of time before everybody's doing it. To stay on the
 cutting edge, we are now in the process of combining these
 flashy video presentations with an existing financial
 analysis program developed in our New York headquarters.
 This new system not only will have all the sizzle of our
 current presentations but will be able to calculate
 instantly, for example, how a lease in a certain building
 would affect a company's per-share earnings. In the cost-
 conscious nineties, this kind of detail and analysis is
 increasingly important.
 Edited by Bronwyn Fryer
 Bronwyn Fryer is a contributing editor for PC World. If you
 use PCs to manage people and other resources, we want to
 hear from you.


*****************************************
-PC World Magazine  October - 1994 - Model of the Month  Tracking Ov
Receivables
 A company's balance sheet is the heart of its business.
 Along with an income statement, this report of financial
 position is used by bankers and investors in making loan and
 investment decisions on behalf of your business. Obviously,
 the more accurate this report, the more useful it is. One
 way to make the balance sheet more accurate is to make
 provisions for bad debt- the proportion of accounts
 receivable that will remain uncollected.
 Here's a model that helps you come up with an estimate of
 bad debt. The model works in DOS releases 2.3, 2.4, 3.x, and
 4.0 and in all Windows releases. In our example, the model
 works with only three accounts and shows you all of the
 activity on one screen, but the worksheet will be most
 valuable when you use it to calculate a bad debt provision
 on hundreds of accounts.
 In addition to helping you come up with an estimate of bad
 debt, a second part of the model lets you monitor the bad
 debts by account number and create a graph that shows the
 unpaid accounts over time.
 Input the Data
 To create the first part of the model, begin by entering the
 labels and values shown in blue in FIGURE 1. Note that the
 data is sorted by due date. You normally want to order, or
 stratify, your bad debts by date because the older they are,
 the less likely you'll be able to collect them. Also, if you
 sort your data this way, the results of the formulas in
 columns E through I will look like ascending stairs, which
 serves as a good visual clue to the accuracy of your
 entries.
 Set the worksheet format to Currency 0. Assign the General
 format to range A3..B18, and assign the Lotus Standard Long
 Form Date format to ranges C3..C18 and E1..I1.
 If you're preparing a new business plan, obtain the bad debt
 rates for other companies in your industry from related
 periodicals. Otherwise, use your actual rate of bad debts to
 accounts receivable. Enter your bad debt rates in the cells
 in range E20..I20, and assign the Percent 0 format to that
 range. In the model, we've assumed that only 1 percent of
 the current accounts will be unpaid but that 50 percent of
 accounts over 90 days old will remain uncollected.
 This model assumes that you want to see how your bad debts
 are distributed in 30-day intervals over the past four
 months. We've come up with a formula to calculate the dates
 in row 1.
 If you want to use specific dates instead of 30-day
 intervals, just enter the dates in range E1..I1 instead of
 the formula described below, making sure to change the
 labels in range F2..I2 so they refer to those specific
 dates.
 Regardless of whether you use formulas to calculate the
 dates or you enter dates of your own, the dates in range
 E1..I1 must be in descending date order, as shown in the
 figure.
 Enter the Model's Formulas
 To calculate the dates, enter the formula NOW in cell E1,
 and enter +E130 in cell F1. Copy the formula in cell F1 to
 range G1..I1.
 To stratify the accounts by date, enter IF(E$1C3,"",D3) in
 cell E3, and copy that formula to range E4..E18. Enter
 IF(SUM ($E3..E3)
 "",(IF(F$1$C3,"",$D3)),"") in cell F3,
 and copy that formula to ranges F4..F18 and G3..H18. Then
 enter   IF(SUM(E3..H3)
 "",D3,"") in cell I3, and copy that
 formula to range I4..I18.
 Next, enter the formula SUM(D3..D18) in cell D19, and copy
 that formula to range E19..I19. Enter E19*E20 in cell E21,
 and copy that formula to range F21..I21. Enter
 SUM(E21..I21) in cell J21. The formula in cell J21 (which
 doesn't appear in the figure) returns an estimate of bad
 debt for the current period.
 If you want to monitor each account separately by date, you
 can sort range A3..I18 by account number and then by date,
 or you can extract the data with the Range/Analyze/What-if
 Table commands (/Data/Table/1 in 1-2-3/ DOS) and then graph
 it.
 To extract the data, first create an area in the worksheet
 such as the one shown in FIGURE 2. Copy the labels in range
 E2..I2 to cell E23, and copy the label in cell A2 to cell
 D23. (The label in cell D23 must match the label in cell A2
 exactly.) Next, enter the three account numbers in range
 D27..D29. Enter the values in range E24..I24. These values
 indicate the column offset numbers of the input range. Now
 assign the Currency 0 format to range E26..I31.
 Assign the following range names:
  Name         Range
  Criteria     D23..D24
  Input        A2..I18
  Table        D26..I29
 Enter the formula DSUM($INPUT,E24, $CRITERIA) in cell E26,
 and copy that formula to range F26..I26. In releases 4.x and
 5.0 for Windows, put the cell pointer in cell E24 and select
 Range/Analyze/What-if Table. In 1-2-3/DOS, select
 /Data/Table/1. Make sure Number of Variables is set to 1,
 type D26..I29 as the table range, type D24 as input cell 1,
 and click OK. 1-2-3 extracts and isolates the receivables by
 account number.
 Be sure you issue the Range/Analyze/What-if Table commands
 (/Data/ Table/1 in 1-2-3/DOS) every time you change the data
 in the top section of the model or the graph won't reflect
 your changes. It's a good idea to write a macro to call
 these commands. To check your DSUM formula, enter the
 formula SUM(E27..E29) in cell E31, and copy that formula to
 range F31..I31. If the numbers in row 31 don't equal those
 in row 26, you'll know something is wrong with your data or
 formulas.
 Graph the Unpaid Accounts
 Now create your graph. To graph these amounts in the Windows
 releases, preselect range E27..I29 and select Tools/ Chart
 or click the draw-a-chart SmartIcon. Click and drag to where
 you want the chart to start.
 To graph the overdue receivables in the DOS releases, select
 /Graph/Type/ Bar/X and then enter the ranges and labels
 described in the table above.
 If you want to add the graph to the worksheet, select the
 Wysiwyg commands :Graph/Add/Current, indicate the range
 where you want to place the graph, and press
 Enter.
 The graph in Figure 2 shows that receivables for account
 4001 are much higher than for the other two accounts. This
 hints that perhaps you should talk to the receivables clerk
 and find out what's going on.
 Add Accounts to the Model
 To add more accounts to the model, all you have to do is
 insert rows in the top section between rows A3 and A18 and
 then copy the formulas down as needed. Similarly, add rows
 in the bottom section for the new account numbers. And
 finally, make sure that you expand the named ranges so that
 they include the new rows.
 You can use this model to graph up to 23 accounts in one
 chart. If you have more accounts than that, you'll have to
 create additional graphs.


*****************************************
Microsoft, Intuit, Novell -2: Quicken's 6 Mln Users Important

  Perhaps what surprised most of those who follow Microsoft is the company's
 decision to buy software instead of developing it. Then, too, many found the
 price paid for Intuit - a highly successful maker of software for personal
 finance - unusually high.
  ''This is probably the first of a few big acquisitions'' the company will
 contemplate to position itself for the future, Hancock Institutional Equity
 Services analyst Ben Z. Rose said.
  Analysts still said they couldn't be sure when Microsoft's long-awaited
 Marvel on-line service would appear. Some said they expected the service to
 be bundled with the Windows 95 operating system, due out in the first half
 of 1995. Marvel is seen as the foundation upon which on-line financial
 services will be offered, using Intuit's popular Quicken software as the
 link to desktop computers.
  Microsoft has the opportunity to jump-start its on-line business by
 appealing to the 6 million users of Quicken as well as the millions of users
 of its Windows software, said Scott W. McAdams, an analyst for Ragen
 MacKenzie. That appeal should be heightened by the company's rumored price
 for its on-line service: $3 to $4 a month, well below the $8 or so that
 other on-line competitors charge.
  Quicken's 6 million users outnumber the 5 million or so subscribers now
 claimed by the top three on-line services, America Online inc. (AMER),
 Prodigy and Compuserve, combined, noted Unterberg Harris analyst David
 Readerman.
  The on-line market could easily overshadow the retail market for financial
 software, which the research firm DataQuest expects will nevertheless double
 by 1996 to about $340 million. And with the clout of Microsoft's marketing
 muscle, the job of convincing banks and other financial firms to offer
 services through an on-line service might be easier, said Alex. Brown & Sons
 analyst Mary A. McCaffrey.
  But many software industry experts were less sold with the idea of Novell
 molding itself into an effective competitor.
  Rod Brooks, vice president of marketing for Novell's consumer division,
 said he saw ''a lot of room for a very strong 'No. 2' player in the
 category.''
  He went on to say Money had technical advantages to Quicken that would make
 it appropriate for an on-line service. But other than to explain that the
 advantage would allow it to better integrate the service with the banking
 community, he declined to specify the technology.
  Brooks added that Novell was considering the strategy of teaming up with an
 on-line provider. He also said Money opened the door to opportunities
 abroad, where it has 65% market share in Germany and France.
  But analysts said that market share is under seige in Germany, where
 Quicken is now outselling Money.
  Analysts were divided on whether Novell's intended purchase of Money from
 Microsoft would head off Justice Department objections to the merger
 proposal. Some said they expected a careful look by the department,
 especially in light of the general belief that Microsoft came out on top in
 a recent department settlement of allegations of anticompetitive practices.
  A final business opportunity Microsoft gains with the Intuit merger is in
 the personal digital assistant market. The company has been working on
 software with an introduction expected in mid-1995, McAdams said. Perhaps a
 ''light'' version of Quicken might appeal to users interested in financial
 applications, he said. Quicken already offers a version that runs on some
 PDAs.