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 The worst-managed companies are revealed

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Jesse Berst

 This is the final installment in our series on best- and worst-managed
 computer companies. We started by citing the superstars. Last week we
 listed the honorable mentions. And now we come to the losers. (I'm
 compiling the columns and the best comments into a single document. Send
 me your snail-mail address for a free copy.)

 If worst comes to Berst. Before we start, I should remind you that many
 companies on the list have already recognized their problems and have
 taken steps to correct them. Often, the people who got them into the
 mess aren't there anymore. In many cases, the companies were simply
 unlucky. You could argue that the true test of good management is to
 pilot a company through tough times.

 For all these reasons, it is just plain unfair to hold these companies
 up to public ridicule. We're still going through with it, of course. I
 just wanted to remind you that what we are doing is brutal, callous, and
 totally uncalled-for.

 God, I love this job.

 So who are the worst offenders? As electronic publishing guru Jonathan
 Seybold puts it: "There are so many!!! Most of the worst-managed
 companies eventually die. However, a strong market position can make
 this a long and painful process (remember Ashton-Tate?)." Here are the
 six companies cited most often by my Electronic Roundtable:

 IBM. For losing its vision and not finding a new one to replace it. And
 for not understanding that execution requires a long-term point of view
 and individual and group accountability. As software entrepreneur Will
 Fastie puts it: "IBM can't figure out how to be in the business it
 created, but many other companies can."

 Digital Equipment Corp. "They eat their young and misunderstand
 technical trends," says Windows Sources Editor Dennis Eskow. "They
 killed their best efforts with corporate stupidity. Gave away leadership
 in communications, processing technology, and distributed processing. If
 I owned the Alpha chip, I'd be bowling with Bill Gates by now."

 Borland. "Its mission is valid and strong, but it shrunk anyway.
 Something's wrong," says Fastie. I think Borland is poised for a
 comeback, but many analysts disagree. My biggest complaint is the way it
 squandered the dBASE franchise.

 Apple. "Does not understand capitalism, free market, or any of that
 stuff," says Eskow. "They created a religion, locked out all but the
 orthodox, and are now sitting shiva."

 Media Vision. "Every multimedia upgrade kit uses the packaging concept
 those guys started with," points out Cole Larson, chief technical
 officer of KA Worlds. "Why would a company that's building market share
 so successfully do that to themselves? So sad."

 Novell. (Under Noorda, not under Frankenberg.) "They bought all sorts of
 technology with no cohesive vision," grumbles Brian Moura, assistant
 city manager for the city of San Carlos, Calif.

 Dishonorable mentions: To Central Point, for blowing its lead in
 utilities. To Aldus, for getting so carried away with its "high-end"
 image that it lost track of the ball. To Micrografx, for self-
 destructive infighting. To SPC, for failing to see what was coming.

 Could get better but it's gonna get Berst. In response to readers who
 asked for an up-close look at Symantec, I traveled to company
 headquarters for previews of new products and strategies. Join me here
 next week for my report.

 Jesse Berst is editorial director of the Windows Watcher. Send comments
 via E-mail (JBERST@mcimail. com) or fax [phone]).

 ================================================================

 Microsoft will begin mass testing of Windows 95 beta

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Mary Jo Foley

 Microsoft Corp. next week will begin rolling out to 30,000 testers the
 long-awaited Windows 95 Beta 2, which officials said contains nearly all
 the features planned for the operating system's commercial release.

 Beta 2 "is faster, easier, and more compatible than Beta 1," said
 Richard Freedman, product manager with Microsoft's personal operating
 systems group, in Redmond, Wash.

 Testers who received the latest interim version in early October agreed
 that Windows 95 is becoming more stable and feature-complete. Windows 95
 "is going to be a wrap after Beta 2," said a beta tester with a
 telecommunications company who currently has Beta 1.4. "It's a network
 manager's dream."

 In addition to bug fixes made to Beta 1 since June, Microsoft is
 including in Beta 2 a number of new features for IS managers and end
 users. Beta 2 supports more Plug and Play and non-Plug and Play device
 types than previous releases. It includes support for both Stac
 Electronics' DriveSpace and Microsoft's DoubleSpace disk-compression
 tools.

 The Beta 2 user interface looks, for the most part, the same as the Beta
 1 GUI, but is more polished. The new interface features the Recycle Bin,
 a feature that was present in alpha versions, but was dropped from Beta
 1. Upon booting up, users are presented with a choice of two tutorials:
 a new user's tour and a Windows 3.1 user's tour. Beta 2 also includes a
 font-integration folder as part of the My Computer window, which allows
 users to drag and drop fonts.

 Via a setup wizard that first made its appearance in Beta 1.4, users can
 choose among four configurations: typical, or home; compact; portable;
 and custom. "You'll also be able to run in maintenance mode to remove or
 install pieces of the operating system," Freedman said.

 Beta 2's universal in box -- formerly called InfoCenter, now Microsoft
 Exchange -- includes connections to Internet SMTP mail, as well as the
 Microsoft At Work send-and-receive fax capability. In Beta 1, InfoCenter
 included connections to Microsoft Mail and CompuServe mail only.

 On the networking side, Beta 2 includes support for RIPL (remote initial
 program load) and diskless workstations, as well as a new feature called
 File and Print Sharing for NetWare Networks (see story entitled
 "Microsoft adds NetWare server emulation to Win 95").

 Microsoft is slated to extend its beta-test pool to more than 100,000
 with the next beta release, called the Windows 95 Preview edition,
 before year's end. Microsoft officials have said Windows 95 will be
 available to the general public by mid-1995.

 ================================================================

 IBM looks to regain IS support

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Michael R. Zimmerman and Lisa
 DiCarlo

 NEW YORK -- IBM's new desktop branding strategy, outlined here last week
 during the launch of notebook, desktop, and server products, drew praise
 from IS managers as the company looks to regain its credibility as a
 timely supplier of PC hardware.

 IBM's new systems include the ThinkPad 360CE, 755CE, and CD ROM-equipped
 755CD notebooks; the IBM PC 300 and 700 desktops; and the IBM PC Server
 500 server. Most of these systems are scheduled to be available in
 volume next month, in sharp contrast to IBM's previous inability to meet
 demand for many products.

 At a press conference here, Richard Thoman, IBM senior vice president
 and group executive, praised the PC industry for innovation, but
 observed, "In the process, [the industry] has lost touch with the
 majority of customers, who are all dazed and confused by the complexity
 both in the technology and the array of choices."

 In his first public appearance since joining IBM last January, Thoman
 said IBM has reduced the number of brands it will offer from nine to
 four -- ThinkPad, PC, Server, and Aptiva -- and cut the number of models
 from 190 to about 65. This reduction should help IBM cut product
 backlogs, because most models will use common components, he said.

 IS managers said the strategy should make IBM easier to buy systems
 from. "It wasn't always clear what [IBM] line to buy from or which bus
 you should go with," said Justin Toser, IS specialist at Idaho National
 Laboratory, in Idaho Falls. The new strategy "eliminates the confusion
 compared to the old product line," Toser said.

 "IBM consolidating its PC lines and not locking them into one
 architecture, like Micro Channel, will help us," said Benny Galagher,
 systems manager at Marine Midland Mortgage Corp., in Charlotte, N.C.

 The first systems built using common components are the IBM PC Model 300
 and 700, which will replace PS/2 Models 76 and 77. Both models include
 the modular Selectabus motherboard that supports both Peripheral
 Component Interconnect and VESA local-bus graphics via different riser
 cards, which IBM unveiled in May as part of the ValuePoint Performance
 Series.

 The Performance Series and PS/2 lines will be maintained through this
 year and much of 1995.

 IBM will release a 100MHz Pentium PC in the first quarter.

 Meanwhile, the new Server 500 boosts IBM's server line by equipping it
 with the 90MHz Pentium chip and storage capacity of up to 40G bytes.

 Of the products launched last week, the ThinkPad 755CD garnered most of
 the attention with its built-in 5.25-inch CD ROM drive. In addition to
 the CD ROM, the 7.2-pound unit also sports two infrared ports. IBM will
 release infrared add-in cards next month at Comdex for use in Micro
 Channel- and ISA-based PCs and a PCMCIA card for notebooks, said
 officials.

 The 755CD and the non-CD ROM version, the 755CE, also feature a unique
 digital-signal-processor-based communications card that sports
 data/fax/telephone communications. Built-in speakers and a microphone
 turn the systems into full-duplex speakerphones.

 Although IBM didn't outline any plans for Intel Corp.'s new 75MHz
 Pentium chip in this round of ThinkPads, the company plans to release a
 75MHz Pentium-based ThinkPad equipped with a lithium-ion battery in the
 first half of 1995, officials said.

 IBM will load the hard drives of all desktops and notebooks with Windows
 3.1 and OS/2 Warp, while Windows NT will be added next year, officials
 said. Users will be able to delete undesired applications and operating
 systems with a single keystroke, they said.

 ================================================================

 Microsoft Exchange integrates workflow

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Mary Jo Foley and Paula Rooney

 The third beta of Microsoft Corp.'s Exchange messaging server, to be
 released by year's end, will include only rudimentary workflow
 capabilities that sources said fall short of what corporate developers
 need to build sophisticated workflow-management systems.

 For the past two years, Microsoft has been working to add a more
 advanced electronic forms capability, an integrated version of its
 Schedule+ appointment manager, and a rudimentary workflow system to the
 Microsoft Exchange Server.

 "They have nothing close to industrial-process-strength workflow," said
 one source briefed on Brazil. "This will be OK for simple expense-report
 routing for small workgroups, but the hard-core workflow people still
 will build their own or buy something."

 The target for release of Exchange and its integrated workflow system --
 code-named Norway and, more recently, Brazil -- is mid-1995. The third
 Exchange beta is due in November or December, sources said.

 Microsoft originally had ambitious plans for a robust stand-alone
 workflow package but decided instead to bundle basic routing technology
 into Exchange and depend on third-party developers to write MAPI
 (Messaging API) 1.0 applications.

 Toward that end, Microsoft has teamed up with Action Technologies Inc.,
 of Alameda, Calif., and Midak International Inc., of Tucson, Ariz., to
 create basic workflow and forms capabilities for Exchange. It has also
 forged partnerships with high-end workflow vendors and imaging vendors
 such as FileNet Corp., of Costa Mesa, Calif., to provide high-end
 workflow applications, such as insurance-forms processing.

 Workflow will also be provided through client- and server-based rules
 and agents in Exchange, said Todd Warren, group product manager for
 Microsoft's BackOffice server suite, in Redmond, Wash.

 Microsoft is also developing a workflow scripting language, related to
 Visual Basic, to allow developers to build more complex workflow
 applications and Common Object Model workflow objects, sources said.

 A combination of workflow, rules, and agents, and scripting with
 Exchange's central forms and message registry, will enable production-
 level application development because the registry interfaces directly
 to Microsoft's MAPI and ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) API, said
 sources close to the company. The registry is based on Jet Engine
 technology from Microsoft's Access database-development package.

 "Through ODBC you can view database data in Exchange as tables, and it's
 easy within [Visual Basic] to get to SQL data [to build workflow
 applications]," Warren said.

 Sources said Microsoft also has been talking to CentreFile Systems Ltd.,
 the systems-integration arm of Britain's National Westminster Bank plc,
 about its high-end workflow-management package, called Integrated Work.
 CentreFile is signing up resellers for the product and has thus far
 signed up Sequent Computer Systems Inc., Aspect Telecommunications Inc.,
 and TimeLine Inc. to remarket the product.

 ================================================================

 Gateway debuts new Pentium PC

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Lisa DiCarlo and Michael R.
 Zimmerman

 Looking to extend its early lead as a supplier of Pentium PCs, Gateway
 2000 Inc. this week plans to announce a souped-up 100MHz Pentium tower
 machine.

 To date, Dell Computer Corp. is the only other PC maker to announce a
 100MHz Pentium-based desktop. The Dell machines, however, are not widely
 available because of a limited supply of Pentium processors from Intel
 Corp., said officials at Dell, in Austin, Texas.

 But there will be more to the Gateway P5-100XL than just the latest
 Pentium processor, said sources close to the North Sioux City, S.D.,
 company. The machine will also tout a quadruple-speed CD ROM drive, a
 1G-byte IDE hard drive, and 16M bytes of RAM (expandable to 124M bytes)
 standard for $4,299, they said. Earlier Pentium models from Gateway came
 standard with a double-speed CD ROM drive and a 500M-byte hard drive.

 In addition, Gateway will replace its CrystalScan 1776LE monitor with a
 17-inch Trinitron monitor from Sony Corp. of America, called Vivitron,
 that produces crisper images.

 The system will be based on Intel's Peripheral Component Interconnect
 local-bus technology, sources said. To take advantage of the system,
 Gateway will place on the local bus a 64-bit graphics accelerator. The
 machine will also come with 2M bytes of video RAM and a 16-bit WAC table
 sound card, sources said.

 For software, Gateway will bundle Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 3.x, Office
 suite, and Windows for Workgroups 3.11, sources said.

 The P5-100XL, due in November, will also include external speakers.

 "You always want to be at the front end of technology, so this sounds
 good," said William Fleek, chief of information resources at the
 National Marine Fisheries Service in Juneau, Alaska.

 Fleek recently purchased 24 P90 systems from Gateway for use at the
 center. Although Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 3.11 performance shows no
 great improvement over 486-based PCs, Fleek is impressed with their 64-
 bit graphics accelerators and their ability to "send things across the
 network a lot faster."

 Officials at Gateway, which has shipped the most Pentium PCs in the
 industry to date, declined to comment on unannounced products.

 In related news, Gateway recently announced that it would make double-
 speed CD ROM drives standard on all desktops.

 ================================================================

 IBM, Compaq enjoy third-quarter gains

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Robert L. Scheier and Michael R.
 Zimmerman

 IBM's comeback gained strength last week, while Compaq Computer Corp.
 lengthened its lead over rivals as the computer giants announced their
 third-quarter results.

 Cost-cutting, an upsurge in mainframe sales, and rising demand in Europe
 and the Asia-Pacific region helped IBM earn $689 million for the quarter
 ended Sept. 30, vs. a $48 million loss in the year-ago quarter.

 Mainframe revenue rose for the first time since the second quarter of
 1992, with sales of the midrange AS/400 systems growing 25 percent year-
 over-year, IBM Chief Financial Officer Jerry York told analysts last
 week.

 Overall sales rose 8.6 percent to $15.4 billion, and gross profit
 margins remained virtually flat at 39.9 percent for the eighth
 consecutive quarter, York said.

 PCs, low-end software such as OS/2, and storage products continue to be
 problem areas for IBM, York acknowledged. PC revenue grew at low-double-
 digit rates, he said, "an encouraging improvement from the mid-single-
 digit growth in the second quarter. But this business has a long way to
 go."

 York declined to comment on reports that IBM might invest in Apple
 Computer Inc. as part of a renewed alliance to push PowerPC-based
 computers. He seemed to rule out industry reports of an outright
 purchase of Apple, saying IBM has "no strategic acquisitions under
 consideration at this time."

 IBM's PC rival -- Houston-based Compaq -- sprinted farther ahead of IBM
 and the rest of the competition, reporting that sales for its third
 quarter had soared past last year's record by a whopping 63 percent.

 Compaq, which beat out IBM and Apple in the past two quarters to be the
 No. 1 PC supplier in the world, posted earnings of $201 million on sales
 of $2.8 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30. In the year-ago period,
 Compaq earned $107 million on sales of $1.7 billion.

 With IBM sold out of its new Aptiva consumer system and AST Research
 Inc. falling behind in portables, Compaq is in great shape entering the
 fourth quarter, observers said.

 "No question, Compaq will pick up users who can't buy from AST or IBM,"
 said William Gurley, an analyst at CS First Boston Corp., in New York.
 "And with the inventory it's got," Compaq will be well-suited to fill
 the need, Gurley said.

 ================================================================

 Microsoft-Intuit deal poses challenges

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Jane Morrissey

 Microsoft Corp.'s planned merger with Intuit Inc. holds promise for a
 lucrative, recurring revenue stream garnered from on-line financial
 services, but the companies face a number of obstacles before they can
 cash in.

 By seeding the market with Quicken as the front end, the Redmond, Wash.,
 company hopes to build on Intuit's strategy of hooking up users to an
 emerging world of transaction-based services, beginning with on-line
 banking.

 Intuit is currently compensated on a transaction basis via its
 relationship with Checkfree Corp.'s electronic bill-payment system as
 well as sharing revenues with member banks participating in its Quicken
 Affinity credit card. Intuit's own stock-update service also reaps
 direct monthly charges from customers.

 That start, teamed with efforts to build new relationships with
 financial institutions and acquisitions akin to Intuit's purchase of
 National Payment Clearinghouse Inc. to bring service elements in-house,
 could beef up Microsoft's Marvel on-line service and enable the giant to
 reap billions of dollars in personal- or business-transaction fees.

 "Certainly, managing finances defined in the broadest way is either the
 -- or a -- pre-eminent application that [the] electronic world will
 advance," said Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

 But Intuit officials caution that there are many technology and
 marketing hurdles to cross before Microsoft can bank on the new
 transaction-oriented business model.

 "This is a huge opportunity, but it's also a huge task," said Eric Dunn,
 vice president and general manager of Intuit's personal finance
 division, in Menlo Park, Calif. "We've been doing this for four years,
 and we have a few-percent penetration, and the number of credit cards we
 have is measured in the low tens of thousands."

 Microsoft also needs to continue to cultivate relationships with
 financial institutions, not compete with them, Intuit officials said.

 The potential wealth gained from these services, along with Microsoft's
 already-stellar financial performance -- it reported sales last week of
 $1.3 billion for its first fiscal quarter, ended Sept. 30, a 27 percent
 jump over the year-ago quarter, with earnings up 32 percent to $316
 million -- is expected to draw renewed attention from government
 antitrust agencies.

 Microsoft is trying to avoid that scrutiny by handing off Microsoft
 Money to Novell Inc. (see story entitled "Money may be ticket for
 Novell"), but it may not be enough. Microsoft still wields enormous
 market power, especially if it opts to leverage its massive OEM channel
 to promulgate Quicken, and that could lead the government to bar the
 deal or give it conditional approval.

 There are other challenges, including a lawsuit filed by an Intuit
 shareholder that seeks an injunction on the deal. And if the deal is
 approved, the companies face the internal challenge of remotely managing
 a major site.

 "It's certainly a viable move, but in terms of creating an instant new
 industry, it's not going to happen that quickly," said John Donovan, an
 analyst with WorkGroup Technologies Inc., in Hampton, N.H.

 Additional reporting by Ted Smalley Bowen

 ================================================================

 Microsoft builds links from Unix to Windows NT

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Mary Jo Foley

 Through the end of the year, Microsoft Corp. will roll out a steady
 stream of tools, utilities, and Internet connectivity designed to entice
 Unix users to link -- if not switch completely -- to Windows NT 3.5.

 Microsoft also is paving the way for NT 3.5 and Windows 95 to share the
 same look and feel. Over the past couple of weeks, Microsoft has begun
 delivering Windows 95 DLLs (dynamic link libraries) to a number of NT
 developers, sources said. The DLLs include Windows 95 controls that will
 allow developers to create a single version of a 32-bit application that
 will run on both Windows 95 and NT 3.5.

 Many developers consider the availability of the Windows 95 DLLs for NT
 3.5 as Microsoft's first step toward providing the Windows 95 look and
 feel for NT. Microsoft officials have said repeatedly that NT 3.5 will
 not sport the Windows 95 user interface until Microsoft releases Cairo.
 But numerous NT developers said they expect Microsoft will issue an
 interim release of NT some time next year with the full Windows 95
 interface.

 During the next few weeks, Microsoft will be putting the wraps on its NT
 3.5 Resource Kit, a collection of utilities and documentation to
 supplement NT 3.5, which began shipping at the end of September.
 Microsoft's goal is to deliver the Resource Kit by mid-November, company
 officials said. But Microsoft might choose to hold off on delivering the
 Resource Kit until closer to year's end to add more utilities, including
 some specifically for NT for the PowerPC, the officials added.

 The NT Resource Kit will include code to allow users to set up NT 3.5
 Server as Gopher, World-Wide Web, and DNS (Domain Name Server) servers,
 confirmed J. Allard, program manager for Internet technologies with
 Microsoft's business systems division, in Redmond, Wash. Gopher and
 World-Wide Web are public-domain Internet servers; DNS is a server that
 handles mapping between host names and IP addresses for the entire
 Internet.

 "DNS will be key," Allard said. "A number of users say they are keeping
 Unix around just for its domain-server capabilities. Our DNS is code
 we've written at Microsoft."

 Besides making NT a full Internet server and client, Microsoft is
 working with a number of third-party vendors to port traditional Unix
 utilities to NT.

 Users want more of the Unix utilities for NT. "I plan on keeping file
 serving on Unix because of its more powerful processing capabilities,"
 said Tim Finefield, manager of engineering records with AllTel Service
 Corp., a Little Rock, Ark., telecommunications company.

 "But because I'm using NT on the same network, it would be good to have
 common capabilities, and things like common backup, across the two,"
 Finefield said.

 Microsoft has yet to decide on final pricing for the Resource Kit, but
 the 90-day promotional price is likely to be $149.95, which includes
 four books of documentation, officials said.

 ================================================================

 Money may be ticket for Novell

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Jane Morrissey

 Novell Inc. -- which once led the antitrust troops to investigate
 Microsoft Corp.'s business practices -- is ironically helping the
 software giant push through its proposed merger with Intuit Inc. by
 picking up its Money personal-finance manager.

 Many question why Novell is backing a product that even Microsoft has
 had trouble promoting against Intuit's market-leading Quicken. But
 Novell officials said they have a clear rationale: While Microsoft pays
 a $1.5 billion premium for Intuit to get into electronic commerce, the
 Provo, Utah, networking leader gains entree to the same market with
 Money by making some minor royalty payments.

 "I know we ... look like we're picking up table scraps," said Jeff
 Mallett, vice president and general manager of Novell's consumer
 division, in Orem, Utah. "But I think the playing field will be leveled
 by on-line services."

 With Money, Novell becomes No. 2 in the personal-finance software market
 and can leverage Money's installed base of 1 million users for its own
 on-line banking efforts. Mallett said he is working to expand Money's
 relationships with financial-service providers, including a major
 credit-card provider, and plans to leverage Novell's relationship with
 AT&T Corp. and its own Corsair front-end technology to deliver a
 backbone for such services.

 "This looks like a step backward after several strong steps forward,"
 said Rich Edwards, an analyst at Robertson, Stephens & Co., in San
 Francisco.

 ================================================================

 Open Market links buyers, sellers on the Internet

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Kimberly Patch

 A Massachusetts developer will announce this week an Internet
 "marketplace" aimed at providing businesses and end users with an easy
 way to conduct transactions on-line.

 Open Market Inc.'s namesake software includes server software, secure-
 transaction tools, and search tools for potential buyers. Open Market is
 designed to "manage secure payment in an open system and match up people
 who need information with information about products," said Shikhar
 Ghosh, CEO of the Cambridge, Mass., firm.

 The software, which is available now, will address a major drawback to
 the Internet by providing a secure method for business transactions,
 officials said.

 Products sold via Open Market will include "information-based services
 ... and remote retailing via electronic catalogs," Ghosh said. Open
 Market includes three applications for users who wish to sell items
 through the service.

 StoreBuilder uses forms that let users construct a World-Wide Web home
 page with data about their goods and services. StoreManager lets
 merchants maintain on-line businesses. PaymentServer provides a real-
 time payment and customer-service system with a choice of security
 schemes, including simple password security, multiple keywords, and
 hardware and software smart cards.

 Open Market will support other billing schemes, including digital cash
 (see story entitled "Pair banks on digital cash on the Internet"). Smart
 cards generate onetime-use secure codes for billing with transaction
 data embedded in them.

 Users with Open Market accounts receive a personal home page, where data
 needed for transactions is stored. They can also query the marketplace
 by placing requests for goods or information on their home pages. Open
 Market uses intelligent software agents to find answers to user
 questions.

 Users are not charged for services, except for the hardware
 implementation of the smart card, which costs $50.

 Initial server software users include Mead Data Central Inc., which is
 readying information products from its Lexis/Nexis database for sale on
 the Internet.

 "Open Market makes it affordable to serve the casual user," said Patrick
 Toner, business development manager at Mead, in Columbus, Ohio. "Someone
 who's just surfing the net can stop by, purchase a couple of articles
 from Lexis/Nexis, and they're on their way -- no need for a multiyear
 contract."

 For merchants Open Market's server software package costs $600. Security
 and transaction costs range from $50 to $300 per month for a few
 thousand transactions.

 ================================================================

 IBM woos OS/2 ISVs with low-priced porting tools

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Andy Patrizio

 IBM is determined to recruit ISVs to finally build the native OS/2
 applications it desperately wants to see, even if that means selling
 top-of-the-line developer tools for next to nothing.

 A special edition of IBM's Developer's Connection for OS/2, due to ship
 next month, will include a fully functional version of SMART (Source
 Migration Analysis Reporting Toolset) 2.0 licensed from One Up Corp., of
 Dallas. The list price for SMART 2.0 was $15,000, but a one-year
 subscription for the quarterly Developer's Connection disks is only
 $199.

 IBM purchased exclusive sales and marketing rights to SMART, said One Up
 President Richard Dews. One Up will continue to upgrade the tool.

 One Up claims SMART 2.0 can port as much as 80 percent of a 16-bit
 Windows application to 32-bit OS/2 code in a single pass. One Up and IBM
 officials are hoping that this reduction in development time and effort
 will convince ISVs they will get "an acceptable return on investment for
 an OS/2 product," Dews said.

 One Up also has the Smart Partner Program, an education and assistance
 program for porting applications, developed in conjunction with IBM.
 ISVs and corporate developers spend a week in Dallas with One Up
 engineers learning to port applications with SMART.

 ISVs have to be convinced there will be strong user demand for OS/2
 applications. Novell Inc.'s WordPerfect division entered, then abruptly
 left, the OS/2 market last year. Currently, the firm is on the fence.

 "They've done a lot to improve the product, and if it does substantially
 better, we may change that," said Mark Calkins, vice president of
 marketing at the Orem, Utah, division. "As of now, we're in a wait-and-
 see mode."

 ================================================================

 Large-screen, `instant-on' notebooks debut at Comdex

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Michael R. Zimmerman

 Attendees at Comdex next month will get a glimpse of the future as
 vendors show portable systems with 11.3-inch color screens, lithium-ion
 batteries, and unique programmable "instant-on" software.

 Hewlett-Packard Co. will introduce its OmniBook 600PC subnotebook, with
 an 8.5-inch dual-scan color display and a programmable instant-on
 feature that facilitates boot-ups. The Palo Alto, Calif., firm will also
 unveil the OmniBook 4000 notebook.

 Other vendors showing new portables at Comdex will include IPC
 Technologies Inc., which will unveil a notebook with an 11.3-inch dual-
 scan passive-matrix color display, and AST Research Inc., which will
 introduce its Ascentia 910 with a lithium-ion battery.

 The new instant-on feature in HP's 3.8-pound OmniBook 600PC lets users
 assign separate applications, such as communications, to each of the
 keyboard's 12 Function keys, sources said. Upon power-up, pressing the
 specified key switches the user to that application, they said. HP
 officials declined to comment.

 IPC will have four prototypes of its as-yet-unnamed 6.5-pound notebooks
 at the show, officials at the Austin, Texas, company said. The 25/75MHz
 and 33/100MHz 486DX4-based systems include 11.3-inch Sanyo-made
 displays, support for up to 32M bytes of RAM, an 810M-byte hard drive,
 and a 4-hour nickel-metal hydride battery.

 IPC expects to ship the units in January starting at about $2,500.

 Though company officials declined comment, sources said versions of the
 IPC systems will be offered by Canon Computer Systems Inc. Along with
 these notebooks, IPC will unveil its first 75MHz Pentium-based system.

 AST will release its Ascentia 910 notebook with the 75MHz Pentium chip,
 500M-byte hard drive, and lithium-ion battery, officials from the
 Irvine, Calif., firm said. No other details were given.

 Corporate buyers said these new features will push notebooks and
 subnotebooks further into computing's mainstream. "There are only a few
 things that preclude notebooks from reaching adolescence: battery life,
 screen size, and keyboard size," said Ki Wilson, senior microcomputer
 analyst at Stone Container Corp., in Chicago.

 Additional reporting by Lisa DiCarlo

 ================================================================

 Spence spooked by eerie absence of Visual C++

 Rumor Central from PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Spencer F. Katt

 Spencer knew it when he heard it: the dreadful cybernetic tick of a time
 bomb in the Windows NT 3.5 SDK beta. The compiler was set to blow on
 Halloween, forcing developers to shell out real money for Visual C++
 2.0.

 But wait a minute. Halloween was fast approaching, and Visual C++ still
 wasn't in the stores. What if ... ?

 No, Microsoft would never be late with a product, would they? They'd
 never leave developers without a functioning compiler, would they?

 A quick call to Redmond confirmed it: A last-minute bug had delayed
 production of Visual C++ 2.0. This caused a backlog of orders, a
 momentary panic among developers, and some suggestions that programmers
 could use the time to build applications for Warp.

 But Microsoft has promised that the product would be on the shelves
 before the time-bomb deadline. And, just in case, they said they'd post
 a patch on CompuServe that would defuse the bomb for 45 days. Maybe
 those rumbles Spence had heard about transferring Visual C++ to the
 Microsoft Kids and Games unit were true.

 "Microsoft is not stopping at acquiring Intuit," mumbled yet another
 Intuit tipster claiming to know the real reason behind the purchase.
 "Their aim, other than `buying' the personal-finance market, is to also
 get their hands on Intuit's TurboTax. They are looking to acquire the
 CheckFree system to integrate into Marvel, as well as a system for
 electronically filing tax returns through Marvel. This would give folks
 a one-stop shop for managing finances, filing taxes, and paying bills
 all on their PCs."

 Other Intuit grumbles passed on to the Katt tip line included Quicken
 Version 4, which has only been out about a week, not running under Win
 OS/2, although Version 3 ran fine under OS/2.

 Separately, Great Plains Software, after unsuccessfully reselling a
 small-business accounting package to Microsoft, is still handling
 support calls for Intuit QuickBooks, but is more than curious to see if
 that will continue under the Redmond regime.

 Indeed, it is an incestuous business, harrumphed the hair ball, after
 learning Lotus' corporate development maven, K.C. Branscom, is best
 friends with Scott Cook's wife, Signe. In fact, she was scheduled to be
 in the wedding party at K.C.'s wedding in Calistoga last Saturday. The
 relationship implied a promise that Intuit would give Lotus a heads-up
 if it ever decided to sell out ... but the phone in Cambridge never
 rang.

 ViP applications running on top of a Lotus Notes Express pack will allow
 a user to manipulate full-blown Notes databases, explained one Notes
 tipster. Simply put, ViP, which includes a copy of Lotus Notes Server
 for Windows, plus Lotus Notes Express, will allow you to use application
 databases developed under the full-blown Notes client. Given how ugly
 regular Notes applications look without ViP, is it any loss to develop
 your apps in ViP and then distribute them with the free ViP run-time?

 The catch? You need to create the database in the full-blown version of
 Notes first and then create the ViP program. You don't need to structure
 the forms in Notes or get too worried about layout until you get into
 ViP.

 Have a tip? Call Rumor Central at [phone]; On MCI, It's SKATT; on
 CompuServe, use 72631,107; on the Internet, it's
 [e-mail]; or try ZiffNet'S PC Week Forum on CompuServe,
 or FAX the KATT at [phone].

 ================================================================

 Pair banks on digital cash on the Internet

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Kimberly Patch

 A pair of "digital cash" systems, from First Virtual Holdings Inc. and
 DigiCash BV, debuted on the Internet last week.

 Each offers users an easier way to buy and sell information and goods
 on-line, but the schemes take different approaches.

 First Virtual's system does not require encryption. After a user places
 an order, the merchant asks the bank for payment. First Virtual, of
 Santa Clara, Calif., then puts together the transaction information and
 mails it electronically to the user for confirmation. If the user
 confirms, the bank debits the user's account and pays the merchant. The
 user has the option to decline to confirm the payment. To protect
 merchants, the bank tracks "no" payments and will drop customers who
 abuse the system.

 ecash, from DigiCash, of Amsterdam, Netherlands, is a secure electronic
 currency system. To use ecash, the user generates random numbers that
 serve as bank notes and asks the bank to sign them. The bank signs the
 note with a secure signature that includes its value, then debits the
 user's account. When the note is deposited, the bank credits the
 merchant's account. The bank's signature is blind -- meaning it does not
 see or record the numbers the user assigns to the notes.

 "DigiCash looks like it will be useful," said Percy Young, director of
 store systems for Burlington Coat Factory, in Etna, N.H., which sells
 merchandise using a World-Wide Web server. "I'm looking for ways that
 will guarantee I get paid." First Virtual is a riskier proposition for a
 company selling hard goods, because if a customer refuses payment, there
 is a bottom-line loss, Young added.

 ================================================================

 It's time to make the Internet easier to use

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Steve Hamm

 Don't believe the hypsters. They claim the Internet is a glorious
 information storehouse begging to be explored by anybody with a
 smattering of computer literacy. Dream on! It's more like a vast, dusty
 library with no card catalog and no kindly spinster librarian to answer
 your stupid questions. Unless you know Unix and have the patience of a
 filing clerk, you can get lost in the stacks.

 Fortunately, for consumers and the computer industry alike, that's
 starting to change. IBM's latest version of OS/2 offers an Internet
 gateway big enough to drive a Winnebago through. Spry Inc.'s new
 Internet In A Box gives the novice a one-stop-shopping package of
 Internet access and navigation tools -- plus a handy guidebook. And
 Mosaic Communications is literally giving its NetScape browser to
 individuals -- hoping to profit on business sales. Plus, all commercial
 on-line services are tripping over each other to get hooks into the
 Internet.

 The result: After 20 years on the fringe, the Internet is finally on the
 verge of mass acceptance. "It could be 100 million users by the end of
 the decade. I don't think that's unattainable," says Tony Rutkowski,
 executive director of the Internet Society standards group. So, at last,
 with this scale of audience on the horizon, there are compelling reasons
 for computer companies to write software, provide services, or do
 business on the Net.

 No wonder this breakthrough is so tardy, though. Internet boosters claim
 20 to 30 million users now, but some analysts and software executives
 scoff. They say only a couple of million people regularly venture beyond
 E-mail and forums. "You have to know some Unix, and I can't believe the
 average person cracks a Unix book at the end of a long day's work," says
 Jayne Levin, editor of the Internet Letter. Even Mosaic, the
 breakthrough shareware browser, doesn't make Net surfing easy enough for
 the beginner. It's designed for JPEG jockeys outfitted with Silicon
 Graphics workstations and T-1 cables. Wanna download a color photo file
 over telephone lines? Better have a bunch of E-mail to fiddle with while
 you wait.

 Still, Mosaic deserves credit for blazing the trail. Its GUI and text-
 linking capabilities lay the foundation for Internet In A Box and other
 browsers. IBM's OS/2 provides perhaps the biggest breakthrough. For the
 price of the operating system, users also get an access service,
 communications software, utilities, and a browser -- plus the ability to
 conduct multiple searches simultaneously. Mosaic Communications improves
 on Mosaic, too. The firm's just-released NetScape browser will be the
 first to offer secure communications -- in a quick update due next
 month. And TeleGrafix Communications claims RipScrip 2.0, its browser
 and publishing tool, allows people to download files in a flash on
 regular phone wires.

 There's plenty left to be done, however. The Internet must be more
 secure, more reliable, and still easier to use. While these problems are
 barriers to commerce on the Net, they offer new business opportunities
 for software companies that are able to design nifty user interfaces,
 search engines, authoring tools, and the like. Spry is so anxious to get
 ISVs involved that it ships APIs along with its consumer product.
 "Anybody with some imagination and some drive can solve some problems
 and make some money," says Paul Johnson, senior product manager for
 Internet In A Box.

 Everybody needs a GUI, for instance: every browser, every on-line
 service, and every home page -- the virtual storefronts where companies
 offer information, products, and services. Delphi, the commercial on-
 line service, for instance, has just begun shopping around for third
 parties with GUI technologies.

 But what good is a pretty face if it's just masking chaos? Better
 directories are needed to make the Internet navigable. Ultimately, the
 telephone companies are expected to handle this chore, but they need
 technologies for determining who is on the Net and how to find them.

 The Internet also needs more powerful search engines. Sure, you have
 your choice of dozens of shareware and commercial engines now. But
 they're not up to the task. "If you want to buy a pair of shoes, it will
 take some time," warns Paul Koontz, VP of marketing for Mosaic
 Communications. Also wanted: authoring tools and better compression
 technologies.

 And what about security? The Internet is open. Some people snoop. Some
 steal. RSA Data Security, the leading encryption company, is licensing
 its technology to most of the major browser developers. But there are
 still opportunities for others that offer specialized security systems.

 Without security, it's tough to sell stuff on the Net. Right now there
 are a handful of on-line malls, like The Internet Shopping Network and
 Tag On-Line. But they're more like strip malls than gallerias --
 populated with small boutiques rather than department stores. That could
 change soon. CyberCash Inc., for instance, hopes to deliver payment
 authorization services early next year that let merchants conclude
 transactions on-line.

 The same thing needs to happen to kick-start business-to-business
 commerce. CommerceNet, which started last spring, is building just such
 a transaction infrastructure -- a forum where thousands of companies
 post catalogs of goods and services, seek out vendors, conduct
 competitive bidding, and complete transactions. Executive Director Cathy
 Medich is shopping for technologies from third parties to glue the
 system together.

 With all this new software and all these systems in place, the Internet
 might just become a communications tool powerful enough to match its
 hype. But there will still be one thorny, unanswered question. Is there
 really a sustainable mass audience for this stuff? It's possible that
 the white-hot Internet may turn out to be a passing fancy. It could be
 this era's Hula-Hoop and gather dust for generations to come.

 Senior Editor Steve Hamm can be reached at [e-mail].

 ================================================================

 Zeos, CompuAdd seek financial muscle

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Michael R. Zimmerman

 Zeos International Ltd. and CompuAdd Computer Corp., direct marketers
 that last year entertained the idea of merging as an antedote to their
 financial ills, are once again looking to acquisition -- this time with
 separate suitors.

 Minneapolis-based Zeos, which wallowed in the red for more than two
 years before turning profitable for the last two quarters, last week
 announced a letter of intent to merge with Micron Computer Inc. and
 Micron Custom Manufacturing Services Inc., subsidiaries of Micron
 Technology Inc. The letter of intent, which will expire Oct. 30 if not
 signed, would result in Micron Technology's owning 89 percent of Zeos'
 common stock, with the remaining 11 percent held by current Zeos
 shareholders.

 Meanwhile, CompuAdd, based in Austin, Texas, last week was acquired by
 private investment firm Dimeling, Schreiber & Park, of Philadelphia. As
 a result, CompuAdd, which operated under Chapter 11 bankruptcy
 protection from June to November 1993, received an undisclosed cash
 infusion and has been granted a new line of bank credit worth $16
 million.

 Dimeling, Schreiber & Park has created a new board of directors for
 CompuAdd, on which three of its members will sit. The merger will have
 no effect on business operations, but will allow CompuAdd to ramp up
 component purchases, enabling it to fulfill more orders, according to
 CompuAdd Chief Operating Officer Rick Krause.

 Aside from its financial promise, the Micron deal is attractive to Zeos
 for the opportunity to second-source components and parts such as
 motherboards, hard drives, and RAM, according to Greg Herrick, Zeos'
 chairman, CEO, and president.

 "This is not an act of desperation," Herrick said. "We've been looking
 for ideas to build our business, and we may be on to something here with
 the Micron subsidiaries."

 Currently, there is no formal deal with Micron, and a stipulation in the
 letter of intent allows for Zeos to enter into business negotiations
 with other vendors "prior to the execution of a definitive agreement."

 Zeos last week reported its second consecutive quarterly profit, with
 earnings of $426,000 on sales of $66.2 million for its third fiscal
 quarter, ended Oct. 1. The company ended the third quarter with $15
 million in cash and equivalents and has no long- or short-term debt.

 Herrick attributed much of his company's return to profitability to the
 success of its Meridian notebook and subnotebook lines and its Pantera
 Pentium-based desktops.

 Attention: You are now reading news which is expressly prepared for
 ZiffNet members. If you redistribute this file, or any part therein, on
 any online service, BBS, LAN, WAN or other electronic or print
 distribution mechanism, you are in violation of U.S. copyright laws--and
 are subject to subsequent penalties.

 ================================================================

 Motorola set to ship Gecko PDA

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 Michael Moeller

 Motorola Corp. will begin shipping in limited quantities next month its
 first personal digital assistant, code-named Gecko, based on the Newton
 operating system.

 Motorola plans to ship the device, priced at less than $1,500, to a
 select group of customers this year; no formal rollout plans are
 scheduled until after the Comdex show in Las Vegas next month, said
 sources close to the company.

 Gecko will differ from current Newton offerings in that the PDA will
 open like a book, from the side, and will lock into place with the
 screen on the right and the CPU on the left, according to sources.
 Motorola also plans to use the screen technology found in the Newton
 MessagePad 100, which sources claim offers much-improved readability.
 Gecko will also include a built-in Ardis wireless modem that will
 provide two-way wireless E-mail and messaging capabilities.

 Motorola, of Schaumburg, Ill., will work with third-party vendors to
 distribute the device. The company has already struck a deal with
 SkyNotes Inc., of Los Angeles. SkyNotes plans to bundle its Lotus Notes
 wireless client/server applications onto the device and rename it the
 SkyNotes Communicator 1, according to Marc Menowitz, director of
 SkyNotes.

 Motorola officials had no comment about availability of the device or
 licensing agreements with third parties, saying only that the company is
 working on a Newton-based PDA.

 ================================================================

 InterNotes offers links to Internet

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Paula Rooney

 Lotus Development Corp. will unveil this quarter the first of its
 InterNotes family of products that will let users link to the Internet
 to access Notes databases and other on-line data.

 The key product in the InterNotes family -- currently called Web Link --
 will let Internet users access Notes databases from WWW (World-Wide Web)
 servers. The software was developed and recently sold to Lotus by
 Corporate Software Inc., of Canton, Mass.

 The Web Link gateway between Notes and HTML (Hypertext Markup Language),
 one of several products Lotus is preparing for its InterNotes suite,
 takes Notes documents and converts them to the HTML document format used
 by Web servers so they can be displayed and viewed over the WWW. It will
 cost approximately $9,000, according to sources familiar with Lotus'
 plans.

 Web Link also will maintain the DocLinks in Notes documents viewed by
 WWW users, sources said.

 "It preserves all hypertext links and DocLinks in Notes databases and
 represents them exactly the same way in WWW," said one source familiar
 with the software.

 Corporate Software is working to provide bidirectional conversion for
 Web Link, which will let users take HTML documents on the WWW and
 automatically convert them to the Notes format. This will let users
 easily pull data from WWW servers into their Notes databases. The update
 will also add security features, said sources.

 Lotus is also working on a gateway to interface Notes to UseNet News
 servers on the Internet. Sources said the Cambridge, Mass., company is
 also working on a gateway to link Notes with File Transfer Protocol
 servers.

 ================================================================

 Lotus will provide full MAPI 1.0 support in Notes 4.0

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Paula Rooney

 Acknowledging its surrender in the messaging standards war, Lotus
 Development Corp. is building support for Microsoft Corp.'s forthcoming
 Messaging API 1.0 into Notes 4.0, which will allow MAPI-based messaging
 and other workgroup programs to work with Notes.

 Lotus, of Cambridge, Mass., will provide full support for Microsoft's
 extended MAPI 1.0 -- as well as its own VIM (Vendor-Independent
 Messaging) API -- in Notes 4.0, Lotus sources said. That support,
 observers said, will provide a boon to companies implementing Notes-
 based client/server networks.

 "MAPI 1.0 support is vital not only for E-mail and messaging, but for
 all calendaring and workflow applications," said David Marshak, editor
 of Workgroup Computing Report, an industry newsletter published by
 Patricia Seybold's Office Computing Group, in Boston.

 For the past three years, the two leading messaging vendors have clung
 tenaciously to their own APIs, offering limited interoperability via the
 CMC (Common Mail Call) standard for sending mail between applications
 and forcing developers and users to choose one API over the other.

 "In Notes 4.0, the programmer has a choice of programming to VIM, CMC,
 or MAPI and using the Notes messaging and directory back end," a Lotus
 source said. "Although we prefer VIM, we know that we won't capture 100
 percent of the programmers, and there are clearly other standards out
 there that we must pay attention to."

 One Notes developer said the addition of support for MAPI 1.0 is
 critical.

 "This will give our products a degree of interoperability with other
 [MAPI] applications like never before," said Mitch Schanke, lead
 developer at Application Partners Inc., in Iselin, N.J. "They can be
 much more closely integrated."

 Support for MAPI 1.0 in Notes 4.0 is significant because the forthcoming
 version of the messaging standard breaks the client connection to the
 server.

 This break will allow E-mail administrators to mix and match MAPI-based
 clients with the server. This is not possible with the current simple
 MAPI standard, which provides only for the ability to send E-mail from
 one MAPI application to another.

 MAPI 1.0 features service-provider interfaces that will allow E-mail
 vendors such as Lotus, Banyan Systems Inc., Digital Equipment Corp., and
 CompuServe to hook their mail and directory engines underneath MAPI 1.0
 applications. The work on a service-provider interface for Notes 4.0 has
 been completed, a source said.

 The service-provider interfaces will allow MAPI 1.0 clients -- including
 Microsoft Mail, Schedule+, and the InfoCenter E-mail client Microsoft is
 building into Windows 95 -- to serve as front ends to the Notes 4.0
 server, due in mid-1995. MAPI 1.0 will be available with the shipment of
 Windows 95, which is also due by the middle of next year.

 Notes 4.0 itself will provide a variety of automated workflow features
 such as agents and buttons. For example, the upgrade will include an
 Agent Builder that lets users create and define actions from dialog
 boxes, sources said.

 Support for the LotusScript development language will also let users
 define application automation, they said.

 ================================================================

 Lotus makes good on NotesSuite promise

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Ted Smalley Bowen

 With the announcement of its long-awaited NotesSuite, Lotus Development
 Corp. this week will add workgroup-enabled applications to its shrink-
 wrapped offerings for the first time.

 NotesSuite consists of SmartSuite 3.0 for Windows and Notes 3.2,
 packaged on CD ROM, with a set of Notes/FX applications for tasks such
 as maintaining documents, handling expense reports, managing contacts,
 and channeling on-line information.

 The estimated street price for NotesSuite, which is slated to ship by
 the end of November, is $583, with upgrades expected to be priced at
 $499. That represents a 20 percent savings over buying Notes and
 SmartSuite separately, according to Jack Armstrong, senior product
 manager for SmartSuite, at the Cambridge, Mass., firm. SmartSuite
 consists of 1-2-3 Release 5, Ami Pro 3.1, Freelance Graphics 2.1,
 Approach 3.0, and Organizer 1.1.

 "For corporate sites trying to make an enterprise decision, this gives
 them something out of the box that they can pilot without a large
 commitment of resources," said beta tester Richard Koppel, managing
 partner of technology at Coopers & Lybrand, in New York.

 "We have people internally developing in Notes, but not many of them
 understand FX," said Kevin Caine, manager of personal productivity at
 Progressive Corp., in Cleveland. "NotesSuite will allow us to make these
 [FX applications] available on a Notes database, and our power users
 will just migrate to them."

 The Notes Application Collection packaged in NotesSuite includes several
 sample applications, libraries for SmartMaster templates, and Freelance
 Graphics presentations; business process applications, such as price
 quoting and customer service; and applications for on-line sources.
 These applications can be modified using Lotus development tools.

 The NotesSuite FX applications will not work with Notes Express, an $80
 Notes client that was introduced last month.

 ================================================================

 Microsoft adds NetWare server emulation to Win 95

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Eric Smalley

 A Windows 95 PC will be able to perform file and print services as if it
 were a NetWare server, allowing administrators to add servers to their
 networks without purchasing additional NetWare licenses.

 The feature, called File and Print Sharing for NetWare Networks, is
 included in the latest beta version of Windows 95 and requires a native
 NetWare server on the network, Microsoft Corp. officials said last week.
 It will be an alternative to Windows 95's peer-networking feature, which
 is based on Windows for Workgroups technology.

 Officials at the Redmond, Wash., company have pitched the server feature
 to beta users as a way to perform load balancing on a NetWare network by
 moving file and print resources to Windows 95 "peer" servers, according
 to sources. This could help administrators avoid purchasing new NetWare
 servers. However, it would not allow administrators to add new NetWare
 users.

 The Windows 95 NetWare server feature does not pose a direct challenge
 to Novell Inc.'s NetWare because it does not support NetWare Loadable
 Modules, NetWare APIs, its bindery, or NetWare Directory Service.

 Still, by incorporating NetWare file and print services in Windows 95,
 Microsoft is commoditizing much of the technology that Novell used to
 dominate the network operating system market. The move adds urgency to
 Novell's efforts to recast NetWare in the image of directory services
 and to convince its installed base that directory services are useful
 for networks of all sizes.

 Some users expressed interest in off-loading NetWare functions to the
 low-cost desktop operating system.

 "A lot of our NetWare servers are being used not as full file and print
 servers, but more as just file repositories," said Robert Ball, network
 manager for the Medical Center of Delaware, in Wilmington. "To be able
 to do that on something for which the cost is cheaper and the overhead
 of administration is lower would be nice."

 An administrator enables the NetWare server feature by choosing it from
 the Services from Microsoft menu under the ADD command in Windows 95's
 network control panel. Then the administrator links the server function
 to a NetWare server's bindery, thereby applying an existing user
 database for access control. The Windows 95-based NetWare server can
 also be set to issue Service Advertisement Protocol messages, allowing
 it to appear on the network as a NetWare server.

 File and Print Sharing for NetWare Networks is based on an
 implementation of Novell's NCP (NetWare Core Protocol) developed by
 Microsoft, according to Brent Ethington, Windows 95 product manager.

 "There are some licensing issues, and we're working with Microsoft to
 resolve those," said Richard King, executive vice president of Novell's
 NetWare Systems Group, in Provo, Utah.

 Windows 95, due in mid-1995, could be used in the same manner as
 Personal NetWare to configure an NCP-based workgroup without a NetWare
 server present. However, Ethington said Microsoft recommends that
 Windows 95's Server Message Block-based peer services be used.

 "It's far from providing a real file-server capability," King said.
 "Maybe people who use Personal NetWare today would be interested in it."

 Additional reporting by Mary Jo Foley

 ================================================================

 PDA users to get wireless Notes connection

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Michael Moeller

 With a tap on the screen of their PDAs, users will soon be able to
 access Notes databases over wireless networks.

 Los Angeles-based SkyNotes Inc. has developed a middleware platform and
 accompanying suite of client/server applications, the first of which
 will ship next month.

 The software will let mobile users equipped with personal digital
 assistants access and query a SkyNotes server that replicates incoming
 data, synchronizes it with Notes databases, and distributes it on the
 databases, according to Marc Menowitz, director of SkyNotes.

 "This is the kind of application that will give PDAs and wireless the
 capabilities needed to make inroads into the corporate marketplace,"
 said Tony Bamonti, director of business development for Wireless Telecom
 Inc., a wireless reseller based in Denver.

 "Depending on the hardware we go with, a wireless link to databases
 could provide us with a lot of time savings," said Scott Blake, a
 systems engineer with Bank of America, based in Livermore, Calif. Bank
 of America now has about 450 field-service technicians on the Ardis
 packet radio network, and plans to implement wireless access for
 managers next year, Blake said.

 The suite of four SkyNotes applications will run on PDAs that support
 the Newton operating system, including Apple Computer Inc.'s Newton
 MessagePad and Motorola Corp.'s Newton clone, code-named Gecko (see
 story entitled "Motorola set to ship Gecko PDA").

 SkyNotes also will be supported on Microsoft Corp.'s WinPad PDA
 operating system when it becomes available next year, SkyNotes officials
 said.

 The four applications include SkyDispatch, a workflow-management
 application that will be available next month; SkyRoute, a workflow
 manager that adds geographical positioning services, also due next
 month; SkyOffice, a personal information and project manager due by the
 end of the year; and SkySales, a contact manager with sales functions,
 also due by year's end.

 SkyNotes also has developed SkyNotes Server, a server module that sits
 on the Notes server and acts as a wireless gateway/middleware interface
 to Notes databases and a stand-alone Notes database containing templates
 for the four Newton applications.

 PDA users initially will have two-way access to the Notes databases over
 Ardis and RAM Mobile Data L.P. wireless networks, and cellular links
 using RadioMail Corp.'s Internet connection.

 With the SkyNotes architecture, a field-service worker, for example,
 would collect job orders on a Newton via SkyDispatch and make a record
 of the job orders to be stored in a Notes database at the home office.

 For each job order, the user can tap into a Notes database to query
 whether the parts are available, make adjustments to the original work
 order, or request assistance from outside the firm via an automatically
 generated fax.

 Desktop users will also be able to link to SkyNotes to track and monitor
 the status of a day's activities by any given worker.

 SkyNotes joins a growing list of products that provide mobile users with
 wireless access to databases. Earlier this year, Oracle Corp., in
 Redwood Shores, Calif., released Oracle in Motion, a client/agent/server
 architecture that provides Windows-based notebook users with wireless
 access to Oracle databases over RAM Mobile Data's wireless network.

 XcelleNet Inc., based in Atlanta, also offers a similar data-access
 implementation, called RemoteWare, over wired or wireless networks.

 SkyDispatch, SkyRoute, and SkySales are all priced at $450 per client,
 with SkyOffice priced at $200. SkyNotes Server pricing ranges from $450
 to $3,500, depending on the number of users connected to the server.

 ================================================================

 Breaking News

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by PC Week Staff

 Cellular Alliance To Create National Network

 By Michael Moeller

 Bell Atlantic Corp., Nynex Corp., AirTouch Communications, and US West
 Communications last week agreed to build a nationwide wireless network.

 The National Wireless alliance creates a competitor to the AT&T
 Corp./McCaw Cellular Communications Inc. merger by providing wireless
 service to nearly 4 million cellular users, with the possibility of
 reaching a total of 100 million customers. By comparison, McCaw
 currently services 2.5 million cellular users with the potential of
 reaching 70 million total customers.

 The new alliance also plans on bidding for broadband PCS (Personal
 Communications Services) Major Trading Area licenses, which will be
 auctioned off in December, for Miami, Houston, St. Louis, Chicago, and
 Tampa, Fla.

 The four companies have created two new companies to manage the
 alliance: TomCo., which will handle the management and integration of
 each Regional Bell Operating Company's cellular properties, and PCS Co.,
 which will handle the bidding and integration of PCS technology into its
 cellular offerings.

 Dell Takes Aim at Compaq Servers

 Dell will roll out on Nov. 7 a line of PowerEdge SMP servers that
 support dual 90MHz or 100MHz Pentium processors, sources said. Prices
 for Dell's PowerEdge SMP systems with two CPUs will start at about
 $6,500 -- the same price as the uniprocessor ProLiant 1000 from Compaq.
 Dell officials declined to comment.

 Apple, IBM Edge Closer on License Terms

 The Apple, IBM, and Motorola alliance is on track to formally launch the
 common PowerPC hardware platform at Comdex next month. Apple and IBM are
 negotiating on licensing issues that will enable IBM to sell Macintosh
 clones. IBM is expected to be one of seven manufacturers that will
 produce Mac clones next year based on an Apple Power Mac design. Sales
 of Mac clones through 1997 are projected to top 1 million, sources said.
 In 1995, the figure will be only about 150,000 units, however.

 3Com Touts Switched Ethernet For Video

 3Com will announce this week a technology that will handle full-motion
 video efficiently over 10/100M-bps Ethernet networks as an alternative
 to ATM networks, sources said.

 The technology is slated to be available next year. The announcement
 will be made with Sun, Silicon Graphics, Dell, Apple, Novell, and
 possibly Microsoft and IBM.

 AMD Debuts Rival to Intel's P6

 Advanced Micro Devices last week introduced a chip architecture that not
 only rivals Intel's Pentium PC, but may also match the performance
 expected from Intel's next-generation P6 processor. Due in desktop PCs
 late next year, AMD's K5 is based on a RISC design that the company
 hopes to scale up to P6 performance levels in 1996, company officials
 said at the Microprocessor Forum in San Francisco last week. Cyrix,
 meanwhile, did not formally announce its rival offering.

 Apple Readies Online Deal With Sprint, US West

 To extend its reach into the emerging on-line information market, Apple
 Online Services will become a separate subsidiary of Apple later this
 year, following the sale of a 20 percent stake in the unit to U.S.
 Sprint Communications and US West Communications. -- MacWeek

 Briefly Noted:

 Sybase this week will purchase Expressway Technologies, a maker of
 query- accelerator software.

 AT&T will announce this week a set of enterprise sales applications
 tightly linked to a Sybase database.

 Borland signed a pact to integrate dBASE, ReportSmith, and Delphi with
 the Sybase RDBMS. It also plans to bundle a single-user Windows version
 of Interbase 4.0, ReportSmith, and Delphi starting early next year.

 Hewlett-Packard will provide print-management software in Windows 95.

 Derry Kabcenell last week was appointed executive vice president of
 Oracle's product division.

 Microsoft will ship a beta version of SQL 95 this month minus the
 Starfighter management console, which is slated to go into beta in
 December or January.

 A dozen large U.S. banks, including Chase Manhattan, are readying an
 Internet-based financial service called FinanceNet.

 Token-Ring vendors led by IBM will form a consortium next month.

 Intel this week will debut a PC LAN video broadcast product developed
 with CNN.

 Wellfleet and SynOptics officially became Bay Networks Inc. last week.

 Apple next week will ship in limited quantities a Power Mac 8100/110
 using a 110MHz chip.

 Meckler Media, parent company of MecklerWeb, last week repositioned
 MecklerWeb as a narrower publication service.

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 What price will IBM pay for rushing Warp?

 This PC Week for October 24, 1994 by John Dodge

 From the looks of it, OS/2 Warp's biggest enemy is IBM, not Microsoft.
 Big Blue's programmers finally produce an OS that someone other than a
 REXX programmer could warm up to, only to scare them off by bruising
 install problems. It's too bad, because there's some `grabyas' in this
 product, like a slick UI, rich applets, and a powerful on-line browser.

 If consumers can't get beyond the cumbersome install, Warp's not going
 to change the minds of many network administrators.

 It's great that Warp installs easier than older versions of OS/2, but
 Windows customers won't make that comparison. In fact, forget
 comparisons. A consumer product has to be a no-brainer or about as hard
 to install as Nintendo. Limiting or purging install choices reduces the
 odds of a user screwing up.

 Granted, Windows 3.1 is no piece of cake to install or tune. It still
 crashes a lot. No matter. Tens of millions have managed to install and
 run it as part of their everyday lives. More accurately, PC makers
 install Windows for them on the factory floor, eliminating a key flash
 point of frustration and potential rejection. OS/2 is finally winning
 some preloaders as options, but has many more to bring over.

 Technically, it's too early to write off Warp, but PC Week Labs' initial
 tests on several machines uncovered unsettling problems. A full review
 will run in our Nov. 14 issue.

 Reviewer Peter Coffee attributes the quirky and slow Windows emulations
 to the sheer difficulty of the task. "It's not impossible, but it's
 difficult. You have to be bug-for-bug-compatible," he says. Windows apps
 run about as well as they did under OS/2 2.0, he concludes. Purely out
 of preference, Coffee has used OS/2 full time for more than two years.

 Our coverage two weeks ago about Warp's introduction generated the
 biggest response in the four-year history of this column. More than 70
 respondents voiced support for Warp, ranging from strong curiosity to
 fanatical support.

 We wondered if the Church of OS/2 orchestrated a letter-writing
 campaign, but in the end, we detected a lot of new interest. Respondents
 expressed mild fascination in Warp and strong interest in a
 Windows/Microsoft alternative. Theirs is genuine enthusiasm and momentum
 that IBM could exploit if it pulled off its professed goal of a "Better
 Windows than Windows." In other words, Microsoft can't kill OS/2. Only
 IBM can.

 IBM gambled to beat Windows 95 and perhaps sacrificed something more
 than spit and polish. Microsoft is gambling by sitting back until just
 the right time to release Windows 95. It won't be long before we know
 who made the right bet.

 Okay, so the install is sort of tricky and Windows apps are eccentric.
 Will you still try it? Write me over the Internet
 ([e-mail]), CompuServe (72241,303), or MCI Mail (2393520).

 ================================================================

 Borland to buy HP's Dashboard for Sidekick bundle

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Jane Morrissey

 Borland International Inc. will announce this week its acquisition of
 Dashboard, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Windows desktop-management utility,
 adding a second product to the fledgling Simplify consumer software
 line.

 Dashboard for Windows will be relaunched through Borland's retail
 outlets before Comdex next month and will also be offered in a bundle
 with Sidekick.

 The Scotts Valley, Calif., company is working on a Windows 95 version of
 Dashboard and will focus on broadening its feature set for personal
 uses, to differentiate it from the more professional focus of Symantec
 Corp.'s Norton Desktop, said Marc Randolph, vice president and general
 manager for the Simplify line.

 Separately, Borland surprised many analysts by posting a small profit
 for its second fiscal quarter, ended Sept. 30. Reflected in the results
 are a $3.1 million cost reduction from settling a lease inherited with
 the 1991 acquisition of Ashton-Tate Corp., cuts in administrative and
 development expenses, and the releases of dBASE for Windows and an
 upgrade to Paradox for Windows.

 Borland's gains were not enough to thwart lingering concerns about its
 future.

 "The upgrades for Paradox and dBASE will help, but can they sustain
 profitability after the initial upgrade cycle?" asked Mike Wallace, an
 analyst at UBS Securities Inc., in New York.

 ================================================================

 OS/2 Warp -- Incomplete desktop solution

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Peter Coffee and Eamonn Sullivan

 Touted by IBM as "Your on-ramp to the information superhighway," the new
 OS/2 Warp Version 3 gives a sometimes bumpy ride. Flaws in the product
 will discourage both the novice and the corporate administrator who had
 hoped for an OS/2 that would lend itself to broader use.

 PC Week Labs tested the commercial release, which will be available in
 stores this week at a list price of $129, on a variety of machines and
 found too many "gotchas" both during and after installation.

 Although it addresses key deficiencies of earlier OS/2 versions, such as
 their inability to run Win32s applications, Warp is still an imperfect
 emulation of Windows that exhibited some notable screen-drawing quirks
 -- and also caused us some concern when one of our everyday OS/2
 utilities failed to function.

 The OS/2 Workplace Shell, though still more powerful and coherent than
 any other shipping user interface, has not been made any more accessible
 to those who have never seen it before. Warp's Launch Pad utility is far
 less capable than current third-party OS/2 utilities, such as Binar
 Graphics Inc.'s SkyScraper.

 Claimed by IBM to be usable in 4M bytes of RAM, Warp on such a machine
 was unable to use Dynamic Data Exchange from Microsoft Corp.'s Word for
 Windows to run macros in Microsoft's Excel. This same test ran almost as
 quickly under Windows for Workgroups 3.11 with 4M bytes as it did under
 Warp (in a "seamless" Windows session) with 8M bytes. With 8M bytes
 across the board, Windows 3.11 was more than twice as fast as Warp in
 seamless mode and more than 25 percent faster than Warp's full-screen
 Windows emulation.

 Current OS/2 proponents may be reluctant to upgrade to Warp, because it
 will install only on a DOS/Windows system or on a system using OS/2 for
 Windows. OS/2's most committed users, who've been running versions with
 built-in Windows support, will have to reformat and install DOS and
 Windows (even if they were already present in a dual-boot arrangement)
 before Warp will be up and running. IBM has said that it will "shortly"
 introduce a version of Warp that does not require preinstalled DOS and
 Windows.

 We found Warp far better than earlier versions of OS/2 in its ability to
 recognize hardware during installation, with automatic detection of
 video, sound, SCSI, and CD ROM devices that were either unrecognized or
 unsupported by OS/2 2.x. Users could also feel much more courageous
 about changing the setup of their Warp-driven PCs thanks to a new
 feature, the ability to archive system files when the system is started
 and to access previous setups using a special key combination when
 rebooting.

 The system also provides a menu-driven utility program to generate a set
 of bootable floppy disks, making it much more convenient to do file
 system maintenance chores that cannot be performed on a hard disk if it
 has been used to boot the current session. Installation error

 We were unimpressed, however, when the installation program on one of
 our test machines put up an ugly error box stating that the program
 pointed to by RUNWORKPLACE= in the CONFIG.SYS file could not be started.
 This is the kind of thing that sends a new user straight back to the
 store. Perusing CONFIG.SYS, we conjectured that typing
 OS2\INSTALL\INSTALL at the [C:\] prompt might get us back on track.

 It did, until we got to the point where the system prompted us to type
 in the path to our Windows distribution files. Labs personnel on both
 coasts made the simultaneous discovery that this path must be typed in
 capital letters.

 Once we managed to get Warp installed, however, we found the Bonus Pack,
 a bundled collection of OS/2 applications, very helpful for new users.
 The applications -- IBM Works especially -- act as a good introduction
 to the OS/2 environment.

 IBM Works includes an adequate spreadsheet and a good word processor and
 personal information manager, saving users from shelling out hundreds of
 dollars for more expensive offerings.

 PC Week Labs did have several problems with Warp's Internet utilities.
 Within minutes of installation, we had an account on IBM's Internet
 connection and were cruising the info roadways. About 10 minutes into
 the trip, however, the network stopped responding. The same thing
 happened over and over again in at least a dozen tries. We can only hope
 that IBM gets the kinks worked out in its network before Warp is on tens
 of thousands of desktops.

 OS/2 will continue to be a preferred platform for developing
 applications aimed at DOS and 16-bit Windows systems as well as at OS/2
 systems. Its valuable features for isolating virtual machines have been
 enhanced by Warp's streamlined access to the numerous virtual-session
 parameters, which can now be more easily identified and adjusted for
 optimal performance.

 PC Week Labs will do an in-depth review of Warp in the Nov. 14 issue.

 Additional testing by Chris Yates

 ================================================================

 DEC's Polycenter NetView boosts Windows NT

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Paula Musich

 NASHUA, N.H. -- Network administrators will gain a powerful tool to
 manage PC systems across enterprise networks when Digital Equipment
 Corp. rolls out Polycenter NetView for Windows NT at Comdex next month.

 DEC will also unveil a systems-management application, AssetWorks, that
 extends Microsoft Corp.'s System Management Server to support Unix and
 OpenVMS system management.

 The fruit of an alliance between DEC, Microsoft, and IBM announced at
 Comdex one year ago, the products are essential pieces of Microsoft's --
 and DEC's -- strategy to make Windows NT an industrial-strength
 operating system at companies with large, dispersed computer networks.

 DEC will be joined by Microsoft and about a dozen ISVs that will pledge
 support for the NetView NT version of the platform. Although IBM will
 not be present, IBM engineers assisted with the port, and IBM has the
 right to sell the NT port of NetView.

 DEC offers Polycenter NetView, a port of IBM's NetView for AIX, on its
 OSF/1 operating system. NetView for AIX is based on Hewlett-Packard
 Co.'s industry-leading OpenView SNMP platform.

 Both Polycenter NetView for Windows NT and Polycenter AssetWorks combine
 the power of Unix-based network and systems management with the ease of
 use in NT's user interface, according to Jeffrey Snover, technical
 leader for Polycenter NetView/Windows at DEC's network systems
 management group here.

 "This is not a DOS product ported to NT. It's a Unix product with full
 functionality, ported to NT with the same APIs and methods for
 integrating other applications," said Snover. "Using the new [NT] GUI
 will make it easier for operators to adopt and scale."

 Polycenter AssetWorks can run by itself or with Polycenter NetView for
 Windows NT. It will be sold by itself or with Microsoft's SMS and
 Polycenter NetView for Windows NT.

 AssetWorks provides seamless management of SMS' supported clients, such
 as DOS, Windows, OS/2, and Macintosh System 7, as well as multiple Unix
 flavors, including Sun's SunOS and Solaris, HP/UX, IBM AIX, OSF/1, and
 Ultrix. DEC's OpenVMS will be supported as well.

 AssetWorks and SMS together provide centralized electronic software
 distribution and installation, automatic hardware and software
 inventory, control and troubleshooting of remote PCs, and management
 reports.

 The programs have the same look and feel, operate from the same menus,
 share the same Microsoft SQL Server database, and strive for consistent
 operation where Unix system attributes are unique from PC system
 features, said Snover.

 "We have a little bit of everything here -- Macs, PCs, and Sun
 workstations are all in the same inventory list," said beta tester
 Sandra Wallace, a member of the technical staff at Mitre Corp., a
 Bedford, Mass., research organization.

 "We have thousands of PCs or workstations here. You can apply filters to
 the inventory list. [You can] ask for things like all Sun workstations
 with a certain OS version, certain applications, and having at least so
 much space on their disk. Then you can do an installation on that
 group," she said.

 Polycenter AssetWorks will be available next month, and Polycenter
 NetView for NT in the first half of 1995. Polycenter NetView for NT will
 operate on both Intel and DEC Alpha processors in the initial release,
 officials said.

 The Maynard, Mass., company will also announce an SDK (software
 development kit) to help users or ISVs create or move management
 applications to the new Windows NT management platform. The SDK will
 ship at the end of this year, according to officials.

 ================================================================

 World-Wide Web faces three major hurdles

 From PC Week for October 24, 1994 by Jim Louderback

 While the usual suspects in Washington were dreaming up their successor
 to the Internet, the real owners and operators of the net coalesced in
 Chicago last week to shepherd their errant offspring into adolescence.

 The quivering, E-mail-deprived info-junkies, frustrated by the lack of
 modular phone jacks at the Ramada Inn, provided much-needed comic relief
 at the Second International WWW Conference. Nothing less than the future
 of the Web lay in the balance, beset by three major and interrelated
 challenges: security, currency, and divergence.

 SECURITY. Everyone knows that the net is insecure. Entire companies have
 sprung forth in the past year, fully formed, to tackle this problem. A
 slew of possible solutions, including a secure form of HTTP (the DNA of
 the Web), RSA and Pretty Good Privacy, fire walls, proxies, and IPng --
 the next generation of IP -- are on the way.

 Unfortunately, no one solution solves every problem. Trojan horses can
 lurk in even secured transmissions, as a PostScript and Mosaic bug
 example attested.

 CURRENCY. Until now, Web services have been free, largely because no one
 has come up with a secure and anonymous way for cash to change hands.
 Five different solutions were presented at the conference. Two, Digital
 Cash and First Virtual, are up and running right now. The other
 solutions are promised soon. First Virtual offers an elegant and simple
 way to pay for information exchange.
 Using data's inherent zero cost of goods sold with an E-mail-based
 verification, First Virtual has developed a painless method to start
 collecting for data. Clients can participate without encryption or other
 software modification.

 Digital Cash's solution works with goods and data, using clever
 mathematics to let buyers make secure and anonymous purchases of all
 types from sellers. The float implications alone are staggering. The
 first trials began last week when Digital Cash gave each attendee $50 in
 ``cyberbucks.'' I'm still dizzy from my virtual spending spree (whee!).

 DIVERGENCE. With the release of new commercial Web browsers, there is
 real danger of customizing HTTP to death. Like the interoperability
 nightmare caused by vendor-specific ``extended'' SQL, ``featuritis''
 could cripple the Web as users get locked out of incompatible locations.

 A joint package of standards enforcement and middleware can solve many
 of these problems. Web browsers and HTML, already the most successful
 middleware ever, need to be extended even further.

 Clients and servers need a modem-type negotiation process in which the
 best mutually supported security scheme, payment method, and HTML
 interaction are determined. Lowest-common-denominator support is
 important, but only between consenting peers, not Netwide. This would
 allow agents, 3-D spaces, and interactivity to be rolled out without
 alienating current users.

 Think this doesn't apply to you? Think again. The interconnectedness and
 digitization of everything will change business dramatically.

 For more connections to the information described here, see PC Week
Labs' Web server: HTTP://www.pcweek.ziff.com/.

 Jim Louderback is on MCI Mail (jlouderback), CompuServe (72241,427), and
 the Internet ([e-mail]).

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