Eagles Nest BBS 5/Eagles_Nest_Mac_Collection_Disc_5.TOAST/Other Non-Macintosh Text/PCWeek941114/pcweek.new

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X86 makers ready CPU enhancements

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Neal Boudette

While IBM and Apple Computer Inc. unveiled their plans for PowerPC
machines, due two years down the road, Intel Corp. and other chip
suppliers are pushing ahead with designs that will advance the X86
standard in the second half of 1995.

Intel is producing the first samples of its next-generation P6
processor, and should have working prototypes available by the end of
the year, said company officials in Santa Clara, Calif.

Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Cyrix Corp. have also entered
the final stages for producing the first samples of their 586-class
chips, officials from those companies said.

"If they bring pricing down a lot, the PowerPC might not keep the edge
IBM has been promising," said Scott Martin, an MIS specialist at Gannet,
Welsh & Kotler Inc., an investment firm in Boston.

Intel expects to offer P6 samples in the first quarter of 1995, followed
by a public launch in the second quarter. Intel officials said the
company is still on a schedule to hit volume production next fall.

Like the PowerPC 620 announced last month, the P6 comprises 6 million
transistors, is aimed initially at servers, and is expected to debut at
a 133MHz clock speed. It should near the 620's SPEC integer rating of
225, industry sources said.

AMD's first K5 chips are due from manufacturing this week and may be in
prototype PCs by Thanksgiving, said a company spokesman in Austin,
Texas. Potential customers should have sample chips in December, he
said.

Cyrix expects the first M1 chips within three weeks and expects to ship
samples by the end of the year, said a company spokeswoman in
Richardson, Texas.

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

Compaq 90MHz Pentium server features PCI

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Stephanie LaPolla

Compaq Computer Corp. this week will introduce the ProSignia 500, a
90MHz Pentium server aimed at giving users optimized performance through
a tightly integrated bus architecture.

The ProSignia 500 is based on the TriFlex/PCI (Peripheral Component
Interconnect) bus. The bus integrates processor, memory, and I/O to
increase throughput, according to officials from the Houston-based
company.

The architecture allows for burst transfer rates of nearly 133M bytes
per second. The ProSignia 5/60, the current 60MHz Pentium server,
handles 33M bytes per second. Despite the boost in power, the ProSignia
500 will be priced starting at $5,400 -- almost $3,000 less than the
EISA-based ProSignia 5/60.

The base configuration includes a 1G-byte Fast SCSI-2 hard drive, 16M
bytes of RAM, 256K bytes of two-way cache, and six expansion slots. In
addition, storage capacity is expandable to 117G bytes via the external
ProLiant Storage System.

The ProSignia 500, available now from resellers, includes the Compaq
Insight Manager administrative software and SmartStart, a CD ROM-based
utility that includes configurations for NetWare, Windows NT, SCO Unix,
and OS/2.

One user accustomed to paying premium prices for Compaq products said
the new price point reinforces his loyalty. "I have to trust the
equipment," said Danny Hendrickson, director of MIS at Pittencrieff
Communications Inc., in Abilene, Texas. "For that reason, I purchased
Compaq servers."

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

The Microsoft monopoly -- Less chaos, more concern

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Jane Morrissey

OK, so Microsoft Corp. has won. The government basically conceded as
much with its slap-on-the-wrist consent decree. ISVs admit it when they
refocus their business strategies to complement, not just compete
against, their archrival on the desktop.

But what does that mean to the corporate buyer? To twist the infamous
phrase by former General Motors Corp. Chairman Charlie Wilson: Is what's
good for Microsoft good for America?

"Life could be a lot worse than it is in our industry," said Gordon
Eubanks, CEO of Symantec Corp., in Cupertino, Calif. "The goal of our
business should not be to stop Microsoft, it should be to serve
customers."

Microsoft's dominance might not have led to the perfect scenario, but
the industry is certainly less chaotic than it would be without a
Windows standard, some users said.

"I can provide quality solutions for my company if I go with Microsoft
-- everyone is going to write to it," said Bruce Barnes, an IS manager
for Unocal Corp., in Anaheim, Calif. "[Microsoft has] become the IBM of
20 years ago."

That, some customers believe, is precisely the problem. "Microsoft's
dominance in PC operating systems and applications has forced
competitors from the market," said a CIO for an East Coast consumer
products firm, who requested anonymity.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, not surprisingly, rebuffs the idea that
his company's success is tied to anything other than the quality of its
products.

"Dominate is not what we do -- we are [just] very popular," Gates said.
"Dominate implies some decree of power over the purchasing decision,
which we do not have."

Whether good or bad, Microsoft's influence is unquestionable. Four
months after agreeing to change some business practices in its
settlement with the Department of Justice, the powerhouse that Gates
built remains stronger than ever. The consent decree, some argue,
actually emboldened Microsoft to take an even bigger bite out of
adjacent markets, with the appetizer being its $1.5 billion proposed
merger with Intuit Inc.

In the face of such aggressive acts, some competitors, including Borland
International Inc. and Micrografx Inc., have adapted by scaling back and
focusing on core competencies. "If we can ride on their coattails and
not get stepped on, that'd be great," said J. Paul Grayson, chairman of
Micrografx, in Richardson, Texas.

"We knock heads from time to time," Eubanks said. "But what are we going
to gain by bashing Microsoft in public? Look at Philippe Kahn -- is he
in any better shape than two years ago? Is Jim Manzi? Pete Peterson? Ray
Noorda?"

Peterson, for his part, said Microsoft-bashing was not optional as
president of WordPerfect Corp., which didn't have a Windows product and
had to try anything to stop the flood. But his battle is over: Peterson
is long gone from WordPerfect and -- as chairman of Fitnesoft, the maker
of a $49 Windows health-care program -- he's taking advantage of the
Windows opportunity.

"If you can't beat 'em, you've gotta join 'em," said Peterson, in Orem,
Utah. "You can compete with Microsoft -- you just have to build better
products."

Other rivals, notably Lotus Development Corp., have steadfastly stuck to
their guns, hoping to win customers with innovative products like Notes.
Microsoft's partners and competitors -- most of whom declined to speak
on the record -- have strong feelings about one company controlling the
industry, standards, and pricing while quashing -- or worse, buying --
better technology to wield its power in new markets.

As Microsoft flexes its muscle in new, unfamiliar territories, observers
agree that one day -- like many a market leader before it -- the
Redmond, Wash., company's house will crack and, possibly, crumble.

"There will be a technology that comes down the pike that will stop
Microsoft, just like there was a technology that came down the pike for
IBM," said Bill Blumenthal, a Washington antitrust attorney. "What
ultimately kills it is not something beating it on its own terms, but a
technology shift."

It's unlikely that the government will abet that process. With its
consent decree, the Justice Department imposed limits on certain OEM
licensing and non-disclosure agreement practices, but such remedies have
arrived too late to alter the competitive landscape, industry executives
said. The decree has passed through the public comment period unscathed
and is expected to get a rubber stamp from the courts after it is
submitted in the next few weeks.

Microsoft began operating under the guidelines this summer, but most
everyone agrees the decree did little to change its business. The
reason, observers said, is that the decree did not address more far-
reaching concerns about Microsoft leveraging its system-software
monopoly in other domains. Moreover, now that 60 million users have
learned Windows, the decree's promise of opening up the operating-system
market is a moot point.

"It's like English; [the decree says] now that you've learned a language
called Windows, you no longer have to speak it," said Scott McNealy,
president of Sun Microsystems Inc., in Mountain View, Calif.

The decree has had negligible impact on OEMs, which were not required to
renegotiate their contracts and are largely operating under the same
terms. While it does end the onerous double-royalty on those who opt to
bundle a competing operating system, the user demand just isn't there to
take advantage of it.

"The fact of the matter is that we live in a Windows world," said Rob
Chang, director of special projects at Gateway 2000 Inc., in North Sioux
City, S.D.

Officials at Novell Inc., which has perhaps the most puzzling love/hate
relationship with Microsoft, said the new OEM terms are largely
irrelevant, in no small part because Novell admitted defeat and dropped
out of the DOS market.

Nonetheless, the Provo, Utah, company that once led the charge against
Microsoft still admits the "consent decree wasn't strong enough," said
Mark Calkins, a Novell vice president in Orem.

Top ISVs, which had complained to the government about highly
restrictive Windows 95 NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) early this year,
were generally appeased when Microsoft lifted the most onerous clauses
before the decree came down. However, some said that since the decree,
there has only been minimal improvement in getting information from
Microsoft.

"Microsoft thinks it has a legal license to kill," said one top software
executive. "Before, they were a little careful. Now, there's no fear of
God anymore."

Microsoft officials admit the decree has had no material impact on
business and zero effect on the way it deals with partners, but that
doesn't mean the market is no longer competitive.

"Any version of Windows we ship will be obsolete in two or three years,"
said Gates. "The only question is who replaces it -- is it us or someone
else. I hope we can keep pushing [Windows] forward, but there's no
business where you are more at risk of being replaced than this
business."

And as Microsoft experiments with electronic commerce and interactive
TV, there are no guarantees that it can parlay its dominance into those
new markets. Although the company has forged alliances on both fronts,
its often arrogant style has alienated some powerful potential partners.

"So Microsoft's successful -- tomorrow they won't be for some reason or
another," said Autodesk Inc. CEO Carol Bartz, in Sausalito, Calif. "I
think they're going to run into it when they try to take on the cable
companies, banks, Hollywood, and the phone companies -- they might get
slapped around a bit. So be it."

The bottom line for one industry executive is that the government, which
has seen several U.S.-based industry giants crumble over the last
decade, needs Microsoft.

"The Justice Department ought to bronze Bill Gates because he's been
able to build a monopoly," said one industry executive. "Don't put him
in jail, simply bronze him and put him back in the starting gate."

Additional reporting by Neal Boudette, Lisa DiCarlo, Lisa Nadile, Robert
S. Scheier, and Michael R. Zimmerman.

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

Breaking News

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by PC Week Staff

Apple Reincarnates Houdini in Time for Comdex

By Robert Hess (MacWEEK Staff)

A year after Apple Computer Inc. unveiled its DOS Compatibility Card,
code-named Houdini, the company has developed versions for the Power
Macintosh 6100 and Quadra 630 and gave Reply Corp. the rights to
manufacture other Quadra models. Both products will debut at this week's
Comdex.

Apple, of Cupertino, Calif., will ship in the first quarter of 1995 a
Power Mac with a DOS Compatibility Card installed for $2,499; the stand-
alone card will cost $699. Apple will also display a Quadra 630 version.

Apple has increased performance, built in support for 16-bit
SoundBlaster playback, and delivered improved networking.

Reply, of San Jose, Calif., will ship this week its own line of DOS
Compatibility-style cards for Quadras, based on Apple's original card
design. A 50MHz 486DX2 model will sell for $495, and a 66MHz model will
cost $595. The DOS on Mac cards are available for the Quadra 610 and
660AV and the Centris 610.

Notes Network Apps On Tap at Comdex

Lotus will demonstrate at this week's Comdex the first five applications
for AT&T Notes Network.

One application from Compaq will let the company's extensive reseller
chain access product data from the public Notes network. Egghead will
demonstrate its Electronic Commerce application, which will let
customers browse through electronic catalogs for software and other
computer-related products.

Novell To Detail New Support Plans

Novell and its WordPerfect applications group this week will outline
details of their merged service and support organizations. Under a
single umbrella, Novell's service partners and WordPerfect's direct-
support staff will handle the combined product offerings, and the
companies' premium service programs, also revamped, will be offered
under a single license scheme.

Oracle To Show Interactive TV Apps

Oracle this week will demonstrate interactive TV and CD ROM applications
developed by Oracle and its partners using Oracle Media Objects, the
authoring-tool component of Oracle Media Server. Separately, Xerox and
Oracle announced they will develop software that will enable Oracle
database users to print high-quality documents with Xerox laser printing
systems.

IBM Groups Leave Cannavino's Nest

IBM last week transferred responsibility for two groups developing
network-centric services away from James Cannavino.

The Networked Application Services Division, responsible for developing
applications and services, and the IBM Global Network, responsible for
delivering those applications and services, will report to Dennie Welsh,
general manager for industry and global network solutions. An IBM
spokesman said the move is consistent with Cannavino's job of developing
new businesses, which are then moved to operational units within IBM.

Narrowband PCS License Winners Emerge

Four major winners emerged last week after nearly three weeks of intense
bidding for regional narrowband Personal Communications Services
licenses, which were auctioned off to the tune of nearly $489 million.

PageMart, PCS Development, Metromedia PCS, and Advanced Wireless
Messaging each obtained at least one license in all five regions,
effectively giving each a nationwide network.

Briefly Noted:

Microsoft last week said Systems Management Server was released to
manufacturing and will ship before the end of the month.

IBM is talking to Lotus about using IBM's MQSeries as the underpinning
messaging service for Notes.

Shiva last week announced that its new LANRover/2E Plus remote-access
server will ship Dec. 1, priced at $2,799.

Pure Data last week acquired Intel's SatisFAXtion network fax modem
product line.

Microsoft will announce at Comdex this week printing partnerships with
Canon, HP, NEC, Lexmark, Olivetti, and Texas Instruments.

Macola last week began shipping Version 7.0 of its Progression Series
client/server accounting software.

Symantec plans to sell the next version of its C++ Professional compiler
for $99.95. Also, it will introduce Version 2.0 of its Enterprise
Developer client/server development tool at DB Expo on Dec. 6, and later
this month, it will announce a server version of pcAnywhere that will
let LAN-attached users have remote-control sessions with PCs at another
location.

Informix has upgraded its ViewPoint query and report builder with the
ability to add, modify, and delete records, while also porting ViewPoint
to the Mac.

Micro Focus will demonstrate a 32-bit version of its Object COBOL
compiler and preview a version for Windows 95 at Comdex.

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

OpenDoc SDK to support 16-, 32-bit Win APIs

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Norvin Leach

Novell Inc. this week will unveil an alpha version of its OpenDoc SDK
that supports both the Win16 and Win32 APIs.

Meanwhile, the release date for the software development kit continues
to be pushed back. The Windows beta version is now due in January,
instead of December as originally planned.

The delay is due to an extension of the tests for the Mac OS 7 alpha
development kit, said sources at the Provo, Utah, company. Apple
Computer Inc. is expected to release a beta SDK in December. After that,
it will take four to six weeks to port the final code to Windows,
sources said.

This week, Novell's WordPerfect group will begin manufacturing an alpha
SDK for Windows with both 32-bit and 16-bit libraries, said Bill
Kesselring, Novell's manager of OpenDoc technology.

Interoperability between 16-bit and 32-bit components will be provided
by a DSOM extension written by IBM with WordPerfect.

The 32-bit support will mean better performance and cleaner application
design, said Subhashis Mohanty, an OpenDoc developer with Waterloo Maple
Software, in Waterloo, Ontario.

"Waterloo Maple's current method of linking a 16-bit component to a 32-
bit dynamic link library is inefficient," said Mohanty.

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

Filters to boost Excel, Lotus 1-2-3 integration

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Ted Smalley Bowen

At Comdex this week, Microsoft Corp. will unveil filters that promote
integration between Excel 5.0 and the two most recent Windows releases
of Lotus Development Corp.'s 1-2-3, while Lotus will show off a 32-bit
version of its venerable spreadsheet.

Microsoft's filters for 1-2-3 Release 4 and Release 5 for Windows will
allow mixed sites to more easily integrate the two leading Windows
spreadsheets.

"This means we no longer have to revert to a lower level of 1-2-3 in
order to be able to move data over," said Gunter Guckel, MIS director at
The Essex Group Inc., in Fort Wayne, Ind. "We've had a problem in that
we aren't able to use advanced features, like 3-D, if we know we have to
do an exchange. You hog-tie yourself. In the preparation of our 1994
budget, we had to use 1-2-3 Release 2.2."

Guckel said he'd like Lotus to add filtering tools in 1-2-3 for
transferring Excel 5.0 data to 1-2-3.

Lotus, which will demonstrate a forthcoming version of 1-2-3 and other
applications for Windows 95 at Comdex, ultimately plans to provide these
filters, said Jeffrey Anderholm, Lotus director of spreadsheet
marketing, in Cambridge, Mass.

Although the addition of the 1-2-3 filters in Excel removes a barrier to
migrating from 1-2-3 to Excel, the measure mostly reflects the
established position of 1-2-3 for Windows.

"Providing filters in Excel is an admission that 1-2-3 is still a
serious contender," said Carter Lusher, an analyst with Gartner Group
Inc., in Stamford, Conn.

Hoping to expand that base, Anderholm said Lotus will show this week
several 1-2-3 features designed to exploit Windows 95.

They include more extensive use of the Lotus InfoBox, a modeless dialog
box that allows users to change the property and style attributes of
objects.

The Windows 95 version, slated to be among Microsoft's official First
Wave program for Windows 95 applications, will also sport revamped
menus, expanded workgroup support, and improved Notes and E-mail
integration, Anderholm said.

Separately, Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., will use Comdex as a venue to
outline its plans to coordinate its BackOffice initiative with the
Office suite, which is expected to lead to highly integrated suites
aimed at specific vertical markets.

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

Windows 95 will improve mobile connectivity options

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Michael Moeller

Mobile users who plan to use Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 95 operating
system when it ships next year will have several new options for
accessing remote corporate file servers and printers.

User-generated macros called Shortcuts allow point-and-click remote
access, said Bill Koszewski, a Windows 95 product manager at Microsoft,
in Redmond, Wash.

Clicking on a Shortcut icon triggers an automatic dial-in to retrieve
files or connect to directories on a network server. Shortcuts can be
attached to E-mail messages, and the attached macro will provide direct
access to it, Koszewski said.

Windows 95 will support NetBEUI, IPX, SPX, TCP/IP, Point-to-Point, and
asynchronous media access control protocols. On the back end, the
operating system will provide compatibility with such remote services as
Novell Inc.'s NetWare Connect, Windows NT Remote Access Services, and
Shiva Corp.'s NetModem, Microsoft officials said. The remote-access
technology was developed in conjunction with Shiva, of Cambridge, Mass.

Built-in support for dial-up remote access "will make life so much
easier," said David Porter, manager of communications and network
systems for Carnaud Metal Box USA Inc., in Cincinnati. "In fact, this
could really drive a lot of our workers to work remotely. Anything that
can make this easier will be a real benefit."

The operating system can synchronize files between a notebook and a
desktop PC or server through Windows 95's Briefcase folder.

Before leaving the office, users can copy files or whole directories
into the Briefcase folder. The Briefcase stores the files and keeps a
log of any changes made to the file on the notebook, as well as a source
path for the file. Changes made to the files on the notebook are
automatically logged. Once reconnected to the network, the remote file
will automatically synchronize with the one on the desktop or server.

Mobile users can queue up documents to print, even if they are not
connected to a printer. Windows 95's Printer Manager stores the files
and queue list, then sends them to the printer when the remote PC is
reconnected to the network.

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

Depreciating PCs -- A cost of doing business

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Jim Louderback

A time bomb may be ticking in your balance sheet, and it could blow away
your technology adoption plans.

The IRS mandates that computer equipment such as printers, PCs, and
notebooks be depreciated over a five-year period. That may have been
sensible in the age of the mainframe, but it's all wrong for today.

Although printers still last five years, a PC from 1989 is pretty
creaky. And even 2-year-old notebooks are getting long in the tooth.

Most of the machines rolled out between 1990 and 1992 were based on the
386 chip. By mid-1993, those machines were pretty useless. The 486
replacement market really took off later that year and continued to
accelerate this year as prices dropped significantly.

This same replacement trend will happen again next year, but this time
with Pentium processors. And the P6 replacement market should start to
heat up in early 1997.

As usual, knowledge workers will get the fastest machines, with the
previous generation being passed onto administrative and support staff.

Unlike the last wave, however, those employees already have computers,
mostly 386-based machines that will remain on the books for at least
another year or two.

The notebook market is in even worse shape. Repeated pounding and
abysmal upgradability have already junked portables purchased in 1992
and 1993.

So the stage is set for an interesting blowup. Can you explain why your
company has more computers than employees? Will your CFO get it? Can
your company afford a continually growing depreciation expense?

Like the stagflation of the '70s, this problem will continue to feed on
itself as Moore's law and increasing mobility spiral the depreciation
line item heavenward.

Is there any way (short of a Reaganesque depression) to wring the neck
of this beast?

There's a flip side to the depreciation spiral over on the value side of
the balance sheet. All those useless but undepreciated computers
artificially pump up company value. Could some of those recently trendy
$1.5 billion transactions have been artificially inflated?

What to do? You could take the Kervorkian approach and stop buying new
computer equipment for the next few years. Upgradability offers some
hope, but expensive OverDrive chips offer only a 20 percent to 30
percent improvement. Those hybrid OverDrive/dual-processor systems offer
promise, but for tomorrow, not today. And good luck finding processor-
upgradable notebooks.

Perhaps lobbying the IRS to change the depreciation rules would help.
Purchasing the most advanced technology you can possibly afford will
help, too. Also insisting on more reliable notebooks certainly will
forestall the inevitable.

In the long run, though, we'll probably just have to bite the bullet.
Until the IRS rules change, that ever-increasing depreciation item will
simply become a cost of doing business.

Smart IS managers, however, will start educating their finance group and
upper management now, before they get bit in the backside.

(Thanks to Theresa Carey for augmenting my Accounting 101 knowledge.)

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

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

Attachmate, DCA form connectivity powerhouse

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Paula Musich

Two venerable Systems Network Architecture desktop-connectivity vendors
-- Attachmate Corp. and Digital Communications Associates Inc. -- will
pool their resources to become a $400 million supplier of desktop-to-
host connectivity software.

The privately held firms, which struck their merger agreement last week,
will create a one-stop shop for users looking to consolidate the PC
communications software programs they must support across the
enterprise.

For at least one Fortune 100 customer trying to pare down the number of
3270 emulation packages it supports, the merger is not necessarily good
news.

"I've never been happy with DCA's support, and I've been having problems
with Attachmate lately," said Scott Mason, analyst for Chevron
Information Technology Co. in San Ramon, Calif.

Although both companies' core competencies lie in PC-to-IBM host
communications, DCA will bring other strengths to the party, including
Macintosh-to-IBM host communications, access to Unisys Corp. hosts,
remote LAN access capabilities, middleware, and groupware.

"We have a very strong presence in Unisys connectivity, and we can roll
those capabilities into a wider host-aware product offering," said James
Lindner, CEO of DCA, based in Alpharetta, Ga., who will become president
and chief operating officer of the combined company when the merger is
completed by year's end.

DCA's Crosstalk asynchronous communications software will also
complement Attachmate's DEC VAX and Unix host-access software, acquired
this year from Kea Systems Ltd., according to Frank Pritt, CEO of
Attachmate, who will become chairman and CEO of the combined firm, to be
headquartered at Attachmate's Bellevue, Wash., site.

The merger is a sign of consolidation in a mature industry, but Pritt
and Lindner said there are a lot of growth opportunities in the
client/server market. Both see renewed interest in hosts as enterprise
servers for rightsized applications that require large databases and
industrial-strength transaction processing.

Turning the mainframe into a data server isn't enough for DCA users at a
Canadian petroleum company.

"I want the mainframe to be a server and a client. I want to reduce my
support costs and have one person that can talk in both worlds," said
Bob Gerardi, senior systems analyst at Imperial Oil Ltd. in Toronto.
"Where they could add value would be to make the communications two-way,
with the security and error handling transparent to the applications
developers."

For now, however, most of the companies' business is concentrated in
desktop-to-SNA links. According to a report due this week from
International Data Corp. of Framingham, Mass., the combined companies
commanded a 34.7 percent share of 1993 worldwide shipments in a market
estimated at $810 million. The next closest competitor, IBM, had a 29.8
percent share, according to the report.

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

Comdex shopping lists -- Focus is name of game

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Jim Seymour

If you're here in Las Vegas this week, what's on your Comdex shopping
list? If you're in some saner clime, what would be on it?

Few IS managers head to major trade shows without an agenda. At the core
of that agenda is a little list, usually divided into two parts:
products they want to buy in this budget cycle or the next, and new or
not-quite-products that embody technology they think may affect them and
their companies in the longer term.

Here's my list, which divides similarly into immediate and slightly-
longer-term interests.

Infrared links. Now that the infrared developers have their act
together, including some reasonable multivendor standards, I think we're
going to see a small boom in infrared connections.

Actually, I prefer low-power spread-spectrum radio for most of the tasks
developers are targeting for infrared. Several months of working with
the LapLink Wireless/AirShare system, from National Semiconductor and
Traveling Software, has persuaded me that low-power radio is an
immensely useful technology in the office, and I hope the attention now
being paid to infrared doesn't derail spread-spectrum radio development
work.

But infrared has two undisputed advantages. It can be much faster --
transferring data at the speed of light, to coin a phrase -- and its
much shorter range and requirement for some alignment between two
devices can be turned from liabilities into assets in a crowded office
setting.

Infrared-equipped portables are a no-brainer; desktops with built-in or
added-on infrared make sense in some cases, too. And because I think
"walk-up" convenience printing is going to be important in many offices,
IR-input modules on printers are going to be winners, too.

10/100 Ethernet. I think the move to 100M-bps Ethernet to the desktop
will begin next year. Combo 10/100M-bps NICs with relatively small price
deltas over similar 10M bps only are the key, because they allow smart
network managers to install 10/100 capacity on the desktop today, even
if they decide not to implement 100M bps for another year. I'm looking
for aggressively priced 10/100s behind every potted palm.

Multifunction PCMCIA cards. The spec's in place, but not the products.
One of the stars of the Hotel Suite Circuit this week -- the infamous
Ghost Trade Show lurking behind the "real" Comdex -- will be (largely
non-working) prototypes of multifunction PCMCIA cards. Just what do we
want combined into our notebook's card slots, the vendors are asking.

Better input devices. The Microsoft Natural Keyboard was the harbinger
of a flood of new input devices. Allegedly better pointing devices,
particularly touch-pads, and speech-input systems, for example, will be
everywhere.

Better notebook displays. NEC's new active-matrix, 800-by-600-pixel,
256-color notebook display will be one of the stars of the show. But
while NEC may be first to market, it won't be alone for long. The New
Color Display will be big, bright, and a lot sharper than we're used to.
Just ask ... well, Sharp.

Battery-life theatrics. Dell's stunning battery-life claims for its
Latitude series have put every other notebook maker on the defensive.
Look for amazing claims -- and some real advances -- in notebook battery
life this week.

My pal Spencer and I are going to be crawling some very dark alleyways
this week. We'll tell you what we unearth.

Jim Seymour can be reached through MCI Mail at 336-5687.

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

NetView AIX brings NetWare into focus

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Eric Smalley

NetView-NetWare links boost NOS in corporate nets

IBM and Novell Inc. this week will unveil a data-sharing module that
will allow administrators to view detailed information about NetWare
networks from NetView for AIX.

IBM has integrated NMS' (NetWare Management System's) topology
information into NetView for AIX's General Topology Manager. This will
allow NetView users to populate network maps with information about
NetWare nodes.

The improved links between the management systems, which will be
announced at Enterprise Management Summit in Santa Clara, Calif., will
help administrators weave control of NetWare LANs into their enterprise-
management fabric.

NetView for AIX will be able to receive topology, performance, and
status information forwarded from NMS, but will not be able to
automatically discover NetWare nodes directly. Currently, NetView for
AIX can receive only status information for NetWare, via alarms. IBM is
expected to make the NMS integration module available immediately as an
add-on module and will integrate it into the next release of NetView for
AIX, sources said. IBM most recently upgraded NetView for AIX last
month.

"We've standardized on NetView and NetView [for AIX]," said Frank Leef,
technology architect with Canadian Tire Corp., of Toronto. "NetView is
our manager of managers [because] we're primarily a mainframe shop. We
use NetView [for AIX] as the integration point for our distributed
systems. Being able to integrate NetWare would be of great benefit to
us."

Canadian Tire has a 1,000-user NetWare network, an IBM 9021 860
mainframe supporting several thousand concurrent users, and AIX systems,
Leef said.

The data-sharing module will also let the NetView for AIX console serve
in place of the NMS console, which will allow administrators to further
consolidate their management stations, said officials of the Provo,
Utah, firm.

One user, an IS director who requested anonymity, said that level of
integration would let him control, rather than just monitor, NetWare
from NetView for AIX. "I would want to find out which NLMs are loaded,
memory usage, [and access] all tools NMS is tied into, like LANDesk
Manager from Intel," the user said.

In other work that will let NetView access topology and performance
information without NMS, Novell is working on a full-function SNMP agent
for NetWare that will allow bidirectional communication. Novell's
current NetWare SNMP agent only passes alarms. The full SNMP agent will
let NetView for AIX, and other SNMP-based network-management systems,
access NetWare topology and performance information without NMS.

Novell is making it easier to justify adopting NMS by positioning it as
an element manager with ties to enterprise-management platforms rather
than as an enterprise-strength platform in and of itself, analysts said.

"From Novell's side, if they don't have these alliances, in a while
there won't be a need for NMS," said John McConnell, president of
McConnell Consulting, of Boulder, Colo.

Digital Equipment Corp., an OEM customer for NetView for AIX, is
expected to support the NMS links in PolyCenter NetView, sources said.
The move will allow DEC to keep PolyCenter NetView in line with the
features of NetView for AIX.

Additional reporting by Paula Musich and John Dodge

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

Does IT trust Microsoft?

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Robert L. Scheier

Ask senior IT managers if they trust Microsoft Corp., and you'll find
the software giant has made some progress in winning over top-level
technology decision-makers. But there's still a high level of skepticism
about how Microsoft wields its big Windows stick.

On one side are those who say Microsoft has responded to their major
complaints: buggy software, insufficient support, and a general
arrogance toward competitors and customers who aren't totally committed
to Windows.

"I see a definite maturing at Microsoft, beyond the sort of techno-
centric view that everybody knows how to use a PC," said David
Greenberg, MIS director at The Orlando Health Care Group, an 80,000-
member health-maintenance organization in Maitland, Fla.

But on the other side, many executives say Microsoft still doesn't get
IT -- information technology, that is -- from a strategic, mission-
critical perspective.

"I paint them with the Windows paintbrush," said William Fallon,
director of information systems with XTRA Corp., a truck-leasing firm in
Boston. "They don't understand robust, mainframe-type quality control"
-- which Fallon considers critical as his company seeks to link Windows
PCs to its new environment of Unix-based Hewlett-Packard Co. 9000
servers.

One thing Microsoft officials do understand is that they have a long row
to hoe before they convince IT managers to buy into its client/server
strategy, revolving around its BackOffice package of database server,
systems management, and enterprise messaging applications.

"We've been a desktop, PC-oriented product company," said Kathryn
Hinsch, group manager for MIS strategy in Microsoft's Developer
Division, in Redmond, Wash. "Now, as we have enterprise-worthy products,
we're moving into a situation where we really want to understand the
needs and problems of MIS."

To do that, Microsoft executives have been visiting IT shops --
sometimes for a full week at a time -- learning why things are done the
way they are in a mainframe environment, instead of dismissing such
skills as old-fashioned. It is training its salespeople to "approach the
customer with a great deal of respect for what they've built over the
last 10 to 15 years," said John Nielson, general manager of Microsoft's
worldwide Organizational Customer Unit.

To show its respect for old-guard managers, Microsoft has hired former
account representatives from IBM and Digital Equipment Corp. The reps
not only call on customers, but they also impersonate CIOs in role-
playing sessions with younger sales personnel.

For some customers, the strategy is working. Larry Blevins, CIO at the
Harris Methodist Health System, in Fort Worth, Texas, is running his
entire managed-care system on a mix of Windows PCs and Microsoft SQL
Server databases. Microsoft is "producing quality, good products, and is
working with us as a partner" -- in some cases doing a better job of
support and problem-solving than IBM, he said.

But some IT executives remain unconvinced. The CIO of a Midwest
manufacturing company recently chose Oracle Corp.'s Oracle7 over
Microsoft's SQL Server for an enterprisewide database because "there
just wasn't enough detail from Microsoft" about its plans to scale SQL
Server to handle enterprise-scale databases. Microsoft representatives,
the CIO said, still talk about specific products without providing "the
strategic level of what they're doing a year from now, and how things
fit together."

Beginning in the middle of next year, said Nielson, Microsoft will begin
disclosing its three-year product plans to IT customers, extending the
one-year preview it currently gives them. He also said Microsoft hosts
between 350 and 400 corporate customers per month at its Redmond campus
for briefings on products and future directions.

Customers gave mixed marks to Microsoft's own Consulting Services
Division and to its Solution Providers, on whom Microsoft will rely to
do much of the systems integration and consulting needed to solve
customers' problems.

A common complaint is that Microsoft doesn't give customers enough help
finding the best Solutions Provider for a given problem. To help them
choose among Solutions Providers, Nielson said, Microsoft plans to
segment the providers according to which technical or vertical market
skills they offer.

Some IT managers said that with today's price pressures, no vendor can
afford to do the hand-holding once associated with an IBM or DEC.
Because of that, IT managers must make more decisions on their own and
not rely on any vendor for all their needs.

"You spend a million dollars a year with IBM, and they're not hanging
around [your office], either," said Robert Reeder, director of
application development at Alaska Airlines, in Seattle. "You can't check
your brain at the door in this business anymore."

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

New message transport to replace MHS in GroupWise

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Paula Rooney

In a bid to align its WordPerfect communications portfolio more closely
with NetWare, Novell Inc. has decided to abandon Message Handling
Service and develop a new message transport for GroupWise.

The company is working on three offerings: a revamped object-oriented
MTA (Message Transfer Agent) for GroupWise; support for ODMA (Open
Document Management API) for the GroupWise client; and a directory-
synchronization module.

The new MTA will first appear within the client/server version of
GroupWise, which is set for release in the fall of next year. It will
provide support for MHS applications, but will also work with programs
using Messaging API and Common Mail Calls.

The MTA will be backward-compatible with SMF-71 (Standard Message
Format), according to officials at the Provo, Utah, company. The SMF-71
standard is the messaging protocol used with Global MHS. Global MHS was
designed to work with NetWare 3.x and higher.

"Novell has had no success with MHS, and SMF-71 support provides a
migration path for third-party developers," said David Ferris, editor of
The E-Mail Analyzer, a newsletter in San Francisco. "MHS will go away."

Novell's Groupware Division will ship by the end of the year an update
of its GroupWise Windows client that supports ODMA and sports dialog
boxes and tool bars similar to those used in other PerfectOffice
applications.

The company will also make available a module for GroupWise 4.1a that
provides directory synchronization with the NetWare 4.1 NDS (NetWare
Directory Service). Company officials declined to provide a release date
for the software.

Tighter integration between its communications products and NetWare 4.1
will be useful, said one user.

"If you're running NetWare 4.1, there's no synchronization method," said
Frank Gioffre, E-mail architect at the Naval Air Warfare Center, in
Lakehurst, N.J., which has 2,000 GroupWise users. "That means you have
to enter names [and addresses] of GroupWise users manually."

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

Microsoft mulls Win 95 GUI for NT

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Mary Jo Foley

Responding to customer demand, Microsoft Corp. will offer a follow-on
version to Windows NT 3.5 that includes the Windows 95 user interface
within two months after Windows 95 is released, sources said.

To date, Microsoft officials have said the first version of NT with the
Windows 95 GUI would be Cairo. Recently, however, company officials have
said they won't start beta testing Cairo, a fully object-oriented
version of NT, until late 1995, with general availability in 1996.

A number of NT users complained about having to wait two years for the
Windows 95 user environment. Windows 95 is slated to ship by mid-1995.

Microsoft officials said they have yet to decide on a final position,
even though sales staff and executives have told some customers the
decision to come out before Cairo has been made.

"We're still getting a lot of feedback about putting the Windows 95 user
interface on NT," said Megan Bliss, lead product manager for NT
Workstation, in Redmond, Wash. "We're looking at both the Cairo and pre-
Cairo time frames, and are trying to decide which [Windows 95] features
to deliver first for NT."

Users said they wanted not only the Windows 95 look and feel, but also
advanced features such as long file names, Plug and Play, and The
Microsoft Network, code-named Marvel.

"Unfortunately, Marvel currently cannot be accessed from Windows 3.1 or
NT," said a Windows 95 beta tester who requested anonymity. "Now that
they're going to put Windows 95 on NT 3.5, maybe Marvel will be
integrated into that."

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

NT versions of Word, Excel add little

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Eamonn Sullivan

Modest gains include longer file names and larger files

Few benefits and an annoyance or two characterize Microsoft Corp.'s new
32-bit versions of Word 6.0 and Excel 5.0 for the company's Windows NT
Workstation 3.5 operating system, but the upgrade price is low enough to
make it worth the investment for most NT users.

Both products are included in the $499 Microsoft Office for NT Version
4.2, which should be in stores next week, as are 16-bit versions of
PowerPoint and the Microsoft Office Manager. Word for NT and Excel for
NT also will be sold separately at a street price of roughly $339 each.

An upgrade to the NT version of Microsoft Office is available for $17.95
on CD or $66.95 with manuals and floppy disks.

For these prices, users gain the ability to create longer file names
(undoubtedly a good thing) and to handle larger documents and
worksheets.

However, PC Week Labs found annoying differences in the way our macro
tests ran using the 32-bit versions of Word and Excel, and our
preliminary performance tests showed few noticeable differences between
the 16- and 32-bit versions of the word processor and spreadsheet on the
32-bit NT operating system.

To test the 32-bit applications, we ran a macro we created as part of a
broader range of operating-system tests. The macro creates a three-page
memo in Word, including three tables created in Excel, and prints the
memo. The macro also runs some recalculations in Excel before pasting
the results into Word. Unfortunately, when we ran the macro using the
32-bit versions of Word and Excel, it broke.

Microsoft officials said we needed to remove some extra quotation marks
when we made calls from Word to Excel. It's a good thing Microsoft found
that problem, because those calls would have been the last place we
looked -- we copied them directly from Word's help file. Once we made
these changes, the macro ran using both the 16- and 32-bit versions of
Word and Excel.

The other disappointment was that the macro was a little slower when
using the 32-bit versions than when using the 16-bit versions. Running
on a Dell Computer Corp. 466MX 66MHz 486-based PC with 16M bytes of RAM,
the macro using the 32-bit versions took an average of 74 seconds;
completing the macro on the same system using the 16-bit versions took
an average of 70 seconds.

In contrast, it took an average of about 40 seconds to run the macro on
the same hardware using the 16-bit versions on Microsoft's Windows for
Workgroups 3.11, a 16-bit operating system.

Our macro doesn't test database handling, charting, and some very
memory-intensive operations, such as working with pivot tables in Excel.
Microsoft claims most of the performance increases are in these less-
common operations, so your mileage may vary.

The handful of people using their Alpha- or MIPS-based NT workstations
for word processing and spreadsheets will see a much bigger performance
increase, because they were previously running Word and Excel under a
286 emulator.

The NT version of Word is available for Intel, MIPS, and Alpha
processors. Excel for NT is available for Intel and Alpha processors; a
MIPS version is promised by the end of the year.

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

Panda struts innovative modular server technology

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Stephanie LaPolla

A startup founded by ex-IBMers will demonstrate at Comdex this week a
modular 66MHz Pentium server designed to let customers upgrade memory,
I/O, and processors separately.

The 64-bit architecture in Panda Project's Archistrat is based on the
Compass Connector, a design that splits traditional motherboard
components into four pieces. The server uses a processor board, two
memory boards, and an I/O board, all plugged into a passive backplane.

This lets users upgrade components separately, instead of replacing the
entire system, when administrators want to upgrade server performance,
said officials at the 2-year-old Boca Raton, Fla., company.

The $8,000 Archistrat 4S includes 32M bytes of RAM, 1G byte of storage,
three Peripheral Component Interconnect slots, four EISA slots, a CD
ROM, and a tape drive. When it ships in the first quarter, the server
will support Intel Corp.'s 66MHz Pentium chip running NetWare, OS/2,
Windows NT, and VINES. By next summer, Panda will have boards with
PowerPC, Alpha AXP, and MIPS R4400 processors, officials said. Support
for System 7 and SCO Unix are also planned.

"You have to see it to believe it," said beta tester Athelene Gieseman,
director of IS at Steel Hector & Davis, a law firm in Miami that is
moving off Wang minicomputers to a Unix client/server environment.
Gieseman is using the Archistrat with NetWare, but will use a prototype
RISC board for the Wang migration.

"We are not sure what to do with the accounting package once it is
ported to Unix," Gieseman said, "so we are going to move it to
Archistrat with a RISC chip. It is an inexpensive solution compared to
... a [$20,000] HP or IBM RISC server."

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

PIN alpha due for Power Mac

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Eric Smalley

Apple Computer Inc. will release this month an alpha version of Novell
Inc.'s Processor-Independent NetWare for Apple's PowerPC-based servers.

The release, to be available to a limited number of Apple customers,
marks the first time users will be able to deploy RISC machines as
native NetWare servers. PIN will inject new competition into the NetWare
server arena and will aid Novell in grooming NetWare as an all-purpose
enterprise computing platform.

The alpha release of NetWare for the Workgroup Servers will include
file, print, and directory services, but NLMs (NetWare Loadable Modules)
will not be supported.

PIN was dealt a serious blow in July when Hewlett-Packard Co. ended
participation. HP's PA-RISC architecture had been Novell's reference
platform for porting NetWare. Novell shifted its focus to the Power Mac
architecture, and the migration of the reference platform is nearly
complete, said Harry Vitelli, Apple's product manager for NetWare on
PowerPC, in Cupertino, Calif.

HP and Novell had targeted the end of this year for the first release of
PIN servers, but Apple is planning to ship the production version of its
Workgroup Servers in mid-1995.

Apple plans to have the Workgroup Servers support Novell's own NLMs by
the initial release, Vitelli said. Apple has also released to six
software developers a kit designed to help them port their NLMs, and
Apple is about to release the kit to more developers, he said.

One user who had planned to run PIN for the HP PA-RISC platform said he
would consider Apple's version. "The platform is not an issue for us,"
said Ed Koop, network manager for St. Agnes Medical Center, in Fresno,
Calif.

One of Novell's primary goals for PIN was to merge the Intel and PIN
versions of NetWare. Before HP's pullout, Novell officials had stated
that the merged code would be available shortly after NetWare 4.1 ships.

"We're still pursuing that objective," said Richard King, executive vice
president of Novell's NetWare Systems Group, in Provo, Utah. However,
there is no target date for completing the merger, King said.

Apple's plans to converge with IBM and Motorola Inc. on a single version
of the PowerPC platform means that eventually PIN will run on IBM's
PowerPC-based systems. But that convergence is not expected until 1996.
IBM could decide to port PIN to its PowerPC platform sooner; however,
IBM and Novell are discussing which approach to take, King said.

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.

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

Gateway, Aquiline plan notebooks

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Michael R. Zimmerman

Scores of notebook PC vendors have rushed to introduce new products in
recent weeks, and now two others, Gateway 2000 Inc. and Aquiline Inc.,
are adding their latest wares to the list.

At Comdex this week, Gateway 2000 will release a new family of
subnotebook PCs called Liberty. It also will expand its ColorBook line
with the ColorBook2 series, due in the first quarter.

Later this month, Aquiline will release the 6.6-pound Cyclone with a
built-in, 5.25-inch CD ROM drive that users can access by lifting the
unit's keyboard.

Gateway's 4.4-pound Liberty notebooks, measuring 10 by 8 by 1.6 inches,
will be positioned between the company's ultra-light HandBook 486 and
full-sized ColorBook notebook families, officials at the North Sioux
City, S.D., direct marketer said.

The systems, available with either Intel Corp.'s 25/50MHz 486DX2 or its
33/100MHz 486DX4, have 8M bytes of RAM (expandable to 24M bytes) and a
340M-byte hard drive (expandable to 720M bytes). The units, which start
at under $3,000, feature two PCMCIA Type 2 slots and a 10.4-inch, dual-
scan, passive-matrix color display. An external floppy drive is
optional.

Gateway's machines will compete with subnotebook PCs such as Compaq
Computer Corp.'s Contura Aero, which appeal to users whose primary
concerns are size and weight.

"I never use a floppy drive. I use [my subnotebook] to crunch out a
couple of letters and spreadsheets," Ken Cain, a director at Fluor
Daniel Inc., a construction and engineering firm in Irvine, Calif., said
of his 3.9-pound Aero.

The ColorBook2 will sport built-in 16-bit sound, enhanced video, and
Intel's 33/100MHz 486DX4. No pricing has been set.

Aquiline's Cyclone will feature Intel's 33/66MHz 486DX2 and a 25/75MHz
or a 100MHz 486DX4, a 10-inch dual-scan color screen, up to an 810M-byte
hard drive, built-in 16-bit sound, and 4M bytes of RAM (expandable to
64M bytes). The floppy drive is external and bundled.

In addition, the Troy, N.Y., company will bundle 50 CD titles and
provide a five-year warranty on parts and labor free. The units will
ship directly from Aquiline in two weeks. Pricing for the line will
start at $3,395 for a 66MHz 486DX2 model.

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

Buyers are skeptical of joint PReP plans

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Neal Boudette

Disputes, lack of spec details cast doubt on pact

After weeks of courting, IBM, Apple Computer Inc., and Motorola Inc.
united last week behind a single design for PowerPC computers. But a
dearth of details and an uncertain software direction left corporate
users skeptical of the project.

Particularly vexing for buyers are fears that simmering spats between
the partners could delay or derail the promised 1996 arrival of machines
capable of running Mac OS, OS/2, Windows NT, and other system software.

"I think they can do it technically, but I don't have confidence they'll
be in agreement long enough to do it," said Joe Tilotson, a systems
administrator at Columbia Sportswear, in Portland, Ore.

"They still have problems agreeing on things," said Scott Martin, an MIS
specialist at Gannet, Welsh & Kotler Inc., a Boston investment firm. "If
they didn't, they would have come up with this a long time ago."

At a New York press conference, officials from Apple, IBM, and Motorola
said they expect to release the common hardware specification in the
first quarter. The only details they revealed are that the spec will
include ROM code and chip sets required to run Apple's Mac OS and IBM's
OS/2.

Sources familiar with the platform said it will use an Apple-developed
controller chip to support Mac functions, and another from IBM to
support OS/2. Motorola will provide the PowerPC core logic and PCI chip
set developed for its PReP (PowerPC Reference Platform)-compatible
machines, the sources said.

IBM, Apple, Motorola, and PReP-backer FirePower Systems Inc. plan to use
the new design to build computers that should hit the market in the
second half of 1996, officials from those companies said.

Apple will port Mac OS to the new platform, IBM will port OS/2 and AIX,
and Motorola will develop an NT port, the officials said. Novell Inc.
also announced it will offer a version of NetWare for the design, they
said.

Hardware vendors looking to offer Mac clones are also expected to adopt
the common platform, officials said.

"This enhances our licensing strategy," said Ian Diery, executive vice
president of Apple's Personal Computer Division, in Cupertino, Calif.

Apple officials, however, declined to elaborate."We're here to talk
about hardware, not software," Diery said.

IBM would not commit to offering Mac OS on common platform machines.

"What customers request we will ship, so there is no preferred operating
system," said Tony Santelli, general manager of IBM's Power Personal
Systems Division, in Somers, N.Y.

Industry sources said IBM and Apple disagree on how IBM should offer Mac
capability on its machines. IBM would like to develop a Mac personality
to run on top of OS/2 for PowerPC, they said. But Apple wants IBM to
license Mac OS, which would undercut the strategic role IBM has placed
on OS/2.

"IBM has spent a lot of money pushing OS/2," said John Dunkle, president
of WorkGroup Technologies Inc., in Hampton, N.H. "It would look pretty
bad if they came out and said the Mac OS is just as good."

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

Motorola to show native NT apps for PowerPC

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Lisa DiCarlo

The PowerPC platform should seem a bit more real to corporate customers
at Comdex this week, when Motorola Inc.'s Computer Group shows native
Windows NT applications running on PowerPC systems.

Also at the show, Tatung Science & Technology Inc. and IPC Technologies
Inc. each plans to show PowerPC systems running NT.

Motorola will announce its second line of PowerPC systems, called
PowerStack, based on the 100MHz 604 processor. These systems will be
shown running native alpha versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Word, Excel,
SQL Server, and SNA Server for NT.

Early versions of other NT applications to be shown include Micrografx
Corp.'s Picture Publisher, Novell Inc.'s WordPerfect 6.0, CAD
applications from Intergraph Corp., and 3270 software from Attachmate
Corp. and Wall Data Inc., said Kevin Phillips, ISV business development
manager for Motorola's microprocessor division, in Austin, Texas.

Users said these moves address two major sticking points concerning the
PowerPC: limited operating systems and ISV support.

"This is a major coup," said Leslie Barnes, PC manager for the U.S.
Army, at Fort Gordon, Ga. "I've been reluctant to look at PowerPC
because of a [lack of applications]. It seems this is something that I
can plan for in the not-too-distant future."

Tatung, a SPARC clone vendor, will demonstrate systems running NT 3.5.
Tatung also plans to have PowerPC systems running SunSoft Inc.'s Solaris
by the end of next year, said Kam Chan, president of the Milpitas,
Calif., company.

The Tatung systems include two PCs based on the 100MHz 604 processor.
One model has two Peripheral Component Interconnect slots and two ISA
slots; the other model has three of each. Company officials expect to
have systems running NT available for OEMs by March.

IPC Technologies, based in Austin, will introduce systems for NT 3.5 and
AIX. The motherboards were made for IPC by FirePower Systems Inc. IPC's
lineup includes a 603-based entry-level model, due to ship in February,
that costs $3,495 and includes a 540M-byte hard drive and 16M bytes of
RAM.

Single-processor 80MHz 603, single-processor 604, and dual-processor 604
systems are due in the second quarter.

All have integrated 10BaseT Ethernet, SCSI-2 hard drives, and CD ROM
drives. The dual-processor models feature 16M bytes of RAM and 2M bytes
of video RAM. Pricing has not been set.

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

Cisco tightens SNA connections

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Paula Musich

Wall Data technology will reduce gateway requirements

Cisco Systems Inc. last week teamed up with Wall Data Inc. to enable
network administrators to use a router in place of a 3270 gateway, so
that 3270 emulation clients can talk with IBM hosts.

The move will make it possible for users to simplify network design and
management, as well as cut costs, by eliminating the need for gateway
devices in many instances.

Co-developed by Wall Data and Cisco, the NCIA (Native Client Interface
Architecture) technology will be used in Wall Data's emulators, Rumba
for the Mainframe and Rumba for AS/400. It will allow them to
communicate with IBM hosts through TCP/IP backbone networks using Cisco
routers.

The NCIA software, which Cisco will license to other 3270 emulation
vendors, will allow users to "keep the richness in the emulators,"
including their mainframe print emulation and graphics support, rather
than using less-robust TN3270 emulation across TCP/IP networks, said
David Veneski, business development unit manager for Wall Data, in
Kirkland, Wash.

Wall Data will make the NCIA support available in its AS/400 and IBM
mainframe packages in the first quarter of next year at no additional
charge.

Cisco also followed through on its promise to support the Data Link
Switching specification for carrying SNA (Systems Network Architecture)
traffic over TCP/IP networks.

Cisco's DLSw+ improves on the flat architecture of the DLSw
specification to create a hierarchy of DLSw+ routers that make more
efficient use of wide-area bandwidth by building connections on a
dynamic, as-needed basis.

DLSw+ will be available running over TCP/IP, FDDI, and High-level Data
Link Control in the first quarter of next year.

"I think this will turn things around and open up connectivity options
to IBM shops," said Ron Zika, systems integrator at Mallinckrodt Medical
Inc., a medical products manufacturer in St. Louis. "IBM's been kind of
slow as far as the robustness of SNA going across TCP/IP."

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

Computer show? What computer show?

Rumor Central from PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Spencer F. Katt

A trade show? With booths and cheap giveaways and press releases and
such?"

Spence was stunned. The Katt has never missed a Comdex since '79, be it
in Vegas, Chicago, or the early expositions in New York and Atlantic
City. Never did he realize that there was a trade show attached to those
secret vendor suites and late-night parties.

Once the caller explained that the show was open (inconceivable!) during
the day instead of, say, from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m., Spence understood why
he has been missing all those miles of aisles.

The news that Spence might take a look at a product or two, should the
Furry One be able to rouse himself from a Kattnap by noon or so,
prompted El Gato to consider rearranging the suite prowl.

"Let's see: I could skip the Microsoft suite and the secret Win 95 beta
party on Monday," Spence mused.

The Katt went down a quick checklist of the Microsoft suite showings:
Blackbird, Exchange, Visual Basic 4.0, the Frank Lloyd Wright designer
CD ROM, the Quicken-to-Excel translator, and a couple of keyboards and
ergonomic mice.

Of course, Spence could skip the Lotus suite, but the Katt had been one
of the first to spy the Cantabrigians in '83, when the spreadsheet
wannabe came to Comdex looking for distributors. This year, Lotus will
be showing some of its InterNotes Internet technology, as well as Notes
4.0, behind closed doors, along with the first examples of Newsstand.

(Since printing last week that Lotus CTO John Landry wants to bail,
Spence has heard no denials. What he did hear is that Landry's in-house
political adversaries planted the info. Also, Landry has an emerging
technical rival in Soft*Switch chief Michael Zisman, who's increasingly
getting Jim Manzi's ear.)

Nor did the Marvelous Mouser want to miss a chance to snoop in the Apple
suite and look at all those nifty DOS and Windows coprocessor boards to
drop into the Macintosh.

"This is great progress!" Spence proclaimed. "Take a great computer that
was born to plug and play, and make it work like one that can't." Spence
couldn't miss the opportunity to get a look at that foolishness.

And, of course, the Old Mouser couldn't miss any of those parties,
including the ever-fabulous Spencer Part One soiree (in a new location)
and the ever-eventful Spencer Part Two all-nighter.

And Spencer had even got his waiter suit pressed, to listen in while
Messrs. Gates and Frankenberg set their differences aside for a moment
at Comdex, where the two plan to touch base on a variety of cooperative
efforts, "more to do with support and testing than anything else," Gates
said, said one tipster.

"I mean, that's where you get the clear confluence of interest," Mr.
Bill was overheard to say. That is, aside from the pushing the
Microsoft-Intuit-Novell triangle through the DOJ, mused the Mouser.

"Well -- maybe not this year," speculated Spence, "but next year for
sure I'll find out just where those trade-show booths are hidden."

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].

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

Taligent, partners to show object-oriented apps

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Mary Jo Foley and Norvin Leach

Developers at Comdex this week will get their first chance to see
Taligent Inc.'s home-grown development tools that are scheduled to go
into beta test next year.

Prototype tools and applications for the Taligent object-oriented
operating system from a handful of independent developers will also be
demonstrated on the show floor.

Among the Taligent components that will be on display will be a Taligent
user interface builder, as well as the complete Taligent Development
Environment, which is slated to go into beta test during the first half
of next year, said Stratton Sclavos, vice president of marketing and
sales at Taligent, in Cupertino, Calif.

Tools have been the missing link for developers seeking to create
prototype Taligent applications. "Taligent has some really superior
concepts for object-oriented development, but one of the limitations is
that you can't leverage them without the right tools. Tools that
recognize the concepts are the leverage points everyone's looking for,"
said Carl Nelson, owner of ProActive Design, a software development
consultant in Everett, Wash.

"The development environment is still in beta, and so is not quite as
fast and slick as you might want," acknowledged Yorgen Edholm, president
of Brio Technology Inc., of Mountain View, Calif. "But the code seems
pretty bug-free and all the features seem to be there." Brio used
Taligent tools and an alpha version of the Taligent Application
Environment -- now called CommonPoint -- to develop its data-analysis
and visualization application that it will be showing at Comdex.

Brio is one of several third parties demonstrating prototype Taligent
applications this week at Comdex.

Others include Adamation Inc. with The Meeting Place workgroup
application, Abacus Concepts Inc. with a 3-D data-analysis and
visualization application, Iconix Software Engineering Inc. with its
ObjectModeler development tool, Nisus Software Inc. with its InfoBank
document-management application, and Virtus Corp. with The Virtus
Navigator, a data-analysis and visualization tool for the Internet.

Taligent will demonstrate its own applications for the Taligent
environment, including an integrated business package, media browser,
World-Wide Web browser, and a business-card creation tool, Sclavos said.

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

Training is key weapon for embattled IT staffs

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Robert L. Scheier

Before investing in a client/server project, take this test.

Training is: A) one of the first things to be cut from the budget when
times get tight, B) a necessary evil, or C) one of the best clubs you
have to beat back internal and external enemies. The correct answer? C.

Investing in new systems without training people to use them is "like
buying a new car and not teaching anyone to drive it," said Larry
Blevins, CIO of Harris Methodist Health System, in Fort Worth, Texas,
where training costs are expected to rise about 30 percent this year --
triple the rate of recent increases.

Harris isn't alone. A Forrester Research Inc. study of 50 Fortune 1000
companies showed that two-thirds expect their per-developer training
spending to rise over the next two years.

Even as bean counters slash budgets and outsourcers claim they can do
the work for less, almost a quarter of the companies Forrester surveyed
expected training budgets to rise by 50 percent or more.

Simply put, re-engineering human talent within IS is a strategic
imperative -- not only for organizations but for the individuals in
them.

"IT people have to recognize that kids graduating straight out of school
have skills ... that have taken [today's IT professionals] decades to
learn," said Dave Gusman, MIS director at Thompson, Hine and Flory, a
Cleveland law firm. "We have to recognize that technologies do have life
cycles ... and we can't build entire careers on a single technology."

Companies can't afford to pay an outsider for such expertise, only to
watch it walk out the door in a consultant's briefcase.

"We were paying premiums ... for outside consultants to design, build,
and install client/server applications," said Jerry Hudson-Martin,
director of the technical education center at John Hancock Financial
Services, in Boston. "It was costly, and people realized [that practice]
was leaving Hancock without critical internal resources."

As a result, after several years of slow declines, Hudson-Martin is
hoping for a "significant" increase in his IT training budget for 1995.

Pay Now -- Or Later

While nobody seems to have a defensible cost-justification model for IT
training, there are ways to quantify it -- often, by totaling the costs
of not training.

One example is the tab for outside consultants, as in the case of John
Hancock. Such costs can be reduced if consultants not only complete
specific projects, but also perform "technology transfer" to the
internal IT staff.

A less-obvious cost is that of user-developed applications that run into
performance, security, or scalability problems -- which often wind up in
the lap of the IT staff, Hudson-Martin said. If IT professionals had the
training to build those applications themselves, it would not only cut
down on troubleshooting costs but also reduce the temptation for
business units to look to an outsourcer for help.

Given the cost of outside training and the pressure to keep developers
productive, many companies are putting the brakes on week-long, out-of-
the-office training.

They are instead combining formal training with informal coaching,
brown-bag lunches, and written reports.

John Hancock, for example, is bringing in data-modeling experts to work
with its PowerBuilder experts as they develop an actual application.
"We're trying to have 25 percent of all training next year be self-
study," said Hudson-Martin, either on the company's time or the
employee's time.

Of course, many companies still consider training an overhead item to be
cut, particularly if other spending is being slashed.

"It's very difficult to justify a reduction of staff and a [training]
investment in staff in the same breath," said Elliott Maise, president
of The Maise Center, a Cambridge, Mass., consulting firm. "That
[practice] has more to do with psychology than strategy," he said, since
training can reassure the survivors they're still valuable and help them
get more done.

But other forces are making training costs more palatable.

Getting a business manager's fingers on the keyboard, for example, can
often loosen the training purse strings.

"We started rolling out some of these applications, and the managers
themselves started trying to use them," said Skip McDowell, an
information resources engineer at Georgia Power Co. in Atlanta. "They
saw the need for training."

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

Fortified development tools battle for IS mind share

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Norvin Leach

Corporate programmers visiting Comdex this week will find an evolving
class of client/server application-development tools competing for mind
share with stronger database-connectivity features and falling prices.

Microsoft Corp. plans to demonstrate privately Visual Basic Version 4.0,
which includes tools for stronger and easier database connectivity.
Borland International Inc. will show its upcoming Delphi development
environment, while Powersoft Corp. will be hawking its just-released
PowerBuilder 4.0.

Version 4.0 of Visual Basic includes Wizards for generating code, new
interface components for connecting to databases, and a new data-control
component that can connect to customized database drivers, said sources
familiar with the product.

Microsoft officials declined to comment on the upgrade, which sources
said is still months away from shipping. Internal plans for a late-
January release date were recently pushed back to later in the year, the
sources said.

Key points of contention among these products are their ease and power
of database connectivity.

Delphi and PowerBuilder were designed as database connectivity tools,
allowing programmers to create queries and applications by pointing and
clicking on menu items.

Visual Basic, on the other hand, was initially aimed at the desktop
developer; it was not until last year's Version 3.0 release that the
product featured easier database connections through Microsoft's Access
database engine.

But users said Visual Basic 3.0 is still weak in connectivity because
the package requires them to write too much code.

"PowerBuilder is kicking Visual Basic's butt in that area, and I'm
hoping this new version brings [Visual Basic] up to speed," said one 4.0
beta tester who had just begun to review the new components.

Tools in Hand

The 4.0 upgrade will address the database-connectivity issue with a
handful of new tools, such as Wizard code generators, sources said.
These Wizards, similar in concept to the code generators provided in
other Microsoft tools, walk the user through the creation of database
applications, step by step.

Microsoft has also rewritten the Access database engine and the Data
Access Object layer that surrounds it. The Data Access Object layer,
which exposes the functions of the Access engine, can now provide more
detailed information about a database to the developer via new Object
Linking and Embedding custom control components.

The bundle will include both the 16-bit and 32-bit products, including a
32-bit version of the Access engine. The editor and debugger windows
have been upgraded to resemble the code windows in Excel.

While Microsoft is playing catch-up to its competitors with Visual Basic
4.0's database-connectivity features, it might change the game to
leapfrog with its pricing. Microsoft is said to be considering a $99
low-end version of Visual Basic.

At Borland, debate is raging over the pricing for Delphi, which is due
to ship in April 1995; pricing suggestions for Delphi have ranged from
$500 to $1,500, sources said.

Powersoft's PowerBuilder 4.0, by contrast, costs $695 for a desktop
edition and $3,295 for a full-featured edition.

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

Intel brings ProShare to LANs

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Erica Schroeder

LAN users gain videoconferencing without extra equipment

In a move that should hasten the arrival of videoconferencing on desktop
PCs, Intel Corp. will introduce this week at Comdex a version of
ProShare for LANs.

Enabling LAN users to gain videoconferencing without additional network
equipment will lower the cost and complexity of providing the service,
said users and analysts.

The LAN version of ProShare, which will ship this week, enables users on
a LAN to videoconference and share applications over Ethernet, FDDI, and
Token-Ring networks, according to Intel Personal Conferencing Division
officials, in Hillsboro, Ore. The ProShare Video System 150 also
supports IPX, TCP/IP, and NetBIOS network protocols and WAN connections
such as T-1, T-3, and frame relay.

Next year, the LAN version of ProShare will gain the ability to bridge
to another LAN via an ISDN link, and all versions of ProShare will gain
H.320 standard support for multivendor interoperability, said Intel
officials.

One user praised the transmission quality.

"I was the biggest opposing force to Intel having video over the LAN,
and especially the WAN, because I didn't think it was possible to do the
data compression," said Andrew Drummond, LAN manager for the Automotive
Systems Group of Johnson Controls Inc., in Plymouth, Mich.

"But it's incredible. A 15- to 20-frame-per-second video can be easily
tailored to 2 to 3 percent of the network bandwidth. We were expecting
35 to 45 percent of bandwidth because that's typically what you see with
graphics and audio," he said.

The LAN version of ProShare, which is priced at $1,999, includes a
version of Intel's LANDesk Manager that allows network administrators to
monitor and control video use over the network. ProShare Video System
150 provides two qualities of video that use either a total of 200K bps
or 400K bps for a two-way conversation.

The LANDesk Personal Conferencing Manager is also available as a stand-
alone version, priced at $499. A point-to-point ISDN upgrade kit for
users of the Video System 150 is priced at $499 and will ship in
January.

Other companies debuting videoconferencing products at Comdex include
VideoTalk, which will demonstrate its namesake software; RSI Systems
Inc., which will show off a version of its Eris videoconferencing
product that interoperates with AT&T Corp.'s WorldWorx product; and
DataBeam Corp., which will introduce its developers' kit for adding
FarSite data-conferencing capabilities to software applications.

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

To Warp? Or not to Warp?

This PC Week for November 14, 1994 by John Dodge

Strong opinions aside, you are the final judge.

"A dark horse, which had never been thought of, rushed past the
grandstand in sweeping triumph."

Probably it's premature to apply this passage from the writings of
Benjamin Disraeli to OS/2, DEC Alpha, and other assorted underdogs.
Three months ago, it was probably premature to say the same thing about
Republicans winning a Congressional majority. Given that, let's give the
underdogs the benefit of the doubt this week.

The results of the Oct. 10 and 24 columns asking readers if they would
take the Warp plunge have been tabulated. They are as interesting as
they are unscientific.

Responding to the Oct. 10 pre-review column, 96 said yes; 13 said no; 13
said maybe; 31 (all yeses) already used OS/2; and two said the Amiga had
all of Warp's features 10 years ago.

After our preview Oct. 24, which cited installation problems, 53 said
yes, six said no, and 14 said maybe. Twelve ayes were already pre-Warp
OS/2 users (who have to wait for Warp that doesn't require Windows).
Both sets of current users were split between home and corporate usage.
Six agreed with an engineer who said that PC Week was "a durty wortles
magasine" for saying anything negative about Warp.

What does this all mean? A few things. IBM will definitely sell at least
117 copies of Warp. Probably more. People feel strongly about Warp. In
fact, minority platforms like OS/2 and the Mac, for instance, elicit
loyalty bordering on fanaticism. Previous Windows columns garnered only
50 or so responses.

You be the Warp judge. Our full review on Warp is in this week's issue
in our Special Report: Guide to Operating Systems (see PC Week Forum,
Library 10, Hot News, for the complete Special Report).

Hard proof that DEC's Alpha chip is taking off remains elusive, but
there are some optimistic signs with regard to Alpha-based servers.
Supporting The Microsoft Network in Windows 95 could be a business unto
itself. It's no sure bet, but it's worth watching. DEC says 19 percent
of its product revenues now come from Alpha-based products. With the
pre-product PowerPC glow dimming in the midst of confused positioning,
it might be time for Alpha to aggressively step forward, especially if
NT 3.5 lifts off. Few realize how much Microsoft relies on DEC in a long
list of key IS technologies. Our review of Windows NT Workstation 3.5
appears in this week's Special Report (available in the PC Week Forum,
Library 10, Hot News).

You might think DCA and Attachmate, whose fortunes were built on the
3270 emulation, might have "rushed past the grandstand" years ago. Alas,
no. International Data Corp. forecasts a 13.9 percent compound annual
growth in "SNA client" units through 1998.

How many "SNA clients" do you have? Is their number growing? What are
they doing? Write us at [e-mail]; CompuServe (72241,303)
or MCI Mail (239-3520).

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

Microsoft lays foundation for online network

From PC Week for November 14, 1994 by Mary Jo Foley

As it launches its online service this week, Microsoft Corp. is working
furiously to lay the infrastructure to support its ambitious electronic
commerce strategy.

At Comdex in Las Vegas, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates will outline his goals
for MSN (The Microsoft Network), code-named Marvel. Those goals include
supporting 1 million users within a year of MSN's release, a $4 to $5
monthly access fee, and a commitment to make the service generally
available with a substantial amount of content by next year's third
quarter, according to sources close to the company.

Also this week, Digital Equipment Corp. will announce an exclusive
contract from Microsoft to provide continuous service and support for
MSN, said sources close to the two companies. DEC, of Maynard, Mass.,
will maintain the hundreds of Windows NT servers that form the backbone
of MSN, both at Microsoft's primary data site in Bellevue, Wash., and at
its Colorado Springs, Colo., backup site, sources said.

Microsoft has signed deals with telecommunications vendors, including
British Telecom, U.S. Sprint Communications Co., AT&T Corp., and
Telstra, of Australia, to act as carriers for MSN, sources said.

Last week, Microsoft and Visa International signed a letter of intent to
jointly provide secure transaction technology for purchasing goods and
services over the network. Microsoft and Visa, of San Francisco, will
publish specifications covering software that will be able to
authenticate buyers and sellers over the network.

The secure transaction technology, being designed in conjunction with
RSA Data Security Inc., will be available for MSN and Windows 95 by the
end of 1995, Microsoft officials said.

While setting the stage for broader use of MSN, Microsoft is providing
rudimentary access to the online service in the latest beta version of
Windows 95, which began shipping last week.

As part of Windows 95 Beta 2, Microsoft offers all the plumbing
necessary to tap into the Internet, such as a full TCP/IP stack and FTP
capability. With MSN, Microsoft is taking online access a step further
by tightly integrating it with Windows 95's Explorer (the new
file/program manager) and Exchange (the built-in E-mail client). As a
result, users will be able to receive and send information over the
Internet, MSN, and other online services via a single mailbox.

"Marvel changes the way individuals are going to compute," said one
Windows 95 beta tester. "Microsoft has virtualized the desktop. They've
provided the link for mapping a drive anywhere across the network."

The next step will be for Microsoft to offer online links for its
consumer applications, such as Microsoft Complete Baseball. Further
along, Microsoft plans to extend its core Office applications with
online services, said Joel Diamond, technical director of WUGNET, the
global technical Windows user CompuServe forum, in Media, Pa.

"You'll be able, over time, to use Excel and Word as online viewers and
browsers," Diamond said. "They'll be able to send multimedia objects
over the service, extending OLE further."

By bundling MSN with Windows 95, Microsoft is increasing exponentially
the likelihood that users will use the service as their default online
gateway. Hoping to further cement MSN's appeal, Microsoft is expected to
charge a $4 or $5 flat monthly access fee, rather than billing users per
hour of connect time, sources said.

But current online providers aren't ready to concede the battle.

"Microsoft will have a lower monthly fee, but most of the good [content]
stuff will be in the a la carte mode," said Steve Case, CEO of America
Online Inc., in Vienna, Va. "We believe we will continue to have a much
broader range of content, a stronger sense of community, and lower
overall pricing."

Additional reporting by Kimberly Patch

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