Eagles Nest BBS 5/Eagles_Nest_Mac_Collection_Disc_5.TOAST/Other Non-Macintosh Text/PCWeek941205/pcweek.new

Text File | 1994-12-02 | 83KB | 1,741 lines

PC Week News for December 5, 1994. Contents Copyright (c) 1994 by Ziff
Communications Company. All rights reserved. Material may not be
reproduced or distributed IN ANY FORM without express written
permission. Contact CompuServe mailbox 72241,1776 for further
information.
================================================================
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.

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

Microsoft plans development tools for BackOffice

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Norvin Leach

Not content to wait passively for developers to jump on the BackOffice
bandwagon, Microsoft Corp. will try to entice them with documentation
and tools for building BackOffice server applications.

Microsoft wants developers to create applications that tap into the
BackOffice suite of Windows NT Server, SQL Server, SNA Server, Exchange
mail server, and Systems Management Server. An expense-account
application, for example, could enter information into a SQL Server
database and send notifications via Exchange.

"We look at BackOffice as a platform, not just a bundle of
applications," said Cameron Myhrvold, director of marketing with
Microsoft's developer division, in Redmond, Wash. "It provides services
like management and messaging, and we want to get developers to create
applications that take advantage of those services."

The BackOffice suite is attractive to developers because they are freed
of the task of stringing together network services from a multitude of
sources, said Greg Hope, vice president of Prologic Computer Corp., in
Vancouver, British Columbia.

Prologic recently finished porting Probe, its DOS-based transaction-
processing framework, to BackOffice. In previous versions of Probe, "we
had to provide a lot of the infrastructure -- our own database, LAN,
disk BIOSs," Hope said. "BackOffice has all the technologies you need to
bring to bear on the problem."

Products will begin appearing in late March at the Tech Ed conference in
New Orleans, where Microsoft will distribute a software development kit
featuring tools and documents explaining how to integrate BackOffice
services into a network application. Microsoft will eventually release
other tools, including a new version of the Microsoft Foundation Class
libraries that offers classes for BackOffice components.

Future versions of BackOffice will gain more support for Visual Basic as
a scripting language. SQL Server 95, for example, will let users create
Visual Basic scripts for data-administration functions, such as the
creation of batch files for backing up data.

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

Microsoft lags behind in interactive TV field

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Mary Jo Foley

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- As Microsoft Corp. and Tele-Communications Inc. begin
to wire the first 200 homes for their joint interactive TV trial,
company officials concede that they are behind some developers that are
forging ahead with their next-generation systems.

Microsoft demonstrated a prototype of its forthcoming interactive TV
system, complete with a prototype Microsoft-developed user interface, at
the Western Cable Show here last week.

Microsoft also launched at the show its Insight beta test program for
network operators. The company added a number of new partners to its
beta program, including Belgacom, Cox Cable, GTE Corp., Hong Kong
Telecom, Korea Telecom, Pacific Telesis Video Services, Sprint, and
Viacom Cable.

Microsoft officials acknowledged that the firm is playing catch-up. "We
have a lot to learn," said David Perry, group manager for creative
services within Microsoft's Advanced Consumer Technology division, in
Redmond, Wash. "But we believe our Insight program will give us cross-
pollination with a number of partners who have it together."

Microsoft decided to postpone an interactive TV developers conference
originally planned for this month to the first quarter, Perry said.
Microsoft moved the date to better coordinate its development tools
across multiple projects and divisions, he said.

The conference will focus on Microsoft's first-generation interactive
operating system, which the firm developed with General Instrument Corp.
Code-named Amazon, the operating system will provide expanded pay-per-
view-type video access.

Microsoft's next-generation interactive broadband operating system,
code-named Iceberg, will enable full, two-way video-on-demand, Perry
said. Microsoft will deploy Iceberg in its trials with TCI in the first
quarter, he added.

At the cable show, a number of other set-top-box, server, network, and
services vendors discussed plans and demonstrated expanded pay-per-view
and full-video-on-demand technology.

Scientific-Atlanta Inc. announced an initiative to develop a common set-
top-box/home-terminal operating system called PowerTV. The operating
system will be developed by the Atlanta firm's newly formed subsidiary,
also called PowerTV.

AT&T Network Systems, of Lisle, Ill., and Cablevision System Corp., of
Woodbury, N.Y., announced they are co-developing an end-to-end digital
video system for near-video-on-demand and video-on-demand for
Cablevision subscribers. The system will feature AT&T-developed set-top
boxes, video servers from Interactive Digital Solutions (a joint venture
between Silicon Graphics Inc. and AT&T), and a full suite of related
services from IDS.

Digital Equipment Corp., of Maynard, Mass., announced its second-
generation media server architecture based on its OSF/1 operating
system, coupled with Alpha servers and PC and Macintosh set-top boxes.

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

Pair of notebook makers to add CD ROMs

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Michael R. Zimmerman

As notebook PC makers continue to incorporate leading-edge technologies,
buyers will find one advance prevalent next year: built-in CD ROM
drives.

Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. will jump on the CD ROM
bandwagon in the first quarter with a completely new notebook design
that uses a built-in double-speed CD ROM and a lithium-ion battery, said
sources close to the company.

Around the same time, Twinhead Corp. will release its SlimNote 6 and
SlimNote 8 notebooks, which feature built-in CD ROMs, said sources.

By combining long-lasting lithium-ion battery technology with a built-in
CD ROM, Toshiba will place itself on the cusp of the notebook-technology
convergence predicted for 1995, sources said.

The forthcoming Toshiba unit will weigh under 7 pounds and feature the
PCMCIA's 32-bit CardBus architecture, sources said. Like IBM's ThinkPad
755CD, the Toshiba unit's CD ROM will feature an electronic eject button
to remove CDs.

Toshiba is expected to release its unit for less than $7,599, the
current price of the 755CD, sources said. To keep the weight and price
down, Toshiba will exclude a floppy drive, they said.

Unlike current CD ROM-equipped notebooks such as Panasonic Electronic
Inc.'s V41, which are marketed primarily as multimedia stations, Toshiba
will promote the CD ROM as a data-intensive tool, sources said.

"I use CD ROMs for text research," said Paul Geary, a CPA and PC
consultant in Quincy, Mass. "Without my CD I'd have to go to five or 10
books for full research. With CD ROM, I can have it all on the disk and
do text searches -- saving me a lot of time."

Toshiba, however, will not ignore the presentation aspects of CD ROM. It
will build two stereo speakers and a 16-bit sound card into its unit,
sources said.

Twinhead's forthcoming SlimNote 6 will be based on Intel Corp.'s 486
processors, while the SlimNote 8 will be based on the 75MHz Pentium
chip, sources said. Pricing for the systems is not set, they said.

Officials of Toshiba, in Irvine, Calif., and Twinhead, of Milpitas,
Calif., declined to comment on unannounced products.

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

Novell will put Collabra software into GroupWise

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Paula Rooney

BOSTON -- Novell Inc. last week outlined a multiphase strategy to
provide customers with a more complete set of groupware functions, such
as electronic conferencing, while giving developers an open messaging
platform independent of NetWare.

Building on its GroupWise messaging package, Novell is teaming up with
Collabra Software Inc. to integrate Collabra's Share groupware into
GroupWise. Share, a $99 low-end alternative to Lotus Development Corp.'s
Notes, provides electronic conferencing, discussion databases,
replication, and full-text search capabilities.

The deal, announced at the E-Mail World show here, calls for Novell to
ship the integrated package in the first quarter.

In the same time frame, Novell plans to bring out an add-on to GroupWise
for use with NetWare 4.1, said officials from the Provo, Utah, company.
The add-on will transparently synchronize the Message Handling Service
directories used with GroupWise, they said. GroupWise will be integrated
with NetWare but will not become part of the network operating system,
they said.

In the second quarter, Novell will offer a streamlined version of Share
bundled with GroupWise that offers conferencing capabilities, but no
replication or search features, said sources familiar with Novell's
plans.

Collabra, of Mountain View, Calif., already has a deal with Microsoft
Corp. to develop a version of Share for Microsoft's Exchange messaging
server.

By the end of next year, Novell plans to ship a client/server version of
GroupWise, called CMS (Collaborative Message Server). CMS will support
open APIs, including MAPI (Messaging API) 1.0, Novell officials said.

Novell's plan to make GroupWise more open is smart, according to one
analyst. Customers are still weary after the VIM (Vendor-Independent
Messaging)-MAPI battle and are pushing vendors to make messaging
products more interoperable, said Ann Palermo, an analyst at
International Data Corp., in Framingham, Mass. "They do want to support
standard APIs," Palermo said. "MAPI support is a good indication of
this."

One corporate user concurred. "Anything that's open and supports
standards is better," said Steve Wincor, a systems analyst for Lockheed
Missiles and Space Co., in Sunnyvale, Calif. "The move to MAPI will
help."

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

Database makers set long-term strategies at DB Expo

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Anne Knowles

There will be lots of talk but not much action at DB Expo in New York
this week, as major database vendors discuss future product plans but
deliver little in the way of actual software.

Computer Associates International Inc., IBM, and Microsoft Corp. will
outline strategies or announce partnerships.

Two exceptions will be Informix Software Inc. and Sybase Inc., which
will announce availability of new database products.

Informix will unveil OnLine Dynamic Server 7.1, an upgrade to its DBMS
that provides parallel load and parallel data-query capabilities,
support for cascading, and multisite replication. OnLine 7.1 has been
shipping on machines from Sequent Computer Systems Inc. and will now be
available on Unix systems from 10 other vendors, including IBM, Hewlett-
Packard Co., and Sun Microsystems Computer Corp.

"The significant [symmetric-multiprocessing] improvements are why we're
interested in it. That's our bread-and-butter business," said Daniel
Grant, president of DXI Inc., in Pittsburgh.

Sybase's Micro Decisionware Inc. subsidiary, in Boulder, Colo., will
announce Omni Access Module gateways for 14 data sources, including DB2,
VSAM, Informix, Rdb, and Microsoft's SQL Server.

CA officials are expected to report on the OpenIngres database line,
acquired when the company purchased The Ask Group Inc. in June. "We will
talk about key technology we've added to the products that will allow
people to bet their businesses on them," said Allan Paller, director of
open systems at CA, in Islandia, N.Y.

CA will deliver OpenIngres earlier than the company's previously
announced second-quarter 1995 ship date, said Paller, though he declined
to say how much earlier.

Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., and Information Builders Inc., of New
York, will announce beta software for providing access to heterogeneous
data sources from BackOffice using EDA/SQL, IBI's gateway line for
accessing both SQL and non-SQL databases. A release date was not
disclosed.

Officials from IBM, in Somers, N.Y., will discuss plans to deliver a
turnkey solution for decision-support applications consisting of its DB2
Parallel Edition, SP2 parallel-processing system, and related services.
DB2 Parallel Edition is slated for delivery next year.

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

Pacts to expand Notes' role in document management

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Lisa Nadile and Erica Schroeder

One of the prevailing themes at Lotusphere next month will be the
expanding role Lotus Development Corp.'s Notes is playing in large-scale
document-management systems.

At the Orlando, Fla., conference, Documentum Inc. plans to announce the
integration of its namesake enterprise document-management system with
Notes, sources said, while rival Folio Corp. is expected to announce an
expansion of its relationship with Lotus.

Officials at Lotus, of Cambridge, Mass., declined to comment.

Lotus currently provides in Notes a text-retrieval engine licensed from
Verity Corp.

Meanwhile, Saros Corp. and Interleaf Inc. also are looking at adding
tools to integrate Notes with their document-management offerings,
officials from the two companies said.

"You need to take a look at the document life cycle. A Notes document
has a short life, and users don't care about versioning," said Barry
Zimmerman, director of business development for Saros, of Bellevue,
Wash. "Most of the large Notes users have a combination of Notes
databases with a conveyance to library services."

To address this issue, Documentum, of Pleasanton, Calif., plans to ship
early next year Version 2.0 of its document-management system, adding
version control, configuration management, and full-text-indexing
functionality on Notes attachments. Pricing for the current Documentum
system ranges from $500 to $1,500 per seat.

Folio, meanwhile, is building products that bridge FolioViews data and
Notes, said Bruce Brown, vice president of operations for the Provo,
Utah, firm.

Integrating Notes and document-management products is becoming
increasingly important to many corporate sites.

"Document-management products such as FolioViews need to provide more
efficient storage and search capabilities," said Frank Niepold, manager
of electronic document-management systems for Chubb & Son Inc., in
Warren, N.J. "I ought to be able to search for and launch any Lotus
Notes document as well as any Folio file."

Meanwhile, Microsoft Corp. is developing a document-management program
for Microsoft Exchange, officials from the Redmond, Wash., company said.
The program will provide an API that will allow other document-
management providers to build applications for Exchange.

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

Microsoft plans DOS upgrade after Windows 95 ships

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Mary Jo Foley

Microsoft Corp. plans to release an updated version of MS-DOS a few
months after shipping Windows 95, sources said.

Even though Microsoft is encouraging its current MS-DOS users to upgrade
directly to Windows 95 rather than to another version of DOS, company
representatives are telling customers they will accommodate users who
say they simply don't need the Windows interface, sources close to the
company said.

A separate DOS version would appease users who aren't convinced that all
their current DOS applications -- especially certain utilities and
custom applications -- will work with Windows 95.

"Lots of vertical-market packages are still DOS-based, and users are
scared they won't work with Windows 95," said one MS-DOS user who
requested anonymity. "There are some places where you still will want to
use DOS."

Despite reported private statements, Microsoft officials publicly denied
last week that the company has made a definitive decision to release a
new DOS.

"When we see demand for a separate DOS, we'll build the product," said
Richard Freedman, product manager with Microsoft's personal operating
systems division, in Redmond, Wash. "There is no demand for a DOS
uncoupled from Windows 95 now. If you uncoupled it, you'd lose a lot of
the key Windows 95 features."

But Microsoft doesn't want to leave the DOS market to IBM, which is
expected to release its 32-bit PC-DOS 7.0 product in February, sources
said.

Microsoft's latest DOS release, Version 6.21, shipped in June. An
updated version, currently called MS-DOS 7.0, has been described by
Microsoft officials as an integrated part of Windows 95, rather than as
a stand-alone product that could be decoupled easily from the Windows 95
graphical front end.

"The claim that DOS isn't there just isn't true," said Andrew Schulman,
author of the recently released book "Unauthorized Windows 95." "Windows
95 isn't a single, integrated operating system, like Mac OS."

Microsoft also may be attempting to stave off Department of Justice
scrutiny by advertising the two products as one, Schulman said. The
Justice Department's consent decree specifies that Microsoft is not
permitted to "tie" separate operating systems and graphical environments
together in a way that would prevent other vendors' products from
working with Windows.

"Microsoft could get in trouble if they try to coerce vendors who want
just DOS to also take Windows or if users were unable to run Windows
[95] on top of things other than MS-DOS 7.0," Schulman said.

Microsoft's Freedman disagreed with Schulman's premise. "With Windows
95, there is no reliance on what people have historically called MS-
DOS," he said.

Editor's Note: Stop by ZiffNet's Executives Online Forum Dec. 12-16 for
a Windows 95 discussion. Microsoft's Brad Silverberg and Alec Saunders
and author Andrew Schulman will be online to answer your questions. Type
GO EXEC.

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

PC vendors pledge to swap Pentiums

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Neal Boudette

As nervous IS shops map out their strategies for dealing with a flaw in
Intel Corp.'s Pentium processors, most PC makers say they will largely
accede to users who demand replacement chips.

But users who want new processors will have to wait at least two to
three months, Intel officials confirmed last week. Intel so far has only
produced samples of the corrected chips and won't begin making them in
quantity until the first quarter, according to a spokeswoman for the
Santa Clara, Calif., company.

As Intel scurried to stanch a public-relations disaster, most PC makers
pledged to satisfy customers.

"We have no choice but to replace the processor if that's what the
customer wants," said Jacques Clay, general manager of Hewlett-Packard
Co.'s PC business, in Grenoble, France. "It's a matter of the
relationship between HP and the customer."

Officials of IBM Personal Computer Co. and AST Research Inc. echoed HP's
stance, while other major PC makers confided in private that they will
appease adamant customers.

"If the guy slams his hand on the table, we'll replace the chip," said
Dan Sheppard, marketing director at AST, in Irvine, Calif.

Among the major IS shops that plan to ask for replacement processors are
Prudential Securities Inc., in New York; the Federal Reserve Bank of St.
Louis; and The Aerospace Corp., an aerospace contractor in El Segundo,
Calif.

"It's totally unacceptable in our business," said Lorraine Junge, a
technical staff member at The Aerospace Corp. "We can't run the risk of
an error, no matter what the odds."

The flaw in the floating-point unit of the Pentium causes systems to
yield incorrect numbers when dividing certain numbers and carrying the
results out to several decimal places -- which could affect heavy-duty
financial and engineering applications.

Many PC makers said the bug brouhaha hasn't slowed Pentium sales yet,
even though some corporations have begun pulling orders.

"If you're going to spend $3,000 for a machine, you expect it to be
accurate, so we're going to wait until the fix gets out there," said
Chris Tocci, a scientist at Beard Corp., in Bedford, Mass.

Intel still maintains that the average user's chance of encountering the
bug in real applications is one in 9 billion. University researchers and
math software developers who have tested the floating-point unit agreed
the bug is rare.

"It won't happen with just any numbers, and it won't happen with many
numbers," said Tom Sherlock, head of PC software at Wolfram Research
Inc., the Champaign, Ill., maker of Mathematica software.

Buyers who make little use of floating-point math said they will
continue using their Pentium machines without waiting for the
replacement CPU.

"It's not really fazing us because no one's noticing any problems," said
Ed Koop, a PC manager at St. Agnes Medical Center, in Fresno, Calif.,
which uses Pentium PCs for software development.

Yet what has outraged some buyers is Intel's efforts to downplay the
bug. Officials said they discovered the bug last summer, but they did
not acknowledge it until last month. The company also maintains that it
will screen users and give replacement chips only to those running
applications with floating-point math.

"It illustrates a disregard for the customer," said Steve Curcuru,
resident wizard at Mugar/Glazer Holdings Inc., a Boston investment firm
and a PC Week Corporate Partner.

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

GATT should reduce piracy, spur growth

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Kimberly Patch

Computer-industry executives and customers are optimistic about the GATT
treaty's impact on intellectual property laws and relaxed worldwide tax
barriers, which should spur growth.

The Global Agreement on Trade and Tariffs treaty, which Congress passed
last week, will impose the same protection afforded to literary works to
software code on a worldwide basis. It also promises to ease differences
among global patent laws.

These provisions should substantially reduce software piracy, allowing
companies to sell more products, observers said. For users, the changes
mean access to a wider range of goods throughout the world, faster
innovation, and rapidly declining prices.

"If piracy rates go down, you're going to see more R&D, more competitive
products, and probably a further price erosion," said Robert Weiler,
senior vice president of sales and worldwide marketing for Lotus
Development Corp., in Cambridge, Mass., It will probably take three to
five years for the industry to see a drastic reduction in software
piracy, Weiler said.

"GATT is very good for our industry -- it starts to set standards for
intellectual property laws all over the world," added Kanwal Rekhi,
executive vice president of Novell Inc., in San Jose, Calif.

Just as important, however, is the removal of many tariffs throughout
the world, which should boost sales of U.S. computer wares to new
markets.

"It will open more markets in areas where the United States is
intrinsically strong -- the software and hardware PC industry," said
John Latta, president of 4th Wave Inc., a consulting company in
Alexandria, Va. "Open markets have always equated to more growth."

While open markets should boost innovation and lower prices, it will
also spur growth in other countries, giving the United States more
competition, according to Virendra Singh, vice president of technology
solutions for the Wefa Group, an economic forecasting and consulting
company in Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

Software Publishing Association Executive Director Ken Wasch called the
bill one of the most important pieces of legislation for the industry in
a decade. "Intellectual property in digital form is easy to steal, and
we won't realize the promise of [software sales] unless we can protect
software as a literary work," he said. "GATT requires that."

Corporate users were supportive of the GATT treaty as well. "I think it
will be a positive all the way around," said Bruce Strazdon, hospital
planner for Runnells Specialized Hospital, in Berkeley Heights, N.J.

"It will allow companies to get a good return on investment for their
development work. Also, if everyone has access to the same software, the
possibilities of sharing information will be maximized."

Additional reporting by Jane Morrissey

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

Vendors unite on computer telephony

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Paula Musich

NEW YORK -- Versit, the all-purpose computer-telephony consortium led by
Apple Computer Inc., IBM, AT&T Corp., and Siemens Rolm Communications
Inc., has set its sights on fostering the development of interoperable
applications using computers, PDAs, telephones, PBXs, and related gear.

Also backing the initiative, introduced here last week, are Hewlett-
Packard Co. and Novell Inc. But heavyweights Microsoft Corp. and Intel
Corp. are not involved.

The consortium plans to release within 30 days specifications based on
Apple's GeoPort 2M-bps serial-port connection to link desktop computers
and mobile devices to telephones. Also due in a month are format specs
for personal data interchange for electronic business-card transmission
over wireless or wired connections. Those will be based on container
technology from Component Integration Labs.

Early next year, the group will release specifications based on Novell's
TSAPI (Telephony Services API)-server-to-PBX interface and IBM's
CallPath architecture, dubbed Versit TSAPI. In the same time frame it
will release an implementer's agreement for videoconferencing over ISDN
based on the H.320 standard. The group also intends to build on the
standards created by the Infrared Data Association for wireless links
between PCs and PDAs to telecommunications devices.

Although the group is "asking Microsoft to participate," said Ellen
Hancock, an IBM senior vice president, Microsoft officials see it
differently. "They called us the day before the announcement and said,
`We can't tell you anything about it, but we'd really like you to
participate,'" said Charles Fitzgerald, product manager at Microsoft, in
Redmond, Wash.

Even without Microsoft's involvement, one user was still an optimist.
"Novell and AT&T did server-side third-party integration, and Northern
[Telecom Ltd.] promised to marry TSAPI and Microsoft's [Telephony API],"
said Dennis Gerrity, MIS manager at Stinson, Mag and Fizzell, a Kansas
City, Mo., law firm.

Apple officials said the Cupertino, Calif., company will make its Newton
and PowerBook compliant with Versit standards.

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

Buyers do double take at HP price cuts

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Lisa DiCarlo

Hewlett-Packard Co.'s aggressive move to become a PC pricing leader at
corporate sites could change the company's perception among buyers, many
of whom plan to include HP for the first time on their list of low-
priced PC makers.

The Palo Alto, Calif., manufacturer last week slashed prices on all
Vectra desktop PC models by as much as 26 percent, while cutting prices
by as much as 22 percent on select NetServer PC servers.

Because HP is known for providing high-quality products, IS managers who
have historically struggled to balance cost against a vendor's
reputation for quality and service are welcoming the cuts.

"We've looked at HP every year, but never bought because of price," said
Eric Schmidt, IS director at Bricker and Eckler, a Columbus, Ohio, law
firm that uses systems from Dell Computer Corp. "HP will have a brighter
picture when we re-evaluate [our hardware] in the spring."

Grant Thornton, which currently uses Compaq Computer Corp. desktops,
might also reconsider HP. "We've been evaluating HP desktops, and the
quality [and new pricing] satisfies our standards," said Adam Sohn,
senior manager at the New York consulting company.

Among the desktop price cuts, HP's 90MHz Pentium Vectra XU, previously
priced at $4,543, is now tagged at $3,866 for a model including 16M
bytes of RAM and a 540M-byte hard drive. By comparison, Compaq's new
90MHz Deskpro XL with the same configuration sells for $3,999.

On the server side, the NetServer LC, previously priced at $5,299, is
now $4,319, and the NetServer LF, with a Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive
Disks array, is now $6,399, down from $7,499.

"These [price cuts] are not a one-time deal. They're working on changing
the perception of the company," said Richard Zwetchkenbaum, senior
industry analyst at International Data Corp., in Framingham, Mass.
"People will consider HP in the same breath as Compaq."

A spokeswoman for Houston-based Compaq said the company has no specific
reactionary pricing planned. IBM officials declined to comment on HP's
moves or on future pricing schemes of their own.

Other PC makers said they now view HP as a more formidable competitor.

"We respect what HP is capable of doing in the marketplace, but it's not
going to precipitate any [pricing] movement over here," said Rob Cheng,
director of desktop products at Gateway 2000 Inc., in North Sioux City,
S.D.

Before last week's cuts, HP had opted to play more of a reactionary role
to PC pricing.

But since 1992, HP's PC sales in the United States have more than
tripled, to 905,000 units by the end of the third quarter, according to
Dataquest Inc. Officials hope the latest cuts will help position the
company as the model by which other vendors set pricing, a distinction
now held by Compaq.

To augment this push, HP has been broadening its presence in the
reseller channel and has established a Home Products Division to develop
family PCs for sale into mass-merchant outlets early next year, said
Jacques Clay, general manager of HP's PC division, in Grenoble, France.

The company also plans to introduce, in the same time frame, desktops
for the small-office/home-office market.

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.

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

Rivals counter Microsoft efforts

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Kimberly Patch

The rapid rise of the Internet and Microsoft Corp.'s recent announcement
of The Microsoft Network are spurring a wave of experimentation and a
shakeout in pricing models for the online services market.

In order to compete, commercial online service providers such as
CompuServe Inc., America Online Inc., and Prodigy Services Co. are
realigning to join the 45,000 networks that make up the Internet. Legacy
information services such as Data Times, Nexis and Lexis, and Dow Jones
News Service have lowered and simplified pricing models, added GUIs, and
done their part to link to the Internet.

Microsoft's entry into the market "scares the hell out of every service
provider," said Michael Killin, president of Killin & Associates, a
consulting company in Palo Alto, Calif.

The Microsoft Network, which will be built into Windows 95, due next
year, will offer inexpensive basic services, including E-mail, along
with an a la carte menu of premium-priced wares from providers such as
major automobile companies, real-estate companies, and publications,
according to sources close to the Redmond, Wash., company.

Microsoft plans to charge a monthly fee of $4.95 for basic services --
which is at least half the basic fee charged for CompuServe, AOL, and
Prodigy -- and its a la carte services will be offered for incremental
prices, the sources said.

Executives from CompuServe and Prodigy claim Microsoft's a la carte
pricing model won't work, despite its advantage of bundling the online
service with the operating system.

"Microsoft will have a lower monthly fee, but most of the good stuff
will be available only in the a la carte mode," said Steve Case,
president and CEO of AOL, in Vienna, Va. "We will have a much broader
range of content, stronger sense of community, and lower pricing than
[The Microsoft Network]."

Microsoft executives fend off any criticism, maintaining that bundling
The Microsoft Network with Windows 95 is no different than bundling
practices of other online providers.

"Home PC users today are used to having online services bundled with
their operating systems, or at least easily available to them," said
Bill Miller, director of marketing and business development, online
services, at Microsoft.

Users want to browse services before buying, and many say subscription
prices -- like the cable television model -- are preferable to straight
a la carte fees.

"I want to get into services for a brief amount of time for free, and if
it turns out to be something that is my cup of tea, I'd like to add that
to a monthly service," said Mark Ziemba, network coordinator for the
Oneida Indian Nation, in Oneida, N.Y.

Additional reporting by Mary Jo Foley

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

Lotus readies 16-bit upgrades

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Ted Smalley Bowen

Paying heed to the massive installed base of Windows 3.1 users, Lotus
Development Corp. is readying full upgrades of its 16-bit applications
that sport most, if not all, of the features planned for its initial
Windows 95 applications.

Previously, the Cambridge, Mass., developer had planned to provide only
interim releases and bug fixes for its 16-bit applications while
focusing most of its development efforts on Windows 95.

"These things are revisited constantly," said Rob Ingram, senior product
manager for Windows 95 applications at Lotus. "It was always an option
at the back of our minds."

Lotus plans to add full 16-bit Object Linking and Embedding 2.0 support
to the Windows 3.1 upgrades in addition to support for the LotusScript
programming language, Ingram said. The 16-bit upgrades are part of
Lotus' push to synchronize its code base across Windows 3.1, Windows 95,
and OS/2.

"The products are undergoing an architectural reshaping to make them
switchable. It's a C++-based, object-oriented 32-bit environment,"
Ingram said. "The code is written so it's simple to have ports to the
specific platforms. The [16-bit] products won't lose much in terms of
core functionality, although they will lack obvious things like long-
file-name support."

Users said that although they are encouraged by Lotus' strategy, it is
too early for them to make firm Windows 95 decisions.

"Anytime they're going to keep products in sync across multiple
platforms, it makes it easier for us," said Ed Dombek, information
center manager at Trustmark Insurance Co., in Lake Forrest, Ill. "But
there's not enough information available yet about their Windows 3.1,
OS/2, and Windows 95 upgrades to decide which to go with. It's a mixed
bag."

Both Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 upgrades of the Lotus applications will
implement the InfoBox object editor introduced in Approach 3.0 and will
use SmartMaster templates more extensively, Lotus officials said.

Whether the Windows 3.1 upgrades will arrive before their Windows 95
equivalents has not been decided, Ingram said. Lotus plans to release
Windows 95 applications shortly after, if not simultaneously with, the
operating-system rollout. However, Lotus officials promise they won't
force Windows 3.1 users to upgrade.

"In the coming 12 months, you're going to see product-feature parity
between Windows 3.1, OS/2, and Windows 95 releases," Ingram said. "As we
start to exploit the 32-bit environment more, [new features] will be
lost [from the Windows 3.1 releases] over time, but there will be a
fairly good match in feature sets."

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

Agents connect Conference+ with Notes, Internet

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Erica Schroeder

The Mesa Group Inc. plans to announce next week new agents for its
conferencing software that let users more easily connect to Lotus
Development Corp.'s Notes and Internet newsgroups.

The Conference+ links, called Connection Agents, allow users to access
Notes or Internet news data from within Microsoft Corp.'s Mail software,
which Conference+ uses as a front end.

The Connection Agents act as two-way replicators for Notes discussion
databases, Conference+ folders, and Internet newsgroups, said Eric
Schultz, chairman and CEO of The Mesa Group, in Newton, Mass.

The agents, available now for licenses supporting between 100 and 2,500
users, are priced from $1,495 to $7,495 for Notes and $995 to $6,495 for
Internet.

Separately last week, Mesa signed a distribution agreement with
Microsoft to bundle Conference+ with Microsoft Mail. The agreement, said
Schultz, is aimed at users who need groupware capabilities from within
E-mail but cannot afford to wait for Microsoft's Exchange back-end
messaging server, which is due to ship next year.

Increased integration between the two products will make life easier at
one user's site.

"Microsoft Mail doesn't have the ability to do replication across the
mail systems, in both post offices on the network and for remote users
so they can work off-line," said Dennis McConnell, manager of technical
services for Nolte & Associates, in Sacramento, Calif. "That's why we
chose Conference+."

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

Concerns mount over Microsoft's Intuit acquisition

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Jane Morrissey

Challenges continue to mount in Microsoft Corp.'s proposed merger with
Intuit Inc., as industry figures take to the podium this week as part of
a closed-door forum to solicit feedback on the deal.

The Information Technology Association of America, which formed a
special committee in early November to present industry concerns to the
Department of Justice, has already received an undisclosed number of
written comments and expects seven to 10 individuals in the software and
online services businesses to speak up on Dec. 5 at ITAA's Arlington,
Va., headquarters, said Bernard Goldstein, chairman of the committee and
a founder of Broadview Associates, a mergers-and-acquisition specialist
in Fort Lee, N. J.

"We are not doing a tabulation or taking a vote -- we are seeking
intelligent comment on either side," Goldstein said.

The ITAA comments come on top of another highly publicized effort to
point out potential anti-competitive pitfalls if the deal were to go
through untethered. Gary Reback, an attorney at law firm Wilson,
Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, in Palo Alto, Calif., and two economists
filed a 50-page white paper to the Justice Department on Nov. 12. Reback
declined to name the clients funding the study.

In addition to analyzing the deal's effect on the personal-finance
sector, the paper employs an economic theory called "network
externalities" to project its effect on an array of markets, including
online services. Network externalities refers to how companies with
dominance in one market can introduce a new product and parlay its
position to become a standard in a new area.

"Although Microsoft only has a small share of online services, the
economic approach makes it reasonably clear that they are going to
dominate," Reback said. "If we wait until Microsoft has 85 percent of
the market, it's too late to do anything meaningful -- what are we going
to do, take apart the information superhighway?"

As expected, the Department of Justice issued a second request for
information to Microsoft and Intuit on Nov. 18. The companies will take
time to comply, and the Department of Justice has 20 days to respond,
which can be extended, so it is hard to determine when a decision will
come down.

"It could be a matter of weeks, or a matter of months," said Microsoft
spokesman Greg Shaw in Redmond, Wash., adding the company remains
confident the deal will go through.

However, Bill Blumenthal, a Washington antitrust attorney, among others,
said there may be sufficient reasons for the Justice Department to
impose limitations or enjoin the deal.

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

How copyright laws will affect online data

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Jeff Frentzen

As online information distribution proliferates -- over both fee-based
services and especially the virtually free Internet -- the issue of
copyright infringement has been simmering and will soon hit a rolling
boil. If your company provides online data openly, users will download
that information and make copies -- with or without your consent.

In July, the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights (consisting
mostly of publishing-industry loyalists and government bureaucrats)
issued proposed changes to the 1976 Copyright Act that are supposed to
address, among other things, electronic distribution of information.
This preliminary report, which is available on the Internet at http://
www.ilt.columbia.edu/public/copyright/ papers/IPNII.HTML, argues for
copy-protecting electronic documents and would grease the skids for
copyright owners who want to sue users for copyright infringement.

Whether you side with publishers or favor a civil-libertarian point of
view, the pro and con positions are available on law-centric online
services such as Lexis and Nexis, WestLaw, and Dialog Information
Services.

On the Internet, a variety of sites house freely distributed fact and
commentary about copyrighting online data. A good place to start, the
WWW Virtual Library, has an exhaustive listing of law-related Internet
sites (http://www. law.indiana.edu/law/lawindex.html).

The Coalition for Networked Information (at gopher://gopher.cni.org/)
manages a large repository of relevant documents; this site contains
more online material regarding copyright-related issues than the U.S.
government's woefully out-of-date Gopher server. Cornell Law School's
WWW site covers copyright and many other legal concerns, at
http://www.law.cornell.edu. Another well-organized hypertext Web site,
ILTweb RightsBase, can be found at http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/gen/ref/
ILTcopy.html. ILTweb RightsBase also links to several good sites for
exploring privacy and security issues.

For an excellent critique of the July 1994 government report, nab a
document called "Legally Speaking: The NII Intellectual Property
Report," available at
http://gnn.com:80/meta/imedia/features/copyright/samuelson.html. The
paper, well-written by Professor Pamela Samuelson of the University of
Pittsburgh, points out several clear and present dangers in adopting the
proposed copyright-law changes.

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

Novell drops NetWare 4.1 price as stakes get higher

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Eric Smalley

With NetWare 4.1 set to ship this week, Novell Inc. is hoping that a
reduced price for the new version will entice users to adopt the
company's flagship product.

NetWare 4.02, the current version, is priced about 25 percent higher
than the most current release of NetWare 3. The price for NetWare 4.1
will be about the same as for that release, 3.12, Novell officials said.

The success of Novell's NetWare 4.x strategy, and the future of the
company in general, depends in large part on Novell's convincing its
installed base to upgrade to the directory-service-equipped operating
system.

The Atlantic County Utilities Authority, a NetWare 3.x site in Atlantic
City, N.J., expects to move to NetWare 4.x, but had been holding off on
planning the move because the price was too high, said Art Wilson, a
computer analyst at the authority. But after receiving the specific
NetWare 4.1 pricing, "I'll most definitely make a [purchasing]
recommendation," Wilson said.

Other users, however, remain unconvinced. "I don't have any plans to
migrate to NetWare 4," said Chris Brown, programmer/analyst for the
Division of Finance in the state of Alaska's Department of
Administration, in Juneau. The division has a 100-user NetWare 3.11
license for a network supporting about 50 users. NetWare 4.1's advanced
features are of no use in his shop, Brown said.

NetWare 4.1 adds directory-manipulation tools, simplified installation,
integrated messaging, native Macintosh support under NetWare Directory
Services, and bundled TCP/IP.

Novell officials acknowledged that SPX2, which they originally confirmed
would be a new feature in NetWare 4.1, already exists in NetWare 4.0.

Toby Corey, director of marketing for Novell's NetWare Systems Group, in
Provo, Utah, asserted that Novell add-ons will also aid the push to 4.1.

"Virtually all of the NLMs [NetWare Loadable Modules] for the NetWare 3
platform now run on NetWare 4," Corey said. Within 90 days of 4.1's
release, all NetWare products will support the 4.1 directory, he added.

Novell also will offer combined licenses for NetWare 4.1.

NetWare users will have an additional incentive to move to NetWare 4.x
with a forthcoming release of the NetWare Management System, said
Richard King, executive vice president and general manager of Novell's
NetWare Systems Group. That release will provide some remote-management
capabilities that will work only with NetWare 4.1's directory.

But analysts disagree about whether Novell's efforts will be enough to
make the huge 3.x installed base budge. "We don't see any major shift in
the populace," said Stan Schatt, an analyst at Computer Intelligence
InfoCorp, in La Jolla, Calif., and author of a report released last
month on 4.x migration.

"Novell has never been able to explain to me why everybody needs
directory services," he said. "For the majority of 3.x users, I can't
see any reason why directory services are worth the hassle."

Although many users were dissatisfied with previous releases of NetWare
4.x, Novell has made significant changes with NetWare 4.1, according to
Dave Cappuccio, an analyst with Gartner Group Inc., in Stamford, Conn.

"It looks like with 4.1 they're addressing all the issues of the 3.x
environments," he said. "They're providing enough tools and enough
integration with 3.x that the question becomes `Why not upgrade?'"

Gartner Group projects that 50 percent of Novell's installed base will
have migrated to NetWare 4.x in 18 to 24 months.

Novell will accommodate some users who paid the higher price for earlier
versions of NetWare 4.x, Corey said.

"There will be some credits and some adjustments," he said. "We'll
handle it case by case."

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

Bidding begins for PCS broadband licenses

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Michael Moeller

Telecommunications giants, cellular carriers, and major cable companies
will begin emptying their war chests this week in an attempt to obtain
the highly coveted PCS licenses being auctioned off by the Federal
Communications Commission on Dec. 5.

Among the 30 bidders for the 99 personal communications services
broadband licenses on the block are AT&T Corp./McCaw Cellular
Communications Inc., Sprint Corp., Pacific Telesis Group, GTE Corp.,
Primeco (a consortium of US West Communications, AirTouch, Nynex Corp.,
and Bell Atlantic Corp.), Tele-Communications Inc., Cox Cable
Enterprises, and Comcast Corp.

Industry experts say the PCS auction could bring in more than $10
billion in bids. The FCC has already received nearly $600 million in
"good faith" down payments from the potential participants.

"If you look at what happened in the narrowband PCS auction earlier this
year, bidding went a lot higher than anyone predicted," said John
Ledahl, an analyst at Dataquest Inc., in San Jose, Calif. "I think the
same thing will happen in broadband PCS auctions."

PCS, which will be capable of handling both voice and data traffic over
the network, is being heralded as the next generation of wireless
technology that will create a major competitor to cellular services.

Despite their potential, PCS networks are still years away from
widespread commercial availability, with the rollouts taking up to three
years to complete and deployment costing as much as $10 billion.

"Carriers will claim to have PCS services by the end of 1995, but really
their networks won't be up until the middle to end of 1996, with really
heavy usage of PCS not happening until 1998," said Ledahl.

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

IBM developing streamlined version of SOM

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Norvin Leach

IBM is working on a streamlined upgrade of its System Object Model
architecture aimed at handling the next generation of object-oriented
applications.

Version 3.0 of the language-neutral, system-neutral object model is
being designed to be faster and smaller. It will also support
distributed object services such as security and naming, IBM officials
said.

In addition, the software will include a faster method of accessing
information about objects -- a function that can slow the current
version of SOM if an application's class hierarchy is too large.

IBM's SOM upgrade will also support the Object Management Group's latest
Common Object Services Specification, which provides a framework for
distributed object services such as security and naming.

IBM will provide an implementation of those services that follows the
Distributed Computing Environment architecture.

"Object services really are critical to distributed-object applications.
You can't run without them. You can limp along, but you can't run," said
David Taylor, president of Enterprise Engines Inc., in San Mateo, Calif.

The SOM 3.0 upgrade, which could be out in the first half of next year,
was made necessary by the growing demand for object-based applications
and by IBM's conversion of the Taligent application framework to SOM,
IBM officials said.

SOM programming uses meta-classes, which provide information such as the
size and heritage of classes. Meta-classes, while a powerful programming
technique, take up memory, since they must be replicated in every
address space.

"That's not a problem when you have just a few classes, but when you're
dealing with thousands of processes, you start to see slower
performance," said Cliff Reeves, IBM's director of object technology, in
Austin, Texas.

The next generation of large object-oriented applications, such as those
built with the Taligent frameworks, will require a more efficient way to
share meta-class information across address spaces. SOM 3.0 is being
designed to answer that problem.

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

Puss ponders Pentium plague and Doom's day

Rumor Central from PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Spencer F. Katt

So Spence, riddle me this. Just how does Intel decide whether you're a
sophisticated user?" It's a seat-of-the-pants type of thing, said the
Katt. You, for instance, have a New Jersey accent. You don't get the
chip. In fact, you may have to go back to a 386.

It was a frantic week in the tip-tossing business, what with Intel
compounding the Pentium confusion by offering the top-shelf chips (if
there are any to offer) to the sophisticated user set. Meanwhile, AMD
and Cyrix whispered that their chips would never be so boorish as to
turn long division into a random-answer contest. And the PowerPC folks
were saying that goofy math is what you get when you build chips so
complex that no amount of testing can find even serious flaws. Great
fun.

It's also been great fun in the Lotus-for-sale guessing game. One Lotus
know-it-all told Spence that IBM is the top bidder for Lotus, with AT&T,
HP, and Oracle all close contenders. Although Jim Manzi and the crew are
saying all the sales talk is overblown, Mr. Know-it-all says the For
Sale sign is out.

Maybe AT&T should buy Lotus, figured Spence. Tom Evslin, who has been
the lead developer on Microsoft Exchange and the server suite for
Microsoft, is moving east to AT&T's Business Multimedia Unit -- the
group that's doing AT&T Network Notes -- so there could be an
opportunity for an AT&T Network Notes Exchange.

It hasn't been such great fun for Pretty Good Privacy developer Phil
Zimmermann, who was given the once-over again and again by the customs
agents at Dulles Airport after returning from Europe. Part of the
continuing saga of free encryption vs. the government.

One of Spence's Apple corps called to say that in addition to consulting
for Kodak, former Apple boss John Sculley is helping out on the
marketing for a Connecticut company making air mattresses.

With the Internet vandals getting more brazen in their fire-wall
breaching, Spence was intrigued to hear about an upcoming product from
Sun: a secure piece of hardware/software that will sit on the Internet
and allow point A to talk to point B without worrying about security.

Would you buy a game with Tom Clancy characters, written by Tom Clancy?
Would you consider using a modem as part of the game to play with an
opponent, the unwary Microsoft telemarketer queried the Katt. Such a
game would be simply Marvelous, answered Spence, but only if Bill Gates
were on the opposite end of the modem. Or how about an unauthorized game
between Bill G. and Andrew Schulman? If Andy wins, Bill has to put him
back on the Win 95 beta testers forum. Last week, Schulman discovered he had
lost access. Everyone but Andrew has said it's MS' revenge for some of the
hits it took in his latest book, "Unauthorized Windows 95."

The Katt owes one meow culpa for an egregious tip regarding problems
getting NT to run on dual-Pentium servers. Not so.

On the virus watch, Spence was briefed on the Doom II Death virus. The
virus is interesting in that it claims to look for illegal copies of
Doom II and if it finds them, it trashes them or the hard drive. Sort of
a doom for Doom, said Spence, wondering just what those virusmeisters
will concoct next.

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].

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

Windows 95 seen from inside, outside

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Peter Coffee

Statements that Windows 95 is independent of MS-DOS are either false or
misleading, according to Andrew Schulman, who has authored several books
on the workings of Microsoft Corp.'s system software.

But Schulman's $29.99 "Unauthorized Windows 95," released in October by
IDG Books, is not meant as an expose of Windows 95's flaws. On the
contrary, he says, "Windows 95 is likely to be a shockingly successful
operating system precisely because of such compromises."

Windows 95, Schulman concludes, is essentially Windows 3.x enhanced mode
with more functions moved to protected drivers. This is at odds with the
claim that Windows 95 is an integrated system "no longer reliant on MS-
DOS," in the words of Adrian King. King's $24.95 "Inside Windows 95,"
from Microsoft Press, is considered the authorized biography of the
product.

Released this summer, King's book is filled with lists of claims for the
product, notably that Windows 95 rarely executes real-mode MS-DOS code
and that Windows applications on Windows 95 never use the virtual 8086
mode.

But Schulman contends that the core of MS-DOS has simply been
consolidated into the WINBOOT.SYS module that launches the rest of
Windows 95. He also shows that this code is heavily used: "I placed a
breakpoint on ... Set PSP [a critical DOS function]. ... Even when
running only Win32 applications, [it] triggered so frequently that I
couldn't actually do anything ... until I changed the breakpoint to only
trigger every 50 times."

Even King concedes the penalties that come from the pressures of
compatibility, memory conservation, and time to market. If a 16-bit
application hangs, he admits, the system will soon be halted by the
mechanism that prevents interference when 32-bit APIs call 16-bit code.

But Schulman rejects the oft-expressed notion that Windows 95, or even
the current Windows 3.x, is something less than a "real" operating
system. He asserts that the core of Windows 3.0 has taken more control
with each successive release and that Windows 95 "will be the standard
desktop computing platform for the next five years."

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

Intel should face mistake so it can face customers

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Jim Seymour

Andy, you got this one wrong. And time to fix it is running out, fast.
When Intel acknowledged the bug in Pentium chips which can lead to
calculation errors, but then said Intel alone would decide who could get
error-free replacement chips, based on its perception of a user's need
for more accurate results, the company gave itself a serious black eye.

With more than 2 million "bad" Pentium chips out there, Intel clearly
has a big problem. If it offers to replace every faulty CPU, and gets a
big response to the offer, it will put a hell of a dent in Intel's
earnings for two or three quarters.

But Andy, there's no choice. The outrage, on the Internet, on
CompuServe, and in virtually every other forum where serious PC users
converge, won't go away.

Intel says most users will see the bug every 27,000 years, and the error
affects only calculations nine decimal places out, so it isn't very
important.

Nonsense. The outcry from scientists and engineers who rely on (or at
least have relied on) Pentium PCs makes it clear that this problem is
non-trivial. And worse, that Intel doesn't understand that.

These complaints aren't coming from whining nitwits, but from people at
companies like Upjohn and institutions like the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory. People who bought or specified Pentium PCs
because they believed they were the best. People who are very, very, mad
right now, Andy.

How many reasons do you need?

There are at least six reasons why Intel must reverse its policy on
this, and fast. Any one alone would meet the logician's "necessary and
sufficient" test, but together they're overwhelming.

First: It's the right thing to do. You sold 'em a lemon, and now they
expect you to make it right. Period.

Second: What about Intel's liability exposure? Say an XYZ Co. employee
uses a Pentium PC in engineering-safety analysis while designing a new
product, then that product fails and someone's hurt. Does Intel believe
it wouldn't be a co-defendant in the ensuing litigation? Multiply that
by many lawsuits, and this gets expensive and destructive.

Third: At precisely the moment when Intel is facing an assault from
Cyrix, NexGen, and AMD on its X86 business; from IBM, Apple, and
Motorola on the PowerPC front; and from DEC, NEC, and others on RISC
options, Intel seems to be saying, "Hey, you can't rely on us." Bad,
Andy.

Fourth: You're embarrassing and irritating your primary customers, the
PC makers, by putting them in the middle. Aren't these the same
customers you've been romancing to keep 'em away from clone X86s and
PowerPC chips?

Fifth: Many companies in regulated industries are going to have to walk
away from Pentium PCs unless you offer a broad-based replacement
program. How can a big drug manufacturer continue using Pentiums to
calculate research results when the potential -- even the remotest
potential -- for errors is now so widely known?

Sixth: You're risking Intel's claim on the future of computing with
Pentium-and-beyond chips -- Native Signal Processing and all the rest.
Who'll gamble on a future built atop quicksand?

Finally, don't tell me errors in the ninth decimal place are trivial.
Remember the SCUD that slammed into a U.S. barracks during Desert Storm?
It wasn't intercepted because of multiple-iteration calculation drift
... a sort of ninth-decimal-place problem.

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

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

Spyglass readies an open version of Mosaic

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Andy Patrizio

Spyglass Inc. plans to announce at the Internet World conference in
Washington this week Enhanced Mosaic 2.0, a more open version of its
World-Wide Web client that allows developers to easily add features such
as security modules and links to third-party document viewers.

To accomplish this, Spyglass will provide services that call external
applications or libraries, said Tim Krauskopf, vice president of
research and development at the Naperville, Ill., company. These hooks
will allow Enhanced Mosaic licensees to add any security module they
choose, rather than be locked into a specific feature set. In addition,
users can more easily integrate Enhanced Mosaic with applications from
ISVs.

For example, developers can implement one of three levels of security:
Basic, which has no encryption; Enhanced, which is based on the Data
Encryption Standard; and Secure HyperText Transport Protocol, which is
based on public-key authentication technology from RSA Data Security
Inc., of Boulder, Colo.

The modules might not be enough to offset the security concerns of
potential customers.

"I've heard too many horror stories, so unless there's a system out
there that proves people's credit cards won't be ripped off, I'm not
going to do it," said Roger Bergenheim, publisher of the Providence
Business News, in Providence, R.I.

However, Bergenheim does plan to look into Enhanced Mosaic 2.0 because
it might allow his newspaper to expand into fee-based services such as
classifieds and selling information from its databases, he said.

To create links to third-party applications, Spyglass has added a
separate Software Development Interface, available from Spyglass free of
charge.

Enhanced Mosaic Version 2.0 will be available to developers at the end
of January.

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

SQL Server 95's tools put tight grip on data

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Bob Gallagher

Judging from PC Week Labs' examination last week of one of the first
beta copies of Microsoft Corp.'s SQL Server 95, the product will set a
new standard for the way that database servers are managed in a
client/server environment.

Because virtually every aspect of SQL Server 95 can be managed from one
GUI-based console, IS managers will be able to oversee enterprisewide
systems from a central location, much the same way mini and mainframe
systems are currently managed.

In addition, because SQL Server can be installed and configured using a
graphical interface, IS management will be able to off-load much of a
department's database support and maintenance to a departmental
administrator.

In looking at the beta copy, we found many of the announced features,
including OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) 2.0 support, already in
place, even though the product is several months away from shipping.
Microsoft has yet to determine exactly when SQL Server will ship.

Other new features include performance enhancements, support for very
large databases, a Parallel Bulk Load function that allows simultaneous
running of bulk-copy processes, a SQL Scheduler, and database
replication.

One of the most impressive features of SQL Server 95 is its graphical
administration tool, code-named Starfighter, which lets database
administrators monitor databases throughout an enterprise. Because of
the increasing use of database servers in weblike networks, the need for
a tool like this is more important than ever.

Although Starfighter is not fully operational, its outline-style display
of database server information made it easy to see all of our databases
and the users currently accessing those databases.

By simply clicking on Starfighter's tool-bar icons, we were able to
create or delete databases, view bar charts depicting the current size
of each database, and view the amount of space available in the
database.

In addition, the SQL Scheduler component of Starfighter let us quickly
create a new task -- generating an ASCII export file every night at 9
and notifying us, via E-mail, of the status of the export task.

Unfortunately, our beta copy of SQL Server 95 would not allow us to set
alerts -- which notify the database administrator of problems such as
low disk space -- on database events, nor could we view the topology of
all the servers on our network.

Replication, another very important feature found in SQL Server 95, will
allow database administrators to copy all or part of a database to
another location.

Although the replication feature was not fully operational in this beta
version, by researching SQL Server 95's on-line documentation we
discovered that replication will use Open Database Connectivity to
connect to a variety of server types and that replicated copies of
databases will be read-only. One shortcoming, however, is that
replication in the first release of SQL Server 95 is expected to work
only with other SQL Server 95 database servers.

In addition to the IPX/SPX, TCP/IP sockets, and Banyan VINES net
libraries already supported by the current version of SQL Server, the
new release will gain support for AppleTalk, DECnet, and Multiprotocol
network libraries.

We were able to use the product's enhanced ISQL interface to execute a
number of SQL queries on our test database, but were disappointed that,
despite its new tabbed dialog functions, ISQL is not interactive like
other query tools, such as Intersolv Inc.'s Q+E.

Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., can be reached at [phone].

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

Firms zero in on groupware/E-mail links

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Paula Rooney

BOSTON -- Messaging providers at E-Mail World here last week
concentrated on forging partnerships to develop combined groupware/E-
mail packages.

Novell Inc., of Provo, Utah, and Collabra Software Inc., of Mountain
View, Calif., announced a pact that calls for them to integrate
Collabra's Share with Novell's GroupWise.

Microsoft Corp., of Redmond, Wash., meanwhile, announced with Worldtalk
Corp., of Los Gatos, Calif., plans to provide Internet access for
Exchange, the messaging platform due from Microsoft in mid-1995.
Internet Connector will enable users to send E-mail and Multipurpose
Internet Mail Extension attachments between Exchange servers over the
Internet.

One analyst said products such as Internet Connector will be
increasingly important as the major messaging vendors ready their
client/server platforms. "It's an essential piece," said David Marshak,
vice president of Patricia Seybold's Office Computing Group, in Boston.
"As the basis for encompassing multiple types of data, Exchange will
require strong Internet access."

Microsoft and Worldtalk will also work together on directory
synchronization modules for Exchange and NT, said sources familiar with
the plans. Also, Banyan Systems Inc., of Westboro, Mass., debuted a
groupware architecture called BeyondWare, that integrates Banyan's
BeyondMail messaging software with groupware including Microsystems
Software Inc.'s CaLANdar.

Both Lotus Development Corp. and Microsoft also used the show to debut
minor upgrades to their E-mail programs. Microsoft Mail 4.0's Message
Transfer Agent is being ported to NT and will ship in the first quarter,
officials said. It is currently available on OS/2 and DOS platforms
only.

Lotus, of Cambridge, Mass., announced updates of its LAN and remote
versions of cc:Mail -- cc:Mail 2.1 and cc:Mail Mobile for Windows 2.1.

The updates give users significant performance hikes in sending, filing,
and searching messages, officials said. Both are now available. The LAN
version is $295 per user; cc:Mail Mobile is $195 per user. Users who
already have the LAN version pay only $68 to add cc:Mail Mobile. A
Version 2.1 Macintosh client that offers PowerPC support is also being
readied for release this month, officials confirmed.

Lotus also announced a deal with Digital Equipment Corp. that will
enable Lotus' cc:Mail for Windows to serve as a front end to DEC's
MailWorks software. Users can purchase code from DEC that provides the
interface between cc:Mail and MailWorks for $29. MailWorks currently
runs on OpenVMS but will be available on NT later this year, said DEC
officials, in Maynard, Mass.

Other E-Mail World announcements included:

- AT&T Global Information Solutions, of Dayton, Ohio, unveiled a line of
enterprise messaging and directory services for EasyLink that was co-
developed with Isocor Corp., of Los Angeles. The products, due in
January, incorporate Isocor's X.400 Isoplex messaging engine and
electronic data interchange software and AT&T's X.500-based directory
services.

- ON Technology Corp. announced a remote package for its Notework
Windows E-mail program called Mobile Office. The package, priced from
$250 per user, is available now, said officials at the Cambridge, Mass.,
company.

- Verimation Inc., of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., debuted an upgraded Windows
client that lets users of its Memo software access public bulletin-board
features as well as E-mail, directory, and calendaring services. Memo
for Windows 1.3, priced from $30 to $80 per user, is available now.

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

The end of Internet's age of innocence

From PC Week for December 5, 1994 by Jim Louderback

On Nov. 23, they shut off the Pipeline for 6 hours. They also letter-
bombed Wired magazine and tried to stuff GEnie back into its bottle.
Danger, Will Robinson, Danger, Danger! There are hackers in the fold.
The universally supportive network fantasy devoted to peace, love, and
free code is gone forever.

Certainly, hackers have been around for a long time. And the Internet
was originally designed for war, not peace. However, the Internet was
rocked 10 days ago when a mysterious group, called the Internet
Liberation Front, struck.

This group is no slouch. With expert ability, they wormed into the
servers run by Pipeline, one of the best Internet access providers and
online communities available. Even though Pipeline's network managers
were able to deflect the attack, as well as attempt to track down the
intruders, Pipeline still was shut down for 6 hours. And the deplorable
perpetrators posted their adolescent message of doom to the Internet
from within the Pipeline system.

Pipeline founder James Gleick finds the whole incident depressing. "It's
a real blow. I'm not [even] especially proud that we caught them."

Obviously, Pipeline offered few details about how it managed to detect
and foil the intruders. The problem, however, was not related to the
company's widely licensed and award-winning online software. Holes in
the system software and operating system, since patched, appear to have
been the main conduit.

Other recent attacks on Wired's new Web server by a flood of "letter
bombs" and the GEnie online service were equally puerile, but also
effective.

In its pathetic note claiming responsibility for the Pipeline attack,
the ILF railed against AT&T, MCI, and SprintNet for turning the net into
"another overflowing cesspool of greed." You can just hear the virtual
stamping of those little feet as they threaten corporate America with
financial ruin for commercial use of the Internet.

Despite the ILF's flawed tactics -- akin to retaliating against the
Dallas Cowboys by body slamming Mister Rogers -- actions like this will
make the Internet even more proprietary and closed. "It will force
people into exactly the type of system these people [the ILF] don't
want," said Gleick. "It will push services like mine into a more closed
environment."

In addition, it will push legitimate business, just starting to embrace
electronic commerce, away from the Internet. The Rolling Stones, for
example, let you order stuff with a credit card via the Web.

Would you set up shop or offer your credit card in an insecure
environment?

Yes, there are bad guys on the net. And yes, they do want to punish and
steal. However, nothing is completely safe. In the physical world, we
use guards, security systems, and locks to protect stores and offices.
By using similar precautions, commerce can take place on the net.

The bloom is off the rose. But rather than slinking off with our tail
betwixt our legs, let these incidents be a wake-up call. Make security
an integral part of your online plans. Consider yourself warned.

We're not scared! For more Internet security info, browse our Web site
at http://www.ziff.com.

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

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

Breaking News

From PC Week for December 5, 1995 by PC Week Staff

European PC maker ditches Microsoft for OS/2

From PC Week for December 5, 1995 by Mary Jo Foley

As a result of high licensing fees, the largest European PC
manufacturer, Vobis Microcomputer AG, announced last week that it is
terminating all operating-system contracts with Microsoft Corp., opting
instead to endorse IBM's OS/2.

The second-largest European computer maker, Escom gmbH, is also
considering awarding IBM an exclusive licensing contract and could
announce its intentions as early as this week, sources said.

Vobis, in Aachen, Germany, is expected to standardize on the "full-pack"
version of OS/2, which will include a copy of Microsoft's Windows 3.1
with bug fixes and enhancements made by IBM.

"After years of faulty developing and quasi-monopolization, Microsoft's
16-bit operating systems are stagnating at a low innovation level, while
still being sold at an excessively high price," Theo Lieven, Vobis'
chairman, said in a prepared company statement.

Microsoft officials in Redmond, Wash., said they are continuing to work
with Vobis to iron out licensing differences.

Rumblings of Oracle-Lotus Merger Continue

Speculation concerning a possible merger between Oracle and Lotus
reached a fever pitch last week, even though Lotus Chairman Jim Manzi
had issued a memo to employees the week before denying such discussions
are taking place, said sources close to Lotus. One source close to
Oracle said an announcement on an Oracle-Lotus deal could come as soon
as this week.

Oracle officials denied merger talks are taking place. A Lotus spokesman
declined to comment.

DEC Unwraps AlphaServers for Internet Line of 90MHz Pentium-Based PC
Servers

DEC last week announced three new Internet AlphaServers for OSF/1 that
come with Internet software, administrative software, and MailWorks for
OSF/1 installed. The Internet AlphaServer 1000 will be the first to ship
in January, priced at $19,995. The $14,995 Model 400 and the $4,449
Model 200 will be available in February and March, respectively.

Separately, DEC this week will roll out its Prioris HX family of PC
servers based on Intel's 90MHz Pentium processor.

Trinzic, Rational Software Unite To Tie Design Tool to Development
Environment

Trinzic and Rational Software plan to ship this week a package that
links the Rational Rose object-oriented analysis and design tool with
Trinzic's development environment. Called Rational Rose/ObjectPro, the
tool models object classes and relationships, and generates source-code
files for ObjectPro. Pricing was unavailable at press time.

Bell Atlantic Mobile To Expand Coverage Service Offerings for its CDPD
Networks

Bell Atlantic Mobile will announce increased coverage and new services
for its Cellular Digital Packet Data network at this week's Wireless
Datacomm show. Also at the show, Pacific Communication Sciences will
introduce the next generation of its Ubiquity line of CDPD modems and
base stations, and ARIA Wireless Systems will release System III
Advanced Wireless Data Communications for Metropolitan Area Networks, a
combination of digital hardware and software for building MAN wireless
networks.

Briefly Noted:

At the request of board member Microsoft, The Information Technology
Association of America late last week canceled a scheduled hearing on
Dec. 5 to solicit comment on the proposed merger with Intuit, ITAA
sources said.

CompuServe and Spry have teamed up to provide integrated networking
services that include access to the Internet.

Compaq will ship this week 90MHz Deskpros, priced from $3,999 to $4,499.

DCA this week will introduce a new suite of PC-to-host connectivity
software for Microsoft's Windows 95.

Gupta will ship in the first quarter an update of SQL Windows that
provides increased integration with Lotus Notes.

IBM this week will ship Powerquery for the SP2, a turnkey database
solution.

NetFrame this week will unveil a tape backup-and-restore system with a
fault-tolerant migration path for sites moving to NetWare 4.02.

Novell's WordPerfect applications group is shipping Version 6.1 of its
namesake word processor.

Autodesk last week began shipping AutoCAD VQ, AutoCAD Data Extension
1.0, and AutoCAD Release 13 for Windows.

InterCon will debut a version of its TCP/IP software at this week's
Internet World conference.

Northern Telecom, Mitsubishi, Sanyo, Oki, and Cable & Wireless last week
signed up as partners with General Magic.

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

The going gets tough with Intel's Pentium

From PC Week for December 5, 1995 by John Dodge

It would be easy to flame about the Pentium FPU math error, because I
own a P90 Gateway tower. I'll try to be reasonable for a change.

The tower unit joined our family in August following a trip to Gateway's
factory store in North Sioux City. Discounted about $300 because it was
a "refurb," the $2,700 machine has performed flawlessly. By extension, I
suppose that makes me a satisfied Pentium customer. On the other hand,
as someone charged with spouting off to the IS masses every week, I see
Intel making one mistake after another.

Mistake 1: Intel now knows it should have come clean when it discovered
the error in the summer. Besides appearing forthright, the exposure and
difficulty of fixing the problem would be orders of magnitude less.
That's called containment.

IBM, AST, and HP should be commended for taking responsibility for
minimal-grousing replacement policies, if that's what they turn out to
be. This crisis is a defining moment. The error may be Intel's, but the
brunt of the fallout will be felt by customers directly affected by the
FPU error, Intel's most obedient OEM customers, and resellers.

Mistake 2: Intel in reactive mode has not been impressive. Despite an
apology posted by Andy Grove on the Internet, Intel has foolishly chosen
to try to explain how obscure the problem is and talk Joe Average
Customer out of wanting a free replacement. This exasperates customers.

Last week, contrite Intel service technicians insisted I did not need
the replacement, and for all practical purposes, I probably don't.
That's not the point. I just don't want to be talked in or out of
something. Intel relented and authorized a replacement during the fourth
conversation, but the new processor is not a bird in the hand. The
technician said another person would call within three days to get the
shipping information, and I would have the new processor a week after
that. All I have to show for four phone calls is a promise and a copy of
the Pentium Lifetime Replacement Policy, the upshot of which says Intel
will decide who gets replacements and when.

At the risk of trivializing the huge credibility gap created for
academics, scientists, and engineers, I concede that most Pentium PC
users will never encounter the FPU error. A full recall of the estimated
3 million Pentium PCs is probably unnecessary. But a no-questions-asked,
no-grief-given, free-replacement program is smarter than Intel's current
damage-control scramble.

The issue right now is not the error or quality control. Processors have
always had bugs.

The issue is Intel. And so far, not so good.

Is this a far-reaching gaffe or a tempest in a teapot? Who pays? Contact
me via the Internet ([e-mail]), CompuServe (72241,303), or
MCI Mail (239-3520).

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.

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