@CENTER UNDER = OVERVIEW @ARTICLE NO-IN = nce again it's time to report on the most prestigious trade show in the desktop publishing world, the annual Seybold show. Last year's show featured new products that proved to be either hot (desktop presentations and color graphics on the Mac) or not so hot (low end desktop publishing packages and PostScript clones). @ARTICLE TEXT = This year's show really showed how much the market has matured. Packages like Pagemaker and Ventura Publisher continue to dominate the desktop publishing marketplace. As a result, most vendors are focusing on products related to desktop publishing such as graphics and drawing software, fonts, clip art, full screen monitors and more powerful optical scanning capabilities. @ARTICLE TEXT = Also of note this year was the number of vendors who were demonstrating and/or discussing Macintosh software programs that will soon be available on the PC under Microsoft Windows. I was interested to see that most vendors are moving forward with plans to market Windows products now rather than wait for the graphic version of the upcoming OS/2 operating system for the PC. @ARTICLE TEXT = As with last year's report, I'll only hit the show highlights. The show has grown so fast that the conference sessions sold out well in advance and the Seybold folks have had to move it to a bigger site (the 1989 edition will be held in San Francisco's spacious Moscone Center.) And now, onto the show.... @ARTICLE TEXT = @CENTER UNDER = DESKTOP DRAWING, GRAPHICS & PUBLISHING SOFTWARE @ARTICLE TEXT = @COMPANIES = ADOBE SYSTEMS: @ARTICLE TEXT = Adobe continues to expand its reach beyond licensing Postscript printers and fonts this year with two new products: ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR FOR WINDOWS and DISPLAY POSTSCRIPT. @ARTICLE TEXT = Adobe Illustrator on the Mac was a real trail blazing product during the past year. It provided powerful drawing capabilities coupled with the Postscript language at an affordable $695 price. As a result, the program has experienced heavy usage throughout the desktop publishing world. @ARTICLE TEXT = ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR FOR WINDOWS is a PC version of the powerful Illustrator program. It requires an 80286 or 80386 based PC compatible with 1 Mb (minimum) to 2 - 3 Mb (recommended) of memory and a monitor capable of Hercules, EGA or VGA graphics. @ARTICLE TEXT = Adobe provided a convincing demonstration of the product that showed the power of Illustrator for Windows with features such as sketching, tracing to ``clean up'' scanned images, shape tools, pen tools, scaling and rotation, reflection effects and color support. The program will output to any printer that has a Windows driver and will come with a videotape tutorial, runtime copy of Windows and CAD conversion utility. Current plans call for the product to ship in January. @ARTICLE TEXT = DISPLAY POSTSCRIPT is the video equivalent of the Postscript printer language. It has gained fame as the graphical interface system for the upcoming NeXt work-station designed by Steve Jobs. Prototype versions of Display Postscript were shown at the show running on a Mac II with a SuperMac 19" color monitor and an IBM PS/2 Model 80 with a 8513 monitor. In both cases, Display Postscript produced very crisp and clear images of graphics and fonts. @ARTICLE TEXT = @COMPANIES = ALDUS: @ARTICLE TEXT = Once again Aldus was one of the key vendors at the show. PAGEMAKER 3.0 for the Mac and PC was released earlier this year and has solidified Aldus' position as the top selling desktop publishing program in the Apple world and the number 2 program in the PC world. (New features in 3.0 include autoflow, text wrap, spot color, style sheets and Bitstream outline fonts for Laser Jet printer users). @ARTICLE TEXT = The two highlights at the Aldus booth were the unveiling of Free Hand 2.0 and Aldus Persuasion. @ARTICLE TEXT = FREE HAND 2.0 is a powerful drawing program that will go head to head with Adobe Illustrator. In addition to tracing, drawing and sketching tools it also supports Pantone colors and layered design. Like the Mac version of Adobe Illustrator, Free Hand 2.0 requires output to a Postscript device and is priced at $695. The program ships later this year for the Mac and a PC version is under development. @ARTICLE TEXT = ALDUS PERSUASION is a new desktop presentation program that promises to give programs like Cricket Presents a run for the money. Persuasion has many features including an outline view to organize slides, templates for quick slide production, integral spell check and text editing, drawing tools, slide show option and output to printers and film recorders. @ARTICLE TEXT = One feature that may separate this product from the others is the ability to bring up elements of a slide one at a time. With this option, the presenter doesn't have to cover up parts of an overhead while speaking! The program will sell for $495 and will be available in the fourth quarter for the Mac. As with Free Hand, a PC version is under development. @ARTICLE TEXT = @COMPANIES = CRICKET SOFTWARE: @ARTICLE TEXT = Last year Cricket used the Seybold show to unveil its desktop presentation program called Cricket Presents. CRICKET PRESENTS 2.0 adds key features such as a spell checker and thesaurus, auto kerning, import option for Excel SYLK files, outlining and color blending. Auto kerning allows letters to be kerned with a single menu pick. Color blending lets you ``mix'' your own colors and also provides full control over the degree and location of textured color backgrounds. The outline feature both orders slides and creates bulleted text charts. The program sells for $495 and can run on a Mac Plus or Mac SE but a Mac II is required to see color output on-screen. A Windows version for PC users to be marketed by Xerox will be announced shortly with a ship date sometime late this year or in the first quarter of 1989. @ARTICLE TEXT = @COMPANIES = DIGITAL RESEARCH: @ARTICLE TEXT = GEM ARTLINE is a new graphics drawing program from Digital Research. Running under the GEM graphic interface, the program is billed as an easy to use yet powerful drawing tool for users of Ventura Publisher and other PC based desktop publishing programs. Features include drawing tools, clip art images, tracing for scanned images and output to a variety of printers. @ARTICLE TEXT = @COMPANIES = MICROGRAFX: @ARTICLE TEXT = Micrografx bills its products as ``the cure for Mac envy''. They are the premiere vendor these days when it comes to graphics and drawing programs for the Microsoft Windows and PC platform. @ARTICLE TEXT = MICROGRAFX DESIGNER 1.3 is a $695 program that is the most powerful drawing program now available for users of the PC. It offers most of the features of Adobe Illustrator and Aldus Free Hand (drawing tools, tracing, fills, etc.) and in some areas even surpasses them (as evidenced in a recent Info World review). @ARTICLE TEXT = New features in this version include enhanced memory support which will speed operations involving multitasking and other Windows operations. @ARTICLE TEXT = GRAPH PLUS is a $495 program that was formerly known as Windows Graph. The program has been significantly upgraded from it's original form and now includes a wide variety of features that allow the user to create, edit and customize graphs. Also of note is the ability to ``hot link'' graphs to Microsoft Excel, advanced 3D imaging features, a variety of drawing tools, color gradient option and high quality output from any Windows output device. With these improvements, Graph Plus is easily one of the top graphics programs available today. @ARTICLE TEXT = @ARTICLE TEXT = @COMPANIES = NBI: @ARTICLE TEXT = NBI has been a manufacturer of dedicated word processing equipment for some time. Last year they began work on LEGEND, a $695 Windows based program that includes word processing and desktop publishing features. @ARTICLE TEXT = NBI feels that the program offers the best of both software types and eliminates the need for separate word processing and desktop publishing programs. Show demonstrations illustrated key features of the program including the ability to quickly prepare and customize tables, an auto-redraw feature to resize graphics for a designated frame, a ``hot link'' to Lotus 1-2-3, ability to color any or all of a document, some basic line drawing tools and the ability to do minor outlining and organization charts. @ARTICLE TEXT = Legend is an interesting program with an unusual combination of features. Only time will tell if it will be able to find a niche in the crowded word processing and desktop publishing markets! @ARTICLE TEXT = @ARTICLE TEXT = Also present at the show were two Ventura Publisher newsletters: VENTURA PROFESSIONAL! ($36/year from the Ventura Publisher Users Group, 7502 Aaron Place, San Jose, CA 95139 408-227-5030) and VENTURA LETTER ($29/year from Ventura Users of North America, 1 Heath St. West, Suite 3, Toronto, Ontario, M4V 1T2 Canada (416) 482-3710). If you're a heavy Ventura user one or both of these newsletters will be of interest! @ARTICLE TEXT = @CENTER UNDER = OTHER SOFTWARE PRODUCTS @ARTICLE TEXT = @COMPANIES = BITSTREAM: @ARTICLE TEXT = Bitstream is the maker of the fonts found in the HP Laser Jet and most of the other popular low-end laser printers as well as the outline fonts that are sold with top PC programs such as Pagemaker 3.0 for the PC, Word Perfect 5.0 and Microsoft Word. @ARTICLE TEXT = This year they introduced MacFONTWARE and BITSTREAM SOFT FONTS FOR THE MAC. As the names imply, these products provide screen and outline soft fonts for Mac owners that use LaserWriter II SC and Image Writer I and II Quick Draw printers. The fonts sell for $195 each and have the same typefaces and widths found on a LaserWriter Plus. @ARTICLE TEXT = @COMPANIES = DIGITAL COMPOSITION SYSTEMS: @ARTICLE TEXT = db PUBLISHER is an interesting product that is sort of a cross between a report writing program and a desktop publishing program. Like Byline from Ashton-Tate, this product is aimed at PC owners who want to convert dBase, Rbase, 1-2-3 and graphic files into a report of significant length. Typical uses would involve price lists, financial reports, phone books, product inventory and bar codes, etc. @ARTICLE TEXT = As with NBI's Legend, it's an interesting idea but I'm not sure how much demand there will be for this pro-gram. One thing though, it prints the sharpest bar codes I've seen from a micro-based product! The price is $495. @ARTICLE TEXT = @COMPANIES = EMERALD CITY SOFTWARE: @ARTICLE TEXT = LASERTALK is a development tool that gives the user interactive access to the Postscript language controller of your Postscript printer! If you use Postscript and need complete control of your printer, this program could be for you. Available for the Mac ($249) and the PC under Microsoft Windows ($399). @ARTICLE TEXT = @COMPANIES = INSET SYSTEMS: @ARTICLE TEXT = HIJAAK 1.1 is the latest version of a low cost ($99) graphics utility program for the PC. It performs screen captures as well as conversions of graphic art files in any of 15 popular formats including Postscript, HPGL, Lotus PIC, GEM, Paintbrush PCX and Word Perfect WPG. Version 1.1 includes the ability to get ``typeset quality'' (smoothed) screen captures and the ability to convert HPGL files to viewable Encapsulated Postscript Files (EPS). @ARTICLE TEXT = @ART SB 8 = (This is the end of the software reviews, the hardware reviews begin on the next page.)