series or Duo series computers with the PowerPC Upgrade Card installed.
  Improved reliability on PCI-based computers (Macintosh 7200, 7500, 7600,
8500, and 9500 computers) and PowerBook 5300 computers, PowerBook 2300
computers, and PowerBook 500 or Duo series computers with the PowerPC
Upgrade Card installed.
  Improved reliability when copying files to a 1 gigabyte hard disk.
  Improved reliability when using the Startup Disk control panel.
Apple is recommending that only customers with specific system software and Macintosh computers update their systems with System 7.5.3 Revision 2.
There is no benefit for other customers.
The only systems which will benefit from System 7.5.3 Revision 2 are:
  All PowerBook systems using Connectix RAM Doubler
  All PowerBook 5300 and PowerBook Duo 2300 systems
  All PowerBook 200 or 500 Series systems which have been upgraded with the
Macintosh PowerBook Processor Card Upgrade Kit with PowerPC (or upgraded
with similar third party products).
  All Macintosh 7200, 7500, 7600, 8500, and 9500 systems
You should install System 7.5.3 Revision 2 only if you have a computer with System 7.5.3 installed or a PowerBook with System 7.5.2, PowerBook Enabler 1.2 or later installed.
System 7.5.3 Revision 2 is available from Apple's online sites on the Internet, CompuServe and AOL.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Apple's 20th anniversary came and went on
April 1 with little hoopla. Now it appears that
Apple is ready to do something about it.
Buried in Gil Amelio's remarks during the
recent WWDC is the announcement that Apple
will be creating a special Limited Edition,
20th Anniversary Macintosh before the end of
1996. Not much is known about this creature,
but according to Amelio there will only be
20,000 units made available.
The announcement is contained in one of Amelio's new pro-Mac web sites
called "The Plan" at: http://theplan.apple.com/  
 
 
  
Here's a first look at the upcoming UMAX SuperMac S900, a
workstation level PowerPC Macintosh compatible due in June.
A Supermac S900L with 2GB drive, 16 MB RAM, 4 MB VRAM
and IMS 128-bit graphic accelerator is expected to retail at
$3995 US. The tower profile CPU contains a single150MHz PowerPC
604. There are two CPU slots, however, so you can add a second 604; but
the dual processor card will not be ready when the June launch date arrives.
Onboard memory is expandable to 1 GB using DIMM chips. In addition to the two PowerPC 604 slots, the chassis has 6 PCI card slots. Options include a 10/100Base TX card and a Wide Ultra-SCSI card. A floppy and a 6.7x CD-ROM drive is standard. There are five expansion drive bays featuring a Fast SCSI-2 internal bus. 10BaseT and Apple AAUI Ethernet ports are standard.
MacSense will have more information as it becomes available.
 
 
 
 
Apple has completed a major reorganization to help
accomplish its goal of bringing the company back
to financial profitability.
The organizational structure, effective June 1,
is designed to enhance managerial accountability
and improve customer focus through clear
business processes.
"Now that we've taken the time to thoroughly
assess our company, our products, and the dyna-
mics of the marketplace, we're ready to implement
an organizational structure designed to support our
revised strategy," said Apple CEO Gil Amelio.
Under the new organization, six senior executives will report to Amelio. They are the chief operating officer, chief administrative officer, chief technical officer, chief financial officer, senior vice president of corporate marketing, and vice president of strategic planning. Details are as follows:
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Marco Landi, formerly president of Apple Europe, Middle East, and Africa, will be accountable for the overall implementation of Apple's business plans. He will oversee six distinct profit and loss centers, including Apple's four recently announced product divisions, as well as Claris Corporation and AppleAssist. In addition, he will be responsible for segment marketing and worldwide sales. His organization is as follows:
Power Macintosh Products group, led by Senior Vice President Fred Forsyth, will be responsible for the family of Power Macintosh desktop products and PowerBooks. Forsyth will also be responsible for worldwide operations;
Imaging division, directed by Senior Vice President Terry Bailey, will be responsible for products including printers, scanners, digital cameras, and other peripherals;
Claris Corporation, headed by Guerrino De Luca, Apple Vice President and President, Claris Corporation, will continue to function as a subsidiary ofApple, maintaining its own sales, marketing, and operations staff;
Information Appliance Products, division temporarily headed by Marco Landi, will develop low-cost, special purpose products outside the traditional personal computer category, such as the emerging network computer. These products will be based on Newton and Pippin technologies;
Servers and Alternate Platform Products division, managed by Senior Vice President Howard Lee, will oversee the development and marketing of products based on the PowerPC Platform and other hybrid personal computer products. In addition, the division will be responsible for the entire server productline (Mac OS and non-Mac OS) and interactive media products;
AppleAssist division, temporarily managed by Marco Landi, is Apple's newly-formed support organization dedicated to providing life-long assistance to owners of Apple products;
Segment Marketing group, headed by Senior Vice President Dr. Terry Crane, will be responsible for assessing the product and solutions needs of customers on a worldwide basis, and working with Apple's product businesses to bring those products and solutions to market. The group's charter includes market strategy formulation, market analysis and forecasting, customer research, competitive analysis and solutions development. The focus will be on selected areas within enterprise/scientific and technical, publishing and authoring, education, and home/SOHO market segments;
Worldwide Sales, headed by Senior Vice President John Floisand, will be responsible for maintaining customer relationships around the world and implementing an optimized channel strategy. The organization's roles will include channel relationships, customer requirements feedback, fulfillment strategy development, solutions implementation, and sales for all Apple products, including Newton technology-based products. Senior sales executives reporting to Floisand will be Robin Abrams, Americas; JanGesmar-Larsen, Europe, Middle East, and Africa; Tetsuya Shiga, Japan; and Steven Vamos, Asia and Australia.
Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer George Scalise, who joined Apple on March 11, 1996, will oversee developer relations, licensing, human resources, external relations, facilities, communications, and Apple's legal department.
Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer Dr. Amelio will oversee this function on an interim basis until a permanent leader is named. The following functional areas will report to the CTO:
AppleSoft, headed by Apple Senior Vice President Dr. Isaac Nassi, will be responsible for operating systems, application programming interfaces, tools, and platform marketing;
AppleNet, led by Apple Vice President and Chief Scientist Larry Tesler, will be responsible for Apple technologies for the Internet and intranets, ensuring that Internet capabilities are integral to all of the company's products;
Apple Advanced Technology Laboratories, managed by Apple Fellow and Vice President Dr. Donald Norman, will oversee the development of concept products and core technologies to be incorporated into future Apple products;
Apple Reliability and Quality Assurance group, headed by Apple Vice President Mike Connor, will oversee Apple's reliability and quality programs on a company-wide basis.
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson, who joined Apple on April 1, 1996, will provide strategic, structural and procedural leadership in financial management; shareholder and investor relations; tax, customs, and records management; mergers and acquisitions; and information systems.
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Corporate Marketing Satjiv Chahil, Apple's top marketing executive, will lead a strengthened organization responsible for direction-setting in overall marketing and advertising campaigns and ensuring alignment in the execution of all marketing programs.
Vice President, Worldwide Strategic Planning, headed by Dr. Douglas Solomon, will be responsible for development and implementation of the strategic planning process for the company. Dr. Solomon will also manage the Corporate Development function and in that capacity will report to CFO Fred Anderson.
Concurrently, Apple announced the resignation of James J. Buckley, senior vice president and president of Apple Americas, who has chosen to pursue other interests. "Jim Buckley has made an immeasurable impact on Apple, our employees, and our customers during his 11-year tenure with the company," said Dr. Amelio. "His intellect, leadership, and great wit will be sorely missed, and we wish him the best as he continues to advance in his career."
 
 
 
Newer Technology Inc., a major producer of PowerBook  
upgrades and Macintosh computer peripheral products, has
filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court
in Wichita, Kan.
In a news release dated June 6, 1996, officials of Spectrum
Engineering Inc., doing business as Newer Technology, said the move into bankruptcy was a result of computer memory chip prices dropping into the abyss, resulting in a write down of the company's inventory. The result: serious cash flow and debit service problems.
James Wiebe, company president, said there was no way the firm could cope with the problems created by the falling DRAM (dynamic random access memory chips) and still serve its customers.
"Early in the year the price of semiconductors started dropping because of an oversupply in the worldwide market. We did an initial write down of our inventory at the end of our second quarter, April 1, when prices seemed to stabilize. But prices continued to deteriorate and dropped 50 percent during May, prompting us to take another severe write down." Wiebe said.
On May 6, 1996, The Wall Street Journal reported that wholesale prices of 8MB of memory had dropped about 50 percent since Christmas.
Wiebe said the company reorganized into two separate groups, Memory Products and the Valued Added Products. The Memory Group has represented about 80 percent of company sales. Under Chapter 11 protection the sales line of the Memory Group is expected to grow.
The Value Added Products group produces PowerBook upgrades. In February the company introduced NUpowr, which upgrades the PowerBook 500 series computers with a 117MHz 603e processor.
Wiebe remained upbeat about the situation: "Despite the fact that Apple Computer Inc., has been going through difficult times, sales of our Value Added Products have increased nearly three fold this year. We expect to see this growth continue."
Under Chapter 11, a company obtains a federal court order that frees it from the threat of creditors' lawsuits until it can develop a plan to put its finances in order. Activities of management must be approved by the court while the reorganization proceeds. The ultimate reorganization plan must be accepted by a majority of the creditors.
Newer Technology's home page is http://www.newertech.com. 
