Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1983 May to 1994 June

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Text File | 1991-10-04 | 22KB | 445 lines

[***][7/17/84][***] AT&T MUSCLES IN: AT&T announced at the National Computer Conference in Las Vegas this week that it's sinking millions of dollars into a 5-point offensive to promote its Unix based and IBM-compatible computers. To affirm the all-out war against IBM, AT&T froze the salaries of 114,000 executives this week through 1985, a move which should net $184 million in savings. Jack Scanlon, VP of Computer Systems for AT&T says by 1986 the company will produce a micro which is "pure Unix" and one marketing exec told me the company is looking to put Unix "on a chip". Digital Research, meanwhile, seems to be taking both sides in the battle. Unveiled at NCC was Digital's peripheral board that enables AT&T and IBM PCs to run both MS-DOS and CP/M programs. Digital also has several Unix-based programs under development for AT&T. ---- [***][7/17/84][***] LANS HIGHLIGHT THE SHOW: Everybody seemed to have some method of computer-to-computer communication at NCC, marking the first time mainframes were left at home in favor of new micro networking protocol. Even Apple unveiled a central processing unit made by the British firm Symbiotic Computer Systems which is capable of linking up to 128 Apple family computers (including the Mac). The designers of the system warn, however that after 12 computers are linked the "system starts to deteriorate". Rumors abounded at the show of an AT&T/Apple project to develop LAN compatibility--but nobody from either company would confirm that. Apple also showed off a staggering variety of software and hardware that other companies have designed for the MacIntosh. Apple also announced production of MacIntosh computers will double by year's end--to 80-thousand a month. ---- [***][7/17/84][***] ATARI/COMMODORE LOCK HORNS: Within 8 days of Jack Tramiel's purchase of Atari, his old company Commodore filed a lawsuit against four engineers Tramiel lured with him to Atari. The suit claims the 4 stole trade secrets from Commodore. The Pennsylvania judge in West Chester, PA has granted an injunction that forbids the four engineers from revealing or implementing the supposed trade secrets until another hearing is set. Commodore alledges the theft was in the area of a secret business computer based on the Zilog Z-8000 chip and designed with a Z-8 RAM-based disk drive. Atari's spokesman Leonard Schreiber says Tramiel "doesn't regard the lawsuit seriously." Also at Atari this week--customer service reps who got the axe by day's end performed a cute trick. They forwarded calls from customers to the personal office of Tramiel. On one hand that's because there's no longer a toll-free service number, on the other it's a great way to quit. ---- CONTACT: ATARI CORPORATION SAN JOSE, CA. 408-745-4142 ---- [***][7/17/84][***] NOT A GOOD WEEK FOR KAYPRO: Remember the March deal in which Kaypro agreed to distribute Mitsui's lap- sized portable? That deal is nearly extinct according to my sources. They say that Kaypro's deadline for paying off an initial purchase agreement with Mitsui has either passed or will pass shortly and the Mitsui people are already looking for another US distributor. Sources say Morrow is being eyed as a good prospect. Kaypro was expected to distribute the Mitsui lap-sized machine by this Fall and Kaypro executives contend that's still going to happen. "There HAS been a delay in software from Mitsui," says Kaypro spokeswoman Margaret Phanes. She adds, "It's been delayed until September and we (Kaypro&Mitsui) are continuing to resolve our differences." Mitsui spokesmen weren't available for comment this week. Meanwhile a scathing article about Kaypro, published in the LA Times (7/11), has a number of "inaccuracies" according to Kaypro. The article claims the company is doing poorly with six months worth of unsold inventory in a warehouse. Kaypro is writing a letter to the editor of the LA Times, hotly disputing many of the facts in the piece. ---- CONTACT: MARGARET PHANES, PR KAYPRO SOLANO BEACH, CA. 619-481-4300 ---- MITZ KUROBE MITSUI NEW YORK, NEW YORK 212-878-4328 ---- [***][7/17/84][***] GENERAL MOTORS AT NCC: General Motors made history by being the first automaker to display wares at NCC. On view was a prototype local area network of computers by various many line. Show spokesman say two plants will be employing the technology by next year--one in Saginaw, Michigan. ---- CONTACT: GENERAL MOTORS CORP. WARREN, MICHIGAN 313-575-1265 ---- [***][7/17/84][***] TEXAS INSTRUMENTS AT NCC: Everybody talks about making computers easier to use, but few are doing anything about it. Texas Instruments IS. The company unveiled the first of its "Natural Language Software" series for TI computers. It's a communications package designed to access the Dow Jones Database. The software interprets sentence commands such as, "Get me my Dow Jones quotes". Texas Instruments says the software is the mark of a new direction for the company--a direction toward simpler user interfaces. ---- [***][7/17/84][***] ANOTHER DUST-BITER: The maker of the Access Matrix computer filed for bankruptcy (7/6), claiming $4 million in debts. Actrix Computer Corp., which was formerly called "Access Matrix" but changed the name following a conflict with another company, has seen sales trickle down to almost nothing in recent months. H. Earl Bushman, Actrix CEO was quoted as saying, "We're not in that bad a shape," and says he's seeking to restructure the company before starting anew. ---- CONTACT: H. EARL BUSHMAN ACTRIX SAN JOSE, CA. ---- [***][7/17/84][***] EAGLE TROUBLE: Plagued with serious debts, declining sales, ship-jumping management executives and due bills from its failed copyright battle with IBM, Eagle Computer seems to be headed the way of Actrix. In fact, the company laid-off another 85 employees this week leaving total employment at roughly half what it was in January. However, Eagle officers say their problems are nearly solved--the creditors have worked out a plan to collect $9 million in debts and a new undisclosed software package promises to "give it the technological edge." ---- CONTACT: EAGLE COMPUTER LOS GATOS, CA. 408-395-5005 ---- [***][7/17/84][***] YES-NO-ABSTAIN: The Democratic Convention floor in San Francisco will be a tour-de-force of computerdom this week. 500 workstations linked to superminis will control delegate votes, scheduling, credentials, a message service and news from the podium. The equipment, donated by Pacific Bell, Datapoint, American Network Services, Convergent, Lanier and Chronicle Videotex, will result in what Rosalind Wyman, CEO of the Convention was quoted as calling, "the most extensive use of computer technology in the history of American politics." ---- [***][7/17/84][***] IN BRIEF-- - (Carrollton, GA.) CBS has abandoned its manufacturing of videodisks. The move follows RCA's discontinuation of videodisk production earlier this year. CBS says the market for the disks is on the decline. - (Tempe, AZ.) ITT Corp. which suffered devastating losses on the stock exchange this week following low quarterly earnings, is considered a ripe candidate for a take-over by many analysts. - (Palo Alto, CA.) Three IBM scientists have split from the company's Palo Alto Science Center to begin a new artificial intelligence software company. Harry Reinstein, Larry Cohn and Heidi Monaco will form Aion Corp in Palo Alto. - (Chatsworth, CA.) TANDON Corp. and TANDY Corp. of Ft. Worth, TX. arranged a lucrative contract (7/13). The deal calls for Tandon to sell $125 million worth of products to Tandy, many of them disk drives, through 1985. - (San Jose, CA.) Ronald Fisher, VP of Marketing for Visicorp is leaving to become CEO of Interactive Systems Corp which makes Unix-based software in Santa Monica. Seems like nobody wants to stay at Visicorp these days... - (Washington, DC) The Civil Aeronautics Board is coming closer to making the score even between the haves and have-nots in computerized airline reservations. The CAB told its staff to prepare a regulation that would require all airline computers to list flights, not in order of the sponsoring airline, but in order of service criteria. - (Lexington, MA.) MIT scientists say they've developed an IC that's designed and tested by laser technology. Considered a "direct write" approach to chip design, it eliminates the need for time-consuming chip masks. - (Minneapolis, MN.) Cray Research has a computer that's 10X faster than the Cray-1 called the X-MP/48. Its memory holds 8-million words at 64 bits per word. The cost is $5-$14 million and delivery is set for early next year. - ANYONE READ 'THE COMING COMPUTER INDUSTRY SHAKEOUT' yet? It's a new book --and I mean new--by Stephen McClellan, published by John Wiley & Sons. The title was buzzing around NCC. It costs $19.95 in hardcover. - COMPUTER CHRONICLES, the show aired on PBS stations, is undergoing a reorganization following the resignation of host Stuart Chiefet as GM of the producing station--KCSM in San Mateo, CA. Cheifet will become the GM of a Hershey, PA. PBS station but wants to remain active in COMPUTER CHRONICLES. Just how he'll do that cross-country is uncertain. - [***][7/17/84][***] If you feel a tingling and numbness in your hand after playing a video game--you may have "Video Game Palsy." That's the name Dr. Robert Friedland gives the complaint in the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Freidland says the problem can occur by continually smashing a wrist against a computer or joystick surface. ---- CONTACT: DR. FREIDLAND VETERANS ADMINISTRATION MEDICAL CENTER MARTINEZ, CA. ---- [***][7/17/84][***] NATIONAL COMPUTER CONFERENCE OR HOW TO PRETEND YOU'RE EARNING A MILLION IN LAS VEGAS by Wendy Woods - To use a metaphor suggested by a friend, covering the NCC is "like trying to drink out of a firehose." NCC is one of the largest displays of appliances in the world--appliances not unlike refrigerators, ovens and automobiles. These appliances, however, are designed for the truly upscale consumer--and are supposed to make our lives more efficient, our brains less taxed with trivia. - Computers have become so diversified, however, that trying to keep up with the trends, highlights and technicalities of the business is a fulltime job. As we reporters would gather in the Las Vegas Convention Center Press Room, it seems we were interviewing each other more than the industry people. "What did you see that's hot? Here's what I've got... Did you see the Mac LAN? What about that Digital concurrent CP/M?" - Teamwork was the only way to cover this show and the only way to figure out how to make it exciting. Essentially this was not an exciting show by news standards. Exhibitors were trotting out their state-of-the art technology but making few, if any, new announcements. We all had the feeling their best wares were waiting in the wings. If someone had ceized the opportunity to make a big product announcement, reporters would have jumped on it like a pack of wolves. - So we went our ways finding stories. AT&T had a flashy booth where all its Unix-based computers were on display, including the new MS-DOS micro. However despite the impressive name "AT&T Information Systems" there was little information to be gleaned at the booth. My associate Greg Lascaris attended several days of private meetings with AT&T officers and produced what he thought was a scoop. Jack Scanlon of AT&T candidly told him about the company's 18-month goal "to win over IBM". Here's what Greg reports: 1) AT&T will go for "commercialization of UNIX". 2) Local Area Networking will be a high priority for current and future machines. 3) Software will be developed for UNIX computers; among those working on it right now is Digital Research. 4) Promotion of Unix will mean big-bucks advertising. 5) AT&T will try to generate more Unix applications. So that's what Greg reports. Despite the size and power of AT&T, many at the show were skeptical about AT&T's ability to beat IBM but are watching with a kind of morbid fascination as the two superpowers battle it out. One sign AT&T is serious about this war blazed across the newspapers the next day "AT&T Freezes Salaries On Management Level" through 1985 to cut costs (in order to make room for a big promotional campaign.) - Interestingly enough, IBM's big display featured industrial and robotic applications for its biggest computers. Sure, the micros were there and a mini-LAN linking 5 micros displayed an educational program for the teachers in the crowd. But IBM didn't seem to be too worried, at least not publicly, about AT&T's big plan. Instead the company was showing off its microprocessors and sophisticated hardware, hoping to convey an image of being on the cutting edge of technology, three generations beyond the micro wars. - Because IBM didn't even bother to bring its new "transportable" PC, Compaq had a field day. Its old "luggable" stood proudly next to the company's new "Deskpro" computer, Compaq executives glowingly described how the old Compaq is still better than the new IBM portable--a claim reinforced by a recent survey of dealers who say their Compaq portables are outselling IBM portables 4-1. - Apple, however, drew the biggest crowds at the show, bar none. Who do they get to design their pristine, "Snow White" type trade show booths? Besides the attractiveness of the company's display, there was genuine news at this booth and Apple may have missed the boat by not calling a press conference. Unveiled was a central processing unit and hard disk capable of linking up to 128 Apple family computers into a network. An engineer from the British company "Symbiotic Computer Systems" which makes the hardware, admitted that after more than 10 Apples are linked "the system starts to deteriorate." But regardless, it's a step in the right direction and Apple should have made more hay with the announcement. - Apple's exhibit, when one could finally squeeze through the crowd to see it, also included dozens of third-party hardware and software products for the Apples, Lisas and MacIntoshes, too numerous to mention. Let it suffice to say the MacIntosh is becoming a viable business machine. Lotus's integrated business software, Telos Software's "FileVision", a graphics database, Microsoft's spreadsheet, graphics and programming packages for the MacIntosh, "Market Manager", a stock portfolio management system, "Think Tank" from Living Videotext, and 55 other hardware and software products for the Mac were on display. For the less serious there were a couple of new games too. Apple's also got a new version of "Apple Writer" that includes a terminal mode for telecommunications within the program (Apple is even offering a trade-in of the old "Apple Writer //e" at a discount.) Apple's new RGB color monitor for Apple IIe, III and III Plus computers was there. The staff was more than friendly and spent plenty of time demostrating these products--a sharp contrast to the uptight IBM and AT&T executives hawking on the floor. - Case in point: Reporters must wear "Press" badges at trade shows which can be a distinct disadvantage when attempting to get facts. At the AT&T booth, for instance, I could not ask any questions of the salespeople. They kept pawning me off on some nebulous PR person who was never around. "We can't talk to the press," said one bluntly. After making the circuit I later returned without the badge (I had traded it with another exhibitor friend for a few minutes.) Lo and behold the AT&T types began to open up. I asked one of them when the new AT&T PC will run "Unix" and I was told "by late this year." Ever more astounding was the salesperson's next remark, "We're trying to put UNIX on a chip so the massive memory requirements of the system won't be necessary. Put this under your hat though," he said. - General Motors was the big suprise of the show. Attempting to emulate the robotics of Japanese car manufacturers, GM showed off a prototype local area network for robotic assembly of autos. GM tied together equipment made by Concord Data Systems, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, Digital, Gould, IBM and Allen-Bradley that controlled a little model assembly line in a glass display case. Word is the multi-vendor LAN will get a pratical workout in GM's Saginaw, Michigan plant by early next year. GM's interest in networking follows $2.5 billion acquisition offer for Electronic Data Systems of Texas. GM Chairman Roger Smith remarked two weeks ago that "GM could become the most technologically advanced computer services company in the world." - Meanwhile, outside this jungle of computerdom, it was the proverbial 110-degrees in the shade. Some 710 exhibitors were among the 100- thousand or so to attend National Computer Conference. That meant at closing time (5:00 PM) it was dog-eat-dog to a) get on mass transit, or if that failed, b) get a spot under a tree to wait. Trees are not Las Vegas' most ample resource so I imagine there were a few serious cases of heat-stroke. After that there was the usual business-trip- turned-tour syndrome with a crush of conferees jamming the casinos to waste their expense accounts. There we were, amid the conspicuous power consumption of the city's miles of sequenced bulbs, smoking neon cowboys and aluminum palm trees, trying to maintain enough sobriety to put up with another 20 miles of walking on the next convention day. If we didn't learn that much at NCC, we got our exercise, indulged in Las Vegas nightlife, fed the trade show monster and kept the cabbies happy. "If you break even in this town, you've made a profit," one of them told me. That seemed an apt metaphor for the week's ordeal. -NEW MICRO PRODUCTS AT THE NATIONAL COMPUTER CONFERENCE compiled by Wendy Woods - (Note: This is only a partial list of the many new products on display for Apple computers. Apple easily offered the most new software.) - SOFTWARE FOR THE MACINTOSH: - MACTERMINAL, Apple's data communications package that's integrated with "MacWrite" (word processing) and Microsoft's "Multiplan" spreadsheet. Available late August from Apple dealers. Price: $99. - MACINTOSH PASCAL, enables a user to program Pascal on the MacIntosh computer. Apple's package includes two program disks, a user's guide and a technical appendix. Available in late August from Apple dealers. Price : $125. - PC TO MAC AND BACK is the first communications package to link the Mac and IBM PC. Text files can be transferred between the two computers. Package includes a book, IBM and MacIntosh diskettes. Made by dilithium Press, the software is available immediately at computer stores. Price: "under $100." SOFTWARE FOR THE APPLE II FAMILY: - APPLEWRITER II, VERSION 2.0 is an update of the old "AppleWriter II". Apple's new version features horizontal scrolling, text display that counts pages and lines, a built-in terminal mode for telecommunications, an a ProDos utility which formats blank disks. Available August 1 from Apple dealers, the new "AppleWriter II" is offered at a discount to owners of the current "AppleWriter" for $50 plus the master diskette. (This deal effective August 1 to February 1, 1985.) Otherwise, the price is $149. - EASY COM EASY GO from Transend Corp. is a supposed "user friendly" communications package which features icons as an "easy to read roadmap" to advanced functions. It runs on the entire Apple family including the //c. The package comes with $400 worth of memberships to Dow Jones, The Source and many other information utilities. "EASY COM EASY GO" features a text editor, pre-programmed log-on utilities and error-free file transfer capabilities. If you've purchased Transcend 1,2 or 3 since April, the company allows you to upgrade free of charge. No price or release date available. SOFTWARE FOR THE LISA: - "7/7" from Apple is actually seven programs in one--LisaProject, LisaWrite, LisaCalc, LisaTerminal, LisaList, LisaGraph and LisaDraw. The integrated software also includes a spelling corrector. Available in early August. Price: $695. APPLE HARDWARE: - APPLECOLOR MONITOR 100 is Apple's first color monitor for the //, //e and /// Apple computers. The 12" RGB minitor requires the purchase of Apple's new Extended 80-column Text/AppleColor Card which also gives the computer an additional 64K of memory. There is a switch which allows to user to change from color to a green-only monochrome screen. Also available in early August, the monitor retails for $599. The AppleColor Card will sell for $299. - MACPHONE is a combination software/handset telephone package which has several voice-phone only capabilities. Made by Intermatrix, it can speed-dial up to 200 phone numbers, has a built-in calendar, appointment book and note pad, auto-log of telephone traffic, and an area code reference directory. The system is not designed to be a computer-to- computer communication system but a sophisicated answering/dialing machine. Available "on retail shelves" now. Price: $199.95.