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Newsbytes - Internationa…ews 1983 May to 1994 June
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Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1994 Edition - May 1983 - June 1994 - Wayzata Technologies (5045) (1994).iso
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1984
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V67
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1991-10-04
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[***][9/11/84][***]
BYTE-ING FOR READERS:
An end-user show sponsored by Byte magazine in San Francisco (9/6-9/9) had
an expected draw of only 12,000 people and received mixed reviews from the
public. Primarily a big "flea market" where wares were sold for little cash,
the show also featured the unveiling of "ByteNet", a pilot electronic forum,
linked by Telenet access numbers to several cities, where participants could
access files contributed by Byte writers and add their own comments. Still
a test project, Byte officers will decide in six months whether to open the
system to the public, Byte, and Popular Computing subscribers (total
readership = 760,000.) The deciding factors in the system's success will be
a) public response and b) finances according to Byte editor Phil Lemmons.
Among the minuses at the show was the fact that Corona Data Systems was the
only large hardware maker to set up a booth. Also, users groups complained
they were not allowed to sell public domaine software, something which is
often the bread-and-butter to their survival.
----
CONTACT (for ByteNet): Doug Webster, BYTE
Peterborough, New Hampshire
603-924-9027
[***][9/11/84][***]
BIRTHDAY COMING UP:
Data General will rent Fisher Hall at New York's Lincoln Center Sept. 20 to
enter the microcomputer market with a 10-pound portable. The new machine
sports a 25-line liquid crystal display (as big as a standard CRT), a 3 1/2"
floppy drive and runs on the MS-DOS operating system. The price is
expected to be between $3,000 and $3,500. The product is considered
"exceptional" but some analysts. Others wonder how or why Data General
would wish to compete with the myriad of other portable-makers on the
market.
----
CONTACT: DATA GENERAL CORP.
WESTBORO, MASSACHUSETTS
[***][9/11/84][***]
CORONA NETWORK:
Yes, little Corona is taking on the big boys. It's got something called
the Corona Mega PC which networks up to 8 Corona PCs or other IBM-compatible
computers. The basic coaxial cable link includes a central processing
unit, 256K of RAM and a main file server with an Intel 8088 chip. The
8-user system with all hardware and software costs $18,000. Corona calls
its system a "network in a box."
----
CONTACT: CORONA DATA SYSTEMS
THOUSAND OAKS, CA.
805-495-5800
[***][9/11/84][***]
APPLE TIDBITS:
Michael Moritz has a new book out soon called "The Little Kingdom." In it,
he says Chuck Peddle (then of Commodore) was willing to buy Apple Computer
in the mid-seventies on Steven Jobs' terms. Those terms were $100,000,
Commodore stock and salaries in the $30-thousand a year range for Jobs and
Steve Wozniak. You'll have to read the book to find out more....
Meanwhile, a company called Management and Computer Services Inc. of Malvern,
Pennsylvania is suing Apple this week, claiming trademark infringment. The
company's initials are "MACS". Don't laugh! It seems M.A.C.S. actually had
something called "Projectmacs" while Apple had "MacProject"...and so the
story will end in court.
[***][9/11/84][***]
WHAT HAPPENED TO...
Bobby Inman and his M.C.C., the government-sponsored forum that was going to
beat the Japanese to the fifth generation computer? In a good article in
the New York Times (9/5) Inman tells a tale of woe. He says many of the
companies have not lived up to the letter of the project, that several
"are sitting back and sipping with a long straw." Inotherwords, conventional
competition is raising its ugly head and the entire project is off "to a
rocky start" a good year after it was initiated.
[***][9/11/84][***]
HEWLETT PACKARD VS. IBM:
HP introduced its own multi-user system called the the HP 3000 Series 37 this
week. It supports up to 28 users at once with a total cost of $28,000. HP
is clearly attempting to break into the market IBM hopes to capture with its
PC/AT series. What luck will HP have? Check out this proclamation from
Montgomery Securities in San Francisco. The analysts say the PC/AT will win
the network game; co-winners will be Western Digital, Cipher Data,
Convergent, Lotus and Ashton-Tate while the not-so-fortunate will
include Hewlett-Packard and AT&T.
[***][9/11/84][***]
MORE ROCKS FALL...
In the continuing disk business shakeout, another serious hit was recorded
this week. Onyx+IMI Inc., maker of 5 1/4" hard disk drives in Cupertino, Ca.
announced if a buyer isn't found for the company, it will cease to exist in
1985. 100 out of 800 people have been laid-off in the meantime.
[***][9/11/84][***]
SOFTWARE SAMPLES...
I don't do software reviews, but here's a couple of products worth mentioning.
Excel Systems of Mill Valley, Ca. has an IBM program called "Aris", a complete
secretary on a disk with database, word processing, diary, and telecommunicatiod
a news conference aboard a yacht in SF Bay to introduce the product.
'Millionaire" is a new game by Blue Chip Software that lets you figure out
how to make a million. It presents fake newspaper headlines, company
financial figures and other data to lead to you success at the stock market.
Blue Chip is based in the Los Angeles area.
[***][9/11/84][***]
IN BRIEF...
AMDAHL and NATIONAL ADVANCED SYSTEMS (a division of National Semiconductor)
have reduced prices on their mainframe computers following price cuts by
IBM. Price cuts amount to 12-16 percent (par with IBM.)
FOUR PHASE SYSTEMS of Cupertino, Ca. has laid-off 300 people and expects to
hire 100 in light of a major reorganization. Owned by Motorola, Four Phase
makes office automation products and dismisses the lay-offs are due to
dropping sales.
DIABLO SYSTEMS INC. of Fremont, Ca. (a division of Xerox) has given walking
papers to 200 people. 280 others were laid-off in June. 1000 people are
left. Diablo, maker of printers, blames the financial troubles on
competition from the Far East.
ASHTON-TATE has named David Cole as the new chairman following the death
of George Tate last month. Cole wasted no time in announcing his firm will
be divided into three parts: software, international sales, and new
business development.
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS is boasting about the fact that's it has become the first
PC manufacturer to offer five year warranties and 24-hour a day customer
support. TI owners must pay $250 to the company for a full year's support.
Five year supports costs $1050. Individual calls to the company's tech
support staff cost $25 and can be charged to several credit cards. The
toll-free number for more info is 1-800-TI-TEXAS. Of course, these contracts
only pertain to people whose 90-day warranty contracts have expired...
4/5ths of ARCHITECTS could be out of jobs by the year 2000 if the
prediction of a McGraw-Hill representative comes true. Harry Mileaf,
dir. of technology for M-H Information Systems, says greater use of Cad/Cams
are "dislocating" architects and may cause the less-inspired architect to
seek other professions.
[***][9/11/84][***]
FLY AND CALL:
Western Union's "AirFone" service starts October 15 aboard Delta, Pan Am,
Eastern, American, and TWA flights. Western Union signed the contract last
week; the contract calls for a commission to each airline carrier for each
call placed by a passenger. The physical requirements of making a call are
no worse than visiting the plane's lavatory; a passenger taps in his/her credit
card number on a panel, then returns to the seat to make the call directly
on a portable airline phone provided by the steward/ess. The cost will be
$7.50 for the first three minutes to anywhere in the continental U.S.