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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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1991-10-05
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[***][11/27/84][***]
THE SECOND COMING:
Rumors are spreading like crazy about IBM's next major addition to the PC
family, which should be announced February 12, 1985. The grapevine says
that a PC-2 and a PC-jr2 will be unveiled. If the vine is correct, it
also indicates that the PC-2 will replace the PC/XT and the PCjr-2 will
outdate the PCjr. Analysts suggest the PC-2 will have a single floppy
drive, more memory and will be faster, lighter, and lower priced than the
current entry-level PC. What about the PCjr-2? Looks like it will
be as powerful as the PC is now. All this is pretty sketchy stuff, gleaned
from the back rooms at Comdex by my analyst friends. Meanwhile, the old PCjr
is cleaning up at retail stores--selling triple the quantities is did before
the rebirth of its keyboard. As one retailer said brightly, "Looks like it's
going to be a PCjr Christmas!"
[***][11/27/84][***]
KING IBM:
Comdex, of course, was the showplace for IBM and the talk of most of the
vendors, who emitted confident but privately nervous giggles, was about IBM's
domination of the marketplace. In "Quotations from Chairman Morrow" there's
a relevant passage I'd like to quote. Says George Morrow, "If you want to
get into the marketplace with IBM, it's kind of like going to a movie--
a beautifully attractive movie that you can really get into. They put you
in this nice chair and say please sit down and be comfortable.' You're
probably a bit nervous, but the service is so great, the drugs are so great,
and the entertainment is so great, you think, why not relax and enjoy it.
Meanwhile, what's going on up above you is that this huge weight is slowly
being positioned and there's a guy calling down, 'How heavy do we need to
make it? We want to make sure when we drop it he's totally flat and
there's no way for him to crawl out from underneath. Are we over him now?
He's comfortable?..Okay.' Kachunk."
[***][11/27/84][***]
PC/AT PROBLEMS:
Meanwhile, retailers are complaining that the popular PC/AT from IBM is going
on the blink on a regular basis. One retailer told the Los Angeles Times
that 10 percent of the ATs are returned for disk drive and memory malfunctions.
At a store I visited, even the floor model AT was in the repair shop.
IBM is reportedly investigating the problems now and has no comment on whether
the problems are widespread. An IBM spokesman was quoted as saying, "The
biggest problem expressed to us by dealers has been a lack of availability
(of the PC/AT)."
[***][11/27/84][***]
THE QUIET GIANT:
Hewlett-Packard is expected to have a major announcement on January 10, 1985.
Nick Arnett of the San Jose Business Journal says HP will introduce a personal
computer with a built-in ink-jet printer and an operating system similar to
the Macintosh. Code named "Pisces", the computer will weigh a transportable
20-pounds and cost "less than $5,000." Nobody at HP would confirm this for
me. Arnett adds that HP "is developing a line of Unix-based computers that
over the next eight years will replace (HP's) present machines."
[***][11/27/84][***]
PUBLISHING CASUALTY:
Harper and Row, which for the past 18 months has been publishing a line of
books and software (most notably InfoWorld Guides to various popular computers)
has decided to can its computer-oriented division. The Electronic Publishing
Division has another month or so to live. 8 people will lose their jobs.
Harper and Row's EPD has brought 20 computer books to market as well as 3
software titles (including "Fishies", a simulated aquarium which runs on the
Apple). Harper says there's more than enough publishers of both books and
software on the market and it's not cost-effective to compete. Current titles
will continue to be distributed but no new ones will be accepted. Authors
with outstanding contracts will be dealt with on an individual basis. I had
this story two weeks ago...just though you might like to know the details.
[***][11/27/84][***]
LOTUS LAPS IT UP:
Comdex also featured the first annual Softsel awards (touted as the Academy
Awards of the computer industry) and Lotus took almost all of them. Lotus
received best-selling product, best-selling new product, and product of the
year awards. Mitch Kapor ran out of things to say after accepting the first
two. Life is certainly tough at times.
[***][11/27/84][***]
MACINTOSH UPDATE:
"Softletter", published by Jeff Tartar and edited by former InfoWorld editor
Stewart Alsop, has a neat little item this month about the number of Macintosh
programs available. They review "The Macintosh Buyer's Guide" which lists
more than 210 software programs for the Mac, including dozens of office
products. The book comes out twice a year and costs $7.50/issue from
Redgate Publishing, 3381 Ocean Drive, Vero Beach, Florida 32963 (305-
231-6904). Did YOU know the Mac had so many programs available? The most
surprising part is that 3/4ths of them are targeted for business applications.
[***][11/27/84][***]
FIRE SALE:
It's unload-the-inventory time again and tied for first place are Osborne
and Gavilan. Osborne holds a huge auction this week at two San Jose locations.
100 Osborne 1 and Executive computers will be sold to the highest bidder in
order to bring in some fast cash to the newly reorganized firm. Gavilan,
meanwhile, is selling off everything--except Gavilan computers--in the first
week of December. On the block will be DEC, Apple, IBM, Compaq and other
name-brand computers as well as printers, furniture, warehouse equipment--
basically anything you need, provided you're not superstitious, to set up
your own computer firm..
[***][11/27/84][***]
QUICK SALE:
Stockholders of Rolm overwhelmingly approved the merger with IBM last week
within 30 minutes. IBM, which will purchase Rolm, a telecommunications giant,
for $1.25 billion, must sell off a Rolm subsidiary which makes military
computers, in order to complete the deal. The Justice Department has given
IBM six months to sell the military division--the decision due to fears that
IBM, which already makes military hardware, would gain a monopoly on that
specific market.
[***][11/27/84][***]
KODAK'S NEWEST MOVE:
The increasingly diversified Eastman Kodak is creating a new division called
Eastman Communications, which hopes to compete against GTE Sprint, MCI and
others to establish a nationwide telecommunication network. Kodak has been
running a fairly hefty network of its own for some time and has 17 switching
stations in U.S. cities which handle 7 million Kodak-related calls each year.
Kodak will also market equipment that will enable data to be transmitted
error-free at 9,600 bits per second.
[***][11/27/84][***]
IN BRIEF--
"An excessive" print advertising campaign is being launched by ATARI this
week to advertise the 800XL price reductions and prop up the company's profile,
according to James Copeland of Atari. No dollar amount for the ad campaign
was given.
STORAGE TECHNOLOGY gave walking papers to 1,200 more workers as the company
hits gravel in its attempt to win more bank loans and cope with a recent
bankruptcy. Storage, in Louisville, Colorado, still has 12,347 employees.
APPLIED SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY of Los Gatos, Ca. has slashed the price of its
database management program "VersaForm" from $389 to $69 (Apple) and from
$449 to $99 (IBM). Joe Landau, the president of AST is taking a hint from
Noumenon and Borland International, among others, in hoping lower prices
mean higher volume sales.
ACTIVISION of Mountain View, Ca. has just released "Ghostbusters--The
Computer Game." A Commodore 64 version has come out first. Apple and Atari
versions should follow.
LIGHTSPEED SOFTWARE of Berkeley, Ca. (415-486-1165) has released what may be
the first software program for amateur astronomers. "The Observatory", which
costs $125, displays the heavens at any place on the map, any time, with
magnification, duplicating on-screen the scene you'd see through your
telescope. The program is available only for Apple II family computers.
THE WAITE GROUP, book publishers in Sausalito, Ca. has snared Barry Richman,
the former General Manager of Osborne/McGraw Hill, to become Waite's Chief
Operating Officer. Richman resigned from Osborne in a dispute over the
direction the firm is taking.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: This is from SoftLetter: Alan Kay of Apple, delivering
the keynote address at the Northeast Computer Show in Boston, "Personal
computers are irreversibly a new part of our culture (but they are still)
embryonic, poorly designed and nowhere near a recognizeable useful form."
This, from one of the "fathers" of the personal computer? A man who started
this mess?