Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1983 May to 1994 June

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[***][1/28/86][***] FOOLED YOU! Much to the dismay of journalists who'd pegged January 21 as the date for IBM's lauch of a lightweight portable computer, the corporation chose not to even mention its existence on that date, instead unveiling the RT Personal Computer line of high- speed, 32-bit workstations for technical and engineering use. But why no "Convertible", "Clamshell", or whatever? Sources give various scenarios, not ruling out the possibility the Convertible will STILL be announced in time for the IRS award--now expected this coming week. The most persistent is that IBM may throw in the towel on the IRS bid, if it hasn't done so already, for fear that complaints of collusion between it and the IRS will surface. While sources are certain that IBM won the bid as of last week, the bid was supposed to go to a proven, off-the-shelf product, and IBM could have realized it was cutting it way too close to be above suspicion. The other scenario says IBM was simply scared off by all the pre-publicity. Yet a final thought comes from those who say Boca Raton just couldn't scramble fast enough to meet its own deadline. We'll see. Meanwhile, the $11,700-$19,510 RISC-based units consist of one desktop and two floor-standing models and contain IBM's new microprocessor chip with RISC's simplified instruction set etched onto it. They are expected to compete with similar workstations offered by DEC, Apollo and Sun Micro- systems. [***][1/28/86][***] MAC PLUS FOLLOW: As Stewart Alsop points out in his current edition of "PC Letter", one of the biggest disappointments of the AppleWorld Conference was that nothing was said about the new Apple II computer. The other was that little was said about an open Macintosh. Jean Louis Gassee was quoted as saying, "We are not going to have an open Mac in 1986." Mr. Gassee's license plate reads "OPEN MAC," ironically enough. The next generation Macintosh, whenever it arrives, is expected to have slots, much like the PC and Apple II. [***][1/28/86][***] JOBS COOLS HIS HEELS: Following the settlement of the Apple lawsuit, Steve Jobs has announced his ultimate school computer, to be made by his firm Next, Inc. in Palo Alto, Ca. will not be out until late 1987. That's giving him plenty of time to sniff out college campuses and design his dream machine-- an under $6,000 RISC-based workstation. The 2-year delay shouldn't be a financial hardship. Jobs has $75 million from the sale of Apple stock and sits on stock worth another $80 million. Word is when the settlement came last Friday, the champagne was opened among Jobs and his 11 employees. [***][1/28/86][***] AS FOR WOZ... Don't try to get in touch with him during February, according to the San Jose Mercury News' Jonathan Greer. Woz, he says, is cloistered in a secret hideaway where he's nailing down the final bits of software needed to make his high-powered remote controller work. Going along with him is an Apple IIc, an oscillator and the prototype. Meanwhile, Wozniak is turning out to be a revered patron of the arts. He recently gave $250,000 to the City Center Ballet in San Jose, and just topped it off with a $2,000 sculpture to Ballet president Karen Lowenstern and original serigraphs to each trustee. [***][1/28/86][***] INTERFACING WITH COMPUTER FAIRES: The giant Interface Group, organizers of Comdex, Byte, Computer Showcase Expos, and other shows just purchased all the assets of Computer Faire, Inc., the Newton, MA-based sponsors of the West Coast, PC, Southern California and Northeast Computer Faires. The Computer Faires had been up for sale for some time; Sheldon Adelson, the Interface Group's chairman, promises to return the faires to their roots where "the spirit of creativity and entrepreneurship" will be fostered. The next West Coast Computer Faire is scheduled for April 3-6 in San Francisco's Moscone Center. At the San Francisco press conference, Faire founder Jim Warren presented his rollar skates, with which he gained fame rolling around the show floor, to Adelson. [***][1/28/86][***] MS CD-ROM? Microsoft has leapfrogged ahead of the competition in the CD ROM arena in three developments this week. First, Bill Gates told the Washington State Software Industry Development Board that his firm is committed to developing standards for compact disk ROM technology; further, Microsoft has established a CD ROM Division. Secondly, Microsoft purchased San Francisco- based Cytation Inc., a small company working on the software interface for CD ROM disks and computers. The terms were not disclosed for this, Microsoft's first-ever acquisition, but Thomas Lopez, founder of Cytation, has become Microsoft's VP in its CD ROM Division. Finally, Microsoft hosts hardware and software developers in March at a conference devoted to development of standards for CD ROMs. [***][1/28/86][***] SO MUCH FOR VISIONS: Since 1976, AT&T had spent countless man-hours and well over $1 billion dollars designing Net 1000, a networking service designed to connect the computers of customers and vendors directly to AT&T mainframes through telephone lines. Late last week, AT&T decided to scrap the project, blaming the proliferation of personal computers and "very smart" minicomputers" which "lessened the need." The 200 workers on the project, based in Parsippany, NJ will be reassigned. AT&T says it is not abandoning its networking technology, but that this approach was the "wrong one," said Jack Bucter, at AT&T Information Systems VP. In other phone news, AT&T, RCA, ITT, MCI, Western Union, British Telecom and several other corporations are teaming up to lay the world's first fiber optic, underwater cable across the Pacific. The $700 million project is expected to be completed by 1989. [***][1/28/86][***] MOVIN' ON: -MACWORLD magazine just got a new editor. Jerry Borrell is former editor in chief of DIGITAL DESIGN magazine. -MIKE RAWL leaves The Source as its Director of Marketing to join Entre Computer Centers in Vienna, Virginia this week. We'll miss him, and wish him best of luck. [***][1/28/86][***] NOTABLE QUOTES: Jeffry Tartar, in his latest issue of his newsletter "SoftLetter" adds some notable parting shots at 1985. Among them: "MOST INGENIOUS SOFTWARE: A product called Arf! Arf!, which appeared for free on a New York City bulletin board. After you load it, the program erases the contents of your hard disk and then says: 'Arf! Arf! Got You.' "SHATTERED CRYSTAL BALL: Paperback Software founder Adam Osborne, who predicted that prices of 1-2-3 and other leading programs would collapse 'between September and December of 1985.' "MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT: Watching Andy Warhol trying to create an original work of art on the Commodore Amiga, in front of an audience of hundreds of reporters, dealers and industry luminaries. "DULLEST THUD: Softcon II in Atlanta, where the only crowds to be seen were the lines at airline ticket offices, where frantic attendees were trying to arrange _early departures." CONTACT: SOFTLETTER, 1679 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA. 02138 617/868-0157 [***][1/28/86][***] IN BRIEF-- FRED GIBBONS, president of Software Publishing in Mountain View, Ca. is now said to have suffered a _stroke_ on the ski slopes which led to his partial paralysis in December. He's said to be in good spirits, recovering at home. CORVUS SYSTEMS has restructured into four new divisions-- retail, value-added reseller, OEM, and education. When will the changes there end? ATARI has been hit with another lawsuit, this one from an unidentified "Japanese printer maker". The Japanese company claims Atari reneged on a deal to buy 500,000 printers, and wants $55.2 million for the lost contract. HEWLETT PACKARD has also been slapped with a suit. Milpitas, CA-based Datagate Inc. charges HP deliberately mislead computer owners into thinking Datagate, a service company, would soon go out of business, be unable to buy spare parts from HP and further, were incompetent in HP computer repairs. HP has declined comment. Datagate wants $35 million. SUN MICROSYSTEMS of Mountain View, Ca. is going public, having filed Friday for a proposed initial offering of 4 million shares. FUJITSU AMERICA INC. of San Jose has announced it is boosting the price of its printers, disk drives and telecommunications equipment by 5 to 8 percent. Fujitsu blames the price increases on the falling value of the US dollar against the yen. TEXAS INSTRUMENTS has filed lawsuits aginst 9 Asian semiconductor manufacturers, charging them with violating TI DRAM chip patents. Five of the defendants are Oki, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Toshiba, and Samsung. DATAQUEST, a market research concern in San Jose, says the 1985 worldwide market for personal computers grew only 3.6 percent in units and 31.6 percent in dollars. In contrast, 1984 growth rates were 46 percent in units and 73 percent in dollars. Chew on that a while. BOOK NOOK: This spring, look for "Silicon Valley High Tech", a lavishly- illustrated "history" book about the industry which will sell for $40. Attached to the cover is a $35 Advanced Micro Devices computer chip, interestingly enough. Advance copies of the book are reaching selected coffee tables. Wierdly enough, the book was produced in Hong Kong by Intercontinental Publishing Corp. Ltd. [***][1/28/86][***] IN THE UNIQUE DEPARTMENT: Two offerings close this week's NEWSBYTES. -Budding or professional filmmakers who like to storyboard their ideas might size up a new Macintosh program called "Storyboarder", a package which also acts as a flash-card or slide-show when commands are given to run each panel in sequence. The $495 package comes from American Intelliware Corp. of Marina del Rey, California. -Jim Forbes of "InfoWorld" gets credit for this one.... "Look Busy!" is a new, integrated software package designed to make you look like you know what you're doing. Its spreadsheet displays a lot of impressive-looking numbers, manipulates them into graphs, gives you a personal calendar which can impress your co-workers. Fake Software of Houston, TX charges $19.95 for the IBM PC package and has plans to follow "Look Busy" with two sequels: "Look Organized" and "Look Intelligent" (for corporate users who need an artificial intelligence program). [***][1/28/86][***] THE FUTURE OF ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING *EXCLUSIVE* William Battino and Andrew Zimmerman of Coopers & Lybrand came to the Information Industry Association's Atlanta chapter meeting Thursday to give an answer to last week's Newsbytes editorial on where the electronic publishing industry is going. Their answer: channel systems. The two men interviewed 40 leaders of the electronic information industry and decided that systems which let a business deliver information, plus let users manipulate the company database and send orders, will make the most money. An example is American Airlines' Sabre system, through which travel agents can both check schedules and order tickets. These systems are, first and foremost, marketing tools. American Hospital Supply uses its system to dispense information to hospitals and to prevent those hospitals from ordering elsewhere. "It won't be a question of locking others out, but that they use your system to get your products. While when they want others' products they play phone tag," said Battino. Or, quoting Woody Allen, "80% of success is showing up." [***][1/28/86][***] WHAT ABOUT THE HOME MARKET? John McCarthy, vice president for business information services at Viewdata Corp. of American Inc., Miami Beach (Knight-Ridder's stumbling Viewtron experiment) was at the IIA meeting and says things have started looking up there since Viewtron stopped running videotex-with-pictures, and became a text-only service like The Source. Financial information is the big draw, he said, followed by a "CB" service (like The Source's Chat feature.) "The ability to communicate, to engage in casual conversation, is second in popularity only to financial information. I don't know what it's for, entertainment or communication," he said, but "people all over the country are getting handles, paying $5- 15 per hour to carry on these relationships." Apparently, the medium is the message. [***][1/28/86][***] IBM GROWS BIGGER (BUILDING) IBM announced the 46-story building on 14th at West Peachtree in Midtown that broke ground this week will now be a 50-story building. The ceilings will be extra-high, so the building will actually appear 60 stories tall. It will be topped by a pre-aged copper pyramid. An IBM spokesman said, "We want it to look 50 years old when it goes up." Then he made the little joke. "There were two places that could age the copper to look green. One has a special process in Texas. The other is in Chicago -- he just leaves it outside a night." One more thing. The new building will NOT become headquarters for Big Blue's National Marketing Division, now located in a campus-like setting northwest of Atlanta. Supposedly, it will just hold regional marketing people on its bottom 29 floors. (Rents above that will be $21 per square foot.) Atlanta Mayor Andy Young had been speculating last year that IBM, which has 28,000 employees here, would move its world headquarters to Atlanta from Armonk, NY. [***][1/28/86][***] SOUTHERN BELL SLATES ISDN ROLLOUT In September, Southern Bell will install its first ISDN (Integrated System Data Network) switches in Midtown Atlanta (near its new headquarters and IBM's new building) and in suburban Dunwoody. A Northern Telecom DMS-100 switch will be used to improve "800" service at the two locations. The company hopes to roll out 800-ISDN service throughout the Southeast in mid-1987. The switch will let a single phone line carry two channels of voice or data at 64,000 baud, plus a 16,000 baud data channel. Products from ITT and AT&T will also be used to test compatibility with the CCITT standard. [***][1/28/86][***] ATLANTA'S DR. Z ON WHERE GRAPHICS ARE GOING *EXCLUSIVE* Mark Zachman, president of Z-Soft Inc. in Marietta (PC Paintbrush) spoke to a recent Atlanta chapter meeting of the National Computer Graphics Association on the future of computer graphics. He says it's IBM. "We sometimes think of supporting other small computers, but the market for PCs is a whole lot larger than the rest of the market combined." Machines like the PC AT are now minimal requirements for graphics work. "One knock against graphics packages is they eat computer resources. We're about to eat as much as possible. The product we're coming out with in June couldn't have been done 18 months ago on a micro." Zachman demonstrated PC Paintbrush on a Kaypro PC-AT clone. He said the product leads its market because "it supported more hardware than anyone else. The way you do that is diligently follow hardware folks forever and ever, none of whom would know a standard if they fell over it." Publishing and commercial arts are the big markets for 1986, he added, mainly due to the declining cost and increased sophistication of optical scanners. "We have a scanner interface for Compugraphic, on a new product they're releasing. They're using it for logos. They scan in a logo, which is a great big image, use our product to fix it up, send it to the typesetter, and they've done something it used to cost $2,000 to do." One other prediction from Dr. Z, who used to teach at Georgia Tech. "The IBM EGA, with 250 pixel hardware resolution, will end up as the standard for the next 5-10 years. You'll see the functions Quadram is doing on its Pallette Master (scanning and working with color photographs), with great color depth, done on the same kind of board." [***][1/28/86][***] ASHTON-TATE SUBTRACTS COPIES OF DBASE III PLUS Responding to a reported bug in the multiuser portion of dBase III Plus, Ashton-Tate has recalled all 34,000 copies of its new software. According to the Torrance-based firm, only the networking module was found to deficient. Apparently, a key access code in the main system diskette was found to be missing. An Ashton-Tate representative recommends that purchasers of dBase III Plus return their copies of the program's System Disk #1 and its backup copy to the place of purchase for a free update. [***][1/28/86][***] APPLE AD AGENCY WINS REPRIEVE UNTIL MARCH According to Adweek magazine, Apple's advertising agency has been given two months to either clean up its act or see the account slip away to BBDO Advertising in New York. Los Angeles- based Chiat/Day, Apple's agency responsible for the "1984" and "Lemmings" television commercials, has been on the hot seat in recent weeks, principally due to what the magazine calls a "hastily executed" series of print ads for the AppleWorld Conference in San Francisco. C/D, for example, presented Big Red with a campaign featuring a photo of an unmanned podium, emblazoned with the Apple corporate logo. Adweek said Apple wasn't amused with the "who's in charge here?" imagery. However, a former C/D employee said the agency won't give up Apple's business without a fight. "Chiat/Day really can't afford to lose Apple--can't afford it in dollars and cents--and can't afford it from an image standpoint," he said. [***][1/28/86][***] CHAPTER TWO Ever wonder what happened to all those highly paid high-tech executives when their firms went belly-up? The Los Angeles Business Journal went in search of 10 former high-flyers, and found that eight had found other positions in the computer industry. Here's a brief rundown: -> Walter Bauer, co-founder of Informatics General, is making a speaking tour of local business groups, including the Rotary Club. He sits on the board of directors at Protocol Computers of Woodland Hills. -> David Callan, founder of Callan Data, has resurfaced as vice president of sales for CIE Systems in Irvine, a division of C.Itoh Electronics. Callan attempted to make a go of it in the Unix market but "business was lousy," he said. -> Bruce Coleman, former president of Informatics General, has returned to an old hang-out, Boole and Babbage Inc. in Sunnyvale. He has recently been promoted to president of B&B. -> Charles Dickinson, former president and CEO of Dataproducts, is believed to be still in a high-tech business, but sources couldn't identify exactly where. "He kind of dropped out of the picture," said the head of one executive-placement company. -> Elmer Easton, co-founder of Compucorp, recently helped start a new software firm called The Grafix Connection in Pacific Palisades. -> Lore Harp and Carole Ely, co-founders of Vector Graphics Inc., have gone their separate ways. Ely is reportedly married and living on a boat in the San Francisco Bay area, while Harp has founded a San Mateo firm which manufactures feminine-hygiene products. -> Lorraine Mecca, founder of software distributor Micro D, has moved to Dallas. Her future plans in high-tech marketing were not announced. -> Charles Missler, former CEO of Helionetics, revived a dormant investment banking firm called Microcircuit Design Corp. in Newport Beach. [***][1/28/86][***] BEACHBITS -> Symbolics Inc. has signed a $23 million 10-year lease for 227,700 square feet in the new Chatsworth Tech Center. The new digs will be the firm's Western Headquarters. Symbolics is based in Massachusetts. -> Rosscomp Corp. of Santa Ana received official notice of default for non-payment of interest from holders of its convertible secured subordinated notes. The firm owes investors about $950,000 for the use of their money. -> Applied Circuit Technology Inc. of Anaheim has penned an agreement to acquire Whiteworth International Inc. of Gardena. Whiteworth makes non-prescription drugs. This marks the third acquisition for ACT that is not related to the firm's main business of manufacturing test equipment for hard disk-drives. [***][1/28/86][***] TOUCHING "INSIDE MACINTOSH"? Apple Japan says that Mac Plus will be released on Feb.3 in Japan. Interestingly enough, Apple's press release comments that "Apple Japan has currently been developing a Japanese version of Mac Plus, which will be also released in mid-1986." This means it is highly probable that Apple Japan might have given up its "Apple Principle" in order to modify Mac's vital parts of software called "Inside Macintosh." With this major operation, a Kanji problem of Mac Plus will be solved in the future. There's another bone of contention for Mac Plus. That's the price, which costs US$3,240 in Japan. A drastic price cut will be necessary to equally compete with other Japanese micros, say many analysts. [***][1/28/86][***] STEVE JOBS AT COMDEX IN JAPAN: Comdex in Japan '86 will be held from 3/3 to 3/6 at the Harumi International Exhibition Site (Tokyo). The number of exhibitors who have currently registered is 148, and the total number is expected to reach 160, a spokesman says. This show features Steven Jobs as the speaker for a keynote address. He will talk about "Japan-U.S. Computer Industry: The Future as Pacific Partners." One thing worries me about this year's COMDEX is that most of the major U.S. and Japanese computer makers, except NEC, have not registered as exhibitors yet. --Fujitsu, Hitachi, Toshiba, Sharp, Mitsubishi, AT&T, and IBM... none of them are at the exhibitor's list as of Jan. 20. Hummm... [***][1/28/86][***] COMPUSERVE LANDS IN JAPAN: Fujitsu and Nissho Iwai Trading Co. will shortly launch a new telecom network company to tie up with CompuServe, according to a published report. The new company will provide a domestic information service which is supported by various kinds of information and technology of CompuServe. Currently, Fujitsu has been providing a large scale VAN "FENICS," while Nissho Iwai has been providing a gateway service for "EasyNet," a database of Telebase Co., U.S.A. One of the major issues for CompuServe to obtain a share in the Japanese market will be a subscription fee. How much are we going to pay? That's the question. [***][1/28/86][***] "THREE" IS TOO CROWDED: Japan's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications decided (1/22) not to grant Satellite Japan Corp. permission to launch its communication satellites. "There's not much demand here," explain the Ministry officials. Currently, the certificate to launch the satellites has already been granted to the two companies--one is Japan Communication Satellite Corp. founded by C.Itoh, Mitsui-Bussan Trading and Hughes Corp., and the other is Space Communication Corp. founded by Mitsubishi Trading, Mitsubishi Electric and Ford Aerospace & Communications Corp. SONY, Marubeni and RCA, which planned the launch of satellites through Satellite Japan Corp. have apparently been shocked by this decision. However, there's a possibility for the third enterprise to get permission when the demand arises in the future. [***][1/28/86][***] LANGUAGE TRANSLATION MACHINES: Sales competition among English-Japanese language translation machines has become intense here these days. Among others, Toshiba has started pushing sales of its minicomputer-based translation system. BRAVICE International, the Japanese developer of such systems for personal computers including NEC PC-9801 and IBM5550, has increased the number of its dealers, providing lots of seminars. Meanwhile, one of our major concerns as users is the quality of translation. Here're two sentences translated from Japanese, using "a" translation system: +++ I am the place which just car is washed. +++ I finished just car a washing. There's still a lot to be desired for translation machines to produce perfect translations. Accordingly, NEWSBYTES-JAPAN has decided not to adopt language translation systems! [***][1/28/86][***] <<< SKIYAKI BYTES >>> SONY'S 8-MM VIDEO TV -- SONY plans to market a digital TV with a built-in 8-mm video recorder in the U.S. around June. According to a report, the 25-inch TV is equipped with a remote controller. Its prototype was already shown at the CES in Las Vegas this month. The retail price in the U.S. will be around US$2,300. Meanwhile, SONY also plans to release the same TV with a smaller screen in Japan later. IBM IN A GOOD MOOD -- The total domestic output of "IBM3090-200," a super large scale processor which was released by IBM Japan in fall '85, has reached 70 as of Dec. '85, according to Nikkei Computer Magazine (Tokyo). This figure is far beter than previously expected. Meanwhile, the gross sales profit of the company in 1985 is 18% up compared with the previous year. MOTOROLA'S NEW PAL -- Motorola Japan has chosen Tokyo Electron Co. as its dealer of the semiconductor and the related products. Motorola Japan has currently been distributing its products through several dealers in Japan. The new agreement is expected to beef up Motorola Japan's sales force. Meanwhile, Tokyo Electron has already been marketing the semiconductors of Intel, AMD, Western Digital, and Fujitsu. With this new agreement, Tokyo Electron will become the first Japanese dealer to market both Intel's 68000 family and Motorola's 8086 family in Japan. Tokyo Electron expects a total sales volume of US$25 million for the sales of Motorola's products in the first year. ENGINEERING CENTER OF WESTERN DIGITAL -- Western Digital Co. (U.S.A.) has set up a design center dubbed "Tokyo Engineering Center" in its Japanese branch office. This center is for IC board designing, quality control, and so on. Western Digital also plans to manufacture IC boards in this center late next year. JAPAN TI'S BIG BITE -- Japan TI will start marketing the samples of National Semiconductor's 32-bit MPU "NS32032" around this March. NMOS MPUs with the clock speed of 12 MHz will be shipped first. Subsequenty, Japan TI will manufacture its CMOS-type MPU. TOSHIBA AND AT&T -- Toshiba has decided to sign a sales agreement of digital PBX with AT&T. With this agreement, Toshiba will start marketing AT&T's large scale digital PBX under the brand name of "ATT/TOSHIBA" this summer. C.ITOH REACHES DOW-JONES -- C.Itoh Trading Co. has signed a contract with Dow Jones Co.(NY) to provide Dow-Jones' online database called "Dow-Jones News Retrieval" in Japan. The current Japanese providers of "Dow-Jones News Retieval" include Nikkei Daily, Kyodo News Service, and Mitsui-Bussan Trading Co. FUJITSU'S NEW BUSINESS MICRO -- Fujitsu will shortly announce a new work-station of its 9450 family called "FACOM 9450 Lambda." This new model can be additionally equipped with i80286 MPU board which has currently been used in IBM5560, NEC's PC-98XA and N5200-07, says a report. Wow! CHIP DUMPING -- The U.S. and the Japanese government have been hammering out to establish a monitoring system for fair prices of microchips. Currently, the manufacturers in both countries bitterly disagree with each other. I hope the new monitoring system may eradicate such problems in the future. R&D CENTER IN THE U.S. -- Kyocera(Kyoto) and Toshiba will set up their R&D Center respectively in the U.S. by the end of 1986, according to a published report. Mitsubishi has already opened such a center in the U.S. [***][1/27/86][***] GE DEMANDS SITE LICENSES: Bridgeport, CT-based General Electric, which uses over 20,000 personal computers in its far-flung offices, has reached site license agreements with two software companies. GE is making SuperCalc (from CAI), and Officewriter (from Office Solutions) officially-sanctioned programs, after reaching agreements for company-wide site licenses. A GE spokesperson says the company attempted to approach Lotus about a site license, but that the 1-2-3 mavens just weren't interested. (GE "power users" will still have the option of using Lotus and other products, purchased by GE at the regular prices.) [***][1/27/86][***] COLE MOVES AGAIN: David Cole, most recently president of magazine publisher Ziff- Davis, will now be heading a new Ziff-backed venture capital firm. The Cole Gilburne Fund will back start-up software companies. Its formation may be an answer to the often-heard question of what Ziff was going to do with the multi-millions of bucks it received last year when it sold off many of its magazines. Before coming to Ziff, the 33 year-old Cole was president of Ashton-Tate. Previous to that, he was vice president of marketing at Sorcim and worked for both CBS and Prentice-Hall. [***][1/27/86][***] STORE METAMORPHOSIS: At least three of the six Massachusetts and Rhode Island Computerland stores that were closed down last month as a result of non-payment of bills will be re-opening soon under new names. Nynex, New England's Bell Operating Company, will re-open three of the stores under its "Datago" computer store subsidiary. Meanwhile, Computerland says stores in Cambridge and Reading, MA and Providence, RI will be re-opening soon in their former Computerland incarnations. [***][1/27/86][***] BELL LEAVES ENCORE: Troubled Encore Computer Systems of Marlborough, MA has lost the second of its three founders. 51 year-old C. Gordon Bell has resigned as vice chairman of technology and board member. He'll remain as a consultant to the company through this year and will pursue "other interests." Before Bell became part of Encore's start-up team, he was head of engineering for DEC. Encore chairman Kenneth Fisher is now the only founder left. [***][1/27/86][***] NORTHEAST MAC PLUS SUPPORT: Last week's announcement of the MacIntosh Plus was coupled with a landslide of announcements from companies who'll immediately be supporting it. Here's a selection of new and updated products from northeast-based companies. -- Layered, Inc of Boston announced a Mac Plus version of their "Insight" accounting series. Three modules (General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, and Accounts Payable) are available -- each retailing for $595. (617-423-9041). -- General Computer Corporation of Cambridge, MA says its HyperDrive hard drives, and their HyperDrive 2000 12 MHz co- processor board, have been upgraded to work with the Mac Plus. (617-492-5500). -- Dow Jones Software of Princeton, NJ has a new version of their Straight Talk communications software for the Mac Plus. It's specifically designed to ease access to Dow Jones News/Retrieval. (609-452-2000). -- MacPublisher II is a low-cost ($149.95) "personal publishing" program for the Mac Plus and LaserWriter Plus. The program comes from Boston Software Publishers (617-267-4747). -- Another low-cost desktop publishing program is ReadySetGo version 2.1 from NYC-based Manhattan Graphics. It retails for $195. (212-989-6442). -- Lotus released Jazz 1A. The new version of Jazz can be used on a hard disk without a key disk, and Lotus claims it works faster. (617-577-8500). [***][1/27/86][***] FINANCIAL RESULTS TIME: It's the end of January; and that means it's time for public companies to announce their financial results for the last quarter of 1985. This past week saw a flurry of announcements from Northeast-based companies. Here's the good (and bad) news. -- WANG DOWN: Wang Laboratories' earning fell 61% in the last quarter of 1985, even though revenues were up. The Lowell, MA- based company earned $21.7 million vs. $56.3 million a year ago. Still, Wang executives saw a bright side, since that $21.7 million figure was a considerable jump from the paltry $7 million they earned in the July-September quarter. Meanwhile, Wang announced last week that they've completed their acquisition of NYC-based Walsh, Greenwood Information Systems. The company will become a new subsidiary named Wang Financial Information Services and will sell "Shark" -- a market data and retrieval system that runs on both Wang equipment and PC compatibles. Unlike Lotus' competitive system, which broadcasts quotes over an FM radio sub-band, the Shark system provides real- time quotations to users in all geographical areas from a central mainframe computer in NYC. -- PRIME UP: Prime Computer of Lowell, MA was proud to report an 18% jump in profits and a 23% increase in sales for the fourth quarter. Profits were up from $14.83 million to $17.46 million; sales from $170.76 million to $209.91 million. Prime's developed a solid reputation for both their hardware and software; and is evidently successful in competing against arc-rivals IBM and DEC. -- DG WAY DOWN: Data General of Westboro, MA had earnings that were way down from 1984. Let's not even talk about percentages. DG's earnings for the last quarter of 1985 were $1.1 million; compared to $23 million for the same period in 1984. Sales dropped from $333.7 million to $293.7 million. DG president Edson deCastro says he's "disappointed." Despite the report, DG last week purchased a minority interest in a Parsippany, NJ company. Dama Telecommunications Corp makes high-speed digital voice and data communications products. -- STRATUS WAY UP: Stratus Computer of Marlborough, MA is looking at a rosy future. The maker of specialized systems signed up both IBM and Burroughs last year to sell their systems; and their earnings went from $1.5 million to $2.95 million. -- RAYTHEON UP: Mega defense contractor Raytheon saw their earnings rise 10% -- from $340.1 milion to $375.9 million. Raytheon is Massachusetts' largest employer and is riding high on the crest of President Reagan's defense policies. [***][1/27/86][***] GTE CHOOSES TAUNTON: Speaking of defense, GTE Government Systems has chosen an industrial park in the small southeastern, MA town of Taunton as the site of a new $21 million plant that'll be building communications equipment for the defense department. The company recently signed a $4.3 billion long-term contract with the government. The plant will employ at least 1000 people by 1988. [***][1/27/86][***] GOODBYE MULTICS: When you're used to dealing with the meteoric rises and falls of personal computer software, it's sometimes difficult to remember that the attitude is a little different in the mini/mainframe field. Honeywell announced this week that they'll be phasing out support for the 16 year-old Multics mainframe operating system. The company decided that with only 54 sites using it, they can't financially afford to support it anymore. (Anyone for "Multic Lives" bumper stickers?) [***][1/27/86][***] EASYLINK FORMS: Western Union has introduced an interesting new concept in software for users of their EasyLink electronic mail service. Instant Forms Plus is a series of utilities that let EasyLink users create, modify, and transmit "electronic" business forms such as invoices, reports, purchase orders, etc. The $100 package, which runs on the IBM PC, includes a conversion utility that converts data from programs such as 1-2-3 into ASCII at the transmission end, and back to normal format at the reception end. CONTACT: WESTERN UNION UPPER SADDLE RIVER, NJ 201-825-5000 [***][1/27/86][***] NORTHEAST SNOWBITS: -- Apollo Computer of Chelmsford, MA has signed a contract to provide the Lockheed Space Operations Company with $1.6 million worth of computer work stations. -- A Hudson, NH printed-circuit board plant which has been closed since last April has been re-opened by Hadco Corporation. The company will be hiring 75 workers, and says they'll now be specializing in high-ticket custom boards. -- Bedford, MA-based GCA Corporation, as we've previously reported, had a very bad year in 1985. This week, the company announced that it's decided not to move its manufacturing operations into a former Lawrence, MA textile mile that they just spent $10 million to renovate. GCA will attempt to sublet the space. [***][1/28/86][***] FOLLOWING THE FORGERY TRAIL: IBM are not letting the grass grow under its feet. Earlier this month saw the successful springing of a trap, thanks to the quick-wittedness of Brentford-based IBM dealers' "Computer Market", which was offered an imported PC clone complete with Lotus 123, Symphony, Wordstar, Epson printer and colour monitor, all in for 2,000 pounds. Smelling a rat, Mike Fraser Hopewell of CM contacted IBM which stepped in smartly armed with a legal warrant. The importer, Chris Lyles, demo'ed the kit, only to have it seized by IBM representatives. Interestingly, IBM isn't pursuing the matter with Lyles, but instead is following the trail back to Singapore, where the word is that the clones are direct rip-offs of IBM PCs, right down to the copyright notice of the ROM BIOS. [***][1/28/86][***] ATM RIPOFF FOILED: Talking of ripoffs, one of the UK's major banks, National Westminster, was very nearly taken for 75,000 pounds ($110,000) last week when a group of ten "attacked" several ATMs when the main computer was offline for the twenty minutes or so it takes to update the day's transactions. The ATMs can normally call upon the network to inform them if a card is valid or stolen, but for a short while in the early hours of the morning, it can't. NatWest bank confirms that an attempt was made, but is not saying how it was done. Newsbytes UK reckons that the bank varies the time it updates for security reasons and can spot unusual activity in certain areas. The idea of offline ATM hits isn't new - late last year, an Australian teenager made multiple withdrawals from his account in Perth, but the transactions only succeeded in him being heavily overdrawn the next day. Good on yer bonzer! [***][1/28/86][***] WORDSTAR AMNESTY EXTENDS: As reported previously, the amnesty from the UK arm of Micropro, whereby pirate users of Wordstar could, on payment of forty pounds plus tax, legalise their copies and receive 'free' manuals and updates, has been a huge success. Such a success, in fact that the company has decided to extend the amnesty to France and West Germany. Unfortunately for the North American readers of Newsbytes UK, the amnesty is very unlikely to spread to the US owing to the complex copyright laws in the North American continent. Ah well, back to the photocopies... [***][1/28/86][***] AT&T INTO THE UK: AT&T, not content with conquest of the North American continent, is planning to set up a joint manufacturing plant with the Dutch-based Philips group, in Malmsbury, Wiltshire. Currently the facility is occupied by TMC, a Philips subsidiary, which is moving to Scotland. Initially the plant will manufacture communications transmissions kits (modems etc) and will employ 350 people. And the big day when AT&T will move in? It all depends on when Philips moves out! [***][1/28/86][***] UK POST OFFICE OK FOR AUTOMATION: The Department of Trade has given the OK for a major extension to automate the thousands of post offices dotted around the UK. Currently just 20 post offices are automated in the London area. The government thumbs up allows an "extended trial" for automating 250 more in the London Thames Valley area. The only snag is the total cost of automating the UK's post offices - 200 million pounds ($280m). [***][1/28/86][***] SOUTH AFRICA NEEDS YOU: Following last week's report that skilled computer staffers are leaving South Africa in their droves comes news that ICL is offering single skilled staff as much as 170,000 ($75,000) Rand a year to join them in SA. That's a big salary by anyone's standards. ICL reports a lot of interest, but few takers. I can't say I blame them! [***][1/28/86][***] DBASE III+ WITHDRAWN FROM UK SALE: Ashton-Tate has been forced to withdraw the recently introduced networking version of dBase III, dBase III plus, after it discovered that multiple copies of a program on a network think each other a pirate copy and jam up tight. "As soon as we discovered the fault here in the UK, we notified the plant in California and phoned all our distributors immediately," said Paul Sloane, MD of Ashton-Tate UK. [***][1/28/86][***] SO SHY BIG BLUE: Regular Newsbyters will remember last weeks report about the BBC filming a 'twenty questions' style short involving Sinclair, Amstrad, and Apricot's representatives, plus of course, Chuck Peddle, the man who invented the Commodore Pet. IBM was invited, but, as soon as they found out that questions from the audience were to be fielded, they asked for a list of them beforehand. No can do, said the show's producer, as even he didn't know what a real live audience (gosh) would ask. Exit Big Blue, and no show for IBM on the show. [***][1/28/86][***] IT'S HERE! What? I hear you ask. IBM was so keen to tell my press colleagues about a new product that it held a press conference at the Which? Computer Show the other week. Trouble was that it was held at 10am on day one of the show. The conference was packed out with 3 (three) reporters. And what was it that was launched in the UK? Displaywrite 3. Wow....ZZZzzzz. [***][1/28/86][***] OH JOY! 1200 BAUD FULL DUPLEX: Here in the UK, modems capable of 1200 baud full duplex are very expensive ($750 and up). As US readers know only too well, the price can go as low as $150 for a North American model. Yes, I know - US (bell) tones are different from European (CCITT) ones, but they are virtually the same at 1200 baud full duplex...so I ordered one from the US. It came today - the Universal Data Systems line powered modem. Only $195 for 300 & 1200 baud auto-answer. The modem is widely advertised in Byte magazine from several vendors and IT WORKS! Recommendation? Buy one! [***][1/28/86][***] CANADA, JAPAN ENTER AI PACT: Information about fifth-generation computer research and artificial intelligence is to be shared by Canadian and Japanese scientists. The Canadian Society For Fifth- Generation Research (CSFGR), which has about 100 members at 20 schools, will collaborate with Tokyo's ICOT (Insitute For New Generation Computer Technology), in a precedent- setting project, the first such official foreign agreement with the Japanese. The pact "will give a lot of credibility to our society, and will help in efforts to find funding for multi-university collaborative projects in this field," said Simon Fraser University's Nick Cercone, president of CSFGR. 2 1/2 years of talks, initiated by researchers at Ontario's University Of Waterloo, preceded the agreement, ratified last week. Scientific, mathematical, and engineering information will be freely shared between the two groups, but proprietary commercial developments will remain confidential, says Eric Manning, of Waterloo's Insitute For Computer Research. [***][1/28/86][***] MITEL FOUNDER DEBUTS LASER PRINTER: Michael Cowpland, ex-chairman and co-founder in 1975 of Kanata, Ontario's Mitel Corp., an aggressive leader in the telecommunications field, has unveiled his latest enterprise: a startup company dedicated to the introduction of a new laser printer. Mr. Cowpland's Corel Systems Corp. (Ottawa, Ont.) joins a growing and volatile market for the newest high-speed print technology, which has grown from 1984's $290-million (US) gross to projections of $870- million in 1986. Competing directly with giants such as Hewlett-Packard, Canon, and Apple, Corel's entry is sold as a printer-terminal bundle compatible with IBM PC/AT's, for about $10,000 (CDN). Cowpland projects sales of $5 to $6-million by the end of 1987. The laser scanners used by Corel are their own design, mated with laser engines made in Japan by Ricoh Co. Ltd., and assembled along with the terminals in Ottawa. At a press conference recently in Toronto to promote a Corel-sponsored tennis tourney, Mr. Cowpland posed beside his printer and a giant tennis ball to announce happily that shipments of printers and terminals to customers in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa will begin in February. [***][1/28/86][***] XEROX EN FRANCAIS: Most of Xerox's new office products announced recently (see previous issues of NEWSBYTES) will be available through the Canadian subsidiary, as well as some unique products. Offered from the Toronto-based unit are two French-language IBM compatible microcomputers, and an accounting package specifically supporting Canadian legislation. The software was developed in co-operation with accounting firm Touche Ross & Co. Half of Xerox's current R&D budget is going into office systems, in direct competition with IBM; 1990 has been set by the company as its target date for leadership in the field. [***][1/28/86][***] TARIFFS AXED BETWEEN CANADA, U.S.: Most computer parts manufactured in Canada (as well as some made in Japan) became duty-free when imported to the United States as of January 17, under a new agreement signed late last year. Previously, such imports--up to $4.3-billion worth (US)--have been subject to a 4.3% tariff. Exceptions to the pact are cathode ray tubes, which still carry 4.1% duty. Canada in turn will waive tariffs on semiconductors and other computer parts, at a date not yet specified. [***][1/28/86][***] BOEING FLIGHT SIMULATOR CONTRACT: CAE Electronics Ltd., unit of CAE Industries Ltd. (Toronto, Ont.), has signed a $2.5-million (US) contract with Air India. Boeing 747 flight simulators originally supplied by CAE in 1972 are to be upgraded under the new pact, including a new digital motion system. Also to be modified are the control force system, sound system, and onboard computer. The work is scheduled for completion in early 1987. [***][1/28/86][***] QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "The connection between laser jet printing and tennis is obvious." --Michael Cowpland--CEO, Corel Systems Corp., Ottawa, Ontario [***][1/28/86][***] ITC HAMMERS JAPAN The International Trade Commission in Washington has ruled that Japanese companies have dumped semiconductors on the American market at less than the cost of production. It was the first investigation President Reagan has ordered into unfair trade practices in the high-tech field. The ITC said Japan was dumping 64-K dynamic RAM chips which cost American manufacturers about $900 million in sales between 1984 and 1985. Other cases are pending before the quasi-judicial body. The decision is the first step in a process leading to possible countervailing duties against Japanese chips. The next step comes in May, when the Commerce Department reviews the ITC preliminary ruling. That decision will come soon after an economic summit in Tokyo involving both the U.S. and Japan. With the ITC ruling expected to come out as it did, the Japanese last week reopened trade talks with U.S. officials in an effort to resolve the various complaints brought by the government and domestic chip makers. [***][1/28/86][***] ARISTOTLE TO WASHINGTON Aristotle Industries Inc., a pioneer in the field of microcomputer software for political campaigns, has bought a piece of ITT Dialcom and is moving its headquarters from Norwalk, Conn. to Powertown. Campaign software is a growing vertical software market and Aristotle says it already has about 1,800 clients for its package call "The Campaign Manager." Aristotle has bought out Dialcom's congressional services division, which supplied many congressional offices with mainframe computer services through terminals and modems. The price was undisclosed. Dialcom says it has about 170 clients, most in the House of Representatives. A Dialcom competitor, Public Office Corp., which supplies time- sharing services to members of Congress, unions and trade groups in Washington, plans to take on Aristotle in the field of campaign software, but plans to pitch its sales toward users of minicomputers. That's a risky strategy, as the micro end of the computer spectrum is where the growth in political hardware will occur. A third entrant in the field is Intelligent Resources Inc., which has developed campaign software packages based on dBase III, which it is marketing to political campaigns and to certain political consulting firms. IRI developed the programs during the 1984 presidential primary campaign by Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.), using dBase II, and has rewritten it to run in dBase III. [***][1/28/86][***] DEAR SENATOR If you want to send a message to your representatives in Washington, MCI Mail has a slick way to do it. The electronic mail service run by MCI Communciations has lists of members of the House and Senators available online. You can send letter to all members, of the members of just one house, or of just one party. The message is printed by MCI's laser printers on plain white bond, and, if you have registered it, your letterhead can also be imprinted on the letter. The right stuff for high tech lobbyists. If you post your message by 8:00 pm Eastern Time, says MCI, it will be delivered the next day at the regular MCI Letter price of $2 per copy for up to 3 pages. To send a letter to House Republicans, for instance, when MCI prompts you with TO: respond with "US House R (List)." [***][1/28/86][***] THE PC LOBBYIST Intelligent Resources Inc. (see above) is selling a dBase III program that includes a database containing key information items about all members of the House and Senate. The program is geared toward lobbyists who want to keep track of detailed political information about members, for retrieval by multiple characteristics. The program, for example, will list out all the members of the House who sit on both the Ways & Means Committee and the Rules Committee. It was developed for a lobbying group which was working to preserve the state and local tax deduction during last year's tax writing extravaganza. CONTACT: Intelligent Resources Inc., 422 C Street NE, Washington DC 20002 [***][1/28/86][***] NEW PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES (Continued) Last week, we presented the New Jersey PC Club's discussion of three new languages, SIMPLE, SLOBOL, and VALGOL. This week, we conclude the series, presenting five more new and intriguing languages for the future hacker. SARTRE. Named after the late existential philosopher, SARTRE is an extremely unstructured language. Statements in the programs are left to define their own functions. SARTRE programs tend to be boring and depressed and are no fun at parties. FIFTH is a precision mathematical language in which the data types refer to the quanitity. The data types range from CC, OUNCE, SHOT, and JIGGER to FIFTH (hence the name of the language), LITER, MAGNUM and BLOTTO. Commands refer to ingredients such as CHABLIS, CHARDONNAY, GIN, VERMOUTH, VODKA, SCOTCH, BOURBON, CANADIAN, WHATEVERS AROUND, and especially STOLY'S. The many versions of the FIFTH language reflects the sophistication of its users. Commands in the ELITE dialect include VSOP, LAFITE, and WAITERS(RECOMMENDATION). The GUTTER dialect is a particular favorite of frustrated FORTH programmers who end up using this language. C -. This language was named for the grade received by its creater when he submitted it as a project in a "low level" programming language. In general, the laqnguage requires more C - statements than machine-code instructions to execute a task. In this respect, it is very similar to COBOL. LITHP. This otherwise unremarkable language is distinguished by the absence of an "S" in its character set. Programmers must substitute "TH". LITHP is thaid to be utheful in produthing lithth. DOGO. Developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Obedience Training, DOGO heralds a new era of computer-literate pets. DOGO commands include SIT, STAY, HEEL, and ROLL OVER. An innovative feature of DOGO is "puppy graphics," a small cocker spaniel that occasionally leaves deposits as he travels across the screen. [***][1/28/86][***] IS BIG BROTHER READING THIS? Civil libertarians, officials of the electronic mail industry, and the Justice Department staff are having a hard time coming to agreement on what kinds of privacy rights to grant to Email. The issue has emerged as a key element in the debate over the Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1985, introduced in Congress last year and scheduled for further consideration this year. Industry officials and negotiators from the American Civil Liberties Union believe that users of electronic mail systems such as The Source should have the same protections as those who use the official postal system. Justice avers that the electronic services, which keep copies of the electronic epistles for billing and record-keeping purposes, are "third-party record holders" like banks. So, like banks, argue the Administration bargainers, Email companies should be forced to turn over their records to police without a warrant from a judge. So far, the parties remain at loggerheads. [***][1/28/86][***] STAR WARS PROBLEMS According to a Pentagon study group, early studies of how to protect the U.S. against ballistic missiles did not pay enough attention to the computer hardware and software issues that are among the most intractable problems of the President's Strategic Defense Initiative, popularly known as Star Wars. The Panel on Computing in Support of Battle Management, also known as the Eastport Study Group, said early Star Wars architects simply assumed that the computing resources would be available and "paid only 'lip service' to the structure of the software that must control and coordinate the entire system." The group said it was sure the hardware and software can be developed to control a ballistic missile defense system, but that it hasn't been identified yet. [***][1/28/86][***] WASHINGTON COMPUTER BUSINESS INDEX The Washington computer index continues to soar, reaching 188.5 for the January 20 issue of Washington Business, the Washington Post's weekly business tabloid. Computer advertising for the issue totaled 9.8 pages, out of a total of 23.6 pages of advertising. Last week, the index stood at 162.5. The leading advertiser in the January 20 issue was Epson, with a full page and a fifth of the adjoining page, advertising the company's redoubtable printers. MBI had the full back cover. [***][1/28/86][***] POWERBITS $$$ Holt, Rinehart and Winston has published SOFTWAR, a novel by programmer Thierry Breton and writer Denis Beneich. the premise is a U.S. mission to plant software bombs into the central Soviet computer system. It got a ho-hum review from Washington Post reviewer Curt Suplee. $$$ IBM's Federal Systems Division has pulled down a $10.2 million contract from the U.S. Army Missile Command for engineering development of radar frequency interferometers for target acquisition. $$$ Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh will be getting a $5.4 million modification in an existing contract with the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency for the strategic computing program.