Newsbytes - Internationa…ews 1983 May to 1994 June/Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1994 Edition - May 1983 - June 1994 - Wayzata Technologies (5045) (1994).iso/mac/Text/Mac Text/1986/V168

Text File | 1991-09-23 | 58KB | 1,221 lines

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[***][8/19/86][***]
BIG SHAKEUP/LAYOFF AT MICROPRO
Citing declining profits and an eroding market share, MicroPro
International's Executive Committee Chairman Fred Adler announced
that the firm has instituted a major reorganization.  Glen Haney,
MicroPro's CEO has left, taking a job with Adler's venture
capital firm Adler & Co.  Also departed are the VPs of finance
and world sales.  Filling their shoes are a host of MicroPro
brass, all with new job responsibilities and newly created titles.
Meanwhile, the shakeup has caused 20% of the Wordstar software
maker's staff of 208 to get walking papers and the company
plans to add sales and support people in their place.  "The
company will put more focus and attention on supporting end
users and servicing dealers," says MicroPro spokeswoman Wink
Grelis.

But just how badly are profits declining at MicroPro?  Compare
the latest figures with the boom days of 1984.  In 1984, the
firm had profits of $5.8 million on sales of $70 million. In
'85 profits slumped to $207 THOUSAND on sales of $43 million.
This year MicroPro has LOST $900 THOUSAND on sales of $27.7
million.  The red ink prompted this week's drastic actions.

MicroPro is banking its future now on new versions of Easy and
Wordstar, desktop publishing, and a reputation for providing good
support.  Let's wish them success.

CONTACT:  Wink Grelis, MICROPRO INTERNATIONAL, San Rafael, Ca.
          415/499-1200

[***][8/19/86][***]
SHUFFLE AT DAISY TOO
In an effort to reverse its financial nose dive and bring in new
blood, CAE workstation maker Daisy Systems has accepted the
resignation of its cofounder, Aryeh Finegold, 38, a former
Israeli paratrooper and Daisy CEO.  His replacement is millionaire
and board member Max Palevsky, 62.  Interestingly enough, Fred
Adler (see above MicroPro story) is involved in this shakeup too.
He agreed to resign as Daisy's chairman but will stay on as an
active board member.  Daisy Systems is a big challenge for the
new board members.  It not only faces 11 lawsuits from shareholders
who claim the firm concealed its financial condition from them,
but has other problems.  "They have a lot of unhappy customers
and products that don't run as promised, plus a lot of new
products still in development," Michael Murphy of "California
Technology Stock Letter" was quoted as saying.

CONTACT:  Kenneth Pieper, Manager Investor Relations, DAISY SYSTEMS,
          Mountain View, Ca. 415/960-6497

[***][8/19/86][***]
MORE DRASTIC ACTION--CONVERGENT AND AMD
Both Convergent Technologies, most famous as the maker of AT&T
micros, and chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices, had a "no layoff"
policy--that was until last week.  Both cut hundreds of workers
from their payrolls.  Convergent Technologies said the move is
in response to the steep decline in sales to AT&T, its largest
customer.  The layoff leaves Convergent with 500 fewer employees
and a committment to putting its eggs in a wider variety of
baskets.  Convergent's officers will take a 10% pay cut; the
firm will also split up into two operating groups, and plans
to beef up its sales force.

Advanced Micro Devices, which for 17 years has never laid off
a single worker, has eliminated 200 of its 13,800 jobs.  "People
first, products and profits will follow," says AMD's most
recent report.  But says spokesman Andy Rothman, "The world
has changed; it doesn't seem likely that we can be competitive
internationally and maintain an inflexible no-layoff policy."
Another casualty of current events--AMD will cut its research
and development budget by 20%.

[***][8/19/86][***]
BIRTHDAY CLEARANCE SALE
On the fifth birthday of IBM's PC, IBM confirmed press reports
that it has cut 20% off the prices of the machines which made
PCs famous.  A 256K IBM PC with two drives is down from $1,995 to
$1,595. The one-drive version is down to $1,445 and a 64K model is
now just $1,165.  By closing the price gap between PCs and copycat
models, speculation has it that IBM is not only banking on a big
sell-out, but a fast one, in order to make room for some new models
based on the faster Intel 80286 microprocessor which is now the
brains of the PC-AT.  Sources say the clearance sale will be aided
by a major IBM advertising campaign starting in September.

[***][8/19/86][***]
DBMASTER STONEWARE DISAPPEARS
Stoneware, the San Rafael, Ca.-based publisher of DBMaster, has
laid off all its 60 employees and filed for bankruptcy protection,
according to John Markoff of the "San Francisco Examiner."  One
of the most successful database software producers back in 1982,
Stoneware suffered dwindling sales and still has a $1.7 million
debt, according to Markoff.  John Dickerson, president of the
firm, was quoted as saying, "The software industry is way
overcrowded.  If you start in a new technology and get an
early postition don't get comfortable."  Dickerson reportedly
said the creators of the Apple and IBM versions of DBMaster
will take over future development of the products, and that
service is available for the Atari ST version of DBMaster.

CONTACT:  STONEWARE  415/456-5943

[***][8/19/86][***]
SCULLEY HOSTS NEW MACWARE
John Sculley is jetting around the country to celebrate the
introduction of new products for the revitalized Macintosh.
His first appearance was at a Palo Alto news conference where
he shared the spotlight with Ashton-Tate's Chairman Ed Esber
who introduced dBASE MAC, a $495 database management package
which allows Macintoshes to exchange data with IBM compatibles
via a local area network.  (More in NEWSBYTES-LOS ANGELES.)
He then jetted off to Boston for the MacWorld Expo, and plans
to be with Philippe Kahn at Borland International on August 19 to
help lift the veil on Turbo Pascal for the Mac.  This will be
the first public showing of the long awaited software which is
due on a retail shelf near you November 15.

[***][8/19/86][***]
CONROY LAPOINTE NOT BANKRUPT
NEWSBYTES wishes to correct an article about the Conroy-LaPointe Inc.
computer retail chain which appears in the August 5th edition.  In
our report, we stated that the firm has gone bankrupt.  In fact, this
is not true and we regret having printed it.

According to Debi Robbins, Conroy-LaPointe's director of marketing,
the firm has filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors, which
in no way has affected customers, but is an internal matter related
to errors over 1 1/2 years old.

Specifically, Conroy LaPointe and Magnum Computer, both companies of
Otech Group, Inc., absorbed debts incurred by National Micro, a third
firm which was under the Otech banner, and was a distribution company
that disbanded in 1985.

The retailer, which made well over $35 million last year, is working
closely with a creditor's committee to come up with a reorganization plan. Conr
120 days.  Its three retail stores and mail order business are in full
operation.

[***][8/19/86][***]
KONTEST KORNER
You have until the year 2000.  The prize is $1 million dollars.
So get going!  That is get going on the game of go, an ancient
Chinese board game.  Multitech Electronics Inc., whose parent
MSC International is in Taiwan, a go capital of the world, is
asking programmers to design software which will beat a go
master or beat another machine programmed to play go.  "We
want to promote awareness of the game itself. We'd also like
to spur development of programs using AI--which is necessary
to defeat a human go master," says James Wong, marketing
manager.

CONTACT:  For rules and info James Wong, MULTITECH ELECTRONICS,
          1012 Stewart Drive, Sunnyvale, Ca. 94086  408/
          773-8400

[***][8/19/86][***]
IN BRIEF --

BUSINESSLAND, INC. is buying the MORRIS DECISIONS SYSTEMS INC., a
network of three value-added reseller centers in New York and
Connecticut, which specializes in advanced office automation
solutions.  The exchange of stock is expected to take place Sept.
3 at which time the Morris centers will take on the Businessland
name.

THE AMERICAN ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATION reports the US imported
$8.8 billion more in electronics goods than it shipped out in
1985.  Japan exported the most to the US--a whopping $20.7
billion worth of goods compared to our export of $3.2 billion
to that country.

SAN FRANCISCO will host FEDERAL HIGH TECH '87 on Nov 13-14.
The show will be devoted to ways small computer firms can cash in
on big federal research bucks.  For info call 202-833-8844.

XEROX has decided to provide seed funding to PARCPLACE SYSTEMS, a
Palo Alto firm which has been created to service and market
Smalltalk.  Adele Goldberg, who developed Smalltalk with Alan
Kay, now of Apple, will head ParcPlace.

MOUSE SYSTEMS has offered what may be a first in the computer
industry--a lifetime warranty.  The warranty applies to its PC
Mouse and PC Mouse Bus Plus optical mouse products for IBM PCs
and compatibles.  "Our new lifetime warranty sends a clear
message to customers that we stand behind our products without
reservation," says the Santa Clara firm's president Robert
Dickinson.

ALDUS CORPORATION is offering a trip to Venice, Italy for the
winner of its "PageMaker 1986" design competition.  Aldus
requires 3 copies of a finished PageMaker-created publication,
one copy on disk, and a completed entry form.  The deadline
is December 31, 1986.  For more info contact Karen Kershaw
at Aldus [phone].


[***][8/19/86][***]
QUOTE OF THE WEEK

   "Before the IBM PC we were all fat, dumb and happy."

                        --George Morrow, founder of Morrow Designs
                                which went bankrupt this year
[***][8/19/86][***]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWSBYTES IS WRITTEN BY WENDY WOODS, IP1039, WHO REGRETS TO HAVE TO
INFORM YOU THAT THIS COLUMN WILL NOT BE ONLINE NEXT WEEKEND BUT IS
PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE REASON:  SHE PLANS TO HAVE A BABY WHICH AT
THIS WRITING HAS MISSED ITS DEADLINE BY 8 DAYS.  PHIL HOPKINS, NB
LA BUREAU CHIEF WILL SERVE AS EDITOR FOR ALL THE REST OF THE COLUMNS
WHICH WILL BE ONLINE.
-------------------------------------------------------------------



[***][8/19/86][***]
FAX AND YEN ARE KEY JAPANESE IMPORTS OF 1986   *EXCLUSIVE*
The key Japanese imports of 1986, in retrospect, will be
Southeastern factories, modified fax machines sold as digital
scanners, and yen (capital). Tennessee, Georgia, and other
Southeastern states have already seen a flood of new Japanese
investment in high-tech plants on green field (previously empty)
sites.  Politicians throughout the region have turned
somersaults, even eaten sushi, for over a decade to lure these
investments. Compact disks and monitors are among the products.
The number of Japanese managers in the Southeast keeps growing,
with the chief complaint being the difficulty of luring research
and development engineers from elsewhere in the US. (There is now
said to be a halfway decent sushi bar now in Smyrna, 10 miles
northwest of Atlanta, where many Japanese execs live.)

Ricoh will be among those showing OEMs an inexpensive, 4 page-
per-minute scanner this fall. The technology is similar to
facsimile. IBM announced in June it will import two Japanese-
built scanners, and more such deals will be coming. What they
need from the US--software. International Resources Development,
Norwalk, CT, notes that the technology for electronic copy
boards, another increasingly big import, is also related to
facsimile.

CONTACT: Barbara Morgan, OFFICE OF GOV. JOE FRANK HARRIS, 100
         State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334 [phone]

[***][8/19/86][***]
TANDY PUBLICITY MILL GRINDS ON
What looks like a personal letter from Ed Juge, Radio Shack's
director of market planning, arrived this week. "Early last week,
I received a call from Sy Merrin at the Gartner Group," Ed
writes. "He told me of a new report showing 'that you guys have
just taken over the lead from IBM in PC sales to businesses
grossing less than $500,000 annually.'" The Gartner numbers for
1986, Ed says, will be Tandy 30%, IBM 24%. Ed adds Jan Lewis gave
Tandy a good shot at the corporate market in her newsletter,
"Corporate Insider." (Question. What do *you* think? Will Tandy
do that well, and IBM that badly?)

CONTACT: Ed Juge, TANDY, 1700 One Tandy Center, Ft. Worth, TX,
         76102, [phone]

[***][8/19/86][***]
QMS HELPED BY EUROPEAN CONNECTIONS
While politicians and worried retailers look to the Far East,
QMS Inc. of Mobile is looking due east, to Europe. The company
has signed about $22 million in European contracts, with the
latest being a $9.5 million deal to supply a variety of products
to the French start-up Start Informatique. (Parles vous profit?)

CONTACT: Bob Girola, QMS, 1 Magnum Pass, Mobile, AL 36618 (205)
         633-4300

[***][8/19/86][***]
EXPERT SYSTEM BUILDER FOR IBM PC BUILT IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
FLOPS stands for Fuzzy Logic Production System, and it was
designed by the Kemp-Carraway Heart Institute at the University
of Alabama in Birmingham. Version 1.3 is now out for the IBM PC
at $495 (it runs as a shell around the operating system), and it
includes the ability to directly call or be called by programs
written in Turbo Pascal and Lattice, as well as Microsoft C.
FLOPS also allows for parallel processing of recursive
calculations. (It could really come into its own when parallel
processing comes of age.) The program works by firing hundreds of
rules concurrently in software, which allows for fast analysis of
fuzzy data. The new version, Heart Institute director William
Siler said, was the result of requests from the U.S. Bureau of
Mines.  The program is not copy-protected and requires only DOS
2.1 or higher, 256K of RAM and an 8087 math co-processor.

CONTACT: Dr. William Siler, KEMP-CARRAWAY HEART INSTITUTE,
         Birmingham, AL 35234 [phone]

[***][8/19/86][***]
ALTSYS IMPROVES ITS DESKTOP PUBLISHING OFFERING
Altsys of Plano, TX rolled out version 2.0 of its Fontographer
program for the Macintosh at MacWorld Expo in Boston. The program
lets artists create high-quality logos, fonts, and other artwork
requiring intricate detail. The new version adds the ability to
create keyboard-assignable composite fonts, kerned (optimally-
spaced) character pairs, and other advanced typographic features.
Users can even combine and manipulate characters from existing
PostScript fonts used on the Apple LaserWriter. Foreign and
special characters, like @ and a French highlighted e' are also
included. The program uses a key-disk copy protection scheme, but
installs completely on a hard disk, and costs $495.

Contact: ALTSYS CORP., 720 Avenue F., Suite 108, Plano, TX 75074
         [phone]

[***][8/19/86][***]
PECAN BYTES

SOFTWARE EXPRESS, Houston, announced a joint operating agreement
with Computer Consoles Inc., Rochester, NY, under which the Texas
company will provide its APPGEN product line on CCI's Power 5/32
computer system targeted at value-added resellers.

THE ATLANTA HIGH-TECH TOUR, scheduled for September 23 and
sponsored by the state of Georgia, will feature Gary Robertson of
The Software Link, Atlanta, more boilerplate on Inforum, the
promised high-tech mart, and tours of 22 locally-based companies,
plus a visit to a local bank. (I think I'll go to the bank.)

INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS CORP., Norcross, is binding its divisions a
little closer together with an announcement that coupons good for
up to 96% on Peachtree Software's Complete Business Accounting
System will be included with all Datavue 25s through the end of
the year. Quadram, a third ISC subsidiary, has recently begun
marketing the Datavue box, too. (Rumors here are it will also get
an OK review from "Infoworld" soon, too.)


[***][8/19/86][***]
COMMODORE 128 REVAMP IN THE WORKS
Programming contacts on BIX (Byte Information Exchange) and
within the UK have confirmed to NEWSBYTES UK that the
Commodore 128, currently going down like a lead balloon in
UK High Street stores (see last week's edition for further
details), is due for a facelift later this year.

Whilst the case of the 128 will remain more or less the same
(heck, CBM produced an awful lot of cases from that mould)
the PCB will undergo a dramatic redesign, involving the
installation of many more dedicated chips, thus reducing the
number of components on the crowded board and, hopefully,
allowing Commodore to lower the price of the 128 to more
realistic levels (The C128 currently has a retail price of
269 pounds <$405>).

As well as this, the company is also understood to be
considering doing something similar to the "new" 64C, again
opening the possibility of a price cut and (get this)
POSSIBLY redesigning the 64's circuitry in line with the
forthcoming 128 Mark II (128C?), which MAY allow modular
upgrades from the 64C Mark II to the 128 Mark II.

Don't hold your breath too long though, as only the bit
about the 128 circuit board revamp is definite - or as
definite as things can be in the computer world...

[***][8/19/86][***]
ATARI TO SHOW 2MB ST AT PCW SHOW
This week's "Popular Computing Weekly" leads with the front
page story that Atari will be showing the new 2Mb at the
forthcoming Personal Computer World (PCW) show in early
September.  The magazine says that Atari is planning a new
product launch for August 28th (mark that one in your
diaries) and although the company is keeping quiet on what's
in store, reckons that the machine to be launched will be a
"souped-up 68020 processor version of the ST."

NEWSBYTES UK has been doing a bit of digging (read: wining
and dining with people in the know on Atari gear) and found
that the new machine will, in fact, be a 2Mb version of the
ST, running a Unix-style operating system. The Unix-style
o.s. will almost certainly pioneered by leading UK software
house, Metacomco, which rose to fame with their superb 68000
programs for the ill-fated Sinclair QL machine, and later
moved in swiftly on the Amiga and ST machines.  As well as
writing the Unix-style o.s. for the 2080, Metacomco also had
a hand in writing a new version of Basic for the ST, which,
again, seems almost certain to appear in the 2080. Add to
this the new blitter chip also developed by Metacomco, and
one could be fooled into thinking the new machine will be
called the Metacomco 2080!

The ST blitter will, NEWSBYTES UK, understands, be slightly
less powerful than the Amiga version.  Whilst the Amiga
version can zip-zap almost anything from screen to memory
(and vice versa), the Atari ST blitter can only handle
line-drawing and menus (as opposed to the Amiga blitter
which can handle shapes etc., on-screen).  Still, with an
impending US price of $1,800 (colour monitor version), the
Atari 2080 ST looks a definite winner. Watch this space!

[***][8/19/86][***]
GETTING IT WRITE ON THE ST
Whilst we're on the subject of the Atari wonder machine,
NEWSBYTES UK notes that Atari UK has just announced a deal
with Microsoft to distribute and market Microsoft Write for
the ST called by Atari "a new technology word processing
program."  Existing users of Write may be surprised to hear
the program described in such awesome tones - NEWSBYTES UK
always thought of it as a word-processing program.

Atari's choice of Write as a wp program for the ST comes as
no surprise.  This week's "Microscope" (a UK trade weekly)
quotes Rob Harding of Atari as saying his company would have
used Digital Research's GemWrite package for the ST, "if the
package had been delivered in the first place."  The paper
also notes that the ralationship between Atari and Digital
has "not been a happy one," and also marks Microsoft's
Windows program as being a likely follow up to Write. Again,
watch this space!

Contact: Microscope, 14 Rathbone Place, London W1P 1DE.
         Tel: [phone]            SourceMail BDF843.

[***][8/19/86][***]
IBM DROPS ITS PRICES AGAIN:
Only weeks before the much-touted IBM PC compatible Amstrad
machine is due (see last week's NEWSBYTES UK for details),
IBM UK has dropped its entry-level machine price again.
Previously gathering dust at the back of IBM warehouses are
the 256K RAM machines, which are now rolling out (with a
flick of a duster) at 789 pounds ($1,175) for special offer
ten-up quantities to dealers across the UK.  Previous dealer
prices for the 256K, twin floppy, monochrome monitor
packages was 1364 pounds, which most dealers understandably
found fairly unattractive.

Don't bide your time waiting for the big blue offer, as this
price (789 pounds) is limited until the 14th of November.
What happens on the 14th of November?  A new product
announcement - who knows? In the meantime, on the back of
these impending dealer price cuts, a local IBM dealer quoted
the 256K outfit at 995 pounds (plus tax) to NEWSBYTES UK.
That same dealer also showed us a real cute IBM compatible
made by some Taiwanese company at almost half that price AND
offered to throw DOS 3.2 in for nothing. What do you mean
you want user support - you get a brown paper bag don't you?

[***][8/19/86][***]
HANDS ACROSS THE OCEAN - UK/US GATEWAY LAUNCHED
Not quite hands, more an electronic signal really.  This
weekend sees the inauguration of an historic link between
two public electronic mail services on separate continents.
Manchester, UK-based MicroLink now offer a gateway option
into the Sparkhill, New York-based Mnematics system, thus
allowing, for the first time, UK subscribers to freely chat
on demand with their counterparts in the United States.  Add
to this the advanced facilities of onward Email to The
Source, CompuServe, MCI and full US telex facilities, as
well as access to the Online Airline Guide, and you've got
yourself a brand new market.

Mnematics administrator Greg Squires told NEWSBYTES UK this
week that he hopes to offer a reverse gateway from Mnematics
into the UK's Dialcom network (available via MicroLink) very
soon, and is waiting on the services of Tymnet to open the
external gateway option for him.

For its part, MicroLink is very excited about the gateway
too.  "It's the first time our subscribers can cheaply
access a gateway service - an international gateway service
- at a sensible price.  We're just delighted that we at
MicroLink are able to offer this first - it's going to
transform the way we communicate with our cousins in the
States," said Derek Meakin, the MD of MicroLink.

Contact: MicroLink, Europa House, 68 Chester Road,
         Hazel Grove, Stockport, SK7 5NY. Tel [phone].

[***][8/19/86][***]
PRESTEL CENSORSHIP FROM THE GODS
Late night users of Prestel, the UK's public viewdata
service, were amazed to see the system message "YOU WERE
WARNED - YOUR PARENTS WILL BE INFORMED," appearing on their
screens in the early hours of last Monday night/Tuesday
morning.  After a brief flurry of activity on the part of
Micronet 800, the information provider to Prestel, whose
CB-style chatlines were being used at the time, Prestel
confirmed that the night system operators noted extremely
obscene and racist messages appearing from several Prestel
subscribers.  As a result of this, the night sysops were
moved to issue the cryptic system message immediately.
NEWSBYTES UK understands that the offending subscribers will
almost certainly be given the order of the boot from the
system, once their parents have been informed.  My oh my,
CompuServe CB was never like this!

Contact: Micronet 800, Durrant House, 8 Herbal Hill,
         London EC1R.              Tel: [phone].

==

[***][8/19/86][***]
ADMINISTRATION WINS KOREAN SOFTWARE AGREEMENT
The Reagan administration last Thursday announced an agreement
with South Korea that would protect computer software from legal
piracy. The agreement came about a year after U.S. Trade
Representative Clayton Yeutter began investigations into unfair
Korean trading practices. Current Korean law does not provide
copyrights on software. Korea has agree to enact laws offering
copyright protection to software by July 1, 1987. "This agreement
will encourage freer trade with the Republic of Korea and remove
trade distortions," Reagan said.

[***][8/19/86][***]
U.S. AND BRAZIL MEET ON COMPUTERS
Negotiators for Brazil and the U.S. met last week in Paris to
discuss Brazil's refusal to open its domestic computer market to
U.S. suppliers. Brazilian President Jose Sarney is scheduled to
visit Washington September 11, and trade negotiators from both
countries would like to have the framework of an agreement in
place by then. President Reagan has threatened to impose
sanctions on Brazil for restricting access to its $1.2 billion
annual computer market. Reagan is expected to make a decision on
his threat after the Sarney meeting. Brazil passed a law
prohibiting importation of micro and minicomputers in 1984, a
measure aimed at aiding the nascent Brazilian computer industry.

[***][8/19/86][***]
COMMERCE BARS THREE AUSTRIAN FIRMS FROM U.S. EXPORTS
Saying they may have been making illegal shipments of computer
gear to the Soviet bloc, the Commerce Department last week banned
three Austrian firms from exporting U.S. products for two months.
The banning order was issued against Betriebs und Finanzierungs
Beratungs GmbH, Bollinger GmbH, and Vrablicz and Co., all of
Vienna. The owner of Bollinger, Dietmar Ulrichshofer, owns a West
German firm that has been denied U.S. export privileges since
1981. Ulrichshofer is a fugitive facing an outstanding indictment
for export control violations. "The department has reason to
believe the firms and individuals have conspired to obtain and
illegally re-export U.S.-origin goods from Austria to the Soviet
bloc," said Theodore Wu, deputy assistant secretary for export
enforcement. "The goods include computer equipment and
peripherals."

[***][8/19/86][***]
GAO ATTACKS PRC CONTRACT
The General Accounting Office last week urged the Commerce
Department to withhold further funds on an 18-year contract with
Planning Research Corp. for automating the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office. PRC, of McLean, Va., won the contract in April
1984, when the project to equip the Patent and Trademark Office
with a computerized data storage system was projected to cost
$289 million. The program is now a year behind schedule and the
cost estimate has risen to $448 million. According to GAO, a
congressional watchdog agency, Commerce "has not effectively
managed its multimillion-dollar patent automation program.
Planning has been inadequate and implementation ineffective."
Commerce said it "does not agree with GAO's recommendations." A
PRC spokesman said: "We don't think there is any necessity to
stop the contract. We're rather proud of what we've done, and
stand behind it."

CONTACT: General Accounting Office, 441 G St. N.W., Washington
         D.C., 20548, 202-275-5067.

         Planning Research Corp., 1500 Planning Research Drive,
         McLean, Va., 22102, 703-556-1111.

[***][8/19/86][***]
IDC BUYS ANOTHER GOVERNMENT COMPUTER EXPO
Information Development Corporation of Wayland, Mass., has
acquired the annual Defense and Government Computer Graphics
Conference. At the same time, the National Council for Education
on Information Strategies, a non-profit educational organization,
has acquired the program portion of the annual event, which
focuses on the management and application of graphics technology
for the Department of Defense. This year's event will be October
27-31 at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center. IDC already
owns the Federal Computer Conference, the Federal Office
Automation Conference, and the National Office Automation
Conference, and last month acquired Government Computer Expo.

CONTACT: Information Development Corp., One Longfellow
         Center-300, 526 Boston Post Road, Wayland, Mass., 01778,
         617-358-5301.

[***][8/19/86][***]
"AMAZING GRACE" STEPS DOWN
"I regret leaving active duty," said Rear Adm. Grace Hopper last
week at retirement ceremonies aboard the U.S.S. Constitution in
Baltimore. The 79-year-old Hopper, the nation's oldest active
duty military officer, is the co-inventor of the COBOL computer
language. Her subordinates called here "Amazing Grace." Hopper
joined the Navay Reserve the day after D-Day in 1944, after
earning a PhD in mathematics from Yale University and serving as
a math professor at Vassar for a decade. At the retirement
ceremony, Navy Secretary John Lehman noted that Hopper
"challenged at every turn the dictates of mindless bureaucracy."
Lehman is widely believed to have forced Hopper to retire, in
order to free up her Admiral's slot for other purposes.

[***][8/19/86][***]
BUSINESS INDEX SHOWS NO CHANGE; TANDON SHOWS UP IN WASHINGTON
The Washington Computer Business Index rose a tad to 194 for the
week, compared to 185 for the prior week. Both computer display
ads were up a bit, from 9.6 to 10.1 pages, and non-computer ads
rose from 10.5 to 11.8. Most interesting was the appearance of
the Tandon PC clone in "Washington Business" for the first time.
Tandon rolled into Washington with nearly a full page,
advertising the PCX, consisting of 256K of RAM, one diskette
drive, one 10 megabyte hard disk, and keyboard for $1295. Add a
14-inch monitor, and the total package price is $1575. Entre
Computer Centers are carrying the "Jugiboxes," which ought to give
them pretty good market exposure.

[***][8/19/86][***]
POWERBYTES

 $$$ Hadron, Inc., of Fairfax, Va., reported profits of $250,000
(two cents per share) on revenue of $5.3 million for its first
quarter, ending June 30. The company had profits of $158,000 (a
penny per share) on $5.5 million in revenue for the first quarter
of last year. The company provides high-tech consulting and
services.

 $$$ Software AG Systems Inc., of Reston, Va., has bought back
70,000 shares of its stock from Chairman John Morris Maguire. The
company plants to buy back up to 30,000 more shores on the open
market. The software comapny has about 5.8 million shares
outstanding.

[***][8/19/86][***]
R&D ORGANIZATION TO GET GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
The government of Canada will give as much as C$7 million to the
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, a network of scientists
and researchers across the country linked by computers.  The
government has agreed to match every dollar donated to the
research group with a dollar of its own, up to a maximum of C$7
million in government funds.

The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research consists of 13
Fellows at five universities across the country, working on
problems as varied as artificial intelligence, robotics, the
origin of the universe and approaches to law enforcement.  A
council of 27 volunteers decides what research will be supported.
In the past, the institute's funding has come from the private
sector.

The federal funding plan is unusual in that Ottawa is giving
money to the institute without any conditions as to how it will
be used.

[***][8/19/86][***]
SUN RISING
Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc., a subsidiary of the Mountain
View, Calif. workstation manufacturer, expects to be among the
top 100 Canadian computer companies next year.  At a press
conference held August 12 to introduce Sun's new 3/200 and 3/110
workstations to the Canadian market, general manager Dave Black
said the company should have no trouble making the C$10 million
in sales necessary to achieve that distinction.

Black also noted that about 30 Canadian-developed software
products are now available for Sun's hardware, out of a total of
about 650 products listed in Sun's Catalyst catalog of third-party
software.  Several Canadian firms have been signed as OEMs and
resellers of Sun products.

CONTACT: Dave Black, SUN MICROSYSTEMS OF CANADA INC., 7100
         Woodbine Ave., Suite 317, Markham, Ont. L3R 5J2
         [phone]

[***][8/19/86][***]
BATTERIES INCLUDED NOW INCLUDED IN ITM
Batteries Included Inc. of Richmond Hill, Ont. has merged with
ITM Corp., Toronto.  Batteries Included, the maker of software
for Commodore, Atari and IBM machines including the PaperClip
word processor and the Isgur Portfolio System, becomes an
autonomous operating company within ITM.

Batteries Included's sales are expected to climb to C$8 million
this year from C$6 million last year.  ITM is the parent company
of ITM Systems Ltd., a Toronto-based reseller of ITT personal
computers.  It is listed on the Alberta Stock Exchange.

CONTACT: Martin Herzog, BATTERIES INCLUDED INC., 30 Mural St.
         Richmond Hill, ON L4B 1B5, [phone]

[***][8/19/86][***]
CASH INJECTION FOR SYDNEY
Shareholders of Sydney Development Corp. are to vote this week on
measures that will bring their company about C$11.5 million in
capital.  The Vancouver software firm will get that money from a
C$7-million private placement of shares and from a C$4.5 million
investment by Alexis Nihon Investments of Montreal, which has had
a significant stake in Sydney for about 18 months.  Shareholders
are expected to approve both moves.

Sydney will emerge from all this a new company, with shareholders
exchanging their present shares for new ones.  It should also
emerge on a sound financial footing, something Sydney has lacked
in recent years.

Originally a vehicle for taking advantage of research and
development tax shelters, Sydney has been through troubled times.
Plans for a network of "learning centres" to sell educational
software never got off the ground.  But today, with new
management, Sydney is selling several software products,
including an electronic messaging system that has been licensed
to, among others, AT&T Information Systems Inc. and Radio-Suisse,
the Swiss telecommunications company.

CONTACT: SYDNEY DEVELOPMENT CORP., 600-1385 West 8th Ave.,
         Vancouver, B.C. V6H 3V9, [phone]

[***][8/19/86][***]
ORCATECH CONSIDERING EXPANSION
Orcatech Inc., Ottawa-based manufacturer of graphics systems, is
looking for cash.  The money might come from a private placement
of shares, a public offering, or a merger.

The four-year-old company nearly went bankrupt in 1984, and has
been struggling back from the precipice ever since.   Recently,
however, it announced a large sales agreement with a U.S.
company, and stock prices rose from about 25 cents to C$1.10,
settling back to around 45 cents.

The first offering of the company's stock was in 1983.  Another
offering would be one way of raising money, but market confidence
in Orcatech might not be high enough to support this.  The
company has looked at possible mergers, but so far nothing has
worked out.

CONTACT: ORCATECH INC., 2680 Queensview Dr., Ottawa, ON K2B 8H6,
         [phone]

[***][8/19/86][***]
MANITOBA TEL DISCONNECTS SUBSIDIARY
Scandal in Saudi Arabia is giving politicians in Winnipeg
something to talk about these days.  Allegations about MTX
Telecom Services Inc., a subsidiary of the provincially-owned
Manitoba Telephone System, have led the provincial government to
suspend operations of the phone company's subsidiaries pending
the outcome of an inquiry.  A former senior manager of MTX has
accused the foreign subsidiary of mismanagement, corruption,
shoddy bookkeeping and falsifying its sales reports.

There is even talk of a provincial election over the issue.  The
opposition Progressive Conservative party is threatening to call
a vote of confidence on the issue, aiming to catch the ruling New
Democrats with some of their members absent from the house.  The
government has 30 seats in the provincial legislature, the
Conservatives 26 and the Liberal Party one.  If a Canadian
government is defeated on a vote of confidence, it must resign
and call an election.

[***][8/19/86][***]
INFOMART TRIES AGAIN
Infomart, the troubled videotex firm that killed its Toronto
Teleguide service in July, is trying a new market.  The
subsidiary of media giant Southam Inc. has launched a service
providing online editions of three major Canadian daily
newspapers and one of the country's major business weeklies.
Infomart Online carries electronic editions of the "Montreal
Gazette" and the "Ottawa Citizen," both owned by Southam, and the
"Toronto Star," owned by an independent company, Torstar Ltd., that
was originally a partner in Infomart.  The service also carries
the "Financial Times of Canada," a national weekly newspaper.

Meanwhile, Infomart's Grassroots service has been revived.  The
agricultural videotex system has been purchased from Infomart by
a consortium of three Winnipeg firms: Comcheq Services Ltd., a
service bureau; Cybershare Ltd., another service bureau; and MTX
Telecom Services Ltd., a telecommunications consulting subsidiary
of the provincially-owned telephone company (which is making
headlines in its own right lately -- see item above).

CONTACT: INFOMART, 164 Merton St.,      Toronto, Ont., [phone]

[***][8/19/86][***]
MATH CAPABILITIES ADDED TO DATABASE
Trigonometry, logarithms and business calculations have been
added to MacBase, a relational data base program for the Apple
Macintosh.  Mathematical formulas used in the program can be up
to 32,000 characters in length, according to the vendor, Eqtron
Corp.  Users can design their own forms with data base fields and
use them to perform calculations.  MacBase also supports graphics
from the MacPaint and MacDraw programs.  It runs on a 512K
Macintosh, and is priced at C$199.

CONTACT: EQTRON CORP., Suite 115, 330 Bay St., Toronto ON
         M5H 2S8, [phone]

[***][8/19/86][***]
BITS, EH?
-- Investors are being warned to avoid Develcon Electronics Ltd.
of Regina, Sask. until a turnaround in earnings takes place.  The
communications equipment vendor lost C$4.9 million on C$12
million in sales during the fiscal year ended May 31.

-- Gandalf Technologies Inc. of Manotick, Ont., another
communications vendor, doesn't expect significant improvement in
earnings this year.  Its profit in the fiscal year ended July 31
was C$3.2 million.

-- SHL Systemhouse Inc. of Ottawa has received a C$1.7 million
contract to design and install a system that will monitor the
operation of Canadian air traffic control systems.

-- Netron Inc. of Toronto has named William K. Selph as vice-
president and general manager for its first U.S. office, the
location of which will be announced this week.  Netron sells
program development software.

-- A Canadian stamp recently introduced to honor the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's government-owned television
and radio network, was designed by computer.  The computer-
generated design shows the CBC's logo superimposed on a map of
Canada.

-- FTL Systems Inc. unveiled its MacTeX desktop typesetting
software at the MacWorld Expo show in Boston last week.  The
MacTeX software (see NEWSBYTES CANADA July 15) turns the Apple
Macintosh into a front end for a typesetting system.



[***][8/19/86][***]
STUDENT CONVICTED IN USC GRADE-CHANGE SCHEME
Following the testimony of previously convicted USC employee
Darryl Gillard, a former student has also been found guilty in a
computer transcript-improvement case.  Merhdad Amini was
convicted on three counts of paying for illegal computer access
to his own grades, where he elevated his performance in
economics and civil engineering courses.  Amini, an Iranian
national, faces a possible sentence of four years and four
months for his efforts.  Besides Gillard and Amini, two other
students may be charged in the case.  Ali Tjahjadi and Amir
Surjaputra volunteered that their grades were also changed, with
Surjaputra testifying that he was given B's in physics and
engineering...courses he had never registered for.

[***][8/19/86][***]
FUGITIVE COMPUTER EXPORTER FINED, BUT NOT FOUND
The second-largest administrative fine ever imposed by the
Commerce Department was assessed on a fugitive Villa Park
businessman accused of selling mainframe computers to the Soviet
Union.  The $1.24-million penalty was against Charles McVey,
believed to be living in Switzerland.  McVey and his three
Anaheim-based companies, Vanguard International Ltd., Facilities
Management Ltd. and Land Resources Management Inc., will also be
denied all export privileges for the next 30 years.  Indicted
for transshipping the computer systems and software through
Mexico and Holland in 1982, McVey allegedly used a network of
Swiss-based companies to disguise his shipments to the Geology
Institute of the USSR, the Soviet Space Institute and the
Computer Research Institute of Minsk.  The fine will be levied
against McVey's remaining assets in the U.S., which include the
three companies.

[***][8/19/86][***]
ASHTON-TATE DEBUTS dBASE MAC SOFTWARE
In a joint press conference, Ashton-Tate and Apple Computer have
announced dBase Mac, a derivation of the largest-selling
database management programs in the country.  The first
deliveries of dBase Mac will reportedly begin in October or
November.  This is the first software package for the Macintosh
by Torrance-based Ashton-Tate, and is considered to be a further
endorsement of the Apple machine by a leading software
developer.

In other Ashton-Tate news, the Shearson Lehman Bros. brokerage
house now says that A-T stock prices may have "bottomed" near
$22.25 per share.  Analyst Tom Galvin says he expects the firm
to post quarterly earnings "above consensus" next week.

CONTACT:  ASHTON-TATE INC., 20101 Hamilton, Torrance, CA 90502
          [phone]

[***][8/19/86][***]
TANDON GROANS UNDER $20.3-MILLION QUARTERLY LOSS
Stemming mostly from the debut of its name-brand IBM-compatible
computers, Tandon Corp. posted a loss of $20.3 million for the
firm's third quarter.  Quarterly revenue also fell 16.8 percent
to $51.8 million.  Tandon management attributed about $3 million
of the loss to the expense of establishing a dealer network for
its computers.  Other components of the decline involved losses
from the company's Microtek Storage plant in San Jose, which was
padlocked earlier this month.

CONTACT:  TANDON CORP., 20320 Prairie, Chatsworth, CA 91311
          [phone]

[***][8/19/86][***]
MANDATORY VACATIONS ANNOUNCED AT CIPHER DATA
Calling it a "cost-containment action," Cipher Data Products
says 850 of its 2,300 workers will take mandatory one-week paid
vacations during the last week in August.  The action follows
the closing of the firm's Garden Grove manufacturing plant,
which was recently damaged in an industrial accident.

CONTACT:  CIPHER DATA PRODUCTS INC., 10225 Willow Creek Rd., San
          Diego, CA 92131   [phone]

[***][8/19/86][***]
AST RESEARCH TO BUY BACK 1.5-MILLION SHARES OF STOCK
About 13 percent of the total outstanding shares of AST Research
of Irvine will be bought back by the firm.  The expansion-board
maker says that will be 1.5 million shares, and will cost the
company about $18 million.  An AST representative said the
purchases will be made gradually over the next several months.

CONTACT:  AST RESEARCH INC., 2121 Alton Ave., Irvine, CA   (714)
          863-1333

[***][8/19/86][***]
SOFTWARE PRODUCTS STAGES SOFTWARE-MAIMING PROMO
In a promotion for its Open Access II integrated software,
Software Products International of San Diego says it will
discount the program's price to $155 in exchange for a mutilated
diskette from 1-2-3, Symphony, Framework, dBase II and III,
R:base 5000, Smart, Enable or Javelin.  Regular price for the
software is $595.  Users of competing programs have to actually
cut their master diskettes in half and bring them to a Open
Access II dealer to get the discount.

[***][8/19/86][***]
BEACHBITS

>>>  Corpcon '86, sponsored by the National Institute for
     Management Research, will roll into L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel
     on September 23 for a two-day stay.  The trade show will
     feature exhibits from Lotus, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Ashton-
     Tate, IBM, Apple and Compaq, among other companies.  For
     more information, call: [phone].

>>>  Perfectdata Corp. of Chatsworth has posted a loss of
     $289,000 for the firm's first quarter.  That's up from a
     loss of $695,000 during the same period last year.

>>>  Western Digital reports that revenues were up 36 percent
     for its fourth quarter, with profits up to $7.7 million.
     Compared to last year's $13.4-million loss in the same
     quarter, the company is doing a little bit better.

[***][8/19/86][***]
CINEMAWARE MAY BE RATED PG, BUT NOT IBM        *** EXCLUSIVE ***
In what sounds like a typical Hollywood story, a small
production company begins by shrewdly financing its film with a
limited partnership arrangement.  The investors don't buy a
piece of the company, only part of the movie's potential
profits.  The script is written and the performers are
assembled.  The music is scored and a theater is rented for the
press screening.  The producers nervously await the sneak
preview.

That's what's happening at Master Designer Software, where the
firm's "Defender of the Crown" is having the finishing touches
added before its premiere scheduled for November 7 at the
Goldwyn Theater in West L.A.  "We could spend up to $1 million
on production if we wanted to," says MDS president Bob Jacob.
However, Jacob's firm will probably spend considerably less to
bring his unique computer "movies" into computer stores...at
$49.95 retail.  But, whatever the programming costs, it's "all
up there on the screen," literally.

Describing Jacob's "Cinemaware" products is a bit like trying
unfamiliar cuisine...it tastes like chicken, but what is it?
"It's the first-ever audience-participation motion picture,"
says Jacob.  "Defender of the Crown," for example, runs an hour
and 40 minutes, but it is "played," similar to a video game, on
a personal computer.  Like an interactive-text adventure game,
the user controls the actions of the protagonist, who may choose
to star in a PG-rated love scene in the company's first
production. "The users actually become the directors of the
film," says Jacob.  "They will be able to determine the course
of events that the plot takes."

The screening at the Goldwyn Theater will be the first official
press screening, but NEWSBYTES-L.A. was invited to a "pre-sneak
preview" of "Defender of the Crown" and another Cinemaware
production, "The King of Chicago", last week.  "Defender of the
Crown" is, undoubtedly, the most unique graphics-oriented
software package we've ever seen on the Amiga.  More "action"
than comedy, the graphics quality of many screens rivals
traditional "cell animation."  "The King of Chicago," as shown
on the Macintosh, looks more like a Terry Gilliam animation
sequence on the Monty Python shows than a Saturday-morning
cartoon.  "I'm probably more bullish on the Amiga than most
people," says Jacob.  "We're wrestling with the question of
whether to distribute our titles on machines that can't support
the highest quality graphics.  If we DO eventually produce an
IBM version of "Defender of the Crown," for eyample, we'll push
the IBM (graphics hardware) as far as it will go."

Jacob expects to have his Cinemaware products in stores by
Christmas, but each title will be released for a different
computer model, which may irritate some customers.

So what's next for the Mogul-of-the-Megabytes?  "We plan to have
cliffhangers, just like the old movie serials," says Jacob.
Each sequel will, of course, cost buyers another $49.95.

CONTACT:  MASTER DESIGN SOFTWARE INC., 5743 Corsa Ave., Suite
          215, Westlake Village, CA 91361   [phone]



[***][8/19/86][***]
YUPPIES INVADE MACWORLD/OGLE NEW PRODUCTS
"You can tell the days of the computer nerd are over" was the
observation of one observer at Boston's MACWORLD Expo, which got
underway Thursday at the city's Bayside Exhibition Center. And
indeed it seemed to be the case. Gone are the days of bearded
jean-clad attendees with pocket protectors, replaced by clean-
shaven "managers" in three-piece suits. Show organizers were
well pleased with the initial turnout, and expected over 18,000
Mac enthusiasts to walk the aisles by the time the three-day
show closed its doors. 200+ exhibitors showed their wares; and
there were also some major new-product announcements.  Among
them:

-- Both Microsoft's Bill Gates and Apple's John Sculley were on
hand as Microsoft officially rolled out Works -- the company's
long-awaited integrated package for the Mac. The product
includes word processing, communications, a spreadsheet, and a
database. The whole "works" will retail for $295, a hundred
dollars less than Lotus' Jazz which reportedly has not been
selling well. Sculley commented that he considers Works "better
thought out, better timed, and a lot easier to use" than Jazz.

-- Cambridge, MA-based General Computer Corporation introduced
several new products, including the company's first external
hard disk drive for the Mac. The Hyperdrive FX/20 hooks up to
the SCSI port on the Mac Plus, and retails for $1199. Its most
interesting feature is a built-in print-spooling utility that
lets LaserWriter users queue up several documents as a
"background" task, eliminating the long finger-drumming wait
while documents are printing out.

General Computer also introduced the Hyperdrive 2000, a
combination coprocessor board and internal hard disk drive for
the Mac. The packages adds a 12 MHz processor, 20-meg hard disk,
1.5 megs of RAM, and an arithmetic co-processor to the Mac Plus.
All this power doesn't come cheap; the 2000 retails for $2999.

-- Micah Incorporated of Sausalito, CA also showed their first
external disk drives for the MAC. The two new drives they
introduced are both ultra-high-capacity, with 30-megs and
60-megs of storage space respectively. The 60-meg unit also has
a tape back-up unit. And Micah also rolled out LaserSpool
software, which does the same thing that General Computer's
utility does. Prices for Micah's new products weren't available
at press time.

[***][8/19/86][***]
LOTUS BOWS TO LARGE BUYERS
After months of rumors, Lotus Development this week finally
announced its new marketing program for high-volume customers.
As previously reported, Lotus remains committed to copy
protection (as least for individuals and small volume users).
However, Lotus will remove copy protection for government
purchases of their products. In addition, large companies will
be able to get a proprietary disk that removes copy protection.
In an effort to trace any potential hanky-panky, unprotected
copies will have unique serial numbers and will have the
corporation's name encoded on them. Also, volume-purchase
agreements will include a clause limiting the liability of
companies for illegal copies to the retail price of the
software.

But the most striking part of the announcement is the very fact
that Lotus will be selling direct to volume users, eliminating
the middlepersons of distributors and retailers.  Several
retailers contacted by NEWSBYTES weren't happy about the move,
but remarks tended towards a feeling that Lotus is obviously big
enough and successful enough to get away with it.

CONTACT:  Lotus Development, 55 Cambridge Parkway, Cambridge, MA
          02142, 617-577-8500

[***][8/19/86][***]
DEC: ANOTHER BUSY WEEK
Hardly a week goes by without a spate of announcements -- large
and small -- from Digital Equipment Corporation. Here are this
week's happenings:

-- DEC entered into a 20-year agreement with mega-defense
contractor Raytheon under which the Lexington, MA-based company
will adapt VAX systems for military applications. Raytheon,
which twice before unsuccessfully attempted to market its own
military computers, will start shipping the first military VAXes
in 1988. The ruggedized systems, one the size of a shoebox, will
mainly be used for sophisticated C3 systems (command, control,
and communications). The agreement is DEC's second military-
applications license. For the last ten years, New Hampshire
based Norden Systems has been adapting DEC PDP-11 minicomputer
systems for military applications.

-- The man who once guided DEC in its not-so-successful foray
into personal computers has resigned after 17 years with the
company. After the Rainbow and Professional 300 series bombed,
Joel Schwartz became marketing VP of education, health care, and
pharmaceutical markets. He's leaving to become president, ceo,
and a director of Polygen Corporation, which not so coincidently
is building workstations designed for developing and testing
pharmaceuticals.

-- Finally, although we seldom quote press releases directly, a
DEC press release that arrived on our desk this week surely
deserves a creative-writing award. Coupled with a picture of
DEC's unique-looking circular mouse, the copy said:

"DEC's corporate mouse recently was awarded a certificate for
design excellence from the Industrial Designer's Society of
America. The mouse features large curved buttons which can be
activated through a wide range of finger positions; a spherical
dimension which fits a 50th percentile man's or woman's hand;
high molecular, polyethelyne-based footpads, for quiet, long-
wearing desk use; and a special, circular circuit board to
maximize board population while reducing overall mouse size. The
new design reduces strain and fatigue on the hand and wrist,
therein increasing productivity. The entire design, from circuit
board to buttons and cable assembly, was created on a two- and
three-dimensional computer-aided-design and computer-aided-
manufacturing system."

Therein ?!?! All this for something that moves a cursor around.

CONTACT:  Digital Equipment Corporation, The Mill, Maynard, MA
          01754, 617-897-5111

[***][8/19/86][***]
DATA GENERAL'S OWN AT-COMPATIBLE
Big surprise--another AT-clone. This one comes from Data
General and is named "The Dasher" -- a venerable and much-used
name in the history of the company which once proudly called
itself "The Bastards." The Dasher has a 1/3-smaller
footprint than the AT, operates at 8 MHz, and costs a bit less
than Big Blue's micro flagship. Industry analysts greeted the
introduction with a collective yawn; one commented that it
"isn't likely to take a lot of business away from IBM."

DG also introduced its first engineering software packages for
its existing minicomputer line, hoping to cash in on what's a
hot growing market.

CONTACT:  Data General Corporation, 4400 Computer Drive,
          Westboro, MA 01581, 617-366-8911

[***][8/19/86][***]
IBM ENTERS AI MARKET
This past week's National Conference on Artificial Intelligence
in Philadelphia had a least one surprise: IBM, which hasn't done
much publicly in AI lately, aggressively entered the field with
a series of software products that run on the not-that-well-
received IBM RT. IBM announced that it has created a new group
that will develop and market AI products, and entered into a
$5.5 million research contract with Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon
University under which it'll provide the institution with 225
RTs. Big Blue hasn't exactly been ignoring AI; a company
spokesperson said IBM has over 70 internal research projects in
AI, and as an example, is using an AI system to test disk drives
-- saving over $5 million a year in quality control costs.

[***][8/19/86][***]
ADMIRAL HOPPER'S BOSTON FAREWELL
Alternately called "The Grand Old Lady of Software" and "Amazing
Grace," 79-year-old Admiral Grace Hopper finally retired for
good this past Thursday at a ceremony in Boston on the USS
Constitution. Hopper, co-inventor of the COBOL programming
language, was the nation's oldest active-duty officer. Though
Navy Secretary John Lehman said "she challenged at every turn
the dictates of mindless bureaucracy," the red tape finally got
her as she stepped down, reportedly reluctantly. (See "Navy
Retires Grace Hopper -- Again," NEWSBYTES WASHINGTON, July 15,
1986.) Hopper started working with computers in 1943, when she
reported for duty at Harvard and learned to program the Mark I,
the first large digital computer. The admiral went out in style.
During her farewell comments, she remarked that "it's easier to
ask forgiveness than to ask permission."

[***][8/19/86][***]
LEADING EDGE INTROS LOW-COST 2400-BAUD MODEM
The folks at Leading Edge have struck again. Despite dealer
grumblings about their cash-in-advance policies and alleged slow
shipment, the company keeps coming out with products that set
consumers drooling. Last week, Leading Edge reduced the basic
price on its hot "Model D" to $1295 complete. This week, it
introduced a rock-bottom-priced 2400-baud modem. Retailing at
$289, the L 2400's closest competitor is the $445 Codex 2233;
and it's way below the industry-standard Hayes Smartmodem 2400B,
which retails for $739. The L 2400 fits in a half-length PC
slot, is Hayes-compatible, and comes with communications
software and a two-year warranty.

CONTACT:  Leading Edge Hardware Products, 225 Turnpike Road,
          Canton, MA 02021, 800-343-6833

[***][8/19/86][***]
MERGERS HOT IN COMPUTER SOFTWARE
It shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone who follows
the industry, but mergers in the software industry are way up
this year. Broadview Associates, a Fort Lee, NJ-based investment
banker for technology companies, says mergers for the first half
of 1986 were up 58% over last year, with 130 deals amounting to
nearly two billion dollars. And another research organization
says that the level of acquisitions makes the software industry
second only to the banking and finance industry.

[***][8/19/86][***]
HIGH-TECH VACUUM CLEANERS
Got an "old-fashioned" product that you want to upgrade for the
high-tech era? Don't forget the computer industry! Though the
Suffern, NY-based Metropolitan Vacuum Cleaner Company has been
around for a long time, it has just diversified into computers
with the Metro Data VAC/2, with such high-tech features as an
"air maximizer" and an "opening of mere millimeters for super
fine spot cleaning." You too can keep dust, ashes, and other
unmentionables out of your computer for just $125.

CONTACT:  Metropolitan Vacuum Cleaner Company, One Ramapo Ave,
          Suffern, NY 10901, 914-357-1600