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/V171

Text File | 1991-09-23 | 63KB | 1,370 lines

[***][9/23/86][***]
APPLE'S "AMIGA KILLER"
The IIGS has reportedly been given that title within the ranks of
Apple insiders.  Indeed first glances at the new II elicted
this response from Dataquest analyst Norm DeWitt, "There's
an Amiga in Apple clothing!  This could be the final nail in
the Amiga coffin."  As the folks from "Technologic's Computer
Letter" put it, "The Amiga is dead unless Commodore can
build on the machine's reputation among creative people."
The fact is, while both machines are comparably priced,
the Amiga is a far more sophisticated machine.  But because
comparisons are being made, there's doubt the Amiga's
life will be much longer given Apple's superior marketing
muscle.

Estimates put the number of available IIGS units at 30-
50,000 through the end of this year but analysts say
the machine's impact won't be fully felt until next year.
The IIGS is aimed at homes and schools--and schools do
their buying in the spring.  There obviously will not
be enough units to supply a good 1986 Christmas sales
season, so Apple is eyeing next Christmas as the real
test of the IIGS's durability.  Will introduction of
this new machine hurt sales of the IIe and IIC?  Could
be, according to InfoCorp's Richard Matlack who predicts
that instead of a new II, gift recipients will get
a voucher for a IIGS under the tree this Christmas.

[***][9/23/86][***]
PRICE CUTS FOR MACS
Apple has announced price reductions on the Macintosh Plus,
Macintosh 512K Enhanced computer, and LaserWriter printer.
The current top-of-the-line offering, the Mac Plus, has
dropped to $2,200 from $2,600.  The 512K Enhanced is down
to $1,700 from $2,000, and the LaserWriter printer is
priced at $5,000 from $6,000.  Apple's Delbert Yocam,
CEO, says the price reductions are to help Apple keep its
lead in the increasingly crowded desktop publishing market.
The price reductions also foreshadow introduction of the
new Macintoshes, expected in early January.

[***][9/23/86][***]
APPLE TIES WITH NORTHERN TELECOM
According to THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, Apple and Northern Telecom
executives are working together to capture a share of the U.S.
office automation market.  The report quotes sources as saying
the pair could be designing Macintoshes that would transmit
data at much higher speeds and integrate voice and data
communications.  Apple and Northern Telecom first announced
an alliance in January aimed at making equipment made by
both manufacturers compatible.

[***][9/23/86][***]
WOZNIAK'S BACK
The presence of Steve Wozniak on the stage with other
luminaries at the IIGS show has prompted speculation that
he will return to a fulltime job at Apple.  In fact, Wozniak
was a consultant on the IIGS project, which he originally
spearheaded before leaving Apple in two years ago.  Then
the IIGS was known as the IIX and nobody seemed to appreciate
it.  But all seems reconciled today what with Woz's own
name, accompanied by "Limited Edition," stamped on the first
several thousand.  Said Wozniak at the news conference, "This
is the first ime I've thought of going back to Apple.  I'll
be programming at night for the first time in ages to use
its (the IIGS') graphics and sound."

[***][9/23/86][***]
STEVE JOBS GIVES AWAY MONEY
As for the other Apple co-founder, he's set up a foundation
to give away more than $100 million of his riches.  Jobs
has reportedly said that it is easier to make money than
to give it away.  Consequently he's hired someone to help
him--Mark Vermilion, who's been Apple's manager of corporate
grants.  The newly captured Vermilion juggled up to 1,500
requests for grants per year at Apple.  What kinds of
requests will he entertain at Jobs' still unnamed foundation?
"We've batted around a whole laundry list of ideas," he
said, without revealing anything specific.

[***][9/23/86][***]
FORMER APPLE EXEC SUES
Joseph Lawrence Davis, 42, has filed a suit against Apple
Computer, claiming he was unfairly fired after having been
promised a lucrative post in Hong Kong.  Davis lost his job
during last year's shakeup in which Steve Jobs also resigned.
Davis says he'd been promised the job of managing director
for the Far East--a post filled with perks and bonuses
and worth at least $84,000/year.  But in fact, says his
attorney Anthony Trepel, Apple fired him because "the true
intentions were to restructure the company in such a way
so as to terminate (David's) management responsibility
and to substitute management consistent with the beliefs of
John Sculley," says the suit filed in Santa Clara Superior
Court.  Apple's spokeswoman had no comment, not having
seen the suit.

[***][9/23/86][***]
ATARI TO SELL STOCK
It's official.  The Tramiels want to give away 16% of the
company in a public stock sale.  The Atari Corporation
stock offering, disclosed last week, is expected to bring in
more than $50 million for the company, which currently owes
$36 million to former parent company Warner Communications.
Up to 4.5 million shares of stock will be offered at an
opening price of between $11.50 and $13.50 each
The prospectus says Atari is making $200 million a year
on sales, having lost $26 million last year.  The
underwriter of the offering, filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission Thursday, Sept. 18, is Paine
Webber Inc.

[***][9/23/86][***]
NEW MOTOROLA CHIP
Motorola has announced the 68030 chip, a successor to the
68020, expected to be installed in the next generation of
Macintoshes, and a grandson to the 68000, the chip currently
controlling the Mac, Amiga, and Atari ST.  This chip is
so powerful, says Motorola, that it packs the power of
300,000 transistors on a single semiconductor, and promises
to put the power of mainframes into micros.  The new chip
goes up against Intel's 80386, the most powerful IC being
used in micros today.  Analysts say a full-scale war is
brewing between Intel and Motorola over future sales of these
competing chips to manufacturers planning for the next
generation of micros.

[***][9/23/86][***]
A COMPILER THAT REALLY FLYS
When you manufacture and ship 750,000 pieces of software each
month, you make a few mistakes now and then.  Microsoft
Corporation just sent out a load of QuickBasic Version 2.0
disks--a compiler--only to find a few weeks later that
some recipients of the software got something completely
different.  Flight Simulator disks were inside the QuickBasic
documentation, not QuickBasic disks, in 150 packages.  Some
75 customers called to announce their confusion.  "But most
were so excited by Flight Simulator that they wanted the
manual," says Microsoft spokeswoman Sarah Charf.  Well,
glad to hear it, but we don't ship manuals for Flight Simulator
unless you buy Flight Simulator, the enthusiasts were told.
Anyway, they've since been sent the correct QuickBasic disks.
As for the other 75 who bought QuickBasic and haven't called
Microsoft--they obviously haven't opened their packages yet
and are in for a surprise...


[***][9/23/86][***]
SOUTHEAST HIGH TECH STALLED, JENKS SAYS
In its issue dated September 23, Alan Jenks' "Southeastern
Business Letter" reveals just how far high-tech has fallen in the
Southeast this year. The average high-tech stock in Jenks' 5-
state coverage area declined 5% in price between January and mid-
September. For 1985, the average price was up 22%.

Among specific issues of interest to NEWSBYTES readers, Digital
Communications Associates Inc. was down about 27%, Intergraph
down 26.5%, while Intelligent Systems Inc. (Quadram-Datavue-
Princeton Graphics-Peachtree Software), rose 29%, and Harris
Corp. (Lanier), rose about 8%.  Analysts told Jenks that stock
pickers should be selective and evaluate high-tech issues much as
they would those of any other industrial companies, looking for
quality management and long-term success.

CONTACT: Alan Jenks, JENKS SOUTHEASTERN BUSINESS LETTER, P.O. Box
         7664, Atlanta, GA 30357 [phone]

[***][9/23/86][***]
APPLE IIGS ROAD SHOW PLAYS ATLANTA
Apple executives proudly showed off their new IIGS computer to
reporters and resellers Monday morning at the Hyatt Regency in
downtown Atlanta. The new computer, which comes in a platinum
case, remains compatible with the older IIe while offering users
many of the color and sound benefits of newer computers like the
Atari ST series and the Amiga, which are based on the same
Motorola 68000 chip used in the Apple Macintosh. The two Apple
computers are still not compatible, Apple execs said, but will be
able to communicate using the AppleTalk network. Probably the
best news of all is the announcement of a $500 board which will
upgrade old IIs so they can run GS software.

(NEWSBYTES SE wishes IBM were so thoughtful, as our 2-year old
PC with its 640K memory is already a dinosaur which can't run new
applications based on Microsoft Windows. Oh, well.)

[***][9/23/86][***]
GEORGIA'S FATHER OF TECHNOLOGY, JOSEPH PETTIT, DIES
Oldtimers in Silicon Valley may remember Dr. Pettit as one of
those behind the Stanford Research Institute 20-30 years ago, but
over the last 14 years he became a Southeast legend as president
of Georgia Tech in Atlanta, where he transformed the school from
an engineering teaching college to a $100 million research giant.
He died last week of cancer, at age 70. In the last year, he
never mentioned the disease to reporters and never stopped
working. He will be missed. Very much. University of Georgia
Chancellor Dean Probst will name an acting president shortly.
Contributions were requested to the Georgia Tech Foundation Inc.,
which has set up a chair in electrical engineering, a graduate
research fellowship fund, and a student-athlete scholarship fund
to honor the man.

CONTACT: Georgia Tech Foundation, Alumni & Faculty House, North
         Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30332 [phone]

[***][9/23/86][***]
MAPS ON A LASERDISK FROM GEOVISION
One of the first practical products to use CD-ROMs running under
Microsoft Windows has just become available for sampling by VARS,
resellers, third-party developers and large end-users.  President
Ken Shain of Geovision Inc., Norcross, GA, says "The GEOdisc
contains maps of the United States and a few Japanese and
European cities. The software it runs with is called On the
World, and it runs under Windows." (Windows On the World, get it?
Atlanta high-tech can't help being clever with product
names...must be in the water.)

The package lets you retrieve geographic databases -- it's an
electronic desktop map publishing system, says Shain. Prices are
still being worked on. They're aiming at the end of October for
retail delivery.

CONTACT: Greg Mohl, GEOVISION, 20 Technology Park, Suite 160,
         Norcross, GA 30092 [phone]

[***][9/23/86][***]
TANDY 1000 SERIES FINALLY CERTIFIED BY FCC
The Tandy 1000EX and 1000SX microcomputers were finally certified
by the Federal Communications Commission on September 16, and
shipments to dealers have begun. In a brief release, Tandy
spokesman Garland Asher wrote, "While the delay in obtaining
certification of these products has inconvenienced many, we fully
support the FCC's efforts to maintain a satisfactory
electromagnetic environment for all products."

(Why this sounds like Goose Gossage's apology to Joan Kroc and
the San Diego Padres escapes me, but it does.)

CONTACT: Garland Asher, TANDY, One Tandy Center, Ft. Worth, TX
         76102 [phone]

[***][9/23/86][***]
PECAN BYTES

AT&T is planning a huge, new building in Atlanta to consolidate
its regional offices. A 60-story proposal has been put forward by
architect/developer John Portman for downtown. The other site,
next to AT&T's present Midtown building and now occupied by a
castle-like structure called a "hunk of junk" by Mayor Andrew
Young, is on the same block as IBM's 600-foot high Atlantic
Tower, now under construction.

DAC SOFTWARE INC., Dallas, announced deals with foreign
publishers to bring its product line to French, Spanish, and
English-speaking markets. Great Britain, Australia, Mexico, and
Columbia are among the new markets. DAC hopes to get 10% of its
1987 revenues overseas. (DAC-Easy Word, which came in for so much
criticism it's being redone, is included.)

DATA ACCESS CORP., Miami, is giving away programs, utilities and
techniques that work with its Dataflex DBMS. To download the
programs, have your modem call [phone]. Included are
programs to read dBase II and Data Interchange Format (DIF)
files. (NEWSBYTES SE also received a free copy of Dataflex in
the mail this week, which we have yet to open.)

THE INTERFACE GROUP has renamed its Computer Showcase Expo the
Computer & Business Equipment Showcase. It's still scheduled for
October 16-18 at the Atlanta Civic Center.

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS added a display based on the IBM EGA standard
to its Business-Pro line. The display is aimed at the Computer-
Aided Design (CAD) market.

SAMNA CORP., Atlanta, announced a joint training venture with
Pritronix Inc., Dallas, under which Samna will conduct training
in Pritronix facilities to show off Pritonix offices in Texas,
Denver, and Washington, DC.

INFORUM, Atlanta's downtown high-tech mart which still consists
of a site and a sign, will have its status updated at a reception
for high-tech entrepreneurs October 2 in the Atlanta Apparel
Mart. The Apparel Mart, like Inforum, is a John Portman
production.

FORBES-ISM OF THE WEEK:

                  CLONES ARE GOD'S WAY OF SAYING
                you've stopped earning your money

[***][9/23/86][***]
ALPHA MICRO SPURNS TWO SUITORS IN FAVOR OF TELEVIDEO
"This is a very positive deal for Alpha Micro."  That's the way
Alpha Micro's chairman and CEO Richard Cortese accepted
Televideo Systems' $8-per-share buy-out of the Costa Mesa-based
firm.  Turning down two other offers for the minicomputer maker,
one by rival Point 4 Data Corp. at $6 per share, Cortese
commented that "the combined company will be a major player in
the market at a time of consolidation."  The total amount of the
Televideo offer is expected to reach $25.5 million.

Interestingly, Sunnyvale-based Televideo loses proportionally
more money than Alpha Micro does.  During its last fiscal year,
Televideo rang up a $19-million loss on $109 million in sales,
while Alpha Micro posted a $3.5-million annual negative on just
$48 million in revenues.

[***][9/23/86][***]
TANDON SLICES, ANALYST DICES
After announcing that senior executives will be paid 30 percent
less and that 135 more workers will be laid off, Tandon Corp. of
Chatsworth may also be facing the loss of its top sales
strategist.  Trade newspaper "Computer+Software News" reports
that former IBM marketing whiz Sparky Sparks, enticed to join
Tandon with the offer of hefty financial incentives, may be
ready to take the big walk.  The paper says Sparks' departure is
"imminent."  Sparks is credited with using his reputation to
secure distribution of Tandon's IBM-compatible computer line in
the Entre and Computer Factory chains.

In other Tandon news, securities analyst Jim Stone of Shearson
Lehman Bros. says that things look worse than anticipated for
the firm.  According to Stone, the firm's most recent quarterly
figures showed that Tandon had revenues of $17 million.  Of
that, $8.5 million was tied up against an equivalent short-term
loan, which left the remaining $8.5 million to go towards paying
a whopping $66 million in accounts payable.  How does Tandon
juggle huge quarterly bills like that?  According to Stone, one
way is to delay payments to suppliers, usually up to 90 days.
Following the logic of the situation, Stone predicts that most
of Tandon's suppliers will stop offering credit and will demand
cash-on-delivery terms soon.

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

[***][9/23/86][***]
PRESIDENTS GALORE AS CORPCON '86 ARRIVES
Mark your calendar for Thursday, when five (count 'em)
presidents of computer firms will powwow to discuss "Micros of
the Future" during Corpcon '86 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los
Angeles.  The panel of surviving executives will be chaired by
Philippe Kahn of Borland International, and also will feature
Wayne Erickson of Microrim, Fred Gibbons of Software Publishing,
Safi Qureshey of AST Research and Ralph Ungermann of Ungermann-
Bass.  Opening the corporate computer conference on Tuesday is
Jon Shirley, president of Microsoft, who will give the keynote
address titled "The Coming Software Revolution."  But, just so
you won't feel left out, conference organizers report that at
least 16 OTHER company chief executives will be wandering
through the exhibit hall with you.  There was no mention of a
prize for collecting all 24 presidents.

CONTACT:  CORPCON '86, National Institute for Management
          Research, P.O. Box 3727, Santa Monica, CA 90403
          [phone]

[***][9/23/86][***]
B OF A PUTS SPURS TO ITS TRUST DEPARTMENTS
With its trust department operations divided equally between Los
Angeles and San Francisco, Bank of America prints 800,000 trust
documents per month with an assist from two printer interfaces.
Spur Products of Marina del Rey makes the adapters that permit
that incredible amount of paperwork to flow from a Xerox 9700
laser printer in San Francisco and from a Xerox 8700 model here.
Both are attached to Prime 9955 computers, which are usually
incompatible with the Xerox printers.  Enter Spur, with its
USA/Prime Universal Subsystem Adapters.

CONTACT:  SPUR PRODUCTS CORP., 13469 Beach Ave., Marina del Rey,
           CA 90292   [phone]

[***][9/23/86][***]
BEACHBITS

>>>  Printronix of Irvine has released the Printronix 1013, a
     desktop dot matrix printer with "line printer technology"
     built in.  The new machine prints 134 lines per minute
     in draft mode, and 47 lpm in letter quality mode.  All that
     speed for a mere $795.

>>>  Data Spec of Chatsworth says its KDC280 IBM keyboard cover
     has a hinge at the back, is made of durable ABS plastic
     and costs $19.95.  Simple as that.

[***][9/23/86][***]
OLD BOLSHEVIKS NEVER DIE IN SOVIET DATA BANK
Stalin didn't have card files on everybody after all, and the
Trotskyites did a lot of fibbing.  Those are two of the
historically fascinating items turned up by UC Riverside
professor Arch Getty during his 5-year project to collect
biographies of early Soviet leaders and bureaucrats in a
computer database.  About 27,000 of these early Communists are
represented in Getty's campus computer, and by cross referencing
files, Getty has drawn some interesting conclusions.  One
example is that followers of Leon Trotsky apparently made up
stories to support Stalin's propaganda that he had "everything
running smoothly."  "They talked it up as if it were a
totalitarian machine because that's how they explained why they
lost (politically)," says Getty.  According to his computerized
biographical research, Getty feels that individuals like Stalin
weren't as much in charge as they claimed because of the immense
size of the Soviet bureaucracy.

One fascinating parallel with modern history is Getty's computer
analysis of the Bolshevik purges of the 1930s.  "You seem to
have been exposed if you were hooked up somehow to a big guy who
goes down," he says.  "If it turns out that he was the one who
recommended you for your job and he was purged, well, everybody
he recommended goes down too," smiles Getty.  "Just like here."



[***][9/23/86][***]
A WEEK FOR CUTBACKS
Despite all the hype in the computer trade press about Compaq's
introduction of a 80386-based personal computer heralding a "new
renaissance" in the computer industry, you wouldn't know it by
looking at this past week's news. Three major computer companies
announced cutbacks -- both voluntary and involuntary. Here are
the details (along with additional news):


* IBM OFFERS RETIREMENT INCENTIVES
In a move Big Blue says should reduce their domestic employment
by "at least 8000" next year, IBM is offering employees a
retirement incentive plan under which employees who choose to
retire early will have five years added to their length of
service and actual age for figuring benefits. The plan, which is
entirely voluntary, will be in effect until December 15th; and
those who choose to use it must retire by June 30th of next
year. It retains the company's strict no-layoff policy.

IBM currently has about 240,000 employees, and has limited
hiring and cut expenses to the bone this year in an effort to
improve the looks of its bottom line. Leading industry analysts
say the move will add at least $200 million to IBM's profits
next year, and even more in future years.

Meanwhile, IBM introduced a new model of its high-end RT PC this
week. The RT PC 6151 Model 15 has 2 megs of RAM (twice the
earlier model), and comes with a 70-meg hard drive (as opposed
to 30 megs earlier). All this retails for $10,050, less than the
original RT PC. The original models have been reduced in price
from 20% to 32%.

CONTACT:  IBM, Old Orchard Road, Armonk, NY 10504, 914-765-9600

[***][9/23/86][***]
* HONEYWELL TO CUT 4000
Minneapolis-based Honeywell, Incorporated says it'll be
eliminating 4000 positions. The company has 94,000 employees
worldwide. A Honeywell spokesperson says the reduction will come
through a combination of layoffs, attrition, and early
retirement; but refused to say how many of the cuts will be
involuntary.  Honeywell employs some 7000 people in
Massachusetts.

Earlier in the week, Honeywell announced that its forming a
joint venture with NEC to market a new supercomputer in the U.S.
The new company -- named Honeywell-NEC Supercomputers, Inc. --
will be based in Burlington, MA. The supercomputer that the new
company will sell was developed in Japan by NEC, and the company
claims that it's faster than the top-of-the-line Cray. Price? If
you have to ask.......

CONTACT:  Honeywell, Inc., Honeywell Plaza, Minneapolis, MN 55408
          612-870-5200

[***][9/23/86][***]
* AT&T ALSO PUSHES EARLY RETIREMENT
The biggest potential layoff list is AT&T's -- which will be
offering its 100,000 non-union employees early retirement
incentives. Details of the program haven't been released yet,
and a company spokesperson refused to say how many employees it
would like to cut. Like IBM and Honeywell, AT&T is going through
an extensive cost-cutting program.

CONTACT:  AT&T Information Systems, 100 Southgate Plaza,
          Morristown, NJ 07960, 201-898-3278

[***][9/23/86][***]
ZENITH 386 MACHINE ON THE WAY?
Byte Magazine's MICROBYTES DAILY reported this week that Zenith
Data Systems is privately showing its military customers a new
computer based on the 80386 microprocessor. According to the
story, the computer will be publicly introduced at COMDEX Fall.
Contacted by NEWSBYTES, a company spokesperson had nothing to
say about the machine.

CONTACT:  Zenith Data Systems Corp., 1000 Milwaukee Ave.,
          Glenview, IL 60025, [phone]

[***][9/23/86][***]
AFIPS STRIKES OUT AGAIN
The American Federation of Information Processing Societies
(AFIPS) best known for the failing National Computer Conference,
held NCC Telecommunications '86 last week in Philadelphia. The
first-ever NCC Telecommunications show was designed for
professionals in the field, and reports reaching NEWSBYTES are
that the show was far from a success. One source said the
exhibit space was reduced by 75% shortly before the show, and
once the show got underway, the few exhibitors that did show up
faced nearly-empty aisles. One attendee said that by the end of
the show exhibitors were "literally grabbing people from the
aisles." Show officials cancelled 18 "professional development
seminars" because of a lack of interest; and were not
surprisingly close-mouthed about attendance and future plans.
What ever happened to trade shows anyway?

CONTACT:  AFIPS, 1899 Preston White Drive, Reston, VA 22091

[***][9/23/86][***]
SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT COMPUTER SHOW
Speaking of computer shows, you southern New England NEWSBYTES
readers that have had to travel to Boston or New York for
computer shows will now have one of your own. The first Southern
Connecticut American Business and Computer Trade Show will be
held November 12 and 13th in Bridgeport, CT. Show organizers say
over 200 computer-related businesses will exhibit including DEC,
Wang, Data General, and HP.

CONTACT:  Key Productions, Inc., 234 Murphy Road, Hartford, CT
          06114, 203-247-8363

[***][9/23/86][***]
NEW PRINTERS FROM BROTHER AND OKIDATA
For some unknown reason, New Jersey seems to be one of the
favorite headquarters states for printer companies; and last
week two of the leaders introduced new printers:

-- On the lower end of the scale, Brother International rolled
out the M-1409, a $479 dot-matrix job that's designed to print
80 columns on normally-fed 8-1/2 by 11 paper, or 110 columns
with horizontally-fed (11-inch) paper. It'll also print 187
columns in a special condensed mode. It prints 180 characters
per second in draft and 45 cps in near-letter-quality. And in
what's becoming a normal feature these days, it comes with both
serial and parallel interfaces.

CONTACT:  Brother International Corp., 8 Corporate Place,
          Piscataway, NJ 08854, 201-981-0300

-- Okidata introduced an ultra-high-speed printer. The Microline
294 zips along at 400 characters per second (100 cps in near-
letter quality), and comes with parallel, serial, and RS-422
interfaces. It'll take paper up to 16 inches wide. This type of
power doesn't come cheap; the 294 retails for $1499.

CONTACT:  Okidata, 532 Fellowship Road, Mt Laurel, NJ 08054
          609-235-2600

[***][9/23/86][***]
CRUISE CONTROL FOR CURSORS
Randolph, NJ-based Revolution software has introduced the latest
wrinkle in the burgeoning low-cost RAM-resident software market
for the PCs. "Cruise Control," which retails for $29.95, is
designed to solve those pesky cursor problems of slow movement
and run-on.  The company claims that Cruise Control increases
cursor speed dramatically (3 to 5 times) with most programs, and
it has something called "antiskid braking" which makes the
cursor stop immediately when you release the key. It also has
auto-key-repeat, time/date stamping, and a screen dimming
feature.

CONTACT:  Revolution Software, Inc., 715 Route 10 East, Randolph,
          NJ 07869, 201-366-4445

[***][9/23/86][***]
NORTHEAST BITS

-- Paramus, NJ-based Letraset USA, best known for its press-on
lettering, has purchased the distribution rights to Boston
Software Publisher's MacPublisher, MacIndexer, and MacHyphen.
Although a company spokesperson was close-mouthed about the
deal, it's obvious that Letraset is barreling headfirst into the
desktop publishing field. Letraset will distribute thd products
through computer stores.

-- Now may a good time to make a deal with your local computer
store on SoftLogic Solution's Disk Optimizer or Software
Carousel. Although the Manchester, NH-based company hasn't
lowered the price, they're offering dealers three packages for
the price of two.

-- Educational institutions are finding that marketing
internally-developed software can be a lucrative way to make
some extra cash. The latest to join the group is the venerable
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT is offering INSITE, a
facilities management package for running things like college
campuses or large buildings. INSITE, which runs on minicomputer
systems, has been well-debugged -- it's been in use at MIT for
over 15 years.

-- Burroughs made it official this week, completing the $4.78
billion purchase of Sperry Corporation. The new company bumps
out DEC as the world's second-largest computer company, and will
have a new name (still unannounced) befitting its new position.
28 executives (from both Burroughs and Sperry) have been
appointed to run the company.

[***][9/23/86][***]
CULLINET CORRECTION/ADDITION
In last week's NEWSBYTES NORTHEAST, our story on Cullinet
Software's impending development of software for the VAX said
that the Westwood, MA company only sold mainframe software. We
stand corrected. Cullinet sells two PC programs: Goldengate, a
$695 database program, and Infogate, a $300 micro/mainframe
connection package.


[***][9/23/86][***]
JAPAN-U.S. 5TH GENERATION COMPUTER PROJECT
News broke that the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and
Industry (MITI) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the
U.S. have agreed to jointly develop the fifth generation
computer.  With this agreement, NSF will send selected scientists
and engineers to Japan's Institute for New Generation Computer
Technology (ICOT), which is an organization to develop the fifth
generation computer and is strongly supported by MITI and major
computer manufacturers in Japan.  ICOT has already developed a
powerful serial inference-processor "PSI" (pronounced as PU-SAI),
as the base computer for creating a parallel inference processor.
It is unique in that all the technologies and information in this
project are open to the public.  A related story follows.

CONTACT: The Institute for New Generation Computer Technology,
         21F Mitakokusai Bldg., 1-4-28 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108
         (03-456-2511)

[***][9/23/86][***]
MITSUBISHI'S NEW AI MACHINE
Mitsubishi Electric will release an upgraded version of "PSI,"
a byproduct of ICOT's fifth generation computer project,
early next year.  According to a report, the new version "PSI-II"
will become extremely powerful, compared with its first version.
The new machine's inference speed is three-fold (20K LIPS), the
size is one-third, and the price is half (US$64,516).  Moreover,
PSI-II has a 1MB DRAM.  Mitsubishi has currently been marketing
the original PSI in Japan, and it has been selling quite well.
The company has already decided to sell PSI in the U.S., as was
reported in this column before.  PSI-II is also expected to debut
in the U.S. later.

CONTACT: Mitsubishi Electric, 2-2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku,
         Tokyo 100                      (03-218-2333  PR. Dept.)

[***][9/23/86][***]
FUJITSU'S NEW 16-BIT MICRO
According to NIKKEI COMPUTER magazine (9/15),  Fujitsu will
release the most upper version of the company's 16-bit business
micro "FM16BETA" in late October.  The new MS-DOS model will be
equipped with a 80286 CPU and Hitachi's powerful graphic
processor "ACRTC."  As a result, the machine's graphic resolution
has improved to 1,000 x 700 dots.  Moreover, this new model can
be linked with Fujitsu's mainframe computer "M series."  The
new "FM16BETA" is said to be designed to stand against NEC's
PC9801XA, the most upper version of the PC-9801 series.

CONTACT: Fujitsu, 1-6-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100
         (03-216-3211 PR. Dept.)

[***][9/23/86][***]
GLOBAL PAGING NETWORK SYSTEM
Hattori SEIKO (Tokyo) has decided to join with AT&E Corp. (San
Francisco) to develop an international paging network system.
The new system aims at linking telephones, FM radio stations
(or space satellites), and a special wrist watch.  With this
system, the user will be able to send signals to the recipient's
wrist watch through a telephone via FM radio stations or space
satellites.  Three types of signals, including "CALL HOME," "CALL
OFFICE," and "CALL 00-000-0000," can be sent to almost any part
of the world.  The experimental system will start in Chicago in
1988; actual service will begin in five to six years.

CONTACT: Hattori SEIKO, 2-6-21 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104
         (03-563-2111)

[***][9/23/86][***]
SECRET AGREEMENT ON SUPER COMPUTERS
It was revealed that a secret agreement has been made between
Japanese and the U.S. authorities concerning the export of super-
computers overseas.  According to THE ASAHI DAILY (9/14),
this secret agreement is stricter than the COCOM agreement.
The report says Japan and the U.S. have been restricting the
export of supercomputers to India, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq
in order to cut the route to communist nations.  As a result,
Japanese supercomputers were exported to only two countries so
far - Fujitsu exported them to West Germany, and NEC exported
to the U.S.  Both Japanese and the U.S. government denied this
report.

[***][9/23/86][***]
<<< SUSHI BYTES >>>

JAPANESE LOTUS 1-2-3 DEBUTS -- After two years' extensive effort,
Japanese Lotus 1-2-3 has finally been released for NEC PC-9801 in
Japan.  The unique SAMURAI (ancient Japanese warriers) ad says,
"Japanese 1-2-3 is not just a ported version, but it includes
lots of convenient features."  Those features include stock
analyzers, Japanese word processor, etc.  This oriental version
is expected to compete with dBASE and RBASE here.

TOSHIBA'S LAPTOP PC -- Toshiba has been selling more laptop PCs
than the company initially expected in the U.S. market.  Toshiba
released an IBM PC compatible laptop "Model 1100" in the U.S.
in late 1985.  And an upgraded version of this model was shipped
in this past June, and another model "Model 3100" in July.  Total
50,000 sets were sold in the U.S. as of August, a report says.

OKI'S RISC MACHINE -- According to a published report, Oki
Electronics has started developing a RISC machine as a part of
the company's minicomputer development project.  Its processing
speed will be 15 to 20MIPS when it is completed around the end
of 1989.

NEC AND HONEYWELL -- NEC and Honeywell (U.S.A.) officially
agreed (9/17) to set up a new firm to market NEC's supercomputers
in the U.S.  The new firm "HONEYWELLMNEC-SUPERCOMPUTERS" will be
located at Massachusetts, and it will start the business in
October.

NEW TOOL FOR IBM5550 -- IBM Japan released (9/16) a powerful
software development!supporting tool in order to beef up the
sales of its Japanese business micro "IBM5550."  The new
software tool is called "SQUALAS-5550."  The price is US$1,935.

UNIVAC'S VECTOR21 -- UNIVAC Japan has released its desktop
publishing system "NIC VECTOR21" for a professional use.  This
system is based on the graphic workstation.  UNIVAC Japan expects
to sell approximately 200 systems in three years, a report says.

SHARP'S NEW TV MICRO -- Sharp will release the most upper version
of its X1 series micro "X1turbo III" on October 1.  It has two
5.25" 1MB disks, and supports Kanji, 640x400-dot graphic, and
superimpose features.  The proprietary monitor can be used as
a TV receiver.

DATABASE WRIST WATCH -- The Tokyo-based major calculator
manufacturer CASIO released (9/18) two types of wrist watches
with advanced database features.  Both DBX100A and JENUS-AB200A
store 100 telephone numbers and annual schedules.  They can be
also used as a memopad.  The prices are US$97 each.


[***][9/23/86][***]
AMIGA SIDECAR LAUNCH IN EUROPE NEXT MONTH
Hot news this week concerns the Amiga Sidecar, the Commodore
Amiga expansion box that permits the 68000-based machine to
simulate an IBM-compatible PC.

News just in from Commodore US is that the version displayed
recently at the London PCW show and, of course, several top
US shows including COMDEX, has failed to meet FCC approval.
As a result of this, NEWSBYTES UK's contacts say that
Commodore has shipped all stocks of the unit to Europe for
a Europe-only launch within the next two weeks, using those
stocks originally destined for the North American market.

Meanwhile CBM US officials are rumoured to be frantically
re-designing the main board of the Sidecar in time for the
Comdex Fall show this November.  Will they meet the deadline
and satisfy the FCC?  NEWSBYTES UK's contacts say its gonna
be a race against the clock!

This week's "Computer News" carries the story that the
Sidecar gots its first Danish airing at the HI-86 show held
in Denmark last week.  The version of the Amiga Sidecar on
show at the Danish computer trade exhibition was produced in
Braunschweig, West Germany, with the magazine quoting a
Commodore spokesperson as saying the Sidecar will be
launched "by the end of October."  NEWSBYTES UK, on the
other hand, knows there is a special secret press launch
scheduled for sometime later this week.  It ain't the 64C,
and it ain't the 128, so it's got to be... The Sidecar.  But
the big question is - how much?

Contact: Harvard Marketing Services,
         Harvard House, Summerhouse Lane, Harmondsworth,
         West Drayton, Middlesex, UB7 OAW.
         Tel: [phone].     Fax: [phone].

[***][9/23/86][***]
WATCH OUT THERE'S A (PC) THIEF ABOUT!
Steal to order thieves are cashing in on the booming market
for computer parts in Britain and Europe.  That, at least,
is the lead story in this week's "Computer News," which
alleges that thieves are stealing computers to order and
reselling them as complete sets or broken down into
components for sale to maintenance outfits in the UK and
Europe.

Writer Ian Cheeseman quotes a director of the UK's largest
third-party maintenance firm as saying: "We know it's going
on and that some of the stuff is turning up in Europe as
well.  We have to be careful who we buy from."  NEWSBYTES
UK's local spares stockist was more forthcoming: "I can get
spares for the IBM PC and XT at less than 50 per cent of
their trade price.  At those sort of prices you don't ask
questions."

According to "Computer News," the racket of stealing to
order came to light after several offices in the London area
had their offices broken into.  The firms contact by the
magazine say they had specific items of PC kit stolen,
whilst other valuables and even cash, remain untouched.
"Computer News" also points out that UK Customs men don't
check exports unless asked to do so by the police or where
the required documentation isn't available.  The UK police,
incidentally, don't keep a separate register of stolen
computer gear, preferring instead to list it with all other
normal crimes.

Contact: Ian Cheeseman, Computer News, CW Communications,
         99 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8UT.
         Tel: [phone].

[***][9/23/86][***]
PC COMMUNICATIONS FOR FREE
One things for sure here in the UK - with the recent launch
of the Amstrad PC1512 "PC compatible" at 399 pounds ($600)
plus tax, the PC standard will be impinging itself on the
minds and conciousness of the typical British home computer
buyer - if there is such a creature.

Too bad then that PC communications is rife with problems on
this side of the Atlantic as, unlike North America, Prestel,
the UK's public viewdata system works to a 1200/75 baud rate
standard, whilst the standard PC serial card cannot cope
with such differential, or buffered, speeds.  This makes PC
communications expensive, since it requires either a special
buffer card (not cheap) or a speed-buffered modem costing
almost 200 pounds, to get online.

Until now.  The popular "Procomm" public domain PC
communications package which many enthusiasts regard as one
of the best, is being rewritten to give (a) Full
Prestel-style colour graphics and (b) speed buffering within
software.  This will make it possible to get online using
little more than software and a  30 pound ($45) 1200/75 baud
modem - a cost several times lower than at present.

"Procomm" is one of the shareware PD programs for the PC.
You are actively encouraged to copy and distribute the
program amongst friends etc., and, if satisfied, users are
honour-bound to send $25 to the authors, Bruce Barkelew and
Tom Smith in Columbia.  The new edition of Procomm will be
available "real soon now."

Contact: PIL Software Systems, PO Box 1471,
         Columbia, MO 65205, United States.
         Tel: [phone].

[***][9/23/86][***]
BIG BLUE RECRUITMENT DOWN
When America sneezes, Europe catches a cold.  That old
saying even applies to IBM as, whilst IBM US is cutting
jobs, IBM UK is shedding its payroll too, although in a
much more gentlemanly way of course.

A spokesman for IBM UK is quoted in this week's "Computer
News" as confirming that "only essential vacancies" are
being filled.  This natural wastage method of cutting staff
is expected to reduce the estimated 15,000 Brits employed by
Big Blue UK and comes in the wake of poor financial results
and two years of UK expansion.  Mind you, with their
entry-level PC costing almost three times the Taiwanese
equivalent on the UK High Street, what can they expect?
Sympathy?

[***][9/23/86][***]
CHEAP PCS NOW ON SALE
Talking of cheap PC compatibles, many potential PC owners
simply can't wait until the Amstrad version hits the UK
streets just before Christmas.  To cope with this unrequited
demand, several UK mail order firms have got just the thing
for y'all.  Several good buys are to be had by scanning the
columns of the pupular computer press at the moment, but a
very nice deal comes from New World Computers of Ashton
Under Lyne.

New World offer a 640K RAM, dual drive PC compatible,
complete with green-screen monitor, multi-purpose card
(serial, parallel as standard) and MS DOS/GW Basic all in
for 519 pounds ($760).  An additional 20Mb hard disc will
set you back 250 pounds ($425), which isn't cheap by North
American standards, but by UK high-priced standards it's a
bargain.  No doubt we'll see the price fall even more as the
mighty Amstrad begin its assault on the UK market.
(Incidentally, The much-mentioned Amstrad PC1512 begins its
assault on the North American market next February.)

Contact: New World Computers, 61 Richmond Crescent,
         Mossley, Ashton Under Lyne, OL5 9LQ.
         Tel: [phone].

[***][9/23/86][***]
ONE FOR THE DIARY
Information Standards - The New Momentum - a one day
conference to be held at the London Press Centre on November
3rd, 1986.

Subjects to be covered include:

Eurosinet - the first UK demonstration of OSI using
computers from five manufacturers.

The CCITT standards (recommendations) for the new Message
Handling Systems.

A large user network based on OSI.

The way ahead.

Contact: IBC Technical Services Ltd., Canada Road,
         Byfleet, Surrey, KT14 7JL. Tel: [phone].

[***][9/23/86][***]
QUOTE OF THE WEEK DEPT
"When you die and go to hell, you know what will be waiting
for you there - A Humpty Dumpty PC with a standard RS232
port, a Big-Ears printer and full Epson compatability, a
manual written by an illiterate Indonesian and a requirement
to get it all working by tomorrow."

- Alan Solomon writing about buying and *connecting* a
printer to your PC in "PC Business World" this week.
 ==
[***][9/23/86][***]
FEDERAL COMPUTER MARKET REMAINS STRONG
The federal government is not only a bright spot, but a shining
star, according to a survey of federal government users done by
Exhibit Surveys, Inc., of Middletown N.J. for the Federal Office
Systems Expo (FOSE). The survey asked attendees at the 1986 FOSE
last April in Washington their buying plans. Then the researchers
compared the results to the same questions asked at the 1985
FOSE.

The survey found that in virtually all areas, Uncle Sam planned
to maintain past spending levels. In some areas, PCs and micros
and software, spending plans called for significant increases.
Purchasing plans for microcomputers jumped 16 percent over 1985
plans, while federal users expected software purchases to
increase by 24 percent.

Perhaps confirming those survey results, attendance at the ninth-
annual Federal Computer Conference in Washington earlier this
month hit new records. Officials for the conference said
attendance for the three-day conference was 26,436. The conference
saw the introduction of more than 35 new products, including
Digital Equipment Co's new AT-compatible with software that
allows it to share programs with the DEC VAX line.

CONTACTS: (FOSE) National Trade Productions, 211 Eisenhower Ave.,
          Suite 400, Alexandria VA, 22314. 703-683-8500.

          Federal Computer Conference, Box N, Wayland MA, 01778,
          617-358-5356.

[***][9/23/86][***]
BELL ATLANTIC TO BUY GREYHOUND CAPITAL CORP.
Bell Atlantic Corp. of Philadelphia, Pa. last week agreed to buy
Greyhound Capital Corp., a wholly-owned Greyhound Corp.
subsidiary that provides computer and equipment leasing services.
The purchase price is $140 million. Greyhound Capital is expected
to work closely with Sorbus Inc., a Bell Atlantic subsidiary that
is a nationwide computer maintenance firm. Most of Sorbus'
contracts are from IBM equipment, and most of Greyhound Capital's
business involves leasing IBM computers and peripherals. Greyhound
Capital has assets of more than $600 million and its 1985 revenue
was more than $200 million. Bell Atlantic is one of the most
aggressive regional Bell companies. It has started or bought 10
new non-telephone businesses since the Bell System was judicially
shattered into separate companies two years ago.

[***][9/23/86][***]
MBI REPORTS SOFT QUARTER
MBI Business Centers Inc. of Rockville, Md., reported second
quarter profits of $180,000 (four cents per share) on $30.8
million in revenue. That's a drop of 71 percent over the second
quarter of last year, which saw $639,000 profits (18 cents per
share) on revenue of $28.4 million. For the first six months,
MBI profits were $768,000 (15 cents per share) on $59.8 million
in revenue, compared to $1 million in profits (31 cents per
share) on $49.3 million in revenues for the first six months of
1985. The retail computer sales chain said its soft financials
stem from a decline in sales to the federal sector and to costs
associated with its failed merger attempt with Businessland,
Inc., of San Diego. MBI Chairman Avner Parnes said the company
expects to show better results in the second half through greater
efficiency and cost-cutting.

CONTACT: MBI Business Centers Inc., Rockville MD, 301-279-0551.

[***][9/23/86][***]
WASHINGTON STRONG FOR KAYPRO
Half of America's top ten Kaypro retailers are located in the
Washington area, according to a Kaypro ad in the WASHINGTON POST
last week. The ad said that because of the five strong dealers,
"no other area in the country has such a concentration of high
successful, competent, independent dealerships." Who are the
Kaypro pros? Computerpro of Kensington, Md.; People Computer of
Arlington, Va.; Computhink, Inc., of Vienna, Va.; The Computer
Shoppe in Great Falls, Va.; and Community Computers, with stores
in Washington, Rockville, Md., and Arlington.

[***][9/23/86][***]
VANGUARD SHOWS STRONG QUARTER
Vanguard Technologies International Inc. of Fairfax, Va., last
week reported profits increased 18 percent for the second quarter
to $530,122 (15 cents per share) on $9.3 million in revenues.
That compares to $448,708 in profits (15 cents per share) on $6
million in revenues for the second quarter last year. The company
is custom systems integrator. Profits for the first half were $1
million (32 cents per share) on revenue of $17.7 million,
compared to $839,980 in profits (27 cents per share) on revenue of
$12.2 million last year.

[***][9/23/86][***]
POLICE TARGET MARYLAND HACKERS
Police in Baltimore County, allerted by MCI Telecommunications
Inc. officials, have seized two systems alleged used by computer
phone hackers to to locate and sell private long-distance
telephone codes. Police spokesman Brian Uppercue said the seizure
includes personal computers, print4ers, modems, software, and
records. The county's computer crime unit launched the
investigation in August after MCI asked for help in finding
unauthorized users of its long-distance system. According to
policy, the phone pirates used automatic dialers to locate MCI
codes and then sold them or used them personally.

[***][9/23/86][***]
NEW PROGRAM FOR PRINTERS
National Composition Association of Arlington, Va., has released
a program called Alphacalc that does copy-fitting and price
estimating for printing and typesetting companies. The
program takes job specifications and calculates the galley depth
in picas, lines, and the number of pages that will be produced.
The program lets users recalculate the copy and compare results.
The program allows users to combine hourly typesetting and pasteup
rates with variables such as the condition of the copy, the
difficulty of pasteup, and the degree of extra coding required.
The program then calculates a job price.

CONTACT: National Composition Association, 1730 North Lynn St.,
         Arlington, VA, 22209, 703-841-8165.

[***][9/23/86][***]
EMAIL TIPS FROM EMAIL ASSOCIATION
The Electronic Mail Association has published a brochure on how
to keep electronic mail private. The booklet recommends that
users implement access levels, and encrypt confidential messages.
It also suggests frequent password changes.

CONTACT: Electronic Mail Association, 1919 Pennsylvania Ave. NW,
         Suite 300, Washington DC, 20006.

[***][9/23/86][***]
SOLID WEEK FOR BUSINESS INDEX
The Washington Computer Business Index showed a solid performance
for the week at 221, down a tad from the prior week. The index,
based on retail ads in WASHINGTON BUSINESS, reflected 11.5 pages
of computer ads. In the meantime, non-computer display ads
totaled 24 pages, the historic 2-to-1 ratio for the publication.

[***][9/23/86][***]
POWERBYTES

  $$$  The Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Aberdeen, Md.,
outside Balitmore is getting a Cray X-MP/48 supercomputer from
Cray Research Inc. of Minneapolis, Minn., for ballistics
research. The pricetag: $4.8 million.

  $$$  Electronic Data System in Alexandria, Va., has won a
whopper from the Army. EDS is getting a firm-fixed price contract
for $118 million to supply 4,740 workstations with communications
and networking capability for the Washington metro area. The
contract will run through 1994.

  $$$  CACI Inc.-Federal of Arlington, Va., has picked up a $10.7
million cost-plus Army contract for development of a software
package to perform daily routine contracting functions at Army
contracting offices. The software will run on the Intel 310
microcomputer (whatever that is?), according to the Army
announcements.


[***][9/23/86][***]
IBM, QUAID EXECS TESTIFY IN SOFTWARE TRIAL
The trial of Terence Ram for theft, fraud and forgery in a
software copying operation heard testimony last week from
corporate executives and a journalist who compared software users
to minnows in a pool of sharks.

Among the complainants against Ram was Quaid Software Ltd., a
Toronto firm that has itself faced legal action over its
Copywrite software, designed to defeat copy protection schemes.
Stephen Turner, former business manager of Quaid, said Copywrite
was designed for making legitimate backup copies.  Ram is accused
of selling copies of copyright software, ostensibly for
evaluation purposes.

IBM Canada Ltd. patent attorney Arnold Rosen told the trial that
IBM holds copyright protection on the three capital letters that
make up its name as well as on the IBM logo, and that IBM objects
to use of the phrase "IBM-compatible" on software or hardware
from other vendors.  Rosen said the phrase might lead users to
think the products were made or warranted by IBM.

Journalist Peter Churchill, who acknowledged he had purchased
copied programs from Ram's store, TR Software of Toronto, said
this type of evaluation service is needed to allow computer users
to test software before they buy.  Churchill, who claimed he
always bought a legitimate copy of any program he used in his
work, said software requires long-term evaluation and services
like Ram's are a good way to provide this.

[***][9/23/86][***]
YORK ST. UNVEILS SOFTWARE, COMPETITION JUMPS IN LAKE
York St. Software of Fredericton, New Brunswick last week
launched Version 3.0 of its accounting software product with an
all-day affair aboard the tall ship "Empire Sandy" in Lake
Ontario.  The York St. Software includes accounts payable and
receivable, inventory management and costing, sales analysis,
order processing, purchase orders, job cost, payroll and query
modules, and runs on an assortment of hardware including IBM PCs
and compatibles as well as IBM's System/36 minicomputer.

The company also announced its Gold Seal Commitment, a premium-
priced agreement that guarantees support and compatibility with
all upgrades for five years from date of purchase, for an annual
fee.

York St. is a subsidiary of Crowntek Inc., a major Toronto-based
computer software and services vendor and hardware distributor.

The highlight of the evening cruise, to which the press were
invited, was a new kind of software piracy.  Several York St.
people dressed in pirate costumes and brandishing swords detected
two stowaways wearing T-shirts labelled "AccPac" and "Open
Systems" (two York St. competitors), and the unfortunates were
forced to walk the plank into the frigid waters of Lake Ontario.
(We were assured later that the stowaways were professional
divers wearing wetsuits under their clothes, and that someone
gave them a beer as soon as they were pulled out of the water.
We still hope they were well paid.)

CONTACT:  YORK ST. SOFTWARE, 414 York St., Fredericton, NB
           E3B 3P7, [phone]

[***][9/23/86][***]
CANADA COMPUTES! ARRIVES
Canada's new personal computing newspaper has published its first
edition.  The September issue of Canada Computes! is being
distributed nationally, mostly through computer stores, and
inserted in the publisher's established Toronto Computes! tabloid
in the Toronto metropolitan area.  Highlights of the first issue
include a critique of computer displays at Expo '86, a look at
the future of compact disk technology and a primer on the hazards
of mail order software.

The publishers, ConText Publishing of Toronto, plan to produce
the second edition of Canada Computes! in November, with the
paper becoming monthly in the new year.

CONTACT: Eric McMillan or David Carter, CONTEXT PUBLISHING INC.
         3092 Danforth Ave., Unit D, Scarborough ON M1L 1B1
         [phone]

[***][9/23/86][***]
COMPUTER INDUSTRY COVERAGE SAGGING
Newspaper readers in the Toronto area could be forgiven for
wondering if the computer industry has been cancelled due to lack
of interest.  It hasn't really -- but lack of interest seems to
be the best description of the Toronto newspapers' attitude to
the subject.

The most glaring example is "The Globe and Mail," which bills
itself as "Canada's National Newspaper" and seeks to attract more
readers (it has the fewest of the three Toronto dailies) with a
snob-appeal campaign and the clever slogan "The Reading Edge."
Three years ago, "The Globe" was a pioneer in Canadian computer
industry coverage when it launched its Friday Technology section
as part of its respected daily Report on Business.  This past
spring the section, which usually ran at least four pages of
mostly computer news, was axed.  More recently, Toronto writer
John Helliwell's personal computing column, which won a Computer
Press Association award earlier this year, was dropped.
Technology coverage has been reduced to a daily collection of
half a dozen one-paragraph items and an occasional news story.

"The Toronto Star" has marginally improved its technology coverage
and is beginning to look good by comparison.  But ironically, the
computer columnist NEWSBYTES CANADA turns to now is Lee Lester,
whose Friday column is buried amid the titillating photos and
asinine prose of the lowbrow tabloid "Toronto Sun."

[***][9/23/86][***]
HOPE FOR SMART BUILDINGS ON HORIZON
The so-called "smart building" -- an office development including
communications facilities operated by the landlord for the shared
use of tenants -- could become a more attractive proposition in
Canada if the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications
Commission (CRTC) changes its rules on the sharing and resale of
telecommunications services.

The CRTC is mulling over changes in these regulations as a result
of pleas from phone company competitors and entrepreneurs who
want to make a buck out of reselling services.  At present,
services such as WATS and dedicated lines can't be bought by one
telephone company customer and resold to third parties in Canada.
This means that the handful of smart buildings in this country
can't offer cost savings like those available to U.S. tenants.
The existing buildings -- two in Vancouver, one in Ottawa and two
in Toronto (one just opening this fall) -- sell their services
based on one-stop shopping for communications needs and
immediately available service when things go wrong.  One major
Toronto-based developer, Olympia and York, runs two smart
buildings in New York and one in Boston but has not opened one at
home because of the tighter regulatory climate.

[***][9/23/86][***]
SCHOOL SOFTWARE COMPANY READY FOR PUBLIC OFFERING
Columbia Computing Services Ltd. of Vancouver will be listed on
the Toronto Stock Exchange this month after issuing 900,000
common shares at C$2.40 each.  It's about time: the company was
founded in 1968.

Through most of its history Columbia provided administrative
services to schools through a mainframe service bureau.  But with
the appearance of personal computers, the company began to adapt
its software to the PC, and in 1985 the service bureau was phased
out.  Today, Columbia's IBM-compatible software is being used in
1,300 schools in nine Canadian provinces, 45 states and six other
countries.  North Carolina has licensed the system statewide.

In the year ended March 31, Columbia reported a profit of
C$296,234 on revenues of C$4.44 million.  First-quarter revenues
this year were C$1.52 million, up from C$880,939 in the same
period a year earlier, and profit jumped from C$68,000 to
C$165,519.

CONTACT: COLUMBIA COMPUTING SERVICES LTD., Vancouver BC,
         [phone]

[***][9/23/86][***]
CONTROL DATA PROMISES OBSESSION WITH CUSTOMERS
Control Data Canada Ltd. says it will mark its 25th anniversary
with an emphasis on customer service.  The company is dividing
its sales and marketing staff into teams, and each month,
starting in October, the team implementing the best new customer
service program or idea will be given C$2,500 to spend on
customers.  The program also includes such gimmicks as giving
employees coins engraved "Customers Make My Day" and handing out
a trophy to the team that comes up with the best innovation in
customer service each month.

CONTACT: Al Murray, CONTROL DATA CANADA, LTD., 1855 Minnesota
         Court, Mississauga, ON L5N 1K7, [phone]

[***][9/23/86][***]
BITS, EH?
-- IBM Canada Ltd. will not introduce early-retirement incentives
comparable to those being offered by its U.S. parent.  IBM Corp.
announced earlier this month it would use the improved benefits
to try to trim its work force, but the Canadian subsidiary
apparently doesn't need to do that right now.

-- Diversified Technology, Inc., Dallas, Tex., has cancelled its
agreement to sell rights to its Color Cell Compression technology
to Gazelle Resources Ltd., which like Diversified is traded on
the Vancouver Stock Exchange.

-- International Verifact Inc. of Toronto has announced a second
major contract with Lucky Stores Inc., Dublin, Calif., to supply
2,500 debit card terminals.  The contract is valued at  C$1.5
million.

-- High Line Data Systems Inc. of Toronto will introduce
Personality, a fully integrated human resource management system
for Hewlett-Packard computer systems, at the North American HP
users' conference in Detroit at the end of this month.

[***][9/23/86][***]
S P E C I A L   R E P O R T

NEW IIGS SOFTWARE

   The following products from third party vendors are the first
to be announced for the new Apple IIGS.  With few exceptions, the
software all utilize pull-down windows, pop-up menus and icons
in the IIGS's "Mac-like" interface.  The material below is based
solely on press release information.

--------------------------
 - ACTIVISION has released "Paintworks Plus," a graphics paint and
animation program which utilizes the IIGS's 4096 colors ($79.95),
and "Writer's Choice elite," a word processing program which,
among other features, offers both colored text and text color
highlighting ($99.95).  Both are available next month and are
designed to work together.

 - AST RESEARCH will shortly release a graphics video digitizer
called AST-VisionPlus for the IIGS.  As well as colr and B&W
image processing, it is expected to have zoom-in, aspect ratio
control, contrast and color control, gray leve compression, etc.
Also, AST RESEARCH will introduce a one megabyte memory expansion
card to be called the RamStakPlus.

 - BANTAM BOOKS is the first to be out with two IIGS books.  "The
Apple IIGS Book" by Jeanne DuPrau and Molly Tyson, and "The
Apple IIGS Toolbox Revealed" by Danny Goodman will be available
in October.

 - BOSE CORPORATION is offering Bose RoomMates, small, compact speakers
for the IIGS designed to showcase the computer's 15-voice
synthesizer.  At $299/pair, the speakers fit into the computer's
headphone jack.

 - BRODERBUND has ported its special effects/animation generator
Fantavision ($60) and Print Shop ($70) to the IIGS.

 - CHANCERY SOFTWARE of Vancouver is releasing CSL Marks, a
gradebook program for the K to 12 teacher that is virtually
identical to the program of the same name for the Macintosh.

 - FIRST BYTE INC. says its four "talking" educational software
programs originally available for the Mac (Speller Bee, Kid
Talk, MathTalk, First Shapes) have been ported to the IIGS.
Taking advantage of the Ensonig sound chip and high resolution
graphics on the IIGS, each product contains high quality
natural sounding speech and a graphic enhanced user interface.

 - MDIdeas has introduced 3 hardware products for the IIGS.
SuperSonic is a peripheral card with enables the IIGS to produce
stereo sound ($60).  Conserver is an all-in-one surge suppresser,
power selector (offering AC power for six devices) and fan
($130).  OctoRam is a 256k to 9 megabyte RAM card which fits
into the memory expansion slot of the IIGS.  Price is $399-
$699.

 - MEGAHAUS has announced PageWorks, a desktop publishing program
which works with the LaserWriter or ImageWriter. The software, which
has a mouse-like user interface, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you
get) interactive editing, reformatting of text incorporated from
AppleWorks or other ASCII files), text editing, etc. retails for
$125.

 - PBI SOFTWARE's Visualizer, a professional business graphics
program and CommWorks 16, a communications program, are available
in October.  Visualizer puts spreadsheet data from AppleWorks
files into understandable graphs ($100).  CommWorks 16 ($50)
features mouse support, color, fonts, pull down menus,
communication files, macros, a text editor, color graphics
and digitized speech (used to inform user of error conditions,
program status, other important information).

 - ROGER WAGNER PUBLISHING has announced SoftSwitch, a memory
resident desk accessory that allows multiple IIe and IIc
application programs to be co-resident, and lets the user
switch between them with just a few keystrokes.  Roger Wagner
Publishing, 10761 Woodside Ave., Suite E, Santee Ca. 92071
619/562-3670.

 - STREET ELECTRONICS says its new ECHO IIb, a plug-in board
which enables the user to add speech to BASIC programs or
to any of the over 100 ECHO compatible programs on the market,
will retail for $129.95.