Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1983 May to 1994 June

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[***][11/11/86][***] ATARI RAKES IN $51.8 MILLION SUNNYVALE, Ca. -- A public stock sale (11/7) on the American Stock Exchange has netted Atari Corp. $51.8 million. Opening at $11.50, the stock traded sluggishly most of the day to close at $12.50 when the final bell rang. Most of the cash Atari has raised goes to Warner Communications. Warner had agreed to sell Atari to Tramiel for $36.1 million and 25% of the outstanding shares. That deal has culminated with Warner as the firm's second biggest shareholder, next to Jack Tramiel who owns 28.2% of the company. [***][11/11/86][***] THE 386 EXCITEMENT SANTA CLARA, Ca. -- Intel Corporation expects to sell 75,000- 100,000 80386 microprocessors this year and 500,000 next year. "We're ahead in both demand and manufacturing," boasts Intel's Dana Krelle, marketing manager for the 80386, in Jan Lewis' "Computer Insider" newsletter. Meanwhile, Stewart Alsop, in his "P.C. Letter" raises a question few are asking. In the race to put out 80386 machines, few are questioning their current value. "The fact is, without a universally accepted operating system that enables the features of the chip, the 80386 will not have any more effect on the pc industry in the next year than to provide a tantalizing and ultimtely frustrating glimpse at the future of pcs," he says. [***][11/11/86][***] NEW GRAPHICS CHIP MILPITAS, Ca. -- Chips & Technologies has put the IBM EGA (Enhanced Graphics Adaptor) card on a chip. The small custom semiconductor maker has reduced the EGA board's 93 ICs to just 15, a development which promises to reduce by half the price of EGA technology as well. The EGA technology, which makes PCs capable of emulating the high resolution graphics of Apple's Macintosh, is quickly becoming an industry graphics standard. Chips & Technologies claims the semiconductor is designed to showcase Microsoft Windows. It should be shipped in quantity early next year. [***][11/11/86][***] PROJECT VICTORIA GETS GO AHEAD SACRAMENTO, Ca. -- The California Public Utilities Commission has given Pacific Bell permission to begin wider testing of its "Project Victoria," an experiment which involved the sending and receiving of two voice and five data channels simultaneously over a single phone line. Pacific Bell just wrapped up a four-month trial of the system in which 200 Danville residents could receive several teletext services while having conversations on two phone lines. It all works because of "packet switching" technology, which allows the individual data "packets" to be broken down and sent to multiple destinations. In the Danville test, the hardware to make all this happen included an Apple Macintosh and a multiplexer. The next test may involve residents of Mountain View, Ca. and Los Angeles; the system is expected to be offered to the general public late next year or in early 1988. Pacific Bell is devoting a great deal of energy and resources to this revolutionary new technology. [***][11/11/86][***] APPLE PREDICTS FLAT PROFITS, SALES JUMP CUPERTINO, Ca. -- Apple Computer representatives told financial analysts (11/6) to expect no increase in profits, but a 20% jump in sales next year. The reason for the flat profits, they said, is that Apple will be spending heavily on a blitz of product introductions, all of which will require training, advertising, research and development. The Macintosh, meanwhile, remains the firm's cash cow, outselling the II line by 2-1. Apple is sitting on $154 million in profits, due in part to CEO John Sculley's effective cost-cutting campaign. [***][11/11/86][***] CALIFORNIA TOP ELECTRONICS EMPLOYER PALO ALTO, Ca. -- The American Electronics Association says that for the fourth year in a row, California is the nation's largest employer of electronics industry workers, outdistancing its closest competitor, New York, by 2-1. California employed over half a million workers in 1985. New York had 222,000, Massachusetts employed 207,000 and Texas 152,000 high tech workers. The AEA also reports that sales of U.S. electronic goods are up 1.3% over this time last year, bringing in $55.9 billion domestically between July and September. [***][11/11/86][***] COMINGS AND GOINGS: BUROUGHS, MEMOREX, AND NATIONAL SEMI SANTA CLARA, Ca. -- Big news this week at two Silicon Valley giants. The disk drive subsidiary of Burroughs Corp., Memorex Corp., will be sold to a group consisting of European Memorex executives and New York financier Eli Jacobs. The selling price is reported to be $550 million. The new firm, to be headquartered in London, will keep the name Memorex, and it is expected to have 6,000 in its workforce, many of whom are already employed at the Santa Clara facility. Also National Semiconductor has announced it will chop 500 from the payroll over the next few months due to a restructuring, directly caused by the industry slump. This is the third major layoff for National Semiconductor--the others occurred last November and in April of 1985. [***][11/11/86][***] PUBLISHER'S DREAM COME TRUE SAN FRANCISCO, Ca. -- "Computer Language" and "AI Expert" have been sold to Miller Freeman Publications for a cool $5 million, much to the delight of entrepreneur/publishers Carl Landau and Craig Lagrow. Started with a $50,000 loan and a narrow target audience of programmers, "Computer Language" became profitable after its fourth issue, increasing its ad pages each month in a direct contrast to the bulk of others in the computer journalism field. Landau and Lagrow and their staff simply have to move to a new building, no layoffs are expected to occur. Miller Freeman purchased the magazines due to "plans to become a major force in trade publishing in San Francisco," according to a published report. [***][11/11/86][***] NEWSBITS -- ASK COMPUTER SYSTEMS founder Sandy Kurtzig is being eyed as the host of a morning financial segment on ABC's Good Morning America. Will she take it? "I'm seriously considering it but I'm not sure I'm up to 6 a.m., Motel 6, and instant coffee in paper cups," she says. TECHNOLOGIC COMPUTER LETTER reports THE NEW YORK TIMES will start a regular section on technology, AST RESEARCH will introduce a laser printer than can produce original pages at the rate of 15 a minute. And SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY will shortly announce the first disk drive with a capacity of more than 100 megabytes. TECHMART, a $150 million convention center, product showcase center and hotel complex, is due to open in January in Santa Clara, with two thirds of its product center floor space rented, another third vacant. That's more successful than similar projects in other cities. NEC CORPORATION has asked a federal judge to disqualify himself from the company's case against Intel Corp. NEC claims U.S. District Court Judge William Ingram owns stock in Intel through the Mercedes Investment Fund. The Judge claims to have been unaware of the investment, but has referred the decision to another federal judge for review. NEC is suing Intel in a countersuit resulting from the landmark ruling on microcode copyright, which Intel won in the last court confrontation. NESTAR SYSTEMS of Mountain View, Ca., maker of local area networks, has been purchased by DSC Communications Corporation. DSC is headquartered in Plano, Texas. [***][11/11/86][***] PICTUREPHONE BIRTH MAKES HISTORY SANTA BARBARA, Ca. -- A motorcycle accident had crippled Bill Walther and he was confined in the Rehabilitation Institute on the day his wife gave birth to their child--but that didn't stop him from seeing it. To the rescue came Luma Telecom of Santa Clara, which set up a Picturephone link between his room and the delivery room at the Santa Maria hospital where Carol Walther gave birth. Via the picturephone, Bill talked to his wife in the manner they'd learned at Lamaze classes. At the moment of birth, Bill broke out in tears, passed around champagne and cigars. Afterward Carol told a reporter, "It definitely does not make up for him not being here. But ever since we heard about the phone, I've noticed that he was uplifted. It was something for him to look forward to. It was a goal." It was also history. Carol and Bill have a 6 pound, 14 ounce boy, Benjamin Howard Walther, who goes down in history as the first baby whose birth was recorded by Picturephone. [***][11/11/86][***] POSTSCRIPT NEWSBYTES CENTRAL - The Worst Ad of the Year Award will certainly have to go to Smarteam Inc of Northridge, California. The ad, seen here in COMPUTER RESELLER NEWS, features a naked woman, standing with legs spread apart, whose torso is clad only in an IBM monitor. She holds a graphics card in one hand, a modem in the other. The words, "Stick it in your IBM!" are above her head in the copy. NEWSBYTES thinks Smarteam needs to change its name to Dumbteam, or at least yank that Godawful, offensive, sexist garbage from circulation. [***][11/11/86][***] THOSE TANDY MODEL 100 BLUES FT. WORTH, TX -- Does Tandy still believe its $400 Model 100 laptop isn't a "real" computer? Consider these facts recently revealed to NEWSBYTES SOUTH. Tandy does not have a complete list of Model 100 users, meaning magazines and enhancement firms have no way to know their market precisely. The company is sporting 2- week turnarounds on repairs made in its shops, with even simplest problems fixed by replacing the motherboard (at $185/throw). And walk into any Radio Shack to ask about expanded memory or other enhancements and you will be told this: "We have to special-order it." Maybe it's the low price, or maybe it's because the M100 is actually made by Kyocera Corp. in Japan. If you've got a Model 100 and have become concerned about these issues, write us at NEWSBYTES SOUTH, c/o Dana Blankenhorn, 215 Winter Avenue, Atlanta, 30317. We'll collect the horror stories and drop them on Tandy's desk in time for Christmas. [***][11/11/86][***] DIS-INCORPORATION HITS HIGH TECH AS ISC ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP NORCROSS, GA -- Intelligent Systems Corp. announced last week it has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for permission to let it dis-incorporate and become a master limited partnership. With partnership gains (or losses) flowing directly to owners' tax returns, and with the repeal of the 20% capital gains tax (in favor of the 27% individual levy) in the new Tax Act, it made certain sense to chairman Leland Strange. Since Mr. Strange announced a month ago he's selling the company in pieces, it makes more sense. The MLP form also relieves the company of a December 31 deadline for completing its dismemberment, letting it operate for maximum shareholder advantage into 1987. (Accountants, lawyers, and tax specialists will be studying this deal for years.) ISC owns Quadram, Princeton Graphics, Asher Technologies, Peachtree Software, Datavue Technical Systems, and the Intecolor terminal businesses. CONTACT: Alan Srochi (404)381-2900 [***][11/11/86][***] COMDEX PREVIEW LAS VEGAS, NV -- Can The Interface Group actually pull off a bigger, gaudier Fall Comdex in 1986 than it had in the boom times? Could be. Reports from Southern companies indicate show floors at the Las Vegas Convention Center and major hotels are "sold out," with exhibits even tucked away in offices above the show floor, as they were a few years ago. On a more practical level, NEWSBYTES SOUTH will be seeking answers to some sensitive questions: *Which booth will win the big Texas crowd shoot-out this year: Tandy's, Texas Instruments', or (the current champ) Compaq? *Can QMS Inc. of Mobile, AL compete in a now-crowded laser printer market? The company will roll out a LaserWriter- compatible model, the $5,000 PS 800 Plus, giving it products in nearly every conceivable laser printer niche. The former daisywheel manufacturer has bet the company on lasers. *Will The Software Link Inc., Roswell, GA, really have its PC/MOS/386 operating system ready for the show, or just a demonstration version of the DOS-compatible multi-tasking operating system? *How many 386-based machines does the world need? Datavue Technical Systems Inc., Norcross, GA, will roll out a 386-based machine alongside Compaq's, Wells-Americans', and bunches of others. If you already have a computer, both Quadram and Cheetah International Inc., Longview, TX, will be among those offering 80386 cards -- Cheetah says theirs will cost $395. *More important, will we see any single-user software that needs all the power of the chip-of-the-year, the Intel 80386? For the answers to these and other questions, and for the most complete and immediate coverage of Fall/Comdex 1986, watch NEWSBYTES Bulletins this week! [***][11/11/86][***] SECURITY MOVES FROM SOFTWARE TO HARDWARE FOR MICRONYX DALLAS, TX -- Micronyx Inc. has introduced a hardware-based data security syste called Triad, consisting of a PC add-in board and software. Store up to 64 user profiles in the software, plug in the board, and give IC-based "keys" to all employees, and no one will be able to access anything they're not supposed to. The software locks the system up if the add-in board is removed, president Mark Goode told "MIS Week". CONTACT: Mark Goode (214) 690-0595 [***][11/11/86][***] CONVEX LAUNCHES NEW SUPERCOMPUTER FAMILY DALLAS, TX -- The C-1 line of supercomputers from Convex Computer Corp. uses up to 20,000 gate arrays and parallel processing which, company officials say, can bring the power of a Cray down to the departmental level. The C-1 XL will start at about $350,000, the C-1 XP will start at $495,000 and run up to $1 million. Its chief competition is expected to be the high end of the DEC VAX line. CONTACT: Denise Burroughs (214)952-0200 [***][11/11/86][***] A NEW COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE FROM DATAVUE NORCROSS, GA -- Datavue Technical Systems announced that a proprietary Flow Through Logic architecture enables their new Super Micro/150 to operate at an effective execution speed of 10 million instructions per second (MIPS) and a peak rate of 22 MIPS. Put this box under an IBM PC AT, the company says, and speed will increase 1,500%. It can be purchased as either a board or in a box, complete with power supply and connectors. CONTACT: Larry Morrissey (404)564-5780 [***][11/11/86][***] NEW HORIZONS IN MARKETING FROM LOTUS, SOFTWARE ATLANTA ATLANTA, GA -- Last year Future Information Systems, a computer store chain, put on a show all its own in Atlanta's Fox Theater. FIS' parent, Computone Inc., has been troubled this year, so Lotus (which had a big part last year) is sponsoring the wingding itself this year. Lotus '87, to be held November 19, will feature seven Lotus enhancements along with dealer Software Atlanta. A total of 4,000 invitations have gone out. CONTACT: Kelly Wong (404) 934-0924 [***][11/11/86][***] PECAN BYTES DATA ACCESS CORP., Miami, FL, will be enhancing its "Las Vegas Live" database demonstration this year with high-resolution graphics. It's a multi-file application geared to showing off the company's DataFlex product on PCs, in Unix systems and on DEC VAX machines running VMS. PC LTD., Austin, TX, announced its 80286-based machine beat 16 other AT-class machines at a contest in Philadelphia conducted by "Software Digest" magazine. Machines were tested on CPU speed, and on sequential and random reading off a hard disk. THE SOFTWARE LINK INC., Atlanta, GA, announced an agreement with Summit Software Technology Inc., Norwood, Ma, to bundle Summit's BetterBASIC/386 with TSL's PC-MOS/386, the DOS-compatible multi- user, multi-tasking operating system to be shown at Comdex this week. AMERICAN SOFTWARE, Atlanta, GA, began offering online, dial-up customer support for its IBM mainframe software products. QUADRAM, Norcross, GA, announced its SuperSprint accelerator card works with both the EMS and EEMS extended-memory specs, and claimed its "image memory" system lets it outperform a PC AT by 30% -- for just $595. Also, the company's new Microfazer VI print buffer, which stores printing formats as well as character strings, will begin shipping November 17. TANGENT TECHNOLOGIES LTD., Norcross, GA, announced PC Macserve, which lets PCs and Macs share Mac disk volumes over an Appletalk LAN, and PC Mactxt, which can let an IBM PC transfer word processing files to a Macintosh for conversion into a Macwrite document. [***][11/11/86][***] AND FINALLY, THE RUMOR DEPARTMENT A settlement may be in the offing between Softklone, Tallahassee, FL, and Microstuf, Roswell, GA, in their year-long battle over SoftKlone's Mirror and Microstuf's Crosstalk. Two recent court decisions, in Pennsylvania and California, bolstered Microstuf's case that SoftKlone copied its product, and Microstuf's acquisition by DCA assures it the ability to pay any legal bills SoftKlone litigation may saddle it with. However, Softklone officers officially report they have no intention of settling out of court, and further, do not believe recent court decisions affects their litigation at all. [***][11/11/86][***] LOTUS ANNOUNCES NEW GRAPHICS PACKAGE, MORE TO COME CAMBRIDGE, Ma. -- Lotus Development Corp. has announced a new graphics program, Freelance Plus, designed to work alone or with 1-2-3 and other Lotus packages. The full-page ad in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL did not discuss price. The ad did disclose that Lotus plans to announce new products on a one-a-week schedule from today through December 10, and make another new announcement on January 12, 1987. The company has already announced several new programs such as HAL, a natural language interface, T-A-C, an applications generator, and Signal, offering stock market data. Lotus now looks like the most aggressive software company in the nation, developing a host of products that build on its tremendous success with 1-2-3. CONTACT: Lotus Development Corp., Cambridge, Ma., 617-577-8500. [***][11/11/86][***] COMPUTER BRIBERY TRIAL UNDERWAY IN PENNSYLVANIA WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Pennsylvania State Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer and Republican Party Committee Chairman Robert Asher are facing federal bribery charges with jury selection expected to be completed this week. The two are accused of taking kickbacks from Computer Technology Associates, a California firm, in exchange for awarding a $6 million contract in May 1984 for recovery of tax overpayments by state school districts. Four CTA officials have already been convicted in the influence-buying scheme. [***][11/11/86][***] WORD PROCESSING UBER ALLES McLEAN, Va. -- Computers Anywhere Inc. has unveiled a multilingual word processor that runs on PCs and compatibles. Called Interword, the new program switches between languages with a single keystroke, rather than switching disks. The company offers five versions of its multilingual product. The first two let users write, edit, display and print in English and two other languages: Arabic and French and Farsi and French. A third bilingual version allows combinations of Russian and English. The fourth package lets users write on a single line of a document in two or more languages, including Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Portugese, Spanish, and Swedish. The fifth package is for editing text in Spanish, Italian, French, German, and English. Most versions require installing an EPROM chip inside the computer. No price information is yet available. CONTACT: Computers Anywhere Inc., 8200 Greensboro Drive, #304, McLean, Va., 22102. [***][11/11/86][***] COMMERCE TO CUT BIG PRC COMPUTER CONTRACT WASHINGTON -- The Commerce Department will take a major slice out of a $400 million contract to Planning Research Corp. to automate the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. When awarded in 1984, the 18-year contract was estimated to be worth $289 million. Since then, cost overruns and schedule delays have pushed the pricetag to over $400 million. Commerce says it will cut the contract to an 8-year project, and completely reassess it next summer before committing any further money. The program has been under fire by the General Accounting Office, the congressional watchdog agency. The contract was PRC's single largest piece of business. But the McLean, Va.-based company does not expect the scale back to hurt its financial picture. That's because PRC is being acquired by Emhart Corp., a diversified manufacturing company with very deep pockets. Emhart will pick up PRC for $210 million in cash ($31.50 a share). [***][11/11/86][***] NEC REVEALS HIGH-SPEED PORTABLE NEW YORK -- NEC Home Electronics (U.S.A.) last week announced a new portable computer aimed directly at the hot-selling Toshiba laptops. The computer uses an 80C286 processor and comes with five built-in programs. According to Keith Schaefer of the U.S. division of the Japanese company, the "MultiSpeed has standards of operating speed and computing capacity that are available only as options on other portable units." The machine will be 13.6 inches wide, a foot deep, three inches high, and weigh under 12 pounds, including battery. It will be available in December for $1,995. [***][11/11/86][***] BUSINESS EXECUTIVES INCREASE COMPUTER USE NEW YORK -- A study by the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, funded by Epson America, has found that business executives are using personal computers more often than in the past. But the PC has still failed to catch on at the highest levels of business. The study found that about 10 percent of the executives they polled used a computer regularly. Of those, 93 percent used personal computers. More than half of the computer users, 55 percent, said they have home computers. Chief executive officers and presidents reported using the computers for reviewing management reports. Chief financial officers and marketing executives tended to used the machines for analysis, forecasting, and other decision-making functions. [***][11/11/86][***] FURTHER ADVANTAGES OF ELECTRONIC FILING WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service has good news for the taxpayers in Phoenix, Cincinnati-Dayton-Springfield, and Raleigh- Durham-Fayetteville areas, who participated in the agency's first electronic filing experiment. Those folks will continue to make their filings electronically in 1987. And now, says IRS, those filers may use direct deposits of the funds they get next year for faster repayment of loans secured by the refunds. The tax collectors say they will issue rules for the refund-anticipation loans as part of the continued, and so far successful, fling with electronic filing. [***][11/11/86][***] PERSONAL COMPUTER MARKET ON THE REBOUND? NEW YORK -- An analytical article by reporter Paul Carroll in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL last week suggests that corporate PC buyers "may finally be getting their appetites back." The evidence? IBM says it sold more PCs in September than in any month in history. Other makers say their sales are also picking up. Hambrecht & Quist estimates that PC unit sales will grow 25 percent to 30 percent annually through the end of 1987, a slightly more bullish estimate from the investment banking firm. But these silver linings may have a cloud, Carroll reports. Not all customers are planning aggressive PC buying. Westinghouse Electric Corp., for example, says its purchases will be steady or decline a bit because of business coosolidation. Says Apple-meister John Sculley, "It's coming back as a totally different industry. People were buying without knowing what they wanted. Now, people are buying with very specific ideas in mind." [***][11/11/86][***] GCA LIVES ANDOVER, Mass. -- GCA Corp. has worked out a refinancing deal that will keep the semiconductor equipment maker alive. The refinancing deal will pay off existing debtors at 50 cents on the dollar. GCA will sell $54 million in new equity to its current shareholders. Cleveland-based Hallwood Group will buy any rights that the shareholders don't gobble up. Hallwood, a business rescue specialist, will get a 14 percent share in GCA in return for raising the funds, and will have the right to appoint a majority of GCA's board. GCA is the nation's chief manufacturer of wafer stepper machines. Its chief competitor is Nippon Kogaku Ltd. GCA got into financial difficulty by making a major expansion, just before the semiconductor market turned soft. [***][11/11/86][***] MAIL-ORDER SOFTWARE FIRM FACES BANKRUPTCY, IRATE CUSTOMERS BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- Northeastern Software Inc., one of the largest mail-order software peddlers, filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors late last month, citing mail-order price wars that have cut profit margins to the bone. The company's two-page ads in most PC publications boasted, "We will beat any comparable advertised price by $1." In recent months, the company has been unable to fill customer orders, leaving a trail of angry customers across the country. Numerous complaints have been filed with the Better Business Bureau of Western Connecticut. PC WORLD and MAC WORLD will no longer carry Northeastern's ads. CONTACT: Northeastern Software, 7 Trap Falls Rd., Shelton, Conn., 06484, 203-929-8522. [***][11/11/86][***] PRINTER GIANT EMERGES FROM MERGERS WAYNESBORO, Va. -- Genicom Corp. will buy Momentum Technologies of Parsippany, N.J., for $45 million in stock and computer assets of Centronics Data Computer Corp. of Hudson, N.H., for $75 million in cash. The deal will turn Genicom into the "largest independent printer company in the United States with revenue in excess of $500 million," according to Curtis Powell, Genicom chef executive officer. Genicom was formed in 1983 to buy the printer and relay business from General Electric Co. The company reported sales of $114 million for the first nine months of 1986. The deal is subject to approval from regualtory authorities and the Momentum and Centronics shareholders. [***][11/11/86][***] NEWS NIBBLES FROM AROUND THE REGION WASHINGTON -- The new tax law should be very helpful to the financial performance of Washington area high tech companies, according to the Richmond firm of Scott & Stringfellow. The firm keeps track of what it calls the Beltway Technology Index, monitoring a group of 14 high tech companies. ERC International should see its taxes drop from 46.4 in 1985 to 36 percent. Syscon taxes will drop from 48.2 percent to 37 percent. NEW YORK -- Pay for the nation's 100 best-paid computer and electronics executives fell 2.6 percent last year, according to ELECTRONIC BUSINESS magazine. The magazine reported that 28 percent of the executives took a pay cut during the year, compared to 13 percent who faced a pay cut last year. But not to weep. Pay for the top 100 still averaged $10,700 a week. ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Statistica Inc., which provides computer training, has hired E. Scott Baudhuin as director of the training systems division. He comes from Singer's Link Simulation Systems Division. SPRINGFIELD, Va. -- Mandex Inc., a defense computer contractor, has promoted Bernard I. Lewis to vice president of the hardware maintenance services division. He joined the company in 1984. WASHINGTON -- Personal computer purchases or discounts continue to be the most widely-offered upfront company benefit in Washington area high tech companies, according to a study by Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby. Software AG offers PC discounts, BDM Corp. offers interest-free loans, and Booz-Allen & Hamilton gives employees who successfully recruit professionals to work for the firm a new computer. [***][11/11/86][***] COMDEX *EXCLUSIVE* - WORLD MODEM LAUNCH NEW YORK -- One of the major problems of using US modems in Europe (and vice versa) is that of differing standards. The US uses Bell tones for its 300 and 1200 baud rates, whilst Europe sticks with CCITT on both rates. Fortunately for some, the Bell 1200/1200 rate is compatible with the CCITT 1200/1200 rate, but at 300 baud? - no way. A New York based firm has spotted this problem and will be unveiling a global modem - The Worldlink 1200 - at this week's Comdex. What sets the modem apart from the rest of competition is its price and size. $200 gets you a Bell/CCITT 300 and 1200 baud modem with rotary and touchtone dialing as standard, all in a package the same size as a cigarette ten pack. Speaking to NEWSBYTES UK last week, Touchbase Design's Chris Coffin said that the firm is hoping for sales on both sides of the Atlantic. "The modem follows up on our experiences with the Travelcomm modem, which falls from $295 to $124 this week. The Worldlink 1200 modem will, we hope, blow the socks off the competition." Judging from Touchbase's specification sheet, telefaxed across the Atlantic as we went to press, NEWSBYTES UK reckons this little beauty will be a winner, particularly for laptop and other portable computer owners. CONTACT: TOUCHBASE DESIGN SYSTEMS INC., 16 Green Acre Lane, Northport, New York 11768. Tel: 516-261-0423. [***][11/11/86][***] AMSTRAD NEWS #1: BOWING TO THEIR FANS BRENTWOOD -- Following considerable rumour/innuendo regarding potential overheating problems on their PC1512 series, Amstrad is to fit cpu case fans to its hard disc models. Coming in the wake of a 12.5 per cent price hike (see NEWSBYTES UK 4th Nov. edition), the firm is avoiding criticism by fitting fans as standard on its hard disc models, and as a value added (20 pound/$30) extra on the floppy-based machines. Announcing the fan upgrade, Malcolm Miller, sales and marketing persona for Amstrad, said: "Whilst (there are) those who've given the machine a clean bill of health, there are those who suggest they run hot." "Frankly, we're getting very irritated with this overheating rumour... it's a lot of nonsense." Amstrad's move comes on top of mounting worry that, in placing the system power supply and cooling fan inside the monitor case, system cards fitted within the cpu case may overheat. Now consumers have two fans for the price of one! [***][11/11/86][***] AMSTRAD NEWS #2: QUEUEING UNTIL APRIL BRENTWOOD -- Demand for the budget PC1512 is growing - so much so that Amstrad's Alan Sugar has been prompted to publicly state that machines won't be available to order via the majority of UK dealers until April of next year. "Demand is much higher than expected," Sugar is quoted as saying in this week's MICROSCOPE magazine. A spokesperson for a major Amstrad distributor - DDL - is also quoted as saying that demand is vastly outstripping supply on the software front too. Low-cost versions of Supercalc 3, Reflex and Sidekick are reported to be selling like hot cakes. * Production of the Amstrad PC1512 is currently running at 70,000 units a month. Amstrad have advised the industry that this will rise to 100,000 a month by January, thereby allowing the company to meet UK sales targets of 600,000 units by April next year. CONTACT: CONTACT: AMSTRAD CONSUMER ELECTRONICS, PO Box 462, Brentwood, Essex, CM14 4EE. Tel: Brentwood (0277) 230222. [***][11/11/86][***] TELEPHONE PRICE WARS LONDON -- Hardly was the ink dry on British Telecom's new telephone rates, which rose by as much as 18.9 per cent on local rates last week, than Mercury had announced dramatic price *falls* in its tarrifs. Whilst BT claim the overall effect on a typical home 'phone user will be limited to 1.9 per cent, their new rates have come under fire from all quarters, with accusations of bias in favour of big business clients. Whilst the price of local calls goes through the roof, NEWSBYTES UK notes that long-haul call rates have actually gone down. Mercury's response to this has been to slash its already lower call rates by 12 per cent, making their rates even more attractive to most users of the 'phone. * A report just out from the British Telecommunications Union Committee (BTUC) claims the fears of BT's privatisation have come true. 'Fault on the Line,' from BTUC claims that the resultant changes since privatisation - dearer domestic calls and a poorer overall service - exactly mirror the problems which AT&T customers experienced when the US telecoms giant was privatised earlier this decade. CONTACT: MERCURY TELECOMMUNICATIONS PLC, Mercury House, 1 Brentside Executive Centre, Great West Road, Brentford, Middlesex. TX8 9DS. Tel: 01-847-6070 [***][11/11/86][***] ZENITH MOVE INTO THE AMSTRAD MARKET LONDON -- One of the major PC compatible manufacturers in the US is set to expand its sales drive into the UK low end market, pitching for the budget clone market opened up by Amstrad. With prices that *undercut* Amstrad's range, Zenith hope to mop up all those first-time PC buyers waiting for the PC1512 to be delivered (see news item #2 this week). "We're offering dealers an Amstrad-free diet," UK director Tom Cairns is quoted as saying last week. Cash dealer price of the Zenith's dual-floppy PC ZF148 is now down to 550 pounds ($800) - down from a previous 850 pounds - with the popular Z171 portable pricing in at 780 pounds ($1,150) - down from 1,277 pounds. [***][11/11/86][***] COPYRIGHT FOR PROGRAMS LONDON -- Whilst programs written by humans enjoy much the same copyright law protection as books and magazines do under current British law, programs and their resultant data produced entirely without human intervention cannot be covered, according to a UK governmental white paper on copyright. Responding to the paper's comments, the British Computer Society (BCS) is on record as saying it is "alarmed" that pictures such as satellite weather maps aren't covered under British copyright laws. At the other end of the scale, many newspapers use computers to generate crosswords - these too are not covered. Heavily criticising the government proposals for a revision of copyright laws to take account of the new technology, the BCS points out that US copyright law covers computer generated code, whilst UK law remains unproven on the subject. This raises the interesting possibillity of a US company ripping off a UK computer generated program with no comeback - not that anyone would do such a thing of course! CONTACT: BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY, 13 Mansfield Street, London W1M 0BP. Tel: 01-637-0471. [***][11/11/86][***] LISA RAISES HER HEAD AGAIN LONDON -- Okay, so you finally gave into your spouse's wishes, packed away the computer and took the family out shopping. "No peeking in the computer store," you are sternly warned. Hey - what's this? A computer in the shopping mart? Great, I'll just get out a disc and away we go... If the initial scenario sounds familiar, but the second does not - read on, as Littlewoods stores, a major shopping chain in the UK, have seen fit to install an IBM PC XT in its Luton, Cardiff and Aberdeen stores. The computers are part of a pilot scheme to allow shoppers to touch screen select a description, with hard copy if required, of all the shops' product range. If the pilot scheme is successful, the firm will install PCs in all 109 stores. All NEWSBYTES UK readers have to figure out now is how to pry off the store PC's keyboard cover and we'll have Flight Simulator up and running in a trice! [***][11/11/86][***] QUOTE OF THE WEEK "The fitting of this fan is a waste of money, but it will keep people happy. I recommend that operators switch the fan off. It'll save on electricity and won't make any difference to the operation of the machine." -- Alan Sugar of Amstrad talking to the press about the extra fan being fitted to his computers. [***][11/11/86][***] 32-BIT OS "TRON" PROTOTYPE REVEALED TOKYO -- The prototypes of the TRON operating system were shown at the TRON Symposium in Tokyo on November 4. Hitachi has displayed multi-task processing on its ITOS68K system. Fujitsu has demonstrated a parallel processing feature on its ITRON/MMU286 system. Toshiba has shown a sample keyboard for a TRON micro. And NEC has displayed a MS-DOS-based PC-TRON for NEC PC-9801. PC-TRON program was jointly developed with Micronics (Tokyo). The TRON project is expected to play an extremely important role in setting up a standard personal computer operating system. Currently, thirty-seven computer companies, including major personal computer manufacturers, have been members of this project. CONTACT: Dr. Ken Sakamura, Dept. of Information Science, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113 [***][11/11/86][***] NO MORE MS-DOS TO JAPANESE HARDWARE MAKERS? TOKYO -- Strange news haunted Japanese micro users this past week: "Microsoft will stop supplying MS-DOS to Japanese hardware manufacturers." Many major newspapers reported that MS-DOS will only be available through the limited number of Microsoft dealers in Japan at US$113. The execution date was unknown. Currently, Japanese hardware manufacturers have directly been buying MS-DOS from Microsoft on an OEM basis. And those manufacturers have been selling this program after installing it for their machines. The hardware makers have also been providing the installed MS-DOS for their application program developers. The NEC executives have denied this report. President Furukawa of Microsoft's Tokyo office also told the reporters (11/7) that Microsoft won't terminate the OEM agreement with Japanese manufacturers. But he has mentioned that he doesn't like to see MS-DOS bundled with application programs, as is now. That has been delaying the up-to-date maintainance of MS-DOS. "Eventually, we'd like to stop this practice (MS-DOS bundling) when we get the consensus from the users and software houses," says President Furukawa. All in all, status quo of MS-DOS in Japan will not change for some time. Now, who gave this false alarm? That has been raising lots of curiosity among analysts. [***][11/11/86][***] 80386 MICRO FROM MITSUBISHI TOKYO -- According to THE NIKKEI DAILY (11/4), Mitsubishi Electric will release a 32-bit personal computer by mid-1987. This personal computer will be equipped with Intel's 80386, a maximum 6MB memory, and a built-in disk drive with over 70MB memory. Also, the report says the machine's advanced features, such as high-speed graphics processing, are expected to make this product almost as powerful as a general purpose computer. The details, including its price, are unknown. CONTACT: Mitsubishi Electric, 2-2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100 (03-218-2333 PR. Dept.) [***][11/11/86][***] LAPTOP PC/XT COMPATIBLE MICRO FROM NEC TOKYO -- NEC has been looking at Toshiba's success in the laptop computer market in the U.S. Now the company is ready to jump in too. According to THE NIKKEI-SANGYO DAILY (11/6), NEC has just developed an IBM PC/XT-compatible laptop computer and will market it in the U.S. NEC's new laptop "Multispeed" has 640Kb RAM and an 80x25-line LCD. Popular word processing programs and database programs are said to be bundled with this laptop. Multispeed measures 35 x 31 x 8cm, and weighs 5.1kg. The price and the shipping date have not yet been reported. CONTACT: NEC Information Systems, Inc., 1414 Massachusetts Ave., Boxborough, MA 01719, U.S.A. (617-264-8000) [***][11/11/86][***] NEC'S NEW 8-BIT MICROS NEC announced (11/4) two new 8-bit personal computers as high end versions of its PC-8801 family. New micros PC-8801MH and FH have an 8MHz-MPU "MicroPD70008AC-8" (second source of Z80H) and a FM sound board. Two new keys (a conversion key and a set key) are added to make Japanese word processing work more convenient on these micros. The dual disk version MH costs US$1,300, which is a lot cheaper than the current 8-bit machines. These two new micros may affect the sales of 8-bit micros, including NEC's own family. [***][11/11/86][***] JAPANESE LOTUS 1-2-3 UPDATE TOKYO -- Lotus Development Japan announced (10/31) the company will rewrite Japanese Lotus 1-2-3 for the NEC PC98LT laptop, and start marketing the product early next year. Also, two other versions for Toshiba's J3100 laptop and Fujitsu FM16BETA will be released later. About 4,000 sets of Japanese Lotus 1-2-3 were shipped by the end of October, since this program made its debut in this past September. Currently, this program is available for NEC PC9801 and IBM 5550. Both are priced at US$613. CONTACT: Lotus Development Japan, No.10 Toranomon-MF Bldg., 3-10-11 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105 (03-436-4105) [***][11/11/86][***] PERSONAL COMPUTER OUTPUT REPORT TOKYO -- The Japanese Electronic Industry Promotion Association released (11/6) a report on the personal computer output during April and September 1986. According to this report, the total output of personal computers was 879,000 sets or a 2-percent increase over the same period last year. The total sales volume was US$1.85 billion, or a 16-percent increase. The report says sales are picking up for the machines which cost over US$625. Low-cost machines under that price range did not sell well. In fact, the sales of MSX machines dropped by 23 percent. [***][11/11/86][***] <<< SUSHI BYTES >>> (VLSI TECHNOLOGY IN JAPAN) TOKYO -- VLSI Technology (CA, U.S.A.) will open its LSI design center in Tokyo on Nov. 10. VLSI's president told Japanese reporters, "We'd also like to produce LSIs in Japan in the future." (10MB 5.25" DISK) TOKYO -- The Tokyo-based camera maker KONISHI- ROKU has developed a 10MB 5.25" disk drive and its diskette. A report says the company has agreed with Citizen (Tokyo) and Tateishi Denki (OMRON/Tokyo) to cooperate in volume production and marketing of this product. The initial product will be shipped in January 1987. (HOST COMPUTERS FOR SIGMA PROJECT) TOKYO -- The Information Processing Promotion Association (Tokyo) has announced the host computers for SIGMA project, which is Japan's national project to raise software development productivity using a large-scale computer network. Those computers made by Fujitsu, NEC, Hitachi, and NTT will be installed at the SIGMA Center in Tokyo by March 1987. (IBM'S AI BUSINESS) TOKYO -- IBM Japan has set up a special AI department dubbed "EXPERT SYSTEM PROJECT OFFICE" for pushing its AI business. IBM Japan plans to exchange AI information and data with the laboratories in the U.S. to develop efficient AI systems, says a report. (FUJITSU AND SIEMENS) TOKYO -- According to a recent report, Fujitsu has signed an OEM contract with Siemens in West Germany. With this agreement, Fujitsu will supply a large-scale general purpose computer "M780" to Siemens. 150 to 200 sets are expected to be shipped in the next three years. (HITACHI'S UNIX COMPUTER) TOKYO -- Hitachi released (11/6) HI- UX/M, an UNIX Sysytem-V version, for its middle-scale computer "HITAC M" series. NEC and Fujitsu have also adopted UNIX for their mid-scale computers. Moreover, those three firms have already rewritten UNIX for their workstations. (5.25" OPTICAL DISK STANDARD) TOKYO -- Concerning the fundamental features of a 5.25" optical disk, Sony agreed (11/7) with three manufacturers, including Philips Dupon-Optical (the Netherlands), Thomson Giga-Disk (France), and Laser Magnetic Storage (U.S.A.). These firms plan to submit the specifications to the ISO for the optical disk's standardization. [***][11/11/86][***] DESKTOP PUBLISHING AT COMDEX TORONTO -- Laser Friendly Inc., a startup software firm, will unveil desktop publishing software for the IBM PC XT, AT and compatibles at Comdex Fall this week. Office Publisher and Office Publisher Plus are designed to work with most popular laser printers, but not typesetting machines. Company President Jack Banks says the packages are designed for office use, not for the publishing business. Office Publisher is a simple version of the software designed to be usable by personnel with little training, while Office Publisher Plus is a more sophisticated system. Both have What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) screen displays and handle hyphenation and kerning (a step beyond proportional spacing in which the space a letter occupies depends not only on its size but on the letters to either side of it). Both products support the Postscript page description language and allow grpahics to be incorporated in text documents. Office Publisher will sell for $795 and Office Publisher Plus for $1,495. CONTACT: Jack Banks, LASER FRIENDLY INC., 156 Shorting Rd. Scarborough, Ont., (416) 292-5851 [***][11/11/86][***] FASTER MODEMS, TOO TORONTO -- Another thing to look for at Comdex is the first of the 9,600-baud modems for personal computers. So says Jud Newell, sysop of Canada Remote Systems. Canada's largest bulletin board system is expecting to get two of USRobotics' Courier 9600s for testing shortly after Comdex, and Newell writes in the board's member newsletter this month that he expects the USR units won't be the only 9,600-baud modems unveiled at the show. Canada Remote, which will probably be a dealer for the modems, predicts they will be generally available early in 1987 and hopes to have a couple to show off at the Canadian Computer Show in Toronto, coming up next week. Predicted price: around C$1,800. [***][11/11/86][***] CANADIAN COMPUTER SHOW NEXT WEEK TORONTO -- The Canadian Computer Show, Canada's largest computer industry trade show, opens Monday Nov. 17 at the International Centre of Commerce on the outskirts of Toronto. About 300 vendors are committed to exhibit at the four-day show this year. Last year's final exhibitor count was 397, so it looks as if this show may be suffering a bit from the general trend to smaller computer shows. Attendance last year was just under 40,000. The show is largely mainframe- and minicomputer-oriented, but the personal computer contingent has been growing in recent years. The annual Canadian Computer Conference, sponsored by the Canadian Information Processing Society, will be held in conjunction with the show. The conference theme this year is "Making the Most of Information Technology." CONTACT: INDUSTRIAL TRADE SHOWS LTD., 20 Butterick Rd., Toronto, ON M8W 3Z8, (416) 252-7791 [***][11/11/86][***] SOFTWARE LINKS PC TO TELEX TORONTO -- A software package from Quebus Business Solutions of Toronto allows an IBM PC or compatible computer to manage electronic mail and Telex messages. QTS provides word processing functions as well as checking electronic mailboxes and printing out messages automatically. The package is designed to work with Lotus Development's Symphony package. It needs MS-DOS 2.1 or later to run, and the user must be registered with one of the two messaging services Inet 2000 and Envoy 100, as well as with Textran Inc. of Montreal for transmitting messages to the Telex network. QTS costs C$279. CONTACT: QUEBUS BUSINESS SOLUTIONS, Suite 640, 144 Front St. W., Toronto, ON M5J 2L7, (416) 977-1177 [***][11/11/86][***] CAD/CAM GROWING, BUT TOO NARROWLY DEFINED CAMBRIDGE, Ont. -- Computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) is growing in Canada, but it would grow even faster if potential users didn't misunderstand the term and define it too narrowly. The Toronto-based industry newsletter DP MARKET FACTS quotes John Richardson, general manager of the Ontario government's CAD/CAM Centre in Cambridge, as saying that small manufacturers here are reluctant to adopt CAD/CAM because the technology is much misunderstood. Richardson predicts, however, that the CAD/CAM industry in this country will be worth more than C$300 million by the end of this year and C$1.2 billion by 1990. [***][11/11/86][***] MERIDIAN TECHNOLOGIES PROFIT FALLS TORONTO -- Meridian Technologies Inc., parent company of educational micro maker Canadian Educational Microcomputer Corp., has reported profit of C$241,000 for the six months ended Sept. 30, down from C$403,000 in the same period a year earlier. Revenue was up slightly at C$16.6 million, from C$16.4 million in the year-earlier period. It was the second quarter (ended Sept. 30) that did the damage, with revenue falling from C$10.2 million to C$9.1 million and profit dropping from C$325,000 to C$94,000. Meridian recently launched a new educational software company, ESTC Education Systems Technology Canada Inc., in a joint venture with Education Systems Technology Corp. of San Diego. [***][11/11/86][***] BITS, EH? - BMB Compuscience of Milton, Ont., has received awards from the Society for Technical Communication for the design and documentation of its The Manager office automation software and for technical artwork in the package's documentation. - Maxon Computer Systems Inc. of Toronto, formerly Micom Computer Systems Ltd., has completed an initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company sells minicomputer software. [***][11/11/86][***] C O M D E X C O V E R A G E Special Reports from Dana Blankenhorn and Wendy Woods COMDEX/FALL '86 LAS VEGAS, Nv. -- The crowds are back this year, and so is the optimism, a sharp contrast to last year's Fall Comdex when much of the industry was in the grips of the most recent shakeout. This year Comdex drew some 1200 exhibitors, many of whom displayed products that were truly exciting and innovative. For the moment, Comdex is by and large, a popular forum for display of new products and exchange of ideas, although its future is being questioned. The headliners at this show are the Intel 80386 chip and desktop publishing. At least 6 companies, including Compaq and Kaypro, are showing 80386-based micros, Intel is among those showing 80386-based enhancement boards, and a few software programs, like PC-MOS 386 from The Software Link Inc., Atlanta, are also on display. (Why the excitement? The new machines are 3-times faster than the PC-AT, so you can run a DOS application in a Xenix or Pick window, making this PC a "desktop mini" and the perfect file server.) Meanwhile, desktop publishing has moved from a concept to a fad to a full-fledged movement in just two years. With Aldus' PageMaker for the PC (requires Windows, a hard disk, and an AT) Xerox' Ventura PC Publisher (640K and a hard disk on a plain PC) and Spellbinder Desktop Publisher from Lexisoft, the software field has gone from open to crowded all at once. There are also a host of printers and scanners available. THE CONSPICUOUS ABSENCES -- Among the late cancellations at this year's show are Apple, Commodore, Ashton-Tate and most of Lotus (their graphics division has a small booth). Noshows also include Living Videotext, although its president, David Winer, was seen wandering the floor. When asked if he might drop another $140,000 on a booth in the future, he replies, "Never again." His response may be typical. IBM cancelled its Monday press conference. AT&T made no new announcments. DEC and Apple have left the show to concentrate on DECUS and MacWorld, respectively. "This is a show for small companies," admitted AT&T's Vice President of Sales John Boyd. "We can announce products on our own." Exhibitor cancellations moved Comdex to abandon booths at Caesar's, and take less of the Hilton than before. THE LITTLE GUYS -- Tiny booths live on at Comdex' satellite sites in the Sahara and Riviera Hotels. And they work. We talked to Fred Cisin, author of Xenocoy from Xenosoft, Berkeley, CA, a program which transfers data among 300 file formats. On Wednesday, Fred, with his red Rip Van Winkle beard and corduroy suit, was busy handing out literature from a wooden desk. "Distributors don't return my phone calls, but show up here and are fascinated by the idea and want to sign up. Comdex lets us get through to people I couldn't see otherwise." THE ATARI BOOTH -- With Apple and Commodore/Amiga both no-shows, Atari has the excitement race wrapped up, and the packed-in crowd at their booth shows it. This year serious business products are highlighted, like Royal Software's EZ Calc, a 300x1000 cell spreadsheet running under Digital Research's Gem, and The Graphic Artist, a combination desktop publishing and CAD package from Progressive Computer Applications, Rockville, MD. PCA president Peter Naleszkiewicz (cq.) told us sales rose 10-fold when the product's price was dropped from $400 to $200 recently. (Still too rich for you? Try Easy-Draw from Migraph (800-223-DRAW) -- $79.95! Of course, the laser printer is extra, and prices range from $2,000 (QMS) to $5,500 (Apple).) Among the most exciting products Atari has on display, however, involve sound, not pictures. Take Midiplay from ELECTRONIC MUSIC PUBLISHING HOUSE INC., Santa Monica, CA. In the booth visitors could hear Lionel Ritchie's "Dancing on the Ceiling" in any tempo, on a MIDI synthesizer, with the score flashed on an ST behind them. The product is called Midiplay, and for $49.95 ($5 for a demo disk) it's a record/playback system with 16 channels; as with desktop publishing solutions, the MIDI synthesizer costs extra, of course. The company is also selling Musidisks at $19.95 each, with recordings of the classics and the Beatles, and more are promised. Want to record your own music on the Atari instead of changing someone else's? Then you'll want Metatrack, from Midisoft, Bellevue, WA, a $99 program linking the MIDI synthesizer and Atari ST computer into a complete music publishing system. CONTACT: ELECTRONIC MUSIC PUBLISHING HOUSE INC., 2210 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90403 (213) 455-2025 MIDISOFT, P.O. Box 1000, Bellevue, WA 98009 (206)827-0750 [***][11/11/86][***] LAND OF THE CHEAP CLONES -- Hyundai drew a full house at a Wednesday press conference to talk about its Korean-made line of PC clones. Under the moniker Blue Chip Electronics, Chandler, AZ, Hyundai is now shipping a $700 PC clone ($800 with DOS) in direct competition with Daewoo (Leading Edge), the Taiwanese, and a flock of American assembler/importers. Blue Chip president John Rossi said 700 outlets now sell the Blue Chip PC, including Fedco, Toys R Us, and Target stores. But the point of the news conference was the unveiling of an AT compatible for delivery in March which will only go to distributors and dealers, and will sell for under $2,000 retail. "Toys R Us will never sell an AT computer. They can sell an XT OK, but the AT is a more sophisticated sale," said Rossi. CONTACT: John Rossi (602)961-1485 [***][11/11/86][***] THE MEANING OF THE 386 -- One good way to see the initial effects of the 80386 is in the Autodesk booth in the Rotunda, where the makers of Autocad are running a raster/-vector conversion program called CAD/Camera on the Compaq 386. AutoDesk is always one of the more popular Comdex software stops, and the engineers who use its products are demons about speed, since the ideas they're working with are so complex. Product manager Kevin O'Lone says the program can digitize line art from many different scanners for use by AutoCad systems. On AT-based systems, this can take hours: on the Compaq it takes only a few minutes. (AutoDesk also gave away thick books of applications which run off its program.) It means engineers can swap drawings easily. CONTACT: Kevin O'Lone (408)732-1832 [***][11/11/86][***] ENTERTAINMENT DEPARTMENT -- A few years ago companies used giveaways to lure Comdex showgoers to their booths. T-shirts were especially popular. These days the giveaways are gone, except as contests -- theater is in. IBM has "The Little Tramp," Billy Scudder, in "The Well Connected Enterprise," complete with rotating stage. NEC has a juggling act, AT&T "The Computer People's Court," CW Communications featured a confession booth with their answer to PC WEEK's Spencer Katt, Robert Cringely -- those who "confessed to Cringely" got buttons and were entered in a drawing. Quadram had a jogging demonstration and gave away sneakers to "jog your memory" about its memory box. These were no ordinary sneakers: they're Pumas with an electronic odometer in the heel. "It lets us show multi-tasking," said Quadram president Bob Brown. (It also meant Quadram's people could wear sneakers in the booth.) [***][11/11/86][***] BOSTON COMPUTER EXCHANGE -- Those who want to know where Comdex' market is headed listened to Alexander Randall, president of the Boston Computer Exchange, talk about his all-electronic market. At his Tuesday press conference he announced he's negotiating to bring his database online with CompuServe (he's currently on Delphi), opening an 800-line service, and said his franchise system has 55 sign-ups so far. Randall said he's working with an unnamed Fortune 100 company and a major stock exchange to put up a real-time, online trading system for all computer hardware. (Tentative name: Boston Computer Exchange Network, or BCEN, pronounced "be seen".) "Only those who are competent, credit-worthy and able to handle users' problems will be on the exchange," he said. Like NASDAQ, the new system will be open only to brokers, and it will include a stock ticker so a broker can learn the immediate price of a used machine. "We'll help the distributor with 100 Okidata printers in overstock representing his profit, or a single user with a dual- floppy IBM PC who wants to move up to an AT." The system goes into beta test next spring, and should be up for real next summer. CONTACT: Alexander Randall, BOSTON COMPUTER EXCHANGE, 1-800-262- 6399 [***][11/11/86][***] SURPRISE HIT: AT&T -- Maybe the recent heavily publicized lay- offs finally put the fear of the force into the Death Star- symbol. But, from a sales perspective, this show's AT&T booth is mighty fine. Huge crowds could be found around the AT&T Truevision PicturePower display, which lets you combine TV- quality pictures with text in a single data base: it even works with dBase III. Elsewhere in the booth, products such as power protection were sold with a play called "The People's Computer Court," featuring Judge Waffler, and the 4000 series of AT&T modems finally mention they're "Hayes-compatible." [***][11/11/86][***] COM-BYTES GAMMALINK, Palo Alto, CA, announced desktop telepublishing, involving use of the company's GammaFax PC-to-facsimile package and MegaFax from ADVANCED VISION RESEARCH, San Jose, CA, which can move the results into its PageMaster desktop publishing system. GRAPHIC DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL, San Rafael, CA, announced FormScan, a forms processing system that can read in a form with a scanner, merge it with a data base, then output a complete document. A complete system costs $2,595. DAYBREAK TECHNOLOGIES INC., Torrance, CA, annonced a new spreadsheet called Silk, compatible with Lotus 1-2-3 on most commands, but adding easier-to-use structures and some goodies for power users. Others introducing spreadsheets at this show include Word Perfect and Bell Atlantic. DATA ENTRY SYSTEMS, Huntsville, AL, launched Portable ScriptWriter, a clipboard-like product which translates handwritten information into ASCII code. The pad weighs just 3.5 pounds and can store up to 50 completed forms of information before being emptied. CORDATA TECHNOLOGIES INC., Thousand Oaks, CA, said its Intellipress desktop publishing system is "the first cohesive, affordable system for the MS-DOS environment that can be properly termed desktop publishing," in the words of president Daniel Carter. AUTODESK's announcement for this show is AutoCAD AEC Mechanical, which automates the firm's main AutoCAD product for use by mechanical engineers designing building systems. It includes an extensive library of industry-standard symbols to help produce accurate engineering drawings. The Sausalito, CA-based company also announced that version 2.6 of AutoCAD will ship in March and include much-better handling of 3-D drawings. AST RESEARCH INC. joined the desktop publishing hunt with AST Premium Publisher, a complete system includng a scanner, PC and printer with add-in boards. They also showed off SixPakPremium/ EGA, with 2 megabytes of memory plus EGA capability. AMERICAN VIDEO TELECONFERENCING, FARMINGDALE, NY is offering "desktop teleconferencing" through a RAM-resident utility called In-Synch. With the product users can develop, edit and review spreadsheets, reports, charts, drawings and presentations together, using standard modems and ordinary telephone lines. AMERICAN DATA TECHNOLOGY INC., Pasadena, CA, is offering fax-on-a -board with Qmartfax. The board translates computer text and graphic files to facsimile images, and vice versa. The same company introduced 2LineModem, a 1200-baud Hayes-compatible modem which offers simultaneous transmission of data and voice. AWARD SOFTWARE INC., Los Gatos CA, will let you build your own 80386-based mocri with its 386 BIOS, which lets PC-AT software run on 386-based machines. Included is integrated support for IBM's Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA). AVAS CORP., Hackensack, NJ, has a line of computer/video combiners called the Telecomp series, which let you add full color video to the output of any micro. Applications are being shown in vodeo production, education, presentations, and data bases like real estate listings. The product lists at $1,595. CENTRAM, Berkeley CA, announced Tops for Unix, which links Unix- based computers to Centram's TOPS local area network. It allows for direct file sharing between Apple Macintoshes, IBM PCs and compatibles, and Unix machines. (Borland's Phillippe Kahn says his company has a Centram system and it works.) SPEAKING OF BORLAND, they launched Eureka: The Solver, a tool like Tk!Solver which solves equations, sets options, and supports the 8087 co-processor on the IBM PC. And it's Borland- priced at $99.95. CYBER RESEARCH INC., New Haven, CT, now has CyberType, which can integrate halftones and graphics into Microsoft Word on the IBM PC for professional-quality publishing. It uses any of teh fonts available to PostScript, and features scaling and kerning. The press release was printed on glossy paper off a Linotronic typesetter at 2,540 dots per square inch. DIALOG has a booth to announce its first CD-ROM database, ERIC. ERIC is a bibliographic database developed by the U.S. Department of Education. More entries in this OnDisk series are expected. CONTACT: Libby Trudell (415)858-3785 HEWLETT-PACKARD trumpeted its alliance with Aldus and Microsoft, saying they now have a complete desktop publishing system. The three are spending $2 million on promotion for a system in which HP's contribution, the LaserJet Publisher kit, will not be done until early next year. Total cost of the system is $7,750 retail. [***][11/11/86][***] C O M D E X C O V E R A G E Special Reports from Dana Blankenhorn and Wendy Woods COMDEX/FALL '86 LAS VEGAS, Nv. -- The crowds are back this year, and so is the optimism, a sharp contrast to last year's Fall Comdex when much of the industry was in the grips of the most recent shakeout. This year Comdex drew some 1200 exhibitors, many of whom displayed products that were truly exciting and innovative. For the moment, Comdex is by and large, a popular forum for display of new products and exchange of ideas, although its future is being questioned. The headliners at this show are the Intel 80386 chip and desktop publishing. At least 6 companies, including Compaq and Kaypro, are showing 80386-based micros, Intel is among those showing 80386-based enhancement boards, and a few software programs, like PC-MOS 386 from The Software Link Inc., Atlanta, are also on display. (Why the excitement? The new machines are 3-times faster than the PC-AT, so you can run a DOS application in a Xenix or Pick window, making this PC a "desktop mini" and the perfect file server.) Meanwhile, desktop publishing has moved from a concept to a fad to a full-fledged movement in just two years. With Aldus' PageMaker for the PC (requires Windows, a hard disk, and an AT) Xerox' Ventura PC Publisher (640K and a hard disk on a plain PC) and Spellbinder Desktop Publisher from Lexisoft, the software field has gone from open to crowded all at once. There are also a host of printers and scanners available. THE CONSPICUOUS ABSENCES -- Among the late cancellations at this year's show are Apple, Commodore, Ashton-Tate and most of Lotus (their graphics division has a small booth). Noshows also include Living Videotext, although its president, David Winer, was seen wandering the floor. When asked if he might drop another $140,000 on a booth in the future, he replies, "Never again." His response may be typical. IBM cancelled its Monday press conference. AT&T made no new announcments. DEC and Apple have left the show to concentrate on DECUS and MacWorld, respectively. "This is a show for small companies," admitted AT&T's Vice President of Sales John Boyd. "We can announce products on our own." Exhibitor cancellations moved Comdex to abandon booths at Caesar's, and take less of the Hilton than before. THE LITTLE GUYS -- Tiny booths live on at Comdex' satellite sites in the Sahara and Riviera Hotels. And they work. We talked to Fred Cisin, author of Xenocoy from Xenosoft, Berkeley, CA, a program which transfers data among 300 file formats. On Wednesday, Fred, with his red Rip Van Winkle beard and corduroy suit, was busy handing out literature from a wooden desk. "Distributors don't return my phone calls, but show up here and are fascinated by the idea and want to sign up. Comdex lets us get through to people I couldn't see otherwise." [***][11/11/86][***] C O M D E X C O V E R A G E Special Reports from Dana Blankenhorn and Wendy Woods THE ATARI BOOTH -- With Apple and Commodore/Amiga both no-shows, Atari has the excitement race wrapped up, and the packed-in crowd at their booth shows it. This year serious business products are highlighted, like Royal Software's EZ Calc, a 300x1000 cell spreadsheet running under Digital Research's Gem, and The Graphic Artist, a combination desktop publishing and CAD package from Progressive Computer Applications, Rockville, MD. PCA president Peter Naleszkiewicz (cq.) told us sales rose 10-fold when the product's price was dropped from $400 to $200 recently. (Still too rich for you? Try Easy-Draw from Migraph (800-223-DRAW) -- $79.95! Of course, the laser printer is extra, and prices range from $2,000 (QMS) to $5,500 (Apple).) Among the most exciting products Atari has on display, however, involve sound, not pictures. Take Midiplay from ELECTRONIC MUSIC PUBLISHING HOUSE INC., Santa Monica, CA. In the booth visitors could hear Lionel Ritchie's "Dancing on the Ceiling" in any tempo, on a MIDI synthesizer, with the score flashed on an ST behind them. The product is called Midiplay, and for $49.95 ($5 for a demo disk) it's a record/playback system with 16 channels; as with desktop publishing solutions, the MIDI synthesizer costs extra, of course. The company is also selling Musidisks at $19.95 each, with recordings of the classics and the Beatles, and more are promised. Want to record your own music on the Atari instead of changing someone else's? Then you'll want Metatrack, from Midisoft, Bellevue, WA, a $99 program linking the MIDI synthesizer and Atari ST computer into a complete music publishing system. CONTACT: ELECTRONIC MUSIC PUBLISHING HOUSE INC., 2210 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90403 (213) 455-2025 MIDISOFT, P.O. Box 1000, Bellevue, WA 98009 (206)827-0750 [***][11/11/86][***] C O M D E X C O V E R A G E Special Reports from Dana Blankenhorn and Wendy Woods LAND OF THE CHEAP CLONES -- Hyundai drew a full house at a Wednesday press conference to talk about its Korean-made line of PC clones. Under the moniker Blue Chip Electronics, Chandler, AZ, Hyundai is now shipping a $700 PC clone ($800 with DOS) in direct competition with Daewoo (Leading Edge), the Taiwanese, and a flock of American assembler/importers. Blue Chip president John Rossi said 700 outlets now sell the Blue Chip PC, including Fedco, Toys R Us, and Target stores. But the point of the news conference was the unveiling of an AT compatible for delivery in March which will only go to distributors and dealers, and will sell for under $2,000 retail. "Toys R Us will never sell an AT computer. They can sell an XT OK, but the AT is a more sophisticated sale," said Rossi. CONTACT: John Rossi (602)961-1485 [***][11/11/86][***] C O M D E X C O V E R A G E Special Reports from Dana Blankenhorn and Wendy Woods THE MEANING OF THE 386 -- One good way to see the initial effects of the 80386 is in the Autodesk booth in the Rotunda, where the makers of Autocad are running a raster/-vector conversion program called CAD/Camera on the Compaq 386. AutoDesk is always one of the more popular Comdex software stops, and the engineers who use its products are demons about speed, since the ideas they're working with are so complex. Product manager Kevin O'Lone says the program can digitize line art from many different scanners for use by AutoCad systems. On AT-based systems, this can take hours: on the Compaq it takes only a few minutes. (AutoDesk also gave away thick books of applications which run off its program.) It means engineers can swap drawings easily. AUTODESK's announcement for this show is AutoCAD AE FormScan, a forms processing system that can read in a form with a scanner, merge it with a data base, then output a complete document. A complete system costs $2,595. CONTACT: Kevin O'Lone (408)732-1832 [***][11/11/86][***] C O M D E X C O V E R A G E Special Reports from Dana Blankenhorn and Wendy Woods ENTERTAINMENT DEPARTMENT -- A few years ago companies used giveaways to lure Comdex showgoers to their booths. T-shirts wese especially popular. These days the giveaways are gone, except as contests -- theater is in. IBM has "The Little Tramp," Billy Scudder, in "The Well Connected Enterprise," complete with rotating stage. NEC has a juggling act, AT&T "The Computer People's Court," CW Communications featured a confession booth with their answer to PC WEEK's Spencer Katt, Robert Cringely -- those who "confessed to Cringely" got buttons and were entered in a drawing. Quadram had a jogging demonstration and gave away sneakers to "jog your memory" about its memory box. These were no ordinary sneakers: they're Pumas with an electronic odometer in the heel. "It lets us show multi-tasking," said Quadram president Bob Brown. (It also meant Quadram's people could wear sneakers in the booth.) [***][11/11/86][***] C O M D E X C O V E R A G E Special Reports from Dana Blankenhorn and Wendy Woods BOSTON COMPUTER EXCHANGE -- Those who want to know where Comdex' market is headed listened to Alexander Randall, president of the Boston Computer Exchange, talk about his all-electronic market. At his Tuesday press conference he announced he's negotiating to bring his database online with CompuServe (he's currently on Delphi), opening an 800-line service, and said his franchise system has 55 sign-ups so far. Randall said he's working with an unnamed Fortune 100 company and a major stock exchange to put up a real-time, online trading system for all computer hardware. (Tentative name: Boston Computer Exchange Network, or BCEN, pronounced "be seen".) "Only those who are competent, credit-worthy and able to handle users' problems will be on the exchange," he said. Like NASDAQ, the new system will be open only to brokers, and it will include a stock ticker so a broker can learn the immediate price of a used machine. "We'll help the distributor with 100 Okidata printers in overstock representing his profit, or a single user with a dual- floppy IBM PC who wants to move up to an AT." The system goes into beta test next spring, and should be up for real next summer. CONTACT: Alexander Randall, BOSTON COMPUTER EXCHANGE, 1-800-262- 6399 [***][11/11/86][***] C O M D E X C O V E R A G E Special Reports from Dana Blankenhorn and Wendy Woods COM-BYTES GAMMALINK, Palo Alto, CA, announced desktop telepublishing, involving use of the company's GammaFax PC-to-facsimile package and MegaFax from ADVANCED VISION RESEARCH, San Jose, CA, which can move the results into its PageMaster desktop publishing system. GRAPHIC DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL, San Rafael, CA, announced FormScan, a forms processing system that can read in a form with a scanner, merge it with a data base, then output a complete document. A complete system costs $2,595. DAYBREAK TECHNOLOGIES INC., Torrance, CA, annonced a new spreadsheet called Silk, compatible with Lotus 1-2-3 on most commands, but adding easier-to-use structures and some goodies for power users. Others introducing spreadsheets at this show include Word Perfect and Bell Atlantic. DATA ENTRY SYSTEMS, Huntsville, AL, launched Portable ScriptWriter, a clipboard-like product which translates handwritten information into ASCII code. The pad weighs just 3.5 pounds and can store up to 50 completed forms of information before being emptied. CORDATA TECHNOLOGIES INC., Thousand Oaks, CA, said its Intellipress desktop publishing system is "the first cohesive, affordable system for the MS-DOS environment that can be properly termed desktop publishing," in the words of president Daniel Carter. AUTODESK's announcement for this show is AutoCAD AEC Mechanical, which automates the firm's main AutoCAD product for use by mechanical engineers designing building systems. It includes an extensive library of industry-standard symbols to help produce accurate engineering drawings. The Sausalito, CA-based company also announced that version 2.6 of AutoCAD will ship in March and include much-better handling of 3-D drawings. AST RESEARCH INC. joined the desktop publishing hunt with AST Premium Publisher, a complete system includng a scanner, PC and printer with add-in boards. They also showed off SixPakPremium/ EGA, with 2 megabytes of memory plus EGA capability. AMERICAN VIDEO TELECONFERENCING, FARMINGDALE, NY is offering "desktop teleconferencing" through a RAM-resident utility called In-Synch. With the product users can develop, edit and review spreadsheets, reports, charts, drawings and presentations together, using standard modems and ordinary telephone lines. AMERICAN DATA TECHNOLOGY INC., Pasadena, CA, is offering fax-on-a -board with Qmartfax. The board translates computer text and graphic files to facsimile images, and vice versa. The same company introduced 2LineModem, a 1200-baud Hayes-compatible modem which offers simultaneous transmission of data and voice. AWARD SOFTWARE INC., Los Gatos CA, will let you build your own 80386-based mocri with its 386 BIOS, which lets PC-AT software run on 386-based machines. Included is integrated support for IBM's Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA). AVAS CORP., Hackensack, NJ, has a line of computer/video combiners called the Telecomp series, which let you add full color video to the output of any micro. Applications are being shown in vodeo production, education, presentations, and data bases like real estate listings. The product lists at $1,595. CENTRAM, Berkeley CA, announced Tops for Unix, which links Unix- based computers to Centram's TOPS local area network. It allows for direct file sharing between Apple Macintoshes, IBM PCs and compatibles, and Unix machines. (Borland's Phillippe Kahn says his company has a Centram system and it works.) SPEAKING OF BORLAND, they launched Eureka: The Solver, a tool like Tk!Solver which solves equations, sets options, and supports the 8087 co-processor on the IBM PC. And it's Borland- priced at $99.95. CYBER RESEARCH INC., New Haven, CT, now has CyberType, which can integrate halftones and graphics into Microsoft Word on the IBM PC for professional-quality publishing. It uses any of teh fonts available to PostScript, and features scaling and kerning. The press release was printed on glossy paper off a Linotronic typesetter at 2,540 dots per square inch. DIALOG has a booth to announce its first CD-ROM database, ERIC. ERIC is a bibliographic database developed by the U.S. Department of Education. More entries in this OnDisk series are expected. CONTACT: Libby Trudell (415)858-3785 HEWLETT-PACKARD trumpeted its alliance with Aldus and Microsoft, saying they now have a complete desktop publishing system. The three are spending $2 million on promotion for a system in which HP's contribution, the LaserJet Publisher kit, will not be done until early next year. Total cost of the system is $7,750 retail. [***][11/11/86][***] C O M D E X C O V E R A G E Special Reports from Dana Blankenhorn and Wendy Woods SURPRISE HIT: AT&T -- Maybe the recent heavily publicized lay- offs finally put the fear of the force into the Death Star- symbol. But, from a sales perspective, this show's AT&T booth is mighty fine. Huge crowds could be found around the AT&T Truevision PicturePower display, which lets you combine TV- quality pictures with text in a single data base: it even works with dBase III. Elsewhere in the booth, products such as power protection were sold with a play called "The People's Computer Court," featuring Judge Waffler, and the 4000 series of AT&T modems finally mention they're "Hayes-compatible."