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/1993/NB930305

Text File | 1993-03-05 | 80KB | 1,783 lines

(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00001)

 ****Fax Machine With All The Bells And Whistles 03/05/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Japan's former domestic telecom
giant NTT says it has developed a fax machine with an extremely
large display. At first glance, the unit looks like a personal
computer.

The fax machine offers a powerful memory to store received messages
and so does not have to print out every fax message, saving paper.

NTT's latest fax machine is equipped with a 640 x 400-pixel backlit
LCD (liquid crystal) display. This is a touch-panel type
display, which makes easier to use for novice users. The
T-01V MITEDAS, as its called, also offers an IC memory card
drive on which messages can be stored. Up to 82 pages of
A4-size fax documents can be stored, enabling the user to
choose which documents to print and which to be discarded
before printing.

The user will be able to transmit the IC-card based documents to
other fax machines, either one at a time or multiple units in a
fax broadcast. The screen also has a flexible scroll feature which
enables a user to scroll messages up, down, right and left.
The document can be reduced in size or magnified when it is
printed. Up to B4-sized documents can be transmitted with
this fax machine.

The MITEDAS retails at a price one would expect for a fax machine
with this kind of technology -- 258,000 yen ($2,150). The unit
is sold through NTT's offices. This means potential customers
will not be able to get a discount, a major disadvantage for
potential buyers since 70 to 80 percent discounts are normal for
electronics products in Japan. NTT is planning to ship only 1,000
units per year.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930305/Press Contact: NTT, +81-3-
3509-5035, [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00002)

IBM Japan OEMs Notebook To Ricoh, Offers Pen Computer 03/05/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- IBM Japan is supplying
its latest 32-bit notebook-type computer, the 550BJ, to Ricoh,
Japan's major office equipment maker. Ricoh has begun to sell
this PC under its own brand name.

This OEM deal involves the Ricoh PS Note 550BJ, an A4-size
notebook-type PC based on IBM Japan's original 80486SLC
processor. Uniquely, it has a printer under the keyboard. The user
feeds the paper from the back of this PC and it comes out from the
front side of this PC. The printer itself is the "bubble-jet"
variety, an advanced version of an ink-jet printer developed
by Canon. It is a same type of printer used for Apple Computer's
StyleWriter and offers high-quality print-outs.

The OEM relationship between IBM Japan and Ricoh has already
been established with IBM Japan's earlier supply of its desktop
PCs to Ricoh.

Meanwhile, IBM Japan has released an A4-size pen-input type
computer called the ThinkPad 710T. It is also equipped with IBM
Japan's original 80486SLC processor, DOS/V, an IC card port and a
VGA-based LCD. It supports CIC's PenDOSJ2.0, which is a Japanese
language version of the pen operating system which accepts
Kanji input as well as alphabetic and numeric data. This PC
has advanced letter recognition features, IBM Japan reports.
The unit can also be used as a telecommunication terminal with
a proprietary modem card sold by IBM Japan.

The pen computer costs 428,000 yen ($3,500). IBM Japan claims
that this PC has the fastest data processing speed among pen-input
computers. IBM Japan aims to sell it to financial, insurance,
and distribution firms.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930305/Press Contact: Ricoh, +81-3-
3479-3014, IBM Japan, [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00003)

More Confusing Trade Talk From Washington 03/05/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- The Uruguay Round of
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which is now
several years past the original deadline for completion, looks to
be part of the Clinton Administration's trade plans but some
proposals may cause more problems rather than smooth ruffled
feathers.

US Trade Representative Mickey Kantor said that the administration
would enter negotiations stressing anti-dumping agreements
and state support for specific industries like Airbus. This
would appear to broaden areas which still need to be negotiated
beyond those involving French farmer's high subsidies and could
derail the talks.

This isn't the first time in recent weeks when different parts of
the new administration, and sometimes even the exact same people,
appeared to be sending mixed trade signals.

Last week President Clinton rejected isolationism as he told a
large and enthusiastic group at American University that he
supports free trade and doesn't believe in protectionist
policies. Just one week earlier Ambassador Kantor had both
blasted the Japanese for protectionism and told US workers that
their companies were to blame for failing to compete in the
international markets.

A short time back President Clinton told Aerospace Workers at
Boeing that Airbus subsidies were responsible for their job
losses and called for retaliation against subsidies on the same
day when the administration put forward an initiative which would
improve education and indirectly competitiveness through a joint
government-industry coalition.

Last week Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown (former head of the
Democratic Committee) was thought to be suggesting that the US
would pursue an anti-dumping trade suit against Japanese
automobile manufacturers, despite the fact that Detroit car
makers had officially declined to make dumping charges.

US trade representatives to the GATT negotiations in
Europe will probably try to move Europeans off the dime on the
question of opening up government contracts to non-EC countries
by bringing up new complaints about Airbus subsidies and possibly
hinting that the US government may reconsider its buying
policies. The Air Force recently awarded part of a massive
personal computer contract to French-owned Zenith.

According to a Reuter's report, Mickey Kantor called Wednesday for
Japan to open up its semiconductor market to US microchips.
This is a perennial bone of contention between the United States
and Japan because even after solemn agreements have been signed
which would apparently cause a major increase in imports, Japan
continues to maintain a relatively closed market.

Twice in the past ten years the Japanese have accepted demands to
increase chip imports but levels have remained stubbornly below
agreed-to levels.

Under the latest agreement Japanese companies were supposed to
increase the total foreign share of the domestic chip market to
20 percent, but there has been little or no increase in imports
since the agreement was made. New figures, which are compiled by
the Japanese themselves as part of the 1990 agreement, will be
out later this month.

Mr. Kantor told members of the Semiconductor Industry Association
yesterday that his office would work to strictly enforce
previously negotiated agreements.

Also this week the International Trade Commission, a US agency,
has ruled once again that active matrix liquid crystal displays
(AMLCD) made by Japanese firms had been dumped (sold at reduced
prices, perhaps even below cost) causing harm to domestic US
flat panel display (FPD) makers.

(John McCormick/19930304/Press Contact: Office of the U.S. Trade
Representative, 202-395-3204, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(SFO)(00004)

Cross Connect 4.7 Offers Incremental Modem Access 03/05/93
BOULDER, COLORADO, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Cross Communication
Company's Cross Connect 4.7 will now be available to users on
an expandable per-modem basis. Cross Connect is modem sharing
and remote access software for Novell and NetBIOS networks, and
will now allow users to add modem capacity incrementally with
additional units of Cross Connect ultimately supporting up
to 20 modems on a LAN.

Prior versions of Cross Connect locked users into predetermined
packages of one, five, or twenty modems. Another key feature is
modem support of up to 16 modems on a single PC with the use of a
non-intelligent multiport card. Cross Connect can also be structured
as a dedicated communications server because it is compatible with
multiport serial cards such as Digiboard as well as PC-on-a-
card configurations such as Integrated Workstations and Cubix,
according to the company.

Cross Connect works with communication products like Procomm+
Network and Windows versions, Crosstalk Mark 4 and any other
communications software that supports Interrupt 14. It also
includes its own communications software, Cross Dial, which
provides file transfer protocols and offers high-speed transmission
with speeds up to 38.4Kbps.

Cross Connect 4.7 pricing starts at $195. The four-modem pack is
priced at $695. Cross Connect is configured on an incremental
basis. Any grouping can be purchased supporting up to 20 modems
on a network.

(Computer Currents/19930304/Public Contact: 303/444-7799)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00005)

Gates To Keynote Windows World, Roll Out Windows NT 03/05/93
NEEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- It's time to book
hotel rooms in Atlanta for the 13th annual COMDEX/Spring and 3rd
annual Windows World on May 24-27. Among the roll-outs at the show
is expected to be Microsoft's Windows NT. Unveiling the 32-bit
operating systems with strong network computing capabilities
will be Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, who will keynote Windows
World on Monday, May 24 at 9 a.m.

Others on the keynote agenda include Robert Palmer, CEO of
DEC who will give the CEO Perspective at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 25.
COMDEX/Spring will be keynoted by James Cannavino, senior VP
and general manager, IBM Personal Systems on Monday, May 24 at 1 p.m.
The CEO Perspective will feature Jim Manzi, CEO, Lotus Development Corp.
on Tuesday, May 25 at 1 p.m.

Sheldon Adelson, CEO of The Interface Group, which puts on the show,
predicted that attendance would exceed last year's record of more
than 75,000 attendees, including some 5,000 delegates from 70
countries. More than 1,000 exhibitors are expected to attend this
smaller of the two annual COMDEX and Windows World shows.

As in previous years COMDEX/Spring will feature showcases for
network computing, multimedia, mobile computing, UNIX/Open Systems,
office systems and OEM sources. Windows World showcases include
network computing, multimedia and mobile computing. A major
presentation on the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
is also scheduled.

The Windows World conference features 50 seminars and is divided
into three programs: Corporate Computing, Windows Developers
Program and the Windows Channel. Seminars will address technology
management, network computing, multimedia, software developers
strategies and Windows technical support. In addition, Microsoft will
offer to all attendees, free Windows NT Workshops on Wednesday, May 26.

To attend or get advanced info contact The Interface Group at
617-449-6600.

(Wendy Woods/19930304)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00006)

Recycle Computer Books 03/05/93
BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Want that book on
Filemaker Pro but hate to spend the big bucks? A start-up company
has an idea for you -- buy it used from their used computer book
library.

Oscar Steele, manager for Purple Mountain Computers, says the
firm has existed for some time specializing in the Atari ST, and
publishing ST News, a small newspaper that has a listing of
software for sale, as well as current ST news. With the success
of that venture, the company is now expanding into the sale of
used books and software for various platforms.

He claims there are no copyright problems in reselling software,
in particular. "The documentation, the disks, must be 100%
original, so everything is on the up and up."

Purple Mountain Computers actually calls its operation a "recycling
program" for computer books, magazines, and software in which users
can buy, sell and trade their unwanted items for ones they do want.
Trial testing of the so-called CompuCycle program has been a
success, according to the company, which adds that all computers
are supported, including PC, Mac, Amiga, Atari ST and 8-bit, Apple,
Commodore 64, and CP/M.

The company's inventory, from programming to how-to's with software,
number 10,500 computer books/magazines and the firm also claims to
have 1,100 programs. "We have tons of books, literally," Steele
tells Newsbytes. But he says the company is buying books and
software too. "If somebody wants to trade for something we have,
we are more than happy to do that." In fact, he says, that is
his preferred way of doing business.

"We believe that everyone can benefit from this program. Users
will pay less for software and can turn unused programs and
books into cash or wanted items. And society will benefit
from the utilization of our current resources, instead of
wasting new ones."

PMC publishes CompuNews which includes the list of available recycled
software. CompuNews is free to anyone who requests it. But
if you really want to help the environment, the firm's thousands
of books are listed on disk to conserve paper -- this disk
catalog is available for $1.

Purple Mountain Computers describes itself as "an environmentally
conscious company made up of a programmer, a college student,
office manager, housewife, engineer, and a receptionist.
[phone] is the firm's phone number, online you can
reach them via Genie at PMC.INC, or on Compuserve at 72567,302.

(Wendy Woods/19930304)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(DEL)(00007)

India - New Budget Favors High-Tech 03/05/93
NEW DELHI, 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- India's National Budget for 1993-94,
presented by the Finance Minister Manmohan Singh last Saturday,
seemed to have generated a sudden euphoria. Unprecedented
decrease in import/customs duties and excise levy combined
with the announcement of the full-convertibility of the rupee
came as a pleasant surprise to the entire Indian industry
and businesses.

Though critics labelled it as succumbing to IMF/World Bank
dictates, the export-orientation to trade and industry is not
grudged but taken as an inevitable challenge

Much of the Budget offerings have long been a wish-list for the
computer/electronics industry. Clearly, the Finance Minister has put
the ball in the industry's court. The import gates are greener.
And add to that the historical launching of full float the
rupee which brings a new style to the entire lot of export-
oriented Indian businesses.

After over four decades of full exchange regulation,
the previous dose of liberalization last year allowed partial
convertibility (60 percent on the market rate and 40 percent
on the official rate). It is now a challenge for the industry
to sustain competitiveness both on the export front and at home.

First, the sweeping reduction in customs duties has come as the
biggest ever relief to the import-intensive computer hardware
industry. Customs duty on computer systems and peripherals was
slashed from 146 to 107 percent; the same on software from
110 percent to 85, but not yet zero. Duty on import of electronic
components is down from 111 percent to 72.5, while electronics
subassemblies are to attract a duty of 125 percent instead
of earlier 158 percent.

Excise duty on computers and peripherals decreased from 17.25
to 15 percent. Software continues with no excise liability
and export earnings on software are tax-free.

However, industry sources feel that some anomalies continued to
skip the attention of the Finance Ministry. For one, the
import duty of subassemblies at 125 percent as against 107
percent duty on finished goods. The government has not conceded
to the industry's demand for investment allowance on purchase
of computers.

The substance of the budget will be revealed only when computer
vendors reduce the prices eventually, as is expected in the
rest of the consumer industries which now attract less excise
duty and lesser import duties. And the concessions are expected
to be passed on to consumers by reduced prices.

In computer systems, the prices should fall by 15-20 percent.
On the software side, even after the current relief of 25 percent
in import duties, 85 percent itself will remain burdensome to
users. It's only an open clue to say that cheaper software, and
of course affordable hardware, can boost computer usage that will
in turn enhance the industry and thus technology.

Should we call the 1993-94 Budget export-oriented or user-beneficiary,
or both? But what's more important, the government has been able
to establish a parity between the local manufacturing and imports,
making both the lobbies happy, while on their toes. Presently,
the industry associations have called emergency meetings to
pour over the fine print and formulate new demand charters, for
the old lists have been exhausted to a large extent.

The government has not finished its files either. But the
industry is certainly made to go bullish all over.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19930228)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(SYD)(00008)

Australia - Election To Impact IT Industry 03/05/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Australia is voting for a new
federal government in little more than a week. The information
technology (IT) industry isn't certain what effect the outcome
will have, but it is busy making guesses.

The fight is between the existing Labor party and the opposition
Liberal party which is slightly ahead in the polls. Much of the
campaigning and public interest is in the sweeping taxation
changes promised by the Liberals. They plan to drop some existing
taxes and impose a flat 15 percent GST (goods and services tax).

The industry believes this will have little effect on hardware,
but will increase the price of software. At present, hardware is
taxed at the last wholesale point, at a rate of 20 percent
which is around 15 percent on the street. (Companies such as Dell
which import and sell directly must charge the full 20 percent and
so would benefit from the 15 percent GST).

As software is exempt from tax under the present scheme, the
GST would lead to a hefty price increase. This in turn would lead
to higher cost of finance for distributors and resellers who would
have to pay the tax before collecting it.

Most IT companies admit that although they feel the Liberal
policies (such as eliminating payroll tax) will help more than
hinder them, they have not been able to calculate the real
dollar impact. This is one of the Labour party strategies where
it keeps trying to prove that the Liberals have not worked out
the full mechanism.

New Zealand went to a GST a number of years ago, and Canada quite
recently. Both parties are pointing to these countries in an
attempt to prove their points. The business sector traditionally
favors the Liberal party but this election has developed a bizarre
twist where the Liberals are appealing to the man-in-the-street
while Labor says that it has the track record that manufacturers
won't want to throw out for the unknown changes of the Liberals.

(Paul Zucker/19930305)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00009)

ROUNDUP: Stories Carried By Other Media This Week 03/05/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Roundup is a brief
look at some computer stories carried in other publications
received here this past week.

Intel engineer John Williams writes on mixing 3-volt
semiconductors with 5-volt devices in the March IEEE Spectrum.
Since there is not yet a full complement of less power-hungry 3-
volt devices available developers must mix and match to gain the
longest battery life. Most of the rest of the issue is devoted to
interactive multimedia.

As CIO average tenure drops to a mere two years, The March 1
issue of Informationweek says engineering a corporate downsizing
without updating your resume can put you out of work. One option
is to plan to jump from one company to another, taking your
downsizing skills and experience with you.

This week's issue of Computerworld (different publisher) has a
Rich Tennant Fifth Wave cartoon depicting the CIO as a Kamikaze
missile pilot. On the serious side, it also reports a important
bug in McAfee antivirus code.

Communicationsweek dated the first of March says that several
vendors plan to petition IEEE to sanction isochronous Ethernet as
a proposed official standard. IsoEnet would bring multimedia to
LANs by combining a 6.144 megabit-per-second (Mbps) digital
channel with a 10 Mbps Ethernet packet channel over twisted-pair
wiring, making it possible to provide voice and video on Ethernet
systems without FDDI or Fiber Distributed Data Interface Standard
cabling.

High-performance server and desktop markets are the focus of a
Computer Reseller News cover story in the March 1 issue. The
piece compares and contrasts Intel's Pentium (which will get a
more powerful floating point math coprocessor), the Apple-IBM
PowerPC 601, Motorola's 68060, and the MIPS R4400 for Unix
systems. Intel's recent announcement of a 10-fold math
coprocessor improvement in the Pentium (80586) verses the 80486
shook up the workstation market but others question whether
obtaining peak performance from the expected dual-486 chip will
require new software.

Databased Advisor for March takes a serious look at choosing the
right PC-based database server. This isn't a winner-take-all
review but a study of current packages with a view to choosing
the best for a particular work environment.

(John McCormick/19930305/)


(NEWS)(IBM)(WAS)(00010)

Michelangelo Due Tomorrow 03/05/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Although the hype this
year is nothing compared to last year's media blitz, the
Michelangelo virus is about due to strike once again if the
little bugger has invaded your system in the meantime. While
anti-viral programs are the standard line of defense these days,
those running McAfee Associates' Clean utility version 9.12v100
may find the cure every bit as bad as the illness.

As reported in this week's Computerworld and elsewhere on
bulletin board systems, a very recent version of McAfee's
antivirus software detects the Michelangelo virus with no problem
but when you attempt to remove the infection on some computers
the master boot record is restored to the wrong location, making
the information on the drive inaccessible.

Company representatives say that the cause is not yet known and
recommend using another version of the Clean program - the latest
release is 9.14V102.

Last year on the anniversary of Renaissance artist Michelangelo's
birth the computer industry, and especially the mainstream media
was in a feeding frenzy hyped by statements that millions would
be found infected with the virus.

Ironically this media attention caused thousands of corporations,
government agencies, and probably millions of individuals to
obtain some sort of anti-virus program and search their disks for
the virus, often in vain, but also eliminating any trace of the
virus and therefore perhaps diminishing its impact to the point
where everyone is complacent about it this year.

Virus attacks do take place and should be taken seriously,
especially by those who download a lot of software from private
BBS systems or routinely swap disks with friends and neighbors.

Although there were only isolated reports of problems last year
caused by the annual March 6 activation of Michelangelo, that
doesn't necessarily mean that it didn't infect a significant
number of systems. Corporations are highly reluctant to disclose
any attack on their computer systems and we seldom hear about any
which do not cause a large scale disruption of operations.

If a company found the virus and eliminated it without problem, it
is highly unlikely that outsiders, or even most company employees
would know that a breech of security had ever occurred.

(John McCormick/19930305/Press Contact: Aryeh Goretsky, McAfee
Associates, 408-988-3832)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SYD)(00011)

Australia - IBM Helps Develop School Software 03/05/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- IBM Australia and the
New South Wales (NSW) state Board of Studies have developed a
program for senior high school students doing the Information and
Communications strand of the state Science and Technology
syllabus.

"Make the Connection" is the first in a series of multimedia
courses developed by the two organizations. NSW state minister
for education Virginia Chadwick said, "The complementary skills
of professional staff from IBM's Australian Programming Centre and
the Board of Studies were particularly appropriate for the
development of this product."

The software uses full-motion video, high-quality audio, graphics,
and animation to recreate the world of satellites, radio
broadcasting and computer communications. The material was
developed after extensive trials with groups of students from
a wide range of backgrounds. It has been designed for easy
conversion to other languages for export sales.

IBM MD Brian Finn said the project had taken 18 months and was one
of a number of products built with other groups.

The 16 modules of "Make the Connection" have been designed to
maintain the students' interest. For instance, a character called
the "energy bandit" keeps popping up in the program, borrowing
things that use or have energy. Students have to use their
accumulated knowledge about information and communication to
face a series of challenges while attempting to create a
communications system. It is designed to be used as part of an
existing curriculum, assisting teachers rather than replacing
existing course material.

The CD-ROM based software costs AUS$240 per copy (around US$170)
and can be ordered from the NSW Board of Studies on phone
[phone]. It runs on a standard-specification IBM Ultimedia
PC with the addition of the Action Media card, also from IBM.

(Paul Zucker/19930305)


(REVIEW)(IBM)(WAS)(00012)

Review of: Allegro New Media TurboBooks 03/05/93

Runs on: IBM PC Compatible running Windows 3.1

From: Allegro NewMedia, 387 Passaic Ave., Fairfield, NJ 07004.
Phone [phone] or fax [phone].

Price: $19.95 to $49.95

PUMA Rating: 4 on a scale 1=lowest to 4=highest

Reviewed for Newsbytes by: John McCormick, 03/05/93

Summary: TurboBooks are a new way to present textual material
from classics or modern books on a Windows-based computer.

======

REVIEW

======

Since all of Allegro's new TurboBooks work in much the same way
and because they are all well-known literary works on their own,
this review looks at the concept of TurboBooks rather than
providing an in depth review of any of the actual titles we have
available.

TurboBooks titles consist of one or more books in full text but
not in ASCII format accompanied by a sophisticated search engine
which lets readers browse through text, reading in the normal
manner, but with special enhancements to search for passages or
topics of special interest.

Installation was simple. The search engine which, along with
installation utilities, takes up about 532 kilobytes, is only
loaded onto your hard drive once even if you load multiple
titles. Actual books, take up much more space, for instance, the
two-book SF package "The Ship Who Searched" and "The City Who
Fought" occupy about 1.6 megabytes.

Compared to modern applications programs, or even Windows itself,
this isn't a large chunk of disk space, especially when you will
probably not want to leave any except the reference books on your
hard drive after you have read them.

I installed and browsed through most of the books sent for review
and found the chosen display fonts to be large enough and well
designed for pleasurable reading. I am now in the process of
reading a number of them but this isn't a review of the books
which are identical to the print versions.

After a few minutes experimentation I found a comfortable "page-
turning" rate for the automatic scan function which flips entire
screens of text rather than scrolling which would be very
unpleasant and tiring when reading an entire book.

Of course you can manually flip through pages, chapters, or even
scroll line by line if you have a mind to, or when you are using
one of the reference titles instead of a novel.

A major advantage of these books is the ability to search for
topics and to make your own marginal notes or leave bookmarks
without damaging the book. They also let you read in the dark if
that is desirable or useful in some circumstances.

The following titles were supplied to this Bureau for review:

Fallen Angels, by Niven/Pournelle/Flynn, and Go Tell The
Spartans, by Pournelle/Stirling; both for $30.

The Ship Who Fought, by A. McCaffrey/S. M. Stirling, and The Ship
Who Searched, by A. McCaffrey/M. Lackey; both for $33.

The Complete Guide to MS-DOS 5.0; $24.

The Complete Guide to Windows 3.1; $24.

International Herald Tribune Guide to Business Travel EUROPE, by
R. Beardwood/Alan Tillier; $24.

On the Road The Portable Computing Bible, by Jim Seymour; $33.

Winn Rosch Hardware Bible, by Winn L. Rosch; $36.

Den of Thieves, by J.B. Stewart; $24.

The Japan That Can Say No, by S. Ishihara; $24.

The Last of the Mohicans, by J.F. Cooper, and The Deerslayer, by
J.F. Cooper; both for $30.

These and other titles of current books from well-known
publishers are already available, contact the company for a
complete list.

As more of us take laptop computers along almost everywhere these
TurboBooks may begin to replace the hip-pocket size paperback.

Certainly the Travel guides and some of the computer reference
books would be highly useful installed on a laptop for your next
trip out of town, and one or two novels could greatly ease the
burden while waiting for your connection.

Some disabled users will find them particularly useful. For the
moment this mostly includes those with mobility impairments who
find it difficult to turn pages or hold a print-version of a
book.

A spokesperson for the company told Newsbytes that they are also
considering building text-to-speech utilities into their books
but haven't reached a decision yet. This would certainly broaden
their appeal to visually-impaired computer users.

Allegro reports experimenting with Soundblaster and other audio
boards using the COPY TOPIC function to move entire chapters into
the Windows Clipboard and then read them back audibly, but
since these books are designed for search and retrieval
convenience rather than just ASCII format, they are not
currently very useful for those who need audio output.

============

PUMA RATING

============

PERFORMANCE: 4 The bookmarks and auto-scan, along with choice of
font sizes, make these books very easy to use on a computer.

USEFULNESS: 3 Whether anyone will really want to read books on
their computers is a matter of individual taste - I can report
that if people want to do this, they will probably never see
a better way to present text on screen until we have a radical
new graphics environment to replace Windows.

MANUAL: 4 The documentation consists of information printed
inside the TurboBooks cover and online help, but this is more
than sufficient.

AVAILABILITY: 3 Today these titles are only available from
Allegro, but Waldensoft will stock them beginning before the end
of March and they should become widely available by this summer.

(John McCormick/199335/Press Contact: Barry Cinnamon, Allegro
NewMedia, 201-808-1992 or fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00013)

Disktop Publisher's Association Adopts New Name 03/05/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Effective immediately
the Disktop Publisher's Association or DPA will change its name
to the Digital Publisher's Association and retain the same
abbreviation. DPA founder Ron Albright told Newsbytes that the
reason for the change is to differentiate the association from a
near sound-alike "desktop" publishers and to emphasize the
nature of DPA publications as existing primarily in digital,
rather than paper, format.

The Digital (formerly, Disktop) Publishing Association was formed
in April, 1992 as the first trade organization for the electronic
("paperless") publishing industry. The DPA is composed of authors
and publishers whose works and publications are distributed and
marketed on disk rather than paper. Publications from DPA member
publishers exist in a multitude of formats, from simple ASCII
text to complex hypertext and multimedia documents. DPA
membership is international and includes members from Australia,
Ireland, England, Sweden, South Africa, and Canada.

The DPA will continue all current activities, including the
annual "Digital Quill" Awards, presented to authors and
publishers for excellence in electronic publishing - this is only
a name change.

A monthly newsletter, the "Digital Publishing News" goes to
members and to the public, but the DPA also operates a public-
access BBS (205-854-1660) for discussing issues related to
marketing digital publications and for distributing member
publications.

The BBS supports communications between the reading public and
authors and publishers and supplements the DPA's national
presence on the GEnie Information Network (the LAMP RoundTable,
Page 515) which is used for planning collaborations between
authors and publishers and to support readers of electronic
documents.

(John McCormick/199335/Press and Public Contact: Ron Albright,
Digital Publishing Association; 205-853-8269, Fax [phone],
or BBS 205-854-1660.)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(MOW)(00014)

Russia - Customs Taxes Up, Warehouses Empty 03/05/93
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- The introduction of the
value-added tax (VAT) on the imported goods, including computers and
communications devices skyrocketed equipment prices far ahead of
inflation and emptied local warehouses, Newsbytes has learned.

The "Order Number 49" of the Russian customs committee introduced
a 20% VAT on all imported goods, to be payable upon customs
clearance. In effect, this practically doubled the import tax.

Computer sellers which had imported their goods before 1 February
were able to sell their goods for very low prices, and their
warehouses were emptied by buyers eager to snap up equipment
from the cheapest sources. A number of computer equipment buyers
reported to Newsbytes that they were having problems acquiring
computers and modems at prices which had formerly been considered
"quite reasonable."

Another problem which computer sellers encountered is the rising
ruble-to-dollar exchange rate. According to a number of computer
resellers, this has led to a rise in the ruble prices on goods
ahead of inflation, and leaves them with fewer clients than
usual.

Russian customs officials are also releasing statistics that
the number of 80286 computers imported into Russia is steadily
decreasing, while the share of 386/486 machines is rising.

(Kirill Tchashchin/19930305)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(MOW)(00015)

Moscow Phone Company To Be Privatized 03/05/92
MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Commersant daily newspaper has
published a  report that the Moscow City phone network, known as
MGTS, is to be privatized soon, and will issue shares to the public.

The Moscow city phone network  has 400 phone exchanges installed
and operating, with 3.8 million phone lines served by 15,000
employees.

The Moscow phone network said to require up to US$10 billion for its
complete modernization which will result in a fully digital network.
No such funds are available now, although the public shares issue
is designed to help change the situation.

According to MGTS data, 81% of its users are households which
account for only 15.1 percent of revenues. The largest share of
phone network earnings -- 81.7% -- come from business
establishments, which consist of only 13% of the total installed
lines.

The anticipated public offering comes in the wake of an agreement
for the phone company not to engage in monopolistic practices,
the agreement having been worked out with the anti-monopoly
committee and the Moscow city government. The agreement also
reportedly  includes a  clause forcing MGTS to "provide access to
the telecommunications market" to other commercial services." The
proposal has no enforcement measures incorporated.

A number of Western companies, including AT&T, Bundespost Telecom of
Germany, Bell Canada, GPT of UK and the Finnish Nokia have engaged in
communications projects in the hope of getting a share of this
practically unexplored telecommunications market.

(Kirill Tchashchin/19930305)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00016)

Cellular Technology Update 03/05/93
DALLAS, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- As cellular operators
return from their annual trade show, they come away aware of a
number  of new products, and some interesting alliances for the
future.

Among the latter marriages is one between GTE Mobilnet and
Digital Equipment, which will work together on a system called
CloneDetector, aimed at ending cellular toll fraud. Every
cellular phone is billed based on a unique identifier in a chip
contained in the phone. Thieves have stolen millions of dollars
worth of calls by copying the chips into new phones and reselling
them as "service-free" models. The idea behind CloneDetector is
to sound an alarm when the same identifier is being used on two
different calls. The technology could also detect unusual
calling patterns, then build a case for each fraud. It's the
first major product announcement between the two companies since
Digital named former GTE Mobile President Paul Kozlowski a
vice president in January. Kozlowski is also a past president
of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, which
sponsors the industry's annual trade show.

Many operators were excited at the show by a product from
Cellular Technical Services Company and Cincinnati Bell, which
offered a metered billing system. This would let carriers
eliminate deposit requirements before activating service for
customers who pre-pay for the service, turning it off once the
pre-payment runs out, and turning it back on using credit cards
or bank cards. Cincinnati Bell's Cincinnati Bell Information
Systems unit, known as CBIS, is a leading vendor of billing
systems used by cellular operators.

On the regulatory front, the Federal Communications Commission
gave Comsat permission to resell Inmarsat communications to the
shipping industry through a new business unit instead of a
separate subsidiary. Comsat wants to quadruple the number of
ships using its Inmarsat services over the next five years, and
the waiver was needed because it's the only US Inmarsat
signatory to provide the services. Inmarsat services use tiny
antennae and became famous during the 1991 Iraq war when CNN
correspondent Peter Arnett filed reports from Baghdad using one.

AT&T, meanwhile, said it would improve the security of cellular
data transmissions with a new encryption device, due for delivery
later this year. The AT&T 3600 will connect either to a cellular
phone handset, or between a regular phone's base and handset. A
hand-sized unit for notebook computers should be out by year-end,
AT&T said.

British Telecom's Tymnet unit also said cellular and radio access
are part of its plan for improving the system this year. BT also
wants to simplify the process of calling its system by using the
same exchange or a toll-free number for access, and speed things
up by supporting 14,400 bit/second modems.

In a move related somewhat to cellular telephony, McCaw
Cellular's paging unit signed a joint marketing agreement with
BellSouth's MobileComm unit aimed at selling MobileComm's
PersonalPager across the country. McCaw will bring 16 service
markets the venture, enabling MobileComm to sell its pagers
directly through mass merchants like Wal-Mart, with assurance
that the pagers can be used wherever they're bought.

Finally, Glenayre Technologies said its Modular Voice Processing
will deliver operator services to American Portable
Telecommunication's trial of microwave-based PCN phone services.
Voice messaging is an integral part of the trial, and Glenayre's
Constant Touch Call Manager function will be the base of it. In
the trial, all incoming calls will be answered by the MVP voice
messaging system, and subscribers will then be alerted to the
message through pagers, at which point they can connect to the
caller directly, or have it transferred, while the caller is
still in the system.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930305/Press Contact: Glenayre Technologies
Irene K. Moore, 404/623-4900; CBIS, John Pratt, 800/327-3900;
Jean Coppenbarger, MobileComm, 601-977-1648)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00017)

International Telecom Update 03/05/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Latin America's move
to privatize its phone networks has picked up steam again, after
a roadblock put up by Uruguay voters, who rejected a move to sell
their well-run Antel phone company to foreigners.

Peru's privatization drive will begin in earnest in April, that
government announced, with Morgan-Grenfell of the UK and Coopers
and Lybrand of the US pre-qualifying potential buyers of Entel
Peru and Compania Peruana de Telefonos. The state will sell just
20 percent of the latter company. President Alberto Fujimori is
anxious to push privatization forward while he appears to have
the upper hand in his war with the Shining Path guerilla movement
and drug traffickers. Peru is one of the most under-served
telecom markets in the world, with just over 2.5 phones per 100
people. If buyers can be assured of some stability, that
represents a major opportunity, since small investments can reap
large dividends in new sign-ups.

Ecuador's Ecuatoriana de Telecomunicaciones, or Emetel, could
draw bids of $3-4 billion, state officials claimed, but it could
take up to 2 years to complete that sale. New President Sixto
Duran Ballen is moving to privatize the phone network before
tackling 50 other state firms. That's the reverse of the
Brazilian process, where steel and cement companies were put on
the block before any move was made to sell the nation's stake in
the Telebras monopoly. Telebras is now definitely on the block,
and is touting potential profits from Embratel, the long distance
company in which it holds a majority stake. The company reported
Embratel had profits of $240 million for 1992 on sales of $1.4
billion. Other government institutions own that part of Embratel
not held by Telebras.

(Dana Blankenhorn/199303005)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(BOS)(00018)

Mobile World - MicroSlate Forms Design Pact With LexMark 03/05/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- At Mobile World,
MicroSlate, an established pen computer vendor, has announced a
major design agreement with LexMark International, a Fortune 500
company.

In an interview with Newsbytes, Jan Rowinski, president of
MicroSlate, said that the deal calls for LexMark International's
Plastic Technology Center (PTC) to design the "next generation" of
MicroSlate machines, and also to work with MicroSlate in creating
custom pen computers for vertical applications.

Teresa Barr, strategic marketing manager for PTC, told Newsbytes
that PTC specializes in using plastic technology to ruggedize
computers for field use.  PTC's other clients include IBM, Dell, and
Hyundai.

MicroSlate's custom approach to computer design will be
modular as well, Rowinski said.  The vendor will be able to easily
produce a 286, 386 or 486 PC through the simple insertion of a
module containing a processor and coprocessor into the motherboard.
The motherboard will also provide VGA, LCD control, IDE, and serial
and parallel communications capabilities.

As part of the new approach, MicroSlate plans to offer customers
financial incentives for ordering custom pen computers, Rowinski
noted.  Partial reimbursement will be provided to the original
customer for any custom design that is later re-used by another
customer.

Rowinski also told Newsbytes that a strategic agreement between
MicroSlate and IBM has now come to fruition.  Forged last fall, the
pact calls for IBM to manufacture all MicroSlate units.  The first
MicroSlate pen computers made by IBM will ship this week, he
reported.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930305/Press contacts:  Jan Rowinski,
MicroSlate, tel [phone]; Teresa Barr, Lexmark International,
606-232-7900)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(BOS)(00019)

 ****Mobile World - Mobile Computing Holds Hype And Hope 03/05/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- In the mobile
computing industry, hype is intermingled with hope, and the hype
comes largely from disparities in the inclinations of vendors and
users, said Barton Goldenberg in a keynote speech at Mobile World
this week.

"While mobile computing vendors are forced by competitors to be
product driven, mobile computing users remain driven by needs and
personal benefits," stated Goldenberg, president of ISM Inc., a
consulting company specializing in sales and marketing automation.

This phenomenon holds true not only in mobile computing, but also
in much more widely established industries, such as the automotive
business, he emphasized.

For example, a case study on Mercedes-Benz has found that engineers
for the luxury car maker are only now starting to be driven by what
customers are willing to pay, instead of by dreams of creating the
"ultimate car," he illustrated.

"The time is right for users to insist on a demand-driven mobile
computing marketplace," asserted Goldenberg.  Users should also be
careful to do their "mobile computing homework" properly, to
examine the cost effectiveness of various technologies, and to take
"human factors" into account, the consultant suggested.

Human factors to be considered include the safety and security of
equipment and the availability of training and support, as well as
the impact of technological change on the organization, he
reported.

Possible impacts include the "spy-in-the-cab" syndrome, in which
employees reject new technologies out of concern that management is
being overly intrusive, he said.

When users are properly prepared, though, they can enjoy the real
benefits of mobile computing.  In the sales world, these include a
widening of the traditional management span, easier implementation
of team selling, and the ability of employees to spend more time
working face-to-face with customers.

Mobile technologies that are truly "hot" are those with real
practical benefits, rather than those that rely on technical
wizardry alone, he said.

In the hardware area, hot technologies include laptops, notebooks,
palmtops, pen computers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) for
today, he continued.  Subnotebooks, personal communicators, and
two-way pagers and messaging terminals will be hot tomorrow, he
predicted.

Hot current software applications include e-mail, inventory
management, law enforcement, computer-aided dispatch, and sales and
marketing automation.  Coming for tomorrow are multimedia,
insurance claims adjustment, automatic user location and
navigation, and external market data applications.

Meeting with Newsbytes after the keynote, Goldenberg explained that
his company, ISM, helps companies to implement sales and automation
technology by following real business models.

The company's clients have included Xerox, Digital Equipment,
Hewlett Packard, Olivetti, AT&T, Blue Cross Blue Shield, the US
Postal Service, and many more.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930305/Press contact:  Jean Young, Young and
Associates for ISM, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BOS)(00020)

Mobile World - Notable Pursues Prospect Of Porting Apps 03/05/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Notable
Technologies is getting ready to ship a trio of new applications
for GO!'s PenPoint, and Newsbytes has learned that the company is
pursuing the prospect of porting these and existing packages to
additional pen platforms.

Notation, Shared Whiteboard, and MobileAccess, three upcoming
applications now in beta, were demonstrated alongside Notable's
recently released PenCross crossword game and PenCrush compression
program at Mobile World this week.

"The availability of our applications for other platforms would
make sense, and we have definite activities in that direction,"
said David R. Larson, vice president of marketing and sales, in a
visit with Newsbytes at the booth.  Larson declined to identify,
however, the specific platforms that Notable is exploring.

Notable's new Notation package, scheduled to ship for PenPoint
within the next few weeks, is a portable outliner that lets the
user jot down notes, convert the notes to text, and organize the
information in either text or handwritten form.

Larson told Newsbytes that the product incorporates a drag-and-drop
interface, a freeform outliner, ink translation, text formatting
tools, keyword search capabilities, and separate note areas for
doodles and diagrams.

The freeform outliner accommodates as many topic levels as the user
wants, or as few.  The keyword search function allows notes to be
located by either topic or date in any Notation document.  Notation
will be priced at $99, Larson said.

Also slated for shipment within the next few weeks is Shared
Whiteboard, a "remote sketchpad" that lets two pen users
collaborate in real time on the creation or revision of documents.

As previously reported in Newsbytes, document images and pen
strokes "drawn" on the pen interface are transmitted instantly from
one pen computer running Shared Whiteboard to another.  Both users
see the same image simultaneously, and either user is able to add
to or erase from the document.  Shared Whiteboard will also be
priced at $99.

Mobile Access is a telecommunications package that connects the pen
user to a variety of desktop, mainframe and mobile environments.
As previously reported, the software acts as a terminal emulator
for TTY, VT52 or VT 100 enabling point-to-point communications via
phone line, LAN (local area network), or WAN (wide area network).

The application screen consists of two parts, each adjustable in
size.  The top part is for the terminal session, and the bottom for
handwritten input from the user.  The user can convert outgoing
handwritten and incoming text data into the ASCII text, X-, Y- and
Z-modem, and Kermit protocols.

Also included are drag-and-drop interfaces for sending and
receiving documents and a button-driven "snippets list" for other
frequently used commands, such as "log on" and "get mail."  Target
pricing for Mobile Access is $195, according to Larson.

PenCrush, a package that became available in January for $99,
provides 2:1 data compression that doubles the storage space of the
pen computer.

Larson told Newsbytes that, unlike other data compression programs,
PenCrush operates almost transparently.  To expand a compressed
document, the user simply taps the document in the table of
contents.  Recompression is even easier, occurring automatically.

PenCross, an online crossword puzzle, is also shipping.  The
interface to the new pen program looks and behaves like a
traditional printed crossword puzzle, but adds such features as
intelligent hints, an integrated dictionary, and automatic links
between puzzle squares and their corresponding clues.

When the user arrives at the correct word for a crossword puzzle
entry, the answer instantly appears in bold.  If the answer is
incorrect, the word is automatically hatched over.

The user can select between "easy," "medium" "hard" and "difficult"
levels.  The solution to the puzzle can be quickly called up if the
user becomes truly "stuck."

Aside from being sheer fun, PenCross is a useful tool for learning
the gestures associated with the PenPoint operating system,
according to Larson.  "It's sort of a `Solitaire' for PenPoint," he
commented.

PenCross contains four different puzzles, and Larson informed
Newsbytes that Notable will be offering additional puzzles in the
future.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930505/Press contact: David R. Larson, Notable,
tel [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00021)

UK - AST To Phase Out Power Premium, Replace With Premmia 03/05/93
BRENTFORD, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- AST Research
has unveiled the Premmia range of "Pentium ready" PCs. According
to the company, the new machines, which will begin shipping
immediately, will replace the Power Premium series of PCs over
the next four to five months.

Graham Hopper, AST UK's general manager, told Newsbytes that the
company had pre-announced the Premmia series to its major
customers as far back as early January, because of their need to
know what was planned for the coming six months.

"Most of our major customers work on a six monthly timescale, so
we decided to tell them what was coming. The change-over to the
Premmia range should be complete by June of this year," he told
Newsbytes.

As well as being upgradable to the Intel Pentium processor, which
is expected to be unveiled later this month, the Premmia series
features a local bus video subsystem that AST claims is more
efficient in processing Windows image data than the Power PC
family of machines. It is also Intel Overdrive processor-
compatible.

In the UK, pricing on the new range of machines ranges from UKP
1,495 for the entry level Premmia 4/33s to UKP 3,245 for the
flagship Premmia 4/66d. Four basic CPU specifications (33MHz
80386SX and DX, plus 50 and 66MHz 80486DX2) combined with three
configurations (single floppy, 170MB and 340MB hard disk) to
produce an array of 12 models available in the new range.

Each machine, with the exception of the floppy-only 4/33s and
4/33 (386SX and DX) machines which come with the 4 megabytes
(MB), come with 8 MB of memory, expandable to 128 MB onboard.

One interesting feature of the Premmia series is the inclusion of
a "personality module" that integrates Ethernet on the
motherboard. This AST claims, saves a single EISA slot on the
machine. Future plans include modules for the Premmia series that
support advanced audio and/or voice annotation to files for use
of a network and Token Ring networking.

In parallel with the introduction of the Premmia range, AST has
increased its warranty on UK-supplied machines from one to three
years. According to the company, all desktop and file server PCs
now have the new warranty arrangements.

(Steve Gold/19930305/Press & Public Contact: AST UK - Tel: 081-
568-4350)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LON)(00022)

UK - Novell Updates Netware Lite For Windows, DOS 03/05/93
BRACKNELL, BERKSHIRE, 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Novell has updated
Netware Lite 1.1 to support both DOS and Windows. Previously,
versions of Lite were a little "quirky" when running a DOS window
under Microsoft Windows. The recode now allows full Windows
operation.

Graeme Allan, UK marketing manager with Novell, said that the new
version of Netware Lite 1.1 allows customers seamless access to
the Microsoft Windows graphical user interface (GUI) environment.

"Customers who have asked for improved peer-to-peer desktop
integration with the network and its services now longer have to
exist Windows to DOS in order to perform network management
functions. And, with the new interface, when a desktop server
exists Windows, the network still remains fully functional," he
explained.

The main aim of this new version of Netware is the eventual
progression of Netware Lite towards "Personal Netware," a network
operating system that dovetails in with Netware 4.0, the high-end
version of Netware which is due to be launched next Wednesday.

Personal Netware will support cross platform peer-to-peer
networking, enhanced integration with Netware services, mobile
computer support, and network management facilities.

In the longer term, say two to three years, Personal Netware will
be transparent to the user, with all network functions
addressable from the PC user's own user interface, whether that
be DOS, Windows, Windows NT, OS/2 or any other major PC operating
system.

That's the theory. The reality is that Netware Lite still needs a
degree of sophistication on the part of the user to install
although, once installed, the program is self-updating across the
network once the update disks are installed.

Netware Lite for DOS and Windows will replace the earlier
versions of Lite in the UK reseller channel with immediate
effect. Pricing continues at UKP 70, with current users of
Netware Lite 1.1 (for DOS) being offered an upgrade set of disks
and manuals for UKP 20.

To sweeten up new users of Lite, Novell is offering a special
bundling deal of Lite 1.1 for DOS and Windows, plus a copy of DR-
DOS 6.0 for an all-in price of UKP 90.

(Steve Gold/19930305/Press & Public Contact: Novell UK - Tel: -
344-860400)


(NEWS)(UNIX)(TOR)(00023)

New For Unix - "Fire" Aimed At Film, Video Industry  03/05/93
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Discreet Logic Inc.
has announced Fire, a high-powered paint software package for
Silicon Graphics workstations. According to the vendor, Fire
is aimed at film and video producers who need
professional-quality image painting software.

Among the software's features are user-definable brushes that let
users adjust fundamental paint characteristics such as thickness,
opacity, color, jitter, and orientation. This means users can
create entirely unique effects, a spokeswoman for the company
said.

Fire also comes with an assortment of pre-set filters for image
softening, sharpening, embossing, edge enhancement, texture
effects, and color correction.

All shapes can be animated, and Fire is equipped with a graphics
timing editor for full animation control. A simple timeline
control provides access to image sequences stored on the hard
disk or on video storage devices.

The features don't come cheap -- the list price of Fire is
US$30,000. The software runs on Silicon Graphics Iris, Crimson,
Power Series, and Onyx workstations.

The company is billing Fire, which will make its market debut at
the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas in
April, as the first such package for a standard operating system.
"There are systems out there that do this type of thing now," the
spokeswoman said, "and they're based on proprietary hardware and
they're very, very expensive."

Discreet Logic's other current product is Flame, a digital
editing package for high-end Silicon Graphics workstations. The
spokeswoman explained that Fire runs on less powerful hardware
than Flame and lacks some of the other software's digital editing
capabilities.

(Grant Buckler/19930305/Press Contact: Pat Hunter, Artemis Hunter
PR for Discreet Logic, 613-247-0588, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00024)

 ****Kahn Details Microsoft Scare At SPA Symposium 03/05/93
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Industry
transition was the theme when Phillipe Kahn, CEO of Borland
International delivered the keynote plenary address along with
Joe Guglielmi, CEO of Taligent, at the SPA (Software Publishers
Association) Spring Symposium to an audience of software
publishers and marketers.

The Software Publishers Association is the principal trade
organization of the personal computer software industry. With more
than 1,300 attendees, this Symposium was the largest in the SPA's
history.

"The industry is absolutely in transition," Kahn said. He went
on to compare the recent transition from DOS to Windows to the
transition that took place in 1981 and 1982 from CP/M to DOS.
The earlier transition forced some companies out of business,
made others smaller, and allowed others to emerge as leaders.
Today, Kahn said, "Everyone with a life under DOS has to
prove that they have a life under Windows."

Kahn went on to talk candidly about the effect on Borland of last
fall's introduction of Microsoft's Access database. Finding out
that a major competitor is spending millions to introduce a
product at $99 "sent a jolt through the company -- jolt is
putting it mildly." Microsoft's action forced Borland to
rethink business goals for its three key product areas:
spreadsheets, languages, and databases, and to restructure business
operations. "To compete with database managers selling at $99, we
had to become the lowest-cost producer." That meant tight cost
controls and a switch from a divisional to a functional company
organization.

Kahn was equally candid about what he called the "Quattro Pro
blunder" in September, 1992, in which Borland bundled the DOS
and Windows versions of the product and called it Win-DOS.
While the intent was to introduce users to the Windows version,
the rollout actually confused users and dealers, many of whom
thought Win-DOS was a different product altogether. As a result,
Kahn said, the product introduction lost valuable momentum.

To correct the problem, "We took a page from [Bill] Gates' book --
which he took from us." Instead of offering competitive upgrades
requiring the page from a manual or a competitor's disk, Borland
began offering Quattro Pro to any spreadsheet user at $139.95. This
has worked so well, according to Kahn, that it has contributed to
a recent improvement in Borland's profit picture.

In keeping with Borland's goal of delivering value to its customers,
Kahn announced at the SPA Symposium that Borland will offer what
it's calling a Superpak containing both Quattro Pro for Windows and
Paradox for Windows for $199.95 for 90 days. He characterized the
recent lowering of prices by major software vendors this way:
"This is a standardization war in corporations -- this is not
exactly a pricing war." The goal of lowering prices is to get
customers to try new software and to standardize on it.

(Audry Kalman/19930305)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(SFO)(00025)

 ****Taligent Chief Outlines Strategy At SPA Symposium 03/05/93
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Joe Guglielmi
spent 30 years at IBM in various positions and is now CEO of
Taligent, the independent business organization set up jointly
by IBM and Apple in March, 1992. He talked about the technologies
that underlie software applications development and Taligent's role in
these technologies at the SPA (Software Publishers Association)
Spring Symposium.

Taligent's goals sound familiar: improve efficiency in application
development; level the playing field for application developers; and,
said Guglielmi, "Put application developers back to doing application
development -- not working on the 'plumbing' of moving applications
from platform to platform," as they have been doing for the last few
years. Taligent has spent a good part of its first year in business
talking to software developers and customers. "We no longer believe
that if we build it [a great technology] they [the users] will
come," Guglielmi said. So Taligent plans to introduce its
technology in stages.

Taligent's strategy is to bring object technology to the operating
system level, meaning that developers can make operating system
extensions and reuse capabilities easily. Using "frameworks," or
classes of objects that focus on one function such as networking,
software engineers will be able to change only those parts of the
system that they need to change. To take advantage of this
technology, developers will need a comprehensive development
environment -- which Taligent will also supply.

"We don't intend to do everything," Guglielmi said. "We're not
writing databases... we're enabling developers to plug into
existing products." The reception to Taligent's development
environment, internally code named Hoops, has been quite favorable,
according to Guglielmi.

The result of Taligent's work, Guglielmi said, will be that the
barrier to entering the computer software market will decrease
significantly. For example, an application that might have
required several years of development will now require only months.
Extensions that required thousands of lines of code and months
to write can be done in days with only hundreds of lines of code.
For users, this should mean a greater variety of more innovative
applications that will -- let's hear it for that old standby --
make them more productive.

When people ask him when Taligent will actually ship a product,
Guglielmi said, "When it's ready."

"I'm not being facetious," he added. "It's important for us to get
this right. The industry doesn't need another thing to worry
about." Guglielmi closed with a slide of an automobile side
mirror. "At Taligent," he said, "We believe objects may be
closer than they appear."

(Audry Kalman/19930305)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00026)

Software Publishers Association Honors Winners 03/05/93
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- The annual SPA
(Software Publishers Association) Excellence in Software
Awards finally have a name: The Codies. SPA Executive
Director Ken Wasch said in announcing the new name that
the organization had searched for seven years for a catchy
name that accurately represented the awards. The new
name made sense, he said, because excellent software is
based on excellent code.

The SPA announced the awards winners in two separate
ceremonies at its Spring Symposium. A record 521
products from 182 companies were nominated for awards.
SPA membership votes on the winners of the Excellence in
Software Awards.

Comedian Paula Poundstone headlined the evening awards
ceremony, keeping the crowd entertained as 25 Excellence
in Software Awards were handed out to software
publishing companies in the education, consumer, and
business markets. Several products took awards in more
than one category. Morph, from Gryphon Software
Corporation, won Best Application: Graphic or Display, as
well as Best Personal Creativity Program. Edmark
Corporation's KidDesk took honors as Best Educational
Tool Program, and Best User Interface in a New Program.
Intuit's Quicken won in both the Best Consumer Program
category and the Best Personal Productivity Program
category.

Awards presented in earlier in the day were voted on by
various SPA special interest groups and panels of industry
judges. A new awards category, the Community Service
Citation, recognized community outreach efforts sponsored
by SPA members. Micrografx won in this category for its support
for the Recovery of Missing Children Program. The 1992 Chili
Cookoff, held by Micrografx at Fall Comdex, raised more than
$500,000 for Recovery of Missing Children, making it the
single-largest fund-raising event for the organization.

The Critics' Choice Awards were selected by a panel of 25
software industry journalists, who conducted two rounds
of balloting to make their final selections. All products
nominated for SPA Excellence in Software Awards qualified for
Critics' Choice Awards.

In the Business Software category, Adobe Systems won for Adobe
Premier 2.0. Disney Software took top honors in Consumer Software
with Stunt Island: The Stunt Flying and Filming Simulation.
In Education Software, Knowledge Revolution's Interactive
Physics II was the winner.

The SPA Journalism Awards went to members of the
journalism profession who cover the software industry
insightfully and accurately. Peter Lewis of the New York
Times won honors as Best Software Reviewer. Best
Industry Analyst/Editorial went to Robin Raskin of PC
Magazine. PC Week's Jim Louderback won in the Best
Trade Press News Reporting Category. Rory O'Connor of
the San Jose Mercury News was selected for Best General
Press News Reporting, and Jeff Silverstein of Software
Industry Bulletin for Best Financial Reporting and
Analysis.

Dr. Seymour Papert of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, won a Lifetime Achievement Award for his
many years of work studying how children interact with
computers. "What's been most rewarding," Papert said,
"Has been participating in a love affair that children are
having with computers." Computers, Papert believes are
on their way to becoming a medium of expression for
children as common as words, art, music, or dance.

(Audry Kalman/19930305)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00027)

Inmac To Lay Off 8% Of Workforce 03/05/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Inmac
is planning to lay off about eight percent of its work force and
to close its Japanese operations.

Ray Nystrom, director of finance for Inmac, confirmed the
restructuring to Newsbytes, saying that the eight percent cuts
was a "close number." He said the company had "1,300 people."

Nystrom told Newsbytes that the company was closing its
Japanese operations because, "We have decided that, given the
economic situation in Japan, and the cost of funding the
ongoing losses, it is better for us to pull out at this time."

Nystrom also confirmed to Newsbytes that the company was
taking a $14.9 million charge against second quarter earnings
to pay for the restructurings. Said Nystrom, the charge was,
"Basically the provision for the write-down of the
non-performing assets, for the severance costs of the people,
and the closure of the Japanese operation."

Speaking of the company's European and United Kingdom
operations, Nystrom said that, "We have done a restructuring
and we have eliminated the middle-management that we had
in Europe, which was resident in the UK."

In October 1992, Newsbytes reported that Andest Communications
had signed with Inmac in the UK.

In February, 1993, Newsbytes reported that Inmac had entered
into an agreement for IBM to manufacture specific Token Ring
products for the company.

(Ian Stokell/19930305)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(NYC)(00028)

 ****US Federal Agents In World-wide Raid On Porn BBSs 03/05/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- A task force of
various US law enforcement agencies working in concert with Danish
officials have served 31 search warrants on persons alleged to be
involved in a network of bulletin board systems involved in the
dissemination of child pornography materials.

The raids were carried out on Thursday, March 4th and, according to
reports, involved locations in San Francisco, Westminister, Los
Angeles, Los Gatos, Petaluma, Lakeside, and Moreno Valley,
California; Redding, Connecticut; Atlanta, Georgia; Boca Raton
and Williston, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; Mount Washington,
Kentucky; Boston and Hudson, Massachusetts; Belton, Missouri;
Hackettstown and Cliffword Beach, New Jersey; Columbus, Ohio;
Harrisburg and East Greenville, Pennsylvania; Houston, Irving,
Abilene and Arlington, Texas; Cheasapeake and Centreville,
Virginia; and Seattle, Washington.

State warrants were also served in San Jose California;
and Kennedy, Texas.

Additionally, "knock and announce" warrants, in which people are
contacted and asked if they will cooperate with the
investigation, were also served in Phoenix, Arizona; Sunnyvale
and Chico; Maitland, Florida; Baltimore, Maryland; and New York
City, New York.

The majority of those involved in the action were 300 US Customs
agents. The investigation began in March 1992 when a child-porn
sting operation in Miami uncovered the existence of a bulletin board,
known as BAMSE, operating in Aalborg, Denmark, allegedly distributing
child pornography throughout the United States. The ongoing
investigation revealed the existence of two other Danish bulletin
boards, "Srewdriver" and "Vestbjerg," also allegedly engaged
in similar activities.

The BAMSE system was seized in a raid last May in Aalborg along with
more than hundreds of child pornography. According to reports, the
materials obtained in the raid and testimony of a witness
revealed that more than 100 of the customers were US citizens.

According to William Rosenblatt, chief of the US. Customs Service
in Miami, subscribers to the services pay about $80 a year to
receive photos by phone.

Rosenblatt was quoted as saying, "It's not only the largest
operation in US history, I want you to know it's the first.
It involves the high-tech exchange of child pornography. Basically
what we have here is a bunch of computer perverts. Fifteen
to 25 percent of the recipients of pedophile information
are also convicted child molesters. These are human time bombs,
ticking, waiting to go off."

The continuing investigation, known as "Operation Longarm," led
to the raids on March 4th. No arrests were made during the
execution of the warrants in the United States although Rosenblatt
said that, if possession of the material is verified, suspects
can be charged with federal counts that could put them in prison
for 15 to 20 years. Michael Sheehan, a Customs spokesperson, was
quoted as saying that Karl Kanstrupt, who ran BAMSE, was arrested
in Denmark by authorities but the operators of the other two
systems were not.

Lance Rose, author of "SysLaw," a definitive work on the law involving
computer systems, told Newsbytes, "Laws involving child pornography are
the most stringent. However, persons would either have to possess
three or more copies of such material or be involved in its
distribution."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19930305)


(NEWS)(IBM)(SFO)(00029)

Shiva Ships Remote Server For Win For Workgroups 03/05/93
BURLINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Shiva
has begun shipping what it claims is the first remote networking
server for Microsoft Windows for Workgroups (WFW) version 3.1.

According to the company, NetModem/E for Windows for
Workgroups is the only product that lets PC and laptop users
easily access their WFW network resources from anywhere.

Paul Gustafson, manager of product marketing for Shiva, told
Newsbytes that, "The important thing that it allows any remote
user on a laptop the ability to gain access into WFW network.
Whether they are on the road travelling and need to dial in
through the telephone line and have access to electronic mail,
or the data bases, file services, or if they are at home and
want dial in and get access. It is basically anywhere, they have
the ability to get access to those resources and actually appear
as if they were locally connected. Their environment does not
change whether they are in the office or on the road. Their
environment is exactly the same."

NetModem/E for Windows for Workgroups is described by the
company as a dedicated remote networking server that can be
shared by users dialing into an Ethernet network. A remote user
can connect to NetModem/E for Windows for Workgroups using
a standard modem. Once connected, the user can take advantage
of all the Windows for Workgroups capabilities, including
Microsoft Mail, Schedule+, and file sharing, as if the remote
computer were connected directly to the Ethernet.

"The NetModem/E would function as a dial-in server for the
WFW network," said Gustafson, emphasizing that this was the
only such product on the market. "That is the thing that Shiva
does in the NetWare environment, the AppleTalk environment,
and now for the WFW environment."

In announcing the product, Dan Schwinn, president of Shiva,
said: "This is an ideal solution for accessing the Windows for
Workgroups network while on the road or from home. To boost
worker productivity, most large companies will need to provide
remote networking to their employees within the next few
years. Recent environmental and family leave legislation also
encourage the trend toward telecommuting."

The company claims that Shiva Net Manager, the software which
is included with NetModem/E for Windows for Workgroups,
configures and monitors one or more devices over the network,
even remotely.

NetModem/E for Windows for Workgroups is available now at
the list price of $1,699.

Speaking of the target market for the NetModem/E, Gustafson
told Newsbytes that, "WFW has been targeted as a lower-end
peer-to-peer network operating system. So we are obviously
targeting the same as Microsoft. Really, medium to large
sized companies (that need) remote office applications, branch
office applications, so the people we would be servicing
through the remote connections would be salespeople, people
travelling, remote offices that need connectivity into the
network."

(Ian Stokell/19930305/Press Contact: Carol McGarry,
617-431-0770, Schwartz Communications, )


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00030)

 ****Symantec To Use Semantics In Defense Against Borland 03/05/93
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAR 5 (NB) -- Symantec has
confirmed its executives, President and Chief Executive Officer
Gordon Eubanks, and Executive Vice President Gene Wang have been
indicted by a California grand jury to stand trial on charges
of theft of trade secrets from competing software developer
Borland International. The entire case has raised landmark
legal issues as to the legal definition of what constitutes
"technical and trade secrets" which could set significant
precedents in the software industry.

Wang left Borland September 1 of last year to enter the
employment of Symantec, and two days after his departure
Borland officials filed criminal charges. The homes and offices
of Wang and Eubanks were searched by police in connection with
the alleged theft of trade secrets. The incriminating evidence
is in the form of electronic mail messages left on Wang's
computer which were sent to Eubanks on Borland's MCI Mail
account, according to Borland.

Symantec was expected to use a privacy of personal mail defense
in an attempt to prove the innocence of executives Eubanks and
Wang, but the company is now saying trade secrets were not
exchanged. Instead, Symantec is claiming the information
exchanged does not fall under "technical and scientific"
information, but is "business" information concerning product
directions and strategies. If the alleged e-mail messages are
business information, Symantec says the California Penal Code S
499c, under which its executives have been indicted, is not
applicable.

Technical or scientific information is defined as information
such as chemical formula or patterns for a machine or device.
Business information is defined as information such as marketing
and sales information, customer lists, and similar documents.

Symantec appears to be saying that in effect, Wang simply
shared with Eubanks information he would have shared anyway
once in Symantec's employ, and the sharing of that information
is not applicable under the criminal code.

In a prepared statement, Symantec said, "Misjudging the
character of information that is temporal at best should not
result in the loss of liberty and the attachment of a permanent
stigma, particularly when there is a civil remedy that will
circumscribe the injury and compensate an injured owner.
California's law acknowledges that in the area of trade secret
misappropriation, the domain of the criminal law should be
different from the civil law, and thus it requires trade
secrets be only technical and scientific information before
misappropriation can be a crime."

However, the Santa Cruz District Attorney's office feels the
definition of "technical and trade secrets" also includes
material that could be highly damaging to a company should it
be revealed to a competitor. District Attorney Art Danner said
in a prepared statement, "We believe that based on the evidence,
Borland is a crime victim like any other victim, and that the
criminal courts are the appropriate place to decide the case."

Symantec says the executives are not guilty of the crimes of
which they are charged and the company has filed a counter-suit
against Borland claiming the criminal prosecution is a
competitive tactic. However, the stock of both companies has
fallen significantly since the introduction of the case.

Borland has been struggling financially for some time now,
reporting red ink and fighting falling stock prices. Borland
also has other problems as the company is expected to lose
millions in a suit filed against it by software developer Lotus
Corporation over similarities between Lotus' 1-2-3 and
Borland's Quattro Pro product.

When contacted by Newsbytes, Borland company officials declined
to comment on the nature or comment of the e-mail messages.
Borland representatives did say the company feels this is a
case that needs to be taken to the courts and decided by a
jury.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930305/Press Contact: Brian Fawkes,
Symantec, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Steve Grady,
Borland International, 408-439-1621)