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/nb121093

Text File | 1993-12-10 | 79KB | 1,729 lines

(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00001)

Report Renews Criticism Of RBOCs 12/10/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- On the tenth
anniversary of the creation of the regional Bell companies,
analyst Bruce Kushnick and Probe Research have produced a five
report, two database series called "10 Years Since Divestiture"
which basically criticizes the Bells. Kushnick first discussed
his findings over a year ago with Newsbytes.

The five report, two database study summarizes the results of
studying over 2,600 documents and interviewing 1,000
consumers, as well as examining Bell annual reports, tariffs and
filings, telephone directories and phone bills.

Kushnick charges that phone bills have increased 200-600 percent
since divestiture, and the effects have been especially hard on elderly
subscribers. "The FCC's information on rates is wrong," Kushnick
wrote, "because they are based solely on telephone company-
supplied information, not actual telephone charges." Kushnick
said today's telephone bills are impossible to understand on
purpose, misleading subscribers about the actual cost of service.

Specifically, Kushnick said cable companies which got around
1992's Cable Reregulation Act by selling "insurance" on wires
that don't break, increasing the cost of the cable box, or
breaking down bills into myriad subcategories, are merely
following a strategy the Bell companies pioneered.

Kushnick said his firm, New Networks Institute, which sells its
services through Probe Research, "is calling for a nationwide
investigation, including audits, of the Regional Bells and the
exploration of potential refunds."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931209/Press Contact: Bruce Kushnick, New
Networks Institute, 212-837-7867)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00002)

 ****Senators Criticize Violent Sega Video Games 12/10/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- The US Senate held
hearings yesterday on violence in video games and the industry's
efforts to both limit such violence and to label games for their
sexual and violent content. The morning session concentrated on
the joint subcommittee members' position and was designed to
air concerns from educators and children's advocates about the
effects of viewing violence, especially interactive violence seen
in video games.

After noon the industry got its innings in the person of
representatives from Sega, Nintendo, The Software Publisher's
Association, the Amusement & Music Operators Association (arcade
operators), and the Video Software Dealer's Association.

The SPA, which represents about 1,000 software publishers,
including many which publish no games, was the major moderating
influence. Ilene Rosenthaul, SPA's general counsel, pointed
to a major upcoming meeting scheduled for April 10-11 in Chicago
where the SPA will bring together the game makers and attempt to
broker a solid and enforceable rating system.

Craig Johnson, past president of the arcade operators
association, told the Senators that there was already community
pressure to remove violent games and that arcade owners were
therefore pulling such games from some locations.

Nintendo's Howard Lincoln pointed to instances where Nintendo
demanded the removal of violent action before it would license a
game and, after being shown an objectionable advertisement for a
Nintendo game, earned Senatorial praise when he stated flatly that
he would see the ad dropped or pull his company's games from the
offending distributor. Nintendo also said that its proprietary
chips, which are used to lock competitors out of its game
machines, served the purpose of allowing Nintendo to block what
the company saw as objectionable games.

Sega defended its games' sex and violence content on the basis
that they were rated and that most users of the more advanced
systems were over 21 years of age. When asked whether there was
any attempt to enforce ratings limits in advertising or at the
retail level, Bill White (representing Sega) made no clear
statement indicating that there was.

At one point Sega's Mr. White said that the nasty scenes in his
company's games were taken out of context and compared the
sexually violent Night Trap to the movies Gone With The Wind and
Roots which, he said also contained scenes which would
appear objectionable if similarly edited.

After being shown advertisements that the Senators found
objectionable, Sega's representative indicated that his company
had no control over the companies that sell its games.

As the afternoon wore on its became obvious that the Senators
were becoming more and more frustrated with what they saw as a
lack of understanding on the part of some video game makers that
extreme violence and especially sexual violence have no place in
any games and that a rating system alone is not enough unless
there is some good way to make certain that adult games are
purchased only by adults.

Co-chairman Senator Joseph Lieberman (D. Conn.) stated that he
"finds Sega the most objectionable." The Senator also called
Sega's unenforced rating system a "fig leaf to cover a lot of
transgressions."

Howard Lincoln of Nintendo called former Nintendo employee Bill
White's (now representing Sega) testimony "nonsense" after Mr.
White said that Night Trap is only targeted to adult audiences.

Senator Lieberman commended Mr. Lincoln saying that Nintendo,
"Has shown leadership here, not perfect, but a damn site better
than your competition," obviously referring to Sega, which was
the only other game maker present. The Connecticut Senator also
upbraided Sega for not controlling the content of its games and
for failing to make any statement concerning future plans to do
so.

In his concluding remarks, an obviously disgusted co-chairman
Senator Herbert H. Kohl (D Wisc.) warned game publishers that
they "could kill the goose who laid the golden egg," and pointed
out that he wouldn't be satisfied with mere talk about
responsibility and standards. He said, "I hope you walk away
[from this hearing] with one thought from today - that if you
don't do something about this we will!"

North Dakota Democrat Senator Byron Dorgan who had earlier called
Night Trap "sick and disgusting," pointed out in regard to all
the talk from Sega and other publishers about ratings and
parental control that "more than a million children are born out
of wedlock each year" and asked just who would supervise them
when in many cases there just aren't responsible parents for many
of these children as they grow up.

Another hearing will be held in February to determine whether the
industry has taken any real steps to self-regulate, but Senator
Lieberman said that he intended to go ahead with the introduction
of legislation which would require government regulation of the
video game business if the industry failed to properly self-
regulate. Both of the co-chairmen have indicated that while self-
regulation would be preferable to government intervention, they
are quite prepared to enforce some restrictions to the limit
permitted by the Constitution if the industry offers nothing but
smoke and mirrors.

(John McCormick/19931210/Press Contact: Jim Kennedy, Senator
Lieberman's Office, 202-224-4041 or fax [phone]; Ilene
Rosenthaul, SPA, 202-452-1600)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00003)

Roundup - Stories Carried By Other Media This Week 12/10/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- Roundup is a brief
look at some computer stories carried in other publications
received here this past week.

Jack Rickard's always interesting Boardwatch has a
December issue and while the usual arguments over the state of
American education are mostly missing, there is a fascinating
look at the new Hayes/Rockwell V.FC modem standard which makes
dial-up 28.8 Kbps data transmissions possible and may just put an
end to the long wrangling over the availability of the only
slightly faster ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network, a
telecommunications network standard that allows voice and data
transmissions on the same line).

The December 6 issue of Network World (Enterprise Computing) says
that discount stockbroker Charles Schwab is moving its network to
object-oriented management based on the OSF (Open Software
Foundation) Distributed Computing Environment by way of a $2.3
million investment with Tivoli Systems which markets distributed
management software.

The Winter 1993 issue of CD-ROM today starts a multi-part series
on how to use the Kodak Photo CD system to store and distribute
high-quality color images.

Info World for December 6 carries a front-page special report
titled "1993: The Year NT Failed To Capture The Desktop." Enough
said?

The December 6 Informationweek asks if Microsoft can deliver on
its promise of an object software revolution which will make it
easier to build applications. No, according to IBM, Novell, Sun,
Apple, and others who see Mr. Gates taking the wrong track.

Communicationsweek for the week of December 6 reports that ATM
(asynchronous transfer mode) prices will rival frame-relay and T1
T1 (1.5 megabit per second line) pricing in some wide area
networks.

Computerworld dated December 6 says that object embedding using
Microsoft's OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) may pose serious
security problems to IS departments as the new technology opens
up the doors to hackers.

PC Magazine for December 21 carries the magazine's tenth annual
Technical Excellence Awards. NT Advanced Server, the Pentium
chip, Lotus Improv for Windows Rel. 2.1, are some of the winners
described in the issue. Andrew S. Grove, head of Intel, was named
the Person of the Year. See the issue for winners in other
categories and a list of the winners back to 1984 which included
products such as Borland's Turbo Pascal, OS/2 1.2, and OS/2 2.0.

(John McCormick/19931210/)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(BOS)(00004)

SGML '93 - Exoterica Intros Macintosh Edition Of OmniMark 12/10/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- At SGML '93,
Exoterica has announced a Macintosh edition of OmniMark, along with
the opening of a new office in Paris to manage European operations.

OmniMark is a multiplatform programming language for analyzing,
modeling, and processing text-intensive information, explained Eric
R. Skinner, major accounts manager for Ottawa, Ontario-based
Exoterica, in an interview with Newsbytes.

The OmniMark language is used for a wide range of SGML (Standard
Generalized Markup Language) and non-SGML applications, including
automatic translation of rich-text information to and from SGML.

The product offers programmers concise and intuitive ways of
performing tasks that are difficult to accomplish with the C
language or other utilities, Skinner said. In particular, the
pattern matching and text manipulation capabilities of OmniMark
outperform those of dedicated C programs by far, he added.

OmniMark incorporates a high-speed validating SGML parser, a
context-sensitive SGML query language, standard recursive pattern
matching on strings and files, automatic context saving for nested
structures, and automatic creation of hypertext links and indexes.

Other capabilities include structured programming control (if-then-
else, do, do-while, case), arithmetic operators (string, standard
and binary), string manipulation, string formatting, string and
file buffering, rule grouping, associative arrays, optional
declaration of global and local variables, and optional "strong
typing" of variables.

"The move to the Mac reflects our interest in running OmniMark on
a wide range of platforms," Skinner told Newsbytes. Other recent
ports of OmniMark have included Solaris 2, DEC Alpha OSF, and
native OS/2.

OmniMark is also available for MS-DOS, SCO Unix, SunOS 4, HP/UX
700/800, Intergraph CLIX, RS/6000 AIX, DEC Ultrix MIPS, SGI IRIX,
and VAX/VMS.

Exoterica's new European office is located at 149, quai Stalingrad,
F-92137 Issy Les Moulineaux, France (tel [phone], fax +33
1 45 29 22 77).

The new office will be headed by Benoit de La Selle, manager of
European Operations. The office will handle sales in Europe and
provide support to European value-added resellers (VARs).
Exoterica also operates a consulting office in Columbus, OH, in
addition to its North American headquarters in Ottawa.

The Macintosh, MS-DOS, OS/2 and SCO Unix editions of OmniMark are
each priced at $2,495 per copy for the first ten copies and $495
per copy for the eleventh and subsequent copies.

The Unix editions are priced at $7,995 for a fixed-CPU license and
$9,995 for a floating-CPU license. The VAX/VMS version, which
requires DECnet, is $14,995 for a fixed-CPU license and $17,995 for
a floating-CPU license.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931210/Reader and press contact: Eric R.
Skinner, Exoterica, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(TOR)(00005)

Canadian Piracy Group Reports Charges, Convictions  12/10/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- Charges of software
piracy have been laid against a British Columbia business college
and a Toronto bulletin board, and three Ottawa-area computer
dealers have been convicted on piracy-related charges, the
Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST) has reported.

These developments show progress against software piracy in
Canada, said Frank Clegg, general manager of Microsoft Canada
Inc. of Mississauga, Ontario, one of CAAST's eight member
companies.

CAAST made the announcements at a Toronto press conference where
it also welcomed its eighth member, WordPerfect Corp. of Orem,
Utah.

Late last month, CAAST said, the Federal Court of Canada granted
an Anton Piller order permitting Lotus Development Canada Ltd.,
Microsoft Canada, and WordPerfect to conduct a search and seizure
against the Vancouver Island Business College Inc. in Victoria,
British Columbia. Charges of illegal copying of software -- which
CAAST called "softlifting" -- were laid.

The college settled out of court on Thursday, a CAAST spokeswoman
said this morning.

It was the first search-and-seizure order granted in Canada in
such a case, a fact that Clegg said shows the judicial system is
taking software piracy more seriously.

Charges have also been laid against the Legion of Death, a
Toronto bulletin board. The board is charged with copyright
infringement involving software from Microsoft, Lotus, and
Quarterdeck Office Systems Canada Inc.

Both the Toronto and the Victoria action resulted from tips
received by CAAST on its anti-piracy hot line, a toll free number
where callers can request information about software piracy,
order self-audit kits to help them check their own copyright
compliance, and report suspected pirates.

The line has had about 500 calls in the past six months, Clegg
said, with about 100 of those reporting possible copyright
infringement. CAAST expects to bring further charges in the
coming year, he said.

The group also reported that three Ottawa-area computer dealers
were convicted of copyright infringement and fined amounts
between C$500 and C$2,000 per count. Those convicted were Ali
Computers of Nepean, Ontario, Chivad Micro Tech of Gloucester,
Ontario, and Ordinatek of Gatineau, Quebec.

Clegg said it was significant that the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police (RCMP) took the initiative in laying these charges with
minimal involvement by CAAST -- another sign, he said, that
Canadian law enforcers are taking software piracy more seriously.

The level of attention paid to the issue is "significantly higher
than it was last year," Clegg said.

CAAST's members are Autodesk Canada Inc., Claris Canada Inc.,
Lotus, Microsoft, Novell Canada Ltd., Quarterdeck, Symantec
Canada Ltd. and WordPerfect.

(Grant Buckler/19931210/Press Contact: Allan Reynolds, CAAST,
416-598-8988; Public Contact: CAAST Anti-Piracy Hotline,
800-263-9700)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LAX)(00006)

NAFTA To Be Boom For US PC Makers, According To CMC 12/10/93
CARROLTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- Despite reports
that the personal computer (PC) hardware industry is slowing,
Channel Marketing Corporation (CMC) says US PC manufacturers have
a boom coming. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
will put billions into US PC maker's pockets, the industry
research group said.

Approximately $2 billion in computers have been sold to Mexico
alone this year by US manufacturers, but CMC asserts that number
is expected to increase by 30 percent because of NAFTA.

Tariffs as high as 15 percent have dragged down sales of
computers and electronics products shipped from the US,
prohibiting many PC manufacturers from successfully participating
in the Canadian and Mexican markets. This left Asian
manufacturers, such as Acer, with the majority of PC sales, CMC
analyst David Goldstein told Newsbytes.

NAFTA will reduce or in some cases eliminate those tariffs and US
PC makers will have a whole new market up for grabs where no
single PC brand is dominant, CMC claims. Goldstein said a
noticeable difference in sales should be evident by mid 1994 and
a drastic difference will be felt in the second half of 1994.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931210/Press Contact: David Goldstein, Channel
Marketing, tel [phone] ext 214, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00007)

Hitachi, Texas Instruments Develop 64M DRAM 12/10/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- Hitachi and Texas Instruments
Japan have jointly developed a 64-megabit dynamic random access
memory (DRAM). These two firms will release samples by the end
of this year.

Hitachi and Texas Instruments Japan began jointly development of
64-megabit DRAM in November 1991. Both firms already had the basic
design of the chip, which has 0.35 micron CMOS process technology,
before they reached an agreement. Over 256 pages of newspaper data
can be stored on this tiny 2.28 square centimeter chip.

The chip will be produced at Texas Instruments' Miura plant in
Ibaraki Prefecture and Hitachi's Device Development Center in Japan.
Both firms will produce the chip under the same specifications and
manufacturing processes. There are four version of the chip:
64 megabit x 1 bit type, a 16 megabit x 4 bit type, a
8 megabit x 8 bit type, and the 4 megabit x 16 bit type. The
chips consume relatively little electricity and are designed to
be used in various computers including supercomputers and
personal computers.

Hitachi and Texas Instruments are anticipating feedback from their
customers, most of them computer makers. That feedback will be
used to improve the chip before it goes into quantity production.

Other Japanese chip firms including Toshiba, NEC, and Mitsubishi
Electric, have also developed 64-megabit DRAM.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19931209/Press Contact: Hitachi, +81-3-
3258-2057, Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00008)

Japan's Computer Sales Down In Fiscal 1993 12/10/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- The Japan Electronics Industry
Development Association reports that computer sales nose-dived
in Japan during fiscal 1993.

The Association says sales of computers for fiscal 1993, which
will end in March 1994, will be 3.25 trillion yen ($325 billion).
This is a 14 percent decrease from fiscal 1992. This trend is
expected to continue -- the 1994 fiscal year is expected to see
a 0.3 decrease over fiscal 1993. Although the industry is
expected to suffer a decrease in fiscal 1994, the decrease will
be smaller in '94 than in '93.

Sales are expected to bottom out in '94 and increase again in '95.
Chairman Mr. Kitaoka of the Association reports sales will start to
grow again during the last half of fiscal 1994.

The chairman attributes the drop in sales to a drop in consumer
spending due to Japan's sluggish economy. There is also a pause in
sales due to a downsizing trend in computing.

The drop in sales is the worst since the Association began to
compile the statistics. 1993 saw the close of many major computer
retail stores.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19931209/Press Contact: Japan
Electronics Industry Development Association, [phone],
Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00009)

Japan - Lotus Japanese Approach For Windows 12/10/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- Lotus, Tokyo, will release a
Japanese version of Lotus Approach Windows on December 10. To
celebrate the release of this new database program,
Lotus will offer special introductory pricing at 70 percent
below its ultimate retail pricing.

Lotus Approach R2.1J Windows supports data created with dBASE,
Oracle, Paradox, FoxPro and SQL Server. Also, Lotus is preparing
to support DB2 and ODBC. The data compatibility is accomplished with
a feature called PowerKey, which is a kind of software driver.
According to Lotus, this database is easy to use even by novices.

The program has a sophisticated interface that includes
smart icons and status bars, and jobs can be handled with the
mouse most of the time. It also offers seamless mailmerge with
Lotus AmiPro and read/write capabilities for Lotus 1-2-3 Release
4 documents.

Lotus Approach also has a so-called "relational database"
feature which allows the data to be automatically shared
in 10 kinds of databases.

The Japanese version operates on various personal computers
including NEC, Fujitsu, Toshiba and IBM. The regular price of this
program is 48,000 yen ($480), but Lotus, Tokyo, will sell the
first 30,000 units for 14,000 yen ($140).

Lotus Approach 2.1J was originally developed by Approach Software
Corporation. Lotus acquired the firm and completed the program
in June. Lotus Approach has earned more than 25 awards
and credits from a variety of US industry trade publications and
is known for its ease-of-use, relational power, and compatibility
with popular database formats.

The Windows program market has rapidly grown in Japan since the
introduction of Japanese Windows. The personal computers price war,
especially regarding IBM's DOS-compatible PCs, are helping to
popularize the Windows market. According to Dataquest, the Japanese
Windows database market is expected to grow to $30.8 million in 1994.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19931208/Press Contact: Lotus, Tokyo,
[phone], Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(UNIX)(HKG)(00010)

Hongkong - EDS Wins Airport System Contract 12/10/93
CENTRAL, HONG KONG, 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- EDS Asia Pacific has won
a systems integration contract to provide software and training
to Jardine Airport Services Ltd (JASL), a Hong Kong-based company
which specializes in a wide variety of airport services.

The system, which should be operational by the end of the year at
Kai Tak Airport, was primarily designed as a job scheduling system.
JASL employees recently underwent intensive training in France to
learn how to use the system.

"Jardine Airport Services provides many different services throughout
Kai Tak at all hours of the day and night and the planning for this
has always been done manually using spreadsheets," said Eddie Yeong,
planning manager at JASL.

Now, maintenance workers will log in at one of the many terminals
located throughout the airport in order to receive specific
instructions. Because all relevant flight information is programmed
accordingly, forward planning and forecasting is expected to
be more precise.

EDS will first implement a distributed Unix-based client-server
computer system employing Sun Microsystems SPARCstations, then
install three software modules designed to support a much more
efficient resource management system.

Workers will be able to use resources using graphical representation
to chart incoming planes, supplies, maintenance needs and schedules
rather than rely on spreadsheets as they had in the past.

"Like many businesses with diverse working environments, JASL is
moving towards a more graphically based way of visualizing their
business processes rather than trying to make sense of masses of
numbers arranged in spreadsheets," said Mary Theis, marketing
manager for Sun Microsystems' Hong Kong office.

To provide the best possible software modules, EDS formed a partnership
with Air Inter, a domestic French airline owned by Air France. Air
Inter supplied two of the three modules while the third will be
custom built for JASL.

"We chose EDS because they met our three main criteria: value for money;
state-of-the-art technology; and a fully open client-server solution,"
said James Carey, director and general manager of JASL.

Greg Young, senior manager of sales and marketing with EDS Hong Kong,
said the deal is a good one for both companies. "Not only will
the software increase JASL's efficiency it will also make better use
of their manpower.

"This deal represents a huge breakthrough for EDS because it opens a
door to the entire transportation industry in Hong Kong and China.
It also positions us as an important supplier of planning and resource
tools in a market which is growing by leaps and bounds."

Young said that although it is tailor-made for airports the application
is by no means restricted to transportation-related industries.

"A factory, for example, which has a large number of employees doing
many different tasks and working staggered hours would gain equal
benefits from a similar application provided it were properly
customized," said Young.

JASL, an affiliate of Jardine, Matheson Ltd Co, specializes in the
delivery of airport ground services to more than 15 aviation
companies including Air France and a number of Chinese airlines.
Created in 1976, JASL is 40 percent owned by the China National
Aviation Corporation.

(Keith Cameron 19931210 Press Contact: Steve Leakey, EDS, 852- 867
9888)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(DEL)(00011)

India - HCL, GTE Spacenet Float Datacom Company 12/10/93
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- In technical collaboration with
GTE Spacenet Corp., of the US, the Delhi-based HCL Ltd. (of the group
that promoted HCL Hewlett-Packard Ltd.), is setting up a very small
aperture terminal (VSAT) network for data communication. The network
will offer links from 9.6 kbps to 64 kbps.

HCL, which is investing Rs 20 crore ($6.65 million) in the project,
has floated a fully owned subsidiary, Comnet Systems and Services
Ltd., for this purpose. The network is being positioned for financial
institutions like banks which need to transmit large volumes of
data very quickly.

Data will be transmitted from the company's host computer through
the satellite to the customer sites (where the VSATs are installed).
Each VSAT can take loads from four terminals working at 19.4 kbps.
A load-sharing arrangement can be worked out by using eight
terminals at 9.7 kbps or 16 nodes at 4.85 kbps.

Apart from helping in setting up the network, the US company will
train HCL staffers to run and maintain the network. At a later
stage, GTE may take up a stake in the new venture, informed Sanjeev
Nikore, manager, business development, HCL.

The hub will be placed at either Delhi or Bombay, and can be connected
to 8,000 VSATs. The extended C bands of Insat 2A and 2B are being
used for transmission and the hub can be used for transmission
anywhere in the footprint of the satellite.

Data communication is done either via telephone or the satellite.
"While telephones here are unreliable, through satellites the system
transmits data with one error per million bits data transfer and
intercepting is not easy since data transmission is done in different
frequencies," claimed Tom Shimabukuro, director, telecommunication
systems, GTE Spacenet Corp.

The clinching factor, says Nikore, is the cost-effectiveness of using
the satellite network. For long-distance transmission exceeding 150 kms,
satellite turns out cheaper than the dedicated leased line facility.
Offering the example of data communications between Delhi and Bombay,
he explains that a leased line costs Rs 9 lakh (about $30,000) a year
(which is paid to the Department of Telecommunications), while
satellite transmission involves a one-time charge of Rs 8 lakh
(nearly $27,000) plus expenses depending on the time and capacity
of the satellite being used.

Also, the cost of a leased line increases correspondingly with
the distance but the VSAT transmission costs the same whatever
the distance.

(C. T. Mahabharat/19931210)


(EDITORIAL)(GENERAL)(WAS)(00012)

Editorial - Censorship Vs Responsibility 12/10/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- By John McCormick.
I was very disturbed by the recent Senatorial hearings on sex and
violence in video games. I see this country (and some other
"civilized" countries) falling apart with massive numbers of
functional illiterates, growing religious fanaticism among people
who want to tell everyone else how to live, an incredible growth
in illegitimate births, and the resulting children killing each
other without thought.

Of course thinking adults have seen their civilizations as
deteriorating due to the problems of youth since back in the days
or pre-Christian Greece, but this really is the first time that
this country has seen anything as bad as it is now and, except
for some bad periods in Rome during the Empire and much more
recently in 20th century Germany, the growing problems of today
are pretty much unmatched in civilized countries at times in the
past.

As a writer of sometimes controversial ideas, I was fully
prepared to sympathize with Sega and other publishers who want
the freedom to do virtually anything they want, but after seeing
Thursday's televised hearings on violence and sex in video games
and hearing what appeared to be total incomprehension on the part
of Sega's representative when he was asked about how he felt
about the fact that the company's extremely violent games were
being played by children, I am led to try and think of ways that
we can ensure that people in big business in general be required
to have at least a semblance of social responsibility in their
makeup or at least to learn how to simulate responsible
attitudes.

In recent years we have seen tobacco industry representatives
deny that they are targeting cartoon advertisements to teenagers,
brewers say that the use of beautiful young models and sports
heroes does not mean that they are trying to convince young people
to drink, and cereal makers defending their marketing of
expensive, nutritionally empty sugar-coated foods during
children's programs.

This week we also saw a company defending its right to sell violent
and even sexually violent video games based on the fact that they
are intended for adults and that parents could stop kids from
buying them. I can only view this attitude as representing
dissembling or a willful effort to ignore reality.

Sega's defense of its publication of violent photorealistic
interactive games (the one in question involved hooded men
grabbing a woman in her bedroom who proceed to cut a hole in
her throat) was that the company places labels on the violent
games. Sega seems not to realize that this makes the games
more attractive to many young buyers, many of whom have very
little parental supervision. Sega's representative also said that
these games are targeted at adults, and seemed not to realize that
children play them daily.

Along with the Senators who convened the hearing, I felt my
outrage growing against the apparent lack of concern over the way
violent games could be contributing to the awful state of affairs
in this country where gang members routinely kill people for
wearing the wrong color shirt.

Now I don't think that video games are responsible for all the
evils of today's society, but to deny that such games in the
hands of children don't have at least some negative effect is
unconscionable and I don't see anyone making this claim who
doesn't stand to profit from taking that stand.

Certainly as an adult I want access to many types of literature
and entertainment which would not be appropriate for 10-year-
olds, and perhaps not even for many 17-year-olds, but unlike some
publishers, I can see that my freedom may have to be somewhat
restricted if no way can be found to make certain that ONLY
adults obtain access to these same books, movies, and video
games.

I greatly prefer that we find a way to keep kids from getting
this material, just as I feel that they shouldn't have guns,
access to crack, or be allowed to attend live sex shows. I think
that Sega games should be available to adults and personally I
wouldn't object to the company publishing even more violent games.
I don't like them, and don't want to buy them, but if you like
the First Amendment you have to take the bad with the good.

What I don't agree with is Sega, or any other company's right to
profit from selling such products without some WORKABLE way to
keep kids from getting their hands on them. Unfortunately there
is no practical way to do this currently and in the interest of
trying to turn this country's children around, I am willing to
swallow my righteous indignation at someone fooling with the
First Amendment if that is the only way to keep these
games away from 10-year-olds.

George Mason, for which a university and college near
my former home in Virginia are named, was largely responsible for
ten brief but important sentences written back in the late
1700's.

My favorite is: "Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..."

The point of that article, the very first amendment to the
Constitution of the United States, was that without freedom of
speech tyrants would find it easy to stifle dissension and that
since some of those tyrants would be government officials, the
press requires very special protection placing it separate and
equal to the two elected and one appointed branches of
government.

But freedom of speech has also been used to protect
pornographers, those espousing hate, and other activities which
many feel are not good. The problem, of course, is that if ideas
are popular and widely acknowledged as good, then there is no
need for the First Amendment and history has shown many
times that unpopular dissenters have eventually proven to be
right.

But there is another famous saying "Freedom of speech does not
mean that you can shout 'fire' in a crowded theatre." In other
words, freedom is not the same thing to those who are
pushing the edge with their games and movies. Senator
Herbert H. Kohl (D Wisc.) concluded the recent hearings
with a warning to game publishers that they "could kill the goose
who laid the golden egg," and pointed out that he wouldn't be
satisfied with mere talk about responsibility and standards.

Senator Kohl also said, "I hope you walk away [from this hearing]
with one thought from today - that if you don't do something
about this we will!" This is a scary warning for those of us who
believe in free speech, but unless publishers stop marketing such
games, or retailers stop selling them, the Senator's warning may
see a surge of support that will once again limit our freedoms.
But the thing that really scares me is that I may find myself on
Senator Kohl's side in this argument.

(John McCormick/19931210/)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00013)

Spinoff Company Will Create Titles For 3DO 12/10/93
RICHARDSON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- Tetragon Inc, a
spinoff from Altsys Corporation, says it will concentrate on
creating titles for the 3DO interactive multiplayer system.

The 3DO system attaches to a television set and plays interactive
entertainment, educational software, music, photo and video
compact discs. A CD-based version is available from Panasonic
under the name EX-1 REAL 3DO Interactive Multiplayer.

Mark Skaggs, president of newly formed Tetragon, says the
opportunities open to the company are unparalleled. "We've got
our resources in place and the experience on board to make
things happen."

Tetragon says during the coming year it will produce 3DO titles
tailored toward the twenty to thirty-something age group,
sometimes known as Generation X. The company says it will
introduce its first title at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show
in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show runs January 6 through 9, 1994.

Tetragon spokesperson Melinda Conkling told Newsbytes the
company's first title will be "Gridder." Gridder has a company
employee discovering he is the last person left in the factory, and
has the game player solve various mysteries in order to get the
employee to the basement of the building where the answer to the
mystery lies. "We wanted something that was more than just
button pushing, and a game that would appeal to both men and
women," according to Conkling.

In addition to publishing its own titles, Tetragon says it will
publish titles created by other 3DO licenses.

(Jim Mallory/19931210/Press contact: Melinda Conkling,
Springbok Technologies, 214-732-7086; Reader contact: Tetragon
Inc, 214-680-8101 or fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(DEN)(00014)

Wordperfect's Ashton Steps Down as President 12/10/93
OREM, UTAH, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- Saying it's time for new
leadership, Wordperfect Corporation co-founder Alan Ashton
says he will step down as president and chairman.

Ashton will be succeeded by 39-year old Adrian ("Ad") Rietveld
who presently holds the position of VP of sales and marketing.
The change will be effective January 1, 1994. Rietveld has more
than 10 years experience in software development. He joined
Wordperfect when the company purchased Rietveld's software
distribution company Deltaware.

"After 14 years of leading Wordperfect Corporation, Alan and I
have decided it is time to bring new, more aggressive, more
experienced leadership to the company," said co-founder Bruce
Bastian in a prepared statement. Ashton will join Bastian as co-
chairman. The two men's families are the major shareholders of
the privately held firm. Rumors have circulated for some time that
Wordperfect Corporation would offer its stock for public sale. The
company has not denied the rumors, but has declined to say
when the move would be made.

Ashton called Rietveld "one of the brightest and most creative
minds in the industry," saying "Although I'm thrilled to have had
this experience, new times call for new leadership. I am excited
now to turn over leadership to one of the brightest and most
creative minds in the industry, Ad Rietveld."

Wordperfect has long been the most popular word processing
software on the market, although its market share has slipped
recently after Microsoft introduced Word for Windows and Lotus
Development brought Lotus Notes to market. Wordperfect
has now introduced Wordperfect 6.0 for Windows, and Rietveld
says he is confident the company will regain market share.

In June 1992 Wordperfect established a seven-person
executive committee to strengthen the company. That panel will
be abolished as part of Rietveld's ascension to the top job. A new
Office of The President will consist of Rietveld and executive vice
presidents John Lewis and R. Duff Thompson. Thompson is
Wordperfect's general counsel.

Ashton and Bastian, each with an estimated net worth of about
$450 million, say they will no longer be involved in the day-to-day
operation of the company. Both stressed that they have no plans
to start new ventures, according to a statement released by
Wordperfect Corp.

(Jim Mallory/19931210/Press and reader contact: Wordperfect
Corp, 801-225-5000 or fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00015)

"Spaceway" Satellite Network Before FCC 12/10/93
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- General
Motors' Hughes Communications division asked for 1,000 MHz of
frequency, half of it near 30 GHz and half near 20 GHz, for a
satellite data service called Spaceway it wants to launch in
1998. The company also asked for two spaces at the prime 101
degrees longitude orbital slot.

Such high frequencies had once been deemed useless, but Hughes'
request puts a new dilemma before the Federal Communications
Commission. Currently, a company called CellularVision is using
those frequencies in New York to deliver 41 channels of wireless
cable television to customers in Brooklyn. In August Bell
Atlantic became a partner in that venture, and it might oppose
Hughes' grab for new frequency. WIC Western International of
Vancouver, British Columbia also has rights to use the
CellularVision technology in Canada.

Bell Atlantic and CellularVision might also oppose the award
because of Hughes' DirecTv, a 150-channel wireless cable offering
delivered by satellite which will go into business next year.
DirecTv will compete directly with CellularVision, and the FCC
decision could limit CellularVision's ability to compete with
DirecTv down the road. Other firms without current commercial
uses for the spectrum might also oppose the award, fearing it
would foreclose future plans for its use. Complicating the matter
still further is the fact that CellularVision head Bernard
Bossard told Newsbytes a year ago he was buying his transmitters
from Hughes.

Hughes spokesman Richard Dore said that current rules allow for
2,500 MHz of the high frequencies to be licensed, 500 MHz for
satellites. CellularVision is among a number of current ground-
based users of the spectrum, called Local Multi-Point
Distribution Services by the bureaucracy. "Before the FCC is not
only the license to operate at the orbital slot," and Hughes
wants two satellites at 101 West Longitude, "and use of the 500
MHz, but 500 MHZ of the remaining 2000." The FCC needs to re-
visit its ruling on which frequencies will be devoted to ground-
based services like CellularVision's and which will be devoted to
satellite-based services like Spaceway, based on the public
interest. "This is the first satellite application for that
bandwidth," Dore added.

In his Newsbytes interview Bossard had noted that the use of
frequency modulation, or FM, technology allowed him to make use
of very high frequencies, despite the fact that the short waves
attenuate or dissipate very, very quickly. A network of cells,
similar to those used for cellular telephone systems, solved the
problem, Bossard said. He also claimed in the Newsbytes interview
that his system could allow for the creation of an "Information
Superhighway" without wires, making the huge investments in fiber
cable planned by phone and cable companies redundant.

Hughes also claims big benefits from Spaceway. Dore said that
data transmissions could start at 384,000 bits/second, using
antennae as small as 26 inches across. The plan is to have 11,520
full-duplex circuits, which works out to a data-carrying capacity
of 4.4 billion bits/second. Digital compression would increase
that capacity still further, Dore noted. The design incorporates
what Dore called a "48-spot beam configuration that covers the
United States," with on-board signal processing and switching
that re-allocates frequencies 12 times, meaning 500 MHz of
spectrum becomes 6,000 MHz of usable bandwidth. The system could
handle up to 600,000 subscribers, Dore estimated. This would give
small businesses, even those in rural areas, the power to get
teleconferencing and other fast-data services they can't get from
their phone companies.

Hughes is looking for partners in the Spaceway venture, and
among those rumored to be discussing that possibility are AT&T,
MCI, Sprint, Ameritech, and other regional Bell companies.

Hughes is the world's largest private commercial satellite
operator. It owns and operates five C-band Galaxy spacecraft,
often used for cable television, two dual-payload Galaxy
satellites, and three higher Ku-band SBS satellites, to which
many television services are moving. It also operates a global
network of LEASAT communications satellites for the US Navy and
is a major equity investor in the American Mobile Satellite
Corp., which will begin offering a North American satellite
mobile communications service next year. The company plans to
launch the first of its DirecTv satellites this month, offering
150 channels of wireless television to subscribers who buy its
special decoder boxes. While it is part of General Motors it has
its own separate stock, known as GM Class H, stock, which is
traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol
GMH.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19931210/Press Contact: Richard Dore, Hughes,
310-568-6324)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00016)

3D Micro To Build Commodore PCs In Canada 12/10/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- Commodore Business
Machines Ltd., is turning over all manufacturing and sales of its
DOS personal computers in Canada to 3D Microcomputers Wholesale
and Distribution (Canada) Inc., of Markham, Ontario.

Doug MacGregor, president of Commodore in Canada, said his
company took the decision so it could focus on its proprietary
hardware: the Amiga personal computer and the newly introduced
CD32 game machine.

"We're finding it very difficult to compete in the MS-DOS
marketplace right now and make money," he said. "We have to put
our emphasis and focus on the Amiga, and that's the way that
Commodore can be successful."

MacGregor said Commodore's Canadian subsidiary is not the only
unit of the company turning over the PC clone business to outside
manufacturers. "That's happening in a number of countries around
the world. It's not a decision that Canada's made alone."

In fact, 3D and other third parties in Canada have built some of
Commodore's DOS machines here in the past. Others were supplied
to the Canadian unit by its parent company in the United States,
and MacGregor said these were largely made for the company by
others as well.

The real change is not the manufacturing but the distribution of
the machines. Essentially, MacGregor said, Commodore's only
involvement with most sales of the DOS line now will be its name
on the boxes.

The company will keep only the role of marketing to government,
education, and institutions.

While Commodore's DOS PCs have never gained much attention in the
United States, the company has done better in this segment of the
market in Canada and parts of Europe.

(Grant Buckler/19931210/Press Contact: Chuck Yeung, 3D
Microcomputers, 905-479-8822, fax [phone]; Doug MacGregor,
Commodore, 416-499-4292, fax [phone]/PHOTO)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00017)

Canada - Digital Air-To-Ground Net Takes Flight 12/10/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- In-Flight Phone
Canada Inc., said it has activated Canada's only coast-to-coast
air-to-ground digital telecommunications network.

The network supports FlightLink, which company officials said is
the world's first all-digital air-to-ground communications,
information, and entertainment system for both commercial
airlines and corporate aviation.

For now, though, it serves only foreign airlines that fly into or
over Canada. Neither Air Canada nor Canadian Airlines
International has contracted with In-Flight, a company
spokeswoman said. Airlines that do use the system include US Air,
American West, and Carnival in the United States, Germany's
Lufthansa, and Kuwait Air, she added.

FlightLink will let airline passengers make telephone calls, send
faxes, transmit data, play video games, and shop. The company
said it plans other services such as live radio, catalog
shopping, and car, hotel, and airline reservations. Airlines
install a FlightLink system with a VGA screen set into the back
of each seat.

Officials said In-Flight Phone Canada and its US affiliate
In-Flight Phone Corp., of Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, now operate
the only seamless North American network of digital ground
stations to process telephone, fax, and data traffic from
aircraft.

Newsbytes reported December 1 that In-Flight won the America West
contract over competitor GTE Airfone.

The 14 Canadian ground stations are located from Vancouver to
Halifax, and are integrated with the network of 69 ground
stations in the US, officials said.

(Grant Buckler/19931210/Press Contact: Gerald S. Hurlow,
In-Flight Phone Canada, 416-594-6466)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SYD)(00018)

AST To Build More PCs For Australia 12/10/93
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- AST Research was recently
ranked as Australia's fourth largest supplier of PCs by IDC
(after Osborne, IBM and Compaq). The company's PC assembly plant
was formally opened in Sydney yesterday (Thursday).

AST has been stitching up some impressive volume sales in recent
times, and finalized a mega-deal yesterday with banking group
Westpac. This comes on top of a recent $12 million tender awarded
by the Commonwealth bank and a deal to supply machines to the Trust
Bank of New Zealand.

AST's Bravo 4/33 will be the first PC assembled at the new plant,
with the production of other models tracking future market
opportunities, according to AST Managing Director Lionel Cheng.

(Ian Robinson and Computer Daily News/19931210)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(WAS)(00019)

SIA Opposes Current GATT Proposal 12/10/93
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- The US
Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has announced that
although the organization is strongly in favor of free trade and
supported NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, it does
not support the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) as
it is currently being proposed.

GATT, which has been in negotiation for more than seven years and
was supposed to be settled years ago, is a major international
trade agreement which, if it is ever accepted, would provide a
major boost to international trade between about 120 countries
because it would end many local subsidies for pet national
businesses such as rice farming, and would reduce or eliminate
nearly all trade barriers and import taxes (tariffs) on goods
coming from other GATT countries.

The problem is that while all countries are anxious to agree to
the parts of GATT which are going to benefit them, there are
several groups which are lobbying their governments to continue
special protection for their businesses. Most notably this has
included French, Japanese, and Korean farmers who all have much
higher subsidies or other trade restrictions than those given to
US farmers or those in other countries.

But, not covered by most media, are some less well-known issues
in dispute which have a major effect on other businesses, and
among these are the European restrictions on US-produced movies
and television programs, intellectual property rights (which
concern software publishers), and semiconductor duties.

The SIA, which represents US semiconductor makers and
exporters, opposes the current version of GATT which, according
to SIA President A. A. Procassini, contains clauses which maintain
high European semiconductor tariffs "while other chip producing
nations have opted for free trade in chips."

The SIA contends that while Europe is creating the illusion of
significant tariff concessions, in actual practice the tariffs
paid would change very little.

The US and, surprising to some, Japan, have no tariffs on
imported semiconductor chips, providing an open market to Asian
and European imports, while the European Community (EC) maintains
a 14 percent tariff on all semiconductor chip imports.

The SIA has also expressed its concern over weak anti-dumping
regulations in the current version of GATT and has sided with
software (and other) publishers in opposing the current GATT
stand on very slow implementation of intellectual property
protection.

(John McCormick/19931210/Press Contact: A. A. Procassini, SIA,
408-246-2711)


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

SGML '93: Rainbow "SGML Enabler" Available On Internet 12/10/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- Electronic
Book Technologies (EBT) has announced that Rainbow (RB), a
new "public technology platform" for easing the transition from
proprietary word processor (WP) data to Standard Generalized
Markup Language (SGML), is now available free of charge over the
Internet.

David Sklar, senior application developer at EBT and leader of a
team of SGML tool vendors that created Rainbow, told Newsbytes
that the new approach specifies a single Document Type Definition
(DTD) for use as an "enabler" between proprietary word processor
data formats and SGML. DTDs are used to designate rules for
SGML, an emerging standard for publication and delivery of
electronic information.

The DTD specified under Rainbow represents a variety of
proprietary word processor formats, said Sklar, in a meeting with
Newsbytes at SGML '93. The tool makers have also developed
"Rainbow Makers" for converting the proprietary WP information
into the Rainbow DTD.

Once a document is represented in basic Rainbow format, "Rainbow
Transformers" and other new tools can be used to extract the
richer SGML structures required by various industry-specific
DTDs, such as DocBook, J2008, RefBook, HTML, and AAP.

Sklar explained that SGML is gaining momentum in the
marketplace as organizations with large bodies of information --
such as technical manuals, maintenance procedures, catalogs, and
price lists -- begin to stabilize their data by converting to a
standard, vendor- and application-neutral format.

"(But) proprietary word processing formats are typically poorly
documented, highly idiosyncratic, and subject to change without
notice. Maintaining conversion tools that recognize such formats
is thus a very expensive endeavor. The goal of Rainbow is to
provide a stable data format to feed conversion tools, making the
path to SGML much more affordable and increasing the shelf-life
of such tools," he added.

Rainbow has obtained strong support from a number of leading SGML
tool vendors, including SoftQuad, Exoterica, ArborText, and
Database Publishing Systems, according to Sklar.

Rainbow Makers are currently available for several word
processing formats, including Windows RTF (Rich Text Format),
Interleaf, and Frame, Newsbytes was told. "But we are issuing a
call to the industry for greater involvement in the Rainbow
effort," Sklar told Newsbytes.

To obtain free copies of Rainbow Makers and the annotated Rainbow
DTD anonymously via the Internet, use FTP server ftp.ebt.com.
Rainbow data is located in pub/outgoing/rainbow.

To receive notification of Rainbow DTD updates and events, as
well as information on the status of Rainbow Makers, subscribe to
the Rainbow information service. You can contact the information
service by sending electronic mail to [e-mail].

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931210/Reader contact: EBT, tel
401-421-9550; Press contacts: Kent Summers, EBT, tel
401-421-9550; Paul Lamoureux, Miller Communications for EBT, tel
617-536-0470)


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00021)

SGML '93 - Windows Text Editor For All SGML 12/10/93
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- At SGML '93,
InContext Systems has unveiled a user-friendly Windows-based text
editor that can be used with CALS or any other form of Standard
Generalized Markup Language (SGML), plus an optional table editor
for CALS only.

The InContext text editor and optional Table Editing Module are
aimed at letting anyone in an organization produce SGML-compliant
documents, not just individuals who already know how to work with
the emerging document interchange standard.

The text editor can be used with any Document Type Definition
(DTD), but the optional Table Editing Module, which requires
Microsoft Excel, is specifically designed to work with the DTD
for the US Defense Department's CALS Initiative. DTDs are used
to define industry- or company-specific rules for SGML.

In an interview with Newsbytes, Mike Miller, director of sales
and marketing, said that the InContext text editor loads the DTD
automatically and displays it in graphical form on the left-hand
side of the screen.

Document authors can choose to put SGML markups in the background
if they wish, to prevent the markups from distracting them from
the document's content, he added.

The Table Editing Module lets the user employ the spreadsheet
capabilities of Excel, according to Miller. The module is
accessed by clicking on table representations that appear in the
upper right-hand corner of the screen.

Single-user pricing is $795 for the SGML text editor alone, and
$995 for the text editor with the CALS-compliant Table Editing
Module. Discount pricing is available for volume purchases.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19931210/Reader contact: InContext Systems,
tel [phone]; Press contact: Shirley Seto, InContext, tel
416-922-0087)


(NEWS)(APPLE)(LON)(00022)

Apple Sales Climb In UK, Europe 12/10/93
UXBRIDGE, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- Apple Computer UK
has revealed that its sales are climbing in the UK and European
markets.

According to figures for the three months to 22 November,
1993, just released by Dataquest, Apple's market share in the UK
is now 8.5 percent up from 7.1 percent in the previous three
months and 5.0 percent for the same period last year.

Apple claims that these figures show the company as drawing level
with both IBM (8.8 percent) and Compaq (8.7 percent). Across Europe,
meanwhile, Apple made similar gains and, overall, its market share
in Europe rose from 7.1 to 7.9 percent.

"Our aggressive pricing policy in the UK and Europe is paying
dividends and customers are realizing that now is the perfect
time to buy Macintosh," explained Mike Newton, Apple Computer UK's
general manager.

"In the UK, sales of Macs were up 60 percent on the same period last
year and we are seeing particularly strong growth in our mid to high
range systems. Meanwhile, our Performa line continues to gain
market share on the high street and, for new users, is proving to be
an excellent ambassador to the whole Mac line," he said.

To ensure that the sales growth continues, Apple claims it has "re-
engineered" its dealer channel strategy. In October of this year,
Ingram Micro and Frontline Distribution were appointed to act as
distributors for Apple's smaller resellers, with a dual role to
recruit new products. In early November, Apple Computer UK also
launched a mail order catalogue, targeted at the small office home
office (SOHO) marketplace.

(Steve Gold/19931210/Press & Public Contact: Apple Computer - Tel:
[phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(LON)(00023)

UK - Lotus Doubles Share Of Desktop Suite Market 12/10/93
STAINES, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- The most recent
figures released by Romtec, the UK market research company, show
Lotus Development Corporation as having doubled its market share in
the Windows desktop suite marketplace.

According to Lotus, this means that Lotus Smartsuite -- an amalgam
of 1-2-3, Ami Pro, Freelance Graphics, cc:Mail and Organizer -- now
accounts for 40 percent of the UK market, up from 19 percent in May
of this year. Desktop suites now account for almost half of all PC
software sold -- between them, according to Romtec's figures, Lotus
and Microsoft now account for 95 percent of the UK suite market.

Lotus' rising share of the market was accomplished solely with
Release 1.0 of Smartsuite, which was launched at the end of last
year. Release 2.1 for Windows of the package, which had been
available since September of this year, is the first package of its
type to be workgroup enabled, Newsbytes notes.

Jemm Cooksey, Lotus UK Smartsuite brand manager, said that Romtec's
figures are based on the period May to September, 1993. More and
more corporates, she said, are looking for the combination of "best
of breed" applications and the tightest possible integration between
those applications.

"It's inevitable that the Suite market is taking off as it is.
Microsoft entered the market before Smartsuite so we have some
catching up to do -- but we've never caught them in a market quicker
than we have here, doubling our share in the past quarter alone.
With Release 2.1 now out we're confident that the market will
increasingly choose Lotus," she said.

(Steve Gold/19931210/Press & Public Contact: Lotus Development UK -
Tel: [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00024)

Network General To Acquire ProTools 12/10/93
MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- Network
General Corp., has signed a "definitive agreement" to purchase
privately held network monitoring software vendor ProTools Inc.

Under terms of the agreement, Network General will acquire all
outstanding shares of ProTools capital stock through the merger
of a newly formed subsidiary of Network General into ProTools.

The companies says that security holders of ProTools will
receive two million shares of Network General common stock.
The acquisition is expected to be accounted for as a pooling-of-
interests.

As usual, the acquisition is subject to a number of conditions,
including the approval by ProTools stockholders of ProTools.
The companies hope that the transaction will be finalized by the
end of January 1994.

According to the companies, "The combination of Network General's
Distributed Sniffer System and the ProTools Network Analysis
Series will give Network General a comprehensive product
offering that addresses customers' network monitoring and
troubleshooting needs."

In announcing the deal, Les Denend, president and chief executive
officer of Network General Corp, said: "Through its Network
Analysis Series of products, ProTools has demonstrated strength in
standards-based monitoring, while Network General has attained a
market leader position with its family of distributed and stand-
alone Expert Sniffer Network analyzers."

Network General says that it plans to continue to sell and
support both companies' products after the acquisition.

Ed Snyder, president and chief executive officer of ProTools, said:
"The acquisition will provide us with an infusion of talent and
resources, which will accelerate our product development efforts.
From a customer's perspective we believe this will give them an
increased number of options that can be tailored to meet individual
needs."

It has been a busy few months for Network General regarding
alliances.

In October, Network General and intelligent switching hub
vendor Alantec announced a joint marketing agreement. That deal
allows users of Alantec's PowerHub hubs to integrate Network
General's Expert Analysis and protocol decode technology into
their network management procedures for a global view of
their network.

In April, Newsbytes reported that Network General had added to
its line of analysis products by shipping both the DSS with Expert
Analysis and the Expert Sniffer Internetwork Analyzer.

At the time, the company said that DSS with Expert Analysis is
an intelligent client-server analysis system that proactively and
automatically identifies problems on Ethernet and Token Ring
local area networks (LANs).

The Expert Sniffer Internetwork Analyzer (SIA) is designed for
router-based internetworks that incorporate different technologies.
The company says that, with real-time monitoring at speeds up to
2.048 Mbps, the SIA supports both router-based internetworks using
leased line, frame relay, or X.25 circuits and traditional terminal-
to-host networks such as async and Systems Network Architecture
(SNA).

Towards the end of September, Newsbytes reported that Network
General had signed an original equipment manufacturing (OEM)
deal with Madge Networks. Under terms of that deal, Network
General will use Madge as the sole supplier of Token Ring adapters
for Network General's AT portable Sniffer products and the
monitor cards for its Distributed Sniffer Systems.

At the beginning of September Newsbytes reported that Network
General had signed a joint technology and marketing deal with
3Com Corp.

At the time the companies said that the deal allowed, "Users of
3Com's STNM network management tool for the LinkBuilder Focus
and LinkBuilder TR Series of intelligent hubs to have the ability
to interpret RMON (remote monitoring) packet information with
network analysis applications from Network General."

(Ian Stokell/19931210/Press Contact: Riley Willcox, 415-473-
2000, Network General Corp; David Davies, 503-645-5400,
ProTools Inc)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00025)

AST Gets New Distributor, Helps Africa 12/10/93
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- In an effort
to speed up deliveries and respond better to increased product
demand, AST Research Inc., has signed a reseller deal with
Intelligent Electronics that allows the company to offer AST's
full line of desktop, file server and mobile computers. AST
also announced its participation in the newly formed Corporate
Council on Africa.

Intelligent Electronics, headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania,
has a network of more than 1800 reseller locations.

In announcing the deal, Safi Qureshey, AST chairman and CEO,
said: "We want to maintain the highest level of support to the
channel. Intelligent Electronics is a well established organization
with strong distribution which allows our products to be
effectively disbursed to a broader range of VARs (value-added
resellers) and resellers."

The company has also announced its participation in the
Corporate Council on Africa, a non-profit, non-partisan
organization of US corporations and individuals designed to
promote US businesses' investment in Africa.

According to the Council, trade, not aid, is the key to the
development of open market-based economies throughout
the continent of Africa.

In announcing AST's involvement in the Council, Qureshey, a
native of Pakistan, said: "The American business community can
help speed the time when African nations will be full participants
in the global marketplace. While many African nations are
embracing democratization and privatization, unique new
opportunities are emerging for US companies. We are hopeful
that the Council will be in a position to help address specific
policy and business issues."

The Corporate Council on Africa was inaugurated yesterday at
the US Department of State building in Washington, DC. Among
the Council's founding members are AST, Mobil South, General
Motors, Coco-Cola, Edlow International, Equator Bank Ltd.,
Atlantic TeleNetwork, and Emerging Markets Development Corp.

(Ian Stokell/121093/Press Contact: Hollie Chriss Cronin,
714-727-7977, or Gerry Lynne Baker, 714-727-7959, AST
Research Inc.)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00026)

Alpha Microsystems' Public Offering, DigiDesign IPO 12/10/93
SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- It seems
the time is right for new IPOs in technology as Alpha Microsystems
is the latest to complete its public offering. Digidesign has
also announced an initial public offering (IPO).

According to the company, 2,562,000 units, including 366,999
units of the underwriter's over-allotment, were sold in the public
offering by the underwriters, Barclay Investments Inc., Princeton
Securities Corp., and Barron Chase Securities Inc. The company
says that each unit consisted of one share of common stock and
one redeemable warrant to purchase one share of common stock.
The per-unit purchase price was $1.625. Gross proceeds from the
public offering, before expenses, were $4,163,250.

The company reportedly completed its shareholder rights offering
on November 26, which entitled shareholders to subscribe on a
one-for-one basis. The number of rights exercised by shareholders
during the rights offering totaled 900,891. The subscription
price was $1.625 per unit. Gross proceeds from the shareholders
rights offering, before expenses, were $1,463,948. Total gross
proceeds, before expenses, from the shareholders rights offering
and the public offering were $5,627,198, according to the company.

Digidesign Inc., has also announced the initial public offering of
1,600,000 shares of common stock priced at $14 per share. The
company says that, of the total shares offered, 1,137,000 shares
are being sold by the company and 463,000 shares are being sold
by certain stockholders. In addition, the company and "certain
selling stockholders" have "granted the underwriters an option
to purchase up to 240,000 shares to cover over-allotments."
Robertson, Stephens & Co. and Volpe, Welty & Co. are co-managing
the offering.

(Ian Stokell/19931210/Press Contact: Joseph Allen, 714-252-
8440, South Coast Communications for Alpha; Joy Covey,
415-688-0600, Digidesign Inc.)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00027)

 ****National Semi Earns Way Up 12/10/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- National
Semiconductor enjoyed a strong second quarter with profits and
sales at record levels and net income up 72 percent over net
income in the same quarter a year ago. The company said it
doesn't expect its next quarter to be this good due to seasonal
softness, but is looking for an upturn again in the fourth
quarter -- although it remains "cautious."

Net income for the quarter was $60.7 million, or 46 cents per
share, compared with net income of $35.3 million, or 27 cents per
share, for the year-ago quarter. Net sales were $582.4 million,
up 18 percent over net sales of $491.9 million a year earlier.

For the six month period so far in fiscal 1994, net sales were
$1,141.3 million and net income was reported at $117.8 million,
or 90 cents per share. This is an increase of 106 percent in net
income and 18 percent in sales over the same period last year.

Gilbert F. Amelio, president and chief executive officer, said:
"During the quarter gross margins improved to 41.8 percent,
compared with 34.0 percent for the comparable quarter a year ago,
and 40.8 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal
year. Profits and sales were once again at record levels."

National Semiconductor has had its ups and downs. This is the
second year of profitability for the company, however, National
reported losses of $120.1 million in 1992 and $151.4 million in
1991. Industry analysts are saying hardware demand worldwide is
taking a dip over previously high levels and Amelio appears to
acknowledge these predictions in staying in a prepared statement:
"Our longer-term industry outlook for the second half of calendar
1994 remains cautious."

As reported industrywide, National's bookings (orders) in the
second quarter are down compared to the first quarter. The
decline is attributed to National's need to turn down some
business in some areas, such as bipolar logic, because of strong
orders in the first quarter. Also, National said Southeast Asia
orders spiked in August following announcements that other
suppliers were de-emphasizing production of some standard linear
products.

Geographically, orders remained even in North American orders
were even with last quarter and last year, Europe was up
slightly, and Japanese orders remained strong but slightly below
the previous quarter's record level.

By market, National said automotive orders were seasonally
strong, especially in North America, but communications products
demand was mixed. Some local area networking products are facing
expected price pressures, while pricing and unit demand for
standard products sold to the public networks suppliers remains
strong. The company also said its orders from mass storage
customers are improving.

The company is moving more in line to marketing directly to
consumers with agreements during the quarter with Novell and NEC.
Novell and National announced in October plans to develop and
market products that integrate Novell's popular networking
software with National's networking hardware. At the same time,
National announced that it is moving beyond the chip level to
provide its own line of end-user networking hardware and
introduced three new networking adapter cards to be marketed by
both companies under the Infomover brand name.

The NEC agreement, announced in early November, is aimed at
bringing Ethernet into the Japanese market. Market research firm
Dataquest predicts the Japanese local area network (LAN) market
is expected to double from $200 million this year to $400 million
by 1997 and the National/NEC partnership plans to take advantage
of that opportunity.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931210/Press Contact: Mary Ann McKay, National
Semiconductor, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00028)

AT&T EO Buys EO Developer Pensoft 12/10/93
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- EO, makers
of the pen-based AT&T EO Personal Communicator, is buying
Pensoft. Pensoft, a major developer of software for the EO,
developed Perspective, the information manager designed into the
unit. With this purchase, AT&T finishes consolidation of the
promising pen-based computer industry. Earlier, EO bought Go
Corporation, another earlier player in this market, which created
the PenPoint operating system used in the EO.

David Atkinson, AT&T Consumer Products vice president of personal
communications said: "The acquisition of Pensoft strengthens EO's
market position." It's the database architecture AT&T EO is
after, according to the company, which plans to make that
architecture a "central information repository" for expansion of
communications services for the device and to allow delivery of
information to the device.

Alain Rossmann, president and chief executive officer of EO, said:
"Pensoft has developed a breakthrough product with Perspective,
and simultaneously created a data environment that allows
customers with AT&T EO Personal Communicators to retrieve, store
and manage a rich fabric of information from stock quotes and
airline schedules to multimedia data."

The EO has been heralded as being the first portable pen-based
computer that really delivers on the wireless communication
concept. While other portable pen-based computers, such as the
personal digital assistants (PDAs) from Apple and Tandy/Casio
come close to the same cost, when you add all the wireless
capability of the EO, the entry price for those units is
significantly lower.

AT&T is now pitching the Eo as a more full-featured competitor to
the Apple Newton. It's larger than the Newton, but AT&T spokesmen
at Comdex insisted new, smaller versions of the Eo will be
forthcoming. Unlike the Newton, the Eo comes with a modem and
cellular telephone built-in, allowing wireless faxes and e-mail
to be sent and received anywhere and anytime.

In 1991, during the initial height of excitement over pen-based
computers, Go especially had been seen as a direct challenger to
Microsoft in the operating system wars. PenPoint was seen as a
more flexible system than Microsoft's own entry, Windows for
Pens. But after acquiring Go, Eo said it would in the future
enhance PenPoint only for machines running with Eo's Hobbit chip.
While major Japanese manufacturers said a year ago they were
interested in supporting the Hobbit, none has yet come forward
with product.

Mountain View, California-headquartered EO was founded in 1991 by
AT&T; venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, and Byers
of Palo Alto, California; and Marubeni. AT&T purchased a majority
interest in EO in June of this year and in August merged EO with
GO Corporation, which developed the EO's Penpoint operating system.

Details as to the terms of the Pensoft merger were not disclosed.
Pensoft did say most of its employees will become employees
of EO and Robert Roblin, Pensoft's vice president of marketing,
will assume the duties of EO's vice president of marketing.

(Linda Rohrbough & Dana Blankenhorn/19931210/Press Contact: Sharon
Miller, Access Public Relations for AT&T, tel [phone] ext
272, fax [phone]; Kevin Compton, AT&T, 408-452-3966)


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LAX)(00029)

Free Tax Brochure Has Tips You Can Still Use In '93 12/10/93
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- If you're
concerned about what the new tax laws might mean and would like
to see if you can do something before year-end to help ease the
pain, Chipsoft says it has a free brochure that can help. The
company is offering an eight-page tax tips guide, that takes into
account the requirements of the Revenue Reconciliation Act of
1993, to anyone who calls the company's toll-free number
requesting it.

The tax guide answers questions like: will a Christmas wedding
save on your tax bill, can I help my tax bill before the end of
the year if I run a consulting business from home, if being
transferred to another location should I go now or wait until
1994, and so on.

The guide is written by Stephen M. Pollan and Nick Morrow. Pollan
is an attorney, financial advisor, and author with a private
practice in New York City (NYC) and the CNBC's personal financial
expert. Morrow is a certified public accountant with the NYC
accounting firm of Paneth, Haber & Zimmerman.

Pollan says in the guide: "The single biggest tax mistake most of
us make has little to do with money or numbers. It's attitude. We
treat taxes as something that just happens to us; something we've
no control over. But that needn't be the case. You can have a lot
to say about your taxes."

Of course, Chipsoft has an interest in distributing the tax tips
brochure as it makes tax software for DOS, Windows, and the
Macintosh platforms. Still, the brochure is free and the advice
is good.

Here are the answers to the above questions according to the
brochure. Getting married in 1993 will probably increase your tax
bill. If you're running a consulting business from home,
entertainment expenses will be 80 percent deductible but next
year only 50 percent deductible, so do that business
entertainment this year.

(Linda Rohrbough/19931210/Press Contact: Diane MacKeeby,
Chipsoft, tel [phone] ext 431, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GOVT)(LON)(00030)

Intergraph Wins Prague Power GIS Contract 12/10/93
SWINDON, WILTSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1993 DEC 10 (NB) -- The Prague Power
Company has invested in an Intergraph GIS (graphics information
system) for the management of its distribution networks as part of a
$450,000 contract.

The former state enterprise, which is currently being changed into a
joint stock company known as Prague Power Energy, supplies
electricity to the City of Prague, which has around 1.5 million
people.

The contract includes Intergraph's Unix workstations and servers
running FRAME, Intergraph's assets information management system
for utility companies. As well as providing a digital
representation of Prague Power's electricity net, the system will be
connected to a central accounting system running on a mainframe.

Vladimir Hybner, Prague Power's deputy manager of operations, said
that Integraph's track record in providing digital mapping and
geographic information system (GIS) systems to utilities worldwide
was a major factor in the final selection.

"We are confident that Intergraph's solution will help us to reduce
the cost of maintenance and revision, and to improve productivity of
our staff in operations, constructions, engineering and repair
services," he said.

Newsbytes notes that, in April of this year, a consortium was
established in support of the data capture for a digital base map of
Prague. Members of the consortium include the city's airport, public
transport organizations and other utilities, most of whom are
existing Intergraph users.

"Cooperation with the consortium means we can take advantage of
exchanging graphics data in Intergraph format," Hybner said.

(Sylvia Dennis/19931210/Press & Public Contact: Integraph UK - Tel:
[phone])