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/nb930526

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(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00001)

Comdex - Micrografx Intros Designer 4.0 05/26/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Micrografx has
announced Designer 4.0, the newest release of its Windows-based
illustration program. The product ships in June at $695 retail, or
$150 for an upgrade from an earlier version.

The company is well-known for its autumn chili cook-offs, so it
served chili at its press conference. The minimum system
requirements for 4.0 are a 386 PC with 4 megabytes (MB) of RAM, a
hard disk with 10MB of free space, VGA graphics, and a mouse.

CEO J. Paul Grayson acknowledged that the $300 million publicly-
held company has had financial trouble and management turmoil.
Grayson's own brother, George, had to resign in November, and the
company has had to hire a new board and management team, although
original Chief Financial Officer Joe Kupke is back at his old
post. Grayson called the press conference the launch of a "new
Micrografx. The new Micrografx has a renewed vision, mission and
strategy, and a new development approach." That approach, simply,
is to become the premier graphics software company in the world.

"We supply creativity tools and communication tools, which gives
us a tremendous potential, Grayson said. "We're convinced that
literally every man, woman and child will eventually have access
to a PC, and communicate with it graphically." The new Micrografx
will concentrate solely on Windows development.

The new Designer 4.0 offers a new 32-bit graphics system, re-
worked from the ground-up in C++, which will be the company's
technology base going forward in Micrografx products like Picture
Publisher. Designer has over 700,000 lines of code, and one more
beta test is due to be completed by the ship date at the end of
June.

Grayson predicted Micrografx will have its best year ever this
year, with record profits.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930526/Press Contact: Micrografx, Katrina
Krebs, 214-994-6247)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(ATL)(00002)

Comdex - Hayes Faces New Legal Challenge 05/26/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Hayes Microcomputer
Products faces what may be the stiffest challenge yet to the
validity of its key patent, known as the "Heatherington '302"
patent, for an escape sequence with guard time, which lets the
user hit the "escape" key to reach a command menu.

Harold Krall, president of Cardinal Technologies, a smaller
competitor based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, acknowledged to
Newsbytes on the floor of the Spring Comdex trade show that his
company will challenge the patent on the basis of obviousness. In
patent law, a patent challenge can win if the challenger proves
that the patented technique would have been obvious to an average
engineer at the time it was invented.

Cardinal was created in 1987 when its management bought out a
unit of RCA from its corporate parent, GE, Krall said. "We're
trained in patents, creating and defending them," he told
Newsbytes. "This stuff was done in the 1850s with the telegraph.
This technique of waiting for a specific signal was common 100
years ago. We can't believe people would pay millions to license
this."

The case is now in discovery in the US District Court for the
Northern District of Georgia, and could go to trial later this
year.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930526/Press Contact: Harold Krall, Cardinal
Technologies Inc., tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00003)

 ****Comdex - Manzi Announces New Notes Technology 05/26/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 25 (NB) -- Lotus Development
Chairman Jim Manzi offered a new technology for his Lotus Notes
which could throw a big scare into Microsoft.

The technology, called Application Field Exchange, lets Ami Pro,
Freelance and other Lotus applications, when embedded in a Notes
document, publish to the Notes database field. This greatly
facilitates sharing information among front-line workers.

The technology could prove frightening to Microsoft because the
workgroup computing represented by Lotus' Notes could re-define
the center of gravity in the industry away from operating systems
like MS Windows. Manzi's successful marketing of Notes is
credited with transforming Lotus from a troubled company relying
on an old product, 1-2-3, into a dynamic company with real
industry power.

Manzi made his announcement in a CEO Perspectives speech which
was part of the Spring Comdex trade show. Manzi was introduced
by Comdex founder Sheldon Adelson as a college classics major and
one-time writer for William F. Buckley's "National Review" who
joined Lotus as director of marketing 10 years ago this month.

Already, Manzi said, the ability of workers using Notes to
exchange timely data is transforming US business in a very real
way. "Business is a group activity," he said. "It consists of teams
of people working together, at companies, to achieve common
goals. Until recently the computer had lost sight of this
fundamental truth. The concept of data became the guiding
principle. Never mind that information is meant to be shared,
used and communicated. Never mind that it's a commodity, like
coal, that only has value if you produce something with it you
can sell."

The failure to communicate effectively, Manzi argued, kept PCs
from delivering on their promise of greater productivity. He said
Notes has finally released that potential. "Even Alan Greenspan,
not known for wild overstatement, said recently that a new
synergy of hardware and software applications may finally be
showing through in a significant increase in labor productivity in
the US." How significant? "According to Stephen Roche of
Morgan Stanley, service sector productivity surged three percent
in the last year, after staying flat for a decade." This
productivity surge, and not political events, may be responsible
for the corporate downsizing and limited hiring now taking place
in the US "Business is in the midst of the most profound
organizational changes in decades, as they seek to become more
competitive."

Manzi credits workgroup computing, and especially Lotus Notes,
for playing a major role in that change. "It takes computing away
from back-office processes, away from the isolated desktop, and
makes it the front line activity of the enterprise. Things like
selling, service, making products." Manzi then showed how
a bank, law firm, benefit planning company, and risk management
firm, are using Notes to improve productivity.

"No one knows all the answers when it comes to this new style of
computing. But it's certainly taking hold and having a gigantic
impact on many companies, giving them massive gains, at firms
of every size and in every industry," said Manzi.

What happens next? Manzi offered a checklist. "First, we must
span multiple operating systems and platforms. The challenge is
to make sure today's knowledge workers gain access to
information, communicate it, and act on it regardless of
operating system."

He continued, "The second essential need is security. It's more
difficult to achieve. If you're sharing key information with
suppliers and customers, the question of who should have access
to what becomes crucial. You don't want it confined in a glass
house, but you don't want it bouncing randomly either."

"Third, we think replication is an essential technology in
workgroup computing," he said. "This is the ability to copy part
or all of a database and distribute it to any other computer. It
should automatically occur in background, and give the user the
assurance that they're working on up-to-date information.
Fourth, all this depends on a rich object store. Workgroup
computing has a wide range of data types. Numbers, graphics,
text, spreadsheets, sound, motion, and video. The goal must be
nothing less than the mobilization of knowledge now embedded in
documents throughout the organization. You can't approach the
goal if you say one type of knowledge qualifies."

"Finally, we feel workgroup computing isn't a reality unless
there is integration among desktop applications. There are 80-90
million computers out there using one or two applications. Their
reach is enhanced if they can share applications." That's where
Lotus Notes, acting as a coordinating architecture, can help.
"Lotus has worked hard to make Notes an architecture for
workgroup computing. It's based on the document, so information
resides somewhere and can be shared." This ability to share is
at the heart of the Version Manager in 1-2-3 release 4 for
Windows, announced at the show.

Most important, Manzi concluded, Lotus' competitors have heard
the music and are starting to dance to the tune. "Microsoft and
WordPerfect are reworking their desktop applications so they can
work in a Notes environment. Clearly that will help drive the
product development forward."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930526/Press Contact: Harold Krall, Cardinal
Technologies Inc., tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00004)

 ****Comdex - Pentium Performance To Approach RISC 05/26/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Intel has disclosed
architectural details of their Pentium processor to Newsbytes. These
details shed light on the performance to be expected from current and
upcoming versions of the microprocessor and systems based on it.

Five elements will elevate Pentium performance over Intel's i486 CPU
(central processing unit) and bring it up to workstation-class power.
The first is higher clock speeds.  The initial versions of Pentium will
run at 60 megahertz (MHz) and 66MHz, which matches the top speed
of current versions of the i486.

Frank Spindler of Intel told Newsbytes that, "I don't see why that won't
double over time." Current RISC chips have similar integer performance
to Pentium at slightly slower or equivalent clock speeds.

The second element is multiple integer instruction units. Pentium has
two 32-bit integer processing units on the U, or primary, pipeline and
the V, or secondary, pipeline. Both the U and V pipelines may be active
simultaneously. This leads to performance increases of up to double
the speed achievable with a single instruction unit.

The third performance-enhancing element is branch prediction. RISC
microprocessor makers have achieved impressive performance gains
with optimized compilers that use branch prediction to increase
throughput. Intel has built this technology into the Pentium hardware
and claims a 25 percent performance boost from this feature alone.

The fourth factor that increases performance is an optimized, on-board
64-bit floating point unit. This unit may be active simultaneously with
one or both integer units. Improvements in the floating point unit bring
performance gains that Intel estimates at four to five times faster
than the i486 for floating-point-intensive code. Current RISC chips
running at similar clock speeds have somewhat greater floating-point
performance, but Intel is now in the ballpark with all but the fastest
RISC floating-point units.

The fifth factor that will speed up systems is improved memory access.
The 8 kilobyte (KB) of onboard cache in the i486 has been replaced by two
separate 8KB caches, one for code and the other for data. The size of these
caches compares favorably to those of RISC chips and chip sets and will
yield a varying performance gain over the i486. The caches are updated by
a 64-bit-wide memory access path. Early systems will have 64-bit access
only to an external cache of 256KB or 512KB in size; later systems will
add 6-bit access to main memory as well.

The wild card in the performance war is multiprocessor capability.
Intel has worked hard to make Pentium multiprocessor-ready. It has
implemented the Modified Exclusive Shared Invalid, or MESI,
multiprocessing protocol standard in Pentium. How successful the
company has been will be demonstrated over the next year as
vendors build multiprocessor systems around both Pentium and
competing microprocessors.

With Pentium, Intel has successfully demonstrated that it can achieve
workstation-class performance in a microprocessor compatible with its
previous x86-family microprocessors. Future competition among
microprocessors will center on price, clock speed, the number of
processing units that can be put on a single chip, and the ease with which
multiprocessor systems can be built. But at least for this generation of
microprocessors, Intel has successfully secured its base in consumer
and business applications and opened a new front in the high-performance
arena as well.

(Bud Smith/19930526)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00005)

 ****Comdex - High-Performance Pentium Checkpoints 05/26/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- A wide range of
performance gains has been claimed for the new Pentium microprocessor
from Intel. Some DOS benchmarks show gains of about 80 percent over
a high-end i486, but floating-point SPECmarks for Pentium are more
than triple those of an i486. What will it take to get the most
performance out of a Pentium microprocessor?

On the software side, dramatic performance gains for applications running
under graphical user interfaces (GUIs) such as Windows 3.1, OS/2 2.1, and
the upcoming Windows NT should be fairly easy to achieve. This is because
today's applications make a great many calls to the operating environment
to get their work done. Once the operating system is optimized and
recompiled for Pentium, applications will benefit immediately.

The application itself can also benefit from recompilation with a
Pentium-aware compiler and the use of Pentium-optimized software
libraries, especially for specialized uses like floating point code. Look
first for an optimized version of your operating environment, then for
Pentium-aware versions of your most-used and most performance-
intensive applications.

On the hardware side, some systems are "Pentium-ready" and should be
upgradable simply by plugging in a new microprocessor. New Pentium
systems will vary in the degree to which they are optimized for the new
microprocessor. There are several features you can look for in either an
upgradable i486 system or a Pentium system to improve your chances
of getting optimal performance.

The first is the external, or secondary, cache. The Pentium has two
8 kilobyte (KB) onboard caches, one for code and the other for data. When
these caches need to be refreshed the microprocessor looks to its 64-bit
data bus for more data. The best systems for Pentium will have a 256KB
or 512KB write-back external cache with a 64-bit data path to the
processor. The data path between the cache and standard RAM will most
often be only 32 bits, but cache misses should be few enough to minimize
any slowdown caused by this. A slow, or nonexistent secondary cache can
cost 10-20 performance in performance, according to Intel.

The speed of the memory bus is also important. Most of today's
high-performance systems have a 33 megahertz (MHz) memory bus -
Pentium runs best with a 66MHz bus. The bus also needs to support
burst reads and writes, address pipelining, and the Pentium's write-back
internal caches. According to Intel, these factors can combine to slow
performance by as much as 30-40 percent as compared to an optimized
system.

A system with VESA local bus slots for graphics and hard disk access
will be better able to keep up with the throughput demands imposed by
Pentium. Intel claims that its upcoming PCI local bus chip sets will
take even greater advantage of Pentium's features.

In combination, these factors mean that, while an upgrade from i486 to
Pentium will yield a performance boost, only a well-designed Pentium
system with recompiled software will deliver maximum performance.
Historical experience indicates that a number of non-optimized Pentium
systems will be shipped early on to gain attention and market share.

Users in the market for top performance should look for software and
hardware optimized for Pentium. Early buyers may pay dearly for moderate
performance gains, while those who wait a little bit, shop carefully, and
take advantage of software upgrades may end up with a complete system
that represents a real price-performance bargain.

(Bud Smith/19930526)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(ATL)(00006)

 ****Comdex - Pentium Concerns Include Heat & Availability 05/26/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- In an exclusive interview
with Newsbytes at Spring Comdex, Intel officials addressed concerns
about their new Pentium chip.

The best-publicized area of concern so far has been heat dissipation.
"We published the specifications a long time ago," said Curt Nichols,
marketing director in the Microprocessor Division. The company states
that heat dissipation for the current 5V Pentium microprocessor is 13
watts, more than double the six watts dissipated by a 486, but
significantly less than that of MIPS R4000, DEC's Alpha, or HP's
Precision Architecture.

While new systems designed around Pentium should be able to handle
the load, doubts remain about the longevity under stress of "upgradable"
i486-based systems. Intel revealed that it will be creating a verification
program later this year that will certify whether systems can handle the
microprocessor's heat output. In the meantime, users are advised to
contact their system vendor about upgradability concerns.

The long-term answer to the heat problem is a new version of the
microprocessor that uses less power. An upcoming 3.3V version should
reduce power consumption and heat generation by more than half. This
version will be suitable for desktop or portable use.

Another worry for vendors and users is the availability of the chip. The
industry may be putting itself into a bind by promoting low-priced
Pentium systems early. Intel officials have revealed to Newsbytes that
they were surprised by the number of mid-range, as opposed to high-end,
systems announced by vendors so far. Since the company only plans to
ship 10,000 Pentium CPUs (central processing units) this quarter and
"hundreds of thousands" by year end, disappointed users may hold off on
purchases until Pentium systems are available.

The company and vendors will encourage users to buy upgradable
i486-based systems for now. However, users who want full Pentium
performance may prefer to wait for "true" Pentium systems with 66
megahertz (MHz) memory buses and large, 64-bit-wide external caches.
User hesitation would put pressure on the prices and sales of i486-based
systems.

The final concern with any new microprocessor is software availability.
The Pentium is much more different from the i486 than that
microprocessor was from the i386.  For maximum performance, operating
environments and applications need to be recompiled, using tools that are
still under development. Mark Plinneke, program manager for Intel's new
Software Developer Relations Group, is in charge of helping software
vendors get the most performance out of Pentium. His group has worked
with compiler vendors and others, "licensing tons of code" to help
developers get the most out of Pentium. Software vendors have been slow
to optimize their programs for new microprocessors in the past, and it
remains to be seen whether they will be faster to move this time around.

None of these concerns is expected to prevent the long-term success of
Pentium, but they may create controversy and difficulties between users
and vendors and open a window of opportunity for vendors of systems
based on other microprocessors. However, by the time the
chicken-and-egg problem of widespread software availability for
competing platforms is solved, most analysts expect to see Intel once
again firmly in the driver's seat.

(Bus Smith/19930526)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(NYC)(00007)

 ****Leading Economist Discusses Industry Changes 05/26/93
POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB)  -- Dr. Ann Davis,
director of Marist College's Bureau of Economic Research, speaking to the
May meeting of the Poughkeepsie, New York, chapter of the Association
foe Computing Machinery (ACM), directed the group's attention to the
growing trend toward alliances within the computer industry.

Introducing Davis, chapter President Bill Collier told the group, "I
happened to mention to a friend that Ann would be speaking this evening
and he said 'You had better pay close attention. I was at a cocktail party
with Ann shortly after Reagan's first election. She made a series of
predictions that night of what would happen during the Reagan years.
Each of the predictions turned out to be accurate.'"

In the talk, Davis began by discussing the shifts in market
segmentation within the computer industry. She pointed to the
blurring of the traditional distinctions as newer and newer
generations of chips provide "an incredible increase in computing
power available for a given price."

Davis then discussed the blurring of established market lines as
computers, telephones, televisions, and faxes become components in
multimedia systems. This combining of elements has led to, Davis
pointed out, the linking of companies - such as IBM and Blockbuster
Video; Apple and Sharp; AT&T, Matsushita and Olivetti - to provide
the new products.

The changing dynamics of the industry has, according to Davis, resulted
in an altering of international competitive positions and strategies. Davis
said, "The increasing cost of development and manufacturing each new
generation of semiconductor chips has convinced most companies that
alliances and joint ventures are necessary to continue to compete in
both existing products such as memory chips as well as new product
categories. For example, IBM has formed over 20,000 business
alliances worldwide as of January 1992. US companies are focusing
on strategic moves in customized products, such as software and
new product development."

Davis said that these developments have led to a change in the model firm
in the industry. According to Davis, "the model Silicon Valley firm is
modular, hierarchical, evolutionary. Alliances with other firms as well as
personnel decisions are based on product development. The core is design
and development groups and non-essential components can be outsourced."
She said that, while there are disadvantages to this type of firm (little
job security, reliance on larger firms or government for research and
development, more fragile firms with shortness of capital), there are also
opportunities to cluster these firms with other in the geographical region
to pool resources.

The changes, Davis pointed out, have ramifications for governmental
policy. She said that there are now recommendations before the Clinton
administration for modifying anti-trust regulations to allow for research
and development cartels. There is also debate going on concerning the role
of the government in such activities as the direct supporting of R&D; the
development of the infrastructure for a nationwide Integrated Services
Digital Network (ISDN); and the protection of US firms and workers
through trade policies.

Dr. Ben Diamant, Marist College professor of computer science,
commenting to Newsbytes on Davis' talk, said, "She did an outstanding job
of presenting the economic vistas that impact the field of information
systems."

Davis told Newsbytes, "It was pleasure speaking to the ACM. It gave be an
opportunity to present my research on the computer industry to
professionals in the industry. The discussion that followed the talk was
extremely interesting and showed the recognition within the industry of
the changing economic conditions."

Poughkeepsie, New York is in the heart of "IBM Country," the area
severely impacted by recent reorganizations and cutbacks within IBM.
Many in the audience were current or past IBM employees.

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19930526/Press Contacts:
Bill Collier, ACM - Poughkeepsie Chapter, [e-mail];
Ann Davis, 914-575-3000 ext 2945 (voice), 914-471-6213 (fax),
Marist College Bureau of Economic Research, [e-mail])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BOS)(00008)

UMax Scanner With Novice Version Of Photoshop 2.5 05/26/93
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- UMax has
brought out the UC630LE (Limited Edition), a $999 hardware-and-
software scanning bundle featuring a new version of Adobe Photoshop
specifically designed for the Windows or Macintosh computer
graphics novice.

A company spokesperson told Newsbytes that the bundle combines the
company's award-winning UC630 24-bit color flatbed scanner with
Photoshop LE 2.5, an edition of Photoshop that is available through
OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) only.

Photoshop LE 2.5 provides all the key essentials, and supports all
built-in Photoshop file formats, but eliminates the most complex
capabilities of the Adobe image processing package, she said.
Users who become ready for more advanced work can upgrade to the
full version of Photoshop for an extra $295.

The Windows edition of the UC630LE bundle comes with UMax's new
TWAIN driver, allowing operability with all PC software tools that
comply with the emerging imaging standard.

The scanner the bundle is built around, the UC630, offers a
hardware resolution of 600 by 300 dots-per-inch (dpi) that can be
enhanced to 1200 by 1200 dpi through software interpolation.

The Photoshop software supplied in the package is a major upgrade
from Adobe Photoshop LE 1.0, another application offered only
through OEMs, she said.  New capabilities in Photoshop LE 2.5
include text and cropping tools, more filters, an indexed color
mode, dodge and burn, and an EPS rasterizer, along with two
features that are also new in the full version of Photoshop 2.5 -
variations and quick mask.

The new Limited Edition provides the same tool palette as the full
version of 2.5, and the same Edit, Mode, Image, Filter, Select and
Windows menus. Menu items, though, are not quite as extensive.
For example, in the Image Menu, Map and Adjust commands have been
retained, and so have Image Size and Canvas Size, two selections
used for image resizing and resampling. However, Adobe has
eliminated the Calculate, Histogram, and Trap commands, on the
grounds that they are unnecessary and too technical for most
Photoshop LE users.

Other functions present in the full version of Adobe Photoshop 2.5,
but absent from LE, include LAB color space, CMYK editing and
separation, duotone mode, custom ink books, and Photoshop 2.5's new
LAB color, paths palette, and channels palette.

On the Windows side, the UC630 bundle requires an 80386 processor,
DOS 5.0, Windows 3.1, 4 megabytes (MB) of RAM, 20MB of hard disk
space, and a mouse. Requirements for the Mac platform include a
68020 processor, Apple System Software Version 6.0.7, 3MB of
application RAM, and a hard disk.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930525/Press Contacts: Aileen Yang, tel
408-982-0771 ext 12, UMax; or Yvonne Lynott, tel [phone],
Lynott & Associates for UMax; Reader Contacts: UMax, tel
800-562-0311; or Adobe, tel [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(BOS)(00009)

Comdex - Xerox's $99 Windows Package With OCR 05/26/93
PEABODY, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- One of the
latest entries into the ever widening Windows application arena is
a $99 OCR (optical character recognition) package that includes
advanced artificial intelligence technology developed at Xerox's
renowned Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).

The first Windows version of TextBridge adds a "lexifier," improved
"automatic segmentation," and other new capabilities to the
pioneering OCR features already present in previously released Unix
editions, according to Ed Mallen, vice president of software
products for Xerox Imaging Systems (XIS), the company that produces
TextBridge.

In an interview with Newsbytes, Mallen said that all versions of
TextBridge can be used with virtually any faxed or scanned pages.
The latest capabilities, though, are aimed at recognizing classes
of information such as social security numbers, month/day/year
configurations, and postal codes, and at assisting with recognition
of compound documents.

The new smart features will be incorporated into future Unix
editions as well, but dates have yet to be set for the upgrades, he
told Newsbytes.

The VP stated that TextBridge provides a simple-to-use graphical
user interface (GUI) with many of the same features found in other
OCR packages, including a preview window, on-line hypertext help,
adjustable scanner settings, and format conversion of faxed and
scanned documents into popular word processing, spreadsheet and
database applications.

TextBridge, though, is based on research into image morphology, or
document structure, he explained. The software uses neural
networks and other new approaches to "learn" information about the
document's structure, moving beyond the basic character recognition
of other OCR packages into recognition of contextual information
and page construction.

One of the features that's emerged from this research, the
lexifier, expands upon the concept of the traditional spell-
checker, he noted. The feature includes the same dictionary used
in the Unix editions of TextBridge, but adds the ability to
recognize lexical classes - or known "patterns of information"
such as social security numbers, month/day/year configurations and
postal zip codes.

When a postal code is being scanned, for example, the lexifier will
automatically recognize that the first character must be the number
"0," not the letter "O," he said.

The Windows version also improves on the automatic segmentation
feature in the Unix editions, which is designed to distinguish the
number of columns, locations of images, and correct read order of
text in a compound document, according to Mallen. Another new
feature brings the ability to correct the orientation of a skewed,
or crooked, page.

Further, TextBridge for Window brings a DDE (dynamic data exchange)
interface that afford easy access to OCR while working in other
Windows applications that support DDE, said the company. A macro
included in the package lets a user activate TextBridge from Microsoft
Word through the file menu. Then, without leaving Word, the user can
scan and recognize pages directly into an open document.

Mallen told Newsbytes that, in the future, XIS will definitely add
similar macros for WordPerfect and Ami Pro, and possibly for other
Windows applications as well.

Like the Unix versions, TextBridge for Windows can recognize text
written in Spanish, French, Italian, or German as well as in English.
Also retained in the Windows edition are all the other smart tools of
the previous releases, including the ability to recognize non-lexical
strings or patterns, or information other than words.

TextBridge supports most popular scanners on the market, such as
those from Hewlett-Packard and Microtek. The software can also
accept TIFF files from most fax-modem software, including WinFax
Pro 3.0.

The Windows package is being sold at Comdex this week for a special
introductory price of $79, Mallen told Newsbytes. In a promotion
at the XIS booth, users are winning free copies if they can manage
to tee a ball over a miniature golf-style "TextBridge."

(Jacqueline Emigh/19930524/Press Contacts: Kelly Morris or Marijean
Lauzier, tel [phone], The Weber Group for XIS; or Janet Knudsen,
tel [phone], XIS; Reader Contact: XIS, 800-248-6550;)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(HKG)(00010)

Compaq Signs First Asia-Wide Systems Integrator 05/26/93
WANCHAI, HONG KONG, 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- ITS has been appointed by
Compaq Computer Asia Pacific, a wholly owned subsidiary of Compaq
Computer, as the company's first systems integrator. Under the terms
of the agreement, ITS will sell Compaq's full range of products and
provide customers with value-added services and maintenance support
throughout the region.

According to the company, the Asia-wide agreement will broaden
Compaq's channels of distribution and offer its customers a single
point of contact for all systems integration, equipment purchases,
maintenance, installation, and other customer services.

"As one of the world's leading systems integrators, ITS is the ideal
choice of partner to help Compaq achieve its goal of offering PC users
throughout Asia the industry's most comprehensive customer support
and services network," said Lim Soon Hock, vice president and managing
director, Asia Pacific Region, Compaq Computer Asia Pacific. "Compaq
is now one of the world's only PC vendors able to offer its
customers a single point of call for all their needs.

He continued, "This important agreement, with its strong emphasis on
professional services, will ensure that Compaq is more competitive
and better able to meet the demanding requirements of our rapidly
growing business in the region. This agreement will offer major
advantages for our multinational customers with offices located
around the region."

Under the agreement, ITS will not only sell Compaq computers, it will
also customize them and provide "seamless solutions" to customers.
Through its affiliation with SITA, the air transport industry's global
communications organization, ITS will enable Compaq to draw on
additional resources in nearly 200 countries and territories.

ITS will also offer Compaq entry into such specialized areas as the
banking and transportation industries, especially those that are
presently installing, or considering, local area network (LAN)- and
wide area network (WAN)-based networks.

"As a result of this agreement, ITS can now offer Compaq machines and
systems integration services to our traditional customer base under
extremely competitive terms," said Barry Bonnett, managing director at
ITS Asia Pacific. "This agreement will undoubtedly be widely accepted
by airlines and our parent company SITA, and our many multinational
customers in the region. Compaq's expanding presence in Asia through
its headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Singapore ties in
perfectly with ITS's growing activities in the region."

(Brett Cameron/19930525/Press Contact: Wayne Merrick (ITS),
tel [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(TYO)(00011)

IBM Japan Releases Notebook PCs 05/26/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- IBM Japan has released a
number of personal computers including a notebook and desktops.
The notebook PC is light weight and powerful.

IBM Japan's latest notebook is A5-sized, and weighs only one kilogram.
It is called the ThinkPad 220 and comes with a 32-bit 80386SL
processor and an 80 megabyte (MB) hard disk. The system costs
198,000 yen ($1,800), which is a relatively low price for notebooks
in Japan. The system can be used continuously for eight hours with
removable alkaline batteries.

IBM Japan has also released a color version of the notebook, which
is equipped with a 10.4-inch TFT (thin film transistor) display.

Other systems introduced include PS/V desktop PC, which comes
equipped with a powerful video processor, called the 80C805. With
this video chip, it is said the processing speed of graphic data
has become about five times faster. The price of the desktop
models varies from 198,000 yen ($1,800) to 680,000 yen ($6,200)
depending on the configuration.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930526/Press Contact: IBM
Japan, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00012)

Japan - Matsushita & Hitachi Develop New Chips 05/26/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Matsushita Electric has developed
a digital neuro LSI chip, which it claims will be able to handle text
and pictorial data at very high speeds. Meanwhile, Hitachi has
developed a TRON-based 32-bit microprocessor. TRON is considered
by many as the national operating system in Japan.

Matsushita Electric's digital neuro LSI is still a prototype, but it
is claimed to be capable of recognizing text data and graphic data
with high precision. This chip is based on Matsushita's original neuro
model. It has a learning feature and neural network capabilities.
The chip measures only 11 by 11 millimeters.

According to Matsushita's tests, the device can recognize hand-
written letters at a speed 10 time faster than existing chips. It
can recognize figures - both Kanji and alphabets. As far as
alphabetical letters are concerned, it is claimed that the
system can recognize 1,600 letters per second - almost 20
times faster than current chips.

Meanwhile, Hitachi has developed a TRON-based 32-bit
microprocessor. It is the high-end version of the firm's G-MICRO
family, called the G-MICRO H32/500. There two versions - one
with a clock speed of 50 megahertz (MHz) and the other with a
clock speed of 66 MHz. The 66-MHz version consumes only nine
watts of electricity, but it can process data at 130 MIPS (million
instructions per second).

The release of the 50-MHz version is planned for this October,
with the 66-MHz version planned for early 1994.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930526/Press Contact: Matsushita
Electric, [phone]; Hitachi, [phone])


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TYO)(00013)

Japan - NEC PC-VAN Connects Govt's Network 05/26/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- NEC has interconnected its
personal computer-based telecommunication network PC-VAN with
the Japanese Education Ministry's academic network. It is said this
academic network is the largest in Japan, and the connection is
offered free of charge for a limited time.

NEC has connected with the Japanese Education Ministry's SINET
telecommunication network, which is widely used by university
and private firm researchers. With this interconnection, both
PC-VAN and SINET users will be able to exchange electronic-mail
free of charge. NEC and the SINET want to see the reaction of users
before they commit to a permanent connection.

NEC has been actively linking with other major telecommunication
networks. The firm recently linked with Japan's second largest
telecom network Nifty-Serve, as well as Japan Airline's JAL
network.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930526/Press Contact: NEC,
tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00014)

Japan - Sega Intros Multimedia TV Device For Kids 05/26/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Japan's major game machine
maker Sega Enterprises has developed a multimedia device for
children. It is a combination of a notebook-type computer and
picture books and requires a television to play.

Sega's PICO is connected to a regular television set via a video
socket. The PC has a tray to hold a picture book instead of an
LCD (liquid crystal display). It is a special book with the same
picture appearing on the TV screen. Whenever the child turns the
page, the picture changes to the one in the new page. With an
electronic pen-device, which is attached with the book, the
child can answer the questions that are included in the book.

The device gives out sound effects, as well as a reading voice
with the picture on the screen. The company says that the
animation characters on the screen move along with the music.

Sega is preparing to link with major book publishers to develop
more picture book software. The firm will release this device
at 16,000 yen ($145) on June 26 in Japan and next April in the
overseas market. About 10 to 15 software books will be available.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930526/Press Contact: Sega
Enterprises, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00015)

Comdex - HSC Intros Digital Morph For Windows 05/26/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- HSC Software,
which held its Comdex party at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown
Atlanta, has introduced what it claims is the first morphing
software for Windows.

Morphing is a digital video technology used to stretch, compress,
distort, or transform one image into another. It was first used in
a big way in the "Terminator" movies. It's now seen regularly in
"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," where Security Officer Odo, played
by Rene Auberjonois, plays a character who must morph into a
liquid every 36 hours, and can morph into the shape of any object
at will.

Digital Morph is designed to provide this look to multimedia
producers, graphic artists, animators, and business presenters at
an attractive price. Bit-mapped images, Video for Windows files
with the AVI extension, and Autodesk Animator files can all be
changed with the software. Worphs, or warped morphs, can also be
performed.

The minimum system requirements for the software are a 386SX
computer with 2 megabytes (MB) of memory and a VGA graphics
card, although 4MB and a high-color card are recommended.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930526/Press Contact: Lora Goodpasture,
HSC Software, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00016)

Comdex - Mustang Intros Rip-Based Wildcat BBS 05/26/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Mustang Software
has introduced a new version of its flagship Wildcat bulletin board
system (BBS) software supporting the new Remote Image Protocol
(RIP) graphical user interface (GUI).

RIP is an emerging graphical standard for bulletin boards. It was
first supported by Galacticomm, which signed an alliance
with its creator, TeleGrafix, to support RIP in February. RIP is also
supported by the popular Telix communications package. The support
of RIP by two major BBS vendors should help towards the protocol
becoming an industry standard.

Mustang said it is also adding RIP support to its Qmodem
communications package, making it the first BBS vendor to offer
both terminal and board support for RIP. The new version of
Wildcat, dubbed 3.9, can send full-screen graphics to callers and
lets mouse-equipped callers select BBS commands by clicking on
selection buttons or screen prompts, just as they do with larger
services like America Online.

In order for the caller to get these benefits, however, their own
telecommunications software must support RIP. That's why Qmodem,
the company's communications package, has added the feature.

In addition, Wildcat has introduced a fax-send module as part of
its wcPro utility package. This lets those system operators with
fax modems make PCX files available to callers.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930526/Press Contact: Jim Harrer, Mustang
Software, 805-395-0223; FAX: [phone]; BBS: 805-395-0650)


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00017)

Comdex - WordPerfect Announces 6.0; Offers Nice Bags 05/26/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Many analysts at
Comdex acknowledged that, of all the major software companies,
WordPerfect may be facing its most testing time. Lotus got out of
its dependence on the 1-2-3 spreadsheet with its Notes workgroup
software, while Borland seems well-positioned in its database
market. However, WordPerfect keeps losing market share to Word
for Windows, and many argue that there is little unique in the rest
of its product line.

For this show, WordPerfect's primary announcement is that version
6 of its flagship WordPerfect word processor for DOS, will ship June
28. The company promised the version which ships will be better
than the upgrades now in beta test. The company trotted out one of
its distributors, Merisel, to note that it has huge back orders for
WordPerfect 6.0. A CD-ROM version of the product will be available.
The upgrade price for existing WordPerfect for DOS users is $129,
and you can switch from a competitive product for $149. The
suggested retail price is $495.

WordPerfect also formed, what it calls, a consumer products group,
which will aim at the growing home and small business markets.
WordPerfect spokesmen said the new unit will combine acquisitions
with in-house development, building around Reference Software,
which WordPerfect bought in January for its Grammatik
program, thesauri and spell-checkers. The former Reference
products, like WordPerfect's own Clip Art and MTEZ communication
programs, will carry retail prices of $29-$149.

Finally, most reporters agreed WordPerfect had the nicest
giveaway of the show - a canvas computer bag with a heavy-duty
zipper. It's light, and holds lots of papers in addition to your
notebook PC. For a change, it's even better than a Microsoft
product - a fold-over, green bag advertising Windows NT, given
away at the NT press conference.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930526/Press Contact: Blake Stowell,
WordPerfect, 801-228-5063; FAX: [phone])


(NEWS)(IBM)(ATL)(00018)

Comdex - Epson Intros Progression 4 PCs 05/26/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Epson has
announced the Progression 4 PC line, which incorporates Wingine,
a local bus graphics acceleration technology from Chips +
Technologies. Combined with Epson's own proprietary memory
architecture, called VirtualCache, the PCs are claimed to offer
significant performance advantages in Windows environments.

The new Progression 4 features a smaller footprint, and a lower
price, along with a new "Read This First" brochure aimed at
making set-up easier. The product comes with the full range of
486DX processors from Intel, and supports future Intel Overdrive
processors. It's equipped with 4 megabytes (MB) of RAM, expandable
to 128MB using SIMM (single in-line memory module) chips, and
1MB of video system memory, as well as hard drives of 120MB or
240MB, four ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) slots, three
drive bays and six ports.

Epson also launched a new line of portable computers called
ActionNote, starting with the 4SLC/25. The new 5.5-pound, or 2.2
kilogram, products are preloaded with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 and
include a Logitech trackball standard. There are also several
different configurations, including a communications package with
a fax-data modem. All have 4 megabytes (MB) of RAM and hard disk
drives of 80MB or 120MB. Anticipated street prices are
$1,400-$1,700.

Finally, Epson announced the Progression NX, first in a line of
PCs optimized for NextStep. They use Intel chips, but also have
such Next-ready features as 36 megabytes (MB) of RAM, expandable
to 68MB on the motherboard, and 2MB of video memory, as well as a
525MB hard drive, six ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) slots, a
multimedia sound card and an Ethernet LAN (local area network)
adapter. They will ship this summer at about $3,700 each.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930526/Press Contact: Jan Marciano, Epson,
310-782-5161)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(ATL)(00019)

Comdex - ATI Offers Multimedia Upgrade, PCI Graphics 05/26/93
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- For Spring Comdex,
ATI Technologies of Scarborough, Canada, has announced a new
Multimedia Upgrade Kit and four new accelerator boards for PCI
Local Bus systems.

The upgrade kit combines the company's ATI Stereo F/X-CD sound
card with a CD-ROM drive and over 2,500 software applications on
two CD-ROM disks at a suggested retail price of $499. The new PCI
cards are based on ATI's own mach32AX chip, in VRAM and DRAM
configurations, and are now being sampled to OEM (original
equipment manufacturer) customers.

The company also announced some new software, including Windows
3.1 drivers for its mach8 products, including Graphics Ultra,
Graphics Vantage, and 8514/UIltra products, using the Windows 3.1
enhanced mode, and MediaMerge, a software product designed to
create and edit video in Windows.

According to Vice President of Marketing Henry Quan, the combined
announcements mean ATI can now deliver a complete multimedia
solution, including hardware and software. MediaMerge will have a
suggested retail price of $395 and ships by the end of this quarter.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19930526/Press Contact: Andrew Clarke, ATI,
416-756-0718 ext 491)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00020)

 ****Microsoft Talks About DOS 6.0 Bugs 05/26/93
REDMOND, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Microsoft has
released a statement concerning the potential problems in MS-DOS
6.0.

The bugs, as outlined by the company, are the following:

If the personal computer (PC) running DOS 6.0 loses power
(usually by being unplugged) while the Windows driver
Smartdrive is flushing its cache (or disk memory) there is a
possibility of data loss. Normally, users don't go around
pulling the plug on their computers, but Microsoft's Chief Bill
Gates did it twice during the satellite-broadcast introduction
of DOS 6.0. Gate's point in pulling the plug was to prove the
safety of using Doublespace and Memmaker.

The second bug is the ability to use the Windows Undelete
command to create files with invalid characters such as the "?"
and "*" characters.

A third bug has been reported by Stac Electronics, Microsoft's
largest competitor in data compression products. The bug can be
reproduced by following these steps: 1) Create an empty
Doublespace drive. 2) Copy the files DBLSPACE.SYS and
README.TXT from the DOS directory to the new compressed drive.
3) Delete both files. 4) Turn the computer off. 5) Turn the
computer on, being sure the new drive is mounted. 6) Copy the
file POWER.EXE to the new Doublespace drive. 7) Using the DOS
Undelete command, attempt to undelete the deleted files on the
new drive. The Undelete command will only allow you to recover
one file, the README.TXT file. But upon examination, the
README.TXT file will be blank for the first few pages (about
twenty-seven percent). Stac's theory is in allocating space for
the POWER.EXE compressed file, Doublespace wrote over a portion
of the README.TXT file with zeros, but still allows the user to
undelete the file.

The Undelete problems uncovered by the Stac bug might not be
considered a bug by some utility developer. Any utility that
undeletes deleted DOS files offers a warning to users that once
other files have been written to the drive where the deleted
files reside, the data cannot be guaranteed recovery.

Also, DOS 6.0 offers three levels of Undelete protection and
the default level is the lowest level. Microsoft suggests users
who are concerned about being able to Undelete use the highest
level of undelete protection. However, there is a trade off in
disk space and use of memory in order to get the undelete
protection.

Stac's "Technical Evangelist" Bruce Behymer told Newsbytes the
company has been running upward of thirty million iterations a
day of test suites on Doublespace using a compressed random
access memory (RAM) drive in a search for bugs in Microsoft's
compression product. Stac claims Microsoft's largest fault in
DOS 6.0 is that Doublespace doesn't make a copy of the file
allocation table (FAT) as a backup in case of problems as its
Stacker product does. However, Microsoft representatives told
Newsbytes a copy of the FAT might help in one case in a
million. In addition, having two copies of the FAT brings in
the problem of which one to use.

Other reports have caused much more concern. Infoworld reported
a startling fifty-three of its test PCs had problems installing
Doublespace, but has since narrowed that number to six.
Microsoft says Infoworld first contacted its technical support
to report the problems on a Thursday afternoon, just hours
before the deadline on the May 3 issue, so there wasn't time to
investigate the situation. However, Microsoft says it did fly
three senior DOS 6.0 developers to Infoworld to investigate. Of
the six remaining machines with file corruption, one's hard
disk had been reformatted and neither Microsoft or Infoworld
has been able to pin the problems in the five remaining
machines to DOS 6.0.

Microsoft's DOS General Manager Brad Chase, told Newsbytes they
were able to reproduce basically everything Infoworld reported in
DOS 5.0 as well. Chase said, "We have not found a major bug in
MS-DOS 6.0, but continue to monitor all incoming reports closely."

It appears Doublespace is its own worst enemy on cross-linked
files. Upon reboot the program will report any problems with
the compressed volume file (CVF) with the error message: "A CVF
is damaged." Normally a user would have to run the CHKDSK
command to discover cross-linked files on an uncompressed
drive. Chase said the message was a mistake and it would
have caused less anxiety among users to put up a message saying
files are cross-linked (pointing to the same address in the
FAT) than the message Doublespace offers now. However, files
may become cross-linked for one of several reasons, such as the
computer being turned off unexpectedly, and so far none of
the instances of cross-linked files have been attributable to
Doublespace, Chase added.

Users, worried about reports of problems, have jumped to the
conclusion Doublespace was the problem in instances where the
problem was the software program in question. Group 1 Software,
makers of postal zip code software Arclist version 2.06,
reported user concerns over Doublespace.

However, Juan Tosoni, manager of technical support for the
Microcomputer Products Division said in a published report that
Doublespace was not at fault, but instead, it was Arclist's
incompatibility with SHARE.EXE, a file added to the CONFIG.SYS
which installs file-sharing and locking capabilities on disks
and network drives. "In actuality the Doublespace works fine.
The true culprit is SHARE.EXE. Arclist is not compatible with
this command. This also holds true for DOS 5.0," said Tosoni.

Despite the fact that Microsoft has sold three million copies of
DOS 6.0 since its introduction just over a month ago, the
company reports a lower ratio of support calls per copy for
DOS 6.0 than for any of Microsoft's other top ten software products.
However, support line waits are long, as much as an estimated
seventy-five minutes.

Newsbytes called DOS 6.0 support and was told there would be
a seventy-five minute wait, but actually waited about half an hour.
However, Newsbytes worked with a support technician for
forty-five minutes tuning a Doublespace drive, the AUTOEXEC.BAT,
and the CONFIG.SYS files.

Microsoft says the majority of support calls fall into three
categories. The number one reason is users who call to be walked
through the setup process with a support technician. The number
two reason is help with Memmaker, the memory management
utility. Number three involves Doublespace.

On Compuserve, Microsoft technical support personnel are
requesting users post Doublespace questions openly on the
forum instead of directing them through personal mail to the
technicians individually. Most of the user comment is positive
and few users have even experienced problems with the product.

Microsoft's Brad Chase said the company is working on the known
problems and will address them in the "near future. To date,
neither Infoworld's tests, nor tests by other publications, nor
calls to product support indicate anything except the rare,
isolated problems one would expect on an operating system
installed by millions of users on a wide variety of PCs."

Chase said there was no way anyone at Microsoft could have
predicted the success of DOS 6.0. In thirty days, Microsoft says
its estimates are that 54 percent of users have run Memmaker,
more than have installed Quarterdeck's QEMM for the past two
years. Sixty-two percent of users have installed Doublespace, a
number more than double the number that have installed Stacker
over the past two years.

Microsoft is having to run to keep up with demand, despite its
size and resources. The company says its surveys show 90
percent of DOS 6.0 users said they are satisfied with the
product. However, the biggest complaint is the wait for support
and Microsoft says it is adding more engineers to assist
customers and hopes to have the wait times down to its
average of less than one minute.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930525/Press Contact: Wendy Slaughter,
Waggoner Edstrom for Microsoft, tel [phone], fax 503-244-
7261; Public Contact, Microsoft Technical Support 206-646-5104;
Lois Leslie, Stac Electronics, tel [phone], fax 619-431-
1001)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00021)

Stac Cuts 20% Of Staff 05/26/93
CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Stac is
blaming DOS 6.0 for its lay off of 40 people, or 20 percent of
its work force. But company officials are hoping new releases
of Stacker for IBM's OS/2, Stacker for the Macintosh, and a
special edition of Stacker 3.1 that it is calling a "rescue mission"
for DOS 6.0 users, will help strengthen the company's bottom
line.

Stac is hoping to capitalize on the wide spread reports of bugs
in Doublespace, the compression portion of newly released MS-
DOS 6.0, that allegedly cause cross-linked files. Cross-linking
refers to two files that have the same address in the file
allocation table (FAT). The FAT is the address list DOS
maintains of file locations. It is a physically impossible
for two files to have the same address. Cross-linking can occur
due to hardware problems, software bugs, or simply a power
loss to the computer when a write to the disk is occurring.

None of the reports of cross-linking problems with Doublespace
have been documented, but some bugs have - most noticeably data
loss problems if the computer is turned off when writing out
data from a Smartdrive cache.

Stac claims it has the advantage of three previous versions of
Stacker and four million users of its LZS data compression
scheme. However, a large portion of those users are due to the
license by Stac of its data compression software to tape backup
manufacturers for use in tape backup drives, such as the
popular Colorado Tape Backup.

The special edition of Stacker will offer users a subset of the
features in the new Stacker 3.1 version, which was originally
announced for May release. Stac's technical support also said
users will find it easy to install or replace the Doublespace
product with Stacker and the company maintains the product will
fit into all the DOS 6.0 hooks. In fact, Stacker 3.1 and the
Stacker Special Edition require MS-DOS 6.0, according to the
company's technical support personnel, and will not work with
any previous versions of MS-DOS. The Stacker Special Edition
will retail for $99.95, but company representatives have said
the product could be offered in the retail channels for as low
as $49.95.

In addition, Stac has also announced a version of Stacker
for the Macintosh and a Stacker version for IBM's graphical
operating system OS/2. Titled "Stacker for OS/2 & DOS," the
OS/2 version requires DOS 5.0 and will work with OS/2, DOS,
and Windows files. Stac believes there is a strong market for
compression on the OS/2 platform as the OS/2 system alone
requires over 40 megabytes (MB) of disk storage space. Pricing
for the OS/2 version is $139.95, and the Macintosh version is
$149 with an introductory price of $74.95. All the new versions
of Stacker are scheduled for June release although the company
is accepting orders for the products now, Stac said.

The company has also taken on a legal battle with software
giant Microsoft in addition to a suit it is fighting with its
own stockholders. Microsoft negotiated with Stac last year over
using the LZS compression scheme in MS-DOS 6.0, but Stac
company officials maintain Microsoft refused to license the
technology from the company. Microsoft says it offered Stac
several different deals that would have meant "real money" to
the software compression maker, but Stac officials rejected all
the offers. Microsoft ended up licensing the basis for its
Doublespace compression from Verisoft.

In January, Stac filed suit against Microsoft charging the beta
version of DOS 6.0 was violation of its patents regarding its
LZS technology. Microsoft counter-sued in February charging
Stac deliberately stalled Microsoft's entry into the
marketplace and Stac's products are in violation of one of its
patents.

Stac was already fighting its stockholders who filed suit in
July, shortly after the company's initial public offering
(IPO), charging they were misled about the company's
performance by statements from the management. Microsoft has
made it clear it has evidence that will help Stac's stockholders.
Microsoft claims Stac withheld the knowledge that Microsoft
was preparing to enter the data compression market from
potential investors.

When asked what resources Stac has to defend itself against a
software giant like Microsoft, Product Manager Anne Galdos told
Newsbytes Stac has already had one win against software
compression company Integrated Information Technology (IIT)
over IIT's Xtradrive product line. Galdos pointed out that IIT
agreed to publicly concede to Stac and license Stac's LZS
technology. However, the terms of the license or the settlement
were undisclosed. Galdos also said Stac has good lawyers.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930524/Press Contact: Lois Leslie, Stac
Electronics, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Public Contact
800-522-7822)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00022)

Sun/Fujitsu Announce MicroSPARC II Development Deal 05/26/93
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Sun
Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) and Fujitsu
Microelectronics have announced a partnership for the design of
the "next-generation" SPARC processor - the microSPARC II. Both
companies say they intend to work together to make the
processor a low-cost one and Fujitsu has agreed to manufacture
it.

SMCC is well-known for its SPARCstation workstation, based on
the SPARC microprocessor. According to International Data, Sun is
the leader in the reduced instruction-set computing (RISC)
workstation and workstation server market with 56 percent of
1992 workstation shipments being SPARC-based products.

The new microSPARC II will offer a three-level metal design
that utilizes 0.5 micron complementary metal-oxide
semiconductor (CMOS) process technology.

The current microSPARC processor offers a 32-bit architecture
based on version 8 of the SPARC Architecture published by SPARC
International. SMCC says the new microSPARC II will include the
current capabilities of the current microSPARC processor, and
will offer lower power consumption features as it will operate
at 3.3 volts, a new floating point unit and enhanced integer
unit, and a larger cache memory. The lower power consumption
has the added benefit of lower heat generation, SMCC added.

Further, the microSPARC II is estimated by SMCC to perform in
the range of 50 to 60 SPECint 92 and SPECfp 92. No pricing
information was available, but the companies did say they
expect to ship the microSPARC II by the end of the year.

Fujitsu, with offices in San Jose, California, worked with Sun
to develop the SPARC processor in 1985. Fujitsu is well known
for its Ethernet local area network (LAN) integrated circuits
(ICs).

(Linda Rohrbough/19930525/Press Contact: Mark Richardson, Hi-
Tech Communications, tel [phone] ext 239, fax 415-904-
7025; Betsy Taub, Fujitsu Microelectronics, 408-922-9200)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TOR)(00023)

Canadians Like Computers; Are Wary Of Globalization 05/26/93
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- More than 77
percent of Canadians responding to a recent survey approve of
growth in the use of computers. But while slightly more than half
of respondents believe Canada will find ways to compete in an
increasingly global economy without serious pain, 50 percent are
against further automation if it means laying off workers.

The survey was conducted for Andersen Consulting, Canada, by the
Canadian arm of the Gallup polling organization. Gallup talked to
1,002 Canadians aged 18 and over, and the pollsters said the
sampling error in such a survey would be two to three percent.

Approval for increased computerization was highest among
executives and students. But students were less comfortable with
the job the education system is doing in preparing them for an
increasingly automated future. More than 52 percent of students
surveyed said they are not being prepared adequately. Among all
respondents, the figure was only 36 percent, with 45 percent of
all respondents saying their provincial education systems are
preparing students well.

Meanwhile 32 percent say government retraining programs are
putting sufficient emphasis on high-tech skills, while 36 percent
say they are not. Disturbingly, only about 53 percent of people
surveyed were aware of government-sponsored retraining
programs for unemployed workers.

Just under 46 percent of those surveyed said Canadian companies
must do everything they can to compete in a global economy, even
if that means laying off workers as a result of automation. But
50 percent disagreed with that idea. Nearly 55 percent were
optimistic the country can compete in a global economy while
maintaining present living standards, but 37.5 percent fear
Canadians will have to accept lower standards of living to remain
competitive.

The poll also found high technology is popular as an investment.
Out of 28 percent of survey respondents who have invested in
stocks, 38.8 percent said they would prefer investing in a
high-tech company - including computer, telecommunications,
biotechnology, or other technology areas - to investing their
money in a major financial services firm such as a bank. The most
common investments named were in telecommunications and
networking companies.

A fair number of respondents were prepared to see not just their
stock-market investments but their tax dollars go to back
high-tech companies. More than 44 percent favored government tax
incentives for investments in high-tech companies, and nearly 26
percent said they approved of government grants to help such
firms.

"In spite of short-term challenges, Canadians recognize the
long-term benefits and the importance for Canada of information
technology as we prepare for the challenges of the 21st century,"
said Robert Manion, Andersen's managing partner for Canada, in a
speech at an Andersen briefing announcing the report.

(Grant Buckler/19930526/Press Contact: Sue Smith, Andersen
Consulting, 416-695-5102; Catherine Perdue, Andersen Consulting,
416-463-5029)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00024)

IBM Offers Handwriting Recognition For OEMs 05/26/93
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- IBM has
announced handwriting recognition software for original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs - companies that will incorporate the
technology into their own products) that company officials said
can recognize cursive handwriting as well as block printing.

The new ThinkWrite Unconstrained is an enhanced version of IBM's
existing ThinkWrite software. The older product only recognizes
block printing. IBM also introduced enhancements to ThinkWrite.

IBM is demonstrating both products at the Spring Comdex show in
Atlanta this week. They are available now to OEMs, said Humberto
Cordero, director of OEM and technology licensing in IBM's
personal systems business unit.

Resulting from several years of IBM research and development,
ThinkWrite Unconstrained handwriting recognition is capable of
handling a mixture of both continuous cursive and block printing
in the same text.

Cordero said the system's accuracy improves as it adapts to a
particular user's handwriting. In time it will reach 95- to
99-percent accuracy, he said, adding that IBM considers this the
best in the industry.

New versions of ThinkWrite will have significantly improved
accuracy through a unique hybrid approach that integrates two
recognition technologies into a single engine, IBM said. The
strategy combines IBM's current shape matching technology
with an emerging neural network technology.

Users can also improve accuracy by limiting the vocabulary to be
used, Cordero said, thus making it easier for the software to
resolve ambiguous translations.

In addition to the PenPoint version currently available,
ThinkWrite will be available this year in versions that run under
OS/2 and Windows for Pen Computing. It is now available in US
and UK English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

IBM has not announced any plans to use the new ThinkWrite
Unconstrained in its own products or to sell it directly to end
users, but "my goal of course is to bring this software out on
IBM products," Cordero said.

(Grant Buckler/19930525/Press Contact: Alan Macher, IBM,
407-443-0010; Amy Arutt, IBM, 914-642-5553; Christine
Bock, GCI Group for IBM, 714-587-6946)


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TOR)(00025)

SoftSearch Will Get You Less Well-Known Software 05/26/93
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, 1993 MAY 26 (NB) --
SoftSearch, a division of Synergy Computer Consulting, that
helps computer users find the software packages they need, has
announced that it will now obtain the software for its customers.

Whatever software a customer wants to buy, company President
Kathy Woolverton said, SoftSearch will obtain it from the
manufacturer. She said the service is mainly intended to help
customers buy less well-known software packages that aren't
easily picked up at the local computer store - the company is
not setting itself up as a reseller for major names like Lotus
and Microsoft.

SoftSearch's existing business is searching for packages that
meet user requirements within its database of more than 60,000
commercial packages for personal computers, minicomputers, and
mainframes.

The company charges $2.90 per title retrieved, with a minimum
charge of $50 per search. Those prices are in Canadian dollars
within Canada, in US dollars anywhere else, Woolverton said.
Customers who buy software after requesting a search will get a
10 percent discount on the price of the software up to the price
of the search, the company said.

SoftSearch also offers in-depth reports on specified software
packages, pulling together published articles and reviews and
demonstration copies where available. A detailed report costs
$125. SoftSearch has offered the search service since October
of 1991, Woolverton said.

(Grant Buckler/19930525/Press Contact: Kathy Woolverton,
SoftSearch, 800-667-6503 or 604-681-0516, fax
604-681-0516; Public Contact: SoftSearch, 800-667-6503)


(NEWS)(TELECOM)(TOR)(00026)

Phone Firms Form Worldwide Alliance 05/26/93
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Six major telephone
companies from around the world have formed WorldPartners, an
alliance aimed at offering consistent communications services to
large worldwide organizations.

AT&T of the United States, Kokusai Denshin Denwa Company Ltd. of
Japan, Singapore Telecom, Korea Telecom, Unitel of Canada, and
Telstra (formerly AOTC) of Australia announced the alliance and
plans for voice and data services.

The alliance plans to offer its first services in North America
and the Asia-Pacific region late this year, said Stephanie
MacKendrick, a spokeswoman for Unitel. It hopes to extend
services to Europe early in 1994.

Initial services will include virtual network services for voice
and data communications, highly reliable private lines for data
and voice, and frame-relay data transmission services, AT&T
officials said.

MacKendrick said the alliance will extend to a larger scale the
kind of seamless services that AT&T and Unitel began offering
through an alliance they formed earlier this year.

Member companies will share technology at least to the extent
necessary to create consistent services throughout the areas
served by the alliance, she added.

The association, based in New York, is open to new members from
around the world. AT&T said it will deploy its own systems to
provide services in Europe until partnerships with carriers in
the region are set up.

AT&T said it plans to add to its existing network management
centers in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands by installing
systems in major European commercial centers to serve
multinational customers.

(Grant Buckler/19930526/Press Contact: Herb Linnen, AT&T,
202-457-3933; Steve Aaronson, AT&T, 201-644-7300;
Mike Granieri, AT&T, 908-221-7611; Stephanie MacKendrick,
Unitel, 416-345-2482)


(NEWS)(IBM)(TOR)(00027)

 ****IBM Out To Raise $3 Billion 05/26/93
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- IBM plans to
raise up to $3 billion on financial markets over the next nine to
12 months, taking advantage of low long-term interest rates.

The company will issue its first preferred stock, worth $750
million, company spokesman Rob Wilson said, and will raise
other funds for general corporate purposes.

The cash will also give IBM some flexibility in case more
employees than expected take advantage of incentives aimed at
cutting the troubled computer giant's payroll, Wilson said.

IBM has set out to reduce its worldwide payroll - currently
about 300,000 - by some 25,000 people this year. Earlier in the
year it announced the first layoffs in its history, but IBM is
still hoping to make substantial parts of the cuts through
voluntary severance packages.

Last year about 40,000 people left IBM as a result of such
incentives.

(Grant Buckler/19930526/Press Contact: Rob Wilson, IBM,
914-765-6565)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(TOR)(00028)

Switzerland's Infologistik Buys Canadian Firm 05/26/93
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Infologistik
Systems Consulting AG, a Zurich-based software company, has
purchased Imara Research of Toronto, maker of Imara
document imaging software. Terms were not disclosed.

The companies said Imara will continue operations as a wholly-
owned subsidiary of Infologistik, and will keep its headquarters,
research, and Canadian sales divisions in Toronto, as well as
US sales offices in Dallas and in Arlington, Virginia.

Officials said a major expansion plan will be announced shortly.
Infologistik operates in six countries and employs about 350
people.

The relationship between the companies dates back to 1991, when
Infologistik GmbH of Munich began development of MacImara, an
Apple Macintosh version of Imara's imaging software.

Officials of the two companies could not be reached for comment
by Newsbytes' deadline.

(Grant Buckler/19930526/Press Contact: Janis Gobins,
Infologistik/Imara, 416-581-1740, fax [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(SFO)(00029)

India Attracts Investment In Hardware Tech Parks 05/26/93
NEW DELHI, INDIA, 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- The Electronic Hardware
Technology Parks (EHTP) have attracted about Rs 8 crore
($28 million) of direct foreign investment in the last six months.

Around 16 companies from the US, UK, Taiwan, and Singapore have
allied with Indian companies to manufacture electronic components,
equipment, computers and peripherals, and build system integration
facilities for exports. According to the Department of Electronics,
these parks are expected to yield net foreign exchange worth
$384.8 million.

The government has so far cleared 45 investment proposals for these
parks in 13 states. These parks have come up in Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Rajashthan, Maharastra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
Haryana, Kerala, Gujarat, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and
Pondicherry.

The facilities offered to foreign investors in these parks include
broad-banding of production, permissible sale in the domestic tariff
area to a maximum of 40 percent of the total production. The specified
products supplied to units set up in these parks will be deemed exports
and therefore will get all concessions applicable to regular exporters.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19930526)


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(SFO)(00030)

India - Westinghouse Radar For Airports 05/26/93
BANGALORE, INDIA, 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Faced with a crisis in air
traffic control, the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation has pushed the
modernization of airports to the top of its priority list.

A few months ago, Raytheon of the US bagged a $106 million order to
provide radars, navigational aids, displays, communications, and air
traffic automation systems for the Delhi and Bombay airports. Now
another American company - Westinghouse Electric - has been chosen
as supplier of radar equipment for air traffic control to the National
Airport Authority of India (NAAI) for other airports. Airports at
Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Guwahati will be the
first ones to have this equipment installed.

A separate pact between Westinghouse and Bharath Electronics will
validate the transfer of technology for manufacturing of the
radar. The first of the four systems is expected to be installed by
year-end and all of them by mid-1994. NAAI's decision to induct
the Mode-S capability, which includes the Airport Surveillance Radar
System (ASSR) and Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR),
will make India the first country outside the US to have such systems.

This is expected to not only considerably enhance air traffic
control but also increase system capability to accommodate
the air traffic growth projected for the next 25 years.

The ASR-MSSR system deal, worth Rs 95 crore (around $31 million),
is expected to help the air traffic controller, controlling traffic
within a radius of 250 nautical miles more efficiently.

Under the present system in India, if a small aircraft is flying
close to a larger one, the two are seen as a single blip on the
monitor. This poses a serious safety hazard. The ASR-9 will show two
aircraft flying close together as two blips. The MSSR supplements
the role of the ASR. It interrogates each aircraft within its range,
gets a response from each plane and processes the response. The
result is related with the primary radar blip and presented to the
ATC, which automatically gets information on the aircraft's
"call-sign" and its altitude.

Another feature of the ASR-9 is its ability to detect aircraft
flying tangentially to the radar which is often the case when
aircraft are in traffic and holding patterns. The ASR-9's moving
target detector processor uses double, zero-Doppler velocity filters
combined with a 500,000 cell fine-grain clutter map to ensure all
aircraft are detected and continuously displayed.

(C.T. Mahabharat/19930526)


(NEWS)(TRENDS)(TYO)(00031)

Japan - Mitsubishi Develops 4-Megabit Flash Memory 05/26/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Mitsubishi Electric claims it
has developed a powerful and efficient 4-megabit flash memory,
that is not only faster, but consumes less electricity. The
company is planning on applying this technology to 16-megabit
flash memory.

Mitsubishi's latest flash memory operates at three-volts,
and reads out data at 50 nanoseconds. This is claimed to be
considerably faster than existing flash memory. Mitsubishi's
flash memory is called DI-NOR-type, which is the original chip
of the firm.

The device takes advantage of two existing types of flash
memories: NAND (Not AND)-type and NOR (Not OR)-type.
NAND-type consumes less electricity but it takes time to read
out data. NOR-type can read out data faster but it consumes
more electricity.

Mitsubishi's DI-NOR-type consumes less electricity and can read
out data quickly. The major reason for the improvements is that
the device uses a tunnel effect to deliver electrons to the cell
when it reads and writes data.

Mitsubishi wants to test this 4-megabit flash memory further in
order to establish a quantity production method. Also, the firm
intends to apply the technology to 16-megabit and 64-megabit
flash memory.

Flash memories can keep data even when switch is turned off. The
device is smaller than that of a DRAM. Also, it can read and write
data, as well as store a large amount of data. As a result, some
analysts expect the technology to replace hard disks in the future.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930524/Press Contact: Mitsubishi
Electric, [phone], Fax, [phone])


(NEWS)(GENERAL)(TYO)(00032)

Japan - Nintendo Becomes Third Largest Business 05/26/93
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- Nintendo has become the third
largest firm in Japan, following Toyota Motor and NTT. The video
game maker is expecting to release 10 types of game software
this fiscal year.

Nintendo released six kinds of game software in fiscal 1992. The
licensees released a total of 349 titles for Nintendo's Famicon and
Super Famicom game machines.

Nintendo is exporting most of its game machines to international
markets. As a result, the firm has been strongly hit by the rapid
appreciation of the Japanese yen.

Nintendo is currently preparing to start a space-satellite-
based game service. The firm has already purchased the space
satellite firm Saint Giga. Through the firm, Nintendo will sell
game software and also will hold a variety of game competitions.

Despite the slump in the Japanese computer industry, Nintendo
gained a 163.8 billion yen profit for fiscal 1992, which ended in
March 1993. Nintendo has passed Matsushita Electric, which
dropped to fourth place.

(Masayuki "Massey" Miyazawa/19930524/Press Contact:
Nintendo, tel [phone], fax [phone])


(NEWS)(BUSINESS)(LAX)(00033)

AST To Buy Tandy's Computer Manufacturing 05/26/93
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- AST says it
will not spend more than $175 million in the purchase of Tandy
Corporation's personal computer (PC) manufacturing operations.
The two companies have announced the deal which will include
all of Tandy's computer manufacturing, including its pen-based
Grid PC operations.

The move is a strategic one, according to AST, calculated to
gain market share. International Data Corporation said in 1992
Tandy/Grid Systems ranked seventh in PC market share in the US
with 3.4 percent while AST ranked eighth with 2.8 percent.

One of Tandy's strengths has been its retail outlets, but
earlier this year the company announced it was splitting the
manufacturing and retail ends of the company. Tandy also
announced the closing of one hundred and ten retail stores or
nearly twenty-five percent of its retail base.

The manufacturing entity, dubbed TE Electronics, united all
twenty-five of Tandy's manufacturing units, including
O-Sullivan Industries, Memtek Products, Grid Systems, and Tandy
Grid Europe. Combined sales of the units were estimated
to be about $1.5 billion for the fiscal year that ended June
30, 1992.

Two manufacturing operations, one in Texas and the other in
Scotland, are involved in the AST purchase. AST said the assets
and liabilities to be purchased are still under negotiation,
although AST company officials were firm about the company's
take over of all of Tandy's manufacturing. The announcement did
specifically say accounts receivable assets were to be excluded.

AST has been a glowing success story in the vicious PC price wars
that have stripped profits from other companies. The company is
doing about $1 billion a quarter in gross revenue and ranked
number 367 on the Fortune Magazine 500 list of America's
largest industrial companies.

The purchase is expected to be finalized in July, pending the
necessary government and stockholder approvals. No details as
to the fate of the Tandy brand computer line or the Grid
computer systems have been announced.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930526/Press Contact: Al Melrose, AST
Research, tel [phone], fax [phone]; Fran McGee,
Tandy, 817-390-3487)


(NEWS)(IBM)(LAX)(00034)

Next Ships Nextstep 3.1, Announces Nextime 05/26/93
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 MAY 26 (NB) -- The
Nextstep 3.1 operating system for the Intel 486 personal
computer (PC) platform began shipment this week. The official
announcement was made at the Nextworld Expo held in San
Francisco.

Next says it already has 25,000 Nextstep 486 units committed.
It also has deals with several hardware manufacturers to bundle
the operating system with PCs and even Hewlett-Packard's Apollo
workstations. Some of the PC vendors include Digital Equipment
Corporation (DEC), Compaq, Epson, and NCR.

The Nextstep operating system is billed by Next as an
environment that speeds development of custom software
applications. Next claims custom applications can be developed
five to 10 times faster than on other operating system
platforms. To encourage firms to consider the development
of client/server applications using Nextstep, the company is
offering a special Evaluation Kit containing both the user and
developer versions of Nextstep 3.1 for Intel processors for
$299.

The Nextstep 3.1 evaluation kit includes: Nextstep 3.1 for
Intel Processors - which includes the Nextstep user version and
documentation; the Nextstep Developer compact disc read-only
memory (CD-ROM), including visual application construction
tools, reusable object kits, and a coupon for fifty percent off
the purchase of full technical documentation; the Nextstep
Advantage Kit which includes a booklet, a video  cassette, and
a diskette with sample software; and "Nextstep Programming," an
application development guide by Garfinkel & Mahoney.

To add video to the Nextstep operating system, Next also
announced it is at work on Nextime - a play on Quicktime, Apple's
name for its set of multimedia extensions for the Macintosh.
Nextime will offer the storage and playback of video and the
ability to incorporate video into multimedia applications, Next
said. No information on when Nextime would be available was
announced.

In addition, the Nextstep operating system is heralded to
support the Kodak Photo compact disc (CD) technology. The Photo
CD allows photographs to be digitized and stored on a CD then
played back on a television screen using a special CD player.
The Nextstep 3.1 release includes Photo Album, which allows
users to view Photo CD images.

While the Nextstep 3.1 operating system will run on Intel 486
and Pentium-based PCs, it does have special video requirements.
It requires 2 megabytes (MB) of video random access memory
(RAM) with RAM digital-to- analog conversion (RAMDAC) support
for 1120 by 832 resolution, according to Nextstep representatives.

(Linda Rohrbough/19930525/Press Contact: Karen Logsdon,
Nextstep, tel [phone], fax [phone])


-click' format," explained Joe Jura,
Fujitsu's storage products manager.

According to Ju