New York - Despite continuing press speculation about talks between AT&T Co. and Apple, sources report that the negotiations have ended, for now, without resolution.
Sources close to both companies characterized reports of possible joint ventures or even an AT&T takeover of Apple as "much ado about little." They acknowledged that the two companies have talked recently about several issues, including a possible merger and pooling of resources for development of personal digital assistants. But they said the negotiations, which they described as simply the latest in a series of talks stretching over at least six years, have ended on most issues. Talks on one topic - a marketing partnership around AT&T's EasyLink network - are slated to resume after Apple completes its current reoganization.
Walter Murphy, director of media relations for AT&T, echoed this sentiment. "This has been kind of blown out of proportion," Murphy said. "Yes, AT&T and Apple executives do talk from time to time, but there is nothing imminent of the kind of deals that have been described in these stories." He refused to comment further. Apple also had no comment.
> Merger. Discussion of a strategic investment in or buyout of Apple by AT&T goes back as far as 1987, according to sources. Apple Chairman John Sculley reportedly raised the question again this year with AT&T's executive staff.
One source close to AT&T said the company "was not panting for this deal" but, as in the past, it listened to what Sculley had to say. Late last month, however, AT&T reportedly decided not to pursue the merger idea.
> PDAs. Other negotiations that have been "put on hold" concerned Apple's Newton PDA and AT&T's Hobbit RISC processor. There was talk of Apple basing future Newtons on the Hobbit because the AT&T chip is faster and better-suited to communications tasks than the ARM RISC chip used in the first Newtons. The Hobbit was originally built for Apple to incorporate in an early version of Newton, but after a falling out between the two companies, Apple passed it over in favor of the ARM processor.
The Hobbit is currently used in the EO Personal Communicators from Mountain View, Calif.-based EO Inc., in which AT&T recently acquired a controlling interest. One scenario AT&T and Apple discussed in the recent talks, according to some sources, involved Apple spinning off its Personal Interactive Electronics division and combining it with EO. Sources close to PIE, however, denied that such a move was ever seriously considered.
> EasyLink. The most ubiquitous and up-to-date computer messaging system in the world, EasyLink is now in the process of being "re-engineered" to support General Magic Inc.'s Telescript communications architecture. Apple has announced that Newton will support Telescript when that technology ships.
The proposed partnership would make EasyLink the default network for PIE devices, sources said. The talks, however, reportedly stalled over financial issues and are not expected to resume until fall.
"In a time when Sculley has apparently talked to IBM about merging the two companies, anything is possible," said Richard Shaffer, principal at Technologic Partners, a New York-based technology consulting company. "Telecommunications markets take decades and hundreds of millions of dollars to establish; Apple doesn't have that kind of money.
"But if Newton comes out and is perceived as just another organizer, it's dead," he said. "So there is a great impetus for Apple to make it very clear that its solution is communications savvy."
MacWEEK 07.05.93
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News: Apple powering up AOCE for Macworld Boston
By Nathalie Welch
San Francisco - The Apple Open Collaboration Environment will be rolled out at next month's Macworld Expo, according to sources. The first two products, client software called PowerTalk and server software called PowerShare, are expected to ship at the expo or soon thereafter.
Available in peer-to-peer and client-server versions, the new communications environment will give client users a new Finder with an integrated mailbox, operating system-level security for electronic mail and access to network directories. Any Mac running System 7.1 or later can run the PowerTalk client.
The PowerShare Collaboration Server will let network administrators "set up very large collaborative systems involving many thousands of users," said Andy Lauta, senior product marketing manager at Apple.
PowerTalk clients are expected to sell for about $50, while PowerShare Collaboration Server software will be less than $400, sources said.
> Client applications. PowerTalk includes AppleMail, which Lauta termed "a lowest-common-denominator letter application," and DigiSign, an application that lets users attach digital signatures to documents. Users will send documents as messages via the AOCE mailer, which can appear in the windows of any PowerTalk-savvy application. The mailer also supports attachments of ordinary Mac documents, which can be launched from inside messages by double-clicking.
DigiSign will let users take advantage of digital signature technology, which prevents forging of documents. Users must obtain a Signer file from RSA Data Security Inc. in order to sign documents.
> Client desktop. Once PowerTalk is installed, three new icons, called Key Chain, Mailbox and Catalogs, appear on the desktop.
Key Chain lets users employ a single log-on procedure for seamless, secure access to all network services and public or private on-line accounts. Users can easily add new accounts to their Key Chain.
Mailbox provides a central repository for all types of correspondence, including E-mail, fax or voice-mail messages sent through third-party gateways and documents sent from PowerTalk-savvy applications.
The Catalogs icon lets users view the contents of catalogs, or directories, of users, devices and other shared resources. Catalogs can be stored locally or on PowerShare servers.
> Client SAMs. PowerTalk will include three service access modules (SAMs), which provide network-driver and gateway capabilities. A dial-up SAM lets stand-alone or remote clients communicate via AppleTalk Remote Access with PowerTalk clients on an AppleTalk network; a peer-to-peer AppleTalk SAM lets PowerTalk clients communicate over a network; another AppleTalk SAM lets clients access PowerShare servers.
> Server software. PowerShare lets administrators set up distributed and synchronized mail servers and catalog servers for PowerTalk clients. Mail and catalog servers can be administered remotely.
PowerShare also supports encrypted network communications. The software can reside on the same Mac as an AppleShare server, but it is not currently compatible with the new Apple Workgroup Server 95, according to Lauta.
PowerShare Collaboration Servers provide store-and-forward functionality, security and authentication to client Macs, and consolidated administration of server-based gateways.
> Third-party products. When PowerTalk ships, at least 30 third-party applications that incorporate Apple's new messaging and security features will be available, sources said.
Third parties have demonstrated messaging SAMs that support faxing and access to CE Software Inc.'s QuickMail and Microsoft Mail. Developers have also shown catalog modules that support access to X.500 directories and authentication services, among other resources.
Developers contacted by MacWEEK said they have not yet received a PowerTalk marketing briefing from Apple, and some said they are worried about support and marketing for their PowerTalk-savvy products.
One developer said that users will not be able to distinguish where PowerTalk features end and third-party PowerTalk-savvy features begin. "If Apple is not going to support it, does that mean we will be getting support calls?"
Lauta predicted that AOCE eventually will win strong support. "I think it's going to be a sleeper, like System 7 file sharing," he said. "When we first talked about that, people were skeptical. Now it's at the top of the list for most network managers."
MacWEEK 07.05.93
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News: Vendors take shine to Amber
WordPerfect, Novell, IBM back OpenDoc
By Raines Cohen and Jon Swartz
New York - An "anyone but Microsoft" alliance emerged last week around Apple's proposed cross-platform standard for compound documents as WordPerfect Corp. and Novell Inc. announced plans to co-develop a Windows version and IBM Corp. and Borland International Inc. added their endorsements.
The technology, which Apple introduced last month under the name Amber, also got a new moniker: OpenDoc.
The standard, due on the Mac late this year, is designed to make it easier for users to create and edit documents that combine a variety of data types, such as text, graphics, and spreadsheet information. Instead of having to switch among applications, OpenDoc users would be able to work on each kind of data within a single document. Rather than rely on massive multipurpose applications, they would be able to link smaller, more-focused "parts editors," or miniapplications, to create customized work environments (see MacWEEK, May 17).
Microsoft Corp.'s OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) 2.0 specification, shipping now for Windows and due in the fall for the Mac, promises similar benefits. But implementing OLE requires developers to accept a standard controlled by the Redmond, Wash., software behemoth, whereas Apple has said it will offer an open specification and source code for its proposed alternative.
> Novell and WordPerfect. At last week's PC Expo here, Salt Lake City-based Novell and WordPerfect, headquartered in Orem, Utah, said they expect to deliver a Windows version of OpenDoc by the second quarter of 1994. Novell executives said OpenDoc is "a key building block" in Novell's new AppWare cross-platform development strategy.
> IBM. Big Blue's Personal Software Products division said it will incorporate OpenDoc into a future release of OS/2, using IBM's System Object Model (SOM) to package and execute parts of a compound document. SOM is an object interface based on the Object Management Group's standard for distributed computing, CORBA (Common Object Resource Broker Architecture). An IBM spokesman added that the OpenDoc architecture is designed to interoperate "with the rich world of Taligent frameworks in the future."
> Borland. The Scotts Valley, Calif., software maker endorsed OpenDoc, calling it "a natural fit" with the company's focus on object technology. Sources said Borland will make its applications into OpenDoc containers and may adapt its development tools to produce OpenDoc part editors.
But analysts said that Apple and its OpenDoc allies may have a tough time convincing other developers to choose OpenDoc over OLE, given Microsoft's tremendous market share in applications, its role as provider of operating systems and the year's head start OLE 2.0 has.
"It's all timing," said Amy Wohl, president of Wohl Associates of Bala Cynwyd, Pa. "OLE 2.0 specs are out, and Microsoft is pushing hard on [developers and users] to adopt it. Are these same people going to wait for OpenDoc? I doubt it."
She also questioned the likelihood of a handful of rival companies managing to co-develop such a complex technology in a relatively short time.
"I have an enormous feeling of deja vu whenever a group of vendors line up for a collaboration," she said. "It's usually a case of 'I commit, I commit,' instead of 'I ship, I ship.' "
MacWEEK 07.05.93
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News: Apple display to handle sound
By Robert Hess and Matthew Rothenberg
Cupertino, Calif. - Apple next month is expected to tighten its hold on the multimedia market with the introduction of the AudioVision 14 Display, a new 14-inch monitor priced at less than $800.
The new device, reportedly slated to make its debut at Boston's Macworld Expo, takes advantage of multimedia features of the upcoming Centris 660av and Quadra 840av, but it is compatible with all modular Macs. The display, code-named Telecaster, integrates a variety of audio and video technologies:
> Video display. Like Apple's Macintosh Color Display, AudioVision uses a Sony Trinitron 14-inch CRT with a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels.
> Audio output. Two stereo speakers are mounted on the front of the unit. Apple has incorporated several sound-enhancement technologies to improve their bass response and make the near-field listening environment appear to be 3-D. Sounds generated by the speakers dissipate rapidly, reducing office noise.
> Audio in. A unidirectional microphone below the monitor is designed to reflect ambient sounds and pick up only the user's voice. It will let users take advantage of Casper, Apple's forthcoming speech-recognition software.
> Controls and interfaces. Front-mounted hardware controls let users switch the speakers and microphone on and off as well as adjust speaker volume and monitor brightness and contrast. On the front and side of the monitor are sound I/O jacks, two Apple Desktop Bus ports and an S-video in port.
> Video in. Telecaster prototypes had a connector at the top for a video camera Apple reportedly has developed, but sources say those plans have been set aside for now.
In an effort to improve ease of use when connecting the AudioVision to a CPU, a single cable between the back of the AudioVision and the CPU replaces five. The cable is compatible with a new interface designed for upcoming Macs, and an adapter will offer backward compatibility with existing CPUs.
The AudioVision 14 Display will ship with software that controls the functions of the monitor's front-panel buttons, allowing telephony products to disable audio from external sources when an incoming call is received, for example. All sound sources can be combined so while a user listens to an audio CD-ROM, alert sounds are mixed into the music. Audio packages may even direct specific frequency ranges to different audio outputs, allowing users to add speakers tailored to certain frequencies such as a subwoofer.
Apple is rumored to have been working on 16- and 21-inch AudioVisions, but recent realignment within the company has reportedly put those projects on hold.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
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News: Apple's Enterprise Division may go under
By MacWEEK staff
Cupertino, Calif. - Apple's Enterprise Systems Division is in choppy seas, sources said, and could go under during the company's current reorganizational storm.
Walking papers have already been issued to top executives in the Enterprise Markets Division, the marketing arm that supports the ESD, and the division will experience further personnel cuts during the upcoming layoffs, sources said. One scenario under consideration has ESD ceasing to exist as a separate division with some products turned over to Mac hardware and software divisions and others assigned to a new, networking and communications group.
The just-introduced Apple Workgroup Server products are not in immediate danger of being killed. But AWS sales so far have been only a small fraction of what ESD had projected. That response has struck fear into division employees, since the group had counted on the new servers to generate the bulk of its revenues.
Other slow-selling products, including router and gateway software, could be eliminated entirely. Products under ESD's wing include the Apple Internet Router, the Data Access Language (DAL), various protocol stacks, MacX.400 and MacX.25 servers, and the SNA*ps Gateways.
Less than three months ago, the general manager of the division, Morris Taradalsky, said ESD, which was formed in spring 1991, would be integral to growing Apple's market share "whether [it] makes a profit or not." But sources close to the company said the financial drain of the start-up division and lackluster AWS sales make ESD a prime candidate for the retrenchment Apple is expected to undergo this month.
Companies that belong to MacIS, an organization of Mac managers whose 400 members represent 450,000 Macs, played a role in Apple's initial decision to form ESD, and it is the ESD-MacIS connection that led to the development of products like the Workgroup Servers.
"It was through our work that Apple really developed the concept," said Bill Monteith, executive director of the Mason, Ohio-based MacIS. "It will be a real shame if the pressures and competitions Apple is under now cause it to restructure. Things have improved at the support level and the product level [since ESD formed] and it would be a big deal to lose that."
MacIS member Mike Deardorff, staff engineer at Union Carbide Corp. in South Charleston, W. Va., echoed Monteith's concern. "For products like DAL we've been asking for Apple to add more manpower. Cuts would be a sign that ESD products are not as important to Apple, which causes us to question 'What's the future viability of some of these products?' "
Apple declined to comment.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
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News: Kits to link Newton to Mac, Windows
By Henry Norr
New York - Even though it hasn't officially announced its first Newton, Apple last week introduced a family of products designed to help Mac and Windows users exchange data between desktop machines and the handheld devices the company hopes users will soon be buying.
Called Newton Connection Kits, the packages were unveiled at last week's PC Expo here. Apple didn't let show goers get their hands on the upcoming personal digital assistants (PDAs), but did demonstrate them, in conjunction with the Connection Kits, in a theater in its show-floor booth.
The Connection Kits will include serial cables for transferring data to and from the PDA plus Mac or Windows software enabling users to view, edit and add to the desktop copy of their Newton data. When the Newton is connected to the desktop system, the software can automatically perform bidirectional updates to ensure that both versions of the database are in sync.
The Mac and Windows applications will follow interface guidelines for their respective platforms, rather than emulating the look of the Newton. But they will offer many of the functions of the PDA. Each version is built around a free-form database. Each will include modules corresponding to the core applications built into the PDA: a Date Book module for calendar items, a Name File for contact information and a Note Pad for free-form text and graphics.
In addition to data, the kits will be able to download new program modules to the Newton, including commercial products from third-party publishers and corporate applications created by in-house developers. While many Newton add-ons, such as reference databases and travel guides, are expected to be offered on PCMCIA cards, items such as specialized recognizers and custom forms for expense tracking or invoicing could be distributed on floppies and then moved to the PDA via the connection kit.
Apple last week identified three developers planning add-on software for the Newton: Pastel Development Corp., based here; Day-Timers Inc. of Allentown, Pa.; and Great Plains Software of Fargo, N.D.
The Connection Kits will even make it possible for users to work on the desktop with data entered on or destined for such add-on software modules. According to James Joaquin, Apple's product-line manager for Newton core software and tools, modules created with the company's Newton Toolkit will include information about how their data should be presented on the desktop. When the Newton and the Mac or Windows system are connected, users opening the Connection Kit software will see a browser listing all applications installed in the PDA; selecting an application will launch the desktop version.
The kits will also function as a backup system for the Newton. It will give users the option of creating multiple Newton files, cutting and pasting subsets of their data for specific projects or regions. The user could then load the appropriate database into the PDA for a particular trip, for example, and leave unneeded data safe on the desktop hard disk.
Apple said it will offer four versions of the Connection Kit: standard and "professional" packages for both Mac and Windows. The pro versions will add translators that enable users to exchange information directly between the Newton database and other desktop programs, including leading word processing, spreadsheet, database, personal information management and graphics applications.
Joaquin said the kits will be available "on or near launch of the Newtons," which other sources said is now slated for Aug. 3 at the Macworld Expo in Boston. Apple did not disclose pricing plans.
Apple said it developed the Windows versions of the Connection Kit in cooperation with Traveling Software Inc. The package includes the Bothell, Wash., developer's Universal Communications Object, an intelligent connectivity technology that can be adapted for any operating system and communications medium.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
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News: HyperCard 2.2 offers scripting choices
Variety of interfaces, runtime builder due
By Raines Cohen
Cupertino, Calif. - The next release of HyperCard is in alpha-testing at Apple, and a release is due this fall, sources said. The upgrade integrates AppleScript with the stack development tool; however, some anticipated features, such as color support, will reportedly be left out.
The new version, tentatively called HyperCard 2.2, was demonstrated last month at the MacHack conference in Ann Arbor, Mich. It uses AppleScript and other scripting systems for application integration. In the MacHack demonstration, for example, HyperCard used a script to launch Microsoft Excel, create a 3-D chart, and copy and paste it back to HyperCard.
The new version features a number of changes, including:
> Script choices. The new HyperCard lets users choose a different scripting language for every stack, card, background, field and button. In place of the built-in HyperTalk compiler, users can turn not only to AppleScript but to any language compliant with Apple's Open Scripting Architecture (OSA).
The prototype showed a list of language choices, including HyperTalk; AppleScript; UserTalk (UserLand Frontier's scripting language, due later this summer in an OSA-compliant component form); an unreleased scripting system that will be part of a future CE Software Inc. QuicKeys release; Apple's Data Access Language; and Prolog.
The program is also expected to work with multiple AppleScript dialects, such as Apple's French, Japanese and C-like syntax dialects.
AppleScript's English dialect bears a strong resemblance to HyperTalk, making it easy for stack developers to adapt their scripts. Some HyperCard properties have been changed to work better with AppleScript. For instance, the new version lets scriptors address button and field objects with the same syntax.
> Interface-creation tools. HyperCard 2.2 makes it easier to develop stacks that look like Mac applications. It supports several new button types, including oval buttons, standard Mac dialog box buttons (with and without an outline marking them as the default selection), radio buttons, list buttons and pop-up menu buttons.
> Runtime builder. The new HyperCard can save stacks as stand-alone applications that run without HyperCard installed; Version 2.1 requires the use of a program, which Claris Corp. sells separately in a licensing kit, to make stacks into stand-alone applications.
> Bug fixes. The new version fixes bugs related to PowerBook modem dialing, visual effects in 32-bit mode and some other minor problems.
Claris reportedly was working on a version with color support before the project moved to Apple, but sources said Apple is concentrating on the AppleScript support for its initial release to satisfy developer demand for a more sophisticated script development tool.
It remains to be seen whether Apple will continue to enhance HyperCard or instead steer potential users to take advantage of the company's forthcoming multimedia development environments: SK8, Kaleida Labs Inc.'s ScriptX and other tools.
Apple declined to comment.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
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News: Neuron Data unveils new development system
By Robert Hess
Palo Alto, Calif. - Neuron Data Inc., best known for its tools for building GUIs and knowledge-base systems, hopes to extend its reach into commercial and corporate cross-platform application generation with a new development system.
The Neuron Data Elements Architecture, which the company announced last week, integrates four aspects of application development: graphical user interface, external data access, rules and objects. All four are based on object-oriented technology and are portable across the 35 hardware platforms Neuron Data supports.
The company this month will release two new products that combine components of the Elements Architecture.
> Open Interface Elements, priced at $4,850, uses Neuron Data's Open Interface, which allows point-and-click design of cross-platform GUIs. In addition, programmers may use the Open Interface scripting language to create easily accessed complex tasks much like programmatic objects and share them with other projects and users.
> C/S Elements, priced at $5,500, gives applications access to flat-file, object-oriented and relational databases. A Data Vu facility incorporates retrieved data into applications as objects independent from their source so they may be manipulated without concern for the manner in which they are stored.
Next month Neuron Data is expected to announce its Smart Elements tool, which offers developers a way to build complex, rules-based client-server applications.
With the Elements Architecture, Neuron Data aims to move into commercial and corporate application development. For example, Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. wrote its ArcView geographic query software with Neuron Data technology, making its software immediately available to Mac, Windows, Open Look and OSF/Motif users.
Neuron Data Inc. is at 156 University Ave., Palo Alto, Calif. 94301. Phone (415) 321-4488; fax (415) 321-3728.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
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News: Novell readies cross-platform tools
AppWare simplifies writing net apps
By Jon Swartz
New York - Novell Inc. last week at PC Expo here unveiled a new network-application development system that could make the Mac a more equal citizen at multiplatform sites.
Called AppWare, the object-oriented system is designed to reduce the difficulty of writing network applications by shielding developers from the complex issues of networking support and by making it possible to write applications for several client operating systems and user interfaces simultaneously. It will initially support development of Windows and Mac clients; it will eventually support OS/2, Windows NT and Unix as well.
AppWare, intended for in-house programmers and systems integrators as well as commercial developers, is based largely on cross-platform technology developed by two companies recently acquired by Novell: Serius Inc. of Salt Lake City and Software Transformations Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.
The product will let users write code in traditional languages, but it will include a development environment called Visual AppBuilder, which makes it possible to create applications by linking prefabricated software modules, and a series of predefined modules called AppWare Loadable Modules (ALMs). Novell promised ALMs covering such functions as telephony, imaging and multimedia. The company will also offer an open specification that allows other companies to create additional ALMs.
A developer version of AppWare is due in October; general release is scheduled for May 1994. The company declined to set specific prices but said it "expects to offer the development tools at low cost"; sources said the package would likely cost less than $100.
A spokesman for Ernst & Young, the Cleveland-based accounting giant, said the technology's loadable modules enabled it to develop a Mac-based custom time-sheet application in just six weeks for $100,000. Ordinarily, such a project would take up to 18 months to complete at a cost of up to $2 million.
"This makes the Mac available to NetWare sites that previously could not justify Mac purchases because they were locked into using DOS. It gives users a lot of flexibility," he said.
Novell Inc. is at 122 East 1700 South, Provo, Utah 84606. Phone (801) 429-7000.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
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News: Beta testing at Mac sites: Beyond bug hunt
Testing gives managers a chance to evaluate needs and influence products.
By Charles Rubin
Any organization that wants to keep up with Mac technology must constantly evaluate new products, and that means beta testing. For corporate and institutional Mac managers, beta testing means more than bug hunting in prerelease versions of products. It also means fine-tuning product features and canvassing the corporate user base to see how new products will play.
What to test?
When besieged with requests to evaluate hardware and software products, an organization's first challenge is to decide which products to test. The answer often depends on the size of the Macintosh support staff.
At KPMG Peat Marwick in Montvale, N.J., the company's audit research and technology group evaluates products and makes strategic technology decisions for the company's 30,000 Mac users. According to Art Serafine, the partner in charge of the group, his 50-person staff gets sneak previews of everything Apple makes, as well as key products from most major Macintosh developers. But such sneak previews don't always lead to a test. He said, "Sometimes we send a product back because it just doesn't suit our business or because we aren't satisfied with the quality." With its huge international user base, however, the company tests dozens of products a year.
At the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., testing is handled by the Office of University Computing. The OUC's 130-member staff evaluates products and handles all the support for the university's computer network and user base.
Macintosh consultant/analyst Michael Miller said: "Vendors come in every month or two to find out which products we're interested in using. We sometimes turn products down, but that doesn't happen very often. With 15,000 Mac, PC and Unix users on campus, someone's going to be interested in virtually any product."
At companies with smaller support staffs, however, testing is scaled back. At Westinghouse's Electronic Systems Group in Baltimore, desktop computer support coordinator Roger Chang and two other support staffers handle technical support for about 1,000 Mac and 3,000 IBM PC and compatible users. Supporting these users is a full-time job, so the corporate strategy is to limit the number of new products tested and to focus on evaluations of released products.
Chang and his staff do comparison tests of products planned for plantwide purchases, such as printers or electronic-mail software, but Westinghouse users also ask for evaluations of specific products. Often, a department wants a new product because a customer has requested that Westinghouse use it. For example, Chang said, "The Mac itself has been requested as the standard system on a project by some of our customers." Other customers have requested specific programs such as MacSchedule from Mainstay for project management.
Testing strategies
No Mac manager wants to unleash into the user base products with potentially disastrous bugs, but end-user feedback is often vital for evaluating new products. The decision about who will test products depends on the type of product and its potential to interfere with productivity.
At KPMG Peat Marwick, Serafine said: "We normally don't test large-volume data-handling or networking applications in the field. For example, we're testing some intelligent search agents that work over a satellite network, and we test those only inside our research group's lab until they're stable."
The lab includes every Macintosh model made since the Plus, including the newest Centris, PowerBook and Quadra models. Different machines run various domestic and international versions of the Macintosh operating system, so the group can test products under any hardware and software configuration in use worldwide at the company.
When the group does conduct a field test within the company, the test is designed to limit potential problems. "We try to keep field tests in a more sterile environment," Serafine said. "If a product is going to involve client data or it might affect the judgment of our field tester in a client situation, we're very cautious about whether it goes out to the field, but if it's just a new release of a word processor, we're taking a very minimal risk."
The company develops a feedback questionnaire that often supplements the developer's own beta-test questionnaire and then monitors testing closely. "We don't just throw a product out there and ask people for feedback if they feel like it," Serafine said. "We ask for reports on specific problems or questions they have."
Beta tests typically don't involve client data, or if they do, testers use backup files and the data never goes outside the firm. "If someone needs to report a bug and they send in a file or printout to us with their report," Serafine said, "we compile the comments and forward them to the software developer without the data."
Testing on the job
At the University of Notre Dame, the beta-testing regimen depends on how close the product is to a final release. Early beta versions of products such as Microsoft Word 5 or Excel 4 are typically tested by Miller and two other Mac consultants. In the final beta phase, the product goes out to about 10 other members of the OUC's staff.
Miller said: "The three of us who do the core testing are 100 percent Mac consultants, so we consider it part of the job to evaluate new software. We try not to let it interfere with our other work, but we use our own production machines for all our beta testing. So when we're crashing every few minutes, it's a problem."
The university is in the process of installing a lab for testing purposes only, but until then, Miller and his co-workers have to accept the consequences of fatal software problems on their own machines. For example, Miller was testing a beta version of AppleScript and spent six hours rebuilding the files on a hard disk that became corrupted.
Naturally, even later-stage beta products can cause problems, so the university minimizes their impact by keeping testing in the OUC family. "We test in the general user base only if it's a very specialized product," Miller said. "If we get in a chemistry program, we'll bring in a few of our power users from that department and ask them to see what it can do."
In general, Miller said: "We field test with an eye to our environment and our needs. We test how it plays on the network, not just across routers but across our fiber backbone. Cross-platform capability is also crucial."
Testing in the field
While most organizations limit testing to a dozen or fewer computer support staffers, KPMG Peat Marwick involves as many as 100 users in a field test. Many testers are members of the company's technology steering committees, made up of representatives from offices in the United States and abroad. When a product has a particular industry focus, the test also involves individual auditors who are working in that industry.
"We also have some super-power users who have an above-average interest in the technology and like to see if they can break it," Serafine said. "We find beta testing a better avenue for that sort of attitude than having them do it on somebody's network." When a product has a particular industry focus, the test also involves individual auditors who are working in that industry.
For example, audit manager Art Velasquez of the Chicago office helped test an in-house enhancement to a Mac database program. Velasquez spent the better part of a day learning the product and then spent about 12 hours of nonbillable time one week using the product and responding to a questionnaire.
Although testing interrupted his regular work schedule, Velasquez wanted to participate. "I'm interested in technology," he said. "And this particular product was in one of my specialized industries, so it was something that could definitely help me."
After hours
One way to control testing with a smaller support staff is to keep it within the support group itself - and to stay away from beta software. At Westinghouse, Chang and his co-workers usually test only released versions of products. "When we're planning to buy 100 or 1,000 units of a product, we want to make sure it's a proven product that can be delivered quickly in quantity," he said.
The type of testing depends on the product and how large a purchase is contemplated. When a product's performance on the plant's network is crucial, the test is done at the plant by Chang, his two co-workers and volunteers from corporate departments. "You can listen to vendor claims and read specifications, but the only real way to tell if something will work for you is to test it in your own environment," Chang said.
Before the plant standardized on Lotus Development Corp.'s cc:Mail for electronic mail, for example, Chang and others made sure it would work on the company's Ethernet network backbone under TCP/IP, as well as on smaller networks running AppleTalk and EtherTalk.
On the other hand, the staff's daily support burden also means that Chang and his two co-workers test many products after hours. Currently, for example, the group is doing performance comparisons on laser printers, and those tests are conducted off-site on weekends. "I have four Macs at home," Chang said. "I set up my own networks and printers and do the tests there."
Positive feedback
While beta testing is mostly a matter of testing performance and reporting on problems, the process also gives corporate users a chance to influence the design of a product. Serafine said his group has lobbied for minor interface changes in software as well as more substantive hardware improvements. "For example, we told Apple that a printer didn't have enough performance or that it was too bulky or weighed too much."
At the University of Notre Dame, Miller said his group has pushed a vendor to add extra import or export filters to improve cross-platform compatibility between Macs, PCs and Unix systems.
So beta testing, while necessary, is more than a necessary evil. While it takes time and resources to keep up with new developments, it also gives companies a chance to influence a product's final design. In companies that conduct field tests among their own users, beta testing gives Mac managers a way to better understand their own users' needs.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
News Page 10
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: Apple layoff toll may reach 3,000
By Lisa Picarille
Cupertino, Calif. - Apple is expected to cut as many as 3,000 jobs - more than 20 percent of its worldwide work force of 14,000 - within the next 10 days.
The restructuring is expected to have sweeping effects on all parts of the company. Apple's Enterprise Systems Division is among those slated to be hardest hit.
Also under fire are all projects within Apple's Advanced Technology Group. ATG product managers are being asked to submit proposals justifying their development efforts. Sources said one project that has already gotten the ax is PenMac, a pen-based PowerBook Duo (see MacWEEK, June 7).
"Future projects have to prove they are viable and can deliver strong returns," said Eugene Glazer, an analyst at the New York investment banking company Dean Witter Reynolds. "Projects that can't will fall by the wayside."
Layoffs are also expected within the $60 million Developer Services Group, which provides technical and marketing support to third-party developers.
Royal Farros, president of T/Maker Co. in Mountain View, Calif., said, "It would hurt if some of those developers services started going away, but the most important thing Apple can do for third parties is to ship a ton of boxes."
The cost-cutting comes on the heels of Apple's announcement last month that it will post lower-than-expected earnings for its third quarter of fiscal 1993 (see MacWEEK, June 21).
Wall Street reacted positively to Apple's impending restructuring.
"Twenty percent layoffs are a tragedy from a human standpoint, but not from a stockholder standpoint," said David Wu, an analyst at S.G. Warburg, a New York investment banking company. Wu said he anticipates Apple's one-time restructuring charge will be about $50 million, which could result in third-quarter earnings of 50 cents per share.
Although Glazer said a restructuring charge of more than $50 million could cause a loss for the third quarter, he remained bullish about long-term effects. "These cuts will help with continued cost savings," Glazer said.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
News Page 98
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Gateways: Apple readies XTI, Streams APIs
APIs to be the standard for PowerPC services
By April Streeter
San Jose, Calif. - Apple is putting the finishing touches on a transport-independent application programming interface that will underlie forthcoming updates to its AppleTalk and TCP/IP protocols.
At last week's Mactivity '93 here, the company provided details on its implementations of X/Open Transport Interface (XTI) and Streams, two AT&T Co.-developed Unix standards Apple has adopted. XTI provides the transport-independent API for applications, while Streams is a method of communications between XTI and lower-level device drivers. The pair will be the APIs for providing native network services in PowerPC environments.
Developers that write to the XTI APIs will be able to make a single version of an application run over a variety of transports, including AppleTalk, TCP/IP and Novell Inc.'s IPX (Internetwork Packet Exchange).
According to Apple, Streams will enable Unix developers to easily port their protocol stacks and device drivers to the Mac environment.
XTI-compliant versions of Apple's own AppleTalk and TCP/IP stack may be in developers' hands as early as next month, Apple said. Users can expect to see XTI, AppleTalk Connection and TCP/IP Connection early next year.
Both stacks have been rewritten in the C++ language, and the AppleTalk version has new options, including the capability to fix node addresses and turn off the Name Binding Protocol.
Applications that use the Macintosh Communications Toolbox for connections will require an XTI-compliant tool that Apple will provide to access AppleTalk and TCP/IP.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
Gateways Page 16
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Gateways: White Pine emulator for mobile users
By Nathalie Welch
San Jose, Calif. - White Pine Software at Mactivity '93 last week tuned up its line of VT300 terminal software for the Mac by adding more than 30 emulation features and making file transfers from the host easier to handle for mobile Mac users.
With Version 1.2 of the Mac300 series, remote users will have an easier time launching applications to open files because of a new ability to specify file types and creators for incoming files. The function can be used when receiving FTP (File Transfer Protocol) files, saving terminal sessions, and doing Kermit, Xmodem and Ymodem file transfers. The software's MacBinary file transfer function is now compatible with System 7.
Mac300 1.2 also offers users improved memory management and error handling and support for color laser printers. Other new features include terminal ID, SIXEL graphics scrolling, a warning bell, a margin bell, key click sounds, cursor mode and conceal answer-back message.
New Command-key equivalents have been added to access active windows, and users can now view up to 132 columns in the Tab setup. New text-selection modes have been added, including a triple-click to select full lines of text and the ability to hold down the Command key while dragging to select columns.
The Mac300 series consists of the $149 Mac320, $249 Mac 330 and $349 Mac340 VT text and graphic emulators, as well as the $99 Mac320 Lite low-cost serial connection. Upgrades are $50 each.
White Pine Software is at 40 Simon St., Suite 201, Nashua, N.H. 03060. Phone (603) 886-9050; fax (603) 886-9051.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
Gateways Page 16
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
GA: QuarkXPress 3.2 gets colors in tune
Update adds EfiColor, supports Apple events
By Neil McManus
Denver - Desktop publishers this week will meet their match when Quark Inc. ships a new version of QuarkXPress that includes built-in color management.
XPress 3.2, available for $895, features:
> EfiColor. Users can proof color on low-end color printers with this color-management system from Electronics for Imaging Inc. of San Bruno, Calif. Packaged as a QuarkXTension, EfiColor also lets users separate continuous-tone color images from within XPress.
> Apple events. With scripting tools such as UserLand Frontier, users can automate repetitive production tasks. For example, a user can write a script that automatically pulls text and graphics from a database and formats the material as a catalog. "Anything you can do with your mouse and fingers in XPress you can automate with Apple events," said Tim Gill, Quark vice president of development.
> Speed increase. According to Quark, XPress 3.2 performs as much as five times faster than its predecessor on certain tasks, such as greeking text and displaying imported Aldus FreeHand graphics.
> Cross-platform compatibility. The new version lets users open and edit documents created in the Windows version of XPress, and vice versa. Version 3.1 could not open Windows XPress documents. Version 3.2 can also save pages in a variety of Encapsulated PostScript formats for Macs and IBM PCs and compatibles.
> Picture controls. Users can suppress the printout of individual pictures or flip the contents of text and picture boxes horizontally or vertically.
> More graphics formats. The new version imports Photo CD images as well as Windows Metafile, PCX and BMP formats.
> Save for Service Bureau. This feature saves the document and all imported graphics files in one folder along with a text file containing information about the document.
Additional new features include a Box Skew command; a built-in Font Creator tool for multiple-master fonts; new Pantone color sets; auto-backup; more blend patterns; vertical character scaling by as much as 400 percent; and the ability to tile document windows, even across multiple monitors.
Diane Burns, president of Tech Arts Inc., a San Francisco design house and service bureau, said the built-in EfiColor XTension included with XPress 3.2 will be helpful to her clients. "I'm for anything that helps people get a better idea of how their colors are going to turn out," she said. "Also, it's nice to be able to make separations directly in [XPress]."
Upgrades are $150 for XPress 3.1 users and $295 for XPress 3.0 users. The Windows version of XPress will be upgraded to Version 3.2 this summer.
Quark Inc. is at 1800 Grant St., Suite 200, Denver, Colo. 80203. Phone (303) 894-8888; fax (303) 894-3399.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
GA Page 22
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
GA: SuperPaint adds QuickTime, scanner support
By Kirsten L. Parkinson
San Diego - Aldus Corp.'s Consumer Division last week shipped SuperPaint 3.5, an upgrade that adds new tools and QuickTime support to the painting and drawing program.
The new version costs $149.95, down from $199 for the previous version.
New features include:
> More tools. The Copy Brush tool lets users select an image and then paint a copy of it. Users can apply a variety of effects to the copied image, including Pencil, Splatter, Sponge and Custom Styles.
With the new Flowers tool, users can create flowers by specifying the number of petals, their width and smoothness, and whether the flower has a center. Other new tools include Variable-size Eraser, Grid, Crop Mark and Magic Marker. The Magic Marker and Variable-size Eraser tools also support pressure-sensitive input.
> QuickTime support. A plug-in module lets users paste QuickTime movie frames and Kodak Photo CD images into SuperPaint.
> Scanner support. Version 3.5 supports the Twain application programming interface standard, allowing users to scan images into SuperPaint from Twain-compatible devices. Earlier SuperPaint versions required special drivers for each scanner.
> System 7 savvy. SuperPaint 3.5 supports publish and subscribe, virtual memory, 32-bit addressing, TrueType, and balloon help.
> ImageWriter color capabilities. Version 3.5 uses dithering to print 24-bit-color images on ImageWriter II models equipped with a color ribbon.
"I use the QuickTime feature a lot," said Julio Rivera, a designer for San Diego-based Jostens Learning Corp. "I can catch a type of movement in a QuickTime frame and then bring it in and trace it to get the style I want. I use it as a reference and then delete it. That way I can get the exact motion that I want, whether it's a guy on a skateboard or a bird flying."
Upgrades from Version 3.0 are $25; users of earlier versions can upgrade for $45. Users who purchased Version 3.0 after Dec. 14, 1992, can upgrade free.
Aldus Corp.'s Consumer Division is at 5120 Shoreham Place, San Diego, Calif. 92122. Phone (619) 558-6000; fax (619) 558-8723.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
GA Page 22
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
BusinessWatch: Oracle's revenues skyrocketing
Database software pumps up profits
By Henry Norr
Redwood Shores, Calif. - Buoyed by the successful launch of its Oracle7 database software, Oracle Corp., based here, last week reported revenues for the fourth quarter of its 1993 fiscal year hit a record $473 million, a 31 percent increase over the same period last year. Net income for the three-month period, which ended May 31, soared 140 percent to $69 million, or 47 cents per share.
For the full fiscal year, revenues climbed 28 percent to $1.5 billion, while net income (before a first-quarter accounting adjustment) grew 130 percent to $142 million, or 97 cents per share.
The quarter saw the release of Oracle7, a well-received upgrade to the company's flagship product for several flavors of Unix, including Apple's A/UX.
"The delivery of Oracle7 has fundamentally changed the database market," said company CEO Lawrence J. Ellison in a statement. "Not only are we winning a high percentage of new competitive bids, we are also displacing our competitors' products in some of their most prestigious customer sites."
Another factor Oracle cited in explaining its quarterly results was the growth of its consulting business. Fourth-quarter service revenues, including support, consulting and education, climbed 41 percent over the same period last year and amounted to 37 percent of total revenues.
On Wall Street Oracle's stock price, which has tripled over the past year, rose $3 to close at $49.25 last Wednesday after the company posted its earnings report. Its total market valuation is now more than $7 billion, making it the world's third-largest software company. Just three years ago, during a period of turmoil and losses at Oracle, its valuation slipped to $700 million.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
BusinessWatch Page 28
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
BusinessWatch: Objective loses a major backer
By Lisa Picarille
Redwood City, Calif. - Less than six months after delivering SpreadBase, a much-hyped data-analysis and modeling tool, Objective Software Inc. is on the verge of closing its doors.
The company's staff has been reduced to a skeleton crew after Objective laid off 20 employees in May and 20 more last month.
"The company is not dead yet," said Richard Melmon, president and CEO. "There is a danger it could die, but it's not dead yet." He said he is seeking new financing for the company.
The cuts came after Objective lost one of its biggest backers. J.H. Whitney & Co., which had pumped more than $3.5 million into the company, decided to discontinue its financing in response to problems with its other investments, sources said.
Objective has received more than $10 million in venture capital from a variety of sources since it was founded in 1988. SpreadBase was originally touted as a spreadsheet killer, but sales of the Mac version, which was released in December, have reportedly numbered only in the hundreds. A Windows version is under development, but the slow sales on the Macintosh have discouraged investors, sources said.
SpreadBase for Mac garnered largely positive reviews, but some users complained that it was too expensive at $695, required too much processing power and memory, had limited data capacity, and shipped with a handful of bugs. Still others said the product was not clearly positioned, and even enthusiasts acknowledged that its category-based modeling techniques are not always easy to grasp for users accustomed to the traditional spreadsheet paradigm.
"It's a concept of the future that might be too far ahead of the marketplace," said Bob Morse, a senior systems analyst with Prudential, an insurance company in Woodland Hills, Calif.
Jeff Leopold, an analyst with Yankee Group, a Boston-based market research company, said Objective's window of opportunity is narrowing. Lotus Development Corp. already offers a competing analysis and modeling application for Windows, Improv, and is expected to deliver a Mac version soon. And Microsoft Corp. and Lotus are incorporating more-sophisticated financial-analysis tools into their mainstream spreadsheet packages.
Others claim a lucrative opportunity still exists. "There is a chance to make a lot of money, but getting there will be slow and painful," said Jeffrey Tarter, editor of the Soft*letter, an industry newsletter in Watertown, Mass. "[Venture capitalists] are willing to fund development forever, but once the product is shipping, they want their return in six months."
Melmon now has to coax more money out of Objective's remaining backers or get new investors. The financing is intended to complete development on SpreadBase for Windows.
"If Objective can restructure and move to a single-product company, it should go with the Windows," Leopold said. "The market is a whole lot bigger, and the Windows version has better performance."
If Objective cannot get financing, it may be forced to sell the product or license the technology.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
BusinessWatch Page 28
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Review: Gold Disk Astounds with multimedia app
Business slide show program adds pizazz to static visuals
By Philip Bishop
....................
Score Card: Astound
Gold Disk Inc.
Version tested: 1.0
List price: $399
Overall value 4
Gold Disk Inc.'s Astound is a new breed of presentation program. It excels at static presentations - offering outlining, slides, overheads and presenter notes - and adds powerful multimedia bells and whistles such as sound, animation, QuickTime and interactivity. Some improvements should be made in color handling, cross-platform support and documentation, and full rotation of text and graphics should be included. The program is generally straightforward to use, however, despite its many modal dialog boxes. Overall, Astound rates as a very good buy.
Performance 4
Features 4
Ease of use 3
Documentation/support 3
System 7 Compatibility: Astound 1.0
Balloon help Yes
TrueType Yes
Publish and subscribe Yes
Apple events Yes
32-bit addressing* Yes
*According to vendor.
....................
Astound from Gold Disk Inc., a newcomer in the presentation field, is the first program to combine the elements found in business presentation programs with the key components of multimedia presentation programs. Like Microsoft PowerPoint, Astound has the capability to create slides, overheads and presenter notes. Like Macromedia Director, it includes support for sound, animation, QuickTime movies and interactivity.
As a static presentation program, the $399 Astound features an outliner, a slide assembly component with drawing tools, a slide sorter and the capability to create handouts. Each slide you create can have a "master" - much like a word processor's style sheets - to speed formatting of text and graphics. Masters, in turn, have place holders that define both the style and placement of particular elements. Astound has place holders for titles, body text, charts, QuickTime movies, pictures and animation elements (called Actors).
Lively templates
Within this framework, Astound comes with 36 templates formatted for particular masters and their place holders. These templates are optimized for a variety of output formats, including 14 designed for 13-inch color monitors and 14 for 35mm transparencies. Two of the more interesting-looking templates feature a stylized map of the world and a marble finish as their backgrounds, but many are unimaginative in appearance.
Where Astound templates come alive is in the built-in effects they contain. For example, some have text that drops onto the screen one letter at a time, while other slides appear to unroll onto the screen. Astound's documentation, however, includes neither thumbnails of the templates nor identification of the effects contained in them, both of which would be useful in locating a template to fit a particular project.
Astound lets you create up to four levels of text on a slide so you can display points of varying importance. You can quickly promote and demote these text levels by clicking on buttons conveniently placed in Astound's Text Ruler. When you double-click on one of these buttons, you call up the Define Text Format dialog box, where you can set text attributes. This dialog box, like most others in Astound, lets you preview an effect before committing to it. We found this an extremely useful feature.
Astound has basic drawing tools, such as line, arc and rectangle, plus a pull-down palette of 16 shapes, such as arrows and stars, which are helpful when designing a presentation.
Drag and drop
Astound scores high marks with its Library function, which lets you save graphics and animations to a library that shows a thumbnail of each item. To use an object, you simply drag it into your presentation. You can also create and save your own libraries. Astound comes with a generous supply of clip art divided into such categories as Animals, Office and Computers. Most of it is of a fairly good quality, but it would be much more useful if you could edit it as in PowerPoint. What's even more annoying is that not only are you unable to rotate it (Astound has no rotation tool), you can't even make clip-art objects face the opposite direction with the program's Flip function.
Astound's 256-color palette quite literally pops up all over the place wherever color is needed. The program can bring a splash of color to a presentation with its multicolor gradients. You can use as many colors as you want in Astound gradients, although three or four seems to be the dividing line between the striking and the garish. We wish that Astound provided as easy-to-choose color schemes at PowerPoint does.
If you have data that you want to display graphically, you can use Astound's built-in charting feature. It's not as sophisticated as a stand-alone program, but with it you can create basic chart types. To create a chart in Astound, you first either double-click on a chart place holder or drag the Create Chart tool to define the size and location of the chart. Either operation will call up a spreadsheetlike grid in which you enter your data. Alternately, you can import data from Microsoft Excel or Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets. With your data in place, you can, with the click of a button, create either a table or a chart. In the Create Chart dialog box you can choose from one of 15 chart types, including column, bar, pie, pictograph and three 3-D charts.
Multimedia splash
You can immediately grasp the power of multimedia when you create your first humble column chart. In a static presentation, the chart just lies there on the slide. In Astound, the columns in a chart can rise up one by one, fly onto the screen and perform other visual tricks. You can also control when the charted data appears so that the presenter can discuss the data as it is displayed (one segment at a time, if you like). And by adding interactive elements to your slide, the presenter can pause a presentation to answer questions.
Adding animation to an Astound chart is not much more complicated than adding any other chart element. From pop-up menus and scrolling lists in a dialog box accessed through the Create Chart dialog box, you can choose when and which chart components will appear, as well as transition effects for the chart's entry and exit. There are 18 transitions to choose from, including Rotate, which is almost a separate module. With it you can determine the center of rotation (you have nine choices); the degree of rotation for x, y and z axes; and other parameters. This level of control is truly astounding.
Another element in Astound that separates the static from the multimedia presentation program is the time line. Every object you place on an Astound slide has its own time line that specifies how long the object stays on the screen. Time lines can be displayed in seconds or as a percentage of the slide's duration. While you can adjust individual time lines, the final work of time coordination is undertaken in the Timeline window. Here you can view and adjust times for all the objects you have created.
Sights and sounds
Astound comes with 16 colorful animations called Actors, which include rotating arrows and a diver performing a belly flop. The animations are fairly simple and the symbolism basic, but they do provide a good introduction to the impact that animation can add to a presentation. We just wish there were more Actors provided with the program. Any animation saved in PICS format can be used in an Astound presentation.
Gold Disk provides two main methods of adding sound to an Astound presentation: importing existing sounds or recording your own to use within the program. Astound supports many sound formats, including snd resources, SoundEdit, SoundEdit Pro, AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format), AIFFc, Amiga IFF, Waveform Audio and Windows WAV. Astound also includes a nifty Sound Editor that lets you record and edit sounds.
Using the built-in microphone on a Quadra 900, we had no trouble recording sound effects or adding narration. For the latter operation, the space bar is used as a toggle switch to turn recording on and off while the slide show runs. Even if you desire none of Astound's other multimedia offerings, adding narration is simple and reasonably quick, and it raises a static presentation to a new level.
Interactivity
Once you've mixed a multimedia brew, Astound lets you add one more level of functionality: interactivity. Astound's interactivity is nowhere near as sophisticated as that permitted with Macromedia Director's Lingo scripting, but it is nowhere near as difficult to use, either. With the program's dozen or so commands, you can, for instance, jump to various points in a slide show or cue a sound effect.
If you already have a presentation created in PowerPoint or Aldus Persuasion, you can convert it to an Astound presentation and then add multimedia elements.
Some fixes needed
Astound is packed with features and is remarkably bug-free for a Version 1.0. But there is work to be done. Color handling needs more options , cross-platform support needs to be improved, clip art should be editable, and full rotation of text and graphics should be supported. Astound's interface needs some attention, too. Principally, some of its many modal dialog boxes should be converted to floating palettes.
Documentation and support
Astound's documentation is generally good, although there are some oversights. As we mentioned earlier, the manual does not display Astound's templates or identify their effects. The documentation also does not adequately explain the process for viewing an Astound presentation on a Microsoft Windows system.
Conclusions
Astound is no PowerPoint or Macromedia Director. And therein lies its genius and usefulness: It has placed a foot in both camps. While other products, such as Macromedia Inc.'s own Action!, have sought to bring to the masses multimedia presentations that are simpler to use than Director and easier to learn, Astound is the first to build a bridge to this brave new world from the land of the static presentation program. It is here, after all, where the vast majority of presentation users reside.
Astound's multimedia aspects seem very capable to us. We believe they are more than adequate for users testing these waters for the first time as well as for regulars.
Astound is almost $100 cheaper than the $495 PowerPoint 3.0 and only $50 more than Persuasion 2.1, which lists for $349. Yet, overall, it offers many more ways to get messages across than either of these programs. We highly recommend it.
Gold Disk Inc. is at P.O. Box 789, Streetsville, Mississauga, Ontario L5M 2C2, Canada. Gold Disk Inc.'s sales department is at 385 Van Ness Ave., Suite 110, Torrance, Calif. 90501. Phone (310) 320-5080; fax (310) 320-0298.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
Reviews Page 37
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Review: AppleShare managers offer network tools
Admin programs ease management
By Todd Coopee
....................
Score Card: Remote AppleShare management tools
Two new products aim to improve upon the native management tools in AppleShare. These products provide remote, multiserver monitoring and management. Both products are extremely useful but not without some restrictions.
> Server Sentry from Sonic Systems Inc. augments many of the features found in AppleShare Admin. It emulates the familiar AppleShare Admin interface for the majority of its control, monitoring and account-administration functions. Log files, reports and graphs provide valuable usage information and allow for comparisons among multiple servers. Server Sentry also supports Apple events, which allows scripting languages such as AppleScript or UserLand Frontier to be used to automate management functions. Despite restrictions also caused by limitations in AppleShare's API, Sentry offers the most features of the two products.
> GraceLAN Server Manager from Technology Works Inc. offers many features not found in AppleShare Admin. Management tools are available in five windows: Servers, Monitor & Control, Users & Groups, Access Privileges, and Alarms. Eight different alarms are available, which can be set to warn you when different problems or events are occurring on the server. Functionality is constrained because of deficiencies in the AppleShare API, but Technology Works plans to remedy these in Version 2.0, which is due in a few weeks.
Server GraceLAN
Sentry Server Manager
Overall value 3 3
Version tested 1.0.1 1.0.3
Price $499* $395**
Performance 3 3
Ease of use 4 4
Features 4 3
Documentation/support 3 4
*Includes Sentry Admin and one Sentry Agent; additional agents, $149; five-server pack, $399.
**Includes Server Manager Console Application and one Server Manager Agent; five-server pack, $695; 10-server pack, $995.
System 7 Compatibility:
Server GraceLAN Server
Sentry 1.0.1 Manager 1.0.3
Balloon help Yes No
TrueType n/a n/a
Publish and subscribe n/a n/a
Apple events Yes No
32-bit addressing* Yes Yes
*According to vendor.
....................
Until now, managing multiple AppleShare file servers made you feel like a night watchman - making the rounds from server to server, checking in, monitoring usage and modifying accounts. Two products are available that promise to save both your shoe leather and your sanity.
Technology Works Inc.'s GraceLAN Server Manager and Sonic Systems Inc.'s Server Sentry offer the capability to manage multiple AppleShare servers simultaneously from a single remote Macintosh.
There is a penalty for this added convenience, however. We found components in both products that were not as well-integrated as we would have liked.
Common ground
Each package consists of two software components, a "console" application running on a network manager's Macintosh and "agents" executing on individual AppleShare servers. Both Server Sentry and Server Manager support all current flavors of AppleShare (3.x, 4.x and Pro), according to the companies.
GraceLAN Server Manager requires the console computer to be a Mac SE or greater (a 68020-based Mac or later is recommended) running System 7. Depending on the number of servers being managed, up to 1 Mbyte of free RAM may be necessary to run the Server Manager application. Server Manager agents, which are system extensions, require 500 Kbytes of free RAM at system start-up.
Similarly, Server Sentry's console machine can be any Mac with at least 2 Mbytes of RAM (although 4 Mbytes is recommended) running System 7. Server Sentry agents are applications that require 600 Kbytes of free RAM and run in the background on each server. The use of applications eliminates any potential conflicts that may occur when a new extension or control panel is added to the System folder.
To assess the effectiveness of GraceLAN Server Manager and Server Sentry, we set up a three-node Ethernet test network. The console machine was a Mac Quadra 950 with 8 Mbytes of RAM running System 7.1. The agents were running on two AppleShare servers, a Mac SE/30 with 5 Mbytes of RAM and a IIci with 5 Mbytes of RAM. Both machines were running System 7.0.1 and AppleShare 3.0.2.
Proxy management
Both Server Manager's and Server Sentry's management tools generally fall into three areas: server control, status and event monitoring, and account administration. For each product, servers with installed agents must first be selected in a dialog box before they can be accessed by the console application.
Once servers have been selected, GraceLAN Server Manager's management functions are available in five windows: Servers, Monitor & Control, Users & Groups, Access Privileges, and Alarms. Three of these windows, Monitor & Control, Users & Groups, and Access Privileges, are password-protected, requiring you to type the server's Admin password to gain access to them.
Unlike Server Manager, Server Sentry uses the familiar AppleShare Admin user interface to provide its management tools. Double-clicking on a server in the Monitored Servers window brings up the User List, Group List and Connected Users windows, which are nearly identical to their AppleShare counterparts. Using these windows, you create, delete and assign users and groups in exactly the same manner as with AppleShare Admin. Mimicking a known interface reduces the learning curve for managers who are making the transition to Server Sentry.
Because Server Sentry uses Apple events for communication, program linking must also be enabled on each server as well as for each administrator account. The use of Apple events means a scripting language such as AppleScript or UserLand Frontier can be used to automate management functions.
Don't be alarmed
Server Manager monitors the operating status of specified servers at 10-second intervals and displays information in the Servers window. Each managed server is represented by a graphical status line. This line contains the Mac type, name and AppleTalk zone of each server as well as its AppleShare operating status and Server Manager alarms status.
Similarly, Server Sentry displays the name, AppleTalk zone, and operating and alarms status of each server in its Monitored Servers window. Unlike Server Manager, Server Sentry's window can be updated at a user-specified interval.
Operating status indicates whether the server is running normally, shut down, in the process of shutting down or starting up, or has been disabled because of an AppleShare error. Server Manager depicts alarm status via eight icons that represent different problems or events occurring on the server. The alarms, which are listed and configurable in the Alarms window, include a warning that free disk space is below a specified percentage, server activity is exceeding set capacity, and users have been logged on and idle for a set number of minutes.
Alternately, Sentry provides six of the eight alarms found in Server Manager, including excessive user activity, low disk space and the existence of an error condition on the server. Sentry does not include alarms that warn that a scheduled backup has not occurred or that an idle user has been logged onto the server past a specified time limit.
Besides letting you set alarm parameters, such as disk-space threshold and idle-time limit before automatic log-off, both products let you select the methods that they use to respond to each event. Notifications can be sent to the console screen, an administrative log file and an alphanumeric pager using Ex Machina Inc.'s Notify! software.
In addition to the operating status line and alarm icons, each package also offers detailed information about an individual server. The information presented is essentially an expanded view of the Connected Users and Volume Info windows in AppleShare Admin. You can view hardware and software configuration information, connected users, and shared volumes along with their disk-space usage for each selected server. One nice addition in Sentry's Connected Users window is that it contains the Mac name (found in the Sharing Setup control panel) for any user logged onto the server as a guest.
Both products provide a graphical look at server history with two bar graphs depicting server activity and connected users. Stored data can be saved and retrieved at sampling intervals ranging from one hour to one month. To help you compare usage information between multiple servers, Server Manager lets you save data from the Monitor & Control window to a tab-delimited text file.
Besides the abundance of available data, several server control options are also available. Server Manager's Monitor & Control window contains buttons that let you start and stop the server, send messages to connected users, set server preferences (such as server name, activity and connection limit, and greeting message), and manually disconnect users.
Server Sentry offers all the control functions found in Server Manager and expands on them slightly. Besides automatically disconnecting idle users and setting server preferences, you can restrict access to individual servers by registered users and guests to certain times of the day or week. Users logged on when a restricted day or time is reached are given a disconnection message. We think this option could be invaluable to sites looking to increase security and control over their servers.
Users & Groups
In addition to their monitoring and control functions, both Server Manager and Server Sentry offer the same account administration functionality found in AppleShare Admin, with one serious drawback. While it is possible to create and edit user accounts and group information, a limitation in AppleShare's application programming interface (API) requires that the AppleShare software be manually restarted for certain changes in the Users & Groups Data File to take effect.
Any administrative action that alters the size of the file, such as creating and deleting users and groups, for example, falls into this category. Modifying user passwords or renaming users and groups - changes that do not alter the size of the Users & Groups Data File - take effect immediately.
When a restart is necessary, both products create a temporary file that replaces the original Users & Groups Data File the next time the AppleShare File Server program has been restarted.
To remind you that a manual restart might be necessary, Server Manager requires that the type of change (immediate or delayed) be selected before giving access to the Users & Groups window.
Server Sentry goes beyond simple reminders and automatically updates the Users & Groups Data File by stopping and restarting the server when changes are pending and no users are connected to the server. For servers with multiple volumes and extended start-up times, such unattended automation could potentially make the server unavailable at a less-than-optimal time.
To get around the restart requirement, both companies recommend several strategies. To add a new user or group without restarting, several dummy users and groups should be created in advance (making certain the Login Enabled option is deselected for each user). Whenever a new user or group is needed, one of the dummy accounts can be edited and assigned the names and options desired, with the changes taking effect immediately.
An existing user account can also be temporarily removed by deselecting its Login Enabled option immediately and deleting the now-unusable account at a more convenient time. No workaround exists for removing a group, however.
Although the above techniques make it possible to circumvent restarting file service for most changes, we believe having to restart at all is a tremendous liability and reduces the utility of both products.
Technology Works plans to directly address the restart conundrum in the next release of GraceLAN Server Manager, scheduled to ship later this summer. Version 2.0 will allow administrators to fully manipulate users and groups without having to restart AppleShare. We looked at a beta release of the new version but were unable to get a shipping version before this review went to press. Not all of the intended enhancements were implemented, but the Users & Groups Data File limitations appeared to be eliminated. Technology Works promises that upgrades to Version 2.0 will be free to registered users.
Sharing information
Server Manager and Server Sentry also set volume sharing and access privileges in the same manner as AppleShare Admin. Sentry's Access Information window provides the capability to share and unshare volumes and folders and allows icons of users and groups from the User List and Group List windows to be dragged to its Owner and User/Group boxes.
Server Sentry also lets you copy users and groups between servers simply by dragging their icons between windows. The AppleShare API does not allow passwords to be copied between User Lists. As a result, the passwords for new users on the destination server are blank, which greatly limits this feature's usefulness.
Server Manager uses a slightly different approach in its Access Privileges window. The Owner and User/Group boxes have been replaced with pull-down menus containing the names of all registered users and groups.
Before you can change volume access privileges with Server Manager, you must mount the selected server's volumes on the desktop before granting access to the Access Privileges window. You have two options: Either mount the volumes manually through the Chooser or create a special fully privileged "superuser" account, which Server Manager will use to mount the volumes automatically. This procedure is a minor inconvenience.
Additional features
Both Server Sentry and Server Manager include a system profile of each server as well as the log files and reports of server activity. Additionally, Sentry can launch and quit programs from within the Access Information window, lock files and folders, and execute the Copy Item function found in AppleShare Admin. Both products stop short of allowing you to copy-protect or set the concurrent usage limit on shared items.
Documentation and support
The documentation for both products is generally satisfactory. Server Manager also provides an on-line user guide, while Server Sentry offers balloon help. Our calls to technical support were answered well.
Conclusions
Both GraceLAN Server Manager and Server Sentry deserve credit for giving AppleShare server managers a much-needed shot in the arm. Each package provides more than enough features and would fit nicely into any administrator's cache.
Nonetheless, they do have their drawbacks, but these are mainly caused by the limitations in AppleShare's API. Apple needs to pay attention to the programming "holes" that these applications have unearthed. At this moment, neither Server Sentry nor Server Manager can completely replace AppleShare Admin.
Overall, we were slightly more impressed with Server Sentry. Its use of AppleShare Admin's user-friendly interface makes it a comfortable and easy-to-use application. We believe that the additional security features, such as time-restricted access, make Server Sentry a slightly better buy. If Technology Works implements the enhancements in Version 2.0 properly, however, Server Manager should gain the competitive edge.
One thing remains clear: Managers who administer multiple AppleShare servers should strongly consider purchasing one of these remote desktop-management products.
Product Info
Sonic Systems Inc.
Server Sentry 1.0.1: $499 (Sentry Admin and one Sentry Agent); additional agents, $149; five-server pack, $399
333 W. El Camino Real, Suite 280, Sunnyvale, Calif. 94087
Phone (408) 736-1900 or (800) 535-0725; fax (408) 736-7228
Technology Works Inc.
GraceLAN Server Manager 1.0.3: $395 (Server Manager Console Application and one Server Manager Agent); five-server pack, $695; 10-server pack, $995
4030 Braker Lane W., Suite 350, Austin, Texas 78759
Phone (512) 794-8533 or (800) 765-0731; fax (512) 794-8520
MacWEEK 07.05.93
Reviews Page 37
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
ProductWatch: Choosing a DBMS: Look past features
Buying a DBMS is a long-term commitment; careful research and planning can head off trouble and save time and money.
By Jonathan A. Oski
Choosing among database-management systems is unlike most other software buying decisions. Feature comparison - a very important criterium when selecting a word processing, graphics or spreadsheet package - is only one of several considerations when selecting a DBMS.
Commitment to a DBMS is long-term. Once you purchase a DBMS and begin developing applications with it, you've set a course that is difficult and expensive to alter.
Before choosing a DBMS, managers must consider several factors, including performance; file structure (relational or flat-file); development environment; cross-platform capabilities; expandability; third-party affinity products; capability to interface with external databases, such as SQL database servers; price; licensing and support options; and the product's long-term viability.
Mac DBMSes differ widely, and one may be more suitable for particular job requirements than another. Although it is difficult to comprehensively list each product's benefits, they all fall into loose categories, and several are well-known for particular features:
> Claris Corp.'s FileMaker Pro is an easy-to-use flat-file database that supports Apple's Data Access Language (DAL).
> ProVUE Development Corp.'s Panorama II is a powerful flat-file database that competes closely with FileMaker Pro.
> Blyth Software Inc.'s Omnis 7 is a cross-platform relational database for Mac and Windows.
> Microsoft Corp.'s FoxBASE is also available for Mac and Windows and offers backward compatibility with a large inventory of dBASE applications.
> ACI US Inc.'s 4th Dimension is a relational system with a powerful procedural programming language. 4D has the largest installed base of any DBMS on the Mac.
> Helix Technologies' Helix Express is relational and uses an icon-based programming language, which, according to Helix, "lets developers design sophisticated applications using a more intuitive approach than traditional syntax-bound languages."
There are also database tools available for third-generation language programmers. Sierra Software Innovations' Inside Out II is a library of relational database routines designed to supplement traditional 3GLs, such as C, C++ and Pascal.
The cross-platform train
Most companies operate on several computer platforms, which dictates the need to develop platform-independent applications. Some managers we questioned said cross-platform compatibility was the driving issue in selecting a DBMS.
"There was simply too much overhead in maintaining separate applications on dual platforms," said Jack Donahue, associate comptroller at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. "We tried using 4D on the Mac and [Microrim Inc.'s] R:Base on the PC but found it unproductive to have to constantly implement [programming] changes on two separate systems." For Donahue's mixed PC-and-Mac environment, Blyth's Omnis 5, and now Omnis 7, offered the right cross-platform solution.
Janet L. Bryant, senior research engineer at Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories of Richland, Wash., said that cross-platform issues also drove Battelle's decision to use Omnis 7. For its application, where Windows clients outnumber Mac clients 3-to-1, Bryant said, "We could not ignore the cost savings of maintaining only one, instead of two, applications."
Beginning with SQL
Client-server computing allows companies to make compromises when cross-platform issues arise. Client-server implementations allow companies to store data on a commonly accessible server and use a client front end developed using a Mac-based DBMS.
According to MIT's Donahue, the first step in its database selection process began years ago when MIT migrated its data to a SQL database. "Moving to a SQL database from a sequential database eliminated the unnecessary data duplication found in sequential files and allowed us to improve our security model for database access," Donahue said.
Client-server and SQL database access factored heavily in Los Angeles-based Cushman Realty's choice of 4D. "Though the decisions to use 4D and Sybase were made separately, the fact that 4D provides the best platform for the client and can connect to Sybase enhanced our decision," said Michele Auerbach, vice president of research, marketing and information services at Cushman. With the help of consultants, Auerbach said, Cushman will roll out a client-server application that uses 4D as a front end and a Sybase back end running on an IBM Corp. RS/6000 at each of its nine offices.
FileMaker Pro 2.0 is not generally considered up to the task of client-server computing. This may change, however, since FileMaker Pro now supports Apple's DAL, a remote data-access tool that allows Macintosh client applications to access data residing on a number of host platforms. "Support for Apple events and DAL may change the way people use FileMaker Pro in the future," said Scott Webber, coordinator of administrative technology at the University of Maryland Health Center in College Park.
Tools for the developers
Surprisingly, performance was rarely mentioned as a key selection criterium by the managers interviewed. Greater emphasis was placed on a product's application development capabilities, especially when a company relied on seasoned in-house programmers.
At Colgate-Palmolive's Technology Center in Piscataway, N.J., where the predominant desktop workstation is a Macintosh, the DBMS' programming environment was a key consideration. "The [DBMS] had to have a good fit with the Macintosh interface," said Jeffrey Loewer, manager of technology information systems. He said he chose 4D based in large part on its programming interface. "The programming environment in [Helix] was too weird for our mainframe and PC programmers to use," he said.
Lawrence Reeve, a software developer at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., agreed that Helix can be difficult for traditional programmers but said it suits some types of users very well. "For visually oriented individuals, the icons in Helix make visualizing the program much easier," he said. "With Helix, it is virtually impossible to make syntactical mistakes and, since [Helix] is so easy to use, prototyping can be done very rapidly."
For many managers, an important consideration is whether a program's development tools let programmers create applications that fully utilize the Mac interface. Prior to selecting 4D, Cushman Realty's Auerbach said the company had made a significant investment in Omnis 5 development. "When we re-evaluated our database selection, we placed a greater emphasis on ease of use for end users and found that our developers were able to deliver a better product using 4D," he said.
MIT's Donahue, on the other hand, has had good experiences with Omnis. "[Omnis] does everything we need it to," he said. "All 50 users of our current application are excited about what we have been able to deliver."
Sometimes, those responsible for database support are not experienced programmers and using fourth-generation languages can be too difficult or time-consuming, making simplicity a key programming environment feature.
University of Maryland Health Center's Webber is responsible for providing the complete spectrum of development and support for more than 100 users. Webber said his users, who are gradually getting used to working with database technology, are comfortable working with lists of information rather than relational data. For this, FileMaker Pro's flat-file capabilities are more than sufficient. "I needed a tool that allows ad hoc, on-the-fly development," he said. "In my [organization], iterative changes to the database applications are a fact of life."
Earlier this year, Webber worked on the Presidential Inauguration Volunteer Committee. He said there were instances when he was under considerable pressure to develop applications quickly. "We had an occasion where an entire application had to be created and the data converted overnight," Webber said. "With FileMaker, I was able to pull it off without any problems. I doubt whether any other tool would allow a nonprogrammer, such as myself, to do something of this magnitude in this short time span."
Don't forget the user
The needs of in-house developers are important in making a DBMS selection because they are responsible for crafting a solution for an organization. Too often, however, users' needs are not fully considered in the buying decision. "The bottom line comes down to the end user's ability to use a product," said Webber. End-user skills vary widely within and among organizations. Webber said he has learned that his end-user community is gradually becoming comfortable with the concepts of electronic storage and manipulation of information.
Webber has found that his users, composed mainly of physicians, must be shown an application relevant to their needs before they can understand and appreciate what a DBMS can offer. "Without really understanding what this technology can offer, it is hard for them to envision how it may be used in their organization," he said.
In industries where end-user data processing is prevalent, database applications are typically developed based on firm specifications. In preparing the specifications, a company must interview various levels of users to ensure that an application will address end-user needs. In Webber's case, where the end users do not have the background to know what they want, creating database applications can be tenuous. For his special requirements, Webber likes FileMaker Pro because it melds well with the iterative process of application development he is forced to undergo.
Playing the field
Another consideration when selecting a DBMS is the availability of programmers familiar with that system who can supplement or replace in-house resources. Although many managers interviewed did not hire consultants, they all agreed it is important to know that additional expertise is available.
"We have been able to handle all our programming with the direction of some outside consultants and our in-house staff so far," said MIT's Donahue. "Of course, it is good to know that there is outside talent available should we need it."
Colgate-Palmolive's Loewer said: "Knowing that there is a good pool of available 4D talent is comforting to us. It was a factor in our decision, but we have not had to use outside consultants yet."
Managers said vendors should be responsible for making sure a programming pool exists for their products. MIT's Donahue said it is unfortunate that Blyth is not as aggressive in marketing its Omnis 7 product as some competitors. "It would be nice if more people knew about [Blyth's] products."
Richard Dewees, an independent database consultant from Philadelphia, said that the issue of available talent depends on the product. Dewees used Helix Express to develop a billing system for a local special-education school. "One of the pluses I found with Helix is that ordinary people can use it," he said. "I was able to learn the product and deliver a solution in just under four weeks. Had I selected 4D, I'd still be learning to use the program."
Licensing and support
Other concerns when making a DBMS buying decision are pricing, licensing and support policies.
"It came to a point when we had to make a decision about whether to go forward with Omnis," said Cushman Realty's Auerbach. "One reason we went with 4D was that we found Blyth's support problematic and its sales people arrogant and unwilling to negotiate."
MIT's Donahue has had good dealings with Blyth. "Blyth has been negotiable in the past and appears to be amenable to open discussion about future products and its licensing policies," he said.
Battelle's Bryant agreed, "We have sent a number of developers out for [Omnis 7] training, and that has gone very well." Bryant said Battelle is quite satisfied with Blyth's technical support, which is accessible via phone, fax or electronic mail. Although the licensing policies were important to Battelle when it made its decision, she said, "the technical issues were most important."
In many cases, vendors will make special offers to capture a customer's business. According to Spike Mylan, an independent database consultant at Joey Software Inc. of Edina, Minn., this practice can backfire. "Special deals make [customers] nervous. They want to be sure that they will get the same deal with the next version." Falling prey to a bait and switch is a common fear among users when they are comparing the implementation costs of various products, Mylan said.
At the University of Maryland, pricing is important because of the school's budget constraints. "Claris offers us very attractive per-client pricing, making FileMaker Pro all the more attractive to us," Webber said.
Making the right decision
The task of selecting a database product is anything but cut and dried. If you are implementing a new database system, you must carefully assess your needs and find a DBMS that fits your goals and will accommodate future growth. If your company has a database system in place, there are many other considerations, such as whether the features of a new proposed system outweigh the time and expense of abandoning your current applications and rewriting them from scratch.
Comparing the leading Macintosh DBMSes is a formidable undertaking. Of the Mac managers interviewed, most relied on published reviews, consultant advice and case studies to help narrow the field of choices.
"Database-product selection often has to be performed on a case-by-case basis," said Christopher Evans, director of software development at Natural Intelligence Inc. of Cambridge, Mass. "Frequently, a product that is right for one application is not the best-suited for another."
As a leading provider of 4D consultation, development and ancillary utilities, Evans finds that many small companies depend on consultants for customized database development. "Our smaller clients get the benefits of our having worked with a variety of large and small organizations," he said. "And we bring this expertise to every new opportunity."
Larger companies tend to use consultants less frequently than smaller companies, often because of staffing differences. "As a research and development organization, Battelle is well-staffed to research, benchmark and test products before we make our buying decisions," said Battelle's Bryant. "[We] occasionally call on consultants to supplement our internal staff capabilities."
MacWEEK 07.05.93
ProductWatch Page 47
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Mac the Knife: The color of Duo 230 upgrades
Parental advisory: WARNING, the following column contains explicit rumors. Parental discretion advised.
It was the talk of the industry last week, if not the talk of the nation. At times it seemed as if we might all be buried in the onslaught of speculation about what was happening at Apple and what it all means to us enthusiastic PowerBook users.
The Knife was able to come up with two items that fit his strict definition of fact, at least of fact as we know it. So far, the plans for a new Duo model featuring an active-matrix color display have not been adversely affected by Apple's new-found cost-cutting mania. Sources in the know are still confident that it will arrive late this year.
These same sources might be pleasantly surprised to learn that Apple is already out beating the corporate bushes and trumpeting the many benefits of this machine. Now that we've all had a chance to evaluate the 180c display, which it will share, we have a clearer (though small) image of the color Duo.
In a move perhaps designed to ensure that corporate sites don't postpone purchases of the existing 230, Apple is promising an upgrade path to the color model. There will also be an upgrade to current Duo Docks to accommodate the slightly thicker color Duo.
Where you least expect it
Last week's announcement that IBM Corp.'s Personal Systems Group will get a new Power Personal Systems Division raised more questions than it answered. This group will be the source of future PowerPC-based systems (or "low-price, high-volume, powerful compact computers," as IBM phrases it). Chief among the questions is what operating system these new machines will run. No doubt they'll work with IBM's own upcoming Workspace OS. But will IBM also be willing and able to coax Apple into granting a license to the Mac OS or at least its Mac Applications Services? If so, we're faced with the possibility of the first viable Mac clone being produced by IBM.
PPC PB Lite
The imminent arrival of the color Duo and IBM's apparent commitment to PowerPC-based computing brings us to the state of Apple's own plans for tether-free RISC computing. Bear in mind that most Apple projects are being re-evaluated. That said, the Knife hears that Apple is mighty taken with the Hewlett-Packard OmniBook and is using it as the inspiration for the first round of PowerPC-based PowerBooks. The design goals are for a machine weighing less than 3.2 pounds and selling for less than $3,000. Early prototypes are using the PowerPC 601 chip, although when production begins sometime late next year, Apple will probably opt for the faster, cheaper and less power-hungry 603. The first 603 silicon is expected later this year, so Apple's schedule seems reasonable.
Playground taunt
If you've read this far you've probably given up hope that the Knife had further reports of just exactly how the Sculley-Spindler affair went down. Wrong. You may have heard Apple was engaging in a little spin control with its story of Sculley's voluntary resignation for the sake of skittish stockholders. If true, it wouldn't be the first time recently that stories have appeared solely for the benefit of investors, would it?
And the Knife observes that although it might be fun to let your inner child release its frustrations by engaging in gratuitous Sculley bashing, there's no real future in it. But if one were willing to blame Sculley for the Keystone Cops aspects of recent Apple goings-on, it would seem to make him eminently compatible with the crowd currently running the executive branch of the federal government.
If Sculley splits after his sabbatical, he could probably earn a case of MacWEEK mugs. To earn singles, hail the Knife at (415) 243-3544, fax (415) 243-3650, Internet (mac_the_knife@macweek.ziff.com), AppleLink (MacWEEK) or CompuServe/ZiffNet/Mac.
MacWEEK 07.05.93
Mac the Knife Page 102
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
