Adobe Systems Inc. is readying an OCR front end to its Acrobat document exchange product to expand its appeal, while rival WordPerfect, the Novell Applications Group, is aiming to broaden distribution of its own portable document technology by bundling its Envoy Viewer with NetWare 4.x.
Until now, Acrobat has focused on the creation and delivery of digital documents, but now the Mountain View, Calif.-based developer wants the product to help convert paper-based documents into digital ones. The OCR front end, code-named Green Giant, will do just that.
"Think of it as a pre-processor to Acrobat," said Chris Hunt, a senior product marketing manager for Adobe. "It's not an OCR product but an OCR engine in the technology."
With Green Giant, which reportedly will ship in January, TIFF documents scanned into the program will retain their formatting and appear on screen exactly as they did in paper form. Once in the system, the digital documents are editable, rather than static bit-mapped images. The scanned files can be saved in a variety of formats, including Revisable Form Text (RFT) and Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). The files can then be exported directly to Acrobat via a menu item within Green Giant.
Industry watchers said streamlining Acrobat's document-conversion process will increase its appeal to corporate users.
"OCR is still only 95 percent accurate," said Bill Caffrey, vice president of Advanced Technology Strategies at the Gartner Group, a market research firm in Stamford, Conn. "A product that recognizes formatting and structure would eliminate those concerns."
But Adobe already has competition in the OCR arena. Caere Corp. of Los Gatos, Calif., has similar capabilities with the TruePage technology incorporated into its best-selling OmniPage for Windows. OmniPage Version 5.01 provides a menu option to export files directly to Acrobat rival Envoy.
OCR leader Caere, which controls 60 percent of the Windows OCR market and 75 percent of the Mac OCR market, is anticipating Adobe's move. Last month Caere acquired competitor Calera Recognition Systems Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., to form a $48.3 million company.
A report called The Digital Document Era Unfolds puts 1993 North American revenues for digital document software, including tools for creation, management and delivery, at $1.93 billion, rising to $2.6 billion by 1998, according to Jennifer Mitchell, principal analyst for the Digital Document Service at Dataquest Inc. of San Jose, Calif.
The delivery component of document software -- Acrobat, Envoy, Farallon Computing Inc.'s Replica and No Hands Software Inc.'s Common Ground -- is increasing at 19 percent annually, Mitchell said.
WordPerfect is trying to cash in on this potential by leveraging the huge installed base of NetWare users from its parent company Novell Inc., of Orem, Utah. The developer plans to announce later this year that the Envoy viewer will be bundled with NetWare 4.x as well as its GroupWise calendaring and scheduling product.
Next month WordPerfect is planning to release an Adobe PDF-to-Envoy converter, according to Bill Bradford, vice president of business development for Tumbleweed Software Corp., the Redwood City, Calif., company co-developing Envoy with WordPerfect.
Jeffrey Tarter, editor of Soft*Letter, a newsletter based in Watertown, Mass., said: "The key to getting people to use your product is getting the viewers into the hands of users."
Green Giant OCR
> Acts as a front end to Acrobat
> Retains format and structure of original scanned-in document
> On-screen documents can be edited
> Green Giant documents directly export to Acrobat
MacWEEK 10.31.94
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(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
News: Mac managers enthused about clones
By Harry LaRacuente and Anita Malnig
Respondents to MacWEEK's latest QuickPoll are looking forward to the first wave of Mac clones, slated for mid-1995. However, most said that clones will supplement, not replace, Apple Mac purchases at their corporate sites.
Nearly all of those polled show awareness of and interest in Apple's plans to license its Mac operating system and other key system components to other manufacturers, and most think third-party Macintoshes can benefit the Mac market. They also expect these clones to cost less than an equivalently equipped Apple Mac and help Apple successfully compete against Windows 95.
Overall, respondents are enthused about the idea of Mac clones. More than nine in 10 agree that these machines will stimulate new purchase opportunities for Mac-based computers (94 percent) and that they will spur new types of third-party products (92 percent). Most respondents (87 percent) expect Mac clones to give them more Macintosh configurations.
Further, they think Mac clones can help expand use of the Mac OS at their workplace (90 percent) while encouraging Macs to compete more successfully with Windows (89 percent). Even among respondents with Windows systems installed, an equal proportion (89 percent) think Mac clones would help Apple's OS to better compete with Windows.
There was strong agreement that Mac clones would keep Apple a major player in computing (86 percent).
Eight in 10 think Mac clones will help reduce prices of Macintosh computers. A majority (66 percent) see Mac clones as a way to avoid delays when ordering Apple Macs.
A clear majority of respondents (68 percent) expect Mac clones to provide the same compatibility with Mac peripherals and other products as Apple Macs. However, most respondents have a wait-and-see attitude on the quality of clones, with only half expecting Mac clones to be as reliable as Apple Macs. Nevertheless, only one in five think Mac clones could lower the quality of Macintosh computers. One in three (36 percent) think Apple Macintosh sales would be unaffected by Mac clones.
Respondents are clearly pleased to hear reports of Mac clones coming from IBM, though they consider the real benefit to be an increase in RISC computing rather than an increase in Apple's market share.
IBM-built Mac clones
Almost all respondents (94 percent) agree that IBM-manufactured Mac clones would stimulate demand for software that will read and write files compatible with different computer platforms. Almost as many (91 percent) see IBM's entry into this market as establishing PowerPC-based RISC machines as a computing standard. Additionally, respondents think this entry could accelerate the availability of native PowerPC software (89 percent).
Three in four respondents think that if IBM builds and sells Macintosh clones, it will raise the clones' credibility. Further, 74 percent think IBM Macs will decrease reliability worries.
Purchase interest
Not only were respondents' reactions to the idea of clones positive, but they said they'll buy the machines. Eight in 10 (78 percent) said they are "very" or "somewhat" likely to consider purchasing the clones when they are available.
Mac clone purchasing would supplement Apple Macintosh models rather than replace them (83 percent). Reasons for this include widespread satisfaction with and loyalty to Apple. Many see Apple as representing the leading edge of technology for the high end. Along similar lines, many said they feel that the user who wants top-of-the-line equipment would want Apple and not the clone.
Three in four respondents (76 percent "very" or "somewhat" interested) are looking to purchase bare-bones Macs that they can reconfigure.
Even more respondents (93 percent) are interested in buying clones with more features than equivalent Apple Mac models. This could reflect the expectations of 80 percent of respondents that clone models will cost about 16 percent less, on average, compared with equivalent Apple Mac models. Very few (4 percent) think Mac clones would be higher-priced.
Respondents were divided on the possible quality of support available from Mac clone manufacturers. The largest proportion (48 percent) expects Mac clone manufacturers to provide a quality of support equal to Apple's. However, a sizable minority of three in 10 doesn't expect this support to be as good.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
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News: Macromedia gets hands on Altsys
Deal worth $69M
By Carolyn Said
Graphics worlds continued to collide last week with Macromedia Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Altsys Corp.
San Francisco-based Macromedia, the leading developer of multimedia authoring software, said the acquisition of Altsys, the developer of FreeHand and Fontographer, would quadruple its customer base to more than 250,000 users.
"This optimizes Macromedia's potential market, opening the door for its products to the traditional graphics and illustration market," said Tim Bajarin, industry analyst at Creative Strategies Inc. of San Jose, Calif.
Macromedia said it will exchange 4.3 million shares of its stock, worth $69 million, for the privately owned Altsys. The company will stay in Richardson, Texas, and become the Digital Arts Group of Macromedia.
"From the user standpoint, it looks as if FreeHand is getting a good home with people who are serious about really going head to head and competing with Adobe," said Jonathan Seybold, publisher of the Seybold Report newsletters in Malibu, Calif.
Altsys co-founders Jim Von Ehr, president and CEO, and Kevin Crowder, vice president of engineering, will be the two largest shareholders in Macromedia and will join the company's board. Von Ehr will be vice president and general manager of the Digital Arts Group, while Crowder will be Macromedia vice president of product integration.
The companies said they began discussing a merger after Altsys reacquired FreeHand marketing rights from Aldus Corp., which was purchased by Adobe Systems Inc. earlier this year.
FreeHand generated $21.7 million in sales for the six months ended July 1, during which FreeHand 4.0 for 680x0-based Macs, Power Macs and Windows shipped. In 1993 its revenues were $24 million.
Observers said they saw some synergy between the illustration package and Macromedia's line of 3-D products. Von Ehr pointed to multimedia users' desire for improved typography as another area for joint development.
Seybold said an added benefit will be found in the convergence of interactive media and print publishing. "There's a missing piece: a page formatter or document creation package. My guess is that Macromedia is going to have to acquire or develop some additional software components," he said.
The combined company will have about 220 employees. Macromedia said it does not expect layoffs and, in fact, may add staff. "There aren't many redundancies between the two companies," said Jim Funk, Macromedia director of corporate development.
Von Ehr said: "Altsys would have had to add a significant amount of infrastructure to market FreeHand. We'll be staffing up the [FreeHand] tech support pretty substantially."
The two companies will begin working together immediately under an operating agreement. The acquisition is expected to be completed in mid-January.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
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News: Tektronix extends color palette
Inkjet, laser printers span business gamut
By David Morgenstern and Matthew Rothenberg
The spectrum of choices in the color-output market is about to get broader. Tektronix Inc. this week will unveil a fast, continuous-tone color laser printer that users can outfit with a copier component. The Wilsonville, Ore.-based company will also address lower-end color users with its first color inkjet device.
The Phaser 540, slated to ship at the end of December for $8,995, will be based on a 600-dpi Matsushita laser engine. It will print close to four CMYK or 14 monochrome letter-size pages per minute.
The Phaser 540 runs on a 33-MHz AMD 29050 RISC chip and will come with 20 Mbytes of RAM, which users will be able to expand to 52 Mbytes via specialized SIMMs. Continuous-tone 600-dpi output will require a 16-Mbyte RAM upgrade priced at $1,200, Tektronix said.
The printer will include Adobe PostScript Level 2 as well as 39 Type 1 fonts. The device will ship with a bidirectional parallel interface; a LocalTalk port will cost $245, an EtherTalk interface will be $595, and TCP/IP support will be available for $295.
It will include a 250-sheet paper tray; users will be able to purchase an additional 500-sheet, dual-tray assembly for $595.
Tektronix also announced a unique feature of the Phaser 540: a color-copier option priced at $1,695. The Phaser CopyStation is based on a 300-dpi TEC CCD (charge-coupled device) color flatbed scanner engine, but it will not function as a stand-alone scanning device, Tektronix said. Instead, the device will include a control panel that will resemble a conventional copier and will allow users to select the number of copies they want.
Through March, Tektronix will offer the Phaser 540 and the Phaser CopyStation together as a $9,995 package.
Tektronix joins a growing list of vendors offering first-generation color electrophotographic output, but the Phaser 540 outperforms current offerings in speed and image quality, industry observers said. QMS Inc.'s $9,999 magicolor Laser Printer and Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Color LaserJet, which costs $8,500 for a Mac configuration, both output color pages at 2 ppm; Xerox Corp.'s $8,495 4900 Color Laser Printer prints 3 ppm in CMYK mode.
"The Phaser 540 is a solid product and makes the color laser market a lot more interesting," said Bill Flynn, industry analyst with BIS Strategic Decisions of Norwell, Mass.
In the inkjet market, Tektronix this week will ship the $1,695 Phaser 140. Based on a 360-dpi Canon inkjet engine, the printer features built-in PostScript Level 2 and runs on a 16-MHz AMD 29005 RISC chip.
The printer comes with 8 Mbytes of RAM and outputs pages up to 8.5 by 11 inches; according to Tektronix, users can print 8.5-by-22-inch pages by increasing memory to the printer's maximum 24 Mbytes.
The Phaser 140 comes with simultaneously active parallel and LocalTalk interfaces; EtherTalk, IPX and TCP/IP interfaces will be offered as options.
Tektronix said it is offering the Phaser 140 as a competitor to HP's $2,479 DeskJet 1200C/PS, a 300-dpi, PostScript Level 2 color inkjet device that prints monochrome text at 600 by 300 dpi.
"[The 140] is a printer for people who need precision color and wish to take advantage of Tektronix's color expertise but can't afford their higher-priced lines," said Charles LeCompte, editor of The Hard Copy Observer in Newton Highlands, Mass. "But it doesn't break any new ground."
Tektronix Inc. of Wilsonville, Ore. can be reached at (503) 682-7377 or (800) 835-6100; fax (503) 682-7450.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
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News: Microsoft maps Project update
By James Staten
Microsoft Corp. is reportedly preparing a major Mac upgrade to its project-management application, adding the usability and interface enhancements found in the latest versions of Word and Excel but leaving out a key feature, e-mail collaboration, found in its Windows sibling.
Microsoft Project 4.0, due in the first quarter of 1995 for 680x0- and PowerPC-based Macs, will have the same interface, file format and most of the same features as the Windows version, which shipped this summer.
Like Microsoft Office, Project 4.0 will have customizable tool bars, tabbed dialog boxes and wizards that assist with formatting documents, preparing charts and printing reports.
In addition to the more traditional Gantt and PERT charts, Project 4.0 will provide a calendar view that lets users track their projects via a more familiar time line. Users will also be able to build cross-tabular views for comparing factors affecting a project, such as cost over time or resource allocation by task.
Resource tracking will reportedly be improved through additional views that allow managers to quickly spot overcommitted staff members and unrealistic deadlines.
A new consolidation capability lets users combine up to 80 predefined projects and view them as one large project.
A drawing layer has been added so users can annotate data with graphics and QuickTime movies.
Cue Cards, a Microsoft feature found in its Windows products, will be featured in Project 4.0 for the Mac. These step-by-step tutorials help users quickly build projects, including creating a list of tasks and preparing a Gantt chart.
The one capability in the Windows version that will not be present on the Mac is e-mail collaboration, sources said. Project 4.0 for Windows provides a variety of custom e-mail forms that assign tasks to project members or request information from the team. These forms integrate with Project 4.0 and can automatically update a file.
Sources said this function requires a MAPI-compliant mail system, such as Microsoft Mail for Windows. Microsoft and Apple signed an agreement in January to create links to let MAPI (Messaging API) programs communicate with Apple's PowerShare mail server, but this agreement has yet to produce the necessary software.
Drag-and-drop editing, a feature present in Word since Version 5.0, will be new to Project 4.0, as will OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) 2.0 support.
According to International Data Corp., a research company in Framingham, Mass., Microsoft Project has close to 40 percent of the Mac project-management market, edging out second-place MacProject Pro from Claris Corp. by less than 3 percent. No other project-management program has more than 15 percent of the market, IDC said.
"Just by being cross-platform, [Microsoft] has a tremendous advantage over all their competitors," said Karen Zevin, an IDC analyst. "Claris hasn't updated MacProject Pro in a while, and it is not clear they will. Their focus seems to be on other areas."
Sources said Project 4.0 is expected to remain priced at $469; upgrades will be $149.
Microsoft declined to comment.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
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News: Apple shipments lead U.S. market
By Jon Swartz
Apple is riding record quarterly sales of $2.49 billion that have landed it in first place among personal computer makers in U.S. unit shipments. It now appears that the only thing that can stop Apple's momentum is Apple.
The company's primary barrier to maintaining rapid growth, analysts said, is building enough Power Macs and PowerBook 500s to meet user demand. "The only question is whether Apple can turn out enough supply," said Eric Lewis, manager of PC hardware research at International Data Corp.'s Mountain View, Calif., office. "If Apple builds them, users will continue to come."
During the past three months, users have bought Macs in droves, according to preliminary figures released by IDC of Framingham, Mass., this month. Apple shipped 640,000 units in the United States during the third quarter of this year, followed by Compaq Computer Corp. with 600,000 and IBM Corp. with 500,000.
On a global scale, Compaq shipped 1.23 million Intel-standard PCs to customers and wholesalers during the quarter, according to IDC. IBM shipped 1.07 million, and Apple 1.05 million.
IBM has routinely led the industry in worldwide sales. Last year, Big Blue sold 4.4 million units, compared to 3.6 million for Apple and 3 million for Compaq. This year, however, Compaq appears likely to capture the No. 1 spot, surpassing IBM for the first time since IBM entered the PC business more than a decade ago. Lewis said IBM missed out on a potential sales boom when it underestimated demand for its ThinkPads and new Aptiva consumer line and did not make enough machines.
Apple faced the same scenario earlier this year with shortages of its popular PowerBook 500 line. However, brisk sales of Power Macs, 630-series models, lower-cost Performas and LC 575 models to the education, home and business markets more than compensated for supply problems.
"We're seeing a significant number of corporate accounts signing on that hadn't bought Macs before," said Jack Rotolo, manager of Apple USA's channels programs. He credited Power Macs for the sales surge.
Indeed, the company scored a big-business coup recently when Eastman Kodak Co. opted to purchase Power Macs to use in its medical imaging division for at least three years, according to sources. The systems would be sold to hospitals for displaying X-rays, CAT scans, magnetic-resonance-imaging scans and ultrasound scans. The decision is expected to result in the sale of tens of thousands of Macs nationwide.
Ann Stephens, president of PC Data Inc. of Reston, Va., said Apple is primed to take advantage of the exploding multimedia business, which means strong sales for the all-important Christmas season.
The Big Three's Q3 U.S., worldwide shipments
Company U.S. Worldwide
Apple 640,000 1,050,000
Compaq Computer Corp. 600,000 1,225,000
IBM Corp. 500,000* 1,070,000
*Estimate. Source: International Data Corp. (October 1994).
MacWEEK 10.31.94
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News: Apple, IBM prepping for Comdex
Windows 95 support key to new standard
By Neal Boudette, PC Week staff
IBM Corp. and Apple are banking on Windows 95 support and a general shift away from pure x86 processors to draw buyers to the common PowerPC platform they expect to release in 1996.
The common platform, which the partners plan to announce next month in Las Vegas at Comdex/Fall '94 , will include hardware enhancements specifically designed to run Windows 95 applications in emulation on PowerPC systems at acceptable speeds, sources close to IBM and Apple said.
As outlined so far, the new platform will reportedly use elements from both IBM's PowerPC Reference Platform (PReP) design and Power Macintosh hardware designs to ensure backward compatibility.
From PReP, the new platform will take low-cost industry-standard components and I/O devices such as a parallel port. Sources said it will also implement the Open Firmware design expected in next year's PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) Power Macs to ensure reliable plug-and-play capabilities.
IBM and Apple have also reportedly agreed on a new ROM design that supports Mac system software or a PC BIOS. The PCI bus, an option in PReP and due to debut in new Power Mac systems coming next spring, will also appear in the common design, the sources said.
Machines based on the common specification are due in late 1996 and are expected to run System 8 of the Mac OS, as well as OS/2 for PowerPC, AIX, Solaris, Windows NT and NetWare, sources said. IBM and Apple are counting on hardware accelerators in the common design to run Microsoft Windows 95 at acceptable performance levels. IBM may also turn to the rumored PowerPC 615 chip, which runs Windows binaries by translating x86 instructions into PowerPC instructions, sources said (see MacWEEK, Feb. 21, Page 3).
"We are taking care of the need to run Windows 95," said one source familiar with the chip.
Both IBM and Apple reportedly believe Intel Corp.'s transition to a new chip architecture -- which it is working on with Hewlett-Packard Co. and should have in place by 1997 -- will create an opening for corporate buyers to switch to the common PowerPC platform.
Given the amount of development work involved, industry analysts said the window of opportunity for establishing PowerPC machines as legitimate alternatives to x86 PCs is already starting to close.
"Apple has to [license Mac technology], and the sooner, the better," said Pieter Hartsook, editor of The Hartsook Letter in Alameda, Calif. "As a proprietary systems vendor, Apple can't sustain a mass market, and they're already losing steam and [software developers]."
MacWEEK 10.31.94
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News: Ziff-Davis Publishing bought
Forstmann Little & Co. last week signed an agreement to purchase Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. for $1.4 billion in cash.
The New York-based investment company said it intends to buy Ziff-Davis' magazine, international media and market research groups as well as Ziff-Davis Interactive but not Ziff-Davis' trade show business, Interchange Network Co. or Information Access Co.
Ziff-Davis' magazine group includes MacWEEK, MacUser and PC Week.
Steve Rattner, general partner of Lazard Freres & Co., which represented the Ziff interests, said, "The [Ziff] family got a fair price for its assets and Forstmann Little gained ownership of a profitable entity with an exciting future."
MacWEEK 10.31.94
News Page 3
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News: SPSS stat package adds new interface
By David Morgenstern
Skipping a generation or two, SPSS Inc. this month announced a major upgrade to the Mac version of its cross-platform statistical package. The $695 package, the first update since 1990, is expected to ship later this fall.
SPSS 6.1, which succeeds Version 4.0, will add a spreadsheet-style interface to the application. It will provide features commonly found in database applications, including pop-up menus and the dynamic reassignment of values. Users will be able to toggle between numerical values and assigned labels.
"You can [now] tell very quickly if things aren't making sense," said beta user Bob Humphrey, owner of TeraComp of Winnetka, Ill., which manages a large medical database. The new interface is "a safety net," he said.
Graphics capabilities will be integrated in the program instead of comprising a separate module. Labels given to data sets will be automatically assigned in charts. The base program will come with more than 50 chart types and will support graphics in common Mac and Windows formats.
The program will offer more than 60 statistical procedures, including summary statistics, means comparisons, associative correlations, distributions and nonparametric testing.
Optional packages will include professional-analysis, table, time-series and survey modules at $395 each; a $495 advanced statistics package; and a $1,295 mapping system.
The base program will cost $395 until Nov. 23 and $495 until Dec. 31. Users can upgrade for $199.
SPSS Inc. of Chicago can be reached at (312) 329-3500 or (800) 543-2185; fax (312) 329-3668.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
News Page 6
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Gateways: ATM cards due from Fore in '95
Unshielded copper to run 155 Mbps
By Stephen Howard
Asynchronous Transfer Mode, the much ballyhooed LAN-WAN protocol, is expected to connect to Macintosh desktops early next year. Fore Systems Inc. last week announced its first network interface cards for personal computers, including NuBus boards for Macs.
The cards, due in the first quarter, will offer theoretical speeds of 100 Mbps and 155 Mbps over fiber-optic cabling and Category 5 unshielded twisted-pair wiring. Fore said it is writing its own Mac driver software to adapt AppleTalk and Mac-generated TCP/IP traffic over Asynchronous Transfer Mode, or ATM, networks.
Pricing for the 13-inch NuBus cards will start at $1,795 for a 100-Mbps multimode fiber card that uses TAXI (Transparent Asynchronous Transmitter/Receiver Interface) signaling or a 155-Mbps card for Category 5 copper. Boards for 155-Mbps SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) signaling will cost $1,995. The company also plans to ship a four-port unshielded twisted-pair module for its ATM switches in the first quarter.
Fore said it is working on PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) cards for delivery after Apple ships Macs with that higher-speed bus. The company is also developing cards for Intel-standard PCs with PCI, MicroChannel and EISA (Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture) buses; all will be available in 155-Mbps unshielded twisted-pair copper and SONET fiber versions, Fore said. The cards are based on 25-MHz Intel i960 RISC processors with 512 Kbytes of RAM and direct memory access.
With beta TCP/IP drivers, Mac NuBus cards are achieving top speeds of 30 Mbps for MacTCP-based applications, according to George Prodan, Fore director of marketing for adapters. The AppleTalk code is in alpha testing, so consistent results are not available. Mac PCI cards should be able to double the NuBus rate easily, he said, and achieve at least 60 to 70 Mbps.
The top real-world speed reached with any ATM PC card is 105 Mbps, which was recorded by a beta test site using an EISA card in a 90-MHz Pentium-based NetWare server with 35 clients, Prodan said.
These cards will put Mac managers on the cutting edge of networking. ATM LANs are fundamentally different from the shared-access networks common today, so an elaborate set of standards for LAN emulation is being developed. Currently at Version 0.4, Fore's ForeThought LAN Emulation software allows existing programs, operating systems and network protocols to function over ATM networks. Fore's software is based on the latest industry specification, and the company said it expects to ship Version 0.4 with the Mac cards next year.
The company is offering its cards and software to several OEM vendors; it said 10 companies are licensing ForeThought and two are going to resell the Macintosh cards.
Fore Systems Inc. of Warrendale, Pa., is at (412) 772-6600; fax (412) 772-6500; info@fore.com.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
Gateways Page 12
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Gateways: Brio trio is query tool sequel
Line aimed at data warehouses
By Stephen Howard
Activity at Brio Technology Inc. will peak in mid-November when the company expects to release a three-member family of SQL query tools for the data-warehousing market.
The upcoming BrioQuery trio will let users build, distribute and employ data models, banded reports and prepared queries, as well as perform ad hoc searches -- all via a profoundly mouse-oriented interface. The new products, which will be available as upgrades to Brio's DataPrism, will ship concurrently for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows, the company said.
The applications will include the features of Brio's $295 DataPivot for rearranging rows and columns of data as well as a report function that will let users rearrange on-screen components on the fly.
A BrioQuery document will be able to store multiple queries, reports and models, and users will be able to open models for different databases at once. An Advisor window will suggest steps in complex processes in all parts of the program. Users will be able to access the model, query and report capabilities via tabs in the BrioQuery window, although each can also be displayed in its own window. The new version will also be able to run queries fully in the background.
BrioQuery Explorer, which will cost $595 per user, is the program in the new line that is closest to the $395 DataPrism. It will permit queries against many SQL databases via Data Access Language, Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), EDA/SQL and SequeLink middleware; the BrioQuery series will also directly support SQL client APIs from Oracle Corp., Sybase Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Red Brick Warehouse.
BrioQuery Designer, priced at $2,495, will let managers create and distribute prepared components, such as data models, which are simplified views of the database and can incorporate limitations on user access; standard queries with controlled access to variables; and banded reports with optional local data. Managers will be able to store data models and queries in the host database and automatically update all users' software upon connection.
The $595 BrioQuery Navigator will be similar to Explorer but will require a prepared data model for forming queries rather than allowing unfiltered access to the SQL host.
Upgrades from DataPrism to Explorer or Navigator will be $199 per user.
The company said it is working on upgrades to current products.
A new DataPivot, due by mid-1995, will allow manipulation of hundreds of thousands of rows of data, Brio said. The company also said it would not release native Power Mac versions of BrioQuery until middleware vendors ship native code.
Brio Technology Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., is at (415) 961-4110; fax (415) 961-4572; sales@brio.com.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
Gateways Page 12
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Mobile: BTI to ship long-lasting Duo battery
MC-T4 may ease NiMH shortage
By James Staten
PowerBook Duo users who have been waiting patiently for the backlog of orders for Apple's Type III nickel-metal-hydride batteries to subside may finally get some relief next month when Battery Technology Inc. ships a higher-capacity battery for these subnotebooks.
Dubbed a Type IV battery by the company, the MC-T4 is similar in design to Apple's Type III power pack but uses larger cells that provide 20 percent more runtime. The battery is slightly larger than Apple's model, protruding about a quarter of an inch beyond the front bevel of the machine. It measures 4 by 3.5 by 0.7 inches and weighs 12 ounces.
BTI said the battery can be recharged inside the PowerBook in about two and a half hours.
Jerry Purdy, editor in chief of the Mobile Letter, a newsletter based in Santa Clara, Calif., said BTI's cell should help alleviate the Duo battery shortage significantly (see MacWEEK, Oct. 10, Page 26). "Most people buying a PowerBook are going to buy one or two extra batteries," he said. "This could also act to accelerate Duo sales, as it takes the excuse of a battery shortage away."
The MC-T4 is expected to be priced at $129.95 and ship in November. The battery will be covered by a six-month warranty.
Battery Technology Inc. of Commerce, Calif., can be reached at (213) 728-7874 or (800) 982-8284; fax (213) 728-7996; battery.tech@applelink.apple.com.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
Mobile Computing Page 16
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Mobile: AOL, Prodigy ship interfaces, tell Web plans
By James Staten
Competition between America Online Inc. and Prodigy Services Co. continued this month as both services shipped new versions of their clients and promised greater access to and presence on the Internet.
> America Online. AOL 2.5.1 shipped last week with a redesigned interface (see MacWEEK, July 25, Page 16), new navigational tools and an enhanced graphics viewer. Service content has been reorganized into 12 departments.
AOL's viewer now simultaneously downloads and displays graphics. The company said it has licensed compression technology from JohnsonGrace that speeds transmission.
Version 2.5.1 also includes TCPack, an extension that lets users connect to the service via the Internet, although the function is not slated to be ready until later this year.
AOL said the new client shipped free to all members.
Along with the new client, several network enhancements were enabled. The Internet Connection area's Usenet reader now lets members reply to the original author of a message and mark messages as read. Previews of an upcoming FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access tool and World-Wide Web browser have been enabled to familiarize users with these services, scheduled for activation this winter.
The Center Stage live conference area gained four auditoriums capable of holding up to 1,000 members each, simultaneously. AOL said it plans to provide support for larger conferences before year-end.
The service also disclosed plans to increase its presence on the Internet by establishing a Web site where users will be able to preview the service and download the client directly.
> Prodigy. A new version of Prodigy's Mac and Windows clients shipped this month. Version 3.1 gives users access to Internet news groups and enables real-time chat among members. Control features designed to deny secondary account holders from accessing premium features such as chat and news groups have also been upgraded.
The Prodigy client can be downloaded free while a user is on-line or ordered from the company for $4.95.
This week Prodigy plans to begin limited testing of its Web page, a new service geared to Internet users.
Prodigy's Web site will be a subscription service that provides content not currently available on the Internet, such as news and sports information. Users will subscribe to specific features of the Web page, priced at about $2 to $3 a month, instead of to the page as a whole. Prodigy also plans to open its Web site to other publishers of commercial content, including companies not present on the Prodigy network.
The Web page is expected to open in mid-November.
America Online Inc. of Vienna, Va., is at (703) 448-8700 or (800) 827-6364; fax (703) 883-1532.
Prodigy Services Co. of White Plains, N.Y., can be reached at (914) 448-8000 or (800) 776-3449.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
Mobile Computing Page 16
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
GA: Agfa poised to enter short-run color market
By David Morgenstern
The short-run color market is gaining a major new player. The Agfa division of Miles Inc. this week will release Chromapress, a $350,000 electrophotographic color digital press system offering double-sided four-color tabloid-size output for up to 5,000 impressions.
Aimed at pre-press operations and service bureaus, the Chromapress system comprises a printing engine, RIP, engine controller, and imposition and print server station.
"There is a definite market for short-run color printing that is more sophisticated than a copier and more flexible and customizable than web or litho[graphic] presses," said L. Mills Davis, director of the HiFi Color Project and president of Davis Inc. of Washington, D.C.
Based on a Xeikon web-feeding engine with two sets of CMYK elements, the system prints 600 dpi to coated and uncoated media with a maximum width of 12.6 inches and variable length. According to Agfa, it has a print speed of up to 35 double-sided letter and 17.5 tabloid-size pages per minute.
The engine controller ships with 288 Mbytes of RAM and a 2-Gbyte hard disk for frame-buffer memory that can be expanded to 12 Gbytes. Print jobs can be held in the buffer, improving the press' productivity.
Pre-press industry analyst Patrice Dunn at Dunn Technology Inc. of Vista, Calif., said that Agfa speeds the system's performance by using a non-Adobe RIP: "It's a hummer of a RIP."
The RIP uses multiple Motorola 68040 processors with both parallel and multithreading architectures. It comes standard with 128 Mbytes of RAM and a 1-Gbyte hard drive. The RIP is based on Agfa's AgfaScript PostScript interpreter and integrates Agfa's FotoTune RGB and CMYK image-processing software.
The RIP integrates a stochastic screening technology that is optimized for the engine's variable dot-size capabilities and provides output with an effective resolution of 2,400 dpi or 175 lines per inch, Agfa said.
Jobs are managed from a 680x0 Mac- or Power Mac-based combination server and workstation, which users buy separately. The ChromaWatch software module provides job queue and color management, proofing, and press database functions. Print commands, Open Prepress Interface image replacement, archiving and remote system diagnostics are handled by ChromaWrite software. Automatic page imposition is provided with On-Press, based on technology from Ultimate Technographics Inc. of Montreal.
The system allows multiple jobs to be continuously printed with an instant job-switching option. With a separate option, operators can output proofs by automatically inserting rasterized pages of a future job without interrupting the current job. Pricing has not been set for these options.
Agfa recently unveiled Personalizer, a $2,500 document customization system used with color copiers for target marketing and direct mail. It said the software will be available for the Chromapress later this year.
Agfa has spent more than a year beta testing the press in Europe. Digital presses "don't necessarily have to have the same quality as web or litho presses. They can build a place in the market with a different value proposition," Davis said. New graphic technologies have always been greeted with skepticism but have opened new and broader markets, he added.
Agfa, a division of Miles Inc., of Ridgefield Park, N.J., is at (800) 227-2780; fax (508) 583-4168.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
GA Page 18
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
GA: Adobe TextureMaker
Program creates multilayered, hi-res backgrounds
By Cate C. Corcoran
Putting a new wrinkle in its product line, Adobe Systems Inc. last week shipped TextureMaker, a $199 application for creating multilayered, high-resolution textures for graphics and multimedia users.
TextureMaker 1.0, available in native Power Macintosh and 680x0-based versions, lets users start with one of more than 100 provided templates and design textures. Users then customize the texture by layering colors, materials, imported PICT files and Adobe Photoshop filters with the original image. A texture can have up to 10 layers. The modified texture can be saved as a template for future designs.
Textures can be rendered in resolutions of up to 32,000 by 32,000 pixels and saved as PICT, TIFF or QuickTime files.
Focused on facilitating natural-looking textures, TextureMaker includes options to let users create and customize images of wood, clouds, liquids, fire and marble. Controls lighten and darken a texture's color set, alter surface roughness, increase bump height, change surface shading, adjust magnification, and change reflectivity attributes.
"TextureMaker allows me to make backgrounds that are more subtle and organic [than other texture programs I've used]," said beta tester Hank Duderstadt, a video specialist and multimedia producer in Oakland, Calif. "It generates textures that are really useful as backgrounds."
Lighting controls include up to four light sources, for which users can specify the placement, intensity and color.
TextureMaker's animation capabilities let users add moving waves or swaying lights to a texture or make one texture evolve into another. Animated textures can be rendered as QuickTime movies.
Adobe Systems Inc.'s Seattle office can be reached at (206) 622-5500 or (800) 628-2320; fax (206) 386-8854.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
GA Page 18
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
BusinessWatch: WordPerfect gains ground on Word
Power Mac programs trip up Microsoft sales
By Mark Hall
Novell Inc.'s WordPerfect division has narrowed the huge gap that once separated WordPerfect from Microsoft Word in the Macintosh market, according to recent reports from the Software Publishers Association and Computer Intelligence/InfoCorp as well as a survey conducted for MacWEEK by market researcher G. Meier Inc.
WordPerfect has lagged behind Word for years, clutching market share numbers in the single digits. But when Apple shipped its first RISC-based Power Macintoshes in March, WordPerfect was the only native word processor available.
According to an SPA report based on vendor-supplied data, in that month alone WordPerfect garnered more than 25 percent of new sales in the word processing market, nearly triple its average share. The Power Mac rollout boosted WordPerfect's hold on the U.S. market to 18.9 percent by the end of May, according to the SPA.
CII's research, which is based on sales in thousands of retail establishments, showed that WordPerfect's sales held flat through the summer against declining volume of Microsoft Office and Word sales in the retail channel, effectively raising WordPerfect's portion of the market to about 17 percent by the end of August.
Research from G. Meier, compiled from the top software sales among selected distributors, mail-order vendors, retail outlets and mass merchants, indicated that, excluding sales of Office, WordPerfect has picked up even more ground, attaining a monthly share of more than 40 percent in September.
While the reports differ in methodology and conclusions about market share, they all point to the expansion of WordPerfect at the expense of Word. This improvement in WordPerfect's market position came while Microsoft readied its native Power Mac applications, which were released in the past few weeks. Despite the release of a native Power Macintosh version, Word sales may not come back so easily, as customers balk at performance and compatibility problems.
"Longtime Word customers are crushed by its performance," said Kimberly Lomastro, a sales representative at Computer Town, an Apple retailer in Salem, N.H. "They're switching back to [Version] 5.1."
Lomastro also said her customers were frustrated because they had expected Word 6 files to be backward-compatible with Word 5, just as Word 5 is backward-compatible with Word 4.
According to Chris LeTocq, a market research consultant for Los Altos, Calif.-based SoftTracks Inc., it is unlikely that large corporations will switch from Word to WordPerfect because of performance issues. "They'll simply wait for Microsoft to fix the problem before upgrading," he said.
But at companies where WordPerfect dominates on DOS or Windows machines, LeTocq said, it's likely to become the cross-platform choice as a word processor.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
BusinessWatch Page 24
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
BusinessWatch: Radius revenue down, losses up
SuperMac buyout cited as reason
By Jon Swartz
Experiencing pains from its buyout of rival SuperMac Technology Inc., Radius Inc. last week posted a hefty loss and lower sales for its fiscal year.
The San Jose, Calif.-based peripherals maker reported sales of $66.9 million in its fourth quarter ended Sept. 30, a decline of 29 percent from $94.3 million in the same quarter a year ago.
Annual sales were $324.8 million, down 4 percent from $337.3 million in its 1993 fiscal year.
The company said it lost $69 million during the previous quarter. That compares with a profit of $2.8 million in the same quarter last year. For the year, Radius lost $77.5 million, compared with a loss of $20.1 million during the previous fiscal year.
Radius officials blamed the fourth-quarter financial shortfall on a one-time charge of $43.4 million for costs associated with the company's merger with SuperMac. In addition, the company took a charge of about $2.7 million for its acquisition of VideoFusion Inc. this fall.
Company officials attributed the drop in quarterly sales to uncertainty in the reseller channel caused by the consolidation of Radius' and SuperMac's sales forces. The merged company recently announced plans to lay off some 325 employees by the end of the year, leaving it with 475.
Radius' chief competitor, RasterOps Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif., is expected to announce its third-quarter results next week.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
BusinessWatch Page 24
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Editorial: File exchange benefits everyone
Too often it's easy to bash Macintosh developers for shortsightedness, arrogance or flawed products, but sometimes companies do something so sensible and smart that you have to commend them.
This is the case with Altsys Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc., which have agreed to let future versions of FreeHand and Illustrator trade files via Portable Document Format (PDF), the format developed by Adobe for its Acrobat file exchange software.
Both companies risk losing some of their market control if users can move files fluidly between the rival illustration packages. But both gain in good will, showing that they care more about serving users than trying to exert a stranglehold over how people use their applications.
The agreement is a more daring leap for Altsys, since it is to Adobe's advantage to promulgate PDF as a standard for file exchange, thus helping to promote Acrobat.
John Monahan, director of the graphics department at The Associated Press in New York, also deserves kudos. Speaking with the authority that comes from representing more than 1,500 user sites, he initiated the idea of interchange between FreeHand and Illustrator and persuaded the companies that it would be in their best interests, as well as in the users'.
Adobe undoubtedly is looking for other opportunities to extend PDF's reach. It shouldn't have to look far from home, as PageMaker seems a natural candidate for document interchange. Convincing Quark Inc. to follow Altsys' adoption of PDF would fit the pattern. In the past, Quark has demonstrated interest in file exchange formats; one for XPress and PageMaker would be a boon to the desktop publishing market.
While several graphics utilities already let users translate files between competing programs, having this capability built into applications is a more transparent and comprehensive approach. Ultimately, users are the beneficiaries of a nonproprietary way to exchange and edit files created in various applications.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
Editorial Page 28
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Second Decade: OpenDoc and ClarisWorks bundle
By Henry Norr
Should Apple bundle ClarisWorks with every new Mac? The popular integrated package is already included with most Performas, some PowerBooks and the Quadra 605 -- why not just make it standard equipment?
The appeal of the idea is obvious. Including ClarisWorks would enhance the Mac's out-of-the-box value: Without spending another penny, confronting more confusing choices and suffering through the tedium of installing applications from floppies, new buyers would get immediate access to a full set of productivity tools. If the deal also included a set of DataViz Inc.'s MacLinkPlus document translators to work with ClarisWorks' XTND technology, it would even smooth the Mac's way into mixed or previously x86-only shops.
And ClarisWorks would make the Mac stand out. Fast, compact and elegant, it puts the ponderous, resource-guzzling Microsoft Works 4.0 and OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) 2.0 to shame.
Besides, comparable software -- usually Microsoft Works, occasionally even Microsoft Office -- now comes with many Windows PCs, and the new Warp version of IBM's OS/2 has its own integrated application built in. Apple would be merely keeping up with the Joneses.
MacWrite/MacPaint revisited
I see only one downside to this plan, but it's a serious one: It might reduce demand for third-party productivity applications, thus pushing more developers to succumb to the already powerful temptation to focus on the huge Windows market. If that happened, Mac users' choices would be further narrowed, and Apple would have an ever more difficult time presenting the Mac as a viable business machine.
A cynic could argue, of course, that there's not much left to lose. Uncertainty about Apple's prospects and Microsoft's domination of the Mac productivity-software market have already driven most potential competitors away; if Mac the Knife has it right, even WordPerfect may soon throw in the towel.
But this is a tragic trend Apple can't afford to give in to. Rather than squeezing out the alternatives -- such as Nisus Software Inc. and Akimbo Systems -- Apple should be doing all it can to help them flourish.
OpenDoc to the rescue?
All things considered, I've finally convinced myself that bundling at this point would be a mistake. But I've got a variation on the idea that I think offers its benefits without its costs.
The plan is to convert ClarisWorks to a suite of OpenDoc parts, then bundle those when OpenDoc becomes a standard part of the Mac operating system (about a year from now). If Apple made this decision and communicated it to third-party developers now, they'd have time (assuming Apple fulfills its promises to provide OpenDoc development tools) to convert their best technologies into parts, which they could market as add-ons: Nisus, for example, could sell its foreign-language support and its powerful search features.
A scheme like that would enrich the standard Mac platform and at the same time provide new opportunities for Mac developers. Along with PowerPC and a rejuvenated Mac OS, it could give Apple some much-needed differentiation from the Wintel platform.
Henry Norr, editor emeritus of MacWEEK, welcomes feedback in the MacWEEK Forum on CompuServe or eWorld or at henry_norr@macweek.ziff.com.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
Second Decade Page 28
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
MacWEEK Insider: Acquisition bait and switches
By Stephan Howard
The game we usually play in these pages is called What, in which we describe new products. This week the name of the game is Why, as we (without self-reference) attempt to divine the reasons certain companies will pay millions to acquire others.
The Why game is easier to play with hindsight. Seven weeks ago a senior executive at a large West Coast bank told me "Microsoft is this close to getting into the banking business, and the banks are scared to death." One month later Microsoft Corp. plunks down $1.5 billion for Intuit Inc., and I have an inside line for the next round of Why.
Intuit, with $220 million in 1993 revenues, has the software and market share to create a new kind of front end to banking services. With the fattest value-added segments of the trillion-dollar banking industry dangling in front of your face, it's not hard to pay more than five times annual revenue for a company.
So what's Cisco's excuse?
Last week Cisco Systems Inc. agreed to pony up more than $200 million for Kalpana Inc., the pioneer of switched Ethernet hubs. Kalpana estimates it will make, at most, $40 million this year. It's true that Kalpana is the current market leader for switched hubs, the products that isolate lengths of Ethernet to increase speed while keeping links among nodes seamless. And it's true these hubs have created a booming market that the Yankee Group predicted will grow from $100 million in sales today to $1 billion in 1997.
But Kalpana is old school. The pioneer is losing market share now and will continue to lose it as switched hubs rapidly become commodities. Cisco is buying the market leader just in time to watch the market be overrun with undistinguished competitors playing mumblety-peg with margins.
Growth covers a multitude of sins, however. Even if it tried, Cisco couldn't shed Kalpana's 40 percent market share fast enough to avoid doubling revenues every year. If Cisco is not selling $200 million in switched hubs annually by 1998, I'd start looking for saboteurs.
But maybe Cisco has a card up its sleeve in this game of Why. I suspect Cisco topped IBM Corp.'s $150 million bid because Kalpana has some switch smarts we haven't seen yet.
Take token-ring switching, for instance. IBM and Kalpana have been working on this for a year, and the market will not become a piranha pond as it has for Ethernet. More speculatively, Kalpana is probably also working on switching for 100-Mbps Fast Ethernet and, of course, Asynchronous Transfer Mode, the Shangri-LAN.
The real Why behind the Kalpana acquisition had better be some hot technology in the back room; otherwise, Cisco is grasping at switching straws.
Speaking of grasping, can someone please explain to me what the hell Macromedia Inc. thinks it's grabbing?
Stephen Howard is a senior news editor at MacWEEK. He welcomes feedback at stephen_howard@macweek.ziff.com.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
MacWEEK Insider Page 3
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
GroupWise 4.1 from WordPerfect, the Novell Applications Group, integrates e-mail, personal and group task management, and scheduling in a single LAN-based application. Formerly called WordPerfect Office, GroupWise offers a breadth of messaging capabilities for workgroups previously available only on midrange or mainframe messaging systems.
Available for $695 for one server and five users, GroupWise supports a wide range of platforms and includes a number of new Mac-specific features, including PowerTalk, AppleScript and native Power Mac support.
The program requires System 7.0.1, but WordPerfect recommends using System 7 Pro or later to take advantage of Macintosh Drag and Drop and PowerTalk capabilities. GroupWise does not offer a Mac-based server; clients can run on 680x0 or Power Macs (a 25-MHz 68030 processor or better is recommended). Four Mbytes of RAM is recommended, and a complete installation consumes 12.5 Mbytes of disk space. GroupWise clients can also be run from a network server if local disk space is an issue, though performance may suffer when you load the application over your network.
Encounter group
GroupWise consists of four basic components: clients, post offices, Message Servers and gateways. Clients can be on Macs, Intel-based PCs running DOS or Windows, and Unix workstations. Post offices are hierarchies of files and indexes on a DOS, OS/2, NetWare or Unix file system that is available to all clients. Message Servers are primarily responsible for routing messages between GroupWise post offices. And gateways allow the interchange of mail with external mail systems such as SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) or Lotus Development Corp.'s cc:Mail.
Though we focused our examination on GroupWise's Mac-specific components, many organizations demand at least Mac and Windows compatibility and, in some cases, need to include DOS workstations, Unix workstations or both. Because GroupWise does not offer a Mac-based server, even Mac-only sites will need to consider a non-Mac platform for their post office. WordPerfect recommends the DOS-based post office for smaller organizations or workgroups, noting that the other options provide more scalability and can accommodate many more mailboxes on a single server.
Installation
Installing both the post office server and Mac clients is fairly straightforward and smooth, once you figure out what you're doing; the manual gives neither a clear overview of the process nor an explanation of GroupWise's components. Those unfamiliar with PC LAN jargon, such as "domains," may be confused by the terms used to explain the post office installation.
GroupWise works well with existing network directory services you may have. The documentation clearly describes how to import IDs from Novell's NetWare, Microsoft Corp.'s LAN Manager, IBM Corp.'s LAN Server, Banyan Systems Inc.'s StreetTalk, an ASCII file or WordPerfect Office Notebook. We tested this feature with StreetTalk and were impressed by how easy it was to synchronize the two directories.
Client features
GroupWise offers a collection of client features that easily matches the combined capabilities of any leading e-mail and group scheduling package. In addition to e-mail, you can use GroupWise to manage your personal schedule, perform workgroup scheduling and resource management, delegate tasks, route messages, and send time-sensitive reminders and phone messages.
When you launch the GroupWise client, the Main window appears, which contains icons for all of GroupWise's main functions, including an in box, out box, calendar and scheduler. We were pleasantly surprised with GroupWise's client interface on the Mac. It has the look and feel of an honest Mac application, rather than a quick and dirty Windows port. Operations such as creating mail, scheduling meetings and assigning tasks are intuitive and easy. You can customize the interface by adding icons to the GroupWise shelf that can perform operations such as opening another application or viewing and sorting a list of unopened mail in your in box.
Other customization options abound. You can grant proxy rights to some or all of your GroupWise information to let another user access your messages, task list or calendar. Proxy rights can be read-only, partial or full. The latter would let someone create, edit and delete any of your GroupWise information -- probably a bit extreme. However, it can be very useful to give someone partial access to your mailbox or calendar when you are unavailable.
Another good feature is the capability to create rules for automatically handling messages, appointments and other GroupWise information. For example, you could create a rule that would automatically file all incoming mail from your manager into a specific folder. You could also have old messages archived on a periodic basis to conserve space in your mailbox.
With GroupWise's AppleScript support you can integrate messaging capabilities into any other application that supports AppleScript. For example, you could add messaging to a customized vertical database application, or generate reports or transfer files automatically from a Finder-based script.
GroupWise administration cannot be performed from a Mac; it requires a DOS or OS/2 workstation that can access the domain and post office files.
Performance
Because GroupWise is a file-based messaging system, performance depends somewhat on the speed of the post office server's file system. NetWare is optimized for high-performance file services, so it is probably one of the better-suited platforms for a post office. In our tests, the post office was located on a Banyan Vines file server; we found local performance to be quite adequate. When connected remotely via an Apple Remote Access server, however, performance was abysmal: Scheduling a simple meeting with several participants took close to 15 minutes.
Documentation and support
GroupWise comes with a suite of documentation for clients and administrators. Clients can use the easy-to-follow user's manual or the alphabetically arranged reference manual. The former is more appropriate for first-time users because it provides a function context for each of GroupWise's many features. On-line help is also available.
Administrators unfamiliar with GroupWise may be challenged during their initial installation because of the lack of a clear, concise overview. The administrator manuals, which are specific to the post office platform's operating system, are well-written and easy to follow once you figure out the installation sequence and the relationship of the various elements.
Technical support for GroupWise was often hard to reach but friendly and helpful once we got through.
Conclusions
We were impressed with GroupWise: In one integrated system it provides a collection of functions that are unavailable in any other single mail or scheduling product for the Mac. We particularly appreciate the well-done user interface and the fact that WordPerfect did not strictly port this application from a Windows environment.
One of the challenges we see for this product is whether organizations will be willing to scrap an existing mail system, such as CE Software Inc.'s QuickMail, to take advantage of GroupWise's integrated functionality. But GroupWise's robust features, coupled with the flexibility and scalability it offers for selecting a client, server and network operating system environment, make it a serious challenger to the established competition.
WordPerfect, the Novell Applications Group, of Orem, Utah, can be reached at (801) 225-5000; fax (801) 228-5077.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
Reviews Page 33
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Review: Apple PhotoFlash 2.0
Upgrade integrates browser and editor, speeds image editing
By Ben Long
PhotoFlash 2.0 is Apple's first major upgrade to its low-end image-editing program. Aimed primarily at business users, PhotoFlash lets you easily capture an image; clean it up; and place it in a word processing, page-layout or database application.
True to its intent, PhotoFlash 1.0 did a capable job of providing impressive imaging power in a simple-to-use package. Version 2 builds on that power with a number of improvements, native Power Mac speed, and extensive support for Macintosh Drag and Drop. It also boasts a price of $129, down from $279.
PhotoFlash requires at least 8 Mbytes of RAM, but we recommend at least 16, particularly if you're running System 7.5. For image editing, a partition of at least 10 Mbytes will save considerable time because the program won't have to rely as much on its built-in virtual memory.
One-stop editing
While PhotoFlash 1 was divided into two applications -- one for browsing catalogs of scanned images and another for editing individual images -- Version 2 has integrated these two features into a single application. In addition, you can now create and open multiple catalogs at the same time, making it easy to organize projects or sets of images into different catalogs. These changes have made working in PhotoFlash feel more streamlined.
You begin work in PhotoFlash by creating a catalog of images. PhotoFlash works with all major image file formats and can scan images if your scanner has an Adobe Photoshop-compatible Acquire filter. Extensive support for Apple's QuickTake camera is provided through a set of AppleScript scripts.
To create a catalog, you simply drag and drop a file, folder or entire volume of images onto the PhotoFlash icon. This will launch the program, create a new catalog and add each image in the selection to the catalog. You can also drag and drop images from one catalog to another. Cataloging is fairly speedy, but if you have a lot of images (600 or more), you'll probably want to leave PhotoFlash running overnight.
You can add images to an existing catalog by dragging their icons into the catalog from the Finder or by using the Add to Catalog command in the File menu.
In search of ...
When you open a catalog, a thumbnail of each image appears in the Catalog window. In addition, each image's name, file type and size is stored in a Finder-like Get Info box. You can enter text comments for each image in the box's Caption field.
As in Version 1, you select an image by clicking on its thumbnail. You can now also select multiple images by holding down the Shift key and clicking on additional images. Unfortunately, this feature still isn't quite right: It's not possible to hold down the Shift key and drag over multiple images to select them.
In addition to searching for images by file name or caption text, PhotoFlash has been augmented with two new search methods. Search for Similar lets you look for images that resemble a particular image. Although it may not always find the exact image you're looking for, it does a good job of narrowing a huge database of images down to a few images of similar color and composition. In the same vein is the Search Using Sketch feature, which lets you create a small "fat bits" sketch and then search for images that are similar to your sketch in composition and color.
All of PhotoFlash's search capabilities can work on multiple catalogs, making it possible to browse and search several catalogs of images at once. Found images can be either placed in a new catalog or selected and highlighted within the catalog in which they are located.
Image editing
PhotoFlash 2's image-editing features and interface are mostly unchanged. The program still offers good, simple controls for removing scratches and dust; adjusting contrast and brightness; and rotating, cropping, blurring and sharpening images.
In addition, the program now includes color-adjustment controls that give you individual control over the red, green and blue levels of your image. Although good for simple tasks, these controls operate uniformly over the entire image. There is no control over adjusting colors within a particular color range (such as shadows, midtones and highlights).
PhotoFlash's editing tools can handle most basic editing tasks and are easy enough for anyone to use. However, the program still needs a Smudge or Paintbrush tool for retouching areas that the application's automatic dust and scratch removal tools might miss.
PhotoFlash provides extensive AppleScript support and includes an impressive number of prebuilt scripts. Anything that can be done in PhotoFlash is scriptable, so it's easy to create scripts that, for example, automatically resize, sharpen and perform color adjustments to an image.
You create scripts using the Script palette, which includes controls very similar to Apple's standard Script Editor application. Although PhotoFlash provides enough support for sophisticated scriptors, its scripting interface is also quite easy for novices to use.
You can process any open document through a script by selecting the appropriate script from the Script menu. You can also process multiple documents by clicking on their icons within a catalog and then selecting the desired scripts.
PhotoFlash includes scripts that will automatically place an image in a document in QuarkXPress 3.2, Aldus PageMaker 5.0, Microsoft Word 6.0 and Claris Corp.'s FileMaker Pro 2.1. These scripts make it possible to acquire an image from a scanner, clean it up in PhotoFlash and then automatically place it in a specific frame of a particular document.
Documentation
PhotoFlash's ease of use makes reading the manual optional. If you do peruse the getting-started and user guides, you'll find them fine, although a bit lacking in visual style. The tutorial in particular is very good at guiding new users through the program's basic operations.
Conclusions
With PhotoFlash 2, Apple has succeeded in offering users an easy way to edit images and integrate them into layout and word processing documents. A number of new features, including support for multiple catalogs, address some of the limitations we found in Version 1, but the program could still use a few small enhancements -- in particular, some painting tools.
While it's great for novices, Photoshop users might also want to consider PhotoFlash as a quick way to automate simple tasks such as resizing, changing resolution, applying filters or converting file formats. And no matter what your level of expertise, at $129, PhotoFlash is a bargain.
Apple can be reached at (800) 769-2775, Ext. 5929.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
Reviews Page 33
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Review: Arrange 2.0
Common Knowledge PIM adds forms editor, better calendaring
By Ross Scott Rubin
When Common Knowledge Inc.'s Arrange joined the furious personal information manager race late last year, it delivered a flexible way to organize diverse data. While the advanced organization and linking exacted a heavy RAM and hard disk toll, the obstacle for many users centered on the product's weak calendaring and printing.
Arrange 2.0 addresses these deficiencies and adds a potent forms-creation capability to assuage the inconvenience of its sometimes daunting outline interface. Several minor interface enhancements, native Power Macintosh speed (through a fat binary installation) and a new plug-in architecture provide even more enticements to buy the $349 program.
A flexible face
Arrange's interface remains largely intact from Version 1.0. A collapsible table of contents contains topics, which are outlines of notes. Arrange supplies you with several types of notes, such as memos, people and appointments; you can also create your own. Unlike a normal outline, though, Arrange's notes contain database fields; you can combine different note types in the same topic. Note fields can be as common as workaday categories, such as addresses and ZIP codes, or custom-made creations, such as the Latin names for birds. Arrange can even add or remove note fields on the fly. This can, however, cause complications when moving data to other products and platforms.
A shelf in the main window's lower left corner stores different note types by default but can contain virtually any object you select in Arrange. Like the lists of note types, fields and forms that Arrange maintains, the shelf would be more convenient as a floating palette. The mass of data you can accumulate in an Arrange document demands better organizational controls for this handy tool, although Version 2 supports topic-specific note types that go a long way toward reducing clutter.
Arrange 2 extends its array of data-entry tricks with an autocompletion plug-in that finishes typing values and a new check-box field type. Probably the only input tricks remaining are name and phone parsers, which Common Knowledge says can be addressed through other plug-ins. While Arrange's links aren't as quick or automatic as those in Claris Corp.'s Organizer, you can now link to multiple notes with a single link and include linked notes as criteria for filtered and sorted views.
Form factor
It's easy to develop a love-hate relationship with Arrange's summary lines, the single line that shows information about a note so you don't have to open it. While summary lines let you see vital information at a glance, Arrange's lack of calculation and concatenation tools limits their flexibility.
Fortunately, Arrange 2 has added extensive support for forms that can supplant the summary line. Its wealth of form creation tools allow you to move and resize fields, add MacDraw-type objects, and align and distribute fields and labels. You can even set custom tab orders. We have two quibbles with the forms feature: It operates within its own modal window and its tools pop-up is not reflected in the Tools menu in the menu bar. Forms also aid Arrange 2's much-improved printing facilities. Arrange ships with templates for envelopes, labels and popular organizer formats, but you can use forms to create your own.
It's about time
One of Arrange's biggest weaknesses was its calendaring. With Arrange 2, Common Knowledge has artfully handled the difficult task of adapting list-based data to a calendar format.
Any topic in Arrange can be made into a calendar, but most users will probably use the default Schedule topic, which takes advantage of Arrange's linking capabilities. Arrange 2 also lets you assign different behaviors to each note type on a calendar. Unfortunately, the upgrade's flexible forms are not accessible in Calendar view; notes in the calendar are limited to their single, nonwrapping summary. However, alarms now alert you to coming events even if Arrange is not open, and the calendar handles repeating, carried-over and untimed events.
Arrange 2's last major feature is a new plug-in architecture. In addition to the text entry plug-in, Common Knowledge includes plug-ins to dial the phone and select subnotes in a topic outline. The company seems serious about this new direction; it has a developer-support person on staff to encourage developers to take advantage of the new architecture.
Performance
While the 680x0 version now requires 3 Mbytes of RAM, Arrange 2 is a surprisingly agile giant, responsive even on 68030-based machines. Searching and sorting on a Power Mac falls just short of far less flexible products such as Organizer and Now Software Inc.'s Now Contact; Arrange's opening and saving speed, however, could be improved.
We experienced system crashes with PowerTalk under System 7.5. The company plans to fix this soon.
Documentation and support
Common Knowledge has revamped Arrange's previously troubled tutorial and includes a handy addendum for boning up on Version 2's new features. The program's comprehensive on-line help is backed up by prompt technical support in CompuServe's Mac Applications forum, and the company's toll-free telephone support continues to be superb.
Share the wealth
Now boasting a smoother inter-face and competitive calendaring, Arrange 2's last major vice is selfishness. It can perform many internal tricks with its data and excels at pilfering snippets from other applications through its Grabber extension. Yet its flexible export could be supplemented by many data exchange tools, including XTND, PowerTalk, multi-user support, Macintosh Drag and Drop, a systemwide access menu, and, most importantly, scripting.
Scripting would allow sophisticated users to make Arrange's data management more proactive by complementing its filters with rules. It would also help fill Arrange's few feature holes by letting users take fluid advantage of other products, such as Chena Software Inc.'s InfoDepot, which could create Gantt charts from its data, or Microsoft Excel, which could concatenate its address fields for more professional output.
Conclusions
Arrange 2 is a rich and polished toolbox for gathering, customizing, filtering and linking data. Forms and summary-line improvements help you deal with the complexity of using notes with many fields, but Arrange's nested, expandable notes carry a learning curve for the uninitiated. Still, current users will be delighted with the improvements. Indeed, the product now competes more with the likes of Claris' FileMaker Pro than with Organizer.
Arrange's open architecture may help win the hearts and hard drives of PIM users who hold a particular idiosyncrasy dear. The real hook, though, is the promise of integration. While Arrange's import facilities remain among the best we've seen, its live data exchange must evolve further to appeal beyond a core of information junkies.
Arrange 2 has extended a bridge for users pigeonholed by prefabricated organizers. As it comes to share more of its wealth, it may become a compelling bridge to cross.
Common Knowledge Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., can be reached at (415) 325-9900; fax (415) 325-9600; arrange@netcom.com.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
Reviews Page 33
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Review: ScanPrepPro 1.2.6
Smart plug-in scans and prepares images for print
By Bruce Fraser
ScanPrepPro from ImageXpress Inc. is one example of how artificial intelligence can substitute for the real thing. The $695 plug-in is accurately billed as a "smart agent, image-processing autopilot for Adobe Photoshop."
ScanPrepPro automates the process of scanning images and line art. You can also use it to prepare images for printed output from a variety of devices, including desktop printers and several types of presses. ScanPrepPro is compatible with the Power Macintosh and works with Photoshop 2.5.1 and 3.0.
Unlike Ofoto from Light Source Computer Images Inc., ScanPrepPro doesn't address the problems of color matching between various devices, but it will work in harmony with any color-management or color-calibration solution. ScanPrepPro simply does the best possible job of driving your scanner to capture the best tonal range. It also pushes Photoshop to prepare the captured data for specific output methods, using a technology similar to DayStar Digital Inc.'s PhotoMatic but with the additional pre-press knowledge of publisher Herb Paynter and contributor Professor Miles Southworth of the Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology's School of Printing Management and Sciences. And ScanPrepPro is blazingly fast: It will drive Photoshop as fast as your machine can run it.
Installation is manual but straightforward: You copy the plug-in to Photoshop's Plug-ins folder and drag the ScanPrepPro Preferences folder to the Preferences folder in the System folder. Some of the supported scanners require extra files, but the information is easily found in the accompanying read-me file. The clear and comprehensive documentation is supplied on disk in Adobe Acrobat format.
To use ScanPrepPro, choose ScanPrep Calculator from Photoshop's Acquire menu and enter the desired input and output conditions into the dialog box. For input, choose the type of scanner and the kind of original -- black-and-white or color photograph, transparency, line art, or Photo CD. Then set options for dealing with overly light or dark images; soft, blurry or grainy originals; or even previously screened art.
For output, choose the type of output you want -- gray-scale, halftone, RGB file, line art or separations -- and the type of output device for which the file is destined. ScanPrepPro has settings for sheet-fed, heat-set web and newspaper web presses; coated, uncoated or newsprint stock; and a variety of desktop printers, including laser, thermal-wax, color laser and dye-sublimation printers and film recorders. Set the input and output sizes, and click OK. ScanPrepPro will take over.
ScanPrepPro supports a good selection of the most commonly used scanners. If ScanPrepPro can drive your scanner directly, it will launch the scanner plug-in, make all the necessary settings and perform a prescan. You can then adjust the cropping and initiate the full scan.
Indirect support
If your scanner isn't supported directly, you can choose a generic scanner setting from several resolutions of flatbed scanner or a transparency scanner. ScanPrepPro will then give you the correct resolution and gamma settings, plus the height, width and scaling percentage, to use manually. You can also use ScanPrepPro on an existing scanned image: Choose to import the image size specifications from the image, then proceed as if you had just performed a scan.
Once you've scanned, you invoke ScanPrepPro from an Agent menu added to Photoshop's menu bar. ScanPrepPro does a lot more than just load custom separation tables. It creates custom ink and separation setups, copies the image, and converts it to CMYK. Then it applies level tweaks, setting the target black and white colors as well as the target levels. It then resizes the image to the minimum size necessary for good reproduction, sharpens it based on the desired output size and sets the screening parameters before presenting you with the Save dialog. (You can set it to use the printer's default screening, which you may want to do if you're sending data to an imagesetter with proprietary high-quality screening algorithms.)
CopyDot hits the spot
For line art, ScanPrepPro performs the seemingly magical task of generating crisp 1,200-dpi line art from even a 300-dpi scanner. You can do this using Photoshop if you know how, but it's more than a little difficult. It's much easier with ScanPrepPro, which automates the process.
Even more remarkable is the CopyDot option for scanning previously screened material. To get CopyDot to work, you have to build a pin-register system for the scanner. You can follow the documentation's detailed instructions for doing this (you'll need about $25 worth of materials), or you can order one from ImageXpress for $295. When used correctly, the results of the CopyDot process are little short of astonishing -- moire is absent and type remains sharp.
You can batch-process multiple images as long as they're all destined for the same output process, and you can exercise a limited amount of override on ScanPrepPro's defaults for resolution, midtone adjustment, sharpening and autoranging.
ImageXpress also sells a scaled-down version of ScanPrepPro -- the $395 ScanPrep, which includes all the features of the Pro version except CopyDot, batch processing, user-selectable preferences and the capability to work on existing images. (Adobe Systems Inc. includes a demo of ScanPrep on the Photoshop 3 CD-ROM.)
Conclusions
For such a deceptively simple package, ScanPrepPro contains tremendous horsepower, enough to justify its $695 price. While we'd like to be able to step through the process and manually override some of the defaults, the approach ImageXpress has taken does prevent you from shooting yourself in the foot.
Overall we think ScanPrepPro is a very fine package. Evidently, ImageXpress thinks so, too: Both versions of the product come with a no-questions-asked 30-day money-back guarantee.
ImageXpress Inc. of Lawrenceville, Ga., can be reached at (404) 564-9924; fax (404) 564-1632; imagexpress@applelink.apple.com.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
Reviews Page 40
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Review: microLaser PowerPro
TI's low-cost 600-dpi printer offers speed and flexibility
By David Kison
Network administrators looking for a high-speed, multiplatform monochrome desktop printer should consider Texas Instruments Inc.'s microLaser PowerPro. Equipped with a PowerStep RISC processor, the $1,899 Adobe PostScript Level 2 printer offers improvements in speed over the company's previous desktop leader, the microLaser Pro 600, while maintaining the latter's flexibility, image quality and compatibility.
The specifications
The PowerPro is based on Sharp's 12-page-per-minute printer engine and supports print resolutions of 300 by 300 and 600 by 600 dpi. The base model comes with 6 Mbytes of RAM, which can be expanded to 22 Mbytes. Memory can be added through two memory slots in 1-, 2-, 4- or 8-Mbyte increments. You control print resolution through the PSPrinter 8.1.1 printer driver or via the printer's 16-character LCD control panel. The PowerPro ships with 67 Adobe Type 1 fonts, eight scalable fonts and a Windows TrueType rasterizer, as well as Adobe Type Manager 3.6 for the Mac and ATM 3.0 for Windows.
The PowerPro uses a 25-MHz IDT 3081 RISC processor (with 16-Kbyte cache) for fast printing and offers compatibility with HP PCL 5. It accepts print jobs over AppleTalk (RS-422) and high-speed bidirectional Centronics parallel ports. An optional $399 Network Pro Ethernet board adds support for EtherTalk, as well as Novell NetWare, TCP/IP, Microsoft LAN Manager and IBM LAN Server protocols, over 10BASE T, 10BASE 2 or 10BASE 5 connections. Other options include a $49 RS-232 serial interface and a $149 SCSI interface for additional outline-font storage. All network interfaces are simultaneously active using Adobe's IntelliSelect automatic language switching.
Getting it together
The 32-pound, 13-by-14-inch printer is very easy to set up; the process took less than 10 minutes. TI includes a large, four-color poster with step-by-step setup instructions for unpacking and installing the various printer engine components. Access to the controller board for RAM upgrades and interface options is straightforward. Most users could easily complete an on-site upgrade.
The standard paper-handling features consist of two 250-sheet trays for letter-size paper and a manual-feed tray that accepts print media including envelopes and legal-size paper. Options include an $89 legal-size paper tray and a $109 30-envelope feeder.
Performance
We ran a series of tests at ZD Labs in Foster City, Calif., to evaluate the PowerPro's print engine and RIP performance. To validate its rated engine speed, we used a 20-page Microsoft Word 5.1a text document. A second test, designed to simulate a real-world business application, consisted of a two-page Microsoft Excel 4.0 document incorporating text and simple graphics. RIP tests involved a five-page Aldus PageMaker 5.0a document and a one-page Adobe Illustrator 5.5 document.
The test platform was a Power Mac 6100/60 equipped with 24 Mbytes of memory, running System 7.5. We tested the PowerPro on Ethernet and LocalTalk networks, using the 6100's built-in ports and a beta version of the Network Pro card.
Page-per-minute tests clocked the PowerPro at 10 ppm over an EtherTalk connection and 8.6 ppm over LocalTalk. In the Excel test, the EtherTalk connectivity continued to shine: Our test document printed twice as fast over EtherTalk as it did over LocalTalk.
The PowerPro connected via EtherTalk also outdistanced the LocalTalk-connected version in our RIP performance tests. For the PageMaker test, the PowerPro required slightly more than 18 minutes over EtherTalk, compared with almost 42 minutes over LocalTalk. Oddly, the PowerPro was unable to print our PageMaker test file using the PSPrinter 8.1.1 driver (the recommended driver for PageMaker 5) over EtherTalk because of a datastream translation problem with some binary image files. We were able to print the test file using the LaserWriter 7.1.2 driver, but some image components printed at 72 dpi instead of the printer's 600-dpi resolution. TI claims that the files can be printed properly as ASCII image downloads.
For the Illustrator test, the EtherTalk setup outperformed the LocalTalk setup by 500 percent. The LocalTalk connection obviously left the printer's speedy RISC processor starving for data to rasterize.
Output quality from the PowerPro was very good -- text was crisp and legible, even at small point sizes. Image quality was also quite nice, with good gray-scale ramps.
Documentation and support
The PowerPro manual is clear and well-written with adequate illustrations. Competent toll-free technical support is offered weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central time. A one-year warranty is available.
Conclusions
The microLaser PowerPro's snappy performance and aggressive pricing make it a valuable addition to many network environments. Optional interfaces let you configure the printer to your work environment, and the machine produces high-quality text and graphics. If you plan to do any graphics-intensive printing, the Network Pro card is a must. This is particularly true if the printer is on a heterogeneous network because the Network Pro supports almost all major protocols.
Overall, the microLaser PowerPro is a solid choice.
Texas Instruments Inc. of Temple, Texas, can be reached at (800) 848-3927.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
Reviews Page 40
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
ProductWatch: Multimedia is the message in training
By Richard Rawles
By offering transportable mass storage at a relatively low cost, CD-ROM has become attractive to large, geographically dispersed corporations as a way to give employees computer-based training.
Despite the possible incompatibilities, such as CD formats and fonts and the different ways the Macintosh and Windows handle color and sound, the Mac remains a favorite among computer-based training (CBT) course developers, according to Brandon Hall, editor of the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Multimedia Training newsletter.
By providing versions of their software for both Windows and Macs, some popular authoring tools, such as Macromedia Inc.'s Director and Authorware Professional, get around the limited distribution opportunities for Mac-developed CBT applications. Director 4.0's support for binary-compatible files has given cross-platform multimedia development a boost. QuickTime for Windows, for example, will play QuickTime movies created on the Mac.
Hip training
San Francisco-based Levi Strauss Co., which owns a chain of retail outlets, chose to use a dedicated Mac training station for distributing information about the product line to its sales force.
Developed in Macromedia Director and running on 660AV machines with touchscreens, the Levi Strauss CD-ROM makes extensive use of QuickTime movies culled from TV commercials to acquaint salespeople with the current product line.
About 300 Mbytes of the CD-ROM is devoted to video. "The quality of QuickTime on the product showed the commercials off well," said Alan Weiler, partner in San Rafael, Calif.-based Kallisto Productions, developer of the application. The CD-ROM also contains graphics from the company's magazine ads and point-of-sale marketing tools. According to John deLorimier, Weiler's partner in Kallisto, the training gives salespeople a feel for the company's marketing. It's splashy and, thus, more appealing to the younger people in sales.
Critical for Levi Strauss was the ability to update the CD quarterly as the product line changed. According to deLorimier, "We tried to make the application as modular as possible so it [would be] inexpensive to update." Weiler and deLorimier created a database in Claris Corp.'s FileMaker Pro for various graphic objects. More importantly, using Director's Lingo scripting language, the application can call graphic objects (stored on the desktop) as needed, rather than having the objects embedded in the program.
Director's scripting capabilities gave Weiler and deLorimier a feeling of control over the development process. For other developers, such as Mark Wilson, director of Worthington Multimedia in London, ease of developing CBT applications is more important.
Wilson uses Special Delivery from Interactive Media Corp. for a variety of corporate CBT applications, some of which are distributed on CD-ROM. Employing a slide-presentation metaphor, Special Delivery lets developers integrate QuickTime movies, sound, text and graphics and link these slide elements, called portals, to create interactive applications.
"There's potentially as much interaction as in any of the [multimedia] products," Wilson said. "You can effectively put people in a scenario where they have to make a choice." In creating role-playing scenarios for trainees, "You can accentuate a problem which shows off the real world," he said. Although Special Delivery lacks the scripting and animation capabilities of Director, Wilson creates animations in CoSA After Effects from Aldus Corp. (which was recently purchased by Adobe Systems Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.) and imports them into Special Delivery as QuickTime movies.
For those who may be intimidated by the scripting needed to make a Director CBT application interactive but who still need cross-platform delivery, Macromedia also offers Authorware Professional, an icon-based authoring tool. According to Norman Kurtin of San Francisco-based Design Media, a video production house that specializes in corporate training, Authorware contains more preprogrammed custom functions and variables. "It's a lot simpler [than Director] because it's logic-based rather than time-based," he said.
Let's get interactive
Joanne Arena, a project manager at Anheuser-Busch Inc. of St. Louis used Macromedia's Authorware to design a sales-training and marketing application. Designed for Anheuser-Busch's independent wholesaler sales force, its "Beer Selling Basics" CD-ROM has trainees learn marketing strategies by clicking and dragging objects to position point-of-sale tools on a bar.
Attaining such a high level of interactivity has become standard for instructional designers who are pressed to justify the higher development costs of a CBT compared with traditional audio-video methods. "It's got to be easy for executives to love because you won't get the money and budget to do it otherwise," said Helene DeLillo, a multimedia consultant with Dancing Icon Inc. in New York.
The effectiveness of interactive training is measured in dollars and cents, as well as in improved test scores and sales. Companies can reduce travel budgets and employees can spend less time in seminar-based training sessions.
Jim Pollard creates CBT courses for the Flatrolled Product Division of Trentwood Works, a Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corp. company. Pollard designs highly interactive animated simulations for the Spokane, Wash.-based rolling mill plant using Course Builder from Discovery Systems International Inc. "My philosophy is that people who design the program are the people who do the job," he said.
Course Builder will also soon provide cross-platform compatibility for CD-ROM deliverables, allowing Pollard to move his CBT applications from Macs running alongside Intel-standard PCs that run the operating units onto the PCs themselves. He will then move the dedicated Macs to another location for training new employees, reserving the Windows versions for ongoing training and reference.
In the continuing absence of Kaleida Labs Inc.'s ScriptX multimedia authoring language, SuperCard from Allegiant Technologies Inc. may be the best tool going, at least according to its small but dedicated band of supporters. After a three-year period of neglect by Aldus, SuperCard resurfaced this year in a new incarnation when some of its original developers from Silicon Beach Software Inc. bought the authoring tool back from Aldus. Besides playing catch-up with multimedia integration, Allegiant added support for hypertext and PlainTalk speech synthesis. During the time SuperCard was not supported, the faithful continued to build SuperCard tools to create sophisticated CBT programs. Most notably, Fourth World provided utilities for importing graphics files and creating animations. (These tools are now available as SCAuthor from Fourth World.)
SuperCard's extensibility, made possible by the SuperTalk scripting language, led Ken Ray, a consultant for Internal and External Communication Inc. in Marina Del Rey, Calif., to choose it over Authorware and Director. For him the primary issue was tool development. Working on a large series of training projects for an international consulting firm required that teams of production people and programmers be able to build tools as needed. "From a programmer's perspective, we wanted to have control," he said.
The details
Planning for computers that are less than fully multimedia-equipped, as well as managing memory, can be stumbling blocks in getting CBT applications distributed on cross-platform CD-ROMs. With sound and video segments gobbling up disk space, designers sometimes must resort to dividing a course into different modules running on separate CDs. As to end-user system configuration, video playback requires at least a dual-speed CD-ROM player and a 68030-based Mac or 386 PC with a sound card and a Super VGA video card. Both platforms should have color monitors and 8 Mbytes of RAM.
Whether an application runs directly off the CD-ROM drive or loads to a computer's hard disk can directly affect the application's performance, particularly with video-intensive programs. In the past, Macromedia has recommended that users run Director and Authorware applications from hard disk drives to speed performance. However, this option can create storage problems for trainees with minimal systems and distribution woes for companies that have to second-guess their configurations. SuperCard CBT applications, on the other hand, open and cache large video files in RAM before playing them.
Critical to any CBT course's success is what is called "performance support" -- the testing and tracking that gives users and companies valuable feedback on the learning process. All of the authoring tools discussed above (with the exception of Special Delivery) support student tracking testing, although in the case of Director and SuperCard, these elements have to be scripted.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
ProductWatch Page 43
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Mac the Knife: Redmond's wicked, wicked ways
By and large, the people in this industry are a decent lot. We're known for our fair and open-minded dispositions. Otherwise, most of us would have gone into more mundane fields, such as international finance or the military, or even the law.
At least, that has always been the Knife's belief. So what's up with Microsoft that keeps so many thoughtful people poised to whine? But there's no time now for sociological research, because this week the sins of the father have been visited on the customers, and judging from the tenor of the Knife's mail lately, they're none too happy about it.
The Knife was peppered with Microsoft-related complaints this week. Even unreleased products such as Microsoft Foundation Classes were fair game.
What competition?
Although reaction to the MFC announcement was tepid at Apple's most recent Worldwide Developers Conference, there's nothing inherently wicked about the concept of a cross-platform programming environment based on Win32 APIs. MFC isn't scheduled to be released for another couple of weeks, but rumors are circulating that already have developers spinning.
The license for MFC is royalty-free -- unless you use it to develop a word processor, spreadsheet or developer tool. For those, the story goes, you'll need to see Microsoft about a special, separate agreement. Apparently, Microsoft isn't about to let anyone use its tools to develop a product that might provide a bit of competition.
Speaking of competition, the sarcasm-impaired crowd jumped with both feet on the Knife's passing comment last week about Microsoft scooping up Mac talent as it streamed out of Novell's WordPerfect Mac operation. After all, Microsoft, unlike some other large developers, is taking in Mac-generated money by the boxcar load. Chances like the one Novell is providing to restock the in-house talent pool don't come along very often. And judging from Word 6.0 for the Mac, a fresh infusion of word processor talent couldn't hurt.
Missing links
Word 6.0 may be bigger than a breadbox and almost as fast, but the actual bugs reported so far have been relatively minor. The new Excel, however, is really working the nerves of one of Microsoft's large international customers.
This company's hired guns, who are loudly telling their story to anyone who will listen, have discovered that Excel 5.0 on the Mac sporadically fails to link properly. The program looks like it's updating the links, but worksheets link reliably only if all the files are open in RAM. Excel's core-code cousin for Windows is not affected by the bug. Those involved say that Microsoft admits to the glitch but isn't sure how to proceed just yet.
Inaccurate numbers are worse than useless when those numbers represent large amounts of money, as they do at this customer site. The company in question has halted all Excel 5.0 upgrades on both platforms (several thousand Macs and who knows how many Intel boxes) until Microsoft decides what to do. The Knife suggests putting this one on the front burner.
Uneven work
At least there's Microsoft Works 4.0. It may not show any signs of design brilliance, but it's got the features, the price and a solid No. 2 field position. And it's a good thing that in a couple of weeks Microsoft will have a fix out for the program's tendency to freeze in the word processor if you happen to hit the Delete key several times at the right moment.
Forbes magazine is standing by its decision. If you've got a hankering for a MacWEEK mug and are prepared to stand by your tip, see the Knife at (415) 243-3544, fax (415) 243-3651, Internet (mac_the_knife@macweek.ziff.com), AppleLink (MacWEEK) or CompuServe/ZiffNet/Mac.
MacWEEK 10.31.94
Mac the Knife Page 82
(c) Copyright 1994 Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
