mac week v 1 n 25

4 $3.50 Volume 1 Oct.27, 19087. Nes Te Slides overnight They are as close as the modem Page 10 Window On Optical storage, removable media Page 20 Reviews QuicKeys, PowerStation Page 26 “Actually, a computer is a j device that can represent reality, if's...nota counting machine,” Breaking barriers Brenda Laurel works to make multimedia technology accessible BY RUSTY WESTON MacWEEK Staff REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft Corp., vying for total dominance of the Mac word process- ing market, last week introduced a program similar to Word at less than half the price, ALS175, Microsoft Write will rival ‘TiMaker Co.'s WriteNow and Claris Corp.'s MacWrite 4.5. Microsoft Write vastly exceeds the functionality of ts competition, according to the Redmond, Wash,, company. Write is scheduled to ship next week. The timing of Write’s release may be criti- cal for Microsoft. A source close to Claris, based in Cupertino, Calif, said an enhanced version of MacWrite is expected to be announced after Jan. 1, The upgraded Microsoft aims to divide and conquer with low-end Write MacWrite will have functions similar to those in WriteNow, the source added. “Microsoft has made it very clear it wants to dominate the word processing market,” said Apple analyst Michael Orsak of Robertson, Colman & Stephens, a San Francisco inves ment bank. Itsounds like the gloves are off now that Claris Corp. is involved with MacWrite,” said See MICROSOFT, Page 29 COURTS MICROSOFT Microsoft Write wil offer many ofthe features ofthe company’s popular Word but at less than half the Motorola chip ready for a new generation of Macintoshes BY ABIGAIL CHRISTOPHER ‘MacWEEK Staff AUSTIN, Texas — The opening bell for anew round of hardware innovation will be rung this, week when Motorola announces the volume production schedules of its next-generation 32-bit processor, the 68030. Executives from Apple, Sun, Unisys and NCR will be at press conferences in New York and Santa Clara, Calif, to aff their support of the 68000 series, the microprocessor family that is atthe heart of toys, games and car door openers as well as Macintoshes, laser printers and engineering workstations, The computer manufacturers are not expected to announce new products based on the “Oh Thirty,” as the 68030 is known around Motorola. However, their presence apparently signals a commitment to using the new chip in the next generations of their computers. “L would not be surprised if we saw a 68030 offering from Apple by the second quarter of next year,” said Bob Herwick, a market analyst at Hambrecht & Quist of New York. Sources close to Motorola suggested a 68030 accelerator board forthe Mac may be introduced before an entirely new Mac model. There are three versions ofthe micropro- cessors that run at 16, 20 and 25 MHz. The 16 MHz and 20 MHz versions wil ship in volume next month. Motorola will seed devel- opers with the 25-MHz chip in December and See MOTOROLA, Page 29 Motorola's 68030 is expected to surface in advanced new workstations. Page 28 ZOOM IN DO YOU PLAN TO PURCHASE my BY RUSTY WESTON vl Key MacWEEK Staff ‘i ‘The strangest week in Wall Y\| Street history left microcomputer vendors mired in uncertainty about a possible recession, Despite recent strong earnings reports by Lotus, Microsoft, IBM, DEC, Adobe, Apple and Compag, institutional investors dumped these stocks like it was Judgment Day and they ‘wanted to liquidate ther worldly possessions. Disconcerted small investors watched in dismay last week while the value oftheir shares plunged about 20 percent across the board before bouncing back up in a portfolio- Industry skittish after market panic salvaging rally Faced with investor turmoil and wild mar- ket fluctuations, sobered underwriters delayed venture capital and stock deals Microcomputer hardware and software Stock market dive hts computer industry investors, Page 13. market analysts were hard-pressed to assess the long-term damage to the corporations, Analysts conceded that a bear market can touch off a recession, but last week’s sell-off may have been due to irrational fears, See PANIC, Page 29 TANCERY SOURCEREN LOVE How your Mac family and your 3270 family can be one big happy family. Your Macintoshes and your main- frame. They have some truly amazing capabilities. Except for one: the ability to easily talk to one another. But there is a universal solu- tion that unites all your Macs —the 512 KE, the Plus, the SE, Bisync mainframe environment one bit. Since we connect to Apple- Talk, you are part of a local area network filled with high-end workgroup solutions. Giving you the best of both worlds: 3270 workstation capabilities anda sophisticated LAN. But that’s not all. oa] With our file transfer =e | capability, your Mac 2 | and mainframe can & exchange text, Mac application files, binary files, and even Corporate workgroup using AppleTalk. and even the Mac II—with your 3270 world. It’s Tri-Data’s NETWAY 1000A. This 3270 gateway for your Macs delivers perfect 3274 con- troller emulation. So it doesn’t compromise your SNA or Netway isa registered trademark of ‘ThiData. Macintosh is a trademark Wi censed to and AppleTalk isa trademark of Apple Computer. BM isa trademark lf ternational Business Machines Corporation: IBM PC files. And with our Switcher compatibility, you can integrate an IBM host session with several Mac applications. Without dis- connecting from the host. Given all these capabilities, you may think NETWAY 1000A is an expensive solution. Well, you're in for a pleasant surprise. For a workgroup of 16 Macs, NETWAY 1000A costs less than. $200 per active 3278 terminal session. * And if all this sounds too good to be true, here’s another pleasant surprise. Tri-Data’s NETWAY 1000A has been deliver- ing the best Mac-to-mainframe solutions for more than two years. For many of the biggest names in the Fortune 1000. The Tri-Data NETWAY 1000A. Exactly what your Mac family, 3270 family, and, ulti- mately, your corporate family needs. Contact us about our demo program and connect your Mac- intosh to your IBM host today. ‘Tri-Data, 505 E. Middlefield Road, Mountain View, CA 94043, Telex: 172282, AppleLink: D0120, (415) 969-3700. TRI-DATA Satisfying our customers for 20 years. CONTENTS MacWEEK Oct 27 1987 NEWS Calendar 14 Opinion ' Debate: Does renting software lead to illegal copying? 16 John Edwards: Communicating 17 Mac the Knife 34 Prope 3 MacHeaven gives old Macintoshes new life 28 New file-compression program stirs debate 06 FCC ponders on-line access charges 09 High-quality output as close as the nearest modem 10 Business Watca Kroy refits copy centers with Macintoshes 13 Stock market dive hits computer industry investors 13 Winpow On Optical storage: Shedding a litle light 20 Removable media: The best of both worlds 23 Reviews CE’s QuicKeys to success 6 Plug into PowerStation to access files 27 MOBILE, Ala, — QMS Inc. is shipping a PostScript laser printer that introduces Canon's new SX engine to the Macintosh marketplace. The SX offers blacker blacks, more solid tones and improved performance. ‘The $5,495 QMS-PS 810 also features a controller with a 16-MHz 68000 micro- processor, 1 Mbyte of ROM and 2 Mbytes of RAM that is expandable to 3 Mbytes. “The SX is cheaper, has a little better blacks, is longer lasting and makes a more LATE NEWS Apple ships MultiFinder to developers CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple shipped more than 6,000 copies ofthe release version of Multi Finder to developers last week, and, according to Lynnea Johnson, product manager, the product should bein dealers’ hands this week. ‘The long-anticipated program was originally scheduled to ship in mid-September, but it ran into compatibility problems with some third-party programs, according to sources close to the company. MultiFinder will be pat of a package that includes System 4.2 and Finder 6.0. MultiFinder is a multitasking operating system for the Mac that will allow users to have up to 30 programs open at the same time. The number of open progams is limited by the amount of RAM available, TI introduces low-priced PostScript laser printer ‘TEMPLE, Texas — Texas Instruments joined the queue of low-priced PostScript printers with the announcement ofits OmniLaser 2106 laser printer, priced at $4,595. The printer emulates the Diablo 630, the Hewlett-Packard Laserjt/Plus, T1855 DP/WP and HP 475A. Scheduled to ship inthe first quarter of next year, Texas Instruments’ printer also comes equipped with twin interfaces, one forthe Mac and the other for IBM PCs and clones. Although it has a port for AppleTalk capability, Tl representatives said the printer's output speed of six pages per minute does not make it an ideal printer for a LAN. The printer has a resolution of 300 dpi and comes with 35 resident fonts. The controler uses a £68000-based microprocessor with 2 Mbytes of RAM. Additional font families are available on plug-in cartridges from TI and are priced at $329. Apple expands investment group CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple announced last week the expansion of its strategic investment group and the promotion of Daniel Eilers from director to vice president of strategic investments. Eilers, 32, will report to Albert Eisenstat, senior vice president of corporate development. Investment activity will now include not only venture capital investments but potential acquisitions, too. compact printer,” sid Tom Mandel, president of CADEX, a San Francisco supplier of desktop publishing products forthe corporate marketplace, Jonathan Seybold, desktop publishing ana- lyst and president of Seybold Publications of Malibu, Calif, said, “It's an overall improve- ment over the CX. The SX replaces the CX in the Canon product line. Everyone will have to change over... including Apple.” The CX engine, sill used in Apple’s Laser- Writer and LaserWriter Pus printers, does not print solid black areas very wel, said Robert Owens, a spokesman for Mobile, Ala.-based QMS Ine. “Ifyou were laying down large black areas, you could see the blacks werent solid, With the ‘The QMS PS-810 weir ‘uses the latest version of Adobe's PostScript page-description language. First Canon SX-based laser printer ‘SX, Canon has improved the image,” he said. The new engine is more compact and lighter than the CX, Owens said. At 44 pounds, the QMS-PS 810 printer is 43 percent lighter than the 77-pound LaserWritr Pls. The QMS-PS 810’s higher processor speed and additional memory when compared to the LaserWriter Plus, which runs at 12 MHz and includes 1.5 Mbytes of RAM, means that even ‘page with graphics and several fonts takes about 50 percent less time to print on the QMS ‘machine than on a LaserWriter, Owens said. ‘Another reason forthe increased speed is that QMS uses the latest version, 47, of Adobe's PostScript page-descripton language, he said Copies of the same page are printed at a rate of eight pages per minute. The QMS-PS 810 includes 35 PostScript fonts in its ROM, Owens sai, “The additional ‘memory and the way we partition it means that users can store upto 10 to 15 additional down- Toadable fons.” The QMS-PS 810 can be connected to a variety of networks through is serial, parallel and AppleTalk interfaces, according to QMS. The QMS-PS 810 is available immediately through the Laser Connection, a QMS sub- sidiary or from the company directly. QMS Inc. is located at 1 Magnum Pass, Mobile, Ala, 36618; (205) 633-4300, tt Tektronix controller BY ABIGAIL CHRISTOPHER MacWEEK Staff WILSONVILLE, Ore. — Tektronix Inc. is developing printer controllers forts color printers to support several page-description languages, including Hewlett-Packard’s HPGL. and PostScript, a company spokesman said. Tektronix of Wilsonville, Ore, will not ‘work with either Adobe or a clone manufac- turer for PostScript suppor, said a source with- in the company, leading to speculation that Tektronix may offer its own PostScript clone. “We are working on the next generation of printer controllers made to support industry standards,” the source said. for color printers ‘Tektronix recently announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with URW Karow Rubow Weber GmbH, a Hamburg, ‘West Germany-based developer of typeface digitizing sofware. URW’s IKARUS soft- ware wil allow Tektronix, manufacturer of the 4693D Mac-compatible color printer, to digitize its own typeface and font libraries and to scale individual letters using the company's ‘proprietary scaling algorithms. “Intelligent” font scaling algorithms have also been developed by font vendor Bitstream Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., and provide an accurate rendering of a on screen or printed media. ‘COURTESY OMS Oct. 27, 1987 Quiet Quadram closer to 386 board BY JON SWARTZ, MacWEEK Staff NORCROSS, Ga. — Quadram executives stopped short of disclosing plans to develop an £80386 coprocessor board forthe Macintosh last, week, but the product seems closer to becom- ing a reality. Robert G. Brown, Quadram president, would neither confirm nor deny development Novell NetWare coming for Mac BY CLIFF LEHMAN and JON SWARTZ MacWEEK Staff PROVO, Utah — Novell Inc. officials admit- ted last week that the company is preparing its NetWare network operating system forthe Macintosh for scheduled release in March, ‘Company representatives also said a Net- Ware version for workstations from Sun Microsystems Inc. would be available later. Each software package would cost approxi- mately $100, sources said Mark Calkins, vice president of marketing for Novell’s NetWare division, confirmed reports that Novell is working with third-party developer Dayna Communications of Salt Lake City on software that would support Ethernet, UNIX and X.25, Calkins said Novell's Universal Network Architecture, which supports Transmission Control Protocol/intemet Protocol (TCP/IP) and Sun’s Network File System (NFS), would link Sun systems. Novell’s plans to develop software forthe Mac is the company’s fist step toward support cof multiple operating platforms, said Brad Baldwin, telecommunications analyst at Dataquest of San Jose, Calif. ‘Although NetWare has operated only on MS-DOS personal computers, Novell has com- bined solid products and marketing guile to absorb nearly a quarter ofthe LAN market since its incorporation in January 1983. Version 2.2 of NetWare will support Mac- intoshes on a Novell network when the soft- ware package is released next spring, industry observers said. Novell officials said they didn’t know when the Sun workstation software would be released, Dayna Communications, maker of the Mac- Charlie coprocessor andthe Dayna File, will offer its own version ofthe file server software for use on all-Macintosh networks, a source at Dayna said. ‘The source said the program will require a PC AT server and be offered as an alternative to AppleShare and TOPS, Calkins said the network fle server will support AppleTalk through an add-in board ‘made by Tangent Technologies of Norcross, Ga,, and sold by Dayna. The add-in board, called PC MacBridge Pius, links IBM PCs to AppleTalk networks. according to analysts. In fact, Apple recently licensed Chips and Technologies Inc., a San Jose, Calif.-based chip maker, to produce an inexpensive logic chip set that emulates micro processors. The "386 clone chips should be ready by next year, sources said. ‘A source familiar with Quadram said the board maker hoped to meet with Apple at COMDEX to discuss joint development of a "386 board for the Mac. AST announced in March it would make boards that allow MS-DOS applications to run in a window on the Mac II screen. sor boards forthe Mac SE and II, also would neither confirm nor deny plans to develop a "386 card of its own. “There is an unquenchable appetite forthe power and speed of a "286 card, and there should be an equal need forthe "386," said Mark LeBar, marketing manager of Apple products at AST. “The Mac I has an attractive market for enhancements, and I'm sure (Quadram and others would be interest (Quadram currently manufactures '386 coprocessor boards for PC XTS, Butler said. At stake are an estimated 2 million Macs, of the °386, but he hinted that Quadram would consider discussing plans for development of a °386 board as early as next month at COMDEX/Fall '87, Nov. 2-6 in Las Vegas. “We have entertained the idea but not started on it,” said Mark Butler, Quadram mar- keting manager. “Iisa possibility, however.” Meanwhile, AST Research In., the Irvine, Calif, developer of Intel chip-based coproces- Decisions, Choose with confidence from Jasmine’ wide range of quality, innovative products at affordable prices. From the pacesetting Direct Drive series, to the unique BackPac 40, you never compromise quality for price when you purchase a Jasmine product. Discover why MacWorld (July 1987) said “It’ easy to fall in Jove with the quiet Jasmine drive” MegaDrive” Hard drive power with the freedom ofa floppy. MegaDrive” is high speed, SCSI storage device featuring removable, 10 megabyte, MegaFloppy” dlisketes which are much more reliable than other removable, mass storage produc. (Compact in size, tts under your Macintosh onto a Macintosh caryng cae. Ina word, MegaDrive™ is flexible. It has something forevery ‘Macintosh user. Accountants can put each account oni own disk and Jock them away for sae keeping. Desktop pub: lishers can put fons clip ar, layouts and differen cients on separate -MegaFloppy disks Musicians can organize their sound libraries and samplings and the average Macintosh usr can nally make heads or tal ofthe mountains of foppy disks they've acquited over the years! 4 _MegaFgpy Disks $3995 ach ($1.15 Vitor MC) Megatogpy Tie Pack S109 95 ($13.25 Visa or MC) “Tree pac incude band Sorege Case To Order Call (415) 621-4339 Remember that Jasmine saves you 40% or more. Our prices include 30 Day Trial/Money Back Guarantee, «and Full One Year Warranty. ey te pa whieh bro ey t Sins bi jenn ae sabre acpatarouye odie hes kek Feber tet Teor Cae equa prepa ‘iiseemnssosotineetoe ope Call for dealer and developer pricing og it inline Pos MacWEEK NEWS Octs27,-1987 Draw It Again Sam gives artists more drawing power BY JIRI WEISS MacWEEK Staff FRAZER, Pa. — Artists can work on as, many as 10 overlays and create a library of frequently used drawings in a color drawing program being developed by Aba Software Inc, The $150 software package, called Draw Tt Again Sam, takes advantage ofthe built-in color capabilites of QuickDraw, giving users program that does it efficiently unless you g0 to aCAD system,” he said. Draw It Again Sam includes a function that takes a drawing and reduces itt the size of an icon that stays atthe bottom of the screen, he said. Draw It Again Sam debuted at Apple's Paris Expo Oct. 1, Storm said. Aba Software In. is located at 2 Davis Ave,, Frazer, Pa. 19355; (215) 644-3580. i six colors in addition to black and white. The ability to draw on separate layers will simplify making color separations and prepar- ing complex drawings. ‘The library function les users store draw- ings that can then be dragged into the picture while drawing, said George Storm, Aba's vice president and founder. You can have instantaneous access to any drawing on the screen. This isthe only Ad agencies eager for Mac graphics BY ELINOR CRAIG MacWEEK Staff NEW YORK — A Macintosh seminar targeting advertising agencies opened to a full house last week atthe Marriott Marquis in New York. Meet Your New Creative Partner... was the coordinated effort of Apple’s regional office and The Computer Factory, a leading = Decisions. ‘Apple dealer in the New York area. ‘Art directors, production personnel and cre- ative services from top ad agencies and pub- lishing companies attended to see what the Macintosh has to offer. A market ripe for the Mac’s strong graphics capabilities, advertising agencies have been resistant to computer ign, according to seminar presenters. According to Gordon Haight, from Karp, Newton, and Van Brundt, a large advertising DirectDrivé Series firm in New York City, ... all the big boys are i Z playing inthis field. Han eee “This idea isa natural progression for me value and quality From the Direct Drive 20 tothe evolutionary Direct Drive 80, Jasmine now fers full spectrum of drives to meet every users needs. Our newest addition, the Direct Drive 160, ofes an incredible combination of power and speed fr ust $2899! The Direct Drive series is synonymous with excelent constuction, no cost “ext” and high reliably Back up sofware included. The Jasmine Direct Drive 80 is an excellent value, offering ‘recommends looking at this drive for your Macintosh} = InfoWorld June 29,1987 6 The Drive ran flawlessly during the review period, wit very good performance and no compatibility problems of oy = MacWorld July1987 innerDrive"Series ‘New series of internal drives for the Macintosh Jasmine’ InnerDrive Series begins with ultra high speed, yet econom- ically priced, intemal hard disk drives for the Macintosh II” Pre-formatted, they work right out of the box and are very easy 0 instal requiring 1no special tools or expertise. ‘They include mounting bracket, cables and other hardware plus nine megabytes of public domain software, ‘shareware-and back-up soft ‘ware. Self parking, InnerDrive 90/1 91499 (5154400 Vs lasrCard) InnerDrive 50/It $999 ($1029.00 Vis itaserCard JasPort SCSI Power for the Macintosh 512. JasPor,a Macintosh Plus compatible SCSI por fr the Macintosh 512 Enhanced ‘512K with ROM upgrade, permits Macintosh users to utliz Jasmine's Direct Drive, MegaDrive and other SCSI devices User installable jastort $129 € Jasmine Technologies, Inc. 5355 De Haro Steet, San Francisco, CA 94107 because I worked in the ad field for years before I started with Apple,” said Chris ‘Stocker, Apple account executive for The ‘Computer Factory and co-organizer ofthe sem- inar. “Once at Apple I stated asking where were all these tools when I was in advertising.” ‘The idea forthe seminar came out of smaller desktop publishing seminars, according to Stocker. “We watched who came to those and started targeting work groups.” This pack- aged presentation will resume in January and travel around the region, he said. Quark Inc., Microsoft Corp, Cricket Soft- ‘ware and Adobe Systems Inc. and top users ctor of informa- senior art director, operations technology at The New York Times, gave pre- sentations Along with Apple and the other attending software companies, Adobe has developed a strategic policy concerning ad agencies. “I is an obvious place to market,” said Jim Willis, national sales manager for Adobe. “We have 4 pushjpull strategy. We present Illustrator and the art directors ask for more. Ad agencies, and the news media are a strategic market forus.” Attendees eagerly crowded the various pre- sentation tables to get a closer look at the prod- ucts available, “Productivity isthe bottom line,” said Rick Colina, ant director for Gannett National ad sales. “Our director of creative ser- vices recently bought a Mac, and I can see that wwe will definitely buy more software after see- ing these products.” The demonstrations included a product debut by Publications Technologies In of Stamford, Conn. The new product, called ULTRA, is an automated layout system. Custom tailored to individual publication needs, ULTRA is a macro-driven shell that automates the layout procedure in Quark XPress. Priced at $75, ULTRA is available from the PageWorks division of Publication Technologies. MacWEEK OCt2 27,1987 N E V § BY EMILY BROWER MacWEEK Staff The introduction of a new shareware file-com- pression program called Stufflt is causing con- fusion among telecommunications users and opening discussion about telecommunications standards among Mac programmers. Until Stufflt was released in early October, Packlt II, another shareware file compressor, ‘was by default the industry standard, But Stufflt’s faster, more efficient compression algorithms have made the new program an almost instant hit among telecommunications users. File-compression programs speed electronic transfer of large documents by packing file data into smaller sizes, They also can create single packed files out of several documents. Transferring a compressed graphic document can be three to four times faster than sending the fle in its original form, Packlt, by Harry Chesley, and Stufft, by Raymond Lau, are used most frequently to compress files for transfer through bulletin boards and electronic services like Compu- Serve or Delphi, Neil Shapiro, systems opera- New file-compression program stirs debate tor forthe Macintosh forums on CompuServe, said almost 90 percent ofthe help-line cals he receives concern packed files. To avoid requiring users to purchase Stuffit and Packlt, Shapiro, along with other program- ‘mers like Don Brown, president of CE Soft- ware of Des Moines, lowa, worked to find ways to make the decompression function available ina public domain application. Lau has agreed to allow users to unpack their files with his program free of charge, For files creat- ed with Packlt, Brown wrote a public domain utility called Unpacker that unpacks packed files For the present, these solutions will suffice in the place of determining a compression stan- dard. “Standardization is desirable, bu I think wwe can survive with the two standards of Pack- It and Stufflt,” Brown said, “However, there is ‘aneed for non-commercial compression pro- ‘grams, and I think Apple Computer should be considering this, Packing and unpacking is so basic a need that it ought to be supplied by Apple itself as a part of system software. One consistent compression interface would be very good for telecommunications.” Raymond Lau’s Stuffit has added a new dimension tothe contusion over file-compression programs. € File Edit Report Packit Algorithms D Link.HeIp Archive.sit Faceted ai Pop tat ine RL ceoe PopleLink Patch (ihe Adsense Cink Hel Toden- col [= Aippletink & Appletink & AppleLink Patch | D Link.Addresses Re iz Messages 1D Modem.cct D_ROM Upgrade 0 TNI39 Macintosh Plus R... Mac SE 121K compress} i Su; Wien by Regmond La g asmond Lan Portons 01906, THIN Tecologes, I. © Huffman Cancel @ try Both Ow Developers consider porting to Windows BY RUSTY WESTON MacWEEK Staff DALLAS — Macintosh developers are taking a close look at porting programs to Microsoft's Windows, the IBM PC-compatible interface. Dennis Tillman of Microsoft Corp. said at last week's OS/2 developers’ conference here that approximately one-fifth of the attendees were interested in leaming how to move Mac- intosh graphic-based programs to Microsoft's similarly styled Windows 1.4. Tillman, marketing manager for the Red- mond, Wash,, company’s university training programs, said an updated Version 2.0 will be released by Jan. 1. The Dallas 0S/2 conference marked the fourth and final three-day training seminar for the developers. About 2,300 people attended the four conferences, said Tillman, who coordi- nated the events. For $3,000, the attendees received a late beta version of 0S/2 code, written in MS C Version 4.5, plus 11 binders of OS/2 informa- tion discussing LAN Manager and Presentation Manager. The package also included a macro assembler, a debugger, a subscription to Microsoft Systems magazine, DIAL on-line support and videotapes of the conference. Tillman said the conference seminars did not digress to a “a battle between Macintosh and the Presentation Manager. We made no comparisons at the conference. It’s not part of, ‘our strategy.” Apple and Lotus developers attended previous conferences held in Seattle in June and Anaheim, Calif, in September. In July, Microsoft held its biggest conference in the Big Apple, with 680 attendees, Tillman said, The most notable Macintosh developer pre- sent in Anaheim was Guy Kawasaki, president of ACIUS Inc. of Cupertino, Calif, developer of 4th Dimension database software. Represen- tatives of AST Research Inc. of Irvine, Calif, also attended the conference. BY CLIFF LEHMAN ‘MacWEEK Staff CANOGA PARK, Calif — MegaGraphics Images Corp. is putting together a collection of, new products for possible showing at COMDEX/Fall'87 in Las Vegas Nov. 2-6. ‘The MegaSpeed 20 accelerator card forthe Mac Plus will ship the first week in November and be shown at COMDEX, said Diane Scott, vice president of communications forthe ‘Canoga Park, Calif, company. ‘The accelerator boar is based on a 68020 microprocessor and includes a 68881 math coprocessor. A I-Mbyte configuration sels for $1,695; a 4-Mbyte version for $2,795. The card is compatible with MegaGraphics’ video board forthe Mac Plus, the MegaScreen 2. ‘An SE version of the accelerator, the ‘MegaGraphics prepares accelerator cards, monitors for COMDEX MegaSpeed 20 SE, is in the works but will not be shown at COMDEX. Prices for models of the MegaSpeed 20 SE have not been set. Both, the Mac Plus and SE versions were developed. by Total System Integration of Eugene, Ore. ‘MegaGraphics also is preparing a color video card forthe Mac I, called the Mega- Sereen 2008. According to Scot, the company hhopes to have the card ready for COMDEX, but it may be delayed until Fanuary. ‘The 2008 card allows uses to choose between 1-,2-, 4 or 8-bit-per-pixel modes to Asplay between 256 and 16 milion colors on the screen. The card supports resolution of up to 1,024 by 896 pixels; its refresh rate at that resolution is 63 Hz. ‘The MegaScreen 2008 will be available separately or bundled with a75-dpi 19.5-inch color monitor. ‘The MegaScreen canbe used with a monochrome monitor to produce 256 2 gray levels. screen will ship in early November. The new ‘monitor uses a black tube from Video Monitors Inc. of Eau Claire, Wis., and will provide much. better contrast than MegaGraphics’ previous large-screen products, according to Scott. ‘A 15-inch portrait-mode monitor, the Uni- Page, also isin the works. It isnot certain. pit Sees a Images locate 20954 Osbome St. Canoga Park, Clif. 9 (818) 407-0571 vid | \ —EEE EDITOR Danie J. Ruby ‘ART DIRECTOR Laslo Vespremi ‘MANAGING EDITOR Brenda Benner NEWS EDITOR Jonathan Litman SENIOR EDITOR Henry Nor (Reviews) ‘TECHNICAL EDITORS Dale Coleman, Ric Ford (Boston) SENIOR WRITER: gat Ct Rick LePage Boxon) ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cares W. Hoblitzlle ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Melody Kean Haller ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Gail Wagner ‘STAFF REPORTERS Elinor Crag, Clif Lehman, Ji Weis, Rusty Weston, Iai Whitmer, Jonathan Swartz COPY EDITORS ‘Shari Lyon Alison, Charles Lena, Donna Peck ‘CONTRIBUTING EDITORS John Edvards, Vernon Keenan, Lawrence Magid, Steve Rosetta BUSINESS MANAGER Karen Brannan ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS ‘Tamara Gugus, Michelle Gargus INFORMATION DIRECTOR Emily Brower PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Bari Klingaman PROMOTION DIRECTOR, Cynthia L. Aart CIRCULATION DIRECTOR William Hooven PUBLISHER Michael Tehong ADVERTISING MANAGERS ‘William Peck (Wes), Brice Hereford (Eas) Editorial and advertising offices: 5 St, Si2 ane, Cat. 84107, (415 82 rest Om ‘Kendall Square, Cambridge, Mas. (2139 (orn s77-1033. Patch Cnmurications CHAIRMAN Glenn E. Pach PRESIDENT/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER B. Burl Patch ‘VICE PRESIDENT/CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Donald F Welk ‘VICE PRESIDENT/BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Linda Rew GROUP PUBLISHER Richard F. Govtsk ‘Mac WEEK (1S 0572 811i pushed we, ‘cept fortwo weeks at year-end, by Mac WEEK 525 Brannan St, San Francisco, Cal, 9107, 2.0 Siar of Pach Communistos 5218. Wisin ‘Ave, Titusville, Fa, 32780, Single copy pe ic ing ge: $5. One-year rates: US. os Co OSS ine 8 iss 32780 or call (308) plication al scons postage raise aa Pras (Calif and addtional mailing offices. Mac WEEK cate nat afi Sith Ape Compal: Ayla ait ads of Ap Cpe nie copy © 19 Mac WEe ine Ape Size n tis un nay po 2 day fe wien pes, POSTMASTER: Send address changes to “Mac WEEK, $25 Brannan St, San Francisco Ca 9107 Please allow six week fr ode and ies change processing, BPA membership applied for Apri 197 MacWEEK Oct. 27,1987 NEWS SNAPSHOTS Crystal Paint generates intricate repetitive patterns SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. — Desktop publishers and graphic designers can easily create intricate designs with repeating pattems using Crystal Paint from Great Wave Software. The program, introduced two weeks ago atthe Software Publishers Association conference in Cambridge, Mass. is nt a full-scale paint program. I is an accessory meant for use with other draw and paint programs, according o the company. The $49.95 program generates repeating symetrcal designs from small graphical elements. ‘Images can be imported from other drawing or word processing programs. The resulting image then can be pasted into other documents. e 4 Crystal Paint comes with more than 100 : “kaleidoscopes” that can be incorporated into designs. The current version of the program is available only in black and white. Great Wave said it believes Crystal Paint will be used by high-end designers for tasks such as dress and wallpaper design In addi- tion, the program is aimed at the desktop pub- lishing market for creating borders and other page elements and also will be targeted atthe home and schoo! markets. Great Wave Software is located at 5353 Scotts Valley Drive, Scotts Valley, Calif. 95066; (408) 438-1990. EAT WAVE SOFTWARE ‘COURTESY Gi NuDATA drives offer fast access, flexible interleaving SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Three new, fll-height extemal drives for the Macintosh Plus, SE and Il from NuDATA feature average access times of 16.5 milliseconds and flexible interleaving. The drives — the $2,350, 90-Mbyte Data Cell 90; the $3,395, 150Mbyte Data Cell 150; and the $7,155, 290-Mbyte Data Cell 290 — can be configured with an interleave factor of either 1 to 3orl tol. The I-11 interleave allows the drive to be used for maximum efficiency on the Mac I, according to Eric Herzog, director of sales and marketing. “On a Mac Plus, you use a I-to-3inter- leave to slow the drive down,” he said. The drives include Omni Backup/Restore, a program for file-by-file backup, according to NuDATA. “Users see files and folders in hierarchical tres and can back up from any volume to any volume, even floppy to floppy,” a company spokeswoman said. Disk partition software lets users divide their disk space and set password protection, A LasetWritr spooler and copy utilities also are included. ‘The drives are housed in beige or platinum cases and are cooled by a fan. Their heads park automatically, and users can select hardware SCSI configuration for daisychaining on the back panel. NuDATA drives are manufactured by Control Data Corp. They are available immediately. NuDATA is located at 3206 Scott Blvd., Santa Clara, Calif. 95054; (408) 727-1049. SuperMac lowers price of memory, accelerator upgrades MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Emulating Apple's recent price reductions for memory upgrades, SuperMac Technology announced price cuts last week on two of its memory and accelerator upgrade products. “The price reductions were made recognizing that MultiFinder and HyperCard are creating a need for 2- to 4-Mbyte memories on the Mac,” said Tom Rielly, SuperMac director of marketing. The Prodigy SE, formerly sold by Levco and now availabe from SuperMae, is a 68020 upgrade forthe SE. When sold by Levco, the Prodigy SE costs $1,499, $1,999 and $2,799 for I-, 2-and 4-Mbyte upgrades, respectively. A 60881 math coprocessor was available separately for $299, Supermac now bundles the math coprocessor with the Prodigy SE at no extra cost. In addi- tion, the price of the 4-Mbyte upgrade was reduced to $2,699, The | Plus 1, a2-Mbyte memory upgrade for the Mac Plus, now sells for $399 —down from $499, The 1 Plus | from Levco replaces SuperMac’s SuperRam for the Mac Plus. Both products became part of SuperMac’s product line when Levco was acquired by Super- Mac's parent company, Scientific Micro Systems, in August. ‘Along with the announcement of price cuts, Levco’s relationship to SuperMac was further defined. According to Rielly, SuperMac will concentrate on mass market products for the Mac and Levco will remain an Apple VAR specializing in AEC (architecture, engineering and con- struction) and desktop publishing solutions. SuperMac Technology is located at 950 N. Rengstorff Ave., Mountain View, Calif. 94043; (415) 964-8884, Jasmine releases 50-Mbyte hard disk drive for Mac II SAN FRANCISCO — Jasmine Technologies Inc. last week started shipping a 50-Mbyt intemal hard disk drive for the Macintosh II. The InnerDrive SO/II has an average access time of 26 milliseconds. It comes with mounting brackets and connecting cables, Installation requires no expertise, according to the company. Jasmine includes a one-year full warranty, backup software and 9 Mbytes of public domain software and shareware. The InnerDrive 50/I, priced at $999, is intended as an entry-level product, according to Jas- mine, The company started shipping a $1,499, 90-Mbyte drive, its first intemal drive for the Mac Tl, in August. Taxmine Technologies Inc i located at $55 De Haro St, San Francisco, Cali. 98107 (45) 621-4339, Quark XPress 1.1 to ship Nov. 1 DENVER — Quark XPress 1.1, originally scheduled to ship this month, will ship Nov. 1, according to Jennifer Stevens, a Quark Inc. sales executive. The updated version of XPress includes support of the TIFF format for importing scanned mages. TIFF images are displayed in continuous tone display rather than as dithered images and can be printed or displayed as negative, high contrast or posterized images. Special effects include a 60-line screen; 30-line screen, 45-degree angle; 20-Line dot screen, 45-degree angle; and the ability to customize picture screening. XPress 1.1 also will support importing color TIFF images. Documents made with Microsoft Works and T/Maker Co.'s WriteNow also are supported. A Find/Change by Font Attributes option has been added to the Edit menu. The option allows users to search and replace by font, font size, style or any combination of these attributes. Changes can be made individually or globally. ‘The new version of XPress also includes one-quarter point font sizes and an option to save text only, Quark Inc. is located at 300 South Jackson St., Suite 100, Denver, Colo. 80209; (303) 934-2211. QMS ships laser printer for bit-mapped, complex graphics MOBILE, Ala. — QMS has started shipping its new Lasergrafix 1510 laser printer, aimed at envi- ronments that require high-volume printing of bit-mapped and complex vector graphics. ‘The 300-dpi printer is priced at $11,995. It comes with 6 Mbytes of RAM, allowing simul- taneous page processing of two fully bit-mapped legal or A4-size pages at a speed of 15 pages per ‘minute. ‘The printer includes either a resident Tektronix 4010/4014 emulation or QMS" proprietary ext and graphics print lan- ‘guage, QUIC, for out- putting vector or bit- ‘mapped graphics. Also included in the controller are Diablo 630, QUME and Sprint 11 emulations for word processing appli- cations. Sixteen resident fonts are included. Additional printer-resident and host- downloadable fonts are available from QMS. Lasergrafix 1510 con- nects to most network, mini and mainframe host systems. QMS can be reached at P.O. Box 81250, Mobile, Ala. 36689; (205) 633-4300. Desk Accessory manages billing, tracks time and expenses ESSEX, Mass. — TIMESLIPS III, a Desk Accessory created by North Edge Software, tracks expenses and billing for service professionals who base their fes on the time spent onthe clie!s project, such as lawyers, accountants, engineers and architects. The program, priced at $199.95, includes two modules, TSTIMER and TSREPORT, and is due to start shipping Nov. 16. TSIMER can manage client information, dates, projected times and description records. The Program can track up to 2,000 clients, 250 professionals and 250 activities. It will record time spent and expense charges, and then calculate the fee, ‘COURTESY OMS FCC ponders on-line access charges Thousands of letters oppose fee for on-line services BY JIRI WEISS MacWEEK Staff BOSTON — An electronic letter-writing cam- paign, alot of testimony and a concemed con- gressional subcommittee may make it difficult for the Federal Communications Commission to implement its proposed access charges on computer on-line services. The FCC wants enhanced service providers (ESPs) such as CompuServe, McDonnell Dou- elas Corp.’s TYMNET and Telenet Communi- cations Corp.'s Telenetto pay the same charges as long-distance telephone cariers pay to local telephone companies. ‘The FCC sees the charges it proposed in July as a matter of equity. The ESPs originally were exempt from the charges levied on long- distance phone companies following the 1983 breakup of AT&T to give the ESPs time to grow. Now the ESPs are mature enough to bear the burden, the FCC argues, ‘The ESPs counter thatthe fees of approxi- mately $5 per hour will force them to raise some off-peak rates as much as 500 percent, pethaps putting some providers out of busi- ness. Their supporters include computer indus- try groups such asthe Association of Data Processing Service Organizations (ADAPSO); educational groups like EDUCOM, a consortium of 500 universities; and users’ groups such asthe Boston Computer Society, Which has never taken an advocacy stand before, Even some of the telephone companies that ‘may profit from the change have asked for reconsideration of the proposed fees. A state- ment by NYNEX Corp, the parent company of the New England and New York telephone ‘companies, argued that neither it, the FCC nor the service providers have the technology to implement the charges because they have no way to tell how much ofthe ESPS' traffic goes, to interstate locations ‘The FCC has not collected any data on the effects ofthe charges on the enhanced services industry, FCC Chairman Dennis R. Patrick told the House Subcommittee on Telecommunica- tions and Finance at a public hearing in Boston on Oct, 2. How will the charges effect the price of information? “This is precisely the type of information the commission is seeking in notice (the process of soliciting comments Patrick said. Congressman Edward Markey, D-Mi who heads the subcommittee that oversees the FCC, said atthe hearing thatthe effect could be drastic. “I fear the FCC charge begins to ‘make information services the exclusive pre- rogative ofthe rch,” he said, Other witnesses said thatthe negative effects of the charges will extend beyond the ESP industry, For example, increased costs will force public and university libraries to curtail their on-line bibliographical searches. It may even hurt the United States’ trade relations in telecommunications, The United States has succeeded in con- vincing countries such as Japan that they should not treat ESPs like conventional tele- phone services, said Alfred C. Sikes, assistant secretary for communications and information withthe U.S, Department of Commerce. “[Now] we apparently have the FCC determin- ing that the enhanced service operations are like telephone services,” he said. “If we can’t persuade foreign telecommuni- cations administrations to liberalize their poli- cies, that wll curtail one promising means of expanding U.S. participation in overseas com- munications marke,” Sikes said. Users of on-line services have voiced their “We have made our case that the charge is not justified, and the FCC may have to back down by reducing the amount or phasing it out completely,” cconcem with thousands of letters, many down- loaded from bulletin boards, in perhaps the nation’s first case of what CompuServe dubbed “on-line advocacy.” The FCC has been receiving about 1,000 letters per week against the proposed rule. The subcommittee has received about 4,000 letters in all, said Frank Princip a subcommittee staff ‘member. Principi said during Judge Robert Cone senator talked about weighing the letters instead of counting them. “With us it’s getting to that point,” Principi said. The FCC doesn't have an accurate count of how many letters it ha received because many letters were sent in duplicate to all the FCC commissioners, an FCC spokeswoman said. “We don’t count votes,” she said, “We are more interested in quality of arguments than in the volume of mail.” Public pressure forced the agency to extend its deadline for receiving public comments by a month, The final deadline for receiving replies, ‘on comments was Oct. 26, ‘The FCC said its staff will then review all the comments and make its recommendation to the agency's four commissioners, who have the final say. A simple majority is enough to make the charge stick, “There is no time frame for the review pro- cess," the FCC spokeswoman said, “It would be hard to make the Jan. | deadline.” Ifit approves the charges, the FCC may face legislation from Congress, Principi said. “We have made our case thatthe charge is not {ustfied, and the FCC may have to back down by reducing the amount or phasing it out com- pletely,” he said. MacWEEK NEWS 5 ct 27, 1987 Blyth to link SQL to BY JIRI WEISS MacWEEK Staff FOSTER CITY, Calif, — Blyth Software Inc. plans to interface its relational Mac database, Omnis 3 Plus to large corporate databases that use Structured Query Language (SQL). ‘The company will link Omnis to SQL dis- tributed databases from SYBASE Inc. of Berkeley, Calif. a software company that is looking into porting its SQI. database products to the Mac. SYBASE's DataServer databases, are used by corporations on VAX and Sun computers to keep large relational databases in manufacturing and value-added networking for telecommunications and by financial institutions for automated trading, said Stewart Schuster, SYBASE’s marketing vice president, “Blyth will integrate the SYBASE pro- gramming language interface to build links between Omnis 3 Plus and SYBASE Data- Server,” said Michael Kenny, president of Blyth Software of San Mateo, Calif. Eventually, Blyth will be able to communi cate with other SQL databases, said Schuster. SYBASE will develop interface and network- ing forthe new products. Product announce- ments are expected early next year. A growing portion of Omnis 3 Plus sales are in corporations and government, said Kenny. “Support of the SYBASE SQL DataServer will enhance customer produc- tivity by giving them access to corporate data stored on a miniframes and mainframes,” he said, SQL isa relational database language that is becoming an industry standard for retrieving data from databases. SQL is similar o ACTUS’ 4th Dimension and Ashton-Tate's dBase Mac, but unlike those fourth-generation languages, it lacks an appli- cation development environment for handling, for example, /O or preparing reports, said ‘SYBASE's Schuster. Unlike most programming languages, SQL does not contain procedural statements such as iffthen statements, SQL has to be embedded in another relational database language ora pro- Omnis gramming language like C or COBOL. But SQL lets users manipulate whole sets of records and frees them from having to tell the computer how or where to access a particular Piece of data, Schuster said First defined in 1974 by IBM's San Jose Laboratory, SQL is now used by the majority of mainframe and minicomputer databases, including IBM’s DB2, “It's hard to find databases that aren't SQL,” said Paul Cubbage, a software industry analyst with Dataquest of San Jose, Calif, “Everybody is signing up to the SQL religion.” SQL is indispensible forthe corporate connec- tivity environment, he said. Last year, SQL was adopted by the Ameri- can National Standards Institute a a standard. IBM will incorporate it into its OS2 Extended Edition operating system scheduled for release next year. It wll also be the standard for the company’s Systems Application Architecture SQL may have become a standard because IBM has adopted it rather than because itis a better language, said Edward. F. Codd, the father of the relational database concept, who now heads the Relational Institute in Palo Alto, Calif. “They did something ill-advised. They wanted to replace predicate logic that took the brains on this planet 2,000 years to invent,” he said, ‘The language was slapped together with no ‘good way of handling, for example, duplicate records or replacing values with variables or functions, according to Codd. “SQL has an awful lot of problems, but it has become a stan- dard; there is no ignoring it,” he said. nother problem facing SQL is standardiza- tion, Codd said. Many different dialects and extensions to SQL exist. The IBM version is not the same as the ANSI version or the SYBASE version. Despite adopting a less than optimal stan- dard, relational databases will grow tremen- ously, predicted Codd. “It will be just like ‘when Fortran was introduced and the market for computers in engineering and science mushroomed,” he sai, Ml PowerDraw; a professional Computer Aided Design ‘specifically for the Architectural , Engineering professions. As easy to use as the Macintosh itself, this drafting package ahe: + Kill Redraw for speed + Powerful Polygon Tool + Kear etn ft reson. Col pining & lat ‘Computer Shoppe PO Box 18344 Greensboro, NC 27419 (019) 299-4843 but loaded with features that sets .ad of the competition. + Auto Dimensioning (wiwo ext ines) + Reads MacDraw™ Files ‘a ug coma le “fie Seas 3 Dimension line styles + Text rotation. Designed by the makers of jpntroductory: MACPLOTS II” Price: Peden. ay2dh ht $595.00 |tereietsne weacerarters oujerud MacWEEK Oct. 27, 1987 NEWS High-quality output as close as the nearest modem BY PRESTON GRALLA Special o MacWEEK ‘A young man in Hong Kong sits in front of his ‘Macintosh, puts the finishing touches on a newsletter and several data sheets created for his high-tech employers inthe United States, and with a push of a few buttons starts his work on a journey that will reach halfway around the world Itis sent over local phone lines, beamed off a satelite and finally reaches its destination in Santa Clara, Calif, where itis received, printed on a LaserWriter and quickly sent to the mother office. A litte closer to home, an executive vice president of a corporation in the Midwest waits until the last minute to get the most up-to-the minute data fora slide show he's preparing for a board meeting the next moming. As the final numbers come in, he types them onto his Mac screen, adjusts bar and pie graphs and, finally satisfied, sends the graphs by modem to an “imaging center” where high-quality slides are prepared and shipped back to him early the next day, in time to make the all-important conference, These are just two examples of a new way in which Macintoshes are being used in the corporate world. Prodded by the graphics capa- bilities of the Mac and the acceptance of the ‘machines into the corporate world, service bureaus have begun springing up that take Mac files from remote sites and tur them into high- quality output such as 35mm slides or into typeset and near-typeset documents. In some cases, not only quality but also the ability to distribute the material is sold. A. newsletter, for example, can be created in one location and sent to a single bureau, which can beam it to dozens of sites around the country —or the world — to be locally printed and disseminated. ‘The bureaus answer a growing need among corporate users of Macs. Although the Mac isa powerful graphics machine, until now it has been very difficult and expensive to get 35mm slides and other sophisticated output that were of high enough quality for business presenta- tions. In addition, while the machine is ideally suited for desktop publishing, the problems ssociated with producing, printing and dis- tributing newsletters have plagued some users. ‘The new services are national and even international in scope because electronic files ‘can be sent and read anywhere in the world. Autographix of Waltham, Mass., has been in the business of producing high-quality out- put for presentation graphics for several years. But until now the firm has not provided its ser- vices to Macintosh users. Ironically, the firm's first product was a graphics controller board for the first generation of Apple computers Since then, however, Autographix has focused ‘more on the IBM world, providing output ser- vices for PC graphics as well as forthe work stations it sells. John Donnelly, vice president of marketing, said the company decided to provide its ser- vices to Mac users because of what he sees as a burgeoning demand for high-quality output. “Obviously, the Macintosh is an atractive product from a graphics point of view,” he said, "Many people are buying it because of their interest in the graphics side of life.” He claims that | billion slides are created every year on IBM PCs. While he doesn’t expect the Mac world to match that number right away, he said, “People with Macs have more of a graphics mindset, so I expect there to be more slides made per machine.” Overnight graphies Autographix signed a deal with Cricket Soft- ware of Malvern, Pa, that will allow users of CCricket’s graphics software products to create graphics and send them via modem to “imag- ing centers” that will run out the graphics and send them tothe user the following morning Donnelly noted that the firm has the ability to create 35mm slides as wel asa variety of other kinds of high-quality output, including color thermal prints, laser prints and 8-by-10-inch color prints, suitable for presentation graphics. Donnelly sai that when a Macintosh user is finished producing his graphics with Crickets software, he hits a menu button that prompts him to answer questions about the type of output desired, the numberof slides required, and the user’s name and address. The whole “packet” is sent off via modem to an Autographix center, where it will be output and sent back tothe user. He noted that such presentation graphics ‘are growing more important in the corporate “People have begun to realize that visual aids increase the effectiveness of a presentation by 50 percent or more,” he said. “Because of this, more people are using them, Texpect the trend will continue.” He said he also expects that Mac graphics worksta- tions willbe increasingly con- nected to networks. When someone i finished with the raw data for presentation graphics, he said, that infor- mation willbe sent to the workstation, where an artist ‘will turn it into a work of art and transmit it to Auto- graphix. The Autographix service is scheduled to be available in November. By signing a pact with Autographix, Cricket Soft- ware agreed there is more of a need forthe creation of slides and other high-quality output. Carol Clyde, Cricket’s marketing relations ‘manager, said that “anyone with an idea to sell can use a presentation to sell it —and they get better results that way.” Presentation slides She noted that the equipment needed to pro- duce high-quality slides is often beyond the pocketbook of most users. Because ofthis, she said, the Autographix service “has such obyi- ous benefits. People without film recorder can have slides ready the next moming at a mini- mum cost.” Clyde also said that currently not all output produced using Cricket software canbe run ut as slides. Since Cricket Draw produces PostScript file, she sad, it cannot work with film recorders. Cricket is working ona driver to remedy that problem. ‘The company, she added, also is readying Cricket Presents... which will beable to import files from the firm’s other software, put Both Bob Batty of CompuFilm, top, and John Donnelly of Autographix say many people interested in producing graphics have turned to the Mat. together a presentation and send it out to Auto- graphix, where it can be run out as film. CompuFilm of San Francisco will offer a similar service starting in January, Like Auto- araphix, the firm started out producing slides for IBM PCs. But then the company found that “major corporations have more Macs than we ever expected,” said CompuFilm’s Bob Baty MAC GOES WORLDWIDE Service bureaus are springing up to take Macintosh files from remote sites throughout the world and turn them if high-gualty ouput such as 35mm sides or typeset and near-type- 0 documents: Ae world can create a doc- uument and send it over plhone lines and beam it off a satelite to a ser- vice bureau in another parol he war a fessional output. ae Gamer | Ged ow USSR. China “We talked to alot of large companies that we assumed were all ‘blue’ and we found Macs in the creative, research and scientific depart- ments. People who put documents together have moved to a Mac environment.” CompuFilm’s service differs from Auto- graphix's, Rather than send graphics by modem, users send disks via Federal Express to CompuFilm, where the data is tured into slides or prints and sent back. Furthermore, the user is not bound to soft- ware from any one vendor. As long as the soft- ware works with Color QuickDraw, i can be tured into slides. This means, said Batty, that virtually “anything you can put on a Mac screen” can be tured into slides. He added that CompuFilm will eventually ‘come out with a modem service like Auto- graphin’s. The most important problem with sending images by modem, he said, is that “until multitasking is truly available. it ties up the machine for too long. An image can take up from 5,000 to 10,000 bytes. If you send 20 slides, that can be an hour of modem time.” International printing services Slide-creation firms are not the only kind of service bureaus that have begun to focus on the Macintosh users, A unique international prnt- ing service is now based around the Mac. Another well-known fast-printing franchise has begun Macintosh-based services as well. ‘lphaGraphics Print Shops of the Future, a Tucson, Ariz.-based graphics and printing company with 280 franchise locations, pro- Vides one of the most comprehensive networks of services for Mac users (See related story.) Each franchise has a network of Macs, where users can walk in and put together a publica- tion using either Aldus” PageMaker or Alpha- Graphics’ proprietary software. In addition, the firm has other proprietary software that eases the creation of business forms, letterheads and other stationery. Scanners are onsite as well. ‘When the work is compete, the shop not only runs out the type on a laser printer, it also prints the job. Furthermore, the work can be sent through the firm’s communications net- ‘work to any other AlphaGraphics franchise, ‘where it can be printed and distributed. The firm also prepares custom binders and folders, continuous letterheads and 35mm color slides from Mac-created files. More importantly, Mac owners can lnk their offices directly to an AlphaGraphies franchise and be hooked into the chain’s printing and communi- MacWEEK NEWS Oct. 27; 1987 printed and shipped to Las Vegas. ‘The PIP Printing fast-printing franchises hhave begun using the Macs as well, although in a different way. The company will use Page- Maker and Macintoshes for internal typesetting chores. David Freed, PIP’s director of MIS, said that in certain cases, users could transmit their Mac files to a PIP franchise, where it ‘would be printed. All these services provide ways for Mac users fo extend the power and sophistication of their computers. With them, one no longer needs to own costly equipment to get color slides quickly or expensive printing equipment and communication networks to send newsletters to remote sites. These services should certainly make it easier for “Mac users to thrive in the corporate world —or to quickly create output that matches what they see on their screen without buying special equipment. i AlphaGraphics Print Shops ofthe Future has used the Macintosh to bring high technology to the quick-printing industry, a business that in the past had a decidedly low-tech feel to it. _ Rodger Ford, AlphaGraphics’ founder and CEO, first thought of offering desktop publish- ing services to his customers in 1979, when Xerox came out witha laser printer and a new fine of computers. Ford, who had been a Xerox sales, ‘manager, was fully aware of the publishing power of com- puters. While Xerox's price tag for the printer was too high at became public, he based the self-publishing concept on the based in Tueson, Anz, initially terminals AlphaGraphics brings high tech to quick printing Ford said he built the network around the ‘Mac“*because its easy to us; ites the story in pictures, Call it a video arcade for adults.” ‘The satellite network is used ina variety of ‘ways. For example, Ford said an AlphaGraph- ‘ics customer based in Los Angeles sends a "AlphaGraphies’ Rodger Ford: “We plan tobe the UPL forthe smal publisher.” one city drafted a document, he said, and sent itto their counterparts over AlphaL ink, who amended it. The document was sent back and forth and changed several times during the ‘negotiations. Furlong said when the self-service concept ‘was first discussed, he expected that secretaries would use it, “But what we've found is that mid to upper-level executives are coming in and doing the work. In most cases they're producing something that’s very personal to them and they want to create it themselves.” While AlphaGraphics may revolutionize the quick-printing industry, Ford is not resting on his future, Saying the Mac Ils still “alittle buggy,” he hopes to intro- ‘duce products based on it once those bugs are worked out. Alpha- Graphics will soon have propri- etary software for its customers ‘similar to Interleaf’s page layout software that he claims will be ‘more powerful than Aldus’ Page- Maker. Finally, as computers gain power, he said he will compile a database of information and arti- cles that customers can use in creating their newsletters, “ Small publications can use it to get information quicker and put the wis- dom of the world into their newsletters. We a plan to be,” he said, “the UPI for the small publisher.” — By Preston Gralla Busy desktop publishers are calling SuperGlue™ the easiest solution since the total meal in a sandwich Now they can take full QuickDraw quality, multi-page Macintosh™ spreadsheets, charts, graphs and the like out of the program that created them. With the easy. Not since hamand cheese has integrating beenso new desk accessory, you can access and copy from ali these graphics while still in your word processor or page layout program. IF you use Scrapbooks, your graphics can be placed automatically in scrapbook files or resized so you can paste them where you please. You cari even extract text or numerical data, change itto ASCII, and place it in another program. If this whets your appetite, order SuperGiue™ today. It's guaranteed to perform as advertised or your money back uperGlue™ retails for $89.95 and is available from your dealer or Solutions International,» a 29 Main St., P.O. Box 989 Montpelier, VT 05602 802-229-9146 cations network, Rodger Ford, AlphaGraphics’ founder and CEO, said, “Sophisticated Mac users could simply link to us and from their desks tell us exactly what they wanted printed.” He said that while many small firms use the service, large corporations have begun turning to AlphaGraphics as well, particularly for its communications network, ‘As an example, he cited a Geneva, Switzer- land-based high-technology firm that needed a way to send a large number of documents from Switzerland to the annual COMDEX computer show in Las Vegas. The firm, he said, created the documents in Geneva and sent them over the AlphaGraphics network to a Califomia AlphaGraphies franchise, where they were GL SuperGie isa radeark of Solitons. nc Macintosh s trademark of Apple Computer Ine ‘SuperGive runs on any Macintosh arg than 512K Call for Corporate Rates The MacWEEK Showcase Here's an opportunity to showcase your products to 40,000 high-powered volume buyers. And at the best (ee enna ee noe Asc ee DRE? price available anywhere in the industry. Introducing Fa. \ es Rs g the MacWEEK Showcase pages. For just $450* you se EN xX ener ano™ can showcase your products in MacWEEK, the first <— Zz = and only Macintosh newsweekly. Showcase pages are divided into 6 units (S”wx4'4"d), and considering our tabloid size that adds up to a lot of space and reach for the money. Plus, MacWEEK will produce your ad materials in color at no extra charge. Showcase your products in MacWEEK this week and every week. Call 415-882-7370 today! Or write r my) hhh AclVEFK i 1 | | ae wad ae ie ei) 525 Brannan St. San Francisco, CA 94170 *Minimum order of 3 Showcase ads Macintosh is a rogistred trademark of Apple Compute, Inc. (©1987 Patch Communications. All ights resowed, Kroy refits copy centers with Macs BY CLAIR WHITMER MacWEEK Staff SCOTTSDALE, Ariz, — The electronic media has poked its digitized head into more than one company where mechanics have traditionally reigned. Kroy Inc. isthe newest example of the phenomenon, Kroy of Scottsdale, Ariz, has grown com- fortable on the sales of its mechanical lettering machines, and that division is still one of its major limbs. But recently, Kroy executives decided the time has come for an infusion of new blood from a fresher technology. ‘The technology they chose was the Macintosh, “Kroy as a company has seen the mechani- cal lettering market deteriorate since the intro- duction of the microcomputer. Every product has a life cycle,” said Randy Bailey, adverts- ing manager for Kroy. ‘And as far as text management and publish- ing goes, mechanical lettering machines are definitely in their seventh age, This fact didn’t bode well for another division of Kroy's business, its copy centers. Recently, the company began refitting its seven copy centers with systems based on the Macintosh SE. The centers also use Abaton scanners, projection machinery, and Microsoft's PowerPoint and Aldus’ PageMaker software to complete what Kroy calls its “desktop presentation centers.” ‘The idea behind that new buzzword is to provide executives with a solution for prepar- ing their presentations, complete with slides, speakers’ notes and bound handouts, colored with Kroy Kolorif necessary. “We think that appeals more to the common, rman than typesetting services. I's very impor- tant that we embrace the new technology and even leapfrog i,” said John Glitsos, Kroy vice president in charge of the copy centers, the new sign division and new technologies. The company hopes to appeal to executives who don’t have a desktop presentation system, don’t know how to use one or don’t have time to leam. See KROY, Page 15 MacWEEK BUSINESS WATCH Oct. 27,1987 John Gltsos: “I's very important that we embrace the new technology and even leapfrog TEFF STANTON Portal’s global strategy for on-line market BY JON SWARTZ MacWEEK Staff CUPERTINO, Calif. — Tiny Portal Communi- cations Co. thinks tat t's onto something big in the on-line communications market. Last month the Cupertino, Calif, company lowered the price of its online communica- tions service, the Portal System, to $10 per ‘month, Comparable service from competitors (CompuServe and GEnie costs $12.50 per hour. Co-founder John Little said the service, which supports Macintoshes, IBM PCs and Digital Equipment Corp. computers, marks the beginning ofan industry trend toward low-cost on-line communications “The potential market, is limitless,” he said, Then again, Portal’s founders always had big dreams. The three-year-old compan ally started at the top when co-founders Little and Phil Sih met on the 110th floor of New York's World Trade Center. “No garage for this start-up,” Litle sad, joking. ‘Since being incorporated in May 1985, Por- tal has added thousands of users, although nei- ther Sih nor Little would say how many. However, this much is known: Portal has established gateways to approximately 80 net- ‘works in 30 to 40 countries and plans to pro- vide on-line service tothe 400,000-member Sierra Club next year. But Portals interested in small businesses like Vidocg, a San Jose, Calif, detective agency, and individual users who otherwise couldn’ afford on-line communications. “CompuServe and GEnie dominate an established portion ofthe market,” Sih said, “But we see ourselves surpassing them in the See PORTAL, Page IS Stock market dive hits computer industry investors BY RUSTY WESTON MacWEEK Staff MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Imagine you work for a stellar high-tech company. It reports record eamings, bt suddenly the 200 shares of stock you bought last year is worth 20 percent less. So, you won't buy anew Saab afterall. But pethaps it's more serious than tha. If a prolonged bear market follows last week's stock market collapse, it would pose a crisis to thousands of employees in high-tech firms across the United Stats that have more than an emotional stake in their careers. Most high-tech companies offer discount stock-purchase plans for employees. A simple axiom applies: If you have faith in your com- pany, you buy its stock. So, when the bottom seemed to drop out of the market recently, stock-market headliners like Apple, Lotus, Ashton-Tate, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft lost more than a litle luster. “When people walk out the door tonight to go home, they won't walk close to the build- ing,” said Greg Jarboe, Lotus’ director of cor- porate communications. “We take this in stride along with hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, and other natural phenomena. “What's totally ionic is we announced record earnings today (Oct. 19), so whatever is going on out therein the greater world is some- thing that we don’t think we're participating “We announced record earnings today (Oct. 19), so whatever is going on out there in the greater world is something that we don’t think we're participating in.” in,” Jarboe said. “I guess our stock is down 3 or 4 points today. It’s a weird market out there. Microsoft is down 12. “W’s.a big topic of discussion here,” said Brad Stevens, Ashton-Tate’s manager of cor- porate communications. “We lost 6 points; this is the worst so far.” “It’s kind of funny that most people make jokes about it,” said an Apple engineer after the stock plunged 15 points in one week. “Con- sidering how much money people have made ‘over the past two years, it’s just one of those things. I think people have enough confidence that the stock will go back up. Is this company really worth that much les than it was on Fri- day (Oct, 16)?” ‘Atone point, Apple dropped 22 points below its post-split 1987 high of 59. On Oct. 16 the market dropped 108 points, hitting the major computer stocks hard. No one jumped out of a window, but no one jumped for joy, either. On Monday, Oct. 19, people tured philosophical while they sold, driving the market down 508 points. The employees were trying not to take the ‘market rout personally. Said one Microsoft ‘manager: “It doesn’t matter, really, as long as the stock bounces back before 2000 — when I send my kid to college.” Leading software developers’ revenues soar despite market plunge BY RUSTY WESTON. MacWEEK Staff Tt was abad day for good news. The Persian Gulf was in turmoil, The stock market practi- cally crashed. The fact that the two leading software com- panies in the world had posted record $100- million quarters was easily overlooked. For the first time in recent months, the newly intensi- fied rivalry between Microsoft Corp. of Red- mond, Wash., and Lotus Development Corp. of ‘Cambridge, Mass., seemed a moot point. Despite sterling report cards, both high-pro- file companies lost significant ground amid panic selling last week on Wall Street. On Oct 19, the day the Dow plunged 508 points, Lotus dropped $19.50 per share, closing at $45.25; Microsoft fell $6 to $26.25 a share It could have been worse, of course. The two leading software developers actually fared well compared with hardware counterparts IBM Corp. of Armonk, N.Y., and Digital Equipment Corp. of Maynard, Mass, IBM lost $31.75 and DEC slipped $42.25 per share. Microsoft reported fiscal 1988 first-quarter revenue of $102.6 million, an increase of $4 percent from $66.8 million in the same period last year. Net income forthe quarter ended Sept. 30 was $21.3 million, up 34 percent from $15.8 million inthe same quarter last year. Eamings per share were 38 cents, compared with 29 cents per share a year ago. Tt was the eighth consecutive record quarter for Microsoft. “As indicated two weeks ago, strong retail See EARNINGS, Page 14 Mac WEEK CER 27, 1987 BUSINESS WaTca| EARNINGS Continued from Page 13 and OEM revenues worldwide contributed to ‘ur positive results,” Frank Gaudette, vice president and chief financial officer for Microsoft, said in a prepared statement. “Financial performance was strong across all channels of distribution and product groups.” Lotus’ revenue from the third quarter of fis- cal 1987 jumped 54 percent to $101.2 million from $65.6 million in the same period a year 1988. ago, Net income was $19.1 million, up 101 Which Peripheral Land system do you need? ‘Ask your dealer fo help you make the right choice. percent, compared with the same quarter last year, when $9.5 million was reported. “The third quarter saw unprecedented ‘demand for our core spreadsheet products in both domestic and international markets,” said Jim P. Manzi, Lotus president and CEO. He added thatthe quarter marked record sales for 1-2-3, Lotus has announced that 1-2-3 for the Macintosh probably will be available in late products for the Mac and PC after Jan. 1 that are expected to boost sales even further. Microsoft has announced it will release PC Excel, its popular spreadsheet program, and 5/2, the new IBM operating system. “The big are getting bigger and its getting tougher for the small software companies,” said Darrell Boyle of Trailblazer Consultants of Saratoga, Calif. “With a series of mergers and acquisitions atthe low end, it shows signs CALENDAR NOVEMBER 9-13 — Advanced Systems Analysis (San Francisco) ‘This five-day course is designed to show expe- rienced systems analysts how to break away from a “bits and bytes” perspective and view operations from a business point of view. The program is aimed at systems analyst, lead pro- grammers, project leaders and executives Microsoft also plans to release major new of a maturing marketplace.” i Peripheral Land’s Turbo Drives are the world’s fasfest for the Macintosh . . . but ls of manufacturers claim outstanding speed. But. N you believe them? Testing independently, three. leading Macintosh magazines found ut Tet None ore faster than Peripheral Land's. You can trust hem: MACWORLD: “The Peripheral Land Drive is the hot rod of he group, o goed choles if you need fop perfor mance right away MacUser: epheral Land's hard disk drives are ranked # in speed, reliabllity, storage capacities and aesthetics” MacWEEK produced this chart demonstrating how Peripheral Land beat out every other manufacturer: HARD DISK PERFORMANCE ref Ra cache ea Pgs shore Se apes Toots V0 9 *Poripheral Land PLA0 me seconds) 0-2 4 6 te ie PLI'S EXTERNAL HARD DISKS — our PL 30, 50, 100, 172 ‘and 230 Turbo Drive Systems — provide a combination of speed, reliability, software and value that has earn- ‘ed them the top spot among SCSI hard drives. ‘Access time for PLI’s external drives is as fast as 18 milliseconds. But our Turbo Software (leaturing a disk technology called 4:1 Interleave) makes them even faster — three times as fast as some competitive drives that cost more. PLI'S INTERNAL HARD DISKS are 30% foster than Apple's ‘own internal drives, and up to 300% faster than other don’t take our word for it. manufacturers: These 30, 50 and 65 MB drives are carried Inside the Mac SE or Mac I, saving valuable ‘desk space and providing Instant Portability. We also include an extemal enclosure to house the SE second floppy rive that is replaced by the hard disk. Another Peripheral Land exclusivel With every Peripheral Land drive you get these new soft. ‘ware programs absolutely free: * LaserSpeed”— from Think Technologies. A new laser printer spooler with builtin cue management (@ $99 value). * Back Print™— a new Imagewriter spooler from Cort land Computer (a $59 value). PLIs Turbo Software also gives you more utilities than ‘any other hard drive: Paritioning with password protec- tion, HFSIMFS support, DA volume mounter, file locator, ‘and a powerful backup utility. They all serve to make’ your Mac run faster, easier and more effectively. ‘And the reliability of the unis is also unbeatable: Every ‘one of PLIs hard chives is completely tested and burned: in before shipping and carries a full one-year Ey Aren't Peripheral Land hard disks your best buy there? We think ifs obvious, bul Gont fake out word for it, Ask your dealer. The best ones know us well. They are iso familiar with our Infinity™disk drives and our tape ‘backup stystems. t your dealer doesnt have Peripheral Land products, hell be glad to call us for you. You can take our word for that. PERIPHERAL LAND, INC. 47800 Westinghouse Drive Fremont, CA 94538 (415) 657-2211 TELEX 650305-1733MCI involved in systems-related assignments, focusing on strengthening analytical skills and techniques for systems analysis and design Contact: Charles D. Black at the Association for Systems Management at (415) 4288-4786. 9-12 —NCGA Mapping & Geography Information Systems (San Diego) Sponsored by the National Computer Graphics ‘Association, the conference and exposition will highlight automated mapping and geographic information systems. More than 25 vendors are expected to exhibit. The conference portion will be divided into three program areas: auto- ‘mated mapping/facilties management (AM/EM), geographic information systems (GIS) and energy mapping. Contact: Bob Cramblitt or Holly Siprelle at (703) 698-9600. 11-13 —Long Island Apple Expo (Plainview, N.Y.) s) Guy Kawasaki, former Apple software devel- ‘opment chief, will be the keynote speaker at this three-day conference aimed at business and education users. A partial list of partci- pants include Cricket Software, Adobe Sys- tems Inc., WordPerfect Corp., Ashton-Tate, B) Microsoft Corp. and Interleaf Inc. Continuous hands-on workshops, educational applications of the Apple Il and IIGS, and seminars by Apple specialists for educators of kindergarten through 12th grade will be provided by Apple. Contact: Janet Box at (516) 249-3366. 16-17 — Datagram 1987 Electronic Publish- ing Conference (Bedford, Mass.) Conference to focus on “Unlocking the Market — the Acceptance Factor.” Pane! discussions will include topics such as adapting technology to the publishing process, desktop publishing, office systems, dedicated publishing, strategic system architectures for electronic publishing and page-description language standards. Con- tact: Dataquest at (408) 971-9000, ext. 501. 19-22 — imPACT! ’87 (Hong Kong) Jointly sponsored by The Seybold Group and ProjectAsia, the event will focus onthe Asian Pacific Rim market area, It will include a four day Seybold Seminar-style conference and a ‘major equipment exposition. Exhibitors will represent the electronic publishing market from the United States, Europe, Japan and other Pacific Rim countries. There will be discus- sions ofthe latest publishing technology and software piracy and what to do about it. Con- tact: Jonathan W. Seybold at (213) 457-4704. Send calendar events to: Clair Whitmer, MacWEEK Calendar, 525 Brannan St., San Francisco, Calif. 94107. KROY. PORTAL BUSINESS WATCH Oct. 27, MacWEEK 1987 1 5 Continued from Page 13 “A user may have a Mac in his building but may not know how to use it attractively. Our people have that expertise,” Glitsos sai. The company’ frst new technology prod- uct didn’t happen to show any particular bias towards the Macintosh, even though “within Kroy, there are Macs everywhere,” Bailey said. ‘That product was the Kroy Kolor sheets and processor, a hea-based system for transferring color to laser printer or photocopier output, Recently, the company started priming new additions to that system, and this time the soft- ware involved is Macintosh-specific. The first product, though Kroy executives hint at more, is SignXpress, designed to create architectural gram was written by Glitsos to tectural signs, which include every- thing from lobby directories to desk bars. The company has worked with a paper mill to develop a card stock that can be used in laser printers. In conjunction with Kroy’s series of Glitsos estimated that the architectural signs comprise a half-billion-dollar industry “not dominated by anyone since they're mostly ‘mom and pop’ operations.” ‘wooden, meta, plastic and acrylic frames, sign templates and Kroy Kolor, the company is aim- ing o be an alterative to sign shops. Kroy expects desk bars made with its prod- ucts to be displayed on desks all over the coun- try soon, Glitsos estimates that the architectural signs comprise a half-billion-dollar industry “not dominated by anyone since they're mostly “mom and pop’ operations. He also predicted that his company's new ignificantly alter that mar- ket share in Kroy’s favor. Kroy also will be included in a point of pur- chase sign series tobe released this quarter. Such signs would be used, for example, to dis- play sale prices in department stores replacing promotional aids that are now usually done With large and expensive mechanical presses. Glitsos said the company’s market research reveals a sales force excited by the possibility cof a cheaper personal computer-based system and by the creativity it would allow. was the No. 1 cause of the "said Glitsos. His favorite sales pitch includes the example ofa sales sign for Jood shirts enhanced with the picture ofthe alligator. Feedback from the marketplace has been encouraging so far, with the divisions of signs, copy centers and desktop presentation growing more than 40 percent in the last year. Glitsos said he expects them to catch up with or sur- pass the traditional lettering machi Within two or three years. Once again, progress has been profitable. Continued from Page 13 larger future market.” Portal and AT&T recently connected 100 high schools nationwide to share information in a global classroom.” “We think high school districts would be ideal users,” Sih said, “We're also interested in any organization that wants to spread its ideology.” ‘Whether the club is the environmental Sierra Club or a right-wing political organization doesn’t matter, according to Sib. “We are not editors; we are carters,” he said. “We can’t control voices, but [we can} try to present an atmosphere of political tolerance and an equal force.” Little and Sih said Portal is creating a niche in the on-line communications market for users ‘who want a low-cost, flat-rate local service. Little, who designed Portal System, said proprietary developments in its communica- tions software make it cheaper than its com- patitors, who rely on expensive computers, old The Portal System offers customer suppor, user-group communications, electronic bulletin boards, advertising and information distribution. Because Portal is connected to other net- works, including Usenet, an international con- ferencing network, and to UUCP, ARPA, BIT- NET and other mail networks, itis more flexi- ble than CompuServe and GEnie, Sih sai. Portal can be reached by modem for infor- mation or on-line sign up at (408) 725-0561 (300/1,200 bps) or (408) 725-0569 (2,400 bps) or by connection tothe Telenet public data software and high operating costs network or by telephone at (408) 973-9111. i There's a new way to make stun- i ning presentation slides for a fraction of the cost, in a fraction of the time, right in your office. It’s called ImageMaker” And it makes creating presentation slides as easy as showing them. Produce a $100 slide for 50 cents. With overtime charges, the sim- plest image from a slide service can works with the lacintosh,” and popul entation soft easily run $100. But with ImageMaker, the most you'll pay for a high-quality slide is around 50 cents—the cost of film and processing. Get finished slides in hours instead of days. With ImageMaker you can produce an entire presentation, from idea to projector-ready slides, in un- der four hours. And it's so easy to use that. you, or anyone else, can quickly design professional-looking slides. Project the best image possible. ImageMaker slides are twice as sharp as most professional ser- vice bureau slides. And it allows you to work | with a full range of bril- i liant foreground and background colors, aie ak patterns, efor many pete, and your choice of many typefaces. Call 800-255-4574 (ext. 352)* for free sample slides. Also get our literature kit anda demonstration. Start making your slide presentations sharper, faster and less expensively. - ImageMaker Ttll turn you intoa PRESENTATION TECHNOLOGIES 7488, Pasria Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Screen star overnight. “i fstrs Suv The lowing are trad Presentation fecha | resteredtademar Produc lerange of sraphs fand¢ ag = ata of companies ise Image ine; Macinwnh Apple Compater ine Apple "Apple Computer ine = MacWEEK - Oct-27, 1987 EDITORIAL Does renting software lead to illegal copying? BY KEN WASCH Special to MacWEEK The Software Publishers Association does not believe software rental is the way to help consumers purchase the programs that best meet their needs Asin any industry, soft- ware firms must balance their need to survive (read: ‘make a profit) with their customers’ requests for reasonably priced and well-supported products. The rental of software upsets the balance of interest between copyright owners and copyright users. Advocates of software rental claim renting isthe only way users can truly know wha they ae getting. But allt often, rentals result in ilegal copying. Since the only justification for sofiware renal is software preview, the satisfaction of that need through other means would obviate the rationale for storefront or mail-order rental operations. The software retailer i the first point of contact for most software purchasers. Users deserve and should demand a knowl- edgeable and responsive retail staff that can demonstrat the capabilities of competing software packages. Many retailers also permit the user to preview any software package right inthe store, For example, Egghead Software carries nearly 2,000 H EF : ; éE : H 8 Ken Waseh Computer owners don’ BY D.W. KINGSBURY Special to MacWEEK At Software Library, we feel itis quite presumptu- ous on the part of Con- gresswoman Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo., the Software Publishers Asso- ciation or anyone else to say that software rental leads to theft. Ifa person spends $2,000 to $10,000 on a computer, is it logical that he or she would expect to steal the soft- ware that makes it per- form? If you buy an automobile, would you expect to steal the gasoline to run it? To reduce theft, we have made our signed “Membership Agreement" mandatory. It states that illegal copying of software is punishable by law. Our associates are and always have been instructed to avoid copying questions completely. We refer such questions to the publisher. Computer users are not buying computers; they are buying productivity. They want productivity and they will py fori, but they don't want to get ripped off inthe process. ‘We believe that the rental of software is of benefit to all con- ccemed for the following reasons: Software rental helps publishers. Rentals help sell expensive programs. Whether customers have had a bad experience with Software or not, they aren’t willing to take “pot luck” with soft- ware that costs from $300 up. CYNTHIA JOHNSON D.W. Kingsbury Rental upsets balance between copyright owners and users tiles. You can break open the shrink-wrap on any tile and try it cut in the store. Egghead’s policy of ensuring that users are well-informed decision makers has become an important part of its service. Other retailers are following suit Another means of providing customers with hands-on expo- sure is through demonstration disks or crippled software. A ddemo disk simply shows you the features ofthe program. A crippled disk is a copy of the actual program — minus some key feature, lke the ability to save your work. These are inexpensive alternatives to assist the customer in selecting the right software forhis or her needs. Copying a program without the permission ofthe copyright holder is not only illegal, it also deprives the publisher and everyone else involved in software development, production and marketing of their legitimate income. This could be crip- pling tothe industry — and to users who want the software industry o develop new and innovative applications. The proliferation of software rental operations reflects an unfair tipping of the legitimate balance of interests toward copy- right inftingers. Some members of Congress apparently agre. The Computer Software Rental Act of 1987 was introduced in March by Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo. The bill parallels the record Rental Amendment Act of 1984 that prohibits renting audio recordings without permission ofthe copyright holder. The software rental bill recognizes what I have discussed: The legitimate interests of software consumers can be served without, subjecting the software industry to widespread theft of its work. Ken Wasch is executive director of the Washington, D.C.- based Software Publishers Association (SPA), t need to steal software Rentals help the small guy. Dealers, distributors and mail- order firms move products through channels of distribution, They naturally handle the products that move the best. Unfortu- nately, many publishers are left behind, There are some brilliant publishers out there who may not have the advertising dollars or the publicity to be recognized. We get the word out Software rental helps the user. There is too much software out there for the user to determine the proper package without some help. Software has become so sophisticated that the attributes of most software can’t be discovered by reading an article or looking over someone's shoulder at a store. With our evaluation program, users can get first-hand information and determine exactly what will satisfy their needs Most software packages sell based on the amount of adver- tising and publicity they get. The programs that get reviewed are not necessarily what all users need, Software should sell based ‘on its true merit, and evaluation ofa rental program keeps the user from getting tuck with unwanted software Software rentals sell computers, Many of our customers have based their computer purchase wholly on one or more spe- cific software packages, but they wouldn't have bought the ‘machine had they been forced to buy the software to try out the computer. ur parent corporation is the distributor forthe math solving tool for the Mac, PowerMath. Its not copy protected. Do we rent it? — YOU BET! Has it hurt our sales? Would we rent it if it did? Our overall goal at Software Library — and I believe we represent the other major rental companies as well —is to give customers what they want: productivity. D.W. Kingsbury is president of Software Library, a software rental company in Houston, TOTHE EDITOR Defeating the larger screen/smaller type dilemma [read with interest Steve Rosenthal’s column “Visible Results” in the Oct. 6 issue. His problem concerning the larger sereen/smaller type dilemma (“The same number of dots are packed into smaller spaces.”) has a solution, He should check ‘out MegaSereen Video Systems, which all maintain the WYSIWYG of the regular Macintosh. We believe the one-to-one relationship between a Macintosh and its printer is sacred. When a user plans a printed line in 10- point type, he should be able view 10-point type —not 7 point So we kept the dots per inch the same, allowing the Macintosh user accurate expectations about his final hard copy. One problem that occurs with a large screen — whether or not the pixels are crammed into smaller spaces — is thatthe rel ative size ofthe overall screen to the fonts cause them to look smaller. They may be the exact same size, but on the large dis- play, the user perceives shrinkage. It’s the same thing as seeing anyone you know standing next to Hulk Hogan. Therefore, we also let the user beef up the size of the menus and cursor through the Control Panel options. believe Mr. Rosenthal also will find no lack of space if he will switch to a 19-inch landscape-format monitor, such as we offer. While single-page display monitors are excellent devices, power users desiring enough room for lots of menu items, Desk Accessories, fonts or simply the display of an A4 page need to consider something larger than 15-inch vertical screens. ‘And his mouse needn't “run its tail off.” Special settings lt you change the mouse speed so that it becomes “Super Mouse.” Diane Wessling Scoit, vice president of communications MegaGraphics Inc., Canoga Park, Calif. A keyboard for the southpaws am writing to discuss a problem that I am sure faces a great number of Macintosh owners, As an owner of a Mac Plus, I have decided not to upgrade to an SE in the near future. ‘The reason is the keyboard. Like many Mac users, Iam left- handed. The keyboard on the Plus is highly functional for me, especially withthe occasional use ofthe optional data pad. The keyboards for the SE (and Mac Il) are definitely frustrating. The numeric Keys are on the wrong side and the entire keyboard does not feel right to the left-hander. Given that the keyboard for the SE and the Il must be purchased separately, I suggest that Apple seriously consider putting out a keyboard for “the rest of us.” Gerald B. Hughes, associate professor of sociology Northem Arizona University, Flagstaff, Ariz. TV Guide on line I much appreciate John Edwards’ column, which keeps us up to date on what's available online. Something I've always thought would have a good market, but which I haven’t been able to find, is an on-line version of TV Guide. It would give completely up-to-date information and a little more detail than we usually get from TV Guide, perhaps via an optional ‘zoom screen attached to an entry. Of course, the first directory would have to let you pinpoint your geographical location, possibly by ZIP code. And there should be an option that would bring up more than one film critic's review of the late night movies. Michael Scriven, editor, Wings for the Mind, The Newsletter of the Apple University Consortium/Australia Nedlands, Australia Send letters to MacWEEK, 525 Brannan St., San Francisco, Calif. 94107; or via MCI Mail to MacWEEK. Include your name, title, company name, address and phone number. ICATING John Edwards Dave Romano is a claims adjuster with a New York-based insurance company that happens to be blessed by the presence of a Mac-based local-area network. On Jan. 16, the lights went out in Dave's cubicle. “That's OK,” Dave said, “Businesses operated for hundreds of years without electric illumination. I'll work by candlelight.” On Feb. 27, the building’s heating system failed. “No sweat,” said Dave. “Ill put on mit- tens and keep warm by worki ‘On June 18, his department's LAN col- lapsed. Dave swooned. “A LAN-less life, even for a short spell, was just to awful to contem- plate,” he is reported to have told colleagues several months later. Bill Ashwood, the department's LAN man- ager, found Dave draped over his Mac Plus, a mouse clasped tightly in his right hand, “Hav- ing both a network and a key employee go down at the same time is terible thing,” Bill recalled with a sigh. “I felt a keen sense of failure that day ‘As the popularity of Mac-based LANs increases, so do users’ expectations about sys- tem reliability. In fact, many hard-core users ‘working at sites with large numbers of Macs have come to regard LANs as one of the essen- tial elements of life, which are food, water, sunshine and unfailing network access — not necessarily in that order, either. Bill said: “Users have come to expect the same degree of reliability from a departmental network as they do from a public utility. Users get hooked on the network. When it goes down, they panic.” Since the June 18 meltdown, Bill has steadily worked redundancies into his network. “We're striving to make the system as fault- tolerant as possible,” he said. “The day after the failure, we put in an order for a backup file server. Now, we're bolstering the system with battery power backups, line filters and backups of sofiware and key peripherals. We've even ‘ordered a bunch of new SEs to give to users ‘when their machines fail.” But while redundancies play a critical role innetwork reliability, LAN managers also must be practitioners of the artistic science of gentle persuasion. In other words, managers spend a lot of time as nurse maids. You have to know how to handle users when disaster strikes,” Bill said. “Whenever something bad happens, I feel like I’m an offi- cial with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ‘on the day a nuclear power plant blows its lid. I have to hold hands, explain what went wrong, make a report to the boss and, of course, try to get things back into working order.” Usually, the problem is straightforward, Occasionally, though, finding a solution requires both subtlety and perseverance. “Take the June 18 incident, for example,” said Bill “When the entire network went down at once, wwe knew we had a major problem on our hhands, probably with the file server. My frst impulse was to cal the vendor for service, which probably would have meant a system blackout of at least several hours. But by pok- ing around on the server and discovering a faulty cable, we were able to get the network up and running again within three hours.” Bill also remembers the time the network's MacWEEK Q) PINION Oct. 27, 1987 LaserWriter suddenly quit. “The printer liter- ally went up in a whiff of smoke and left sev- eral users with important documents stranded. We checked the connections, consulted the documentation and generally poked around Finally, we found a small mouse, the flesh- and-blood kind, charbroiled near the printer's power supply, We carefully extricated the crea- ture, ordered a replacement supply and had the printer back on line later that afternoon,” But sometimes the only rational answer to a network collapse isto do something irrational, Last August, the electronic-mail system on Bill's LAN suddenly dumped all of its files, throwing the department further into chaos than is customary. To keep the users at bay during the time needed to place a backup on il raced past the users’ cubicles shout- ing, “I'm Louis XIV, King of France! After me, the deluge!” Nobody quite understood what Bill meant by that statement, but they didn’t have much time to ponder his historic histrionics, either. The E-mail files were back in place afew min- utes later and even the highly strung Dave Romano enjoyed a laugh. i can stc software piracy. only you can save unprotected SONtWale. — Aig EB " = = Unprotected ‘Software is not freeware ently, many leading software firms have removed copy protection im their software. They have taken this action for one reason—you, fe user, have requested it. You say that unprotected software is less Ouble to use, and that it generally simplifies the use of your PC. Many software firms responded and have given you what you requested. Now t