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« 01.22.96 By Andrew Gore In an unprecedented move, Apple last week invited key de- velopers, value-added resellers and users to help determine how to turn QuickTime into a high- end digital video standard. New features slated for the next release this spring include support for 3-D objects and software MPEG Also in the offing is a new stan dard for Motion-JPEG. “Macs Camera Actio Apple said it is pushing QuickTime into the professional digital video and movie-production markets. The Newsweekly for Macintosh Managers QuickTime to mix in _ StyleWriters 3-D, software MPEG “Based upon what we heard at the conference, we hope to make 2.2, or whatever we ultimately name the next version, the first of a series of updates that will aggre sively move QuickTime into the high end of video production and broadcast,” said Carlos Montolvo, director of products and solutions for Apple's entertainment division. One major new feature is the integration of QuickDraw 3D tracks. next version of QuickTime, which QuickTime Engineer Peter Hoddie said is In the “on the hairy edge of alpha” and is expected to ship in May, users will be able to load a QuickDraw 3D object, manipulate it, animate it in a 3-D space, change lighting, and even have other QuickTime sprites move around or behind it. When the movie is saved, it will retain all 3-D_ attributes; See QuickTime, Page 102 Apple technology group gets handle on products ATG’s projects to bear new fruit By Joanna Pearlstein Deep within the Apple campus, a small group of scientists is devel- oping technologies it hopes will sharpen the company’s technical edge. While not all its efforts graduate to prime time, some of the work by Apple’s Advanced Technology Group has been hailed as keystones of innovation According to sources, ATG is currently working on projects that include the search engine in Copland, object-oriented pro- gramming (OOP) tools, system software aimed at the educational market media applications. Several ATG undertakings have found their way into con- sumers’ hands. They include QuickTime VR; QuickDraw 3D; ColorSyne; Rosetta, handwriting recognition technology in New- ton 2.0; and the recently re Chinese Dictation Kit. and easy-to-use multi- ed s ATG’s latest initiatives will be incorpo- See ATG, Page 104 urces said several of to raise roof on By David Morgenstern and Matthew Rothenberg Turning a new page in color inkjet output, Apple has two printers slated to ship in March Sources said the Color StyleWriter 2500 will push the envelope for color resolution to compete with Epson America Inc.’s inkjets, while the entry- level Color StyleWriter 1500 will vie with Hewlett-Packard Co.'s least-expensive models In addition, Apple is reportedly considering ambitious bundling | strategies for both printers. The Color StyleWriter 2500 will replace the company’s popu- lar $429 Color StyleWriter 2400 See Inkjets, Page 102 VOLUME 10 NUMBER 3 Apple lays off color resolution 300 after loss By Jon Swartz Apple last week slashed 1,300 jobs and hinted at further cuts on the heels of re- porting a $69 million loss. The bad news doesn’t end there: It also announced a re- structuring charge of $125 mil- lion that will result in a loss for the current quarter. Sales for the first quarter we record $3.15 billion, up II percent from $2.83 billion for the same quarter a year ago. Apple also Extreme 3D no revolution, but it’s a solid piece of work By Sean Wagstaff Macromedia Inc.'s Ex- treme 3D won't turn the 3-D world on its ear, but it’s a solid, one-stop solu- 3-D anima- tors. We looked at a late beta of the $699 spline-based modeler and event-based animator. Due to ship next month, it replaces all of Macromedia’s older 3-D tools. Extreme 3-D is cross-platform, tion for multimedi with binary-compatible files on Mac, Windows and Windows NT ma- chines. In new distributed-render- ing architecture lets you install as many copies as you have Macs or Intel-standard PCs on your net- work and render using the power of all of the machines simultane- ously. You cannot use more than reme 3D, Page 102 “Just because Apple won't be everything to everyone doesn't mean that the Mac platform won't be.” — Satjiv Chahil, Apple addition, a | Extreme 3D offers spline modeling and a full set of animation controls. Ob- jects and individual points of objects can be animated along spline paths. shipped a whop- ping 1.3 million units, | million of them Power Macs, the three-month period ended Dec. 29, 1995. But during shrink- ing gross mar- gins, caused by personal computer price wars in the United States and Japan, were responsible for the quarterly loss and restructuring charge, Apple said. Its first-quarter margins were 15.1 with 20.7 percent in the previous quarter and 28.7 percent in the same quarter a year ago. In the same quarter last year, Apple posted a profit of $188 million. “We cannot continue to oper- See Results, Page 104 percent, compared MacWEEK GUIDE TO ANN A look at corporate video production, including how the Power Mac 8500 is becoming the platform of choice . 4 acne POWERWAVE rom eg “> POWER COMPUTING <2. | DESIGNED TR BLOW ; YOUR NUNDs NOT YOUR BUDGET. Power Omputing : f Fastest MacOS:System Ever OMraPowerrs Old Fast PCL and NuBus Expansion Accelerated 64-bit PCI Video and Fast SCSI 3 Front Accessible Drives for optional Quad-Spin (4X) CD-ROM, lomega Zip, lomega Jaz, or SyQuest EZ-135 Easily upgradeable Plug & Play CPU daughtercards featuring the PowerPC 604 at 120, 132 and 150MHz Fast PCI 3-slot expansion Need NuBus? 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Toll-free lifetime technical support. 1, 2, or 3-year on-site service available, starting at $49. Go Configure: Since Power Computing is the manufacturer, you can customize your RAM, hard drive, video and monitor options — just call. PowerComputing MORE POWER TO YOu? 01.22.96 VOLUME 10 NUMBER 3 Table of Contents PAGE 3 4 UP FRONT Robert Hess, 1966-1996 6 NEWS bundles ¢ Printer Beat 12 GA Number Nine, IMS board PCI bus 16 GATEWAYS Executor runs Mac apps on Intel PCs ¢ First Mac plug-ins for Navigator * MacWEEK’s Digital uncrates Colorwriter © Dynamem ships 128-Mbyte SIMMs ¢ Microtek unveils ScanMaker E3 ¢ Micropolis debuts RAID French 3-D software reaches U.S. shores ® Focus On: Object-oriented multimedia ¢ There's more for the average user in today’s multimedia presentations. See Solutions, Page 71. Ray Dream Studio offers animation at the right price. See Reviews, Page 67. 38 BUYERS GUIDE Changes in Mac CPUs give users a wide range of options and more bang for the buck. 67 REVIEWS Ray Dream Studio combines 3-D, animation ¢ Big Business 1.0 offers centralized data, slow performance ¢ In Brief: Jabra for Macintosh 71 SOLUTIONS Easier software means you don’t always have to rely ona pro to create lively presentations. DEPARTMENTS & OPINION ProVUE ships major update to Panorama ¢ Collabra Share Mac client finally arrives * Focus On: The war for wireless dollars 24 SPECIAL REPORT Digital video production comes in-house, offering creative control and cost savings. Director prevails as other object-oriented apps try to catch up. See GA, Page 12. 73 Mail Order 87) MarketPlace 20 Editorial 71) MacInTouch 20 Second Decade 104 StockWatch 21° Letters 106 Mac The Knife 21° Mac Manager ALSO INSIDE 105 Ad Index 905 Product Index Every time Apple has a bad quarter, takeover rumors percolate to the surface. The usual suspects are AT&T Corp., IBM Corp., Oracle Corp. and Motorola Inc. Last year Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sony Corp. joined the list. IBM and AT&T have enough troubles. Motorola doesn’t want to own its best chip customer. And HP and Sony, who are al- ready in the Intel-standard clone business, just don’t make sense. The only type of company likely to buy Apple is one that is thirsty for Apple and has an idea of how to integrate Apple’s technologies into its current product lines. Now I don’t profess to have any inside information and don’t want anyone reading this column to turn it into rumor, but one company that might make a good fit is Sun Micro- systems Inc. Sun owns more than 30 per- cent of the worldwide work- station market but barely has a presence in the mainstream MACWEEK INSIDER JAMES STATEN Here comes the Sun business and consumer channels. It sells hardware that ranges in price from $5,000 to $150,000, including laptops, but has hardly made a dent in these markets beyond offer- ing high-performance servers. Its operating systems, SunOS and So- laris, are everything the Mac OS hopes to be when it grows up; unfortunately both lack the Mac’s friendly interface. And be- cause Sun’s systems are Unix-based, the perception is that Solaris and SunOS are counterintuitive, requiring on-staff pro- grammers to configure even minor aspects of the environment. Grafting the Mac interface onto Solaris would create a high-powered OS that is much easier to use and gives Mac users access toa truly threaded, multitasking, multiprocessing OS with pro- tected memory spaces. The best part is such a face lift al- ready exists: Macintosh Appli- cation Environment for So- laris is said to be doing very well for Apple and Sun. While a complete merger between Sys- tem 7.5 and Solaris would be far off, a two- tiered attack similar to the one Microsoft Corp. has with Windows 95 for the low- end and Windows NT for the guru would bea natural one. Plus, like everyone else who refuses to pay homage to the Digital Zeus atop Mount Redmond, Sun can see the distant sails of the Windows fleet as it begins to encroach on Sun’s territory. Nabbing Apple would give Sun a complete product line covering the terface onto ing, video and 3-D modeling solutions. Both companies offer strong Internet platforms. Sun would also pick up a customer base of 22 million Mac users —a big jump from the 2 million in its Rolodex today. Gaining Apple’s pioneering technolo- gies such as QuickTime and QuickDraw 3D would help Sun in its fight with Unix competitor Silicon Graphics Inc. Plus, the company would be happy to pick up the multimedia, television and film production customers Apple has. Sun’s financial resume first-time buyer on upto SOlaris would create asa suitor is stellar. Ithas the high-level scientist. A more than $1 billion in united front of Sun and a hi igh-powered QS. thebank and virtually no Apple would provide users with a best-of-both- worlds solution that runs on Intel, PowerPC and SPARC-based (at least in the short term) machines from a variety of hardware ven- dors and offers a unified solution and migra- tion path for users. Even Sun and Apple’s market strengths are complementary. Apple has a sizable share in the education market; Sun has a strong presence in the higher-education, en- gineering and scientific fields. Apple is a force in the publishing and multimedia mar- kets, while Sun provides high-end publish- debt. Its products carry a high margin, like Apple’s used to, and Sun has had more time in the saddle with its licensing strategy and might be more willing to pass the low-end hard- ware business to clone vendors. One snag makes this merger little more than wishful thinking. Sun lacks a positive track record selling to the mainstream market. Then again, Apple hasn't figured this one out either. 0 James Staten is associate editor/on-line. He can be reached at james_staten@macweek.com. MacWEEK ('SSN 0892-8118) is published weekly, with the exception of Jan. 1, July 1, Sept. 2, and Dec. 23 and 30, by Ziff-Davis Publishing Co,, 1 Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. Single-copy price, including postage: $6. One-year subscription rate: US., $125; Canada/Mexico, U.S. $225; Intemational, U.S. $350 (airmai). All orders must be prepaid. Direct subscription inquiries to Customer Service Department, MacWEEK, /o JCI, P.O. Box 10634, Riverton, N.J. 08076-0634; (609) 786-8230. Changes of address require that a new application be filled out completely and include both new and old addresses. Allow four to six weeks for processing, We periodically make lists of our customers available to carefully screened mailers of quality goods and services. ‘Fyou do not wish to receive such mailings, please let us know by writing to us at Customer Service Department, MacWEEK, P.O. Box 10634, Riverton, N.J. 08076-0634. Postmaster: Send address changes to MacWEEK, P.O. Box 10634, Riverton, N.J. 08076- (0634. Second-<class postage paid at New York and additional mailing offices. Printed in U.S.A. Canada Post international Publications Mail Product (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 410667. Canadian GST registration number is R140496720. PAGE 4 Vendors shipping betas of Web apps By James Staten The first wave of plug-ins for the Mac version of Netscape Naviga- tor 2.0 have begun to arrive. Tumbleweed Software Corp. of Redwood City, Calif., and Pro- gressive Networks Inc. of Seattle last week released plug-ins for their portable-document streaming-audio technologies, re- spectively San Francisco will post its Shock- wave plug-in this month. All plug-ins are in beta versions. Tumbleweed’s Envoy plug-in lets Web users view compound documents saved in Novell Inc.’s Envoy portable document format. The plug-in provides search, zoom and thumbnail view tools. and Macromedia Inc. of 01.22.96 MACWEEK Tumbleweed’s Envoy plug-in lets Netscape Navigator 2.0 users view compound documents saved in Novell's Envoy portable docu- ment format. Progressive Network’s Real- Audio 2.0 plug-in, available for Power Macs only, provides support for audio streams embedded in an HTML document. When used, the RealAudio controls appear in the Web page. Macromedia’s Shockwave plug- in will let users view embedded Director files compressed by the company’s AfterBurner utility. All the plug-ins are available from http://home.netscape.com/ comprod/products/navigator/ version_2.0/plugins/index.html. A list of coming Mac plug-ins can be found in MacWEEK On- line on CompuServe (go: mac- week) or http://www.zdnet.com/ ~macweek. 0 Executor ready to run Mac apps on Intel PCs By David Morgenstern Pushing Mac software toward alien desktops, Abacus Research and Development Inc. will ex- pand platform support for its Ex- ecutor Mac emulator. Version 2.0 will run on Intel-standard PCs, in addition to the Unix and NeXT platforms currently supported. The $249 software, due in March, will run most System 6- compatible applications, and many “well-behaved” System 7 pro- grams. ARDI said a 90-MHz Pen- tium system will offer speedier f e than a Quadra 610 MH7z.68040 processor. A $99 “pre-beta” is available now. ARDI said the updated emula- tor will read Mac floppies as well as hard drives. It will not support ap- plications that depend on System 7.5 features such as QuickDraw GX or QuickTime. In addition, Version 2.0 will not provide net- work and serial connections. According to ARDI, the emu- lator is aimed at cross-platform users and sites moving from the Mac to other platforms. Version 2.0 will support DOS, NeXT- Step, OS/2, Windows 3.1, Win- dows 95 and Unix systems. ‘Abacus Research and Develop- ment Inc. of Albuquerque, N.M., can be reached at (505) 766-9115; fax (505) 766-5153; info@ardi.com; http/www.ardi.com. © File _{ait_Mode image filter felect_Window aheNSNieisiorr] Lee The black-and- white Apple menu, missing Application menu and stray artifact are the only indica- tions that this Mac version of Adobe Photo- shop is running ona Pentium machine. AppWare finds anew owner By Clifford Colby AppWare, the cross-platform ap- plication-development — system Novell Inc. put up for sale late last year, has found a new home. According to sources, App- Ware team members have formed their own company, which will ac- quire the system this month. The head of the new company will reportedly be Ed Firmage, who was director of marketing for Novell’s AppWare group. The company will reportedly maintain close ties to Novell. Under its new owners, the tool will reportedly gain the capability to compile OpenDoc parts, ac- quire Internet hooks through sup- port of Apple’s Cyberdog and ex- pand its multimedia capabilities. AppWare will retain its capability to create network-aware applica- tions and will continue to support NetWare. A Power Mac version is expected in February. “The engineering team will be top-quality guys — these are the people I'd want to see them keep,” said a developer familiar with the new company’s plans. “And the addition of Cyberdog makes the possibilities of what | you can create exciting.” 0 MacWEEK Associate Editor/ Gateways Robert Hess died in San Francisco Friday morning, Jan. 12, of complications from pneumonia. He was 29. “Robert looked at reporting as an adventure,” said Mac- WEEK Editor in Chief Mark Hall. “He saw the facts as stepping- stones to the truth, and he saw the truth as the purpose for his reporting.” Robert was born ‘on March 12, 1966, in Houston. After graduating from that city’s. High School for the Health Pro- fessions, he attended Rice University. He moved to San Francisco in 1991 and worked for EndPoint! Mar- keting Information Systems Inc, asa programmer and consultant before joining MacWEEK. His talent for uncovering the computer industry's most closely guarded product plans and strategies quickly earned him a reputation as one of the top in- vestigative journalists covering Silicon Valley. He rose rapidly through the MacWEEK ranks to become editor of Gateways. “Every time I read Robert's writings, worked with him or spoke with him, I was very proud to be part of the media | Robert Hess: 1966-1996 and part of the Macintosh in- dustry,” said Neil Ticktin, pub- lisher of MacTech Magazine in Westlake Village, Calif. Robert's abilities as both a pro- grammer and a writer made him, an important opinion maker in the Mac community; _ his columns in Mac- WEEK and his weekly — on-line feature, “Out of Line,” provoked and informed his many readers. Robert was an active member of Digital Queers, an industry orga- nization that pro- motes technology within the gay community. Atits annual fund- raiser in San Francisco the night after his death, DQ recognized Robert’s contributions to the cause of human rights. Robertis survived by his par- ents, Deborah and George Nuckolls of Texarkana, Texas, and Robert and Yvonne Hess of Houston; his brother, Bill Hess of Houston; his grandpar- ents, Carl and Bebe Hess and Mildred Cox; and many aunts, uncles and cousins. Donations in his memory may be made to Digital Queers, 584 Castro St., No. 560, San Francisco, Calif. 94114. By James Staten Employing the philosophy, “If you can’t beat em, buy ’em,” Microsoft Corp. last week ac- quired Vermeer Technologies Inc., author of Front Page. The $695 Front Page, cur- rently available on Windows, is a client-server Web publishing sys- tem that comprises a WYSI- WYG HTML editor; a site viewer for managing a Web site; a to-do list; and tools for text searches, feedback forms and threaded discussions. At this month’s Macworld Expo, Vermeer committed to de- livering a Mac version of Front Page, and Microsoft confirmed that those plans will not change. Microsoft said Front Page will play a critical role in the com- Microsoft buys Vermeer pany’s Internet strategy. Ver- | meer’s development team will move to Redmond, Wash., where it will become the core of a new Web authoring product unit within Microsoft’s desktop appli- cations division. The company hinted at a bundle of Front Page and Micro- soft Office and a drop in Front Page’s price. The acquisition places Micro- soft in competition with Adobe Systems Inc., America Online Inc. and Netscape Communica- tions Corp., which all offer Web: management tools. Terms were not disclosed, but analysts estimated that Microsoft gave $130 million worth of its stock to Cambridge, Mass.-based Vermeer. New Timbuktu’ Pro 2.0 for Macintosh sweeps you off your feet with built-in ARA! The Dynamic Duo Farallon and Apple have teamed up to bring you NEW Timbuktu’ Pro 2.0! The award-winning remote control software now comes with built-in Apple Remote Access for the ultimate in “anytime, anywhere” network access. You'll never have to worry again about accessing your office network or desktop from afar! It’s perfect for PowerBook users! ideas for the design of Timbuktu Pro 2.0. Drag-and-drop files to other users through a remote control window! Handy address books let you transfer files in the background to one or more users—even over the Internet! Send a FlashNote,” an instant message that pops up on your colleagues’ screen. Anew customizable interface makes Timbuktu Pro easier than ever to use. Upgrade today, and see all the other great new features of Timbuktu Pro 2.0 such as MacIPX support. Click a button, and you can dial-in to any ARA server right from within Timbuktu Pro 2.0 for Macintosh is the comprehensive remote access Timbuktu Pro. 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The 100- MHz XJE offers many features found in EFI’s color-copier RIPs, including continu- ous printing and routines that let the RIP process one page while printing another. According to Digital, the Colorwriter’s Dynamem raises RAM ceiling By James Staten Macs with four or fewer slots no longer have to suffer RAM envy thanks to Dynamem Inc. Breaking memory barriers, the company this month shipped Mac-compatible SIMMs with capacities of up to 128 Mbytes. ULL Fee JOHN FARNSWORTH Previously, the highest capac-_ Dynamem's FRAMMS are thin boards with RAM chips on ity SIMM available was 64 both sides, folded over for a finished size that is only Mbytes. A Mac model with four _ slightly thicker than a standard SIMM. 128-Mbyte Dynamem SIMMs installed would have 512 Mbytes of RAM. Mac models with eight SIMM slots could house more than 1.2 Gbytes of memory. The new 72-pin boards are built using a patented Foldable Rigid Assembly Memory Module (FRAMM) composed of two TSOP (thin small-outline package) memory cards attached at the top with a rigid hinge. TSOP memory is used primarily in laptops, includ- ing the PowerBook 500 series. A 64-Mbyte module costs $2,363; a 128- Mbyte unit sells for $6,642. Dynamem pre- dicted price drops of 15 percent to 20 per- cent by midyear. Aimed at PCI-based Mac models, 168- pin FRAMM DIMMs (dual in-line mem- ory modules) will ship in capacities of 64, 128 and 256 Mbytes near the end of the first quarter, Dynamem said. The current high-capacity DIMM is 128 Mbytes. Dynamem Inc., a division of Palomar Medical Technologies Inc., of Tempe, Ariz., is at (619) 536-5963 or (800) 886-6369; fax (619) 536-5952; memking@aol.com. 0 Microtek legalizes color By Matthew Rothenberg Microtek Lab Inc. this month is due to de- liver a new low-cost color flatbed scanner for legal-size documents. The ScanMaker E3, slated to ship for a suggested street price of $399, captures re- flective originals measuring up to 8.5 by 13.5 inches, Microtek said. The scanner includes a CCD (charge- coupled device) array that can capture 24 bits of RGB data per pixel in a single pass. Microtek’s ScanMaker E3 handles legal-size originals and will have a street price of $399. It supports an optical resolution of 300 by 600 dpi, which can be increased to 2,400 by 2,400 dpi via software interpolation. According to Microtek, the SCSI-2 de- vice can scan a 5-by-7-inch image at 300 dpi in about 42 seconds. The company said the ScanMaker E3 fea- tures a new lid design that blocks external light better than earlier models. The ScanMaker E3 ships with Microtek’s own ScanWizard scanning utility, which in- cludes controls for brightness, contrast and exposure; tints; shadows and highlights; blur, sharpen and unsharp masking; gamma curves; and other image adjustments. It also comes with Caere Corp.’s OmniPage Direct OCR software and MicroFrontier Inc.’s Color It! 3.0 painting program. Users can purchase a transparency adapter and a 10-sheet automatic document feeder for $599 and $199, respectively. Microtek Lab Inc. of Redondo Beach, Calif., can be reached at (310) 297-5000; fax (310) 297-5050; http://www.mteklab.com/, 0 controller is up to five times faster than competing color laser printers. The model has a print speed of 12 pages per minute for black-and-white output and 3 ppm for CMYK output. It lets users adjust gloss levels and calibration settings. The printer comes standard with 32 Mbytes of RAM that can be expanded toa maximum of 48 Mbytes. It will ship with a 341-Mbyte internal SCSI drive. Using a PostScript Level 2 interpreter, the printer supports ColorSync 2.0, Efi- Color and ICC (International Color Con- sortium) color-management systems. The printer will automatically sense and switch among Centronics parallel, Ether- net and SCSI interfaces. Itcomes with 100- and 250-sheet input trays; an additional 250-sheet tray is $139. Analysts said Digital may face chal- lenges moving the Colorwriter LSR 2000 into the competitive color laser market. “Digital has the best controller and a great engine for high-quality output,” said analyst John Goetz with GIGA Information Group of Norwell, Mass. He said that while color quality is important, Digital is a newcomer to the graphics market. “Although the EFI controller is more sophisticated, Digital doesn’t have well-established distribution in the channel,” Goetz said. “Both Apple and Tektronix [Inc.] are solid with both business and [graphics applications] markets.” In addition, analysts said Digital will face competition from a similar Canon model with the EFI controller set to ship in the second quarter. The high price of Digital’s model could also be a problem for business sites and workgroups, according to analyst Paula Bursley with San Jose, Calif.-based Dataquest Inc. “The cost may bea tough nut for mainstream business users to swallow.” Digital Equipment Corp., Printing Sy: tems Business, of Marlboro, Mass., can be reached at (508) 493-5111 or (800) 777- 4343; fax-back (800) 777-4343. 0 Zip battery pack readied for spring Iomega Corp. this spring will zip into mo- bile Mac storage. The company said it ex- pects a second-quarter release of a battery pack for its Zip removable-cartridge drive. With a street price of about $50, the rechargeable pack will weigh 8 ounces and provide two hours of power, Iomega said. The unit, which is about the size of a deck of cards, will clip to the back of the drive and operate in both horizontal and vertical orientations. The pack will plug directly into a wall outlet for recharging. Iomega Corp. of Roy, Utah, can be reached at (801) 778-1000 or (800) 697-8833; fax (801) 778-3190; info@iomega.com; http//www.iomega.com. WHATS YOUR MEMORY REALLY COSTING YOU? All memory TechWorks has more than just good SIMM and DIMM prices. We save you money and time by exceeding your needs the first time around. Here's why TechWorks has been the recognized leader in Mac memory for almost ten years: Quality Guarantee — TechWorks tests 100% of our products before they go out the door and backs them with a Lifetime Warranty and 24-Hour Replacement policy. ‘Support — TechWorks provides you toll-free, pre-sales and post-sales expert support. Trade-In Program — TechWorks accepts all standard modules as trade-in. Configuration Information — TechWorks offers a wide variety of programs for determining the right memory module: Internet on-line product selection; product selector books; simple pocket guide; faxback service; and TIPPS disk for your PC or Mac. srinriiiinnsinna Credit — TechWorks provides several credit options: flooring, terms, or credit cards. . companies are not the same. Education Series — TechWorks offers the following short, easy to read topics in printed, faxback and on-line formats, including: Selecting the Right Memory, Cache Cards, VRAM, and EDO/Burst EDO Memory. Robust Packaging — TechWorks individually labels and packages every module for easy identification and safe delivery. Availability — TechWorks ships all standard memory modules within 24 hours of order. TechWorks participates in the Apple Developer Program so we can engineer and manufacture memory that works for you all the time. We have memory upgrades for old, faithful Macs, new PowerPC Macs, and Mac OS-compatible computers. Pick TechWorks and rest easy—each TechWorks memory module is rigorously tested and covered by our Lifetime Warranty. The choice is clear —call TechWorks and experience what the best value in the business can mean for you. CALL 800-704-0189. oO6¢C¢¢ FE {7h pte, or wT rploce hoe. Tel Sep We ‘oh yoo a at he Btn 1st er singe Pb Wl pce (i cig ry Gob br nos SIMs & le Web Site at http://www.techwrks.com Fax on demand: 800-285-3084 MacOS Techs 4060 Ws Boa Lan Asin, os 787553 Buses: 1274-33 Fo 517948520 Techs UK, 4 Doin Sur, Eds Road Londen, WA2ST esns:+4 (0) 18490 9500 Fa: +4 (0) 18490 950 PAGE 8 01.22.96 MACWEEK Micropolis to ship arrays By David Morgenstern Aiming to take up residence in the entry- level market for RAID systems, Micropo- lis Corp. in February will release Raidion SpeedStack, a new line of software- controlled array packages. Based on the company’s Microdisk removable storage system, the $4,720 LT4200WAV and $5,800 LT8600WAV will come in capacities of 4.2 and 8.6 Gbytes, respectively. The ‘systems will use paits of Micropolis'’7,200-rpm mechanisms. SpeedStick arrays will cote with Tril: lium Research Inc.’s Remus Lite striping and mirroring software, Transoft Corp.’s SneakerNet utility and Adaptec Inc.’s 3940W Fast and Wide SCSI-2 PCI card. Micropolis said the systems support minimum and maximum sustained data transfer rates of 9.2 and 27.4 Mbytes per second, respectively. Micropolis Corp. of Chatsworth, Calif, is at (818) 709-3300 or (800) 395-3748; fax (818) 709-3497; http://www .micropolis.com. 0 Wico Internet Gateway SIMPLY ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS Multi-users on a LAN have simultaneous Internet access while sharing one account. There's no easier way to cut costs Now, many users on a LAN can access the Internet instantly, easily, simultaneously through only one account. No need for multiple modems or one account per user, so savings can be considerable. Network managers can bar access to undesirable sites. Access, from the Internet can also be securely barred. Macs and PCs on Ethernet, TokenRing and LocalTalk networks share simultaneous Internet access. Easy to install, authorised users connected transparently. High security and access control. Supports all Internet, WWW and e-Mail applications, such as Netscape, Mosaic, Eudora and Fetch. For more information visit our web site, or contact Vicom Technology: USA & Canada Tel: 1-800 818 4266 Fax: 1-800 889 7235 Europe Tel: +44 (0)1202 293233 Fax: +44 (0)1202 310241 eMail: sales@vicomtech.com http://www.vicomtech.com PRINTER BEAT GDT updates. GDT Software Inc. of Burnaby, British Columbia, this month pulled up with a load of utilities and updates. The company released a new version of its $299 PowerPrin/LT driver package. Version 3.0 is Power Mac-native, lets users access Novell NetWare-based printers and supports Hewlett-Packard Co.’s $599 4-page-per-minute LaserJet 5L printer. Users of Version 2.5 can upgrade for $99. GDT also recently picked up Work- ing Software Inc.’s printer utilities and bundled them together as PrintExtras. ‘The $69 package includes PrintLogger, Toner Tuner, Working PrintStamper and Working Watermarker. Users on the go with Magic Cap-based PDAs can print with GDT’s PersonalPrint. Shipping next week, the $149 package in- cludes a cable and drivers for more than 1,000 printers. Phone (604) 291-9121 or (800) 663-6222; fax (604) 291-9689. Output stacks up. Xerox Corp. of Stamford, Conn., recently shipped a 1,000-sheet paper stacker for the Xerox 4900 and the XPrint 4915, 4920 and 4925 color laser printers. The $499 unit also en- hances the 4925's collation capability, the company said. Phone (800) 349-3769; http://www.xerox.com. Hitting the spot darkly. Graphic Util- | ities Inc. of San Jose, Calif., recently shipped black-pigment ink for HP’s DeskWriter 500 printer series and the DesignJet 650C plotter. The PermiDri inks are similar to the waterfast and lightfast formulations used with HP's newer inkjet printers. A single-refill kit for the 500 models is $16.95. ‘The company said it will offer similar color inks in the second quarter. The products are sold through office supply stores and catalogs. Phone (408) 577-0334; fax (408) 577-0348. — By David Morgenstern l Some people scan in RGB " Some people scan in CMYK Maybe you should see what happens when you scan in CIELAB The only way to capture the maximum amount of color data from your desktop system. Basically, it gives you the same color capabilities that original is to scan into the CIELAB color space. And the only way to scan prepress shops and printers have been using for years. Yet it's so easy in the CIELAB color space on your desktop is with the new SAPHIR to use that even novices can achieve professional-quality results in scanner with LinoColor™ software, from the world leader in high-end almost no time at all. color scanning: Linotype-Hell. So why limit yourself? Get the full color you deserve. With SAPHIR provides fast one-pass scanning and SAPHIR and LinoColor. Only from Linotype-Hell. For more ColorSync® 2.0 compatibility. LinoColor software information, call 800-842-9721. In Canada, 800-668-0770. . provides the most powerful color software ever put into a Or visit us on the Web at http://www. linotype.com Linotype-Hell (© 1995 Linotype-Hel Linotype and Hell ae registered trademarks; LinoColor isa trademark of Linotype-Hell AG and/or its subsidlares. ColorSync is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc BATE WINNER You. : brought them Windows and e-mail and the internet. Isn't 1% time brea them “Fug < jade? EPSON COLOR INK JET PRINTERS. Its not easy to drag the hesitant masses into the _ future. But it sure is fun. Seeing their eyes go wide. Hearing their expressions of murmured awe. You're standing on the mountain; you can see the promised land. So, where will you lead them? How about into a world of inspiration? expression. A world of 720 x 720 dpi of intense, Photo Quality color, and laser caliber text. It’s Epson’s world. All it takes to get there is about $449 and a little vision. Call 1-800-BUY-EPSON x3400 or see http:/vww.epson.com. 1d trademark of Microsoft in the U.S. and other countries. ©1995 Epson America Inc The line of Epson color printers starts at $449. Get one, get 720 x 720 dpi of Photo Quality Epson Color, and enter an age of experimentation, kaleidoscope color, unbridled creativity. (And you thought the ’60s were over.) YOU’VE GOT TO SEE IT IN ESR coro: ; i g 8 i 4 § 8 H § 3 4 é 5 4 é 8 $ g | 4 3 a : i z £ 3 z i 5 PAGE 12 Gh. Graphics Applications ® Publishing * Multimedia SCULLEY REDUX Former Apple CEO John Sculley has taken over as president and CEO at Live Picture Inc. of Soquel, Calif. 01.22.96 MACWEEK Two 3-D apps hit U.S. am Yonowat, Abvent deliver packages By Kelly Ryer A new wave of French 3-D soft- ware has reached U.S. shores. Amapi, a modeling package from start-up Yonowat Inc., promises top-flight Mac-based modeling at a bargain-basement price. Mean- while, Abvent SA of Paris has cut the memory overhead on its At lantis Render pi Yonowat of San Francisco in- troduced Amapi at this month’s Macworld Expo. The $300 program, developed by Yonowat SA of Paris, lets users edit an ob- ject in NURBS (nonuniform ra- | tional B-splines) or polyhedral mode. Along with 2-D and 3-D drawing tools and_ primitives, Amapi offers Boolean controls and lets users fillet and chamfer the edges of objects. It can also generate a surface based on four boundary curves, Yonows Its unusual user inte corporates grouping; a macros, perspective and orth- ographic views; and unlimited levels of Undo. VICIOUS FISHES LURES MEDIA MAKERS ~ S file Edit Window Cost score Tent [il Et Casting its nets for multimedia producers, Vicious Fishes Software re- cently launched its Multimedia Tackle Box. The series of 12 interface kits are designed to make the graphics end of multimedia authoring as simple as cut and paste. Each contains PICT backgrounds, windows, panels, buttons and AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) sounds. Users can assemble the parts with any multimedia authoring tool. Two kits, Sandstone and ‘30s Industrial, ship in a $49.95 Starter Box, which includes conversion software as well as basic tips and tricks. Ten additional kits cost $29.95 each. Vicious Fishes Software of Brea, Calif., is at (714) 671-0330 or (800) 642-4524; fax (714) 671-2871; http://www.viciousfishes.com. Low-cost 3-D vehicle: Yonowat's cross-platform Amapi modeler offers Boolean and NURBS controls and fancy edge detailing. Amapi also features a dynamic smoothing tool that allows user to create a simple polygon-based model, then smooth specific areas into more-detailed Bezier meshes. This capability is unique to Amapi, Yonowat said. Amapi offers a simple Gouraud shading mode for visualization, | butitis not designed as a renderer. Instead, it exports files in a host of formats, including DXF (Drawing Interchange File), 3DGF (3-D See 3-D software, Page 15 FOCUS ON MULTIM EDIA Object-oriented apps try to catch Director By Carolyn Said “Object-oriented” promises a panacea for multimedia: a rosy future where developers can create titles simply by clicking and dragging objects. Over the past year, there has been a flurry of releases of object-oriented applications. Nevertheless, the industry leader, Macromedia Di- rector, has re- tained its strong position as Macromedia Inc. has continued moving aggressively to stay in step, observers said. Hee Current competitors mTropolis, an authoring ap- plication from mFactory Inc. of Burlingame, Calif, shipped this month (see 01.15.96, Page 12). The $4,995 software fea- tures interaction among objects ae containing sound, text, video, graphics and programmed be- haviors. While its price puts it in the same league as Macro- media’s $4,995 Authorware, many observers see it as a com- petitor to the $1,195 Director. “An applica- tion that uses an object model like mTropolis allows the de- signer to rapidly prototype an idea and test it,” said Zac Belado, owner of boondoggle com- munications of Vancouver. “mTropolis was created from the ground up to use an object model, and the flexibility it gives the designer and the time it saves make it much more useful than Director.” Similarly, Charlie Koehl, a multimedia programmer in San See Focus On, Page 14 TI1u Graphics cards jump on PCI bus By Kristin Balleisen Riding the crest of the PCI accel- erator wave, PC board vendors Number Nine Visual Technol- ogy Corp. and Integrated Micro Solutions introduced new offer- ings at Macworld Expo in San Francisco this month. Number Nine delivered the Imagine 128, its first PCI acceler- ator for the Mac market. The board is available in 4- and 8- Mbyte configurations with esti- mated prices of $899 and $1,599, respectively. Both cards can sup- See PCI, Page 14 with flatbed By Kristin Balleisen Agfa this month pushed the high end of its flatbed scanner line when it rolled out a replacement to its Horizon Plus at San Fran- cisco’s Macworld Expo. The Horizon Ultra, due to ship this month for $19,995, will be able to accommodate reflective originals measuring up to 11 by 17 inches; it will also ship with a glass slide holder that handles transparencies measuring up to 9.5 by 13.4 inches. According to Agfa, the new scanner is as much as 35 percent faster than its predecessor; the company credited SCSI and soft- Agfa reaches new heights scanner line ware improvements for the per- formance boost. The new scanner features an optical resolution of 2,000 by 1,200 dpi; through the company’s FotoTune software, the scanner will offer an interpolated resolu- tion of 3,600 by 2,000 dpi. It captures 36 bits of RGB color per pixel ina single pa features a 15,000-element CCD (charge-coupled device) 2 Agfa said the device can s 4-by-5-inch, 450-dpi transparen- cies per hour. Agfa, a division of Bayer Corp., of Ridgefield Park, N,J., is at (800) 685-4271; fax (508) 658-4193.0 IT’S FASTER, EASIER AND MUCH MORE ACCURATE. ‘Tired of retyping faxes, reports, articles, even letters into your Macintosh? With OmniPage® Pro 6.0 and your scanner, you can accurately enter thousands of words per Information Highway quicker than the fastest typist—and still delivers pinpoint accuracy. minute with the simple push of a button. OmniPage Pro 6.0’s indus- try-leading Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software converts your scanned pages to editable text and graphics in seconds for use in popular Mac applications like Word, Word- Perfect, Quark Xpress, Excel and many others. So you get to spend more time producing instead of manually typing. And OmniPage Pro 6.0’s blazing speed, which is even faster on Power Mac systems, is only outdone by its superior accuracy. It recognizes all (MW ES | maces NOVEMBER 1994 re AUGUST 954 TURN YOUR CANNER INTO A WORLD-CLASS | PIST. fonts at virtually any size. It flags suspicious words, then corrects them for you. It accu- rately interprets hard-to-read faxes and copies using gray- scale information. And it even reads unique characters and “Powerful and faster, Caere’s OCR stalwart scores high on accuracy.” MacUser January 1995 special symbols. Without doubt OmniPage Pro 6.0 is the smartest OCR software you can buy. So order a copy today, or call your local reseller for more information. "Suggested price US dlars—subject to change wthout noice. Ofer valid in US and Canada on Cer, the Care lag, OmiPage WordScan an True Page are registred wademarts and Auto0CR Toor atrademar of Caer Corporation Al other names ae the propery of thi respecive holders. © 185, VERSION 6.0 $149 70% OFF RETAIL PRICE Upgrade from OmniPage Limited Edition, OmniPage Lite, WordScan or other versions of OmniPage (including those bundled in your scanner) and get the best OCR! ¢ 65% more accurate ° 35% faster ¢ Enhanced, easy-to- use AutoOCR Toolbar™ Retain original page layout with True Page® ¢ 24-bit image editor ¢ Accelerated for Power Macintosh Interactive Apple Guide assistance Call Ext. 130 today! Cas PaGE 14 GA- 01.22.96 MACWEEK FOCUS ON From Page 12 | Francisco, said; “I started using mTropolis [beta] in March 1994, and it made me never want to use Director again. I always wrote reusable, object-oriented Lingo for my pro- jects, but mTropolis makes reusing code and programming so much easier.” > Oracle Media Objects from Oracle Corp. of Redwood Shores, Calif., was re- leased in March 1994 at an introductory price of $99. In June, it will be $495. The event-driven multimedia authoring appli- cation lets users manipulate multimedia objects with a simple scripting language. “I like Oracle Media Objects because it’s cheap and available on the Web for 90 days,” said Bud Nail, consultant for Vide- Comp of Picayune, Miss. “It works well and Win platforms. I don’t know if it will replace Director from a across Mi functional standpoint ... but from the small, cash-sensitive developer's point of view, a grand [the price of Director] is a lit- tle steep to integrate multimedia when compared to the other alternatives.” > San Francisco-based Macromedia is preparing Version 5 of Director, promis- ing features such as multiple casts and use of Adobe Photoshop plug-ins, while Macromedia has developed Shockwave, software that lets developers compress Di- When You Make It To The Big Screen Second Best Is Not Good Enough. with their Apple Presentation System, they cho have a fast, powerful, big screen multimedia pt Duplicate the Mac screen on the TV or record cables are included. The FOCUS LeTV internal LeTV Portable $229.99 LeTV Portable Pro $299.99 LeTV LC Card $299.99 0 Apple’s #1 Choice In Mac-To-TV Interfaces When Apple needed to ship the best portable Mac-To-TV interface LeTV Portable. Simply because presenters, educators and train- ers can plug the small, lightweight LeTV Portable into a Mac with video-out capability (including PowerBooks) and instantly elimination software, built-in RCA, S-Video connectors and all lets classroom trainers use the TV as a second monitor. Screen Color Cards LapisColor Cards from FOCUS are performers, pure and simple. For Macs with an LC-PDS slot, the 64-bit ose the FOCUS resentation system. toa VCR. Flicker color card also d-play desktop ‘or PowerBook Macs jur Customers’ A Must For New #1 Choice In Big Owners! PowerBook 190/5300 Combo Video & Ethernet Cards For Macintosh PowerBook 190/5300 Display up to 16.7 million colors on your TV, and record to videotape. Internal Bus Acceleration on LapisColor cards will make your Mac fly. With up to 3 megs of VRAM, they are favorites with our customers who work with complex graphics or video editing and viewing, and who have no patience to wait for their monitor to catch up with their mind. LapisColor cards are compatible with Apple, Sony, SuperMac, Radius and RasterOps monitors, to name a few. The complete line of LapisColor 24-bit, 16-bit or 8-bit cards work with any LC-PDS slot-equipped Mac. From $339.00 FAST! COLOR Call for more information or the reseller nearest you. Call for a free product guide INGRAM 0 a ate The new MV series, exclusively from FOCUS, gives your PowerBook fast 16-bit color for large monitor support, and a permanent, built-in Ethernet connection that doesn’t use precious PCMCIA slots. The MV family of cards use dedicated video and ethernet controller chips to provide maximum performance. A dual purpose MicroLatch connector cable provides a solid cable link to your network and display. LapisColor MV8-EN $249.00 LapisColor MV16 $299.00 LapisColor MV16-EN $399.00 6000 FeCUS ancements sibec ving © graphics + software rector presentations then distribute them over the Web with a free player. The com- pany also said it plans to increase integra- tion among its applications with a common plug-in architecture, user interface and scripting language. “Not just Director but Macromedia is morphing into being a full-service multimedia tools company,” said Jamie Siglar, a multimedia consultant based in Somerville, Mass. “Already you can build your [computer-based training] in Authorware and directly import Sound- Edit 16 files, as well as directly play back Director movies.” Soon, users will be able to “import Free- Hand objects, bundle Fontographer fonts and use identical (where contextually ap- propriate) externals to control the con- tent,” Siglar said. “The creation of the See Focus On, next page PCI port screen resolutions ra by 480 to 1,600 by 1,280 pi The Imagine 128 offers a 128-bit inter- nal data path; Number Nine said the new board can process four 32-bit pixels in a single instruction cycle. Number Nine said the 4-Mbyte config- uration can generate 24-bit color at 1,280 by 960 pixels, while the 8-Mbyte model supports 24-bit color at 1,600 by 1,280 pix- els. Both feature refresh rates of up to 100 Hz at 1,152 by 870 pixels and 80 Hz at 1,600 by 1,280 pixels. The board offers hardware zoom and pan for screen magnification of up to four times the original size; users can also drag application and program windows around the screen in real time instead of reposi- tioning an outline. IMS this month is slated to ship the TwinTurbo-128M2, an entry-level, $399 counterpart to its $699 128M graphics ac- celerator (see 06.26.95, Page 6). According to IMS, the single-chip board derives 128-bit performance from two interleaved 64-bit processors. The board will ship with 2 Mbytes of video RAM that can be upgraded to 4 Mbytes. The TwinTurbo- 128M2 uses Apple-standard DIMMs (dual in-line memory modules), so users can use memory from the motherboard to upgrade, the company said. The new board supports tion of 640 by 480 pixels in 24-bit mode and up to 1,600 by 1,200 pixels in eight-bit mode. It also features a refresh rate of up to 100 Hz at 1,152 by 870 pixels and a line- draw rate of 10 million pixels per second. The accelerator packs a hardware zoom control for instant screen magnification without pixel replication as well as real- time video playback. It will support Apple's forthcoming QuickTime MPEG playback extension, IMS said Number Nine Visual Technology Corp. of Lexington, Mass., can be reached at (617) 674-0009 or (800) 438-6463; fax (617) 674-2919; http://www.nine.com. Integrated Micro Solutions of San Jose, Calif., can be reached at (408) 369-8282; fax (408) 369-0128; imsteksup@aol.com. 0 From Page 12 ging from 640 screen resolu- MacWEEK 01.22.96 GA. PAGE 15 FOCUS ON From previous page for externals is a boon. > ScriptX was developed by Kaleida Labs Inc., a joint venture of Apple and IBM Corp. In November, less than a year after the object-oriented programming language’s release, the two companies said they would dismantle Kaleida but continue work on ScriptX. Version 1.5, which adds new fea- tures for the Internet and CD-ROM pro- gramming as well as native Power Mac support, shipped this month. Apple is reportedly developing SK8, a graphical frontend that will make ScriptX accessible to a wider audience. “ScriptX seems to be flaming out,” said Tony Bove, | a multimedia producer with Rockument Inc. of Gualala, Calif. “Not to denigrate the technology at all, but there never was a [front-end] tool to use with it; even NextStep has tools.” Other solutions Allegiant Technologies Inc. of San Diego is continuing to develop the $749 SuperCard; Version 3.0, due this year, will feature more extens ¢ use of object technology. “SuperCard offers both ed- itable text and hypertext support, and non- rectangular hot spots and multiple win- dowing,” Siglar said. Apple's $495 Media Tool and $995 Media Tool Programming Environment also offer an object-oriented approach, let- ting users drag and drop media elements into applications. Looking ahead There’s no question that the next frontier for multimedia is the Web, which may mean that the biggest new competitor is not a new application but Sun Microsys- tems Inc.’s Java. While the language is cur- rently usable only by expert programmers, Netscape Communications Corp. is devel- oping a scripting language that will make Java easier to use. Kevin Nilsen, State research scientist at University in Ames, has been working on establishing a standard for real-time Java components. “One of the potential applications for this is multimedia over the network and port- able multimedia development _ for kiosks, home computers [and] business applications,” he said. Multimedia developers are divided on just how useful objects are. “Object orien- tation is here to stay whether we like it or not... lowa because it forces us to reuse code and, more importantly, forces developers to build reusable code in the first place,” Siglar said. On the other hand, said Gretchen Macdowall, a multimedia programmer with Brueckner Interactive of Boston: “I don’t think OO is the Holy Grail, although everyone could benefit from applying some of the principles behind it. The premise of writing reusable objects is sound, but it takes quite a while to build a library of objects that are really generic enough to reuse.” 3-D software Geometry File) and 3DMF (3-D metafile format) and those for Wavefront Explore, MetaTools Inc.’s KPT Bryce Pro, Ray Dream Inc.’s Designer and ElectricImage. Support for Strata Inc.’s Studio Pro file for- mat will be available soon, the company said. Meanwhile, Abvent showed Version 2.0 of its $600 Atlantis Render software at From Page 12 quires only one-quarter the memory of its predecessor, Atlantis Render 1.6. Atlantis features interactive ray tracing in a variety of file formats, Abvent said. The software lets users create 3-D effects by drag- ging icons onto objects. It can add reflection, refraction and diffraction; shadows; multiple colored light sources; and transparency to a scene. The software includes some texture- mapping capabilities and supports smooth- ing and anti-aliasing of objects. Version 2.0 adds support for Targa and BMP formats in addition to PICT files. Atlantis was originally distributed by Graphisoft U.S. Inc. of South San Fran- cisco, Calif. The new version is available from View by View Inc. of San Francisco. Yonowat Inc. of San Francisco can be reached at (415) 928-6960; fax (415) 923- 1205; http://www. yonowat.com/. View by View Inc. of San Francisco is at (415) 775-6926; Fax (415) 923-1205. Macworld. Abvent said the upgrade re- 3 ypu ip— ™ Eas Eat uess WITH InterServer Publisher ! Cyberpublishing — (si’bar-pab‘Tish-ing) n. The dissemination of information via electronic devices that are together in a_ global network often referred to as Cyberspace. “There seems to be a natural migration path from desktop publishing to the Web.” “Anyone in desktop publishing will be interested in Web publishing.” Eric Bickford, Mac Webmas Richard Rawls, writer, MacWeek (06.12.95) joined interested s,MacWeek (06.1 InterServer Publisher is a Web server, a Gopher server, an FTP server and more—in one integrated application. An HTML editor, templates, and CGI scripts allow for INSTANT Web page creation. Cyberpublishing has never been this easy! InterCon’s InterServer Publisher for Macintosh can put your business, group or organization on the Internet, giving a growing market of MILLIONS almost instantaneous access to what you want them to see, know, experience and buy. Web ¢ Gopher ¢ FTP To lear more about InterServer Publisher, send email to 950 Herndon Parkway llHerndon, Virginia 22070 703.709.5500 or 1.800.INTRCON (voice) 703.709.5555 (fax) info@intercon.com (email) http://www. intercon.com/ (web) interserver@intereon.com or connect via Web at http://www.intercon.com/newpi/interserver2.html ee Gateways UNLEASHED Cyberdog, Apple's upcoming suite of Internet tools, now has a Web site at http://cyberdog.apple.com. PAGE 16 Networking © Operating Systems ® Databases 01.22.96 MACWEEK ProVUE ships database at expo By Clifford Colby ProVUE Development Corp. started its week at Macworld Expo this. month by shipping a major update to Panorama. Ver- sion 3.0 of the database includes a passel of new features, including client-server capabilities. With the new version, users can link toa licensed version of Every- Ware Development Corp.'s But- ler SQL database server and create multi-user applications. Users can gather subsets of data from the server to run locally on a client machine and take a local version of the database on the road. When the client reconnects to the server, the company said Panorama will synchronize the two versions. The update contains changes to Panorama’s interface, includ- ing a graphics control strip and SuperObjects, a set of prebuilt el- | ements — buttons, pop-up menus and lists — that lets users quickly assemble forms. Panorama 3 supports Apple- Script and features an improved programming environment with a built-in debugger, 40 new state- ments and 100 new functions. “I’m ecstatic about the tools pro- vided in Panorama 3, including the word processor and expanded scripting language,” said James Cook, president of HindSight Ltd.,a database development com- pany in Highlands Ranch, Colo. Cook, in ProVUE’s booth demonstrating his Panorama- based application, said, “For any- one who wants to do serious database development, Panorama By Joanna Pearlstein USS. Robotics Corp. has brought ISDN into its modem family with the announcement of the Courier I-modem, which com- bines an ISDN terminal adapter with a V.34 modem. Expected to ship this March, the $895 Courier I-Modem will include two B channels, support for MultiLink PPP (Point-to- Point Protocol) and an integrated NTI, as well as an analog jack for | plugging in a phone or fax ma- chine, When the two B channels are combined, the I-Modem can achieve speeds up to 128 Kbps on an ISDN, or Integrated Services Digital Network, The Courier I-modem detects the line. ISDN modem combo debuts type of device on the other end and will attempt to connect at the highest speed possible. The modem component of the I-Modem, called the V.Every- thing modem, incorporates sup- port for the V.34, V.Fast Class and V.32terbo protocols; it supports speeds up to 33.6 Kbps. U.S. Ro- botics said it plans to ship a stand- alone version of the V.Everything modem in March for $595. The V.Everything modem in- cludes flash memory so that users can download software updates. The modem supports faxing at speeds up to 14.4 Kbps. USS. Robotics Corp. of Skokie, IIL, is at (708) 676-7010; fax (708) 676-7320; http//www.usr.com. 0 Panorama update offers client-server functions The new version of Panorama includes en- hanced mail- merge capa- bilities and comes with a word proces- sor that can be added toa formina database. is one of the fastest ways to go.” First Mac client for Collabra Share ships By Clifford Colby Bringing its workgroup soft- ware across platforms, Netscape Communications Corp. recently shipped the first Mac client for Collabra Share, its information- sharing and group-conferencing software. Netscape bought Collabra Share along with its company, Collabra Software Inc., last fall. The Mac client reflects Netscape’s Internet focus, allowing users to embed links to Web pages, Inter- net newsgroups and mail in Col- labra Share documents. The new version also includes a button that users can click to launch the Navi- gator Web browser from within Collabra Share. The company said the Mac client includes an e-mail plug-in module for accessing other e-mail systems, including Microsoft Mail and Lotus Development Corp.’s See Collabra, Page 18 The three- pane messag- Pricing of Panorama 3 ranges from $395 for a single-user version to $3,549 for an unlimited client- server license. A runtime version is due by the end of this month. ProVUE Development Corp. of Huntington Beach, Calif., can be reached at (714) 841-7779 or (800) 966-7878; fax (714) 841- 1479; sales@provue.com. 0 —— sin pane ‘© E_*rranstar 20\nformationnnded Kelth Miggine 1/0/95 ing interface SSL Le Ia fot cotabea ‘MEL Prose raeae trom Transtar Keith Hgnns 1/9795 Share lets finns nrncesnins wean wives | | USerS view y Hiya steamer dee? mgrtnonen 11795 || topics, track Wi veiememstee tito HT escages in rmation threads f{ and view documents. {Ihave heard that North Str Aerogpace is about to release some information on the [NavStar I. [think that ths irra wall be our main competitor in 1995. Itisvery important that we get some information as 900n as possible! CDPD: One to beat in wireless war This is the second of a two-part series. By Joanna Pearlstein array of options. However, according to analysts, while Cellular Digital Packet Data, or CDPD, is currently the market follower, lower cost and With circuit-switched cellular service, packet- switched services and Cellular Digital Packet Data service, wireless wannabes face a befuddling greater potential coverage will eventually make cellular digital king of the wireless hill. ‘A 1995 study by the Yankee Group of Boston said 60 percent of mobile data network users Run for cover: The Ardis net- work covers 92 percent of urban business populations. In this map, yellow marks the areas of New England that are served by Ardis; white areas are not covered. are using circuit-switched cellular, 8 percent Ardis, 6 percent RAM Mobile Data and less than 1 percent CDPD. Most of these mobile users work in transportation, field service, field sales, public safety or financial services. In the study, 36 percent of users said they were somewhat satisfied with availability of the network they used but only 13 percent were very satisfied. “Neither Ardis nor [RAM Mobile Data] have been able to sell See Focus On, Page 18 Drive a High-Res, Full Page Photoshop Image. Real-Time, Anytime with Genesis MP. You know the tracks are there even if they’re covered under seven feet of snow. You know how to get the job done. You just need more time... or more power. Power counts. Especially when you have to produce an image in time to make the last courier. The less time j spent waiting on Photoshop, the more time you have to be creative E and still make it under the wire. 3 The revolutionary Genesis MP is a powerful new Mac OS system using four of the fastest PowerPC 604 processors available. Now you can drive huge files in real-time rather than just pushing pixels. Genesis MP runs Photoshop seven times faster than a PowerMac 8100. It’s four times faster than Apple’s new PowerMac 9500. Even an SGI work- station costing three times as much runs at a fraction of the speed. Nobody does it faster than Genesis MP. In addition to Adobe’s Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere, and Strata’s Studio Pro, over 200 Mac software titles for publishing are being boosted to multiprocessing performance. So, it’s time to make tracks. Get a Genesis MP. Look us up on the Web at http://www.daystar.com or call us at 800.984.4510 for some hard data on the new line of Genesis MP computers. Genesis MP: A new beginning in Mac workstation performance. <= @ =, FINALIST. _ Sod Mac OS System pl = Breakthrough Product © DayStar Digital, Inc. 5556 Atlanta Highway, Flowery Branch, GA 30542 * Phone: 770-967-2077 * Fax: 770-967-3018 PAGE 18 Gateways 01.22.96 MACWEEK FOCUS ON From Page 16 [mobile data networks] on the strength of wireless e-mail alone,” the report said. Ardis and RAM Mobile Data face sev- eral barriers. For example, while the net- works cover major metropolitan areas, most rural users aren’t covered (see map, Page 16). Also, slow speeds and high pric- ing have led Ardis and RAM Mobile Data users to rely on their services primarily for transmitting small messages. “Technically there are no limitations on file or message size,” said Dan Luis, vice president of business development at San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based Wynd Commu- nications Corp. Wynd runs WyndMail, an e-mail service that operates on RAM Mo- bile Data. “The network is best optimized for smaller, bursty data— you're not talk- ing about really high throughput.” “The issue is what’s the user willing to tolerate and what [does] the user want to pay for?” Luis said. “We find our users use {WyndMail] for higher priority messages [where] larger files are a rarity.” Analysts agreed that Ardis and RAM do not have broad customer appeal. The advan- tage of cellular is that users need only a cellu- lar phone — an item many business people already have — and a cellular-ready modem, a feature that is becoming more MacNFS" Not long ago, Macintosh and UNIX machines were about as compatible as, well you know. Now, you can achieve true NFS connectivity with MacNFS from TSS. MacNFS lets users share information with multiple-vendored UNIX machines as if they were on a local Macintosh volume. + The only Open Transport Ready NFS client available + Shares data with UNIX, DOS, and Windows applications + The fastest and most reliable NFS client for the Macintosh + MacNKS is as easy to use as AppleShare For an immediate NFS solution for your Macintosh, contact us today! yi sx sy Thursby Software Systems, Inc. 5840 West Interstate 20 « Arlington, TX 76017 U.S.A. « Telephone: (817) 478-5070 v Facsimile: (817) 561-2313 « Internet: sales@thursby.com ¢ www: http://www.thursby.com MacOS ©1996 Thursby Software Systems, Inc. Mac and the Mac OS logo are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., used under license. teaches your Macintosh and UNIX to share. common. Another of cellular’s major advan- tages is its ability to transmit voice and data; neither Ardis nor RAM Mobile Data can transmit voice. And cellular is available vir- tually everywhere in the United States. ‘The disadvantages of sending data over circuit-switched cellular are the same as voice-based transmissions: Connections can be unreliable and, because users are charged by the minute, expensive. “If I were a user and had to use wireless, I'd pick circuit-switched cellular because I know I'd get coverage,” said Ken Dulaney, vice president of mobile computing at The Gartner Group in Santa Clara, Calif. “The real problem is nobody’s really found a need for wireless. Right now, transmitting wire- less is just for techies and vertical markets.” Philip Redman, an analyst with the Yankee Group, said that circuit-switched cellular is the technology being used most, but only about | percent of its users are transmitting data. “[It is because of] slow transmission speeds, unreliable connec- tions and the expense,” he said. “Right now it’s cheaper to wait to get to the hotel to send the information.” CDPD will speed transmission and should be less expensive and more reliable, according to Redman. But, he said, it has yet to be deployed nationally. Gerry Purdy, editor in chief of Mobile Letter, a newsletter about mobile comput- ing based in Cupertino, Calif, said that he agreed CDPD will win out. “CDPD has a much broader potential geographical cov- erage [than Ardis and RAM Mobile Datal, since it sits on top of the cellular network,” he said. “We think it’s going to signifi- cantly expand the market as CDPD ser- vices become available in 1996.” 0 Collabra cc:Mail. The client is compatible with the Exchange groupware mail system from Microsoft Corp. A Mailbox Tracker feature updates users’ mail information when they change post offices or mail systems. The Mac client includes the Info- Navigator tool bar, which lets users move quickly through information. Users can also perform full text searches and attach files to Collabra Share documents. “The people who have Mz pany have been dying for this,” said James Heiser, senior information support specialist for Basic American Foods, a food manufac- turer and distributor in Walnut Creek, Calif. Heiser, whose company uses a mix of Macs and Intel-standard PCs, has been using Col- labra Share for several years. “With Collabra Share, the whole chain of thought is in- cluded with messages, and with the Naviga- tor addition, you can now put in a hot link when you want to send someone to some- thing you are referring to,” he said. Collabra Share 2.1 Macintosh Edition costs $99.95 per user and requires a Win- dows NT server, which costs $995; a Win- dows client is also available. Netscape Communications Corp. of Mountain View, Calif., can be reached at (415) 528-2555 or (800) 474-7427; fax (415) 528-4140; http://www.netscape.com. 0 From Page 16 s in our com- Complete this card to enter our drawing for a free copy of netOctopus. Drop this card by our booth #2044 at MacWorld... mail it...or fax it to us at 508-988-2040. All entries must be received by February 15, 1996. Name Title Company Address City State Zip Tel Fax E-mail Number of networked computers: Macintosh PCs Alll information must be completed to be eligible. SDATAWATCH MW12296 NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRSTCLASS MAIL__ PERMIT NO. 317 __ WILMINGTON, MA 01887 POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE Datawatch Corporation ATTN: Marketing Communications 234 Ballardvale Street Wilmington, MA 01887-9901 — ae netOctopus makes your job easier While reducing service and support costs! <a Software Met Managing Macintosh and cross-platform networks is hard work. Many analysts report service and support represent more than 70% of total computer ownership costs. Let netOctopus lend you a hand. Managing assets, installing and updating software, troubleshooting user problems, even metering software...netOctopus lets you solve problems throughout your network from the convenience of your desktop computer. As MacUser said: “netOctopus keeps network administrators in control.” Manage Assets. Hardware and software is a substantial investment. netOctopus helps you manage it better. netOctopus lets you perform real-time inventories, generate audit reports, and even track hardware and software utilization. Install and Update Software. Installing software takes time and effort. Either you walk around to every computer on your network, or you rely on your users. netOctopus lets you install software to any networked computer, quickly and automatically. MacUser October '95 MacWeek March 28, 1994 Apple Workgroup Server Owner Apple selected netOctopus to bundle with its servers. Try your 10 pack now! Troubleshoot User Problems. Troubleshooting problems is time consuming; it usually means visiting the user's computer. netOctopus lets you troubleshoot, fix, and even prevent user problems without leaving your desk. Software Metering. Illegal software copying can expose your organization to costly liability. On the other hand, it's easy to waste money on unneces- sary software purchases. netOctopus lets you monitor actual software usage to check compliance with licenses and to optimize purchase planning and software allocation. Compatibility and Flexibility. pus netOctopus manages Macintosh and PC computers from one administration program. It is designed to manage portable compu- ters on the road as well as desktop computers connected to your LAN or WAN. It works with a variety of communication protocols, and is customizable with industry standard AppleScript™. Make your system administration and network management easier. Call us at 800-847-3982. EIDATAWATCH Datawatch Corporation 234 Ballardvale Street Wilmington, MA 01887 Tel 508-988-9700 Fax 508-988-2040 Datawatch is a registered trademark and netOctopus is a trademark of Datawatch Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders __ Editor in Chief Mark Hall Editor Rick LePage names Editor Brenda Benner ‘Art Director Eleanor Leishman Director/Editorial Programs Anita Malnig NEWS Executive Editor Andrew Gore News Editor Carolyn Said Business Editor Jon Swartz Senior Associate Editor/GA Matthew Rothenberg ‘Associate Editor/Gateways Robert Hess Associate Editor/News David Morgenstern Senior Writers, Joana Pearstein, Staff Writers eg Palla REVIEWS AND FEATURES Executive Editor Stephen Howard Senior Editor/Features Catherine LaCroix Senior EdtorReviews Mix) Roback Associate Editor/Reviews Jeff Green ‘Assistant Editor Maria Sample Editor at Large Dale Coleman Editor Emeritus Henry Nor Contributing Editors Don Crabb, Ric Ford, Bruce frase, oon Guglielmo, fannetrd Joned Jonathan Oski MACWEEK ONLINE Associate News Editor/On-line James Staten Senior Editor, ZD Net/Mac_ Mark Simmons Associate Editor, ZD Net/Mac Sasha Pave COPY DESK Assistant Managing Editor Mariann Hansen Copy Chief Marty Cortinas Senior Copy Editor Patrica Orsini Copy Editor Rebecca Gulick ART AND DESIGN Associate Art Director Margaret Lee Graphic Designer John Farnsworth I PRODUCTION Production Manager Steve Spinola Production Manager Joy Kinky Production Coordinator Jose Urrutia Pre-press Manager Tim Manousos Assistant. 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OPINION PAGE 20 01.22.96 MACWEEK Communications breakdown ot too long ago, when you invested in Apple products, you could feel confident that the company had included a solid underlying networking and communi- cations infrastructure. Sadly, that’s no longer the case. The list of recent disappointments and failures of Apple communications technology is long and, we fear, will get longer. This month we reported that PowerTalk, Apple’s messaging technology, was moth- balled after being on the market two years. The rea- son? A resounding lack of interest. Few developers signed on to enhance it, and fewer users incorporated it into their working environments. Not many Apple technologies have caused as much of a stiron MacWEEK’s CompuServe Forum as Open Transport 1.0. This release conflicted with existing products, slowed networking and did not implement many promised features. Although we hope Version 1.1 fixes past horrors, the ambitiousness of the technol- ogy and its initial shortfall make us nervous. The most recent PowerBooks reflect a lack of a com- munications vision as well. To save a few dollars, Apple dropped its previous integration of Ethernet and a modem on the motherboard for its 5300. This lack of understanding about what users expect from a high- end portable would be laughable if it were an isolated incident. Butit’s not. Apple’s failure to execute an over- all communications strategy is frightening. Even the Newton 2.0 does not escape Apple’s bum- bling in this area. What’s a mobile communications de- vice without robust connectivity? Apple used to be a leader in this area. LocalTalk, AppleShare, Apple Remote Access and other technolo- gies have contributed as much as user interface design to the Mac’s success. Apple should think through and then follow through with its communications tech- nologies and products and stop developing them sim- ply for the sake of it. THE SECOND DECADE HENRY NORR Products, not rhetoric, are Mac’s Net advantage Apple Americas President Jim Buckley. struck a_ positively Gatesian note in declaring during his Macworld Expo keynote that not only is Apple centering its development ef- forts on the Internet, but that it’s been doing so for years. His outline of Apple’s Internet strategy — expected sometime later this year — was strik- ingly short of specifics; curiously, he didn’t even take Cyberdog for a walk. I suppose it’s progress, though, that the company’s top brass is at least learning to talk the talk; just three months ago, CEO Michael Spindler sent employees a 1,750- word letter on Apple’s goals for fiscal 1996 without once mentioning the Internet or the Web. But the most heartening impression I took from the show was that growing num- bers of Mac developers are walking the walk. expos. An industry emerges Not long ago the Mac Web-server market consisted of one product: Chuck Shotton’s offerings. shareware MacHTTP. Today it’s a burgeoning industry. The WebOut Vendor Fair, held on the eve of the expo in conjunction with the Mactivity/ Web conference, had some- thing of the flavor of early Mac A. “booth” counter, a sign, some fliers and a Mac (not a multiscreen the- ater complex a la expo), and the person behind the counter was, more often than not, the actual developer. Around every corner was another product deliver- ing significant new functions or attacking some annoying bottleneck. The most spectacular Internet newcomer was Roaster, Natural Intelligence Inc.’ development system. (Now if Netscape Communications Corp. would only deliver a Java-enabled browser for the Mac.) But what impressed me even more was the number and variety of less glamorous Foresight Technology Inc.'s CalendarSe/CGI, for instance, turns a page into a Now Up-to-Date-like shared calen- ; Lundeen & Associates’ Web Crossing creates Web-l ging forums; and Maxum Development Corp.'s RushHour helps maintain server performance by of- floading image serving. ased me: Opening doors, building bridges In the impediment-elimination category, Open Door Networks Inc.'s Home Door lets a single Mac server respond to multiple do- main names, and Main Event Software's Dogpatch solves some technical glitches with AppleScript-based CGIs (Common Gate- way Interfaces). Web Broadcasting Co.’s Web FM 2.0 creates a bridge between a page and a database in Claris Corp.’s FileMaker Pro 3.0; a number of other products do the same for ACI US Inc.’s 4th Dimension. Adobe PageMill continued to turn heads — Apple Fellow Guy Kawasaki showed it off, for the second consecutive meant a Personally, I was more excited to see a Mac version of Vermeer Technologies Inc.’s FrontPage, a highly regarded HTML edi- tor previously available only on Windows. Buckley argued that the Internet has Java ch: in Apple’s favor. If that turns out to be true, most of the credit will go not to the company, but to the ever-innovative developers. 0 Henry Norr, editor emeritus of MacWEEK, welcomes feedback in the MacWEEK forums on CompuServe or eWorld or at henry_norr@ macweek.com. expo, in his “hot new products” keynote. | sini sins | I MacWEEK 01.22.96 PAGE 21 Pity the fool Apple, after admirably jumping into the game with its plug-and-play Internet servers, has almost completely let its lead- ership position slide. Who on Guy’s team is asleep at the wheel? This month the Mac community was snubbed twice right in its own backyard. First, Macromedia Inc. released the beta version of Shockwave for Windows 95 and NT only. (Macromedia!) Then Adobe Systems Inc. released Amber for Win- dows. What OS did these organizations build their fortunes on? Director, Page- Maker, Photoshop and Illustrator (and on and on) existed successfully for years on the Mac before their Windows siblings were born. Now these companies ignore their very roots. I’m glad I’m not Apple’s evan- gelist to either of these companies, and I pity the fool who is. Lawrence Guzzetta Ingram Micro Inc. Irvine, Calif. Resolution resolution Your article on the new panoramic digital camera (12.04.95, Page 1) contained a fac- tual error. The claim that an image of 52,000 by 6,000 pixels corresponds to a film size of 5 by 54 inches is highly exaggerated. Ordi- nary color film has a resolution of about 100 lines per millimeter. At two pixels per line, the digital camera’s resolution is equivalent to a film size of about 1.2 by 10 inches, significantly less than professional- grade panoramic film technology, which uses a film width of just under 60mm — about 2.25 inches. John Lehman Executive director for networks and telecommunication University of Alaska, Fairbanks Advice from a dropout Joanna Pearlstein’s glowing story “Apple reconstructs developer structure” (11.27.95, Page 22) mentions some encouraging specifics, especially the reappointment of Guy Kawasaki to head of developer evangelism. But the general impression was misleading. I am unaware of any developer dropouts, such as myself, returning to the pricey program as a result of recent im- provements. An especially curious item to an old-timer is the praise for Apple's loosening of “seeds” so selected developers can test their software on the “newest hardware.” At the time I signed on, Apple was promising that all Macs would LEd-LERS work the same, so such testing would never be needed. If Apple is serious about developer rela- tions, here are some suggestions: 1) Stop bundling. 2) Sell off Claris. 3) Make developer relations the respon- sibility of each and every Apple employee. 4) Fix Apple bugs, and not just when they affect Claris or some other pet. 5) Recognize that help for a “nominal” fee may be no help at all. 6) Adhere to Apple’s own published in- terface guidelines. 7) Reinstate the original fee structure. 8) Make the primary requirements for management jobs actual use and experi- ence with the Mac, e-mail and the Internet. Wayne Bostow President Bostow International Houston Lousy track record I read with interest the article regarding Newer Technology Inc.'s forthcoming PowerPC 603e daughtercard upgrade for the PowerBook 500 series (12.11.95, Page 1). I'm pleased to see that there will be an alternative to Apple’s upgrade. What I am displeased about is Apple’s continued pushing back of the release date for its daughtercard. I’ve been anticipating the upgrade almost since I bought my 520c in September 1994. Apple’s “Ready for PowerPC Upgrade” sticker still sits promi- nently on the computer. I waited until the summer of 1995, I waited through Octo- ber, then November and December only to be told that “Apple plans to ship its daugh- tercard in January.” Worse than that, I find later in the arti- cle that Newer’s may be my only option, as “Apple plans to build only a limited quan- tity of upgrades, and most of those will be sold in Europe.” I feel cheated by a com- pany that I’ve supported for many years and continue to support. One wonders if Apple will ever offer processor card upgrades for the 7500, 8500 and 9500. With its track record, I’m not counting on it. Larry West, MIS administrator The Voyager Co. New York How to contact MacWEEK Send letters to MacWEEK, 301 Howard St., 15th Floor, San Francisco, Calif. 94105; fax (415) 243- 3651. We can be contacted on-line: CompuServe, 76077,1351; eworld, MacWEEK; MCI, 323- 1203; Internet, letters@macweek.com. Include your name, address and phone number. We re- serve the right to edit for clarity and length. Apple may be moping, but the Mac is smoking Thud! Apple loses $68 million on sales of more than $3 billion. Boom! Apple fires vice presidents by the bushel basket. Crash! Apple puts in motion a real reorga- nization that may cut from 1,000 to 3,000 employees from the rainbow dole. So why am I so damn optimistic about the future of the Macintosh? Because the Mac has a future, even if Apple does not. Geeks and clones At Macworld Expo in San Francisco this month, the enthusiasm was back — with a vengeance. For the first time in a couple of years, expo felt like, well, Mac- world Expo, instead of like Mac- intosh Comdex. Why? Two words: “Geeks” and “clones.” Thanks to the Internet, the Web, OpenDoc and Copland, the geeks are back. This time around, they’re younger, smarter and more savvy than we were in 1984. They get it. And they’re hammering Apple and themselves to produce those en- riching, compelling applications that we all yammer about but never seem to find. I saw more clever, cutting-edge applica- tions from small vendors than I have seen from the past three years of expos combined. A good example is Casady & Greene Inc.’s Solutions. Written by veteran Mac developer Dave Wilson and his son Steve, Solutions does for numerical calculations what Claris Corp.’s new FileMaker Pro 3.0 has done for databases — make it obvious, elegant and simple to calculate accurate results without being a programmer or mathematician. Solutions isn’t going to put Microsoft Excel out of business, but it does give Mac users an alternative. By making calculations as simple as dragging and dropping a for- mula, your results become more consistent, and it’s much easier to share models across departments or whole companies because the logic of what’s going on is right in front of your face, not hidden in some proprietary text-based formula operators in cells. I lost count of all the slick beta OpenDoc parts I saw at expo, and then there were all the Web widgets, drop-ins and other mini- apps that make it possible for mere mortals to create Web sites or do database publish- ing. Inaddition, bigger products from larger companies, such as JAM 7 from Jyacc Inc., Power Objects from Oracle Corp. the Tango/Butler DB publishing solution from EveryWare Development Inc. and Roaster from Natural Intelligence Inc., all prove that innovation on the Mac ain't dead — no matter what happens to Apple. The Mac OS lives Besides the dramatic return of the Mac developer, the Mac OS was boosted at the show by the cloners. Power Computing Corp., frankly, was awesome. Between the new high-end PowerWave PowerPC 604 machines and the cleverly configured entry-level PowerCurve 601 ma- chines, they have got our machine needs fig- ured out. With huge and growing sales or- ders, it’s clear that Power Computing is driving Mac OS machine innovation — and giving us a reliable (after some growing pains) second source for Macs. Once the PowerPC Platform hits midyear and we see the big Intel-standard PC cloners sign on to the Mac OS, our future will be confirmed, and we'll be able to buy Mac OS machines without giving any thought to what happens in Cupertino. ¢ Don Crabb welcomes comments at his Internet address decc@cs.uchicago.edu. You can also check out his home page at http://cs-www. uchicago.edu/~decc!. “My modem is broken. Do you mind coming over to my place tonight to chat?” ‘Comments? Ideas? Contact El at elitoons@aol.com When it comes to rating multimedia monitors, MacUser magazine recently put some of the leading multimedia monitors through their paces. They performed lab tests on image and sound quality. They stared at test documents, line art and scanned images. They played their favorite CD's at various levels. They fiddled with knobs and on-screen (800) 888-8583 Dept. (701) » (909) 869-7976 Fax: (909) 869-7958 @ Cal FarSonic LLL MacUser™ Rated, December 1995 controls. And they researched olution of 1,280 x 1,024, street prices and warranties, refresh rates as high as 160Hz, and razor sharp After all the results were in, the ViewSonic 17GA 17" (16.0" viewable) PerfectSound™ screen definition. And listen to this. High multimedia monitor was Jidelity speakers are integrated singled out as the “Best Buy.” into the monitor bezel so the full, No wonder. An entirely new rich stereo sound envelopes you. technology creates the ultimate To quote a satisfied screen image — maximum res- customer, “It rocks, man!” DECcE! 18 (24-hour fax-on-demand) © Request Doc. 150 «Intent: ht/wwv.viewsonic com * © 1996 ViewSaric Carporaton. Corps And the 17GA is so attractively priced, it’ like getting the MacUser multimedia feature Jor free. Several 8 competitive models cost as much but are not even multimedia monitors. Rather than toot our own horn, perhaps we should refer you to MacUser magazine: ames and trademarks are the propety oftheir respective comp: “A real multimedia bargain,” they said, “the ViewSonic 17GA offers solid image quality, warm colors, fine-sounding audio and a slew of easy- to-use on-screen controls.” So when you're ready to buy, remember this: Many 17" (various viewable) multimedia monitors come are nice but checks are better. LLL BUY MacUser™ Rated, December 1995 A BEST ELL , BEST BUY aay au: Lie Lil ea aut Le +/OUTSTANDING RATING PRODUCT PRICE © /ACCEPTABLE -/POOR ‘SUPPORT IMAGE SOUND QUALITY QUALITY ViewSonic 17GA® + A real multimedia bargain, the ViewSonic 17GA (estimated street price, $850) offers solid image quality, warm colors, fine-sound- ing audio, and a slew of easy-to-use on-sreen controls —all at a competitive price. The stylish case will also make you the envy of your office mates. Apple Apple Vision 1710AV = e + + IBM 17S/S = s © + Nokia 447W * id + = Panasonic Pana Media 17 bd + 2. © Philips 17B Ld Ls e = Philips Brilliance 15A ® e e = Reprinted from "MAC * Estimated set price per" , Copyright © 1096 Zt Das Ping Company magazine, Decernber 1995, with mice, but only the ViewSonic 17GA bas been selected as MacUser magazine’ “Best Buy.” ViewSonic’ MaAcWEEK LUIDE 10 DiGiTAL VIDEO The Mac and QuickTime have put nonlinear video editing front and center in professional suites. We examine corporate video, report on the Power Mac 8500, look at how TRW makes in-house CDs and suggest how Apple might keep up the momentum. By Connie Guglielmo In-house production a cost-effective reality hen it comes to digital video and the Macintosh, it’s 1984 all over again. Just as it was on the brink of trans- forming print communications with help from Aldus PageMaker and the LaserWriter in the mid-1980s, the Mac today, users say, is on the brink of transforming video communications. This video revolution is being made possible by the emergence in the past few years of a combination of software and hardware tools, notably heavy-duty Power Macs with built-in audiovisual processors; video-digitizing and video-output hardware capable of handling a wide variety of formats; a cross-platform stan- dard in Apple’s QuickTime that includes basic compression and decompression tech- nologies; off-the-shelf video editing; special- effects and authoring software; and high- speed, low-cost 1-Gbyte drives for storing memory-hungry digital video data. While the positive effects of the technology advances are being felt in Hollywood, so too is corporate America reaping the benefits. We look here at those in-house producers making use of — and saving money with — Mac- based video systems. “A great filmmaker once said that film will never be a great art until film and camera are as cheap as pencil and paper,” said Peter McWilliams, a Los Angeles-based computer book author who will publish a book and video in March describing the video-authoring revo- lution being made possible by the Mac. “But when you look at 35mm film, it costs about $1,000 in film and development for 11 minutes of content. Video authoring is the pencil and paper of the future. You can buy a videotape for $5.99 and store five hours of images on it. And along comes video-authoring software that works on the Mac. Suddenly, for the cost of the Maz, software and a video-capture board, you can do potentially broadcast-quality, mar- ketable or, at the very least, sharable video. You're an author in the new world of images and sound.” Video in Getting video into the Mac means capturing, digitizing and converting analog video — composite, S-video (Super VHS or HI-8) and component (such as the professional-quality Betacam SP), or both — into the Mac’s RGB digital format one frame at a time. Real-time video runs at 30 frames per second. Apple’s Quadra AVs and Power Mac AVs are video-ready, offering built-in digital- to-analog-converter chips, but there are caveats to capturing video and sound. The Quadra and Power Mac AV models vary in their support for composite and S-video. The Power Mac AVs, for instance, have two jacks for S-video but require installation of special adapter cables (which are included with the system) to bring in composite video. Standard Power Mac users who want to do video capture need to buy a video- input and video-output card from Apple or a third party. Sound is a problem on all AV Macs; an adapter is required to bring sound from a camera or VCR into the Mac’s audio input. L. TAARKANEEN/LSD MaAcWEEK 01.22.96 Speciat Report PAGE 25 While some corporate users have found that the built-in digitizing capabilities of the Power Mac serve their needs (sce story, Page 30), users working with high-quality video, such as Betacam SP, who want to in- clude CD-quality audio with their video, or who may require multiple input and output connections, have turned instead to special- ized video-digitizing hardware systems from third-party developers such as Truevision Inc., Radius Inc., Avid Technology Inc. and Data Translation Inc. Truevision offers two versions of its Targa 2000 Pro card for the Mac: NuBus and PCI. The Targa supports the NTSC (U.S.) and PAL (European) video standards, 24-bit color monitors up to 1,152 by 870 pixels, 16-bit audio VO, QuickTime and Motion-JPEG compression and decompression. A. distin- guishing feature of the Targa is that it writes If having a starring or even support- ing role in a Hollywood production isa sign that you've arrived, then Macintosh-based digital video tech- nology has definitely arrived. Recognizing that desktop tech- nology is less expensive and more flexible than proprietary video- editing equipment, Hollywood producers are starting to incorpo- rate Mac tools at all levels of pro- duction — from creating comps and storyboards to previewing ef- fects to creating broadcast-quality productions. Old dogs, new tricks Ocean Video in Beverly Hills, Calif., has made a business of advising film, video and multimedia users on how Mac-based tools, specifi- cally Data Translation Inc.'s Media 100, can redefine movie making, according to co-founder Jeb Jo- henning. With his partner, Richard Goodman, Johenning has helped producers use the Mac and the nonlinear digital-editing system on the set during filming. The setup they recommend for broadcast-quality editing costs about $40,000 and can store two hours of broadcast-quality video. That setup includes a Power Mac 9500 with 80 Mbytes of RAM, 18 Gbytes of storage, a broadcast- quality NTSC monitor and a Beta- cam tape deck. Software includes Adobe After Effects and Photoshop. “Directors take a video record- ing of a movie while it's being filmed so that they can play back