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a ee 10 R K Ss Window On ie jackup | 7 March 1989 Vol. 3 Ni ES All systems go for Ilcx launch PageMaker fo get color extensions Seattle — Aldus Corp. is expected to announce new color extensions for PageMaker that will give the popular page-layout program the ability to generate four-color separa- tions, according to sources close to the Seattle-based developer. At Seybold Seminars "89 next week in San Francisco, the compa- ny will also reportedly announce links between PageMaker and | high-end color pre-press systems from Hell Graphics Systems Inc and Crosfield Electronics, In addi- tion, PageMaker has new type han dling capabilities that allow it to import and maintain kerning pair See PAGEMALER Page 8 Kinetics to give NeXT new Ethernet options Hanover, West Germany Kinetics Inc. of Walnut Creek Calif, will introduce a card for the NeXT workstation that will users the option of connecting directly to thick-wire or twisted pair Ethernet networks. The Ethernet port built into the NeXT machine supports only thin-wire connections. Called the Ether PortNL, the Kinetics board will cost about $500 and should ship in the third quarter. A Kinetics official also said the ny’s $695 EtherPortII and rPortlIL cards will be available immediately for the Mac Ilex. Copy protection off on LetraFont type Paramus, N.J. — Pressure from users forced Letraset USA last week to withdraw copy protection from its LetraFont Display Type collection, The fonts, which are de work only with Letr manipulation program LetraStudio, were originally distributed with a maximum of four installs per font Letraset will send a non-protect- ned to | | ed font disk containing the four et's type LetraFont faces that come with LetraStudio to all registered own- ers. Owners of individual font disks car-upgrade for free by sending the font disks to Letraset's customer | service department e | 40-Mbyte hard drive; Pricing puts Mac II future in doubt By John Battelle and Renee Mathews San Francisco — Apple's intro- duction of the three-slot, '030-based Mac IIcx and two large-sereen mon- itors this week has set the industry abuzz with speculation over the fate of the Mac II and future standards for the Mac monitor market. According to documents re- viewed by MacWEEK, the Ilcx will be priced at $4,669 for a base model with 1 Mbyte of RAM and a 1.44-Mbyte floppy drive; $5,369 for 1 Mbyte of RAM and an internal and $7,069 for 4 Mbytes of RAM and an inter- nal 80-Mbyte drive. Barring price changes on existing models, the introduction of the IIcx will leave Apple with three CPUs in the $4,300 to $4,900 price range (see chart at right Charles Wolf, an analyst at First Boston in New York, said the Ilex’s introduction may signal an end to the '020-based Mac II. “This is bye: bye I, and it’s time it went,” said Wolf. “The Ilex is going to be a screamer for Apple in the corporate marketplace.” Wolf predicted that the Mac IIcx will be the biggest sell. Gestures recognizes handwriting By John Bottelle Mountain View, Calif ing easy integration of handwriting recognition into Mac applications. Evergreen Technologies last week a software Promis- introduced Gestures, only solution that understands writ cd symbols created ten characters from any standard input device ergreen ” Ges- Through a process E calls “applied intelligence tures can be trained by a user or developer to recognize any set of symbols. Gestures, as a set of software routines or as a Hyper- | Card external conimand (XCMD) is targeted only at developers and OEMs, according to Eric Gould. the product's marketing agent. The | software can be used with a mouse, tablet, trackball, touch screen or | other input technology, The Ges tures algorithms will also work on | MS-DOS, Unix and Atari systems, | See GESTURES, Poge 9 | available er, in terms of revenues, in Apple's history Height and depth of the Ilcx box and Ix, but by reducing the num- ber of slots and moving the power supply, Apple has shortened the Ilex’s width to 11.87 inches. The internal 3.5-inch hard drive will sit above the floppy SuperDrive. are the same as the current Mac II Sea NOX, Page 9 Macintosh IIcx T Mbyte RAM... .$4,669 1 Mbyte RAM, whine drive. . $5,369 4 Mbytes RAM, 80-Mbyte drive . . $7,069 86 $6968 | ‘rs talc mamma (PU clon aT NetWare link gives TOPS high-end boost By Jon Swartz Boston — Users of TOPS con- nectivity software and Novell's Net- | Ware network operating system will soon be able to link up elec- tronically, under the terms ai anew alliance between TOPS’ parent, Sun Microsystems, and Novell Inc. The marketing and development agreement, announced last week at the NetWorld ’89 show here, calls for the companies this year to inte- grate Sun's TOPS and Network em (NFS) protocols with users will be able to access NetWare servers directly giving them an upgrade path as | their need for more-advanced net- work services grows. NetWare users will have greater flexibility in accessing information stored locally at network stations. Users said the integration of an inexpensive distributed networking program like TOPS ($199) into sophisticated NetWare networks represents a “perfect fit.” Until now, TOPS software has been pri- marily used at network installations of f r than eight users, while NetWare is typically used at large sites. “With TOPS as a subnet on a NetWare network, the user is get- ting a usersimple program on the Sea TOPS, Poe 8 Putting the best interface on Unix A/UX vies against many at UniForum By Daniel Farber and Jon Swartz San Francisco — In the eyes of the PC world, the Mac stands out as an oddball. But in the Unix mar ket, it's just another pretty interface. At the sixth annual UniForum show here last week, Apple was among the 225 vendors demon- strating Unix produets to more | than 22,000 people attending the three-day event > Apple demonstrated a still- beta Version 1.1 of A/UX. The update, giving Apple’ Unix imple- mentation the ability to run more | Mac applications, is scheduled to ship this month, according to Glen Fiance, Apple's A/UX evangelist > Nearly two dozen applications, including A/UX versions of Informix Software Inc.'s Wingz graphic spreadsheet and Microsoft's Word 4.0, were exhibited on the show floor. List SpA of Pisa, Italy demonstrated Ver- sion 1.1 of Interface R, a Finder-like interface for A/UX. Recently, some developers and users have called into question Ap ple’s commitment to A/UX, given that Apple is retooling the Mac operating system to include many of the services that Unix offers such as true multi- tasking and protect- ed memory But according to Jim Davis, a five-and-a-half-year Sun yeteran and now Apple's direc- tor of system software, Apple is com- mitted to A/UX for specific markets. Seo MUX, Poge 8 Apple’s Jim Davis: “There ore 20-plus Unix interfaces today. To pick the right one Is to pick a winning horse in a crowded field.” Bob LeVitus, former editor of MACazine, author of Dr. Macintosh, Tips Techniques, and Advice, ce for Mastering Yor “The Jasmine DirectPrint is not as cood as a laser printer It’s better.” “Eyer since the day they came out, I've been using PostScript? laser printers. I edited a magazine that was desktop-published from cover to cover, so I lived and died by laser printers daily. Over the last three years, I've had experience with at least 15 or 20 different models. And the Jasmine DirectPrint™ is better than any of them. “Tr’s the fastest, most capable, most reasonably-priced 300-dot printer I've ever seen. Textand graphics are clear, sharp, and vivid, and the black and gray tones are incredibly rich. And the amazing thing is, it’s not even a laser printer, but uses liquid crystal technology that requires fewer moving parts. So I expect to have fewer problems with it. “T've been using this printer for proofing all of the drafts of my new book.I've thrown some pretty complex PostScript graphics atit,using programs like FreeHand™ and IIlustrator88;" and nothing I've created has slowed ©1989 Jasmine Technologies, lnc. 1740 Army Street, San Francisco, CA 94124 Phone 1-415-282-1111 Worldwide Dine Istana trademark of, and PostScript isa registered trademark of, Adobe Systems, Ic. Freehand is a trademark of Aldus Co it down in the least. There's no question in my mind that the DirectPrint is as fast or faster than even Apple’s® fastest laser printer. “Another thing I like about the DirectPrint is that it’s about half the size of any laser printer, and actually fits on my desk. And it’s only $3495, so it fits within this freelance writer's budget, too. In fact, if1 make any more flattering statements about the DirectPrint, people will think I'm takingupa second career as an ad copywriter!” @ Jasmine _< A 1-800-347-3228 The proof is in the printing. at isa trademark of Jasmine Technologies, Inc ation. Apple isa registered trademark of Apple Computer, Ine MocWEEK 7 March 1989 a | = | iW info_ Jl Race info. Spectators and skiers at the World Alpine Ski Championships could use Info-on-the-Go's Hyper- Cord-besed menu on @ touch screen to get information about restaurants, hotels and maps. U.S. West’s multimedia event unveils Info-on-the-Go kiosks By Connie Guglielmo Vail, Colo. — Skiers carving turns at the World Alpine Ski Championships here last month were on the cutting edge of more than just the ski slopes. U.S. West Communications used the skiing event to unveil its Info- on-the-Go kiosks, Macintosh II- based information centers running multilingual, interactive multi- media presentations driven by HyperCard Seven kiosks, each equipped with a Mac IL, Mass Microsystems ColorSpace II video board, Mac’n’ Touch touchscreen from Micro- Touch Systems, AppleCD SC CD- ROM player and a multisyne moni- tor capable of displaying live video as pet as Mac-generated graphics, were set up in Vail, Colo., and nearby Beaver Creek “We chose the Mac because of the development speed,” said Den- nis Horgan, project manager for the team at U.S, West's Optical Pub- lishing Group, which was responsi- ble for developing the software “I don't think we could have done the product in four months with MS-DOS. It couldn't have been done without the Mac,” he said. The kiosks contained informa- tion in three languages (English, French and German) about hotels, restaurants, shops, night life, spe- cial events and the race. The kiosks were also equipped with printers for generating printed maps of user-selected areas and hones that automatically dialed hotels and restaurants. Response to Info-on-the-Go has been positive, said Horgan, who added that U.S. West will continue to test market the information cen- ters in Vail until April 15 If the kiosks are deemed a suc cess, U.S. West may market them to information-oriented businesses. “It’s exciting that we've built one of the most advanced multimedia, user-interactive syste Horgan said. “It’s an integrated single unit that puts everything — CD- ROM images with video, text and graphics — on a single screen Intel takes i860 RISC, enters market San Francisco — Intel Corp. entered the fierce RISC micropro- cessor competition last week with a demonstration of the i860, an experimental ay that the com- pany said is speedier than its com- petition and 30 times faster than its own 80386, Running at 33 and 40 MHz, the 64-bit i860 can perform up to 40 million instructions pe The Santa Clara company is entering the reduced instruction set computing (RISC) fray relatively late. MIPS Comput- er Systems, Motorola and Sun Microsystems are all scurrying to | build a software base for chips already released. “I think it’s a little too late,” said Michael Slater, publisher of the Microprocessor Report in Palo Alto, Calif. “Software developers are tired of porting software, and the i860 will be dwarfed when it arrives in machines next year.” Intel hopes to make up for lost time through agreements with sig- nificant players, IBM demonstrat- ed an accessory circuit board that uses the i860 to supercharge the 3-D graphic capabilities of its PS/2 line of 80386 personal computers. Olivetti said it will use the i860 for a family of RISC-based products “For a narrow range — 3-D graphics and floating-point calcula- tions — it’s a great solution,” Slater said. “I don’t think it means much for the average user.” 0 20 20 20 58 22 22 26 In this issue News New RIP 3 boosts Lino speed Networld brings Mac-Novell products, complaints Bright Star’s animation program gets Super face lift Generic upgrades CAD package, increases price MaclnTouch New virus detective hits the street. Electronic data interchange coming to the Mac GOL makes SQL database access easier NASA users group releases video tutorial on viruses 4D-based custom databases designed for business Tronsoft offers finance, real estate software StackWEEK Don’t misinterpret the value of Compilelt! Strawberry Tree to release WorkBench 3.0 HyperTROL ships HyperBoard, targets home market New Mac programs make beautiful music EndLink gets bibliography info from on-line sources Guarantee for Business Sense accounting program Sun puts Open Look applications on desktop: Sun Write, Paint, Draw announced. Opinion Editorial The dotabase deficit Letters Mac Soapbox Andrew Goodman Desktop video: A picture costs a lot more than 1,000 words. Mac the Knife The Organizational Mac Mac check-printing system checkmates Sun Net Results Peter Lisker Giving mainframe-sarvy dato processing professionals o microcomputer education, Window On Tope drives: Backing up on the right track 28 30 30 34 34 36 36 53 53 54 56 53 42 43 44 46 5) ‘Mac market slow to respond to tape backup Taping it fo the VAX The Art of the Possible Steve Rosenthal ADA on the menu is worth fwo applications in MultFinder. Reviews Paragon Concepts strives for the high end: Nisus word processor packed with power features. The Week in Reviews lp ort spices up business documents. DynoPerspective enters Mac 3-D modeling field BigThesourus is extensive, hefty, major Business Watch Cricket reorganizes again, cuts staff AST leaves Mac market behind Sun Microsystems turns heat on Apple MarketWEEK ‘Apple shares mimic Woll Street — down, down. Industry Profile: Discussing the Symantecs of success. Ad Index Mail Order Ad Showcase Classified Career Opportunities MecWEEL 6s prodxed wing on intews system o- hype Macintosh SEs ond Max Us; Laser, Varhyper VS00 ond VISOQW, end QMS ColScipt 100 printers networked on Ferofon Frenetet,¢Lintronc 300, on Abaton Scans, Rosters, Foch ond Supe manors, ond seFtwre inching Quer Pess, Als Pogo, Adobe ltt, Ads FreeHond, SopetPont, Mics Weed, Laser! end Pixel wo 1) New RIP to boost Lino speed | nal charge By Cliff Lehman Hauppauge, N.Y. — In a move that may once again give it a technological edge over its competitors, Linotype Co. is scheduled to introduce a new version of its PostScript con. troller at Seybold Seminars 89 in San Fran- cisco next week RIP 3, as the new controller is called, is Qume upgrade fixes problem in printing downloaded fonts By Giff Lehmon Milpitas, Calif. — Problems with the qual ity of printing when using downloadable fonts from Bitstream Inc. have forced Qume Corp. to come up with a firmware upgrade program for its CrystalPrint PostScript clone printer. Although the 300-dpi printer produces its 35 resident typefaces (licensed from Bit- stream) with no problem, fonts downloaded from Bitstream’s MacFontware library do not achieve the same quality Quine is continuing to sell the CrystalPrint Publisher, priced at $4,499, but with a warn ing to users that downloaded fonts will not achieve optimal results and directions to call a toll-free number to get information on the upgrade program, according to Michael Sugyhs president of product market ing at Que We are still testing the upgrade,” ghara said. “The rest of the product was an, we really want this to be good. Sugihara estimated that the new firmware will be available in April or May, CrystalPrint owners in metropolitan areas will probably be able to get a service call for the upgrade 2, Vi Users in remote areas, however, will proba bly have to ship the machine back The upgrade will have “some sort of nomi Sugihara said. Users will absorb the cost of shipping The problem with downloaded fonts has its roots in a series of miscommunications be- tween Qume and Bitstream during the devel opment of CrystalPrint, Sugihara said. “The MacFontware version we used was not com: patible with the final version of MacFont- ware. The upgrade will bring our version up to the latest version of MacFontware,” he sai The MacFontware incompatibility also affects Qume’s OEM customers, such as San Francisco-based Jasmine Technologies, which sells the printer under its own name as the DirectPrint LCS. “We're looking at this as an enhancement upgrade,” said Dennis Chang, president of Jasmine. “We won't charge for the upgrade Qume might take a hit, we might take a hit, but we don’t want users to take a hit. That's our policy.” Because the CrystalPrint Publisher and DirectPrint LCS use a PostScript clone interpreter rather than one from Adobe, the Mountain View, Calif, company’s PostScript fonts do not work with the printers PostScript outline fonts from other vendors do work, Sugihara said, but without the bet- ter print quality provided by the “hints” some vendors build into fonts for use on 300-dpi devices. Qume Corp, is at 500 Yosemite Drive, Milpitas, Calif. 95035; (408) 942-4000. 5 based on a Motorola 68030 chip and sports 8 Mbytes of RAM. The speedy 030 chip and additional RAM will give RIP 3 an improvement of 20 per- hroughput speed, one cent to 40 percent in tl company source said. RIP 3 will be priced at approximately $26,000, according to the source The prod. uct’s predecessor, RIP 2, is based on the Motorola 68020 chip, comes with 6 Mbytes of RAM and costs $26,000. ly the most direct step Lino said “This is probs could take to address its competitors, David Cole, president of Studiotronics Inc 4 computer publishing center in Winter Park, Fla. “Varityper has 8 Mbytes of memo: ry [on its PostScript typesetter]. PostScript files are taking quantum leaps in memory requirements. With the most powerful RIP on the market, Lino should have no problem staying on top. Although RIP 3 is based on an "030 chip, the controller uses the same Adobe Atlas PostScript interpreter found in the RIP 2 — and PostScript interpreters from many ‘. typesetter vendors. a Other features of the new controlle include an Ethernet port and a 135-Mbyte hard disk. A processor caching scheme allows data to be spooled so that the RIP moves more efficiently to process new pages as oth: ers are imaged on the typesetter ait Linotype Co. is lo Hauppauge MocWEEK 7 March 1989 Networld show brings Mac-Novell products, complaints By Emily Kay Boston — Several new products that let Mac users take better advantage of Novell Inc.'s NetWare for the Macintosb/NetWare 2.15 network operating system were intro- duced at the Networld trade show here last week In addition to the TOPS-Novell alliance > Action Technologies announced a limit- ed mixed-net mail product > Cheyenne Software unveiled network backup software that will support Macs on the Novell network. Several corporate users attending the show complained, however, that managing Mac-and-PC networks remains a challenge electronic-messaging desk accessory that links Macs running off NetWare 2.15 servers to The Coordinator, the company’s DOS- based work-management and communica- tions software. Customer demand drove Action into the Macintosh market, said company President Tom White, who termed MacAccess an announced at the show (see Page 1), ‘Action Technologies’ MacAccess is an interim solution pending release of a full ~ _ THEON Aside from being a tad easier to install than a satellite, the Hayes Smartmodem 2400M™ for the Macintosh* II and Smartcom II* for the Apple* Macintosh make up the most advanced communi- cations system you can put inside a Mac? With this modem and software package, you can set up an extensive Macintosh work group sys- tem through a feature called HayesConnect”™ HayesConnect™ allows any Mac access to the Smartmodem 2400M across an AppleTalk* Network. Which means all Macintosh computers on the Network will be able to communicate with or without a modem of their own. This makes for extremely efficient office communications. LY COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM ~, MORE ADVANCED THAN OURS WON'T FIT INSIDE YOUR MAC. To make them even more efficient, the sys- tem offers Smartcom II for the Macintosh, It's the only software designed to take full advantage of the power and graphics capabilities of all of the com- puters in the Macintosh family. For example, you can program your own on-screen buttons to create a personalized user interface. You also get features like moveable icons, custom color selection and full support of ImageWriter* and LaserWriter® for incredible graphics. You can even run the system unattended using an Autopilot feature. Of course, there is much more you can do with a few simple clicks on standard, easily iden- tifiable icons. By now it's probably clear that whether they're just used with the Macintosh II or shared by Mac computers on an AppleTalk Network, the Smartmodem 2400M and Smartcom II make a communications system that cant be beaten. At least not by any- thing on this planet. Hayes. For your nearest Hayes Advanced Systems Dealer, call 800-635-1225. Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc, PO. Box 105203, Atlanta, GA 30348, Apple Maciotoch Mac ImageWrnex Laser Write and AppleTalk ae reptered trademarks of Apple Computes ix. (© 1089 Hayes Microcomputer Prnducts. nc Coordinator product for the Mac by 1990. MacAccess allows users to exchange mail but does not support all of Coordinator's management features, he said. MacAccess will ship by the end of June for $345 for five users. Cheyenne’s NetBack 2.0 is a LAN backup program designed to allow network adminis- trators to restore crashed servers quickly. To back up Mac files to the server, however, NetBack must convert them to DOS format. Available now, NetBack retails for $245. Current users can upgrade at a “nominal” cost, a company representative said. The inability of Macs to back up their files directly to a NetWare server is a serious gap, according to systems designer Steven Linowes of Martin Marietta Data Systems in Greenbelt, Md. Software to solve the problem should be available by the end of the year, said Michael Harris, director of product market- ing for Emerald Systems, a San Diego tape backup hardware and software vendor. “Everyone keeps telling me ‘the end of the year,’ ” said an MIS manager at a major Fortune 500 company in New York, who asked to remain anonymous. “I want answers today. “I see the light at the end of the tunnel [for Mac connectivity],” he said, “but I don’t know how long the tunnel is.” Chris Gladwin of Martin Marietta’s national LAN product center in Greenbelt said Macintosh networks lack satisfactory network-management tools, Gladwin works in an environment where several hundred PCs and Maes are sometimes on the same network. “I have Macintosh and PC net- works and I can only manage the PC side,” he said. Action Technologies is located at 2200 Powell St., 11th Floor, Emeryville, Calif. 94608; (415) 654-4444. Cheyenne Software is located at 55 Bryant Ave., Roslyn, N.Y. 11576; (516) 484-5110. Ven-Tel plans 2,400-bps modem for the Mac By Emily Brower San Jose, Calif. — Ven-Tel has announced a 2,400-bps modem for the Macintosh II, even though Apple has yet to release standards for addressing the internal serial port The Ven-Tel Mac2400E will support the X.PC and MNP levels 2, 3 and 4 error-cor- rection protocols. It also supports MNP Level 5, which provides automatic data com- pelea allowing throuehent up to 4,800 )ps. The NuBus card is slated to ship in the next month for $449. Last August, Apple announced the Com- munications Tool Box, a set of developers’ tools intended to standardize communica- tions on the Mac, The toolbox software, which has yet to be released, includes a stan- dard scheme for addressing the internal seri- al port in the Mae IL. Although the toolbox remains unavailable, several modem manufacturers, including Ven-Tel, Hayes Microcomputer Products and Epic Technologies, have written their own drivers to address the internal serial port. “Addressing it is not as difficult as we originally thought,” said Tim Caballes, prod- uct manager for Ven-Tel. The Mac2400E is “closely compatible with Apple's toolbox,” Caballes said. Ven-Tel Ine. is located at 2121 Zanker Road, San Jose, Calif, 95131-2177; (408) 436-7400 or (800) 538-5121. 0 Aaun8 [on News First programs for Open Look By Jon Swartz San Francisco — Sun Microsys- tems Inc. announced the first set of desktop applications for the Open Look Unix user interface at the Uni- Forum ‘89 conference here last week. Sun also took the occasion to unveil a clone strategy that it hopes will distinguish Open Look from the profusion of competing graphical interfaces for the Unix environment The three productivity products, which are based on core technolo- gy developed by Island Graphics Corp. of San Rafael, Calif, feature menus, pop-up windows and point- mal cht eaeemaes They are: > SunWrite, a $695 multifont text processing and page-layout program > SunPaint, a $495 bit-map paint program. > SunDraw, a $495 vector- and object-oriented drawing program. The three sensed be pur- chased together for $995 and are available immediately. “I'm tired of going to our user sites and seeing a Macintosh or other CPU next to each Sun com- puter so users can perform desktop productivity tasks,” said Sun CEO Scott McNealy in introducing the Hitching Bright SuperCard-based programs debut By Connie Guglielmo Bellevue, Wash. — Lured by the color capabilities of SuperCard, Bright Star Technology last week became the first Mac developer to announce new programs using Sili- con Beach Software's HyperCard- inspired authoring program. SuperAnimator, a more power- ful, eight-bit color version of Bright Star’s HyperAnimator animation three desktop applications. Carl Wolf, sce president of Sun’s software products division, said third-party vendors are cur- rently developing bridges between the new applications and Mac pro- grams such as MacWrite, Word and WordPerfect. For Apple aficionados, however, the announcement recalled Apple's 1983 debut of the Lisa and its suite of multitasking window-based pro- ductivity applications. “Its like the Lisa announcement all over again,” said Jim Davis, a for- mer Sun executive who recently joined Apple as director of system software. Sun’s new environment, Open Windows, is based on the Open Look interface developed by Sun Sun unveils Write, Paint and Draw and AT&T. It is designed to run on Sun's high-end workstations. MeNealy said, however, that Sun is wholeheartedly encouraging the “cloning” of Open Windows so that “anyone and everyone can take advantage of an open, mature, avail- able interface.” Several Japanese companies are developing a Kanji version of Open Windows, he said. In a move to boost the clone market, Sun has inked agreements with Phoenix Technologies of Nor- wood, Mass., and Interactive Sys- tems Corp. of Santa Monica, Calif., that allow them to license Sun operating system software to other hardware manufacturers. [Open Look] is not a second- rate clone [of Presentation Manag- er],” said Bill Joy, vice president of R&D at Sun. “One ————s . Son introduced SenWrite, SunPaint ond SuaDrew last week. of our goals is to make available a truly open win- dowing solution to everyone.” According to Eric Schmidt, vice president of Sun's general systems roup, final speci- ications of Open Look are a month away. He said that developers’ tool kits would be avail- able in May. Star to the SuperCard wagon development program, is currently available to the company’s licensed developers. An end-user version, tentatively priced at $699, will be released in August, said William Correll, the company’s senior vice president. Correll also said that HyperMail, a mail program that features talk- ing heads that recite electronic- mail messages, is also being devel- oped using SuperCard. Slated to skis in late May or early June, HyperMail will be priced at $149 for 10 computers. “SuperCard does not require as ‘Dressing Room| ci] | ez Hee REST ae CRIES a. DU ielse 64 127 > (iiss a) Jonathon (above), Bright Stars version of Knowledge Navigators Phi can now appear i color thanks to Bright Star’s SuperCard-based SuperAnimator animation development program. much RAM as HyperCard, there- fore HyperMail will be able to run under MultiFinder,” Correll said. Like HyperAnimator, SuperAni- mator lets Mac users create lip- synching talking “actors.” Each act- or can have up to 127 facial expres- sions, nearly eight times the num- ber of facial expressions available us- ing HyperAnimator and HyperCard. SuperCard also makes it possible to create characters using Super- Card’s 256-color palette, Correll said. “We're using SuperCard pri- marily because it has color and HyperCard does not.” Does this mean that Albert, the most famous HyperAnimator char- acter of all, will be colorized? Jay Jetnson, co-founder of Los Ange- jes-based HyperCard developer StakDek, said he and his partner, actor Harry Anderson, have no im- mediate plans to create a Ted Turn- er rendition of Albert, Anderson's electronic sidekick in the TV series, “The Absent Minded Professor.” “Albert will continue to be gener- ated using a Macintosh SE,” John- son said, adding that future charac- ters may be created in color using SuperAnimator on the Mac IT “Color is very important and some- thing that we're interested in.” Bright Star Technology Inc. is located at 14450 N.E. 29th Place, Suite 220, Bellevue, Wash. 98007; (206) 885-5446. 9 Interfaces cluttering desktops Mountain View, Calif. — Sun Microsystems is making an aggressive push to gain widespread acceptance for its Open Look user interface, but industry observers say the com- pany faces an uphill struggle n Look must compete not only with the Mac interface, but also with IBM’s Presentation Manager, DEC’s DECwindows, NeXT's NextStep and OSF/ Motif, an X Window-based fusion. of technologies from DEC, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft, endorsed last month by the Open Software Foundation. Yet another interface, designed specifically for com- puters running Intel's $0386, also made its appearance at Uni- Forum, Called Open Desktop, this latest entrant was designed by The Santa Cruz Operation, a leading Unix developer, with support from DEC, Locus Com- puting Corp. and Relational Technologies Inc. Open Desktop will allow users to run MS-DOS as well as Unix applications. Tandy said it will carry the $995 product in its retail outlets when it becomes available in September. “It’s a marathon race, but a company like Apple already has a five-mile lead over Sun,” said Brian Boyle, director of research at Novon Research Group, a Berkeley, Calif, market research company. “Apple has the third- arty applications and the estab- lished interface.” — By Jon Swortz ( Peblaber Michael Tchong. EDITORIAL Eater Daniel Ruby Manesiog Eder Brenda Benner Sedion Ebters Henry Norr (News), ‘Ohanian (Opinion, Features), (Organteational Mac, Window 0 ‘Waring (Reviews), Anita Malalg Technical Art Decor Laslo Sealer Witers Connie [Rick LePage (Boston) ‘Assedate Editors Eric J. Adams Richard Ranles (Window On) Information Dieser Ely B Stell Reporters John Battelle, Elinor C Lehman, Renee Mathews, Jonathan Pe Jonathan Swartz Asstt Eaters Suzanne Weber (Features) Copy Ets Charles Lenatt (Ci ‘Said (Desktop Publishing C! Sue Troy, Mita Waltz Eaters Eric Ald Vernon Keenan, Dennis Klatzkin,j Steve Michel, Steve Rosenthal, Kr ART AND PRODUCTION WARCETING ye AssadtePebshr Ted Welch averting Megas Nancy Carter, Jeff Joe Plant ical Lassi Peter Stange! 7 Account Exess Carla Dal, Le For the record The Page 1 infographic, “Lap- top’s two faces,” Feb. 28, mistaken- ly referred to an “active matrix bat- tery” instead of an “active matrix displa In “Newspapers eye complete desktop systems” in GA, Michael Balter’s name was misspelled. The Feb. 28 Tri-Data story incorrectly stated the speed of the Sun SPARC chip that powers the Netway 2000. The chip can process 10 Mips, or 10 million instructions per second. The headline on the Feb. 28 Menlo Business Systems story on Page 18 gave an incorrect version number for the MacMenlo ade. The correct version num- ber for the updated Tandem termi- nal-emulation software is Version 3.8. The caption for that story was also incorrect. Because the previ- ous version of MacMenlo did not work with 68000-based machines, Continuing Education of the Bar in Berkeley, Calif,, needs the update to work with its Mac IIxes, COASTAL ASSOCIATES PUBLISH Prasdeat Kenneth H. Koppel sites Publishing LP, One! 10016. Single copy petce Jeo ub pion fates {iso tnerononal U.S 60 The #1 SQL Database. ORACLE for Macintosh. The number-one database from the number- one database company is now available for the number-one user environment. Introducing ORACLE for Macintosh. From HyperCard or your C program, ORACLE will give your Macintosh its first SQL database—for only $199°. Better yet, you can give your Macintosh all the data from all your computers for only $999. MAINFRAME POWER, $199 The ORACLE® relational database manage- ment system is 100% SQL, the industry standard data-manipulation language first introduced by Oracle in 1979. It has made Oracle Corporation the world’s largest database company. Now, with _ full networking and licensed for general use, is ORACLE for Macintosh, the first and only SQL for Macintosh, the same database runs on every computer in your organization. Licensed espe- cially for developers at $199, it’s the bargain of the century. 62 Gone Card & | w 2 ORACLE a Car Noone Button Meas Stack Ideas Only $199 OR THE WHOLE MAINFRAME, JUST $999. Once you see the power of ORACLE for Macintosh, we think you'll want all the data on all the computers. ORACLE for Macintosh, with IBM Mainframe Sun Workstation only $999. Data on all your other computers will be as accessible as the data on your Macintosh. How? ORACLE’s SQL'Star connectivity archi- tecture gives your HyperCard application fit, it fe ee, S peel _—=—-1 transparent access to all your computers. Over all major networks. This means your HyperCard applications will be able to access existing ORACLE PC, mini and mainframe databases IBM PS2 DEC VAX as well as other SQL-based DBMS products such as IBM’s DB2 and SQUDS. Isn’t it about time you merged the number- one database with the number-one user interface to get all the data in your enterprise? Call today. Or fill out and send the attached coupon. ORACLE COMPATIBILITY - PORTABILITY - CONNECTABILITY Call 1-800-ORACLE1, ext. 7702 today. Dear Oracle Macintosh Team 20 Davis Drive, Belmont, CA 94002 Lwant to give my Macintosh ORACLE. Enclosed is my. © check VISA () MC [) AmEX credit card authorization for: ORACLE for Macintosh developers at $199, or the full, network version for $999. Oracle pays shipping. $ Please add appropriate sales tax. $ Total (Price valid in US only) Name Title Company Street (no PO boxes, please) City State Zip Telephone Credit Card Number (if applicable) Credit Card Expiration Date Signature Date ‘Licensed only for developers. Prices valid in US only Requires Macintosh ‘SEor Il with 2 Megabytes of RAM, $ Megabytes hard disk space, floppy disk drive, and UyperCard 1.2. Includes 30-day installation support, ORACLE database, Hyper"Sql (HyperCard Interface), SQL*Plus, Pro*C, OCI, Database Utilities, stem Slackware ple Stackware.Full networking version is $999. Copyright © 1988by Oracle ation. ORACLE and SQLPlus are registered {trademarks of Oracle HyperCard and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer. TH, News MacProject Il goes big league Version 2.0 gets resource leveling By Henry Nort Hanover, West Germany — major upgrade to MacProject II, Claris Corp.'s $499 project manage. ment package, will be announced at this week’s Cebit computer show held in conjunction with the annual Hannover Faire here. MacProject II Version 2.0 will ship next week, according to Doug Cobb, product manager for Claris. Peggy Day of Day & Associates, a Hillsboro, Ore., training company specializing in project management on both Macs and MS-DOS machines, said “This is a major upgrade that offers many of the features that the users I work with have requested most. It's still not a feature-for-feature match with the leading IBM PC programs, but this version definitely brings Mac- Project into the same range.” Among the new features are: > Resource leveling, a function designed to help project planners avoid overloads and the resulting bottlenecks by adjusting dates, task durations and assignment of such resources as staff and equipment The feature, which Cobb called “a condition for a serious high-end program in this field,” was lacking in previous releases, but Mac- Project II 2.0 will offer two leveling options. In automatic mode the program itself makes the adjust- ments, but if the user selects inter- active mode, it proposes solutions the user can accept or reject indi- (ete Chart Tesk Revource Doles Search si schedule Chert || “— 00 20) PS nt oetor oo] at rs 00] oo] a | Ts I MocProjec Il Version 2.0 will edd multiple views, os well as avtometic and interactive resource leveling, cross-project anclysis and impert-expert capabilites. vidually. The program keeps a log of changes, a feature that Day called “pretty unique.” > Cross-project resource analy- sis, which allows managers to get a comprehensive view of the work- load on resources across many pro- jects and subprojects. > Complete data import and ex- port in a variety of formats: comma- separated, tab-delimited, merge, DIF and SYLK. Previously, data could be moved to and from other applications only via the Clipboard. > Multiple windows that allow si- multaneous viewing of project sche- dules, cost data, resource histo- grams and other information on a project >» A HyperCard-based on-line help system and a spelling checker that uses the same dictionary as Claris’ other programs. Joe Nagy, a construction engi- neer for the U.S. Mint, has been using a beta copy of the new release to manage improvements in material handling at the Mint's Denver facility, which makes more than 22 million pennies a day, as well as other coins. “I'm very impressed,” he said. “It still might not be the tool for a megaproject, but for your average project, with these improvements you can do just about anything” Upgrades will be $65 for MacProject II owners and $199 for owners of the original MacProject Claris is at 440 Clyde Ave., Mountain View, Calif. 94043; (415) 960-1600; (800) 544-8554..0 A/UX Contiued fn Fg 1 “The Mae and its personal pro- ductivity tools give people a reason to buy a computer, just like people have practical reasons for purchas- ing cars,” said Davis. “But a certain class of people want hot, muscle cars, Likewise, 10 to 20 percent of users want Unix. A/UX gives Apple the opportunity to sell into those markets.” Most attendees were encouraged by Apple’s presence at UniForum “For the first time at a Unix show, Apple staffed its booth with strictly Apple personnel, and HyperCard was finally available on A/UX.” said Rusty Rahm, president of StarNine Technologies Inc., a Berkeley, if., Unix vendor and a former member of Apple's A/UX team. “It showed users without a doubt that Apple is committed to Unix.” But at least one A/UX user dis- agreed. “Unless Apple does some- thing drastic, I don’t think A/UX has any direction or a future,” said Paul Morin, a programmer at the Minnesota Supercomputer Insti- tute at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. "I’m sitting be- tween a NeXT computer and a Mac, and I’m using the NeXT.” In addition to Apple, a number of companies tried to seize the ment with Unix announce- nts, Sun Microsystems Inc introduced the first set of desktop applications for the Open Look Unix interface (see story, Page 6). And Informix of Lenexa, Kan., announced that it will offer a an Open Look version of Wingy, its high-powered spreadsheet. Infor- mix, which shipped the long- delayed Mae version of Wingz just last month, said that the still- unpriced Open Look product is expected “around mid-year.” According to industry sour« the 20-year-old Unix market is a turning point, with vendors facing a ‘Apple demon- strated a still beta Version 1.1 of A/UX. The update, scheduled to ship this month, gives Apple's Unix implementation support for Local- Talk network connections and color. a Sn choice among many contenders to displace Unix’s cryptic native com- mands with a graphical interface Until a common interface emerges as a true standard, they said, Unix won't get the broad range of easy- to-use productivity applications that now give the Mac an edge “Graphical interface is the main sticking point,” said Brian Boyle, di- rector of research at Novon Re- search Group, a Berkeley, Calif market research firm, “Users realize how wonderful Unix ean be if it only had a halfway decent interface,” “The: re 20-plus Unix inter faces today, To pick the right one is to pick a winning horse in a crowd- ed field,” said Apple's Davis. TOPS Continued kom Poge 1 dominant MS-DOS network,” said Anne MeNeill, a TOPS user and market analyst at Cray Research Inc. in Minneapolis. “Our network traffic has been steadily building the past year, and we need in- creased server capabilities and net- work expansion to ease the load.” Bill Silva, an analyst in the gen- eral systems group at Chevron Inc. in San Ramon, Calif., said the agreement would allow TOPS users like Chevron to run TOPS file-sharing services throughout a Mac, Unix or PC network without requiring the purchase of TOPS software for each CPU on the net- work. NetWare and TOPS each support the Mac, Unix and PC platforms. Industry observers said the pro- liferation of networking standards and products have made it neces- sary for communications compa- nies to either merge or co-develop products “In one fell swoop, this gives TOPS [software] a high-end valida- tion in departmental computer net- works,” said Rich Shapero, vice president and general manager of TOPS. “It also gives NetWare transparent access to the desktop.” The alliance goes a long way in solving the networking puzzle, said PageMaker cnnedom a information from kerning packages such as MacKern from ICOM Sim- ulations Inc. Aldus is expected to demonstrate a new color image-processing tech- nology that it has developed. “I think the high-end connec- tion is a key feature,” said Hank Beck of PrinTTable inc., a Mac- based publishing bureau in Stam- ford, Conn. “Right now when we do four-color brochures, we use PageMaker to do the layout with text and then do the four-color sep- arations conyentionally.” Last year, both Hell and Crosfield introduced ript-compatible rs that let Mac MocWEEK 7 Brad Baldwin, an anal Dataquest, a San Jose, F ket research company. solidifies Novell's position LAN market, particularly te detriment of 3Com and Mi TOPS, with more than 6 nodes installed worldwide, } top-selling Mac networkin, ware. NetWare is acknowle¢ the pre-eminent MS-DOS | area network operating ware, with approximately systems installed worldwi While acknowledging 1 announcement woul refit ell and TOPS custome) Benhamou, vice president eral Hea of 3Com's products division, said been an NESiliesdieal months and similar capabilit already available through th pany’s 3+Open network 6} system. “We're glad to becoming more aligned to losophy that we've pre: along,” he said. v A Sun spokeswoman, who the agreement “an inter said Sun intends to merge operating system into its Open Network Computi environment. At that tim said, Novell's separate supp TOPS protocols would no I be required. new version of Letr Ready,Set,Go! desktop pi program that works with family of Studio electro: composition systems. 3 Kathleen Tinkel, head of Design, a graphic design based in Westport, Conn. h color extensions are only s the improvements Aldus: to PageMaker in the n “The color stuff is r it’s in advance of the basic t gy.” Tinkel said. “If 1 text, kern better, do better | and tracking with type, Ty very happy.” —8y (cone lel users transfer Encapsu- lated PostScript ( files to their commet quality color systems for output (see MacWEEK, Nov. 15, 1988). Aldus will be the last of the big three desktop publishing companies to provige its users with a high-end link. Denver- based Quark Inc., devel- oper of QuarkXPress, [ame last year teamed with Scitex America Corp. to produce Visionary, a soft- ware system that lets XPress users output Yi Mac-generated page designs on the Scitex Response color system Under a joint develop- tment agreement signed Kathleen Tinkel, head of Tinkel Design: “The ¢9 in October, Letraset of wonderful, but it’s in advance of the basic Paramus, N.J., and Cros- could rotate text, kern better, do better field are working on a tracking with type, | would be very happy.” MocWEEK 7 March 1989 Gestures Contnued fom Page 1 but the product is being introduced on the Mac platform “We are introducing Gestures first in the Mac market because we think it is ready to accept this kind of technology,” said Jeffrey Siegel, the product's author. At Macworld Expo in San Francisco earlier this year, Jean- Louis Gassée, president of Apple Products, roclaimed, “Handwriting recognition will one of the great fundamental advances in personal computing.” Gestures operates by tracking motions from the input device and comparing the geometry, direction and speed of the strokes to a dictionary of bots Dictionaries are available for the Roman alphabet, Kanji, and music and editing abel but Evergreen will provide ee with any dictionary they require, Gould said. Evergreen is positioning Gestures for the forms and database markets, Gould said. Noting research that shows forms can almost always be filled out faster manually than from a keyboard, Gould suggested that, in the future, applicants for driver's licenses, for instance, might enter biographical data directly into a database by writing on a tablet and overlay built into an office counter, Gestures is ready now for licensing, according to Gould. He said that Evergreen has signed at least one deal to include Ges- tures technology in an existing application, but he declined to provide further details. Gestures, which uses a sparse 30 Kbytes to 40 Kbytes of code, could also be used as a macro facility, Siegel said. A simple check mark made with a stylus, for example, could replace a Print or Save command. Gestures is not the first handwriting recognition solution for the Mac. In Decem- ber 1987 Personal Writer Inc. introduced the Personal Writer line, a hardware and soft- ware solution. Personal Writer is also work- ing with OEMs and developers, according to Paul Bloch, vice president of marketing and sales at Personal Writer. Evergreen Technologies can be reached through IDEAtion Strategies, 1983 San Luis Ave., Suite 13, Mountain View, Calif 94043; (415) 968-8888. 0 lx Continued from Poge 1 A scaled-down version of the 030-based Mac IIx, the Tex will also include a SIMM (single in-line memory module) slot for ROM upgrades. The new model will have a programmer's switch and two LEDs, for pe and disk-activity, on the front of the box. By moving the Ilcx’s plastic feet from the bottom to slots on the left, users can easily convert it to a vertical configuration. 5 Apple will also introduce a 160-Mbyte internal hard drive for the Mae II and IIx, which should be available next month at about $2,600. An external model is due later this spring, The 15- and 21-inch monitors that Apple will introduce this week will work across the Mac II line, sources said. Users can choose between two eye display cards. The cards can be configured with four or 16 lev- els of gray. Apple will also be selling the monitors separately, leaving an opening for third-party cards. A one-bit monochrome card, known before the introduction as “Bob the Card,” will also debut. It will be priced around $200 and should be available in April, sources said. The 15-inch monitor Apple is introducing, the Macintosh Portrait Display Monitor, can be coupled with a two-bit board at a price of $1,600, or expanded to four bits (16 levels of gray) for around $1,900. The Apple Two- Page Display, the 21-inch monitor, will cost $2,600 for two-bit display and $2,700 to | $2,900 for four-bit display, sources said. The two-page display will be released this month, but the portrait monitor will not be available until late spring. Analysts and corporate buyers agreed that with the more powerful Icx mov- ing into place in the Mac lineup, the | future of the Mac II looks grim. Reports cir- culated late last year that Apple planned to kill the Mac II upon introduction of the three-slot model but the company now | appears to be letting the machine die of natural causes, Tim Bajarin, executive vice president of Creative Strategies Research International, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based market research company, said he expects the '020-based cur- rent mode to “fall by the wayside” in favor of the '030-based IIx, Ilex and SE/30. Monitor vendors were cautious about the effect Apple's introductions will have on their market. “You can't judge what Apple will do, It has confused the marketplace more than once,” said an official of one major monitor maker, who asked not to be identified. Industry observers said Apple's new moni- tors will legitimize the large-screen monitor market. “The single-page [15-inch] display will become the standard for the modular Macs,” said James Cavuoto, editor of microPublishing report in Torrance, Calif, “The market for third-party monitors will grow; vendors should Stage anicty bother with only four or 16 Aattice gray? Serious users need 256.”0 The Mac Il Maximizer MacSprint II. The Cache Card. t MacSprint II is the $299 cache card that fuels your Macintosh II with 32k of cache memory. MacSprint delivers high performance to your computer by knocking out the system wait-states. With MacSprint, your Mac II will average a 22% per- formance increase to a maximum of 30%. No knocks, no pings, no Nubus slot. i a MacSprint is the high-octane solution for your Macintosh applications. It will accelerate MacDraw II by 30%. Filemaker by 28%. Excel and Freehand by 25%. To name a few. Maximum Performance See your local dealer today, and say, “Fill it up! Cache only, please.” MacSprint is a trademark of Orchid Technology. Macintosh is a repistered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. All other products are trademarks of their respective manufacturers ORCHID TECHNOLOGY 45365 Northport Loop West Fremont, California 94538 tel: (415) 683-0373 fax; (415) 490-9312 ORCHID (EUROPE) LTD, Unit 5, Cartel Business Centre Stroudley Road, Basingstoke. Hants RG24 0UG, Great Britain tel: 0256 479898 Int'l: +44 256 479898 fax: 0256 64222 Int'l: +44 256 64222 ORCHID (EEE VMS DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORR* OMUNOSZ2NX MS-DOS"3.3 System Dis @. Macintosh” System Tools Version 5.0 84X1415 Operating System/2” Extended Edition Version 1.00 © Copyright International Business Machines Corp. 1981, 1967 Licensed Material—Program Property of f2M— ‘Ail Rights Reserved © Copyright Microsoft Corp. 1981, 1987 {ESE Use Suploaton or Dedouue esac 0 Le Usa, Duplication, or reerievore sated in corueet No, G8 OOKSTAGSE062. TV OF COPPOLA ro ac IBM CORP. we INTRODUCING 3+OPEN™ LAN MANAGER. systems. While supporting the OS/2 LAN Manager At 3Com, we've developed the first completely distributed applications to come. open, non-proprietary network operating system. Only 3+Open LAN Manager is based on widely And the only standards-based, high performance _ accepted file and network protocol standards network operating system to ensure connectivity supported by Microsoft, IBM, Digital Equipment, between today’s DOS, Macintosh;UNIX‘andIBM*host —_ Hewlett-Packard and others. To provide a wide Fo of multi-vendor connectivity. < 7 In other words, 3+Open is remarkably flexible. 34+-Open! LAN Mananen It's also incredibly functional.With advanced mini-computerlike capabilities in security and network management. And standard application programming interfaces which allow you to tailor 3+Open to meet your specific needs. All of which means that 3Com can now network more types of systems to more types of systems than ever before.To learn more, all you have to do is call 1-800-NET-3Com, Dept. CE. And keep an open mind. We network more types of systems a j tomore types of systems. 8 apn nn nr Nc eg op to ais Spur oes oe ess gta nee a vue bp Blo 3S “Tile Cait_Options View _symbels_Tent_Meesure Version 1.1 of Generic CAD Level 1 will By Cliff Lehmon Bothell, Wash. — Generic Soft- ware Inc. plans to ship an ware to its Generic CADD Lave 1 for the Mac program this week, but the low-cost CAD package will also get a 50 percent price increase. Version 1.1 will add new file-for- mat options, including a PC/Mac translator and the ability to save and open PICT and Encapsulated PostScript format files directly. MacinTouch k1C BUGS & TIPS New detective in. The new version of Jeff Shulman’s share- ware VirusDetective has been released through on-line services and users groups. Version 2.1.1 adds new searching features and includes a test for the recent ANTI virus. It remains one of the fastest, most flexible anti-virus tools avail- able, and it's a bargain at the $20 shareware fee. A license with a disk containing the latest version is $25. Configuration envy. Apple supplies scattered information about your Mac configuration in the About the Finder and Get Info menus and through the network management programs Responder and Inter¢Poll. But these mecha- nisms are incomplete and insuffi- cient for someone supporting multi- ple, dynamically changing systems. Over the years, programmers have written little utilities such as Describe, SysVers and Joel McNa- mara’s Mac ID that attempt to obtain and show hidden configura- tion details of the Mac, but none of the solutions we have seen so far has been as good or as complete The new release will also have a full complement of simple snap-to commands, including the ability to snap to the midpoint of a line or arc; to the intersection of any com- bination of lines, circles and ares; or to any object. Other features include new com- mands to select all and redraw backward as well as new drawing tools for arcs and circles. With the upgrade, the price for Higher price on Generic CADD 1.1 Generic CADD Level 1 will rise to $149.95. The program was released last August for $99.95. Upgrades will be available to owners of Ver- sion 1.0 at no cost Generic Software is at 11911 North Creek Parkway S., Bothell Wash. 98011; (206) 487-2233. 0 $2,395 plotter from Gerard Fremont, Calif, — A new ultra low-cost D-size pen plotter for the Mac will ship this month from Ger- ard Research Inc. Targeted at sin- gle users and small engineering or architectural companies, the GRI ProPlotter is priced at $2,395. The ProPlotter can plot on media in sizes up to 24 by 36 inch- es at speeds of ae seven inches per second. The device is a single- pen plotter but is capable of multi color output by changing pens and plotting one layer at a time. The plotter is compatible with Houston Instruments DMP plotters and commad sets as well as IBM PC XT and AT personal computers Gerard Research Inc. is at 46745 Fremont Blyd., Fremont, Calif. 94538; (415) 651-0217. New CAD symbol library modules contain By Clif Lehman Evergreen, Colo. — Advanced System Design Inc. has announced that its new CAD symbol library for use with ClarisCAD and Mac- Draw II will ship this month, ASD Professional CAD Symbol Library 2.0, which was developed using ClarisCAD, is a collection of more than 2,400 architectural, hanical, electrical and electron- ic symbols grouped in modules according to use. The new $119.95 library is based on the company’s ASD Cabinet Symbol Library. The General Architectural mod- ule of the new library contains 2,400 symbols for doors, wind ances, fixtures, as well landscape and site The Hardware | contains machine ; nuts, washers ani A general EI module includes tronic design ay board aids. Professional tute and other stanc Advanced System is located at 1010 ao A oo f states Soiral 6 Same of he 2,400 symbols avelbl inthe Generel Architecorl mode of AS CAD Symbol Library 2.0 inclodes deers, furniture, windows and applinc LEPAGE AND RIC FORD New virus detective hits the street as a new one called MacEnvy. Ken McLeod's MacEnvy is a nicely designed Control Panel device (cdey) that lists both hard- ware and software information. On the hardware side, it shows the type of Mae, type of processors (CPU, math coprocessor and mem- ory maneener unit), screen size, lhics (color QuickDraw or not), false type, disk information, PRAM (parameter RAM) version and size, and ROM version. When you choose the software button, MacEnvy shows System. and Finder versions, MultiFinder status (in use or not), more disk information, user name and printer choice, and the version of Apple- Talk currently in use. MacEmyy correctly specified SE/30, IIx and Mae II (with paged- memory management unit, or PMMU) systems. The only prob- Jem we had with it was an incorrect identification of processors in a Mae SE that had a Gemini ‘030, accelerator from TSI installed MeLeod is giving the program away free, and it is available from online services and users groups. Acta Advantage ban fix. Bugs and an incompatibility with Berkeley Systems Design's Step- ping Out II have caused Symmetry Corp. to release a new version of Acta Advantage and its accompany- ing Acta DA. In addition to the Stepping Out glitch, problems occur when printing files that con- tain lengthy, multiple-line topics and when using the DA's Type menu item in a new document. Version 1.0.1 of Acta Advantage and Version 3.0.1 of the Acta DA are available free to registered users. To receive the update, you must call the company’ toll-free support line, as Symmetry is not automatically sending the update DiskFit fixes. Russ Shipp of New York's LaserBoard BBS came up with a patch for SuperMac Soft- ware’s DiskFit that prevents back- ing up of disk partitions created by ALSoft's MultiDisk. Without the patch, MultiDisk partitions become part of a Disk¥it backup set, inflat- ing the size and time fie up dur- ing a backup Shipp’s patch is in the form of a TeachText document that contains an updated version of DiskFit’s PAR# “Never Backup” resource. Using Apple's ResEdit, all you have to do is paste Shipp’s version of the resource into a copy of DiskFit, replacing the old version of the resource. If you cannot get the patch but want to try it yourself, open the PAR# ID = 130 resource and place your cursor at the end of the text. Type “MVolMDsk” and close the resource, saving changes when prompted by ResEdit. The pate h is intended for Ver- sion 1.5 of DiskFit, but we success- fully used it with DiskFit 1.4 as well. An added advantage of the fix for Version 1.4 users is that it also. contains a fix for Symantec's HD. Partition. The Stu/fit file that con- tains the patch and instructions on its use can be found on MacNET, TMON update. ICOM Simu- lations called us about an incom- patibility between the TMON debugger and 68030-based Macs like the IIx a 2/30, which bomb when either the TMON application or its INIT is run. Eugene Evans at ICOM explained how to remedy the problem with ResEdit Use ResEdit to open up a copy of the TMON application, Open the MonC resource and click on the “Mon ID 2” resource. Choose Duplicate from the Edit menu to make a copy of the resource. This REFERENC S. Shu refield, C Jeff 521, Ri MocWEEK 7 March 1989 Electronic data interchange coming to Mac By Jiri Weiss Winston-Salem, N.C Corporations bent on reducing paperwork costs by doing business with their suppliers electronically will soon have access to a standard file for mat from their Macs. Piedmont Systems Ine. plans to open up the world of electronic data interchange to q the Macintosh with a translation utility ten: tatively named Mac-EDI. The American National Standards Institute standard EDI format allows applications running on differ: ent machines to automatically exchange data found in such business documents as purchase orders, requests for quotation quotes, invoices and bills of lading. The pre ter, will tr am, due late in the second quar nslate documents back and forth en the EDI standard and file formats common applications like ACIUS 4th Dimension, Fox Software's FoxBASE+ M. and Microsoft Excel, according to Chuck Cloer, president of Piedmont. Mac EDI will also include tools for adapting the used translation software to other file formats. Mac-EDI wall allow suppliers to comply with the requirements of a growing number of businesses that have adopted EDI for electronic transactions, Cloer said. Compa: s using the format include General Motors, Sears, IBM, RCA and Apple. The Mac solution gives a small customer the same advantages as a large supplier said Ron Eversole, corporate EDI director at Apple For large corporations, the Macintosh EDI saves on paperwork RCA recently estimated that each pur- chase order it processes costs approxi mately $50 to complete, but that EDI reduces the cost to about $4, according to James Senn, a corporate consultant and researcher for the Information Technolo- gy Management Center at Georgia State University The advantages of using EDI are enormous,” said Senn. IBM, which uses EDI for its plants worldwide, estimates ings of $60 million over five years, A study by Arthur D. Little predicts that the scery industry could save as much as 0 million per year if it adopted the andard, according to Senn. According to a Gartner Group report cited by Senn, the acceptance of the EDI standard ranges from a low of 5 percent smong banking and electronics compa- | nies to 90 percent in the railroad industry Apple has been implementing the stan- dard for its purchasing for the past year, said Ron Eversole, Apple’s EDI director. ] But it is taking a gentler approach than some of the large auto manufacturers which have threatened to cut off suppliers that do not comply, he said. “We view the whole process as a partnership,” he said We think that Apple will benefit and | | suppliers will benefit A Mountain View, Calif.-based EDI marketing company called Input esti- | mates that the overall market for EDI related software, hardware and network $1.9 billion by 1991 services will reach — By Jai Weiss based EDI solution will provide a good way to find out what EDI feels like without nd costly changes to mainframe databases, Eversole said. “It only takes one or two days to implement a desk- time-consumin, top solution The advantage of using EDI over sending documents via fax or electronic mail is that an EDI file need not be manipulated or rekeyed, eliminating a major and costly source of human error Mac-EDI is tentatively priced between $1,500 and $1,800, making it the least expen- sive EDI software available on any platform, Cloer said. Piedmont already offers an IBM PC version priced at $2.49! The EDI documents themselves can be received either through a direct link such a a modem or from a special EDI mailbox ser- vice now available from network service companies like McDonnell Douglas’ EDI- Net, GE Information Services Co., Western Union and CompuServe, Cloer said Companies interested in implementing EDI on the Mac can call Apple at (408) 974 7248, Eversole said Piedmont Systems Inc. is located at 4400 Silas Creek Parkway, Suite 300, Winston Salem, N.C. 27104; (919) 760-3620. SHARP COCKE. Smart, too. The desktop film recorder you've been waiting for. ProColor.® From Matrix. Super-sharp, artist-quality graphics on 35mm slides or Polaroid” instant prints Millions of colors. For the most stunning presen- Mac II. IBM® PC. All for about six grand tations you've ever seen ... or shown. Compatibility? Total. J - x 23 £°O. In NY: 1-914-365-0190 Popular graphics software. Plus every Matrix film recorder, thermal printer and presentation system. And if you've been printing ona laser printer or a plot- ter, you can output to a ProColor just as easily. How do we do it? Easily. We've been atit along time Ask anyone who uses our recorders. Such as Allstate. AT&T, Lotus Development Corp. And GM They're pretty smart cookies themselves. Guess it takes one to know one. WHEN YOUR IMAGE IS ON THE LINE. HMATRIX ax SQL database access made easier GQL gives Mac interface to data By J elle Kingston, Ontario — Combining the power of SQL with the sim- plicity of the Mac interface Andyne Computing Ltd piomihweected aphical Query Language (GQL), a point-and-click ace for relaying SQL queries n the Macintosh and SQL atabases. With its new product, the com- pany said, “users never have to see SQL — only results.” GQL works with any host SQL database and consists of two com- | ponents shipping now and a third to be added in May > GQL/Admin is intended for | database administrators and MIS departments. This $1,995 package allows control of database model- ing. Only one copy is needed per site. > GQL/User interacts with | GQL/Admin to present user queries to the SQL database through a graphical, point-and- click interface. It costs $295 per user and is required for each | workstation. > GQL/Designer, to be released in May, will allow a graphical approach to designing new SQL | databases | GQL supports CL/1, the soon: | to-be-released SQL database con- | nectivity language created by Net- € File Edit Query Results Layout Hos “Andyne GOL Demo Databa ‘customer ‘order A GOL Data Model xd O SHOW OAVG OMAN OMIN OSUM OCoUNT OcteAn 4 Show Tarriote [Type [Qulinication. | stow Jorser# integer nf Date of Order] date | ‘SHOW | Amount | money 12,2)] > $4000 | «$1200, | How Jomte Revs | ate a [Comments | verchar( 30) sy OIE Andyse’s GOL cllows wsers te make SQL queries through a simple point-and-click interface. work Innovations, an Apple sub- sidiary, Through CL/1, GQL can access Oracle, Ingres, Sybase, VAX Rdb and RMS, DB/2, and other host database programs Through standard serial connec- tions GQL works with Oracle, Informix, Ingres and Tandem pro- grams, among others. “We need tools that will make accessing our SQL database easier for decision support people who know little about SQL.” said Farzad Dibachi, a member of the Apple Focus Group at Tandem Computers in San Jose, Calif. “GQL seems to do that. It’s very intuitive to use.” Tandem is eval ating GQL as a means of connect- ing to its own SQL database, Non- Stop SQL. “We have 20 Macs linked to a VAX running Oracle,” said Dave Charlesworth, project leader with the Frontenac School Board in Ontario, “Before we started beta testing GQL, access to student records on the VAX was limited Now the [school board] administra- tors can get it themselves.” “SQL is like a lingua franca among platforms and applications, but it is not a user-friendly lan- guage,” said Bill Higgs, vice presi- dent of software research at Info- Corp of San Jose. “Since the Mac is a graphically based computer, a graphical front end makes sense.” Andyne Computing Ltd. is loc ed at 544 Princess St., Suite 21 Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 1C7; (613) 548-4355. 0 Video tutorial explains virus threat By Emily Brower Washington — Mac users look- ing for information on computer ucation from a by NASA's viruses can get an ¢ | video tutorial release Macintosh Users Group. The 20-minute vile created | on a Macintosh IT using Macro Mind’s VideoWorks IL Inter active, includes detailed informa: tion on how to detect virus infec tions using ResEdit. The tape also reviews historical information on virus development and lists possi ble future uses of computer virus es, including industrial espionage electronic warfare and network destruction. According to the videotape, self was perfected in replicating co the pre-virus 1970s by the comput er war-game programmers — hack ers who wrote small programs that did battle with other programs in a computer's memory. Self-replica tion was a standard defense tech nique employed by these program- mers to protect their code from destruction Along with this historical per spective, the video gives a graphic demonstration on using ResEdit to detect infections from Scores and nVIR strains, The demonstration does not address detection of more recent viruses such as INIT29 and ANTL Copies of the tape are avail- able from NASA for $15, while the 10-disk VideoWorks tutorial can be purchased for $20. Users groups are encouraged to dis- tribute the tape and the pro- The “Scores” Virus gram to their members. For more information, write to David Lavery, president of N Macintosh Users Group at } Headquarters (Mail code R Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology, 600 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C 20546 If the icons are small Macs, then the * Scores virus is probably not present But, if the system is infected NASA’s computer vires video tutorial illustrates the results of a Scores infection. As the virus infects the System file, the little Mac cons for the Scrapbook and Notepad files are changed to generic document icons. News Bie Rosle Euahe 7s HiJaak allows PC fax modems to transi i Brookfield, Conn. — InSet Systems has announced extensions for its orm conversion software that will enable Mac users to fox MacPaint ond TIFF (h file format) files through on IBM PCbosed fox modem. ‘an Intel Connection Co-Processor board for the PC or via intemal and external modems from Ricoh, JT Fax, Complete PC, TeliFax or EFax. 4 The $99 Hilaak runs on an MS-DOS machine. Mac users on mixed ne will also import faxed grophics files and convert them to MacPaint of TIFE fom InSet is ot 71 Commerce Drive, Brookfield, Conn. 06804; (203) 7: Image Analyst extracts data from video images Billerico, Mass. — Automatix Inc. has announced a new Mac II program tific ond medical users who need to extract quantitative data from video imag The $2,000 Imoge Analyst, available now, lets researchers opply image ing algorithms ond measurement routines to frames of video through the M ical interface, sporing them the programming often required with dedicated Image Analyst reports measurements of two-dimensional objects in terms such os inches or millimeters. Its image-processing options include convolution (spatial filtering), gray-scale edge detection ond feature extrad Images con be fit tered or manipulated either interactively or by running saved se- quences of com monds. The program con be modified with Automatix’s MocRAIL Developer's Longuage. Automatix Inc. is located ot 1000 Tech Park Drive, Billerica, Moss. 01821; (508) 667-7900 DataSmart Projectors put Mac images on big screens Wood Dole, lll. — With its DatoSmart Projectors, NEC Home putting Macintosh images up on the big screen. Two projection systems: NEC's Professional Services Division ore now avilable. playing fulkcolor images as lorge os 120 inches diagonally. : > The DP-5200S, priced ot $12,495, is o rear-screen projector wilh a 52 screen built into a wood!-rim cabinet with a builtin stereo audio amplifier and) The projectors connect to the Mac Il using a $300 interface from ics of Sonta Fe Springs, Calif. The interface converts Moc II output fo RGB sk RGB resolution of 700 lines. Both projectors ship with remote control fo tint, color, brightness and sharpness, MocWEEK 7 March 1989 MBA Series gets 4D users started By Henry Norr Albuquerque, N.M. — A 4th Dimension development and training group called Gen eration Four has begun releasing the MBA Series, a set of customizable multi-user applications that promise a leg up to busi- nesses in meeting standard database needs see sidebar at right). The applications, priced at $189 each require 4th Dimension, the $695 database package from ACIUS Inc. of Cupertino. Calif., or the $295 runtime version of 4D. The MBA Series is designed to be easy to lear, easy to use and easy to modify, accord- ing to John Zoltai, president of Generation Four. The programs are shipped unlocked. with open source code and full documenta- tion for both users and programmers. Zoltai said his programs are designed to provide “the 80 percent of features that everyone needs,” while making it easy for users, consultants or corporate developers to add their own finishing touches Tom Popejoy, publisher of a weekly news- paper called The New Mexico Lawyer, said his organization uses the MBA Clients pack- age to produce form letters and labels for mailings to the 3,800 attorneys in the state, as well as to keep track of current and poten- tial advertisers. Popejoy, who had not previ- ously used 4th Dimension, said he had found the program “very easy to use.” Dennis De Cuir, an attorney at McDonough, Holland & Allen in Sacramen- to, Calif, uses the MBA DocuTrak applica- tion to manage written evidence for major litigation. In some cases, he said, “we must index hundreds of documents, classify them by type and author, where they came from and their significance in the case, then sort them and search them by legal issue and pre- pare summary reports.” I turned to DocuTrak because I was stumbling around in HyperCard trying to do what Zoltai has more ably done,” De Cuir said. One of the benefits of the program is that “lawyers and their assistants can work together on a big case with one set of rules for the document database.” De Cuir singled out the program's docu- mentation, available on-line through a desk | accessory pres with the package, as wonderfully clear.” The MBA Series was developed around the Generation Four Application Development Shell, which provides a standard set of database functions, including import, export, backup, restore, search and sort, along with a customizable report generator. A copy of the shell is included with each of the applications Generation Four is located at 3232 San Mateo N.E., Suite 199, Albuquerque, N.M 87110; (505) 294-3210. Layout Mover + 4D utility Encino, Calif. — After Hours Software last week released Layout Mover +, a utility that lets users of ACIUS’ 4th Dimension copy files, global procedures, layouts, layout procedures and externals from one 4D database to another. Previously, the company said, the only way to copy such items was through the Clipboard. The product is avail- able now at an introductory price of $119 ‘After Hours Software is located at 15720 Ventura Blvd., Suite 520, Encino, Calif, 91436; (818) 783-5690. 0 Applications already available in the Gen- eration Four MBA Series include: > NetMail, a telephone message log and electronic-mail system. | Clients, a name and address director | contact log and mailings management/mail merge system. > Projects, a project and activities log. Generation Four’s database lineup > DocuTrak, a document and media librarian with keyword search facilities. Seven more members of the series are due during the next few months, according to the developer: > MassMail, a large-scale bulk mailing list manager and label generator. > TeleSell, a telemarketing sales scripting, ‘customer support and order entry system > TraveLog, a trip planner and travel expenses record-keeping system > ShipRec, a shipping and receiving record-keeping system with label printing, > Inventory, a basic inventory manage- ment system. > Recruitment, a recruitment and person- nel history manager. > DistList, a large-scale memo distribu- tion list manager. - GETMO RE BYTES FROM YOUR APPLE | | Before today’s high-powered Macintosh | software can ‘devour’ all your memory, | let Micron put more bytes in your Apple. Our Macintosh Memory Expansion | Kits are designed to support today’s most advanced programs — and to maximize the speed and performance of your Mac. | Each kit is fully compatible with all Macintosh software, and features fast, low-power CMOS SIMM modules for an additional 1 to 8 megabytes of RAM*. So you can still run all your favorite programs while expanding your memory to execute the newest generation of software, like MultiFinder, HyperCard and Excel. And like all Micron products, our Macintosh Memory Expansion Kits are manufactured and tested under the industry's most stringent quality control standards. Plus they're backed by our “Hands on Excellence” service program and a 2-year limited warranty. So contact your local Micron dealer or call us at 1-800-642-7661. And put more bytes in your Apple. Micron, Its a name worth remembering. * SIMM kits available for the Macintosh Plus, SE and Il. Macintosh, MultiFinder and HyperCard are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Excel is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. MIRON TECHNOLOGY, INC. 2805 E. COLUMBIA ROAD, BOISE, IDAHO 83706 (208) 386-3900 News By Dan Farber Santa Barbara, Calif. — Tronsoft, a publisher of real estate, legal and small-business software, has intro- duced nine packages for the Mac. > Real Estate Master, a $1,295 program for creating cash flow and profit analysis reports of properties. > Property Master, a $1,295 tem- plate for managing rental properties with Claris Corp.'s FileMaker II > MaxiLOAN, a $395 program that provides amortization tables on variable and fixed rate and negative amortized loans, including step and balloon payments. It also graphs the results of a loan scenario. » Real Estate Power of Attorney, a $1,495 set of more than 100 customizable real estate legal documents. > Business Power of Attorney, a $1,495 set of 140 forms, such as empley ment contracts, copyright and permissions forms, stock option agreements and indepen- dent contractor agreements. » Profit Center, a $695 profit and cash flow program that fune- PRODUCTS Compiling Scripts. Comput- er users have a hid tendency to overuse new tools. If your only tool is a hammer, the old saying goes, then everything looks like a nail. This fate has befallen Tom Pittman’s Compilelt! stack, just as it originally befell HyperCard itself, Remember those who said HyperCard was inadequate because you couldn't use it to write a spreadsheet program like Excel? At first, Compilelt! appears to provide what many stack devel- opers have long wanted in the language: a compiled (not inter- preted) way to script. One of the things that accounts for HyperCard's occasional sluggish- ness is its interpreted nature. “If only I could compile this script,” you often think, “these speed problems would go away.” As evidenced by recent messages from users on Com- puServe, Compilelt! is somewhat disappointing when you approach itin this snaps Pe of this é roblem is one of inappropriate Ecosations some ai which are due to the packaging, which calls the stack “The Script Compiler.” We, too, had some Real estate, finance tools from Transoft tions as a modeling tool for setting up or evaluating a business. Tronsoft also offers three Hyper- Card stack products: Franchise Finder, a $99 database of more than 1,000 franchises; Business Image, a $235 five-disk stack con- sisting of more than 1,000 recog- nized, copyrighted company and agency logos and trademarks; and Capital Ideas, a $295 database of more than 200 venture capitalists and their funding preferences, such ts industry and faves funding rounds of the venture companies. Franchise Finder and Capital Ideas stacks are updated to regis- tered owners every six months for a media fee ranging from $19 to $49, said Richard Messier, vice president of marketing and sales at Tronsoft. The company plans to offer sub- sets of its Power of Attorney prod- ucts in the spring, Messier said. The subsets will range in price from $99 to $395. Tronsoft Inc. is at 133 W. De La Guerra, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93101-3289; (805) 564-3386. o problems with Compilelt! when we first using it because of these same misconceptions, A script compiler is not exactly what Compilelt! is. Instead, it is a tool that allows you to create external commands and functions using HyperTalk instead of a language like C or Pascal. It is not a tool for wholesale script compi- lation. This difference is crucial. Just as programmers face certain restrictions and limitations when creating externals in C or Pascal, so will you when using. Compilelt!, In particular, Com- let! will not allow you to create ler versions of HyperCard commands. Using the Find, Last or Delete commands from Lightweight, heavy-duty Mac case Pacoima, Calif. — A new compact-Mac carrying case from Zero Halliburton offers the protection of a hard shell without the weight of trunk-style cases, according to the manufacturer, a longtime supplier of cases for the luggage, photographic and industrial markets. The $299.95 case, big enough to hold a Mac Plus or SE with regu- lar or extended keyboard, lets air travelers check their Macs as bag- gage. Made of an aluminum alloy used extensively in the aerospace industry, the case weighs only 12.5 pounds. Zero Halliburton’s Mac department is located at 12224 Montague St., Pacoima, Calif. 91331; (818) 897-7777. FileMaker II front end aimed at small busines By John Battelle Mystic, Conn. — Packer Soft- ware has announced Small Busi- ness Retailer, a front-end software package for Claris Corp.’s popular FileMaker II database. Designed for computer novices and other users reluctant to take on the task of setting up their own databases, the $195 package includes templates and macros for many standard business functions, including inventory control, cus- questions as “Which tomer tracking, price lists and presently handling invoicing. A tutorial on how to organize business data is also included. “Our goal is to be as generic as possible ... to get a small business running on FileMaker with an off- the-shelf package,” said Douglas MacKay, Packer Software president. MacKay said the program takes full advantage of FileMaker’s Find and Omit functions, giving users easy ways to answer such complex are they getting?” Si Retailer can be recon! business needs change added. Small Business R FileMaker II and will sh according to MacKay. Packer Software is] Roosevelt Ave., M: 06355; (203) 572-8955. StackWEEK ERIC ALDERMAN AN TEVE MICHEL Don’t misinterpret the value of Compilelt! within a compiled script, for example, won't give you any increase in speed. Calling back. The reason for this is that these and other HyperTalk commands are han- dled not by the external but by HyperCard itself, through “call- beds" to HyperCard. Compilelt!, therefore, has no effect on the operation of these functions. We haye found that Compilelt! is best used as an optimization tool. You need to isolate the parts of your code that are taking a long time to execute and then deter- mine whether they are taking a long time because of the inter- reted nature of HyperTalk or use of an inherent limitation function stripTrail theText repeat while chartonum(char length (theText) of theText) = 32 put empty into last char of theText end repeat return theText end striptrail function stripTrail theText repeat while chartonum(last char of theText) is space delete last char of theText end repeat return theText end stripTrail ‘The second handler would be « foster approach in interpreted HyperTalk, but when both are compiled, the first handler operates faster, of HyperCard. We have found that the most significant speed increases occur in functions that work with text strings or integer mathematics. Another problem with Com- pilelt! is its speed of compilation, Since the compiler itself is written in HyperTalk, it certainly is slow. However, there are a couple of things to consider when evaluating Compilelt!'s speed. First, try not to compile large scripts. If you are feeding it large scripts, you are probably misusing it, and you'll be disappointed. On the other hand, if you write short handlers that deal with the slow parts of your programs, you will ft an almost repaint compi- lation time Second, it is in the nature of compilers to be slow. You trade the time it takes to compile a function for the time you gain in executing it, Don’t use Compilelt! for routines that are rarely need- ed. Employ it to optimize often- used bottlenecks. job of explain of theta vines more advice on 0 scripts for Compile ple of different approaching a prob in the script listing trating experience tha almost nothing in te speedier HyperCard, judicio remove, i a lot of the bo scripts. — oR mee: Adapting scripts to take advantage of Compilelt takes some experience. In any programming language, there are multiple ways of accomplishing any given task. The most efficient way of solving the problem with ‘MacWEEK 7 March 1989 Strawberry Tree bolsters data acquisition lineup By Eric J. A Sunnyvale, Calif — Strawberry Tree Com- puters Inc., developer of a full line of Mac data acquisition products, will release a major software upgrade and several new hardware products this month. Analog Connection WorkBench 3.0, the latest version of Strawberry Tree's object-ori- ented data acquisition and control program- ming language for the Mac II and SE, has been expanded to support the IEEE 488 protocol, a hardware interface also known as the General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB). Besides being much easier to configure than IBM data acquisition programs], Work- Bench does much better displaying the data | once it’s in,” said Jim Tops, senior control engineer at Genentech Ine. Tops uses Work- Bench 2.0 in the R&D department of the South San Francisco, Calif., biotechnology company The object-oriented programming of | WorkBench, said Tops, “is like HyperCard It’s empowering non-technical users.” | Version 3.0 lists for $995. Owners of previ- ous versions can upgrade for $50, according to the company. Strawberry Tree is also introducing several hardware devices to support the software upgrade: > MacSCSI488, a high-speed IE 88 controller, attaches to the Mac’s SCSI port and offers control of up to 14 IEEE devices. The $895 device comes with MacDriver488, an installable driver that provides IEEE con- trol with popular Macintosh languages, and MacDA488, a desk accessory allowing data collection for any environment, including Microsoft Works and Excel > MacII488 is a $695 NuBus board that allows connection of up to 14 IEEE devices without requiring special adapters. The Macl1488 provides data transfer rates of bet- ter than 600 Kbytes per second, according to the company. The ie Aglribp Garates vel MacDriver488 and MacDA488. > Two new high-density digital /O add-in boards for the Mac II are designed for labo- ratory or factory applications, such as detect- ing contact closures, operating relays, count- ing pulses, and mea- [_€ File Edit Window Log Special suring frequency and = _ timing = : S55 OME eile zk The $645 ACM2- 10-160 can control or monitor 160 devices The ACM2-I0-40, priced at $345, allows for 40 /O lines. Seven termination panels for the boards are avail- able separately, costing from $295 to $1,195. Strawberry Tree Say 15} 2) ON MEMEO SES STG PS Dr oD Computers Inc. is at Analog Coanection WorkBench 3.0, the latest version of Strawberry Tree's object- criented programming languoge, now indudes support for the IEEE 488 protocol. HyperTROL aims at home, office market with low-cost data acquisition board By Eric J. Adams Boulder, Colo. — Hoping to take data acquisition tools out of the laboratory and into the home and office, HyperTROL Inc. has begun shipping HyperBoard, a $139 external data acquisition and process control board for the Mac Previous approaches have been aimed at industrial-level users,” said Mark Whitaker, vice president of HyperTROL. “Now any- body can afford to use their Mac as a base for such things as monitoring temperature, pressure and light levels; counting and recording events; detecting motion; and automating repetitive tasks.” HyperBoard, a stand-alone micro-con- troller shipped without a case, can be con- nected to any Mae via the serial port. It is capable of independent operations, leay ing the Mae free for other uses, according to Whitaker. The board has two slots for A-Bus cards designed by Alpha Prod- ucts of Darien, Conn., iad. marketed by HyperTROL. A floating-point BASIC interpreter is included with HyperBoard, which is con- trolled with BASIC commands via any pop- 160 S. Wolfe Road, Sunnyvale, Calif. 94086; (408) 736-3083. 0 ular communications program. It comes bun- dled with a public-domain HyperCard stack for communicating with the serial port and another stack for LED control “We use HyperBoard to take readings at our transmitter 40 miles away,” said Frank ristel, general manager of radio station KWGS, the voice of the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. In the station's control roo HyperBoard checks the time, starts tape recorders and tunes to one of 12 satellite channels, “The board detects if we go off the air and via a synthesized voice alerts the con- trol room and reception area,” Christel said. “You can't beat the product at the price, but we have been disappointed with the speed and elegance of any HyperCard stack we've seen that talks to the serial port,” he said. HyperTROL also markets a $19.95 LED Status Board and a $29.95 Battery Backup Socket, which provides up to 10 years back- up of HyperBoard’s 32-Kbyte RAM. An additional power supply is required and lists for $11.95, HyperTROL is located at 1530 55th St., Suite 115, Boulder, Colo, 80303; (303) 938-1662. 0 Layered pitches Insight software with 2-for-1 sale Boston — Layered Inc. is holding a 2-for-1 sale on its Insight accounting software Through April 15, buyers of any two Insight accounting modules will receive at no extra cost two more modules of their choice directly from Layered The offer applies to all five currently available modules, including the new upgrade of the Accounts Receivable and Billing module, which now includes data import capabilities. The forthcoming Pay- nalGcaealle lie April, is not included in the offer. The first two modules may be purchased from any Insight authorized dealer or quali- fied installer. Users will then receive a claim form to send to Layered for two free mod- ules of the user's choice. Layered Inc. is located at 529 Main St., Boston, Mass. 02129; (617) 242-7700. 0 Hard disk failure is a catastrophic experience. And, sooner than you think, it'll happen to you. Whether it's caused by simple operator error, [ a killer virus, or the dreaded “head crash”, irreplaceable data will be destroyed at incredible expense. But, thankful- ly, affordable protection is here at last... Introducing the Braemar SX40™ high-speed tape back-up system for the Macintosh®, with 4 breakthrough features... 1, FAST-Back-up an entire 20 megabytes of data in less than 12 minutes, Or do incremental back- ups in a blink of the e 2. Easy to Use-Follows the Macintosh interface and backs-uj an entire 40 Mb on a single Di 2000 Mini Data Cartridge. Macinwouh is registered trademark of Apple Computer Co. PROTECTION 3. Safe-Secure your entire hard disk on ONE medium in ONE place! It would take a stack of more than 70 floppy disks to store as much as a single DC 2000 Y cartridge. 4. Affordable-Studies show that it can cost upwards to $90,000 to reconstruct typical CAD/CAM data on a 20Mb hard drive. This is about 90 times more expensive than the SX40 Tape Drive. (MACdex/Spring'89 Apel 10-13, 1989 Braemar McCormick Place Chicago Illinios “A WORLD LEADER IN DATA STORAGE TECHNOLOGY” Corporation Division of Carlisle Corporation (612) 890-5135 FAX (612) 890-0791 Call 1- 800/328-2719 ‘or a dealer near you! Braemar ee al News ———E—]——E——EEE SE MocWEEK 7 March 1928 images of other music files Ars Nova Software car he rehaaiamanaam Box 40629, Santa Barbara, Galil, 931405 805) 564-4866. Primera Software is located at 650 Crag- accessory from Apriori Inc., can't find a music publishing system called Toccata that mont Ave., Berkeley, Calif 94708; (@la}io=== New Mac programs make beautiful music By Cliff Lchmon San Francisco — A steady stream of — rhyme for orange because there isn't one in _ the company touts as a more flexible alterna- 3000 or (800) 643-0800 music software providing everything from — English, but it will provide instant access to 1 _ tive to rule-based music notation programs Apriori Ine. is located at 859 Mt rhyming aids to drumming machines has hit million other rhymes for only $54.95. Quick Priced at $495, Toccata is designed to Way, Suite 401, Burbank, Galif 915105 the Mac market. Here are four recently Rhyme includes hundreds of slang expres- _ work like page-layout programs and has been (818) 955-9638. anounced products sions in its 22,000-word dictionary as well as _ optimized for music notation. Toccata comes Sun Valley Software Inc is located at 195 rs Nova Software has a new version of a suffix processor with a utility program called PICTWnter Sun Valley Drive, Winnipeg, Manitoba its music theory and ear training program > Sun Valley Software introduced a new that allows the loading of PICT-format Canada R2G 2W7; (204) 663-8004) Practica Musica 2 Improvements and additions include a . = textbook of music fundamentals called Win lows on Music, written specifically to accompany the program Other new features in Practica Musica are Scales/Keys Sig: guides the user thi atures Training, which ugh scales by showing Macintosh. New York. mistakes as they are played; Interval Playing g about key als and different forms of and Chord Playing, for teachi hords; and the ability to take input from MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Inter oards while using Musica’s built-in \ hear melodies and chords $125, site licens disks are avail s. Windows on MIDI ae Alias CD, Alchemy upgrade By Gi Lehmon San Franc 1» — A trio of new Blank Soft of which ‘thodlirst cinie sont ihe make their debut in the 20, billed by Blank as a major original Alchemy, will include on, digital tuning, pitch shift J P itch det heduled to be avail. Come and be a part of the Macintosh conference and expo fam corporate, business, and professional users — in the nation's largest ind most important Macintosh market ng and automat tion, The new ersion of Alchemy able in April for $695. New features also include enhanced network and librarian functions, SMPTE MACINTOSH April 17-19, 1989. The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center Fealtinins = dme reference, direct play from disk and the largest Macintosh product expo ever to hit New York. A conference: compatibility with the Digidesign Sound B SINESS program offering more than 70 different high-level presentations) Accelerator Card indtab! > Alchemy Apprentice is a $345 version of the current Alchemy 1.2 without the SCSI roundtables, and half-day executive seminars. And @ conference CONFERENCE led by some of the greatest nasi vel Macintosh oe & EXPOSITION support or dig Version 2.0. Apprentice, scheduled tc mA for musicians on a budget April, is mea > The third product, Anatomy of an Auto: mobile, is billed as the first sound collection in the Macintosh Audio IFF format. Anato- my is a collection of sounds created by, in, on or around a car. The sounds will be available on CD-ROM in mid-April. The price has not been set Blank Software is located at 1477 Folsom St., San neisco, Calif. 94103; (415. $63-9224 April 17-19, 1989 Jacob K. Javits Convention Center New York, NY Co-sponsor: MacUser Magazine ‘ | | | ; MocWEEK 7 March 1989 EndLink grabs on-line info By Emily Brower Emeryville, Calif. — Niles & Associates. developer of the EndNote bibliographic database package, has released a companion program called EndLink that is designed to help users beef up their bibliographies from on-line sources new program imports records into dNote’s bibliographic forms from elec tronic database services. EndLink moves ref- erences from files of abstracts captured from databases into EndNote’s records with a series of mouse clicks, according to the company EndLink works with all versions of Med- line and Chem Abstracts, databases available in different formats from several on-line ser- vices. “We are promising the program works with these two databases, but we will be adding more and more compatibility. EndLink is open-ended in terms of upd ing,” said Richard Niles, company pre side Niles & Associates has also released Note 1.1, a new version of the program that includes compatibility with WordPerfect and WriteNow 2.0. EndLink sells for $99, and EndNote sells for $129 Niles & Associates is located at 2200 Pow- ell St., Suite 765, Emeryville, Calif, 94608- 1809, (415) 655-6666. 0 ... Well, it’s about time. y ae i 1 sampling of what you can expect at the Macintosh Business onference & Exposition © Exhibits displaying all the latest products from the Macintosh mmunity’s leading developers, including (of course) Apple Computer © 4 full, three-day conference schedule designed to answer your tions and help you make the most of your Macs © Half-day executive seminars offered in conjunction with Electronic Directions, Inc., and Forhan & Wakefield, two leading corporate training firms. Announcement of the winners of the Apple Professional Exchange's first annual nationwide Call for Papers — and presentation of the winning papers. © “Learning laboratories’ sponsored by MacUser, Week, and other leading players in the Macintosh community. PLUS Formal announcement of MacUser's prestigious Eddy Award winners. Don't wait. Call 1-800-262-3378 now, or send in the coupon at right. MBCAE Advance Savings Certificate | it don’t want to miss this chance to attend a great Macintosh event in New York at | _ substantial early repsration savings. Sign me up at the ike price marked below! I'm very interested, Please send me more information |G i'm especialy interested in your $295 Half-Day and $495 Full Day Executive | op Smits, Tl me more Send me information about exhibiting atthe show | | | Os [ree | (ityiate i _ tip. | Daytime phone ~ | & Exhibits Only Ba $10 © Check enclosed O Conference & Exhibis 95 $75 Cl Credit card MC Visa © Amex Card No. SSeS Te Signature _ de | cardholder Name | ‘Amex billing address Mail to MBCAE-NY, c/o Cambridge Marketing, One Forbes Rd_, Lexington, MA 02173. One form per individual. Photocopies accepted. Deadline, March 31 | Eee News Business Sense update includes guarantee By Eric J. Adams Torrance, Calif Inc, is adding two features to the latest upgrade of its Business Sense accounting program that users won't find in the menus — a satisfaction guarantee and a beefed-up subscription support program. Version 1.2 of the $495 single-user pack age is due to ship by mid-March, according to Lisa Magnus, marketing manager for the company. Users not satisfied with the pack age can exchange it within 60 days of pur- chase for any competing accounting package of equal or lesser value. The exchange offer expire June 30. The company’s revamped $150 subscrip tion support program includes a quarterly newsletter, free upgrades and one year of nited telephone access to accounting — Monogram Software wi unl representatives, according to Magnus. Insid