Of the many computer-related products and technologies that debuted in 1993, only 71 earned BYTE Awards. These winners set the standards for innovation and price/performance, and a few are harbingers of things to come.
Compiled by Michael Nadeau
Every year, thousands of new products and technologies appear. Some fade into obscurity while others become commercial successes, but only a very few represent important breakthroughs in innovation. These latter products and technologies often serve as industry catalysts; they point the way for other innovative products.
BYTE editors are in a unique position to observe and evaluate these breakthrough products. Multiplatform in nature, BYTE has no inherent biases toward any one operating system or CPU. We rate the products, using a nomination and voting process, based on their le
vel of innovation and market impact. (For a full description of the selection process, see the text box "How BYTE Selected the Best" on page 48.)
BYTE Awards are three-tiered. The Award of Excellence is the highest honor, followed by the Award of Distinction and the Award of Merit.
Reading the Tea Leaves
There are three strong trends reflected by this year's voting: a platform shift in terms of both CPU and operating system, CD-ROM's coming of age, and the changing face of communications. The latter includes both wireless connections and videoconferencing.
By far, 32-bit processors and operating systems dominated the voting. The three top vote-getters were the IBM/Apple/Motorola PowerPC 601, IBM's OS/2 2.1, and Intel's Pentium processor. Microsoft's Windows NT was not far behind. Furthermore, other products and technology for supporting a 32-bit environment--Microsoft's OLE 2.0 and the PCI 2.0 bus standard--were Award of Excellence winners. The Silicon Graphics Indy, a 64-bit Unix work
station, was also ranked highly.
Companies considering a platform shift want to do so with minimal expense and stress. This means maintaining the ability to run important in-house and commercial applications that are already developed and owned. NT and OS/2 offer compatibility with Windows and DOS applications, and the Pentium and PowerPC processors provide the horsepower to drive the new 32-bit applications in addition to existing applications.
Eventually, though, existing applications need to move to new hardware and operating-system platforms. The tools to do the job are also among our award winners: They include Watcom C/C++ 32, Borland C++ 3.1, Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows 1.0, and Symantec's C/C++ 6.0.
This trend was very predictable. Processor-performance improvements are outpacing price increases by a wide margin, and today's graphical applications always find a way to use the extra power. Couple a Pentium or PowerPC with OS/2 or Windows NT, and you have an extremely powerful
multitasking system that has the ability to run non-native applications at a respectable speed.
CD-ROM Shows Its Stuff
CD-ROM has been around since the mid-1980s, but until recently its use has been relegated to niche applications. Two events have helped to change this: the advent of recordable CDs and a quantum leap in the quality of consumer and business titles. You can now expect, for example, tightly integrated and intelligently designed multimedia software. Four award winners exemplify why CD-ROM is becoming so popular.
Two software titles, Voyager's A Hard Day's Night and Microsoft's Encarta 1994 Edition, show off the potential of CD-ROM as an ideal multimedia medium. This is not just due to the inherent ability of CD-ROM drives to play multiple data types; a great deal of credit goes to the developers at Voyager and Microsoft for creatively putting those abilities to use. Both effectively use audio, video, hypertext, and more to significantly enhance the delivery of information.
We also gave awards to two CD-ROM drive products. The JVC Personal RomMaker is an affordable CD-R (compact disc recordable) drive. The product brings greater ease of use and reliability to the medium--qualities badly needed for CD-R to gain wide acceptance. Affordable recordable drives open up a lot of possibilities for corporate in-house publishers. For them, CD-ROM is now a viable medium for internal or external data distribution.
Speaking of getting data out to the troops, Pioneer's Award of Merit-winning DRM 604X is a slick six-CD-ROM minichanger designed for network use. Featuring a 600-KBps transfer rate, this product is a fast means of sharing CD-based data among a staff's members.
New Ways to Communicate
The way in which people use computers to communicate is changing in two ways. "Anytime, anywhere" communications is here, enabled by small, wireless devices such as the new PDAs (personal digital assistants) that were announced in 1993. These devices are designed to act as mobile nod
es for faxing, E-mail, and paging.
From a product standpoint, we thought that the current crop of PDAs were seriously flawed. However, we did give Apple an Award of Excellence for some of the technology embedded in its Newton MessagePad. Specifically, its Newton Intelligence operating system is a strong backbone on which to build a powerful communications and computing device.
Though not technically a PDA, the Award of Merit winner Eo Personal Communicator 440 is an impressive example of what a small communications device can do today. It serves as your own personal cellular phone, portable fax machine, and daily organizer, all wrapped in an easy-to-use package.
Powering the Eo is AT&T's ATT92010 Hobbit processor, an Award of Distinction winner. The Hobbit is a powerful RISC processor designed specifically for small communications devices such as the Eo. It can crank out 13 MIPS or more, yet run comfortably for an hour or more on battery power.
The other side of the communications
trend is visual. Thanks to Apple and Silicon Graphics, you can now buy a PC with built-in videoconferencing capability. Videoconferencing is not for everyone--yet. We believe, however, that the Silicon Graphics Indy and the Mac Quadra 840AV, along with the Mac Centris 660AV, are milestone products. People will look back on them as the beginning of a trend to integrate video capabilities on the desktop.
The Biggest Innovators
A few companies stood out as leaders in innovation for 1993. At the top, Microsoft tied with Apple for the highest number of awards: seven. All of Microsoft's awards were for software products--three for operating systems, and two each for applications and development tools. Four of Apple's awards were for systems.
IBM made a strong showing with five awards, for products ranging from its Continuous Speech Series speech-recognition technology to its OS/2 2.1 operating system. The company continues to show leadership in notebook PCs, winning awards for the ThinkPad 750C and
ThinkPad 500. The PowerPC 601, which IBM co-developed with Motorola and Apple, was the biggest overall vote-getter by a wide margin.
Also making strong showings were Adobe, Silicon Graphics, and Hewlett-Packard. Adobe shines in the area of graphics software, winning awards for Photoshop 2.5 for Windows and Macintosh and Premiere 3.0 for Macintosh. Its Award of Excellence-winning cross-platform document-interchange software, Acrobat, promises to revolutionize electronic publishing.
Silicon Graphics is also known for graphics, but from the hardware side. Videoconferencing capability aside, its Indy is a powerful, inexpensive graphics workstation. The RealityEngine2 is very expensive at about $80,000, but nothing else comes close to delivering its graphics and video capabilities on a workstation-class system.
Hewlett-Packard won three awards, all Awards of Excellence. As you would expect, two of those winners were printers: the LaserJet 4L and the DeskJet 1200C. HP's innovative OmniBook 300
subnotebook was the company's other winner.
Past and Future Predictions
Last year, we predicted that Mac software would rebound in the award standings but still not overtake Windows. Windows applications garnered more than three times the number of Mac awards last year. This year, Windows applications received less than twice as many awards as Macintosh applications. As we said then, Windows had a lot of momentum--and it still does--but the Mac hardware and operating system offered some technological advantages to software developers.
We also told you to look for the next-generation notebooks and subnotebooks. This year, twice as many portable systems as desktop systems won awards. Most of them were notebooks or subnotebooks. This generation of award winners is more powerful than the previous generation and is easier to use.
What do we predict for next year? Look for powerful new portable and desktop systems based on this year's award-winning processors. At this writing, the first Pow
erPC systems have been announced. System vendors should soon start taking full advantage of Intel's Pentium as well. Low-power versions of these processors will inspire a new generation of notebook PCs.
We also expect to see new applications (as well as ports of old ones) for Windows NT, OS/2 2.1, and other 32-bit operating systems running on RISC-based processors. These applications could create new performance standards, especially for graphics-related functions.
Wireless communications is another area to watch. Wireless technology is advancing rapidly, and some of the regulatory and structural barriers to using it are beginning to fall. In 1994, you might see the first wireless products and services that are practical for everyone to use.
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Systems
Adobe's PostScript PDL (page-description language) has become the lingua franca of the printer world. That is, numerous applications on a variety of platforms can obtain consistent output on a PostScript printer. W
ith Acrobat, Adobe strives for the same grand unification for electronic documents. Acrobat accomplishes this by leveraging off proven technologies such as EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) and Multiple Masters fonts.
Getting your electronic documents into Acrobat format requires no rocket science. Just print your document into an EPS file, run an Acrobat Distiller application to compress the data, and tack on a Reader application. Versions for DOS, Windows, and the Mac are available.
If your computer system lacks the fonts that were used to create the original document, the Reader's Multiple Masters technology will render an approximation of the missing font with appropriate weight and spacing. Acrobat provides text searching and hypertext linking to assist users looking for information in large documents.
Compression is outstanding, shrinking a 20-MB PageMaker file down to under 4 MB. Creating thumbnail pages, hypertext links, indexes, and text annotations with Acrobat is a no-brainer.
Adobe Photoshop 2.5 for Windows and Macintosh
Adobe Systems
Adobe Photoshop, long the leading Mac application for professional image editing, is now available for Windows. Both versions boast significant improvements over release 2.0. Experienced darkroom workers as well as neophytes will appreciate the new dodge-and-burn tool, which simulates the traditional lightening and darkening manipulations employed when enlarging. Brushes can be modified with any selected shape, and the new pen tool gives more precise control over the shapes you select.
A quick-mask mode lets you work with a semitransparent film overlaid on your image and then quickly change the mask into a selection. A new preview window makes it easier to tinker with color corrections and other variables. Photoshop's open architecture allows plug-in software to augment existing features, such as accessing a digital signal processor to speed up image processing. And a host of special-effects filters let you add pizzazz to a lacklu
ster image. The new Photoshop will definitely be welcomed by Windows users.
HP DeskJet 1200C
Hewlett-Packard
With a good balance between price and output quality, HP's reliable and flexible DeskJet 1200C ink-jet printer is the best package for bringing affordable color printing to most offices. The 300-dot-per-inch color ink-jet prints on a variety of media, from plain paper to color transparencies, with an image quality that is hard to beat at a cost per page of as little as 8 cents. With a built-in RISC processor, the 1200C also offers decent performance.
The unit looks more like a small refrigerator than a printer. But you can't argue with the DeskJet 1200C's sumptuous out-put, especially on coated paper. It's easily expandable in terms of memory, PDLs, and network connections. This is a printer designed to grow along with your office.
HP LaserJet 4L
Hewlett-Packard
It's hard to beat the 300-dpi HP LaserJet 4L in price/performance for the home or small office--or as t
he low-end executive model you choose not to share with other network users. You get plenty for the $849 list price: a small footprint and a weight of under 16 pounds, HP's RET (Resolution Enhancement Technology), a variant of PCL5 called PCL5e, and, for stretching the standard 1 MB of memory, MET (Memory Enhancement Technology).
MET conserves memory by compressing fonts before downloading them. In addition, Explorer TSR control software replaces front-panel controls and uses HP's Bi-Tronic technology to have messages such as paper-out signals break into your DOS application when appropriate. Output quality was excellent in our tests, and the printer's new Canon engine has no corona wire and fewer parts to clean than traditional laser printers.
HP OmniBook 300
Hewlett-Packard
The OmniBook 300 is equally suitable for a trip to the company cafeteria or a trip across the country, thanks to its sub-3-pound size and extra-long battery life (over 12 hours, according to our tests). Other featu
res, such as the mechanical-arm-like mouse that pops out from the side of the machine, Windows 3.1 in ROM, and the complete lack of traditional (and power-consuming) rotating hard drives, put this machine a notch above the competition.
Bummers include the lack of support for enhanced-mode operation in Windows, which means no support for virtual memory or running DOS applications in a resizable window alongside other program windows. Nevertheless, the OmniBook 300 does a fine balancing act between cutting-edge technology and mainstream usability.
"I literally take my OmniBook everywhere I go. It is perfectly designed for use on those small tray tables on airplanes. Its 12-volt external power supply makes it easy to tie into a car's or a boat's electrical system. The OmniBook 300 is so robust that I took it to sea with me on my three-week sailing vacation. Windows and the applications software that comes bundled with the OmniBook make it an exceptional value."--Ben Smith
Indy
Silicon G
raphics
The latest descendent of the Silicon Graphics Indigo architecture is the entry-level Indy, whose $5000 price tag belies its sizzling processor and graphics performance. The real story of the Mips R4000-based Indy is media integration: It supports analog and digital audio and video right out of the box, and it even comes standard with a small digital-video camera.
The Indy is packed with features--for instance, ports for 10Base-T, Fast SCSI, and ISDN are built in--and Silicon Graphics continues to innovate with options such as a 20-MB floptical drive. To cap it off, the system includes a new media-centric Indigo Magic user interface on top of Motif that eases the use of desktop video conferencing and speech recognition. While the Indy may not become a mass-market system, it blazes a path in multimedia computing.
"The Indy has exceptionally fast and inexpensive 2-D graphics. It is also very fast at general computing. I found that it's very easy to use despite the incredible sophist
ication of its peripherals, utilities, and operating-system interface. The new operating system synergistically brings together my two favorite computing environments, Unix and the Macintosh. It lives up to its slogan: Serious Fun."--Ben Smith
Lotus Notes 3.0
Lotus Development
Notes has always offered a unique and powerful blend of E-mail, conferencing, and client/server database technology. Version 3.0 adds X.500-style hierarchical naming, Macintosh client support, full-text indexing, native IPX/SPX support, smarter database replication, and a host of new macro-language functions. These new features aren't just tacked on, either; they're deeply and sometimes surprisingly integrated.
When a Notes 3.0 Macintosh client subscribes from within a shared Notes database to an edition published by a System 7 Macintosh, the edition becomes visible not only to other Macintosh clients but to Windows and Presentation Manager clients as well. The full-text indexing and retrieval capabilities also in
tegrate intelligently with Notes. Data-entry forms double as search templates; the multithreaded OS/2 server handles incremental reindexing gracefully as a background task. Background replication on the client side refines what was already an excellent mechanism for distributing information to users who are sometimes LAN-connected and at other times modem-connected. You won't find a more complete communication tool for business.
"Dialed into a Notes server from a remote laptop, automatically replicating mail and discussion databases, I began to appreciate the remarkable feats of engineering that sustain this one-of-a-kind product. Although the reach of Lotus's vision of business process automation does exceed the grasp of the current incarnation of Notes, no other product so boldly and effectively empowers users to manage distributed data."--Jon Udell
Macintosh Quadra 840AV
Apple Computer
Apple's Quadra 840AV is more than just the highest-performance Macintosh; it's also the most full
y featured personal computer ever made. To supplement the system's 40-MHz Motorola 68040 CPU, Apple added a 66-MHz AT&T 3210 DSP (digital signal processor). This makes the 840AV ideal for advanced audio, video, and telephony applications, with little or no additional hardware. Full-motion video digitizing is built in, including support for NTSC, PAL, and SECAM. Composite and S-video outputs make it easy to record digitized video on a VCR. The 840AV's audio capabilities are equally impressive, and Apple's new PlainTalk speech technology provides speaker-independent continuous voice recognition for short commands.
The new GeoPort, a plug-and-play interface, allows easy connections to analog and digital phone lines for voice, fax, and data communications. Other standard features include built-in Ethernet and AppleTalk networking, 24-bit color video, and numerous expansion slots and bays. All this makes the Quadra 840AV the premier personal computer for multimedia authors, graphic designers, and power user
s. It's the fastest Mac on the block. Software compatibility is excellent, especially considering that the system architecture is loaded with new hardware such as DMA channels, a new video bus, and a DSP. The PlainTalk voice-recognition and video-processing features--within limits--allow this Mac to do things no other computer can do.
Microsoft Excel 5.0 for Windows
Microsoft
After 1-2-3 release 4 gave Lotus some momentum, Microsoft has reclaimed its preeminence in the spreadsheet market. Excel 5.0 unveils new technologies that represent the future of Microsoft applications. Microsoft's new application macro language, Visual Basic for Applications, appears for the first time in Excel 5.0. OLE 2.0 automation will work with VBA to enable a powerful environment for cross-application development.
A consistent interface will further integrate Microsoft applications; Excel's menu structure will be closely mimicked by Word for Windows 6.0 and PowerPoint. IntelliSense, another new Excel feature
that will soon find its way into other Microsoft applications, makes intelligent assumptions to help automate actions such as adding a closing parenthesis to a function. Excel will also analyze your work and offer pop-up tips on how to perform operations more efficiently. Excel 5.0 fills some conspicuous gaps in the features matrix by adding true 3-D worksheets (with page tabs), in-cell editing, and custom AutoFill (for creating custom series that will automatically flow into selected blocks when appropriate). A few key improvements and promising new technologies combine to make Excel 5.0 one of the most powerful Windows applications around.
Microsoft Windows NT
Microsoft
If you were given the job of designing the ultimate desktop operating system, you just couldn't do much better than simply listing the features of Windows NT. Preemptive multitasking, multiprocessing support, the ability to run industry-standard software, built-in networking support, portability across hardware platforms, su
pport for multiple interfaces--the list soon becomes embarrassingly long. Windows NT is the operating system the desktop computer industry has been waiting for ever since the limitations of DOS became painfully apparent with the introduction of the AT in 1984. Like no operating system before it, NT lets you take full advantage of your industry-standard hardware.
Of course, like no other operating system before it, NT also
requires more hardware, which is the main reason it won't have the kind of immediate market impact that Windows 3.0 enjoyed. But make no mistake, NT is here for the long haul: It is an operating system built with the future in mind, so you should keep it in mind as you plan for the future.
"According to conventional wisdom, you shouldn't use the 'point zero' release of an operating system. But I do use Windows NT, which, in its first incarnation, has been remarkably stable and trouble-free. Seamless interoperability between Intel and RISC versions of NT, and between NT a
nd Windows for Workgroups, make the promise of a scalable family of Windows operating systems tangibly real."--Jon Udell
Newton Intelligence technology
Apple Computer
As Garry Trudeau's scathing series of Doonesbury comic strips suggested last summer, Apple's Newton MessagePad is an imperfect implementation of a PDA. The technology it employs, however, breaks new ground in mobile computing and is a solid base on which to build better models. That technology--not the MessagePad as a whole--receives BYTE's Award of Excellence.
Newton Intelligence is an innovative, object-oriented operating system that successfully shields casual users from internal complexities. Its pen-based user interface challenges existing notions of how a computer should look and feel. Newton applications are data-centric, not document-centric; all information is tagged and stored as you enter it, and you can access it from any application.
OLE 2.0
Microsoft
More than three years in gestation, OLE 2.0
takes Interapplication Communication and compound documents to a higher level than its predecessors, OLE 1.0 and DDE. As a key element of Microsoft's vision of object-oriented software, OLE 2.0 will be harnessed by developers for commercial and in-house applications.
The specification defines a standard way of communicating and sharing objects among compliant programs; for example, you could embed a slide created in a presentations package (based, perhaps, on data residing in a spreadsheet) into a word processing document. The 2.0 release of OLE adds dragging and dropping of objects, in-situ object editing, and support for macro-like automation. Most important, OLE 2.0 is designed with an eye toward the future--specifically, toward creating a path for users and developers that leads from Windows to Microsoft's object-oriented operating system, code-named Cairo. Thus, OLE 2.0 is built to support link tracking, network remote procedure calls, and other capabilities not yet implemented in Windows.
PCI 2.0
PCI Special Interest Group
Nobody questions the need for local-bus expansion capability in PCs, particularly for boosting graphics display performance. With VESA's VL-Bus specification already providing that function, then why PCI? Because, unlike the 486-centric VL-Bus, PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) fully answers the local-bus design needs of new Pentium- and RISC-based systems right now. As a mezzanine bus with buffered isolation from the actual CPU local bus, PCI can support more peripherals than VL-Bus. In addition, PCI devices can work concurrently with the CPU, an important performance factor with multithreading, multitasking environments.
With data bursting and buffering, the Intel-developed PCI bus cleverly skirts the performance drawbacks to bus isolation, yielding sustained throughput as high as 80 MBps from a theoretical maximum of 133 MBps. Bus isolation also means that PCI peripherals can work with any CPU speed or design, from a 486 to a 200-MHz Alpha, an impo
rtant cost factor for large systems houses planning future systems. PCI is a robust specification, tightly defined and tested with sophisticated simulation, and it also supports forward-looking features such as plug-and-play, low-voltage operation, and a 64-bit data path.
Aldus PageMaker 5.0
Aldus
PageMaker 5.0 narrows the gap between QuarkXPress and the competition in the high-end desktop publishing market. With this software, Aldus has addressed the issues of professional desktop publishers. PageMaker now has finer typographic and dimensional controls and supports a wider variety of text and graphics formats, including direct support of Lotus 1-2-3, Excel, dBase databases, and compressed TIFF files.
PageMaker shores up its strong support between Windows and the Macintosh with seamless file support across platforms and automatic conversion of Mac PICT files to Windows metafiles. Aldus has also enhanced performance throughout the product. Publishers of non-English languages will appreci
ate the $99 bundle of 19 dictionaries, which includes medical and legal dictionaries as well as 15 European and New World languages with hyphenation. PageMaker 5.0 is a powerful upgrade.
ATT92010 Hobbit
AT&T Microelectronics
AT&T's ATT92010 Hobbit microprocessor is at the forefront of a wave of new CPUs designed especially for hand-held, highly mobile communicators and computers. Known collectively as PDAs (personal digital assistants), these diminutive devices often require more raw processing power than conventional desktop PCs.
The demands of handwriting recognition, object-oriented operating systems, and innovative user interfaces are creating a niche for speedy but power-miserly CPUs. The Hobbit rises to these demands by delivering 13.5 MIPS while consuming only about 0.25 W. Together with its family of peripheral chips, the Hobbit provides a practical solution for first-generation PDAs such as the Eo Personal Communicator 440 and 880.
Banyan ENS for NetWare
Banyan System
s
Banyan's ENS (Enterprise Network Services) brings the company's crown jewel--the StreetTalk III global directory service--to Novell NetWare. ENS extends StreetTalk support to existing NetWare 3.x and 2.x installations. With ENS, you can manage multiple NetWare servers as a single system image, leveraging the communications capabilities of Vines (i.e., X.25, TCP/IP, and SNA) to distribute that virtual network over a wide area. Applications that are Vines-aware, such as the Vines version of Beyond's BeyondMail, enjoy true global directory services on NetWare-plus-ENS.
The NetWare Directory Service in NetWare 4.0 couldn't deliver the same benefits to users on NetWare 3.x and 2.x servers even if applications supported NDS (and most don't, yet). Those legacy NetWare servers aren't going away anytime soon. Kudos to Banyan for enfolding them in StreetTalk.
ColorScript Laser 1000
QMS
The first color laser printer priced at less than $15,000, the QMS ColorScript Laser 1000 produces high-
quality color documents on plain paper for less than the materials cost of dye-sublimation or thermal-wax-transfer technologies. The 300-dpi, PostScript Level 2-compatible printer outputs up to 8 pages per minute in monochrome and about 2 ppm in 24-bit color. The unit includes a range of interface ports (e.g., Ethernet, AppleTalk, and serial/parallel) and 65 typefaces. Strong network support and monochrome capabilities (i.e., low cost and good performance) make the Laser 1000 an excellent workgroup printer for mixed color and monochrome uses. Other printer vendors are expected to release color laser printers this year, but the Laser 1000 makes QMS the leader in the field for now.
Folio Views 3.0
Folio
Folio Views 3.0 isn't just a Windows port of its DOS-based predecessor; it's a massive overhaul of that popular product. No more 2-MB limit on the size of an infobase; version 3.0 boosts the capacity into the terabyte range. No more cumbersome batch-mode builder; version 3.0 can work incrementall
y, interactively, and in a way that enables multiple users on a network to extend a collaborative infobase without stepping on each other's changes. And, though not apparent to the user, no more monolithic indexing and search apparatus; 3.0's client/server architecture should enable the development of local or remote DOS, Windows, Macintosh, and Unix clients.
Fractal Design Painter 2.0
Fractal Design
The luscious Painter 2.0 turns your Mac or Windows PC into an artist's studio, offering a wide range of media and materials for you to work with, and now also offering support for captured video frames, scanned images, color separations, and user-defined lighting. The package lets you "paint" with electronic oils, watercolors, pens, chalk, charcoal, and other media in a wide range of colors and shades on backgrounds textured to look like paper, canvas, and so on. There is perhaps no other graphics product on the market that's been so quick to produce a sense of excitement and accomplishment among
both novice and expert artists.
FutureBasic
Zedcor
Zedcor's FutureBasic attempts to do for the Macintosh what Microsoft's Visual Basic does for Windows: provide an easy-to-use but powerful development environment for in-house corporate programmers, shareware developers, and hobbyists. It largely succeeds, surpassing the traditional Mac implementations of C and Pascal in terms of ease of use, and Apple's HyperCard in terms of flexibility and power.
FutureBasic is a remarkably full-featured tool that conceals much of the complexity of Macintosh programming. Yet it's capable of producing compiled code that rivals the performance of programs written in more difficult high-level languages. It runs on a system as small as a 1-MB Mac Plus, and it supports Apple Events, Color QuickDraw, QuickTime, and the entire Mac Toolbox. Packaged with an integrated 680x0 assembler, ResEdit, and MacsBug, FutureBasic is a long-needed tool for Macintosh development.
Lotus Improv 2.1 for Windows
Lotu
s Development
During the same year that Next finally delivered a 486 version of its object-oriented operating system, Lotus delivered a Windows version of one of the most compelling applications for NextStep, the Improv spreadsheet. Improv breaks away from the traditional row-and-column organization of spreadsheets; instead it fills the cells with the results of formulas entered in English-like syntax. The multidimensional worksheet can be reorganized by dragging and dropping labels, and data can be imported and exported from 1-2-3 and other external data sources.
MGA series
Matrox Electronic Systems
Thanks to a capable 64-bit graphics chip, Matrox's MGA adapters are the cards to beat for high-end graphics applications: GUI acceleration, 24-bit imaging, and CAD. The MGA chip supports 24-bit graphics at up to 1280- by 1024-pixel resolution and 8-bit graphics at 1600- by 1200-pixel resolution. In addition to providing the fastest Windows performance at any resolution or color depth, Matrox
's MGA chip (and Matrox drivers) support CAD applications with hardware pan, zoom, 2-D acceleration, and, in some models, hardware-assisted 3-D rendering and shading.
Other hardware operations include antialiasing of vector images and text (TrueType and Adobe Type Manager) as well as dithered 8-bit graphics that approach 24 bits at higher resolutions. Considering performance and features, pricing is competitive--from $599 to $2495, depending on memory configuration (from 2 to 4.5 MB of VRAM [video RAM] plus optional z-buffer memory) and whether 3-D support is present. The MGA series of boards also supports five different expansion buses: ISA, MCA, VL-Bus, PCI, and SBus.
"When I ran the MGA Impression through BYTE's suite of graphics benchmarks, it clearly outperformed the fastest video cards tested to date. But the real test came when I loaded some large images into Photoshop. Scrolling and zooming were almost instantaneous. Never have I been so impressed by the pure speed and exceptional qual
ity of a graphics accelerator."
--Stanford Diehl
Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows 3.0
Microsoft
Already wildly popular among in-house corporate programmers and shareware developers, Microsoft's Visual Basic 3.0 adds several new features and custom controls that can save hours of tedious coding in other languages. Corporate developers will especially appreciate its new database engine--the same engine found in Access 1.1, Microsoft's relational database manager for Windows. That means Visual Basic inherits the ability to interact with databases stored in several common formats, including Access, dBase, FoxPro, Paradox, and Btrieve.
Thanks to a new visual data control in the toolbox, Visual Basic programmers can hook into these databases without writing any of the code that would normally be necessary. Visual Basic also adds support for OLE 2.0, which opens up some fascinating new possibilities for interaction with other Windows applications.
Paradox for Windows
Borland In
ternational
The appearance of Paradox for Windows should prove that Borland isn't sitting on its DBMS laurels. ObjectPAL--Paradox for Windows' application programming language--is a complete break from PAL. Not only is ObjectPAL easier to comprehend than its predecessor, but it more neatly accommodates the event-driven nature of Windows applications.
ObjectPAL aside, we applaud Paradox for Windows' entire object-oriented approach. Its direct support for dBase files doesn't hurt, either; nor does its variety of form-design, report-design, and graphing capabilities, which edge the package onto the same stage as some of the larger and more complex database application generators. The query-by-example crowd should be pleased: There's a home for them in Windows.
PowerBook 165c
Apple Computer
The PowerBook 165c adds the benefit of a color passive-matrix LCD screen to a notebook PC that comes equipped with a 33-MHz 68030 processor, a 68882 FPU, external video, and 4 MB of RAM. Even thoug
h the display measures only 9 inches diagonally, it can display 640 by 400 pixels and provides rich color, good contrast, and a wide viewing angle. The PowerBook 165c's power charger cranks out 24 W (up from 15 W) and can recharge the battery faster. In addition, the PowerBook 165c is less expensive than PC notebooks with active-matrix screens.
RealityEngine 2
Silicon Graphics
Even for a company famous for graphics, Silicon Graphics' RealityEngine 2 is something else again. The specifications are mind-blowing--160 MB of bit-mapped memory, 12 geometry engines, 20 pixel generators, 320 image engines--as are the results. RealityEngine 2 can produce true-color, antialiased, texture-mapped 3-D graphics animations in real time. You may never be able to afford a RealityEngine 2, but rest assured you'll be seeing more of what it can do in the years to come. If you're looking for the definition of state-of-the-art graphics, look no further than RealityEngine 2.
SQLWindows 4.0
Gupta
SQLW
indows enjoys the rare privilege of being a SQL front end supplied by the same company that makes a killer SQL back end. Simply put, SQLWindows is full of good stuff from one end to the other: QuestWindow makes forms design exponentially simpler, TeamWindows provides the kind of project management and version control any project leader would be tickled with, and we'll never lose our respect for the application language's outline-based paradigm.
ThinkPad 750C
IBM
Faster, lighter, more powerful all around -- these descriptors fit IBM PC Co. as well as one of its best products to date, the IBM ThinkPad 750C. The successor to the 720C notebook, this product takes away more than it adds. Gone are 11/3 pounds of weight and a quarter-inch of length; among the new features are integrated audio capability and an upgraded processor, the Intel 486SL-33. The 170-MB hard drive can be easily removed in favor of a bigger one (when available), and you can swap out the floppy drive to substitute devices such a
s a cellular modem.
WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS
WordPerfect
With the first major update of its flagship program for DOS-based PCs in over three years, WordPerfect has satisfied the demands of its users who want spreadsheet functionality, pull-down menus, WYSIWYG graphics, and drag-and-drop image manipulation in a word processor. Although the resource requirements (16 MB of hard disk space for a full installation) are steep for a DOS-based application, WordPerfect certainly packs in the features. Advantages of WordPerfect over Microsoft Word include direct printing to fax cards, a full range of graphical image-editing operations, and word wrapping around irregularly shaped objects.
Active Badge
Olivetti North America
Piggybacking on your company's LAN, Active Badge is a means of keeping track of people within a workgroup. It also allows your own computer's desktop to "follow" you throughout a building. Using a small transmitter that you wear, Active Badge sends your location to the
network. The network can then tell others where you are or allow you to call up your own desktop on any other computer on the network. You always know who is or isn't available for a meeting, and you always have your own data at hand.
Adobe Premiere 3.0 for Macintosh
Adobe Systems
Adobe has taken an outstanding product and made it even better. Refinements include a streamlined interface, improved performance, and enhanced final quality of the video and audio. With 99 video and 99 audio tracks, you can create layered soundtracks as well as complex video overlays, titles, and special effects.
Borland C++ 3.1
Borland International
This development tool has several outstanding components. Its OWL (Object Windows Library), for example, lets you construct programs with a minimum of source code. Borland C++ has two integrated development environments: one for DOS and one for Windows. Both allow for rapid application development. (Borland announced version 4.0 late in 1993.)
Boun
ds Checker 1.0
Nu-Mega Technologies
This Windows debugging tool, now in version 2.0, finds tough-to-track bugs such as array boundary overruns, memory leaks, and bad parameters passed to API functions. Although it doesn't offer complete debugging services, Bounds Checker is a must-have item for every Windows programmer's toolbox.
Canon NoteJet 486
Canon Computer Systems
Buy a notebook, get a printer--that is Canon Computer Systems' solution for the need to print documents while on the road. The 7.7-pound Canon NoteJet 486 comprises a 25-MHz Texas Instruments 486SLC processor, a 91/2-inch backlit monochrome VGA LCD, 4 MB of RAM, and a 360-dpi BubbleJet printer shrunk down from a Canon BJ-10ex printer design. The nickel-cadmium battery in the model we looked at was atypically underrated, printing the entire 27-page Windows Write readme file despite the battery's eight-page rating. Operation is a breeze, and print quality is easily readable.
ClarisWorks 2.0 for Macintosh
Clari
s
Our July 1993 review said it all: ClarisWorks 2.0 may be the only major application that many Mac users need to buy. This package seamlessly integrates word processing, a spreadsheet, a database manager, drawing software, and a communications program. It's easy to shuffle work created in one segment to another segment.
ColorSync
Apple Computer
Apple has taken a big step toward making true WYSIWYG color-matching a reality with ColorSync. Color matching--the ability to get the same colors from a scanned image onto a printed document--has been a big concern for desktop publishers. Apple has also made ColorSync open, so other color-matching software providers can supply their own modules.
Common Ground
No Hands Software
Common Ground is a multiplatform document-interchange application that offers much of the same functionality as Adobe's Acrobat. Its biggest feature, however, is that it works on low-end as well as high-end PCs. This makes Common Ground practical for many co
mpanywide document-processing projects.
Compel
Asymetrix
Asymetrix's first foray into the world of presentation software is an impressive one. Compel offers excellent support of multimedia, from the user interface to support of OLE. You can link any type of data--text, graphics, video--to a multimedia event via Compel's highly intuitive interface.
Cx486DRx 2
Cyrix
Would you spend 20 minutes and between $299 and $399 to turn your 386 PC into a near-486-class system? Cyrix offers a significant performance upgrade for the millions of 386 PCs that are still in use.
Dauphin DTR-1
Dauphin Technology
With the DTR-1, Dauphin has released a highly modular subnotebookcomputer that weighs under 3 pounds and can double as a pen-based system. The keyboard, though more usable than that of the HP 100LX or the Psion Series 3a, is still a little too small for most users. A recently announced upgrade to 8 MB makes the DTR-1, which runs on a 25-MHz Cyrix 486SLC processor, the smal
lest system to accommodate IBM OS/2 and OS/2 for Pen Operating Systems, the company says.
Delrina WinFax Pro 3.0 and WinFax Pro for Networks
Delrina
Delrina has successfully combined optical character recognition with PC-based fax. No longer do you have to store incoming faxes as image files; WinFax Pro 3.0 converts them to text and then checks the spelling of the documents.
Eo Personal Communicator 440
Eo
The Eo has somewhat of a celebrity status as the star of AT&T's TV commercials. And that scene is not staged, either--you really can fax from the beach with it, or make a cellular telephone call, for that matter. The Eo's PenPoint pen-based operating system and interface feature true ease of use, and the communications applications are intelligently designed. The Eo is larger than a PDA, but that gives you the advantage of a larger display to view full-page faxed documents.
FirstClass
SoftArc
What would you say to getting top-notch E-mail and conferencing in o
ne easy-to-use multiplatform package? SoftArc's FirstClass delivers just that. It is a rare example of a product that can increase productivity right out of the box with a minimum of fuss.
Flexscan F760iW
Nanao USA
Nanao has combined one of the sharpest displays with new power-saving features. After a period of inactivity, it cuts power consumption from 160 W to 16 W. This adds up to significant savings on the electric bill of a company using scores of these monitors.
Grid Convertible 386 and 486
AST Research
The Grid came in the wake of Momenta's failed attempt to build a pen-enabled notebook PC. At first glance, the Grid Convertible looks like any other pen tablet, but the screen swivels up to turn it into a fairly standard notebook computer. In a nutshell, the Convertibles have set the standard for providing the best of both the pen and portable PC worlds in one well-designed package.
A Hard Day's Night
The Voyager Co.
Even if you're not much of a Beatles fan
, you can certainly appreciate A Hard Day's Night as an innovative use of the CD-ROM medium. The title contains the entire movie in QuickTime format accompanied by the original script and a related essay. The CD-ROM allows you to watch the movie linearly or jump around to different spots.
IBM Continuous Speech Series
IBM
IBM has quietly been working on getting you and your computer on speaking terms. The ICSS is the result of those efforts. It is an OS/2- and AIX-based speaker-independent speech-recognition technology that allows you to give your system commands by talking to it. ICSS will someday reduce many common tasks, such as retrieving E-mail or loading applications, to a one- or two-word spoken command.
JVC Personal RomMaker
JVC Information Products Co. of America
This Mac-based CD-ROM recorder wasn't the least expensive one we tested, but it was the easiest to use and the most reliable. With extensive support for the Mac's HFS, the JVC Personal RomMaker delivers ultimat
e control for creators of Macintosh write-once CDs. The unit's dedicated hard disk, on which you assemble a CD-ROM image before committing it to write-once media, also makes for rock-solid dependability when creating generic ISO 9660 discs meant for use on any platform.
LANtastic 5.0 for Windows
Artisoft
Easy to use, easy to install, inexpensive, and full of features--what more could you ask for in a peer LAN? LANtastic's Windows support is well integrated, and you also have the option of Mac connectivity.
Macintosh Centris 650
Apple Computer
Recently renamed the Quadra 650, this system offers great performance for a low price. It makes use of interleaved memory, which improves throughput by shaving off clock cycles.
Macintosh Centris 660AV
Apple Computer
Recently renamed a Quadra, Apple's 660AV nevertheless retains its position as the best value in multimedia computers. Instead of stuffing a conventional desktop machine with numerous add-on boards, Apple create
d a highly integrated system with almost everything built in: an AT&T 3210 DSP to complement the 68040 CPU; a full-motion video digitizer; video support for NTSC, PAL, and SECAM; composite and S-video outputs; a new GeoPort for data, fax, and voice telephony; audio input and output; PlainTalk speech recognition; Ethernet and AppleTalk networking; and a special DAV (digital audio/video) connector for future expansion.
Microsoft Encarta 1994 Edition
Microsoft
If you own a CD-ROM drive but are disappointed in the CD-ROM software you have seen, buy a copy of Encarta '94: It will renew your faith in the medium. Superbly designed, Encarta is a multimedia version of the Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia that Microsoft has enhanced and added to. Video and audio clips, animations, maps, and hypertext links all work together in ways that just make sense and enhance your ability to absorb and understand the information they convey.
Microsoft MS-DOS 6
Microsoft
Despite reports of some users exp
eriencing problems, Microsoft has achieved a milestone by making file compression and memory management an integral part of the operating system. Millions of users who have never used either feature can now reap their benefits. (Microsoft recently began shipping a version 6.2 upgrade.)
Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows 1.0
Microsoft
Microsoft has wrapped a wide assortment of support tools around a good C++ compiler. These include tools for building user-interface objects, "roughing out" applications, and combining executable code with the interface. At press time, Microsoft was planning to ship version 1.5 by the end of 1993.
NetWare 4.0
Novell
NetWare 4.0 represents a quantum leap in performance and ease of use over earlier versions. Also key is 4.0's X.500-style NetWare Directory Service. NDS is a database of users, data, software services, and equipment, and it can span a LAN or a WAN (wide-area network). It allows administrators to get a handle on the structure of a company'
s network.
NextStep for Intel Processors 3.1
Next Computer
Next has taken the NextStep operating system, which many considered the best part of its ill-fated workstations, and placed it on the world's most popular hardware platform. If you want a truly object-oriented system today on your PC, then NextStep is your only option. You will also get a consistent and easy-to-use interface. (Version 3.2 started shipping in November 1993.)
Pioneer DRM 604X
Pioneer New Media Technologies
The Pioneer DRM 604X incorporates the best new CD-ROM technology into a single external unit. The drive can hold up to six CD-ROM discs in its caddy and automatically switches among them. The drive appears on a PC or Mac system as six different CD-ROM drives, and it can be easily accessed across a network. Pioneer's Quadraspin technology achieves a true 600-KBps transfer rate, four times the standard speed, and the drive is Photo CD and MPC compatible. Try the Pioneer drive, and you'll wonder how you ev
er survived with a single-disc, standard-speed CD-ROM drive.
Psion Series 3a
Psion
Psion doubled the usability of its already-capable hand-held computer, and the result is an easy-to-use, fun but productive computer that slips into your coat pocket. A new zoom function and a bigger screen make it easier to read your reminders. Even better, the new voice-recording feature lets you record brief messages and attach them to alarms and events. It is well worth the $499 price that you will likely pay for the Series 3a.
Quicken 3 for Windows
Intuit
The new version of the leading personal finance program for Windows lets you manage your finances in a calendar view, so you can look ahead to see when the bills are due while planning that getaway vacation and post other reminders to yourself as well. Toss in electronic credit-card payments, improved financial planning, and better checkbook balancing, and you have a well-crafted program for the home and small-business user. We know of one
person who purchased his first PC just so he could use Quicken.
R4400
Silicon Graphics
The 64-bit R4400 is the most powerful Mips microprocessor; it features significantly larger caches than does the R4000. In 1993, it made its commercial debut in such machines as the Silicon Graphics Indigo and Magnum, where it forms the core of one of the most powerful Windows NT machines available. With an integer performance of over 90 SPECint92, the R4400 has far more horsepower for standard business applications than any 80x86 processor has.
Stacker for Windows and DOS 3.0
Stac Electronics
Speed and ease of use are the two hallmarks of Stacker 3.0. You can add reliability to that list, too. For these reasons, Stacker is still the premier compression utility for both Windows and DOS systems. (In mid-1993, Stac began shipping Stacker 3.1, which integrates seamlessly with MS-DOS 6, replacing Microsoft's DoubleSpace utility.)
Symantec C/C++ 6.0
Symantec
Symantec C/C++ 6.0 used
to be Zortech C/C++. If we hadn't told you that, you would probably be unaware of any connection. Symantec C/C++ is such a quantum leap beyond its predecessor that the two may as well be in separate universes. Symantec C/C++'s user interface is designed around a workspace paradigm rich with toolbars, tear-off palettes, and an underlying drag-and-drop theme that significantly reduces overall mouse travel. With MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes) and Bedrock bundled in, in addition to the Visual Programmer, Symantec C/C++ 6.0 is a tough act to follow.
ThinkPad 500
IBM
You'd be hard-pressed to find a 4-pound subnotebook with better Windows performance than IBM's ThinkPad 500. It packs a 50-MHz 486SLC CPU made by IBM, fast video, and a speedy hard drive. An intelligently designed keyboard and IBM's TrackPoint II pointing device make the ThinkPad easier to use.
Video Machine for the PC
Fast Electronic U.S.
The Video Machine delivers a high-quality video-production system to the PC b
y combining video editing, digital effects, audio mixing, titling, and graphics generation into one package. A 16-bit ISA board plugs into a PC slot, and audio/video connections to external devices are handled through a 62-pin cable splitter that plugs into the board. Video Machine uses standard control protocols to drive professional computer-controlled VCRs. The full-featured video-editing software follows the popular time-line interface--you create video clips and drop them onto the time line along with titles and transitional effects. With Video Machine, you can turn your PC into a desktop video studio.
Viper VLB
Diamond Computer Systems
In a recent Lab Report on 486 PCs, we found Viper VLB video boards in many of the fastest graphics performers. This 32-bit VL-Bus card should be a top choice of anyone looking for the best in Windows performance.
Watcom C/C++ 32
Watcom International
This is not a C/C++ compiler package loaded down with application generators, class-library
browsers, and all the other tools that require so many manuals that you have to get Hulk Hogan to deliver the package and Commander Data to comprehend it. Watcom C/C++ 32 is simply a very good C/C++ compiler that generates well-optimized code for more target platforms than there is room to name. And did we mention Pentium optimizations? Watcom's got that, too, along with some of the best benchmark results the BYTE Lab has recorded to date.
WordPerfect Office 4.0
WordPerfect
Multiplatform support is at the top of the list of improvements to be found in WordPerfect Office 4.0. With this version of the software, you can coordinate an entire workgroup's E-mail, calendar, appointment list, and so on across Macintosh, Windows, DOS, and Unix systems. WordPerfect also made version 4.0 easier to use, providing mouse support for DOS applications.
Company Information
Adobe Systems, Inc.
(800) 833-6687
(415) 961-4400
fax: (415) 961-3769
Aldus Corp.
(800) 333-2538
(206) 622-5500
fax: (206) 343-4240
Apple Computer, Inc.
(800) 538-9696
(408) 996-1010
Artisoft, Inc.
(800) 233-5564
(602) 670-7100
fax: (602) 670-7101
AST Research, Inc.
(800) 876-4278
(714) 727-4141
fax: (714) 727-9355
Asymetrix Corp.
(800) 448-6543
(206) 462-0501
fax: (206) 637-1504
AT&T Microelectronics
(800) 372-2447
(215) 439-6011
fax: (215) 778-4106
Banyan Systems, Inc.
(800) 828-2404
(508) 898-1000
fax: (508) 898-1755
Borland International, Inc.
(800) 682-9299
(408) 431-1000
fax: (408) 439-9262
Canon Computer Systems, Inc.
(800) 848-4123
(714) 438-3000
fax: (714) 438-3099
Claris Corp.
(800) 544-8554
(408) 727-8227
fax: (408) 987-7460
Cyrix Corp.
(800) 462-9749
(214) 994-8388
fax: (214) 994-8397
Dauphin Technology, Inc.
(800) 782-7922
(708) 971-3400
fax: (708) 971-8443
Delrina Corp.
(800) 268-6082
(408) 363-2345
fax: (408) 363-2340
Diamond Computer Systems, Inc.
(408) 736-2000
fax: (408) 730-5750
Eo, Inc.
(800) 458-0880
(415) 903-8100
fax: (415) 903-8190
Fast Electronic U.S., Inc.
(800) 248-3278
(508) 655-3278
fax: (206) 671-3860
Folio Corp.
(800) 543-6546
(801) 344-3700
fax: (801) 344-3790
Fractal Design Corp.
(800) 297-2665
(408) 688-8800
fax: (408) 688-8836
Gupta Corp.
(800) 876-3267
(415) 321-9500
fax: (415) 321-5471
Hewlett-Packard Co.
(800) 752-0900
(415) 857-1501
fax: (800) 333-1917
IBM
(800) 426-3333
(914) 765-1900
Intel Corp.
(800) 548-4725
(408) 765-8080
Intuit, Inc.
(800) 624-8742
(415) 322-0573
fax: (415) 322-1013
JVC Information Products Co. of America
(714) 965-2610
fax: (714) 968-9071
Lotus Development Corp.
(800) 872-3387
(617) 577-8500
fax: (617) 693-0968
Matrox Electronic Systems, Ltd.
(800) 361-1408
(514) 685-2630
fax: (514) 685-2853
Microsoft Corp.
(800) 426-9400
(206) 882-8080
fax: (206) 936-7329
Motorola, Inc.
RISC Microproces
sor Division
(800) 845-6686
Nanao USA Corp.
(800) 800-5202
(310) 325-5202
fax: (310) 530-1679
Next Computer, Inc.
(800) 879-6398
(415) 366-0900
fax: (415) 780-3714
No Hands Software, Inc.
(800) 598-3821
(415) 802-5800
fax: (415) 593-6868
Novell, Inc.
(800) 638-9273
(801) 429-7000
fax: (801) 429-5155
Nu-Mega Technologies, Inc.
(603) 889-2386
fax: (603) 889-1135
Olivetti North America, Inc.
(509) 927-5600
fax: (509) 927-5700
PCI Special Interest Group
(503) 696-2000
fax: (503) 693-0920
Pioneer New Media Technologies, Inc.
(800) 444-6784
(408) 988-1702
Psion, Inc.
(508) 371-0310
fax: (508) 371-9611
QMS, Inc.
(800) 523-2696
(205) 633-4300
fax: (205) 633-4866
Silicon Graphics, Inc.
(800) 800-7441
(415) 960-1980
SoftArc, Inc.
(416) 299-4723
fax: (416) 754-1856
Stac Electronics
(800) 522-7822
(619) 431-7474
Symantec Corp.
(800) 441-7234
(503) 345-3322
fax: (503) 334-7474
The Voy
ager Co.
(800) 446-2001
(914) 591-5500
fax: (914) 591-6484
Watcom International, Inc.
(800) 265-4555
(519) 886-3700
fax: (519) 747-4971
WordPerfect Corp.
(800) 451-5151
(801) 222-5000
fax: (801) 222-5077
Zedcor
(800) 482-4567
(602) 881-8101
fax: (602) 881-1841
1993 Byte Awards
