June 1994 / News & Views

Desktop Conferencing Takes Off	Update: A new round of desktop conferencing products foster group collaboration and could fuel demand for ISDN - by Andy Reinhardt
Switching Hubs Get Their Due	When it comes to providing bandwidth for applications like multimedia and video over LANs, ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) gets all the attention. - by Salvatore Salamone
The Memory-Card Manager Grows Up	As committee members work on a new PCMCIA specification that will add bus mastering, a 32-bit data path, and 3.3-V operation, users continue to grapple with incompatibilities in current products. - by Ed Perratore
Vendors Work to Cure Incompatibility Blues	Incompatible backup storage formats are a big problem for many businesses. - by Michael Nadeau
Apple, Cirque Unveil Trackball Alternative	Apple's new Mac PowerBook 500 notebooks will introduce an innovative pointing device that essentially has one moving part: your finger. - by Dave Andrews
Entertainment, Education Help Drive Home PC Acceptance	Although computers dominate the business scene, they have not achieved the same success in the home. - by D.A.
OS/2 on the PowerPC Slated for This Year IBM OS strategy	As Microsoft continues development on Windows Chicago and Daytona (a new version of Windows NT with a smaller RAM requirement), and Apple works to add multithreading to System 7.5, IBM is working on new versions of its operating systems as well. - by D.A.
Users: Give Us Connected PDAs with PCMCIA Users Say Pen Still Important	Call it a strategic pause in the PDA (personal digital assistant) market. - by E.P.
Developers Debate Stac-Microsoft Trade-Secrets Decision	A seven-person jury decided that Microsoft's DoubleSpace disk-compression utility infringes two Stac Electronics data-compression patents and awarded Stac $120 million.
SNIP Away Object Memory Management Chores	In the software nativity wards of the world, new tools are being born daily. - by Rick Grehan
Options for Notes Developers to Improve LotusScript vs. Visual Basic	Developers frustrated by a limited number of visual-programming tools for writing client programs that access data stored in Lotus Notes databases should see their options improve this summer, thanks to Lotus Development, Brainstorm Technologies, and even Microsoft. - by Rick Dobson
Intergraph's port of Windows NT to the Clipper RISC processor	Intergraph's port of Windows NT to the Clipper RISC processor (see "Windows, Windows Everywhere?," June 1993 BYTE) Intergraph (Huntsville, AL, (205) 730-2000) has canceled that effort and is currently porting its wide range of CAD applications to Windows NT running on Intel-based processors. - by D.A.
The U.S. Government's plan to deliver encryption hardware with a trapdoor for police eavesdropping	The U.S. Government's plan to deliver encryption hardware with a trapdoor for police eavesdropping (see "Encryption Chip Draws Fire," July 1993 BYTE) The plan continues to meet broad and stiff resistance from public-interest groups and industry coalitions. - by Peter Wayner

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