CodeWarrior
, Metrowerks
A top-notch multiplatform development system. The latest release of CodeWarrior, CW3, gives Macintosh and PowerPC programmers a wide-sweeping, feature-rich toolbox, and it also adds spark to the somewhat moribund world of Macintosh development packages, giving Symantec some competition.
CodeWarrior ships with Apple Extensions for 680x0 and PowerPC platforms, including AOCE (Apple Open Collaborative Environment), Drag and Drop, QuickTime, and the Threads Manager.
At the center of this package is the Integrated Development Environment, which is typical of all CodeWarrior tools: It's small and fast, and it does just what you expect. The system is flexible enough to allow every source file to contain multiple code segments--which is particularly useful when wri
ting C++ and MacApp programs.
Some of our editors call CodeWarrior the package that saved Apple and the Power Macs, since it has been used by so many developers who are bringing their applications over to the new architecture.
Live Picture
, HSC Software
An awesome image-editing program, Live Picture uses new technology to shorten the time it takes to manipulate photos and other realistic images. The program also uses a new image-storage format (developed by FITS Imaging, of Paris) that gives editing software fast access to any portion of an image at any zoom level. It's also got a slick airbrush and some nice special-effects tools. (See the review "Lively Pictures".)
This program always draws big crowds when it's demonstrated at trade shows. You'll see why once you've looked at it, especially if you've ever worked with Photoshop or Picture Publisher.
Live Picture costs $3995; that's a lot more than what Photoshop and Picture P
ublisher cost, but it's peanuts compared to what high-end workstation products, such as those from Scitex, sell for.
Nx586, NexGen
The newest rebel entry in the War of the x86 Empire. NexGen's Nx586 is an 80x86-architecture processor; it supports all x86 instructions. When run on the Nx586, programs behave just as they do when they run on an AMD, Cyrix, or Intel chip.
What distinguishes the NexGen chip is its microarchitecture. It fetches x86 instructions from memory, but in the pipelines it executes RISC-like translations of x86 instructions. NexGen calls them RISC86 instructions and uses them to give the chip Pentium-class performance.
The Nx586 is a fascinating design. It demonstrates that x86-compatible chips don't need to replicate Intel's microarchitecture. And its price appears right (about $500 in lots of 1000, or about $200 less than what Intel's Pentium currently sells for; of course, that price difference could evaporate soon).
Athough seve
n motherboard makers and four system vendors have said they will use the NexGen chip, only one Nx586-based system has shipped thus far--the Alaris Nx586 VL. BYTE benchmarks show this system's integer performance is about 1.7 times higher than that of a 66-MHz 486, which is comparable to that of a Pentium-based Gateway 2000 P5-90. (See "NexGen's Come-from-Behind Strategy," November 1994 BYTE, page 30.)
As a design, the Nx586 is an outstanding accomplishment. Competing with mighty Intel in the marketplace is another story. But if AMD and Cyrix can do it.
OLE Controls, Microsoft
Componentware is the future. Tools that contribute to the construction of components are significant because they enable a shift to a new--if you'll pardon the expression--paradigm.
OLE Controls are important because they establish a generalized component model for Windows. In other words, OLE Controls will work with any OLE-aware application. In the past, VBXes (Visual Basic custom con
trols) were pretty much limited to Visual Basic. Other development tools added VBX compatibility, but only in a limited way, and it was something of a hack. OLE Controls are more general and aren't tied to the Visual Basic architecture. This opens up a larger market for third-party developers and also enables 32-bit controls. (VBXes are 16-bit only.)
PowerBook 500
series, Apple Computer
Apple gave the popular PowerBook a good overhaul with these new models--a good idea, considering the competition it's getting from IBM's hot-selling ThinkPads and Compaq's Aero.
The PowerBook's trackball has been replaced with an innovative trackpad. "It works much better than a trackball for text selection and editing, and it's better suited for drawing," says our Mac expert, Tom Thompson. Plus, since it has no moving parts, it's less likely to fail than a trackball.
These new PowerBooks use the 68LC040 processor, which is clocked at 66 MHz. However, t
he rest of the system runs at 33 MHz, so that's the level of overall performance that you can expect. Adding a second battery extends the length of time you can work away from a power plug. (BYTE's battery-life tests show the machine will run for about 6 hours on two fully charged units.) Or you can fill that space with an expansion card or Apple's PCMCIA expansion module.
The PowerBook 500 series has substantial capacity for more memory and large hard disks. A built-in Ethernet port boosts the machine's network capabilities. The active-matrix color display used in the upper-end 540c model is excellent. The 520 comes with a passive-matrix screen, but you can swap in an active-matrix version if you want.
Since its debut, the PowerBook has set the pace for portables. The 500 line continues that tradition.
Power Macintosh
, Apple Computer
With the Power Macs, Apple has made one of the smoothest technology shifts in history--and without fors
aking performance, price, or compatibility. These new Macintoshes deliver plenty of horsepower, especially when doing floating-point calculations (vital for working with graphics and video).
BYTE's cross-platform benchmarks show that the low-end Power Mac 6100/60, which sells for $2200, performs comparably to a Pentium PC. And our low-level and application benchmarks show that the Power Macs don't need to hang their heads in the company of other RISC systems, either. In fact, in some applications, the 7100/66 and 8100/80 can keep up with workstations based on DEC's Alpha chip. The Power Macs will get even faster as more software houses move their programs to native code and as Apple ports more of the Toolbox to native code.
Apple has made some wise compromises in design. Cost-saving decisions, such as the inclusion of slow RAM, have been canceled out by performance-boosting features, such as the inclusion of a wider data bus and burst transfers. The hardware allows for faster systems in the futu
re. Apple's engineers are to be commended for their farsighted approach.
These first Power Macs are proof that the PowerPC architecture has the right stuff to carry users toward the millenium. They've got the power to handle hungry data types, such as video. They will be able to accommodate a variety of new operating systems. And they cost less than most used cars. The Power Macs win our collective praise as the most significant computers of 1994.
Telescript, General Magic
This communications-oriented programming language enables the construction of smart networks. Telescript gives developers the tools they need to build intelligent agents and distributed networks. Eventually, there will be tools that allow ordinary users to create their own agents without programming (e.g., "Hello, Agent: Get me tickets to the Beatles reunion concert and find me a date for the evening.").
Because Telescript is a portable language that executes atop a run-time interpreter, a
pplications can run without recompilation on any supported platform or network; it's not limited to systems that use the Magic CAP interface (which some of us find cartoonish). Telescript shields programmers from many of the complexities of network protocols and directory services. It addresses the major issue of security--agents, after all, are not much different from viruses--in several ways: Agents are encrypted, they have to pass authentication barriers, and their life span and capabilities (e.g., spawning) are regulated.
What PostScript did for cross-platform, device-independent documents, Telescript might do for cross-platform, network-independent messaging. So far, products and services using Telescript are few; using a Sony Magic Link in conjunction with AT&T's PersonaLink is the best available way to see Telescript in action. But with major companies such as French Telecom, Motorola, and Nippon Telephone and Telegraph pledging to use Telescript, it could become the lingua franca of worldwide t
elecommunications.
ThinkPad 755 series, IBM
A great pair of mobile PCs. Big Blue's 755C has one of the nicest and sharpest--and definitely the biggest--displays we've seen on a notebook: a 10.4-inch TFT (thin-film transistor) active-matrix screen. The smaller, dual-scan color screen on the model 755CS is sharp, too.
The list of standard features is impressive and includes 4 MB of RAM, a 170-MB hard disk, a full-size keyboard, PCMCIA support, 16-bit audio, and local-bus video with 1 MB of video memory. Buyers can choose between an Intel 75-MHz DX4 and a 50-MHz DX chip. Its RAM is expandable to 36 MB, and its storage capacity goes up to a whopping 810 MB, making this an excellent office computer as well as a powerful road machine.
IBM has thrown in lots of free software, and not just disposable junk, either; there's cc:Mail, Lotus Organizer, SofNet FaxWorks, and access to America Online.
Visual Voice, Stylus Innovations
At
its core, Visual Voice is another VBX. Hook it up to the Visual Voice Workbench, though, and you've got a GUI environment for building a complete Visual Basic-based telephony application. As Rick Grehan wrote in his CodeTalk column in November, you can use Visual Voice to construct a program that can answer the telephone, send and receive faxes, play audio files, record audio to disk, decode Touch-Tones, hang up the phone, and "probably more things that I haven't yet discovered."
Inside the Visual Voice VBX are actions and properties that, with the proper hardware, allow your PC to perform all the actions mentioned above. Once you have gone through the process of assembling sound files, VBX routines, and Visual Basic code, the Workbench pours the appropriate BASIC code and proper connections to the VBX into the clipboard, so you can then hop over to your Visual Basic application and paste it all in.
Telephony programs will be some of the killer applications we'll see during this decade. Develop
ment packages like Visual Voice will make it easy to take advantage of the merger of PCs and telephones.
Windows NT
3.5 family, Microsoft
Jon Udell, a BYTE senior technical editor at large, describes the newest NT (aka Daytona) as a Mack truck. "It carries big loads for servers and serious business, scientific, and engineering users whose tasks justify powerful x86 or RISC workstations," he says.
The new version is slimmer than 3.1. Its performance-monitoring and event-logging services are sophisticated. Its multi-VDM (virtual DOS machine) Win16 capability works well, protecting Win16 applications from one another. Microsoft says Daytona will ensure reliable DDE and OLE traffic across VDM boundaries, and Jon's tests thus far indicate that this is true. And its performance certainly beats NT 3.1's. For users who have the iron and prefer security, reliability, and manageability, given adequate performance, Windows NT 3.5 is worth checking out.
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Awards of Excellence
