Check out these news items from the
January 1992
Nanobytes section of Microbytes:
Macronix (San Jose, CA) has combined a
stripped-down version of its fax software with a MaxLite portable 9600bps fax modem and a HewlettPackard 95LX to create what could be the world's smallest operational fax system. Macronix had to strip out all but the essential features of the program
to fit on the HP 95LX's RAM cards.
Visix Software (Reston, VA), maker of the graphical Looking Glass
environment for Unix systems, is offering a new development environment that makes those systems friendlier. The HyperCard-style Unix interface lets you build graphical front ends to command-line programs.
A ROM-based version of Microsoft Windows 3.1 is in the works
, the company says. ROM Windows will run all your applications, but manufacturers will be able to configure it to fit on machines with scarce resources.
Millions of people may soon be using OS/2 every day
without even knowing it. Unlike earlier-generation machines based on proprietary hardware and operating systems, NCR's new line of automatic teller machines are based on 386SX computers running OS/2.
A report published by International Data estimates that 3.8 million
personal computers were shipped in the Asia/Pacific region in 1990, producing revenue of $12.4 billi
on. The report estimates that of that total, Japan alone accounted for more than 2 million personal computers.
IBM has effectively disbanded its Desktop Software unit.
The company has turned over the U.S. marketing and distribution rights for the high-end Platinum accounting and management system to Advanced Business Microsystems. XyQuest will market Signature, a DOS-based word processor jointly developed with IBM, and Claris now has the marketing and distribution rights for the Hollywood presentation graphics program. The Storyboard Live program is now in the IBM Multimedia Solutions division.
Fox showed a technology demonstration of FoxPro 2.0
for Microsoft Windows 3.0 at fall Comdex 1991. Likewise, Borland showed a glimpse of Quattro Pro for Windows, Borland expects to release Windows versions of dBase and Paradox this year and is now shipping a Windows-hosted version of Borland C++ 3.0.
Unix Systems Laboratories has agreed to license Silicon Graphics'
Iris Graphics Library. USL says that it will support Iris GL 5.0 in its Unix System V release 4.1 operating environment.
Microsoft's senior vice president Steve Ballmer says that IBM
has confused software developers with its Apple alliance. "I could not say this a year ago, but they are even less clear than we are on their future direction," he said.
Quarterdeck has missed its projected December release
for its ambitious Desqview/X environment. Quarterdeck now says that it expects to release the environment in the first quarter of 1992.
Information Builders, Inc., and Apple have signed an agreement
that will let IBI's Enterprise Data Access/SQL client/server software provide Macs with a solution for accessing nonrelational data from a broad array of databases.
Nantucket, provider of the Clipper 5.0 business application
development system for the PC, now offers a Cyrillic translation that is produced in the Soviet Un
ion.
Guy Kawasaki, author of
Selling the Dream
, had this to say
when asked if Apple's embrace of Adobe spelled the death of TrueType. "Do I think TrueType's dead? Well, was it ever born? Two years ago everybody said, 'Adobe's doomed.' Well, here it is two years later, and the world has reversed. So I guess the lesson is, if you wait long enough by the side of the river, all of your enemies will come floating by." He made the comments at a meeting sponsored by Milwaukee's North Shore Computers.
Following layoffs of 1400 employees, a $70 million third-quarter loss,
and the departure of several key executives, including former CEO Rod Canion, Compaq says that it will offer a line of low-cost PCs that may have processors from other chip manufacturers besides Intel. New CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer says that product design and development procedures have been changed to shorten development cycles and lower costs.
UserLand Software has posted on major electro
nic networks
the Frontier Software Development Kit. The SDK has sample code, libraries, documentation, and sample programs to help Mac developers take advantage of Interapplication Communication protocols.
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