PC Week News for November 28, 1994. Contents Copyright (c) 1994 by Ziff Communications Company. All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced or distributed IN ANY FORM without express written permission. Contact CompuServe mailbox 72241,1776 for further information. ================================================================ Attention: You are now reading news which is expressly prepared for ZiffNet members. If you redistribute this file, or any part therein, on any online service, BBS, LAN, WAN or other electronic or print distribution mechanism, you are in violation of U.S. copyright laws--and are subject to subsequent penalties. ================================================================ Lotus bides time for buyout From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Jane Morrissey and Paula Rooney In the wake of the industry's recent flood of major acquisitions, Lotus Development Corp. appears to be casting about for a megadeal of its own. After a string of unsuccessful attempts, the Cambridge, Mass., company is getting its house in order in hopes of scoring its own high-profile marriage. Speculation pairs Lotus with Oracle Corp., but there is ongoing talk of expanding relationships with AT&T Corp., IBM, and Novell Inc., according to Wall Street analysts and company insiders, who nevertheless said they are unaware of any specific deal on the table. Lotus officials were unavailable for comment last week. Lotus has done some significant streamlining recently. While there is no layoff mandate, insiders say additional cuts will be made in Europe, and use of consultants is being curtailed. In addition, low-performing products are being scrutinized. "We've got to focus and hunker down and narrow in," said one Lotus insider. "Lotus management is cleaning out all the trash so people look at Lotus and see all the value." In the management ranks, the shake-up continues, most recently with the departure of Cliff Conneighton, director of marketing for communications products, and Lyn Benton, vice president and controller. Will Reynolds, director of suite development, is looking for a new position, and Said Mohammadioun has been relieved of his application responsibilities and is "looking for new opportunities for the company," a Lotus spokesman confirmed. Even with its declining stock price -- the company's shares closed at $38.50 on Nov. 23 -- a Lotus deal would be an expensive proposition, with a valuation that could reach at least $2 billion, analysts said. Analysts estimate that a realistic range would be $60 to $80 per share. Analysts say a merger makes sense for Lotus, which is under pressure from declining desktop-application sales that have yet to be offset by its high-growth communications business. Some speculate that a deal based on Notes would attract the most suitors. "That's the $64,000 question," said Alex. Brown & Sons analyst Mary McCaffrey, in New York. "If you could eliminate the desktop piece, you could think of many interesting combinations." Oracle, the oft-mentioned Redwood Shores, Calif., partner, could certainly afford the deal. Observers point to natural synergies between the two that have already led to a joint-development and marketing deal for Notes announced in September. Some corporate sites think an Oracle buy would be good for Lotus customers. "It's a marriage made in heaven," said Jim Arcure, manager of systems integration at Colgate Palmolive Co. in New York, who uses Notes and Oracle databases. One solution would be a three-way deal that spins off Lotus' application business to Novell, enabling the Provo, Utah, company to offer a more competitive suite with WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3. Lotus insiders said a more plausible scenario would be to sell the applications to IBM, with whom Lotus already has a strong relationship; IBM would likely pay a premium for OS/2 applications. Another possibility is AT&T, which sources say talked merger with Lotus in August as an offshoot of the pair's work on AT&T Network Notes. ================================================================ Compaq adding 90MHz Pentium duo to PC line From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Lisa DiCarlo The largest PC supplier is finally getting up to speed on Pentium desktop systems. Compaq Computer Corp., one of the last entrants into the high-end Pentium arena, next week plans to ship two 90MHz Pentium members of its Deskpro XL line, sources familiar with the company's plans said. A $3,999 entry-level 90MHz XL features a 500M-byte SCSI hard drive and 16M bytes of RAM, according to sources. The higher-end model features a 1G-byte SCSI hard drive and 16M bytes of RAM, they said. Pricing on that model was not available. Compaq, of Houston, will not add a 100MHz Pentium model to its line until mid-1995, due to limited availability of chips from Intel Corp., sources said. The new Deskpros will be the first desktops to integrate the 128-bit TriFlex bus architecture that Compaq currently uses only on its servers. The PCs will also include a built-in virus-protection utility called SafeStart. The software scans executable files and the PC's boot sector -- the most difficult area to protect -- and uses a terminate-and-stay- resident module and virus-signature recognition to detect unknown viruses, sources said. Desktop PCs using 90MHz Pentium chips have been conspicuously absent from Compaq's lineup, a fact that may have led some users to consider other brands. "If I needed the Pentium horsepower and Compaq didn't have it, I'd change [vendors]," said Chuck Davis, IS manager at Eagle Industries Inc., in Chicago. ================================================================ Most corporate users safe from Pentium's FPU glitch From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Neal Boudette A bug in the floating-point unit of Intel Corp.'s Pentium processor sparked a fire storm of controversy last week, but it appears the problem isn't likely to burn most corporate users. Virtually all 5 million Pentium processors Intel has shipped so far contain a glitch that causes the floating-point unit to yield incorrect results when dividing certain numbers and carrying the answer to several decimal places. Officials from the Santa Clara, Calif., company confirmed the bug last week after university researchers flooded the Internet with traffic on the subject. However, Intel officials maintain that most Pentium PC users have little to fear; a number of independent researchers agreed with the company's claims. The chance of a user hitting a pair of numbers the Pentium chip can't divide accurately is one in several billion, said Mike Carlton, a staff researcher at the University of Southern California in Marina del Rey. Carlton and others reproduced the problem by dividing numbers millions of times. PC makers said they have not heard from users reporting faulty Pentium PCs. "It's not like customers are calling us and saying they are having this problem," said Rob Cheng, desktop product manager at Gateway 2000 Inc., in North Sioux City, S.D. Nevertheless, the bug has piqued some users. "My solution right now is not to buy Pentium PCs if we're doing floating-point calculations," said James MacKinnon, a researcher at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Intel officials said the company will give new Pentium CPUs to users who find the bug affects their applications. "We will warrant the CPU on this issue," said Stephen Smith, Intel's Pentium engineering manager. Users can call Intel at (800) 628-8686 to report the problem, Smith said. An Intel spokesman said the company has corrected the bug but has just begun shipping the new version. ================================================================ ISV embraces distributed OLE From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Ted Smalley Bowen A small accounting-software vendor is collaborating with Digital Equipment Corp. to become one of the first ISVs to deliver an application that supports OLE 2.0 in a distributed client/server environment. FlexiInternational Software Inc. will add a set of services in the first quarter to its FlexiFinancials 2.5 software that integrates Object Linking and Embedding 2.0 with CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture), said James Schenck, executive vice president of software engineering for the Shelton, Conn., company. DEC, of Maynard, Mass., which is collaborating with Microsoft Corp. and Candle Corp. on a Common Object Model-to-CORBA link, is working with FlexiInternational to integrate the FlexiObjects model with CORBA. The project is expected to allow FlexiInternational customers to more easily integrate OLE 2.0 objects from client applications, such as Microsoft's Excel 5.0, with applications running on Unix servers. The company already has developed OLE 2.0 links across Windows and Windows NT. Microsoft does not plan to deliver a distributed OLE 2.0 model until its Cairo operating system arrives in 1996. "FlexiInternational is further ahead than other accounting vendors in terms of offering a distributed object model," said Carl Landeck, a vice president at Herman's World of Sporting Goods Inc., a Carteret, N.J., retailer that is customizing FlexiFinancials for a distribution system. Support for OLE 2.0-CORBA integration will be folded into FlexiFinancials 2.5, which already makes object classes accessible via the Microsoft Foundation Class Library, officials said. These services provide a partial OLE 2.0 server implementation that extends OLE integration capabilities to end users, said Maureen Okerstrom, the company's director of technical services. FlexiFinancials 3.0, slated to arrive for Windows 95 next year, will add full OLE server support, she said. However, pulling conservative accounting departments into the realm of distributed object models may not be easy. "The payoff is that you'll be able to do business-process re-engineering and make IS a strategic component of your operation," said Paul Cubbage, an analyst at Dataquest Inc., in San Jose, Calif. "But we don't know how well distributed objects will work. Like all pioneers, you'll be able to tell them by the arrows in their back." FlexiFinancials 2.5 is priced from $25,000 to $100,000 per module. ================================================================ Industry giants launch computer telephony initiative From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Paula Musich Four leading computer and communications vendors -- Apple Computer Inc., IBM, AT&T Corp., and Siemens Rolm Communications -- this week will unveil a wide-ranging initiative for integrating computers and telephone systems. The coalition will announce near-term specifications for such CTI (computer-telephony integration) as server-to-PBX and computer-to- telephone interfaces, said sources familiar with the announcement. Such specifications would provide a consistent set of APIs for creating applications that integrate computer and telephony functions. In addition to marshaling third-party backing for those interfaces -- Novell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. are expected to lend support -- the group will reveal longer-term objectives for creating a common approach to videoconferencing over asynchronous transfer mode networks and developing a common form of electronic business cards, sources said. "If you can imagine anything relevant to where computing and telecom intersect, that's what the initiative encompasses," said one source close to the coalition. The group's specifications for interoperable server-to-PBX interfaces are based on the Telephony Services API developed by Novell, of Provo, Utah, and AT&T, of Basking Ridge, N.J. The group's chosen specification for computer-to-telephone serial interfaces is based on Apple's Geoport, which will be dubbed Inport or Intelligent Port, sources said. The specification will allow developers to write applications that import voice messages directly from the telephone into a PC. Noticeably missing from the coalition are Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp., which have each floated their own interfaces for linking PCs to PBXs and telephones. "We have not been invited to participate," said Charles Fitzgerald, product manager at Microsoft's personal communications division, in Redmond, Wash. Several industry observers believe the coalition's efforts are a competitive response to Microsoft's Telephony API and to Intel's serial- bus interfaces for CTI. "They're trying to force standards in their direction, not Microsoft's and Intel's," said Jim Burton, an independent CTI consultant in Weston, Mass. "The question is, are they helping the market along or bifurcating it?" Users, for their part, are looking for any answer to their efforts to mix and match competing computer-telephony solutions. "We run Windows NT at the server for our help-desk software, and we have an AT&T switch," said Rick Clagett, MIS manager at Tech Resource Group, in Raleigh, N.C. "We had to have a Novell box in between to allow the phone calls to transition to the NT system." Officials at the sponsoring companies declined to comment on the announcement. Additional reporting by Michael Moeller ================================================================ Internet 'nowhere near' ready for big business From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Laura B. Smith Don't let the symbols "@.anyplace.com" make you anxious. Despite the recent hype at Comdex, the Internet is not ready for mission-critical business, said IS managers, analysts, and even firms hawking access to the global network. The Internet is well-suited to handle E-mail, marketing, and product- support tasks, but it's "nowhere near ready for the types of financial transactions that will be required for ... serious business," said Bill Bluestein, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc., in Cambridge, Mass. Nonetheless, companies are installing World-Wide Web servers by the thousands to tap the Internet's strength as an information-gathering vehicle. What's missing for mainstream business tasks are proven models for electronic commerce. Although forthcoming announcements from major banks and recent alliances among companies such as Microsoft Corp. and VISA International are promising, their transaction schemes need testing before corporations will commit, IS managers said. "From an IS perspective, I've always had shivers up my spine when I've thought about the Internet," said Richard Linden, vice president of information systems at MMI Cos. Inc., a health-care management company in Deerfield, Ill. "We're going to take it slow and make sure it can do what we intend to, in a secure manner." MMI's research needn't be rushed. A mass market for on-line shopping is still years away, analysts and vendors said. "The beauty of electronic commerce is in using de facto standards, and we're not there yet," said Rebecca Wetzel, marketing manager for BBN Internet Services Corp., a service provider in Cambridge, Mass. Transaction Models The models for financial transactions are varied. Open Market Inc.'s Storebuilder, released last month, allows small and medium-sized businesses to create electronic storefronts. Customers register credit- card numbers by phone or encrypted E-mail, and Open Market manages transactions. Currently, two stores are selling products; Open Market hopes to attract more with a "merchant" server, due in the first quarter, that tracks larger inventories, said Larry Stewart, chief technology officer for the Cambridge, Mass., startup. NetScape Communications Corp. and First Data Corp. will ship a similar system based on encryption this month. Merchants would use the system to build Web storefronts, and consumers would browse the Web with Mosaic client software, keying in credit-card numbers to buy products. First Data Corp. would manage the transactions. Microsoft and VISA, meanwhile, plan to provide secure transaction technology by the end of 1995. The technology will be used in The Microsoft Network and Windows 95, both of which will have on-ramps to the Internet, said Microsoft officials in Redmond, Wash. Several digital cash schemes, which allow users to buy goods without revealing financial accounts, are also in the works from a variety of companies. And a dozen New York banks are expected to announce a banking-related Internet service called FinanceNet late this year, sources said. While the transaction efforts shake out, companies should establish guidelines for getting on the Internet. "We allow Internet mail exchange for everybody who has an ID on our system," said David Thewlis, chief consultant for strategic technologies at Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, in Eureka, Calif. "I'm not concerned about E-mail -- I'm very concerned about providing full access to anybody who wants access to it across a mission-critical, on-line system." Additional reporting by Robert L. Scheier and Kimberly Patch ================================================================ Client/server messaging proceeds at a snail's pace From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Paula Rooney The move to migrate users to client/server messaging platforms has slowed to a crawl as Lotus Development Corp., Microsoft Corp., and Novell Inc. struggle to deliver their competing solutions. This week at E-Mail World in Boston, IS managers will again be subjected to a barrage of information about these market leaders' messaging strategies. But most will go home empty-handed. "There's a lot of confusion out there," said Ann Palermo, an analyst for International Data Corp., in Framingham, Mass. "All three leading vendors are still in transition, and customers can only listen to the story they're telling, since there's no product yet." On Dec. 15, Lotus officials are expected to tell yet another version of their messaging tale, as they announce a major shift in strategy for LCS (Lotus Communications Server), the messaging back end that Lotus is integrating with Notes 4.0. Rather than forcing users to use X.400 and SMTP transports along with a client/server version of cc:Mail, Lotus will make these services optional with the Notes 4.0 server, which is due in mid-1995, officials from the Cambridge, Mass., company confirmed last week. The strategy shift was prompted by customers who balked at being forced to use specific front- and back-end pieces, officials said. But while the shift will provide users with more flexibility, it makes the value of LCS less apparent, according to analysts. The original purpose of LCS was to provide easy-to-use E-mail, groupware, and back-end messaging in one server -- at one price. Ironically, now that users can pick and choose, some may decide to stay with the gateway solutions they have in place. The changing Lotus strategy, along with lengthy development cycles from rivals Microsoft and Novell, are wearing thin for some users. "Forget about it," said one representative from a major WordPerfect Office site who requested anonymity. The user, who was interested in Novell's GroupWise, said he now plans to evaluate other platforms, including cc:Mail and Exchange. "I don't know what the plan is today, but it's vaporware," he said. GroupWise, first announced last year, is due by the end of 1995. While Novell's efforts are still on schedule, company officials have switched course several times. Initially, their integrated messaging solution was to be based on the MHS (Message Handling Service) MTA (Message Transfer Agent). Recently, officials revealed that GroupWise will be based on a new MTA. Next week, the Provo, Utah, company is expected to announce a program to help third-party and corporate developers migrate from MHS. After several delays, Microsoft's Exchange itself is not scheduled to ship until mid-1995. The platform has been held up by earlier delays in the shipment of Windows NT, and more recently by technical challenges involved with developing replication services and integrating additional features such as workflow. While the trio struggles to get products out the door, corporate IS managers are increasingly frustrated. "We're rapidly outgrowing our file-based system right now and definitely want to migrate to a client/server model," said Jim Arcure, manager of systems integration for Colgate-Palmolive Co., in New York. "We're looking for some relief." ================================================================ Object technology, open APIs boost comm suite From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Michael Moeller Tapping into object-based "agents" and popular messaging and network protocols, XcelleNet Inc. plans to unveil at Mobile World this week a major upgrade to its client/server remote-applications suite. RemoteWare 2.0, due to ship in mid-December, is a 32-bit platform that lets mobile users send messages, synchronize data, transfer files, and query remote databases. The software comprises E-mail and forms applications, OS/2-based server-management software, and client software that runs on Windows, OS/2, Macintosh, and other environments. RemoteWare is positioned as a turnkey solution to a company's myriad remote-communications needs, extending beyond other client/server wireless messaging platforms, such as Oracle Corp.'s recently announced Oracle in Motion. "RemoteWare has saved us thousands of dollars in communication costs because all of the work can be done in one communication session," said 2.0 beta tester Dean Anderson, retail marketing systems manager at BP Oil Co. America. BP's 700 service stations are linked to its headquarters in Cleveland, and the company plans to add 1,500 RemoteWare Windows clients over the next year. With Version 2.0, RemoteWare users for the first time will be able to seamlessly send data generated in any Messaging API or Common Mail Call- compliant application. For example, a user will be able to click on the Send command in Microsoft Corp.'s Excel spreadsheet, compose a cover letter, and send the document, rather than having to attach the file to an E-mail message. RemoteWare messages can be sent over traditional asynchronous lines or a variety of wireless connections. RemoteWare 2.0 also lets administrators create "work objects," a simplified way to control communications sessions and tasks, said Robert Zack, vice president of marketing with XcelleNet, in Atlanta. Work objects comprise blocks of reusable code that can automate, for example, the way users send in sales orders or query databases, Zack said. At the corporate server level, RemoteWare "agents" route incoming data to the appropriate department or query a specific database. RemoteWare supports Open Database Connectivity databases as well as back-end SQL databases from Oracle, Sybase Inc., Microsoft, and Gupta Corp. RemoteWare's queuing capability allows multiple transactions to be conducted in a single call. Users can work locally and, when they dial in, send all messages, files, and information requests in a single session, said Zack. XcelleNet also has expanded RemoteWare's networking facilities, adding TCP/IP and NetWare SPX support to the current version's NetBIOS support. For improved transmissions on wireless networks such as RAM Mobile Data and Ardis, RemoteWare 2.0 can better handle latency and packet-retry time-outs. RemoteWare 2.0 also provides improved security features, such as password identification and the ability to limit access by non- registered users to server or databases, said Zack. RemoteWare 2.0 pricing is based on the number of users and is available in basic or fully configured versions. For example, for 100 users, pricing for client and server components ranges from $43,700 for the basic version to $78,700 for the fully configured version, including applications. By comparison, Oracle in Motion, which supports only Windows clients and accesses only Oracle databases, is priced at $59,900 for 100 users. "While RemoteWare is not cheap, the software really does some remarkable things," said Jim Brennan, senior director at WorkGroup Technologies Inc. in Hampton, N.H. "To tell you the truth, I was so impressed by the software that I was not even worried about what it would cost, because I saw all the advantages that it would bring to a company." ================================================================ Breaking News From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by PC Week Staff Compaq fixes flaws that halted 2 notebook lines By Michael R. Zimmerman PCMCIA and memory problems forced Compaq Computer Corp. to suspend production of its new Contura 400 and LTE Elite notebooks this month. The Houston firm stopped production of the Contura 400 three weeks ago for several days to fix a PCMCIA controller bug, officials confirmed. The bug caused crashes when users tried to access the floppy drive while simultaneously working on-line with a PCMCIA network or modem card. Compaq also suspended production of its LTE Elite for several days to upgrade the system's ROM, which in some cases prevented Elites from recognizing more than 16M bytes of RAM, said product manager Sharon Francia, who denied that the PCMCIA controller problem in the Contura 400 is the same one that troubled the LTE Elite earlier this year. Current Contura 400 users should contact Compaq's technical-support line if similar problems occur. A free ROM upgrade will be available to current Elite owners. Novell Adopts Additive Licensing Novell last week announced an additive licensing program for NetWare 4.1 buyers. When it ships in mid-December, NetWare 4.1 will be available with licenses for five, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, and 1,000 users. Previously, if an organization needed 275 licenses, it had to purchase a 500-user license, but with 4.1, it could add a 25-user license to a 250- user license. Novell intends to move to straight per-node pricing, possibly in 1995, officials said. Lotus, ON Technology Plan Pair of E-mail Announcements At this week's combined E-Mail World and Mobile World shows, Lotus will announce an upgrade of its cc:Mail Mobile program that offers support for Windows NT 3.5 and "dramatic performance" improvements. ON Technology will announce a mobile version of its Notework Windows E- mail program slated to ship next month. On the wireless side, RadioMail will debut its RadioMail Connection for Windows 1.0, also due in December. A pair of strategic alliances will also be announced, including one between Microsoft and Worldtalk on message integration and Internet access for Microsoft Exchange, and another between Novell and Collabra for integrating collaboration tools into GroupWise. In addition, Novell will announce plans to integrate GroupWise with Novell AppWare, sources said. NetFrame's DataJet Supports NetWare NetFrame next week will announce a new version of its DataJet backup and restore system that will support NetWare 4.0. The new system, which will work with NetFrame's ClusterServer 8500 family and other EISA-based servers, operates as a Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks Level 5 fault-tolerant tape-drive array backing up as much as 15G bytes of data per hour. Autodesk Joins Vendors To Develop Suite Autodesk and seven manufacturing-design software vendors have announced plans to develop a suite of integrated products under the Mechanical Applications Initiative, which will be compatible with Autodesk's AutoCAD Release 13. Separately, Autodesk announced updates to its AutoCAD Designer three- dimensional parametric-modeling and AutoSurf surface-modeling packages. Briefly Noted: SunSoft and NeXT last week released the final spec for an OpenStep API that will make OpenStep objects compatible across multiple Unix platforms. The first phase of AT&T's Network Notes, due in mid-1995, will incorporate connections for large companies and will continue to hook up "tens of thousands" of companies through 1996, a company spokesman said last week. Visioneer next month will announce PaperPort 2.0, an update to its PaperMate and MaxMate products. At next month's DBExpo, Informix will unveil OnLine Dynamic Server 7.1 with parallel update/delete capabilities, while SuperBase will debut SuperBase 95. Separately, Informix will announce plans to embed Excalibur Technologies' XRS text-retrieval engine into its DBMSs. IBM is working on Version 3.0 of its System Object Model architecture, due in the first half of 1995, including support for some DCE services. AdvanSys will ship this week a $479 dual-channel SCSI adapter that company officials said replaces two conventional SCSI adapters. Symantec this week will unveil an upgrade of its Time Line project- management package. Arbor Software this week will unveil an upgrade of its EssBase flagship multidimensional database, with expanded database support. Arbor will also announce the receipt of a patent for EssBase's multidimensional architecture. ================================================================ Web Internet browsers become more sophisticated From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Andy Patrizio World-Wide Web access should become easier this month with the arrival of two robust browsers to help users manipulate on-line documents. NetScape, due from NetScape Communications Corp. (formerly Mosaic Communications Corp.), of Redwood City, Calif., allows users to manipulate a document stored on a NetScape Web server in a manner similar to desktop-publishing applications. Features of the $99 package include text centering and underlining. It also includes security for transmitting sensitive data, but only if the server and browser are used together. The NetScape browser allows text to be downloaded and read while graphics are downloaded separately. Previous Web browsers required users to wait for graphics to be transmitted before the text could be read. NetScape is developing two servers to work with the NetScape browser. Available directly from the company, the $5,000 NetSite Commerce Server offers various levels of security, and the $1,495 NetSite Communications Server has no security. NetManage Inc., of Cupertino, Calif., is now shipping Internet Chameleon 4.1. Among the new features in the $199 package are the WebSurfer graphical interface, an Archie browser, and Instant Internet. Archie is a public-domain database used to track files on Internet file transfer sites around the world. Instant Internet is a quick sign-on method to a number of Internet providers around the country. The package is available directly from the company. Despite adding new features, Web browsers still have limits. Standards for the Hypertext Markup Language document format and the Hypertext Transfer Protocol are not set and should be addressed before corporate sites make extensive use of Web servers. "[Web technology] is still in its early stages, and the protocol is not as robust as it could be," said Andrew Green, president of Intelecom Data Systems Inc., an Internet connectivity provider in East Greenwich, R.I. The problem, he said, is that no one body is working on a set standard, and all of the competitors are putting their own proprietary hooks into their products. Early Web browsers had a big problem with server compatibility, partially due to being "more of a student project than anything else," added Barry Jaffe, product development manager for Mercury Center, the electronic publishing arm of the San Jose Mercury News. The Web server/browser compatibility problem has stabilized, but Jaffe says compatibility problems may resurface with a second wave of Web browsers laden with feature-rich and, in some cases, proprietary commercial products instead of freeware. ================================================================ Microsoft and the DOJ This PC Week for November 28, 1994 by John Dodge Suppose the irksome Justice Department didn't exist (it may not after the GOP gets through with it). Imagine everyone loved and obediently followed Microsoft. Bill Gates was first on everyone's dream dinner- guest list. What Windows 95 no-holds-barred incentives would Microsoft have offered its key OEM customers? Just fantasize for a moment. Assuming the basic royalty was a teensy-weensy tithe of PC sales (10 percent), the per-copy rebate incentives might go like this. They can really add up: - You never mention OS/2, Unix, or Novell DOS in the presence of a customer, 50 cents. Add 10 cents for family members; 2 cents for pets; and 1 cent in private. - You wallpaper the interior of your home with the Windows 95 logo. That earns a 43 cent rebate. Add 35 cents for the exterior, doors, and windows; 10 cents for brickwork and roof; and 3.5 cents for exposed foundation. You pay for wallpaper and installation. - You dress your children in Windows 95-patterned clothes. The rebate depends on how many days the clothes are worn, monitored by a digital sensor in the child's dresser and closet. Children do not have to be related to the proposed rebatee. Void where prohibited by law. - You bad-mouth in public that lousy excuse for an operating system that the big company in Armonk does and that Microsoft bailed on, 79 cents. Microsoft retains unlimited reproduction rights to whatever you say. Or might say. Or think. Or might think. - You remove your company's PC nameplate and replace it with a Windows 95 logo supplied and paid for by -- guess who -- you. The logo must be forged from titanium, welded to the unit, and lit and blinking when the unit is on and off. A wireless version of the logo can receive messages when pointed northwest. - You merge your accounting department with Microsoft's, $2. Qualified supplicants must use The Microsoft Network and MS Intuit, and apply for a line of credit from First Microsoft Bank, Cayman Islands. Add a quarter if you fire your entire accounting department and hire Microsoft's. - You agree to allow Microsoft to resell your PCs, $1.41 to $542.31, depending on volume. Add 17 cents to $1.97 if you allow Microsoft to write your marketing materials. Microsoft reserves the right to give hardware away. - All rebates will apply into perpetuity if you transfer the title of your company to Microsoft Corp., 1 Microsoft Way, Microsoftsville, MS 08080. - All contracts with Microsoft must be signed immediately, regardless of doubts, hesitation, or alternative plans. Add $1 for signing a contract without reading it first. Only 27 more shopping days until Christmas. What are you getting Microsoft this year? Contact me via the Internet (jdodge@pcweek.ziff.com), CompuServe (72241,303), or MCI Mail (239- 3520). ================================================================ Cablevision tests on-line services From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Andy Patrizio In a move that marks a growing interest in on-line services by cable TV companies, Cablevision Systems Corp. last week began testing a commercial Internet service in Yonkers, N.Y., and selected communities in the Long Island area. The Woodbury, N.Y., cable provider is using a technical trial involving 25 locations as a learning process in developing and operating an on- line service. Cablevision plans to roll out its own service by the end of the first quarter in Yonkers and Long Island. By deploying this service, Cablevision will become one of the first cable companies to rival telecommunications companies with an interactive on-line service offering. Televisions must be wired for Cablevision's Optimum TV cable service, which uses a fiber-optic, bidirectional cable, said Norman Fine, vice president of communications at Cablevision. The service transmits at 550K bps, or nearly 40 times faster than a 14.4K-bps modem. Initial services available to Cablevision customers include America Online and Prodigy. Internet access is provided by a Cablevision gateway, according to officials. The Internet feed is provided free by Cablevision but requires a special modem from Zenith Electronics Inc., provided free of charge during the test. ================================================================ Win 95 honing in on corporate client needs From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Larry J. Seltzer (Windows Sources Staff) and Eamonn Sullivan Judging from our tests of Beta 2, Windows 95 aspires to an impressive feature set with a greatly improved user interface and networking capabilities. As PC Week Labs reported last week, Beta 2's feature set is largely complete, but the code needs several bug fixes and tweaks. Further testing reinforced our initial impression, especially as we exercised some of the more advanced features geared toward large networked installations. The new user interface, the Explorer, provides the same hierarchical management of program groups as it does for files and directories. A few operations are less convenient than in Windows 3.x. The Explorer's structure, superior in most ways to Windows 3.x's File Manager, suffers in others from its lack of support for the Multiple Document Interface. Copying files from one location to another can take additional steps. Windows 95 only supports file allocation table-based drives, but uses the same long-file-name scheme as Windows NT 3.5. Long file names can be used transparently in the Windows 95 shell and utilities, as well as from the MS-DOS prompt. Documentation in this beta is still less than complete, and we were stymied on several occasions by the lack of on-line help. Ambitious Networking Capabilities Windows 95 systems can function as file and print servers and clients on NetWare and Windows networks. When we wanted to add a client capability, it was as easy as a few clicks in the Control Panel. TCP/IP support is equally easy, especially when we used the included support for DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), in which case TCP/IP's arcane configuration options were reduced to clicking the "Use DHCP" dialog. After users attach to networks, most common operations are performed on all network resources using the same set of utilities. The Microsoft-written NetWare client in Windows 95 cannot use the NetWare Directory Services in NetWare 4.x, although we could use Novell Inc.'s Virtual Loadable Module-based client. The Microsoft Exchange E-mail client includes numerous -- and long- overdue -- improvements over the current Microsoft Mail client. For example, blind carbon copies are supported, as are multiple fonts and colors in mail messages. One weakness of the network utility that cropped up frequently in our tests was the absence of Browse buttons, forcing us to remember complex network paths. Microsoft promises to fix this situation before Windows 95 finally ships. The System Policy Editor allows Windows 95 to create different user profiles to be accessed from centrally manageable locations. We used the editor to create policy files that users loaded when they logged on and that modified their network access and desktop configuration. Because these files can be placed on a network server, they can be managed remotely. By using the policy files, network administrators can make consistent environments for users who move around to different computers as well as for computers with many different users. However, when we tried this, bugs aggravated us for the better part of a day. Windows 95 can be set up for "automatic update" by placing the CONFIG.POL policy file in specific locations on either a NetWare or Windows NT server. As an alternative, network administrators can use a "manual" update, in which case the CONFIG.POL file can be placed anywhere on the network. When we tried the manual update option, a bug in the Windows 95 Remote Procedure Call server forced the client computer name into uppercase, making it undetectable by the server with the policy file. Another bug prevented the client system from detecting the server, since the client was still in the process of loading and could not yet resolve the Universal Naming Convention name for the server. In terms of brute performance, Windows 95 seems to be progressing quite satisfactorily. However, judging from everyday shell operations involving utilities and applications, users will remain familiar with their old nemesis, the hourglass. In most cases, we were free to move to the Start button and proceed with other operations, but there were many circumstances where the system sat unusable for short periods. OS/2 Warp users also suffer this fate to a lesser extent; users of Windows NT systems rarely have to wait in this way. To test this beta version's raw performance, we ran WinBench 95 on a Dell Computer Corp. 466/MX system that used a 66MHz 486DX2 with 8M and 16M bytes of RAM and an ET4000-based graphics adapter. Testing at 4M bytes was deferred due to the non-optimized state of the beta code. Performance equaled that of Windows for Workgroups 3.11 in terms of graphics (5.6 Graphics WinMarks) and was close or equal to Windows for Workgroups in disk performance. Windows 95 was 6 percent slower on disk operations than Windows for Workgroups at 8M bytes and equal to Windows for Workgroups at 16M bytes. On the same system, OS/2 was 49 percent slower on disk operations and 35 percent slower on graphics operations. Windows 95 is generally easy to install, but we had problems on some systems we tested; these will have to be resolved before the product ships. For example, on our Dell 466/MX with a SoundBlaster 16 adapter, Windows 95 failed to load some drivers during the post-boot phase until we commented out the real-mode drivers for SoundBlaster. This was just a lucky guess on our part; most users would have to resort to a long, aggravating tech-support call. Administrators of large networks will appreciate Netsetup, which creates input files for the Windows 95 Setup program to automate installation of Windows 95 systems from the network. Some installation parameters we set up with this utility included which network clients to install, preferred servers, and desktop parameters. Netsetup has no on-line help, but there is documentation for it in the Windows 95 Resource Kit that comes on the CD ROM version of the beta release. ================================================================ Windows to support new CD spec From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Mary Jo Foley Microsoft Corp. will announce plans this week to enable both Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 to work with an enhanced CD format co-developed by Sony Corp. and Philips Electronics Corp. The new feature will allow users to take advantage of a new CD technology, called stamped multisession, that will allow users to play CDs with mixed audio, video, and textual data on their multimedia systems. Microsoft had been calling the feature CD+, until international trademarking problems led to the scrapping of the name. The new name for the technology is due to be announced this week. Sony and Philips are jointly writing a specification for the enhanced CD technology that will enable software companies, CD ROM publishers, and operating-system vendors to develop applications that use the new capabilities. The two companies will publish the specification before the end of the year, sources close to the companies said. Microsoft is developing drivers that will enable Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 to handle the new CD format, said Rick Segal, manager of multimedia developer relations for Microsoft's systems division, in Redmond, Wash. Microsoft will also enable other Windows 95 features, including Plug and Play and AutoPlay, to support the new CD standard. An improved interface between CDs and Windows, even if it doesn't have a direct business application, will be welcome, said Jim Williams, MIS PC coordinator for Hunt Oil Co., in Dallas. "Sometimes I play [music] CDs on my CD ROM drive at work, and that works well today," Williams said. "At home I am trying to get more into multimedia, especially with Encarta and Book Shelf." Microsoft will preview the CD technology to 100 or so record-industry executives at a multimedia developers conference hosted by Microsoft in Redmond this week. ================================================================ Win 95 OEMs grin and bear it From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Mary Jo Foley, Lisa DiCarlo, and John Dodge PC makers last week conceded that they have few alternatives to Windows 95, even though they decried what they call oppressive terms in Microsoft Corp.'s new royalty and incentive agreement. Microsoft is offering OEMs more than a dozen "incentives" to decrease their Windows 95 royalty payments, which start at $55 before volume discounts, according to sources familiar with the agreement. Currently, OEMs pay about $35 per system to license DOS and Windows 3.1, sources said. Higher Windows 95 royalties could result in more expensive PCs if OEMs decline the incentives and license Windows 95 at the higher rates, some OEMs said. If PC manufacturers were to agree to all of the terms for licensing Windows 95, they could reduce their licensing fees by $30 per system, sources said. One potential buyer was not pleased that OEMs might pass on higher royalty costs to buyers. "Anything that costs more money stinks," said Dan Thomas, project engineer with Orion Scientific Systems, a developer of software for law- enforcement and intelligence agencies in Irvine, Calif. "But as long as [the bundled Windows 95 system] is cheaper than it would be if I went out and bought the components and put it together myself, it's worth it. We anticipate we'll convert completely to Windows 95 as soon as possible." OEMs were not keen on several of the conditions, including agreeing to install Windows 95 on at least 50 percent of their systems in the first month after Microsoft starts shipping Windows 95. Other provisions giving OEMs pause include joint Windows 95 promotional and advertising campaigns with no monetary compensation from Microsoft, and hardware certification and Windows 95 logo programs paid for entirely by the OEMs. But PC makers acknowledged that they don't have many options. Some manufacturers plan to delay signing the contract as long as possible, hoping Microsoft might soften some of the royalty terms and conditions. But the MDA (Market Development Agreement) stipulates that only those OEMs signing their contracts by March 1, 1995, will receive full discounts on the royalty fees. While no OEMs contacted by PC Week said Microsoft's MDA was causing them to license OS/2 exclusively, some smaller manufacturers said the new royalty structure would put them at a competitive disadvantage. "Compaq [Computer Corp.] and IBM sell lots of Windows and DOS. Others who don't sell in that volume are forced to pay a penalty because of it," said Dave Kirkey, vice president of marketing at Advanced Logic Research Inc., in Irvine, Calif. "It's a shame that our competitiveness is directed by Microsoft." The hardware logo requirements spelled out in the MDA also are too stringent, said an executive with another major PC OEM, who requested anonymity. "They want us to pay to certify our hardware and to pay to attach a 30- cent logo," the executive said. Microsoft officials downplayed the complaints. "We're no longer doing per-processor model pricing," as prohibited by the Department of Justice's consent decree, said David Williams, group manager with Microsoft's personal operating systems division, in Redmond, Wash. "The incentives we are offering are just to encourage OEMs to go that extra mile." OEMs also could reduce their royalty payments by showing products jointly with Microsoft at upcoming trade shows, and by shipping hardware that complies with the Microsoft Windows 95 Hardware Design Guide by April 1, 1995, sources said. Attention: You are now reading news which is expressly prepared for ZiffNet members. If you redistribute this file, or any part therein, on any online service, BBS, LAN, WAN or other electronic or print distribution mechanism, you are in violation of U.S. copyright laws--and are subject to subsequent penalties. ================================================================ Hefty resource requirements push WinPad launch to '96 From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Michael Moeller Microsoft Corp. is sending its WinPad PDA operating system back to the drawing board for a major overhaul. As a result, users will not see personal digital assistants or other handheld devices based on WinPad until the first part of 1996 at the earliest. When they do arrive, WinPad-based PDAs will have integrated wireless capabilities, company sources said. One reason for the delay is WinPad's resource requirements, sources said. The current implementation requires a 486-based CPU and at least 2M bytes of RAM to operate at all. "The way it was, WinPad ran real slow on a 486-based chip," said one source. Microsoft officials said that rather than come out with a bad operating system, it was better to pull back and "recalibrate" WinPad. "After talking with our OEMs and end users, we realized there needed to be some adjustments made to the operating system, so that devices could be made under the $500 price point that everyone believes must be attained to be successful in this market," said David Britton, a WinPad product manager for the Redmond, Wash., company. Some resource problems, sources said, stemmed from the use of a run-time version of Visual Basic, without optimization, as WinPad's application- development environment. Because applications could not be optimized, they "brought [WinPad] to its knees," one source said. A positive note from the delays will be new wireless features. Through its Pulsar project, Microsoft is developing wireless APIs for WinPad to provide transparent communications over a forthcoming personal communications service network from Destineer Corp. (which is partially funded both by Microsoft and by CEO Bill Gates). This could be a cornerstone for the handheld computing vision Gates discussed at Comdex earlier this month, enabling users to wirelessly conduct financial transactions. Microsoft's proposed merger with Intuit Inc. -- which has come under closer government scrutiny through the Justice Department's second request for information -- would allow Microsoft to position Intuit's Quicken personal-finance manager as a front end for accessing bank or credit-card services. ================================================================ The dirt on a clean-room version of Win 95 Rumor Central from PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Spencer F. Katt I'm gonna call the Justice Department -- that'll fix Microsoft's wagon!" Spence couldn't help but chuckle. The odds of getting the Justice Department to act like a bunch of steam railroad era trustbusters are poor at best. Don't pin hopes on Justice to bring those Redmond rascals in line; it just ain't gonna happen. Anyway, the caller wanted the Katt to know that Uni-CGS Inc. has filed a federal suit alleging that Microsoft holds a monopoly on personal software by licensing its operating systems only to large manufacturers. Of course, the Furtive Feline knew about it -- and knew that the suit was only one small piece of the legal wrangles between MS and Uni-CGS. Of course, the Katt has heard a couple of tips that the callers haven't. The hottest, and least substantiated, has to do with a software clean- room operation in Taipei, where the cloners intend to produce a clean copy of Win 95. Sort of like Cyrix did with the X86 chips. Any help loyal tipsters could give El Gato on this one will be rewarded. What else? Lotus won't add business partners to NotesNet until it can scale up the product, which crunched at the current level. The Katt also hears the NT version of Notes won't support the cc:Mail gateway, so users have to maintain their OS/2 servers. After Jan. 1, IBM will preload full-pack OS/2 on all its machines. When you turn one on, you'll see a screen that says leave it alone if you want OS/2. Then it gives directions on installing Windows alone. IBM's ultimate goal is a Microsoft-royalty-free world, which might be hard if Gates' claim is true that Big Blue is MS' biggest customer. Microsoft has actually started imitating Team OS/2 at shows, with its own Windows 95 SWAT team. Team OS/2 installed Warp on some systems in the Dell booth at Comdex. The next day, the MS team asked whether they could install Windows 95 Beta 2 on neighboring machines ... not before plastering the booth with "We're Building for Windows 95" stickers. True to form, however, Gates did sit through the whole Warp demo, Spence was told. And in the great grumble match over the Comdex folks first charging and then, under pressure from keynoters, dropping the $25 charge to hear the keynoters' pearls of wisdom, the grumbles continue. One insider complained that while Gates, et al, complained about charging to hear Gates, MS was not reluctant to charge $10 for the videotapes after the keynote. "Great stuff!" mewed the Katt. "And I gave away that great Katt Komix and Katt blinky button for free. I've just got to consider a pricing strategy." Not great stuff on some dual-Pentium machines, however. The Katt's chiphead tipsters say there's a problem getting NT to run on dual- Pentium servers. It won't run on HP's machine. NEC has been working for weeks to run it on its dual-Pentium box. Problem doesn't appear to be in the Hardware Abstraction Layer. Katt stooges hear it's in the P54C Pentium chip. That chip includes APIC logic Intel developed for SMP. With the tip-sniffing about done for the week and little time to run down the tip about a mean bug appearing when using Word for Windows 6.0 and NT 3.5 with documents containing a drawing, Spence once again turns to his tipsters for help. Have a tip? Call Rumor Central at (617) 393-3700; On MCI, It's SKATT; on CompuServe, use 72631,107; on the Internet, it's SPENCER@PCWEEK.ZIFF.COM; or try ZiffNet'S PC Week Forum on CompuServe, or FAX the KATT at (617) 393-3795. ================================================================ QuickExpense saves time, saves money From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Jim Louderback I probably haven't filed more expense reports in my life than anyone else. It just feels that way. Monthly expense reports have been a part of my life since long before I came to PC Week. And these days, missing a month would lead to certain bankruptcy. However, my days of filling out expense reports by hand are over. I've found QuickExpense! QuickExpense, which was released recently by Portable Software Corp., automates expense reporting. Why hasn't this been done before? As it turns out, the output is the toughest part. Every company has a proprietary expense form, and we all know how flexible accountants are. Portable Software's solution is to create forms for just about anyone who asks. If you buy a single copy of QuickExpense and are employed by a Fortune 1000 company, a custom-developed expense-report form is free. Buy another copy of the program, and the form is free regardless. And $50 will get you the form if all else fails. QuickExpense comes with a range of standard reports, better than many in use today. Portable Software expects to offer 5,000 different forms a year from now. So I put QuickExpense to the ultimate test: my Comdex collection of crumpled taxi receipts, greasy fast-food bills, and 20 pages of hotel invoices. If the program could handle Comdex, it could handle anything. After downloading ZIFF.FRM from the company's bulletin-board service, I was in business. QuickExpense data entry works like the shoebox feature that was popularized by tax-preparation software -- just pile 'em up and key 'em in. Quicken users will feel right at home with QuickExpense. Data entry is relatively easy, with smart and pick lists that minimize typing. Although you don't have to enter data into the Vendor and Payment Type fields, it's useful for reconciling credit-card statements and reimbursements. QuickExpense includes a number of canned reports that summarize expenses by type, city, vendor, and account number. These reports can help ensure that you've entered everything correctly, as well as analyze your out- of-pocket expenses. The reports even help with frequent-flyer accounting. QuickExpense could improve in a few areas. To avoid long checkout lines, I asked the Luxor to mail me my hotel bill, but QuickExpense had no way to add an unfiled liability reminder. Similarly, after viewing the final form, I wanted to add a few more forgotten expenses (of the McDonald's kind). I had to go back to the ledger, rather than directly entering the data into the form. Finally, after about 50 entries, QuickExpense slowed down significantly, even on my 66MHz 486 machine. These are minor quibbles, though. In the end it took me about an hour to complete a report with QuickExpense that would have taken more than 2 hours by hand. However you value your time, the $69.95 introductory price is a bargain. The ultimate test -- whether the accounting department accepts my report -- has yet to come. They ought to, because Portable Software worked with them to develop the form. I'm not worried. If you have to fill out regular expense reports, get a copy of QuickExpense. It'll save you time and money. Portable Software, of Redmond, Wash., is at (800) 626-8620. Jim Louderback is on MCI Mail (jlouderback), CompuServe (72241,427), and the Internet (louderback@radiomail.net). ================================================================ Finding the right tools depends on your goals From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Lauren Gibbons Paul Ever seeking to improve productivity and reduce costs, IT managers are using software tools to help locate areas in which process re- engineering makes sense. Choosing a tool is not always straightforward, though, as programs that generate metrics come in several different varieties. Workflow software, such as Wang Laboratories Inc.'s Open/Workflow and XSoft's InConcert, is a natural for metrics because it automates and tracks business processes. Beyond just indicating process inefficiencies, workflow tools can help identify hidden costs. For example, a trigger built into a mortgage-processing application may generate a supervisor review if the amount of the mortgage exceeds $100,000. If 70 percent of the mortgages exceed that amount, it's costing too much to involve the supervisor that often, said Michael Loria, Wang's vice president of marketing, in Lowell, Mass. Project-management software, which coordinates processes outside the real-time system, is another source of metrics. Companies must establish process-improvement objectives, according to Joan Engel, director of corporate professional services for Applied Business Technology Corp., in New York. If the goal is to reduce cycle time, for example, managers must look at all the variables affecting that, such as planning, approval process, production, and systems factors. Modeling a proposed system is another way to evaluate the enterprisewide effect of change. This type of product is also external to the larger, real-time system. "Simulation allows you to step through the actual process that the system will take. Once you have that, you can make statistical inferences on the performance of the system that you can't do with any other tool," said Dave Krahl, technical coordinator for ImagineThat Inc., in San Jose, Calif. Tom Koulopolous, president of Delphi Consulting Group Inc., in Boston, said workflow tools give better metrics because they are hooked into the IT system. But "there's a danger in using workflow metrics," Koulopolous said. "If you're not careful, you'll end up focusing on the knowledge workers rather than the process itself. But most of the inefficiencies are in the task-transfer time rather than the task itself." Successful reengineering, he said, eliminates the task-transfer time. ================================================================ Brace yourself for a taste of Europe From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Holly Hubbard Preston Steve DeWindt, Computer 2000 AG's oft outspoken but well-liked American co-president, finally got his wish -- a foothold in the U.S. market. Exactly what kind of a foothold DeWindt got for the $2.6 billion powerhouse is the big question. Europe's number-one-ranked distributor and a darling among many leading hardware and software suppliers, Computer 2000 just pledged $50 million for a 51 percent stake in AmeriQuest Technologies Inc. (formerly CMS Enhancements Inc.), a middle tier U.S. distributor in the midst of a major transition. Though the purchase price may be low and the partner's profile even lower, don't be fooled, the stakes surrounding the deal are high. "It wasn't an option for us ... we had to be here," says DeWindt. A former Intel Corp. executive and one of the only known Americans to sit on a German board of directors, DeWindt has spent the past two years trying to convince his fellow board members to make the move. Now that he has, the pressure's on to deliver. While an unknown to many U.S. resellers and VARs, Computer 2000 is a well-respected household name among most American software and hardware vendors. Likewise, those leading U.S. distributors that have crossed its path in Europe will readily admit it's a predator to watch out for. Like a game of Stratego, Computer 2000, along with U.S. distribution leaders Ingram Micro Inc., Merisel Inc., and Tech Data Corp., are locked in a battle to gain control of the world's top distribution markets. Those companies with the highest market share in the most countries will win. The spoils? Highly coveted, worldwide distribution rights from big time suppliers like Microsoft, Novell, and Compaq. For Computer 2000, which is so far present in Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Latin America, a strong U.S. presence is key to its overall success. Truth be told, Computer 2000's financial position could certainly benefit from a strong U.S. revenue stream. Although still profitable, Computer 2000 estimates that year-end earnings will be around $19.35 million compared to $31.6 million last year. Computer 2000 executives readily admit that despite efforts to cut costs and streamline operations, they have not been able to keep up with rapidly declining gross margins, which industry-wide, have fallen from around 13 percent to under 10 percent in one year in Europe. To cover its costs and get those profits, Computer 2000 is going to have to do more than just establish itself here and suppliers will be looking to see if it can emerge as a market leader. To DeWindt that means gaining a position "somewhere in the four or fifth spot." That won't be easy. The European distributor is entering an already overcrowded U.S. distribution channel. Rather than accommodating new players, the market trend in the United States has been toward consolidation. As Tech Data Corp. chairman and CEO Steve Raymund says about his ongoing battle with Merisel and Ingram Micro says "Lord knows, there are already three of us at each others throats, go ahead throw another cat into the bag. There will be even more scratching." It's too early to tell exactly what kind of additional "scratching" Computer 2000's entry into the United States may cause. Few vendors and analysts interviewed last week felt it would spur any near term price wars or lead to any more consolidation than is already happening. And what happens down the road, they say, will largely depend on what Computer 2000 can do with AmeriQuest. That's the big question. With that majority stake comes a major rehabilitation job for Computer 2000. Having pursued a heady growth- through-acquisition strategy these past 12 months, AmeriQuest is just now trying to digest its national and regional acquisitions. According to DeWindt, AmeriQuest is clearly counting on Computer 2000 to help pull it together. "We add cash. We bring in vendor lines and quite frankly experience which they need." While it's easy to see the attraction for AmeriQuest, what does Computer 2000 get out of it? According to DeWindt, the distributor had a strong run rate estimated at between $700 and $900 million, a solid management team, export operations in Latin America and Asia, and a similar philosophy of combining high volume, low cost distribution with a separate value-added service offering. And, quips DeWindt, AmeriQuest "wasn't making a loss," as were some of the 35 other U.S. companies Computer 2000 had evaluate d. Yet, while DeWindt maintains that the AmeriQuest/Computer 2000 duo is, "is a good fit," observers are less sure. "It would seem that the strongest player over there chose to deal with someone less of a contender here," says noted Wall Street analyst Liz Buyer of T. Rowe Price Associates. Among the biggest hurdles Computer 2000 and AmeriQuest will have to overcome is the ladder's disorganized internal structure and lack of a cohesive inventory-management system. However, in the near term, DeWindt says the two companies plan to approach suppliers with the option of carrying specific products as opposed to whole product lines. A second issue dogging the two partners is AmeriQuest's lack of market identity. In part because of its recent acquisition activity as well as its name change, some VARs and resellers admit they are not exactly sure who the company is and in an overcrowded market like the U.S., that's dangerous. Despite all of the hurdles that Computer 2000 and its new U.S. partner will face, the distributor does have a strong track record to lean on. The company -- which has the broadest geographic representation of any distributor including U.S. rivals Merisel and Ingram Micro -- is present in 25 countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. It carries over 18,000 products and has ties to 50,000 resellers, whereas AmeriQuest has roughly 20,000. Having grown its sales by a factor of 14 since 1988 (the year it went public), the 11-year-old distributor is on record for being one of the fastest growing companies in the history of the German stock exchange. Based on these achievements as well as a familiarity with DeWindt and the others Computer 2000 managers, observers familiar with the German company aren't counting it out. Says John Lange, executive vice president of worldwide sales at Symantec Corp., "I think Computer 2000 will be able to leverage its size here and its reputation for great dealer relationships ... the bottom line is if Computer 2000 can make the investment here, I think people will look at them as an alternative." Holly Hubbard Preston is a free-lance writer based in San Francisco. ================================================================ New CEO brings P&G's consumer bent to Microsoft From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by John Dodge and Dan Farber Robert Herbold's first day in his new job as Microsoft Corp.'s chief operating officer and an executive vice president was Nov. 14, the first day of Comdex. The size, pace, and difficulty in getting a cab at Comdex is probably a good taste of what's in store for the 26-year veteran of Procter & Gamble Co. At Microsoft, he's jumped headfirst into one of the computer industry's most demanding operational jobs. PC Week Senior Executive Editor John Dodge and Editor-in-Chief Dan Farber nabbed Herbold on his first day in the Microsoft suite of the Las Vegas Hilton. His new boss, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, sat nearby munching ribs, engrossed in a special report on his first love, operating systems. PC WEEK: What's your job? HERBOLD: The big opportunity is to make sure that our future is assured in as tidy a manner as possible. Second, from a consumer standpoint, that we have what it takes to lead the [kind of digital convergence] that Bill talked about [at Comdex]. If that's the dream, it will take a lot of research and sensitivity to consumers. PC WEEK: What parallels are there between what you expect at Microsoft and your experience at Procter & Gamble? HERBOLD: A company like P&G is only as good as its ability to read consumer needs. You develop things people find damned useful in their lives. That is what P&G is all about. More and more, that's got to be where the software business goes because that's how you build volume. PC WEEK: How much exposure to technology did you have at P&G? HERBOLD: In the early years, a lot. Then I was focused on brand management and became an advertising manager. From 1987 to 1990, I was managing market research, [where] we were using Metaphor extensively. PC WEEK: Do you mean the Metaphor from IBM? HERBOLD: We sold it to IBM, but it was [David] Liddle's efforts. Then I became vice president of information systems, and we did a lot of work building continuous-replenishment systems. That software we sold to IBM, and they are selling it throughout the industry. For the past two years, I've been working on value pricing, logistics, and issues in marketing. In the computer business, I've had enough exposure over time that there's a real fascination and interest in technology and a high level of commitment. PC WEEK: How did this opportunity come your way? HERBOLD: A friend of mine called and said, "You're going to a get a call, and I suggest you listen for 20 minutes even though you are vintage P&G." PC WEEK: How much interviewing did you do? HERBOLD: It took about five weeks. I came up to see Bill twice. Steve Ballmer came to Cincinnati, and I also met with the executive recruiter in New York. There were about four interactions in total. PC WEEK: Granted, the company is in good shape, but what problems do you see? HERBOLD: There are many opportunities where we can make a mark. One of the key things is to make sure we are focusing so our efforts don't get diluted. That's difficult where there's so much opportunity. PC WEEK: Are you prepared for the relentless pace and pressure of being in the [Microsoft] Office of the President? HERBOLD: Managing a $3 billion advertising budget and constantly being attacked by competitors where small differences make a big difference has some very high pressures. I understand what you're saying. This is a very fast-moving and intense business, but consumer products has a lot going on, too. PC WEEK: How can you make the out-of-the-box experience less hazardous? HERBOLD: The trick is how can we make a much larger percentage of people comfortable with [on-line] banking and the kinds of things Bill talked about [in his Comdex keynote address]. In terms of increasing revenues, you must improve the comfort level of casual [users] and non-users. What we're trying to do is say, "Hey, come join a different kind of world." PC WEEK: OK. So I go into a store, buy a Windows machine, and I can't figure out how to make it work when I get home. What do I do? HERBOLD: That's the core issue. The company that [solves that issue] is going to win big. It's pivotal. PC WEEK: Bill Gates has said that the corporate market will grow the fastest. Coming from the consumer market, do you disagree? HERBOLD: I wouldn't make as big a distinction between the corporate and consumer markets. One of the big challenges for us is to make sure corporations develop a broad-scale system that can be leveraged. ================================================================ Why 1995 is the year of living dangerously From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Jesse Berst Next year is going to be terrific for the computer industry, I predict. But 1995 also holds some pitfalls for the unwary. Tourist trap. The Internet frenzy is causing otherwise smart companies to make reckless decisions. Sure, lots of people are logging on to the Internet. But most of them are just visiting. As soon as the first big Internet crash occurs -- and I predict either a crash or a serious virus in 1995 -- those tourists will go back home, where it's safe. You might compare the Internet infatuation to the video-game fad. First there was a big boom in the early '80s. Then sales fell off a cliff, and most of the pioneers went out of business. After a hiatus of several years, sales picked up again. The Internet fad is heading full-speed for that first cliff -- and some of today's companies will die from the fall. Parent trap. My favorite definition of the home/consumer market is "kids with disposable time and parents with disposable income." As exciting as this market is, it may prove to be the electronic version of the La Brea tar pits for small companies. The Windows Watcher newsletter recently did an in-depth examination of the content/CD ROM market. We discovered a huge oversupply. This Christmas, there will be at least 1,000 titles chasing roughly 100 shelf slots. Sadly, many of today's content startups will be dead within a year unless they have the foresight and the funding to survive this glut. Gap trap. Windows 95 provides huge growth opportunities for the entire industry. After the first of the year, however, we're going to enter the dreaded twilight zone -- that period when customers stop buying until a new version comes out. Once Microsoft sends its Win 95 beta to 400,000 customers, those customers are going to want Win 95 software and plug-and-play hardware. Yet they won't be able to buy what they want until Microsoft ships Windows 95. The longer this gap persists, the greater the danger. I've been predicting that Windows 95 would go to manufacturing in April, be in the channels by May, and get to general distribution by June. Recently, however, I've received disturbing rumors that this schedule is still very fragile. Windows 95 could slip into the fall or winter. Big companies have the resources to hedge their bets. Lotus, for instance, is building both Win 95 and Win 16 updates to SmartSuite. If the Windows 95 delay grows too long, Lotus will simply roll out the Win 16 version first. Smaller companies don't have that luxury. As a result, many of them may be forced to use bridging strategies -- for instance, to offer free upgrades to customers who buy the Windows 3.1 version now. Every software and hardware company that sells into the Windows market should have a bridging plan in place. Let's hope they don't have to use them for very long. But in this year of living dangerously, smart companies will hope for the best while planning for the worst. Jesse Berst is the editorial director of Windows Watcher newsletter, in Redmond, Wash. Should he just shut his trap? Tell him how you feel via Internet (jberst@mcimail.com), MCI (JBERST or 314-8466), CompuServe (71337, 2052), or fax (206-883-1452). ================================================================ Users foresee problems in Sybase-Powersoft match From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Anne Knowles Despite Wall Street's enthusiasm for Sybase Inc.'s merger with Powersoft Corp., users and industry analysts last week voiced concern that the match faces its share of hurdles, given Sybase's track record of acquisitions. Some argued Powersoft's PowerBuilder may have reached critical mass and bumped up against technical limits. Others reiterated fears that Sybase would hamper PowerBuilder by turning the application-development software into a proprietary tool. "Where is Gain?" asked David Ray, president of DGR and Associates Inc., a Minneapolis consulting firm, citing Sybase's acquisition of the Gain Momentum multimedia development tool, which now only supports Sybase SQL Server. Build Momentum, a companion tool derived from another third-party technology, is being shelved because of overlap with PowerBuilder. Sybase's acquisition of Micro Decisionware Inc., a maker of database gateways, may be an indicator that the Emeryville, Calif., company will not be as receptive to working with competitors to maintain PowerBuilder's independence. "MDI doesn't cooperate with us anymore, so we went to Information Builders [Inc., a New York-based gateway maker]," said Steve Sommer, vice president of marketing at rival database maker Informix Software Inc., in Menlo Park, Calif. One user, hopeful that PowerBuilder would remain a database-independent tool, said Sybase also has a history of off-loading development, support, and sales responsibilities for acquired tools to other firms. "Maybe it will be like SQR, in which Sybase will farm out the non-Sybase business to another firm," said Bill Niemi, technical consultant with Fidelity Investments, in Boston. Sybase contracted with Management Information Technology Inc. in January to take over responsibility for SQR Workbench, which it acquired from SQ Software Inc. Sybase and Powersoft, at the time of the merger announcement two weeks ago, tried to reassure users the company would continue to develop and support PowerBuilder on its own. "Powersoft will maintain a rigid independence," said David Litwack, president of Powersoft, in Concord, Mass. "We will not do anything, like discounts or superior support for Sybase, which would violate other vendors." Despite the concerns of users, Wall Street pundits were almost unanimous in their praise for the deal, even with what some saw as a high price. "This is a very astute, long-term acquisition," said Paul Deninger, managing director at Broadview Associates, a mergers-and-acquisitions firm in Fort Lee, N.J. "Combined, the two companies will be a much more formidable competitor." ================================================================ Novell's Noorda steps down from board seat From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by PC Week Staff Former Novell Inc. Chairman Ray Noorda resigned from the company's board of directors last week, ending his 11-year involvement with the network operating system leader. The 70-year-old Noorda, who passed the chairman reins to CEO Robert Frankenberg in August, said he resigned for personal reasons. Sources close to Noorda say that his health played a large part in the timing. Noorda's departure leaves a vacant seat on the nine-member board. Last week, the Orem, Utah, company added former WordPerfect Corp. founders and co-chairmen Alan Ashton and Bruce Bastian to the board. With the addition of Ashton and Bastian, Novell officers and directors hold about 16 percent of the company's 364 million outstanding common shares of stock. Noorda continues to hold about 9 percent of Novell's outstanding stock. ================================================================ IBM wrestles with PowerPC 615 plans From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Neal Boudette A PowerPC chip augmented with on-board X86 emulation capability may emerge late next year as the key piece in IBM's plan to lure corporate buyers away from the X86 standard. Although IBM has yet to produce the first samples of the PowerPC 615, several senior IBM executives hope to use the chip to drive the PowerPC into the desktop PC market by the close of next year, sources close to the firm said. But internecine squabbling among IBM's OS/2, PC, workstation, and microprocessor groups could still waylay the chip's arrival, sources said. "A lot of different people have a lot of different opinions about what we should do," said one source. IBM Microelectronics, the company's chip-making arm, sees the 615 as the key that can open a critical application -- the corporate "client" PC -- to PowerPC systems, sources said. "There's a lot of volume there," another source said. "We have to make clients a priority, or we'll have trouble attracting ISVs to the platform." Users are also wary. "It sounds wonderful, but support costs are so high we don't like to take on anything new," said Doug Mohn, a network administrator with Chevron Corp., in Evanston, Wyo. The 615 is expected to offer PowerPC performance near that of the 100MHz 604 due in computers by mid-1995, and built-in X86 hardware emulation that rivals the performance of a 66MHz Pentium chip, analysts said. IBM Microelectronics' plan is to release the 615 late next year with the same pin-out as the PowerPC 604, sources said. That would let hardware vendors that have developed 604-based machines use the 615 without redesigning their products, they said. Later, IBM would follow up with another version using a Pentium- compatible pin-out, they said. That would let IBM Personal Computer Co. and other PC makers use the chip in the same motherboards as Pentium chips. Apple Computer Inc. could use the 615 in Power Macintoshes that can also run X86 applications without the speed penalty of software emulation, said Martin Reynolds, a Computer Intelligence InfoCorp analyst in Santa Clara, Calif. But IBM's PC company may not get to use the chip because of contention with the Power Personal Systems Division, whose mission is producing PowerPC computers, other sources cautioned. Power Personal, one source said, could "use the [615] as a way of establishing the PowerPC, but if it's so easy to put it into Pentium PCs, it obviates the need for their jobs." Still further opposition to the 615 project comes from within the Personal Software Products group, which produces OS/2, sources said. IBM officials acknowledged plans for a chip such as the 615, but declined further comment. ================================================================ Borland eyes info highway From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Jane Morrissey Borland International Inc. recently took the wraps off a unit charged with parlaying technology into information highway offerings, but the nascent Borland Interactive effort is still far from announcing products or partners. Initially outlined by CEO Philippe Kahn in June, Borland Interactive will attempt to leverage the company's client/server, communications, and database technology to create products and services that deliver an array of electronic information. Kahn had predicted that key partnerships with telecommunications, cable, content, and other providers would start to roll out by year's end. But in a recent interview at Comdex, he downplayed the effort, targeting a June 1995 or later launch date. Richard Schwartz, Borland's former chief technology officer who was just named CEO of the 40-employee group, would not commit to a time frame for any products. He said, however, that his reticence did not signal any problems or delays. "Various competitive pressures suggest that now would not be the time to talk about any specific partnerships," said Schwartz, in Scotts Valley, Calif. Although still nebulous, Borland Interactive's focus is on object- oriented, client/server systems that support the storage and delivery of very rich on-line or electronic information. Kahn said the intention is not to compete with on-line services such as The Microsoft Network, but rather to work with them. One definite underlying technology for the project is the OBEX (Object Exchange) communications tool for storing and cataloging multimedia information. OBEX currently ships as part of Borland's Paradox for Windows and Novell Inc.'s PerfectOffice. Given Borland's lackluster financial picture -- for the second quarter, ended Sept. 30, the company earned $400,000 on sales of $81.3 million -- PaineWebber Inc. analyst Mike Kwatinetz, among others, believes that an outside source, perhaps Novell, is helping fund Borland Interactive. "If Borland is funding it with their own funds, I'd say it's a questionable thing for them to be doing at this point in time," Kwatinetz said. Borland officials have previously disclosed they planned to invest $10 million in the effort. As an independent unit housed in a separate Borland facility and led by a CEO, Borland Interactive seems poised for a spin-off or joint venture. But Schwartz claimed that's not the objective. "Not in the formal sense of spin-off, that's not part of the plan," he said, although he left the door open to a buyout. Some analysts said Borland's resources could be better spent on improving its core upsizing offerings. "I fear there are some things that are distractions at this point," said Mary McCaffrey, an analyst at Alex. Brown & Sons, in New York. ================================================================ MCI links Windows users to Internet servers From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Paula Rooney MCI Communications Corp. wants friends and families -- and businesses -- to reach out to each other over the Internet. The Atlanta company last week announced internetMCI, a new member of its networkMCI suite of applications that lets Windows clients access WWW (World-Wide Web) servers and an electronic shopping mall called marketplaceMCI. As part of this drive, MCI is targeting corporate sites with an Internet consulting service for installing and maintaining a corporate network. MarketplaceMCI will allow a business to advertise products and services in graphical electronic storefronts. This offering is expected to rival AT&T Corp.'s plans to offer similar services using a Network Notes offering that it is building with Lotus Development Corp. The key component of internetMCI is software developed by NetScape Communications Corp. (formerly Mosaic Communications Corp.) that offers security features and a GUI. Included are the NetScape Navigator server and database servers for systems management and secure credit-card transactions. The Internet protocol stack used by MCI is provided by FTP Software Inc. MCI plans to provide these services in January over established long- distance services, such as switched local and 800 lines, and advanced services such as ISDN and frame-relay networks. Future releases will support Switched Multimegabit Data Service and asynchronous transfer mode. Corporate sites applauded the notion of an out-of-the-box Internet solution they can easily install, but pointed to two concerns: passing data over an unsecured, public network, and monthly user fees. The marketplaceMCI service will use RSA Data Security Inc.'s encryption technology to address security, but the MCI service is priced at $19.95 per user for up to 7 hours of connection time per month. After that, users pay $3 per hour for local access and $7 per hour for a toll-free line. "For heavy users, seven hours a month isn't much. It could get very expensive," said Jeff Perriens, lead analyst for a large financial concern in Washington. "Getting access to the Internet is a big issue we're tying to deal with. We have a gateway to get to Internet E-mail but not FTP [to access the WWW]." As a Notes user, Perriens is waiting to see how Lotus integrates the Internet within Notes. Meanwhile, Microsoft plans to incorporate Internet access in Windows 95 next year. ================================================================ IBM to stop selling 'blue box' NetWare From PC Week for November 28, 1994 by Stan Gibson IBM will stop selling the IBM-labeled version of Novell Inc.'s NetWare at the end of the year, reversing a 3-year-old decision to embrace NetWare as a strategic LAN operating system. The move to stop selling "blue-box" NetWare, which IBM has offered as part of an alliance with Novell since 1991, results from IBM's decision to push only its own network operating system, OS/2 LAN Server 4.0, officials said last week. "Our customers were a little confused as to what our long-term strategy was," said Phil Powers, director of LAN systems marketing for IBM's Personal Software Products division, in Austin, Texas. "We needed to make a clear statement to customers that, make no mistake, LAN Server is our strategic operating system." IBM will continue to provide telephone support to users who bought NetWare from IBM, but future NetWare upgrades will not be available to blue-box customers from IBM, officials said. IBM will offer in December a free migration utility for users wishing to move from NetWare 2.x or 3.x to OS/2 LAN Server. Powers said a similar utility may be available for users wishing to migrate from NetWare 4.x. "We think LAN Server is better than NetWare 4.x, no matter what version," said Powers. "All LAN Server migrations are easy. That's a lot different from [NetWare] 3.x to 4.x migration." Highlighting the ambiguity in IBM's moves, Powers said IBM will continue to sell NetWare when bundled on CD ROM with IBM's new PC Servers as a "ServerGuide" option. IBM will continue to offer point upgrades to NetWare ServerGuide users only. "IBM's product was initially going to diverge [from Novell's] by including connectivity to other IBM platforms, but those things never really panned out," said Jim Sullivan, vice president of worldwide OEM sales at Novell, of Provo, Utah. Sullivan said IBM's NetWare holds less than 2 percent of the total NetWare market, but added that share could increase as IBM sells the bundled version with its servers. One user, despite being upset initially, was philosophical. "I kind of accepted it," said Mark Ziemba, network coordinator for the Oneida Indian Nation, in Oneida, N.Y. "I was surprised IBM would offer blue-box NetWare to begin with, although I liked it. I think the support just got too expensive for them." Attention: You are now reading news which is expressly prepared for ZiffNet members. If you redistribute this file, or any part therein, on any online service, BBS, LAN, WAN or other electronic or print distribution mechanism, you are in violation of U.S. copyright laws--and are subject to subsequent penalties. ================================================================