Notes and commentary on the Apple Shareholders' Meeting held 23 Jan 85 at Flint Center, De Anza College, Cupertino, CA
 
As all of you who stuck around 'til the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl know, Apple announced the "Macintosh Office" at their shareholders' meeting.  This consists of a number of products designed to make the Mac palatable, and even desirable, in the IBM-dominated office market. Here are the announcements:
 
(1) AppleTalk: a simple, cheap, yet (apparently) effective means of hooking up 32 Macs-and-other-things together in a loose network. The AppleTalk device is a small white box about the size of the mouse. It hooks up to the modem (and printer?) port via a standard Mac connector.

It has two holes for connecting to other small white boxes via cables in a daisy-chain manner (Mac-or-other-thingA connects to Mac-or-other-thingB, which also connects to Mac-or-other-thingC, und so weiter).

Cost per Mac is $50, which gets you one small white box, one 2-meter cable, and one page of instructions.  Ten-meter cables will be available also, and 100m cables will come out at the end of the year.

Apple's goal is to have 10,000+ AppleTalk networks up by the end of this year. They are urging developers to make AppleTalk a standard part of all new applications.  Developers (and would-be developers) can get more info by ordering Inside AppleTalk ($75) from Apple Computer, Inc., 467 Saratoga Ave., Suite 621, San Jose, CA  95129.
 
 
(2) Other-thing-1: LaserWriter: This is a computer thinly disguised as a printer.  It has a 12MHz 68000, 1.5MB RAM, 0.5MB ROM, and interfaces for AppleTalk and RS232. Resolution is 300 dots/inch. It has a number of fonts built in, including Times, Helvetica, Courier, and symbol. All Mac fonts are supported as downloaded bitmaps.  Font sizes range from 4pt to whatever will fit on the paper.  Max speed is 8 pages/minute.

It supports the POSTSCRIPT protocol and a subset of Diablo 630 commands. It can print on regular stock, letter head, colored stock, transparency forms, envelopes, and labels.
 
The LaserWriter costs $6995, which is high for printer, but very cheap for a typesetting system, which it comes close to being.  The press kit I have was all printed on a LaserWriter; the quality is very, very high.

The February issue of MacWorld has a slew of articles on the printer; pick it up and browse through it to get a feel for just what this machine can do.  Like AppleTalk, the LaserWriter is due out in March.  And, like AppleTalk, there is developer documention on the LaserWrite:  Inside the LaserWrite ($75), from the same address. Be sure to add 6% ($4.50) sales tax if you're ordering from within California.
 
(3)  Other-thing-2:  FileServer [have you noticed how pervasive the use of mid-word capitalization is in this industry? The only other place where I've seen it so much is in wargames, particularly those with a science fiction bent.  Must be because it looks "futuristic" or whatever. bfw]
 
This is a computer thinly disguised as a hard disk (20 or 40 MB). Specs   aren't available yet, nor is this device, at least not until this fall.   It appears that it, too, will have a 68000 and bunches of RAM and ROM;  the press releases talk about developers being able to write different applications to run on it. Multi-user applications. Hint, hint.
 
Apple (wisely) isn't putting all of its eggs in its own basket, so it  revealed that at least four other companies are announcing file servers  for AppleTalk:  Sunol, IOmega, Micro Design, and someone else. I imagine that a number of other firms have irons in the fire as well.
 
(4)  Other-thing-3: the IBM PC. Jobs and Scully both stated that Apple is *not* going to push IBM out of the Fortune 500; in an "either-or" situation, most firms are going to go with Big Blue. So Jobs proposed "detente", and Scully,  "cooperative competition". The upshot is that Apple is trying to make the Mac fit in to an IBM-dominated world via a number of products.  First, Apple will release this fall a card that plugs into the IBM PC (and compatibles) to allow them to hook into AppleTalk.

Second, the Apple Cluster Controller and AppleLine allow Macs to talk with IBM mainframes.  Third, Sytek (?), the people doing PC Net for IBM, have announced that they will provide a Mac gateway into PC Net, though it wasn't clear if that was for a single Mac or as a bridge from AppleTalk.
 
(5)  Other-thing-4: the Macintosh XL. This is simply the Lisa 2/10 with a new name. Honest. That's all it is. The Lisa 2 and 2/5 have been discontinued. The press releases didn't say anything about prices, but the San Jose Mercury News said that the 2/10, er, Mac XL now has a list price of $3895 and that the Mac 512K now has an official list price of $2795.
 
(6) Software announcements. First, Jobs gave a demo of Andy Hertzfeld's Switcher program, which allows 3 applications to be in RAM at the same time (on a 512K Mac). It, too, is supposed to be out in March; one person I heard commented that it would be given away with the 512K machine. Second, the press release had the following statement:  "...during 1985 we will enhance the Macintosh user interface and file system to significantly improve Macintosh performance, particularly with hard disks." Hallelujah.
 
Postscript: after the meeting and press conference that followed, I drove over to Scotts Valley to visit Philippe Kahn at Borland Int'l (the TURBO Pascal people). As many of you may know, Commodore has announced that TURBO Pascal will be the bundled language with their Macalike, the Amiga.

I have also heard persistent rumors that Borland is doing the OS for the Amiga as well. As usual, I pumped Philippe for info about the Amiga, and, as usual, he deftly fended off most of my questions (the people at Commodore should be pleased with his sealed lips). He did mention a few things about the machine--the OS directly supports up to 7MB of RAM, and the thing has slots (yippee!)- but his main comment was that even if he did tell me all about it, I wouldn't believe him; that the machine has everything I could ever want in it; and that it would blow the Mac away. 'Twill be interesting to see what acutally hits the shelves, and when.

Products Of Interest At Macworld Expo '85

Big Mac Monitor: Professional Data Systems.  A 23" high resolution B&W monitor for the mac.  Includes free external mod for the Mac. Sharp picture.

Color Imagewriter Ribbons: Almost everyone. Imagewriter ribbons in Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Brown and of course, Black.

Hippo C: Hippopotamus software inc.  Level one and level two Mac C. Level two allows creation of standalone applications.  K&R C works on 128k single drive Macintosh

Hippo-Lock: Hippopotamus software inc.  DES data encryption for Macintosh files.  Great file security, but boy doesn't it sound painful (gosh, I've got, gasp, HIPPO-LOCK!)

ElectroFont: Paragon Courseware.  Electronic circuits font. Amps, transistors, resistors, transformers, diodes...

ExperLisp: Expertelligence inc. Compiled Lisp.  A "Modern" lisp with DOLIST, DOTIMES, CASE, CATCH, THROW..  Incrementally compiled.  Looks interpreted.  Load-on-call allows large system development.  Lexically scoped like Common Lisp.  Cross compiler from Symbolics 3600 Lisp machine is available.  N dimensional arrays, and graphics. (3d)

ExperLogo: Expertelligence, Inc.  Fast Logo with Turtle and Bunny (3d! Roll, Pitch, Yaw) graphics.  Compiled Logo with the appearance of interpreted logo.  Data handling, load-on-call for building large systems, array handling.  I like this product, my brother says its too slow...

Filevision: Telos Software Products.  The visual filing system. Graphically oriented database system. Innovative, this cannot be done on any conventional micro.  Not a general purpose database.

Hyperdrive: General computer.  The fastest 10 meg hard disk for your mac. Internally mounted with a new power supply and a variable speed fan.  Comes with drive partitioning software.  The only drive the Mac the mac can boot from. Expensive, but a real kick for Mac Speed demons.  Available with or without fast 512k upgrade for small Macs.

Lock-It: Assimilation systems inc. Limit access to your files by inserting a password which intercepts the OPEN command.  The password can be any combination of characters and can be applied to any file or software application. Wow another $29 marvel from Assimilation systems.

Mac Bottom: Personal Computer Peripherals Corp.  An external 10 megabyte hard disk for the Macintosh.  The first of the second generation drives for the Mac.  It is a 2 inch high pad the size of the footprint of the Mac.  You put the Mac-Bottom on the desk, and the Mac sits on top of the disk.  Neat.  Its the fastest of the external drives I tested.  It provides a new serial port on the back of the drive to replace the one used and does print spooling through new port.  Includes volume segmenting and backup software.  Good looking, and fast.

Mac C*: Consulair Corp.  Very Macish development system.  With the optional Mac C Toolkit libraries, it supports most of the Toolbox routines.  Requires 2 drives or a hard disk.  Mac C* was used to write the Apple MDS

Macintosh Pascal Illustrated - The fear and loathing guide: Addison Wesley.  A humorous text book on MacPascal.  Join Mr Moss and his hound dog Rollo as they expolore every nook and cranny of MacPascal. "If coloring books had instructions a kid would just chew the pages." Thus begins the tirade of Mr. Moss, philosopher, programmer, and excitable boyfriend, in his crusade to strip the boring evil that pagues computer books.

MacMail*: AEGIS development Inc.  Modem based mail system.  Auto dials other systems, logs in and sends mail.  Your mac can be left in mail mode and it will auto answer and receive mail while you sleep. They claim to soon do mail with Apple networks.

MacMath Fonts: Sophus Systems.  Lots and Lots of math symbols, dozens of brackets, parens, Roman and Greek alphabets, arrows, special symbols.  Good looking.

Mac Memory Disk: Assimilation systems.  The $29 ram disk you have been hearing about. A dream to operate. Very fast, very flexible.  A must.

Mac Publisher: Boston Software Publishers Inc. Newspaper/Newsletter layout software.  Handles multi column layout with illustrations, titles...  Operates on Mac XLs and works with Apple LaserWriter to make incredible MacPublishing system.  Something only do-able on the Mac.  Bravo! They published a newsletter at the show.  Very good looking.

Mac Tracks: Assimilation Systems.  A Macro facility for the mac.  You can store mouse movements, clicks, and keystrokes as Macros, give them names and do long series of operations with one keystroke.  Macros cannot call other macros.

MacVision: Koala Technologies Inc.  Video digitizer for the Mac. Sources can be cameras, VCRs (in pause mode), video disks, even other computers.  Takes about 2 seconds to grab a frame.  Good hardware and software.  Nice system overall.  Makes Macpaint format files.

MegaMac*: Micrographic Images Corp.  One megabyte macs!  They said eventual expansion to 4M was planned.  Wow, watch out.  Comes with Ramdisk software.  A hyperdrive cannot be installed in a Megamac.

MegaMax C: Megamax Inc. In line assembly, supports dynamic overlays. Full access to macintosh toolbox routines.  One pass compile.

Mentauris Composite Video Adaptor: Mentauris Technologies.  Provides a high quality composite video signal and output port for large screen educational and commercial applications.

MOUSEPAD*: Mousetrak Inc.  My favorite mousing surface. Non skid back, cushioned, tightweave cloth surface. Available in many colors. Approx $9 (415) 383-2477

Music Character Sets: South Bay Software. A number of fonts for the Macintosh that produce Musical notation (whole, half, quarter notes,
rests...)

Paradise: Paradise systems inc.  Another second generation hard disk for the Mac.  Hooks to serial port, provides port on its back to replace the one taken up.  The Paradise sits to the side of the mac, not as neat as the Mac-Bottom but still much faster than the old Davong, Tecmar set.

ProCom-M: Prometheus Products Inc.  Terminal software, YUCK. Nuff said.

Project-A-Mac: Professional Data Systems.  Projects Mac video onto screens up to 25 Ft across.  (these were used at the conferences). Available optionally with 5 or 6 ft.  curved screen.  Includes Mac video mod.  Brightness, contrast and focus controls.  Nice Picture.

Rascal: Griffin Series (developed at Reed College) pascal like language.  Fast, compiled code for multi-tasking, I/O oriented program, complete Mac Toolbox support.  Great for real-time programming.  Creates stand alone applications.

SciFonts: Paragon courseware.  Scientific font. with sum, integration, square root, infinity and dozens of other useful symbols

Smartmodem 2400: Hayes Microcomputer Products.  2400 baud modems for your mac.  Communicates at 300, 1200 and 2400 baud.  Maximum Flexibility, maximum price.

Smartcom II: Hayes Microcomputer Products.  Terminal emulation software for the Hayes Smartmodem series of modems (and compatibles). Does great VT102 (with line and character insert and delete!) emulation as well as the expected file transfer flexibility (xmodem...)  Many features, easy to use, very Macish.

Softworks C: softworks Ltd. a K&R C for the Mac. They have a pretty good terminal program (vt100, xmodem, macput, xon/xoff) written in it and the source is available if you want to develop terminal based applications.

The Keeper*: Micro Design 5 to 33 Meg hard disks for single user or AppleTalk* use.  The only smart FILE SERVER for AppleTalk*.  Available in combinations of fixed and removable platters.  Keeper can spool to the Imagewriter.  You can have multiple FILE SERVERS on one Apple Talk* net.  This is not true for DISK SERVERS.

ThinkTank*: Living Videotext inc.  The first Idea Processor is now available in 128k and a new enhanced 512k version for the Macintosh. One of the speakers at the conference had his talk notes in Thinktank. A revolutionary product for people who do proposals, planning, briefs, reports, specs, and presentations.

TMON: TMQ Software inc. An interactive Multi Window Monitor/Debugger for the Macintosh.  Works on both 128/512k macs.  Claims many many features.  Was not displayed at show.  If it is for real, and I was looking for a debugger, I would definitely look into this (312) 520-4440

Turbo Touch: Assimilation systems.  A mouse replacement consisting of a track ball.  Interesting, but I still prefer the mouse.

Videoworks: Hayden software.  Incredibly neat video animation software. Pre-release now, but the demos are great. Watch for it.

XL/SERVE: Infosphere Inc.  A software product for the Macintosh XL (0r Lisa 2/5) running MacWorks that allows the Lisa with a hard disk to serve as a file server and print spooler for Appletalk*. Includes hard disk partitioning, security and special hard disk backup software.  The Partitioning and backup utilities make it attractive even without Appletalk* applications in mind.

I have to stop and jot a note down about the new Macintosh Office System. Apple Came to town last week (March 14-15) to show it off and it's worth a few comments.

The system's key points are its simplicity, and ease of use.  We had it hooked up in less than five minutes.  Within 15 minutes the laserwriter cranked out the first near-typeset-quality document. We also observed the Mac XL being used as a server to five macs, and the Mac Switch program running on a 512K Mac and allowing more than one program to be 'live' in memory at a time.

I have to be honest though.  While the graphics capabilities of the Laser Printer are nice, somehow Apple does not seem to have another winner of Macintosh caliber.  Speed seems to be the major drawback.  When using the Laserwriter as server to only two macintoshes we experienced significant difficulties and delays trying to print out documents.  Trying to print out 2 one page files, and one three-page file I had to fight to keep from falling to sleep while waiting.  Such problems are probably acceptable if you need to utilize the maximum capabilities of Laserwriter -- say you are currently paying $25 a page for typesetting.  But if all you want is simple letter quality output for a single Macintosh then you might want to hook up via Microsoft's MacEnhancer to a Hewlet Packard Laserjet which prints 8 pages per minute.  Such an arrangement offers a factor-of-sixteen speed improvement at half the price.

Another observation:  In recent weeks both The Wall Street Journal and Business Week have reported the concerns of market analysts about various leadership problems in Apple.  I have to say that I find some cause for concern for the value of my own shares after viewing the six-hour Mac Office presentation. I've certainly changed my investment plans (to buy more while it's 'low' at $21 a share) in the aftermath.

Apple brought to Hawaii, by my count, six (maybe there were more) people to make the presentation.  However, only two people were present to make the presentation: a very competent trainer and a technical support person.  At the close of the day several other people showed up.  Among them, the trainer's boss dropped in to take our temperatures, our marketing representative came by breathlessly at the last minute to hand out a variety of packets with uncertain contents, and the marketing rep's boss showed up to make a few comments before we left (I think I have the people & positions right).

My second observation is more subjective.  In my position as a computer sales person (about 3 years) and an assistant sales manager (about 3 months) I've met a number of manufacture's rep's, and I've attended a number of product presentations.

Taking these in reverse order....  The woman who presented The Macintosh Office System to us was very skilled, but by herself the presentation fell far short of the professional quality and impact I've seen in IBM product seminars, although she was more polished than some of the individual IBM speakers I've seen.

The marketing rep puts the icing on the cake.  Apple has never seemed to mind the publicity it gets for its cock-a-mamie aproach to business.  The idiosyncratic behavior of people inside the company has been reported plenty elsewhere and does not need to be repeated here.  However, eccentricity does not excuse bad manners or the disregard for others.

I have the impression that my Apple rep  could care less about relationships with important clients.  Complaints about unreturned phone calls are met with a cold shoulder rather than an apology.  Sales bonus's that are in the mail are in the mail for weeks.  Personal conversations revolve around the representative's good fortune and not around client needs.  In short, it's up to me to make him rich.

The impression of Apple that I'm left with is that there are several hardworking people in the company, but that their efforts are pretty much cancelled out by leadership that fails, fails to provide good guidance, fails to make good hiring decisions, fails to retain experienced and valuable contributors, and (I suspect) fails to survive largely because it fails to appreciate the needs of others who live outside the world of the executive's hot-tub.

If I have an ax to grind in saying this it's that I've been from the beginning an Apple owner, a fan, and an active promoter in my community.  Somehow I sense that I've thrown pearls of time, effort, and sales revenue before swine.

In the San Francisco Examiner on Sunday April 21st, columnist John Dvorak reported that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates will announce a Microsoft integrated package on May 2nd.  This package for the Mac will be called EXEL.  Dvorak reports rumors that EXEL will be shipped in the summer. It apparently will be a spreadsheet program integrated with CHART and some kind of database.  The spreadsheet will recalculate only those cells that require change, and the Switcher will be incorporated as part of the scheme.  Microsoft is saying that the package is multifunctional, not integrated.

Dvorak also reports that there has been a very successful effort by Microsoft to block information about this product from being released. He recounts an incident in which he wrote an article about the product for a nation magazine, and had all references to EXCEL and Microsoft taken out.  He refers to "an amazing willingness on the part of editors to kowtow", and calls it "a low point in journalism ethics".

Judging from SOME of the "rumors" published in SIMILAR columns in the past (e.g., the rumor that Microsoft was in BIG TROUBLE because they had USED some interrupt vectors that WERE reserved on the 80186, a rumor that turned out to BE entirely false) maybe THE editors were just doing what EDITORS are supposed to DO, trying to keep the NEWS REASONABLY accurate.

(And then, there was that rumor that Lotus wasn't going to put any of its products on the Mac, because it was too hard to write software for, and so terrible things were going to happen to Macintosh sales as a result...)

(Most of the above, incidentally, is good-natured :-). I guess Dvorak is kind of like Howard Cosell; you may not always like what he says, or the strange way he writes it, but it sure is interesting to read it.)