Vol 3, #1

The time has come
by Al Martin

For the past three years or so, Apple IIe, IIc and GS owners have put up empty promises from Apple, Inc. We have seen our beloved computers relegated to the dark corners of the retailers; we have endured the ignominy of an advertising campaign that simultaneously elevated the Macintosh and suppressed the Apple II line; we have witnessed the departure of talented developers who can longer work under the bazaar conditions imposed by Apple, Inc.; we have been deceived and have had tons of disinformation dumped upon us in an attempt to keep us quiet and passive. No more! Many of us are mad as hell and we're going to do something about it.
It's time to dump Sculley. He's the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Apple, Inc. and the man solely responsible for the current state of affairs. Time and time again he's promised support for the Apple II and time and time again we see no results, only continued submergence. He publicly blames the sour track record of Apple, Inc.'s profits on the consumers rather than where it belongs, within his policy of not giving the consumers what they want (See the Wall Street Journal, 19 Jan. '90, Section B). His love of the Macintosh, at least the high priced ones, and fear of the competition from the II line, much less expensive and potentially very powerful, have dictated a corporate policy that looks like restraint of trade in drag.
What I can't understand the short-term vision of the stockholders. Immediate profits are desirable, but the rape and ruin attitude of 19th century business robber barons just will not do today. It's the long run that counts and dumping such a profitable line as the Apple II is just plain stupid, crazy and nuts. Attempting to "force" Apple II owners to give up their machines in favor of the Macintosh just will not work. We are an independent and stubborn lot who know a good machine when we use one. Angry Apple II owners will not jump to the Mac; they will either keep their Apple II or, after retiring several thousands of dollars worth of hard- and software, go out and buy an IBM clone. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
There is absolutely no legitimate reason why Apple, Inc. cannot maintain two or more competitive lines of computers just as General Motors does in the automobile business. In case Sculley hasn't noticed, GM has been around a bit longer than Apple, Inc. As was pointed out so succinctly on the Apple Echo of Feb. 9th, "If it wasn't for the 'old' technology Apple ][ line, the Mac wouldn't exist."
The Wall St. article details the results of Sculley's policies and his excuses. He flatly stated that "We don't know how long it (the PC industry) will last." Of course not if you are actively out there trying to spike the sale of low cost entry-level machines that can be upgraded almost without limit. Also, "...Apple (Sculley) said its performance was hurt by weak demand for its lowest-priced computers and its inability to build enough of its new portable Macintosh." Weak demand?! Of course the demand is weak when you advertise, if ever, that the II line is for elementary school students and the dealers bait and switch you to the Macs. And, what about this not enough Mac portables nonsense? Later in the article, "Sales of Apple's first portable, introduced last fall, have been disappointing." Whaaat? "Inability to build enough" and "disappointing sales"? Another oxymoron, John. Mr. Sculley is trying to have it both ways in his boundless search for excuses. Perhaps he should take a hard look at the Mac portable and realize that it's dog, a large, heavy, shaggy dog. The luggable Lisa. Again, more of the marketing strategy of "Ready, Fire, Aim!" I fear that Mr. Sculley has made his own data base and now he must lie in it for he has surely stepped in it.
The latest actions by dear John suggest that the captain is willing to go down with the ship but only after he has fed a few officers to the sharks. It's a good old American business and political tradition to fix the blame when something goes wrong. Just look how Nixon fed his cronies to the sharks during the Watergate fiasco.
The latest, but surely not the last, scapegoat to meet this ignominious end is our dear "friend," Jean-Louis "Loose Lips Louie" Gassee, according to an article printed in the Feb. 8, '90 edition of The (Portland) Oregonian. Now this is not all that bad. Gassee was a real pain and one of the most abrasive spokesman ever to hit the American corporate scene. (See the AppleFest '89 edition of The Road Apple.) Many of us will miss him like a bad habit.
However, in the context of "better a devil known than a devil unknown," we have the promotion of replacement Michael ("hard-nosed") Spindler as Chief Operating Officer. According to the same article, this is expected to "...heighten uneasiness within employee ranks and could stall critical product-development [sic] efforts..." Sigh.
What's in store for Apple's Product Development Department? Who knows? I suppose we're in for more "Know-Knothing Knavigator" stuff or an "entry-level" color Mac for $5,000+.
The point is that Apple, Inc. has got to get back on track and return to its original philosophy of being a consumer driven company. Apple, Inc. must listen to its customers and respond positively and truthfully. It must find leaders who are in tune with reality. Sure, let them play around with super gee-whiz stuff, but, for crying out loud, keep the Apple II cash cow alive.
We Apple II owners have, for the most part, been passive and quiet. There was a brouhaha at the A-2 Developers' Conference last July that resulted in ripping a new rectal opening in the collective Apple, Inc. body by shredding the Apple, Inc. reps during their presentation of, "Wow! Just look at what we have done for you lately." From that came a couple of meetings between the developers and Apple, Inc. types during the late summer and early fall and the shotgun wedding at AppleFest, '89 in San Fran. Actually, I think the honeymoon was over before the ink was dry.
The fall gal was Apple, Inc. employee Nancy Stark, who was designated as the collector of all of what was wrong with the Apple II development and marketing and was supposed to relay the needs to the very top of the corporation for positive action. The result so far? Not a single advertisement anywhere for any Apple II computers during the month of January, 1990. This is in no way a criticism of Nancy; she has the unenviable task of somehow bringing the angry, frustrated and weary Apple II owners and prospective owners face-to-face with entrenched Apple, Inc. execs who have a track record of active resistance to the II line and its improvements.
And, I agree with the conventional wisdom that flooding her with hate mail or "... trite complaints and incomplete suggestions ..." is picking on her unnecessarily. Send her some good ideas for technical and marketing improvements, obvious though they may be. Let her do her job.
What needs to happen is to open up a two-pronged offensive. The new Apple II Developers' Association is continuing its meetings with Apple, Inc. this month and the quiet negotiations need to continue inside. Meanwhile, as we have seen in Eastern Europe and other locations, the ordinary folks need to take to the streets in organized protest. All this pent-up energy and frustration can and should be channeled into an organized effort of action.
All this predicated on the contunued lack of support for the Apple II from Sculley. If, for instance he comes out within the next three months with a strong position of support for our computers, then we support him. If the support from Sculley does not happen or is vaporware or short-lived, then we begin the campaign for replacement.
Dana Carlton, (805) 496-6292, in California has been in contact with similarly enraged Apple II owners around the country. He has suggested that a center, called The Core, be established for coordination of effort and has proposed the following:
-Write newspaper articles coordinated through user groups promoting the advantages of the Apple II line.
-Activate the User Group Information Network with 800 numbers, BBS, fax machines and modems.
-User groups support retailers and mail order companies that provide Apple II products.
-User groups boycott retailers and mail order companies that only advertise the Mac and not the Apple II line.
-At every user group meeting, spend the first 30 minutes writing letters promoting the Apple II line and request more hardware and software development; the target would be that each person write five short notes to five companies.
-Target Apple, Inc. employees who report negative comments about the Apple II line and encourage their departure.
-Enlist the assistance of attorneys who would be willing to carry this cause to some adjudication.
-Boycott and protest trade magazines repeating unfounded rumors about the demise of the Apple II line; encourage advertisers to withdraw ads.
-Get to Apple, Inc. stockholders who are favorable to the Apple II line and line up proxies to (1) vote out execs who are killing the line, (2) increase the advertising budget for the Apple II line and (3) improve product development for the Apple II.
-Encourage Mac user groups to join with us for what is happening to us is also happening to them with the planned demise of the Mac+ and SE.
What are the specific improvements Dana and other Apple II users want?
-An active ad campaign like Commodore's of last December promoting the Apple II as a reasonably priced computer that can do most anything.
-Integrate the Apple II with the Macintosh.
-Upgrade the Apple II to 12-40 mHz, a 32-bit processor and bus with a minimum of 640 x 400 resolution, scanner, laser writer and business software.
-Color hypercard GS software and an improved GS/OS.
-Connect the Apple II with the MS-DOS world a la Macintosh.
-Advertising support for Apple II magazines like inCider/A+.
-Find something else for Sculley to do.
Wait and see? Docile and passive? Hope and pray? No sir! Enough is enough and it's time to take action. Remember, so far from Apple, Inc. we've gotten nothing and that's what we have to lose by taking action.


Vaporware dept.
by Al Martin

***There is absolutely no truth to the "'ROM 04' rumor," a new GS that was currently being tested at beta sites. Several people researched such sites nation-wide and came up zilch even though it was reported in a recent trade magazine.
***The March, '90 inCider/A+, delivered to me on Feb. 9th, featured an ad from TimeWorks that upgrades from Publish It! 2.0 to 3.0 could be ordered. I called and found that, yes, you could order it, but it won't be shipped until "sometime in March, maybe."
***Those of you who made or are making plans for the '90 AppleFest in Boston can scrub that one. AppleFest, as such, is dead. Instead you can hot-foot it over to Somerset, New Jersey (New Jersey!), May 4-6 and attend ComputerFest in the Garden State Convention Center sponsored by Exposition Management, Inc. The Apple section will be part of a larger display of competing equipment. As far as I can tell, Apple, Inc. and few top enhancement developers have no plans to attend.
Some of the old AppleFest faces are still with Exposition Management like Mike Dodge and Vidar Jorgensen. For details, call Exposition Management at 1-800-262-FEST.
***Is IBM planning a low-end unit that will run Apple II software? Possible, according to a Jan. 15th article in InfoWorld. We'll see.
***And, where, oh where, is the long-promised Flight Simulator GS from Sub Logic? Reps have been mumbling about this for nearly three years now. C'mon, guys, we've been in the holding pattern long enough.


And we thought WE had problems...
by Dennis McClain-Furmanski

A friend of mine who programs professionally got a job doing some database work for a guy with Macs in his office.
To make sure they had the most current thing going, my friend got a new Mac IIci. He had a few problems at first, and then he had a whole slew of them. It turns out the System 6.02 it uses simply has fits with some different programs. Such as:
Microsoft Works - Won't run.
Broderbund copy protected disks - Won't run.
Accolade protected disks - Won't run.
MacinTalk - Won't run, or keeps crashing.
Some CDEVs such as MacFish - Won't run.
Manx Aztec C, his tool of the trade - Won't run.
A few other problems: Since you can't slow down the speed, some games are useless. But, hey, this isn't a game machine, now is it? StuffIt, the BLU of the Mac world, can't seem to work consistently; the compiling speed on this machine was virtually identical to the SE-30 had traded in for this.
Then why not keep it? After compiling, the object files wouldn't run.
After all the noise about maintaining compatibility within the Mac line, Apple, Inc. seems to have messed up not only themselves, but a group of users. High paying users, nonetheless.
It was mentioned that at the developers' meeting at the West Coast AppleFest, not a person in sight among all the developers would switch from the II line to Macintosh. Here's a statement by Tom VanDerPool, who wasn't in attendance, but mirrored the message in a posting on the Apple Echo on Fidonet:
"If ever I do 'get out of the Apple business', as in owning them, I will certainly NOT go with another of the Apple brand computers. If they can desert me once, why not twice (or more if you let them)?"
Seems the trend is starting already. First we were stratified as Apples and serious computers, now even the serious computers are being forced into a class structure.


The Road Apple goes international
by Al Martin

During at 18-day computer business trip to the Soviet Union, I added computer whiz Vladimir Fedorov to The Road Apple company of crazies. You'll find his address and phone numbers in the masthead. Vladimir will handle all Road Apple business in the Soviet Union and will contribute articles. By the way, if you call the Soviet Union, be prepared to spend about $2.00 per minute of connect time and the call can be cut off at any moment without warning.


The Road Apple in the Soviet Union
by Al Martin

On January 1st, I left the comfort of my home and the convenience of the United States for my first visit to the Soviet Union. My hosts were Vladimir Fedorov and the International Computer Club. For 18 days I was shepherded through a good portion of LeninLand --- Moscow, Tashkent and Samarkand. Did I enjoy it? You betcha. Would I go back? In a second, but not in the winter again if I could help it.
The purpose of my visit was to see the Soviet version of the Apple II, meet the locals, make some contacts, learn about the country and do a bit of sightseeing. Mission accomplished in spades.
The Apple IIe clone, developed by the Bulgarians and assembled by the Soviets, is more than alive and well in the USSR. The machine, called the Pravetz 8C, is put together in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from parts imported from Bulgaria and sent off in lots of 10 to schools in the USSR. I had the opportunity to see the operation all the way from separate parts, to software development, to actual student use. For the complete story, read my article and pictures to be published in the May, 1990 issue of inCider/A+. It's quite a story.


I.C.C. conference

The International Computer Club is planning a huge computer forum at the Moscow World Trade Center, June 14-17. Companies from a number of countries including the U.S. have made commitments to attend. This could be a great opportunity for those of you who are interested in the expanding Soviet market and perhaps take advantage of the rapid and dramatic changes happening in the Soviet Union. I think the opportunities for computer business in both directions are limitless.
Since travel arrangements to the Soviet Union are complicated, I urge you to make your plans as soon as possible.
Contact: 101813 USSR, Moscow Center, Proyezd, 4, International Computer Club, tel.: 011-7-095 (country and city prefix from the U.S.) 921-09-02, telex: 411630, fax: (15:00-05:00, GMT) 011-7-095-921-09-02 or AreaNove Soluzioni Informatiche S.r.l., Sede-C.so Concordia, 16-20129 Milano, Italy, tel.: 02/798988-791471, fax: 02/6555144.
If you are planning your first trip to the Soviet Union for business or pleasure or both, you might want to profit from my hard-learned experiences. I have written a 6-page hints and tips sheet for Soviet travel. This report can save you hundreds of dollars in unnecessary expenses and hours of frustration. The cost is $3.00, U.S. funds, delivered in North America or $4.00, U.S. funds, delivered overseas. Send your request and a check or money order drawn on U.S. funds to: Al Martin, The Road Apple, 1121 NE 177th, Suite B, Portland, OR 97230, USA. Ask for Soviet Union Trip Sheet.


A-2 Central rides again

In a phone conversation with Tom Weishaar on Feb. 2nd, he confirmed that there will indeed be another A-2 Central Developers' Conference in Kansas City. No firm dates yet, but look for it sometime in July. The Road Apple plans to be there as does Vladimir Fedorov from the Soviet Union. This should be a dandy.


Senior Editor braves the wild Northwest
by Al Martin

Road Apple Senior Editor Dennis McClain-Furmanski, a.k.a. "The Head Techie," arrived in Portland, OR, on Wednesday, Jan. 31 aboard a storm delayed Eastern Airline flight from Atlanta via Seattle. This was his second visit to the Land of Constant Rain (RainLand) and, except for a sudden surge in the generators of Bonneville Dam resulting in a brief strange and brilliant light in the sky, he began to rust like the rest of us Oregon residents. We did have some brief respites from the rain when it snowed. However, his evaluation of Oregon was mostly positive, despite the efforts of the Chamber of Non-Commerce, a division of the Department of Redundancy Department.
Dennis took the time to educate (a losing effort) The Road Apple publisher in the finer points of ModemMessing and I have logged on to two, count 'em, two local boards that carry Apple Echo. I also took the plunge and signed up for GEnie, the retirement program for Tom "Uncle DOS" Weishaar. By my best estimates, I have managed to spend something closely approximating the National Debt and received a message telling me that my koala needs more loving attention and that 1990 has more or less 365 days in it. Ain't technology great (grate)? Anyhow, The Road Apple can be yelled at via the phone lines; reach out and bash us.
We did some of the tourist things like visiting a small section of the Oregon coast --- Lincoln City, Depoe Bay and Newport. Newport is really wild this time of year. You can spend hours watching the traffic light change from stripes, to plaid to polka-dots or study the psychological effects of the concept of sea level or listen to the chorus of sea lions expressing their territoriality on temporarily abandoned sports fishing boat docks. I did introduce Dennis to the gastronomic specialty of the Oregon coast: Moe's clam chowder, a rich, traditional bowl of delectability done in the New England style and served with garlic toast that stays with you for days and days.
I also drug him up the Columbia River Scenic Highway to Crown Point and the impressive vista it affords. We continued to Multnomah Falls, over 600 feet in height, and on up to Cascade Locks, the location of the fabled Bridge of the Gods, for a great meal topped off with a generous wedge of pecan pie at the Char-Burger restaurant, an institution and landmark for knowledgeable folks.
I declined to take him to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood since we have been having record snowfalls, 14 feet in as many days, and I felt not like chaining up my Chevy and battling the hoards of skiers and fellow travelers who infest this historic structure at the 6,000 level. Besides, Timberline is best visited in the summer when the brief visitor can do so many things without freezing to death.
Dennis left for home on the morning of February 7th during a snow storm sufficient enough to close some of the schools in the area and giving me a welcome day off to jot down some notes, pester some friends and generally "kick back."
Mr. McClain-Furmanski is an excellent guest of quiet habits and limited appetite. He does, however, relish coffee heavily laced with milk and sugar at all hours and in vast quantities, a habit which is well ahead of others I could think of. The Road Apple purchased several tons of beans which were brewed non-stop. We ran out only twice.
It was a real pleasure to have him as a guest and I look forward to his return in the very near future. I am very proud to add his name to my most prized list, that of my friends.


GEOStuff
by John Hicks

Geos, or Graphic Environment Operating System, has been around for the Apple II family for about two years now. It has undergone quite a few changes, the most prominent being the removal of copy protection which makes the 2.1 version (on Geopublish boot disks) at least four times as fast as the 2.0 version.
I will hit on the main programs and what they can and can't do. GeoWrite 2.1, this is a WYSIWYG word processor with features such as point and click menus, import graphics into your document using the Photomanager, 12 different fonts and 7 Typeface styles. The one problem with GeoWrite is you cannot import it's files into other word processors such as AppleWorks. All Geos files must run under their own system (Geoload.System). There is a Text Grabber that will import AppleWorks and other popular word processors into Geos. Be warned though, if you'rer using AppleWorks 3.0, the Text Grabber will put ??? in where you have set your paragraph indents. So you're better off to make the changes after importing your documents. However, the Text Grabber does work quite well with all 2.0 versions and below of AppleWorks.
GeoPaint is a full featured paint program that will make a artist out of you (with practice), it includes the ability to save your masterpieces to the photo manager (a flip through album) and has the same fonts and styles that GeoWrite has. It is in Double HiRes and has no colors, one of the downfalls. With the System Merge Utility, you can move documents from GeoWrite or from the Text Manager (kind of like a permanent clipboard) into GeoPaint and add some personal touches to your documents. I am waiting for the next version of GeoWrite to come out and hope it will include the color option. Other than those minor downfalls, GeoPaint is a good paint program with all the tools you need to become a real artist.
GeoPublish is a full featured publisher with more goodies than I have room to write about. Import graphics from Newsroom, Dazzledraw, Print Shop, Printmaster. Stretch, squeeze and anything you like, because it's as easy as clicking the mouse button. Another feature I like it the ability to smooth out a graphic and also large lettering; when you stretch an object you can choose "smoothing" from the import menu and GeoPublish will smooth out all those rough lines and print them out just as they appear on the screen. The one thing Geopublish does not have in the tool box is an eraser. This can cause problems, as you will have to delete the addition in whole, such as a circle that you only want a section of. If it's too big or small, you can just click on the corner button and change the size or the pattern, but if you want to take out just a piece of your graphic, it isn't possible.
GeoPublish is only limited to your imagination and your ability to learn the manuals (there are 4 of them). After a little practice, you'll be printing out newsletters like a mad man. The disk also comes with a demo program, I suggest you watch these and they are self running so no work is involved (that's what computers are for right?).
Berkeley Softworks recommends that you use a ram card to make running Geos Applications much faster. You can load the programs onto your ram card by using a ram driver that shows up on the desktop. You just double click on the Application and dump it on the ram drive icon. So if your local Apple club has a copy for rent, check it out and I am sure you'll enjoy what you see.


The Dialogue Box
Computer(Apple)Fest
by Dennis McClain-Furmanski

Where have all the Apples gone? It seems the orchard is being overrun by the clones.
AppleFest has been the traditional show and gathering for Apple, it's third party developers, and loyal customers for many years now. But it seems things are changing. For better or worse remains to be seen, and is the subject of our dialogue in this article.
Starting with the upcoming show in May, AppleFest will be held in conjunction with a larger show, called ComputerFest. The show's organizer, previously Cambridge Marketing, now called Exposition Management, has put together a show designed as follows:
May 4th through 6th, at the Garden State Convention Center, Somerset, NJ. The main floor will be divided into all Apple on one side, MS-DOS compatibles on the other, and the center section for those who cater to both operating systems. All the traditional seminars will be offered for AppleFest, as will similar seminars for MS-DOS and general interest subjects. One ticket gives the bearer entrance to all exhibits, and seminar priced tickets makes all subjects available. Tickets are $10.00 for exhibits only, conferences admission is $45.00, and special half-day intensive workshop tickets are $99.00. Information can be had from Expo. Management at their new address, 1601 Trapelo Rd., Waltham, MA. 02154, the phone number 1-800-262-FEST remains unchanged.
Mike Dodge, AppleFest Conference Director, explained their reasons for moving the show from Boston:Eight times the number of people within driving distance, reaching a new set of attendees rather than the same ones in the metro Boston area and costs to all are projected to be half what they were as New Jersey, and the Somerset area in particular, are more centrally located and therefore more competitive.
One major factor in combining the show with other computer types is the developers. Many have been pulling out of AppleFest because it's only a share of their market. They develop for many machines now, and want to reach a wider audience. Adding the shows together gives those developers a chance to present their goods to the Apple world, as well as others.
But will this be a good thing for the Apple world? Let's explore...


Arise, ye Apple faithful
by Dennis McClain-Furmanski

Ever since Apple, Inc. started eliminating competition by cutting off the sources for mail order sales of their computers, they've been building a wall around themselves. This is fine for the quarterly profit reports. A captive market pays what it must for what it desires. But that's an unhealthy attitude when taken to extreme. And I think that's what Apple, Inc. has done.
This separatist view, copied from IBM's habit of completely ignoring the fact that competitors exist, clears the road and speeds the way for pursuing a direction of choice. It also removes the feedback from the marketplace as to whether this is the direction the consumers are moving.
Apple, Inc. has done this so effectively that they now have a computer they don't have to advertise to sell. It sells no matter what they do. But the common cry among the users is that the company doesn't offer enough support. And why should they? You're on their turf.
Placing the Apple on the floor with many other computers will place a burden on the company that they're not accustom to an longer. They'll have to compete with all the others. Whether it's intended this way or not, it will happen. I work for a commercial computer network that has all computer types represented. One of the major problems we face in the messages is computer bashing; the old "mine is better, yours is junk" stuff. And this from professional developers, system analysts, programmers and computer science professors. The juxtaposition of disparate computer types seems to bring out a competitiveness. The choice of computer gets identified with the person, and the ego involvement can become a cause of dissension.
Apple will be in the ring with the others for the first time in many years. Will they come up lacking? Quite possibly. A solid fortress can become first an ivory tower, and soon after, a hole in the sand for the corporate head. And who will be to blame? Certainly not the users. They've been rightfully demanding for more and better all along. Not the developers. They've gone so far as to organize their own union to provide Apple, Inc. with the information on what they need to keep the market viable for themselves and the company. So who's left?
Apple, Inc.'s long standing attitude of ignoring all but their own ideas has built a feeling of helplessness and apathy into much of the market. Many people don't bother to even complain anymore. They just go out and buy something deferent. And NOT a Mac. If Apple, Inc. can dump on one of their lines, they're able to do it to another.
Perhaps this will be the showdown. Can enough Apple loyalists attend to show the company what they want? They could, but will they? With 70% of the market being MS-DOS, it would only take a gaggle of casual observers from that arena to outnumber the Apple users and add further insult to injury. Or, a concerted effort could be made for all of us who really care, to show up and tell everybody there that we came for APPLEFEST(!), not a menage of machines.
So far, Apple, Inc. has not signed to show up. Perhaps they've just rolled over and died. Or perhaps they've already buried a live body. What can you expect from a company whose chairman sells off his stock?
I will suggest that, in the face of the opposition, the show being half the other computers, and half our own Apple mater, we all make the effort to attend. Bring yourself and your loyal Apple friends. Show the company that we care enough to keep things going. Show them that we aren't afraid to put our machines against all comers. And most of all, show them that we want them to follow us back to the forefront of the computer users, by providing the finest technology possible for us to expand our minds with.
If the Apple comes up lacking in this show, it may in fact be the fault of the company. But, if the interest in the machine is lacking, they'll use that as just another reason why they should dump it. We owe it to ourselves to show Apple, Inc. how much we really care. If we don't, then that's our fault. The responsibility for the results can be shared by all of us.

IMSAI IBM
Commodore 64 Compaq
Atari 800 Kaypro
Osborne NEC
Texas Instrument Toshiba

Which column would you like to add Apple II to? I truly believe we can make the choice.


Runnin' with the Devil
by Dennis McClain-Furmanski

Every so often you might find that there's something you want or need to do with your computer, and it just isn't available as a software package. One alternative is to write it. But programming is quite a job, and requires an enormous investment in time. Another is to find a computer that does have the software you need. Unfortunately, that requires another investment; the green stuff that's in such short supply.
I had a chance to work with a friend, programming custom databases. The development package, TAS Professional, runs only on MS-DOS machines. I had to either travel to his computer every time I wanted to work, or else get my own machine.
I looked at the current market of MS-DOS machines, and I was depressed. The base machine start out well below a thousand dollars, but the extra equipment I needed would have doubled the price or more. The people I would have to buy from were generally merchandisers who were great at quoting specs, but couldn't unravel the acronyms they spouted to save their invoices. And those bottom end machines were made by companies that weren't likely to be around next year. I had the same feeling about some of the stores. The vision of Mel himself, perched on a ladder, hanging a sign that said MEL'S COMPUTERS over the sign that said MEL'S STEREOS which already covered the MEL'S VACUUM CLEANERS occurred to me. Having just received my new GS, I wasn't prepared to invest in another machine, particularly in the midst of a blue light special economy. Besides, I couldn't afford the names on the better machines.
Having been a fan of Applied Engineering, I trusted their work implicitly. So to give myself the ability to work in the foreign environment, I ordered their PC/Transporter. When I received it and started to use it, I found I'd made a good choice. Now that I've used it, I am truly impressed. This device with its attendant software ranks as one of the consummate hacks in all of the Apple's history. Changing the name to Miracle Engineering wouldn't be out of line.
Techie junk on the PC/T goes like this:
A V-30 CPU (8086 compatible processor) with a 16 bit data bus running at 7.14 MHz clock speed. 768K RAM, 640K for the computer and 128K for system use, which includes the "Portware" that allows the use of virtually all the Apple peripherals already connected. This RAM is dual ported so the PC/T can reach into the Apple, and the Apple can use the PC/T for a RAMdisk or AppleWorks desktop space. On board MFM floppy disk controller, the writing format used by MS-DOS machines. Hard disk is accessed separately, but the portware only allows 8 drives total. This includes logical drives and RAM from the Apple side as extended/expanded. The drive control is NEC 765 compatible, a standard for MS-DOS drives. It can also revert to GCR encoding (the writing format used by Apple drives) while in Apple mode.
Video output is CGA, either digital or analog, provided through the same port, switched in software, and also an NTSC standard monochrome output available separately, and running concurrently.
Use of the V-30-80, Z-80 compatible cpu is not yet supported.
Physical size is 10" X 3" with a separate 2" X 3" board for the switchable video output/connector. RAM chips are 256 X 4 DRAMs. Also on board is an IBM style keyboard connector. The II GS and IIe keyboards are remapped for all functions usually found on extended keyboards, including function keys through F10 and left/right/both shift keys as used in some software.
Disk files created on hard drives (an 800K Apple drive can be used as a removable media drive with this!) appear as text files to ProDOS, so are able to be manipulated from the Apple side as a whole. When created, these files can be "preallocated" to a definite size, or made to expand and contract with the amount of software tucked away inside the artificial text file. This slinky approach may cause some problems with knowing exactly how much space is still available on the drive, if it's used for both formats. But due to preallocating the space, you'd have to back up an entire drive, no matter how full. It's a trade off, and I opted for the space hungry but safer preallocation. Because these files always look full from ProDOS, BACKUP/RESTORE is much more efficient from the PC/T side. Apple 3.5 disks can be used to store MS-DOS as MFM files, and are then 720K drives (when connected to the PC/T directly), or they can be used as though little removable hard disks using GCR encoding, and are then 800K.
The 16 MB limit on ProDOS volumes has been overcome by putting a utility in the PC/T software allowing you to merge 2 ProDOS made logical drive files into a concurrent MS-DOS volume. This will allow you to use the entire 32 MB limit of MS-DOS for one device.
The TRANSFER program included with the PC/T disk will move ASCII text files back and forth between the systems and alter them enroute by stripping or adding linefeeds, etc. as needed.
I ran some tests on my PCTransporter, and this is how it did.
I used a program called CPU2 that runs benchmark tests, and compares the speed of execution to the same tests run on a 4.77 MHz IBM PC AT with an 8088 in it. The first test is a mixed instruction set repeated and written to take exactly 10.00 seconds on the base machine. The second performs 10 repetitions on a Sieve of Eratosthenese and compares the speed again.
In the first test, the PC/T came out at an effective speed of 11.14 MHz and in the second at 10.33 MHz. The latter could be increased by the addition of an 8087-2 to the PC/T.
I also tried the two speed up programs, SPEEDO and MHZ. In every case, the PC/T either ran at the same speed, or slower than without these additions. I can only conclude that the PC/T was well optimized in design. It also communicates well with the Apple side. There are several utilities with it's system disk for IBM peripheral emulation.
The only problem I'd had with it was the drives being hooked up through the PC/T were constantly polled while in Apple mode, slowing things down. There was a program listed in an Addendum to the manual that fixes this, giving me a 768K RAM disk, and lets me use my Apple 3.5 drive as either format without the drive polling slowing down the Finder. I also found a patch on America Online that allows me to switch off some of the drives from software, so that the PC/T doesn't see it, and therefore doesn't poll them at all.
I'm extremely satisfied with this device, and would recommend it heartily to anyone in the Apple world needing to work in MS-DOS. But be prepared for a learning experience, both with hardware and software. If you already know MS-DOS, you're halfway home. If you know CP/M, you've got a head start. If you're just starting though, you're in foreign territory, and the going can get rough. Get a copy of MS-DOS, preferably MS-DOS 3.3, or else PC-DOS. Use the standard versions, as some written for specific machines may not work right. The documentation is notoriously bad, so you'll probably also want to get a third party book. There's enough in the PC/T manual to get you started though.
READ the entire PC/T manual, ALL of it, before you do anything. When you start to work on it, follow the manual word for word. We hackers disdain this process, but we also end up on the phone with tech support regularly. Spend the time, and save the long distance dollars; A.E. doesn't have an 800 number for tech support. I didn't read the manual, and I think I just put an MCI executive's children through college.
Consider, you can get a PC/T with the required one 5.25" drive for about $600. You can get a clone for the same. But if you have a modem, printer, other drives, including hard drive and color monitor already on your Apple, compare prices again. The cost of the PC/T is well worth it. It's truly a good value. And then add the fact that you get .75 MB of RAM for you Apple, you can't find a better deal.

=====

Vol 3, #2

Ad rates --- $10 business card size (2 x 3 1/3) $20 1/4 page (4"x5"), 1/2 page (8"x5"), 1 page 8"x10")

II Infinitum
by Rick Diffley

To the Members of the Apple II Community:
This year could mark a historic turning point for the Apple II... if you help. We are asking you to voice your support for the Apple II, to convince Apple Computer that the Apple II is worth further investment.
Despite all the rumors regarding its imminent death, the Apple II remains with us, alive and improving. The Apple II community has, in many respects, been thrust backward into the days of semi-obscurity and grassroots survival... however, Apple Computer is currently revitalizing its Apple II marketing and development strategies. With this effort comes the hope of a grand rebirth for the Apple II platform.
II Infinitum is a letter-writing campaign encouraging members of the Apple II community to speak out now! We want you to write not only to John Sculley at Apple Computer, Inc., but also to the Wall Street Journal. We hope that if the Journal receives enough letters, they will be motivated to publish an article on our efforts. This will allow us to then reach Apple stockholders, who have the clout that we need to support our efforts.
In addition, we urge you to distribute this letter to other members of the Apple II community, so that even more voices will be added to this cause. Listed on the following page are some guidelines that we recommended using when writing your letter. The addresses of John Sculley and the Wall Street Journal, as well as others we encourage you to contact, are listed after that.
Please take this opportunity to support the Apple II...only by combining our efforts can we achieve success.
Recommended Guidelines:
- Keep your letter businesslike and to the point - no more than one neatly typed or laser-printed page if possible.
- Avoid form letters or petitions; individual, personal letters have a much greater impact. Of course, you can write a single letter, then personalize it for each person you send it to.
- Include relevant personal information: perhaps discuss how long you have used the Apple II, the types of applications you use now or would like to use in the future, the direction you would like to see Apple take in developing, marketing and supporting the line, etc.
- Avoid negative or derogatory remarks. Focus on the positive and look toward the future.
- Be sure to close your letters by thanking the reader for his time.
- Mail your letters in a standard legal-size envelope which looks businesslike.
- Mail your letters with a return receipt requested if you can afford it.
Names and Addresses:
John Sculley
President and CEO
Apple Computer Inc.
20525 Mariani Avenue
Cupertino CA 95014

Robert L Bartley Editor
The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York NY 10281

inCider/A+ Magazine
80 Elm Street
Peterborough NH 03458

Nibble Magazine
52 Domino Drive
Concord MA 01742

Letters Editor
Byte Magazine
One Phoenix Mill Lane
Peterborough NH 03458

Customer Relations
Apple Computer Inc.
20525 Mariani Ave.
Cupertino, CA 95014
The following are individuals at Apple Computer, Inc. to whom you may consider writing for greater effect (Write to them at the same address as John Sculley.):
* Michael H. Spindler, Senior VP and President, Apple USA
* Bernard Gifford, Vice President, Education, Apple USA
* Randall S. Battat, Vice President, Product Marketing, Apple Products
* David Hancock, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Apple USA
* Morris Taradalsky, Vice President, Customer Service and Information Technology, Apple USA
* Ian Diery, Senior Vice President, and President, Apple Pacific.
NOTE: Since there's been so-o-o many folks asking: "Well, what can I do?", in regards to various posts and reactions to my sharing of the Wall Street Journal article, thought I'd reproduce this material. This writing effort is sort of like the drug awareness commercial on TV where you see the frying pan cooking the egg. The last statement, which also applies here, is: Now, any questions?


Sculley Duggery?
by Al Martin

Rick Diffley sent, via the Apple II Echo to "All", a copy of a memo from John Sculley to Barney Stone about the then upcoming Feb. 26th meeting of Apple II Developers and Apple, Inc. Part of the memo reads: "I assure you we are working to address many of these (Barney's) concerns (about the Apple II line) while at the same time planning for a strong future for Apple Computer, Inc."
What Sculley gives, he takes away. What does "...address these concerns..." mean in light of the "...planning for a strong future for Apple Computer, Inc."? If history is any judge, the concerns will be given lip service while the company chuggs merrily on its future Macintosh direction. There is little doubt that the statement comes by way of the legal department in its weasel phrasing. Yeah, we will "address" the concerns, but not do anything if we, in our mighty judgment, think positive Apple II action could in any way jeopardize the "strong future."
Further, "We (Apple, Inc.) will continue to sell, service and support the Apple II. We are committed to supporting our large installed base of Apple II users."
Really? Since when did Apple, Inc. "sell" or "service" an Apple II computer? I recall that every Apple II computer I purchased (about a dozen), I did so at an independent dealer. Ditto for service. Can anyone recall having work done on their IIe, IIc or GS in Cupertino or at a regional Apple, Inc. office?
As for support, what's this "continue" business? Is Sculley saying that the current scene from Apple, Inc. is an example of the sort of support the II line will "continue" to receive in the future? Don't do me no favors, John.
And what's this "...committed to supporting our large installed base of Apple II users."? How about supporting a larger base of new Apple II users with an advertising blitz extolling the virtues of the line? If Apple, Inc. isn't up to the task, how about satisfied users writing the copy? It's certainly strange that Apple IIs still keep selling with no advertising at all. Hmmmm, I wonder why.
Now just compare the points in Sculley's February 9th memo to Barney (above) to following March 1st message posted on the Apple II Echo by Dale Barker of Bangor, Maine.
"Today at school, I received a flyer from Apple Computer, Inc.'s Marlborough, Mass regional office (several dozen other teachers in my school system received this flyer as well - probably every teacher in New England received one).
"The flyer proclaims that Apple and teachers are 'Partners In Education' and offers special low prices on Macs for educators (even lower than the usual educator rate). Special prices apply to the Mac Plus ($899), SE20 with HD ($1852) and SE30 with HD40 ($2930). The flyer claims that the Macintosh is the computer for the classroom and for teachers. There is no mention of the Apple II line at all.
"When John Sculley says that Apple will SUPPORT the large Apple II user base, he apparently means just that - supporting (or servicing) those that already own Apple IIs. He apparently has no intention of trying to promote the II line any further."
Then on March 17th, Rick Diffley again sent a message to "ALL" relating the results of the meeting mentioned above as reported by Barney Stone.
"Most, if not all, of the issues that have been raised by Apple II owners and developers were discussed including marketing (including advertising, dealers, Apple reps, etc.), Apple's attitude towards the Apple II, the need for new hardware and software, the state of the "third party community", relations with developers and end-users, and un-tapped potential markets for the Apple II.
"The big picture, however, was a forgone conclusion. We didn't have anything to say that Apple had not heard before, and hearing it once again was not going to convince anybody at Apple that they had made any wrong decisions. (...it should be emphasized that this is my own personal opinion. - Barney)"
"The good news is that Apple is not about to drop the Apple II from its product line.
"(Please read that again. Now memorize it, so you can quote it whenever some less-informed person tries to convince you otherwise!)"
Barney goes on to say the Apple, Inc. "...is serious about supporting its installed base, even if their ideas about what that support should include are not exactly what we... would like to see." He goes on to mention the new SCSI card, the 1 year warranty and Apple's planned participation in Apple II related conferences this year as evidence of support.
"The bad news is that there will be no major new push to market the Apple II. Apple's future is clearly the Macintosh, and you might as well get used to it. As Dave Hancock said, 'Our (Apple's) whole purpose in life is to bring the very edge of technology to people.'
"To Apple II users and developers, I (will) make the same point that I made to Dave Hancock: Not everyone needs 'the very edge of technology'. (AppleWorks) was never the very edge of technology, yet for vast numbers of people, it's all the computing power they'll ever need. And, of course, far more powerful programs have been, and continue to be, available for the Apple II.
"While the nature of the Apple II market may change over the next few years, opportunities will continue to be available for hardware and software developers, particularly in the educational market, and a wide variety of products will be available to end users if you will continue to support the companies that support you."
Sigh, ed.


Gain some, lose some
by Al Martin

Everyone, simply everyone, gave rave reviews with the release of AppleWorks 3.0 --- speed, power, flexibility non-fattening and a built-in spelling checker. No more QuickSpell enhancements to buy, right? Uhhh, not really. Like a lot of "improved" products (the "new" Coca-Cola comes to mind), many times there are losses along with the gains.
Fer instance, when I typed "judgement" for "judgment" and then spell checked the document with AppleWorks 3.0 <OA-V>, the word "judgement" showed up as a non-recognizable word. I then asked for suggestions and got the following message: "Unable to find any suggested spellings." I then manually corrected the word and the AppleWorks 3.0 dictionary recognized "judgment".
Now "judgement" is not that far off from "judgment" and I wondered what would happen if I checked that spelling with Beagle Bros' QuickSpell. Lo and behold, there was "judgment" as a suggestion along with several others. "How come?," I asked myself. Didn't the Beagle Boys write the AppleWorks 3.0 and QuickSpell? Not giving suggestions for such a small error in spelling did not make sense when the old program did the task very well.
I posed the same question to a friend and long-time AppleWorks-TimeOut user. His answer, based on information he gleaned from an electronic bulletin board, was that Claris specifically forbad Beagle to make changes in Claris' concept of the AppleWorks 3.0 spelling checker. QuickSpell, as he explained, checks the words phonetically as well as by letters.
After some messing around with all of this, I still use AppleWorks 2.0 with the "old" QuickSpell. I find it much less frustrating than depending upon what is provided with AppleWorks 3.0. By the way, I like the "old" QuickSpell better than the latest version with its loading thermometers and limited suggestions.
One other problem with the AppleWorks 3.0 spelling checker is that the darned thing stops at alpha-numeric street numbers and ordination like "177th" or "1st". QuickSpell can be configured to ignore these and I find that really useful.
Apparently instead of fixing the bugs in AppleWorks 3.0, Claris just wants us use patches instead. I may be old fashioned, but I don't see any real improvement in this aspect of AppleWorks 3.0 or the latest QuickSpell and that's my "judgement".


The Write Stuff
by Dennis McClain-Furmanski

Of all the things that people do with computers, word processing is probably what they do the most. Just the time saved in piecing together parts of documents rather than completely retyping is enough to justify the purchase for many businesses or anyone who writes seriously.
But typing is only typing. Sometimes we could do just as well for less money by using a typewriter. Error correction is easier on a computer, and the result looks better, but what can the computer do to really save time?
There's several useful utilities out that can help you do some things with your system, things that can save a great deal of time and energy. I've tried a few of them, and have compiled a listing and description of them. These are available on America Online. For those of you who don't telecommunicate, or just aren't on AOL, I can send you these programs on a disk. If you send me a mailer with a disk in it, and include enough postage inside to cover the cost of mailing them back, I'll copy the programs onto it and send them back to you. Make sure you send them to:
Dennis McClain-Furmanski
The Road Apple
2565 Shore Dr., #2
Virginia Beach, VA 23451
Some of the following descriptions are taken directly from the documentation that comes with the programs.
Dogpaw is a powerful added-ProDOS-command program which provides an easy and convenient method of displaying and/or printing text files from the BASIC environment. It is primarily intended as a means of presenting on-disk program documentation, though I'm sure many will find Dogpaw useful for a variety of other text viewing/printing purposes. Dogpaw is public domain, and all programmers are welcome to "package" it along with their own public domain or commercial programs for the purpose of handling documentation files. Non-programmers will also find Dogpaw a useful thing to have on hand for displaying documentation (or other text) files.
Dogpaw works with ProDOS TXT (ASCII text) files, AWP (AppleWorks Word Processor) files and "compressed" files. Compressed files will be explained later. Dogpaw will work with files of ANY length, to the maximum allowed by ProDOS. When displaying text on-screen, Dogpaw presents the text in word wrapped form on either the 40 or 80 column screen. If you were reading this from your screen, Dogpaw allows you to page forward and backward through the text, unlike most text-to-screen utilities, which only offer one-way scrolling. Dogpaw also has a "search" option which allows you to scan through a file for occurrences of any word or phrase. If Dogpaw detects that it is running on an Apple II+, the on-screen text will be displayed in upper case, with lower case a selectable option.
When being used to print text, Dogpaw formats the text for the printed page, and has the option of printing a header at the top of each page. This header can be centered if desired, and can include the page number. While Dogpaw is printing, the number of the page being sent to the printer is displayed on-screen, and the user can pause or end the printing at page breaks. This is useful if single sheet paper is being used, and with most systems, by "printing" to a switched-off printer, this feature can be used to start (actual) printing at some given page in the text other than the first. Both the screen-displayed text and the printed text can be set to either single or double spacing.
Compressor is a ProDOS-based, machine language program which reads an ASCII text or AppleWorks AWP source file, and converts it into a new file which is about 30% smaller than the original. This compressed file can then be displayed or printed by Dogpaw, and will appear the same as the source file. This will be useful for situations where Dogpaw is being used to display large amounts of text, and disk space is getting short. Compressor can also decompress its compressed files, converting them back to ASCII text files. It requires 80 column display and lower case capability.
To use Compressor, simply BRUN it and enter the pathname of your source file and the name you want to give the object file at the prompts. If the source file is ASCII text or an AppleWorks AWP (word processor) file, the object file that Compressor creates will be compressed. To decompress a file, just enter the name of the compressed file as your source file. Compressor will detect that it is a compressed file, and the new object file will be decompressed standard ASCII text. If the name you enter for the object file is the name of an existing file, you will be asked if you want this file to be overwritten. Your source file will be unaffected by Compressor.
The exact amount by which Compressor reduces a file's size will vary. Source files that include a lot of upper case and/or numeric characters will not be reduced as much as more ordinary files. A file that consists entirely of upper case and/or numerics will not be reduced at all. There is no limit on the size of the source file to be processed by Compressor. If the source file and object file are on different disks in the same drive, Compressor will prompt you to swap disks if and when necessary. Just be sure you have the object file's disk in the drive when you first enter its pathname.
Columnist is a text file post-processor which takes any TXT (ASCII text) or AWP (AppleWorks Word Processor) file and converts it into a new file in which the text is formatted in two or three columns on each page. This converted file can be then loaded back into your word processor for additional editing and printing, or can be printed by Columnist. Before converting a file, you adjust various format settings to control the page layout of your document. These format settings include such things as: Number of lines per page, width of left margin, width of each column, amount of space between the columns, number of columns, and whether the columns will be full justified. You can add multi-line page headers and/or footers to the formatted file, and can include printer control-characters.
Columnist is for all Apple II's but the II+, and requires 80 column display. Although it makes some use of MouseText, it has alternate displays if it is run on an un-enhanced IIe.
With Columnist you should be able to do simple, newsletter-type desktop publishing projects. Columnist is text based, rather than graphics based as most desktop publishing programs are. This has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include the following: Columnist is fast; it prints as quickly as your printer allows. This can mean a savings of HOURS over most IIgs DTP programs. Columnist works with all types of printers, including daisy-wheel and other letter-quality printers. Columnist uses the fonts that are built into your printer; this gives you clearer, better looking text than is available with most 8-bit graphics based DTP programs. Columnist is simple to use; most of the formatting options available to you are listed on a single menu screen. The major disadvantages to Columnist's text-based nature are that it doesn't allow true WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), imported computer graphics, or proportional type fonts.
Columnist can also be used for such things as printing 2-across or 3-across mailing labels, or columnized data base reports. With an AppleWorks data base of addresses, you would first "print" a data base report to disk as an ASCII test file, and then load this file into Columnist to format and print it.
FPAGE is a shareware program that reformats an imported text file so that it can be printed on both sides of the paper. After loading a text file, you're asked what margins you want, and any header/footer material you want included.
It then prints your file first in alternate pages, such as odd numbered pages. Then it will prompt you to reverse the paper, and will print the other pages on the backs of the first. This is a great space saver for all those long document files that come with some programs (ProSel comes to mind; great documentation, LOTS of paper).
GEOS CONVERT UTILITY 3/13/89
In order to provide a more robust operating environment for GEOS (tm), Berkeley Softworks extended the ProDOS (tm) file system. While these extensions enhance the capabilities of GEOS, there is a trade-off. At this time, only a few utilities fully recognize GEOS files.
This is of primary concern with telecommunications packages, which allow users to transmit files across phone lines. Although telecommunications packages that can transmit GEOS files are in the works, it may be some time before they are actually brought to market. In the interim, Berkeley Softworks is providing the GEOS Convert Utility.
The GEOS Convert Utility converts GEOS format files into ProDOS binary files so that they may be manipulated using standard Apple II ProDOS utilities. The Convert Utility can also reverse the conversion process, reconstructing the original GEOS file from the ProDOS file.
The above are all 8 bit applications and should run on the //e, //c, //c+ and IIGS. The following are two desk accessories that I've found to be particularly helpful on the GS.
The IW II (ImageWriter II Text Printer Desk Accessory) is for printing ASCII text only. It is not designed to print graphics, or the fonts used by any graphics based programs on the Apple IIGS. Instead this desk accessory gives you complete control over the ImageWriter II printer, allowing you to print text in Draft, Correspondence, or Near Letter Quality in any of the typefaces built into your ImageWriter II printer.
Additionally, the IW II will print text as a background task provided you leave its' window open, and you do not quit the application program you were using when you started printing.
Paper Saver Desk Accessory
As you know, printing with the ImageWriter II can be a nuisance. After you have printed your document, you still must get it out of the printer. To do that, you must scroll it up by hand, or line feed it one line at a time, to the perforation. This, as you know, means you have to reset the paper to the TOP OF FORM, before printing another document.
Sometimes when using other programs, the program does an extra form feed, wasting a whole sheet of paper, or, you must turn it back by hand.
NOW, there is an NDA called Paper Saver that will scroll the paper to the perforation where it can be torn off, then returned to the proper print position with the click of the mouse. It will also form feed forward and form feed backward, so you can form feed back a whole sheet to the starting position of the paper. You can also use this NDA if the program you are using does not do a top margin. You can feed the paper up or back one line at a time to position the paper in the place you like, and then set the TOF(Top of Form). The last thing you can do is to put the paper in the park position, (or back to the tractor feed) for using a single sheet, this saves taking the paper all the way out of the printer. What you do is click on park paper and the paper will back out to the tractor feeds, at this time the NDA will remind you to flip the lever from tractor feed to friction feed. This stops the tractor from feeding the paper to the platen. Then all you do is quit the NDA and print with single sheets, when you are ready to go back to tractor feed, flip the lever back to tractor feed and do a form feed using the printer buttons.
So there you have it, several different useful additions to your software library. If you use them, don't forget the shareware fees. After all, it's these fine programmers that make us all able to have the "Write Stuff".


Same problems, different era
by Al Martin

The following is a partial message I received on my local Apple echo. The phone number has been obliterated for reasons you will see later.
"A WWIV board with all the online games, and even some new really cool ones you haven't seen yet. We are just starting and want as many new users as possible. All the online games are free (No Gold system in use). And new users get an instant 1 1/2 hours access. Call NOW!
"Also, new users get immediate access to 12 different file areas and we don't have a ratio up, so download all you want. For each 10k you upload though, you get an additional hour on the BBS. Come join the hottest, funnest BBS around.. Games 'n Files. Call us Now! Your SysOp: Rosy Pom. Don't forget: XXX-XXXX."
Being an early riser and a curious sort, I modem dialed the number at 6:30 on a Sunday morning. I got a very sleepy male, "Hullo?" Oooops. A quick disconnect then a wait for a more reasonable time. Perhaps the sysop forgot to leave the modem on.
To double check I voice called at 7:45.
This time I got a nice lady who inquired about the time of day as in "Do you know what time it is?"
I was embarrassed and flustered. I explained the posting on the BBS. Suddenly she understood and graciously explained the situation.
It seems her teen-age son had set up his own BBS and was using the home voice phone number to run his board. "No wonder the phone's been ringing at all hours," she stated. She went on to thank me for taking the time to call and
tell her what I read including where I saw the posting.
A couple of days later I checked the same board and found the same message sans phone numbers with a disclaimer that the earlier posting was a fake. Guess mom permanently disconnected the sysop.
Remember when kids who acted up were "grounded"? The bike was locked in the garage, the car keys were impounded, no visits or phone calls to friends, take the bus or walk to and from school and that was it? Well, today this young man will have his modem taken away!
Same problems, different era.


Predictions
by Al Martin

AppleWorks 3.0 is the end of the line for the finest software package ever.
Apple II programs will be written on a Mac frame.
More major software companies will be dropping the Apple II.
The present Macintosh line will go the way of the Apple II. The new RISC Motorola 88000 is the reason. The 68040 will replace the 68030 and maybe there will be a 68050, but don't count on it. (This, despite a listing of 6 proposed Mac releases listed on page 119 of March 19th's Business Week. Such planned include the cheaper Mac II "Elsie," a $2,200 color Mac w/o screen to replace the SE30 and a $1,000 replacement for the SE and Plus.)


From the Publisher

The printing of this edition of The Road Apple was held up pending the results of John Sculley's press conference of March 19th. Would there be a solid commitment to the Apple II? Would Apple, Inc. pump some bucks into the II advertising coffers? Would there be an improvement in the IIe, IIc and/or the GS?
Hah! The mountain rumbled and brought forth a mouse (joke intended).
What do we get? Another gee-whiz Macintosh, that's what. This one is called the "fx", a run and shoot machine that carries an unenhanced price tag of $8,900 plus change, well within the budget of the average user, you betcha. Some Mac models have been reduced some 5 to 7%. This may be the first step in the phasing out of the current Mac line that has been buzzing around for some time. Oh, yes, there is the new II SCSI card for $129 with no upgrade plan listed for current owners and the 1 year warranty, something Apple, Inc. should have had years ago. How about the same guarantee that the II line will even be in production one year from now?
What do we want from Sculley? Support! What do we get? A bone to gnaw upon.
I find it interesting that several major newspapers and national magazines have carried stories lately about the troubles at Apple, Inc., mainly about the miserable bottom line. They focus on the Macintosh, its poor sales, the "feel good" management style of Sculley and the firing of employees. Not one of these articles even mentioned the Apple II line except for Newsweek, March 26th, which called it "...effectively obsolete...".
While you're writing letters to Apple, Inc. encouraging their continuation of the II, you might want to drop a line to the major business magazines and major newspapers telling them of the "ignore the Apple II" policy from Cupertino and perhaps a few personal war stories. Any company that fritters away a useful and popular product line without any advertising support is certainly newsworthy.
Meanwhile, the "MacinTrouble" users are getting testy.
In a Macintosh Echo message from Stephen Rea to "All" titled "Major problem with IIfx", he stated
"The first major problem with the IIfx has surfaced. In addition to the different SIMMs you need to use, the accelerated SCSI need a special terminator. You CAN NOT USE CURRENT TERMINATORS with the IIfx. If you accidentally attach a hard drive with internal termination, you will fry the IIfx motherboard, and the drive controller card."
Try this exchange between Macintosh users Mike Cane and Rick Emerson:
MC:" ...(Steve) Jobs created the Mac partly as a price-response to the 10G Lisa. And he had planned to sell the Mac at a price of around $1500 or so. But Sculley ... upped that price to about 3Gs or thereabouts.
"I think Wall Street has responded accordingly to the collapse of the Mac Plus/SE market. They understand that the lack of sales on those machines does *not* mean people are waiting for a low-end Mac -- they're likely saying 'screw this' and buying a clone. And that means less $$$ in Apple's coffers *plus* an erosion of market share."
RE:"I just priced an SE/30 2/40 at $3,299 and, oh, by the way, $99 for a standard keyboard. Given the price of non-Apple memory and non-Apple hard drives, to say nothing of the absurdity of selling the keyboard as an add-on, this price is a rude shock to those of us who held on with their 128K's when everyone else shouted 'IBM!' And when I asked if that was the 'best and final offer,' I got a take it or leave it answer.
Another Mac user even went so far as to suggest a "necktie party" for Mr. Sculley if the rumored Radio Shack deal has any substance.
Finally, why is Apple, Inc. advertising for GS programmers as was done on the Apple echo?


Editorial
by Dennis McClain-Furmanski

Generally progress proceeds with the drunkard's walk called serendipity. This is what keeps it interesting. When it's corralled and made to follow predetermined tracks, it halts through lack of both interest and results. Both marketing and science itself proceed with logical steps and only the illusion of direction. But only those in marketing can convince themselves they can also choose direction.
Witness: through marketing decisions, companies fold and disappear. It's exceedingly rare for a company to remain entirely intact, much less in existence, over the course of years. Science doesn't harbor these illusions, and continues.
"FORWARD!" is a claim uttered after the fact, usually by a baffled media, and in the tone of a nervous giggle.
When engineers ran NASA, they made it to the moon in the 10 years they were told to. When marketing ran NASA, things cost twice as much to do in twice the time, and managed to kill 3.3 times the number of people per instance, and due to faulty decision, rather than faulty design.
The relevance? Apple became a Fortune 500 company in record time. At the time, they hopped from one neat idea to another. The long range plans were to continue having neat ideas. The farthest ahead they thought was to finish a current project, and usually a new one was started before the previous was shipped. And then Jobs made his major mistake: He hired a marketing expert.
In the first 5 of the intervening 6 years, Apple doubled in net worth. That could and would have happened based on sheer momentum. In the last year, it has faltered. There are signs now that Apple has begun to lose its romance with its 'grand plan' and is starting to sidle back towards the wellspring of its existence, the Apple II series, the computers that continue to sell and sell WELL no matter what they do, violating their hallowed tenets of marketing.
If they do not remove the limitations placed upon the company, which marketing chants like a mantra "Bottom line... Bottom line...", we may get to see an unprecedented phenomenon, the continuation in the life of a computer line beyond the existence of its company. In case you miss the implication, I'll make it explicit: The loss of the II line would be the death of Apple, both in the financial sense, and in the loss of credibility in the marketplace among potential buyers of the Macintosh line.
Ray Kroc had enough sense not to pick a direction and try to force its implementation. Imagine where McDonald's would be if he had decided "5 Million served.... but now we're going to sell 5 course meals for twenty bucks a shot. And if you want a burger, come in the back door, and don't speak to me." He was smart enough to know the world would continue to buy the burgers, and do so long after he was gone.
This is dedicated to all the folks with ][ Infinitum.


Suggested Apple, Inc. corporate motto
"All computers are equal, some computers are more equal than others"


Ode to Apple Owners

You got your modem and CPU.
The printer tests "OK."
The docs are read, it's in your head.
'Tis time to compute today.

The software's here, the monitor glows,
It's time to "boot" and "run."
Mousing through the menu,
Gee, I'm having fun.

New worlds open up and help is there
As you learn this novelty.
Folks drop by and marvel at
Your productivity.

Old friends call, you're too busy to chat,
Can't even recall their names.
You're spending all your leisure time
Playing computer games.

Just one more round of "Super Bash 'em!"
This time I'll give no warning.
I've fought through all the many levels,
Heavens! It's four in the morning.

Sleep evades me, my VISA's drained.
My savings have been spent
For this damned computer stuff
And the time just sort of went.

What's this? Another upgrade
From last month's "newest" version?
My wallet's flat, there is no more
For this latest financial incursion.

Then I hear that Apple, Inc.
May abandon my treasured II
And support no more my computer, for
I've been shafted by a royal screw.

The Mac is now the "only" computer
They tell us and ask for trust.
I wonder what has happened to
The computer for the rest of us.

So to all of you out there,
Be not full of sorrow.
For what's being done to the II today,
They'll do to the Mac tomorrow.
--- Al Martin

=====

Vol 3, #3

Ad rates --- $10 business card size (2 x 3 1/3) $20 1/4 page (4"x5"), 1/2 page (8"x5"), 1 page 8"x10")

Renewals

In response to a call about subscription renewal notices for The Road Apple, I put a red tag on the last issue you will be getting. The tag says, "STOP, Last Road Apple unless subscription is paid. Use the form in this issue. We appreciate your support."
Last issues are calculated at the time of purchase. For instance, if you purchased a subscription and received Vol. 3, No. 2 as the first issue, the last issue would be Vol. 4, No. 1 (6 issues or one year later). I search my data base for any whose subscription are up with the current issue and tag those copies.
If you get a tagged issue, you have two months to resubscribe before the next issue comes out.


APPLE(computer)FEST
by Dennis McClain-Furmanski

Everybody has heard the horror stories, many of them before the fact. Apple didn't go to AppleFest, which wasn't AppleFest, but only as a subset of the newer, larger ComputerFest. Applied Engineering didn't show either, although some of their sales people were working some of the retail booths. I tried to get in to talk to one of the sales reps I know from A.E., but he was always so busy selling, I couldn't. They didn't need a booth.
There were two other major manufacturers there, I.B.M. and Commodore. Both had large areas with lots of machines. Only the Commodore booth had a significant number of people, and they were always the same ones. I'm willing to wager Commodore owners already.
The displays were about 90 per cent Apple oriented or Apple inclusive. The people were about 95 per cent Apple users. So much for the "Computer" part of the Fest.
So just what is the state of health of the Apple world? Personally, I'm so tired of the doom messages that I could dump my accumulator. Has Apple's strength in the market been better? Sure. Has it been worse? Definitely. These statements are entirely subjective, and you're more than welcome to disagree. But there's only one major question that's important; it's the question that The Road Apple was created to demand an answer to.
Are things going to get better?
You're rootin' tootin' they are.
Let's take a look at the show, and some of the results.
I've read messages written by several who watched people at Roger Wagner's booth. After a thorough demonstration of the capabilities of HyperStudio, they went and bought GS's.
What was it that did the trick? Besides Roger's obvious dedication, I think it was because of the new version of HyperStudio. Before, if you wanted to read a stack, you had to run the program. The new version, 2.1, includes a run-time module, so that the stacks can be made self running.
I'm still rather awed by the implications. Roger obviously has such faith in the program, that he's convinced that people will continue to buy it even when they don't need it to see the results. He's counting on the fact that after they see the results, and the ease by which they were attained, they'll want to buy it to create their own.
What happened on the floor at the Fest proved him right. Not only did he sell an enormous amount of HyperStudios, he also is credited with selling Apples.
It's been said quite truthfully that Visi-Calc made Apple.
HyperStudio more than any other single program is selling the GS. If I didn't already own it, I'd buy it now to support such a daring move by a loyal Apple third party developer.
Beagle Bros was of course there, and they were showing some repackaged products and some new additions. I didn't have time to go through everything with them, but I did hear right from Mark Munz that Timeout Telecom 1.2 (the version that will have transfer protocols operating) was at the time only weeks from release. Actually he said 7 to 10 days, but that 4 to 6 weeks would be a good thing to tell people.
They're working hard at it, so give them the more generous estimate, eh?
As far as the panel discussions went, all were fairly well attended, both Apple specific and general interest. But it was still an Apple audience. In one talk, a person described their company's new products for education. They'd been a traditionally Apple company. When someone noticed that all the boxes said IBM compatible, they asked if there was Apple versions. When the answer was no, their faces said they lost interest. So much for the bottom line readers.
With all the corporate types that have been dominating the scene for the last several years, the main issue is pure profit. There's no thought of loyalty. That makes great sense if you want to make a bundle fast and move on. Now, it looks like they are moving on, and I'm glad to see it.
There will soon be a lot of room for many new startup third parties. And there's an enormous amount of talent ready to fill those spots. Rather like the late 70s and early 80s. And you know what I look forward to? Talent and loyalty just always seem to stick together.
The health of the Apple world is increasing immensely. And it's all due to the sloughing off of the corporate leeches.
If any of you, or anyone you know, is interested in being a pro at this stuff, now's the time. Soon, the money will be back, and so will the three-piecer crowd. It's time to polish up that shareware and go commercial.
Now wouldn't that just be the neatest thing since doughnuts grew holes? The people loyal to the Apple market recaptured it from the people who can only see green.
Another note of interest came from Barney Stone's II At Work. He described both the fact that people don't want to run MS-DOS at home because they run MS-DOS at work, they just want transportable software. If there were similar programs for the Apple, such as Lotus 1-2-3, and there was a translator program available to convert the data to a form readable by the Apple, they could use the Apple at home or even at work, for the same things that they do now. He continued by saying, such a thing does exist. On the IIGS System.Disk there's a tool called an FST, a File System Translator. This is exactly what it's for. Also, the new 1.44 MB high density drives for the Mac could easily be built to work on the GS, making another trasportability statement. Wouldn't even be a major project.
The tools are in place, why haven't they been used?
More importantly, will they be?
The rumors are brewing. The GS+ is again raising its vapor shrouded head. A Hypercard for the GS is said to be lurking.
But so what? There's already a fine machine that sells like hotcakes even when the manufacturer ignores it, plenty of things to beef it up, and more software available than any one family, business or school would want to buy.
I heard so many complaints from people at (dare I say it? Why not.) AppleFest, it reminded me of my military time. No matter where I went, most people said it was a lousy place.
If I were to believe all of them, everywhere on Earth would be terrible.
The health of the Apple world is fine. It's losing some fat, getting leaner and ready to make a big jump. It's only the mental health that's been affected.
I think we can fix that.


Are there any Apple II enthusiasts left?
by Marc Farnum Rendino

(ed. note: I wish I could publish this as a letter to the editor, but it wasn't addressed to me. I simply had to reprint it though, to show that there is still Apple Spirit and clear thinking going on in the midst of the market bog.)

Is there anyone out there that is willing to actually do something?!
Do we have any life left to us, or are we just whining shells of what used to be the famous Apple II spirit?
Everywhere I go I hear people moaning and groaning.
"Other computers at AppleFest?! Blasphemy! Besides, the Apple II couldn't possibly compete with IBM machines -- they're real computers!"
"Sure they gave us System Software 5.0, but big deal! I want a zillion gigaherz CPU."
"If Apple doesn't give me <insert request here> I'm going to buy an IBM 486-SUX."
Hey folks! Wake up! Would you feel like contributing to a group that spouted such rubbish? Or would you feel like contributing to a group that positively sought what it wanted?
"Hmmm... Other computers at AppleFest. Now we can show them what we Apple II folks can really do! And we can corral all those vendors that haven't done squat for the Apple II, and show them we've got cash for quality products!"
"Wow! System Software 5.0 sure is impressive! And Jim Merritt says we ain't seen nothin' yet!"
"Hey Apple! If you did <insert request here> you would really make a lot of money because X, Y, and Z."
Moaning, groaning, and whining are entirely negative -- they achieve the exact opposite of your purpose. If you want to change something, do something.
Want AppleFest to remain an all Apple II show? Tell Apple, tell EMI, tell the vendors.
Want more support from Apple? Tell the folks that make the decisions. Tell John Sculley, tell Allan Loren.
And most importantly, tell them why. A lot of people wanting the same thing isn't enough. A lot of people with cash in hand is a good reason!
"If you do X, Y, and Z, our group would be very likely to buy your product."
Come to AppleFest and wave your cash under some MS-DOS vendor's nose. "Gee, I'd love to buy X, but you only make an MS-DOS version. How about an Apple II version?"
It's up to you.


Don't buy an Apple II
by Al Martin

Here are 5 reasons not to but any Apple II computer.
1. Old technology. The Apple II technology is at least 12 years old and who would want to be stuck with that? All you can do is dumb old things like math calculations, word processing or storing and manipulating data. Get the latest machine and add useful stuff like lots of graphics, animation, musical tones, network with people you don't like, jillions of hyperbytes of RAM necessary and a 12 pound manual that will give you eyestrain, a headache and a hernia all for one huge price.
2. Too slow. Absolutely! Why when you add up all the milliseconds you save in an average day of computing with a "modern" machine, you would have the extra time to do those jobs you've been putting off. Things like trimming nose hair, reading soup can labels or "quality time" with the neighbor's kids.
The important thing is that you have to stay glued to your CPU every second so as not to miss anything.
What with the Apple IIs being so slow, you have idle time on your hands. You might be able to lean back and rest your eyes or take a sip of coffee or stand and stretch while it slowly does calculations. What a waste of valuable computing time!
3. Open architecture. What a mess. You can actually open the top of the beast and look down inside and see all that messy electronic stuff. You can even get your hands on it. Ugh! What's worse, you can make changes on your own. Since we all "know" that the Apple II is solely for young children, the machines have been designed so that someone with the mental capacity of a 5-year old can upgrade chips, cards and the like without hauling it to the dealer and spending next year's mortgage payments.
Having a new, closed system is much better. No ugly gizmoes to mess with. The experts at the factory have pre-selected what's best for you and they know. Who do you think you are to even consider the possibility of understand the workings of a computer? No, the real computers are closed, sealed and locked up tight.
4. Old and cheap software. The darned software is so old or cheap that no one is interested in pirating it or adding on a virus for your computing enjoyment. Also the old software has been used so much that the bugs are gone. No more wild and wacky machine language on your screen. No more program crashing in the middle of an important letter or calculation. Besides, isn't a letter written with a $500 program much better than a letter written with a $100 program?
5. Lack of prestige. Really, can you face your friends if they knew that you had an Apple II computer and you actually used it? They all know that it's just a toy and not fit for important stuff like business and higher education. Think of the shame of packing in an Apple II and having the neighbors see you. To save face you could talk your dealer into loaning you a Macintosh box to pack your Apple II from car to house.


The Price of Piracy
by Al Martin

Software piracy is pure robbery of us all. We pay for it in many ways --- higher costs for the original product, protection schemes that foil making back-up copies, viruses that destroy and the loss of developers who give up in the face of lost income.
It amazes me that some of the most popular and non-protected programs are still around and making money given the huge number of illegal copies floating about. I wish I had a dollar for every pirated AppleWorks that are out there. I'll bet Claris does, too. And don't think that the folks at Beagle Bros are naive enough to believe that every copy of their programs in use are strictly legal. They made a pact with us early on. They don't copy protect; we don't copy.
Early on, I dabbled in a bit of piracy --- not for profit, but to "save" money. I'd accept a copy of a program and pass on copies to friends. It was wrong and I knew it. It was illegal and I knew it. Older and maybe a bit wiser, I no longer pirate in either direction and haven't for a number of years. My old pirated stuff has been converted to data disks.
It's too bad that some are foolish enough to think that they can get away with piracy forever. It's not a game. It's a crime. Yeah, I know that it may appear that I sound like a reformed drunk preaching against drinking, but too many good people are getting hurt. One way ethics is a dirty game. It's time to play fair with the developers and producers who play fair with us. We lose the good developers and you can really kiss the Apple II line goodbye.
As for the pin-heads who routinely use pirated software and cry on our shoulders for sympathy because their computer has succumbed to a virus, the only place you'll find sympathy in my house is in the dictionary.


From the Apple Echo
(The following was posted on the Apple Echo in May, pub.)

Apple has been stupid, and I think they will continue to be.
I know its not really nice to call Apple stupid, but it's really the truth. They say the average person doesn't read Time or Omni, think advertising in Apple IIGS Buyers Guide will do something, and admit their mistakes, but don't correct them. When I was on at the America Online meeting with Apple marketing heads, I asked why Apple all of a sudden just stopped its support of the II in late 1988 when the GS's were selling great, the GS had really surpassed the Amiga in amount of software, etc. They replied with something like "we blew it". Well, that's nice for them to admit their mistake (FINALLY!), but now they need to do something about it besides advertising in GS Buyers Guide and writing an open letter from Sculley in it. Some people think "Wow! A letter from Sculley!". However, an open letter from Sculley was printed in MacUser that stated that the Mac would continue to be Apple's main computer, and that Apple will continue to release an average of one a year. From what I've heard and read, Apple was a good company until Jobs and Sculley came along.
Another stupidity from Apple is that they admitted they should have had someone prevent the "II is dead" rumor from getting around. So, now that they've admitted it, are they going to do anything about it? It doesn't seem like it.
The Apple II is not bad, the Apple IIGS is not bad (it's the same speed as a Mac Plus with windows and the graphics interface, even though it runs at a lot slower clock speed), Apple Computer is bad. I have already promised myself that I will not support Apple by buying a Macintosh after the past few years.
--- David White

Phoenix, AZ -- Greg Schaefer and Jerry Cline have just announced the formation of InSync(c) Software, a new software publishing company that will be dedicated to offering Apple computer users quality products and support, while providing publishing assistance to both new and experienced software artists.
Schaefer is the author of ProTERM(R), the telecommunications software for Apple II computers, and Cline is, among other things, author, president of The Arizona Apple/Mac User Group and User Group Forum Leader for America OnLine. The duo announced that their first release will be version 2.2 of Schaefer's ProTERM telecommunications package. ProTERM, recently published by Checkmate Technology, Inc., has long been considered a standard for Apple II users.
Schaefer, the prototypical software genius, authored ProTERM at age 19, as well as GBBS (Greg's Bulletin Board Service), GBBS Pro and other software goodies. On the other hand, Cline as a user group "Ralph Nader," is committed to defending and promoting the cause of Apple II and Macintosh users. Together the two hope to provide a special understanding of the needs of the, "most important and often most ignored" players in the software business - authors and users.
"Starting with an established winner like ProTERM is exciting," Cline explained, "it's the solid gold type of product that any new company would like to use as a launching pad." Cline continued, "It just serves as proof that we are 'InSync' with the software world, hence, the name of the company."
"InSync is really a description of our future plans, as well." added Schaefer. "Soon, we'll be adding some innovations to ProTERM, and developing and aiding the development of some new applications for which we, as users, see an immediate need.
Cline first saw ProTERM when he went to visit Schaefer at his offices during the Denver rollout of the Apple II GS in the fall of '86. While the pair were involved in some consulting (BBS chatter), Schaefer unveiled his new
telecommunications package - ProTERM. "As a grudging ASCII Express user, I saw the magic of ProTERM instantly," stated Cline. "It was exciting and I wanted to be involved."
Cline's enthusiastic response made a believer of a friend who was with Cline for the ride, Andy Niemic, then president of Checkmate Technology. Niemic listening to Cline's remarks, stepped in and snapped up the rights to publish ProTERM.
"Take a look at the May 1990 issue of A+/inCider magazine," Cline said, "ProTERM is ranked first above ALL other Apple II telecom applications due to its advanced, easy to use features and we have ideas for the future to make it even better. Now that Greg is really an integral part of ProTERM again and is just finishing up at CU Boulder, we have plans that will make InSync Software a recognized company."
"In spite of Checkmate's important part in publishing ProTERM," revealed Schaefer, "Jerry has always been its unofficial product manager." Greg finished stating, "Now with Jerry working as the official product manager plus handling the day to day business of InSync, we'll be in the publishing business and free to create which is exactly where I've always wanted to be. This will be an extremely fruitful and rewarding partnership, and our goal is, that users and other software artists reap the benefits."
For more information, contact:
Jerry Cline
InSync Software
PO Box 22141
Phoenix, AZ 85028-2141
602/992-5515
--- Mike Dong

The Atlanta Journal and Constitution Fri 11 May 1990 Page C-9
XEROX SUIT AGAINST APPLE IS DISMISSED
San Francisco Chronicle
Xerox Corp. has given up the one remaining claim in its suit against Apple Computer Inc. over rights to the display technology in the Macintosh computer.
As a result, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker dismissed the closely watched suit. Xerox's decision will allow it to appeal the case more quickly. The company is studying the matter.
The technology at issue in the case, known as graphical user interface, helped sell million of Macintoshes and has forced other manufacturers to offer similar easy-to-use systems.
Xerox had alleged that many features in the Macintosh originated at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center in the 1970's. The suit asked $150 million in damages.
A judge dismissed five of the Xerox's six counts against Apple on procedural grounds.
--- Jeff Brielmaier


WAY COOL....
by John K. Gibson, Apple II Evangelist

(ed. note: Sometimes things come out that make you feel real good all over. It makes me think we're winning, slowly but surely. The following is edited down from a couple different messages on America Online. The author is both a staff member on AOL, and a sales rep for Apple. I've seen many a message of his that was very down, particularly after dealing with the Macolytes he has to work with. This message is different.)

I have been in contact with several people that are major players in the Apple II world. I have contacts within Apple that I am speaking to on a regular basis.
The Attitude at Apple is changing... Apple is claiming the Apple II. I have felt it in the words of the Education Reps and in the people in development people that I speak with.
At the recent WWDC conference Apple told Macintosh developers that it is easy to cross develop for the Apple IIgs. That it is easier to program for the IIgs than they think it is. Get this people...THIS IS APPLE TALKING.
Also Apple stated that it is Socially Respectable to program for the Apple IIgs but it is also Socially Responsible.
For the last 2 years it felt like a brick wall had been built around Apple Inc when it came to the Apple II user. I am seeing road blocks swept away and I see and feel the changes.
Don't expect Changes to happen overnight. These things need time. But several very positive things are happening. Two of which are:
1) Apple II development funds have been increased by 20%, and
2) Apple II development has been brought together into one group. Whereas they had been scattered in different areas.
I believe that the these 2 changes are significant signs that the Apple II isn't dead... and that things will happen.
The signs are right.... The feelings are right....
I HAVE FELT THE FUTURE AND IT IS WAY COOL!!!!!!!!!!
Apple has said that they will make the Apple II and support the Apple II well into the 1990s. This is a statement that I Believe.
As for Apple being absent at Applefest, plans for Applefest May were made about 8 months before the major changes took place. Apple had a strong presence at Naug C' 90 (National Apple Users Group Convention). Also Apple will have a strong presence at Kansasfest. The A2 Central Apple II developers Conference.
Yes, Apple wasn't at Applefest. That is the past... We talking about the future. I have seen and felt changes in the Attitude of Apple Inc.
Apple is claiming the Apple II and Apple will continue to sell and support the Apple II well into the 1990.
The Mac Apple Bridge... don't get your hopes up too high. There will be a machine that will have the Ability.... get that... the Ability to run Apple II software... but I have it from good sources that it is also going to be an option on the machine, I also hear that it will only run 8 bit software. The bridge will not supplant the Apple II.
The Future of the Apple II is bright... Just keep the faith..

* * * * *
And this, from the inside. There is hope.
I think all that we at The Road Apple, the folks with II Infinitum, and all the others who've expressed their feelings towards Apple's previous policies have done made a difference. I really think we're being heard.
But I also believe this could become another snow job if we let it. If things are really beginning to go for us, this is not the time to rest and enjoy a small battle won. This is the time to renew our efforts.
We MUST keep the momentum of change going, else the big wheels at Corporatino stop turning again.
Write to Apple using the II Infinitum title. Let them know they're headed in the right direction. But let them know we won't settle for letting them stop now. The victory will be to the vigilante.
--- Dennis McClain-Furmanski


The Top Ten

It seems that every publication puts out what it considers to be the best (or the worst) of whatever it deals with. The Road Apple is no exception. Here are the ten top software programs according to the Publisher.

1. AppleWorks. Absolutely no surprise here. This "do-it-all" word processor, spreadsheet and data base is the backbone of the Apple II line and the one against which others are judged and that includes similar programs for other computers. It is simply amazing what jobs AppleWorks is called upon to do and how well it does them. After six years (prehistoric by computer standards), AppleWorks still keeps chugging away tirelessly. It does what other programs are supposed to do and it is so easy to learn.

2. TimeOut's enhancements for AppleWorks. Again, no surprise. The Beagle Bros boys consistently churn out quality programs, stand alone and enhancements, that meet the needs of the consumers and in the case of the TimeOut series, keep AppleWorks up to date. The documentation is always first rate and the programs work. Their philosophy of no copy protection has cost them dearly but the honest consumers appreciate the attitude of trust.
The beauty of the TimeOut series is that you only have to buy what you need and that keeps the investment cost way down. However, everyone should have UltraMacros to use their AppleWorks most effectively.

3. ProSel. This is a hard disk owner's dream come true. The disk management system is comprehensive and easy to use once understood. The documentation is thorough, though not easy to understand at first reading. It's been said that author Glen Bredon's sentences read like paragraphs and the paragraphs read like books. Amen. Once you've tried ProSel, you'll never go to anything else. Besides, what else is there?

4. ProTerm. A "must" for the modem user. Even a dummy like The Road Apple Publisher can use it to great effectiveness with just a little work on the learning curve. It's fast, easy to set up and adaptable.

5. Publish It!. For the Apple II desktop publisher fanatic there is nothing finer. The ability to import AppleWorks text directly (after checking the spelling, of course) and graphics from a variety of sources along with a fine printing output makes this the best of the bunch. It is also the fastest and most versatile. Just wish they had a full word wrap around.

6. Print Shop and Print Shop GS. This grandaddy graphics program is still mighty useful for making those special banners, cards and posters. There are whole libraries of graphics and fonts available for every occasion and more are always on the way.

7. Labels, Labels, Labels. This "sleeper" from Big Red Computers is a handy program for creating custom mailing labels directly from an AppleWorks data base complete with different fonts and graphics and in color, if you want. Almost any kind of label can be made for disks, video cassettes or whatever. It's very user friendly.

8. Shrink It. Here is the packing package that does it all. It's menu driven, easy to learn and operates at good speed. Now that I've had my computer for a few years, it's time to archive and Shrink It is the program of choice.

9. Shanghai. It's just for the GS but it's got to be the best chewing gum for the mind game to come along. Absolutely no time limit, coordination or dexterity problems. You play it at your own pace unless you happen to choose a timed game. It's a great way to relax between the sheets --- spreadsheets, that is.

10. Fingerprint. It's not software, but it performs a valuable software function --- saving whatever is on the screen and printing it out so you can save it or study it later. This little gem has been very useful in analyzing fonts and graphics or capturing something important that wouldn't ordinarily be printable.

I'm sure that some of these are on your top ten also and you could give me an argument of your favorites. However, I like 'em. They work. They are cost effective. And they will be around for a long time. By they way, I'll stack them up against any similar programs for any other computer or system.


Editorial
by Dennis McClain-Furmanski

For some months now, something has been burning in me. There was an editorial in another magazine which basically stated that "they don't direct the market, they just report it."
To me, this is the epitome of irresponsible journalism. Every single thing that goes into print is going to affect people. They may agree or disagree, but they're going to take in that information; it will become part of their psyche.
Every single mention of a product is an advertisement. It can be good, bad or indifferent. If the reader sees it, it means something.
This so far only covers the mention of goods manufactured and possibly advertised. Still more important is the content of the journal itself.
In the case of Apple, many people are quite upset over the past treatment of the Apple II line. To write on for the dwindling numbers of users on topics of interest while ignoring the wasteland being created at the retail level is more than irresponsible, it's suicidal.
An industry magazine lives on that industry. It will only survive as long as there is sufficient interest for that publication to be viable. I would think that if the publisher really cared about their subject, they would take a stand.
Hundreds or thousands of people depend on these publications for their education and support. This is particularly true in Apple's instance. To merely report the availability of goods, services and options for productivity is to turn the collective back of that publication on what these people need most; a focal point.
In the absence of an organized focus, one generally materializes. This is what happened with ][ Infinitum. The unwillingness of the major publication for an industry to take a stand has left them with the image of a tool of the very company they write about. This is not the type of association I would put on a resume'. It's sad that those in a position to have the power to help put momentum into Apple have chosen instead to take a position as laconic as the non-existent marketing strategy which caused so much unrest.
The invention of the printing press is credited with being the most critical event in ending the dark ages. The American Revolution would been much less likely without the writings being circulated, such as "Common Sense". The saying "The pen is mightier than the sword" is not just a homily, it is a truism.
To be fair, both the same publication and the same writer have spoken out about Apple's policies before. But then even that makes you wonder, as David Letterman says "what goes through their minds."
Apple has been talking out both sides of their mouth for a long time. It appears the malady is contagious.
If you catch me talking like someone who just stepped out of the main offices at Corporatino, do me a favor, will you?
Pull my plug.


AppleWriter Patch
by Dennis McClain-Furmanski

AppleWriter is one of the most popular word processors ever sold for Apple computers. The operation of the II GS made a change necessary. If you want to do it yourself, and run your old IIe version on your GS, you can do the following.

AppleWriter GS Print Modification
This patch will fix AppleWriter IIe so that it will print to an ImageWriter via the GS serial port. Use a backup copy of AppleWriter. DO NOT attempt these changes on your original disk!
1. Set the prefix of the disk containing the Apple Writer system files.
2. UNLOCK AWD.SYS
3. CALL-151
4. BLOAD AWD.SYS,A$2000,E$6020,TSYS
5.
a) Look at $49C7 -- if it is $A0, change it to $60. If it is not $A0 go to part "b". Finish by changing two more bytes:
Change as follows:
Location From To --------- ----- -----
$4F7E $01 $10
$4F85 $31 $13

Go to part "c".
b) Look at $4DB0 -- if it is $A0, change it to $60. If it is not $A0 then you are in deep trouble and own an unidentified version of ProDOS AppleWriter. Finish by changing two more bytes:
Change as follows:
Location From To
-------- ----- -----
$4F67 $01 $10
$4F6E $31 $13
c) BSAVE AWD.SYS,A$2000,E$6020,TSYS
6. Reboot and test.
7. This patch is courtesy of Don Lancaster.


HyperStuff
By Dennis McClain-Furmanski

Just as GEOS has brought the graphics interface environment to the Apple II series, and Roger Wagner has produced an improvement of the HyperCard for the IIGS with his HyperStudio. Techware has made another move in keeping
the 8 bit II series up with the big bit bangers by producing a HyperCard product for them.
Tutor Tech is a complete and fully interactive HyperStack program, designed according to the press release as being for educators. But what II series program doesn't say that now days?
The program also interfaces with the Apple Video Overlay card, the Pioneer Laser Disk player, will soon interface with CD-ROM, and also will read Mac HyperCard stacks.
It works with Thunderscan and Computer Eyes digitizers, has a full featured paint program in it, and interfaces with most other paint programs directly, or by conversion to ProDOS of the other files, using CONVERT on the SYSTEM.DISK.
Owners of the Video Overlay Card can get $50 off the $195 price tag (less by mail or store).
If you don't have a mouse, it works with a joystick, Koala Pad or Muppet Keyboard.
TUTOR-TECH by Techware
PO Box 151085
Altamonte Springs, FL 32715
(407) 695-9000

=====

Vol 3, #4

KansasFest '90
by Al Martin

The A2-Central Developer's Conference was a smash hit again this year. Tom "Uncle DOS" Weishaar is to be congratulated by the entire Apple II community for his dedication to the computer line and hard work in organizing this fine conference. This year Apple, Inc. was well represented, which is a tribute to the quality of Tom's get-together.
Thanks also to Tom Vanderpool for manning the A2-Central store and taking such good care of the customers for all those long hours. And to Sally (sorry, Sally, I didn't get your last name) at the registration desk who got us in our right rooms and generally held our hands. A personal tip o' the cap to Dean Esmay who helped this electronic dodo understand the "Dungeons of Doom" otherwise known as GEnie. The Road Apple's GEnie address is A.Martin10 if you care to drop me a note.
Sadly, the Soviets were not present this year and they were sorely missed. They were there is spirit, however. Yours truly did a Pravetz 82 (Soviet Apple II clone) presentation complete with a working sample (special thanks to Ron Lewin of Micol Systems who provided it) and slides of the Soviet-Bulgarian joint venture.
After attending three AppleFests in San Francisco and two A2-Central conferences, I'm convinced that A2-Central is THE Apple II event. I know it's primarily for developers, but as an avid, though backward, user, I find that I get more out of the Kansas gathering than I ever did out of AppleFest. If at all possible, do plan to attend next year.
As an open suggestion to Tom Weishaar, how about adding another day at the front end of the conference? With some built-in free time, we'd have more opportunities for casual conversation, presentations and a shot at visiting Kansas City along with the Royals game, which, by the way, was postponed by a heavy rain this year.
And speaking of Kansas City, four of us found the shrine of barbecued ribs and beef --- Arthur Bryant's place at 17th and Brooklyn. Nowhere have I had better barbecue. Huge portions of succulent pork ribs or beef brisket barbecued to perfection and topped with a sauce that is heaven-sent. Backed by great fries and washed down with pitchers of icy beer, it's an eater's paradise with reasonable prices. Just a short cab ride from downtown; don't plan to do much strolling around outside alone, if you get my drift.


What's new and news
By Al Martin

Laser Computers is working on an "all in one" Apple II clone system that will sell in retail stores like Sears and Penny's for $499.

For the developers, Laser offers free advertising by putting 4-color ads in every Apple II clone unit they sell. Just send the copy and pictures to Laser and they will do the rest.

Laser is also working on a true Apple II clone laptop. It will be the size and shape of the PC portable they currently produce. The problem is that they are looking for a company to do the engineering. Rollout is a year or two away depending on development time. Whether or not they beat Apple, Inc. to the street remains to be seen. The company that does will have a winner on its hands.
Though not a full blown portable, Laser will release an Apple II compatible version of its P/C 4 about mid-August. Dubbed the P/C 4 Laser 128/Apple II, it weighs in at just under two pounds and measures 7.6"x10"x1.3", and runs on four AA batteries with a life of 45 hours or on an A/C adapter. The SRAM is 32k with 2meg ROM with programs and dictionary. It moves at 3.58MHz and displays 4 lines with 40 characters.
The beastie has a word processor with a spelling checker, spreadsheet, phone directory, appointment book, personal file, expense account file, alarm clock with 16 settings and a phone dialer. There are many other options you can custom install.
The great thing is that the data can be transferred to an Apple II computer using AppleWorks with a supplied cord and software. The unit sells for $199. I've already placed my order.

Sadly, there will be no GS (8/16) clone coming from Laser. The machine can be produced (a prototype was displayed at the '89 KansasFest). The problem is that once the changes are made to run GS programs and not violate copyrights, all Apple, Inc. has to do is to patch their chips and Laser will be forever playing catch-up. Rumor had
it that an 8/16 will be released in Canada. Could not confirm that.

Version 9 of Copy II+ is the last one Central Point Software will produce. This is the end of the line for that fine product. There may be an upgrade, but that's it.

Cirtech is in the final development stages of Duet, a card that will run Mac programs in the GS. The following is a quote from a Cirtech handout:
"Duet transforms the Apple IIGS into a powerful, low-cost, colour Mac!
"Duet is an innovative new product that provides a real bridge between the Apple Macintosh and Apple IIGS computers. For the first time, it is possible to run both Mac and GS software using the SAME computer.
"Duet comprises a co-processor card and special 'link' software. The card (which fits into any standard slot in the IIGS) has a 16Mhz 68020 processor with one to eight Megabytes of RAM together with a custom ROM. The system uses all standard Apple peripherals as 'Mac' ports or drives and is totally transparent to the computer user and all Mac Applications. Both the 68020 and the GS 65816 processors operate at the same time. The 65816 handles all input/output tasks while the 68020 is used to run Mac programs and the main operating system. The system results in amazingly fast performance (in a 'normal' Mac the processor has to handle almost all I/O itself, degrading overall performance). The Duet system actually outperforms the Mac IICX!
"Options
"68882 co-processor chip (fits into socket on Duet card).
"RAM expansion (supplied with 1Meg, expandable to 8 Meg).
"Duet is currently in the final stages of development and is scheduled for shipping by December, 1990.
"For further information, contact: Catrona McKendrick, Cirtech (UK) Ltd., on 0835 23898, FAX 0835 22471"
No word on the price except that it will be "less than a Mac".

Apple, Inc. demoed its new HyperCard GS for a three-hour stint. Because of the Confidentiality Agreement I signed, I can't tell you anything about it. Besides, it isn't a product that I plan on using and since the presentation followed lunch, I started nodding off about 10 minutes into the show. I retired to my room for a well-deserved nap.
There was speculation about the cost. Should be less than Mac's hypercard or maybe even freeware like GS/OS.

For those of you who might have a P/C somewhere around and/or are not intrigued with Applied Engineering, take a look at CrossWorks. It's a cable and software package that allows any Apple II computer to hook directly up with an IBM, PC, XT, AT, PS/2 or compatible. There is an exchange of files with MicroSoft Works, WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, dBase and more. It sells for $99.95 from A2-Central.

From master Apple II user Wade Spafford of Cleveland, here's tip for those of you who have disks but no labels handy or want a quick label maker for disks. Get a roll of 3-M's Post-it tape. It comes in a variety of widths (he uses the 1" for labels). The tape is designed for cover-up and correction. Its got the Post-it stickum all over the back side and hangs on really well. It's easily removable whenever you want to change labels. It comes in three widths: 1 line (#651), 2 lines (#652) and 6 lines [1 inch] (#658). I've found it to be very handy.


Review: Outline 3.0
by Al Martin

Outline 3.0 by Randy Brandt is a full-featured outline program that resides inside AppleWorks. If you ever wanted an outline program and slugged your way through ThinkTank, this is the answer to your prayers. Outline 3.0 runs with the usual smoothness and bug-free operation I have come to expect from Randy.
The disk comes with the Installer, Customizer, AppleWorks Patch 1.5 and sample files. Though this is a JEM software program, the documentation is in the familiar TimeOut format.
The program is easily installed right off the disk and once in AppleWorks comes up with an <Open-Apple-+> command. The outline can be created on the fly and text added as you go. Once you leave Outline 3.0 <Escape>, all topics and subs are flush left along with the text. If you have written your entire report, select "Remove outline from file" from the special Options menu <Open-Apple-O> and you end up with just your report ready to print. In fact, I'm writing this edition of The Road Apple using Outline 3.0.
Most of the TimeOut enhancements work inside Outline 3.0 as well as the usual AppleWorks commands. For those that don't, like TimeOut Thesaurus or AppleWorks Options, an <Escape> gets you into the edit mode where those enhancements and commands do work. A quick <Open-Apple-+> and you're back in Outline.
Outline 3.0 offers the options of the Harvard (I, A, 1, a), Legal (1.0, 1.1, 1.1.1), Symbol (o, *, =, >, #), None or Custom formats. Once a format is used, choosing another one automatically changes the outline to that one with no loss of topics and subs. Levels of topics are called "Father", "Uncle", "Brother" or "Son". Why the male designations? Randy says, "Since the leading Macintosh outliner, Acta, uses a female perspective, we're just balancing things."
Writing the complete text in Outline 3.0 is a bit more cumbersome than in the edit mode of AppleWorks, but if you do just the outline with brief notes and print the hard copy, it's an excellent road map to keep you on track.
Outline 3.0 works only in AppleWorks 3.0 and is a writer's dream come true. If you're a serious writer, casual writer, student or in business, Outline 3.0 is a "must have". It sells for $44.95 and can be ordered from:
JEM Software
PO Box 20920
El Cajon, CA 92021
By the way, Randy's 30th birthday is August 26th. Hey gang, let's send him greetings via snail mail, GEnie <BRANDT>, Pro-APA board <RANDYB>, Pro-Beagle <RANDYB>, pony express, UPS or whatever. "Old" geezers like him deserve some recognition in their "sunset" years.


Editorial
Sorry state of Apple
by Al Martin

Apple, Inc. reps attended KansasFest '90 in force. Some 30 folks from Cupertino registered. You couldn't walk 10 feet without running into one of them. This comes in the wake of the confrontation last year. Guess Cupertino decided that reinforcements were needed this time around.
From a consumer's standpoint, products shown or mentioned for the Apple II line are a ho-hum deal. HyperCard GS and GS/OS 5.0.3 (inadvertently) were shown. ProDOS System Disk 3.2 was distributed and marked "Not for distribution". It's still the same old ball game.
The mood at the end of the conference was more positive from the developers I talked with than it was last year. I had the reverse reaction. Last year I was encouraged by what I witnessed; this year, I dunno. I came away with an "oh, well" feeling. Maybe the developers are right and I certainly hope they are.
Janet Lee from the Apple II department of Apple, Inc. spoke after Friday's lunch. She indicated that there would be corporate dollars in advertising the II line. As an example she pulled out an 8-page proof of an upcoming Mac ad. Happily she pointed to a 1" x 1" graphic of a GS in the middle of all this and indicated that this was an example of increased corporate support for the II line. My reaction was that first time readers will look at that and think it's another Mac.
She said, "We (Apple, Inc.) will continue to provide Apple IIs as long as the customers demand them." Well, if you don't advertise 'em, how are they going to know about (and demand) them?
Later in the day, I had a chance to visit with her and took her to task about the constant references to "Apple II and K-12 education" and "Mac/business". I added that inCider/A+ will be coming out in the September issue with an article about large and serious businesses being run with Apple II computers. "Why," I asked her, "can't Apple, Inc. accept the fact that Apple IIs are serious computers?" I do not recall a response.
Following Friday's dinner, Ralph(?) Russo of Apple, Inc., told us "Apple (Inc) has not addressed the II concerns properly during the past 2 years. Now we will do a good job."
This, after reading Apple Direct Editor Bill Freais' comment in the July, 1990 issue in the "Editor's Notes" column, "Although Apple Direct can not predict what the future holds for the Apple II, we can tell you this: The Apple II is a valuable and robust product, and as such it still presents plenty of development opportunities. There are more than 5 million of them out there, primarily in the schools, which means lots of people have a vested interest in the well-being of this machine and its third-party software. As long as that's the case, Apple will be there to support it."
If Apple Direct, an Apple, Inc. publication, can't predict the future of the II line, who or what can? We still have this namby-pamby attitude of "well, if the customers demand it, I guess we'll sell 'em products." Where is the courage to forge ahead? Where is the leadership? All there seems to be is the endless reference, again, to the Apple II in schools only. No mention of business, research, science, home production, ad nauseam.
Russo continues, "Apple's history has been to empower the individual, however the ads of the past 2.5 years has been corporate."
"We may see a rethink (of the role of the Apple II) over the next 12 to 15 months," he continued.
Lastly, we listened to Dave Szetela who proudly announced that the Apple developer's fee has been halved from $600 to $300 from last year to this. I wonder what would have happened to the fee structure if the verbal battle of last year had not happened?
In a cover story in the Summer, 1990 issue of The Apple IIGS Buyer's Guide, Apple, Inc. CEO John Sculley wrote, "Apple's commitment to its 5 million Apple II users is to continue to create products and improve the functionality and performance of their computers. Apple will sell, service and support the Apple II line well into the 1990s."
Yeah, how about advertising? How about not only supporting the current 5 million users, but also looking for another 5 million?
Further, "We are currently working on a variety of new 'bridges' between the Apple II and Macintosh families to make that synergy even better." Uhhhh, who will do the "talking" and who will do the "listening"? The point that Sculley misses is that a lot of II users don't give a hoot about working with the Mac. They want their stand alone machines to be even better than they are now. This Apple, Inc. fertilizer about replacing your Apple II with a Mac is falling on more and more deaf ears. Folks have found out that the only replacement for an Apple II is another Apple II.
And, dear John, why does the article appear in only the GS Buyer's Guide? How come the article did not come out in the Apple II specific magazine, inCider/A+?
It is apparent to me that the internal and external battle of the Apple II vs. Mac has caused major damage to the corporation. While Apple, Inc. is snubbing its loyal II customers and losing markets with both lines, IBM and others are hauling money to the bank from markets taken from Apple, Inc.
And that's a sorry state of affairs.


Interview with Andy Nicholas
by Al Martin

Andy Nicholas, author of the ShrinkIt series of packing programs for the Apple II line, was again in attendance at the A2-Developer's conference this year.
Andy, at 22 years old, is a slight, handsome young man, with a very quiet and unassuming personality which belies his extensive computer knowledge. Andy is fun to be with and a "nice guy". A non-smoker or drinker, he was right there with the rest of the "party animals" playing frisbee football at 2:00 AM.
I was able to catch up with him late Saturday afternoon for a few minutes.
RA: How did you come to write Shrinkit?
AN: The archiving programs available were StuffIt for the Mac and ARC for the PC. There was no real archiving program for the Apple IIe. I used the Morvarian College computers and I did some college projects with it. It's become the standard archiving program on GEnie, America-OnLine and CompuServe.
RA: Did you want to make money with ShrinkIt?
AN: No. But donations are accepted.
RA: Have you graduated from college?
AN: Yes. I have a B.S. degree in computer science with a minor in history, Slavic history.
RA: Now what?
AN: I'm looking for a job (grin) in computer engineering, software development only. I prefer utility programs. I've done some animation, but I prefer utilities.
RA: Just what is Paper Bag Products?
AN: A fictitious company. Used it to become an Apple Partner. Been an Apple Partner for 2 years.
RA: What equipment do you now use?
AN: I've got a GS with a 60mg hard drive and 4 meg of RAM.
RA: What do you see in your future?
AN: I'd like to write extensions to ShrinkIt. ShrinkIt will evolve toward a back-up program. I would like to finish my telecom program, ZModem.
RA: Do you have any "dream" programs in mind?
AN: Yes. I'd like to rewrite the Apple GS Finder so that ShrinkIt would be in the Finder.
RA: What is your "computer passion"?
AN: Seeing people able to solve complex problems with ease. Providing solutions and making them easy and to give the machine some intelligence.
RA: What do you think of the fate of the Apple II?
AN: It will come closer and closer to a Mac. I wish for a new full-featured CPU but it most likely will not happen. The future II may not always run 8-bit software. I see a future for the 8/16 computers for some time to come.
RA: Anything you want to add?
AN: Yeah. Something weird happened to me. Went to Jamaica with a college group to help repair the damage from hurricane Gilbert. Got burned both inside and out on the same day.
I was up on a roof repairing it with the hot tropical sun beating down on me all day. That was the outside. Later, I bit into and ate part of a pepper called the Scotch Bonne