Voyage Of Discovery To A New Language
The Age
Monday September 13, 1993
THERE'S no business like show business, except perhaps the marketing of new programming languages. Melbourne PC User Group members who attend tomorrow night's 10th birthday presentation by Gene Wang will discover what I mean.
A former Borland executive and current vice-president of Symantec, the hyperactive Mr Wang (pronounced Wong) plans to take attendees on a ``voyage of discovery" aboard Starship Symantec, ably assisted by his C++ product manager Allen Bannon. The multimedia presentation will draw from the stunning Symantec C++ Professional launch held in Boston last week, in which Mr Wang and his associates donned Star Trek costumes to introduce the ``Next Generation" programming language.
Indeed, Mr Wang claims the visual programming facilities in Symantec C++ are ``three generations beyond Microsoft" and that the inbuilt linker is the fastest on the market. With support for DOS, extended DOS, Windows, Win32s and MFC 2.0, the new compiler is well poised to take on the C++ competition _ something that will not be overlooked during tomorrow's presentation.
Another company poised for success is Harvey Norman Discounts, which has scored something of a hat-trick by winning the Three Ps in pre- packaged PCs _ Presario, PS/1 and Performa. Executives within the aggressive NSW discount chain prefer to call it their CIA (Compaq, IBM and Apple) strategy.
By offering retail-specific ranges from the top three PC makers, Harvey Norman is uniquely positioned. IBM's low-end PS/1 models have enjoyed steady sales through Harvey Norman outlets, and last week the company also picked up Apple's Performa range. Some time between now and the Christmas rush, Compaq's new Presario family of PCs will be added to this abundant consumer range, decorating the aisles at Harvey Norman's new superstores in Sydney, Newcastle and the Gold Coast.
The term ``superstore" has been used and abused by the local PC industry for years, but so far only Harvey Norman has come reasonably close to the United States model, as pioneered by organisations such as CompUSA. Key elements are extended opening hours, multiple checkouts, competitive prices, and a broad range of inventory spread across seemingly endless hectares of floor space. Custom PCs created for this market (as typified by the Presario, Performa and PS/1 models), have most ``extras" built in, with an appealing all-in-one price. This includes a selection of popular software, which is generally pre-installed.
It is this packaging process that has delayed the local debut of Compaq's Presario range, already available overseas. Compaq staff claim the Presario PCs are bogged down in the ``Australianisation" process, such as tuning monitors for the Southern Hemisphere's magnetic fields and gaining Austel approval for internal modems.
An alternative for Sydneysiders seeking a cheap PC this weekend is the Osborne Computers clearance, where 350 PCs and peripherals will be disposed of. A relocation of Osborne's headquarters is blamed for the clearance, which also includes various IBM, Compaq and Toshiba PCs acquired via recent trade-in campaigns.
Getting stuck with obsolete stock has always been the downside of trade-in schemes, but this failed to deter IBM from announcing its own trade-in promotion last week. Pre-loved XTs, ATs, Taiwanese clones and even old typewriters can be used to trade up to the latest in True Blue technology.
Also helping IBM customers save money in future will be a range of power-saving monitors, with technology similar to the Intelligent Power Manager (IPM) used in the enhanced NEC MultiSynch monitors due next month.
Like the circuitry used in laptops, IPM monitors switch to a ``standby" mode when not in use, slashing average power consumption.
Marketed in conjunction with the new eco-friendly PS/2E, IBM hopes they may appeal to environmentally conscious, albeit well-heeled, corporations and government departments.
One government enterprise seriously concerned about PC technology advances lately is Telecom. Each year, PC scanning and text- recognition technology becomes smarter, faster and cheaper. The day will surely come when a hand scanner can be swiped over the `White Pages' to create an instant telephone subscriber database. Users could then search and sort the list by address or phone number, instead of just surnames.
Such a prospect alarms Telecom executives, who regard `White Pages' information as copyright material. Strict controls are placed on the accessing of `White Pages' data by telecommunications carriers, as determined by Section 88 of the Telecommunications Act 1991. This legislation essentially limits ``reverse searching" of Telecom's online `White Pages' data to matters of law enforcement or the protection of public revenues.
However, these controls over carriers do not extend to those third- party organisations that re-key `White Pages' data manually (usually in off-shore sweatshops), thus providing a ``reverse directory" facility via products such as CD-ROM databases. In fact, a 0055 reverse-directory facility using such a database was recently terminated voluntarily, after protests over personal privacy invasions.
The 0055 operator can continue to provide a `Yellow Pages' reverse directory, however, as businesses listed there presumably seek maximum exposure. In fact, even Telecom itself markets `Yellow Pages' data in CD-ROM format. But recent Telecom advertisements warning against ``unauthorised computer manipulation of Telecom's directories" suggest that those marketing `White Pages' reverse directories may be skating on thin ice.
Finally, client/server specialist Gupta is the latest US developer to set up shop in Australia, and joins Microsoft, WordPerfect and various others in the search for a managing director to run the local operation.
Heard any underground rumblings lately? Pass them on to Ian Robinson, on (02)4275336, or via CompuServe (100237,3535) or MCI (617-2220).
Don't forget, computer news doesn't end here. Look out for the home computers section in Green Guide every Thursday for hot games news from overseas plus the popular cheat column by games buster Phyllida Fitzgerald.
On the first Thursday of every month, Green Guide also runs the Game Space supplement with colorful stories about the joys of video gameplay and reviews of the latest and best video and computer games.
© 1993 The Age