***Conference Report - MacWorld
by John Latta
MacWorld - San Francisco - A Big Flea Market
Points to Ponder
The Macintosh masses came to San Francisco looking for a boost from the
bad news and what they got was a flea market. Seems inconsistent but that
is the state of the Macintosh today. On the show floor we spoke to
developers who were asking the question - where is all this going?
QuickDraw 3D still has a good modular architecture but with the pace of
activities on the Windows side it seems as if Apple is in its own world.
The NeXT boost seems hardly like a boost and more like uncertainty. As
Apple heads to 1998 with unclear OS plans its developers, those who are
still loyal are left holding an empty glass as Apple's market share
continues to plummet. In spite of this gloom the aisles were packed with
end users buying. Different from years past where we saw "suits," i.e.,
corporate types in the aisles on weekdays, at this Macworld they could
not be found. Either a change in clothes or they are not buying - we are
inclined to believe the latter as corporations have largely given up on
the Macintosh.
Apple - Rhapsody is the OS Solution
Apple announced the next generation of its operating system based on the
merger of technologies from Apple and NeXT. It is claimed that developers
will be able to create applications "that leapfrog those of other
'modern' operating systems, such as Windows NT." The first developer
release is scheduled in mid to late 1997 with customer release 12 months
later. At the show Apple also announced Mac OS 7.6 as an update to the
current OS. Apple was also stating that it intends to lead the market
with its QuickTime Media Layer (QTML) for both the Mac OS and Rhapsody.
The next release of the Mac OS is called Tempo and is targeted for mid-
1997. This will be PowerPC native and have a multi-threaded Finder.
Apple - Quick Time VR 2.0 Launched
QuickTime VR 2.0 includes a C API which allows developers to integrate
worlds which have 3D objects, movies, audio and animation in them. As a
part of the QuickTime Media Layer (QTML) developers can port their
applications to both the Mac OS, Windows and the Internet. Support in
applications was announced by Microsoft, Macromedia, Strata, mFactory and
MetaTools. Netscape will support Quick Time VR with plug-in for Navigator
3.0 and Communicator. Apple's QTVR team also announced three key
strategic relationships, in which Be Here Corp., eVox Productions and
OLiVR will collaborate with Apple on QTVR development.
Vertigo - 3D Dizzy
This is a suite of 3D components which allows professionals to bring 3D
models into Adobe's Photoshop, Premier, After Effects and PhotoDeluxe
using a plug-in. One can bring the models into these applications,
manipulate them and change the lighting in real time. The price is $88.
www.vertigo.bc.ca
VDOnet
VDOnet announced the availability of VDOLive Mac Tools which are bundled
into every VDOLive server at no cost. This will allow QuickTime content
to be broadcast from its servers, enabling it tobecome a source of video
streaming data.
www.vdo.net
Pixera - 1 million pixels for $599
Pixera announced a digital camera which supports 24-bit color images with
up to 1M pixels for $599. Targeted for the desktop, Web publishing and
multimedia, it is a part of the Pixera Visual Communications System which
allows for the capture, manipulation, enhancement and management of high
resolution visual images. Available for both the Macintosh and Windows 95
the bundle of the camera and software comes in two models: Personal with
a fixed focus lens for $599, and Professional with variable focus C-mount
lens for $1195. The bundled software includes: Pixera Studio for
capturing and enhancing images and Album as a multimedia data base.
www.pixera.com
Power Computing - Fastest PowerPC
Setting new performance levels PowerPC announced the Powertower Pro 250
MHz and 225MHz multiprocessing systems which begin at $4,995. Based on
the PowerPC 604e these systems these are claimed to be the only
multiprocessing systems on the market today using these processors. These
systems support both the Be and Mac OS operating systems.
www.powercc.com
Plastic Thought - Active Art
Two forms of 3D clip art were announced: Activeart Web Edition which has
1000 files of 3DMF, VRML, Animated GIF and JPEG files which are optimized
for the Web and 3D-Active Vol.1 which has 54 3D objects. The pricing is
respectively $79.95 and $49.95.
www.plasticthought.com
ATI Technologies - Xclaim VR QuickTime accelerator for the Mac
ATI Technologies announced Xclaim VR for PCI Macs which has QuickDraw 3D
acceleration, accelerated QuickTime playback, QuickTime capture,
QuickDraw 2D acceleration and TV out. Using both mach64 for 2D and RAGE
for 3D this card comes in a 2MB version for $269 and 4MB for $349. Also
available is Xclaim TV which is a tv tuner for only $99.
www.atitech.ca
Kaidan - More QuickTime VR Panoramic Tripod Heads
Two new heads were announced in the QuickPan family. QP-5 is Kaidan's
standard QTVR panoramic tripod head for $399.95. The QP-6, Pro version,
is $489.95.
www.kaidan.com
Philips Semiconductors and Metrowerks - Software Development Tools for
TriMedia
Philips Semiconductors and Metrowerks announced that the TriMedia
development tools would be incorporated into the Metroworks CodeWarrior
software development environment. This will allow for a single
development environment for Macintosh multimedia applications using the
TriMedia processor. The new product CodeWarrior for TriMedia will also be
hosted on Windows 95 and Windows NT. The price is $699.
www.metrowerks.com
www.semiconductor.philips.com
Wave Issue 9701 1/17/96 Article 3-01