Charles David Tandy: 1918-1978 from the June 1979 issue of Electronics Australia Charles David Tandy, founder of the huge Radio Shack and Tandy chain of electronic stores, died recently at the age of 60. Just before his death, he had seen his Company’s annual turnover nudge the billion dollar mark — no mean accomplishment for someone who, as a child, had experienced the rigours of the great depression. by NEVILLE WILLIAMS

Sun and NeXT throw open the doors to industry-standard object-oriented computing from the February 1994 issue of NeXTWorld magazine by Lee Sherman NEXTSTEP running on millions of desktops with scalable performance that makes it the environment of choice for everything from low-end workstations to high-performance servers. It once seemed impossible. But the stunning announcement in November that found longtime competitors NeXT and Sun agreeing to combine forces in an attempt to push NEXTSTEP as the standard operating and development environment for object-oriented client-server systems has dramatically increased NEXTSTEP’S chances of becoming entrenched in the enterprise, long before Taligent or Microsoft can even field a product.

by David Morgenstern from the February 1997 issue of Australian MacUser magazine Apple this year hopes to put an extra shine on its Macintosh product lines with Halo, a strategy that will aim models at specific market segments. Sources said the company will offer several high-performance configurations with limited availability. The Halo systems will reportedly offer the highest-­speed single or multiple processors available and will provide unique features via bundled PCI cards.

from the May 1982 issue of Practical Computing magazine The mainframe manufacturers are finding that microcomputers - so recently derided as mere toys - are making inroads into their hitherto safe preserves. Clare Gooding examines their contrasting styles, and ponders on how the giant mainframe builders will fare among the quick-witted bandits of the micro world. Time was when anyone working with computers had a hard time at social gatherings. If you were foolish enough to admit it, the reaction was either “Oh that’s all too technical for me, don’t know anything about it”, or worse, an inundation of stories about payroll computer errors and gas bills for £0.

by Vaughn Vernon from the December 1987 issue of Computer Language OS/2, Microsoft’s latest addition to its operating system line, could well become the operating system of the next decade for Intel 80286/80386 microcomputers. Its multitasking capabilities, full-featured application programming interface (API), and extendability to future hardware almost guarantee its success. Microsoft sees microcomputing as a platform for office automation hardware and software: The office of the future (regardless of a company’s structure and line of business) is envisioned as a place of personal and group productivity.

by John Poultney from the February 1997 issue of Australian MacUser magazine Iomega is spinning a new scheme for portable storage: 20MB floppy disks roughly half the size of business cards. The company has shown prototypes at Comdex/Fall in Las Vegas. The new N*hand disks will measure 48mm square and will incorporate floating read-write heads, much like Iomega’s Zip drives. Positioning the products as OEM devices for portable electronics, Iomega said it envisions N*hand competing with flash­-memory PC cards, such as those used in digital cameras.

An interview with Bob Marsh from the December 1984 issue of Unix Review magazine Many factors have contributed to the birth of a personal UNIX market but none has been more important than Onyx System’s decision to introduce a UNIX-based micro in 1980. Bob Marsh, now chairman of Plexus Computers, made that decision. Chances are another company would have done the job sooner or later. But Marsh’s timing was critical. The success of the Onyx product showed not only that a UNIX micro port was technically feasible but commercially viable.

from the May 1, 1995 issue of MicroTimes magazine by Paul Hoffman It’s never any fun writing about the same subject two months in a row. However, the Microsoft stories have taken on a life of their own. Not as much of an unreal life as, say, the O.J. Simpson trial, but a life nonetheless. Last month’s news stories (about a federal judge overturning the consent decree between Microsoft and the Department of Justice, and Microsoft being sued by Apple) caused such a flurry of media coverage that Microsoft is now a story unto itself.

By Dan Azulay from the January 1984 issue of Electronic Fun with Comouters and Games magazine How this powerful language stacks up Those of you who have been driven to desperate acts because you’ve mastered BASIC and feel there is nothing left in life, take heart There’s always FORTH, a very fast, very efficient computer language that is rapidly becoming the language of professional programmers and game designers. If you’re planning to go to computer camp this summer you may be surprised to learn that in addition to honing your BASIC skills to a fine edge you might be presented with a language you’ve scarcely heard of—FORTH.

by Clifford Colby with Stephen Howard & Kelly Ryer from the February 1997 issue of Australian MacUser magazine On 20 December 1996 Apple announced it was buying NeXT Software for $US400 million and would use NeXTstep - NeXT’s Unix-based operating system - as the underpinnings of its future operating system. The announcement ends all speculation that Apple might acquire Be for the same purpose. According to Ellen Hancock, Apple’s chief technical officer, the company is commit­ted to releasing a beta version of the next-generation OS to select user sites and developers by the end of 1997.