from the November 1985 issue of MicroTimes magazine

Jef Raskin believes that computers should be easy to use. How easy? Well, he calls his company Information Appliance, and favors computers as hassle-free as toasters.

By contrast, Raskin says, the current state of the industry more closely resembles a scenario conjured up by Douglas Adams (of Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy fame). “Adams was describing some imaginary product of the future, and he said that people get such a sense of achievement from having mastered it that they forget how useless it is. I think that’s really a key problem in the industry today — a person works on the computer and they get all this mastery, and they just forget all the little gut-wrenching annoyances they went through when they used it first.”

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. Personal productivity is to be achieved through multitasking, common graphical user interfaces, and the sharing of resources such as data and powerful hardware. Group productivity will occur through individual use of wide and local area networks (LANs).

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. The mechanisms should be available in products by the second half of 1997, according to the company.

from the April 15, 1985 issue of ComputerWorld magazine

by Bryan Wilkins

It has taken four years to implement, but an AT&T Unix-based distributed processing system is now being used by a branch of the Internal Revenue Service in its 10 offices.

The project began in 1981 — before distributed processing in a multiuser environment was a popular concept — when IRS planners opted to implement such a system in 10 IRS branch offices. sa Ae

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. The object lesson was not lost on OEMs , who were casting about at the time for alternatives to expensive minicomputer systems.

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. All the Atari computer camps teach FORTH and many others do as well. One new computer—the Jupiter Ace— even has built-in FORTH Instead of BASIC.

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. Hancock said the initial release will not include compatibility with System 7 applications, but she stressed that the new OS will run those applications when it ships to customers in 1998.

by Mark G. Boyd

from the June 1983 issue of Micro magazine

When something new comes along most of us tend to be conservative about giving up the familiar. A good example of this behavior is the use of structured programming languages on microcomputers. Languages like Pascal have been available to us for a couple of years; they are easier to program in and more efficient than BASIC. However, only a relative minority of microcomputer users have switched to a structured language, and none of the major manufacturers offer anything other than BASIC as standard equipment.

by Francine Sevel

from the July 1983 issue of TODAY magazine

Just the right touch of entertainment is often as much a part of a restaurant’s charm as that secret recipe handed down from generation to generation. And, as time and technology have revolutionized every aspect of society, restaurants have had to keep pace. Even pizza parlors have not escaped the wheels of motion.

Today’s number one pizza chain not only has a full array of pizza selections: double cheese, thick vs. thin crust, anchovies vs. olives, salad bar, deli sandwiches, beer and wine, but also the state-of-the-art equipment for high-technology entertainment.