Price Shock For Mac Upgrade

The Age

Monday September 5, 1994

MAC users contemplating the latest version of the Macintosh operating system are in for a shock and a major drain on their bank account.

Pricing for the System 7.5 upgrade (CD-ROM or diskette) ranges from $199 for a single-user version to $11,000 for a 1000-user version.

The news isn't so bad for Macophiles who have bought or are planning to buy the System 7.1 or 7.1 Pro upgrade kits until 2 October this year. An upgrade from the 7.1 Personal Upgrade kit will set you back $59 and stepping up from the Pro kit costs $30. Going from the 10-user kit costs $495 while users of the Pro 10 user upgrade kit won't have to reach into their wallets at all.

System 7.5 is due to arrive here in late September. Telephone Apple on (02)4528000 for information.

New OS/2.

On the topic of operating systems, IBM has announced the contents of Warp, its second beta release for the next version of OS/2. The new OS/2 Workplace Shell will feature animated 3D icons so that when a user opens a folder, the icon will also open. A PCMCIA software utility included with the package provides plug-and-play capabilities while the LaunchPad facility provides users with single-click access to the applications, folders, printers or other objects they use most.

Also included with Warp is a suite of productivity programs such as IBM's person-to-person real-time conferencing software. Warp will be available late this year.

Notebook cuts.

In an effort to stimulate growth in the emerging area of sub- notebooks, Toshiba has cut around $2000 from the price of its T3400CT color ultra-portables. The T3400CTs are full-function 486 PCs almost a third smaller in overall size and weight than an A4 notebook, according to Toshiba. New promotional pricing on the T3400CT with 120MB hard drive is $5263 while the model with a 250MB drive is $5550.

Pricing on the monochrome T3400 remains at $4615. For information telephone Toshiba on 008021100.

Dictionary on disk.

A new product from EIS provides users with electronic access to a dictionary, even if they don't have a CD-ROM drive. The Megafloppy Macquarie Dictionary contains definitions for more than 48,000 words from Australia's Macquarie Dictionary.

It enables you to check spelling, find the meanings and even search for words phonetically. And for crossword fanatics, the reverse search facility allows you to search for words based on their meaning. The key to the mammoth storage capacity is a fast data compression, decompression and retrieval system that enables up to 5MB of information to be stored on a single floppy.

Users can purchase the Megafloppy Macquarie Dictionary for around $40 from major bookstores. For information telephone EIS on (02)8785111.

Quick invoicing.

Intuit has released QuickInvoice, a software package that works in conjunction with the Quicken 3.0 for Windows personal financial management software to produce professional-looking invoices. The user selects from the drop-down lists and QuickInvoice fills out the invoice automatically.

Information needs only to be entered once, because QuickInvoice remembers customers, prices, descriptions and payment terms. It even learns recurring invoices so that these can be created with the click of the mouse.

QuickInvoices and Quicken 3.0 for Windows are priced at $79 each and can be purchased from major department stores and computer stores.

Telephone Intuit on (02)5627922 for further information.

Power FoxPro.

Filling this week's quota of the mandatory Power Macintosh release is Microsoft with a new version of its FoxPro relational database management system. FoxPro 2.6 for Macintosh boasts a number of new features including the catalogue manager, a graphical interface for managing tables, queries, screens, reports and other database elements.

New Wizards make it easier to create labels, tables and graphs.

FoxPro 2.6 for Macintosh is priced at $149 and users of version 2.5 for Macintosh can upgrade for $60.

A professional edition is also available, priced at $950. For information telephone Microsoft on (02)8702200.

Lotus pricing.

Lotus is offering a number of special trade-up deals on its recently released 1-2-3 Release 5 for Windows spreadsheet software and Approach 3 for Windows database package. For $295, PC users can trade any desktop application for a bundle containing both 1-2-3 Release 5 and Approach 3. Or for $195 they can swap their existing copy of any desktop application for 1-2-3 Release 5. Introductory pricing on Approach 3 is $195 (rrp $695), while the upgrade price from Approach 2.1 is $95. For further information telephone Lotus on 008252408.

Mac camera.

With its four-bit grayscale video, the new $250 Connectix QuickCam is perfect for aspiring directors looking to make the next film noir classic. The QuickCam can film QuickTime movies in sizes up to 240 by 320 pixels and frames rates of up to 15 frames per second.

QuickCam connects via the Mac's serial port, includes a built-in microphone and comes with recording editing software. It can also take stills and produce time-lapse photography. For information telephone Firmware Design on (047)217211.

New QEMM.

Quarterdeck Systems is due to announce a new version of its memory manager program, QEMM version 7.5 this month.

Word has it that the company is also working on a family of user- friendly products for navigating the Internet. The Internet product developments go under the codename of Project Normandy and will include a browser and a navigator.

New Laplink.

Improved remote access capabilities are the strongest addition to version 6.0 of the file transfer software, Laplink for Windows.

Under the new version, users will be able to access their desktop Windows applications, database applications and electronic mail from a remote location. New compression technology will also increase the speed of file transfers, officials said.

Cordless mouse.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the MouseMan Cordless from Logitech, a new ergonomic pointing device that relies on radio waves rather than a cord. The MouseMan Cordless can be operated ``through" objects such as cups, books and other desktop clutter. It boasts three buttons that can be programmed with any of 25 different functions. For example, you could program the centre button so that it executes a double-click. In addition you can also change the size, color, shape and speed of the cursor.

The MouseMan Cordless is priced at $140 and is available from Logitech on (02)9595999.

New-look VirusScan.

THE world is going to become a little more dangerous for computer viruses with a new-look version of McAfee Associate's VirusScan anti- viral software hitting the streets some time later this month.

Version 2.0 will be a departure from previous versions in that the main program has been separated from the virus database. Now when you update, you only need the new virus database rather than the entire package.

This leads to a decrease in download times.

VirusScan version 2.0 can be used on both network workstations and stand-alone desktops, and it offers significant improvements in the areas of speed, ease of use, management flexibility and overall integration, according to the company.

Although the distributor, Doctor Disk, claims the new product is three to four times faster than earlier versions, many testers have reported scans running as much as six times faster.

Unlike previous versions that worked as a shell in Windows, VirusScan 2.0 is a fully integrated Windows application. DOS loyalists can still run the program from the DOS command line.

VirusScan works by scanning storage devices, memory, and boot sectors for virus ``signatures", bits of code that can be identified as belonging to specific virus programs.

The new-look VirusScan will be updated every month rather than six to eight months with the previous versions. Pricing starts from $375 for a one-to-five machine licence for DOS, WINDOWS or OS/2. For more information contact Doctor Disk on (02)2812099 or call the Doctor Disk BBS on (02)5526670.