Macintosh Potentials
| Published date | 01 April 1990 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb044996 |
| Pages | 297-303 |
| Date | 01 April 1990 |
| Author | Erwin K. Welsch |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Macintosh Potentials
Erwin K. Welsch
Memorial
Library,
University
of
Wisconsin-Madison,
728 State
Street,
Madison,
W1
53706,
USA
The previous columns have discussed Macintosh basics and
begun the examination of application programs, beginning
with, perhaps the most important general application, word-
processing. This column will continue to provide information
on System 7.0, briefly explore some other major application
groups, and begin to look at the use of one of
the
Macintosh's
most important applications, HyperCard. The discussion of
applications will focus on those most frequently used or ident-
ified, by surveys or writers about the best products of the re-
cent year
articles,
as the most significant.
System 7.0
Apple has delayed System 7.0 from its promised summer de-
livery to sometime before the end of
1990.
In April and May it
did distribute a CD-ROM containing System
7.0,
but that was
a 'pre-Beta' test version sent only to developers who were
encouraged to use it in planning their products. From what I
can tell of the news that emerged in the computer press (Info-
World,
14 May 1990, pp. 1,101
and
MacWeek, 15 May 1990,
pp.
1,10) when the pre-Beta version was distributed, the new
System 7.0 will follow the paths generally outlined pre-
viously in this column.
Changes that seem apparent will be enhancements to the
'Finder', such as the improved ability to locate files on a hard
disk, that may supplant many current utilities. Others I noted
were in the descriptions of Interapplication (or Inter-Appli-
cation) Communication (IAC)'. Without first-hand access to
System 7.0, it is difficult to describe authoritatively what IAC
will do, but from news accounts it seems that it will enhance
the capability of applications
to
communicate with each other
by extending the cut and paste idea so that each application
will no longer have to have every component, but can borrow
from others as needed. In addition, there will be dynamic up-
date so that information in one application will be updated if
data to which it refers in another application is changed.
What may make the distribution of System 7.0 an impera-
tive for Apple is the availability of Windows 3.0 for DOS
platforms. Based on initial reaction, the new version of Win-
dows promises to overcome many of the handicaps that, at
least for
me,
made 2.x a disappointment. It
was
just not equal
to Macintosh capabilities. Articles describing Windows 3.0
claim almost 90% of what the Macintosh desktop interface
currently offers. Since a DOS platform offers hardware price
advantages, if Windows 3.0 does live up to advance notices
and developers are able to use it effectively, perhaps its com-
bination with DOS will simultaneously
be a
competitor
to,
but
also a validation of, the Macintosh operating system.
What programmers striving to produce a better graphical
interface for a DOS platform are in essence conceding, per-
haps,
is that
yes,
the Macintosh style of interface is more user
friendly and easier to use, but we can come close. It will be
interesting to see whether 'close' will be good enough to
generate significant competition or whether the Macintosh,
which is already oriented towards the graphics and images
that Windows promises, will continue its dominance in the
graphic user interface market. (For information on System 7.0
developments, the series that Eric Lach has been publishing
regularly in
InfoWeek,
e.g 4 and
11
June 1990, is particularly
useful because it emphasizes current information; reports in
MacWeek and the general Macintosh magazines are also fre-
quent because of
the
importance of the system upgrade.)
Hardware developments
There was nothing to match the introduction of the high-
powered IIfx described in the previous column during this
period, but there was potentially big news recently on the
hardware front anyway. As several stories in the computer
press have suggested, Apple, which has been vigorously pur-
suing the business market,
has
been experiencing competition
with IBM in the field of education, one of
its
primary markets.
With its share of the education segment of the microcomputer
business declining, in part because of the aging of the Apple
IIx series that had been its mainstay in
schools,
and also
in
part
because of IBM's increased competitiveness in the area,
Apple reportedly is looking at the production of lower-cost
models of the Macintosh or at enhancing the capabilities of
the Apple IIx series to make them Macintosh compatible. Al-
though industry rumors are always almost impossible to con-
firm, it may be time to keep watch for a lower priced
Macintosh as well as new versions of the elegant but expens-
ive portable that Apple introduced in Fall, 1989 to appear
sometime in the fall.
Software: spreadsheet programs
Next
to
wordprocessing, the use of spreadsheet programs may
be the second most popular application on a Macintosh. And
for that use, the dominant and most frequently used spread-
sheet is Excel (Microsoft Corp., 16011 N.E. 36th Way, Box
97017,
Redmond,
WA
98073-9717, USA). In the survey con-
ducted annually by
MacWorld,
it is inevitably among the
packages reported as being most frequently used not only
among spreadsheets, but among application programs in
general. In survey results published in the September, 1989
issue ('World Class Macintosh Awards', pp. 164-171), 85%
of the readers voted it the most popular spreadsheet program,
leaving just 15% scattered among other spreadsheet pro-
grams.
Excel, first distributed in 1985, is currently in version 2.2.
It is prized for its ability to utilize the Macintosh desktop in-
terface to its maximum while also providing advanced
graphics capabilities and the ability to use macros, one of the
The Electronic Library, Vol. 8, No. 4, August 1990 297
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