gaged in a struggle to re-engineer ,BY Dan Farber their info_nnation systeins. Terms like downsiring, ·upsizing, rightsiz en ~ears ago this v,;; e,k._:0}>~ ;" nahsts labored _long mto. the . ing, and scalable have become part of every managei 's .vocabul~ry: . ~ighttopr~ducethepremier issue of PC Week. •; One point is clear. The, expone~ lThe front-i;>age·bahner headline tial growth 'in -power and perfor announced new graphics capabili-· mance of PCs has created an envi ties for IBM's.327_0 PC: Apple's Mo- 6 ronment npe forclient/servercom torola 68000-based Lisa workstation ', puting. Mainframes are sharing pro- was expected to give it stiff compe, . cessingdutieswithlow-costPCs,and tition. Compaq hadjust completed· rapid application-development tools its first year d .business with•$1 _1 0 that provide seamless .data access million in s·ales, Pr~sident ·Reaga:n ~~e 1:i~gin~ing -~o ,proliferllte. Lega; ! .'' ' • ' :i i.:.; ..\: ,:~ • ·'' ' • was .entenng his fourthyear-in the cy operating systems such as CICS, White House, and'Lo~~ iriint . ' MVS,andVMSarefindingtheirway, ingmoneywith its 1-2~3 spre~~heet . · onto modern RISC platforms, and Fast-forward-· to 1994. Sam Whit- · .,. new enterprise operati~g systems . from Microsoft and IBM are start- In 1984, about30 ing to emerge. Spreadsheets, word percent or our. rocessors, and databas -'the standard ap- . catiol!-s that readers had LANs~ fined . com puting-are Today,"100 percent _becoming pow erful, multimedia . are connected. tools for collabora- more,John Dodge, Matt Kramer, . tion. E-mail is .now and Beth Freedman-original PC · the hub application Week staff members-are still toil for, global corporations. ing at their trade. The crew of20 has ~d mobile co~puting has. grown to more than 100 writers, ed . ev,olved, froip the .15-pound itors, proiiuct-review analysts, de- portables !0yearsagotohand- . ,.· signers, and artists. Spencer F. Katt has , held' devices ,with wireless con: barely aged, andremainsourchieth . nectioris"and maihl~me ;ccess:· ' . ·/ 'It is also ·ci~a'r that·ihe ~on~-, telligence officer (see ,Page 77) . . ' , ' -f PC Week readers are stilltrying to mental changes that occurred.over connect to mainframes, butnotp · the last decade.will be·dwarfed by changes in the years ahead. It is our marilyforterminal. .• · · · connectivity is no, Job at PC Week to reflect. those tralizing fo~ · chang~s in our weekly co~erage,'and puting sit ,, . to highlight the pro?uds, tre'nds; percent.of Sti:ategies, and companies that will ',' ·,. ii LANsatthei . enable_you to"ri:ake: criti~al te~h- cent of our' r •nology choices, ,.,_ F'·' , and they are 'we look fo;,;.;:nfto serving' you ; for another decade. 1 · :.- , '
PC WEEK SPECIAL REPORT• FEBRUARY 28, 1994
By John Dodge , . In 1985, IBM had expansion slots, enough n termtof important events, the came down wjth a , memory ( lM byte standard; ex · ,last 10 years ani,lil be evenly split , nasty co.Id, which,., pandable to BM bytes.) to run betweenlBM arid);Jicrosoft Corp .. • by 1987,had wors- <''. th,e Mac GUI half de~erit!y, · IBM r:ulidihe first five; Microsoft . , eried into the flu. . anda hard disk built in. We took over in.the.last five. Appl£' ' When, in-1992, it reported a $5 bil- could h'ave arioi,ntedjan'. 'Computerl11c., Compaq Computer lion fiscal loss, the patient entered · 24, 1984-the day The Ma:c ICorp:; LotusDevewpment Corp., Intel the ICU with .a new team of doc- was introduced~as the Corp., arulNovellinc.' allenjuyed t}0r tors. Let's look back at the origins most important Mac moments in the sun, but-the time line •ofIBM's poor health. , . date. But the ori~al IS notched ~s/ly f7J IBM arul Microsoft Blinded by 1984's record profits, Macintosh was over- milestones. · I~M brass over the next two years . priced and underpow-· Recurri7!g themes were the progms rightfully believed c~tomers want- ered, much like its · si!lely fast.er pace oftechnow{fj, con- , ed to tie their·disparate systems ugly predecessor, stantly droppingprices, arul the eru1 of together, but wrot!gly coI;1cluded the Lisa. IBM mainfrarr,,e tyran?IY· .Seven-figur~ · that tJle only important computers The SE and · computers 'have-{argely gone away, re, brandished the Big Blue placard. . Mac II made the ,P,/aced f7J small~;' fheaper,faster:RISG · , IBM not only-ignored, but flaunt- Mac viable in in- arul X8f>.bdsedPCs, 'workstations, arul ed ifs disdain for open standards, formation-sysq!m:s \~ ' servers,' aUrou_tinely networked. ,, · such,as the PC AT architecture it in: .. , c:lepartments ai;id it began. Here are /{ie'/iey-events, trends, arul tro\iuced iii.Au gust 1984. The com- .making appe.:µ-ances in corporate peopk_ofthepast IOye~rs. · · pany's arrogance was symbolized by America. The IS drive culminated the Micro_Channef architectµre, ,. • in 1992, when PowerBooks Who knows what the biJs technologyfor the new six- achieved a 20 percent share of the Don Estridg~ member PS/ 2 family rolled out on· portables market. Many executives would have April 2, 1987. OS/ 2wasunwrapped . gave up'their X86 notebooks for ., accompJished or , that same fateful day. Micro Chan- ·_ the jazzy PowerBooks . ----- where he would nel architecture was billed as a ,Apple's IS drive has since · have ended i:i'.p, had he not tragic "four-lane highway" <;:ompared to fizzled, but with PowerPC Macs ally died with his wife in'an August the PC AT's two.lanes. arrjving ne: moved into the enterprise. exceeding the wildest projections. launched Compaq in February fending its rich X86 turf, IBM want The geniuses behind NetWare's As the saying goes, Windows was in 1982 with a 30-pound arm-wrench ing to pilfer some of it. popularity are Drew Major ( technol the right place at the right time. ing "portable" based on Intel's Who wouldn't? With Intel reap ogy) and Ray Noorda (strategy). The world was sick of DOS and 8088 CPU. While other cloners ing$2.3 billion in profits from its Noorda's goal was simple-drive wanted a standard graphical user like Corona, Hyperion, Columbia, $8.8 billion in 1992 sales, it's clear down the price of networking interface even if itroutinely Televideo, Leading Edge, and Ea where the money is made in the and enjoy ihe subsequent crashed. gle either self-destructed or were computer industry. That's a 25 per market growth'. Microsci.ft smoothed out the put_out of business by IBM's cent net profit, vs. a high of about ,. Despi,te critics'. complaints !;>umps.with the arrival ofWindows law,yers, Compaq got instant re 8 percent selling PCs. that Novell lacks vision, the com- 3.1 in April 1992. The upgrade im spect for quality and sidestepped Driven by fear and intense com pany has defended its turf from mediately hit ship rates of 1.5 mil legal questions about copying the petitive fires, Intel is a feared com rivals, including Microsoft. lion a month. Not even IBM nor IBM BIOS. In September 1986, petitor. Its rivals; many former the FTC nor the Apple lawsuit has Compaq stole the technology ini Intel-ites, are in for a bloody fight. When Lotus · since been able to slow down tiative away from IBM by coming Notes tolled out Microsoft. out with a Deskpro 386 PC, a year The biggest con- · on Dec. 6; 1989, Windows' installed base is ex before IBM delivered a.386 box. . sequence of the PCWeekd.idn't . pected t? top 60 million by the end · Two years later, Cd,mpaq resisted Apple-IBM al _____ play the story on · of the year. Its strength lies iri the pressure to adopt a RISC platform liance announced Page 1. At ilie $62,500 entry price, breadth of applications and . (even though it had a stake in MIPS July 3, 1991, was it was expensive, weird, and ' , Microsoft's unmatched ability Computer Systems Inc's customer · how it changed the way business was inaccessible,. Few could fig to lay down a road map of where Silicon Graphics Inc.) as those chips . done. Networking and frustrating ure out what it did ex it is going. outperformed Intel's X86. Instead, incompatibilities prompted foes to cept E-mail, it told Intel to get with it, which it embrace. and coming off Since Rod Can did, and the RISC crisis went away. Specifically, Apple and IBM the blurry and ion was fired as Ironically, Compaq faces the issue joined forces to stop Microsoft, but overhyped Lotus Compaq's presi again today. · so far have not come close to Agenda (a PIM dent and CEO in Of course, Canion must share achieving their goal. The Power . whose internal jin late October credit with the other founders and PC, Taligent, and Kaleida dra,nas gle was "it works the 1991, he has slipped into relative financial backer Ben "et tu" Rosen, have yet to play out, and both com way itworks"), re; anonymity as president oflnsource but he. lasted longer. In the end, panies have been consumed oy porters and analysts Management Corp., a Houston howe er, he said the possible their own difficulties. were~- If reporters consulting firm. nie soft-spoken _couldn't profitably be done: build The PowerPC notwithstan9ing, couldn't describe it, how ex-Texas Instruments engineer is an ing a low-cost PC. His successor, the alliance has come up short. It could corporations relate unassuming man whose life plan Eckhard Pfeiffer, has disproven has generated some enthusiasm, to it? No one believed you was _to make a good PC and proba that with the ProLinea, Contura, but the big question remains: How could "organize all those bly a decent living. As PC Week and Presario lines. well will low-<:ost PowerPCs run Win random bits of paper" in reporter Mike McPhee remarked in dows and Chicago applications? your worklife ... or should. 1984, "Rod is a real regular guy, the In 1982, IBM But as a momentary diversion Noxious hyping by IS execu type of guy who would take his pumped $250 mil from Microsoft, the pact was thor tives from Reuters, Price Water family shopping at Kmart on a lion into a strug ·oughly enjoyable. house, and Manufacturers Saturday night." gling Intel to Hanover Trust was unconvincing. Three overlooked accomplish ensure a steady From 16K-uyte PCs to 100MHz Today, Notes, which one former ments of his are the creation of the flow of CPUs for its exploding PC Pentiums, from no networking to Lotus executive wanted to sell for • IBM Py clone industry, wresting business. It held onto that stake total connectivity, and from aesktdfl' around $20 million, is the product the standard from IBM, and accel until 1987, when it was sure the metaphll/'S to no desks ar offices, by which collaborative software is erating the pace of PC technology. ·chip maker could fly on its own. we've come a far piece in the past measured. With robust security, .With fellow TI engineers Bill Today, the erstwhile allies are posi 10 years. The next 10 should be a replication, connectfon flexibility, ' Murtb and Jim Harris, Canion tioned to .meet head-on, Intel de- screamer.., tools, and discussion databases, corporations have grasped its ability to bring users closer togeth er. In.one sense, Lotus Notes sig naled the·end of the mainframe era, proving that an enterprise could go beyond vanilla E-mail on NetWare and PCs. You know it's good when Microsoft is still trying to figure it out. Our May 22, 1990, lead head line-"Heralded Windows Faces an ' ., UphillClimb" was the ultimate non sequitur. Windows 3.0, for all intents and purposes, was a "new" product and, like all new products, it faced an uphill climb. Our not-so--cogent analysis of Windows 3.0, perhaps reflecting the mise,ryofthe OS/ 2 experi ence, reeled off objections like too much hardware required, n:09ne • would give up their DOS apps, and not revolutionary.enough, But Microsoft_wasn '. t bettjng the company on a whim. Those objec- '· · tions crumbled as a buggy Win dows 3.0 took off like a shot, PC WEEK SPECIAL REPORT• FEBRUARY 28, 1994 7 4 ADECADE OF COMPUTING ------ enjoys its I 0th anniversary, it will make its large "brainshare." Corporate America may kept its excellence and technological leader Products from page 71 · first major architectural leap: the shift to use IBM PCs and Microsoft OSs, but those ship to remain the trendsetter in the.Jow PowerPC processors. products run on Nov~ll networks. end and midrange printer markets. Apple Computer lnc.'s MacIntosh Apple's Macintosh, intro Novell lnc.'s NetWare ; ~ewlett-Packard Ink-Jet printers duced in 1984, was the first NetWare, which debuted in 1985, is the Co.'s LaserJet ' , While the LaserJet was a major force in di real GUI for microcomput · king of the PC networking liill. By releasing In 1985, Hewlett verting buyers from daisy-wheel and dot ers_. Many industry observ a low-jmpact, high-performapce network Packard 'launched matrix printers, the 1984 ip.troduction of the ers still consider it tobe the operating system when Microsoft and IBM the first worthwhile ink:iet, with its low cost and color capabili easie~t. most powerful op were caughfop in plans too grandiose for ties, finished off those technologies as desk: ~rating system. As the Mac their times, Novell capture_d a remarkably tOf> output devices. 1984's Turbo Pascal is a dirt-cheap pro gramming environment that allowed even kids to write programs on allowance mon ey. Its integrated development environment set standards for ease of development that still apply today. Vldeo8raphcsArray The VGA display, which was intro duced in IBM's PS/2 line in 1987, redefined the mini' mum acceptable • graphics standard with its 640-by-480- pixel resolution. 'Lotus 1-2-3, dBASE, and WordPerfect For software with staying power, Lotus De velopment Corp.'s 1-2-3, Borland Interna tional Inc. 's dBASE, and WordPerfect Corp.'s WordPerfect have been, and still are, staple applica tions. Of the three- all intro duced in the early '8 0 s - dBASE has been the most influential in and out of its category. Even so, it is declining in influence and innovation due to design limitations. Despite some important improvements in size, weight, and functionality, these two original primor - dial subnote- . ...,.i,," \' ,. books, intro-"'.:.: - You're ln Business With The duced in 1990, set an ergonom ~ ' ,.:•_·: ic design stan - Diamond Scan 17FS,Color Monitor. dard that has The new· Diamond Scan l 7FS represents another pinnacle of ac~ievement from the company that has been threatened · been manllfacturing flat square color monitors longer than anyone else - Mitsubishi Electronics. (by PDAs, for ex- NEC Ultralltl The Diamond Scan l 7FS is a.high performance monitor with a.s ignificantly larger viewing area ample) but not displaced. Although NEC than 14'1 and 15" models for ideal upgradability, yet its very compact endosure design easily integrates Technologies Inc. 's UltraLite was the first into existing work spaces. It's the perfect ·monitor for genei'al business, desktop publishing and even out the door, ToshlbaAmericainformation · cost-conscious CAD applications. For exceptional yisual acuity, the Diamonq Scan 17FS provides high Sr.;terns Inc.'s Tll00 and its subsequent prod refresh; flicker-free resolution, Dynamic Bea1iForming (DBF), an lnvar mask for sustained high b~ightness, uct line were more successful. and optical quality, anti-glare and'anti;static CRT coating. Plus, a new three-level color calibration system PagaMaker and Ventura Publisher and optional Diamond Control™ on-screen user adjustment sofrware for even greater performance versatility. AldusCorp.'s PageMaker andVenturaSoft All this at a very competitive price and available for immediate delivery, What more could you want? ware Inc. 's Ventura Publisher revolutionized For more infomiation in the U.S. or Mexico, call us at 1-800-843-2515, or in'Canada call 1-800-387,9630. the desktop- Far im!Jlediate product specifications call Mitsubishi Qwikfax at 1-800-9 37- 2094 .. , . both the Apple and IBM kind .. . . . , -J.1Vi1rsusisH( as legitimate tools . for producing DISPLAY PRODUCTS low-cost,· pro r:Jf& ' Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc., Disph\y Products, 5665 Plaza lilrive,. c;wress, CA 9~30 fessional-looking IPl, PIU..,...PltVlll11II , .Mitsubishi Electric Sales Canada, Inc., 429914tli Avenue, Markham;Ontario !JR 0J2 . · Aldus' Pa&tllaklr documents. Page- -., i .! 1 Mak~r. which debuted in 1984, was a key in C 1994 Mitsubishi Electronics Amcri~ lnc. Specifications subject to chan2t without ll~ ice. The F.ncrgy Star emble'm does not ~resmt EPA ~t d any ~uct or service.~ Scan is• the Mac's success. And marketing·depart a regimred trademarlt of Mitrubuhi Electronics America, Inc. All other tradema!la or registered trademarks are the propcny of their respective holder,. Scttcn images produad from the following companica, Microsoft Corp. (Word); Corel Synenu Corp. (Corel/Draw). . . . , ' .ments haven't been the same since:• FEBRUARY 28, 1994 • PC WEEK SPECIAL REPORT ADECADE OF COMPUTING 75 Jhe •~C Week stat sheet ;Number of cellular phones in the United States . 1983 8,flOO ' , ~rct: Quantum Seim.as Group, Whiu Plain.s, N. Y. ➔, :... ,;- _, j993 14.3,milli91F .., . Number of states with computer crime laws · 1993 49 1983 26 The·one state without computer crime laws: Verl1'10nt Source: National C::enter for Compu,n, Crinw Data, Santi C,:uz. Calif. Installed base offax machines in the United States 1983319,lm Source: Quantum Scienus Group, White Plains, NY. 1993 5,694,000 Number of mips Intel's top-of-the-line_CPU executed 1983 2.6 . Source: Intel Ccrp., Santa Clara, Calif. :1993 112 00_ Number of bachelor's degrees in. computer science awarded at MIT.1993 97 19831lllJ .. Source: Office of the Registrar, Mwsachwttts Institute of Technology Number of female CEOs in the Fortune 1000 1984 1 Sourct: Catalyst, Ney.u Yorlt, N. Y. _ 1994 3 Total revenue frofu PCs shipped 1984$10,lm million in the United States. 1994 $29,793 'inmion ~re,: Dataqmst Inc., Sanjos~. Calif.' , .. (projected) ., ,, Number of OD ROM ddv~s sold worldwide 1988 75 O(Xhnts ~•. Source: Dataquest In c. 4.8:rnillion un~ . ! ... h~". 1993 -PCWEEK SPECIAL REPORT• FEBRUARY 28, 1994 --- - ;_': -- ·- ··--. ____ , _, --,· ._____ . ------._ kt~:~~i~uit~°! at the national ch~mpionships A DECADE OF COMPUTING 77 Headlin88 We wish· we·hadrif wmten, April 2, 1985; , · , ttHOttJtM ' Cl"IM'II ti' I 'ti tit ' I I ti ,~ .Price cuts Loom , , . I .~'"olln. M"""'llftwnft!l :We 'm still waiting. 3May7, ., ' .. 1985;, Page' '"' 1 -; 6~of them was probably right. As!,eepatthe switch. · Ourboldprecursor .. · · to ''Windows ~ everywhem. " IBM OfflceVlslon Heralds Dawn of SAA Era ~~,. ' '_ ' . ; ~ . i:t,1~·~~, Should 've said "dawn ~f bad groupwam era. " , Aprfl 18; 1990; Page 1 ,1 , b.6tus/NoveU: /;I. PoWei'house in tne Ma,king•\ Pi(falls.,Aoouf)iJ; . F!J!S . ....uz a JIU&@Qsql ' ·They diJn 't make ~uch: '·• • •• 1 . 1 I ' ~~~8,;,~ ~~ . i: ~ ~ -~ -;. I,, ;i ~ ,~~/~;•• .i~Pen•Based:~ . Herald:') • 'f, Era o( Handwittten ;Input, . '',,;,,l,icatian:s • 'VfOR a'eb.d.;'t/ 'f" We wem a bit ahead ofthe curve bn this 01ie . .' l°" •• I~ • • , t._ t" , , , 1 Au.ust28;.1991;,l!age..1, . • ,,.~- •, ~/ ·--~~or c~t ~ o(,60~--- ;'.'. ·Roorcta ·on Road· That's one !r To'Retlrement?,.ifJ. . 'toooooong · ·-, ;By~-~ "1 ~((/, 1 road. r . h Nove1l1~C. 's ·st~k soa~ t«fa-5~•Wttk ti!gh JMt week fol-