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SYDNEY: AUCKLAND Level 1,159 Kent Street, SYDNEY 2000 Level 1, 21 Queen Street, Auckland 1, N.Z. iearest address. Ph: (02) 251 7644 Fax: (02) 251 7640 Ph: (09) 366 0566 Fax: (09) 366 0581 Fifth Australian Conference on Applications of EXPERT SYSTEMS Sydney 3-5 May 1989 This annual conference addresses key issues in Expert Systems technology with emphasis on its application in industry and commerce. International authorities who have accepted invitations to present addresses include: PROFESSOR IVAN BRATKO (Josef Stefan Institute, Yugoslavia) DR RICHARD FIKES (Price Waterhouse Technology Centre, California) DR FREDERICK HAYES-ROTH (Tecknowledge Inc) Furtherjnformation is available from Continuing Professional Education University of Technology, Sydney PO Box 123 Broadway NSW 2007 Telephone (02) 20930 and ask for "Continuing Education" The conference is organised by the Sydney Expert Systems Group. 35/89

IMACS

Simulation Society of Australia (SSA)/lnternational Association for Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (IMACS) 1989 CONFERENCE ON MODELLING AND SIMULATION Australian National University, Canberra 25-27 September 1989 The major focus of the conference is on modelling principles, tools and applications with manage­ ment of Natural Systems as a major theme. Call for papers: Papers on any aspect of modelling and simulation are sought, but those dealing with the following topics are of particular interest: Recent developments in modelling and simulation methodology Information systems, Expert systems, database systems, geographic information systems Modelling climate and land use change Extreme events Applications of operations research techniques ABSTRACT DEADLINE: MONDAY MAY 1 For further information contact: EXPERT CONFERENCES PO Box 150, Lyneham, 2602 Phone: (062) 47 7084

4 Professional Computing, March 1989 A PROFESSIONAL

The Australian Computer Society Computing Office bearers Number 42 March 1989

President: John Goddard Vice-presidents: Alan Underwood, Peter Murton PRESIDENT 6 Immediate past president: A forum to present the IT industry’s Ron Christie view must be established. National treasurer: Glen Heinrich Chief executive officer: Alan Kelly PO Box 319, Darlinghurst NSW 2010. Telephone (02) 2f 1 5855, EDITOR 6 Fax (02)281 1208. One small company proves Australia can compete on world Peter Isaacson Publications markets. (Incorporated in Victoria)

Professional Computing NETWORK, MAILBOX 7 Governor of the Publications Board Columns for which reader input is and executive editor: John Hughes invited. Write to the Editor, Editor: Stan Beer Professional Computing, Peter Production editor: Kay Schmidt Isaacson Publications, 45-50 Porter Editor-in-chief: Peter Isaacson Street, Prahran, 3181, Vic. Publisher: Peter Finlayson Advertising co-ordinator: Sandra Drakoulis Assistant to the publisher MAINFRAMES/MINIS 8 Nicholas Davis David Legard presents an overview REVIEW 21 Subscriptions: Joanne Birtles of the mid-range and mainframe markets. Two of the most popular packages in the PC market, dBase IV and Subscriptions, orders, editorial, Systems development guru, Max correspondence Framework III, have had new Rogalski poses the rhetorical question versions released. Ben Connor looks Professional Computing, 45-50 Porter Street, Prahran, Is The Mini Dead? Victoria, 3181. Telephone (03)520 5555, at changes and improvements to Telex 30880. Fax (03)529 3818. Trevor Robinson looks at speed these important products. and throughput in top-end systems. Advertising NSW: Phillip Punshon COSTELLO 26 68-72 Wentworth Avenue, Darlinghurst 2010. Telex 23026. John Costello discovers an Telephone (02) 211 4055. interesting trend that appears to have Fax (02) 281 1763. re-emerged. Victoria: Halina Bretel Computer services: Bruce Simmons 45-50 Porter Street, Prahran 3181, ON-LINE 26 Telex 30880. C P Yew presents a somewhat Telephone (03) 520 5555. AUSl-ttM.lAN mint jaundiced view of a day in the life of a Fax (03)529 3818. PC salesman. Professional Computing is an official publication of the Australian Computer Society Incorporated. Professional Computing is published by ACS/PI INDUSTRY ACCESS 28 Publications, 45-50 Porter Street, Prahran, The latest products and Victoria, 3181, a joint venture of the Australian Computer Society Inc and Peter Isaacson developments in the information Publications Pty Ltd. industry. The opinions expressed by authors writing for Professional Computing are not necessarily those of the Australian Computer Society or Peter Isaacson Publications. ACS IN VIEW 33 While every care will be taken, the publishers cannot accept responsibility for articles and Activities and issues within the ACS photographs submitted for publication. throughout Australia The recommended retail price of a single copy of Professional Computing is $4.50. The annual subscription rate is $44. COMPUTER SERVICES 35

Professional Computing, March 1989 5 FROM THE PRESIDENT . . . National IT forum is vital

out their views. May brings SOST (Shaping Our relationship with the The ACS already belongs to Organisations Shaping Tech­ SCS is excellent and this several co-operative bodies. nology), a joint IFIP/ACS event will further cement it. The Australian Information event to be conducted at the The computing industry in Technology Council and the new Peppers-on-Sea complex Singapore is thriving, exciting Asian Oceanian Computer In­ at Terrigal, on the NSW Cen­ and leading edge. Partners are dustry Organisation (ASO- tral Coast. SOST is aimed not welcome and will enjoy an CIO) are but two. These and only at computer profession­ opportunity for early Christ­ other bodies, however, only als, but people in organisa­ mas shopping. represent sections of the in­ tions involved in managing Two personal notes in clos­ JOHN dustry. A unified approach on technological change. Several ing. critical issues would be of im­ well known overseas and local ACS members were sad­ GODDARD measurable benefit. speakers are on the program. dened to learn of the death In determining policy, gov-, If you are involved with tech­ late in January of George uring i 988 i wrote ernments need sounding nology and organisation, Foote. George was well that co-operation was boards and input to assist in SOST is a must. known and highly regarded in the key to the ACS’ fu­ the process. They are present­ In August/September ACC the ACS. He chaired the NSW Dture. Recent events ly faced with a plethora of or­ 89 will be held. This year’s branch in 1984/85 and served have indicated the need for ganisations with which to Australian (ACS) Computer on its executive committee co-operation on a much larger consult or which seek to make Conference is being hosted by for many years (see ACS in scale for Australia’s benefit. submissions. Naturally some the WA branch, in Perth. De­ View). At the time of his The IT industry is large and will conflict. This does not nis Moore and his organising death he was chairman of the growing rapidly. It is, in the help government or the IT in­ committee have been working national ACS Code of Ethics eyes of many, including the dustry. Consensus can assist. on the program for well over a disciplinary committee. Minister for Industry, Tech­ The need for a “representa­ year. The venue, the Burs- George approached every task nology and Commerce, Sena­ tive” IT industry council is wood Convention Centre and with enthusiasm and distinc­ tor Button and the Australian urgent. The ACS must be in­ Casino, is outstanding, but tion — he was indeed a gen­ Government, critical to our volved in such a body and there is another major attrac­ tleman and a scholar. He will country’s future. There are must endeavor, with co-oper­ tion. The ACS is arranging a be sadly missed. within it many organisations ation from other groups, to package for those living in the On a happier note, the ACS representing diverse interests. bring about its creation. eastern states which will cov­ offers its congratulations to Sometimes these organisa­ During 1989 the ACS will er travel to Perth and return member, Ken Pope who was tions agree; sometimes they host a wide range of major via Singapore. Included will awarded an AOM in the Aus­ don’t. The big drawback is events. Two of these I draw to be a conference with our sister tralia Day honors list for his that there is not a central fo­ your attention to enable you organisation, the Singapore services as Expo 88 director, rum at which they can thrash to start planning attendance. Computer Society. technology. Well done Ken. . . . AND THE EDITOR Labtam defies trade trends

eral Government’s best ef­ reverse this degenerating For years industry pundits forts, through offsets schemes trend by Australians to line have been telling us that Aus­ and the like, the' problem the pockets of Japanese and tralia has missed the boat keeps growing. US multinationals? How can when it comes to manufactur­ The Minister for Industry, we stop names like Microbee ing (and exporting) computer and Fairlight from being hardware. However, Labtam * Technology and Commerce, Senator Button, made a struck off the register of prof­ obviously hasn’t got the mes­ shocking admission at the itable enterprises? And, above sage. This small Melbourne- launch of a new Australian all, how can we rid ourselves based company has had the computer, that the present of the greedy profiteers and temerity to design and manu­ STAN trade deficit in information distributors who flood the facture from scratch an inno­ market with cheap (and not vative and cost effective BEER products of $4 billion (out of an estimated total $ 13 billion) so cheap) imports? multi-user system which it in­ is forecast to reach $10 billion Perhaps a clue to the an­ tends to market both locally by 1995. This was a particu­ swer lies in studying the ac­ and overseas. It may surprise ITH Australia’s bal­ tions of the company at some to know that Labtam ance of trade figures larly chilling prediction from a politician, one of whose jobs whose product launch Senator has been selling its products getting worse, it is Button made his forecast. in China, the USSR and Ko­ embarrassing to it is to halt this downward W That company was Labtam rea for some years. note that perhaps the biggest trade spiral which is leading our country into an economic International Pty Ltd which What a relief to find an single contributor to the na­ launched its new Delta II Australian company that still tion’s financial woes is the IT abyss. Unix-based minicomputer in believes anything is possible if industry. In spite of the Fed­ What, then, can be done to late February. you’re willing to have a go.

6 Professional Computing, March 1989 NETWORK

A MAJOR symposium to examine the er Education (WCCE/90), organised un­ exhibition. The combined event is being severe skills shortage facing the informa­ der the auspices of the International Fed­ held at the Sydney Exhibition Centre, tion industry will be held in Sydney on eration for Information Processing Darling Harbor, from March 14-17. March 29-30. Titled Information Indus­ (IFIP), will be held in Sydney from July PC89, the 12th Australian Personal try Growth and Development: The Hu­ 9-13, 1990. WCCE/90 will be a confer­ Computer Show, in conjunction with Of­ man Resources Factor, the symposium ence for all aspects of computer-related fice Technology 89, will feature many will bring together senior representatives education in all education environments. new product launches as well as a data­ of the industry, unions, educationists Draft papers will be required by October base competition and a connectivity dis­ and government. They will analyse the 1, 1989. Details: WCCE/90, PO Box 319, play. Details: Australian Exhibition Ser­ skills shortage and discuss current and Darlinghurst, NSW 2010. Fax (+612) vices Pty Ltd, 424 St Kilda Road, future programs to overcome the short­ 281 1208. Melbourne, phone (03) 267 4500, fax age. This will be done through guest (03) 267 7981. speakers in the plenary sessions, case DEVELOPMENTS in computer tech­ studies and workshops. The symposium, nology have presented new challenges for THE Complex Route to Simplicity: God to be held at the Holiday Inn Menzies, is the law in the areas of ownership and a joint venture between AHA and the is an Iron, is the topic of the first CHI- control of computer data and programs. SIG (Ergonomics Society of Australia Information Industries Education and HR Pty Ltd has organised the 1989 Com­ Training Foundation. The program will Computer-Human Interaction SIG) puter Law Conference to give briefings on meeting for 1989 in Melbourne. Speakers include: taxation and other contentious issues to • A report on the Urgent Needs of In­ will be Julian Whitta and Jeff Gardner of users, suppliers and advisors. The two- Knowledge Victoria Ltd, who will advise dustry survey. day seminar will be conducted in Sydney • The impact of the information in­ how to get the best out of office technol­ at the Sheraton-Wentworth Hotel on ogy. Date is Tuesday, March 21 from 6- dustry strategy and partnerships on skill April 4 and 5 and in Melbourne at the requirements. 7.30pm and the tentative venue is Hilton International Hotel on April 10 Knowledge Victoria Ltd, 549 Royal Pa­ • A report on the Arthur Andersen and 11. Following the conference, a one- study into skill and training needs. rade, Parkville. Details: Jo Chessari on day seminar (bookable separately), New 541 6678; ACSMail [email protected] • Key perspectives — incorporating Opportunities in Government Procure­ the views of the States, educators, users, or Gitte Lindgaard on 541 6723; ACS­ ment, will give an insight into the chang­ Mail [email protected]. unions and the information industry. ing environment for procurement and off­ In addition there will be workshops to sets and the practical implications for examine recruiting, curriculum develop­ business. Dates are Sydney, April 6 and ment, remuneration, staff training and THE ACS Victorian Branch conference Melbourne, April 12. Details: IIR on (02) will be held at Ballarat from March 17- accreditation. AHA members, and mem­ 929 5366 or fax (02) 959 4835. bers of organisations represented on the 19. The conference theme is Productivity foundation, are entitled to a discounted Tools. Speakers will address topics in­ registration rate of $500 for the two-day THE Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) cluding productive environments, soft­ symposium. Details: Robynne Hobson has announced establishment of an an­ ware tools, management requirements on (062) 62 4700. nual fellowship for study in a South Pa­ and people management. Phone the sec­ cific country. The first fellowship, for retariat on (03) 417 6220 for details. SYSTEM Tuning and Performance for study in New Zealand, will be awarded at the Data General AOS/VS Operating the institute’s South Pacific Regional The Hong Kong International Computer System will be covered in-depth at a Convention at the Conrad International Conference 89, organised by the Hong three-day seminar in Melbourne on April Hotel, Broadbeach, Qld, from May 28- Kong Computer Society, will be held at 4, 5 and 6. It is being conducted by Brian 31. Conference details: Suzanne Best on the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibi­ Johnson, an independent expert on DG (07) 371 7900 or fax (07) 371 4876. tion Centre from April 10-14. This year’s systems in the US. Details: Mini Com­ theme is IT Directions for the 90s. De­ puter Systems Pty Ltd on (03) 528 2711. JACK Tramiel, chairman of Atari Corpo­ tails: HKICC 89 Conference Secretariat, ration, will visit Australia to officially c/- Mr Alex Tzang, Suite 705 East Town THE fifth World Conference in Comput­ open the PC89 and Office Technology 89 Building, 41 Lockhart Road, Hong Kong. MAILBOX

Japanese can’t What about Cull out PS do everything DEC Vaxs? incompetents

IT IS doubtful that the US and the UK I CAN well understand Jonathon DERRICK Brown’s article last month, need have concerned themselves too Green’s concern about the lack of articles Management by Surprise, raised impor­ much about Japan’s Icot project as ex­ in Procom to satisfy the needs of Apple tant points about the public sector pro­ pressed in David Legard’s article last users. I feel us DEC users have been sim­ motion system. A system whereby people month. The Japanese have proved time ilarly ignored. It may or may not surprise who are essentially technicians get pro­ and again that while they may be the best you to know that DEC Vaxs enjoy a very moted to managerial posts by coaching in the world at copying and improving a prominent position in all segments of the themselves to correctly answer a set of design, they do not have a similar capa­ marketplace, including government, edu­ probable questions is antiquated and bility in research and development. The cation and manufacturing. It is about leads to a high level of incompetents in world should perhaps thank its lucky time that this position was reflected in responsible posts. Some of the so-called stars that such is the case or else there your editorial content. managers I have seen in my time with would not be anything left for the rest of RICHARD FINKLESTEIN the Public Service would not be tolerated us to do. Middle Park, Vic for a minute in private enterprise. KEN NG P G MARSHALL Neutral Bay, NSW Canberra, ACT Professional Computing, March 1989 MAINFRAMES/MINIS

TWO of the largest market segments in the information technology industry are minicomputers and mainframes. Important choices for users are looming in the low-end of mid-range systems with the emerging popularity of Unix and a battle royale that is developing between DEC and IBM in the high-end. In the mainframe market IBM is experiencing minor annoyances as plug compatible manufacturers continually snap at its heels. In the following articles DAVID LEGARD presents an overview of both marketplaces, MAX ROGALSKY explains why the minicomputer is alive and well and TREVOR ROBINSON looks at speed and throughput in top-end systems. Mid-range systems form crossroads of processing highways

IHE mid-range systems market is large proportion of its revenue. The suc­ systems with a few users up to the latest gearing up for a major battle be­ cess of its mid-range strategy, and partic­ high-end 600-user Vax 6360 using DEC’S tween the two traditional market ularly the AS/400 series, is therefore very VMS operating system. DEC’S strategy of Tleaders IBM and DEC as the two important to IBM.” beginning in the middle of the range and companies settle down to push their stra­ According to IDC vice-president Da­ extending it both towards the high and tegic offerings — IBM with its AS/400 vid Moschella, IBM’s first attempt to of­ low ends has clearly paid off. range and DEC’S newly released Vax fer new systems to replace System/36 But analysts felt towards the end of last 6300 models. and System/38 in the form of the 9370 year that DEC needed to improve its pri­ IBM and DEC, along with a large was a disappointment to the company. ce/performance ratio to counter IBM’s number of smaller players, will be com­ “The systems were hard to use, there moves and maintain its growth rate. peting in one of the healthiest growth were few applications ready, and it DEC has said that the new 6300 range sectors of the hardware market, accord­ lacked communications features,” he offers 35 per cent more performance than ing to figures released by research com­ said. “They have been limited to specia­ the earlier 6200 models, while remaining pany International Data Corporation lised niches where there is lots of main­ compatible and easily upgradeable. (IDC) Australia Pty Ltd. frame talent on hand. The 9370 is not a While much of the attention in the IDC estimates that the Australian mar­ crucial product.” mid-range system market focuses on ket is growing at 14.5 per cent a year, and But Moschella said that the AS/400 IBM and DEC as market leaders, there will be worth $4 billion in five years. addressed these issues well. are several other suppliers making strong According to IDC, the mid-range sys­ “The AS/400 combines the relational sales in the market. tems market falls neatly into two catego­ aspects of System/38 with the ease of use IDC figures show that following these ries — systems of over 16 users and of System/36,” he said. “IBM has also two in Australian market share are Prime those of up to 16 users. In the larger done a great deal of work on the migra­ Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Tandem, range, IBM and DEC now have nearly tion issue between S/3X and AS/400.” Ultimate and Data General. equal market share, with DEC having IBM has positioned the AS/400 as And the success of these companies caught up rapidly in the last two years. both the logical upgrade path for Sys- seems to be linked to a strategy of pro­ And US analyst Charles Marshall be­ tem/3X users and as a departmental pro­ viding systems integration for users who lieves that the mid-range systems market cessor linking mainframes and PC net­ do not want to get involved with the nuts has assumed greater importance for IBM works under Systems Application and bolts of the vendors’ proprietary op­ recently. Architecture (SAA). erating systems. “IBM is just one of a large number of The emphasis on a single architecture Former IDC client services manager PC vendors these days and not even the in the Vax minicomputer range has large­ David Noble said: “The ability to offer market leader in some areas,” he said. ly been the reason for DEC’S success in complementary hardware and software ‘And growth rates are slowing in the the mid-range market recently. Seamless solutions is more important here than in mainframe market which accounts for a integration is possible between Microvax the mainframe area as there is a relative lack of internal user skills. It is also im­ portant for these vendors to offer good networking and communications prod­ 4 While much of the attention in the mid-range system market ucts.” The mid-range vendors stress their focuses on IBM and DEC as market leaders, there are ability to control PC networks as well as communicate with mainframes. several other suppliers making strong sales in the market.} Systems integration can often be ad­ dressed by using Value-Added Resellers (VARs) and vertical market OEMs.

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Professional Computing, March 1989 9 COMPANY PROFILE BP LOOKS TO COMPUTER FAIRS TO HELP IMPLEMENT NEW 5 YEAR PLAN

Following a review of the role of IT in the WmSS? overall company operations, BP Information Services Division has developed a five year plan with new directions, incorporating a strong, architectural approach to its information sys­ tems, greater flexibility and the adoption of a strategic software environment. Having successfully recruited experienced personnel at previous INTRO Computer Re­ cruitment Fairs the company has signed up for another two fairs this year, from which it hopes to recruit more people to assist with the imple­ mentation of this plan. JTiI» Mr Campbell McPhee, the division’s man­ ager, today spoke confidently of the new plan which will provide enhanced career opportuni­ ties for computer professionals seeking to work tractive, because unfortunately the IS commu­ we are looking for network analysts, particu­ with such a large and diverse organisation. nity here, as compared to overseas, is so mobile larly for LANS in preparation for full ISDN “What we have done”, said Mr McPhee, “is that we need to keep pulling new people in. capability, starting later this year. form a new unit under an IS architect who is We’ve got some very good people from the “To the applicant, BP offers a variety of ca­ effectively the ‘business steward’ of the data, fairs, and that’s why we’ve booked to go into reer opportunities which is increasingly offer­ applications and technical architectures. two this year. ing chances to work internationally. We also “Their role is to ensure all our investment is “Also like many companies we feel we’ve have an understanding that the long term suc­ within a specific architecture flexible enough got too high a ratio of contractors for the long cess of the company is based on the quality of to meet the fast moving changes which occur term and so we use the fairs to attract more per­ it’s people. We like to create an environment both in our marketplace and the organisation manents so we can adjust this, however we are that allows people to realise their full potential itself. This is something we haven’t been able to not going to compromise on quality and that’s and aspirations. We very much see that IT is an do in the past. a discipline we apply to ourselves. integral part of the business and not a backroom support activity. New Software Environment “..we need people who like to see the overall result and effect that IT Mr McPhee added that “overall we find the “To do so we needed some specific build­ can have on the company..." fairs very efficient in enabling employers to ing blocks, so we brought in what we call a spread a wider net to find good people. And strategic software environment, which is built “We do have a vigorous recruitment pro­ they give the prospective employer and em­ mainly around the Software AG range of prod­ gramme from tertiary institutions so we use the ployee a chance to have a good look at each ucts. These are widely used throughout the BP fairs to complement this with the recruitment of other. group and there is an active program of experi­ more experienced staff. It gives us a balance “With the fairs, you can very quickly hone ence transfer between the various business units since we are experiencing such rapid growth, in on people that you relate to, and who relate to of the company. We like to move people around because we do need people who can assume you. It is also very competitive in cost effective to ensure cross fertilisation of skills.” positions of responsibility right away and take terms against other methods. The fact that we’ve As an example of this program Mr McPhee positions as team leaders or project leaders. signed up for another two fairs, based on our himself has recently transferred from England When asked what sort of people BP will be past experience shows that we take the fairs where BP also use INTRO Computer Fairs to looking for at the first 1989 INTRO Fair at the very seriously. recruit the staff they need. World Trade Centre in Melbourne on April Susan De Bolfo, Recruitment Co-ordinator “Another major building block is our use of 19th and 20th Mr McPhee replied: for BP, added that INTRO computer fairs had the Information Engineering Methodology, “Of course we’ll be look for strong inter­ been very helpful in finding long sought after which is more than just a development method­ personal skills, as well as experience, but given people, including several network analysts. She ology, it’s a whole approach to planning the use the emphasis that we place on training, both also said that all people recruited through the of information in acompetitive business world.” internal and external, the experience a person fairs had settled in extremely well and were Mr McPhee added. brings with them should not necessary rate very happy to be working at BP. “The beauty of this is that it offers the higher than their interpersonal skills. chance for more robust and flexible systems, “We’re looking for balanced, mature people, through a vastly improved design phase, sup­ because these days at the end of it all a system STOP PRESS ported by a CASE (Computer Aided Software will work only if there has been meaningful dia­ Fifteen organisations have confirmed Engineering) tool, namely the Info Engineering logue between the client and the developer. attendance at the April 19/20 Melbourne Workbench, developed and supported by Arthur “This is in the applications sense of course, Computer Fair, including BP, National Young.” and we also have many opportunities for tech­ Mutual, Mobil, Shell, SIO, SEC,Telecom, “ For people wanting to get into the fore­ nical specialists who want to work on develop­ Ministry of Housing and Australia Post. front of what is going on, this will be a very ment techniques, networking and advanced Stands are filling fast, so interested attractive environment. It will gradually re­ computer operations. In fact this need is just as parties are advised to contact Mr War­ place our existing software. strong. We have just launched an aggresive ren Smith on (03) 820 0445 or (03) 267 “That’s one reason we find the fairs so at­ program of amalgamating all our networks so 5600 for details of the Fairs. MFA/1NTR0 14/2/89 Prime recently acquired a specialist chine cycles needed to perform common­ Computer Aided Design (CAD) compa­ ly used instructions, are rapidly ny called Computervision, while Data becoming widespread in the mid-range General has vertical market OEMs in systems market. Cutting the Linx and Mocom. Following Hewlett-Packard’s introduc­ Prime, through no fault of its own, is tion of its Rise-based Precision Architec­ risks and undergoing severe internal difficulties ture Series 3000 two years ago, Rise pro­ fighting off a hostile takeover from MAI cessors have been introduced by Basic Four. Several cost-cutting mea­ workstation vendor Sun Microsystems improving sures, including the closure of the com­ with its Scalable Processor Architecture pany’s R&D facility in Canberra, have (Sparc) chip, Pyramid and Mips Com­ been undertaken to convince sharehold­ puting. Price/performance benefits of performance ers to reject the MAI bid. five to one have been claimed for Rise At the lower end of the market, two systems and Motorola will release its new factors are beginning to dominate 88000 Rise chip shortly. EDUCED Instruction Set Com­ vendors’ thinking. These are the Unix Both NCR and Unisys have indicated puting (Rise) technology is be­ operating system and Reduced Instruc­ that they will probably incorporate the ing chosen by more mid-range tion Set Computing (Rise) processors. All 88000 into future designs, while Fujitsu R systems and workstation ven­ the major vendors have made strong has licensed Sun’s Sparc chip, and Japa­ dors as the way to improve the perfor­ commitments to Unix for systems with nese vendor Sony will soon release sys­ mance of their machines. up to 16 users and it is the companies tems based on the Mips Computing Instead of the 400 or so instructions which have strongly promoted Unix R3000 processor. held on a conventional Complex In­ which are emerging strongly. Two of the late starters in the commer­ struction Set Computing (Cisc) proces­ Marshall said: “Unix is the obvious cial Rise market are IBM and DEC. IBM sor such as that in the DEC Vax, Rise released a Rise-based workstation called processors do away with a large number the RT but as yet has shown no signs of of instructions that are seldom used. bringing the technology to the mid-range Research showed that 20 per cent of systems market. 4 Several new vendors are processor instructions were used 80 per But DEC has put a great deal of devel­ cent of the time, and that a much sim­ emerging on the Australian opment work into Rise projects although pler chip could be produced containing Unix scene, such as NEC it has not yet released any proprietary a much reduced instruction set contain­ Rise products. One reason for this is ing only the commonly-used instruc­ with its Astra XL range, thought to be the difficulty of rewriting the vast VMS operating system to handle tions. Fujitsu, and Nixdorf s the infrequently used instructions which The performance benefits come from Targon machines which are deliberately left out of Rise proces­ the number of clock cycles needed to sors and which have to be controlled by carry out an instruction. With the rela­ have sold well in Europe.} software methods. tively low number of instructions in a Hewlett-Packard also found the imple­ Rise processor, the ratio of “hits” on mentation of Rise on its proprietary the correct instruction per clock cycle is MPE operating system a daunting task very high. Therefore most instructions and suffered several delays in the initial take up only one cycle. With a 400- way for vendors to assure the users that release of its Rise products. instruction Cisc processor, the number they are not being locked into a propri­ But Unix, as a relatively simple operat­ of “misses” is much higher, and in­ etary system and is a crucial element in ing system written in the high level C structions can take several clock cycles their strategies. There will not be many language, has proved an easier platform to perform. successful new systems in this area of the for Rise, and it is the combination of Sometimes the Rise processor may market not supporting Unix, with all the these two which looks set to dominate have to combine a series of instructions applications you expect with a mature the lower end of the mid-range systems to emulate a complex instruction which technology.” market. And as Rise technology im­ exists in a Cisc processor, and this IBM still leads the market with its Sys­ proves, the performance of Rise systems weighs against the clock cycle benefit. tem/36 and System/38 range, followed is expected soon to be enough to support But since these complex instructions by Unisys, NCR, ICL, Wang, Hewlett- hundreds of users, whether under Unix not implemented on the Rise chip are Packard, AWA, DEC and Data General. or proprietary operating systems. chosen to be the least used ones, the NCR, which has a strong commitment to Other mid-range systems vendors use drawback is not significant. Unix and is also very active in seeking parallel processing machines, such as Sig­ VARs, has enjoyed a great deal of success ma Data with its Sequent machines, and Hewlett-Packard’s Precision Archi­ with its Tower range, but faces strong systems based on the inherently parallel tecture minicomputers have a Rise chip competition. DEC has announced that processing Inmos Transputer could also with a 140 instruction set, while Pyra­ two models in its 6300 range will support emerge soon. mid Technology’s new 140-Mips MIS- DEC’S Ultrix version of Unix, while Un­ All these developments have meant erver 9000 includes multiple 90-in­ isys now offers Unix on systems from that the mid-range systems market has struction Rise chips, and workstation eight users to 500 users. emerged from the gloomy prognosis of a vendor Silicon Graphics uses a 55-in­ Several new vendors are emerging on few years ago when traditional minicom­ struction Rise processor in its graphics the Australian Unix scene, such as NEC puters were thought to be facing a major workstations. with its Astra XL range, Fujitsu, and slump. As Rise chips are much simpler than Nixdorfs Targon machines which have With more attention being paid to con­ Cisc chips, they are much easier to de­ sold well in Europe. nectivity to both larger and smaller sys­ sign and manufacture, giving higher But with Unix as the standard operat­ tems, the emergence of standards such as yields and better reliability. ing system, the vendors are having to Unix, Motorola processors, and above all Experts estimate that Rise processor differentiate their products either rapidly improved price/performance, the based computers can offer a price/per­ through performance or connectivity ad­ mid-range systems market is now win­ formance advantage of up to five to one vantages. ning market share from both mainframes over Cisc-based machines. The use of Motorola processors has and single-user systems. been common in Unix hardware, but the The advantages of Rise have not Where the systems positioned between been lost on the major vendors includ­ leading edge in performance terms is PCs and mainframes were once consid­ now being provided by Rise technology. ing IBM and DEC, who now sell Rise- ered to be nearly at a dead end, they now based systems. □ Rise processors, which improve per­ form the crossroads of the processing formance by cutting the number of ma­ highways. □

Professional Computing, March 1989 11 PCMs nibble, OSI looms, but IBM mainframes steady

IHE mainframe market is still solid IBM territory, with the company’s dominance remaining unchal­ Tlenged by a host of competitors who in many cases provide faster and cheaper systems. And with 30 per cent of the company’s revenue coming from mainframe, IBM is continually taking steps to keep its com­ petitors off balance. The first group of rivals which IBM faces are the plug-compatible manufac­ turers (PCMs) whose hardware runs IBM systems software and can be used as a direct replacement for IBM mainframes. The main PCMs are National Advanced Systems (NAS) which sells Hitachi-de­ signed mainframes, Amdahl and its Fu­ /ffffrnnu jitsu-developed machines, and Fujitsu it­ UJhiHft self. These companies have indulged in a constant game of leapfrog to be able to claim the most powerful system on the market, and all have resorted to sophisti­ cated architectures such as multiple pro­ MEMCs SL/935-XP and SL/935 increase the performance and cessors, pipelining and vector processing mass storage capacity of IBM AS/400 and S/38 computers. to keep their machines at the forefront. Amdahl in particular has concentrated five to seven years”. IDC concluded that ening its dominance in the mainframe on a technique to allow different proces­ MVS/ESA was the product which finally market, leaving IBM to pursue directions sors to act on separate tasks indepen­ differentiated IBM’s 3090 mainframes which improve its growth in terms of dently. Amdahl’s Multiple Domain Fa­ from the earlier 308X range. new systems sales and particularly up­ cility (MDF) is designed to reduce the Mainframes are traditionally aimed at grades to existing equipment. overheads inherent in multiple processor providing the best possible environment The current top-end IBM 3090 600E systems, and so improve performance. for transaction processing (TP) allied mainframe is a six-processor system esti­ But whether IBM’s 3090 600E, or Am­ with database management systems mated to be able to process 550 transac­ dahl’s 5990, Fujitsu’s M780/40 or NAS’s (DBMS) and MVS/ESA is aimed particu­ tions per second. IDC expects that by the AS/EX 60 is the most powerful piece of larly at these areas. end of this year IBM will release a nine- hardware is only half of the question. As One of the major advances in processor machine capable of delivering its rivals use IBM-developed systems MVS/ESA is its better use of expanded 400 million instructions per second software, they need to implement new storage. New releases of database prod­ (Mips). versions released by IBM on their own ucts DB2 and IMS, as well as Customer And IBM has recently released en­ particular hardware. Information Control System (CICS), hancements to its systems software And any major new systems software have been written to take advantage of a which the company said would almost release can give IBM a lead which may concept known as high-performance double the speed of some transaction be as long as a year, as has proved to be spaces (hiperspaces), as well as more effi­ processing applications. These enhance­ the case with its latest and most impor­ cient disk I/O and better utilisation of ments occur in CICS/MVS and involve tant offering, MVS/ESA. 31-bit addressing through the use of data- keeping often used information in mem­ The extension to IBM’s mainframe spaces. MVS/ESA also included exten­ ory in data tables. MVS operating system gives important sions and improvements to Data Facility These enhancements come at a time benefits to users and the PCMs plan to Product (DFP) which brought the idea of when the PCMs have been enjoying a react to the mid-1988 announcement of a system-managed storage (SMS) envi­ run of success in the Australian market. MVS/ESA. But Amdahl said it would ronment closer. NAS improved its mainframe revenues not be offering MVS/ESA to its custom­ MVS/ESA’s popularity amongst 3090 by 26 per cent last year, and Amdahl’s ers until the fourth quarter of 1989 and users was shown in an IDC survey which sales jumped by 35 per cent, compared Fujitsu has not yet announced that it will indicated that 70 per cent planned to with 10 per cent growth for IBM over the support MVS/ESA. begin migration to MVS/ESA within the same period. NAS announced a large MVS/ESA addresses so many areas of next year by buying expanded storage number of new models in its AS/EX mainframe performance that research and the latest release of DFP range last year as corporate customers group, International Data Corporation But IBM’s mainframe strategy has showed their approval of the company’s (IDC), described it as “the most signifi­ more to do with continuing the compa­ traditional 10 per cent edge over IBM in cant mainframe announcement of the ny’s growth than keeping the PCMs at terms of price/performance. 1980s” and “the basis for mainframe bay. The PCMs continue to flourish in Both Fujitsu and Amdahl, which is 47 Mips and gigabyte growth for the next IBM’s shadow without seriously threat­ per cent owned by the Japanese compa-

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Professional Computing, March 1989 13 Is the mini dead?

No, the visibility which management has lost through distribution of the PC can be quickly regained for control by linking minis into a corporate computing resources network, says MAX ROGALSKY.

N THE early 1970s it was easy to answer the question, likes of the Tandem computer2 and its fault-tolerant engineer­ “What is a mini?”. After all, there were only mainframes — ing. big, bulky jobs surrounded by swarms of gurus in white Then along came the PC. Icoats. The mini-computer was an offshoot of NASA space A whole machine to oneself. No longer must users wait until research — before mankind took that giant step on to the others had left the office to get adequate response from the moon. The mini offered on-line interactive user operations computer. The user was in charge — completely. They could when there were only big time-sharing service bureaus and do their own backup and housekeeping when they liked, not at airline reservation systems providing this type of user service. the time when they most wanted to work. They could pick the The mini was subjected to ridicule by the mainframers. I PC up and take it with them. One in the office and another at recall my contemporaries such as John Thompson of Prime home. And they could get portables, so portable that the expres­ fame1 and top IBM programmers, George Farley and Peter sion “laptop” was coined. No longer were people tied to their Hargreaves, working in their conformist Cobol batch process­ office computer’s umbilical cord. “Compute where you happen ing environment on IBM 360s saying: “Look out, here comes to be” became the catchcry. Mickey Mouse mini max”. Corporate management distributed PCs with relief in their Minicomputers enabled greater productivity by integrating efforts to lull users’ cries for greater systems responsiveness information flows as a by-product of people getting on with with demands for more applications development. (The back­ their job. Jobs like taking orders, receiving and despatching log of approved projects already extended into the 1990s.) goods, pricing and invoicing, insurance policy renewals and the The PC did much to improve the quality of decisions. What like. if analyses were the go. Budgeting and tar­ geting took on new meaning. Board and sales presentations Computer Database were alive with charts and graphs. The secretary function took on a less critical role; letters and memos could go out direct & Applications from the manager’s desk. Administrative Transactional The PC took computing to a new sector — small business, functions interface opening doors for computerisation to help out in specialised areas such as engineering drawing, graphic arts, animations and simulations hitherto only available to the very largest organisa­ tions. Now the PC offers inexpensive on-line user interactivity. It offers enormous libraries of applications for practically all as­ pects of human endeavor. It can read and talk and obey oral commands, send faxes, make phone calls, keep diaries, remind Corporate about appointments, take pictures, perform quality assurance Operational Management on the production line, keep premises secure, doodle and draw and compose music. It can also intelligently converse with functions other computers whether they be in the next office, interstate or overseas. On the down side, corpo------■figure 1: Operational system service rate information has be­ come segmented. PC users CThePCtook Operating staff became more productive — the computer have the information they computing to a new helped them do their job right the first time (not much point need on their machines. allocating inventory that simply wasn’t there). Management They have ownership of the sector — small was better informed, being able to make decisions on factual information, too, and and current operating information (rather than historic statis­ they’re keeping it. The cor­ business, opening tics fed to them by the mainframe batch processor). porate database and its in­ Businesses that had not computerised flocked to the mini. formation flow is diminish­ doors for They had rejected batch processing and time-sharing service ing in currency and computerisation to bureaus — by the time their information was computer pro­ relevance. People simply cessed through key-punching operations, batch input, edit and stop needing the corporate help out in correction run cycles, it would be out of date. They maintained database, so they no longer specialised areas.. .5 their Kardex stock systems and continued to mark off cash have a need to keep it cur­ receipts against their monthly aged debtors trial balances by rent. Besides that, the PC hand. user considers corporate mainframe applications passe-, so old- Through the 1970s and early 1980s, the mini filled the gap hat, so hard and slow to work. and enabled Australian businesses to improve their administra­ Derek Trusler, one of Australia’s software industry pioneers, tive productivity in finance, commerce, distribution and manu­ says corporate EDP management has acted irresponsibly. facturing. The mini grew to fairly sizeable proportions with the “They’ve thrown PCs around all over the place, exonerating 14 Professional Computing, March 1989 themselves from responsibility. Now they’re going to have to /pc pay the price.” s, Macintosh, Workstations Corporate management is seeking a way to regain visibility. Corporate information flows have to be re-established to feed Hpn JBPi e^h the corporate database with operationally current and accurate Network data. Applications have to be significantly upgraded to satisfy the now computer-literate userbase. Data communications and networks have to be provided to link the PCs, workstations and Shared resources: other computing resources into an integrated information flow. Disks, Printers, Barry Hooper, EDP manager of the Rural Finance Corpora­ Communications. tion, said: “We’re not just talking about E-Mail here. We’re talking about a completely new approach to the way a corporate Mini-based Operational Unit: Mainframe Processing system behaves. Flexibly, multi-optioned, user-defined work­ Regional or Departmental & Corporate Patabasy stations. With shared resources where sharing’s warranted, per­ sonal services where specialisation is required, centralisation ■Figure 2: Functional distribution of computer resources. where corporate visibility is essential for control.” The mini can make a significant contribution to the larger However, corporate EDP has to resume its functional re­ corporation. It can restore operational information flows inte­ sponsibility. It has to look after system backups and housekeep­ grating with corporate databases. It’s equipped with the range ing. It has to keep user-based software and applications synch­ of communications, networking, office automation and busi­ ronised with each other and with mini and mainframe ness applications needed to fill the gaps. As well it has the applications. It has to manage and control access to and within 4GLs, SQL and database management systems that support the network. It has to be faster on its feet. Its function has not productive custom-development of applications. And it comes changed; rather it’s been enforced. Only the boot is on the other at the cost of a few PCs (great solution for those who have a foot now; the user’s wearing it. □ queue of users still waiting for one on their desk: Get a mini into the loop and hand out the PCs it supercedes). The mini is inexpensive, fast to implement, convenient to use and causes *Max Rogalsky, Dip Com, MACS, 26 years in professional the least disturbance to existing EDP structures. systems development and implementation, lead the introduction PCs, both IBM-compatibles and Macintoshes, can link into a of mini computers to Australian organisations including DEC communications and networking system with minis providing and Tandem. He is now genera! manager, Webster Computer the operational environments for regionalised or departmental Systems, supplying and supporting 386, Motorola and Edge- administrative functions. And the network can link up with based systems. existing mainframes providing the information flow needed to keep the corporate database current and relevant. Users can 1John Thompson is now leading the marketing of the Edge mini-comput­ access the system using the operational environment with er from the US. which they are most comfortable. (End-user support software 2Most Australian banking organisations now use Tandem minis to man­ facilitating this approach is an Australian innovation.) age their ATM networks. The Personal lOOKING FOR A CAREER CHANGE?? Computer The Queensland Department of Employment, Vocational Education and Training is looking for Instructors for College of Technical and Further Newsletter Education/Senior Colleges in the following areas: ★ Management that’s Reader ★ Accounting ★ Computing Friendly The following conditions apply: 1. Ten (10) weeks concessional leave each year 2. Attendance hours at College is 321/2 hours per 'Computing in Administration Management' is week a genuine newsletter that contains no advertising. It's packed with time and money saving information 3. Salary range for instructors: Step 1 — $26,447 to and product reviews. Expert advice that you don't Step 9 — $31,458 have to be an expert to follow. But that's not all. Your subscription is tax deductible. 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Professional Computing, March 1989 15 Technology, standards and the information utility

workstations are still fringe-dwellers; By Trevor Robinson* mainframes and minis constitute the bulk of installed systems. The temptation l HE top end of the computer mar­ to downgrade the future of mainframes ket has always been about speed and minicomputers should be resisted. and throughput. That inexorable There will continue to be a place for all Tdemand continues to stimulate a categories of computers across the spec­ steady advance, particularly in the super­ trum from micros to supercomputers computing area. The Japanese seem to be and whether or not there is a future for a in the lead with single processor speed device of 5 MIPS, 10 MIPS, 20 MIPS or developments, while Cray and Control 50 MIPS depends to a great extent on the Data ETA have pushed back the bound­ cost-effectiveness of its system environ­ aries of multiprocessor machines along ment. The success of IBM’s mid-range traditional lines. Supercomputer speeds AS/400 series is a case in point; mention approaching 10 gigaflops/second are a should also be made of new offerings fact and 30 gigaflops/second is on its from Unisys, Hewlett-Packard, Data way. Further steady hardware advances General and Control Data. The latter re­ are assured but the real problem is soft­ placed its whole line of Cyber main­ ware. In the words of one expert (Peter frames with 12 new models in one year. Freeman of the University of California No, mainframes and minis are not going at Irvine), quoted in IEEE Spectrum for away! January 1989. However, the orthodox von Neumann “... the software aspects of su­ architecture is not without its challeng­ percomputing are as yet only dim­ ers. Massive parallelism is making pro­ ly understood. Most technical soft­ gress and, as usual, the problems are not ware is written in Fortran by with the hardware but with the software scientists or engineers themselves, and particularly, of course, in the search but demands for visualisation of for effective operating systems. Progress large volumes of output, more ef­ ■Treuor Robinson: software a problem is also being made with neural net com­ fective interfaces, more efficient puters where electronic analogues of the code, and new architectures will puters” and has given the individual in­ human brain are producing interesting rapidly create a software crisis in vestigator tremendous potential for engi­ and promising results to the point where supercomputing.” neering calculations, simulation for real money is being spent on develop­ The use of supercomputers is expand­ research and, perhaps most importantly, ment. ing from scientific and engineering work for “visualisation”. These 3D graphics “Gee-whiz” performance is not, how­ into the commercial world. Perhaps add­ workstations also provide physicists and ever, confined to the central processor. on vector capabilities, as exemplified by engineers with a powerful way of present­ The steady improvement in magnetic the attached processors offered by IBM ing the results of supercomputer calcula­ disks in terms of recording density (up to on their 3090s, has speeded the process. tions. They become powerful output de­ 15 megabits per square centimetre) and A problem for Australia is the reluctance vices which add an extra dimension for reduced access times, continues to hold to grasp the vectorising nettle but the those users who have the task of inter­ off the threat of optical disks (both increasing availability of efficient auto­ preting the results of their supercomputer WORM and erasable) as well as solid matic vectorisers may be the answer to calculations; by rotating 3D images to state “disk drives” although both are that. find “hidden” significance, for instance, emerging from the wings. Nevertheless, it is disappointing to rea­ or by revealing tell-tale patterns in fluid Perhaps the most significant (as dis­ lise that Australia still doesn’t have ade­ flow which do not show up in tabular tinct from spectacular) developments are quate supercomputer tools to match its output. Australia is witnessing an in­ being made in the interconnection area. creative medical research talent or to face creasing influx of these machines which Since the advent of commercial comput­ up to the problems of drought, ozone will accelerate as their capabilities are ing in the mid-1950s, conventional mar­ layer depletion or the green-house effect. more widely appreciated and as the pri­ keting wisdom has decreed proprietary An annual provision of $3 or $4 million ce/performance ratio improves. operating systems and communication might be well worthwhile in the long run. But supercomputers and 3D graphics protocols. The intent, of course, was to In an area broadly related to super­ computers, 1988 saw spectacular pro­ gress in graphics workstations. These ma­ chines vary in their architecture but 4 Supercomputers and 3D graphics workstations are still incorporate the ability to process vectors (like supercomputers), to generate and fringe-dwellers; mainframes and minis constitute the hulk of display 3D images in real time and in installed systems. The temptation to downgrade the future some cases to process numerically at near supercomputer speeds. of mainframes and minicomputers should be resisted.} That combination of attributes has led to the description “personal supercom­

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CADKEY is a registered trademark of Micro Control Systems, Inc. REVIEW: dBase IV, Framework III Not so much an upgrade as a new ball game

By Ben Connor

ATE last year dBase IV finally ar­ assSfiH rived. After a number of delays, ^ due to extensive debugging of its L 495,000 lines of code, dBase iy the flagship of the Ashton-Tate empire, descended from the realms of vapour- ware and landed on my doorstep. While ASrtrrC Lotus 1-2-3 release 3 still languishes, Ashton-Tate has delivered a quantum leap in its dBase product line, while maintaining backward compatibility with dBase III Plus. At about the same time, but with much less fanfare, Framework II was upgraded to Framework III. Framework is Ashton­ Tate’s window based, integrated business IV signals SQL’s arrival into the main­ The where clause joins the tables on package, incorporating word processing, stream of personal computing. staff—no and the order by clause puts the outlining, spreadsheets, databases, For those unfamiliar with SQL, it is an result table in reverse date order. graphs, mail, telecommunications and a advanced relational database language To write this in the old dBase one programming language. Compared to the that operates on the logical level on ta­ would have to select a work area open or dBase upgrade this one is relatively mi­ bles rather than the physical level on re­ use sales, select another and open staff. If nor, but it adds some nice features to cords. This means fewer commands are date descending was an index in both, those already existing in Framework II. the two indexes would have to be in­ Both dBase and framework have been needed to access data, with the result that development and debugging are much voked and then a set relation to com­ in my repertoire for some time, so I expe­ quicker than in the traditional dBase mand would need to be issued to join the rienced a considerable amount of excite­ type of language. You do not have to two database files. The savings are even ment when they both arrived together. more obvious when more than two tables It’s not often that a reviewer has the know the physical layout of your data­ base to use SQL. The concepts of have to be joined. In this case, dBase III chance to review software that he uses record number and record pointer are foreign to would force you to program the second regularly. I first used dBase II on my union, as it only allows a parent file to Apple 11+ clone (under CP/M) four or the SQL view. SQL also decides which index is appropriate to use in order to have one child. dBase IV would at least five years ago and I have been using allow you to set up a multiple relation. Framework II regularly for about four carry out a command. SQL is not a complete language but Each SQL database is put into its own years. rather a small and concise set of struc­ directory. SQL databases consist of .DBF FEATURES OF dBASE IV tured database commands that enable files and system files containing informa­ a. SQL (structured query language) you to retrieve, modify, delete and insert tion about the tables making up the SQL data into your database tables. You can database. To convert ordinary .DBF files THE new features of dBase IV may be into SQL database files you must use the split into two parts. One part is an up­ use SQL commands within the dBase language (which includes more tradition­ dbdefine utility to create the system in­ grade to dBase III Plus, while the other is formation. SQL database files can also be the integration of SQL support into al record-oriented commands) to define and access the data in a dBase IV data­ converted into ordinary .DBF files for dBase. use with the old dBase commands. dBase IV has two modes of operation base from a program file. SQL com­ SQL and the other new features of — SQL mode and dBase mode. The set mands can also be issued interactively from the SQL prompt. In this case, the dBase IV have brought microcomputer SQL on/off command switches between databases a giant step closer to the origi­ the two. In SQL mode the familiar dot price paid for a higher level language is execution speed. nal ideas of Codd, who developed the prompt becomes an SQL prompt and relational database concept and who is commands in conflict with SQL are de­ For example, to see the orders taken by Smith in reverse date order, one would still pontificating on the merits of differ­ activated. ent implementations of his model, SQL is the current buzz word in data­ issue the following command against the base circles and it has recently become a sales table (order_no, sale_date, b. Other dBase improvements prerequisite for Relational Database staff_no) and the staff table (staff_no, Files Management Systems (RDMS). IBM, lastname). A YEAR ago, while writing a fairly big which developed SQL for mainframe SELECT order_no, staff.staff_no, last- application in dBase III Plus, I experi­ RDMS in the late 1970s, is going to sup­ name; enced a number of difficulties, which port it under SAA and OS/2 Extended FROM sales, staff; have all been remedied in dBase IV. Edition. Although available in Knowled- WHERE sales.staff_no=staff.staff_no; I was always trying to open a new file geMan since 1983, the arrival of dBase ORDER BY sale_date DESC but was stymied by the limit of 15 open

Professional Computing, March 1989 21 ten found that only one of say two data­ out having to write any lines of code. files (including program files). Now the You can then use the new Application limit is 99 files with a maximum of 10 base files had been updated when the program aborted, so that the database Generator to tie them all together. The database files. design features are now consistent across To keep under the limit, I kept having was in an incorrect state. Well dBase IV supports Transaction Processing with the all the functions that use them and are to open and close my many index files. much easier to use than in dBase III Plus. There are no more worries like this in begin transaction, end transaction and dBase IV which allows you to create or rollback commands so this problem nev­ Query by example (QBE) open up to 47 indexes in a master index er has to happen again. ONE of the powerful new features acces­ file (.MDX) which only uses one file han­ The debugger is now fully featured and sible from the Control Center is QBE dle. works in a window environment with the (query by example). This allows creation Database relations enhanced editor. of queries that define views. You can more easily join files, filter records and A MAJOR problem in dBase III Plus was Compiling, linking, execution speed the inability to relate more than two files choose fields to display. You can also THE last problem with my application at any time. In dBase TV, you can have create calculated fields and global filters was speed. To speed up execution, dBase for any query. This is probably one of the multiple-child, multiple-file relation­ IV includes an automatic built-in com­ ships. I had to program around this prob­ more significant additions to dBase and lem in my application and was it time piler that interprets and parses programs it can be used easily by the non-program­ into intermediate executable code and mer. consuming and painful. This basic ability saves this code in object files. You need of databases was a long time in coming Another new feature is the ability to to dBase. dBase IV or dBase Run Time to execute toggle between Browse and Edit screens. these object files. The browse command has also been en­ Arrays, aliases, micro expansions The object files make dBase IV pro­ hanced. ANOTHER deficiency I found in dBase grams run much faster than those in A scan.. .endscan structure allows you III Plus was the absence of arrays when dBase III Plus, where the program files to simplify many loops. coding loops which, for example, are interpreted. Expanded memory conforming to LIM changed filenames by one character. To In order to combine these object files 4.0 is supported. get around this cumbersome program­ into one big object file, you need to use A new data type F (floating point num­ ming using macro expansions was re­ DBLINK, which unfortunately comes ber) is also available. quired. dBase IV supports 2D arrays of only in the Developer’s Edition. dBase IV supports up to 20 windows any size and supplies commands and If you compile dBase III Plus files in that may be overlaid, moved and colored functions to operate on them. It also al­ dBase IV you will probably find some for a professional look to your applica­ lows character expressions to be used as compilation errors for which the dBase tion. filenames. These are dramatically faster III interpreter did not check because the Naturally a dBase IV LAN pack is than using macro expansions. For exam­ line containing it was never executed. available and it features greatly im­ ple the macro expansion: I was so frustrated I bought a copy of proved security and integrity control as well as mail. STORE "Pay1" to Mname STORE “Pay” to Mname FRAMEWORK III USE &Mname USE Mname+"1" FRAMEWORK treats the screen as a desktop and disk drives are file cabinets on the desktop. Files are loaded from the Alias support has also been improved. Clipper, the dBase compiler from Nan­ file cabinets and become frames or win­ I often had difficulties operating on unse­ tucket. This supported multiple file rela­ dows on the desktop. An open frame pro­ lected databases and this new support tionships, the lookup function, user de­ vides a window into its file. Closed makes life just a little easier by allowing fined functions, the valid clause on @say frames are placed in a frame tray at the more functions to operate on unselected .. .get commands, arrays and fast execu­ bottom right of the screen. There is also a database files. tion. This was not always convenient library cabinet on the desktop, and on a during development, as a small change LAN there will be cabinets for the LAN Functions and procedures still required a compile of changed pro­ and for Mail. ONE of the new functions that can do gram file and a link of all the object files Frames are the building blocks of the above is lookup, which allows you to into a .EXE file, before a change could be Framework, everything you do is done search an unselected database for a de­ tested. Of course with dBase IV a change on, or on some type of frame. Frames are sired expression and return the value of a to a program file causes only that file to created on the desktop and there may be field from the database, with a single be re-compiled before testing. as many frames on your desktop as statement. When the lookup function is I guess the boot is on the other foot; it memory allows. This number can be combined with the new valid is now Ashton-Tate’s turn to borrow large if you configure expanded memory, clause on the @row,col say .. .get I/O functionality from the compatible pack­ extended memory or your hard disk to statement, you obtain a concise and pow­ ages or maybe they tried writing applica­ provide the extra memory. Frames may erful method of checking user input. tions in dBase III. be sized, moved or copied and they may dBase IV treats procedures differently I tried redeveloping a little of my ap­ overlap. to dBase III and all program files are now plication using the new features and I Framework III also contains a power­ procedures callable by any other one. soon realised that I could have saved ful programming language called Fred User defined functions are also al­ nearly half my development time. How I which allows you to write applications lowed and can be used just like intrinsic wished that dBase IV had come a year that access and manipulate data and ftmctions. By careful use of such func­ earlier. frames. You can do wonders with Fred. The type of frame you use depends on tions your programs may be simplified as Control centre in the I/O case referred to above. the work you want to do. You may create New statistical and financial functions THE Control Center in dBase IV re­ frames for spreadsheets, databases, out­ allow multiple counts to be performed on places the dBase III Plus Assistant and it lines, graphs or word processing. When one pass through the database instead of allows the non-programmer to access you save your frames in a file cabinet the multiple passes used in dBase III. much of dBase IV’s power. The Control they are all stored as .FW3 files. Center displays all the files, views, forms, The Framework interface features a reports, labels and programs in the cur­ Memo fields menu bar across the top of the screen rent catalogue. After selecting an object with pull-down menus. One of the new dBase III memo fields are primitive and by a point and shoot method, you can features in Framework III is mouse sup­ only basic functionality is supported. quickly display either the object’s data or port, which provides an intuitive method Memo fields have made them more func­ design. You can open and close files, ac­ of moving the highlight or pulling down tional in dBase IV You can now do cess the menu system, establish views, menus. string searches through memo fields and reach design screens, design reports and If you don’t use a mouse, you can ac­ much more besides. labels, run programs and manage files complish the same results by using the and catalogue via the Control Center. navigation keys. The Scroll Lock shuttles Transaction processing, debugging You can develop real customised ap­ you between the file cabinets and the WHILE debugging my application I of­ plications via the Control Center, with­ frames, the INS key pulls down menus Professional Computing, March 1989 Thankfully, with the new V.32 modems from Cermetek, you can. At 9600 bps, in fact. And over dial-up or leased telephone lines.

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Version 10 Version 1.0 Performance Excellent Performance Very good Documentation Very good Set up Easy Documentation Good Ease of use Very good Set up Easy Value for money Incredible Ease of use Very good Purchase- Value for money Very good Standard edition $1300 RRP after sales tax Developer’s edition $2330 RRP after sales tax Purchase: Upgrades to standard edition from Standard edition $1095 DBase II, III, III Plus or Rapidfile $220 RRP after sales tax LANpack $1550 Upgrade from dBase II, dBase III, dBase III Upgrades to Framework III from Framework II $220 Plus, Rapidfile to dBase IV if bought between February 14, 1989 and October 31, 1989 $40 Publisher Ashton-Tate Upgrade to developer’s edition $610 Distributor Imagineering: (02) 697 8666

New features in Framework III same size as in your document. from the menu bar, the ESC key backs 14. Fred, the programming language, you out of the menu options, the return FRAMEWORK III adds a number of has new and upgraded functions. key opens a frame in the frame tray, new features to those in Framework II. closes a frame and places it in the frame 1. You can now configure the color of Hardware requirements and the out key moves you out to the everything in Framework III. dBase III Plus could run in 256KB with frame border or backs you out of menu 2. A thesaurus has joined the dictio­ two floppies, while dBase IV requires options and returns you to the desktop. nary and lists synonyms. 640KB and a hard disk. The in key (called Down Level in 3. A mouse is now supported. Framework III requires 640KB, but it Framework II) is the “+” key on the 4. Editing safety features have been can still be run from two floppies, al­ numeric keypad and the out key (called added. though a hard disk is recommended. Up Level in Framework II) is the key 5. Cut and paste are now supported as Installation on the numeric keypad. well as move and copy. BOTH products come with set up pro­ Frames can contain other frames of 6. Word processing now features auto­ grams that allow you to easily install any type and this provides a powerful matic hyphenation, automatic indent them and later to re-configure them. outlining utility. A file cabinet is a spe­ and outdent, a ruler, line spacing in se­ cial type of containing frame. You may lected paragraphs, footnotes and end- Learning create an outline by a menu choice or by notes, superscript, subscript and strike BOTH packages come with disk-based moving other frames into an empty through characters, upper-case, lower­ tutorials which provide a good introduc­ frame. You can also move frames into an case and initial capitals for selected re­ tion for beginners. There are also sample empty subframe. Subframes can be gions. program and databases which you can moved around freely within their con­ 7. In spreadsheets you can now lock play with as directed by the manuals. taining frame to print documents con­ multiple rows and columns, re-calc a se­ Both packages provide extensive con­ taining words, spreadsheets, databases or lected region and copy formulas without text sensitive help screens. graphs. adjusting cell references. Also, empty CONCLUSIONS You can see outlines and databases in cells are treated as zero and displayed as dBase IV a number of different views. The chosen blank cells and cell references are adjust­ view will depend on what you are doing. ed after sorts. Re-calc is only done on ASHTON-Tate has delivered the goods. The library cabinet stores macros, ab­ changed cells, speeding up the process All the worries and rumors have been breviations, printing templates and used considerably. proved groundless. dBase IV is an im­ defined functions. These tools can be 8. Databases can have a data entry for­ pressive package. There is just so much in it to keep you interested. used to make life easier. mat assigned to a selected area and pro­ I know people who come to work, grammers can now create empty data­ It delivers a huge leap in functionality, switch on their computer, load Frame­ bases with zero records. power and ease of use, without a price work, and do all their work in it. I often 9. In graphics, the entire frame title hike. It is not so much an upgrade as a whole new ball game. It sets a new stan­ work this way myself. The individual displays as the graph title and complex components of integrated packages are graph printing is supported. dard for personal computing databases seldom as powerful as stand alone appli­ 10. In the printing area additional and it will take the dBase compatible cations and this is also true of Frame­ print drivers provide support for Post­ products a fair time to catch up. If you work III. However, they do provide the script and print spooling is supported. have any earlier dBase products, or if same advantages like the ability to move you are thinking of getting one, then get You can now more easily clear local dBase IV data between different components and print settings on local frames and it is to see different types of frames at the easier to put dates and times in headers Framework III same time. and footers. THE new features added to Framework You can look at a number of spread­ 11. You can filter the cabinet file dis­ in this release will increase its functiona­ sheets at the same time and link them play, create or rename files from the cab­ lity and power. Anyone with Framework together so that a cell value in one inets, and copy or move files between II should fork out his $200 odd and pur­ spreadsheet depends on the value of a directories and file cabinets without first chase the upgrade. People looking for an cell in another spreadsheet. loading them on to the desktop. Reverse integrated package should check out Many people don’t need the capabili­ brackets on a cabinet indicate the default Framework III. ties of a Lotus 1-2-3, an Excel or a Word­ drive. I have always liked the elegance and Perfect. For them, Framework III can 12. More file formats are supported for consistency of Framework, so I haven’t provide an alternative which is easier to import and export including export to had the incentive to look too closely at learn than a collection of individual ap­ dBase III Plus .DBF format. the competitors. This prejudice makes it plications. Framework is extensible, you 13. Telecommunications now has hard to compare it with those I have can work out how to do new things from drivers for Prestel, Minitel and ANSI, tried, such as Microsoft Works, Sympho­ your current knowledge. The same meth­ speeds from 75 baud to 38,400 baud, ny, Farsight and Smart. The user inter­ od is used to select a section of text as to support for National 7-bit, support for face has always reminded me of that on select a number of frames. In Framework Kermit, YMODEM and relaxed XMO­ the Macintosh. I will stick with all operations are carried out on the se­ DEM and a new macro @s waits for a Frameworth III for a long time, because I lected items. string. Tabs can now be exported at the believe it is the best. □

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5 Bridge Street, Pymble, NSW 2073 Ph: (02) 488 8799 Fax: (02) 488 8542 Austral Data Networks (Division of Metal Manufactures Limited) The diary of a when there is business to be done. Any­ way I know that all he wants to talk about is the disagreement we have about bundling of software. He thinks I am working man wrong to tell the software companies I will bundle their software with a PC sale and then charge the customers for the software. It is clear he’s never been in the . . and it seems that some dealers are car business. Just because the tyres come not reducing their software prices in line with the wheels doesn’t mean they’re with the removal of the 20 per cent sales free. tax by the Federal Government.” Tuesday 7th Monday 6th WITH I GET the shock of my life when I arrive NEVER have I felt so grateful to my own at the store. Wayne has fixed the adver­ good sense in getting out of the used car tising sign but has made all the software business and into selling PCs. It was rain­ MA C.P. YEW cheaper. I was charging at $500. It now ing dogs and cats here this morning, and clearly says $480 down from $600. I I reckon that if I had been standing in the think the boy Wayne is a bit simple. lot, all I would have sold would have Maybe it’s all those cold Mars bars they been maybe a couple of small boats and eat while running around. some of those umbrellas Imri found at What is worse is that he is insulting to the council tip. As it was, I had a heck of they get this way from drinking too much me when I call him stupid. a job getting the kids off to school. Coca-Cola from cans. “If you add 20 per cent to a price and “Sandor,” I finally had to say to him, “Yes,” I said. “But do it sensibly. Add then take 20 per cent off it comes to less “if you do not learn your mathematics at 20 per cent to the prices we have now, than before,” he shouts back. “Anyone school, how will you be able to calculate write it on the board, cross it out, and knows that.” the 20 per cent off the price of software take 20 per cent off again.” “My customers don’t,” I yell at him, because of no more sales tax?” He was about to say something when but just then the phone in my office rings “I’d do it on a computer,” he said, and the phone began to ring in my office and and I have to answer it. It is my friend ran away down the hall before I could I hurried to answer it. Business, as I am Tony. He says Mister Keating has not yet call him back. always saying, is the art of being avail­ officially taken the 20 per cent sales tax The moment I got to the store I told able. off, so everything is okay again. Wayne, the assistant, to fix up a big sign “Ritebuy Computers,” I said. I tell Wayne to alter the sign again, and in the window advertising that we were “Good morning.” says this bloke. “Mr then have to deal with Mister Rohenski taking a full 20 per cent off software as Nagy? This is the Federation Against the builder, who has bought one of my Mister Keating had said. Software Theft.” PC systems but cannot get it to work. “You mean it?” he said, looking at me I put the phone down quickly. I do not “Mister Rohenski,” I say firmly, with this mouth hanging open. I think want these people tying up my phone “think how much better off you are than

A MAZEMENT was followed by dis- belief as I read the short article Sef COSTELLO / m again. “In a striking departure from its past practice (here fol­ lowed the name of the company). . . said it had begun test marketing of its low-end (personal computers) through depart­ ment stores.” Along with several other companies, this was one of the major players in the personal computer business which led the charge into department stores some Is the truth this easy to distort? Does six years ago. So what was the striking the personal computer business believe departure from past practices? in reincarnation? “To date (the company) had sold its I recollect that all of us commentating computers only through authorised deal­ on the industry at the time believed that ers or directly to large corporate ac­ the move into major department stores counts,” the item continued. would finally bring the personal comput­ Who was kidding who? The disastrous er out into the open. attempts to sell computers through de­ The weight of the name of a major partment stores in the past must have store would add credibility to the PC. It somehow been forgotten. would certainly ensure a reasonable level Perhaps a whole new generation of of after-sales service. mm marketing experts had taken over at this There were two problems we over­ Banmn major company. Certainly a whole new looked. The stores were not making breed of merchandisers must now be enough money in selling PCs and PCs running the department stores. don’t wear out.

26 Professional Computing, March 1989 if you had bought a car from me. With the computer you have a huge manual to help you. It’s all in there.” This reminds me that I must ring Mis­ ter Feng in Taiwan about some of the manuals as I am not too sure he under­ stands exactly what he is writing about. Of course, nor do I, and the circular logos he prints which say “IDM” look just like the real thing when I stick them on the front of Mister Feng’s PCs. The rest of the day is not so bad, ex­ cept one of those horrible journalists rings up and asks me if I have taken 20 per cent off my software prices now that Mister Keating has made it official. I wave at Wayne and motion him to alter the sign again while reassuring the jour­ nalist that I have taken off a full 20 per cent. It never does to lie to people in business. help him,” I add. “And make sure he “Get lost and take your A-i-ay-i-oh Wednesday 8th pays the full price. Tell him the software with you,” I shout at him at last, and tax still applies until lunchtime.” slam the phone down just as two kids WHEN I arrive at the store, Wayne is arrive in the doorway. They have a prop­ already there, with a customer. I figure “Shall I alter the sign again?” asks Wayne. osition. that maybe he is getting some sense into “Give us a couple of computers and a his head, but when I look at the sign, I I am about to reply when the phone goes in my office. whole load of games, or we’ll burn your see that he has marked down the soft­ store down,” says one. ware again to $460. I am about to shred Thursday 9th “Burn my store down?” I asked, him, but the presence of the customer THIS has been a bad day and only some amazed. prevents me. real business sense has seen me through. “Yeah,” says the other. “Down to the “What does he want?” I say to Wayne My software is only worth $425 now, but ground.” on the side. I have no time to argue. Mister Rohenski I am flabbergasted. They look pretty “He wants a Pick system,” he replies. the builder appears to be sending round a young, and pretty dumb, but they clearly “Don’t speak ethnic English to me, couple of men to discuss hardware with understand the fire insurance business. I you insolent boy,” I reply sharply. Where me, and I am plagued by a lunatic who can do business with them. do these people get their manners? Per­ claims to be interested in buying soft­ “No computers for you two,” I say. haps it’s all those milkshakes they drink. ware and related to Old Macdonald Had “And certainly no games. But there’s a “If he wants to pick a system, go and a Farm. box of matches over there on the table.”

of the kitchen. The old faithful is then generally sold in good working order to someone who’ll Open all hours — use it as a grog fridge in the garage. Before computer marketing experts ask the refrigerator makers how they manage to keep selling more fridges each year, it might be an idea to consider how essen­ for a second time tial is one and non-essential — to the average household — is the other. Now, before the successful marketing Undercut in price by smaller retailers All that’s left are the great unwashed of personal computers through depart­ and specialist computer stores, the ma­ masses who could never see any value in ment stores can take place, something jors quietly stopped selling PCs or sold acquiring one in the first place and a else has to happen. off that part of their business. small group of enthusiasts keen to ac­ Manufacturers have to devise a meth­ Now, some of them are moving back quire the latest generation machine. od of making the wretched things wear into the business. And at least one major Those enthusiasts are likely to buy out. Load them with more features, cer­ manufacturer is pushing them in this. from a specialist outlet. So what’s in it tainly. Give them faster processors or Consider the potential market for PCs for the department store? better displays. sold through department stores today. Back to that second problem. Because But above all, make them wear out. If The first wave of enthusiastic buyers they don’t wear out, the replacement the mass market for these machines is to have long gone. They were followed by market is small. take off, the manufacturers should not be the next wave of buyers — more cautious Pop-up toasters wear out — or become looking to department stores. and probably more aware of the potential unreliable enough to be tossed out. Rather, they should consider car yards. applications for the machine. Washing machines and vacuum cleaners Now there’s a piece of equipment subject Let’s face it. Most homes which have tend to have reasonable life spans. to more than its fair share of wear and acquired personal computers by now That other essential item — the refrig­ tear. have either discovered they are useful or erator — is almost in the same category And as for the people who sell cars — found a place for them in the garage as the personal computer. We hang on to new and used — now there’s a group of (alongside the reel-to-reel tape recorder our refrigerator until a major event hap­ people who really know how to turn on a and the exercise bike). pens — such as a complete remodelling mass market! □

Professional Computing, March 1989 27 iiiuuuiiii riiiuLuu

Over the past two years, Colonial Mutual has Mint streamlines equipped its 1000-strong sales force with lap­ tops costing more than $6 million. with Fact Of this cost, $500,000 has been spent on developing special software to demonstrate the WO\AL benefits of the insurance and investment prod­ THE Royal Australian Mint in Canberra has 'iUSTUAl.lAr* ucts the company provides and how these can completed implementation of the manufactur­ min r be tailored for each client and situation. ing modules of the Fact business information The Colonial Mutual deal is one of the first system as part of a strategy to streamline its major sales of Compaq SLT/286 PCs in Austra­ operations to win international contracts for lia and was arranged by Sleebs Computers of coin production. Melbourne. implementation of the financial modules of the Fact system by the end of this year will complete a four year project in which the Mint has moved to a highly sophisticated comput­ er-based information system from a totally $20 m Control Data manual environment. Control of a $1 million Wang VS installation (an 8M-byte Wang VS 7120 processor with supercomputer sale 1/2G-byte of disk, two laser printers, two 600 line a minute impact printers and tape back­ CONTROL Data Corporation has sold a $20 up), which runs the Fact business information million liquid nitrogen-cooled ETA10-G super­ system, is vested in just two Mint executives. computer to the University of Aachen in West Germany. The Aachen ETA10-G, to be shipped in the MManufacture of circulating coins and third quarter of this year, will have six central New PC software proof coins, like this $5 featuring the new processors and 128 million words of shared Parliament House, is now controlled by memory and will run the EOS operating system. from Optimum the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra us­ Control Data has also announced Amigas II, a ing the Fact business information system. new image and graphics analysis system that automates many of the operations involved in AUSTRALIAN distributor, Optimum Software, pany MicroCorp Pty Ltd signed an agreement producing short-range weather forecasts. has released a complete and cost-effective PC with the Receiver of Microbee Systems Limited These two to six-hour forecasts, called now­ database management and reporting product which effectively frees the business of Microbee casts, are generated by the field offices of for the IBM PC and compatibles range of sys­ from the substantial liabilities that the company weather services and a wide range of civilian, tems. had accumulated since its public listinq in late military and academic agencies throughout the Called RAMIS/PC Workstation, it retails for 1985. world. under $800 and is an integrated family of prod­ The directors of MicroCorp are Giuseppe and Amigas II is claimed to save meteorologists ucts which includes menus and pop-up win­ Serafino De Simone who almost six years ago hours in plotting contours manually, thus mak­ dows to assist both novice and expert users founded the personal computer dealer, Micro- ing more time available for interpretation, analy­ through the various functions. Help, which concentrates on LAN installations sis and forecast development. Optimum Software claims no programming and support. experience is required to use the product. The brothers are also principal shareholders The user has menu-assisted access to all in the investment company Compumark which components of the workstation, as well as to gave Microbee a new lease of life in May 1988 user programs and independently-acquired soft­ by acquiring the controlling interest in the com­ RISC graphics ware. pany following the collapse of Impact Systems A PC database element allows the tracking of Limited. supercomputer information easily, efficiently and accurately through the comprehensive, pop-up menu- THE Series 10000 Visualisation System (Series based relational database manager, Optimum 10000VS) released by Apollo Domain Computer claims. Compaq laptops for is claimed to be the first system to utilise RISC graphics. Colonial Mutual The Series 10000VS family of graphics super­ Microbee changes computers is based on Apollo’s RISC-based, MELBOURNE-based insurance company, Colo­ multiprocessing PRISM architecture and a new, nial Mutual, has made a $1.9 million ivestment in advanced 3-D RISC graphics engine. This RISC ownership again laptop computers and purpose written software. drawing engine is claimed to be the first to The major insurance and financial services incorporate RISC concepts such as parallel exe­ AUSTRALIAN computer manufacturer and sup­ group has purchased 172 Compaq SLT/286 cution, single-cycle pixel draw rates, and no plier, Microbee has changed ownership again. laptop computers, each with a 20 Mbyte hard microcode. On January 20, the principals of trading com- disk together with lightweight Diconix printers.

28 Professional Computing, March 1989 =FAST ACTION ENQUIRY SERVICE PROFESSIONAL COMPUTING

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1/ n Micro StoreBoard award winners

COMPASS Group has announced the win­ ners of its annual Micro StoreBoard awards for 1988. They are: Apple Computer — best selling ■Tas/f?reeze, a computer system for the automotive spare parts industry, has been developed microcomputer supplier; Commodore Amiga jointly by Breeze Software (Aust) Pty Ltd and Trade Auto Spares, an automotive parts 500, personal computer; Microsoft, software wholesaler. The automotive parts management system has been designed to give parts supplier; Lotus Development Corporation, resellers direct on-line access to more than 20,000 automotive part items plus a host of software applications package, Lotus 1-2-3; other accounting and management related features. Epson, selling printer supplier; Epson LX800, printer model. Micro StoreBoard — the monthly Compass Group service that gives its name to the awards — tracks volumes of invoiced sales of microcomputers (valued at more than M * y $1000), software and peripherals through third-party channels, highlights user buying trends and model-brand shares, and outlines HfsiliiTl new opportunities for suppliers and resellers. PC-MOS/386 — version 3.0 on way UThe Microscribe 300 laptop designed for SOFTWARE Product Support (SPS) has begun police investigations, construction sites and shipping Release 3.0 of its PC-MOS multiuser, other field work. multitasking DOS-compatible operating system. The new release supports Windows/286, with 6Mb RAM and a 150Mb hard disk for the bringing multiuser capabilities to the Windows file server and four Epson AX2 PCs as worksta­ environment through devices that support high­ tions for its 3COM 3+Open LAN. These and speed, bit-mapped graphics, such as SPS's four existing PCs have been connected in the VNA and SunRiver’s Cygna/386 workstation, first stage, with facility for a further six worksta­ SPS claims. tions in stage two. PC-MOS also gives Windows/286 users mul­ MThe new McDonnell Douglas Series 18/400. Advance Asset Management has also decid­ tiuser capabilities with both Windows and non- ed to standardise on the Epson PC AX2 for its Windows applications. top end 18/900 models which can support up to future network expansion. Enhanced hardware and software compatibil­ 400 devices. ity, faster disk performance and larger task McDD product marketing manager, Peter An- sizes are other key additions to the Release 3.0 sell, said the half inch tape facility would be a code. welcome addition to the low end of the Series Small and tough, 18 range for users such as credit unions which required half inch tape media compatibility. that’s Microscribe

McDD adds fourth QUEENSLAND Railways is one of the first Australian companies to buy Microscribe 300 Series 18 model Epson chosen for Series compact-size computers. Australian distributor, Lynwood Pacific Pty Ltd said the Microscribe with its comnbination of MCDONNELL Douglas Information Systems OS/2 LAN network small, genuinely portable (1.36kg) size and pow­ has added a fourth model to its Series 18 data­ erful capabilities was designed for use in envi­ base management business computer range to THE Epson PC AX and AX2 personal comput­ ronments where conventional computers were provide users with a half inch tape facility on its ers have been chosen by the Advance Bank as impractical such as in construction sites, army latest low end system. the hardware for its OS/2-based local area net­ manoeuvres and investigative police work. The release of the new Series 18/400 will work — the first OS/2 LAN installation in Aus­ Queensland Railways will use the Microscribe enable users to follow a seamless upgrade path tralia. to access information from its new electric loco­ between the company’s low end 18/300 models Advance Asset Management Ltd, a division of motives. which support from eight to 64 devices and its the Advance Bank, has bought an Epson PC AX

Professional Computing, March 1989 29 ment’s major income security applications — including unemployment and sickness benefit and pensions. OBP is a flexible processing system de­ signed to meet frequent changes in policy quickly. When all the client’s benefits are on the OBP system, information will be integrat­ ed and the client’s personal details — name, address, children — will be entered once only even if the client receives more than one ben­ efit. Joint marketers to mid-range users U.4pricot’s Qi 600 Series. COMPUTER Associates and Perth-headquar­ device with high integration but usually slow in tered IBM marketing contractor, Lateral Pty Ltd, Apricot’s Qi 600 reading data. have entered into a co-operative marketing The access time of the world’s fastest one- agreement to address the large Western Austra­ for PC 89 launch megabit SRAM was previously 14 billionths of a lian market for computing solutions based on second. SRAM chips operate faster than the the IBM System/36, System/38 and AS/400 widely-used DRAM (dymanic random access APRICOT Systems Australia is set to consoli­ mid-range computer systems. memory) chips but have difficulty in high integra­ date its position in the MicroChannel Archi- The agreement enables the two parties to tion. tecture (MCA) market with its launch of the capitalise on the preference of most mid-range powerful Qi 600 Series, which will make its A Toshiba spokesman said the combination users to source hardware and software from of the two structures achieved a faster access Australian debut during PC 89 from March one organisation. time than metal oxide chips and higher integra­ 14-17. It focuses on Computer Associates’ Master­ tion and lower power consumption than bipolar The Qi ("key”) range endorses Apricot’s piece family of financial accounting applications chips. commitment to the MCA market, especially and its business decision software including CA- Toshiba plans to begin sample shipments of government and large corporate clients with Stratagem and CA-Supercalc. the new product in two years but has yet to which Apricot has built a niche in Australia. “We will prospect for customers and under­ decide on its mass production, the spokesman Qi’s connectivity capabilities include an in­ take sales presentations together, as well as co­ said. tegrated network system and built-in Ethernet operating in an after sales environment," said Hitachi plans to start commercial production interface; in addition it offers advanced secu­ Computer Associates WA manager, Raymond of its new chip in three years. rity features. Qi is said to utilise the fastest Malpas. 32-bit processor technology available, with full PS/2 compatibility. ‘Revolution’ in VGA graphics card SRAM even faster Social Security for IBM PC/ATs than the DRAM AUSTRALIA'S social security recipients ELECTRONIC Solutions, distributor of IBM en­ should receive their benefits faster following hancement products, is marketing VGA graph­ the biggest technological changes in the his­ ics cards for IBM PC/ATs and compatibles TOSHIBA Corporation and Hitachi Ltd claim to tory of the Department of Social Security. which have complete BIOS level compatibility have developed the world’s fastest one-megabit When completed, the department will have with IBM’s VGA. static random access memory (SRAM) chips one of the biggest on-line computer systems The card will run all software written for IBM used for high-speed supercomputers and engi­ in Australia with potentially thousands of us­ PS/2 and the VGA standard. It is also claimed to neering workstations. ers accessing it at any one time. have full “backward compatibility” with software Toshiba said its chip, with an access time of Online benefits processing for family allow­ written for EGA, Hercules graphics and CGA eight billionths of a second, was the world’s first ance and family allowance supplement (OBP standards. prototype combining bipolar and “complemen­ FA/FAS) — developed in-house — is the first The VC800 graphics card is also backward tary metal oxide semiconductor" structures. major step in the integration of all income compatible with monochrome, CGA and EGA Bipolar devices generally operate faster than security applications. color monitors but interfaces with Multisync type metal oxide chip types, but consume much Previously, the FA and FAS were account­ monitors such as the NEC Multisync II to pro­ more power. ed for on two separate systems. The new vide resolution up to 800 x 600 and 256 colors Hitachi’s new chip, which has an access time OBP installation aims to provide a fully inte­ from a palette of 256,000. of nine billionths of a second, is a metal oxide grated online system covering the depart­

30 Professional Computing, March 1989 to Open Systems

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32 Professional Computing, March 1989 ployment and Training to review for his paper, Information Sys­ some figures on employment tems Planning — Manifesto for patterns in the IT industry which Australian-based Research, pub­ were gleaned from the last na­ lished in the Australian Computer tional Census. From the people Journal. The award, announced answering the questionnaire, and at the October National Council, from other statistics available to is given for the paper judged to them, the DET predicted that be the best published in the Aus­ there will be a substantial over­ tralian Computer Journal or in supply of nearly 1200 program­ any of the society’s national or mers and analysts in WA by 1991 branch publications. The award and also that there is a net out­ consists of the ANCCAC medal flow of IT personnel from WA to and $800. ANCCAC pre-dates the eastern States. the ACS and stands for “Austra­ CANBERRA ing branch of AMIA (Australian On the latter I was most sur­ lian National Conference for Medical Informatics Association), prised, since my constant per­ Computers and Automatic Con­ an organisation set up to explore ception is that there are many trol”. When it was wound up as the growing and important in­ people in our industry arriving an organisation it was decided to Goddard is volvement of computers in medi­ from other States, but few leav­ name this prestigious award af­ cine. For some years there has ing WA. Maybe it is the recent ter this important IT industry been a national technical com­ graduates, many of whom have founding organisation. speaker mittee on Computers in Medi­ been offered positions with the JIM ELLIS cine, but the formation of a medi­ Federal Government in Canber­ Chairman HE Canberra branch an­ cal SIG will give far greater ra, that distort this picture. If true nual meeting is set for involvement and impetus to this it is an indictment of WA employ­ March 15 in the Fraser area. Details from Dr Patrick ers of graduates, or perhaps the VICTORIA TRoom of the Workers’ Club Nugawelaat on (09) 448 3022 (bh). lure of working outside of WA 7.30pm. National president, John The inaugural meeting is being coupled with higher salaries. Goddard, will talk on profession­ planned. Whatever the reason, the figures bear closer scrutiny. alism. The second SIG being formed Software bid Canberra has a large and is in End User Computing. Jo On the predicted over-supply growing population of computer Blundell is forming the SIG, of IT staff, I suppose that only endangered professionals and there is much which had its origins in an end time will tell. To date there has the ACS could and should be do­ user computing course she gave. always been less staff available This area is becoming increas­ than positions to be filled. It is Australia’s dream of be- ing. To do that the support and iOk coming an international involvement of members is need­ ingly vital for the successful im­ almost axiomatic of the industry ed. Make your presence felt in plementation of computing in that our predictions of growth, M m software centre is being branch activities. large organisations. It obviously even thought they can appear put at risk by the failure of corpo­ will have strong links with both dramatic, fall short of reality. DET rations and governments to co­ TONY POWER the PC Micro User Group and Of­ figures indicate a 92.3 per cent ordinate their needs and re­ Chairman fice Automation SIGs, but has increase over the five years end­ sources, according to Geoff become such a large area in its ing 1991 compared to the previ­ Dober, Victorian branch chair­ own right that it is felt a separate ous five years. I can believe the man. WESTERN AUSTRALIA SIG is required. Details from Jo increase, I am sceptical of the “This failure to co-ordinate is Blundell on (09) 321 9222. predicted oversupply. not only leaving us continually WA is the first ACS branch to Honor: Dr Bob Galliers, Head of short of our local needs for com­ start SIGs in these areas. It now the School of Computing and puter professionals, but ensures Leading way has more than 12 active SIGs Quantitative Studies, Curtin Uni­ that we will never have sufficient with a third new one planned. versity of Technology, has been trained talent to properly tackle with SIGs Office move: Lena Houghton, awarded the 1987 ANCCAC prize export markets,” said Dober. WA branch’s long-standing and "Despite strong individual ef­ N THE basis that it is dif­ hard-working executive officer is forts by some of the larger com­ moving house to Mandurah panies, our academic institutions ficult to achieve an ob­ meaning the office space that and government, all the signs are jective unless you plan was provided in her Hamersley pointing to a widening rather Ofor it, the WA branch is con­ than a diminishing gap.” home will no longer be available. structing a business plan for Treasurer, John O'Sullivan of Dober pointed to the recent 1989. It will look at areas of oper­ Bentley College of TAFE, has ar­ decision by the ANZ Bank to ation, aims and objectives and ranged for the branch to use self- transport its technical software how these match the revised contained and secure offices at development to Bombay, India, ACS goals and objectives. It will the college. citing lower costs and local skill examine services provided to Lena Houghton will still pro­ shortages as a major reason. members and how these can be vide her services three days a He said that the apparent lack­ improved or carried out more ef­ week. The branch is exploring ing ingredient was the proper co­ fectively. ways in which the other two days ordination of industry needs, and Headed by vice-chairman can be covered, as well as other the level of commitment. Garry Trinder, formulation of the possible full-time arrangements. “We have no shortage of edu­ business plan represents a more The new ACS office telephone cation facilities, as we have virtu­ professional and business-like number is (09) 361 4720; fax (09) ally no educational institution approach to running the branch. 361 0750. which is not offering a diploma, Two more special interest degree or certificate in both the groups (SIGs) are being formed. Startling statistics: I was asked physical and software sides of WA will have the first and found­ by the WA Department of Em­ MBob Galliers: ANCCAC prize computing.

Professional Computing, March 1989 33 “There are literally hundreds of courses run each year by the ACS and commercial vendors, enabling existing professionals to both upgrade existing skills or acquire new ones,” he said. "To further speed up the clos­ ing of the gap, the Federal Gov­ ernment and the ACS have been running a series of intensive courses to make it both easy and MGeorge Foote: died in January MJonathan Farrell: speaker MGeoff Dober: software warning attractive for graduates surplus in other disciplines to enter the He will deliver the extreme that at his death. He had been conve­ computing profession. Privacy Act — Did We Win or nor of the most successful spe­ "However, if it is necessary for many of the 50 Case products on Didn’t We? The meeting will be the market are just 4GLs and ap­ cial interest group, Mini and Mi­ large corporations like the ANZ held on March 16 from 6-7.30pm cro Applications, since 1975. Bank to export programming plication generators with a new in the conference room, Plant Though in ill health and in his jobs offshore, there is still some­ coat of paint. Research Institute, Burnley Gar­ Farrell has more than 20 years mid-70s, George nominated for thing very wrong. dens, Swan Street, Burnley. the NSW Branch Executive again "Australian employers and industry experience with exten­ Clarke is also chairman of the sive knowledge of the computer educational institutions must ACS Economic, Legal and Social this year. industry in the US, Europe and He was a man dedicated to look for ways to work more Implications Committee. Details: the Far East. helping his fellows and his phi­ closely together if Australia's Vivian Chung on (03) 810 1557. He said Case has been hailed losophy was best described by strengths as a software supplier an extract from Bacon's Maxims are not to be totally dissipated,” as providing improvements to productivity and software quality of the Law: “I hold every man a Dober said. as well as speeding up the devel­ NEW SOUTH WALES debtor to his profession; from Support infrastructure needed: opment process and reducing which, as men, of course, do New productivity improvement software costs and errors. seek to receive countenance and technologies are no different At the conference he will ex­ profit; so ought they of duty to from other computer elements, amine the range of Case prod­ George Foote endeavor themselves, by way of such as hardware, because they ucts and illustrate how many of amends, to be a help and orna­ cannot operate without support them are perpetuating the status ment thereto.” infrastructure. quo in the MIS department. paid his dues This is a message Kevin Nuttall “We will look at why Case has will deliver at the ACS Victorian failed to live up to many of its EORGE Buchanan QUEENSLAND conference this month. promises and why most Case Foote, widely respected He says people take for grant­ products on the market will never ed plugging in any hi-tech equip­ in the computer profes­ in their present form solve the Gsion and one of the most hard­ ment and knowing that it will two biggest problems in informa­ function. working members of the ACS Conference tion system development — the NSW Branch Executive, died on "Yet behind that ‘humble’ application backlog and user sat­ January 23. three-pin plug is a sophisticated isfaction. theme set support infrastructure, which in­ A man of wide ability with a "The majority of stories about science degree, George was a cludes internal wiring and distri­ Case come from the people who HE Queensland branch bution power lines to generation chartered engineer, an accoun­ either sell Case products or have tant (CPA) and a Fellow of both conference at the Ocean plants for power,” Nuttall said. some other vested interest in New productivity improvement the Institute of Metals and the Blue Resort, Surfers Para­ Case,” he said. Institute of Production Engi­ Tdise, on April 14-15 will have the technologies, such as Case, 4GL The annual conference is and data dictionaries, aiso need­ neers. He was a senior consul­ theme, Business Analysis — aimed at DP managers, comput­ tant with Touche Ross & Co, Matching Computer Solutions to ed a support infrastructure to ing professionals and business plug into before they could deliv­ consulting on computer systems Business Needs. The focus will analysts responsible for develop­ from mainframes to micros in be on the place and importance er attractive promises. ing application systems, industry "Case is not the ultimate an­ Australia and overseas. of business analysis in the appli­ academics and information sys­ His thirst for knowledge was cation of information technology swer or panacea and PC profes­ tem users who would like to lift sionals need to recognise it as a prodigious. In his seventies, in organisations. Areas to be their system performance. George studied law in order to covered include the necessity, journey of progressive improve­ Registration fee for ACS mem­ ments,” he said. become an Associate of the Insti­ the skills, the techniques and the bers is $375, non-members tute of Arbitration and was a experiences. Nuttall is managing director of $445, and will include a printed, the Waterford Company, an Aus­ practising registered arbiter in The target audience is manag­ bound copy of the conference computer disputes. ers, both DP and non-DP, from tralian company he formed in papers. conjunction with Japan’s leading He was also the chairman of organisations with some experi­ Details: Peter Munro on (03) the ACS Disciplinary Committee. ence in IT application but who software productivity tool suppli­ 606 4535, or write to the ACS, George was not merely a one have reached that stage of matu­ er. 7/19 Hoddle Street, Richmond, He is one of more than 15 dimensional workaholic. He had rity where IT has become strate­ 3121. Phone (03) 416 1053; fax a deep knowledge and apprecia­ gic, and senior analysts and data speakers who will discuss the (03) 416 0883. theme of productivity tools at the tion of literature, fine arts and administrators whose future ca­ Tax talk: The Human Aspects branch conference at the Old French wines. reers depend on coming to grips SIG has invited Roger Clarke, Ballarat Village, Ballarat, from A long-time ACS member, with the business implications of March 17-19. Reader in Information Systems, George joined the NSW Branch the application of their technical Department of Commerce, Aus­ Executive committee in the late knowledge. Another conference speaker tralian National University, Can­ 1970s, was chairman in 1984-85 Contact the secretariat manag­ will be Jonathan Farrell, general berra, to speak to the topic, Aus­ and was still responsible for the er on (07) 263 7864 for a copy of manager of Infolink Software. tralia Card, Tax File Number, onerous portfolio of membership the registration brochure.

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36 Professional Computing, March 4989 Is paperwork causing your company trouble? Then it’s time you got to know EDI. Electronic Data Interchanges allows you to transmit business documents to other organisations by computer. Invoices, purchase orders, remittances and other business documents can be sent electronically in standard formats, eliminating manual processing and saving you time and money. The Seminars To introduce you to EDI, Tradelink have organised a series of one day seminars to take you through the business applications of EDI, its success overseas and of course, the benefits to you. The seminar costs $280. Call the Tradelink Hotline on (008) 033 441 and make a date. Because once introduced, you’ll want EDI for your own. Melbourne dates: 12th April 1989 10th May 1989 Sydney dates: 22nd March 1989, 26th April 1989.

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