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| December 1991 | ||||||
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| NEWS IN BRIEF Peter Karnig left NeXT's Developer Relations Group on November 1 to become the new general manager of Appsoft Corporation, the NeXTstep software company best known for WriteNow. Previously developer advocate for graphics and publishing software at NeXT, Karnig played a role in such NeXT third-party software successes as the introductions of Adobe Illustrator 3.0 and TouchType, Altsys Virtuoso, MediaLogic's TopDraw 2.0, and Stone Design's Create. All Appsoft employees except founder Randy Adams report to Karnig. Stained Glass Software in October stopped production of Calendoscope for the NeXT computer. Existing customers will not be supported. Stained Glass remains in business with its consultation services, a company representative said. Stained Glass: 415/968-5000. NeXT is developing an interface and driver for the Tektronix Phaser 3RX phase-color printer. Currently, the NeXT can print on the $14,000 Phaser 3, which supports Adobe PostScript Level 2. NeXT owners will be able to purchase the Phaser 3RX, which lacks a PostScript interpreter, for $2,000 less. The project is scheduled to be finished in mid-1992. Swoop'n' utilities, a series of business utilities run from the Services menu, is now shipping from Paget Press. The system includes an envelope printer, a selection printer, a service-based interface to the UNIX tar and compress programs, and a utility for adding numbers and columns in a word processor document. Introductory price is $99. Paget Press: 206/448-0845. Microtech International is manufacturing a NeXT-labeled removable hard disk drive for delivery to a unnamed government agency. As part of its order for a large number of NeXT workstations, the agency required NeXT to supply a storage device with a fully removable drive mechanism. Microtech designed, tested, and shipped the product for NeXT in only 90 days, sources at the two companies said. NeXT is considering whether to put the drive on its standard parts list. Vivid Publishing has chosen RightBrain Software to market its TypeView program, a stand-alone utility that allows a user to easily view any single character or entire character set of a font. Extra information such as the number of kerned pairs or copyright information is also available. The Show Bezier option displays the internal construction of a character. The software is available for $129. RightBrain Software: 800/472-7246. The Font Company's collection of 1500 PostScript Type 1 typefaces is no longer available in NeXT format. The Font Company is referring existing NeXT customers to a local user group. PostScript typefaces still are available from RightBrain Software and Adobe Systems. The Font Company: 602/998-9711. A high-end accounting package for the NeXT is under development by Phoenix Data Trend, a Calgary, Alberta-based provider of time-sharing-based accounting services. The system, called Cornerstone, uses Syquest as its underlying relational database system. A stripped-down version will be available next May; the full system will be out in October 1992, according to Phoenix. Price for the full system should be about $5000. Phoenix Data Trend: 403/248-3282. | ||||||