Information Processing and Information Systems

▪ 1995

      Sweeping change marked the U.S. computer industry in 1994 as longtime players exited the stage and rival systems struggled to dominate the next generation of personal computer (PC) operating systems and microprocessors. The industry also witnessed fundamental changes in technology as computers moved from desks to pockets and that old standby, the telephone line, was recast as the vehicle for carrying digital video images ranging from movies to computer graphics files.

      In the marketplace a war was under way over which microprocessor would dominate as the brains of the latest generation of PCs. The battle involved some surprising alignments. On one side were former rivals Apple Computer, Inc., and IBM Corp., which introduced the new PowerPC family of microprocessors developed jointly with Motorola, Inc. On the other side were Intel Corp., which was once IBM's chief supplier of PC microprocessors, and Microsoft Corp., the world's largest producer of PC software and the supplier of both MS-DOS—the major Intel-based disk operating system (DOS)—and the popular Windows operating environment. Intel's fastest new chip, the Pentium, competed directly with PowerPC, but it did not have the speed edge of PowerPC's reduced instruction set computing (RISC) architecture. Intel competitors, including Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., and NexGen Software, would produce their own cheaper Pentium-class chips.

      In March 1994 Apple released the first PowerPC-based hardware, the Power Macintosh (Power Mac) line of computers. Although the Power Macs used Apple's proprietary graphic operating system, Mac OS, they were capable of running both Apple and Windows-compatible software. In late 1994 it was uncertain who would emerge the victors in the Pentium-PowerPC battle. In November Apple, IBM, and Motorola disclosed plans for the joint development of a universal PowerPC capable of running multiple operating systems. It was expected to be available in 1996. Meanwhile, on December 19, IBM suspended sales of its personal computers that contained the Pentium chip, which had been found to contain a flaw that could affect calculations. Intel had stonewalled, insisting that problems would occur only once in 27,000 years of normal use, but then, prompted by a precipitous drop in its stock, acknowledged its public relations blunder and offered free, no-questions-asked replacement of faulty chips.

      The PC microprocessor war also sparked a battle over operating systems. Microsoft's as-yet unreleased Windows 95 (formerly code-named Chicago) faced IBM's new operating system, OS/2 Warp, and a new Mac OS, both of which could run several tasks at once. Windows 95 was expected to take advantage of the new Pentium chips' speed and to eliminate the need for DOS by incorporating an operating system with the Windows graphic interface. Windows 95, however, would require earlier Windows programs to be rewritten in order to take advantage of Windows 95 and, while Microsoft originally promised its new system for early 1994, in late December the company acknowledged that it would not arrive until August 1995.

      A battle was also shaping up in a new line of hardware. In August 1993 Apple introduced Newton, the first personal digital assistant (PDA), a pocket-size computer with a write-on screen instead of a keyboard. Newton was immediately criticized for its poor handwriting recognition, and only about 80,000 units were sold. In 1994, however, the company introduced a new Newton with triple the memory and a $599 price tag, roughly $200 less than the original version. More important, Apple said that it had persuaded 2,400 software developers to write programs for Newton, something the machine had sorely lacked.

      After Newton came Simon, a handheld cellular phone that could send and receive faxes, which was being sold by the regional phone company BellSouth for about $1,000. A similar product was Lingo, a Motorola-made unit that combined a wireless phone and pager. It sent and received text messages via a new two-way radio network being put together by Nextel. In 1994 the network serviced only Los Angeles, but full U.S. coverage was scheduled for 1996.

      The biggest splash of all, though, came late in the year when Sony Corp. introduced the $995 Magic Link, a 0.45-kg (1-lb) unit that let users send voice messages throughout AT&T's national electronic mail (E-mail) network. Magic Link was introduced with one megabyte of memory and a 2,400-baud fax modem, but Sony said that memory and modem speed would be increased soon. Magic Link needed to connect with phone lines to communicate unless the customer bought a pager card that slipped into its side. Eventually, the PDA was to have two-way wireless connectivity.

      With most PDAs selling at around $1,000 or less, there proved to be no room for AT&T's $3,600 EO Personal Communicator. That unit thus became the first casualty of the PDA wars and, taking notice, Compaq Computer Corp. said it would hold off releasing its PDA until at least the end of 1994.

      The hubbub over PDAs, though, ignored the fact that their greatest benefits should eventually come from how they communicate over networks. To this end Magic Link's debut was accompanied by AT&T's announcement that it had incorporated "intelligent agent" software into its E-mail network. As a result, someone using the right PDA could order airline tickets by simply touching a pen against one or two of the images on the screen's "desktop" image. Instead of calling an airline or travel agent, the computer would connect with a special AT&T database, where the intelligent software would recognize the caller and arrange the ticket without further ado.

      Among the industry's exiting players was John Sculley, who resigned in late 1993 after having taken Apple's annual earnings from $600 million to $8 billion during his 10 years as chief executive officer (CEO). When he quit, Apple was facing a challenge similar to the one he had been hired to solve: shifting to a new generation of computers while unloading a $1.5 billion inventory of existing machines.

      In a major break with the past, Apple celebrated the 10th birthday of the Macintosh computer by announcing that it would soon license the Mac OS to other companies (mainly in Europe and Japan) and make possible the first Macintosh clones ever. The move was a strategy by Apple's new president and CEO, Michael Spindler, to increase the demand for Macintosh software and thus boost the variety of software available and the sale of all kinds of Mac-compatible computers. Some experts expected the move to boost Apple's market share in desktop computers from 10% to 30% in the coming three years.

      At network software maker Novell, Inc., chairman Ray Noorda, a veteran of more than 10 years at the helm, stepped down—but not before he had the company spend $1,350,000,000 to acquire WordPerfect Corp. and $145 million to buy Borland International, Inc.'s Quattro Pro spreadsheet business. Novell had proposed a merger with rival Lotus Development Corp. in 1990.

      The deal gave a much-needed cash infusion to Borland, where founder and longtime CEO Philippe Kahn saw his power slashed when the board put in place a new executive, Keith Maib, as chief operating officer. Maib's job was to get the company, which had been buffeted by three consecutive losing fiscal years, back on track and try to make a hit with the company's new Windows version of the dBASE database program, itself an aged PC workhorse.

      Another merger of PC industry veterans had Adobe Systems Inc., maker of the Postscript printing language, buying Aldus Corp., producer of the PageMaker desktop publishing program, in a $525 million stock swap. With combined revenues of about $520 million and 1,200 employees, the new company—to be called Adobe Systems—would be the fourth largest PC software supplier in the U.S. As part of the deal, Aldus' high-end graphics application, FreeHand, which was in direct competition with Adobe Illustrator, reverted to its original developer, Altsys.

      What was to have been the trendsetting merger of the year, the planned union of the regional phone company Bell Atlantic Corp. with cable television giant TCI, Inc., fell apart. Corporate differences also derailed a proposed "megamerger" between Electronic Data Systems Corp., the computer services company owned by General Motors Corp., and long-distance carrier Sprint Corp.

      The TCI/Bell Atlantic breakdown highlighted the important role that regulators played in telecommunications and hence in the increasingly networked information processing sector. In 1994 landmark telecommunications reform legislation that would have allowed cable TV companies to offer phone service and phone companies to offer long-distance and cable TV service failed to pass the U.S. Senate after overwhelmingly passing the House of Representatives. Many analysts expected the fibre-optic phone networks to become the basis of a future national information highway that would integrate the computer and telecommunications industries.

      The national standard proposed by U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton's administration for the encryption of data and voice transfers by telephone lines was attacked by privacy advocates and the information processing industry. The proposed Clipper encryption chip would contain a "key" that would give U.S. government agencies the ability to decode, or decrypt, private data sent over public phone lines. When a researcher on the project admitted that it might not work, the Clipper project was temporarily shelved. The Clinton administration was also criticized by many in the PC software industry for ignoring its call for the freedom to export encryption programs, which were widely available worldwide.

      In July the U.S. Justice Department settled an 11-month antitrust investigation of Microsoft by imposing minimal conditions on the company. The conditions would end Microsoft's practice of requiring PC makers to pay for one copy of MS-DOS for each PC that was shipped regardless of whether it was actually installed in the PC. The department, though, took no action regarding competitors' claims that Microsoft kept to itself special features in MS-DOS and its best-selling Windows, allowing only its own programmers to exploit them. Nor did it require Microsoft to pay damages to competitors or even admit guilt.

      A month earlier a U.S. judge had ruled that Microsoft had infringed two patents on data-compression technology held by Stac Electronics, Inc. Microsoft appealed the ruling, which could affect millions of PCs, as well as the $120 million judgment.

      IBM, in an effort to open new lines of business, and cash in on the boom in PDAs and the excitement over the PowerPC chip, signed two key deals with Japanese technology companies in 1994. One, a $100 million, 10-year licensing agreement with Hitachi, allowed the Japanese firm to build large computers based on the PowerPC chip and to sell IBM mainframe computers. The other deal, with Canon Inc., was a technology-sharing venture that would give birth to a PDA and to a PowerPC-based PC costing less than $4,000.

      Canon's small role in the world PC business appeared to be about to change as Japan experienced what was expected to be a surge in PC buying perhaps matched only by that of the U.S. in the 1980s. Though a leader in the manufacture of laptop computers, Japan had few PCs in use in business, and only about one-fifth of those were networked, another major opportunity. In addition, only about 7% of Japanese households had computers, a quarter of the U.S. rate. A kanji version of Windows debuted in Japan in 1993, and big price cuts on PCs were expected.

      As in years past, the big names of the U.S. computer industry did their usual rounds of layoffs in 1993-94, though many were done by healthy companies seeking to become smaller and more responsive. This category included IBM's plan to eliminate 35,000 jobs by the end of 1994, NCR's planned workforce reduction of 12-15%, and AT&T's plan to cut 14,000 to 15,000 jobs in its communications services operation over two years. Severe financial woes, however, did prompt the elimination of 20,000 jobs at Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), leaving it with less than half its 1989 workforce of 137,000. DEC, thought to have hit bottom when it posted a $2.8 billion loss in 1992, was expected to post a 1994 loss of $1 billion.

      Another PC industry veteran, DOS itself, seemed headed for the exit. Some evidence: WordPerfect introduced its magnum opus word processing application for DOS, WordPerfect 6.0, in 1993 but in 1994 said 6.0 was probably the end of the road. Microsoft also hinted there would be no improved versions of MS-DOS, which would be replaced by Windows 95 and the Windows NT network operating system. Quarterly sales of DOS-based applications plummeted by about $200 million from their $650 million level of the first quarter of 1992. The reason: computers running Windows were easier to use and apparently made their users more productive. The difference, according to one industry expert, was about $3,000 per computer.

      (EDWARD S. WARNER)

      This updates the articles computers (computer); information processing.

▪ 1994

Introduction

      The world of computing got smaller in 1993 in terms of both new ultrasmall computing systems and the downsizing of giant computer corporations. Yet for all its shrinkage, the computing industry also reached out in a big way. The new, small computers were equipped with wireless networking systems, and home and office computers were offered the promise of networking with other computers nationwide on a "data superhighway."

Technology.

      This reaching out also occurred on the software level. One of the most popular programs for the IBM personal computer (PC) and its compatible machines was Lotus Development Corp.'s Notes, a new version of which was marketed in 1993. Notes is a "groupware" product, allowing groups of employees on a network, for instance, to produce a report jointly. Windows for Workgroups, a version of the popular Windows software, also debuted during the year, and there were plans for groupware that would link people working in their homes.

      Another popular new product of 1993 also promoted connections between PC users. Named for its designer—the personal computer memory card industry association—the PCMCIA card was about the size of a business card and about 10 times as thick. When inserted into a special slot in a pocket-size computer, such as the Hewlett-Packard 95LX, it provided the PC with special functions such as extra memory. With a small radio built into it, a pocket computer could communicate with other pocket PCs or with local area networks (LANs). A PCMCIA card for the latter function was announced during the year by Proxim, Inc.; the card's speed was 40 times slower than that of most LANs.

      While pocket computers were not new in 1993, a new type of handheld PC was introduced. Called the personal digital assistant (PDA), this palm-size computer was notable for having no keyboard. Instead, users wrote on its plastic screen with a special pen, and software then converted the handwriting to type. PDAs were introduced in 1993 by AT&T, Tandy Corp., and Apple Computer Inc., which called its product the Newton.

      One problem with these PDAs was that there was no standard pen-based operating system; therefore, they could not interchange software as could standard PCs. Another consideration was that, because they were battery-operated and inexpensive—Apple's Newton started at about $700—they did not have the processing power needed to keep up with fast writers or to translate their writing with perfect accuracy. Still another hurdle for PDAs was that there was no way to route the messages they created through the nation's computer networks. However, a consortium called General Magic, which included Apple and Sony Corp., announced that it was developing the software needed to accomplish this.

      The best way to send messages from a PDA or any portable computer is without connecting any wires at all. The few means available to do this were expensive, but during the year the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created "personal communications service," a cellular-like scheme having frequencies that could be used for wireless data links.

Business.

      While connectivity was the major theme in computer hardware, the theme for the business of computers was continued upheaval. In fact, the year's biggest business story may have been the nearly $5 billion loss reported by IBM Corp., the largest corporate loss ever. In its aftermath, IBM's longtime chairman, John Akers, was replaced by Louis Gerstner, Jr., the former chairman of RJR Nabisco. (See BIOGRAPHIES (Gerstner, Lou ).) At Apple longtime chairman John Sculley was replaced by Michael Spindler, the company's former chief of European operations, while Shigechika Takeuchi, president of Apple's Japanese subsidiary, resigned in November.

      IBM's primary line of business was mainframe computers. From 1990 to 1992, however, its share of the world mainframe market dropped from 58% to 52%. IBM's 1993 financial statement revealed that the corporation's mainframe revenue had declined 12% and that all hardware sales were off 20%.

      Another corporate crisis took place at NeXT Computer, Inc., a firm launched in 1985 by Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. Poor sales of its sole product, a workstation for education and engineering, caused the company to cease production and lay off about half of its 2,800 employees.

      Also reporting a major loss was Borland International, Inc., once expected to be the third player in a PC software triumvirate with Microsoft Corp. and Lotus Development Corp. Borland experienced a third-quarter decline of $63 million and laid off 15% of its 2,200-employee workforce. It also began selling its financial analysis software for about $100, a fifth of the price of similar programs from Microsoft and Lotus.

      Not every information-industry company shrank in 1993. AT&T decided to merge with the nation's largest independent cellular company, McCaw Cellular. And, in the largest U.S. communications merger ever, Bell Atlantic, a regional Bell telephone company, announced that it would buy cable television conglomerate TCI, Inc., which owned 1,200 local networks, for $21 billion. Bell Atlantic did not plan to operate the TCI networks within its own service area, but it would be allowed to use TCI lines outside its region to carry telephone calls. This would put it in competition with other "Baby Bells," a development the U.S. Department of Justice had not envisioned when it forced the breakup of AT&T in the early 1980s.

      The proposed Bell Atlantic/TCI merger demonstrated how the computer and telecommunications businesses were merging. Cable TV by 1993 was capable of serving 95% of U.S. homes and businesses, and during the year it also became a medium for carrying corporate computer data, thanks to a new technology developed by Digital Equipment Corp.

      As a result, cable TV companies could compete with telephone companies, which in turn wanted to get into the cable TV business in order to finance the laying of fibre-optic cable to homes. Unlike the copper-wire phone network, fibre-optic cable could carry movies and hundreds of television channels.

      The Bell Atlantic/TCI merger would create the sort of "data superhighway" that the U.S. government was championing as a means to reduce costs in such industries as health care. According to one estimate, improved telecommunications would save the health-care industry $36 billion a year. Such a network could also be used to connect students with remote databases. The government wanted private industry to build the data superhighway, but it did plan to invest in research and development and to ease the market restrictions that might otherwise prevent a merger such as Bell Atlantic's.

      Already the regulatory barriers were crumbling. In 1992 the FCC began allowing phone companies to carry information services such as dial-up versions of want ads, which a home computer could search in seconds by looking for key words.

Networks.

      The planned fibre-optic network would not be the first offered by phone companies to improve data communications between homes and small businesses. In 1993 an integrated services digital network (ISDN) was being installed throughout the U.S. using the copper-wire network. ISDN allowed a home computer to send and receive information at rates 10 times faster than the fastest home computer modems, and one consumer group claimed that it offered 80% of what fibre-optic networks would offer but at 10% of the cost. The telephone industry said its ISDN installations were going faster than expected and that by the end of 1994, 62% of lines would have the service, not the 55% it had expected by then.

      Another existing computer network caught the public imagination in 1993. Noncommercial in nature and without any central management or, for the most part, funding, Internet was simply a linkup of diverse computer networks, most of them academic or research institutions. In 1993, however, publication after publication, including Harper's magazine, featured stories on the electronic mail (E-mail) sent back and forth in Internet's specialized forums—electronic bulletin boards that focused on everything from AIDS research to stamp collecting. One reason Internet was gaining popularity was that several software companies introduced programs in 1993 to make it easier to use, and several on-line information services opened gateways into this "network of networks."

      As networking spread, it was likely to bring about changes in how the public thought about electronic versions of what was now received on paper. In what might someday be seen as a landmark case, a federal judge ruled during the year that E-mail generated by the U.S. president's office is as much a historical record as paper documents and cannot be erased when an administration changes.

      (EDWARD S. WARNER)

Developments in Japan.

      The year 1992 was a difficult one for computer manufacturers and software houses in Japan because of a combination of saturated international markets and the prolonged recession. The production of computers and related equipment in 1992 (January-December) amounted to 5,616,700,000,000 yen, a 7.7% decrease from 6,083,400,000,000 yen in 1991.

      Investment in information equipment declined especially sharply in the financial and security industries, but this belt-tightening mood also spread to manufacturing. Most vendors predicted little or no recovery in 1993. According to the statistics based on the Ministry of International Trade and Industry's New Survey on Computers Deliveries, the total number of deliveries of computers in 1992 was 2,712,505, and the value of the deliveries was 3,794,300,000 yen. Both the numbers and the value of the deliveries decreased from the preceding year.

      Included in this survey were all types of hardware—general-purpose computers, minicomputers, office computers and distributed processing processors, workstations, and PCs. In terms of the value of the deliveries, general-purpose computers ranked first with a 48.1% share, followed by personal computers (24.7%), and office computers/distributed processing processors (13.8%).

      According to a survey by JEIDA (Japan Electronic Industry Development Association), the shipment of personal computers in fiscal 1991 totaled 2,310,000 in terms of central processing units, down 13.2% from the preceding year. They totaled 1,172,900,000,000 yen in monetary value, down 7.1%. Influenced by the worsening economic environment, shipments decreased from the previous year for the first time since the survey began in fiscal 1981.

      (YUJI YAMADORI)

      This updates the articles computers (computer); information processing.

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