Standards to Set Common Ground
What a difference a year makes. Personal computing has undergone fundamental change, which was apparent at this year’s Comdex trade show in Las Vegas, where hardware and software manufacturers competed for the attention of dealers and writers.
At long last in the IBM-compatible arena of computing we have some real standards that define the common level of hardware and software that business-oriented and many home computer systems will have.
They will be high-performance computers using the Intel 80386 microprocessor in either its low-cost SX variant or higher-cost DX option, equipped with at least 1 megabyte of RAM operating memory--and probably more--a hard disk drive and a color VGA monitor.
These computers will use the DOS operating system, along with Microsoft’s Windows 3.0 graphical user interface software and various software programs that run with Windows.
Less powerfully equipped computers will continue to be popular among the budget-conscious, of course, but the 386 color system with Windows has become the machine of choice because it enables a much easier and richer level of computing than DOS computer users have been used to.
Last year at Comdex, Windows 3.0 was just a rumor, 386-based computers were still too expensive--as was VGA color--and OS/2, not DOS, was being touted as the PC operating system of the future.
What changed?
For one, prices of 386SX-based computers fell to the former levels of 80286 machines. For another, prices of color VGA board and monitor combinations fell to little more than we once paid for green-screen monochrome systems.
And Windows 3.0 was such an improvement over previous versions that software developers started focusing on programs for Windows instead of programs for OS/2.
Uncertainty arising from the internal construction of these computers appears to have been resolved.
Last year, there was an acrimonious debate between IBM and Compaq engineers over which one of their internal system designs was best--microchannel architecture (MCA) at IBM or extended industry standard architecture (EISA) at Compaq.
Guess what? Both are alive and doing quite well this year. Many manufacturers have followed Compaq’s lead, offering their own EISA high-performance computers. Despite this, IBM’s proprietary-design MCA machines are selling well. The most sales of all are still enjoyed by an older design, ISA--or industry standard architecture--that originated with the IBM PC/AT. Clearly, all three designs will continue to coexist in the marketplace (and in the office) with little problem.
Another significant change was the way that more than a dozen manufacturers introduced so-called notebook-sized computers that were more alike than different. Portables have always been the least-standardized personal computers.
The new notebook designs all use 386 chips, mostly the SX version; black and white VGA screens able to display 16 or 32 shades of gray; internal hard disks of at least 20-megabyte capacity and often 40 megabytes; a 3.5-inch floppy drive for 1.44-megabyte diskettes, and an internal modem.
Suggested retail prices ranged from $2,995 for an AST model to Compaq’s $6,499. Weights were in the six- to seven-pound range and listed battery life was typically about three hours. Most were black or dark gray.
Keyboard layouts differed, as did screen contrasts and placement of drives and output ports, so buyers will want to shop carefully.
There were also a couple of AC-powered, laptop portable color computers with brilliant VGA screens using an active matrix technology that is quite expensive. Toshiba showed a $9,000 model with a 286 microprocessor, while Sharp had a 386 color portable that probably will be priced at $12,000 to $13,000. It will be a long time before many of us have one of these on our desks because the cost of making color liquid crystal display screens is unlikely to fall very fast.
Something else that remains expensive and thus not in wide use are optical disk drives that can re-record data again and again.
In the software arena, William H. Gates III, the youthful founder and chairman of Microsoft, delivered the keynote address built around an elaborately produced video spoof of the “Twin Peaks” television show. His theme, “information at your fingertips,” portrayed a world in which computer users need be concerned only with the words and numbers and images they want to appear in their documents, not the programs needed to put them there.
Gates predicted that such software technology will be available during the 1990s. But you can already buy software that achieves much of that goal for only $200.
It is called New Wave, is published by Hewlett-Packard and runs with Windows 3.0.
For only $10, you can buy your own videotape of Gates’ 45-minute Comdex presentation by calling Microsoft at (800) 541-1261. Tip: Watch what the little kid with glasses does with his glasses and watch what Gates does with his. It’s nice to see a billionaire with a sense of humor, however subtle.
For me, the hit of the show was neither PC- nor Mac-related. It was Video Toaster, a $1,595 board and companion software that turns an Amiga computer into a broadcast-quality video production machine with real-time image processing. I’ll have more about it in a future column.
Computer File welcomes readers’ comments but regrets that the author cannot respond individually to letters. Write to Richard O’Reilly, Computer File, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, Calif. 90053.
RICHARD O’REILLY is director of computer analysis for The Times.
