Apple Plans Better Macintosh Software
Seeking to dispel growing fears that its flagship Macintosh computer is taking a back seat while it focuses on newer technologies, Apple Computer laid out ambitious plans Tuesday for enhancing the Mac’s basic software with new communications, graphics and customization capabilities.
In a briefing for reporters and industry analysts, Apple executives said new computer systems and software being developed with International Business Machines would not make the Macintosh obsolete, but rather would build on its capabilities.
Apple also said Tuesday that new extensions of the Mac’s basic software would incorporate encryption technology from RSA Data Security, a Redwood City-based company. RSA’s encryption technology, which prevents unauthorized access or tampering with electronic documents and messages, has gained broad support in the computer industry.
Gursharan Sidhu, technical director for collaborative systems at Apple, said the company had overcome a major obstacle in using the RSA encryption system by persuading the National Security Agency to approve Apple’s RSA-based technology for export.
The NSA, the government’s electronic spying agency, has blocked the export of many encryption systems because they could make it impossible for the agency to eavesdrop on international communications. D. James Bidzos, president of RSA, said that if Apple had indeed gained approval--Sidhu said the company didn’t yet have the final go-ahead--it would be “a first” for key elements of the RSA technology.
The encryption technology is incorporated into a new set of Macintosh software technologies that also includes a number of improvements in the electronic mail and directory-access capabilities of the Macintosh. The enhancements are part of a broader effort to upgrade the Mac periodically with new software “modules,” which will be included on new machines and given away or sold to existing Macintosh owners.
These additions to the basic software, or operating system, make it possible to build more sophisticated applications programs, such as word processors, spreadsheets or desktop publishing packages. Other new modules previewed Tuesday include a new set of graphics and imaging capabilities and a new “scripting” system that allows computer users to easily create customized features on their machines. All will be rolled out gradually over the next two years.
Apple sought to portray future systems based on IBM’s “Power PC,” a design using a speedier computing method known as RISC, as logical upgrades for existing Mac customers. The new machines, which will begin emerging at the end of next year, will be able to emulate the Mac operating system and run Mac applications programs.
But the basic operating systems for the Power PC will be either a complex system called Unix or a totally new operating system being developed by the Apple/IBM joint venture known as Taligent. Mac software will work, but less efficiently than on a Mac itself.
Stewart Alsop, publisher of the PC Letter, said Apple was making a mistake by trying to persuade people that the shift to the next-generation hardware and software will be painless.
