Issue #61: 27 May, 1997

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    • Intergraph Ships Imagineer v2.0

    Intergraph Software Solutions this week began shipping their Jupiter-based Imagineer Technical v2.0. Intergraph is
    calling it their "premiere 2D CAD product." Imagineer features increased speed, Web integration, enhanced
    dimensioning and annotation, and 2D kinematic animation. This is the fifth product based on Jupiter -- clearly,
    Intergraph has not canceled their Jupiter project, as one competitor's CEO claimed [or desperately hoped? -- Ed.]
    several weeks ago in a keynote address to dealers in Europe. Imagineer Technical 2.0 runs on Windows 95 and NT. Price is US$495.

    IGUG Online

    This year's IGUG presentations are available at the IGUG web site http://www.igug.org/spring97/presentations/

    Online Subscribers Slowing Down, Toll-free Numbers Speeding Up

    According to Electronic Information Report, the number of on-line subscribers reached 27.6 million at the end of
    March, 1997. However, Report says that subscriber growth slowed down to +6.6% in the first three months of '97.

     Just one year ago, 888 was added as the second toll-free telephone number in North America (800 was the first).
    Next April, 877 will be added as the third toll-free number.

    Highlights from the R14 News Group

    The DwfOut command in AutoCAD R14 does not support paperspace objects. Support for paperspace via
    Whip v3.0 is due out in the fall.

     To help suppress the 'Press ENTER to continue' prompt, set the undocumented system variable QAFLAGS to 2.

     AutoCAD R14 does not directly take advantage of dual-processor CPUs. However, the OS will manage the tasks and
    events so that AutoCAD gets some benefits of running on a dual-processor computer.

     The capability to execute an AutoCAD R14 command using the AutoCAD ActiveX Interface is not currently available
    through ActiveX Automation.

     To take part in the R14 discussion group, point your news reader to:
    news://adesknews.autodesk.com/autodesk.autocad.r14general

    CAD and Internet News Headlines

    Apple: With support from Apple, Exponential Technology had been promising a 533MHz CPU. However, last week, ET
    closed its doors and laid off its staff.

    Autodesk: Will be shipping vertical products called AutoCAD M (for mechanical) and AutoCAD AEC (for architectural/
    engineering/construction) later this year. In addition, Autodesk is counting on annual subscriptions to help flatten
    the peaks and valleys of income.

    Bentley Systems: Shipments of ModelServer Publisher will begin shipping this month to 100 clients. Based on
    Netscape's Enterprise Server, the server software converts and publishes engineering drawings and models on-demand to
    Web browsers.

    Big Bad Olympics: According to Newsbytes, the Sydney Organizing Committee for the year 2000 Olympic Games is
    threatening to take the Asia Pacific Internet Company to court over its Internet domain name, "sydney2000.net".

    Corel: Corel's Corel Computer Corp subsidiary hopes to ship a mobile network computer this fall.

    Cyco: An annual subscription for AutoManager WorkFlow is available for US$189 per license. Cyco lists the following
    advantages to subscriptions:

    Cyco now claims 175,000 users.

    Eagle Point Software: The Structural Engineering software product for 2D and 3D frame analysis is now compatible with
    AutoCAD Release 14. The company now claims 20,000 customers.

    SoftSource: A 30-day trial version of Vdraft is available free as a download from http://www.vdraft.com or on CD-ROM
    from 301 W Holly Street, Bellingham WA 98285, USA. AutoCAD Release 14 will be supported in the next release of Vdraft.

    Visio Corp: Now claims 1.3 million customers.
     Visio is developing a prototype of support for Microsoft Repository and the Unified Modeling Language
    information model. Visio Professional v4.5 can reverse-engineer ODBC-compliant databases, generate Access databases
    from Visio diagrams, and has several wizards for linking Visio diagrams to both desktop and client/server databases.
         In future versions, Visio Professional will (1) import models of different types that are stored in the Repository,
    (2) exporting Visio drawings to the Repository as models,  and (3) define mapping between a particular model type and a
    set of Visio masters to facilitate importing and exporting models.

    Share Prices

    Shares of Parametric Technology Corp slipped 10% percent after the company indicated fiscal 1998 earnings
    estimates would be below the expectations of an analyst at Alex Brown. Expectations had been US$1.65 per share but are
    now expected to be US$0.42 per share.

    Share prices at close of business Monday, 26 May, 1997:

    Company                 Symbol          Price              Change

    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    Autodesk                 ADSK          37-7/8          +2-7/8
    Corel                      COSFF          5-7/8          -3/16
    Computervision         CVN              5                +1/8
    IBM                          IBM             173-3/8      +7/8
    Intergraph                 INGR          6-29/32      -1/32
    Microsoft                 MSFT          122-7/8      +2-1/4
    PTC                          PMTC          44-3/8              -3
    -----------------------------------------------------------------

    The WorthWhile Web

    Eric Haines <eric.haines@autodesk.com> recommends:
     http://patent.womplex.ibm.com/
    "As a very nice patent searcher. It doesn't just give the basics on the patent but also shows all claims. Nicely
    done!"

    Notable Quotable

    "The large print giveth,
    The small print taketh away."
     -- Tom B.

    Contact!

    All contents copyright XYZ Publishing, Ltd. Inc., 1997 and all rights are reserved. No material may be reproduced electronically or in print without written permission from XYZ Publishing, PO Box 3053, Sumas WA, 98295-3053, unless otherwise noted.