Issue #76: 30 September, 1997

Corel Leaves the CAD Software Market

 In exchange, Corel received shares of IMSI common stock and cash worth US$5.6 million, plus royalties and development payments in the future. IMSI plans to hire 20 of Corel's employees and is establishing a development center in Ottawa ON Canada (the location of Corel Corp).

 IMSI says that over 70% of their revenue comes from CAD and graphics products. IMSI now offers the following graphics tools:

• CorelCAD Technical (formerly Corel Visual CADD) is 2D design and drafting software.
• CorelCAD 3D Modeler (formerly CorelCAD) is the ACIS 3D solid modeler.
• Corel Personal Architect for home design and layout (to be release in early '98).
• TurboCAD 4.0 for 2D drafting.
• TurboCAD Professional 4.0 for 2D drafting and raster- vector conversion.
• TurboCAD 3D for 3D design.
• CorelFLOW 3 for diagramming, flow charts, schematics and space planning.
• MediaPaq for image management.
• Hijaak for graphics file conversion and image manipulation.
• MasterPublisher for page layout and illustration.
• MasterClips and MasterPhotos for electronic art and photos
• Corel Click & Create for combining content into a multimedia presentation.
• Corel Family Tree Suite 2.0.
• Corel Lumiere is digital video editing software for assembling clips from video, audio and still images.

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Autodesk to Ship LT 97 in October

• Content Explorer is a graphical interface for accessing blocks (symbols) and externally-referenced drawings. It displays all AutoCAD blocks in the current drawing, on the computer, and connected network. The Create Tab button creates a new "tab" containing a group of symbols.
• The little wheel in Microsoft's Intellimouse allows real- time zoom and pan.
• Better right-click support, where a cursor menu appears at any right-click (except during a command).
• PolarSnap is a new dialog box that lets you constrain drawing to specific angles and/or distances.
• Microsoft's new "compiled HTML" file format is being used for LT 97's on-line help. Compiled HTML (*.CHM) is a format read only by Microsoft Internet Explorer and next year's Windows 98 and not any other Web browser.
• Plus 16 new commands not found in Release 14.

In related news, Autodesk announced the release of Symbols 97, which repackages what used to be three separate symbol packages (Architectural, Electronic and Mechanical Symbols; US$99 each) into one package for US99. The product will be available in Australia, Canada, and USA only.

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CAD and Internet News Headlines

Baystate Technology
A custom version of Spatial’s viewer technology will be available for CADKEY. The 3D CAD model viewer can be used as a standalone application or be directly embedded in applications such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, or in Intranet Web pages. More info, including a free download, from http://www.spatial.com

Bentley Systems
he next version of MicroStation, called MicroStation SE, is now in beta. Want to test it? Go to http://www.bentley.com/products/beta/index.htm to fill out an application form.

Cadence Design Systems
The company plans to expand the preliminary injunction ruling against Avant to include "Avant's Aquarius software product and any related place-and-route products containing Cadence software, trade secrets or derivatives that Avant attempts to bring to market." The USA Court of Appeal had earlier issued an order to prevent the sale of Avant's ArcCell BV and XO products. More info from http://www.cadence.com.

DataCAD
The DataCAD architectural CAD software will be resold into retail markets by Quarterdeck Select, the telemarketing subsidiary of Quarterdeck Corp. The DOS-based DataCAD 7.50 (US$249) and QEMM 97 (US$69) will be bundled at a promotional price of US$219 or US$179 for upgrades. More info from +1 (800) 683-6696.

Eagle Point
SolidBuilder for Windows is stand-alone 3D solid modeling software designed for residential building and light commercial construction, framing, and estimation. Due out this fall, the upgrade features an Access-based database system and the Windows user interface.  
 
IMSI
Editor's note: "We've been looking at a beta of Corel 3D Modeler software (now owned by IMSI) and came away impressed. As one industry wag put it, 'From a technical standpoint we shouldn't underestimate it; it's in many ways comparable to Solidworks.' The software is due to ship this fall."

Intergraph
ActiveFRAMME is Intergraph's premier solution for automated mapping and facilities management (AM/FM) to start shipping in November. The new version of FRAMME brings integration with Oracle's Spatial Data Option (SDO) and Spatial Cartridge (SC) and customization through Microsoft Visual Basic or Visual C++.

Netscape
By partnering with 20 publishers, Navigator will be distributed on CD-ROMs in 23 million books and magazines this fall.

Sun Microsystems
Personal Java (P-Java) is ready to go, along with the option of integrating Java or P-Java into real-time operating systems for devices, such as pagers, cell phones, and set- top boxes. [Hey! Wasn't the set-top box the original reason for Java? -- Ed.]

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Tech Q&A

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The WorthWhile Web

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Jargon Watch

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Letters to the Editor

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Notable Quotable

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