Newsgroups: bit.listserv.next-l
Date:         Mon, 17 Aug 1992 00:58:01 PDT
From:         Conrad_Geiger@NEXT.COM
Subject:      v4.8 - NeXT Nugget News Digest (vol. 4, issue 8, August 17, 1992)

NeXT Nugget News Digest (vol. 4, issue 8,  August 17, 1992)

This is vol. 4, issue 8 of the 1992 NeXT NUGGET NEWS DIGEST - a
collection of items of interest for the 15,000+ NeXT User Group
members worldwide.

Previous Nugget Digests are located in the /pub/next/Newletters/Nugget
directory on the Purdue archive server site: sonata.cc.purdue.edu.


Conrad Geiger
Manager, International NeXT User Groups

__________________________________________________________________

*** Nugget August Monthly Survey Question ***

If you like receiving the NeXT Nugget News Digest, please complete
the following brief survey question:

How would you rate the information contained in the NeXT Nugget News Digest
on a scale of 1 to 5?

(PLEASE SEND YOUR REPLIES AND SUGGESTIONS TO nugget@next.com.)

      _   1 ( POOR, please include suggestions below)
      _   2 ( BELOW AVERAGE, please include suggestions below)
      _   3 ( AVERAGE, please include suggestions below)
      _   4 ( ABOVE AVERAGE, please include suggestions below )
      _   5 ( EXCELLENT, please include suggestions below)


Ideas and Suggestions for improvement: ________________________________


Thank you,
conrad

__________________________________________________________________

TABLE OF CONTENTS


    I. Data General, NeXT Announce Relationship
   II. A letter from NeXTedge
  III. NeXT Europe Computer Directory: Summer 1992
   IV. User Interface Guidelines for 3.0 available via anonymous FTP
    V. Connextions Announces NeXT-to-IBM Connectivity
   VI. Announcing MathGraph
  VII. nPOINT, LTD ANNOUNCES Frontface MODELER FOR NeXTSTEP
 VIII. NeXT Software Developer Positions Available: Modernsoft
   IX. NeXT Financial Trading Systems Position open

__________________________________________________________________

    I. Data General, NeXT Announce Relationship


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:       Allison Thomas                  Stephanie Bigusiak
                Allison Thomas Associates       Data General
                (818) 981-1520                  (508) 898-4293


Data General, NeXT Announce Relationship


WESTBORO, Mass., August 4, 1992  - Data General Corporation and NeXT
Computer, Inc. today announced a relationship in which Data General
will resell NeXT workstations with AViiON servers.  In addition, the
two companies will cooperate in the further development of advanced
client/server solutions.

"Our AViiON servers combined with NeXT's revolutionary
object-oriented workstations will offer the best client/server
solution in the industry," said Ronald L. Skates, president and CEO
of Data General.  "As our customers move their strategic business
applications to client/server systems, they can use AViiON servers to
guarantee availability and security of their data and NeXT
workstations to access this data effectively."

"We think this collaboration will open up new markets to NeXT and
expand our overall distribution capability," said Steven P. Jobs,
chairman and CEO of NeXT.  "This is especially important as corporate
America re-engineers its business processes to achieve greater
productivity."

Client/Server Solutions for Mission-Critical Applications
Using NeXT workstations and AViiON servers, companies can provide
their users with database-driven custom applications.  Data General's
AViiON servers support the industry's leading relational databases,
including Oracle, Sybase, Ingres and Informix. These
high-availability servers, in combination with disk arrays, offer
data security and back-up products that preserve the integrity of
customers' data, even in the event of equipment or power failures.


NeXT's workstations run NeXTSTEP, the industry-acclaimed
object-oriented environment that enables corporate customers to
create and deploy their mission-critical custom applications five to
10 times faster than ever before.  In addition, NeXT's new Database
Kit of objects allows even faster creation of client/server
applications that rely on intensive database usage on the server, and
provides a single, consistent interface to SQL databases from
multiple vendors.

As part of its complete client/server solution, Data General will
also port NeXT's NetInfo to its AViiON servers by the end of 1992.
NeXT recently began licensing the source code for NetInfo, its
network administration software.  NetInfo lets system administrators
manage users, machines, file systems and other network resources on
UNIX networks, and can be ported to any UNIX-based computer.  Based
on a distributed, extensible database, NetInfo gives system
administrators a much more flexible and manageable access control
scheme than with other UNIX network administration tools.  NetInfo
ported to AViiON will provide top-quality support of heterogeneous
NeXTSTEP/AViiON environments by AViiON servers.


__________________________________________________________________


  II. A letter from NeXTedge

We at NeXT recognize that the transition to our new
developer support model may not be easy for everyone. NeXT
has been the only computer manufacturer in the industry
providing direct, personal developer support free of charge
for trained individuals. We maintained it for as long as we
could. Unfortunately, although our developers are as
important to us as ever, it's just not economically
feasible to continue to provide this level of support
without recovering some of our costs.

On one hand, developers now need to pay for individual
support. On the other, you'll soon see an increase in
NeXT's efforts to provide proactive support for the wider
NeXTSTEP developer community. We're augmenting the
resources NeXT provides -- such as NeXTanswers, the support
bulletin, MiniExamples, and technical papers. And we're
significantly stepping up efforts in the company's direct
contributions to community and on-line support mechanisms,
including user groups, comp.sys.next, archive servers, and
dev-next.

You may also have noted that Anderson Financial Systems
recently posted to the net an offer of free direct support
through e-mail. Although NeXT does not formally endorse
Anderson Financial Systems, we're pleased to see such an
option available.

The main issues raised on the net last week included the
new support pricing, the quality of support, and the lack
of recourse for smaller development organizations.

New Pricing
NeXT support prices were set in order to recover NeXT's
costs of providing support. Generating a profit from
developer support is not our intent.

The annual Developer Hotline subscription and the 6-Pack
are already discounted for registered third-party
developers. In order to better provide for smaller
organizations' support needs, we have also discounted the
price on Pay per Incident for registered third-party
developers by 30 percent, which means $XXX instead of $XXX.
And remember, the Pay per Incident charge doesn't increase
if it takes us days or weeks, and several phone calls or
e-mails, to solve your problem.

Quality of Support
Thanks to the net's discussion last week, we think we have
a better understanding of where our support weaknesses have
been in the past. NeXT wants to encourage this kind of
dialogue in the future through developer_comments@next.com,
an escalation path that provides you with a method for
letting us know immediately if you have any problems with
the support you receive through the Developer Hotline.
There's also a sister e-mail address,
sysadmin_comments@next.com, for comments about system
administration support through the System Support Hotline.

Even if you haven't had a problem with support, you can use
these addresses simply to talk to us and let us know what
you think. (Of course, you're welcome to tell us about good
experiences, too.) You can submit bugs to NeXT via
bug_next@next.com.

Smaller Organizations
In some cases, programming and administration problems
scale downward as the number of systems decreases. Because
the price of a hotline subscription doesn't scale downward
for fewer engineers or machines, we know that the hotline
won't always be a viable economic solution for smaller
organizations. That's exactly why we developed the 6-Pack
and Pay per Incident support options, and why we're trying
to make as much information as possible available via
community and on-line resources.

Our Commitment
Our commitment is to provide high-quality, competitive
products and to participate actively in supporting the
worldwide NeXTSTEP developer community. We will continually
evaluate our product offerings and prices in order to
deliver the highest possible value. We appreciate your
feedback and welcome further comments to
developer_comments@next.com.

Thank you for developing on NeXTSTEP.

NeXTedge
NeXT's service, support, and training team


__________________________________________________________________

  III. NeXT Europe Computer Directory: Summer 1992

By request, here are the locations and contacts for the European
NeXT offices:


Paris:
NeXT Computer France
Le Technopolis
175 rue Jean Jacques Rousseau
92138 Issy les Moulineaux cedex
France
Tel : +33 1 46 45 20 20
Fax: +33 1 46 45 58 69


Munich:
NeXT Computer Germany
Oskar-Messter-Strasse 24
8045 Ismaning Germany
Tel: +49 89 99 65 31-0
Fax:+49 89 961 23 92


Dortmund:
NeXT Computer Germany
Joseph v Fraunhofer Str. 27
4600 Dortmund
Tel: 02317589250
Fax: 0 2317589251


London:
NeXT Computer UK Ltd
1 Heathrow Blvd
286 Bath Road
West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 ODQ
Tel: +44 81 565 0005
Fax: +44 81 565 0016


Milan:
NeXT Computer Italia
Edificio G
Via Roma 108
20060 Cassina de Pecchi , Italy
Tel : +39 2 95 30 25 10
Fax: +39 2 95 30 25 60


Amsterdam:
NeXT Computer Benelux
p/a Nedlloyd Districenters
Uiverweg
1118 AA  Schiphol Zuid
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 20 653 0333
Fax: +31 20 653 0348
Startskottet 100756 AB


Stockholm:
NeXT Computer Sweden
Kanalvagen 10A
19461 Upplands Vasby Sweden
Tel : + 46 7 608 89 30
Fax: + 46 7 608 21 66


Copenhagen:
NeXT Computer Denmark A/S
Kongevejen 71
DK-2840 Holte
Denmark
Tel :+ 45 45 41 22 00
Fax:+ 45 45 41 13 10


Geneva:
c/o Alexander Lamb Software Design
Tel: +41 22 735 9603
Fax: +41 22 735 9880





__________________________________________________________________

  IV.  User Interface Guidelines for 3.0 available via anonymous FTP


The latest version of NeXT's User Interface Guidelines document
(.rtfd) is now available for anonymous FTP from sutro.sfsu.edu
[130.212.15.230] in the directory pub/UIGuide_July_92/.  This
supersedes the previous draft release already on the archives.

-rw-r--r--  1  712563 Jul 28 15:45 UserInterface.squfold
	"Squash"ed directory tree

-rw-r--r--  1     534 Jul 28 15:55 README
	Instructions on how to UnSquash the above

-rwxr-xr-x  1  139264 Feb 10 16:26 UnSquashOnly*
	(In case you don't already have it)

Addison-Wesley will publish the final version in hardcopy form as
part of the NeXTSTEP 3.0 documentation set.

Thanks to Kathy Walrath for making these files available to BANG
and for permission to redistribute them electronically.


BANG
P.O Box 1731
Palo Alto, CA  94302
info@bang.org
(415) 327-BANG

The Bay Area NeXT Group is an organization that provides a forum
for information exchange concerning the NeXT marketplace and
computer technology in general.


__________________________________________________________________

V.  Connextions Announces NeXT-to-IBM Connectivity

Connextions Announces NeXT-to-IBM Connectivity Products Connextions
has announced their 5250Vision product, which connects NeXT computers
to IBM's Application System 400. The 5250 product offers NeXT-to-IBM
connectivity in heterogeneous network environments using the TCP/IP
protocol. Connextions also announced Release 3.0 of the 3270Vision
product, which offers new functionality and services to its users.

In a separate announcement, Connextions introduced Network Palette,
an object library for developing distributed network applications
on NeXTSTEP computers. It offers a complete object interface to
the 3270Vision and 5250Vision products.

Contact: Ed Kodinsky (508) 689-3570




__________________________________________________________________

VI.  Announcing MathGraph

Dr. Michael J. Mezzino, Jr., chairman of the University of Houston
Clear Lake's Department of Mathematics and a NeXTSTEP developer,
today announced MathGraph, a general mathematical graphical display
object.

In the form of a loadable object palette, MathGraph is an object
class that lets users control and display a variety of graphical
models using fixed or variable data in two-dimensional and
three-dimensional formats. It also manages data, data scaling,
axes, axis labels, data plotting and limited animation.

Contact:

	Dr. Michael J. Mezzino, Jr.
	Phone: (713) 331-6624
	Email: mezzino@gauss.cl.uh.edu

__________________________________________________________________

VII.  nPOINT, LTD ANNOUNCES Frontface MODELER FOR NeXTSTEP

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:	Contact: nPOINT, Ltd.
			8026 North Washington St.
			Niles, IL  60714
			info@nPOINT.COM
			+1.708.825.7278


        nPOINT, LTD ANNOUNCES Frontface MODELER FOR NeXTSTEP

Frontface IS A 3-D MODELER FOR NeXTSTEP AND USES
PIXAR'S DE FACTO INDUSTRY STANDARD RENDERMAN.


Chicago, July 28, 1992 -- nPOINT, Ltd., of Niles, IL, introduced
today Frontface, an intuitive and elegant program for generating
three-dimensional models on a NeXT workstation.  nPOINT made the
announcement at the computer graphics industry's SIGGRAPH convention,
being held here.

Frontface provides an easy way to build complex and beautiful
three-dimensional images.  It works with any software that supports
the RenderMan Interface, Pixar's de facto industry-standard rendering
specification.

"Finally, there is a superior way to directly manipulate three-
dimensional models," said Kurt Stephens, nPOINT's president.
"We've paid close attention to the RenderMan Interface specification
so that an end-user will get all the power of using RenderMan in an
intuitive, object-oriented NeXTSTEP application."

One of Frontface's most powerful capabilities is full support for
"clip objects."  Similar to clip art in the PostScript world, 3-D
objects can be created, saved,  and copied, providing an effortless
way to reuse previous work.

"Clip objects are not a new idea," said Jens von der Heide, nPOINT's
Vice-President of Marketing, "but I think we've raised the paradigm
to whole new plateau."  Other Frontface tools allow 3-D text
manipulation, shape extrusion, surface manipulation, and many
more operations.

The RenderMan Interface is a software standard for 3-D scene
description.  It is a series of procedures which transfer the
description of a scene to a rendering program.  The description
of the scene is output to a file format called RIB, the RenderMan
Interface Bytestream.  RIB is a platform-independent way to transfer
information regarding 3-D scenes.   The RenderMan Interface has
been adopted by many of the leading computer graphics companies and
has become a de facto industry standard.

The process of creating an image described by the RenderMan interface
is generally completed in two steps.  The first is to create a scene
in a software application such as Frontface, which may include the
description of the shape surface textures,  or other characteristics
of an object.  The second step, provided by rendering software,
is to translate the description into a final image.  NeXTSTEP Release
3.0 includes Pixar's Quick RenderMan and PhotoRealistic RenderMan,
two implementations of RenderMan renderers.

"For the first time," said Mr. Stephens, "the Quick RenderMan software
that displays the image on the screen works almost exactly the same way
as the PhotoRealistic RenderMan software that produces your final image.
That's a beautiful and powerful feature of the RenderMan implementation
on the NeXT platform.  It allows a Frontface user to really explore the
full potential of 3-D graphics."

Frontface will ship early in the fourth quarter.  It will be available
directly from nPOINT and through authorized dealers.

nPOINT, Ltd is a privately held company founded in 1991 to bring new
powerful tools for graphics and publishing to the professional
workstation market.

---
For more information, contact
       Jens  von der Heide
       nPOINT, Ltd.
       8026 N. Washington St.
       Niles, IL  60714
       Phone: +1.708.825.7278 or info@nPOINT.COM.

Frontface is a trademark of nPOINT, Ltd.  RenderMan and Pixar are
registered trademarks of Pixar.  Quick RenderMan, PhotoRealistic
RenderMan, and RIB are trademarks of Pixar.  PostScript is a
registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.  NeXT
and NeXTSTEP are trademarks of NeXT Computer, Inc.




__________________________________________________________________

IX.   NeXT Software Developer Positions Available: Modernsoft

Modernsoft, Inc. was founded in 1989 to develop and market software
products that help senior executives and analysts understand and
direct complex businesses in dynamic environments.  By using object-
oriented and proprietary technologies, these products overcome the
limitations of existing decision support and executive information
software by minimizing the on-going involvement of programmers and
maximizing ease-of-use and reusability of previous work.  The
resulting Enterprise Workstation family of software products will be,
for many large organizations, the most capable software available
for strategic information management management and decision-making.

To learn more about this phenomenal opportunity for NeXT developers,
please contact Peter Strell, VP Research and Product Development at

	Email: modsoft!peter@uunet.uu.net
	Phone: (415) 328-2221.

Modernsoft, Inc.
Suite 200
200 Page Mill Road
Palo Alto, CA 94306


__________________________________________________________________

IX.   NeXT Financial Trading Systems Position open

Wanted for full time position at financial consulting firm: Experienced
NeXT applications programmer for work on Financial Trading Systems.
Finance background in derivatives and/ or mortgages helpful but not
essential.  Salary + bonus and good benefits package.  Salary negotiable.
Contact Randy Johnson at (213) 362-0330 or fax resume to (213) 362-1990,
attn: Randy Johnson.


__________________________________________________________________
end
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU