This newsletter does not contain confidential information and can be distributed freely to any person who is interested in PowerPC technology.
The text was taken from a mailing by Brocom Micro b.v., The Netherlands.
This message was distributed by A.C.VANDERHAM@ET.TUDELFT.NL, in real life André van der Ham. My remarks are flagged by Dré. Opinions expressed are my own.
The PowerPC processor is going to reinvent the Macintosh and be a big boost to Apple's competitiveness. A leap in performance gives us the flexibility to offer new ways to interface with humans and technologies. - Adam Lavine, CEO of Specular International.Ever since John Warnock, our President and CEO, came raving about a Macintosh with PowerPC demonstration, we have been very excited and committed to this platform. - Steve Guttman, senior Product Marketing Manager, Adobe Systems.
This issue of Report on PowerPC wil focus mainly on the software side of Macintosh with PowerPC.
This processor card will provide customers with a low-cost upgrade option. The processor upgrade card takes advantage of the Processor Direct Slot (PDS) in these Macintosh 68040-based systems. With the addition of this processor upgrade, the PowerPC 601 chip takes over all processing, disabling the 68040, while doubling the clock-speed of the host system. For example, when upgrading a Quadra 700, which runs at 25 MHz, the PowerPC 601 processor will run at 50 MHz. This upgrade will give the user a performance increase of 2-5 times the original Quadra 700. At start-up, the user can make the choice between the 68040 and the PowerPC 601 processor. Dré: So you can always switch back if software doesn't work on the new platform.
To take advantage of the tremendous power of the PowerPC chip, programs have to be rewritten or recompiled into native PowerPC code, instead of the 680x0 code that programs are written in today. Apple has put in place special developer programs to have as many optimized-for-PowerPC applications as possible.
At introduction of the Macintosh systems with the PowerPC, we believe that there will be at least 30 of the most important applications available in optimized code. There will be key optimized applications available in each catagory: word processing, page-layout, graphics, image editing, 3D graphics, databases, spreadsheets, office productivity, animation, etc. During 1994, hundreds of applications will be shipping.
An excerpt of applications that will be available at or shortly after intro of the PowerPC based Macintosh systems is added at the bottom of this newsletter.
Recompilation of applications is easy. In our experience, revising 500,000 lines of source-code takes 3-5 days. For an average application it takes 1 to 3 months to compile, test & debug, optimize for speed and prepare to ship. Dré: Most vendors will be selling packages including both the 680x0 version and the PowerPC version of the sofware, so you can decide which machine to run it on.
The same excellent results are found during the tests in out compatibility labs in Brussels and Zeist. Many developers and distributers took the opportunity to test their applications and NO incompatibilities were found.
Developer Application Target intro date (4-3-94) (mentioned by developer)
AutoDesk AutoCad Intro Artwork ArtPro 1.3 Intro (1) AS-PLUS AS-PLUS Accounting Q394* (2) B&E Software Ragtime Intro Blyth Omnis 7 Intro Cambridge Chemdraw Intro Canto Cirrus Intro Claris Filemaker Pro Q3* Claris Works Intro ACI 4D Server Intro(?) ACI 4D Compiler Intro Adobe Acrobat June Adobe Photoshop June Adobe Premiere May Aldus Pagemaker Intro(?) Aldus Persuasion Intro Aldus Freehand Intro Dantz Retrospect Intro Deneba Canvas Q3* Fractal Design Painter Intro Frame FrameMaker Intro GraphiSoft ArchiCAD Intro GraphiSoft ZOOM Intro GraphiSoft Azimuth Intro Gryphon Morph Intro Insignia SoftWindows Intro Lotus cc:Mail/Notes Intro(?) MacroMedia Director Intro Maxis SimCity Intro Merlijn Merlijn software Q2*(2) MicroSoft Excel Q2*(?) MicroSoft FoxBase Intro MicroSoft Word Q3* National Instr. Lab View Intro Novell IPX Servers Intro ON Technology Meeting Maker Intro Pixar Mac Renderman Intro Quark XPress Intro(?) Route66 SignPost Intro(2) RasterOps MoviePack Intro Specular Collage Intro Specular Infini-D Intro Strata Stratavision 3D Intro VICOM Multiterm Blue/Plus/TCP/VT Intro VideoFusion Fusion Recorder Intro VideoFusion QuickFlix Intro Wave Research FileWave Q3*(1) Wolfram Research Mathematica Intro WordPerfect Office Intro(?) WordPerfect WordPerfect Intro
(1) Belgian developer
(2) Dutch developer
*) Dré: Q stands for quarter
This list is just an excerpt. Over 80 applications will be ready at intro (according to the developers).
PowerPC team: Jo Algoed, Mark Butje, Paul Van Cotthem, Mark Erwich, Laurens Lijding, Filip Maene, Josaine Morel, Rob Pols, Hans Slierendregt, Chris Van Roey, Gustaaf Vossenaar, Griet Van der Weken.More About the PowerPCReport on PowerPC: Mark Butje, Filip Maene.