IBM Corp has put the Merlin release of its 32-bit OS/2 Warp operating system into beta test. The main enhancements are the inclusion of speech recognition capabilities, as well as integration with Sun Microsystems Inc’s Java. Information about the beta test program is available from http://www.austin.ibm.com.
Also on the beta test front, Novell Inc has now shipped beta software for the Green River version of NetWare 4 to its developer and OEM partners. Chief among the enhancements are symmetric multiprocessing scalabilitiy; integrated TCP/IP support; C2-level security; increased network printing capabilities; better installation and network migration functionality; and graphical administration tools for network and Novell Directory Services environments. Green River is scheduled to ship this autumn.
Iomega Corp, Roy, Utah, said Gateway 2000 Inc is offering Iomega’s internal Ditto Easy 3200 tape back-up drive as an installed option on Gateway personal computers.
The IBM Moccasin prototype PowerPC Common Hardware Reference Platform, takes about one minute and 15 seconds to boot reports MacWeek, slightly less than needed for Windows NT.
Olivetti Personal Computers USA Inc in Austin has launched four computers in the US based on its European line of Echos notebooks. They are priced from $2,500 to $5,000.
St Paul, Minnesota-based 3M Co’s board has formally approved the previously announced spin-off of its data storage and imaging systems businesses as the new Imation Corp.
To cut costs, personal computer manufacturers will this fall be cutting back on the software they bundle.
Unisys Corp’s Federal Systems Division has received a contract to install 1,700 local area networks and 56,500 personal computers at more than 1,500 Social Security Administration offices across the US under a contract initially worth $185m that cou ld expand to $280m.
Apart from a dark grey and purple color scheme and top-of-the-market sound system, there is little to distinguish Sony Corp’s first personal computers from a mass of other multimedia machines, but the company says that this is deliberate. Before it can start to differentiate its machines in a major way, it needs to establish itself in people’s minds as a standard compatible personal computer firm.
