Magic Mirror
David Alford
Pen Computing Magazine, Issue #10 May/June
1996
May you live in interesting times
As the Chinese fortune cookie says, "May you live in interesting
times". For General Magic and their partners, these times go beyond
interesting, and approach exciting. Roller coasters come to mind, when I
look over the events of the past several months. To put it into perspective,
Apple Computer is not the only innovative computer company taking a great
deal of flack from the press; General Magic seems to be getting a fair share,
as well.
GM has been pushing the Magic Cap OS into the PC world, through Windows
3.x and 95. While Magic Cap is an excellent software environment, General
Magic should take to heart the lessons learned by the demise of GO, during
their partnering with Bill Gates. I was recently invited by Microsoft to
learn all about their new mobile strategy in an upcoming two-day seminar
in Redmond. While I'm sure that many interesting things can be learned by
signing a Microsoft nondisclosure statement, I passed. The opportunity to
give Mr. Gates any more of my hard earned money, simply to hear their experts
paint a picture of an industry that Microsoft has had no success in, did
not appeal to me.
General Magic stock takes a beating
In the meantime, General Magic stock has plummeted to new lows on SEC filings
by GM concerning the "contemplated termination" of Telescript-based
PersonaLink service by ATT, and the lack of plans for a new commercial Magic
Cap-based product by Sony. General Magic stock holders showed their displeasure
at this bad news, by selling their holdings, and devaluing the stock by
as much as 18%. General Magic stock went to an all time low of 4 1/2 in
trading during the second week in April. Many analysts were questioning
the survivability of General Magic in a market where a flood of new products
has taken place since the beginning of 1996.
While Sony Magic Cap products have had a consumer focus in the past, there
is no denying that Sony has taken dead aim at the computer marketplace in
the United States. As far as PersonaLink is concerned, it is beyond my understanding
how AT&T can be one of the leading telecommunications companies in the
world, and not understand how closed, proprietary systems cannot succeed.
Telescript can be a success as a layered protocol within the present network
standards, without being proprietary.
Mad TCP/IP disease
As mad-cow disease seems to be a direct contributor to the demise of the
popularity of red meat, the appearance of software to provide TCP/IP access
to the Internet from companies such as Active Paper seem to be contributing
to the demise of the originally proprietary Telescript system that AT&T
put together with PersonaLink. Other factors include the slowness to market
of Market Square, which is about to be overtaken by the likes of Outfitters
Direct, and the fast proliferation of the wireless data communications market.
All of these and more, show even more interesting times ahead for AT&T
in the realm of competition.
Now for some good news
Motorola has released the Envoy 150 (reviewed on page 72), as well as an
upgrade for the original Envoy to Magic Cap version 1.5. This new version
of Magic Cap improves on the original version by giving the owner three
times the amount of available user memory which speeds up system tasks and
keeps memory garbage collection down to a minimum. With the software upgrade,
a copy of Lexicus QuickPrint Handwriting Recognition software and the software
to access the Outfitters Direct catalog-based electronic store from Nimble
Technology (Outfitters Direct) is also included.
Motorola Envoy 150
The Envoy 150 offers a new screen that employs a new "holographic reflector"
technology called Optimax. This screen is also offered as an upgrade to
the original Envoy. Upgrading the ROM software on your original Envoy is
done in 10 business days, at a cost of $29.00. An expedited turn around
of 5 working days is available for $49.00. Call Motorola at 800-934-4721
for the pricing of the screen upgrade or to set up a ROM upgrade of your
Envoy.
Although I usually concentrate my attention on Sony, AT&T and Motorola,
other Magic Cap partners have also been showing new products. While Panasonic
has decided to concentrate on the OEM/ VAR market place with their Magic
Cap product, I continue to await the long-anticipated flood of new mobile
and wireless telecom products using Magic Cap and Telescript technology.
Nortel, Mitsubishi, and Phillips look to be the next GM partners ready to
release such products.
Next column, I'll provide an update on the Envoy ROM upgrade, as my unit
is heading back to Schaumburg on Monday for a retrofit. Until then, don't
let the magic go away!
David Alford is the owner of WriteWare. He can be reached at 408-295-4217
or <dalford@pobox.com> or P.O. Box 21952, San Jose CA 95151-1952 or
on the Web at <http://www.writeware.com/writeware>.