Message-ID: <310@inuxa.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 16-Jan-85 09:21:31 EST
Article-I.D.: inuxa.310
Posted: Wed Jan 16 09:21:31 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 17-Jan-85 12:41:15 EST
Organization: AT&T Consumer Products Div., Indianapolis
Lines: 118



 ANTIC ONLINE NEWS - SPECIAL BULLETIN

 Permission to reprint or excerpt is
granted only if the following line
appears at the top of the article:

 ANTIC SPECIAL BULLETIN,
 REPRINTED BY PERMISSION.
 COPYRIGHT 1985, ANTIC
 PUBLISHING INC.

 CES-ATARI FINAL WRAP-UP

 by NAT FRIEDLAND, Antic Editor

 SOFTWARE BREAKTHROUGHS

 LAS VEGAS-

 Atari's CES software was in its own
right as spectacular as the hardware
breakthroughs on display.  The star
attraction was undoubtedly INFINITY -
which is the next generation of sleek,
powerful integrated programs.

 Infinity has specs that are more than
a match for Lotus 1-2-3 and Symphony.
Yet it can run in as little as 64K
(even on the old 800) with only the
loss of a few extra features. And
incredibly, it will be sold at only
$49.95 for 8-bit Ataris, the 16-bit
version will be about $70.

 The Tramiel Atari Corp. has shown that
it is serious about holding software
prices to $49.95, which is what
virtually all the advanced productivity
software described in this article will
cost.

 I realize that Infinity sounds almost
too good to be true. But Antic has seen
it in operation.  On one disk it
contains a spreadsheet, relational
database, a word processor that looks
like MacWrite, a telecommunications
package, graphics, icons and pull-down
menus, and integrated printing.  It
runs in virtual memory, which means
that file size is more dependent on
disk capacity than on RAM.

 Infinity will support the upcoming
Atari local area networking (LAN)
capability. And it includes
multitasking -- up to 6 simultaneous
operations on the ST series, 3 on the
130 XE and 2 on the 65XE.

 Vincent Garafolo of Cambridge's Matrix
Software, developers of Infinity,
explained that they were able to get so
much into a 64K memory program by
two-step "optimizing" of the assembly
language compilation. This procedure is
usually only used in advanced military
and government software.

 "Most software companies don't do
optimization because it's so tedious,
even though it's possible to
drastically reduce the size of most
programs," explained Garafolo.  "You
don't have to be a programming genius
to optimize.  You just have to be
willing to put in a few hundred hours
of boring, painstaking line-by-line
analysis."

 Other impressive new software from
Atari includes Silent Butler, a
personal finance program that balances
multiple checking and credit card
accounts, and tracks tax deductions.
It's most unique feature is the ability
to print on your own personalized
checks, using a plastic check-holder
that fits into your printer.

 Shopkeeper is an easy-to-use small
business accounting package that also
tracks inventory and generally emulates
an electronic cash register. It also
compiles daily reports which will be
automatically transferable to the
upcoming (2nd quarter) general ledger
module.  There will be six modules in
the series.

 Song Painter is a very user-friendly
music construction program that
replaces standard musical notation with
self-explanatory colored line patterns
and icons.  Its three instrumental
voices can be controlled almost
entirely from the joystick.

 In another Atari musical development,
the in/out MIDI ports on the ST
computers were being demonstrated
driving the new Casio CZ101 $499
synthesizer.