PC World (August 1987)

Source: PC World – August 1987

PC World was one of the most popular PC magazines from the beginning of its life to the end. Unfortunately, few magazines have been popular enough to survive the internet. The August 1987 issue of PC World includes:

IBM Special Report

The Master Plan – A look at IBM’s future plans and the success of their recent PS/2 personal computers and 9370 mainframe products.

Buying IBM: The Mainframe Is The Message – The personal computer was never really IBM’s main focus or nearly their most important money maker. Mainframes were IBM’s most important products in 1987 and IBM still produces mainframes today.

The Well-Connected PC – IBM invests in networking technologies for PCs including token ring network hardware, adding enhanced networking capabilities to OS/2 and more. Future plans include ethernet, TCP/IP and other technologies.

A PC Genealogy – A look at the succession of IBM personal computer products including the IBM PC (1981), PC XT (1983), PCjr (1983), Portable PC (1984), PC AT (1984), PC Convertible (1986), PC XT/286 (1986), and PS/2 family (1987).

Looking Out for Number One – IBM may still have been the most important and most influential computer company, even in the PC world, but they liked to milk profits by extending the life of its products vs. innovating. This allowed clone makers, both in the PC world and in the mainframe world to eat into IBM’s market share.

Review

Personal Systems Revealed – A look at IBM’s new Personal System/2 line of computers. These include the PS/2 Model 30 (featuring an 8 MHz 8086 CPU, 640K RAM, 720K 3.5″ floppy drive and 20 MB hard drive for $2500), Model 50 (featuring a 10 MHz 80286 CPU, 1MB RAM, 1.44MB 3.5″ disk drive and 20MB hard drive for $3595), and Model 60 (featuring a 10 MHz 80286 CPU, 1MB RAM, 1.44MB 3.5″ disk drive and several hard drive options from 44MB to 185MB starting at $5295). The Model 60 is the most expandable and the only one of these models to be in a tower format

A Streamlined LaserJet – Review of the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet II series of printers.

The Great Pretenders – Reviews of a couple of alternatives to dBASE III Plus including DBXL and Foxbase +.

Are You the DeskSet Type? – DeskSet G.O. is one of the first typesetting programs available for under $1000.

Author, Author, Author! – A look at software designed to allow group editing of word processing files. Allows for tracking changes and other features. Software examine here includes CompareRite, Red Pencil, and ForComment.

Departments

David Bunnell – Is the PS/2 and OS/2 the future of the PC?

Letters – Letters from readers about the “look-and-feel” lawsuit, government pricing controls, and more.

Harry Miller – Look-and-feel vs. innovation, ease of learning and brand name loyalty.

Stewart Alsop – IBM’s new approach to personal computing.

REMark – With IBM’s new PS/2 line and microchannel architecture, do they still set the standard for the PC. Turns out they really wouldn’t but that wasn’t known at the time.

PC World View – Lotus releases new versions of its 1-2-3 spreadsheet software for DOS, OS/2, and even mainframes. Plus, an interview with Alan HAld, cofounder of MicroAge and more.

Product Outlook – A look at new and upcoming products including GEM Desktop Publisher, PolyDesk III (a desktop organizer with dBASE III users in mind), Paradox 2.0, Grapevine (software for creating small LANs), Dac-Easy Accounting, BoxCalc (spreadsheet/word processor), and more.

From the Software Shelf – A look at some of the latest software, including QuickBASIC, XYZ:Spread (transfer utility between Symphony and Lotus 1-2-3), PC-Write, Hotline (national phone directory and dialing software), and more.

From the Hardware Shelf – Some of the latest hardware releases including hte Hercules InColor Card, the Wyse PC 286 Model 2200, ITT Xtra/286 ATW, Toshiba ND354A 3.5″ internal disk drive, the Prometheus ProModem 2400, and more.

The Upgrade Path – A look at various PC upgrades, including the Micro Bernoulli drive, Correspondent-T 300/1200 baud modem for the Toshiba T1100 Plus laptop, and a PC to XT upgrade.

Consumer Watch – Tips for buying hard drives (including a checklist), plus various complaints from readers.

Sourcebooks – Book reviews including Wang’s Tao (autobiography of the founder of Wang Laboratories), Taking Stock by Wire (a tutorial for Dow Jones News/Retrieval service), The Network Nation, Measuring Hidden Benefits, and more.