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From: next-ug@gap.caltech.edu (Caltech and JPL Users of NeXT's)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: NeXTStep 4.1.91 Released on April 1st :-)
Message-ID: <1991Apr1.063717.1209@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 1 Apr 91 06:37:17 GMT
Sender: next-ug@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Caltech and JPL Users of NeXT's)
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 101

REDCITY WOODS, CA -- Job Stevens, director of OVeRTheEdge, NeXT's new 
Vaporware division, just announced NeXTStep 4.1.91 for release on 
April 1st, 1991.  "Yeah, I know this should only be 2.2, but we were 
so impressed with ourselves we decided to bump it up a couple notches" 
Stevens reportedly said.  NeXT founded it's OVeRTheEdge division to 
serve people who need to use tomorrow's technology today, whether or 
not it exists.

Since there weren't enough seats at the last new product announcement, 
NeXT has rented the L.A. Coliseum and will demonstrate the products at 
7:30 PM on Monday night, April 1st.  Tickets were being given to 
registered developers and sold through user groups and Campus 
Consultants for $25, but scalpers are reportedly getting up to $100.  
The following is a brief summary from an interview with Weekly 
NeXTWorld News reporter Flora Spoil.  The three areas in which 
revolutionary breakthroughs were made are: Systems, Bundled Software, 
and the Application Kit.

(what follows is a brief summary; the full text has been submitted to
pub/next/documents in cs.orst.edu and pub/next/docs in nova.cc.purdue.edu
as Release-4-1-91.wn.Z)

			A.  SYSTEMS

1.	Hardware:
	-RS/6000 CPU with autoswitching __TEXT segments
	-multi-processing boards
	-NeXTStation portable
	-HalfDimension:  low cost color w/o video
	-answering machine/fax/modem in software built into phone

2.	Operating System
	- Real-Time Mach 3.0 as a base
	- OSF/SVR4 Unix and Macintosh servers

3.	Compiler:
	-GCC 2.0 
	-supports FORTRAN
	-Common Lisp run-time
	-integrated graphical debugging environment

			B.  BUNDLED SOFTWARE

1.	Object Modules: Software distributed as palettes, not programs
	-Edit
	-Illustrator (Editableview hierarchy, dumps to .ips editable PS)
	-Mathematica
	-Terminal

2.	Moving Backward-Compatibility Forward
	-Edit built on top of Emacs v. 19
	-Mail.app built on top of MH (MailHandler)
	-TeX in a WYSIWYG format

3.	Mathematica 2.1
	- EPS equations: edit and output
	- GUI Equation Builder
	- Graphing routines on hooks

			C.  APPLICATION KIT

1.	Extensions:
	-HyperLinks
	-Services: automatic button/responder sending
	-MusicView with MusicFont; trivial editing

2.	New Kits:
	-RenderKit: Display RenderMan 
	-VoiceKit: Recognition and Generation
	-UserKit: Public objects maintained by NeXT

3.	AppKit Management
	-MachoMan: Manage Mach-O objects
	-NibEditor: Examine and output Nib files

			D.	CORPORATE GOSSIP

After discussing the new release, Job Stevens talked some about 
pending business deals that would shape NeXT's future:
	- PenComm will become a VAR (value-added reseller) for X, 
sneaking NeXTs into the offices of X-nophobes.
	- NeXT will form a partnership with Sears.  The Sears 
Financial Network will provide loans and leasing agreements for people 
who want NeXTs, and Sear Business Centers will feature the machine..
	- Nintendo will announce that its next generation of games 
will be developed on the NeXT using RenderMan. The NeXT versions of 
the games will be posted to the net freely for beta-testing. 
	- NeXT-Japan and Sony will add a VCR and CD-reader to a 
NeXTDimension to produce the ultimate media machine, combining a a 
high-definition TV, radio, multi-channel VCR, CD-player, phone, 
answering machine, and computer.  If the concept works, they hope to 
eventually mass-market an integrated system for under $5k.

======================================================================
Well, maybe this is Vaporware, but everything described here is well
within the realm of possibility.  Let NeXT and your favorite third-party
programmer know what you want, and maybe the stuff will be available in
time for 4.1.92.

Ernest Prabhakar   ernest@pundit.cithep.caltech.edu   CaJUN President
    "If we are out of minds, it is for God." -- II Corinthians 5:13a