By Susan J. Shepard from the July 1987 issue of Computer Language The Intel 80386 microprocessor is here—at last. It is proving to be all that we expected, and the last obstacle to 386 supermicrocomputers is an operating system that can avail the developer and user of its power. It will provide a powerful and affordable platform for expert systems and other AI applications that are truly useful. AI has been been waiting for this chip; many AI applications developers whispering, “When the 386 is available…” and hinting of powerful systems for the desktop and a rich development environment for the programmer working and learning in the real world.

from the June 1, 1987 issue of MacWEEK by John Markoff Apple Computer Inc.’s next generation of computers may be based on a radically new microprocessor architecture that could improve performance dramatically over today’s Macintosh designs. Such computers would be built around microprocessors combining elements of both Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) and multiprocessor design onto a single silicon chip. Apple’s advanced development team is now at work using its Cray XMP supercomputer to simulate the design of the new chips.

by Judy Getts from the June 1987 issue of Computer Language Chuck Duff is the kind of man you’d expect to run into early in the morning in a university coffee shop, styrofoam cup in hand, talking Hegel with a student. You’d expect to see him in an art gallery rambling between the neoclassicists and linear chromatists, keen-eyed and at home, or even face-to-face in a folk-jazz cafe if you motioned the waitress aside and asked who is the James Beard behind the watercress crepes.

by Vaughn Vernon from the December 1987 issue of Computer Language OS/2, Microsoft’s latest addition to its operating system line, could well become the operating system of the next decade for Intel 80286/80386 microcomputers. Its multitasking capabilities, full-featured application programming interface (API), and extendability to future hardware almost guarantee its success. Microsoft sees microcomputing as a platform for office automation hardware and software: The office of the future (regardless of a company’s structure and line of business) is envisioned as a place of personal and group productivity.

from the November 1987 issue of PC Tech Journal magazine An inside look reveals how one company rapidly converted a complex data manager from DOS to the OS/2 environment. by Steven Armbrust When Microrim, Inc., became a beta site for IBM’s new Operating System/2 (OS/2) in late 1986, Microrim chairman and founder Wayne Erickson knew immediately what he and his staff had to do. Not only did they have to convert R:BASE System V, Microrim’s largest and most complex database manager, to run under OS/2, but the job had to be done in time to demonstrate a working product when IBM officially announced OS/2.

from the June 1, 1987 issue of MacWEEK by Michael Goodwin Why is Alan Boyd’s office like a hypertext document? Because it is hard to know where to look first. There is a high-powered Mac II work-alike (a Levco Prodigy with 4 Mbytes of RAM) driving a big, high-resolution screen displaying a complicated menu of a tour of the National Art Gallery. Next to that, a color TV monitor (displaying the Annunciation) is hooked to a videodisc player.

by Harvey Newquist III from the July 1987 issue of Computer Language Artificial intelligence is perhaps the most overused—and abused—buzzword in the current age of computer science. The AI arena has been divided into several factions, all of which help distort its real benefits and potentials. On the one hand we have the popular business media, which has billed AI as everything from the greatest creation since sliced bread to a worthless endeavor perpetuated by computer hucksters.