7WWWWWe.   x= ]s*W For more information contact: Alice Lankester, UserLand Software 415-325-5700 Lerry Wilson, Wilson McHenry Company 415-592-7600 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Scripts Invade Macintosh Desktop UserLand Opens AppleLink Bulletin Board to Distribute Scripts PALO ALTO, Calif. May 28, 1991 As UserLand Softwares Frontier enters its final stages of development, the reach of its system-level scripting and object database software has been dramatically extended to include the Macintosh desktop itself. An important barrier has been breached. With System 7, there are enough back doors to allow us to integrate Frontier scripting with the Finder desktop, said UserLand President and CEO David M. Winer, 36. Scripts that live on the Finder desktop are called desktop scripts. UserLand has already implemented over 100 such scripts that do automated backups, customized searches of large hard disks and CD drives, graphically present system information such as available disk space, and network management functions. Desktop scripts are small files, in most cases no larger than 5-10K. They can easily be downloaded from computer information services such as GEnie, CompuServe, America OnLine and AppleLink. This is an important step in the commercialization of Frontiers powerful scripting and object database software because it allows a standard mechanism and format for users and script writers to share utilities developed with Frontier. UserLand Software has worked with Apple Computer over the last three months to establish a support bulletin board on the AppleLink electronic mail system. With over 50,000 subscribers, AppleLink is nearly universal in the Macintosh development community and among users in large computing environments. Its a perfect match. Winer said. With desktop scripts downloadable from the AppleLink network, well be able to distribute new utilities overnight to thousands of users worldwide. And well benefit from the contributions of other script writers any Frontier user will be able to use AppleLink to distribute Frontier-compatible scripts. As Frontier grows, we hope to add CompuServe, GEnie and America OnLine to our support network. As far as the user is concerned, desktop scripts are just applications, launched just like any other application by double-clicking on it. A script might prompt the user for a persons name, and send them a message, or find out what theyre doing. A CEO could have his or her system customized so that just three icons appeared on their desktop -- one saying Yes, one No and the other Fire the SOB! These scripts could create a new electronic mail message, address it, insert text and send it to a routing list, or possibly to other scripts running on other peoples machines. Frontier has tremendous potential to simplify, customize and powerfully extend the interface of the Macintosh. For some people Macintosh commands like cut, copy, paste, set font, open file, recalc now are just like assembly language. With scripting, knowlegable users can put the pieces together into colorful double-clickable icons on the Finder desktop, and in the Macintosh menu bar. Desktop scripts clearly position Frontier as the Adobe Type Manager of user scripting. There will be a large number of users who can write scripts, people who build spreadsheets in Excel, stacks in Hypercard, applications in dBASE or FoxBase. A much larger universe of people will download desktop scripts, or have them installed on their computers by in-house developers and support staff, said Winer. Lately, Apple Computer has been under fire for lacking technical vision and direction. We dont buy all this baloney about the Macintosh having lost the edge in graphic user interface marketplace, Winer said. Apple may not see how to move the platform forward, but UserLand and other Macintosh developers see clearly that the future points to closer integration between applications and the system. Other platforms are years, in most cases many years behind the combined power of the Finder and UserLand Frontier. Apple seems to be missing an incredible competitive opportunity. UserLand and other developers are forging ahead and modernizing the Macintosh operating system. Apple executives must immediately stop bashing the Macintosh and realize that they have the best competitive position of any company in the desktop business. We and others want to see the Macintosh continue to flourish. Were working hard to assure that that happens. Furthermore, there appears to be little short-term benefit in the Apple-IBM alliance. If Apple wants to strengthen the competitive position of the Macintosh platform it must meaningfully support developers who can contribute to the definition and evolution of the platform. UserLand Software, founded in 1988 by Dave Winer, is a privately held company based in Palo Alto, California. UserLand Frontier, slated for shipment in October 1991, is the first scripting system software for graphic personal computers. UserLand IAC Toolkit is a set of development tools and libraries that make it easy for commercial and in-house developers to add support for Frontier scripting. UserLand Software is staffed by industry veterans with over 40 years combined exerience in the personal computer software business. Jean-Louis Gasse, Jack Russo and Mr. Winer serve on the companys Board of Directors. 30 copyright 1991 UserLand Software, Inc. UserLand, Frontier and UserLand IAC Toolkit are trademarks of UserLand Software. 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