AUGUST 4th, 1997 AppleCORE MIKE LAMBERT (mlambert@webintosh.com) Of Agitation And Integration Should We Care Whether He Will Or He Won't? Let's briefly reflect upon Steve Jobs' track record, given that he may well become Apple's next chairman of the board. The Mac print- and web-based press are all afroth with their predictions and prognostications on this one. Everyone has an opinion, and you're probably quite tired of hearing them. Bear with me -- as I said, I'll be brief. I have mixed feelings about Mr. Paradox. I believe he's incredibly intelligent, and a shrewd marketer. (A one-man P.R. showboat might be a better description, or even perhaps, snake oil salesman?) Yes, he was the father of our favorite computer. Yes, he has that enigmatic quality known as "vision." Yes, he was behind the creation of the NeXT OS, which serves as the foundation of Rhapsody. Let's face it -- he's made some great contributions to the computer world in general, and specifically, to Apple. On the other hand, Jobs is also the guy that *didn't* want to incorporate any networking hardware or software on the Mac back in the late ï80s. More recently, in his role of adviser to Gil Amelio, he wanted to axe the Newton Systems Group before it was spun off on its own (sour grapes, Steve, for your old nemesis and Newton supporter, John Sculley?), and Jobs makes no secret of his dislike for Mac OS cloners and licensees, dubbed by him as "leeches." Will Jobs push to get rid of licensing? God save us Mac owners if he does, because the fat lady will start shrieking "Ave Maria" at the top of her lungs. Bottom line: Steve Jobs has incredible foresight at times -- his ideas are usually *way* ahead of their time -- but based on his track record, he is not a strong, nor balanced decision-maker. If he is to become chairman of the board (and despite his denials, almost all rumors and hearsay point to this eventuality), then I think we could be in for a long, rough ride (off of a very short pier). Especially if he pads the board with friends and cronies like Oracle CEO & President Larry "Let's Make Macs Into Network Computers!" Ellison. But that's fodder for another column, and another time. ClarisWorks 5.0 Almost Here ClarisWorks 4.0 is my all-time favorite software package, hands down. It's fast, has some really neat features, and does just about anything you need to do work-wise on the Mac, all for about a third of the price of that Office Suite from the Dark Side. Claris recently announced that they'll introduce Version 5.0 of their venerable productivity suite within a week or so, with a ClarisWorks Office bundle slated for a September debut. ClarisWorks Office, which will include Claris HomePage Lite, several web browsers, Internet connection software, and a variety of business templates, will be aimed at the home and small business users, and Claris hopes to take at least a small chunk of market share from Microsoft's big boy competitor. Listen to some of the new features included in ClarisWorks 5.0: revamped text rulers, password-protected documents; shortcut palettes and button bars have been redone or enhanced; URLs may be inserted into text, spreadsheet cells, and in graphics; named ranges of cells in spreadsheets are now allowed; databases can now hold graphics and movies in multimedia fields; and file translation has been improved, (along with other features too numerous to mention here). There's even a revised HTML translator that will convert your spreadsheets into tables suitable for viewing on the Web, as well as convert type styles into HTML tags. Sounds impressive, doesn't it? Sounds a lot like the kind of features that OpenDoc provides through Live Objects like Numbers & Charts and Cyberdog (and other editors), doesn't it? Though ClarisWorks 5.0 was supposed to be the premier "container" application, Claris yanked OpenDoc support from the suite after Apple effectively canceled the technology in March. Claris don't make no junk -- I was really looking forward to this update. Despite the initial programming headaches that OpenDoc presented the ClarisWorks development team, they would have done the technology justice, because ClarisWorks is the company's crown jewel. But now we'll never know. Yeah, many of the features that OpenDoc may have provided are in version 5.0, but it's just not the same. ClarisWorks 5.0 would have redefined the term, "Live Object." Maybe, thanks to folks like Brad Hutchings and his Component X (www.componentx.com) group, we won't have to bid OpenDoc adieu just yet -- stay tuned for more on this subject.