Computers are fairly good about not using natural resources and not creating unnecessary waste products. In fact, one of the design features in our original conception of TidBITS was that it would never generate waste paper

We currently face a dilemma with TidBITS. We have found alternative sources of information so we no longer rely on the trade magazines much at all any more

In all the discussions about what the new Macintosh computers will have in terms of hardware, it seems that much of the original simplicity of the Mac has been lost

Software Toolworks will acquire Monogram, maker of Dollars and Sense, a popular home finance package, at the end of June. Owners of Dollars and Sense need not worry, though, since Software Toolworks will continue to support Dollars and Sense, and the upgrade to version 5.0 will still be released in a month or so

An INIT called STEROID has been discovered to be a Trojan Horse. It falsely claims to accelerate QuickDraw on 9" monitors but in fact contains a time bomb that will erase all mounted volumes (floppies and hard disks) on July 1st, 1990

Color PostScript printers still cost more than their speedier monochrome counterparts, but now that they list for under $8,000, they should become more widely available

Several people on Usenet report that CompuServe has killed its National Bulletin Board service as of June 1st, 1990. In its place is a new bulletin board service that charges $1.00 per line

Robert Noyce, one of the inventors of the integrated circuit, died recently of a heart attack at age 62. In 1959 he was awarded a patent for his work in connecting a number of transistors on a single silicon chip, the first of the integrated circuits that are now responsible for the $500 billion electronics industry. Noyce founded Intel, but his influence was also distributed to the political aspects of the industry, and he spent much time in Washington lobbying on behalf of the industry

Deciding what events in the computer industry merit mention in TidBITS is a difficult task, since the headline grabbing events are not always the most interesting ones

The Macintosh virus count increased by one last Monday when a new virus called either MDEF or Garfield was found at Cornell University. Contrary to an article in MacWEEK, the virus was found by Gordon Suggs of Cornell Information Technologies and Adam Engst of TidBITS

Bob Boynton reports on a Washington Post article that claims Sony will introduce the Data Discman, a portable text reading system. The hand-held system consists of a 3" CD-ROM drive, a ten line screen, and a small keyboard

Microsoft never formally announced Windows 3.0, so its release last week was not officially late, though users had been waiting anxiously since early this year

Despite numerous criticisms, HyperCard has been extremely popular among Macintosh users because of its ease of use and flexibility. Clones were inevitable, and Silicon Beach introduced SuperCard and Olduvai introduced PLUS (now marketed by Spinnaker) to complement HyperCard

A common question on Usenet is how to use the Mac to read mail and Usenet news directly, without having to use a mainframe or workstation and their less-intuitive interfaces

A/UX, Apple's version of Unix for the SE/30 and Mac II line never gained a great deal of popularity. Version 2.0, due out in June, should help A/UX's reputation significantly though, judging from the rave reviews it has received on Usenet