Apple Computer Inc is rewriting the Macintosh operating system, chairman John Sculley told the Technologic Partners conference in Santa Clara, California this week – but users need not worry because the changes will be evolutionary, not revolutionary. Future versions of the operating system, while maintaining upwards compatibility, will, he said, incorporate expert system and artificial intelligence features, and provide advanced database and multitasking tools. Expanding on Sculley’s words, Apple commented to Microbytes that the operating system was originally written for a 128Kb machine and has to evolve. Apple’s marketing manager, confusingly called John Scull, has said that Apple doesn’t intend to sit still for the coming months as IBM and Microsoft OS/2 and Presentation Manager become available. Changes to the Mac operating system will make it even harder for other graphical interfaces to keep pace. According to Scull, the OS/2 graphical interface won’t be widely used until 1989. Don’t judge where we are in 1987 with where someone else will be in 1989, he concluded.
