Insignia Solutions Inc is extending its SoftWindows product range and introducing a cheap version of the software that will enable Power Macintosh users to play personal computers games designed for Intel Corp PCs, on their machines. The company, that saw disappointing financial results in its first quarter – losses of $4.7m – (CI No 3,167), says the introduction of the new software, RealPC, will help it expand its market share. RealPC is expected to sell for around $80 and will ship at the end of the summer. RealPC users will be able to run PC games, of which there are far more available than for the Apple Computer Inc machines, on their computers without having to purchase additional hardware. Insignia says the product, which has full joystick support, contains a feature called EasyLaunch, which shields users from the DOS command line that appears on PCs, by enabling them to simply double click on the DOS application. This year has not been a good one for Insignia. Although it expanded its SoftWindows technology to support 32-bit Windows 95 applications (CI No 3,132), it got rid of 10% of its staff in its first quarter and reported a 40% drop in Macintosh and Unix-based products, when it was expected to break even (CI No 3,167). The company, based in Santa Clara, California and which has a research and development facility in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, has also had a class action lawsuit filed against it by shareholders alleging that they were mislead about the company’s financial status (CI No 3,128).
