May 1, 1988

THEIR NUMBER CAME UP: On Feb. 4 in this column, I wrote about many unhappy women at Genentech, the South San Francisco biotech company, including people in research and development, pharmacological research, administration, clinical research and data management.

Now, I hear, an audit by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance is taking place on-site at Genentech.
Genentech representative Debra BannisterCQsaid the audit wasn’t an investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as my sources originally believed. “There is no EEOC investigation,” Bannister said.

All government contractors, she said, are subject to random audit of their personnel practices. And from what I hear about Genentech’s personnel practices, it’s about time. Inside information is welcome.

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TIME HAS COME TODAY: Sounds like Dave Winer, the wild-about-software founder and former president of Living Videotext, has something hot cooking with Mac software house MacroMind. Rumor is that Winer is considering taking over the helm of Chicago-based MacroMind from its founder, Marc Canter.

I hunted down Winer at Apple Computer. “Right now, I’m very interested in what MacroMind is doing,” is all he’d say, though he said a presidency isn’t likely. “I’m also very interested in what Apple is doing. For the record, that’s it.”

But informed sources say that’s not it. As Canter will tell anyone with ears, MacroMind has the hottest multimedia technology going for the Mac. (And not necessarily only for the Mac, hint hint.) Now Apple is jumping on multimedia like a flea on the proverbial dog. That’s about all anyone from Apple talked about at last week’s Apple Developers Conference in San Jose. (The sudden interest, most say, is because multimedia computing “is just what Steve (Jobs) is going to do.”)

So, one might speculate, MacroMind — with Winer’s assist — is tickling Apple’s imagination about what MM’s VideoWorks program could add to coming versions of Mac’s system software. “It has the potential of being an explosive, enabling technology,” my source says. Well, we’ll just see, won’t we?

AAARRGH: Just when you thought it was safe, it looks like yet another player will be entering the RISC chip-based workstation wars. This time it’s none other than Motorola itself — king of the 68,000-chip family, which just formally introduced its long-awaited 88,000 RISC processor chip line.

I hear that people are already writing software for the workstation, which will likely be built by Motorola’s microcomputer division.

Sources who should know aren’t surprised that Motorola would jump into the RISC fray with an actual workstation product. Platform 88, marketed by the microcomputer division, is a software development system.

What’s questionable is the strategy. Many analysts and industry watchers believe it’s a bad competitive move both to sell the machine and sell the chip to other vendors — MIPS and Sun are two examples that leap to mind — because it’s ultimately a no-win situation.

OH, THAT LEAKY DATA! Looks like the leaks in Silicon Valley have finally spurred a few companies to action. I hear that Lucasfilm’s Lucasgames division is about to release Maniac Mansion, to be distributed through Activision, with certain parts of its manual printed on the NoCopi International paper that Apple bought by the truckload when its laptop documents leaked out.

NoCopi representatives in the San Mateo office had no comment on the rumor. The company’s patented ink products and reddish-brown paper use a secret technique to make paper and/or ink reflect the light of a photocopy or FAX machine, making the most common form of theft impossible — copying the manual.

SCULLEY MAKES THE ENQUIRER: If you know Apple chairman John Sculley, you’re obliged as a fun-loving human being to razz the hell out of him about making the pages of the National Enquirer. I knew Sculley was going on a cruise with Malcolm Forbes and Liz Taylor last month, but didn’t know the Enquirer would do a centerfold on it. So although there are no pictures in the May 3 issue of Big John or his wife, Leezy, Sculley’s name — along with General Motors bigwig Roger Smith — is in Paragraph 10. Rush right out to the supermarket.