General Magic UnCAPs a Genie in Telescript

With nearly everyone at this year’s MacWorld in San Francisco reminiscing about the 10th anniversary of the Macintosh, General Magic used the opportunity to parade several of the Mac’s key designers in front of an enthusiastic audience well in excess of one thousand people. The point: to illustrate that the people that lead us into one personal computer revolution will soon lead us into a new one; this time, in personal communications.

On January 6, 1994, General Magic and AT&T made simultaneous announcements in San Francisco and Las Vegas that have the potential of turning communications as we know it on its head. In the case of General Magic, the announcement featured the first public demonstration of the Magic CAP software environment, which they hope will become the premier platform for building easy-to-use personal communicators.

AT&T, a member of the General Magic alliance, announced a new service called PersonaLink. PersonaLink is based on a technology known as Telescript, which General Magic introduced on February 8th, 1993 and we covered in that month’s issue.

When it comes on line in the summer of 1994, PersonaLink will feature an electronic messaging service known as PersonaLink Mail. This system will not only enable Telescript-based devices to communicate, but also feature a gateway to AT&T’s extensive worldwide EasyLink mail service.

The point of PersonaLink is to create a network infrastructure that supports what General Magic calls “smart messaging.” This will enable users to interact with a wide range of services including electronic shopping, personal newspapers, and reservation services in a completely novel manner.

Simply stated, Telescript is a language describing communications. Using a Telescript-based network such as AT&T’s PersonaLink, users can send electronic “agents” through the network to perform a variety of time-consuming, or just plain tedious, work. (For a complete description of how Telescript functions, please turn to page 3.) In addition, users can continue to communicate using the familiar services of voice telephone, fax, and electronic mail.

Other Telescript-based services are likely to follow and several have already been announced. These include a daily news service by Mead Data Central, the developers of the LEXIS/NEXIS information services; an electronic shopping service called eShop; and a connection to the nationwide SkyTel paging system.

As you would expect from Andy Hertzfeld and Bill Atkinson, developers of the Macintosh operating system and the HyperCard application, Magic CAP is strong on user interface. Designed for first-time users who may know nothing about computers, Magic CAP presents a 3-D view of common areas where most people perform their work and communicate. This includes an office with desk, a hallway leading to other rooms (such as a library), and a stylized downtown with service providers located in buildings on the main street.

General Magic hopes that this use of real-world objects will make the entire experience more understandable, easier to navigate, and simply more fun. In addition, users of Magic CAP software will have the first crack at using the AT&T PersonaLink service.

General Magic plans to have Magic Cap available on several computing platforms ranging from palmtops to regular desktop computers running Windows or the Macintosh system. The company also plans to include a system enabling users to synchronize information with desktop systems, much like users today are able to do using the Newton Connection Kit.

So what’s all the excitement about Magic CAP? The key is communications. While a couple of platforms integrate communication well—most notably PenPoint—the vast majority of platforms treat communication as an afterthought. However Magic CAP is all about communication. As one would expect, it offers the developer a rich object-oriented architecture. However, more importantly, its integration with Telescript offers a rich conceptual structure through which developers can express complex communication systems.

When can we expect devices to make use of these services? As expected, each alliance member that forms the General Magic “dream team” has their own timetable and immediate level of commitment.

At the bullish end of the spectrum lies Sony and Motorola both of which announced plans to launch products in 1994 (Motorola claims the first quarter of 1994!). True to their strengths and tradition, Motorola’s device will use their 68349 (code-named Dragon) chip and will integrate two-way wireless connectivity in the device.

EO, Inc., the producer of the EO 440 and a subsidiary of AT&T, stated that it plans to make Telescript technology available on their personal communicators but didn’t supply a timetable. Matsushita and Philips, both alliance members, are also expected to delivery Magic CAP-based products.

Apple took the most conservative approach by stating that they will continue their relationship with General Magic at an engineering level, and plan to evaluate incorporating Telescript into both the Newton and Macintosh platforms—again with no announced timetable.