Eworld loses its life to Cyberdog

Opendoc application Cyber-dog will lead Apple Computer's push into the Internet market as the vendor has decided to ditch its eworld online service from the end of this month.

But Apple's Internet fonts have a future because Adobe and Netscape have announced they will collaborate with Apple to provide cross-platform Type 1 and True Type fonts in HTML and PDF documents.

Last week Apple sent a memo to eworld publishers advising them that the service would cease operations on March 31 and cancelled an Internet strategy briefing with analysts.

Although Apple has not officially binned the service, Christopher Escher, Apple Internet group marketing director, admitted Apple is evaluating its move to the Web and will inform subscribers when it had made some decisions.

Last month, when asked about Apple's Internet strategy, Apple Europe president Marco Landi said the Internet will be the IT industry's future battleground. He said that Cyberdog, the Opendoc Internet solution, is in the hands of beta developers with a launch scheduled for the second half of 1996. Significantly, Landi did not mention eworld.

The Adobe/Netscape deal will give Apple font technology for the Web, which works with Adobe Acrobat's plug-in module for Netscape Navigator code named Amber.

The companies claim the technology will bring the same visual quality to the Internet that other media can boast and will propose that it be recognised as an HTML extension.