TECHNOLOGY : Analysts Rate Apple’s New Software a Hit

SAN JOSE — Apple Computer’s new software operating system for the Macintosh computer, introduced with great fanfare at a conference here Monday, was greeted with enthusiasm by analysts and software developers who said Microsoft and the rest of the International Business Machines-compatible personal computer world would now be playing catch-up.

The new software, dubbed System 7, has been in the works for three years and is being released a year later than originally promised. But industry analysts said Monday that it was worth the wait and predicted that System 7 will give Apple a big boost in selling to large-business customers.

“I love the product; it’s clearly the leading-edge operating system on the market today,” said Charles Wolf, personal computer analyst at First Boston. “The networking capabilities are absolutely awesome, and that’s crucial in the corporate environment.”

System 7 allows Macintoshes that are hooked together on a network to access one another’s files as easily as they access their own. It also provides easy links between different applications programs and adds new “help” features that make the Mac even easier to use.

The operating system is designed to be used on the entire range of Macintosh computers and will be the standard operating system for all new Macintoshes except for some of the low-end “Classic” models that don’t have sufficient memory. Existing Macintosh customers can purchase an upgrade kit for $99 or get the new software from a users group or a bulletin board.

Although System 7 is supposed to run all existing Macintosh applications programs, such as spreadsheets and word processors, Apple executives acknowledged that older versions of some popular applications may not run with the new system software. And only software written specifically for System 7 will be able to take advantage of the new features.

Stewart Alsop, publisher of the PC Letter, said System 7 should help Apple address a problem created by the introduction of low-cost Macintosh machines last fall: declining profit margins.

Customers “on the high-end are the ones who have been waiting for the new system software,” Alsop said. “This allows you to use an FX (the high-performance version of the Macintosh) the way it should be used.”

Nancy McSharry, an analyst with International Data Corp., agreed that high-end Macintosh customers would “move pretty quickly” to embrace System 7 and the new capabilities that it offers, but cautioned that it might not be easy to get the bulk of existing users to migrate. That could create a split in the Macintosh world between those who have the old software and those who have System 7.