ST Report: 23-Oct-98 #1435

From: Bruce D. Nelson (aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 11/07/98-01:01:23 PM Z


From: aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report: 23-Oct-98 #1435
Date: Sat Nov  7 13:01:23 1998



                          [Silicon Times Report]
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 October 23, 1998                                                  No.1435


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 - Charges vs MS by DOJ  - PENN International 965 - Lock-On-A-CHIP
 - MS Witness Listing    - Zapata ZAPPED!         - Inkjets in Hotel Rooms
 - Gov't Witness Listing - AOL Protected from Suit- Zulu's OL Adventure
 - Key People in MS Case - FREE InterNet Service  - NEWS Flash



                 Internet Founding Father, Jon Postel Dies
                          Yahoo Acquires Yoyodyne
                        MS gains over NS & Barksdale





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  From the Editor's Desk...

  What's going on??  The time is literally flying by!  This month is
  almost gone and I do believe, it seems like it was the first just
  yesterday.  In any case... many democratic politicians are fast
  realizing that defending President Clinton is very much in their best
  interests.  By that I mean people, from coast to coast, are sick and
  tired of hearing the Republicans pushing this and urging that about
  Clinton's sex life and the impeachment process. Of course, Ken Starr is
  front and center as THE most disliked, inquisitional tyrant.  In other
  words, those Democratic Candidates that get up and say they are tired
  of the persecution and want an end to it all are winning votes left and
  right.  I believe these events indicate the Republicans are going to
  suffer the most embarrassing election results (party wise) in more than
  a decade.

  To those jellybacked democrats who shrunk away from defending their
  President; Now is the time to stand up make yourselves heard and redeem
  your, now lame, reputations.  Who wants a reputation as a "weak knee'ed
  fence climber"?

  Also, please watch the D.C. political scenes very carefully.  Al Gore
  may have been keeping a low profile but that is just about all over
  now.  Gore comes from a Washington D. C. experienced family that's
  steeped in federal politics.   Gore grew up amidst the heaviest of D.C.
  politics and believe this... he "knows the territory".  Perhaps better
  than any other politician who'll be running in the Y2K presidential
  election.  Gore is this nation's only real hope in extinguishing the
  efforts of the "Bushwhacker Group" George H., George W., and "Jeb"
  BUSH.

  Daddy, George H., (a hardcore "over-performer") will definitely be
  running the show from behind the scenes (one day the world will know
  the truth about George H. Bush, Panama, Noriega and the MASS GRAVES in
  Panama).   George W. the current Governor of Texas wants to be
  President and "Jeb" wants to be Governor of Florida.  These three and
  especially "Jeb" are monumental disasters.  Jeb is against Gun Control,
  Women's Freedom of Choice, Gun "cooling off" Waiting Times and favors
  School Vouchers (a knife in heart of Public Schools).  This guy "Jeb"
  is a one man disaster. He has never held a public office and every
  business he's ever ran never did well.  This guy has no right wanting
  to run Florida!  His older brother, George, runs Texas on BLOOD.  Texas
  has;  the worst crimes stats of the union,  the highest rate of
  executions in the union, a serious lack of disaster preparedness and
  the worst human rights record in the union.  Yessir, we "need this
  egomaniacal bunch in power like we need a new, more powerful epidemic
  of the Spanish Influenza"!

  I'm voting for a straight Democratic Ticket.

  The Republicans NEED a hard Slap in the Face as a wakeup call.
  Republicans PROUDLY (right Newt? you and your goofy Republican
  Revolution, what a joke!! On the American Taxpayers!!) jerked this
  nation around throughout the entire Clinton Administration. It is now
  payback time.  The Republican Party has done absolutely nothing to be
  proud of.

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                     Key Allegations Against Microsoft

 Major allegations in the government's antitrust case against Microsoft
 Corp. and the company's response:

 Browser Bundling:

 Government: Microsoft realized it had fallen behind in the market for
 Internet browser software, dominated by rival Netscape Communications
 Corp. To compete, Microsoft decided to include its browser within its
 popular Windows operating system, an example of illegal "tying'' because
 a customer who buys one product is then forced to use the other.

 Microsoft: It decided to "integrate" the browser into Windows because of
 consumer demand and technical advantages. The company's dramatic gains in
 browser market share came about because of superior software and missteps
 by Netscape. In a setback for the government, a federal appeals court
 ruled in June that Microsoft's decision to bundle its browser with
 Windows 95 was a "genuine integration."

 Netscape Meeting:

 Government: In an illegal attempt to divide the market, Microsoft met
 with Netscape in June 1995 and offered a deal. Microsoft agreed not to
 develop a rival browser for operating systems aside from Windows if
 Netscape agreed to stay out of the Windows market. Netscape refused.
 Netscape cofounder Marc Andreessen afterward compared the meeting to "a
 visit by Don Corleone; I expected to find a bloody computer monitor in my
 bed the next day."

 Microsoft: Chairman Bill Gates calls the charge "an outrageous lie." He
 said the meeting, a form of "co-opetition" by rivals, "was to discuss
 various technologies Microsoft proposed sharing with Netscape, so that
 Netscape's browser could take advantage of the cool new features we were
 developing for Windows 95." He also notes that Andreessen later wrote to
 a Microsoft employee: "Good to see you again today - we should talk more
 often."

 Exclusionary Agreements:

 Government: Microsoft, with its significant influence due to Windows,
 forced computer makers to sell its Internet browser as part of Windows.
 It also signed restrictive agreements with some Internet service
 providers to distribute its browser over Netscape's. And it encouraged
 other Internet companies to design content for its browser, but not
 Netscape's.

 Microsoft: Computer makers were always free to sell PCs with Netscape
 installed, but they couldn't remove Microsoft's browser. The agreements
 with Internet service providers didn't preclude them from offering
 Netscape if customers requested it, but required that at least 75 percent
 of browsers they distributed be Microsoft's. Microsoft voluntarily waived
 the agreements this year.

 "First Boot":

 Government: To force computer makers to help sell its Internet browser
 over Netscape's, Microsoft prohibited them from altering the Windows
 opening screen, which prominently featured an icon for the Microsoft
 browser. This deprived computer makers of customizing the PCs they sell
 to improve and differentiate their machines from rivals.

 Microsoft: Computer makers are free to add other icons to Windows opening
 screen, including one for Netscape's browser. Restrictions on changing
 the opening screen help customers by giving them consistency. In
 addition, in the past, some PC makers had made changes that
 unintentionally disabled parts of Windows.

 Intuit Inc.:

 Government: To encourage customers to switch to its Internet browser,
 Microsoft struck a deal with Intuit nc., which makes the popular Quicken
 financial software. Gates sent an e-mail describing what amounts to an
 offer to bribe Intuit Chairman Scott Cook into distributing the browser
 as part of Quicken: "I was quite frank with him that if he had a favor we
 could do for him that would cost us something like $1M ($1 million) to do
 that in return for switching browsers in the next few months, I would be
 open to doing that."

 Microsoft: Intuit chose to distribute Microsoft's browser because it was
 superior to Netscape's. It will use Intuit's public statements to support
 that, as well as Netscape's own internal analysis of why it lost Intuit's
 business.

 Java and Sun Microsystems:

 Government: Gates was "scared to death" of the potential for Java, a
 programming language for software that runs even on non-Windows
 computers, and he set out to "pollute" Java and distribute an altered,
 Windows-only version.

 Microsoft: Microsoft's version of Java, which requires Windows, allows
 programs to run better and faster than Sun's version, and Microsoft's
 changes to Java were permitted under a contract between the two
 companies. Microsoft employees who referred to attempts to "pollute" Java
 were using "humorous shorthand" to distinguish Microsoft's version from
 Sun's.

 Intel:

 Government: Microsoft successfully discouraged Intel Corp. from
 developing a new technology called Native Signal Processing, a technique
 to use instructions from Intel's chips, rather than Microsoft software
 code, to run multimedia and communications programs more quickly. An
 Intel executive has said Gates was also "livid" about Intel's investment
 in the Internet and wanted it stopped. Former Intel Chairman Andy Grove
 told Fortune Magazine in 1996, "We caved."

 Microsoft: Intel's NSP technology was designed for an earlier version of
 Windows and didn't work properly with Windows 95. Microsoft calls it
 "absurd to imagine that Microsoft could bully Intel, a large, successful
 company with almost twice the annual revenues."

                      Key Players in Microsoft Lawsuit

 Key players in the government's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft
 Corp.:

 U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson: A Republican appointed in
 1982 by President Reagan, Jackson has been a fixture in the case since
 1995, when he approved the settlement in the government's first lawsuit
 against Microsoft. The Justice Department later accused Microsoft of
 flouting that settlement, and during hearings the company managed to get
 on Jackson's wrong side: When he ordered Microsoft in December 1997 to
 sell a version of Windows 95 without its Internet browser already
 included, a decision later overturned by an appeals court, the company
 complied but Windows didn't work anymore. "It seemed absolutely clear to
 you that I entered an order that required you to distribute a product
 that would not work?" he asked. "Is that what you're telling me?" Another
 time, Jackson accused Microsoft of making "defamatory" comments about an
 expert the judge had appointed. Since May, when the government filed its
 lawsuit, Jackson has largely held his temper. But Microsoft's initial
 brashness could come back to haunt it. Other high-profile trials Jackson
 has overseen include the 1990 cocaine possession case against District of
 Columbia Mayor Marion Barry.

 Microsoft lawyer John Warden: A partner at Sullivan & Cromwel law firm in
 New York, Warden, 57, is known within antitrust circles for his appeals
 victory defending Eastman Kodak in an $87 million judgment in favor of
 Berkey Photo. An appeals court reversed the verdict against Kodak,
 agreeing that "innovation is clearly tolerated by antitrust laws," which
 set a legal precedent that Microsoft itself now claims. Warden was born
 in Evansville, Ind., and raised in the nearby farming town of Cairo, Ill.
 He uses colorful metaphors, accusing the government of a "bait and
 switch" by allegedly broadening its case inappropriately just weeks
 before the trial. He doesn't enjoy the limelight, always politely
 declining to talk with reporters. And he's careful not to offend the
 judge, even after Jackson denied his request to delay the case and hold
 trial months sooner than Microsoft wanted: "With the greatest respect for
 your Honor," Warden said, "that isn't enough time for us."

 Microsoft lawyer Bill Neukom: Neukom is the company's in-house lawyer,
 its senior vice president for law and corporate affairs. Neukom, who
 always wears a bow tie, is a former partner in the law firm of Microsoft
 Chairman Bill Gates' father. Neukom negotiated a settlement with the
 Justice Department in its first lawsuit against Microsoft. During
 pretrial hearings, Neukom has left the courtroom arguments to Warden, but
 it's typically Neukom who speaks with reporters outside the courthouse
 about the company's legal strategy.

 Justice lawyer David Boies: In one of the ironies of the case, the
 Justice Department's lead lawyer is well-known for his successful defense
 of another computer industry giant, IBM Corp., against a Justice
 antitrust lawsuit that stretched 13 years and is known as the agency's
 "Vietnam." Boies, who cross-examined a Justice economist in that case for
 38 days, pressed to get the Microsoft case into court quickly. He's
 familiar with delay tactics: "Been there, done that," Boies told one
 reporter. A partner in Boies & Schiller of Armonk, N.Y., Boies was hired
 by Justice as a "special government employee" for roughly half his usual
 $550-an-hour fee. He frequently works without notes - even appeared once
 before the Supreme Court without using notes - but has a highly polished
 courtroom delivery. He isn't a high-tech person but is well versed in the
 case's issues - although he stumbled recently when asked by the judge to
 explain how software "streams" video across the Internet.

 States lawyer Steve Houck: Lead lawyer for the 20 states plus the
 District of Columbia, Houck of New York represents almost three dozen
 lawyers working against Microsoft in attorneys general offices
 nationwide. He was one of two government lawyers - the other was Boies -
 who deposed Gates. Described by peers as "assertive with a capital A -
 not an irritant, but he stands up for what is right, and he'll ask for
 and receive his place at the table." At pretrial hearings, Houck had a
 tough job following Boies, who was so complete he often left Houck
 largely repeating arguments. Notably, Houck is among the only lawyers to
 concede publicly that the case is destined to be settled in the Supreme
 Court. Partly for Houck's efforts on Microsoft, the National Association
 of Attorneys General awarded him its Marvin Award in July.

 List of Microsoft Witnesses

 Who will testify in the government's antitrust case against Microsoft
 Corp.:

 For the government:

 James Barksdale, president and chairman, Netscape Communications Corp.,
 which makes the popular Internet browser that competes directly with
 Microsoft's.

 David Colburn, senior vice president of business affairs at America
 Online, which agreed to distribute Microsoft's browser to its 13 million
 customers.

 Steven D. McGeady, vice president of Intel Corp.'s content group, who led
 some of the company's software development efforts and its work with the
 Internet and with Java.

 Avie Tevanian, vice president of programming at Apple Computer Co., among
 those in charge of developing Apple's QuickTime software, which competed
 directly with Microsoft's Netshow.

 James Gosling, a chief Sun Microsystems Inc. architect for Java, designed
 to make software that can run on any operating system, not just Windows.

 John Soyring of IBM Corp., which makes computers with the Windows
 operating software installed.

 William Harris, president and chairman of Intuit, which makes personal
 finance software. In the past two years, he was chiefly responsible for
 the company's Internet activities.

 Franklin Fisher, an MIT economics professor and nationally known
 economics expert, who was IBM's economics expert during its lengthy fight
 with the Justice Department decades ago; he worked with lawyer David
 Boies, now leading the government's case.

 Frederick R. Warren-Bolton, chief antitrust economist during the Reagan
 administration.

 David J. Farber, telecommunications professor at the University of
 Pennsylvania.

 Edward Felten, assistant computer professor at Princeton University.

 Glenn Weadock, president of Independent Software Inc.

 For Microsoft:

 Paul Maritz, a Microsoft vice president the government contends helped
 decide to bundle the company's Internet browser within Windows and
 allegedly worked to persuade America Online to distribute Microsoft's
 browser but not Netscape's. The government also contends he was partly
 behind efforts to "blunt" the Java programming language.

 James Allchin, a Microsoft vice president in charge of Windows 98, who
 the government said wrote in a potentially incriminating e-mail that the
 company should begin "leveraging Windows from a marketing perspective."
 Maritz was Allchin's boss.

 Joachim Kempin, a Microsoft vice president in charge of its contracts
 with computer makers.

 Brad Chase, a Microsoft vice president, who the government says warned in
 an internal April 1997 memo that Internet browsers could "obsolete
 Windows."

 Robert Muglia, Microsoft vice president of developer tools, expected to
 testify about Microsoft's work with Java.

 Eric Engstrom, a general manager for multimedia at Microsoft, expected to
 testify about meetings among Microsoft executives and those at Apple.

 Cameron Myhrvold, vice president of Microsoft's Internet customer unit
 and the brother of the company's chief technology officer, Nathan
 Myhrvold. Cameron Myhrvold was in charge of dealing with Internet service
 providers.

 William Poole, Microsoft's senior director for Windows business
 development.

 Daniel Rosen, Microsoft's general manager for new technology.

 John Rose, senior vice president at Compaq Computer.

 Richard Schmalansee, interim dean of the Sloan School of Management at
 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A top economist, he worked
 with Microsoft during the last Justice Department investigation.

 Michael Devlin, president of Rational Software Corp., a small California
 company with a long business relationship with Microsoft.

                    Court Rules AOL Protected From Suit

 A woman cannot sue America Online because one of its customers peddled a
 pornographic video of her 11-year-old son in an online chat room, a state
 appeals court has ruled. Federal law protects online services from being
 held liable for the messages transmitted by their members, the 4th
 District Court of Appeal said Wednesday in upholding a lower court's
 dismissal of the lawsuit. But the appeals panel asked the Florida Supreme
 Court to review the case and determine whether the law should apply to
 activity that took place prior to 1996, when the federal Communications
 Decency Act was enacted.

 "I'm ecstatic we're going to be able to go to the Supreme Court to argue
 this," said attorney Brian Smith, who represented the woman known only as
 Jane Doe. "But I'm disappointed because I thought we might get a
 reversal." Richard Lee Russell, 31, a school teacher from Wellington,
 pleaded guilty in 1995 to both federal and state charges stemming from a
 1994 assault on the Palm Beach County boy and the boy's friend.

 Russell admitted he used AOL, the nation's largest online service, to
 meet other men who have sex with boys. In one instance, he sold a lewd
 videotape of the boy to an Arizona man he met online. Russell is serving
 a 14-year federal prison sentence. The boy's mother had accused AOL of
 knowingly allowing Russell to sell the videotape of the boy. Her lawsuit
 also claimed AOL's rules prohibiting customers from posting obscene or
 illegal material were so poorly enforced the provider became "a home
 shopping network for pedophiles and child pornographers." AOL spokeswoman
 Tricia Primrose said the company was pleased with the court's decision.

                 Netscape Releases Communicator 4.5 Browser

 Netscape Communications Corp. on Monday released the final version of its
 Communicator 4.5 Internet software, hoping to win users over from rival
 Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser. Netscape is hinging its
 browser strategy on closer integration with the Netcenter Web site, an
 Internet hub that is one of the most popular on the Web.

 "We believe this version will help to open up the Net to many new users,
 and everyone will appreciate the enriched content and superior features
 it delivers through its integration with Netscape Netcenter," said Mike
 Homer, senior vice president of Netscape client products, in a statement.
 Several of the new features of Navigator, the browser component of
 Communicator, tie the software directly to Netcenter: for example, a
 button takes users directly to a personalized Netcenter home page, and
 SmartBrowsing features that take advantage of Netcenter's Web directory.
 SmartBrowsing's Internet Keywords feature allows users to type a
 company's name into the location window, instead of typing a Web address;
 the browser automatically looks up the company in the Netcenter directory
 and takes the user directly to the company's home page.

 The browser also includes a "What's Related" button that lists sites
 similar to the location currently being viewed by the user. The What's
 Related service is provided through Netcenter by Alexa Internet. The new
 Communicator, which has been available for several weeks in beta-test
 form, also includes several multimedia features previously available as
 separate plug-ins. Macromedia Inc.'s Flash and RealNetworks Inc.'s
 RealPlayer are both included with the Communicator installer. Beatnik, an
 audio player from Headspace Inc., is included in the SmartUpdate feature,
 which automatically downloads and installs software as it is needed.

 Communicator's e-mail component, Messenger, also includes new features,
 including an import wizard for transferring information and settings from
 other e-mail programs. Netscape has been losing browser market share to
 Microsoft since the software giant began giving away the Internet
 Explorer browser a few months ago, as well as including it with other
 software packages. The software has roughly half of the market at
 present.

                  Yahoo! Acquires Direct Marketer Yoyodyne

 Internet online directory Yahoo! Inc. said it had signed a definitive
 agreement to acquire Yoyodyne Entertainment Inc. in a move that will
 expand its interactive direct marketing efforts. Under the agreement,
 Yahoo! will issue 280,664 shares of common stock in exchange for all
 outstanding Yoyodyne shares, options and warrants. The transaction will
 be accounted for as a pooling of interests. Yahoo! said it expects to
 record a one-time charge of about $2 million in the fourth quarter in
 connection with the deal. Yahoo! will integrate Yoyodyne's direct
 marketing services, including online shopping sites and promotions geared
 to small businesses, as a component of its extensive suite of advertising
 and merchant services.

                Doctors Weigh Pros, Cons Of Online Medicine

 Diagnosing illnesses in cyberspace may be a distant reality, but more
 physicians should take advantage of the Internet and e-mail to inform and
 communicate with patients, researchers said. "E-mail has become a
 ubiquitous tool for communicating with business associates, friends and
 family. So there should be little surprise that et-savvy patients would
 like greater digital access to their physicians," said Tom Ferguson, the
 author of an editorial in a special edition of the Journal of the
 American Medical Association devoted to the subject.

 Only about 1 percent to 2 percent of U.S. physicians offer patients the
 option of contacting them online, he said. Ferguson, the editor of a
 newsletter about issues relating to health care and the Internet, and
 other researchers discussed their findings on Tuesday at a conference in
 Durham sponsored by the American Medical Association. "Physicians might
 establish their own Web pages with lists of frequently asked patient
 questions and answers, and annotated links to useful and authoritative
 medical Web sites," Ferguson said.

 But the researchers said there was no substitute for a face- to-face
 diagnosis. Some pointed to the potential for online errors because of
 inaccurately reported symptoms and had concerns about doctors' legal
 liability for improper diagnoses. Questions were also raised about
 patient privacy and authenticity of authorship. "But just as the most
 caring, competent and sensitive physician of today would be hard-pressed
 to build a successful practice without a telephone, those who choose not
 to communicate electronically with patients may soon find themselves at a
 similar disadvantage," Ferguson wrote.

 In one example showing the Internet's potential, the authors of a study
 from the University Hospital of Erlangen, Germany, sent a fictitious
 query to 58 Web sites that offer dermatological information. Half the Web
 sites responded and more than half of those mentioned the correct
 diagnosis in their reply. All recommended seeing a physician. Another
 study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston evaluated
 a program where doctors used computers to make drug prescriptions. The
 results showed fewer patients suffered adverse drug reactions, there were
 fewer dosage mistakes and the problem of illegible handwriting in
 physicians' prescriptions was solved.

               Jon Postel Dies -- An Internet Founding Father

 Jonathan Postel, the taciturn computer scientist who played a central
 role in developing the Internet's core technologies, died Friday after
 undergoing heart surgery. Postel, 55, had been best known for his role as
 head of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, the technical body that
 oversaw the Internet's Domain Name System and allocated Internet Protocol
 (IP) addresses, the fundamental technologies for navigating and routing
 on the Internet.

 Postel and the IANA were at the center of the stormy debate over the
 future of domain names, which increased in intensity over the past two
 years as more commercial interests arrived on the Net. Most recently,
 Postel was working with the U.S. government on the transition of the
 IANA, which he had run single-handedly for many years, to a private,
 not-for-profit corporation called the Internet Corporation for Assigned
 Names and Numbers. Postel worked on the ARPAnet project - the network
 that was a precursor to the Internet - in 1969 when he was a graduate
 student at the University of California at LosAngeles. While working on
 ARPAnet, he became the first editor of the Internet's "Request for
 Comments" series of documents, which now are maintained by the Internet
 Engineering Task Force and constitute the technical foundations for
 Internet protocols.

 In addition to being the Internet's most renowned technical caretaker,
 Postel directed the networking research division at the University of
 Southern California's Information Sciences Institute. According to
 friends and colleagues, Postel considered his duties with IANA a kind of
 public trust. "Jon has been our North Star for decades, burning brightly
 and constantly, providing comfort and a sense of security while all else
 changed," said Vinton Cerf, a senior vice president at MCI WorldCom Inc.,
 current chairman of the board of the Internet Society and himself one of
 the Internet's pioneering engineers. "He was the Internet's Boswell and
 its technical conscience. His loss will be sorely felt not only for his
 expertise, but because the community has lost a dear and much-loved
 friend."

 The Internet Society, which Postel helped found, said it plans to create
 the Jonathan B. Postel Service Award in memory of his more than 30 years
 of involvement with the Internet. The award will recognize service to the
 Internet community.







        A T T E N T I O N ** A T T E N T I O N ** A T T E N T I O N

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        A T T E N T I O N ** A T T E N T I O N ** A T T E N T I O N





 EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed
  [Image]
                                       Edupage







 Contents



  Congress Tries Again To Shield Kids
  From Internet Porn                   Spoof On AOL Causes Misrouted Mail

  Amazon Sued By Wal-Mart Over Trade   Victories For Tech Industry In New
  Secrets                              Budget Agreement

  Intel's Merced Chip May Have A
  Patent Problem                       Zapata Gets Zapped

  News Flash                           New Displays Usher In The
                                       Millennium

  New Organization For Internet        Europe Seeks Ways To Protect
  Administration                       Online Consumers

  School Computer Deal Draws           High-Tech Coalition Gets OK For
  Criticism                            Encryption Export

  Another Try At Free Net Service      Microsoft Trial Begins

  Clinton Signs Y2K Legislation To     Y2K Problem At Local Government
  Encourage Info Sharing               Level

  Microsoft Says It Was Netscape That  Silicon Valley "Divided And
  Suggested A Deal                     Fascinated" About Microsoft

  Lock-On-A-Chip                       Discounts Are Key To Web Shopping

  Newsgroups Matter Most To The        Microsoft And Bloomsbury
  Marginalized                         Publishing Take On "World English"

  Zulu's Online Adventure              Hyatt Rooms To Get Inkjet Printers

  Harris Sues Apple For Dropping The
  Newton



           CONGRESS TRIES AGAIN TO SHIELD KIDS FROM INTERNET PORN

 The U.S. Congress has passed the Child Online Privacy Act to prevent
 Internet merchants and others from giving children access to material
 that is "harmful to minors," a phrase that supporters of the legislation
 say "employs the constitutionally tested harmful-to-minors standard
 recognized and upheld in federal courts for more than 30 years." The
 legislation applies only to persons or organizations that produce the
 material, and does not apply to Internet service providers or other
 intermediaries if they do not themselves produce it. American Civil
 Liberties Union executive Ann Beeson says the ACLU will file a lawsuit to
 block the legislation, and will be joined in its suit by "a diverse range
 of online speakers representing news organizations, gay and lesbian
 groups, artists, booksellers and online video dealers," among others.
 Michael Oxley, the Ohio Republican who was a primary sponsor of the bill,
 explained: "There are literally thousands of Web sites dedicated to every
 manner of perversion and brutality. A child may innocently search for key
 words like 'doll house,' 'toys,' or 'pets' and be led to numerous
 explicit sites." (New York Times 17 Oct 98)

                     SPOOF ON AOL CAUSES MISROUTED MAIL

 Someone impersonating an America Online individual authorized to change
 AOL's InterNIC records caused thousands of e-mail messages intended for
 AOL customers to be misrouted to the Internet service provider
 Autonet.net. AOL discovered the problem and corrected it, and says that
 all misdirected messages should eventually be delivered to the proper
 recipients. The company is working with legal authorities to identify the
 perpetrator. (Washington Post 17 Oct 98)

                 AMAZON SUED BY WAL-MART OVER TRADE SECRETS

 Wal-Mart, the giant retailing company, is suing Internet bookseller
 Amazon.com and two of its affiliates for illegally duplicating Wal-Mart's
 proprietary information technology that analyzes what products customers
 buy in combination, such as meat and potatoes. With such a capability
 Amazon.com could expand into other areas of online retailing. Wal-Mart
 contends that Amazon recruited former employees and current vendors to
 elicit information about the systems. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 17
 Oct 98)

            VICTORIES FOR TECH INDUSTRY IN NEW BUDGET AGREEMENT

 A provision in the government's new budget agreement to dramatically
 increase the number of high-tech foreigners who can be hired by U.S.
 ompanies has cheered the country's technology industry. Other victories
 or the industry include a temporary ban on Internet taxes and new
 copyright protections for online content providers. Bill Hogan of the
 Center for Public Integrity says, "The industry generally has a platinum
 calling card. Few members (of Congress) are going to want to say anything
 that might damage what they perceive as a high-growth, jobs-producing
 industry." (AP 16 Oct 98)

               INTEL'S MERCED CHIP MAY HAVE A PATENT PROBLEM

 Graphic chip maker S3 Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., says that Intel's
 latest chip, code-named Merced, might infringe on one of the patents that
 it purchased, along with almost 50 others last year for about $10
 million, from now-defunct Exponential Technology Inc. The details on
 Merced, which is slated for mass production in mid-2000, are still
 unavailable, but observers say it would be difficult at this point to
 change the chip's technology in order to circumvent a patent dispute. The
 Merced chip can process both 32-bit and 64-bit software, but eliminates
 some redundancy because it allows the processors within the chip to share
 the same resources such as the "register files" that store the data. The
 patent owned by S3 describes the same technique. "It's the crown jewel of
 the patents," says the patent agent who wrote the original patent for
 Exponential, "because it's fairly broad and goes to a heart of the
 problem" in a chip that runs two kinds of software. Intel had also bid on
 the Exponential patents, but lost out to S3. (Wall Street Journal 16 Oct
 98)

                             ZAPATA GETS ZAPPED

 Zapata Corp., a Houston-based company founded by Texas Governor George
 Bush, Jr. as an oil firm that has since turned itself into an Internet
 hopeful, is abandoning its plans to buy up some 30 Internet entrepreneurs
 as part of a new venture called Zap. Zapata had planned to transform
 itself into the No. 1site on the Internet by amalgamating the resources
 of numerous sites, such as Happypuppy.com and Rockmall.com. The company
 then planned to go public, but says the falling prices of technology
 stocks and inhospitable environment for IPOs were forcing it to shelve
 those plans. "We are disappointed," says Zapata CEO Avram Glazer, "but
 you have financial markets that are out of control. If Goldman, Sachs
 pulled their public offering, you can't expect us to go ahead." (New York
 Times 16 Oct 98)

                                 NEWS FLASH

 The message being told to newspaper executives at the annual conference
 of Associated Press Managing Editors is that newspapers will not succeed
 with online publications if they merely post another copy of their print
 publications; instead, they must offer readers usable information about
 restaurants, entertainment and services, and try to find profits from new
 kinds of advertising -- such as having corporations sponsor Web pages
 focusing on a specific news subject. (USA Today 16 Oct 98)

                    NEW DISPLAYS USHER IN THE MILLENNIUM

 A new type of flat display called OLEDs, for organic light-emitting
 diodes, could be widely available in a few years, ushering in an era of
 video postcards, laptops with furling screens, and glowing ceiling panels
 that illuminate jetliners. "This is probably the hottest research area in
 the whole field of flat-panel displays," says the VP for display-industry
 research at Stanford Resources Inc., who predicts that OLED sales are
 likely to soar from almost nothing today to $400 million by 2004. "I
 don't think there has ever been a new display technology that went from
 nothing to 65 players in just three or four years." Physicist Richard
 Friend, who is a co-discoverer of the light-emitting organic polymers,
 predicts: "It's not fanciful to think of active electronic circuits that
 are no more difficult to make than the glossy Sunday newspaper
 supplement, which you throw away on Monday." (Business Week 19 Oct 98)

                NEW ORGANIZATION FOR INTERNET ADMINISTRATION

 The Clinton Administration has decided to support the creation of a new
 nonprofit corporation to administer Internet domain names; the creation
 of the new organization, called the Internet Corporation for Assigned
 Names and Numbers (or "Icann"), will mean the end of the monopoly in
 domain name administration enjoyed by Network Solutions Inc. of Herndon,
 Va., which has had a government contract that generated $37 million in
 the first half of this year by registering names with the ".com," ".net",
 ".org," and ".edu" suffixes. The Administration's decision happens to
 come days after the untimely death of Jonathon B. Postel, the revered
 Internet pioneer who was a key proponent of the plan. (New York Times 20
 Oct 98)

               EUROPE SEEKS WAYS TO PROTECT ONLINE CONSUMERS

 The European Commission's proposed directive on electronic commerce has
 sparked a debate between the EC's internal-market directorate, which is
 supporting the notion that providers of goods and service be regulated in
 their "country of origin," and the consumer directorate, which fears such
 a rule will encourage companies to set up shop in countries with the
 least rigorous consumer protections. Given the uneven consumer protection
 laws across Europe, "what the commission is proposing -- a unilateral
 country-of-origin principle -- is something we cannot accept," says the
 legal advisor to the European Consumers Association. An internal-market
 directorate official counters, "We have done a survey that shows that it
 is impossible to design Web sites that comply with very distinct national
 laws in 15 countries. What happens under that scenario is that small and
 medium-size businesses don't go online or they issue disclaimers on their
 Web sites saying, 'This service is not available outside of my home
 country.' Clearly, this is not in the interest of consumers." (Wall
 Street Journal 19 Oct 98)

                    SCHOOL COMPUTER DEAL DRAWS CRITICISM

 ZapMe, a start-up program that provides free computers and Internet
 connections to schools, is coming under fire from teachers and parents
 unhappy about the advertising that appears on the computer interface. One
 corner of the screen is devoted to ads from ZapMe partners like
 Microsoft, Compaq and Tibco Software. The partners pay to run the adds
 and provide the equipment and some software. Each school receives 15
 Compaq PCs, a Compaq server and a printer, as well as a GE Americom
 satellite dish. ZapMe installs Web filtering software if the school
 requests it, and parents are required to give their permission for their
 children to use the computers. The company recently concluded a pilot
 program in the San Francisco Bay area, and began full rollout on Monday.
 Critics say the ZapMe business model is reminiscent of Whittle
 Communications' Channel One program, which put TVs in classrooms in
 exchange for the right to air a small number of commercials each day.
 (TechWeb 20 Oct 98)

             HIGH-TECH COALITION GETS OK FOR ENCRYPTION EXPORT

 The U.S. Commerce Department will allow a group of 10 technology
 companies, led by Cisco Systems, to export a new encryption technology
 that keeps messages private, while giving law enforcement restricted
 access to an entire message at the beginning and end of network data
 transmissions. Such "private doorbell" access points can reside in data
 routers or in the software programs that control networks. The
 government's latest move "is a policy middle ground," says Cisco's VP of
 legal and government affairs. "Right now the international market for
 encryption is fragmented, and American companies have been shut out. This
 gives us a foothold in the market, our chance to try and compete." Other
 companies in the coalition are Ascend Communications, Bay Networks, 3Com,
 Hewlett-Packard, Network Associates, Novell, Red Creek Communications,
 Secure Computing, and Sun Microsystems. (Wall Street Journal 19 Oct 98)

                      ANOTHER TRY AT FREE NET SERVICE

 NetZero Inc. is offering free Internet service to consumers, operating on
 an advertising-based business model. The company isn't selling your
 typical banner ad, however. NetZero's banners can "follow" users from
 site to site as they peruse the Web. The company says it's spent a year
 developing software that tracks users' habits, enabling advertisers to
 pinpoint their messages more efficiently. "We can target within a 12-mile
 radius of where (a subscriber) lives," says NetZero's CEO. Idealab
 Capital Partners, which is backing the venture, thinks subscribers will
 like the free access despite the ads. "People are spending $21.95 a month
 for AOL -- that's a lot of money," says Idealab's managing director. "We
 offer a value proposition that's hard to beat." (Investor's Business
 Daily 19 Oct 98)

                           MICROSOFT TRIAL BEGINS

 The government's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft has begun, and
 opening salvos include a charge by Netscape chief executive James L.
 Barksdale that Microsoft tried to "squelch competition in the browser
 market" by engaging in "predatory acts designed to eliminate Netscape as
 a competitor." Barksdale said Microsoft built "unnecessary technical
 incompatibilities" into its Windows operating system in order to disrupt
 Netscape's browser. Barksdale also charged that Microsoft deliberately
 delayed providing important technical information to Netscape, and said:
 "Apparently facing a worthy adversary, Microsoft could not resort to
 competition in the open marketplace, but rather resorted to using its
 monopoly to ensure a win." A Microsoft executive predicted confidently:
 "We will show that Mr. Barksdale's testimony is long on rhetoric but
 short on facts. His sweeping statements are often nothing more than
 self-serving accusations with no factual basis." (Washington Post 20 Oct
 98)

          CLINTON SIGNS Y2K LEGISLATION TO ENCOURAGE INFO SHARING

 President Clinton has signed legislation designed to encourage businesses
 and organizations to share information that might help avert a Year 2000
 computer crisis, when software that used only two digits to code "year"
 fields may fail to make correct date calculations. The legislation gives
 a limited liability protection to sharers of information, so that fear of
 lawsuits will not discourage them from helping others. (AP 19 Oct 98)

                   Y2K PROBLEM AT LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEVEL

 States are spending more than $2.5 billion to deal with the Year 2000
 problem, but many of the nation's local governments, police departments,
 and fire departments have not done anything to get ready. A survey found
 that 54% of New York State's towns, 48% of its villages, and 26% of its
 cities have not made plans for fixing the problem. Another survey found
 that 42% of California cities, counties and special districts have no
 funds budgeted to avert the problem. (USA Today 19 Oct 98)

            MICROSOFT SAYS IT WAS NETSCAPE THAT SUGGESTED A DEAL

 In the antitrust suit against Microsoft, Microsoft has introduced a
 December 1994 e-mail message from Netscape chairman James Clark as
 evidence that it was Netscape rather than Microsoft that first suggested
 an arrangement to illegally restrain trade. Clark had written to a
 Microsoft executive: "We have never planned to compete with you. We want
 to make this company a success, but not at Microsoft's expense. We'd like
 to work with you. Working together could be in your self-interest as well
 as ours. Depending on the interest level, you might take an equity
 position in Netscape, with the ability to expand the position later." He
 added: "No one in my organization knows about this message." A Microsoft
 attorney yesterday asked Netscape president James Barksdale of Netscape
 chairman and cofounder James Clark: "Do you regard him as a truthful
 man?" Barksdale paused and then replied: "I regard him as a salesman."
 The Microsoft attorney said: "I'm not going to touch that." (New York
 Times 22 Oct 98)

          SILICON VALLEY "DIVIDED AND FASCINATED" ABOUT MICROSOFT

 What does Silicon Valley think of the government's antitrust suit against
 Microsoft? Industry analyst Tim Bajarin says, "You have to look at
 Silicon Valley's view as divided and fascinated." Although companies such
 as Oracle, Sun, and Netscape have complained bitterly about Microsoft's
 aggressive business practices, many others are wary of government
 activism and feel that Microsoft has made an important contribution to
 the industry. Seybold Seminars analyst Craig Cline says, "Calmer voices
 do recognize that Microsoft has provided the platform from which the
 great chunk of wealth that the valley has earned in the past 10 to 15
 years has come." (AP 22 Oct 98)

                               LOCK-ON-A-CHIP

 Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a way to build
 a microscopic mechanical lock into computer chips, blocking hackers from
 accessing whatever information that chip is handling, including data on
 the hard drive. The lock's tiny gears are created as part of the
 chip-making process, and only by typing a combination of six letters
 selected by the computer owner will the chip turn on. The chip lock
 design, which will cost only about a dollar more per chip, will be
 perfected and brought to market in about two years, say the researchers.
 (Wall Street Journal 22 Oct 98)

                     DISCOUNTS ARE KEY TO WEB SHOPPING

 A study released Tuesday by Jupiter Communications shows that discounted
 pricing is now the number one attraction for online shoppers. Pricing has
 now overtaken payment security as the critical factor in persuading
 people to purchase something online. (TechWeb 21 Oct 98)

                 NEWSGROUPS MATTER MOST TO THE MARGINALIZED

 Two psychologists at New York University recently monitored participation
 in 12 Internet newsgroups over a 3-week period. They selected four groups
 that focus on mainstream interests (such as politics), four that concern
 "culturally undesirable but conspicuous conditions" (such as obesity),
 and four that focus on culturally "marginalized but concealable" behavior
 (homosexuality, illicit drug use, sexual bondage and sexual spanking).
 Judges who rated the messages posted found that online communities
 mattered the most to participants in the "marginalized but concealable"
 groups. Members of these groups posted far more frequently, often after
 receiving positive feedback, than did members of the other groups. "This
 is the sort of work that needs to be done, examining different types of
 Internet users and different effects of computer use," says a
 psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University. Many participants of the
 marginalized groups said that participation in the newsgroup had enabled
 them to reveal their secrets to friends or family members. (Science News
 17 Oct 98)

        MICROSOFT AND BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING TAKE ON "WORLD ENGLISH"

 Microsoft and British publisher Bloomsbury Publishing have developed a
 new dictionary of "world English," which will be marketed in both print
 and electronic formats. The companies say the dictionary, which was
 created with contributions from more than 250 lexicographers and
 consultants from 10 countries, will reflect English "as the language of
 the world." An adviser to the project says the Encarta World English
 Dictionary's strength lies in its international flavor. "Dictionaries are
 witnesses. They present observations on what English is like in different
 places. This one was particularly good at assembling witnesses from
 different places." (Chronicle of Higher Education 23 Oct 98)

                          ZULU'S ONLINE ADVENTURE

 Zulu TV is planning to offer users of the Video Vamoose plug-and-play
 device an unusual lineup of non-mainstream sports (collegiate soccer,
 rugby and lacrosse), documentaries on adventure travel and scientific
 expeditions, music concerts, political commentary, and live weddings. The
 company, which plans its debut in mid-November, is basing its offerings
 on the Vamoose  an Etch-a-Sketch-sized portable device that plugs into
 professional camcorders or any VCR to enable recording of Web events and
 production of video content for streaming online. Zulu says its Zulu TV
 will provide online broadcast services to organizations and companies
 that want to deliver a message to an online audience. (Broadcasting &
 Cable 19 Oct 98)

                     HYATT ROOMS TO GET INKJET PRINTERS

 Although some hotels have offered in-room printers to business travelers
 for several years, the Hyatt hotel chain is making a major commitment to
 that idea by announcing plans to put inkjet printers in 5,200 rooms in 90
 hotels by the end of this year. The machines were tested this summer at a
 hotel in the Chicago area, and Hyatt says that 33% of the guests used
 them. (USA Today 21 Oct 98)

                 HARRIS SUES APPLE FOR DROPPING THE NEWTON

 Harris Corporation has sued Apple Computer for $17 million for allegedly
 breaking a licensing agreement between the companies when Apple canceled
 its Newton handheld computer technology in February. Harris said that by
 that time it had already negotiated contracts to develop millions of
 dollars worth of roducts based on the Newton. According to the suit,
 "Apple deprived Harris of the basic benefits Harris reasonably expected
 to receive from its dealings with Apple, and which Apple understood were
 being conferred on Harris." (San Jose Mercury News 22 Oct 98)





 NEW!



                       [BITSBYTES.GIF (64527 bytes)]



 by R. F. Mariano



  [Image]

                           Penn International 965

   Premium Baitcasting Reel

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              Model   Line Capacity        Gear      Weight
                                           Ratio

              965     240/15 (Yds./Lb.)    4.75-1    11.8
                                                     Oz.

              965     230/0.40(Meters.MM)  4.75-1    340
                                                     Grams











 [northstar1.gif (8273 bytes)]

                       [nstar_951.GIF (48085 bytes)]











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                                   The Linux Advocate





 Column #24

 October 23th, 1998

 by Scott Dowdle
 dowdle@icstech.net
 ICQ UIN: 15509440

 LOGIN:

 What's going on gang? I think I've finally developed my time management to the point
 where I might actually be able to crank out a column every week... but who knows? I
 overlooked many, many Linux related stories in the press this week but nine of them
 filtered through. Hopefully they will be to your liking.

 NEWS:

 Item #1: The Mighty Finn: Hacker, geek and software hero, Linus Torvalds has devised a
 system that is challenging Windows - Time magazine does a personality piece on our
 favorite computer industry hero. Check it out at the following URL:

 http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/1998/dom/981026/technology.the_mighty_f1a.html

 Item #2: Project Heresy RealAudio Broadcasts - Brian Cooley and Dan Shafer continue
 their coverage of the Linux market in a Radio Show they call Project Heresy. Somehow
 I've been ignoring their broadcasts for some time and earlier this week I sat and
 listened to about 2 hours worth of shows. Break out your favorite browser and the
 RealPlayer client for some premium listening. Check it out at the following URL:
 http://www.news.com/Radio/Features/0,155,205,00.html?st.bl.fd.se1.ne.-1325

 Item #3: The joy of Perl: How Larry Wall invented a messy programming language and
 changed the face of the web - Salon Magazine did a beautiful piece on the father of
 PERL. Hmmm, Salon seems to be cranking out some real winning pieces over the past few
 months. I learned that Mr. wall was famous before PERL with is authoring of rn and
 patch. This article is a must read so check it out at the following URL:

 http://www.salonmagazine.com/21st/feature/1998/10/cov_13feature.html

 Item #4: Linux kernel development team buckles down - The development cycle for the
 2.2 kernel has een a long journey indeed. Nothing really new there though because I
 remember what the wait for 1.2 and 2.0. It'll get here when it is ready. It appear as
 if Linus has been bogged down with the plethora of patches he receives and he just
 couldn't keep up. Ok, so Linus isn't superman... so a plan to better co-ordinate the
 development has been made by none other than the fellow who designed the development
 models for Sun Microsystems. Check out he controversy (first URL) and the proposed and
 seemingly adopted solution (second URL) if getting a better view of the Linux kernel
 development process appeals to you. http://www.bitmover.com/bitkeeper/

 Item #5: IBM beefs up Apache package: Big Blue hopes to break into new market by
 enhancing the popular freeware - What has IBM been doing with Apache since they
 announced in June that they decided to adopt it as part of their WebSphere Web Server
 product line? It seems they have been busy. IBM made three announcements: 1) Apache is
 available for the AS/400 now, 2) they have added SSL to Apache for secure
 transactions, and 3) they have created Fast Response Cache Accelerator(FRCA) to boost
 Apache's speed by two to three times. What's cool about this is that IBM, under the
 agreement with the Apache group, has to give out the source code to all of this
 (except for the SSL which is binary only). The #1 web server on the Internet just got
 faster. Check out the full article at the following URL:
 http://www.sunworld.com/swol-10-1998/swol-10-apache.html

 Item #6: APPLE + LINUX = PERFECTION! - To be honest, I didn't get a chance to read
 over this article too well but I thought I'd included it none the less. Anyone want to
 let me know what they thought about it? In a book I'm reading (that I'll talk about in
 a future column) I learned that Apple decided to choose between MS's Windows NT, Sun's
 Solaris, NeXTSTEP, and BeOS as the foundation for what was to become Mac OS X. Too bad
 they were deciding so long ago and picked NeXTSTEP because I think they could have
 gotten so much further a lot faster if they had chosen Linux. Check out the article at
 the following URL: http://www.MacKiDo.com/Opinion/AppleLinux.html

 Item #7: Not Just NT That Linux Threatens - Here's another article I didn't get time
 to read completely through and ponder so take it as you will. The URL follows:
 http://www.internetworld.com/print/1998/10/12/opinion/19981012-ednote.html

 Item #8: The Kiss of Death for Linux? - Here's an article where the author reaches the
 conclusion that I came to many columns ago: Linux is in Microsoft's sites as being a
 major competitor. How will Microsoft's campaign against Linux take form? Well, so far
 it is anyone's guess but a recent letter by the General Manager of Microsoft France
 may be set a new standard. I would have represented the URL for the letter I just
 mentioned but it is in French and someone problematic but take it from me, Microsoft
 shows evidence of starting and extremely baseless FUD campaign. Given my passing
 comments enjoy the following URL:
 http://webreview.com/wr/pub/98/10/09/frames/index.html

 Item #9: Linux Press Coverage Drinking Game - Speaking of bad press, I ran into the
 following web page that takes most of the silly things mainstream press people have
 said about Linux and makes it into a drinking game. I'm not trying to condone mass
 consumption of hard liquor or anything... the following piece is good for it's humor
 value so check it out: http://segfault.org/story.phtml?id=361d6ea8-02ad87a0&mode=2

 SPOTLIGHT: Linux vs Microsoft by Eric S. Raymond

 I ran across this posting somewhere and I emailed the author asking permission to
 reproduce it here and he granted it to me. But first an introduction for the author...
 Eric Raymond has been a Unix person for a very long time. He has written several well
 known papers (like the one that convinced Netscape to release the source code to
 Mozilla) as well as a few books. Personally, I'm enjoying a book he co-wrote entitled,
 Learning GNU Emacs, 2nd Edition for O'Reilly and Associates. I can't begin to tell you
 how much I've learned about using Emacs with the help of that book, which means, look
 out. perhaps there will be a future spotlight on Emacs... but I might just spare you.
 :) Anyway, Eric has become known in the Linux community as the father of the term
 "Open Source" which he actually trademarked if I understand correctly.

 What follows is a fiery opinion news posting - classic flame bait. Enjoy.



 --- begin long quote here ---

 Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 16:09:36 -0400

 From: "Eric S. Raymond" esr@thyrsus.com
 To: tim@lorien.demon.co.uk, richardb@upside.com
 Cc: linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu
 Subject: Re: Linux vs Microsoft

 If Microsoft could crush us, it would already have done so. It is now several months
 too late for them to succeed.

 Their window began to close when the first of the enterprise database announcements
 hit the streets. With Oracle's announcement of a bundled, supported, Oracle-over-Linux
 combination on CD-ROM offering the 24/7 reliability unattainable with NT, it has
 effectively slammed shut.

 Microsoft would have to ship a truly production-quality NT 5.0 within the next month
 to prevent Oracle's power play from working. And that ain't gonna happen, because the
 5.0 development is turning into a disaster so hideous that Microsoft's own marketing
 people are telling large customers not to expect it to ship anytime soon or be
 production-ready when it does.

 The bottom line is that NT server in the enterprise is doomed; the only question
 remaining is what the speed of the collapse will be. And that fact kicks the stuffing
 out of half of Microsoft's business strategy, which is as dependent on keeping large
 customers locked in and on a perpetual upgrade treadmill as it is on hardware tying
 agreements. (That other half, of course, is under threat by the DOJ.)

 Microsoft knows all this, and I think they expect a revenue crunch coming; that's why
 they recently stopped their regular (and, until now, continuous) stock buybacks.
 They're hunkering down for a siege, hoping the analysis won't notice -- because if
 their stock price takes any serious hits, the option machine they use to pay off
 developers will collapse.

 As you say, Microsoft's OS and app mix makes sense on the desktop. You could have
 strengthened your point by adding that the desktop is Microsoft's cash cow, so that in
 a strictly financial sense the loss of their server business would hardly hurt them.

 The problem with this analysis is that Microsoft increasingly finds itself in a
 strategically defensive rather than offensive position. The combination of an
 open-source operating system and just *one* working Windows emulator could wreck their
 desktop position irretrievably within months if Microsoft ever loses its image of
 invincibility -- and Microsoft knows that, too.

 Therefore, Microsoft's desktop-monopoly cash cow can only be sustained by continual
 `prestige' design wins in other markets. And in *all* those markets, Microsoft is in
 trouble. MSN was a failure. WinCE has failed to lock in the set-top-box and appliance
 market. And, as I've pointed out above, they're about to lose the enterprise servers.

 All this would make it hard for Microsoft to "crush" us even if the DOJ lawsuit didn't
 make any visible FUD barrage a suicidal tactic.

 Not only can't they crush us, but it will take a reversal of present trends for them
 to avoid a collapse into irrelevance within eighteen months.

 http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr Eric S. Raymond

 --- end log quote here ---



 SPOTLIGHT: The Wonderful World of Linux 2.2

 I originally ran into the this article at the following on the Linux Today site (
 which is become a leading resources for Linux news and information along with the
 Linux Weekly News site, Slashdot, and Freshmeat. Since I've been talking about the
 upcoming kernel for some time, and have even included earlier reports on the 2.2
 kernel this article seemed natural for a spotlight this week. Hopefully this will be
 the last such rundown of 2.2 before it comes out but the saying always is, it ain't
 ready until it's ready. I would like to thank the author for granting me his
 permission to reproduce it.

 --- begin long quote here ---

                            The Wonderful World of Linux 2.2

 by Joseph Pranevich

 As any kernel developer can surely tell you, the advent of Linux 2.2 is nigh. Linux
 2.1 is approaching near astronomical version numbers in its slow march to
 completeness, 2.1.115 as of this writing, and all eyes are looking towards the day
 when 2.2.0 will ship standard in the various distributions. Even if you don't actually
 follow the Linux kernel version by version, 2.2 is an important milestone to
 understand. So, submitted for your approval, here is my take on the Linux Kernel
 Developments of late, with some significant bias towards Linux/i386 which is the Linux
 that I use most often at home.

 Please note that this document does not cover all the new hardware that Linux
 supports. Many devices, such as scanners and printers, are handled exclusively in user
 space. Other devices, such as video cards and mice, are handled by a combination of
 user and kernel drivers. If you don't see a device class that you are interested in
 listed in this document, it is quite likely that Linux 2.2 supports it -- just not
 necessarily using the kernel to do so.

 1) Chips Galore

 The world of Intel chips is a fast and interesting thing to follow, if you have
 nothing better to do. Merced, Celeron, MMX... the names of Intel technologies float
 past to be replaced by new cutting-edge technology. (Whether or not these technologies
 are worthwhile is a matter that I'm not even going to begin to try and debate.) In
 addition, AMD, Cyrix, and other companies have become solid competitors in the market
 and each have their own little optimizations, quirks, and bugs. It's a mess, to say
 the least.

 Linux 2.2 will be the first stable Linux to support processor vendor selection in the
 kernel configuration tool for even better fine-tuning. Perhaps even more importantly,
 Linux 2.2 (and later revisions of 2.0 for obvious reasons) supports bugfixes and
 workarounds for widespread processor bugs including the infamous F00F Pentium bug.
 Other bugs that can't be worked around, such as a couple AMD K6 bugs, are reported
 during startup.

 Merced hasn't arrived yet and probably isn't immediately forthcoming, but Linux 2.2
 has already been ported to Sparc64, Alpha, and other 64-bit platforms so the
 infrastructure for a 64-bit native kernel is already happily in place. (There are, of
 course, other obstacles that would have to be overcome before Linux/Merced could be
 released but having a 64-bit ready kernel is an important step.)

 Multiple-Processor machines now will operate much more efficiently than they did in
 Linux 2.0 with issues such as the global spinlock removed. Up to 16 processors are
 supported (the same as with 2.0) but the performance difference should be amazing.
 Also, there is now greater support for the IO-APIC on Intel boards that will make SMP
 generally better supported.

 In terms of other ports, Linux 2.2 will feature improved support for a large number of
 'workstation' machines such as Sparc, Sparc64, and Alpha machines. As for 'desktop'
 machines, Linux 2.2 has been ported to Motorola's m68k and PPC processors and now can
 be expected to run on many of these platforms, including the Macintosh. (with varying
 degrees of hardware support, of course.) Linux is also moving to processors, such as
 ARM that are increasingly popular for embedded systems.

 On somewhat of a tangent, there is continuing work to support a subset of the Linux
 kernel on 8086, 8088, 80186, and 80286 machines. This project will never integrate
 itself with Linux-proper but will provide an alternative Linux-subset operating system
 for these machines.

 In terms of memory consumption, the average Linux 2.2 setup will require more memory
 than Linux 2.0. (Although a larger number of components can now be modularized or
 compiled-out to allow a system administrator more flexibility if memory is tight.)
 According to many sources, the absolute least amount of RAM required for 2.2 on
 text-only systems is 5 megs. (Up from 4 with Linux 2.0) To get reasonable performance
 without swapping, 8 megs are still recommended. (There have been reports of savvy
 linux users getting running systems with only 3 megs, your mileage may vary.) On the
 bright side, Linux 2.2 includes a number of new optimizations that should actually
 improve the performance of machines with at least 16 megs of RAM. The more, the
 merrier.

 2) System Busses and Assorted Ilk

 Although somewhat less crucial and cutting edge, Linux 2.2 will support a larger
 percent of the existing x86 computers with the addition of complete support for the
 Microchannel bus found on some PS/2s and older machines.

 In addition to hundreds of minor patches to the bus system (including many new PCI
 device names), larger improvements have taken place. The PCI subsystem, in particular,
 has undergone several major changes. Firstly, the PCI device reporting interface has
 been changed and moved to allow for easier addition of new information fields. This
 particular change doesn't spell much of a difference for an end user but it makes the
 lives of developers much easier. Additionally, it is now possible to choose whether
 you want to scan your PCI bus using your compatible PCI BIOS or through direct access.
 This allows Linux 2.2 to work on a larger set of machines as several PCI BIOSes were
 incompatible with the standards and caused booting problems.

 Sadly, there is still little kernel support for Plug-and-Play ISA devices. While that
 would be a great addition, there are some problems with the currently proposed systems
 that will need to be resolved sometime in 2.3 before inclusion. Fortunately enough,
 there happens to be a great user-level utility, isapnp, for setting up PnP devices
 that requires just a tad more work than we'd like but gets the job done in true Linux
 fashion.

 3) IDE, and SCSI, and USB... Oh my!

 As far as Linux IDE is concerned, not much obvious has changed for Linux 2.2. The most
 obvious change is that it is now possible to load and unload the IDE subsystem as a
 module, just like SCSI. (This also has the added bonus of allowing one to use a
 PnP-based IDE controller.) For less bleeding-edge machines, the updated IDE driver now
 supports older MFM and RLL disks and controllers without having to load an older
 version of the driver. Linux 2.2 now also has the ability to detect and configure all
 PCI-based IDE cards automatically, including the activation of DMA bus-mastering to
 reduce CPU overhead and improve performance. And finally, more drivers have been
 developed for controllers that are buggy or simply different. It's amazing how even
 excellent things can continue to get better.

 Elsewhere in the IDE world, parallel port IDE devices have become more common and are
 now supported by Linux 2.2, for the most part. It is a good assumption that many
 devices that are not supported currently will be added as 2.2 progresses. The SCSI
 subsystem's main improvements have been the addition of many new drivers for many new
 cards and chipsets. Too many, in fact, to even begin to name here.

 PCMCIA adapters (or PC-card slots, as they are called now) are not supported in the
 standard Linux 2.2 but are supported by an external module provider. Thus, while not
 in the kernel, PCMCIA support will be included in most distributions. IRDA devices
 will also be supported in a similar manner as PCMCIA devices.

 Alas, there is some bad news here. Despite ongoing efforts by several parties to
 finish USB support, no support has currently been included in a Linux 2.1 release.
 This could change before Linux 2.2 becomes finalized, but it is unlikely that such a
 large feature would be included this close to release. It is more likely that USB
 support will be provided by an external source as modules and would therefore still be
 included in distributions (see the note on PCMCIA, above.)

 4) Ports: Parallel and Serial

 Nothing much new on this front, Linux has always had incredible support for these
 basic building blocks. The parallel port driver has been rewritten with cross-platform
 issues in mind and thus what was once just a 'Parallel Port' is now a 'PC-Style
 Parallel Port' Functionality-wise, the only obvious change is that you can now
 effortlessly share a single parallel port device with multiple device drivers. (Note
 however that the naming convention used to label parallel ports has changed so you may
 find that your lp1 has become your lp0. Distributions should allow for this change
 automatically however.)

 Serial support is chugging along as well as it always has but with one notable
 difference. Previously, a serial device such as a modem involved two devices, one for
 call-in and one for call-out. (ttyS and cua respectively) As of Linux 2.2, the two are
 combined in one device (ttyS) and accessing the cua devices now prints a warning
 message to the kernel log. On the bright side, Linux 2.2 includes support for having
 more than 4 serial ports, it allows serial devices to share interrupts, and it
 includes a number of drivers for non-standard ports and multi-port cards. My only
 complaint with serial support is its lack of support for the standard methods for
 modules to pass device parameters at module-load time via the modules.conf file and
 kmod. (Instead, these parameters are set using the 'setserial' command. Somewhat
 yuck.)

 It should also be mentioned that Linux 2.2 will support newer UART chips than 2.0
 which may translate into higher transfer rates using newer modems.

 5) CD-ROMs, Floppies, and removable media

 Thankfully, the hodge-podge of hundreds of CD-ROM standards has solidified behind the
 'standard' of ATAPI CD-ROMs. This reprieve has given developers time to completely
 rewrite the CD-ROM driver system to be more standardized in terms of support. Small,
 quirky differences between the individual drivers have now all been fixed for better
 support.

 Rewritable CD-ROMs aren't supported nearly as well as one would like, unfortunately.
 SCSI CD-ROMs are well done (and most IDE drives use SCSI-over-ATA, the SCSI-emulation
 driver). With other rewritable CD-ROMs, your mileage may vary.

 Floppies are working as well as ever. There are new developments in terms of large
 volume floppies and it remains to be seen whether or not all of these will be
 supported. Those devices that communicate using ATAPI (a large number of them,
 actually) are already supported to some degree.

 IOMEGA's zip drive, an increasingly popular storage solution, is fairly well supported
 under Linux 2.2. These beasts come in three versions: SCSI, ATAPI (IDE), and Parallel.
 Under SCSI and ATAPI, the Zip drives are supported just as any other disk would be.
 The parallel version of these drives actually use a sort of SCSI-over-parallel
 protocol that is also supported in Linux 2.2. (Other IOMEGA solutions such as DITTO
 drives may also be supported using the ftape drivers.)

 DVD drives are already supported, to some degree, under Linux as they represent
 themselves largely as ATAPI drives. (SCSI DVD drives may not, but they will probably
 work using the excellent SCSI CD-ROM driver.) Unfortunately, this does not necessarily
 mean that all will be rosy in the Linux/DVD world as Linux does not currently support
 any DVD-centric filesystems that have been proposed nor are any user-space tools
 developed to display DVD movies and etc. Once the standards stabilize a bit, it is
 highly likely that the requisite parts will be added to the Linux kernel sometime
 during the 2.2.x cycle, following the initial release.

 Other removable media may or may not be supported under Linux 2.2. If the device
 connects through the parallel port, it is possible that it is supported using one of
 the Parallel Port IDE device protocol modules that are included in the kernel.

 6) Glorious Sounds!

 At long last, the sound code has been partially rewritten to be completely modular
 from start to finish. Distributions will be able to more easily include generic sound
 support out-of-the-box for their users as well as making it easier for the rest of us
 to load and configure sound devices. (Especially pesky Plug-and-Play ones.) Lots of
 new sound devices are supported as well and it looks like this is one area where Linux
 will really improve in the next year.

 One very notable defect here is the remaining lack of support for the PC internal
 speaker, if only for completeness. Then again, Windows 95/98 doesn't do it either so
 who am I to judge?

 7) Video4Linux

 Linux 2.2 now has amazing support for a growing number of TV and radio tuner cards and
 digital cameras. This is a truly bleeding edge addition to 2.1's roster so there may
 still be some outstanding issues but it is reasonable to assume that they will be
 fixed in time. In my humble opinion, this is just an amazing area for Linux to be in
 at all.

 8) Back me up, Scotty!

 Linux 2.2's backup and tape device subsystem has not changed much since the 2.0
 release. More drivers for devices have been written, of course and substantial
 improvement has been made for backup devices that work off of the floppy disk
 controller (including the IOMEGA DITTO).

 Rewritable CD-ROMs have become a popular solution for backing up data and they are
 supported under Linux 2.2 (either natively or using the SCSI emulation driver.) There
 are still outstanding issues in this regard, see my note above on CD-ROMs for details.

 9) Joysticks, Mouse, and Input Devices

 Joysticks are better supported in 2.2 including a large number of new joysticks and
 joysticks with an inordinate numbers of buttons. Likely, your joystick will work under
 Linux 2.2.

 Mice in 2.2 aren't really different from mice in 2.0. (As in 2.0, there are some
 inconsistencies regarding mouse support that will be addressed in the future. For the
 most part, mouse control is provided through a daemon external to the kernel. Some
 mouse drivers however deliberately emulate a Microsoft standard mouse. The reasoning
 behind this is obvious but it would be nice if it was decided on in one way or the
 other.) It should be noted that, while not solely a kernel issue, mice with
 Microsoft's spinning wheel extension are supported in recent versions of the XFree86,
 Linux's most popular GUI. (However many Linux applications have not been designed to
 take advantage of this feature.)

 Additionally, several other input devices are now supported under Linux 2.2 including
 some digitizer pads. If your devices emulates a mouse (as many do) then it is already
 supported by Linux 2.2 (and, in fact, Linux 2.0).

 10) Video

 Perhaps the most surprising and cutting-edge addition to the Linux kernel version 2.2
 is what is called the 'frame-buffer console' driver (or 'fbcon', for short.)

 Previously, the Linux kernel (for Intel-based machines) only understood and
 manipulated the video devices in text mode. Graphical support was to be provided by
 two other systems: 'svgalib' for console-based graphics, and a specialized X Server
 for window-based graphics. This kludgey system often required configuration
 information to be repeated and each system supported only a limited slice of the
 myriad of video devices in common use.

 Since this addition is rather new, it remains to be seen whether it will truly replace
 the previous and long-standing duality. Unfortunately, it could be nearly a year after
 Linux 2.2 ships before this new system could be robust enough to support the cards and
 technologies that we already take for granted as working. My personal opinion is that
 this is the right idea, but I'm going to withhold judgment until we see exactly how
 far Linus and the developers decide to take this feature.

 As an added side-effect of this new feature, primitive multi-heading has been added
 into the kernel for some devices. Currently, this is limited to some text-mode output
 but it is reasonable to assume that this very new addition to the Linux kernel will
 mature somewhat during the 2.2.x and 2.3.x cycles.

 It should also be mentioned that it is now possible to remove support for 'virtual'
 terminals as provided by the kernel. This allows very memory-conscious people to save
 just a tad more.

 Although unimaginable to the desktop user, Linux can now work even better on systems
 that do not actually include any sort of video device. In addition to being able to
 log in over serial or networked lines, as Linux 2.0 and previous Linuxes allowed, it
 is now possible to redirect all the kernel messages (usually sent to the console
 directly before any hardware was initialized) to a serial device.

 11) Networking: Ethernet, ISDN, and the lowly modem.

 I don't have a huge amount of experience here; I've been using the same network cards
 in all my machines for several years. But, it doesn't take an Alan Cox to see that the
 number of supported Ethernet and ISDN devices supported in Linux 2.2 has risen
 sharply. I have been told that newer solutions such as cable modems are supported,
 also.

 My only gripe in this regard is the continued non-support of so-called 'Winmodems.'
 Not that I blame Linux for their absence, making modems that are 80% software is just
 a dumb idea anyway, but the idealist in me hopes that some day these pesky devils will
 be supported like their less retarded cousins.

 12) Amateur Radio people are Linux people, too.

 Since before Linux 2.0, Linux has been one of the few desktop OSes to include native
 support for computer-based amateur radio people. (Not that I actually know what that
 entails but it seems to be a more popular option outside the US.) Linux 2.2 adds
 support for NetROM and ROSE amateur radio protocols. The basic AX.25 layer has also
 been materially enhanced.

 13) Filesystems for the World

 Linux 2.2 has a wide array of new filesystems and partition types for
 interconnectivity. In addition, many of Linux's supported filesystems (including those
 I haven't listed here) have been updated with a new caching system to markedly improve
 performance. (In fact, not updating the drivers wasn't even an option if one wanted
 them included in Linux 2.2.)

 For the Microsoft nut, Linux will now read (and maybe write) NTFS (Windows NT) drives
 and Windows 98's FAT32 drives (also used by some later versions of Windows 95). Linux
 2.2 also understands Microsoft's Joilet system for long filenames on CD-ROMs. And
 finally, Linux also understands a new type of extended partition that Microsoft
 invented. Drivers to read and write Microsoft and Stacker compressed drives are being
 developed but not yet included in the kernel.

 For Mac connectivity, a HFS driver for reading and writing Mac disks has been
 included. HFS+ and MFS (ancient floppy format) are not yet supported. Macintosh
 partition tables can now also be read by the kernel; this allows Mac SCSI disks to be
 mounted natively.

 Sadly, OS/2 users will still not be able to write to their HPFS drives. Some updates
 have been made to the HPFS driver to support the new 'dcache' system but not the
 complete overhaul that some were hoping for.

 If there are any Amiga users left, they will be pleased to know that the FFS driver
 has undergone some minor updates since 2.0. This is especially useful as the new
 generation of PPC Amigas will continue to support this format.

 For connectivity to other UNIXes, Linux 2.2 has come forward in leaps and bounds.
 Linux 2.2 still includes the UFS filesystem which is used on BSD derived systems,
 including Solaris and the free versions of BSD. Linux 2.2 can now also read the
 partition table formats used by FreeBSD, SunOS, and Solaris. For SysV-style UNIXs,
 Linux 2.2 features a somewhat updated version of SysVFS. Linux 2.2 can also read the
 Acorn's RiscOS disks. And finally, Linux 2.2 features a somewhat updated version of
 the ever-popular Minix filesystem, which can be used for small drives and floppies on
 most UNIXes. With so many incompatible formats (and Linux 2.2 reading so many of
 them), it's amazing anyone ever got any work done.

 In other news, support for 'extended' drives (the format used by much older versions
 of Linux) has been removed in favor of the 'second extended' filesystem. (This
 shouldn't matter to many people, 'ext2' is far superior to its predecessor.) With the
 increased support of initial ramdisks, a 'romfs' has been created which has very
 minimal overhead.

 While not quite a filesystem, Linux 2.2 includes enhanced support for stretching a
 filesystem across several disks transparently. At present, this support can be used in
 RAID 0, 1, 4, and 5 modes as well as a simple linear mode.

 14) Networking II: Under the Hood

 On the protocol front, a lot has happened that I simply don't understand completely.
 The next generation Internet protocol, IPv6, has made an appearance. SPX, a compliment
 to IPX is new, as well. DDP, the protocol of choice for AppleTalk networking has also
 been improved. And, just as you would come to expect by now, the existing protocols
 have been improved, as well. I only wish I had the need to use some of this stuff...

 On the low-end front, not much has changed. PPP, SLIP, CSLIP, and PLIP are all still
 available for use. I guess some things don't need much improvement. (Although each of
 those drivers have been updated in one way or another.)

 The list keeps going, however. Linux 2.2 will have an excellent new networking core,
 new tunneling code, a completely new firewalling and routing system called 'ipchains',
 support for limiting bandwidth consumption, and a ton more. It's just amazing. I wish
 I could keep track of it all. (But, who am I kidding?)

 It should be noted that file and printer sharing protocols have also been improved and
 markedly enhanced. SMB, the protocol for accessing Windows-based shared filesystems
 has been somewhat improved with bugfixes and the like. If you are a fan of NetWare
 (doubtful), you'll be happy to know that Linux 2.2 supports a large number of
 improvements in this area, including access to two different kinds of NCP long file
 names. Trusty NFS has also been improved, both at the server level and the client
 level. And finally, those eggheads over at CMU have been hard at work developing the
 new distributed network filesystem, Coda. This filesystem supports a large number of
 highly-requested features including disconnected operations for laptops, an advanced
 cache system, and security improvements.

 On somewhat of a tangent, Linux 2.2 also includes a driver which will allow one to
 share (and remotely mount) whole disk images over a network.

 15) Not Everyone Speaks English.

 Linux 2.0 is a very international OS with support for international keyboards and the
 like. Linux 2.2 adds to this and other internationalization features the ability to
 load some UNICODE codepages for translating filenames into Linux's native system.
 (Currently, the only filesystems that use these UNICODE codepages include Microsoft's
 VFAT and Microsoft's Joilet ISO 9660 (CD-ROM filesystem) extension.)

 16) Unix98: The Next Generation

 Linux 2.2 will be a more 'standard' UNIX in a number of ways. The most pronounced of
 these ways to the end user will be the addition of UNIX98-style Pty devices using a
 new filesystem (devpts) and a cloning device to provide the functionality.

 17) And, finally...

 In addition to those noted above, there are a large number of other drivers and things
 that just don't fit in anywhere but should still be noted. So, in no given order, the
 oddball updates of Linux 2.2: The loopback driver, which allows disk images to be
 mounted and manipulated just like any regular drive, has been improved in a number of
 ways. Of these improvements, the most notable difference to users will be its
 increased support for encryption and the mounting of encrypted hard disks and disk
 images.

 A driver for accessing your computer's CMOS memory has also been provided in Linux 2.2
 which may be useful in some applications. (Sadly, a similar driver to access your
 BIOS's flashable RAM did not make it, it will still be necessary to boot from a DOS
 floppy to flash your computer's BIOS to a new version.)

 And finally, in the past, Linux used a half-user/half-kernel method of loading in and
 out drivers (called 'modules') called 'kerneld' This method was good but inefficient.
 Linux 2.2 has removed kerneld and replaced it with a smaller all-kernel solution
 called 'kmod'.

 This is the 'really final' version of this document, unless there are really stupid
 mistakes or Linux 2.1 gets a really special new feature. (We're in a feature freeze...
 again so that is unlikely.) I would however like to ask for interested people to
 continue to send me suggestions and corrections at knight@baltimore.wwaves.com.

 Thank you all for your support during the writing of this document. Unfortunately, in
 the rush of suggestions and the rash of dozens of people correcting me on the same
 items (Alpha as a 64-bit platform, for example), I completely lost track of
 contributors. I'm sorry. In particular, I'd like to thank Alan Cox and Meelis Roos for
 their contributions, they really helped out a lot in the preparation of this 'final'
 draft.

 Thank you, and Good Night.

 Joseph Pranevich

 --- end long quote here ---

 LOGOUT:

 I've been learning and doing a lot of PERL programming this past week and I must
 confess that I fill both empowered and drained. Have you installed Linux recently? If
 so, drop me a note and let me know what you thought about the processes. Enjoy

 Scott Dowdle









                               Backlash '98?



                      [newt&clinton.jpg (6505 bytes)]

 After dreading November's elections, Democrats now believe they will
 benefit from an anti-impeachment voter rebellion.

 BY JOAN WALSH
 ctsy Salon

 Democrat Jay Inslee says the best idea in his uphill campaign to unseat
 U.S. Rep. Rick White came not from pollsters or pundits but from voters.
 The aspiring congressman from suburban Seattle made national news this
 week when he embraced the very issue experts had warned Democrats to run
 away from: He broadcast TV ads attacking his Republican opponent for
 supporting an unlimited impeachment inquiry against President Clinton.

 "I was hearing the same message at the farmer's markets and the ferry
 docks: People feel strongly that we need to get back to business, and
 beyond impeachment," Inslee says. So he overruled his campaign brain
 trust, which had opposed using the impeachment issue, and jumped onto the
 airwaves with a TV spot declaring, "Rick White and Newt Gingrich
 shouldn't be dragging us through this. Enough is enough." Nationally,
 pollsters and political experts predicted Democrats would rush to
 television studios with impeachment ads if Inslee's gambit paid off. "If
 it rains," one pollster told the Los Angeles Times, "it's going to pour."

 It's raining -- in Inslee's Seattle district, anyway. The challenger, who
 trailed White in the state's open primary by 6 percent, had closed the
 gap a little since then. But he jumped four points in the days after his
 aggressive ad was broadcast, to move slightly ahead of the incumbent two
 weeks before Election Day. "Yesterday a woman stopped her car in the
 middle of one of Seattle's busiest streets," a bemused Inslee recounts,
 "just to tell me, 'It's about time somebody had the guts to do this!'"

 A month after the punditocracy predicted the Monica Lewinsky scandal
 could cost Democrats as many as 30 seats in the House of Representatives,
 some strategists are saying the mess could work in the Democrats' favor,
 as scandal-weary voters use the election as a referendum on whether they
 want to watch congressional impeachment hearings drag on well into 1999.
 A relative handful of votes either way can matter: In 1996, 11 close
 elections that gave the Republicans their 11-seat majority were decided
 by a total of less than 12,000 votes.

 The boldest -- or most partisan -- among campaign strategists are even
 predicting that a national ground swell of disgust over the protracted
 impeachment debate could actually help Democrats gain seats. "Democrats
 should want their election campaigns to engage the impeachment issue,"
 says a memo to Democrats from Clinton booster James Carville and
 Democratic pollsters Stan Greenberg and Al Quinlan. "Do not run from it.
 The impeachment inquiry is an opportunity."

 According to the three strategists, their poll of 800 voters in
 mid-October yielded good news for Democrats: The base of likely voters in
 the coming election who are Democrats rose from 31 to 36 percent of the
 electorate, compared to 31 percent Republicans. And after dropping in
 polls just after the release of independent counsel Kenneth Starr's
 report on the Lewinsky matter, Democrats nationwide have gained four
 points in the last month. Carville urges Democrats to grab the
 impeachment issue and ride it to victory.

 "These last two weeks are likely to be very different from what we have
 experienced up until now," Carville wrote in the memo. "Democrats have
 been on the defensive ... But now is the time to use every free media
 outlet you have because voters are ready to sit up and take notice. Hit
 the Republicans hard."

 To some Democrats, the best evidence that Carville and company are right
 comes from the relative Republican silence on the impeachment issue in
 the hundreds of congressional races around the country. Just over a month
 ago, strategists were predicting a blitz of TV ads featuring Clinton's
 many televised Lewinskyisms -- from denial to admission to semantic
 hair-splitting in his grand jury testimony. But since then GOP candidates
 have dropped the issue. The few Republicans who ran anti-Clinton ads
 quietly pulled them when they yielded no gains.

 But just as predictions of an impeachment-inspired Republican landslide
 proved to be wishful thinking, so might the Democrats' dreams of an
 impeachment backlash. Some Democrats and their supporters -- including
 one of Greenberg and Quinlan's clients -- question the idea that running
 hard on impeachment will help party candidates. The truth is no one
 understands the inscrutable midterm electorate.

 Traditionally, many fewer Americans vote in the elections held in between
 presidential campaigns -- turnout usually drops by half -- and those who
 do tend to be more conservative. While national polls show Democrats
 leading in the congressional races by several points, the advantage goes
 to Republicans when the polling universe is narrowed to likely voters.

 So far, there's little hard data to suggest this election will be a
 bellwether on impeachment. The real story might be that last month's
 hand-wringing over the Democrats' congressional chances, in the wake of
 the Starr Report revelations, had little basis in fact. There was no
 difference in Democratic turnout or election support in primaries held
 before the Starr Report and after according to Curtis Gans of the
 Committee for the Study of the American Electorate.

 And an analysis by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center in early September
 found that Republicans outnumbered Democrats among likely voters in this
 midterm election by eight points. But the gap was actually smaller than
 the 10-point difference polls found before the 1994 midterm. (Because
 Congress is already majority-Republican, where it was majority-Democrat
 in 1994, an outcome similar to 1994 would merely maintain the status quo,
 not doom Democrats.)

 Pew's latest poll, released yesterday, says the picture hasn't changed --
 yet.

 "The supposed backlash against Congress hasn't made an iota of difference
 in local races," says Pew director Andrew Kohut. Republicans still hold a
 lead among likely voters, and in the 105 races analysts consider
 "competitive," the Republicans lead 48 to 44 percent. Even though voter
 opinion of Congress has "soured," Kohut says, leading to a decline in
 support for incumbents to 58 percent of registered voters from 66 percent
 last January, the percentage of voters who say they'll use the election
 to vote against Clinton rose from 16 percent to 23 percent. Meanwhile,
 only 19 percent say the Starr investigation is very important for the
 nation and only 3 percent say they want candidates to talk about Clinton
 during the campaign.

 Yet Kohut says the Carville strategy could pay off for Democrats in
 certain races. "If Democrats can bring it up in the right way, it could
 be effective. But right now the anger about impeachment is mostly
 confined to core Democratic constituencies -- who may not vote."

 The two big questions about the election come down to who will vote, and
 what will independent voters do. There's good news for Democrats on both
 counts.

 For two months the common wisdom has been that if the Lewinsky mess
 inspires the Republican base to surge to the polls, Democrats are doomed.
 But if Democrats get energized by what Clinton defenders call a
 Republican coup d'tat against a popular president, Republicans are in
 trouble. Most observers have expected the first scenario.

 Two weeks ago, Wall Street Journal columnist Gerald Seib predicted that
 public opposition to impeachment wouldn't help Democrats in upcoming
 elections, because Clinton supporters tended not to vote. Likely voters,
 Seib observed, were "older, richer, more conservative, more Southern and
 more Republican than the overall population" -- and more likely to
 support pushing on with the impeachment proceedings. "The opinions of the
 millions of Americans who have checked out of the electoral process by
 failing to vote don't really count for very much," sniffed Seib.

 But the Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday shows that this year,
 the base of likely voters is evenly split between Democrats and
 Republicans. While in October 1994 -- just before the Republican
 congressional landslide -- polls gave Republicans a 40 percent to 30
 percent advantage, the Pew poll found Democrats and Republicans each make
 up 35 percent of the likely electorate this fall.

 Other Democratic pollsters are seeing trends similar to those described
 by Carville and Greenberg. "I think it's safe to say that Democrats are
 getting more interested in this election," says Fred Yang, a pollster
 with Hart Research in Washington, D.C. "Intensity has risen and the
 percentage of likely voters who are Democrats has too." Maybe most
 disturbing for Republicans, independent voters -- who made up more than a
 quarter of the midterm electorate in 1994 -- "are starting to go the
 Democrats' way," Yang says. The Pew poll confirms this: It found that
 independent voters are closer to Democrats than Republicans in their
 opposition to impeachment and in their disapproval of the way Congress
 has handled the inquiry debate.

 But while voters' impeachment fatigue could help Democrats, some analysts
 doubt that going aggressively negative against Republicans on the issue
 is a winning strategy for Democrats. "I really don't think so," says
 Stephanie Cohen, communications director for Emily's List, which supports
 women candidates. Cohen says her group's polling -- which, ironically,
 was conducted by Greenberg and Quinlan -- actually shows that women
 voters, at least, are turned off by outright partisan attacks on
 Republicans.

 "That kind of tone -- continuing to raise the saber of impeachment with
 very partisan attacks -- is not what they want," Cohen says. "Our polling
 shows women want to know who has solutions: Who will fix the schools?
 What are their plans to improve health care?"

 Pollster Al Quinlan acknowledges there's reason for Cohen's concern.
 "Stephanie is right: Women voters in particular want to hear about
 issues, not politics," he says. Quinlan, Carville and Greenberg say the
 best strategy is combining a critique of the impeachment mess with vocal
 Democratic stands on key issues like education, health care and Social
 Security.

 "And we wouldn't advise a candidate to raise impeachment in certain races
 -- pretty much anywhere in the South, for instance, and some places in
 the Southwest. It's best seen as a strategy for Democratic challengers.
 If it's done well -- and it looks like Jay Inslee did it well -- you'll
 see a jump."

 Impeachment or not, something is stirring the Democratic base. Turnout by
 women declined by 2 million between the 1992 presidential election and
 the 1994 midterm race, and more Republican women voted than Democrats,
 thus erasing the gender gap that had favored Democrats in 1992. But Pew
 polls show the gender gap is back: Democrats enjoy a 48 to 41 percent
 edge among women voters.

 "Despite what the pundits have been saying -- and they're really a bunch
 of bed-wetters -- this is a very good climate for the Democrats," insists
 California Democratic Party consultant Bob Mulholland. "P.T. Barnum said
 it best: 'If you want to build a crowd, start a fight.'" California
 Democrats are devoting $6 million to energizing their base, Mulholland
 says, targeting districts with lots of minority voters and white liberals
 with absentee ballot campaigns, a get-out-the-vote drive and "mailers
 with photos of Ken Starr and Newt Gingrich."

 Nationally, the AFL-CIO is sinking millions into grass-roots voter
 turnout strategies. The Women's Vote Project is pledging to bring back
 the 2 million women who left the rolls in 1994 with an aggressive
 publicity and voter turnout drive. The national Democratic Party is
 promising that ads and appearances by Jesse Jackson and Hillary Clinton
 are planned to boost turnout among women, minorities and liberal
 loyalists.

 Some observers are skeptical that the Democrats really know how to
 energize their base. "The problem is, they learned some of the wrong
 lessons from their defeats: They learned to avoid dealing with their
 base," says elections analyst Curtis Gans. "After going too far toward
 identity politics in the '80s, they developed this studious, poll-driven,
 middle-class appeal, and in certain ways narrowed their constituency. So
 I think the Carville strategy is as good a strategy as the Democrats have
 right now."

 So far, though, the success of Inslee's aggressive campaign strategy
 hasn't yet produced a storm of copycat advertising. No one interviewed
 knew of another Democratic candidate readying similar ads. Only Ralph
 Neas, a Democrat who faces a tough battle to unseat moderate Republican
 Connie Morella of suburban Maryland, has hit the airwaves with an ad
 attacking his opponent's impeachment stand, and he ran it before the
 Inslee results were in.

 "Impeachment is not a big issue in this race, ironically," says Beth
 Davidson, spokeswoman for Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls, who is trying
 to oust Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot in a closely watched
 race. "Chabot voted against the budget yesterday, which gives us plenty
 to work with on an issue that's important to our constituents."

 But Inslee says his strategy was the right one for his district. Having
 served in Congress for one term -- he was defeated in the Republican 1994
 landslide, thanks largely to his vote for an assault-weapons ban -- he
 knows the feel of a winning issue. "This didn't come out of polling. I
 didn't approach this with a lot of campaign sophistication. I'm the one
 out there listening to people and they're very angry. So my campaign
 advisors just asked me to think about it -- did I really want to take
 this on?

 "And I told them I did. So we moved ahead together. I knew voters felt
 strongly about it." In the Seattle area, at least, the polls are proving
 him right.

 Research assistance for this article by Daryl Lindsey and Fiona Morgan.











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 Messages * NOT EDITED * for content



 From: G.L. Alston
 Sent: Friday, October 09, 1998 11:29 PM
 To: 'rmariano@streport.com'
 Subject: Child's Play IV

 October 1998

                    TRUE COLOR POWERED KID'S ART PROGRAM

 Ruidoso, NM -- Alston Software Labs ("ASL"), developers of graphics
 software titles for young users, announces the latest release of Child's
 Play, a paint and colorbook program designed specifically for children
 aged 5 to 12.

 Features include a unique animated icon-only menu system, a built-in file
 management system that eliminates the need for typing in file names, JPG
 format file support for easier web postings, a page printing utility, and
 dozens of kid-friendly drawing tools and special effects, sound effects
 and a midi  soundtrack, and support for 24 bit (16.7 million) color.

 Child's Play IV utilizes the full viewing screen, which maximizes the
 drawing area and prevents younger children from accidentally getting into
 things on the family computer they shouldn't really be into -- such as
 the family budget or checkbook! This means parents can be relaxed about
 letting their children use the computer unattended.

 Child's Play is available in a fully functioning test drive from various
 web sites including www.download.com and www.hotfiles.com, which gives it
 their highest possible (5 star) rating. Anyone can download it and try it
 out for free, and are encouraged to do so.

 Price: $26.00 for individuals, schools should contact ASL for site
 pricing
 No s/h for electronic delivery.
 Requires: Windows95, 98, or Windows NT, 20 MB disk space.
 Contact: ASL, P.O. Box 581, Ruidoso NM 88355
 phone (507) 836 - 8494 or
 fax (507) 836 - 8494 or
 web -- http://alstonlabs.pair.com
 Order: product #15795 at 1-800-242-4775, Ext 15795
 1-713-524-6394, Ext 15795
 1-713-524-6398 fax



 [image87.gif (45316 bytes)]

 Classics & Gaming Section
 Editor Dana P. Jacobson
 dpj@streport.com

 From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"

 The high-profile news this week has got to be the Microsoft antitrust
 case. This case _could_ have a major impact on the computer/software
 industry for years to come - regardless of the "winner". I'm really
 curious as to the outcome of this case (not that I understand all of the
 nuances) and how it will affect the end-users overall as a result.

 This week I've included articles which "bullet" the key points to the
 case, the major players, and the likely expert witnesses. I hope these
 may simplify the matter for those who are interested.

 Otherwise, I don't have anything to add this week - surprise! Glad to
 learn that Joe Mirando is back on his feet (or on his butt) and well
 enough to rejoin the fray. Oh, and don't forget: Daylight Savings Time
 this weekend - set your clocks BACK one hour Sunday morning. Enjoy the
 extra hour of sleep (or play)!

 Until next time...



                          DFW Atari Show - DEUCE 98

 The Atari Users of North Texas (AUNT) Computer Exposition will be coming
 again to Dallas this November in conjunction with the monthly DFW XChange
 Super Saturday activities at the beautiful Dallas Infomart. Show date is
 planned for Saturday the 14th. As with the last three DEUCE shows, the
 actual show date will be finalized 120 days prior to the exposition. The
 exposition, along with the Super Saturday activities, charge no admission
 fees and are open to the general public. The one day exposition is
 planned to begin at 8:30 AM and run until 4:00 PM. A Friday evening
 pre-show get together and a post show get together are also being
 planned.

 November is still a great time to visit the Dallas Metroplex. The DFW
 XChange Super Saturday activities are a monthly computer extravaganza
 where thousands of computer enthusiasts get together, share their
 computer interests and enjoy some of the best computer and high-tech
 electronic buys in Texas. This November will again be special for us
 Atarians because so many of our finest developers and dealers will be
 participating in the activities. The Dallas Infomart facility, a replica
 of the famous 1895 World Fair Crystal Palace, is located in the heart of
 the Dallas commerce district at 1950 Stemmons Freeway (Interstate 35E).
 The facility is leased by the DFW XChange each month to provide a
 community service to all computer users in the Dallas-Ft Worth Metroplex
 area. The Atari Users of North Texas is one of many participating user
 groups that help support this community service by sharing our Atari
 computer interests, general computer expertise and providing user
 assistance to our local Atarians and the interested general public.

 Vendors are being lined up. Systems for Tomorrow, chroMagic, Crawly Crypt
 Corp and Emulators have already confirmed their participation in the
 show. Vendors interested in participating can contact David Acklam at
 (972) 242-9655 or via email at d.acklam@genie.com. You can also visit the
 AUNT internet home page at





 UK Show, November 1998
 From: Atari Computing ataricomputing@zetnet.co.uk
 Date: 20 Oct 1998

        The Atari Computing Convention: ACC '98 Show Info Bulletin 9

 First of all thanks to everyone who returned the survey forms in Atari
 Computing issue 8. The majority of respondents wanted an Autumn show in
 Birmingham and with that in mind we're delighted to announce the Atari
 omputing Convention "ACC '98" will take place on Saturday November 14th
 1998 at Bingley Hall, Stffordshire Showground, Stafford from 10am to 4pm.
 The Showground is easily accessible by car from junctions 13 and 14 on
 the M6 just north of Birmingham with ample free parking and they'll be a
 shuttle bus service running from Stafford railway station.

 Tickets will cost less than ever before - just 3 on the door with 1
 further discount for Atari Computing subscribers, children, OAPs, UB40,
 students and orange card holders.

 Here's the current line up:

 * Atari Computing

 Our stand will carry all available back issues, Reader Disks and Offers
 and for the first time ever we will be running demonstrations and advice
 clinics covering all the major aspects of computing including MIDI/music,
 DTP/word processing, Comms/Internet access and Atari emulation.

 * Titan Designs

 UK debut of Eclipse, a PCI adapter that enables industry standard PCI
 graphic cards to be connected to the Falcon offering fast,
 high-resolution, true-colour displays! Hopefully they'll also be a chance
 to see a prototype of the TEMPEST 040 Falcon accelerator. DA's Layout,
 Videlity and APEX Media and Nemesis will all be on display and Titan's
 range of scanners, hard drives, SyQuest drives, CD-ROM drives, Falcon
 14Mb memory upgrades, cables, etc. Larger items, monitors etc, can be
 ordered on the day for despatch the following week.

 * FaST Club

 Will have the FaST Club CD#1 with Gemulator 4.8, Gemulator Pro (68030/040
 Apple and Atari emulation), Imagecopy, and all the other FaST Club
 software.

 * System Solutions

 Will be showing professional audio and MIDI products. Come and meet the
 team for advice and see CD writing in action on an ST with the recently
 released ExtenDOS Gold and CD Writer. Hear the fabulous sound of JAM and
 boost your MIDI with the MO4.

 Take a look at applications running on the new MILAN TOS compatible
 computer complete with MINT'98 networking.

 Of course we'll be bringing along the latest software including HD-Driver
 7.6 and ASH's NVDI 5, CAB 2.7 and, making it's UK debut, jinnee
 (pronounced Genie), the ultimate replacement desktop. They'll also be
 show prices on hardware upgrades, modems, scanners, memory, graphics
 cards, large screen monitors and more!

 * Electronic Cow

 Squash it! v2.0 is what we're waiting to see! This brand new sample
 processor is aimed at creative musicians who want to do more than to just
 cut and paste samples makes its Worldwide debut here!

 They'll also be brand new releases other their other popular products
 including MIDI Arpeggiator v3.0, Sound Chip Synth v3.1, Snippit Synth
 v2.0, Scribble Synth v1.5 (both now support STFM playback!) and EC-909
 v2.0 - which also now works on STFM machines.

 Existing registered E-Cow owners can upgrade to the latest releases for
 FREE but you must bring along your original master disks.

 * The Upgrade Shop (TUS)

 You've read the review of the Veloce+ in AC#10 now here's your chance to
 meet the designer, see it in action, and book your machine in for an
 upgrade - and don't forget to check out the STe IDEal interface and other
 hardware goodies.

 * 16/32

 If you're looking for gaming or Jaguar/Lynx console action place this
 stand at the top of your list. 16/32 are also the UK outlet for
 SpeedoGDOS, PixArt and some other serious applications not available
 anywhere else.

 * FALKE Verlag/Milan Computer/Seidel Software Service

 These premier German companies plan to attend and show their products
 directly to the UK audience for the first time.

 * Floppyshop

 Check out the reviews in this issue of Sounds and Stuff and the Falcon
 Select CD and you'll know what to expect. Their product line-up also
 includes Positive Image, EZ-Art Professional, Easy Stitch, Family Roots
 II, Power Up Plus, Tetris II, other CD-ROM titles and PD Library.

 * Abingdon Synthesi Projects

 Will be building CD-ROMs, hard disks and other SCSI devices into standard
 PC cases and connecting them to standard Atari machines using the SCSI
 burster expansion option.

 Making its UK debut will be a Plug&Play serial mouse interface which
 enables any PC serial pointing device to be connected to any
 AtariST/e/TT/Falcon or compatible mouse port.

 ASP will also be offering a back-up service to CDR in ISO9660 format so
 bring along your bare hard disk mechanisms or cased drives (copyright
 restrictions apply).

    * * ImPrint Solutions
    * Calamus SL 98 will be on display running on a Hades machine and
      under MagiC Mac running with 21" monitors.
    * * InterActive
    * For the first time ever InterActive will be accepting registrations
      "live" at the show and promoting the activities of the TransAction
      translation crew.
    * * CyberSTrider
    * CyberStrider will also be accepting registrations "live" at the show
      and promoting its commercial Internet services and products.
    * * Atari Portfolio Club

 The Portfolio is Atari's solution to palmtop computing and there's an
 astounding range of software and extras available. Cross their palm with
 silver and the Portfolio Club team will look after your future!

 * Roy Golding

 Will be launching the 2nd edition of his book "Users Guide to the
 Internet for Atari", selling some promotional souvenirs and promoting the
 activities of the Atari Wrinklies Club and its publications.

 * Stevenage & Hertfordshire Atari Group (SHAG)

 Will be promoting themselves and the benefits of user groups in general.
 The non-profit making ST+ Fanzine will be promoted and Gordon Storey will
 launch Michigan Mike 2, the sequel to his award winning game.

 * Coventry Atari User Group (CAUG)

 Intend to bring along a range of machines including an AB040, G3 MagiC
 Mac, Veloce accelerated ST and more.

 * Paul Jones and Matthew Bacon

 If you're interested in programming here's your chance to have a chat
 with the Atari Computing Dynamic Duo!

 * Maggie, Atari Times, All Formats Magazine, The Tyne & Wear Atari User
 Group, STAG (Scottish Atari Group), WAG (Wessex Atari Group), other user
 groups and numerous other stands.

 * Sharward Promotions also run a stand where you can offer your surplus
 hardware and software for sale - or pick up some bargains.

 There's also dozens of other stands dedicated to other platforms and
 technology offering general computer hardware, accessories, cables, CDs,
 books, satellite, telephone, radio and general electronics. Some User
 Groups are organising transport and/or car shares. We'll do our best to
 put you in touch if you email or post us your details. We're delighted
 most of the UK based companies who supported previous Atari Shows have
 signed up but there's still time for other exhibitors to get involved.

 No doubt you're wondering how can we bring you a bigger and better Atari
 show than ever before and keep the prices so low, well the reason is
 simple. Atari Computing have decided to work together with Sharward
 Promotions who have organised computer shows since 1988.

 ACC '98 has been combined with their twice-annual general computer and
 electronics show which means you effectively get two shows for less than
 the price of one!

 We've watched Atarians drift away from recent shows because there's
 nothing left to do or see after several hours. We feel, after having made
 the effort to travel to the show, you'll enjoy the extra dimension
 offered by the other stands.

 So in addition to checking out the latest hardware and software releases
 and spending some time chatting with familiar faces there will still be
 plenty to see with stands offering general computer hardware,
 accessories, cables, CDs, books, satellite, telephone, radio and general
 electronics.

 Calling Shareware programmers and User Groups

 ACC '98 is about Atarians having fun doing Atari stuff which means we
 want YOU to take stands, bring along your systems, show off your wares
 and meet your users face to face.

 Non-profitmaking stand prices

 A 6 foot (approx 2m) stand costs just 10.75 plus 5 for power. An 18 foot
 (approx 6m) stand costs 48.00 plus 10 for power.

 Commercial stand prices

 An 18 foot (approx 6m) stand costs 100.00 plus 10 for power. A 36 foot
 (approx 12m) stand costs 160.00 plus 10 for power. Tables and are
 included BUT covering and places to mount promotional literature are NOT
 included so we urge everyone to start thinking about how to make your
 stand attractive NOW!

 Contact

 To reserve a stand please send me your name and address details and I'll
 send you a booking form:

 Email: jconnor@cix.compulink.co.uk

 Joe Connor

 65 Mill Road, Colchester, Essex, CO4 5LJ, England

 Make a day of it

 ----------------

 ACC '98 is just one part (the best naturally ;-) of the All-formats Micro
 Show (AMS), now in its FOURTEENTH year at the Stafford venue. The show
 includes stands covering all aspects of computing and general electronics
 - so remember to tell your friends and bring them along too... We're
 really looking forward to seeing you all at ACC '98, we'll keep you up to
 date with the latest developments with further bulletins.

 Regards

 Joe Connor

    * Atari Computing: The *printed* magazine written by Atarians for
      Atarians!
    * News*Gossip*Features*Reviews*DIY*PD/Shareware*Q&A*Tutorials*Letters*Comms
    * Email: editor@ataricomputing.com
    * Check out our web pages at: www.ataricomputing.com
    * Visit the Atari Computing Convention "ACC98" on November 14th 1998
    * in Stafford, England. The Event is organised by Sharward Promotions
      and
    * offers: Atari*PC*Mac*Spectrum*Satellite*Electronics*Comms*Radio* +
      more!
    * URL: http://www.keme.co.uk/~sharward/htmdocs/sproms.html

 Regards

 Al

 al@ataricomputing.com





                               Gaming Section



    * "MediEvil"!!
    * "Slingo"!!
    * "ST:TNG"!!
    * "Body Harvest"!!
    * "Tetris64"!!
    * Dreamcast!
    * And much more!





 Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming News!

     Sega of America's First Dreamcast Title Debuts At Tokyo Game Show

 Sega Signs Babylon 5 Special Effects Studio to Create Cinematics for Game

 REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 12, 1998--At the Tokyo Game
 Show in Japan last week, Sega(R) Enterprises, Ltd. unveiled the first
 game developed by Sega of America's internal studio for Dreamcast(TM),
 the ultimate gaming machine.

 The game, called "Geist Force" in Japan, will be available December 1998.
 Sega selected Netter Digital Entertainment, Inc. (NDEI), one of
 Hollywood's premiere digital visual effects companies, best known for
 their award-winning work on Babylon 5, to create cinematics for the game.
 "Geist Force" is an enormous 3D flying shooter set on an alien planet in
 the distant future. The game features hundreds of miles of 3D mountains,
 deep canyons, erupting volcanoes and rushing rivers in which to fly and
 fight. Players soar through detailed, hi-resolution 3D graphics that look
 more like a sci-fi television show than a videogame. The game also offers
 the first-ever full-3D special effects with true-to-life physics. When an
 explosion occurs, a player's ship and the objects in the immediate area
 will be jolted by the blast, as would occur in the real world.

 In "Geist Force," there is no rest for the weary. The expansive memory
 found in Dreamcast means no load times, creating non-stop action. And
 "how" you save the planet determines your reward. The game's skill-based
 reward system determines a player's fate even after he or she wins the
 game. Sega enlisted NDEI to create detailed 3D cinemagraphics and visual
 effects for the game. The visual effects featured in the title rival
 those found in Hollywood's most elaborate television productions. Each
 cinematic sequence seamlessly blends with gameplay to create a non-stop
 gaming experience.

 "Dreamcast can handle a more complex level of graphics than any other
 video game system we have seen in the past," explained Jason Netter, vice
 president, new business development, NDEI. "Knowing this, our team of
 animators was particularly enthusiastic about working with Sega because
 it allows them to move their work beyond the world of television and
 motion pictures to a whole new outlet all of them enjoy." "The advanced
 3D graphic and audio capabilities of Dreamcast allow our game developers
 tocreate games that psychologically, emotionally and physically involve
 the player, rather than just passively entertaining them," said Eric
 Hammond, vice president, product development, Sega of America. "Working
 with Dreamcast, we can now create games like 'Geist Force' where people
 actually play and experience the stunning science fiction worlds they
 typically only see on television shows such as Babylon 5."

          Hasbro Interactive Ships STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION

 Klingon Honor Guard, a First-Person Point-of-View Action PC Game From
 MicroProse BEVERLY, Mass. - (ENTERTAINMENT WIRE) - Oct. 14, 1998 -
 Leading entertainment software publisher Hasbro Interactive announced
 today the launch of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION Klingon Honor Guard.
 Utilizing the Unreal 3-D engine, this first-person shooter re-creates the
 look and feel of the Klingon Empire from the popular Paramount Television
 series STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION with a new storyline, settings,
 characters and weapons. The Windows 95 PC CD-ROM game was developed by
 MicroProse and is being published under the MicroProse brand name.

 "STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION Klingon Honor Guard offers a truly
 intense interactive multimedia experience," said Tom Dusenberry,
 President of Hasbro Interactive. "The Unreal 3-D engine gave the
 development team the ability to bring the look, sounds and weapons of the
 Klingon Empire to the computer screen." STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
 Klingon Honor Guard plunges players into edge-of-their-seat real-time
 action as they embark on a quest to save the Klingon Empire. An
 assassination attempt has been made on their leader, Gowron, and it is
 the player's mission to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
 The game features seven unique 3-D worlds and more than 25 fully
 interactive levels including space stations, alien cities, ice caverns
 and starships offering an extremely rich combat environment. The player
 can blast his opponents with disruptor fire or cut them down with a
 vicious D'k tahg blade. The game includes 10 powerful weapons, six of
 which were created especially for the game.

 STAR TREK fans will note that the game showcases the voices of veteran
 Klingon actors from the series, including Tony Todd (Captain Kurn),
 Robert O'Reilly (Gowron), Barbara March (Lursa) and Gwynyth Walsh
 (B'Etor). Players match their wits against more than 20 highly detailed
 creatures and enemies such as Andorians, Attack Droids, Lethians and
 Nausicans. A highly sophisticated AI allows enemies to adjust to an
 attack by ducking for cover, sounding alarms, running for reinforcements
 and working together to defeat the gamer. STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
 Klingon Honor Guard provides players with two modes of play: a
 plot-driven single-player experience and multiplayer action. Both modes
 feature high energy combat as their focal point and utilize the same user
 interface and gameplay elements. The multiplayer game supports Death
 Match as well as cooperative play via LAN and Internet. Death Match
 features five unique maps created by the Internet's top level designers
 along with seven other maps from the single-player game.

 The action begins with the player engaged in advanced training supervised
 by Kurn, son of Mogh, brother of Worf. The final training mission is
 suspended when assassins attack Gowron, leader of the Klingon High
 Council. The player receives the briefing for the first real mission from
 Korek, who is supervising the operation to capture the masterminds behind
 the attack. This briefing details the player's objectives and sets the
 storyline in motion. The player's mission is to win the game by
 successfully battling his way to the final level and bringing to justice
 those responsible for the assassination attempt. Further information
 about STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION Klingon Honor Guard is available for
 download from the MicroProse Web site at www.microprose.com.

              THQ Ships "Disney's Mulan" for Nintendo Game Boy

 CALABASAS, Calif.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Oct. 16, 1998--THQ Inc. is
 adding to its extensive library of popular Nintendo Game Boy titles with
 the launch of "Disney's Mulan." Based on Disney's summer blockbuster
 movie, the game shipped nationwide to major retail outlets on Oct. 14,
 and is now available for an SRP of $29.95. "THQ has always supported
 Nintendo Game Boy and with its continued popularity, we are thrilled to
 bring out a game like `Disney's Mulan' in time for the holidays," said
 Germaine Gioia, vice president of marketing, THQ. "The title incorporates
 the compelling storyline of a girl's formidable journey along with
 innovative battles and levels, appealing to young gamers both male and
 female."

 Developed by Tiertex, "Disney's Mulan" lets enthusiasts play as the young
 woman, Fa Mulan, as she attempts to regain the honor of her family name.
 Disguised as a soldier, Mulan travels to the Imperial Army Training Camp
 to prove herself ready for battle. She must then set out to save the
 Empire by solving puzzles, battling enemies and ultimately defeating
 Shan-Yu in the final confrontation. "Disney's Mulan" features many
 favorite characters from the feature film, as well as diverse game play,
 including battles, swimming and "shieldboarding" and a password system to
 save progress. The title is also compatible with Super Game Boy.

    Eidos Interactive's Ninja: Shadow of Darkness Brings Classic Arcade

 Action Gaming to the PlayStation

 Eidos Interactive, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of
 interactive entertainment products, announced today the release of Ninja:
 Shadow of Darkness for the Sony PlayStation. In Ninja, developed by Tomb
 Raider creator Core Design, a solitary young warrior must battle an army
 of goblins, trolls and dragons throughout a war-plagued feudal Japanese
 landscape. This fast-paced, arcade-style game combines hand-to-hand
 combat, classic platform traps and puzzles, as well as a variety of magic
 spells and special effects that showcase the true power of the
 PlayStation.

 Players take on the role of Kurosawa, a young Ninja who must rid his
 homeland of demons who are decimating Japan. An evil warlord, who sold
 his soul to raise ghoulish forces in order to help him win a power
 struggle, unleashes his hellish army, however, his plan backfires as the
 creatures run amok and possess the souls of the living as well causing
 mass chaos. Now, it's up to the lone Kurosawa to bring order back to
 Japan. Ninja features 10 massive levels within a real-time 3D
 environment. The dynamic cinematic camera system positions the player's
 perspective according to the Ninja's surroundings and specific battle
 conditions. Not only is there a variety of environments, but also a
 variety of opponents as the player does battle with more than 50 enemies,
 all with specific attack attributes. In addition, all of the hand-to-hand
 combat and the weapons can be powered up to four different levels.

 Ninja: Shadow of Darkness was developed by Core Design Limited, the
 wholly-owned subsidiary of Eidos Interactive which also created the
 phenomenally successful Tomb Raider game franchise starring action
 heroine and virtual celebrity Lara Croft. "Core Design has really upped
 the ante in arcade-style action games by bringing more depth and greater
 playability," said Mike McGarvey, COO of Eidos Interactive. "Ninja:
 Shadow of Darkness offers players many hours of graphically intense,
 classic arcade action." Ninja: Shadow of Darkness is available now at
 retail stores nationwide.

                 No Mask Necessary for This Face of Terror

 FOSTER CITY, CALIF. (Oct. 19) BUSINESS WIRE - Oct. 19, 1998 - Psygnosis
 unleashes a double dose of horror just in time for Halloween with O.D.T.,
 an intense, 3D action-adventure with RPG elements, set in a world of
 mystery, magic and mayhem. O.D.T. (Or Die Trying) slashes its way onto
 store shelves on October 27, for both the PlayStation game console and
 the PC. Picture the most terrifying haunted house you can imagine. Scary,
 huh? Now watch--if you dare--as your nightmare becomes a reality. O.D.T
 unfolds into a mythical, fantasy-gone-wrong landscape of insane visions,
 frightening surroundings, and maniacal monsters. As you attempt to master
 the mayhem, crooked paths will open up one step ahead of you, uncovering
 volumes of undead material for your shattered soul to peruse.

 Sorcery for Survival: When quick thinking, fast-action, and hand-to-hand
 combat just aren't enough to berate the belligerent bad guys, you can
 call upon your magical abilities to foil the powers that be. O.D.T.
 incorporates an inventive and user-friendly system of spell-casting and
 power allotment. Easily accessible drop-down menus and the ability to
 divide your accrued attributes will help make your hellish journey a
 little smoother. O.D.T. also offers frighteningly realistic enemy AI. The
 hideous enemies will respond differently, depending on the situation at
 hand. They will show multiple character traits, such as fear and hunger,
 and will retreat and even use evasive tactics. Imagine you are chasing a
 lone Rigorsqueem down a dark, narrow alley, and he suddenly stops and
 turns on you...!

 Cooperation between enemies is intensely involved, with smaller monsters
 leaving, only to return with their larger and more powerful brethren.
 Picture the terrifying vision of enemies terminating their vicious
 assault on you to enjoy a quick bite of their newly fallen comrades, and
 you'll understand the carnivorous challenges that await you. Food is
 food, but eating is easier when the meal isn't moving. Available for an
 estimated retail price of $49.99 on both the PlayStation and the PC,
 O.D.T., with its menacing monsters, tantalizing twists, and mind-bending
 puzzles, is the perfect way for gamers to spook up their Halloween. Dare
 to plunge into the bizarre world of O.D.T., dare to wage your skills
 against the most terrifying monsters, dare to solve the mystery . . . Or
 Die Trying!

        Capcom Announces First N64 Product, Magical Tetris Challenge

 SUNNYVALE, CALIF. (Oct. 15) BUSINESS WIRE - Oct. 15, 1998 - Capcom today
 announced they have teamed up with Disney Interactive, Inc. and the
 creators of Tetris to create Magical Tetris Challenge for the Nintendo
 64. Capcom's first N64 product brings together for the first time
 Disney's world famous characters with Tetris, the all-time best selling
 electronic puzzle game. The new games bring increased speed and
 functionality to classic Tetris, as well as enables players to become
 some of their favorite Disney characters and compete in a variety of game
 modes. Magical Tetris Challenge is expected to be in stores in January.

 "This is an exciting release for Capcom as it marks our entrance into the
 N64 market and furthers our long-standing relationship with Disney
 Interactive," says Robert Lindsey, senior vice president sales and
 marketing, Capcom Entertainment. Magical Tetris Challenge unites the
 unmistakable charm of Disney's loveable characters with Tetris' unmatched
 gameplay. As a one or two player game, the Verses Mode enables players to
 compete against a friend or the computer. In the Story Mode they can play
 as their favorite Disney character -- Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald
 Duck or Goofy -- in a plot that develops differently for each character.
 The story revolves around a mysterious stone, caught by Donald Duck while
 fishing.

 Magical Tetris Challenge offers three gameplay options. It enables
 players to compete against each other on the computer. Players send Magic
 Pieces to their opponents based on the number of lines they delete at one
 time. The more lines deleted the bigger the Magic Pieces. Updown Tetris
 is a head-to-head game. In this mode, as lines of blocks are deleted, a
 new line of blocks appears at the bottom of the opponent's screen,
 pushing their blocks higher. Endless Tetris is Standard or Magical Tetris
 without the interactive story. Game Option provides players a variety of
 configurations including the ability to set difficulty levels. Magical
 Tetris Challenge is compatible with the Rumble Pack accessory. Now when
 players clear four or five lines from the screen at one time, their
 opponent will feel the vibration.

 Magical Tetris Challenge adds two new features to the classic Tetris
 gameplay. Quick Drop allows players to increase the speed of the action
 by instantly dropping the Tetris pieces. Temporary Landing System
 (T.L.S.) casts a shadow right below the falling piece so players can
 easily tell where the falling piece is. These new features are sure to
 please seasoned Tetris fans and new Tetris players alike. Magical Tetris
 Challenge reunites Capcom's relationship with Disney Interactive. In
 1988, Capcom became the first publisher of video games based on the
 Disney characters. Capcom published 15 Disney games for the Nintendo and
 Super Nintendo Entertainment System game machines. Among the most popular
 were Disney's The Little Mermaid, Disney's Aladdin, DuckTales and Mickey
 Mousecapade.

 Over 45 million copies of Tetris have been sold worldwide over the past
 10+ years. Originally created by Alexey Pajitnov, a specialist at the
 computer sciences at the Computer Center of the Academy of Sciences in
 Moscow, the Tetris brand is now managed by Blue Planet Software, San
 Francisco, California. The object of Tetris is to position the falling
 shapes, called "Tetraminoes," across the bottom of a rectangular pit.
 Tetraminoes are shapes created from 4 blocks joined together into 7
 different patterns. The Tetraminoes must be rotated as they fall and
 positioned across the bottom leaving no open spaces. When an entire
 horizontal line fills with blocks, the line clears from the screen. If
 lines are not completely filled with blocks, they will not clear from the
 screen, and the Tetraminoes will continue to stack up higher and higher.
 If the stack of Tetraminoes reaches the top, the game is over.

      Hasbro Interactive's New Tonka Workshop CD-ROM: Two Play Worlds

 BEVERLY, Mass., Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Kids get the hands-on experience
 of a toy and the magic of multimedia software in one with Tonka Workshop
 CD-ROM Playset, Hasbro Interactive's first title in the interactive toy
 category and the newest addition to its best-selling line of Tonka
 children's software. Tonka Workshop empowers children to create, build
 and play the Tonka way -- while providing an easy-to-use, no-tech
 interface with a cool Tonka tool toyset and a super fun CD-ROM. "The
 merging of toys and computers is a natural progression for Hasbro
 Interactive," said Hasbro Interactive President Tom Dusenberry. "Few
 companies have the expertise of making toys and making CD-ROM games, but
 for Hasbro Interactive this is a natural fit," Dusenberry added.

 In Tonka Workshop, kids use six durable plastic tools contained in a
 key-top playset to build cool projects, play exciting tool games and
 complete repair jobs around Tonka town. The child-sized hammer, saw,
 drill, sprayer, screwdriver and sander control 25 on-screen tools and fit
 atop most standard computer keyboards. Installation is easy; parents and
 even a three-year-old can simply fit the playset over the keyboard and
 strap into place. There are no confusing cords or special computer
 configurations required -- just strap on the toyset, put the CD-ROM in
 the drive and the fun can begin. Friendly Tonka Joe is the first face
 kids see as he welcomes them to the Tonka Workshop and guides them
 through fun activities and games in the Barn, Cellar, Storage Shed,
 Pickup Truck and Tree House. In the Barn, kids can build one of several
 creative projects like an airplane, a doghouse or a spaceship. The Cellar
 is a free-form building area where children are given a sheet of wood to
 work with and can create anything they want to, and in the Pickup Truck,
 kids drive out into the country to lend a hand in mending fences,
 bicycles, etc.

 In the Tree House, players are invited to play one of three different
 tool games: Tool Tag, a game where kids try to shoo away pesky termites
 that have invaded Tonka Joe's Workshop; Tool Challenge, where Tonka Joe
 will challenge kids to various Olympic-type events; or Tool Tunes, a
 memory game using sounds. Throughout the game, players have the
 opportunity to print their creations to share with friends and family.
 Tonka Workshop is for ages 3 and up and is playable on Windows 95 and
 Windows 98 systems. It is available in stores for a suggested retail
 price of $39.95.

        Challenge the Powers of Darkness in the Gothic MediEvil(TM)

 Sony Computer Entertainment America announced today the release of
 MediEvil(TM), a spooky 3D action/adventure game developed by Sony
 Computer Entertainment Europe's Cambridge studios. MediEvil will
 challenge and amuse gamers with a surreal combination of swordplay,
 puzzles, exploration and dark humor. Players assume the role of skeletal
 knight Sir Daniel Fortesque -- a quirky, undead hero. "Sir Dan" must
 gather his bones and rise from the crypt to destroy the evil sorcerer
 Zarok, who has harnessed ancient magical powers to catapult the world
 into eternal darkness -- awakening the dead and turning villagers into
 crazed madmen along the way. Sir Dan battles the unearthly victims of
 Zarok's magic with an arsenal of fiendish weapons, making his way through
 a variety of eerie landscapes in this unforgettable gothic tale. The
 game's cinematic qualities, including rich 3D graphics and stirring
 originalsoundtrack, set the stage for a spine-tingling journey of epic
 proportions.

 "Our European development studio has created a fascinating gothic world
 and a unique 'anti-hero' character with MediEvil," said Peter Dille,
 senior director, product marketing, Sony Computer Entertainment America.
 "Featuring a perfect balance of exploration, battle and puzzle solving,
 combined with an excellent sense of humor, stylized graphics and
 imaginative story line, MediEvil will appeal to a broad range of game
 enthusiasts."

 MediEvil Key Features:

   1. -- Variety of fiendish puzzles and riddles ranging from simple runes
      to complex brain twisters.
   2. -- Gothic landscapes including eerie graveyards, spooky castles, a
      mad village, a ghost ship in the sky, scary scarecrow fields and
      other ghoulish places.
   3. -- A mighty arsenal of weapons awaits: broadswords, daggers,
      cross-bows, axes, lightning rods, clubs, the occasional chicken
      drumstick and even his left arm!
   4. -- Imaginative and challenging bosses like a stained glass demon, a
      giant pumpkin with tentacles, a gargantuan dragon and more.
   5. -- Uncanny enemies include zombies, mutants, transparent serpents,
      crazed madmen, living scarecrows and more.
   6. -- Lively interactive backgrounds with spectacular lighting effects.
   7. -- Beautiful, "big screen" quality computer graphic (CG) movie
      sequences.
   8. -- A spine-tingling soundtrack perfectly compliments the haunting
      atmosphere.
   9. -- Takes full advantage of the Dual Shock(TM) Analog Controller.

 To celebrate the launch of MediEvil, consumers who return a registration
 card found in specially marked copies of the game will be entered into a
 sweepstakes drawing. One lucky PlayStation(R) fan will win an all-expense
 paid trip for two to London, England, the city full of all things
 MediEvil. Marketing support for MediEvil includes a national television
 campaign across network, cable and syndicated programming; a national
 print campaign in enthusiast and consumer publications; a direct mail
 campaign; and full promotional and retail merchandiser support.

              Midway's Body Harvest Invades Stores Nationwide

 Midway Home Entertainment, the leading third party publisher of Nintendo
 64 titles, today announced that its industry lauded video game Body
 Harvest is shipping to retail outlets nationwide. Exclusively available
 for the Nintendo 64 game system, this genre-bending 3D game combines
 heart pounding shoot 'em up action with intriguing role-playing elements
 in an expansive virtual world that will both entertain and amaze gamers
 for hours on end.

 "The unique blend of action, adventure and role-playing elements makes
 Body Harvest one of the most exciting and original video games to be
 released on the Nintendo 64," said Paula Cook, Director of Marketing at
 Midway Home Entertainment. "We are excited to deliver a title with such
 depth to Nintendo 64 gamers across the country." In Body Harvest, the
 human race has been harvested to near extinction by a race of monstrous
 alien insects after more than a century. A small group of scientists has
 survived and is working on a desperate plan to build a time machine to
 transport a two-man crew back into the Earth's past. Adam Drake has been
 chosen for this critical assignment that will hopefully change the course
 of history.

 Players take on the role of hero, Adam Drake, and their mission is to
 destroy the onslaught of alien insects before the human race is
 completely eliminated. With over 64 vehicles at their disposal, they must
 blast their way through 1916 Greece, 1941 Java, 1966 America and 1991
 Siberia in order to save humanity. This will not be an easy task. The
 revolutionary game spans over 1,000 virtual miles and features fifty
 different types of alien predators along the way.

 Developed by DMA Design -- the Scottish division of Gremlin Interactive
 -- Body Harvest has already won raves from the press. IGN64.com says
 "with its colorful 3D graphics and a dynamic, always-changing soundtrack,
 Body Harvest manages to be one of the most interesting and original games
 to appear on the N64 yet." Game Pro hailed Body Harvest as a
 "showstopper" at E3; the industry's largest trade show. Next Generation
 Online adds that "Body Harvest could be one of the best Nintendo 64 games
 on the horizon," and the unofficial Nintendo Web site, Nintendojo
 predicts that it will be the "sleeper hit of the year."

 Hasbro Interactive Ships America's Favorite Online Game Slingo for CD-ROM

 BEVERLY, Mass., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading entertainment software
 publisher Hasbro Interactive has announced that Slingo(R), the popular
 online game that has earned millions of loyal fans, is now available on
 CD-ROM. Slingo debuted on the America Online Games Channel in October
 1996 and quickly became the #1 game for the country's largest online
 service. A unique combination of slots and bingo, Slingo has stolen the
 hearts of game players with its compelling game play and broad-based
 appeal.

 "Slingo is an irresistible game," said Tom Dusenberry, President of
 Hasbro Interactive. "Once you start playing, you definitely are drawn
 into the excitement," Dusenberry added. "We feel that fans of the online
 version will be instantly drawn to the new variations of game play added
 in the CD-ROM version." Play Slingo CD-ROM solo or multi-player with up
 to six people. You can play the classic version of Slingo and four new
 game variations. The object of the classic version is to fill in the 5x5
 card, or to achieve your highest possible point score, within 20 spins.
 Players click on the handle with the mouse to spin the five wheels and
 match the numbers that appear in the card's columns. A match earns 200
 points and if you cover 5 matches, vertically, horizontally or diagonally
 you have made a "Slingo" earning 1,000 points.

 In order to feed the appetites of Slingo's die-hard fans, there are four
 new exciting variations of the classic game. The PC CD-ROM game offers
 players the option of playing all of the game variations over a modem,
 LAN, over the Internet through a TCPIP connection and through Hot Seat
 play in which four players can play together using the same computer.
 Players can also play the "Duel Slingo" version on Microsoft's Internet
 Gaming Zone at In Super Squares, Classic Slingo takes a new twist, with
 the addition of randomly placed "super squares." A match made in a super
 square earns 1,000 points, while a Slingo completed with a super square
 earns 10,000 points. Giant Slingo introduces a fun new character to the
 Slingo family -- a helpful giant. When he appears in a spin, the Giant
 waits until all matches are made and then he takes his club to the card
 causing the wheel to spin again. The Mixed Matrix variation of Slingo
 scrambles the numbers on the card making it even more challenging to find
 matches. In the highly competitive Duel Slingo, two players, or a single
 player and a computer opponent use the same card and take turns competing
 for the highest score. Slingo is available for play on the Windows 95 and
 Windows 98 platforms and has a suggested retail price of $19.95.

             BioWare to Develop MDK2 for Sega Dreamcast and PC

 BioWare Corp., announced today the ongoing development of their first
 Sega Dreamcast title, MDK2. The sequel to last year's sci-fi action
 thriller MDK, the game hosts an array of dynamic new features and
 technology. Built with the breakthrough BioWare Omen Engine, MDK2
 provides an unsurpassed single-player experience with totally new and
 unique gameplay elements driven by ingenuity and creativity. Published by
 Interplay Productions a release date of Q4, 1999 is anticipated for the
 Sega Dreamcast, with a PC version to shortly follow. MDK2 will take
 players back to the unique world of MDK as originally developed by Shiny
 Entertainment. The MDK2 world will counterbalance shadows and mystery
 with quirky situations involving a peculiarly engaging alien race. The
 result will be a surreal adventure that focuses on stealth and guile as
 well as outright aggression. Players will take a third person perspective
 of the game's hero, Kurt Hectic, as they control him through eight levels
 of creative gaming, bizarre 3D environments, and engaging storylines.
 Rejoining Kurt in his adventures will be his friends, the eccentric Dr.
 Fluke Hawkins and Max, the robotic dog.

 Greg Zeschuk, President and Joint CEO of BioWare, captured the essence of
 the game when he explained that, "MDK2 represents the pinnacle of single
 player games. Our aim with MDK2 is to explore new directions and expand
 beyond the constrictive environments established in other 3D games."
 Regarding the Sega Dreamcast, Lead Programmer on MDK2 Cameron Tofer,
 says, "The Dreamcast hardware gives us all of the features that we could
 ever want from a gaming system. Because of the Dreamcast we are able to
 take MDK2 further than we ever imagined."

 MDK2 exploits the BioWare Omen Engine, a truly multi-platform engine
 developed internally at BioWare Corp. Perhaps the most important feature
 of Omen is the support for real-time level-of-detail control that allows
 for round, smooth surfaces and highly detailed life-like characters and
 environments, all the while maintaining high frame-rates. Other key
 features include realistically modeled object physics and complex
 scripted AI that provides the world with life-like inhabitants that
 interact with the player in an intelligent manner.

                  Video Gamer's Film Competes for an Oscar

 For the first time, an animated film derived from video game footage will
 compete for an Oscar. Software developer Oddworld Inhabitants has
 submitted "Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus for Academy-Award" consideration in
 the Animated Short category. The 15-minute film, like the game, traces
 the epic adventure of Abe, a fictional hero who tries to save his species
 from extinction on the fictional Oddworld. In the process of developing
 their games, Oddworld producers employed high-end Silicon Graphics
 software and equipment similar to what computer-generated film companies
 like Pixar and PDI use in making movies.

 "Our production model is more accustomed to the feature-film industry
 than to games," said Lorne Lanning, co-founder, and president of Oddworld
 Inhabitants. The film will be released in Los Angeles for a limited
 engagement from Oct. 27 to 29 to qualify it for Oscar competition. The
 game, distributed by software publisher GT Interactive, will be available
 later this month for both the PlayStation game console and PC.



 ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!



                            People are Talking



 Compiled by Joe Mirando
 jmirando@streport.com


 Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Yes, I'm back and ready to bring you all
 the little goodies that you've become accustomed to: all the little
 tidbits of information, the news about what's going on, and what's coming
 along "real soon now". But before we get into the meat-and-potatoes
 portion of the column, I'd like to tell you a bit about why there was no
 column last week.

 Beginning last weekend I started to notice that my mental acuity was not
 what it normally was. It slowly got worse until I found myself in a fog
 that made it difficult to think clearly. Since this 'brain cloud'
 (remember the movie "Joe vs. the Volcano"?) was accompanied by muscle and
 joint aches, I am assuming that it was a virus that took hold and decided
 that it liked the wide-open spaces... between my ears. I actually did try
 to write a column last week, but it was such an uphill battle that I knew
 that the result would only be a pitiful pile of words upon the pages and
 decided that a no-show rating of "0" would be better than a "he really
 stunk up the place with that one" rating of -5.

 But I'm back to normal now with no ill effects whatsoever. My trusty TT,
 Mega STE and Stacy sit at the ready, waiting for me to compose the column
 that you are now reading so let's get on with it, shall we?



 From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup

 Asked about why Word Writer would not work on a Falcon 030, Michael Olin
 writes:

 "My experience was the same. The base word processor worked OK with the
 exception that it got pretty goofy about screen redraws when I used
 BlowUp... I eventually gave up and used AtariWorks."

 The Phantom tells Michael:

 "AtariWorks is good also. Some one posted a reply that the version of
 Word Writer ST they used worked fine on the Falcon. If there is a version
 or way to get it working I'd like to hear about it."

 Jim DeClercq tells Phantom:

 "Word Writer ST also runs on the TT, unless you try to use the dictionary
 or thesaurus. The reason I guess at is that those files are encoded, and
 the decoding routine expects word-length, 16 bit, memory organization,
 and does not find it on a Falcon or TT. If there is a better explanation,
 please tell me."

 Our own Dana Jacobson tells Jim:

 "Just to satisfy my curiosity, I just loaded WW ST while online w/ Flash
 II (on my Falcon). I loaded a text file, ran the spellchecker using my
 own .PER dictionary file, changed spelling on a few words, saved, and
 quit the program - no problem other than about 2 minutes to load my
 dictionary file (it's large). I forgot to try the thesaurus but I've had
 no problems with it in the past."

 David Snowdon adds his own experiences:

 "I used to have this problem [not being able to use the dictionary] with
 WordWriter, and found that I could get the dictionary to work if I used
 Geneva and limited the program's memory to 4Meg via the task manager."

 Our old friend Terry May posts:

 "I've been using Ease as my desktop of choice with MagiC for some time
 now, and for the most part I like it. I've heard all the kudos give
 towards Thing, though, so I thought I'd finally break down and give it a
 try. Looks pretty good so far, though the jury is still out. (I really
 miss Ease's dirtree popups.) If anyone has any tips that I might find
 useful, I'd appreciate them. Also, is v1.27 the latest English release?"

 Gordon Campbell tells Terry:

 "Good choice.I have never tried EASE so I cannot comment how good or bad
 the desktop is.The past few days I have been changing my mind in which
 desktop to use.Because of memory problems I went back to Magxdesk but I
 always go back to Thing.I am driving my girlfriend crazy because I am
 always changing my mind.

 Thing has popups as well.Just press the right mouse key anywhere outside
 of the windows and it gives you access to your drives and if you right
 click inside the window another popup comes with you can install apps.
 and other things.Try it for yourself. Yes, 1.27 is the latest version."

 Thomas Binder tells Terry:

 "Well, the next version will have "spring folders" (like Jinnee or MacOS
 8) for that. For now, Thing has an undocumented feature when PopFold is
 running, but there's a good reason why it's not documented because it
 only works when dragging files between directory windows and is not
 configurable at all. Yes, 1.27 is even the latest release at all. And
 please note (looking at the subject of your posting), that 'Thing' is
 /not/ intended to be the English word 'Thing', but the Germanic (not
 German) word for something like 'meeting place', which is pronounced
 'Ting' or 'Ding'."

 Terry now asks:

 "I have a few directories with filenames apparently too long for Thing.
 Everytime it reads the directory, it gives me an alert telling me that
 filenames were too long and couldn't be read in. Very annoying. Is there
 any way to get to these filenames in Thing, or do I have to load up Ease
 or Magxdesk to shorten the names so that Thing can read them?"

 Jo Even Skarstein tells Terry:

 "Thing doesn't handle filenames longer than 32 characters. I agree, it's
 annoying, but Thomas Binder is working on the problem."

 Joshua Kaijankoski asks for hard drive help:

 "I downloaded a couple of MSA files into my HD. I can't delete them! They
 are hogging over 3 MB of disk space and all it says when I try to delete
 is: Cannot delete. I can't even rename them. I've some other files with
 the same problem. How do I delete them please? I have just a 44Meg SCSI
 on my TT030 and I need all the space I can get. It's filled to the brim
 now. Somebody please...."

 Charles Silver tells Joshua:

 "I'm assuming these are not "Read Only" files... You can use ST Tools to
 edit the offending files using a Sector search (ascii) and edit the first
 character to an E5, which creates a (squiggle) like character. This is
 what a "delete file" normally does. However, there is some risk in doing
 this. It does take some practice to do right. If you screw-up, you're FAT
 is a mess and your HD files can be lost. I have no fear as I've done it
 many times, plus I normally back stuff up before I do it. Well, sometimes
 <grin>.

 Because you HD is almost full, it would be safer and probably faster to
 just back that partition up using floppies, zero the partition, then load
 everything back up. Then just defrag you HD regularly so it doesn't
 happen again :). It's up to you, but if you want to mess with the FAT,
 practice on a RAM Disk partition first. Can't do any harm there while you
 learn. It will take practice. Basically, you've got two problems. One,
 learn how ST Tools (whatever) works; and two, what a normal FAT file
 looks like with normal and deleted files aboard. If you can't backup your
 files, you're playing with FIRE! Burn baby, burn <hehehe>. This is
 another reason to defrag regularly with the "Optimizer". Ahhh, be
 carefull about putting any PC files on your HD. Put'em in a RAM Disk. If
 they can't be deleted normally, when you shut off your computer, they
 will go bye bye."

 Stephen Cornio tells Charles:

 "This is only half true. This will mark the file as deleted, but will
 leave the clusters still marked as used. You would also need to edit the
 FAT to mark all of the clusters used by the file as unused, '00'. This is
 what is tricky to do, although I have done it on occasion."

 David Bolt tells Stephen:

 "If you use something like Optimize, you don't need to. All you need to
 do is edit the first character of the name to be E5 in STTools or a
 similar disc editor, quit that and start up optimize and do a logical
 check on the partition you just edited. If you're particularly paranoid,
 don't turn on repair options the first time round. This will let you see
 what errors there are without reparing them. Having said that, I've had
 no problems with Optimize as yet, including when optimizing a partition.

 One thing to note once you've done this, it's a good idea to do a reboot
 when you quit Optimize to ensure any drive caches are refreshed
 properly."

 Bill Platt takes an easier approach:

 "It looks like you have some files that are set to read only. Use the
 Show Info item on the desktop to set the file to read/write."

 Markus Egg tells us that he...

 "Finally... got CAB working. At the moment I only switch off the pictures
 to make fast testing. But todays WWW-sites are nearly unreadable in the
 text mode. It's a bit senseless with all the underlined [IMG]. Is there
 any good and fast viewer for the pics used mostly at WWW sites (jpg, gif
 ...). I just need a tool. Possibly showing the pictures at the CAB
 window?- to dither the pictures in a reasonable way for my high res SM
 124."

 Bill Platt tells Markus:

 "Try the version 2.7 of CAB, it handles the graphics and tables much
 faster than 1.5. Cab also has an excellent monochrome mode, I think
 that's only in vers 2.0 and up. There is a demo of 2.7 available."

 Iggy Drougge asks:

 "Is it possible to use PLIP on an Atari without installing Mint? StiK
 does not support it, that much I know, but does STiNG support it, or is
 there any other solution?"

 Jo Even Skarstein tells Iggy:

 "I don't know if STiNG supports PLIP yet, but IIRC it was planned. Beware
 that you can't connect your Atari to a PC running PLIP, because
 Linux-PLIP use some control-lines that's not available on Ataris. Perhaps
 it can be done with some additional hardware." As a diversion, let's take
 a quick look at one of the oddities made possible by being able to
 communicate around the world whenever we want to.

 Bill Platt posts:

 "Today is the 16 of oct. But I saw several post from the 17th of oct. How
 is that possible?"

 Michael Freeman tells Bill:

 "Different time zones. The 17th arrived somewhere else in the world
 before it got to you. If that's not the case, some computer's date is set
 wrong."

 Dennis Bishop asks for help:

 "I just did my morning D/L of the Newsgroups, now I have Newsie set for a
 max of 50 messages per group. After I got the newsgroups I got my mail
 and went offline, then re-ran newsie as I always do to read the groups,
 on Sci-Astro.Am I see something I've never seen before, in the window
 that shows me the count for the messages, on that newsgroup is a " -50 "
 ??? I access the group and see the message titles, BUT when I click on
 each one, there is NOTHING! Blank ... ZIP ... Nadda ...etc. One question
 ... What the Hell Happened???

 All other newsgroups seem ok."

  Michael Grove tells Dennis:

 "[I'm] Not sure, but maybe the articles were expired. I see this
 sometimes from the newsfeed at work (not that I read them at work)."

 Glenn Wilson asks for help:

 "I am looking at the reality that my beloved 1986 Atari ST 1040 has
 possibly died... When it boots up all looks well until you touch a key.
 THEN you get one or more alphanumeric characters (including special
 characters) instead of the key you touched. Anyone encounter this before?
 I live an ST desert (Saint Louis) and would like some idea whether this
 is fixable before I ship it off to either coast only to find

 out it is 'dead'.

 If you have encountered this or are more techincally inclined than I am
 and have an idea as to what has happened, drop me an E-Mail at
 "wilsong@nima.mil" please. If it is as I fear, I will be selling off
 software and peripherals... My wife wants to get rid of the 'dead' ST and
 but a MAC like the kids use at school despite the abominable way Apple
 treated her years ago in supporting the IIE/IIC/IIGS market.) I'd rather,
 if we can't get it fixed, upgrade our IBM at home... [I can't believe I
 said that]."

 Tony Greenwood tells Glenn:

 "Yes I have.. (This is a serious answer although it may not seem it), It
 happened to me on what seemed like an intermittent basis.. Exactly as you
 explain it... Then I sussed out it was always after my son had been
 playing a shooting game and left <Autofire> ON , Yes the joystick
 autofire being left on caused the problem, This may not be your answer...
 but I can assure you that this will also cause the same problem."

 Nick Bales adds:

 "Yes, I had this autofire problem too. The problem is definitely located
 within the keyboard/mouse/joystick section. I also have similar problems
 from time to time, usually because of those crappy mouse connectors, but
 sometimes because of a bad mouse. Try unplugging the mouse to see if that
 cures the problem too. Otherwise, take the machine apart, clean up all
 the connections, reseat the keyboard connector and the socketed chip on
 the keyboard PCB. At worst, find someone selling a cheap/dead ST, and
 cannibalize the keyboard."

 Bill Platt adds his experiences:

 "Try booting up without a mouse or joystick plugged in. I have had
 headaches with a joystick stuck on auto fire. It causes random charactars
 to be generated. After years of unplugging and the stress on the mouse,
 there could be a short in the mouse connector. The other problem that a
 bad mouse or joystick will cause is for only half of the keyboard to
 work."

 Randall Bender asks:

 "Does anyone have a copy of the last HD utilites that Supra offered to
 the public? I need 21 MB floptical formatting capability."

 Morely Dotes tells Randall:

 "This was the last stuff on Supra's ftp server:
 ftp://ftp.spambusters.ml.org/pub/ATARI/supra/"

 Michael Grove adds:

 "Believe it or not, if you go to the Supra site (I guess it is now
 Diamond) and find the download area, the hd utils are there in the Atari
 file area. I guess they thought they were comm files."

 John McDermott asks:

 "Does anyone know how to load TOS from a floppy disk? I have an Atari
 520STM (external floppy and power supply) with a 2mb memory upgrade and
 TOS 1.0 and I would like to see if there is any improvement loading a
 later TOS. I have downloaded a few TOS images from the Little Green
 Desktop site and would like to try some out. Any ideas anyone?"

 Bill Platt tells John:

 "There is a bit on the disk bootsector that you have to change, and then
 TOS will auto matically load from the disk. My jazz drive crapped on my
 and I can't get to the file that explains how to do it. Once I dig it
 out, I'll send it to you. By the way: The TOS images are not legal
 copies. You will probably get flamed for d-loading TOS images."

 Nick Bales tells John:

 "There is a program on Vezz's Hardware page that should do this.
 http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Way/8016/atari/sthard.htm"

 "DRSACE" asks for info:

 "I am just wondering if anyone knows if the Y2K bug will affect Atari's?
 I am wondering because since the Macintosh uses a counter and NOT a
 calendar for it's date, it won't be affected till 2043, but what does the
 Atari use?"

 Nick Bales replies:

 "Most Ataris them don't even have a battery clock. The system will
 happily go beyond 2000, but some old and badly written programs will
 probably screw up the dates. This Y2K thing is really hyped up, probably
 by people who have some interest in being hired to "solve the Y2K
 problem". People seem to think that the world is going to come to an end.
 Actually it will mainly interfere with large companies that still rely on
 old IBM mainframe stuff. Your computer won't stop working because of
 this. It might get some dates wrong, but, unless you do book keeping, I
 doubt you have any date reliant software on your Atari."

 Well folks, we'll end on that 'millennial' note. C'mon back next week and
 bring a comfy pair of slippers and whatever else makes you comfortable.
 'Till then, be sure to always listen to what they are saying when...

                             PEOPLE ARE TALKING











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                             EDITORIAL QUICKIES



        TOP TEN NEW INTEL SLOGANS FOR THE PENTIUM Pro



        9.9999973251 It's a FLAW, Dammit, not a Bug

        8.9999163362 It's Close Enough, We Say So

        7.9999414610 Nearly 300 Correct Opcodes

        6.9999831538 You Don't Need to Know What's Inside

        5.9999835137 Redefining the PC--and Mathematics As Well

        4.9999999021 We Fixed It, Really

        3.9998245917 Division Considered Harmful

        2.9991523619 Why Do You Think They Call It *Floating* Point?

        1.9999103517 We're Looking for a Few Good Flaws

        0.9999999998 The Errata Inside



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