ST Report: 4-Oct-98 #1432
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 10/11/98-08:46:06 AM Z
From: aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report: 4-Oct-98 #1432
Date: Sun Oct 11 08:46:06 1998
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LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
eBay Roars Ahead As First IPO In A Month
eBay Inc., an online auctioneer that sells everything from Beanie Babies
to computers, soared more than 163 percent in its first day of trading as
investors heartily welcomed the first initial public offering in a month.
eBay gained $29.375 to close at $47.375, as more than 9 million shares
traded hands on Nasdaq. With the successful offering, the company has a
market capitalization of about $1.88 billion, topping the $1.05 billion
worth of venerated art auction house Sotheby's.
The stock had an offering price of $18 a share. But excitement from
investors, who had recently been too w orried about global market
volatility to focus on new deals, sent it sharply higher as trading
commenced. eBay, with more than one million registered users, matches
buyers and sellers for 650,000 items, ranging f rom Hollywood memorabilia
to antiques and computers.
Analysts had said that Goldman Sachs, the lead underwriter for the deal,
was one of only a handful of firm s that could pull off a smashing IPO in
this shaky market. "People want to see big names with stocks that don't
equivocate," said David Menlow, president of the IP O Financial Network
in Springfield, N.J. "They want someone to be the prophet and lead them
into the promised land." Goldman itself has been struggling with the
timing of its own high-profile IPO.
eBay was seen by some analysts as the catalyst that could breathe new
life into a market that hasn't seen much excitement about new issues,
especially Internet stocks, since free Web site provider GeoCities went
publ ic on Aug. 11. "This is preordained," said John Fitzgibbon, editor
of the IPO Reporter newsletter. The price range had increased and there
had been a 28-day drought in the IPO market." Many technology firms that
started out as hot IPOs are now money-losers. For example, DoubleClick
Inc. posted a second-quarter loss in July of $4.7 mil lion on sales of a
whopping $17.3 million.
But three-year-old eBay is already profitable. It had 1997 net income of
$874,000 on sales of $5.7 million "We have a stock that is an Internet
company, an Internet IPO that is making money," said Menlow. "This is
unheard of." Others saw the fact that Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, ranked
by Securities Data Co. as the No. 1 underwriter for new issues, with
bookings totaling $3.89 billion in 1999, initiated coverage of eBay with
a n outperform rating even before it opened for trading as a sign of the
firm's strength.
Typically, Wall Street firms will not place a rating on a stock until 30
days from its IPO. While the excitement over eBay was warranted, another
analyst was more cautious about touting a rebound in the IPO market.
"It's more deal-specific than any signs of recovery," said Ken Fleming at
Renaissance Capital Corp. Ther e's a lot of excitement about the company
but I don't necessarily think it means a rebound in the market. "But it
may help other Internet IPOs that have filed already and haven't gone
public yet," Fleming added.
Prodigy To Sell Stock In A Public Offering
Prodigy Communications Corp., a pioneering online service that has shed
its extensive content services to focus on providing Internet access,
announced today it will sell shares in a public offering. The news came
on the heels of a highly successful public offering by online auctioneer
eBay Inc., whose stock soared more than 163 percent in its first day of
trading Thursday. eBay Inc. was the first IPO to come to market in a
month because investors had been too worried about global market
volatility to look at new issues.
Prodigy said the size of its IPO has not been set. It said the timing of
the offering will be determined by market conditions, but that it does
not expect to come to market before November. Prodigy, once the leading
consumer online service in the United States with more than 2 million
members, was founded in 1984 as a joint venture by International Business
Machines Corp., Sears, Roebuck and Co. and CBS Corp. It was the first
major effort to make an online service easy for ordinary people to use
and presaged the success of a similar approach by America Online Inc.
But Prodigy was eventually eclipsed by AOL and the advent of the
Internet. In 1996, IBM and Sears sold Prodigy to a group of investors
backed by International Wireless, a telecommunications investment group
controlled by Mexican industrial firm Grupo Carso SA de CV, for $250
million, far below the more than $1 billion invested by Prodigy's
founders. CBS dropped out long before, in the late 1980s.
Earlier this year, Prodigy handed content responsibility to Web
navigation company Excite Inc. "Although AOL dominates the Internet
access space, it's still a highly fragmented industry with opportunities
for smaller players, especially one with the brand recognition that
Prodigy has," said Ryan Jacob, portfolio manager for The Internet Fund.
In July, Mexican phone company Telefonos de Mexico invested $49 million
in Prodigy.
AOL 4.0 Arrives ... And a Million Free CD-ROMs Are In the Mail
If there's one overriding theme to Monday's launch of the latest America
Online upgrade it's this: Keep it nice and simple, but don't keep it
quiet. AOL 4.0 will be heralded by the same kind of Desert Storm-style
marketing campaign that drew such heavy criticism in the past including
a major launch party in New York, national TV and radio campaigns, an
online $40,000 AOL 4.0 sweepstakes contest, and the mailing of a million
free AOL 4.0 CD-ROMs every week.
Marketing considerations aside, company officials are upbeat about the
online service's new features. The AOL 4.0 user interface offers:
* even more tips and instant assistance with using e-mail
* accessing the Internet than the preceding version
* adding a tool bar that users can customize to provide single-click
access to their favorite sites
* the ability to switch screen names, or user IDs, without signing off
from the service
* a spelling and grammar checker for e-mail messages
* a tool that allows photo images to be embedded in e-mail messages
All the improvements are aimed at making the service easier to use, AOL
(NYSE:AOL) officials said. Considering that the simple-is-better strategy
arguably has helped the company shut out virtually all rivals in the
online service space, these changes are natural, AOL officials said.
"AOL has continued its growth momentum by attracting consumers with its
convenience and ease of use," said Bob Pittman, AOL's president and chief
operating officer.
Netizens can be excused for having a sense of deja vu about the 4.0
release -- it actually began nine months ago. To head off potential
network access problems, the company released the first AOL 4.0 betas in
January, and the beta process continued until the final version was
debuted on July 30. The rollout process culminates this week with a
return to the company's carpet-bombing marketing program, which will even
include delivering AOL 4.0 disks to airline passengers, magazine readers
and fans at sporting events. In the midst of the AOL's network access
woes last year, the marketing program was suspended when the company was
criticized for recruiting so many new members while existing members had
trouble accessing the service.
While the company brags that more than 5 million members have already
downloaded the new software, continuing the momentum after the 4.0
rollout won't be without its challenges, according to observers.
Considering that the service has grown to encompass 13 million users 40
percent of all Internet users go online through AOL, by one estimate --
analysts said the company's challenge now is to maintain that growth.
With the newbie market now well in hand, this means coming up with an
original approach that will continue to grab online neophytes while
appealing to more-sophisticated technology users, some observers said.
"The next hurdle for them is to get to cable TV audience numbers," said
Patrick Keane, a senior analyst at Jupiter Communications in New York. To
do this, the company must continue to come up with creative new
proprietary content as well as speeding users to the Internet and
offering reliable e-mail service -- all crucial aspects of user
retention, he said. "Retention of existing users is just as important for
AOL as acquisition of new users at this point," Keane said.
While some consumers have complained about the aggressive marketing, the
service's huge growth over the past couple of years proves the approach
works, he added. And AOL should also hope it works because it is much
easier to provide support to a user base that is standardized on a single
version of client software, said Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga
Information Group in Santa Clara, Calif.
"They need to get everybody for support reasons on the (4.0) client,"
Enderle said. "And while they want you to download it, most folks aren't
willing to go through the trouble to make the conversion. It's too big a
time suck." The software, which requires 16 MB of RAM and 30 MB of hard
disk space, will take anywhere from one hour to two hours for many users
to download, AOL officials said. "They got as many people to download as
they could, and now they've got to go to the disk," Enderle said.
AOL Plans CompuServe Upgrade
America Online Inc. plans to upgrade CompuServe, the competing online
service it bought earlier this year, saying the move should end
speculation about folding the former rival. "Since we announced the
acquisition a year ago, there has been talk that this was a conspiracy to
buy the competition and shut it down," said Steve Case, the chairman and
chief executive officer of AOL. "We are committed to CompuServe as a
separate brand," he said Tuesday.
The company employs about 500 people at its headquarters in Upper
Arlington, a Columbus suburb. AOL's investments include renovations and
upgraded computers at the Upper Arlington headquarters, said Mayo Stuntz
Jr., president of CompuServe. In January, AOL acquired the content and
subscribers of CompuServe from WorldCom, which bought CompuServe for $1.2
billion. AOL, based in Dulles, Va., is the world's largest online
service, with 13 million subscribers. CompuServe has about 3 million
subscribers.
Disney Boss Says He Fears Microsoft Who's afraid of the big, bad ...
Microsoft?
Michael Eisner is. In his new book, "Work in Progress," the Chairman and
Chief Executive of Walt Disney Co. says the Redmond-based software
company "may be our most daunting competitor." Unexpected words coming
from the man who runs a world-renowned company with annual revenues of
$22 billion and stakes in virtually every form of entertainment,
communication and tourism.
Microsoft, while a giant in its field, has annual revenues of only $14.5
billion and a spotty record in trying to generate entertainment content.
But Eisner doesn't see it that way. In a telephone press conference
Thursday, he said Microsoft's cash flow, its "enormous buying power," its
aggressiveness, and the youth of its employee base are "a formula for
competition."
Additionally, Bill Gates, the company's chairman, is "a competitor to be
watched" because he combines youth, money, intelligence and an interest
in the entertainment business, Eisner said. He didn't hazard a guess on
exactly how Gates will use his interest and cash in the entertainment
field, but said that Microsoft has a tradition of starting slowly in
other businesses only to make improvements and become highly successful.
Disney has been sufficiently intrigued by the potential of the Internet
to add it to its portfolio of theme parks, movies, broadcast and cable
television networks, radio, professional sports franchises and even
cruise ships. It's already selling merchandise online. In June, Disney
agreed to pay $70 million cash plus its interest in Bellevue, Wash.-based
Web development company Starwave for a 43 percent stake in Infoseek
Corp., the nation's seventh-largest search and directory service.
According to Eisner's book, Disney and Infoseek plan to introduce a new
"portal" - the first place users would go to find what they want on the
World Wide Web - known as Go Network. The portal will act as a "central
hub through which people can gain access to every business and every form
of information and entertainment that Disney offers," the book said.
Universities Fight Microsoft Over Research
Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are fighting
a demand by Microsoft Corp. for research gathered by two professors on
Netscape Communications Corp., charging that it threatens their First
Amendment rights and ability to conduct research, the Wall Street Journal
reported. Separately, Microsoft released some of the evidence it will use
in the pending antitrust case to refute a government charge that it tried
illegally to carve up Internet-software sales in a 1995 meeting with
Netscape, the report said.
The case is set to go to trial October 15 in federal court, the report
said. The new evidence, and Microsoft's subpoena for the professors'
research, reveals the company's likely legal strategy at the trial, the
report said. It will use the 1995 evidence to show that such meetings
between competitors are common in the software industry, and it hopes to
use the research on Netscape to show that Netscape's business misfortunes
were caused by its own errors, not by unfair competition by Microsoft, as
alleged by the Justice Department and 20 states in lawsuits filed in May,
the report said.
The universities filed their objections in federal court in Boston on
behalf of faculty members David Yoffie, of Harvard Business School, and
Michael Cusumano, of MIT's Sloan School of Business, the report said.
They are co-authors of a book, "Competing on Internet Time: Lessons from
Netscape and its Battle with Microsoft," that is scheduled to be
published days before the of the start of the Microsoft trial, the report
said.
Challenge To Microsoft Get Backing
Intel Corp. and Netscape Communications Corp., two of the biggest names
in the high-tech business, Tuesday threw their financial weight behind
Red Hat Software Inc., an upstart challenger to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows
operating system. The two minority stakes in Red Hat drew the attention
of Microsoft and rivals who accuse the software giant of trying to muscle
the competition to protect its monopoly in desktop operating systems.
It also represents a potential new rift in the informal alliance between
Microsoft and Intel, whose microprocessors supply the brainpower for 85
percent of the world's personal computers. Red Hat chief executive Bob
Young said the companies reached agreement Tuesday. He declined to give
details, noting Red Hat is privately held. But he said the backing should
help his company meet its goal of doubling its revenues, which ranged
from $5 million-$10 million last year.
Even more important than money, said Young, are the new relationships
with Intel and Netscape, which makes software for browsing the World Wide
Web. During the past year, Linux has risen to the forefront among the
relatively unknown products that can substitute for the Windows software
program. Distributed free over the Internet or sold in a commercial
version for $50, the system has an estimated 8 million to 9 million users
worldwide, who prefer the flexibility of the system.
By comparison, Microsoft's Windows and Windows NT operating systems have
about ten times as many users. Red Hat offers a service to Linux
customers that Windows doesn't: Sharing the source code over the
Internet, which makes it easier to blend in improvements. Clay Ryder, an
industry analyst at Zona Research, Inc., in Redwood City, Calif., said
that while Linux is a true competitor of Windows and Windows NT, it's
important to keep the deal in perspective against Microsoft, the world's
most successful technology company.
"Even if Red Hat doubled next year, tripled, it's almost a rounding error
to Microsoft," he said. At Microsoft, enterprise marketing group manager
Edmund Muth said they are closely watching Linux's growth. "We take all
competitive threats seriously, and we number Linux among those
competitive issues," he said. But Muth said Intel's investment "does not
affect the strong and postitive relationship that our two companies
enjoy."
Neither Intel nor Netscape would discuss details of the investment. Young
disclosed the deal after speaking on a panel with Netscape co-founder
Marc Andreessen, Intel's corporate vice president Sean Maloney and Linus
Torvalds, creator of Red Hat's Linux operating system at a trade show in
San Jose, Calif. George Weiss, an industry analyst at Gartner Group in
Stamford, Conn., said Intel's interest in a company directly competing
with Windows "is a little weird if you think that Intel and Microsoft are
bedfellows that are tightly coupled in marriage."
But Weiss said that relationship has been overstated. Recently, for
instance, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel began licensing its technology
for advanced video software to RealNetworks Inc., which competes with
Microsoft. Tuesday's deal could give more ammunition to Microsoft critics
who are closely watching the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit
against the company, which goes to trial Oct. 15. In June, for instance,
consumer activist Ralph Nader pointed to Linux when urging the Justice
Department to make sure Microsoft allows computer makers to sell machines
with system software other than Windows.
Netscape Wins One, Loses One In Browser War
In the past two days, Netscape Communications Corp. has won a deal to
distribute its Internet browser to millions of new customers, and lost a
major deal to Microsoft Corp. On Thursday, Netscape sealed an agreement
with the Internet service Snap to distribute a customized version of the
Netscape Communicator.
However, the day before Dell Computer Corp. announced a deal to bundle
Internet access and services into some of its new PCs, and said it would
include the Microsoft Internet Explorer in the package. Both deals are
expected to reach millions of new consumers. While this recent activity
shows Netscape and Microsoft remain locked in a close competition over
the growing Internet browser market, some people are beginning to
question what benefit this broad distribution is bringing to either
company.
Since both Netscape and Microsoft give away their browsers, analysts say
their only real value is in helpi ng steer customers to their other
products and services. Browsers can be particularly useful in directing
people to a company's online directory or "portal." Microsoft's Internet
portal, msn.com, and Netscape's Netcenter both generate ad revenue based
on the numbe r of visitors and can also serve as a showcase for other
software products.
The problem with the two recent deals is that neither browser will
directly link to the company's Internet portal. Instead, the Microsoft
browser in the Dell Computer deal will default to Excite Inc.'s portal,
which is actually a competitor of msn.com. Likewise, the deal Netscape
entered with Snap, calls for its browser to link customers to the Snap
portal, which also is one of its competitors. Some critics say that in
the race to expand browser reach, both companies may have lost sight of
the real value of their browsers, and may even be helping promote their
rivals.
"The Netcenter portal is what's important to Netscape," said PaineWebber
analyst James Preissler. "If Netc enter is not bundled with the browser,
it's a complete wash. The value of the browser is where it defaults to.
Still, Netscape said it is important to get its browser to more
customers, if only to promote the Netscape brand. "It is a further proof
that it's a great product and it reinforces our brand," said Skyles
Runser of Netsc ape's Netcenter division. Recent surveys have indicated
most Internet users still use a Netscape browser, although Netscape and
Microsoft are approaching parity. "From a publicity perspective, not
having at least 50 percent would be a big deal for Netscape," said Zona
Research analyst Clay Ryder, who tracks the browser business and will
release new figures next month.
Some Internet Access May Be Limited
When Lois Gibbs learned in 1978 that 20,000 tons of toxic chemicals were
buried under her Niagara Falls, N.Y., neighborhood, she tried to make
sense of all the information and scientific names suddenly thrown at her.
She turned to her local library, wading through medical journals and old
newspaper articles to understand the chemicals and the diseases they
caused. Gibbs credits this immediate access to information with helping
her organize parents in Love Canal and spread the word about toxic dumps.
Now, thanks to the Internet, there's more information than ever before.
But educators and librarians fear that average citizens won't be able to
get at it because of proposed changes in copyright laws. Congress is
trying to balance protecting the work of authors, songwriters and others
with making important information available to students and other
researchers. The House and Senate could agree this week on legislation
that would implement two copyright treaties adopted in 1996 by the U.N.
World Intellectual Property Organization.
Current "fair use" laws allow personal use of copyrighted material
without obtaining advance permission. Students can quote from books in
their research papers and cable systems can relay television programs,
for example. The new version could lead to the encryption of some
material, keeping it out of the hands of anyone without a password or
other authorization. Hollywood and publishing industry officials say they
are not trying to keep information from the general public. But they want
to protect the work of their artists and writers from being downloaded
and mass distributed with a few keystrokes.
"Everyone hopes that the Internet will become a great resource for
education, entertainment and commerce," said Allan Adler, vice president
for legal and governmental affairs at the Association of American
Publishers. "But one of the problems is that the medium represents an
extraordinary capability for flawless reproduction and instantaneous
distribution." Country singer Johnny Cash witnessed this when he came
across a Slovenian website that carried his hit, "Ring of Fire." In
CD-quality sound, the song was ready and waiting for anyone to download,
Cash told Congress this fall.
"Maybe I should be flattered that someone in Slovenia likes my song, but
when he or she makes it available to millions of people, this hardly
seems fair," he said. Both the House and Senate versions of the copyright
legislation would limit access, but the House version adds time to
consider how to institute the restrictions without limiting fair use. The
American Library Association and others say this is an important first
step but does not provide a blanket guarantee that citizens will have
access to information.
"It will remain to be seen whether this rulemaking structure, which can
be time-consuming and expensive, adequately protects the public," said
Adam Eisgrau of the Chicago-based association. Opponents of encryption
devices say they block access even for those who could legally use the
material, and those people would be breaking the law if they went around
the devices. Some fear copyright holders could start charging for each
time someone wants to use or copy material, even if a library or school
already has paid for it.
"There is this paranoia that anybody who breaks down an encryption
algorithm is a crook and a copyright violator," said John Scheibel, vice
president of the Computer and Communications Industry Association. "You
are trying to fix a watch, but you are using a two-by-four to do it."
Industries representing copyright holders deny that these devices would
lock up the work from all users. If students and library patrons can't
get to the material, Adler says, they will turn to other resources,
driving online publishing out of business.
But Gibbs says the potential barriers carry a price that average citizens
needing information quickly and easily cannot afford. "There is no way
local folks are going to be able to jump through those hoops in a timely
fashion," says Gibbs, who now heads the Falls Church, Va.-based Center
for Health, Environment and Justice, an environmental activist group.
"People need that information to move forward with their lives."
Annoy.com Proves It Has Right to Annoy on Web
The day before the House Commerce Committee approved an Internet
anti-smut bill, a federal court upheld a civil challenge to the bill's
legislative parent, the Communications Decency Act. "The courts have said
that indecent speech cannot be made criminal on the Internet," declared
Michael Traynor, who represented ApolloMedia, the publisher of Annoy.com.
The site (http://www.annoy.com) is specifically designed to flout a
provision of the act that bars "indecent material with intent to annoy"
from the Internet.
ApolloMedia said that the law amounted to censorship, and brought a
lawsuit against Attorney General Janet Reno in January 1997 to challenge
the constitutionality of the Communications Decency Act. On Wednesday, a
three-judge federal panel handed down a divided ruling to ApolloMedia.
The court found that the right to communicate indecent material with
intent to annoy over the Internet is constitutionally protected.
But two of the judges stopped short of declaring the statute itself
unconstitutional, so they did not technically rule in favor of
ApolloMedia's lawsuit against the government. Any way you slice it, this
is still a victory, said Electronic Frontier Foundation's Stanton
McCandlish. "ApolloMedia wins either way. The outcome of this case helps
narrow obscenity law, and neatly ties up the loose ends left over from
the other lawsuits like ACLU v. Reno, that helped overturn the rest of
the Communications Decency Act."
The ApolloMedia suit took on the only remaining section of the CDA left
unchallenged by other suits. ednesday's court ruling found that while the
term "obscene" had a reasonably clear legal definition offering little
constitutional protection, the term "indecent" was more vague, and is
protected by the First Amendment. Annoy.com was created in January 1997
for the sole purpose of drawing attention to this disparity. The site is
aflame with stinging attacks on conservative political targets, and
flashing four-letter words. Readers are invited to send lewd hate e-mail,
complete with soft-porn images and ransom-note graphics.
"Whatever the outcome of this ruling, or whether we challenge it in the
Supreme Court, we've still forced the government to apply meaning to
vague words affecting free speech," said Annoy.com creator Clinton Fein.
"It's been a lot of work, but the only regret that I have is this: The
most indecent and annoying thing I have yet to see on the Internet is the
Ken Starr report, and with this ruling, we've just saved his ass!"
New Web Site Won't Let You Go
Pity the soul who comes across a Web site run by Brett Wright. His pages
are like ocean riptides, pulling Internet surfers under and whisking them
against their will to resurface elsewhere. Three of Wright's Web sites
use a high-tech, behind-the-scenes method to route visitors automatically
to other commercial sites, which pay Wright for such "referrals." When
puzzled surfers try to close those browser windows - for sites they never
even intended to visit - other browser windows open automatically. And
those can spawn still more browser windows.
It can be a nearly endless, frustrating cycle to regain control of the
computer. "You fell into my trap," says Wright, who lives near Atlanta.
"It bounces you all over the place, doesn't it?" Wright's technique is
becoming common among sexually oriented sites like the ones he operates,
which boast 250,000 visits daily. But the online porn industry is
renowned for its innovation, first to use the Web's newest tools and
techniques - from live video to payment schemes - that months or years
later become mainstream for the rest of the Internet.
So will mainstream Web sites hunting bigger audiences and elusive profits
soon lure visitors into this loop? "The whole goal is to move traffic
like cattle, which sounds terrible, I know," explains Wright, whose sites
use the "window.open" Javascript programming command. "But the easiest
way to send traffic somewhere is to not give them the opportunity not to
go there."
Critics say the notion of even briefly kidnapping visitors is
antithetical to the Internet, where the allure is the ability to jump
among sites without regard for boundaries, physical distance or software
compatibility. On the Web, ideally, you just click and go. "Once you put
someone on a path where they can't get out, the natural inclination is to
quit," says Jonah Seiger of Washington-based Mindshare Internet
Campaigns.
Wright acknowledges the practice outrages some visitors - especially
those with less powerful computers, which can crash if too many windows
are open. Some experts doubt the technique ever will be embraced by
mainstream sites, such as the most popular online bookstore.
"You won't see Amazon.Com use that. People wouldn't tolerate it," says
Michael Willis, who co-wrote a book about the worst Internet sites. "It's
almost like if you went through the doors of a Wal-Mart store to buy some
pants and walked into a 7-Eleven," Willis says. "You want pants, not a
Slurpee. It would create ill will for both parties." Donna Hoffman of
Vanderbilt University, an expert on Internet businesses, agrees it is
hard to imagine the model working on more traditional sites. "People
don't want to be sent places," she says. "They want to choose where to
go."
A particular concern is children. A young intern at the National
Institute on Media and the Family, a nonprofit group that rates video
games, searched the Web for a research project using the keywords "teen"
and "games." She stumbled instead onto a porn site and could not back out
- each time she closed a browser window, two more opened automatically.
"Being an intern in her first week, she was concerned that her internship
might come to a quick stop," recalls David Walsh, the group's executive
director and the intern's boss. "People who kind of wander into those
sites find themselves unable to get out."
Wright says pages with never-ending loops, while technically possible,
are "frowned upon highly." Most sites eventually set visitors loose.
There are legitimate uses for what experts call "redirects." Web authors
sometimes register several Internet addresses with different suffixes,
but prefer visitors to enter through a particular page. Web sites are
reorganized or even moved - but the old address can send visitors
automatically to the new location.
"But that's different than forcing someone through a whole series of
sites," Seiger said. Web surfers can disable Javascript commands in
modern browsers. But Javascript is among the most common Internet
programming languages, so disabling it would kill many other functions
computer users may want. Even Wright says he is not happy helping to
perpetuate the technique. "I'm one of the people who mainstreamed this,"
he says, "and every day I wish I hadn't."
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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
Can Linking Make You Liable? NSF Still Battling Over Internet
Fund
Legislators Working To Ban Online
Pornography Will The Country Lose Its Memory?
Lawsuit Involving Software
Filtering In Virginia Library China Attacks Its Y2K Problem
Pentagon Orders Sensitive Info
Removed From Military Web Sites Intel-Netscape Eye Red Hat Software
OECD Study Says E-Commerce Future New CD From Kodak And Intel For
Is Overhyped Photos On The Net
Oracle Resists Microsoft Subpoena Flaw Found In Browser
Gateway Merges Retail Sales With FCC Dashes Hopes Of Bells To Enter
Direct Model Long-Distance Market
Online Service Image Improving U.S. Delays Handing Off Domain Name
Registration
AT&T- IBM Team Up In Outsourcing Motorola Introduces Voice
Deal Technology For The Net
Sony And Toyota Challenge NTT For Tapscott Says "E-Business
Data Traffic In Japan Communities" Are Wave Of Future
Cable Industry To Provide Net Microsoft Edging Netscape In
Access To U.S. Libraries Browser War
Microsoft Network Branches Out
CAN LINKING MAKE YOU LIABLE?
If your Web site links to a site that links to a third site and the third
site contains illegal reproductions of copyrighted material, can you be
sued for damages? So far, the answer is no, because Los Angeles Federal
District Court Judge Manuel A. Real dismissed one of the defendants from
a case brought by Hollywood glamour photographer Gary Bernstein, charging
that such linking is illegal. After the judge's ruling, Bernstein
withdrew his lawsuit, but legal experts say the issue will come up for
court review another day. Law professor Mark Lemley says that "the
consequences of holding an end user liable for copyright infringement
would be disturbing for the Net... It might deter surfing. It might also
give some unscrupulous groups the power to suppress speech or critics."
(New York Times 25 Sep 98)20
NSF STILL BATTLING OVER INTERNET FUND
The National Science Foundation is confronting a new challenge from
Congress over plans to spend the $60 million collected by Network
Solutions Inc. as part of the registration fee paid for Internet domain
name addresses. The atest obstacle came when the Senate Finance Committee
announced it is considering repealing part of a 1998 law that had cleared
the way for the NSF to spend the money, which up until then had been
locked up in a court proceeding. "This would put a wrench in the plans we
have to help universities connect to high-speed networks," says the
deputy director of NSF's office of legislative and public affairs. "There
seems to be a problem brewing." The money has been earmarked for the
Clinton administration's Next Generation Internet initiative. (Chronicle
of Higher Education 25 Sep 98)
LEGISLATORS WORKING TO BAN ONLINE PORNOGRAPHY
The House Commerce Committee unanimously approved legislation called the
Child Online Protection Act which would require commercial Web sites to
collect a person's credit-card number or some other adult access code
before allowing access to material deemed "harmful to minors." The
measure will go to the full House of Representatives, and if passed will
be reconciled with a companion bill passed earlier by the Senate. A
spokesman for the San Francisco-based civil liberties group called the
Electronic Frontier Foundation has criticized the bill of the wide net it
casts: "When you look beneath the veneer, you quickly discover that it
applied to any Web site that contains a commercial component and material
that some community could consider 'harmful to minors.'" (AP 25 Sep 98)
WILL THE COUNTRY LOSE ITS MEMORY?
Although National Archivist John W. Carlin says he cannot meet a
Wednesday deadline for formulating new instructions on which government
records must be saved and which may be deleted, he has steadfastly
acknowledged the importance of the problem, saying: "How do we identify,
manage, preserve and provide ongoing access to e-mail, word processing
documents and other kinds of electronic records that are proliferating in
formats, mushrooming n quantity and vulnerable to quick deletion, media
instability and system obsolescence?" Carlin says he can't meet a
court-appointed deadline to deal with the problem because the government
has a higher priority: getting its computer programs revised to avoid the
Year 2000 problem. But Michael Tankersley, a lawyer representing Public
Citizen, the American Library Association, and various other groups
accuses Carlin of wasting time: "This is a totally unjustified stall to
cover the fact that they haven't done anything for the past 11 months."
(USA Today 25 Sep 98)
LAWSUIT INVOLVING SOFTWARE FILTERING IN VIRGINIA LIBRARY
A federal judge in Virginia will decide next week whether a trial is
needed in a suit filed by library patrons who object to the decision of
the Loudoun County Library to install filtering software called X-Stop on
library computers. The intention of the decision is to protect children
from being exposed to pornographic material on the Internet, but the
filters also prevent what adults can view and often inadvertently blocks
nonpornographic sites, such as the site of the American Association of
University Women. (AP 25 Sep 98)
CHINA ATTACKS ITS Y2K PROBLEM
Although less exposed to the Year 2000 problem because its institutions
are less computerized than their Western counterparts, the Chinese are
determined to make up for a late start in preparing to avoid Y2K
problems. Without specifying possible punishments for failure, China's
State Council warned: "Senior officials of government departments and
units that fail to solve the bug promptly and create huge losses and
serious consequences will be investigated." (C/Net News.Com 23 Sep 98)
PENTAGON ORDERS SENSITIVE INFO REMOVED FROM MILITARY WEB SITES
Having become aware that some military Web sites were offering "too much
detail on Defense Department capabilities, infrastructure, personnel and
operation procedures," the Pentagon has ordered the elimination from
those sites of all information that might compromise national security or
endanger Defense Department personnel. A senior government official says:
"One of the things we're finding over time is that, in this new
environment, the distinction between classified and unclassified
information in some respects is diminishing." (Washington Post 26 Sep 98)
INTEL, NETSCAPE EYE RED HAT SOFTWARE
Intel Corp. and Netscape Communications have been named as "potential
backers" for Red Hat Software, a company that distributes a commercial
version of the Linux operating system. No one involved in the deal is
talking about it at this point, but industry observers say the move would
give Linux a major boost toward becoming a mainstream alternative to
Microsoft operating systems. Netscape recently agreed to provide a Linux
version of its server software. Intel, in the meantime, wants to keep its
options open by investing in operating environments other than its
mainstay Wintel alliance. "Intel and Microsoft, regardless of what both
companies say, they don't have the closest relationship," says a research
director at Giga Information Group. "But I think this has more to do with
Intel's generic investment policy, which has them investing irrespective
of whether these companies are competing with Microsoft or not. This
investment would be consistent with past investments in that it enables a
market for Intel and provides a potential for growth that wouldn't exist
otherwise." (Computer Reseller News 29 Sep 98)
OECD STUDY SAYS E-COMMERCE FUTURE IS OVERHYPED
A new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) says that despite eye-popping projections of the future of
electronic commerce, those numbers, when viewed in the context of overall
commerce, are minuscule. The estimated revenue from e-commerce totaled
$26 billion last year, but that represents only 0.5% of total retail
sales for the OECD's seven largest economies. "There is no other area of
technological change with such a discrepancy between the actual, current
phenomenon and what people, policy makers and businessmen believe and
expect from the future," says an economics professor at Maastricht
University. "If you consider the things that are still necessary to
really make e-commerce work, it is amazing that people are expecting
growth anything near what they are." The projections for e-commerce
growth in Europe are especially bleak, where inhibiting factors include
narrow bandwidth, expensive phone calls, language barriers, multiple
currencies and heavy taxation. Currently, an estimated 80% of global
e-commerce sales come from the U.S., and that is unlikely to change much
in the future. (Wall Street Journal 28 Sep 98)
NEW CD FROM KODAK AND INTEL FOR PHOTOS ON THE NET
Kodak and Intel have joined forces to develop a CD that will make it easy
for computer uses to edit and e-mail photographs. When dropping off film
at a Kodak developing outlets, a consumer would pay an extra $8.95-$10.95
for a CD loaded with developed photos as well as Adobe Systems imaging
software that would allow him or her to edit the photos (enlarging,
shrinking, brightening flesh tones, etc.) and to send the photos over the
Internet as an attachment to an electronic message. The CD, which is
called Picture CD, is the first product to include imaging software along
with the photographs. (New York Times 28 Sep 98)
ORACLE RESISTS MICROSOFT SUBPOENA
Oracle has asked a federal judge to quash a subpoena obtained by
Microsoft in an effort to get possession of documents Microsoft says will
help it defend itself against the antitrust lawsuit brought by the
government. Microsoft says the documents are "plainly relevant," whereas
Oracle calls the request "far too vast" and charges that Microsoft
"apparently believes that its status as an accused monopolist entitles it
to use judicial process to delve into its competitors' most sensitive
commercial information." Microsoft is seeking information about an
alleged 1994 meeting of Oracle, Sun, IBM and other executives to discuss
ending competition among themselves; an alleged agreement by Oracle to
use Netscape's browser and end development of Oracles's own
"PowerBrowser"; and a similar alleged agreement by Sun to use Netscape's
browser and end development of Sun's own "Hot Java" browser. (AP 28 Sep
98)
FLAW FOUND IN BROWSER
A computer consultant has identified a flaw in the Netscape browser that
would allow a malicious programmer using JavaScript to read the contents
of another user's cache (the temporary storage on a computer's hard
drive), and thereby get access to the user's files. However, encrypted
information, including credit card numbers, would not be vulnerable from
this flaw, because they are not stored in cache. Emphasizing that the
flaw is hypothetical and that no one has reported being affected by it so
far, a Netscape executive says the company is taking immediate steps to
verify and fix the problem. Industry analyst Stan Dolberg says that the
next 18 to 24 onths will amount to a normal "shakedown cruise" for
e-commerce, and that "this kind of stress-testing is going to discover
all kinds of flaws... Today, in and of itself, this particular flaw is
not earthshattering." (USA Today 28 Sep 98)
GATEWAY MERGES RETAIL SALES WITH DIRECT MODEL
While many computer makers are adopting the direct sales strategy
pioneered by Dell Computer and Gateway Inc., Gateway is moving in the
opposite direction, building an empire of retail outlets. There are
already 74 Gateway Country Stores, and CEO Ted Waitt is pushing for 400.
But rather than stocking its bricks-'n'-mortar with a PC inventory that
can pile up and get expensive, Gateway's stores house sales assistants
that perform a function similar to its telephone sales force -- customers
walk in, sit down, and order a custom-built computer. The store model
simply enables Gateway to try to reach the 30% of computer buyers who are
unlikely to use the Net or the telephone to make a purchase. Analysts
estimate that the stores cost Gateway about $1.5 million a year apiece,
but provide a more tangible profile with consumers: "It's better than
being a nameless, faceless entity on the Internet," says an analyst at
Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co. "Gateway's putting down some roots in
communities. The stores come up to speed pretty quickly and earn their
own keep -- typically within six months." (Investor's Business Daily 29
Sep 98)
FCC DASHES HOPES OF BELLS TO ENTER LONG-DISTANCE MARKET
Citing provisions of the 1996 Telecommunications Act that constrain the
Bell operating companies from complementing their local phone service
offerings with long-distance ones as well, the Federal Communications
Commission has nixed a proposal by Bell companies Ameritech and U S West
to offer long-distance service in an alliance with Qwest Communications,
a new long-distance phone company. In order to offer long-distance
service, a Bell company has to convince the FCC that it has opened its
own local markets to competition, but so far none has done so. However,
the rules in question pertain only to the Bell companies, and not to
companies such as MCI WorldCom, which has announced a plan to combine its
local, long-distance, and international networks to offer lower rates to
business customers. (New York Times 29 Sep 98)
ONLINE SERVICE IMAGE IMPROVING
The latest Homefront Study of online usage, conducted by research firm
Odyssey Ventures Inc., shows increased consumer satisfaction with online
services, with 32% of respondents indicating a favorable opinion, up from
17% a year earlier. Odyssey president Nick Donatiello attributes the
increase to an improved image of American Online, which, with 13 million
subscribers, leads the industry, with 27% of PC households using its
service. Of services based on the Web, Yahoo has maintained its lead,
with household awareness rising to 83% in July, up from 77% in January.
Meanwhile, Yahoo rivals Excite and Infoseek are gaining market
awareness,with 38% and 32% respectively. (Wall Street Journal 28 Sep 98)
U.S. DELAYS HANDING OFF DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION
The U.S. government is extending by one week Network Solutions Inc.'s
long-standing contract to manage the Internet domain name system. The
contract was slated to end on Oct. 1, but government officials say
Internet policy makers need a little more time to finalize the new plan
for a private corporation to take over the responsibility. The final
plan, put together by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, will be
submitted this week, but will still require 10 days of public comment
before becoming official. Some of the organizations and individuals that
spent the summer helping to create the plan says the Authority ignored
reaching a consensus on certain points in making last minute changes, and
they have submitted a competing plan that they say more accurately
reflects the planning discussions. (TechWeb 1 Oct 98)
AT&T, IBM TEAM UP IN OUTSOURCING DEAL
AT&T and IBM are joining forces in a $2-billion deal to handle the
telecommunications network for BancOne in what is claimed to be the
largest telecommunications outsourcing arrangement to date. In addition,
AT&T is in talks to acquire IBM's Global Network operation, although both
companies acknowledge that there are other telecom companies interested
in purchasing the unit. IBM says it hopes to sell only its
telecommunications infrastructure, not the network management operations
it provides to other companies. If a suitable deal is not reached, the
company says it's prepared to make the necessary upgrades to maintain its
network. (Financial Times 1 Oct 98)
MOTOROLA INTRODUCES VOICE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE NET
Motorola Inc. is unveiling its new Voice Markup Language, or VoxML, which
will enable people to use simple voice commands over the telephone to
retrieve information, such as banking records, stock quotes or weather
reports, from the Web. The company plans to distribute a software
development kit for VoxML, and hopes to make the new programming language
an industry standard. "People don't have the time or inclination to learn
how to program things, but they know how to speak," says an analyst with
Cahners In-Stat Group. The new technology "could really turn out to be
something for Internet connectivity," especially for wireless service
providers who need to promote special services in order to differentiate
themselves from competitors. (Wall Street Journal 30 Sep 98)
SONY AND TOYOTA CHALLENGE NTT FOR DATA TRAFFIC IN JAPAN
In a challenge to the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone company, which
currently controls more than 90% of the data communications market in
Japan, Sony Corporation and Toyota, the car manufacturer, are joining
forces to create a company that plans to offer businesses a cheaper way
of transmitting data. Sony, which sees the alliance as a relatively
low-cost way of melding the audiovisual and technology sides of its
business, thinks its use of leased data lines will be more efficient than
NTT's phone lines, which were designed to carry voice rather than data
communications. (New York Times 1 Oct 98)
TAPSCOTT SAYS "E-BUSINESS COMMUNITIES" ARE WAVE OF FUTURE
Technology and management guru Don Tapscott says that today's
state-of-the-art virtual corporation is really just a transitional
structure that's nearly obsolete. What will replace it? E-business
communities, which he defines as "networks of suppliers, distributors,
commerce providers and customers that carry out a lot of communications
and transactions through the Internet and other electronic media." The
hub-centric virtual corporation based on the rigid core network
technology of electronic data interchange (EDI) will yield to today's
more flexible and robust network technologies based on the Internet.
"Rather than building internal information systems, companies should
embrace the Internet as a new infrastructure in the creation of wealth
and the evolution of the business structure." (Computerworld 28 Sep 98)
CABLE INDUSTRY TO PROVIDE NET ACCESS TO U.S. LIBRARIES
National Cable Television Association executive Torie Clarke says that
the cable TV industry is developing plans to provide this country's
public libraries with free high-speed connections to the Internet, with
the general goal of wiring all public libraries nationwide. (Atlanta
Journal-Constitution 1 Oct 98)
MICROSOFT EDGING NETSCAPE IN BROWSER WAR
International Data Corporation (IDC), a market research firm, says that
as of July Microsoft's share of the market for browsing software has
grown to 43.8, compared to 41.5 share for Netscape. Three years ago
Netscape had more than 80% of the market. IDC says, "It appears that
Microsoft's current battle with the U.S. government and Netscape's
software giveaway have had little effect in keeping Netscape's share from
eroding." A Netscape executive says that there are more important things
than browser share: "What's more significant is making our portal the
number one site" as the preferred way for surfers to enter the Internet.
(Washington Post 1 Oct 98)
MICROSOFT NETWORK BRANCHES OUT
Microsoft will launch local language versions of its Microsoft Network
Internet service in 24 countries by year's end, in addition to the seven
countries where MSN is currently available. "This move signals that we
aim to be a major global presence," says a company spokesman. "We want to
position MSN to be the useful place where people go to get stuff done
more quickly and easily." The new sites will be created in nine different
languages, and will serve areas in Asia, South America and Africa.
Currently, MSN is offered in English, German, French and Japanese. (Wall
Street Journal 1 Oct 98)
NEW!
[BITSBYTES.GIF (64527 bytes)]
by R. F. Mariano
Georges... what a terror! Below, in most of the pictures, you can see
the daily tremendous cloud build-up. It poured everyday this past week.
Not all the time, at least an hour or two per day. And to top all that
off... it drizzled on and off almost all the time. In any case, we
would've been in the water already had it not been for all the rain. You
see, the bottom has to be painted with anti-fouling paint before the boat
can be launched. We shall see what happens next week. Keep your fingers
crossed.
[Matt.GIF (63157 bytes)]
Matt Smith, pictured above, is the head honcho of Pablo Creek Marina's
Service Dep't. He has more going on than a three ring circus in the
middle of a Chinese fire drill. As we proceed with coverage of the
progress of Bits & Bytes, we shall delve deeper into Pablo Creek Marina
and the excellent services they offer. Matt is the man as far as I am
concerned. I'll tell you this much... no matter what the problem is with
your boat, he'll have an answer for you. As for the revitalization of
the Bits & Bytes, whatever came up in the area of repairs, refurbishing,
or customizing; Matt had the proper solution to each and every
situation. Stop by and say hello to Matt.
This is the time of the year the snowbird sailors start their voyages
down the Intracoastal on their way to South Florida. There's an open
invitation to all ... stop by - say hello, we're right on the
Intracoastal just south of the Atlantic Blvd. bridge, you can even stay
for a while.... fuel up, top off those Freshwater tanks, do other
housekeeping chores or, just kick back have a cold one or two and enjoy
Florida weather. As old Tom Dooley used to say... Come on Down!
[bnb_port.GIF (45378 bytes)]
Above we see the Port side of Bits & Bytes. Please note the DGPS
antenna installed on the bulkhead. The Antenna Tower is done.
[bnb_port1.GIF (57620 bytes)]
Another Port view showing both the DGPS antenna and the Antenna Tower.
[bnb_stern.GIF (58136 bytes)]
A Stern view that offers a good look at the menacing cloud formations
that haunted us all week long.
[bnb_strbd.GIF (48414 bytes)]
A Starboard view showing again those awesome cloud formations.
[northstar1.gif (8273 bytes)]
What is GPS?
The Global Positioning System is a satellite radionavigation
system deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). At
power on, a GPS receiver roughly determines which satellites
are visible and where in the sky they're located.
The receiver tracks these satellites, and down loads precise
satellite-position data from each one.
Using range measurements to each satellite, the GPS receiver
calculates position, time, and velocity.
Because of intentional DOD signal degradation, civilian GPS
horizontal accuracy is limited to about 100 m, with velocity
of about 1 to 2 KT (95 percent). This intentional
degradation is called Selective Availability (SA) and is a
normal characteristic of civilian GPS.
What is DGPS ?
The U.S. Coast Guard has installed a nationwide system of
DGPS base stations to null-out the intentional degradation
effects of SA.
Each base station is a high-accuracy GPS receiver placed at a
precisely surveyed location.
The base station then tracks all GPS satellites in view.
As the base station knowns its location, it calculates
satellite range corrections to line up its known position
with the position reported by the GPS satellites. These
corrections are then broadcast to remote GPS receivers, which
apply them to their satellite measurements.
The end result: Northstar DGPS receivers provide horizontal
accuracy of 3 meters and 0.1 KT (95 percent).
back to products page
[nstar_951.GIF (48085 bytes)]
[Casts.GIF (10988 bytes)]
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The Linux Advocate
by Scott Dowdle
dowdle@icstech.com
ICQ UIN: 15509440
LOGIN:
NEWS:
Item #:1 Big name backers for Red Hat Software - It seems as Intel, Netscape
and a few other big names have decided to put their money where their mouths
have been lately... into the Linux community... specifically in Red Hat
Software, who still remains a private company. It wouldn't surprise me to see
Red Hat Software go public within 6 months but I'm not sure if that's such a
good idea or not. Anyway, the most of the computer industry media has picked
up on the story, writing about it as a rumor before it was announced, then
then after it was announced. I think I ran into somewhere around 15 articles
or so but I'll spare you all that. Check out Red Hat's press release at the
following URL:
Intel, Netscape, Greylock and Benchmark Partners Take Equity Positions in Red
Hat Software
http://www.redhat.com/news/news-details.phtml?id=163
News.com published an article where Red Hat details what they intend to do
with their newly acquired investment capital and more importantly, the other
things that come along with the partnerships that these investments build:
Connections key to Red Hat deal
http://news.com/News/Item/0,4,26946,00.html
What I feel is a good analysis of the Red Hat situation is available as the
lead story of this week's Linux Weekly News so check it out:
http://lwn.net
Item #2: I decided to slap together a column this week because of the lead
news item: Big name backers for Red Hat Software. After having read so many of
the articles before and after the announcement of the investments in Red Hat
software, I think the most centered or subjective view of the situation came
from Linus Torvalds himself in an online interview. ZDTV News correspondent
Lisa Bowman caught up with Linus and filed a 17 minute RealVideo interview.
Oddly enough, they even kept in an outtake. Check it out for yourself at the
following URL:
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/zdnn_smgraph_display/0,4436,2144165,00.html
Item #3: Avalon gets bigger, faster - Remember the press release on Avalon? It
was a Beowulf system made up of 70 DEC Alpha workstations that was set up in a
matter of days, just in time to submit a performance standing and attain 315th
fastest super-computer in the world? Well, they are back at it. They have
increased Avalon from 70 nodes to 140 nodes. This increase in hardware, given
the linear nature of the Beowulf parallel processing model, has increased
their performance drastically. It now runs the parallel Linpack benchmark at
47.7 Gflops (up from 19.7).
A new paper that details the use and performance of Avalon when it was still
at
7- nodes is available at the following URL:
http://loki-www.lanl.gov/papers/sc98/
The Avalon folks have also produced a FAQ which does provide updated
performance information. You can find it at the following URL:
http://cnls.lanl.gov/avalon/FAQ.html
Item #4: Microsoft, legal expert question Linux's free model - It appears to
me that the FUD has started flowing... from Microsoft. It's hard to build a
business on free software, or so they claim. I, for one, don't believe a word
of it.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/zdnn_smgraph_display/0,4436,2143512,00.html
Item #5: Linux Leaps Ahead: New Developments Could Put Linux in the Limelight
for Good - Jesse Berst, ZDNet's AnchorDesk Editorial Director wrote a piece
where he starts off with, "Okay, I admit it. Linux could be gaining momentum
faster than I expected." Seems like he is straddling the fence to me. Find it
at the following URL: http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_2587.html
Item #6: Microsoft Windows NT 5.0 vs. Red Hat Linux 5.1 - Rex Baldazo from
builder.com does a review that compares the NT 5 beta 2 with Red Hat Linux
5.1. While his review gives Linux the winning mark, there are a few things
that he overlooked that would have given it even more of a win. For example,
he talks about remote administration and limits his discussion to the raw
command line system administration as if there weren't any other way to
administer the system. I guess he wasn't aware of the linuxconf package that
Red Hat adopted with 5.1 that allows for complete administration from every
display type you can think of: 1) Full screen text mode, 2) X Window System
GUI based, and 3) WWW Form based. Even though he over looked that part, it's
still a darn good review so check it out at the following URL:
http://www.builder.com/Servers/RexTech/092198/?st.cn.fd.gen.bl
Item #7: Transmeta transmogrified by Linux founder - Here's a story that
claims, without siting the source, that Linus Torvalds has helped reshaped
Transmeta into a company that is designing a CPU specifically for Windows NT 5
and Linux. I find this story questionable but it's all we have for info on
what Transmeta is doing so it's worth a read. Treat it with a grain of salt
though. http://www.theregister.co.uk/980928-000002.html
SPOTLIGHT: Wabi Revisited
Last column I neglected to include a screenshot of what Wabi looks like in
action so I rectified the situation this column. Below you will see a screen
capture from my desktop machine running the X Window System at 800x600
resolution at 8-bit color. I packed a lot into the screenshot but that's KDE
as the window manager.
[wabi.gif (41461 bytes)]
As you can see, I have a number of Windows 3.xx programs loaded. I didn't
haven't gotten around to installing any third party software Windows software
to run under Wabi yet, so everything you see there comes with Windows 3.x. If
you look closely enough you see: 1) the Program Manager, 2) the File Manager,
3) Paintbrush, 4) MS Write, 5) Solitaire, and 6) the Control Panel. I had
Mindsweeper running too but couldn't but my display was so cramped I couldn't
find room to put it where it too could be seen. If you look at my KDE taskbar
you'll see button listed as "???". The windows that Wabi opens up on the
desktop don't show up in the taskbar individually and instead show up as a ???
button. That is to say that Wabi doesn't register all of the windows it
creates with KDE's panel but that's not a big deal. Anyway, another look at
the taskbar shows I'm also running a KDE terminal, and Netscape with two
windows open. My point here is that under Wabi, MS Windows 3.x and all of the
Windows programs you run under it are just another X Window System window. MS
Windows is just another program to Linux. Performance of all of the
applications you see in the screenshot was snappy. The windows themselves look
a tiny bit different, cosmetically speaking, then the real MS Windows windows
but that's by design.
LOGOUT:
That's enough for this second-week-in-a-row column. Sorry for yet another, "I
am in such a hurry to get the darn thing out I didn't get a chance to proof
read it very well," column so enjoy my mistakes. Thanks for reading.
Scott Dowdle
[Image]
STR Editor's Mail Call "...a place for the readers to be heard"
Editor's MailBag
Messages * NOT EDITED * for content
From: Frank Sereno fsereno@uti.com
To: rmariano@streport.com
Subject: Quick comment (for me anyway)
About John Mitchell's note in the 9/25/98 issue of STR, it wasn't
Clinton's lies about Monica that got Jones' suit thrown out. The judge
ruled the Clinton/Lewensky relationship was not relevant to the Jones'
suit. I wish I could remember the exact term used when it was tossed out
of court.
Jones' suit claimed that she suffered emotionally and that she was
discriminated against in the work place because of Clinton's sexual
advance. The judge ruled that there was no evidence of either and tossed
the case. She did not rule on whether Clinton made the advance and I
think she basically made the decision considering the allegation of the
sexual advance as being true.
As I understand it, there are three different stories regarding Paula and
none are in agreement.
* In the first, Paula claims to be offended by Clinton's
lewd request and runs from the room in tears.
* Clinton claims to be unable to recall the meeting.
* The third, from the state trooper that supposedly took
Paula to the room, claims Paula was with the Arkansas
governor for 20 minutes, left with a smile on her face and
then said something to the effect that if Bill wanted
another girlfriend, he knew where to find her.
I suppose all three could be wrong...
But it is interesting that supposed perjury in a civil case during
testimony that was ruled inadmissible in a case that was dismissed are
being used as one of the main charges for impeachment of President
Clinton.
Personally, I wish Clinton would resign for the good of the office and
country. The President should be held to higher standard of moral
character and Bill Clinton just doesn't measure up to the standards I
choose. Al Gore is supposedly capable of performing the duties and at one
time had a sterling reputation for his character. Of course, given the
nature of Washington at the present, I'm sure he'll be dragged through
the mud soon as well (at least one investigation about campaign finance
practices is underway). I propose that Paul Simon, the former Senator
from Illinois and proponent of bow ties, be selected to fill a possible
vacancy in the vice presidency. I don't believe there any skeletons
hiding in his closet.
Sincerely,
Frank Sereno
Thanks for the input Frank.
In reply:
Before I look further I believe the word you are looking for is
"germane" as far as the Jones dismissal ruling is concerned.
I do not believe Clinton should resign, be impeached or, for that matter,
be "anything" but admonished for having been stupid enough to allow
Monica Lewensky to entice and ultimately entrap him. (The soiled dress
being kept that way for better than six months is enough to hint at
"setup" -- Not to mention Starr's RAT, Linda Tripp illegally taping
Lewensky's phone calls).
Clinton didn't do anything that any other red-blooded heterosexual male
wouldn't do. What's the big deal?? I'll tell you what it is the
Republican Party is trying to get even with the Democrats over Richard M.
Nixon's "forced exit." Get comfortable with that as I'm certain history
will bear me out to be correct.
I'm sure you've noticed this past week that it was announced by Clinton;
the Budget being balanced for the first time in thirty years and that a
large surplus exists. A surplus, which by the way I also pointed out, the
Republicans are trying to dissipate by pushing through tax cuts that
will, in addition to benefiting only the wealthy, most assuredly, put the
country right back in the hole.
The Republican Party (G.O.P.) has, in pushing and bolstering the Ken
Starr (also a rabid Republican) Inquisition, committed Political Suicide.
As a result, some good GOP candidates are going to get trounced in the
upcoming elections. All because the Newt Gingrich and Orrin Hatch gangs
have been screaming for Clinton's head on a platter. What these fools
didn't realize and probably still do not is the American Electorate the
voters, are more sophisticated and worldly than these GOP clowns and all
their demographic studies give them credit for. This gross oversight is
going to cost the GOP dearly in the upcoming National Elections.
I would not be the least bit surprised if the voters hung the GOP "out to
dry" as some sort of a statement making it abundantly clear they are sick
and tired of watching the GOP having wasted another four years they
could've put to good use in helping this country come closer to solving
its social ills. Instead the GOP blew millions on chasing Clinton not to
mention the tens of thousands of hours of time lost peering "luridly"
into Clinton's ever so private and personal life.
Clinton will finish his term out and the GOP will come away with the
Starr, Jones, Lewensky, Tripp slime all over them. The GOP lost out on
this matter big time. When you mud wrestle with a pig, all you manage to
do is piss off the pig and get mud all over yourself. A very wise and
learned plain old gent taught me that idiom some time ago.
[Image]
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STReport International Online Magazine
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Classics & Gaming Section
Editor Dana P. Jacobson
dpj@streport.com
From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
Can you believe that it's October already? Wow...
Most of what I had to say was said last week. I've been in a really foul
mood the past couple of weeks - "end of fiscal year budget blues" has
occurred again and senior administration can't seem to make a decision
concerning budgets. Seems they wanted a million dollars out of our
budget. When the proposal was submitted, we gave them most of the money
but also spelled out what services would have to be eliminated to achieve
the goal. Naturally, we were told that these services were necessary and
we couldn't eliminate them. Someone has to pay for them! Well, our
proposals went into a pile and not accepted. Where that leaves us is in
limbo. My guess is that the initial budgets (before we raped them with
cuts) will go into effect. Typical bureaucracy at its finest...
Until next time...
AtariNews: On The Prowl
09/28/98
LATEST HEADLINES:
PROTECTOR IS COMING TO A JAGUAR NEAR YOU
Protector, a 2D shooter in the spirit of Defender, is making its way to
the Jaguar. Carl Forhan has obtained the rights to the complete source
and graphics, and estimates it to be about 80% complete. He has
everything necessary to finish Protector, and has already made some
improvements to the code. This game will offer rendered enemies and
explosions, Three layers of parallax scrolling, Enhanced audio and
in-game music, Lots of enemies in over 40 levels, and all running at 60
frames per second! If you like classic shooters like Defender and Raiden,
this sounds like one game you have to get!
http://www.millcomm.com/~forhan/prot.html
SEE THE WORLD OF ATARI ON YOUR TELEVISION!
As mentioned in a previous AtariNews, Mark Santora is producing a video
taped at WOA '98. It is running in at just under two hours, and there are
a couple of added bonuses. Stephanie Wukovitz of 4Play and the music of
BattleSphere will be producing original music for the video. And a bonus
video clip from the future Jaguar game Protector was also added as a way
of helping current Jaguar projects.
http://home.earthlink.net/~santora/woav.htm
STILL MORE CLASSIC FUN FROM TIGER
In a continuation of its classic-themed handheld electronic games, Tiger
is now offering three titles familiar to any long-time Atari fan:
Pitfall, Keystone Cops, and Rampage. Pitfall in particular promises to be
a "carbon copy of the original" according to text on its packaging. Check
out your favorite toy or discount store for these new titles.
LAST CHANCE AT SFX PRE-ORDER FOR THE LYNX
Carl Forhan is still taking pre-orders until Sept. 30th for his new audio
cartridge for the Atari Lynx called SFX. Check out The Lynx Domain for a
description and ordering information.
http://www.millcomm.com/~forhan/lynx.html
SEE WHAT HAPPENED AT WOA '98
Atari Gaming Headquarters now has a complete recap to what happened at
the World of Atari '98, including pictures and audio clips in the Real
Audio format. So if you couldn't make it, be sure to check this out.
http://www.atarihq.com/atari98/recap/index.html
WHERE'S BATTLESPHERE?
You may have already heard about this, but there is a problem in the
release of BattleSphere. Hasbro seems to have lost the encryption key,
and without that, BattleSphere won't work on normal Jaguars. 4Play and a
group of people working behind the scenes are trying to correct this
situation. AtariNews will keep you up to date.
http://www.best.com/~sebab/dvidgames/dsphere/sphere.shtml
Send any comments or submissions for "AtariNews: On The Prowl" to: Brian
Gudzevich (Editor) at: Brionhold@aol.com
Sponsoring web sites:
-The Atarian Atmosphere: http://atmosphere.atari.org
-The Jaguar's Domain: http://www.millcomm.com/~forhan/jaguar.html
Gaming Section
* "Wild 9"!!
* "Deadly Arts"!
* 3Dfx
* Playstation vs. Nintendo 64!
* Moody's Report!
* And more!
Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming News!
Clash Of The Titans -- Nintendo vs. Sony
Sep. 25, 1998 (Computer Retail Week - CMP via COMTEX) -- Sony Computer
Entertainment and Nintendo of America are preparing for the next round in
their ongoing fight for the hearts and thumbs of console game-players. As
they step into the retail ring for another fourth-quarter bout, both
vendors are seeking market-share victories in video game and console
sales.
In Sony's corner, new games featuring well-known characters Lara Croft,
Crash Bandicoot and the Rugrats aim to help the reigning champion retain
its title. But archrival Nintendo has other ideas, as it prepares to ship
an N64 version of its popular Zelda franchise. Industry watchers said the
game is unlikely to deliver a knockout blow to Sony, but itcould rattle
the champ. Sony and Nintendo threw preliminary punches this summer by
lowering prices on their most popular consoles. In the latest round of
cuts, Sony and Nintendo in August whittled $20 from the suggested retail
prices of the PlayStation 7000 Series and Nintendo 64 systems, which now
sell for $129 each. The move fueled sales at a traditionally slow time of
year.
Next-generation console sales increased 25 percent during the first eight
months of this year, compared with the same period of 1997, but the
market will likely end the year up only 15 percent, according to The NPD
Group's TRSTS video-game tracking service, Port Washington, N.Y. Last
year, retailers sold about 11 million PlayStation and N64 consoles, NPD
reported. There's also evidence that Nintendo is narrowing Sony's lead in
the market. Nintendo's unit share has steadily increased from slightly
less than 30 percent in January to about 40 percent in August. At the end
of August, the installed base of N64 systems was between 7.5 million and
8.5 million, vs. PlayStation's 11 million to 12 million, NPD reported.
"Nintendo has been much more realistic about their market position," said
Sean McGowan, senior vice president of Gerard Klauer Mattison, New York.
"They know where they stand, and they know what they have to
do....They're also a lot more credible than they've been in the past."
McGowan predicts Nintendo will sell 5 million to 6 million N64 system
units this year, and Sony will sell at least 8 million PlayStation units.
This would be an increase over sales of about 4 million N64s and 6
million PlayStations in 1997.
Headed into Q4, Nintendo is hopeful that The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina
of Time can further lift its fortunes. A first-party action and
role-playing game, it is expected to drive N64 hardware sales,
particularly to game-players in their 20s who remember the franchise from
previous Nintendo hardware platforms, McGowan said. "Zelda's going to be
the biggest title ever for the N64," he predicted. "Each iteration of it
in the past was a hardware driver. The 8-bit version was one of the top
five games for that platform. People devoted their lives to solving that
game."
McGowan said the installed base of N64 users is large enough that a
blockbuster title could result in sales of more than 1 million units
during the holidays. Designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, whose credits include
Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros., the game follows protagonist Link as
he travels through forests, mountains, swamps and canyons. The game's
dynamic lighting corresponds to the changing weather, time of day and
glow of Link's guardian fairy.
"I hope this combination of a fantasy-adventure story, exciting action
and magical environments will evoke new kinds of emotions in players,"
Miyamoto said in a Nintendo press release. Zelda is scheduled to ship
Nov. 23 with a suggested retail price of $69.95. Conversely, Sony plans
to look for incremental hardware sales among game-players in their early
teens by launching first-party games such as Cool Boarders 3, a
snowboarding title, and Bust-A-Groove, an urban dancing game similar to
last year's Parappa the Rapper, according to one product manager for a
game distributor. The next installment of Crash Bandicoot, due in
November, is also expected to sell well.
Meanwhile, stalwart sequels such as Tomb Raider III and Quake II should
resonate with PlayStation's action-hungry core audience, and new
Electronic Arts sports games are expected to mimic past levels of
success, according to several retail buyers. Retailers are also
enthusiastic about Metal Gear Solid, a PlayStation action title scheduled
to ship in October. The Konami of America military shoot-'em-up is based
on an 11-year-old franchise.
When it comes to deciding which PlayStation and Nintendo titles will
knock out the competition, retail buyers and distributors look for
consistency. As with PC games, they bet heavily on sequels to successful
titles, and consider the vendor's commitment to television advertising
and to producing a video game in high volume. "The bottom line is, if
it's on TV, it's going to be a big title," said the product manager for a
game distributor.
Eric Johnson, senior vice president of North American marketing for
Activision, said video games in the sports, driving, fighting and action
genres consistently sell well, and many publishers are mixing genres in
an attempt to provide players with new experiences. According to a
national retail buyer, that's part of Zelda's appeal. The title's action
elements make the game play faster than traditional "turn-based"
role-playing games, in which players must wait for others to make a move
before they respond. Retailers have big plans for Zelda. Electronics
Boutique, for example, plans to bundle the Nintendo 64 system, a copy of
Zelda (which it also will sell separately for $59.99), an EB gamepad,
Nintendo Performance TremorPak, a Zelda strategy guide book and a
one-year extended service plan covering the hardware for $199.99.
The offer becomes $10 sweeter with Nintendo's Bonus Bucks coupon program
for all the company's retailers, which began this month. The coupons,
valid through March 31, may be applied to Nintendo 64 controllers, the
RumblePak accessory and 23 first-party games, including Zelda. A Nintendo
spokeswoman said the $10 rebate is an aggressive move for the
conservative company. "That kind of pricing allows new consumers to enter
the fray," she said.
Prior to the August price cuts, Sony and Nintendo lowered the minimum
price at which retailers may advertise the companies' systems. At the
Electronic Entertainment Expo in May, Sony announced its PlayStation 7000
series package-a PlayStation system with an upgraded Force Feedback
controller-priced at $149. The older 5000 series PlayStation was reduced
to $129 to clear inventory from the channel. Nintendo reacted by reducing
the price of the N64 to $129 through September, calling it a temporary
measure. The company held its minimum advertised price at $149.
Nintendo in June reduced its N64 MAP to $129, which let retailers use
that price point to draw customers into stores. Meanwhile, Sony held its
MAP for both PlayStation systems at $149. But in August, Sony reduced the
price of the PlayStation 7000 series to $129. Nintendo followed by
announcing its $129.95 SRP would become permanent, and provided a further
incentive to buy with the Bonus Bucks program.
Moody's Says Sony Leads in Video Game Software War
TOKYO, Sept. 29 (Kyodo) -- Sony Corp.'s PlayStation video game machine is
outpacing its rivals amid a shift in the game industry to
"software-driven demand" from "hardware-driven demand," Moody's Investors
Service said in a report released Tuesday. The game industry is
undergoing rapid change and the pace is accelerating year after
year...The current winners are Sony's PlayStation hardware, and software
developers which strongly allied with PlayStation, such as Namco Ltd.,
Capcom Co. and Square Co.," the U.S. credit rating agency said.
"The key to Sony's success lies in PlayStation's software lineup, which
it improved through alliances with major video game software developers,"
Moody's said, noting that more than 500 new software titles were
developed for the PlayStation platform in 1997 alone. But Moody's said it
is uncertain who will lead in producing the next-generation video game
machine, as Sega Enterprises Ltd. is about to launch its 128-bit game
machine Dreamcast in November 1998, hoping to recoup losses from sales of
Sega Saturn, its current game machine. "The outcome of the next stage is
unpredictable, since previous stages have proven that leadership in this
industry is transitory," Moody's said.
Sega Selects The Duck Corporation's TrueMotion
NEW YORK (Sept. 28) BUSINESS WIRE - Sept. 28, 1998 - The Duck
Corporation, a major provider of video software solutions for the
computer and videogame industries, today announced that Sega Enterprises,
Ltd. of Japan has licensed The Duck Corporation's award-winning
TrueMotion(R) video compression technology for inclusion in
Dreamcast(tm), Sega's ultimate gaming system. With TrueMotion, Dreamcast
will provide gamers with theater-quality video sequences.
Scheduled to launch Nov. 27, 1998, in Japan and in the fall of 1999 in
North America and Europe, Dreamcast has been hailed in the press as "an
amazing machine." Dreamcast features a graphics engine delivering 128-bit
performance in 3D graphics calculations, a 64-channel audio processor
with surround sound capabilities and modem support for point-to-point or
massive multiplayer networked gaming.
Dreamcast also offers developers a choice of operating systems. One is an
optimized version of the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) CE operating system with
DirectX(R) services. The other is a set of application programming
interfaces provided by Sega. Both options were customized for advanced
gaming applications and offer efficiencies in game development. With Duck
video compression technology optimized for Dreamcast, TrueMotion delivers
superior quality video to this revolutionary gaming platform.
"Dreamcast's optimized architecture combines the very best features of
console, PC and Internet gaming into one system that outperforms all
other in-home gaming technologies. In designing Dreamcast's fundamental
tool set, Sega turned to The Duck Corporation with its leadership in
digital video to ensure that Dreamcast is equipped with the ultimate in
high-performance video," said Mr. Hideki Sato, corporate senior vice
president, Consumer Products Business Group, Sega. Dan Miller, president
of The Duck Corporation, said: "Dreamcast, with its extremely
high-performance architecture and unrivaled level of total system
performance, is going to change the competitive landscape in video
gaming. We at Duck are pleased to be a partner in this revolutionary
development. In selecting TrueMotion, Sega has chosen to provide gamers
with a super exciting video experience. In addition, the community of
game developers can make their creations even more realistic, more
suspenseful - an edge-of-the-seat experience that can come only
fromTrueMotion."
Reporters covering the video game industry are eagerly anticipating the
arrival of Sega Dreamcast. Steven L. Kent, Seattle Times video game
reviewer, writes, "With 16 megabytes of memory, a floating
point-optimized 200 megahertz processor and an NEC PowerVR graphics chip,
Dreamcast is an amazing machine." In the July 1998 edition, Game Informer
News predicts, "Right now it seems that the new Dreamcast is poised to
make a big splash, with superfast calculating abilities and high polygon
counts." And Dean Takahashi writes in The Asian Wall Street Journal, "By
all accounts, Dreamcast is expected to surpass Sony and Nintendo in
technical capability because it will use the newest graphics, memory and
microprocessor chips."
Attention PlayStation Gamers...Wild 9 Wants You to Push the Limits
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif., Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Shiny Entertainment, a
subsidiary of Interplay Entertainment Corp. and the company who brought
you Earthworm Jim(TM), is pleased to announce the release of Wild 9(TM)!
This single player, save the universe, action game from Shiny
Entertainment was created exclusively for the PlayStation(R) and will hit
PlayStaton retail shelves just in time for wild fun this weekend! As
Wex-Major, players will join a team of nine ragtag teenagers in their
quest to save the universe, torturing their enemies every step of the
way.
"The Wild 9 development team are a talented group that sought to push the
limits of PlayStation gaming," stated David Perry, president of Shiny.
"Wild 9 is proof that the days of simple puzzles and side scrolling are
long behind us. Gamers want to be challenged; they want unique weapons
systems and diverse levels that offer varied game play. Wild 9 delivers
this kind of sophistication while never losing track of the fun factor."
As Wex-Major, a 21st century earthling teenager lost in the midst of
another universe playing host to a galactic war, Wild 9 players will
venture through 13 levels in search of the evil Karn. Accompanying him on
his voyage are a band of eight other teenage aliens whose homes and
families have been destroyed by the evil Karn and his tyrannical
organization of LEGM (Little, Evil, Green Men) bent on universal
destruction. Gamers will pole-vault walls and chasms, float on air
currents, ride a jet bike and a wild beast, launch a kaleidoscope of
flashing hoops of fire and explosions and burn their enemies to a crisp
using The Rig (the ultimate torture weapon).
"Just as it should be, the Wild 9 marketing effort has been a direct
reflection of the kind of game it is, unique and HUGE!" exclaimed Karen
Schohan, director of marketing at Interplay. "We've created four print
campaigns, a pre-sell video direct mail campaign, a now infamous 99 hour
marathon gaming contest at the Playboy Mansion and a multi-million dollar
national television campaign that begins to air October 6th. We've even
partnered up with Sony to include a Wild 9 demo packed into every
PlayStation game console through the holiday season. Wild 9 has merited
the largest PlayStation marketing campaign in Interplay's history!" For
more information about Wild 9, visit the official Wild 9 website at
www.Wild9.com. Better yet, head down to your local PlayStation retailer
to pick up the complete Wild 9 experience!
3Dfx Gunning For Console Parity
Sep. 25, 1998 (MULTIMEDIA WIRE, Vol. 5, No. 186 via COMTEX) -- 3Dfx
Interactive believes its brand can transcend the PC platform in gamers'
eyes, and is using 3Dfx-optimized software to drive sales of hardware
featuring its chips. The company -- probably the first 3D chip
manufacturer to recognize the crucial importance of branding -- is
working to make 3Dfx a gaming platform in itself, alongside PlayStation
and N64.
"We believe strongly that software does sell the hardware," says Darlene
Kindler, VP, developer relations. "We're keen to educate the consumer."
Lacking the margins necessary for significant marketing dollars, the
company instead partners with retailers, such as Electronics Boutique and
Babbage's. These partnerships can take the form of in-store 3Dfx
sections, for example. And this strategy is bearing fruit, the company
claims. Sales of hardware and games optimized for 3Dfx technologies at EB
(3Dfx's leading retailer) are approaching those of "major console
vendors, like Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64," 3Dfx said this week.
That somewhat vague statement could be read as an attempt to throw a sop
to anxious investors, whom 3Dfx warned last week could expect
less-than-anticipated retail sales for fiscal Q3 due to a
larger-than-expected seasonal slowdown. 3Dfx and its competitors are at
the mercy of the retail and OEM channels, and tend to experience a lag
time of 60-90 days, as chips make their way onto boards and into stores.
Nevertheless, 3Dfx sales have been strong, Kindler says. "In the gaming
community, console has been king...The fact that we're tracking and
challenging those [PSX and N64] numbers really puts us in a platform
category."
Infogrames Returns To PSX, Boosts PC
Sep. 28, 1998 (MULTIMEDIA WIRE, Vol. 5, No. 187 via COMTEX) -- Its US
business built largely on the back of N64, Infogrames Entertainment will
look to PlayStation and PC for additional growth in the coming year. The
company is on target for five times more revenue in calendar 1998 than it
generated in 1997. With just under 20% of their worldwide revenues
generated in the US this year, the focus is to bump US revenues to
30-40%, VP of Sales and Marketing Mike Markey tells MMWire.
Infogrames opted to build its US business on N64 because the competition
is less frenetic. "The N64 market for us was [one] that we determined
much easier to stand out in," Markey says. Mission Impossible led the
charge, with shipments of about 600k units and sell-through of about 85%.
3D action platform game Lucky Luke will be the company's first PSX title
in a couple of years, Markey says. It will form part of a renewed
commitment to PSX with "realistically four or five" titles slated to
launch in 1999. However, Infogrames' PSX support won't equal its N64
offerings next year, which should be between eight and 10 titles.
PC is the slow-burner for Infogrames. At this point console represents
65-70% of US sales, with PC the remaining 30-35%. While Markey says
Infogrames feels confident about the company's console achievements, "Our
real focus is to really grow our PC business and become more of a known
entity."
Hasbro Interactive Names Gilman G. (Chopstick) Louie Chief Creative
Officer
BEVERLY, MASS. (Sept. 29) BUSINESS WIRE - Sept. 29, 1998 - Gilman Louie,
Chairman of the Board of MicroProse, Inc. has been named Hasbro
Interactive's Chief Creative Officer, it was announced today. In his new
position Louie will be responsible for developing high level creative
concepts and product designs for Hasbro Interactive's growing line of
interactive games. In addition, Louie will be supporting the company's
online games initiative.
"Gilman is a legendary game creator and visionary and we are so pleased
he will be joining Hasbro Interactive," said Tom Dusenberry, President of
Hasbro Interactive. "Gilman will not only provide us world class
expertise in game design and development, but a passion for making the
highest quality products in the industry."
Gilman Louie has held the position of Chairman of the Board of
MicroProse, Inc. since 1992. In 1982 at the age of 22, Louie founded the
Nexa Corporation, an entertainment software developer that later merged
with Spectrum HoloByte. Gilman Louie broke new ground in the simulation
game category with his creation of the legendary Falcon air combat
simulation, the most realistic and critically-acclaimed flight sim ever
developed for the PC. Louie holds a B.S. in business administration from
San Francisco State University and recently completed the AMP program at
Harvard University.
Konami Ships Deadly Arts, Its First "Create & Train" Fighting Game
SEP 29, 1998, M2 Communications - Konami of America, Inc., leading
developer of electronic entertainment for the home video game and PC game
markets, is now shipping Deadly Arts, a unique fighting game for Nintendo
64. With Deadly Arts, Konami makes history by introducing the first
fighting game that allows players to create and train their own fighter.
Gamers choose from a dozen versatile characters and have the ability to
create new fighters, then change their physical likeness and hone their
fighting prowess. Upon creating their fighter, players enter a training
mode, where they can sharpen their fighting skills by defeating opponents
and learning new moves. In addition, the myriad of realistic backgrounds
available are interactive, allowing players to use them to their
advantage while fighting. Deadly Arts combines real martial arts moves
with full-polygon, 3D fighting, allowing players to go anywhere in the
arena. "I believe this new aspect in fighting will have a monumental
affect on the gaming circuit," said Jon Sloan, Konami's director of
Marketing. "Not only can players choose a ready-made fighter, they can
build their own fighter from scratch. The true 3D aspect of the game is
amazing and adds an extremely realistic feel."
THQ Eyes a Strike With 'Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling
CALABASAS, CALIF. (Sept. 29) BUSINESS WIRE - Sept. 29, 1998 - Game
publisher THQ Inc. is looking to roll a strike with "Brunswick Circuit
Pro Bowling," which ships Tuesday to retailers worldwide. The game is
available for a suggested retail price of $34.95 for personal computers
and $39.95 for the PlayStation game console. The most realistic 3-D
bowling simulation on the market, "Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling"
features the sport's best known license, including 13 Brunswick pro
bowlers, authentic tournaments, state-of-the-art equipment and family
fun.
"No other game that we've seen compares to the realistic ball and pin
action in 'Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling,'" said Germaine Gioia, vice
resident, marketing, THQ. "We set out to create a game that was both
true-to-life and fun to play. We think we've achieved both of those
goals." "We couldn't be happier with the game's honest bowling simulation
aspects that will appeal to both competitive and recreational bowlers,"
said J.T. McDonald, director of marketing, Brunswick Consumer Products.
"This game is a strong entrant into the interactive entertainment arena,
and provides a great opportunity to extend the appeal of the sport to new
and younger fans."
In "Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling," play against, or as, any pro. Video
introductions of each of the 13 masterful Brunswick Pro Staff bowlers --
each with their unique bowling style -- give insight into their
personality and approach to bowling. All of these impressive athletes
have talent to spare, but their real genius is rolling strikes.
"Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling" features six options for casual fun or
high-pressure competition: Exhibition Mode offers friendly competition
against the pros. Select Practice Mode to tackle the tough seven-ten
split. Try Tournament Mode to see how you stack up against the masters in
serious competition. Get funky and play with glow-in-the-dark balls, pins
and lanes in Cosmic Bowl Mode.
Go for the big bucks in the high-stakes Brunswick Bowling Skins Game
Mode. Measure your performance against the pros in Career Mode, as you
compile lifelong statistics, tracking average, strike and spare
percentages, earnings and more. "Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling" on both
the PC and PlayStation provides virtual bowlers unmatched realism and
control, including lane and ball selection with six popular Brunswick
ball types, adjustable ball spin, and precise power and accuracy meters.
The Create a Bowler feature even allows players to create a "cyber self."
Players can build their ideal bowler from the ground up, specifying skill
level, handedness (right or left), face, build, hair and skin color,
shave, shirt, pants and glasses.
Up to six players can compete at once in "Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling,"
and the personal computer version features a multiplayer Exhibition Mode
or Brunswick Bowling Skins Game tournament on mplayer.com, the Internet's
No. 1 multiplayer game service. Cyber-bowlers in remote locations can
challenge others in real-time. The service is free and features real-time
voice chat that allows for verbal taunts for opponents and praise for
teammates.
ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
Compiled by Joe Mirando
jmirando@streport.com
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Well, it's happened again... that look on
a PC user's face when I tell them that I use an Atari. This time, it was
an acquaintance who does system integration for a living. That's where
you interface a machine or group of machines with a computer for the
purpose of data recording and/or controlling the machine(s). He's a real
wiz-kid and knows things about interfacing that I doubt that I ever will.
And yet, he stood there agog when I mentioned that I not only still used
an Atari, but that I access the internet with it and used it to create my
web pages. The funny part was that he kept looking for loopholes like
this was a game of "Twenty Questions". "Did you upgrade the processor to
an Intel model"? "Did you switch to a Microsoft OS"? "Did you emulate a
PC"?
Of course, the answer to all of these questions was an emphatic "no", but
he still kept on, steadfast in his belief that Intel and Microsoft were
the only way to do anything with computers.
You can call me a sadist if you want to (many people have), but I still
relish 'the look'. It's always the same. It's always as if the universe
is crashing down upon the 'expert'. True, many people do understand what
is truly involved in these things and that all that is required is the
proper software and some perseverance on the part of the user. But the
simple fact is that there is so much information about computers out
there today that no one could reasonably hope to know all of it. If
someone did take this task upon themselves, I feel sure that one of two
things would happen: Either the new facts would push older ones out of
his or her ears and they would then dribble down the neck, or the new
ones would fail to sink in and would run down the back of the head.
Either way, they'd be all wet. <grin>
Oh, by the way, that expert I mentioned has asked me for help in
designing a web page for his company. Yes, I love 'the look'.
Now let's get to the news, hints, tips, and info from the UseNet...
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
In a message thread listing the types of internet applications that
people would like to see, Mike Freeman posts:
"Here are some internet programs that I'd like to see made (if they are
already done, let me know):
1. An ONLINE News reader/viewer/poster besides Newsie or an update to
Newsie that can let the user define what programs to use for E-mail,
FTP, and Web Browser. For instance, I like Newsie's News handling,
but I'd like to use a different program like My Mail for E-mail, and
would like any URL links in the Newsgroups to be sent to CAB instead
of having to either deal with the incomplete browser in Newsie or
write it down and switch programs. Perhaps allow any one of these to
be opened automatically (if I want it to check e-mail immediately,
for example). This would make an awesome shell program for Internet
use. I really hate having to switch back and forth between programs
for everything I want to do.
2. An E-mail program that lets you print your e-mails. For one of my
classes at the University here, my teacher sends us class outlines
for the next lecture, which I have to print out and bring to class.
It's a bit of a chore to once again run my E-mail program, save the
E-mail to a file (which My Mail doesn't do - or does it and I just
can't figure it out?), then switch to a text editor, print, then go
back to whatever. This program should also be one that checks E-mail
automatically every x seconds.
3. An MP3 player and a Real Audio Player (streaming or not doesn't
matter to me) for the Falcon
4. An ICQ chat program for Sting.
Then I'd be very happy!"
Bill Platt tells Mike:
"I believe you can use POPwatch in conjunction with Newsie. As far as
saving the URL, enable history logging on Newsie, and use the history
file as your default home page. You can use the reply option in Newsie to
bring up Everest, or whatever text editor you choose. Newsie will
automatically send the E-Mail to the editor. You can then clean it up and
print it out Hope this helps a bit."
Peter Rottengatter, the author of STinG, tells us:
"Apparently Christian Anderson has taken up the challenge to write an ICQ
client. His trouble right now is that he hasn't got Internet on his Atari
right now, so testing will be difficult. So don't expect it to soon, but
stay tuned."
Jeff Brown asks about doing backups:
"I am trying to backup the data on my Maxtor 7120 Scsi Drive, to a
Syquest EZ135. I have a MegaST4 with an ICD Link2 adapter connected to
the Maxtor drive and then to the Syquest. When I boot up, only the
Syquest is accessible. If I disconnect the Syquest then the Maxtor is
available. Is there any info available on getting these two drives
running simultaneously? I've searched the FAQ sites and have no manuals
or documentation on this Atari stuff. I am an Atari newbie here and any
suggestions would be greatly appreciated!"
Paul Williamson tells Jeff:
"I had a similar problem connecting two Hard drives to an STe. Turned out
in the end that they both had the same ID number. This is usually changed
physically on the drive, maybe a switch on the case or maybe some
dip-switches inside. My Syquest 230 can be changed by a switching
sequence using the eject button. Having said that, it came with the
default ID set to 4 which I suppose is unlikely for your Maxtor. What HD
driver software do you have ? It should have a way of scanning for the
drives and telling you what ID's they are set to. With my earlier
software I has to "relog hard drives" before it would recognize the extra
device."
Kevin Dermott tells Jeff:
"If it's any help, the ez 135 has no internal termination."
Paul Nurminen adds:
"Are you sure you have a different SCSI ID set for each drive? This can
usually be set with a little numerical switch on the back of the
drive(s). Set one to "0" and one to "1" (as an example)."
James Haslam adds his views:
"Generally with this type of problem on SCSI drives, it tends to be a
clash of ID numbers. On the back of each drive, there is usually a single
digit in a window, which can be changed using a couple of buttons beside
it. Basically these numbers have to be different to each other. Change
one or the other and you'll probably find it all works."
Dan Willars asks:
"I was wondering if it is possible to connect a PC IDE or SCSI drive to
an STfm. How would I go about doing this?"
Nicholas Bales tells Dan:
"IDE is hardly possible, but SCSI is with a SCSI host adaptor such as the
ICD Link, the Link'97 or the Top Link.
Hundreds of questions. One answer: The Atari ST Quick FAQ."
Alan Gauton tells Nick:
"I was going to say the The Upgrade Shop did IDE controllers, but now I
think about it, isn't that STe only?"
Nick replies:
"Yep, it is. That's why I didn't mention it. It's in the FAQ though
(http://www.mygale.org/~bales/quickfaq.htm)".
Remember last week when I mentioned the latest version of NEWSie? Well
Charles Mario posts this:
"Version 0.92 seems to have a few bugs. I can't edit nick names for
example..."
John Rojewski, the author of NEWSie, tells Charles:
"Edit Nicknames was not changed in 0.92."
Roger Cain tells John that...
"It gives me 2 bombs when I click on the menu entry."
Charles Silver tells Roger and the other Charles:
"Ahhh, x-out wdialog.prg from your autofolder. Your welcome <g>. Version
2.00 gave me some problems. Never did understand wdialog very well..."
John replies about WDialog:
"I don't have wdialog (any version). I just use what is built into Magic
5.03. Do you guys have wdialog.prg and if so, what version? Can you
remove it and remove the bombs? It may be some incompatibility with
wdialog, but I'm quite sure there were no changes in the Nicknames
processing. It still works fine for me."
Frank Lockwood tells John about his setup:
"Yes. TT030, Magic 5.11, WDIALOG 2.something and Newsie 0.92 = 2 bombs
when accessing the Nicknames dialog. Upon removing/rebooting without
WDIALOG, the nicknames works fine. Jury's still out whether this has any
effect on hard disk cluster corruption/loss."
Charles Silver posts:
"...If someone feels that they *must* run wdialog from their auto folder,
try version 1.98. It doesn't cause the "Nickname" bomb, at least on my
Falcon. Of course, that may play games with something else."
Roger Cain tells Charles:
"Yup, that's right, Charles. I have 2.03 installed (which gives the
bombs). I just replaced it with v1.92 and the 'Edit Nicknames' works OK."
Trystan Negus asks about memory for his computer:
"Having lost my STE manuals a long while ago, I have a question regarding
the SIMM RAM: What types do STEs take? Are they readily available in the
UK anywhere?"
Nick Bales tells Trystan:
"Standard 30pin 1Mb SIMMs. Any speed <120ns (ie: ANY speed), and parity
doesn't matter. You can find them in any second hand computer shop."
Back to the latest version of NEWSie, Dennis Bishop posts:
" As you'll note I'm on v.88, because every time I'm done reading and
replying to e-mail with v.92, when I close the e-mail widow, the program
locks up on me, I can move the mouse pointer but no menus will drop down
or anything else and all I can do to get out is hit the reset button. Is
anyone reading this bug report?"
Charles Silver tells Dennis:
"Yes, we all see the posts <grin>. Ahh, try deleting wdialog from your
auto folder, if your using it. As I've mentioned before, it seems the
TT's have more problems with NEWSie that others. Such is life ;) Using a
Falcon, I just can't duplicate your problem, so I can't help much. As a
Doctor said when replying to a patient's problem. "Don't do that",
(hehehe). Leave the box open and see what happens otherwise when you
continue doing the dance."
Martin Byttebier tells Charles:
"Newsie locks on my Hades too and that without wdialog as I don't use it
at all. I noticed one thing however. Under my usual setup, N.AES/freeMiNT
1.15-beta-3/Thing 1.27/NVDI 5 Newsie doesn't hang. It only happens when I
use it under singleTOS. I normally don't use Newsie but to solved a few
problem a friend of mine had with Newsie I tried v 0.92 a few times
offline. Guess what? 2 lost clusters (log files)."
"Root" asks for info:
"I have been a long time ST user, but know little about any Atari
computers above that line. Which is better the TT030 or the Falcon?"
Nick Bales replies to Root:
"They are different beasts. The TT030 was designed as a professional
workstation, whereas the Falcon was designed as a replacement of the ST
home-computer range. The TT is a bigger number cruncher, but the Falcon
has extra hardware that compensates.
Basically, the main differences are:
TT030
* Case: Mega STE style desktop case
* 68030/32MHz complete 32 bit data path
* ST-Ram and TT-Ram memory (I can't remember details)
* ST and TT specific screen resolutions
* Internal SCSI support
* Stereo DMA sound
* 68881 coprocessor standard (I think?)
* TOS 3.06 (latest)
* VME slot
Falcon030
* Case: STF/STE style case.
* 68030/16MHz 16 bit data path
* ST-Ram memory limited to 14Mb
* ST and VGA screen resolutions
* Internal IDE/External SCSI support
* Stereo DMA sound + DSP sound matrix
* 68881 comprocessor optional
* TOS 4.04 (latest) support for colour icons, etc...
I'm sure you'll get other answers to complete this!"
Well folks, that's about it for this week. Tune in again next week, same
time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying
when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
EDITORIAL QUICKIES
Food for Thought..
* If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have
produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
* If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is
produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.
* The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the
body to squirt blood 30 feet.
* Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.
* Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
* On average people fear spiders more than they do death.
* The strongest muscle in the body is the TONGUE.
* It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
* You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.
* Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than
left-handed people do.
* A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
* Polar bears are left-handed.
* A cockroach will live nine days without its head, before it starves
to death.
* The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached
to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off.
* Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
* Butterflies taste with their feet.
* Elephants are the only animals that can't jump. (thankfully)
Best experienced with
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