ST Report: 19-Jun-98 #1424
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 06/23/98-12:03:24 PM Z
From: aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report: 19-Jun-98 #1424
Date: Tue Jun 23 12:03:24 1998
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From the Editor's Desk...
This is a copy of a letter I sent to the Mayor's office here in
Jacksonville Florida. I wonder if anything will come of it.
Especially after having gone through this latest example of tiptop
municipal expertise. Hizzoner Delaney had more excuses than
results to offer the good citizens of this city. In light of this
recent "weather related" experience, how DARE the Mayor and his
Cronies try to peddle the poppycock that this city is ready to
handle a Hurricane or any other powerful weather system. My
opinion is .. when Jacksonvilles number comes up and its only a
matter of time.. this city will be brought to its knees and stay
there for what will easily amount to weeks of extreme hardship and
months of "executive orders" and "municipal mandates". In other
words, God help the taxpayers and residents in this City.
Jacksonville Florida is not, in any way shape or form, ready to
handle a Major Weather System or any other disastrous, city
encompassing, Event. Except, of course, in "hizzoners" vivid
imagination.
Come now, Mayor Delaney its time you came back down to earth and
stopped treating the citizens and taxpayers of Jacksonville,
Florida like mushrooms. (kept in the dark and fed manure) Put
Station 15 back on full service and bring a screeching halt to the
smoke and mirrors about this citys disaster recovery
preparedness. A category one storm could easily paralyze this city
for weeks. Most of the tradesmen and service people are well aware
of the potentially disastrous problems. Why is it the Citys "so
called professionals" being paid the big bux are not? Mayor
Delaney Please, bring the citys leaders back to reality and
start functioning like a Mayor instead of a glad handing
figurehead. The time for leadership action on your part is now.
Else, it is certain the VOTERS will do their "thing" at election
time. I might add, that the "Emergency, Disaster, Civil Defense
Team" or whatever its called this week needs to be taken out of
the hands of civilians playing the role and given to professionals
in the Police Department under FED "Emergency Services"provisions
and grants. Then and only then will this reporter trust such an
endeavor. As it sits now, its no more than a limp sign post
needing a place to point.
For example;
Here we are nearing the end of a hectic week of Brush Fires
generated by a severe heat wave, drought, careless citizens and
malicious firebugs. What did we learn from this past week of Brush
Fires, Choking Smoke and general disruption of our daily lives?
How about the callous manner in which a certain TV station, in
chasing the ratings, decided to capitalize on this fire emergency.
They simply had to call it a "firestorm." Talk about "selling a
mediocre story about Brush Fires!! The constant reporting that
made every conceivable effort to magnify the seriousness of the
large but very ordinary brush fires. Probably to justify the
naming of the Brush Fires as a "Firestorm". The marketing Genius
at that TV Station ought to ask a survivor of the London Blitz,
Dresden Firestorm, Hamburg Firestorm and Tokyo Firestorm about
what a REAL firestorm is like.
Every cloud has a silver lining...
Perhaps this TV station did something good after all, you see the
Mayor and his handy-dandy non-Florida Certified Fire Chief had all
sorts of lame excuses to offer about why the Brush Fires seemingly
"called all the shots". Please don't misunderstand me, the Police,
Fire and all other personnel in the trenches were wonderful. They
broke their ever loving' butts trying to do the right thing. The
City's Leaders let them down too.
The Obvious...
We have two super huge bodies of water at our "beck and call" they
are called the St. John's River and the Atlantic Ocean. Obviously,
the geography lesson is very much needed. Why... when we find the
other City Agency The JEA is crying about water pressure,
shortages, manpower problems etc., do we not find a committee in
place to study the feasibility of putting a "Fire Water High
Pressure Distribution System" in place that'll take the unusually
heavy load off the City's drinking water supply when there are
such Fire Emergencies?? Mr. Mayor, salt water and/or river water
can extinguish fires just as quickly as the City's Drinking Water.
Besides. we then would be able to bring high pressure water
supplies directly to the repetitious problem areas thus
eliminating the slow and inefficient water taker shuttles.
The not so Obvious...
To take the thought a step or two further, what would stop the
City from erecting a spraying system similar to those used in
mega-farming where the systems could be strategically placed to
CONTAIN and EXTINGUISH any future brush fires. This would free up
the Fire Companies to respond quickly to life and property
threatening situations without thinning frontline defenses against
such brush fires.
The Plea...
Mr. Mayor, this City's needs in the areas of Water Management,
Fire Control and Disaster Management are screaming for major
upgrading. Are we ever to see these things come to pass or will we
be forced to endure a continued litany of excuses, bans and other
sidestepping actions that lead nowhere except for perhaps very
temporary "fixes"????
Folks,
Jacksonville is a wonderful city. It kills me be witness to the
gross lack of foresight and wisdom jumping up at every turn. I
could say its politics as usual but that's not entirely
accurate... at least with politics, you get to see some positive
results. These guys simply "do their thing" and ignore the
overall welfare of the city. Here's another example; A few of
the Heads of this city are also ex State employee's. That's fine,
but when they are quietly introducing legislation before the City
Council to be able to use their State time tacked onto their City
Time thus increasing their length of service... to gain retirement
conditions (time served) to both increase benefits and afford
possible "double dipping" for the Mayor, City Attorney and
others. If that's the case, what about those folks who served
time in the Military, worked for private companies or were in
their own business before entering public service?? Should they
too, be given "Gain Time" to grab full city pensions without the
length of required CITY service being met?? I feel its a rip-off!
And an insult to all those City workers who worked the full twenty
to be able to retire at full benefits!!
Agree? Disagree?? ... Let me hear from you.
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STReport Headline News
LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Things You Didn't Know About Computers
JUN 17, 1998, M2 Communications - As part of the
celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the birth of the
modern computer, ICL presents the following facts.
* The abacus, a simple counting aid, is said to have
been invented in Babylonia (now Iraq) in the fourth
century B.C.
* The first mechanical calculator was built in 1623 by a
German professor called Wilhelm Schickard. It worked
but never made it beyond the prototype stage.
* The original idea for the modern computer came from
Charles Babbage who conceived his steam powered
"Difference Engine" in the 1820s.
* During World War II, code breaker Alan Turing designed
a special purpose-built computer called Colossus which
was used to break the German enigma (military
communications) code, saving thousands of allied
lives.
Editor Note: (This is not entirely TRUE... the Enigma
machine was STOLEN from the Germans during the Invasion of
Poland and later in the war another was acquired when a
U-Boat was captured by the US Navy (U-251?) ...rfm
* It was Britain that built the world's first electronic
digital, stored-program, computer, known as 'Baby'. It
weighed 1 ton, was 16 feet long, 7 feet high and 2
feet deep and used 4kW of electricity to power around
600 vacuum tubes. Baby was built by the University of
Manchester. ICL has sponsored the rebuild of Baby.
* ICL's Trimetra server is 25 million times more
powerful than Baby and has 64 million times the
memory. An ICL smart card is 4 million times more
powerful than Baby.
* Ferranti Computers (a forerunner ICL company) sold the
first Mark 1 computer in 1951 which was based on Baby.
The computer undertook the design calculations for the
St. Lawrence Seaway and was used by the Met. Office
for weather forecasting.
* The first floppy disk was built by IBM in 1967.
* Intel produced the first microprocessor in 1971. It
cost US$200 and could process 60,000 operations per
second. It used 2300 transistors, based on 10-micron
technology.
* Atari produced the first commercial video game, Pong,
in 1972.
* The MITS Altair 8800 was launched in 1975 as the first
"personal" computer.
* The first Apple computer was sold in 1976. It came in
kit form and cost US$666.66.
* The first demonstration of the Space Invaders game was
made by Taito in Japan in 1979. In the same year Atari
produced the first coin-operated Asteroids game
machine.
* The first IBM PC came with just 16KB of memory.
* Once the UK's flagship computer manufacturer, ICL is
today a leading supplier of IT services and plans to
relist on the London Stock Exchange in 2000.
* The UK has the fastest growing software and services
sector in Europe, worth over GBP 15 billion (UK growth
rate 21% per annum). Shares in IT services companies
are booming and have outperformed the FTSE 100 by over
50% since January 1998.
* The Commodore 64 microcomputer is the best selling
computer of all time, with estimated sales of 17-22
million units.
* Microsoft Windows was originally called Interface
Manager.
* A report by the Baruch Collete-Harris Poll (1997)
states that 45% of Internet users are over the age of
40, and 19% are 50 or over.
* Saudi Arabia confines Internet access to universities
and hospitals.
* 1995 saw the first official Internet wiretap in the US
by the Secret Service and Drug Enforcement Agency
(DEA). It resulted in the apprehension of three
individuals who were illegally manufacturing and
selling cell phone cloning equipment and electronic
devices.
* Senior.com, an information web site aimed at people
over 50, is currently ranked as the best web site on
the Internet in the 'Web 100' rankings.
* In 1993 there were 130 websites world-wide. Now there
are over two million.
* There are at least 40 million internet e-mail
addresses in use world-wide.
* In 1945 the then-chairman of IBM predicted there would
only ever be a need for 5 computers worldwide.
* ICL predicts that in 50 years time there may be as
many as 1,000 microchips (mini-computers) for every
person on the planet.
Fifty years ago this week the modern computer was born when
engineers at the University of Manchester ran 'Baby' - the
world's first computer capable of storing a program in its
memory. To mark the 50th anniversary of Baby, ICL and the
Computer Conservation Society have rebuilt Baby which now
resides in the Museum of Science and Industry in
Manchester. This week will feature a series of celebrations
culminating in the replica Baby re-running the original
program 50 years later to the nearest minute.
Florida Woman Gives Birth Live On the Internet
A 40-year-old Florida woman gave birth to a boy Tuesday in
what was billed as the first-ever live birth on the
Internet before an estimated audience of two million
people, a cable health network said. "The baby was just
born. Everything's fine. Everyone's in good shape,"
America's Health Network spokeswoman Barbara Rodriquez
said. The mother, identified only as Elizabeth, had labor
induced at 6 a.m. EDT and gave birth at 10:40 a.m. EDT,
Rodriquez said.
The network promoted the birth at Arnold Palmer Hospital
for Women and Children as an educational event. Crews
turned a hospital room into a television studio and the
birth was shot from a "discreet" angle over the mother's
shoulder. Doctors said Elizabeth was a perfect candidate
for the event. She already had three children and her
previous deliveries had been swift. In addition, she had
already decided to have labor induced, a necessity for
timely delivery of the event to an Internet audience.
The network said it had been prepared for an audience of
two million, but many would-be viewers were not able to log
onto the site. America's Health Network, which films at
Universal Studios Florida in Orlando and reaches 7.2
million cable subscribers around the United States. The Web
site of the health network is at http://www.ahn.com.
Yahoo! Most Popular Web Site in May
Yahoo! Inc.'s Internet site, the consistent pacesetter for
Web traffic, drew in 36% more Web surfers in May than its
nearest competitor, according to an industry report. Some
30.6 million individuals traveled last month to where they
accessed Yahoo!'s services, which include news, Internet
search, and e-mail, Internet research firm
RelevantKnowledge Inc. said. Sites operated by online giant
America Online Inc. were the second most trafficked, with
22.8 million unique visitors, followed by software company
Netscape Communications Corp., with 18.8 million
individuals.
Judge Clears Way For Bigger MCI Asset Sale
A Federal judge has opened the door for MCI Communications
to sell the bulk of its Internet businesses this week to
the highest bidder despite a court challenge, a key move to
help MCI complete its planned merger with Worldcom. U.S.
District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson rejected a
request from Cable & Wireless, which last month agreed to
buy MCI's wholesale Internet business for $625 million,
preventing MCI from offering an expanded deal to any other
company for 10 days.
Antitrust regulators in the United States and Europe have
held up the $37 billion MCI-WorldCom deal because of fears
the merged company would have too much control of the
Internet. MCI's sale of its wholesale Internet business to
Cable & Wireless was intended to mollify those concerns,
but regulators subsequently said the divestiture was
inadequate and MCI is now preparing to divest more Internet
services.
Cable & Wireless filed suit against MCI Wednesday after
learning of MCI's plan to offer a revised package of
assets, including those it bought to other bidders. Cable &
Wireless charged that, under the original sales agreement,
MCI was obligated to first offer it a chance to buy any
revised package. But during a 40-minute hearing, Judge
Jackson repeatedly asked Cable & Wireless attorney Charles
Lettow why MCI could not invoke a simple $25 million
termination provision in the earlier sales contract.
"Why could not MCI decide the transaction is void and pay
the $25 million?" Jackson asked. "It seems that's an option
open to them." Lettow said that other provisions of the
contract required MCI to first negotiate in "good faith"
with Cable & Wireless. Asked for evidence that MCI would
not negotiate in good faith, Lettow said "because they told
us they wouldn't."
MCI attorney Phillip Cohan told the judge that regulators
have not disclosed specifically what assets needed to be
divested yet. If MCI was ordered to negotiate a revised
sale with Cable & Wireless it would be "toward an objective
that is totally unknown." In the original deal with Cable &
Wireless, MCI sold its Internet backbone service which
provides Internet transmission facilities to other Internet
service providers. But MCI did not divest its retail
Internet services that provide net access to corporate and
residential customers.
People familiar with MCI's plans have said MCI now planned
to divest the retail services as well. But WorldCom is not
expected to put its fast-growing UUNet unit on the block.
Companies such as British Telecommunications, IXC
Communications and PSINet Inc. are seen as interested
buyers of the retail assets, analysts said.
Disney Acquires 43% Stake In Infoseek
The Walt Disney Co. today said it bought a 43 percent stake
in Infoseek Corp. in exchange for Disney's Starwave Corp.
and $70 million in cash. Disney also gets warrants that
could give it a majority stake in Infoseek over time.
Infoseek was up 1 3/8 to 35 7/8 after pulling back from an
early 15 percent gain, and Disney slipped 3/4 to 113 9/16.
Under the agreement, Disney receives 25.8 million shares of
Infoseek and a minority position on the board of directors.
Disney also agreed to supply $165 million in promotional
support for Infoseek.
The Infoseek shares will be swapped for Disney's stake in
Starwave. The companies didn't say what Starwave was worth.
The new company, which combines Disney's marketing with
Starwave properties such as ABCnews.com and ESPN.com, will
operate under the Infoseek Internet Portal Service name.
The deal is likely to boost traffic for both ABCnews.com
and ESPN.com. In a statement, Disney Chief Executive
Officer Michael Eisner said the deal "provides an ideal
partnership for the creation of a new Internet portal
service."
Shares of Infoseek have spiked in recent days as rumors
swirled that the company would team up with a major media
player. Portals have been prime targets for established
media players, which are buying their way onto the Web. On
Wednesday, shares of America Online Inc. gained 6 percent
after the company rebuffed a takeover attempt from ATT
Excite Inc. gained 2 3/8 to 78 1/2, or 3 percent; and
Yahoo! Inc. added 3 13/16 to 134 7/16, a 52-week high. The
Walt Disney Co. can be reached at www.disney.com Infoseek
can be reached at www.infoseek.com
AOL Says It Will Remain Independent-Reports
Top executives at America Online, the largest U.S. computer
online service provider, has informed its employees it is
committed to remaining independent and is not merging with
AT&T, published reports said today. According to the New
York Times and Wall Street Journal, AOL's president,
Stephen Case, and president, Robert Pittman, sent an e-mail
message to its workers explaining the company was not
planning a merger.
We are committed to remaining an independent company, as
that is the best course for our "customers, shareholders
and employees," Case and Pittman said in the e-mail
message, according to the Times. The message from Case and
Pittman was in response to an article in London's Financial
Times newspaper saying the two sides discussed a possible
merger, and that AOL rebuffed AT&T's offer.
However, the e-mail message went on to say, according to
the Times and Journal, that AOL continues to be eager to
establish alliances with a wide range of
telecommunications, media and technology companies." Both
papers, citing people familiar with the situation, said the
two companies had been talking for some time and that AT&T
was eager to buy AOL and use it to sell long-distance
telephone service. According to the Journal, AT&T was
willing to hand over its own lagging rival on-line service,
WorldNet, to AOL in exchange for the right to become a
major provider of telecommunication services to AOL.
Digital Wins Ruling In Product Liability Lawsuit
A jury has found Digital Equipment not liable for injuries
caused by use of its keyboards, the computer maker said.
The jury ruled in Digital's favor in the lawsuit, Gonzalez
vs. Digital Equipment, brought on behalf of nine plaintiffs
in U.S. District Court in the New York City borough of
Brooklyn. Digital said the decision may help bring an end
to growing litigation over computer keyboards, which some
say cause repetitive strain injury, or RSI. The nine
plaintiffs blamed their upper extremity conditions on using
Digital keyboards. Digital, which is based in Maynard,
Mass., and was recently acquired by personal computer maker
Compaq Computer, said the jury returned verdicts in
Digital's favor against all the plaintiffs.
U.S. Software Firms Lost Billions To Pirates In 1997
The U.S. software industry lost $11. 4 billion of revenue
worldwide last year due to illegal copying of programs such
as Microsoft's Excel and Adobe Systems' Illustrator,
according to a study by two industry groups. The study, by
the Business Software Alliance and the Software Publishers
Association, found that almost half of all newly installed
business programs were pirated. In the United States, the
survey found 27 percent of software was pirated, adding up
to an estimated $2.8 billion in lost revenue. In China, 96
percent of software was pirated, with lost revenue totaling
$1.4 billion. The revenue loss estimate assumed that all
people who illegally copied software would otherwise have
purchased the same product, an assumption some economists
dispute.
Microsoft Targeted As Spam Distributor
In a statement that was widely circulated earlier this
year, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates called spam a "maddening
waste of time." Apparently they don't feel the same way at
the Microsoft Network. The online service was targeted by
anti-spam activists as one of the worst enablers of junk
e-mail. As a result, millions of furious MSN customers have
found their emails lost in cyberspace-innocent casualties
of a powerful and far-reaching spam boycott.
On Tuesday evening, following months of warnings and
communications, MSN was placed on Paul Vixie's notorious
Realtime Blackhole List. The List is a mass Internet
boycott tool aimed at Internet service providers and other
companies that ignore repeated requests from Vixie's team
to make their servers more resistant to spam.
Vixie, a California consultant and engineer, runs the RBL
with a team of volunteers, as part of the Mail Abuse
Prevention System (MAPS). The project is voluntarily
supported by thousands of Internet service providers
throughout the world to lessen the flood of spam across
their networks and simultaneously pressure those companies
that tolerate spam into doing something about it. This
mainly involves closing any "open relays" on email servers
that spammers can use to launch their floods of bulk email.
The boycott effectively makes a given range of network
addresses "invisible," and e-mail sent to a such addresses
is bounced back to the sender with a message explaining the
purpose of the black hole. The MAPS team first contacted
MSN Jan. 12 to alert them to what they said were spam
floods being launched from their unsecured mail servers.
After little was done, the following month, one of MSN's
Internet address "blocks" was added to the RBL as a
warning. But the relays were still not closed, and this
week, following a breakdown in communications, Vixie felt
he had to place all of MSN's mail servers in the black
hole.
On Thursday, following three-and-a-half days in email
limbo, MSN was removed from the list, after Vixie received
assurances that Microsoft mail servers would be secured to
prevent their outside use by spammers. "MSN has been very
good about not allowing its own customers to send out spam
and should be applauded for that," said Vixie. "The problem
has been outside third parties who use MSN's mail servers
to relay spam."
MSN has refused to comment on the issue, despite repeated
requests from Wired News. As of May 1997, the last time
such figures were available, MSN had 2.3 million members.
According to Vixie, MSN has not taken responsibility for
allowing so much spam to be launched off their systems.
Once added to the black hole list -- and doubtlessly
drowning in customer complaints Microsoft's first
response was to move the mail relays to different network
addresses in an effort to evade the blockage.
"We wouldn't have noticed," said Vixie, "but we started
getting spammed from the new addresses." Next, MSN informed
its customers that MAPS was responsible for the outage,
without mentioning that the problem related to spam on
their systems. "I have visited the MAPS Web site that the
message referred you to and regret to inform you that we
can do nothing from MSN as far as configuration settings to
your system to stop them from blocking the mail," read an
e-mail sent to one MSN customer from MSN member support.
"I apologize for the trouble, but if anyone can stop this
domain from blocking users mail transport it is the domain
itself. Hope this helps explain things," the MSN support
mail concluded. Once forwarded the text of this form
letter, Vixie said he was only further bolstered in his
cause. "Until I saw the above text, I was worried that
maybe we shouldn't have black-holed MSN," Vixie wrote in a
post to the North American Network Operators Group mailing
list.
"Whenever we have to black-hole something large, we get
mail from RBL subscribers asking 'Are you crazy?' or
something similar. I hate to shake the tree too hard all at
once-the wrong things fall out. But when I saw what
Microsoft was telling their customers, it became clear to
me that this was a battle we could not avoid," he wrote.
Dave Rand, a MAPS administrator, said that MSN management
contacted him to discuss the situation last Thursday. With
assurances that MSN servers would be adjusted to prevent
their use by spammers, the Internet service provider came
off the service five minutes later, Rand said.
Vixie said that the actual technical adjustments have not
yet been made, but that MSN management had told MAPS when
to expect it to be done, "and so we've removed them from
the RBL until at least that time," he said. Vixie added
that MAPS is receiving about two complaints per minute from
the backlog of msn.com customers who are only now finding
bounced mail in their email boxes. "Hopefully it'll level
off soon," he said. MSN is the largest ISP to be added the
the black hole list since December 1997, when Vixie and the
MAPS team placed Netcom on the real-time black hole list
for a month. They were removed after the company agreed to
secure its servers against abuse by spammers.
Junk E-Mail Compromise Sought
Several factions in the dispute over junk e-mail lent
support Wednesday to a compromise bill that would give
consumers the right to insist their names be removed from
mass marketers' lists. At a hearing of the Senate Commerce
subcommittee on communications, representatives of America
Online and the Direct Marketing Association endorsed the
proposal, and a Federal Trade Commission member said the
bill struck a fair balance.
But one group of Internet activists remains unhappy. The
Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail told the
subcommittee that the bill would legitimize junk e-mail,
also known as ``spam." The group favors an all-out ban. The
Senate has already passed a version of the proposal
sponsored by Sens. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., and Frank
Murkowski, R-Alaska. This hearing on junk e-mail was
scheduled before their proposal was attached to a
telecommunications bill that sailed through the Senate.
It would require senders of unsolicited e-mail to identify
themselves, provide a valid return e-mail address and
inform recipients they can stop any future mailings by
replying with the word ``remove." The Federal Trade
Commission would enforce the system with fines. Murkowski
and Torricelli acknowledged that some believe their
proposal does not go far enough. But they said a ban would
go too far.
"The government should simply not dictate, in my opinion,
what a consumer sees in his or her e-mail box," Murkowski
said. ``We have been down that road before with the
Communications Decency Act. The Supreme Court by unanimous
vote has made it very, very clear what it thinks of
sweeping bans on Internet material."
Torricelli said that he ordinarily would oppose even modest
government regulation of the Internet but that spamming has
become more than an inconvenience. Last March, he said,
spammers crashed Pacific Bell's network, cutting telephone
service for 24 hours. Sheila Anthony, a member of the
Federal Trade Commission, told the subcommittee that junk
e-mail is a serious federal issue because it undermines
consumer confidence in online commerce.
"Spam has become the fraud artist's calling card on the
Internet," she said. In response to a question, Anthony
said she thought the bill struck a fair balance. Randall
Boe, associate general counsel of America Online, said his
company uses sophisticated filters to detect and block mass
e-mail. The company has also brought court cases against
more than 20 junk e-mailers in the last nine months.
But savvy spammers have employed a variety of techniques to
thwart filters, such as disguising a junk e-mail's
originating address. Boe said America Online would like to
see the government step in "to a limited extent." The
dissenting view came from Ray Everett-Church, a Washington
lawyer and co-founder of the Coalition Against Unsolicited
Commercial E-mail. He said the Murkowski-Torricelli
proposal ``would allow marketers to indiscriminately send
massive volumes of e-mail with no recourse for the victim
other than begging to be taken off the list."
Web's Banner Days Behind It?
Web advertising just isn't clicking the way it used to.
Online ads increasingly are getting the cold shoulder from
Web viewers, who now click on typical banner ads about half
as often as they did 18 months ago. That undercuts the
economics of a medium once cast as a paradise for direct
marketers. When it comes to Web advertising, Carol Johnston
has tried a little bit of everything. Johnston, vice
president of marketing at Simon for delivering paying
customers to advertisers or branding advertising," Griffing
said. "If nothing else, they may learn something from it."
Whatever path publishers decide to take, some will not
recover from the newest advertising industry twists that
threaten the viability of the online publishing business,
said Jim Nail, senior analyst at Forrester Research Inc.
"It's going to delay the day that publishers start making
money," he said.
Some publishers - such as Mark Evans, advertising sales
manager at Netscape Communications Corp. - contend that the
threats of plunging click-through rates and burgeoning ad
space availability are stoked in part by advertising
networks and brokers seeking to increase confusion in the
marketplace - and thereby pump up demand among buyers for
help in the seemingly chaotic business of buying World Wide
Web advertising.
There are some successesEvans views the splintering of
advertising inventory into premium and low-end tiers as
part of the natural evolution of the industry. "This
phenomenon is not unique to the Internet," he said. "That's
why you have outlet stores." But for every report of
plunging click-through rates, publishers can point to
online marketing successes. Navigation hub Lycos Inc., for
instance, claims click-through rates of 4.6 percent
throughout its whole site with selected advertisers - such
as Alamo Rent A Car Inc. and Toys.com - garnering
click-through rates exceeding 30 percent, said Jan
Horsfall, vice president of marketing at Lycos.
Likewise, News America Digital Publishing garners
click-through rates in excess of 8 percent for video ads
incorporated into TV grids offered at its www.tvgen.com
site. Part of the solution may lie in developing more
eye-catching banner ads capable of drawing viewers'
attention. Better ads needed"Advertising on today's Web
needs to be compelling enough to take me away from really
good content," said David Madden, executive vice president
of sales at News America Digital Publishing. "It has to use
richer media within the ads themselves or deliver messages
that are better targeted to specific audiences."
Achieving either objective hardly has been cost-effective
for publishers to date. Sophisticated databases that can
target users based on registration information submitted to
a site can cost tens of thousands of dollars to implement.
Similarly, placing multimedia ads can be a hit-and-miss
proposition because only a fraction of commercial sites
typically have the capability to carry a broad range of
multimedia ads.
One other possible solution is the development of more
interactive banner ads, which allow users to complete tasks
within the banner window at the top of their screen without
clicking away from the content site they are visiting.
Narrative Communications Corp. with its Enliven service,
for instance, has taken the lead in developing technology
that allows viewers to register for more information from
an advertiser or place a product order within the banner
window itself.
"The banner doesn't die," Modem Media Poppe Tyson's
Griffing said. "But the most compelling messages delivered
online will offer interactivity at the banner level."
Not Much Interest in Windows 98
Overall shipments will be strong for Microsoft Corp.'s
revamped Windows 98 operating system, but there's only
"modest to low" interest in upgrading existing computers, a
report by the research company Dataquest said today. "For a
lot of people, the system works just fine now," said Chris
Le Tocq, a Dataquest director and principal analyst for
personal computing software.
Since many of its features already are available, Windows
98 itself is not sufficient reason for many users - and
most businesses - to upgrade, he said. Le Tocq said
Microsoft will increase its lock on personal computer
operating systems, from a 91 percent share of the market in
1997 to an estimated 95 percent at the end of 1999. But he
said it will do so by selling Windows 98 on new machines
and through growing sales of Windows NT, the beefier
version of the operating system aimed at companies and
organizations.
Some new computers equipped with Windows 98 went on sale
Monday, and the software is to begin retail sales June 25.
Microsoft has been saying lately that Windows 98 is
targeted at home and individual users, while businesses
should consider NT. Dataquest estimates Windows 98 will
ship 56.7 million units in 1998, 58 percent of the total
operating system market of 110 million units worldwide.
Microsoft estimates 40 million copies of Windows 95 were
shipped in the 12 months following its release. But
computers now cost only a fraction of what they did then,
and far more people have them. The report said Dataquest
analysts ``anticipate modest to low interest in Windows 98
upgrades" with upgrade shipments totaling just 5.5 million
units - less than 10 percent of the Windows 98 total. Most
of those upgrades, about 85 percent, will be sold retail to
individuals and small businesses, Le Tocq estimated.
Microsoft's promotion of Windows 98 has been far more
subdued than its $30 million hype for Windows 95, which
included a circus show at the company's headquarters here
featuring talk show host Jay Leno when the program was
released in August 1995. But Windows 95 was virtually an
all-new product, while Windows 98 is a minor upgrade and
consolidation of existing features, Le Tocq said. The
retail upgrade cost of Windows 98 will be around $90 a
copy.
"It is not a necessary item," Le Tocq said. Le Tocq noted
that with computer prices plummeting, many businesses are
finding ``the investment in a Windows NT system begins to
look substantially similar to the investment in a Windows
98 system." In addition, Microsoft plans a major reworking
of Windows NT next year, and many companies will simply
wait until then, he said.
Dataquest forecasts that just under 14 million units of NT
will be shipped this year. Windows 95 shipments are pegged
at 31.3 million with 1.5 million shipments of its
predecessor, Windows 3.1. All other operating systems
globally will total 7.2 million shipments. In 1999, Windows
98 will ship 95.5 million units, Windows 3.1 will account
for 536,000, and NT 25.8 million units. No Windows 95
programs will be shipped and all other operating systems
will total 6.9 million - just 5.4 percent of the overall
market of 128.9 million units.
From 1998 to 1999, NT's share of the total market will grow
from 12.6 percent to 22.4 percent, Dataquest estimates. Le
Tocq called Windows 98 ``the last hurrah for the current
architecture" of Windows, since the next expected version,
Windows 2000, will be based on NT's structure.
Editor Note:
One has to wonder whether or not Dataquest is biased!! So
far, every major issue concerning Microsoft that theyve
come forward on has been either negative or dismal. Windows
98 is receiving high accolades on a unilateral basis. It
has been this reporters experience that no matter where
weve gone to ask questions relative to Win98 and
upgrading... the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
Ranging from "when" to "where can I get it?"
Where in heavens name do... Le Tocq, Dataquest and its
"analysts" come up with these wild and wooly estimates
(wild guesses)? I have no idea but perhaps they ought to
change the brand of Ouija Boards they are using. Their
current results are from hunger.
A T T E N T I O N ** A T T E N T I O N ** A T T E N T I O N
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A T T E N T I O N ** A T T E N T I O N ** A T T E N T I O N
EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed
[Image] Edupage
Contents
House Bill Cracks Down On Online Pedophile NextWave Sues FCC Over Wireless Licenses
Activity
Navy And AOL Settle In Online Privacy Suit In Search Of High-Tech Workers...
Motorola-IBM End PowerPC Alliance Compaq To Cut 2k Jobs
Intel To Deliver Digital Music To PCs The Backbone's Connected To The...
Justice Scrutinizes Microsoft's Hand-Held Nortel Buys Bay Networks
PCTactics
FTC Commissioner Targets Internet Privacy Microsoft And Compaq Invest In Road Runner
MCI Is Willing To Sell Off More Of Its Xerox Targets Ink Jet Printer Market
Internet Business
Update On RSI Lawsuit Against Digital AOL Wants To Be Alone
Qwest Sides With Bells In Two Law Suits Windows 98 Growth Focused On New
Systems-Not Upgrades
Time Is Running Out For Encryption Corporate Universities Are Big Business
Legislation
Digital Wins Product Liability Suit Internet Telephony Gaining Market Share
Kids Software Is Cursed By A Bug FBI Web Site The Place To Look For Oddities
HOUSE BILL CRACKS DOWN ON ONLINE PEDOPHILE ACTIVITY
The House of Representatives unanimously approved legislation that aims to get tough with
anyone who knowingly transmits obscene materials over the Internet to a minor. It also
prohibits "contacting" a minor through an online service, and mandates a three-year minimum
prison sentence for engaging in sexual activity with a minor, using a computer.
"Individuals who seek children to sexually exploit and victimize them are also a mouse
click away," says Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Fla.), who worked with the Justice Dept. to draft
the bill. "Cyberpredators often cruise the Internet in search of lonely, curious or
trusting young people. Sex offenders who prey on children no longer need to hang out in
parks or malls or school yards." The bill will now go to the Senate for consideration. (New
York Times 12 Jun 98)
NEXTWAVE SUES FCC OVER WIRELESS LICENSES
NextWave Personal Communications Inc., which won 63 "C block" wireless communications
licenses in a May 1996 auction, says it can't pay the $4.2 billion it owes the government,
and instead has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and sued the FCC for $3 billion. In
its lawsuit, NextWave says the FCC reduced the value of its licenses by not making them
available for almost a year, and by holding additional auctions in the interim. The
licenses sold in the "D," "E" and "F" blocks went for considerably less money than the C
block bids, making it more difficult for C block winners like NextWave to raise money to
pay for them. FCC Chairman William Kennard calls NextWave's bankruptcy filing
"unfortunate," saying it "underscores again the urgent need for Congress to make clear that
the licenses to use the public's airwaves are public assets, not private property that can
be tied up in bankruptcy." (Wall Street Journal 12 Jun 98)
NAVY AND AOL SETTLE IN ONLINE PRIVACY SUIT
The U.S. Navy and America Online have reached separate settlements with an 18-year Navy
veteran who charged his right to privacy was violated when AOL confirmed to a Navy
investigator that Timothy McVeigh (no relation to the convicted Oklahoma bombing McVeigh)
had posted a message on AOL in which he described himself as gay. Under the terms of the
Navy's settlement, McVeigh will retire from the military with full benefits and money to
pay for legal fees. In its settlement with McVeigh, AOL apologized for violating his
privacy. (Reuters 12 Jun 98)
IN SEARCH OF HIGH-TECH WORKERS...
More than 75% of U.S. software executives say they expect to hire more workers this year,
according to the 1998 Software Business Practice Survey, sponsored by Price Waterhouse,
Silicon Valley East and the Massachusetts Software Council. The big question is, where will
those workers come from? Recruitment worries have risen from No. 14 on a list of important
items compiled in 1996, to a tie for No. 1 this year. "The competition for software talent
is a major concern for the industry," says the national director of Price Waterhouse's
Software Services Group. (Information Week 8 Jun 98)
MOTOROLA, IBM END POWERPC ALLIANCE
Motorola is assuming sole control of the PowerPC chip design center in Austin, Texas, which
previously had been operated as a joint venture between Motorola and IBM. The facility now
will be wholly owned by Motorola, which is the principal designer and promoter of the
PowerPC chip. IBM says it will continue to develop PowerPC chips for its own servers and
other applications. (Investor's Business Daily 12 Jun 98)
COMPAQ TO CUT 2,000 JOBS
Compaq Computer, as part of its plans to acquire Digital Equipment Corp., plans to trim
2,000 jobs from its 31,500-employee workforce, in addition to the 15,000 Digital workers it
plans to let go following the merger. Compaq is also absorbing Tandem Computers, which it
bought for $3 billion last year, and is warning investors that it faces costs for laying
off workers and other expenses of combining operations with Digital. The companies have so
far declined to say where the job cuts will be made. (USA Today 12 Jun 98)
INTEL TO DELIVER DIGITAL MUSIC TO PCs
Intel Corp. is expanding its commitment to online music in a deal inked last week with
Launch, a music-oriented CD-ROM subscription service. The new arrangement capitalizes on
Intel's digital broadcast technology to expand on Launch's service with satellite-delivered
content, including music performances and interviews with popular artists. "You are able to
get the type of musical content (you want) from your PC when you want it," says Intel's
director of music marketing. Launch and Intel plan to test their service this fall, with a
commercial debut slated for early 1999. (Broadcasting & Cable 8 Jun 98)
THE BACKBONE'S CONNECTED TO THE...
Up until now, the arrangements between Internet backbone providers to interconnect their
networks have been fairly informal, and did not involve any exchange of money, says Hal
Varian, dean of the School of Information Management and Systems at the University of
California, Berkeley. The proposed merger between WorldCom and MCI has made other backbone
providers wary, however, because they fear that the market clout exercised by the combined
companies could allow the new entity to refuse to interconnect with other providers, or do
so only on an "extortionate" basis. "The Justice Department and the Federal Communications
Commission can help the business model for interconnection evolve by requiring WorldCom/MCI
(and other backbone providers) to agree to the principle of 'fair, reasonable and
nondiscriminatory' terms for interconnection with other carriers," says Varian. "This
should not mean settlement-free terms; monetary transfers may prove necessary to make
interconnection agreements work. The emphasis should be on nondiscriminatory.
Interconnection contracts may differ from carrier to carrier, but the contract used by a
given carrier should be the same for all backbone providers with which it exchanges
traffic. Thus backbone providers could not exploit their market power to the detriment of
the industry or of new entrants." (Wall Street Journal 8 Jun 98)
JUSTICE SCRUTINIZES MICROSOFT'S HAND-HELD PC TACTICS
The Justice Department is investigating whether Microsoft is using its overwhelming market
share in desktop operating system software to advance its position in the hand-held PC
market. The company is offering a coupon for a free copy of Windows 98 to customers who buy
a Palm PC before June 30. "They're constantly using their existing power as a leverage tool
to create a new market" in other products, says a former Justice lawyer at the Brookings
Institution. "This is just a good promotion that offers incentives for people interested in
getting a palm-sized computer to get another great product," says a Microsoft spokesman.
(USA Today 15 Jun 98)
NORTEL BUYS BAY NETWORKS
Canadian firm Northern Telecom is buying No. 3 computer networking equipment maker Bay
Networks for about $7.1 billion. Bay Networks had been struggling for several years, and
analysts viewed the acquisition as inevitable. "Bay was running out of gas," says one.
"This merger spells trouble ahead for Cisco," says an analyst with Dataquest Inc. "And it
will be a wake-up call for (voice equipment makers) like Siemens, Alcatel and Ericsson.
With this acquisition, Nortel has an advantage over them." (Investor's Business Daily 16
Jun 98)
FTC COMMISSIONER TARGETS INTERNET PRIVACY
Federal Trade Commissioner Mozelle Thompson says Internet Web sites need to change the way
they solicit information from children: "At the very least, requiring parental permission
before information is gathered and used may be enough of a screening process for a lot of
kids. Parents talk to their kids about what stores they can go into in the mall, and talk
to them about what strangers they can talk to. The only thing we're saying here is that,
before kids are asked for information about themselves and their families, parents should
be consulted so they can make the decision... The companies that are the most savvy see the
importance of security and privacy for their potential customers." (Los Angeles Times 15
Jun 98)
MICROSOFT AND COMPAQ INVEST IN ROAD RUNNER
Microsoft and Compaq will each invest $212.5 million for 10% stakes in Road Runner, which
isa high-speed cable-modem joint venture of three entities: Time Warner, Time
Warner/Advance-Newhouse, and the Mediaone Group. Industry analyst Michael Harris says, "The
bottom line for both of these companies is it is in their best interest to accelerate the
arrival of high-bandwidth services to customers. Given the glacial pace at which the telcos
move, they're probably better off pushing the cable companies. But they are really
agnostic; they just want more bandwidth to the home no matter how it gets there." (New York
Times 16 Jun 98)
MCI IS WILLING TO SELL OFF MORE OF ITS INTERNET BUSINESS
In hopes of persuading Justice Department and European Union regulators that its proposed
acquisition by WorldCom will not allow the merged company to dominate the Internet
industry, MCI is ready to offer to sell off additional components of its Internet business.
It had already announced an agreement to sell part of its business to Cable and Wireless,
but the deal failed toclear the regulatory hurdles. Regulators would no doubt approve the
merger if WorldCom were to sell its UUNet operation, but WorldCom has no interest in doing
that. (New York times 16 Jun 98)
XEROX TARGETS INK JET PRINTER MARKET
Xerox has developed a new line of ink jet printers intended to compete directly against
products from Hewlett Packard, which currently has more than half U.S. market share in ink
jet printers. Xerox's new color ink jet printer will retail for about $199 and print up to
2.5 pages a minute. (Techweb 16 Jun 98)
UPDATE ON RSI LAWSUIT AGAINST DIGITAL
Jury deliberations are beginning in a retrial of a lawsuit filed against Digital Equipment
Corporation by nine individuals who claimed that their use of computer keyboards
manufactured by Digital caused them to suffer repetitive stress injuries (RSI) such as
carpal tunnel syndrome. An earlier jury had awarded the plaintiffs a $5.3 million verdict,
but it was overturned and sent back to the lower court for retrial. (News.com 16 Jun 98)
AOL WANTS TO BE ALONE
America Online says it is not interested in pursing discussions focused on an acquisition
of AOL by long-distance company AT&T, and America Online president Robert W. Pittman has
told his employees: "We continue to be eager to establish alliances with a wide range of
telecommunications, media and technology companies." (New York Times 18 Jun 98)
QWEST SIDES WITH BELLS IN TWO LAW SUITS
Long-distance carrier Qwest Communications filed motions in support of Bell operating
companies U S West and Ameritech in lawsuits against them brought by MCI, AT&T and other
long-distance carriers claiming that marketing agreements between the Bells and Qwest
violate the 1996 Telecommunications Act. The Act prohibits Bell from selling long-distance
services until they have opened their own local markets to rivals. However, Qwest, U S West
and Ameritech argue that the Act doesn't specifically prohibit the Bells from marketing the
services of an unaffiliated long-distance carrier such as Qwest. (Wall Street Journal 18
Jun 98)
WIN 98 GROWTH FOCUSED ON NEW SYSTEMS, NOT UPGRADES
The Dataquest research company says that Microsoft will increase its share of personal
computer operating systems from 91% in 1997 to an estimated 95% in 1999, by selling Windows
98 on new machines and through sales of Windows NT. There has been only "modest to low"
interest shown either by individuals or businesses in upgrading existing systems with
Windows 98 software. (USA Today 17 Jun 98)
TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR ENCRYPTION LEGISLATION
With lawmakers planning to adjourn Oct. 5 so they can return to their home districts to
campaign, prospects for the passage of several technology-related bills are dimming. While
legislation to conform U.S. laws to the World Intellectual Property Organization treaty and
a bill to impose a moratorium on Internet taxes may still pass before recess, other bills
addressing encryption export rules likely won't be addressed. "There is a lot of discussion
internally within the administration," says a spokeswoman for the Information Technology
Industry Council of the pending encryption legislation. The Clinton Administration has been
holding talks with software CEOs to try to hammer out a compromise on export controls over
strong encryption software products. (TechWeb 18 Jun 98)
CORPORATE UNIVERSITIES ARE BIG BUSINESS
Ten years ago there were about 400 corporate universities -- comprehensive training
institutions operated by corporations -- and that number has now grown to 1,600. Several of
them, such as the Arthur D. Little School in Boston, have formal degree-granting powers,
and many have forged alliances with nearby colleges and universities to enable students
taking their courses to receive credits that count toward external degrees. But now that
cozy relationship is crumbling, as corporate universities increasingly are under pressure
from their companies to become self-supporting. That puts the corporate schools in direct
competition with conventional universities in the fund-raising arena. A recent survey of
100 corporate universities showed that 10% planned to be self-funded by 2000. "As the
funding model changes to be more self-funded, these universities are going to brand what
they are doing and use their significant resources to go to the external market. At that
point they are a significant threat," says a spokeswoman at Corporate University Xchange.
(Financial Times 18 Jun 98)
DIGITAL WINS PRODUCT LIABILITY SUIT
A New York jury has found Digital Equipment not liable for the repetitive stress injuries
suffered by nine workers who claimed Digital keyboards caused their problems. Digital said
that although the workers did have medical problems, they were attributable to a host of
other health issues and complications. "A keyboard is a tool. It is not more dangerous than
a bricklayer's trowel, a piano, or even a pen," said the general counsel and senior VP at
Compaq, which acquired Digital last week. "We applaud the jurors' wisdom and common sense."
Digital hopes this victory will discourage more keyboard liability lawsuits. "Judges and
juries have rejected keyboard product liability claims 30 out of 31 times," says Digital's
trial counsel. "It would be unfortunate if the courts were forced to spend valuable time
hearing more cases that obviously have no merit." (Reuters 17 Jun 98)
INTERNET TELEPHONY GAINING MARKET SHARE
Internet-based phone services are poised to overtake conventional phone traffic by the year
2000, according to British consulting firm Analysys. The report predicts that pricing of
online and conventional phone networks will converge within the next three to five years.
(Investor's Business Daily 17 Jun 98)
KIDS' SOFTWARE IS CURSED BY A BUG
An educational software program has exhibited an unusual glitch -- under certain
circumstances it can spew forth language that would make a sailor blush. "Secret Writer's
Society," a product of Matsushita's Panasonic Interactive Media, is a writing program for
children that, among other things, recites their compositions back to them in a
computer-generated voice. The problem is, there's a bug in the filter that's supposed to
prevent the text-to-speech function from reciting foul language, and instead of suppressing
those words, it delves into the archives of prohibited words to string together streams of
obscenities that go "way beyond George Carlin's seven banned words," as one parent who
tested the program says. A Matsushita marketing manager says she has heard of only two
instances of the problem, both using a Macintosh and both times, when a lot of memory was
in use. But the editor-in-chief of SuperKids, which reviews educational software on the
Web, says that he was able to activate the glitch simply by writing a passage longer than
just a few sentences and double-clicking the mouse instead of single-clicking. "It's got a
very expressive vocabulary," he notes. (Wall Street Journal 17 Jun 98)
FBI WEB SITE THE PLACE TO LOOK FOR ODDITIES
On the FBI's site at http://www.fbi.gov you can browse through 16,000 pages of FBI files on
old cases that are most frequently requested by citizens under the Freedom of Information
Act, and a new batch was posted this month. The files cover UFO sightings, reports on
gangsters, and other sensational material normally reserved for tabloid publications. (AP
17 Jun 98)
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New Windows 98 Reference & Learning Tools
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Redmond, WA_People who use computers will likely want to add these
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"With the Windows 98 launch just a few weeks away, millions of
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Windows 98 materials, interest in these products will be equally
strong."
To fill that need, Microsoft Press has published several new
products, each designed with a different audience in mind. The
books and multimedia tools can help everyone from an experienced
power user to a first-time computer owner learn to use Windows 98
like a pro.
The Microsoft Windows 98 Resource Kit_for systems administrators
and other IT professionals_consists of a book and CD-ROM with
tools, utilities and accessory software. The kit describes
configuration details such as the FAT32 file system,
point-to-point tunneling protocol (PPTP) and the IEEE1394 bus for
PC-based control of VCRs, stereos and other electronic devices.
[Image] "We're excited about the Windows 98 Resource Kit and the
full line of how-to guides from Microsoft Press," said
Carla Bayha, computer book buyer at Borders Books and Music. "Our
customers look for and expect the high level of technical accuracy
and learning flexibility built right into their books."
No doubt that's just what they'll find with the rest of the
Windows 98 selections as well.
The Microsoft Windows 98 Starts Here CD will be available on June
20. It actually shows people the new operating system features in
action. The CD can help people who are new to computers learn how
to make the most of Windows 98.
Running Microsoft Windows 98 is an 800-page manual including
in-depth information and tips from software experts. The guide is
the most comprehensive reference book for Windows 98, and its
companion CD contains a fully searchable electronic version of the
manual. And finally, the Microsoft Windows 98 at a Glance book
includes screen shots with numbered instructions that show users
how to accomplish specific tasks, step by step.
With all the enhancements to Windows 98, people will surely make
good use of these reference materials.
The Windows 98 operating system improves overall system
performance, makes computing easier, includes new Internet
functions and entertainment features and supports the latest
hardware and peripheral devices.
Windows 98 speeds up performance, so programs will load faster.
The operating system also uses hard-drive space more efficiently,
allowing for an average of 28 percent more hard-drive
capacity_without compressing files. To make everyday computing
tasks easier, Windows 98 includes new desktop navigation options,
including a single-click program launch; forward and back buttons,
much like those found on a Web browser; and a Start Menu designed
for simpler customization.
New Internet features in Windows 98 include Web-browsing
capabilities throughout the product and Internet tools such as
Microsoft Outlook Express, an intuitive e-mail package. Microsoft
also integrated the NetMeeting 2.1 conferencing application into
Windows 98 for easy Web-based video conferences_an especially
useful feature for people who telecommute. And new HTML-based Help
includes troubleshooting tools and step-by-step, how-to
information.
So whether you use your computer to play games or manage your
home-based business, you can take your pick of tools that will
help you make it run that much better.
Montezuma's Revenge
Utopia Technologies, Inc.
7308 Bryers Circle
Plano, Texas 75025
(972) 517-3377 Fax (972) 517-1616
Email: info@utopiatech.com
COMPANY OVERVIEW
UTOPIA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. ("the Company" and "Utopia") is a
privately owned New Jersey corporation. Utopia has its licensing
and business management office in Plano, Texas (telephone
972-517-3377; Fax 972-517-1616) and its creative development and
programming offices located in Hoboken, New Jersey. The Companys
e-mail address is info@utopiatech.com and its World Wide Web
address is http://www.utopiatech.com .
Utopia is engaged in the development of software technology and
content for computer-based entertainment. To date, the Company has
achieved a high degree of success in the development and licensing
of coin-operated games for public locations. In addition to this
Utopia has focused its efforts for the past three and a half years
creating its UVision realtime 3D graphics technology and a home
PC-based computer game.
The Company has developed cutting edge, multi-purpose software
technology, called UVision, which allows realtime 3D graphics with
a range of features, graphic realism and efficiency that is truly
state of the art.
The UVision engine has wide application in the entertainment and
edutainment software markets.
Corporate Mission
The two principals of Utopia made a commitment to developing state
of the art realtime 3D graphics technology in December 1994. The
primary focus of the development effort was in creating a PC-based
computer game to be called "Montezumas Return!" a sequel to a
popular title called "Montezumas Revenge," which had been
developed by Mr. Jaeger in 1984 and which still has a strong
following and to this day is considered a classic among gamers.
Within the past year, the advent of personal computers with much
greater processing capacity and multi-media capabilities opened up
many new additional applications for the UVision technology
outside the game arena. In this new environment, the Company has
formulated the following as its corporate mission:
TO BE A MARKET LEADER IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE REALTIME 3D
GRAPHICS TECHNOLOGY FOR CROSS-PLATFORM, MULTI-PURPOSE APPLICATIONS
IN THE EDUTAINMENT AND ENTERTAINMENT FIELDS.
In the arena of video games, this mission mandates that the
company focus heavily on developing exciting realtime 3D games for
consoles.
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND OF THE COMPANY
Utopia Technologies, Inc. represents the continuations of
activities originally begun in early 1980, by Mr. Robert Jaeger,
who taught himself computer programming as a teenager. From the
outset, the purpose of Mr. Jaegers activities was the programming
of computer games for the personal computer. Under the corporate
name Utopia Software, Inc., Mr. Jaeger developed and personally
produced all aspects of a computer game called "Montezumas
Revenge." Mr. Jaeger was discovered by Parker Brothers, the famous
maker of board games, at a consumer electronics trade show in
Chicago when he was 15 years old. Mr. Jaeger licensed the game to
Parker Brothers and the game sold more than 600,000 copies.
Montezumas Revenge was a major hit during the 1984-1985 time
frame and remained one of the top ten games on the home video
market for two years.
At the end of 1992, Mr. Jaeger joined forces with a childhood
friend, Mr. Steve Bergenholtz, and they formed Utopia
Technologies, Inc. They turned their attention to the
coin-operated video games market, and began work on a new game
system called "Countertop Champion", an innovative PC based
touchscreen coin-operated game. The company became a vehicle for
the two to create and license coin-operated games.
In December 1993, the company displayed their countertop game at a
trade show; they began shipping the game in February 1994. The new
game device combined more than 48 variations of games including
trivia, bowling, pool, blackjack and solitaire in a single PC
based unit.
"Countertop Champion" was a pioneering product because the game
which featured "true attraction" by means of free demonstration
and touchscreen operation was designed to be housed in a
countertop cabinet containing all off-the-shelf personal computer
components. By using off the shelf PC parts, the game could be
brought to market in two months after it was licensed from Utopia,
because no special hardware design or manufacturing was required.
This was a sharp departure from the industry standard, whereby
each game was designed and manufactured using proprietary hardware
that cost over $200,000 to develop at the time.
Countertop Champion was licensed to U.S. Games and was a popular
success. The following year, the Company produced Countertop
Champion II, also licensed to U.S. Games and also a commercial
success. In January 1995, the Company sold all rights to these two
games to U.S. Games (which is now part of Leisure Time
Technologies.)
In December 1994, Utopia began work on the UVision technology,
hiring programmers and artists. Again, this approach was
innovative. Companies in this industry usually develop a one-game
"engine". Utopia focused on developing a powerful multi-purpose,
multi-game realtime 3D graphics technology that would have a long
life cycle. The Company saw UVision as applying to many different
genres of games and delivery formats consoles, coin-op, PC
games, and virtual reality.
A critical economic advantage of the UVision technology is that it
allows a game to be fully developed in 8 to 12 months, depending
upon complexity, rather than the industry norm of 18 to 24 months,
hence speeding up the return on development costs and accelerating
the time frame for following up a successful game with a sequel.
Since beginning work on Montezumas Return!, changing trends in
the PC-based video game's market convinced company management that
adapting its efforts to the console format was a necessary
strategic move. The Company is now shifting its focus in that
direction.
Utopia Technologies
Email: info@utopiatech.com
TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
Utopia's UVision realtime 3D engine pushes the state of the art
with its advanced lighting capabilities. Many different light
types are supported, including point lights, spot lights, and both
local and non-local planar lights. Because all lighting is
dynamically computed, scripted lighting changes and moving lights
sources are possible. Additionally, the 3Dfx version fully
supports colored lighting, allowing each light source to have a
dynamically changing color.
Features:
* Stunning graphics in 65,000 colors with standard SVGA cards
* Awesome 3Dfx support with multiple color light sources
* Bump Mapping
* Realistic, on-the-fly interaction with true physics
* Full six degrees of freedom
* Full freedom in swim modes
* Realistic 3D sourced sound effects
UVision is a full-featured realtime 3D games engine. In addition
to state-of-the-art 3D rendering, UVision features realistic
physics and collision detection.
Engine Features:
* Six degrees of freedom
* Fast Phong shaded, perspective texture mapped polygons
* Multiple, movable cameras and viewpoints
* Multiple, realtime movable light sources (point, spotlight
and planar)
* Support for multiple resolutions and color depth up to 65,536
colors
* Supports all VESA framebuffer modes up to 800x600
* Support for graphics accelerator cards
Polygon Features:
* Quick perspective texture mapping
* Animated textures
* Texture turbulence
* Fast Phong shading
* Gouraud shading
* Chrome mapping
* True alpha blending
* Texture opacity (chroma key)
* Facet smoothing on models
* Shading can be globally omitted for additional performance
* Textures can be selectively omitted for additional
performance
* Z-buffering
* MIP mapping
* Textures of any resolution
* All features can be combined with a minimal to negligible
penalty
* Physics:
* Advanced forward dynamics simulation of rigid body motion
* Analytic collision detection and resolution with dynamic
environment
* Realtime dynamic constraint solver
* Programmable paths
* Reactive programmable environments
* Surface attributes - sticky, slippery, bouncy, surface forces
* Additional Features:
* Single skin mesh with hierarchical jointed skeleton models
* Spline interpolated key frame animation
* Model morphing
* 3D model scaling and deformation effects
* Multiple instancing of objects and hierarchies
UTOPIAS INNOVATIONS
Montezuma's Return is a first-person realtime 3D action adventure
game. It features realtime immersive 3D graphics and fast action
gameplay. Unlike most 3D action games, the focus of Montezuma's
Return is jumping, puzzle-solving and obstacle maneuvering, rather
than destruction. Montezuma's Return will give hours of
entertainment for the entire family, and will offer excitement for
even the most experienced game player.
A few of the game's highlights include:
* being the first realtime 3D first person title not to be a
shootfest
* designed around being played in a true 6 degree of freedom
world - where you have to look and move in every direction.
* the first console style 3D action PC game.
* first to have realtime 3D arms and legs that are used in the
game to solve puzzles, climb on the ropes, jump, swim and for
combat.
* Realistic, on-the-fly interaction with true physics and other
technical features never seen before on a PC such as chrome
mapped triangles and Phong shading.
* appeals to a large audience from Quake players to Myst
players to parent who do not want to buy violent games for
their children.
* 3Dfx ready - will support all 3Dfx cards including Voodoo 2.
* Dozens of unique animated characters
The retail version will includes over 50 hours of gameplay in
addition there is replay value for the player to get a higher
score in a faster period of time. Montezumas Revenge will be
included for free.
UTOPIA TECHNOLOGIES,INC.
INDUSTRY AND CONSUMER REACTION
Following are unsolicited comments from the games industry and
consumers who have played Montezumas Return! Utopia has received
in many hundreds of emails from players and the gaming community.
* A super-designed, engaging and submersive game... shows you
what not rushing game design can do for you. . .
* Overall, I was very impressed and give the demo 9.5/10.
* These folks have done an outstanding job of translating the
feel of the Montezuma's Revenge game of years ago. . . an
easy recommendation to players of all ages. . .
* I haven't played a game that has addicted me so much as
Montezuma's Return. The puzzles are just brilliant! You have
definitely gotten the perfect balance to make gamers just go
back one more time to figure them out.
* The graphics contain some of the best 3DFX usage ever and
Utopia has an awesome team!!!
* You have won my respect as a kick arse games company and I
know that many fellow gamers feel exactly the same way. The
environment that you have created is one of the most
immersive ones that I have ever had the privilege of playing
in.
* I am totally addicted to the Montezuma's Return demo!
* The game looks great...the screen shots got me to d/l the
game. My daughter will love this game when it comes out. I
play the "original" Montezuma years ago...now I have a
daughter who will play, only 26 and I feel damn old!
* Much more dynamic, interactive feel than Quake...
Vendor quotes:
"3Dfx is pleased to see games of this caliber designed and
optimized for Voodoo Graphics technology," said Andy Keane, VP of
Marketing, 3Dfx Interactive. "Montezuma's Return is a fine example
of an already excellent game taking advantage of the benefits of
3D acceleration. "
"Weve seen Montezuma's Return on our Monster 3D accelerator, and
we think gamers will be blown away by the truly awesome gameplay
and superior graphics quality," said Savannah Kimball, Developer
Relations Manager, Diamond Multimedia.
The CWSApps Weekly Newsletter
Volume 3.09 - June 17, 1998
Contents
1. Introduction
2. New Features on CWSApps
3. New Additions to CWSApps
4. Updated Apps for the Week
5. Top 25 Downloads for the Week
6. Cool App of the Week
----------------
1. Introduction
----------------
Welcome to the CWSApps Weekly Newsletter. Each week we will be delivering a message to your
mailbox that is designed to help keep you up to date with the Internet software scene. The
newsletter will offer a summary of the latest and greatest Net software updates as well as
breaking software news and revisions made to the CWSApps Web site.
As always, any feedback you have on the newsletter will be greatly appreciated. Please send
comments (good and bad) to cwsapps@internet.com or fill out our comments form at
http://cws.internet.com/comment5.html .
Enjoy...
---------------------------
2. New Features on CWSApps
---------------------------
This week we are releasing the latest and greatest new addition to CWSApps. Our new Upgrade Meter
http://cws.internet.com/upgrade.html feature helps you determine whether an update is worth
downloading or not.
The meter is scaled from 1 to 5, with 1 reflecting a nonessential update and 5 representing an
absolute must-have upgrade. The Upgrade Meter will be included with all new reviews and will be
accompanied by a synopsis of what's new in the latest update as well as what's new in recent
releases.
Check out the Upgrade Meter in action and see why fans like Jim Van Wyck are calling it "the most
useful feature on the Web!" and why readers like Christy Benson are saying "yet another reason why
CWSApps is by far the best software resource on the Internet!"
We're proud to say that you won't find anything like the Upgrade Meter anywhere else--on or off
the Web. Just one more reason why CWSApps is the #1 Software Site on the Net!
----------------------------
3. New Additions to CWSApps
----------------------------
- FTP Voyager v6.0 German and Spanish Editions - a FTP Client
Location: http://cws.internet.com/32ftp.html#ftpvoyag
Download: http://www.ftpvoyager.com/download.htm (1.9 MB)
Rating: 5 Stars
- Macromedia Fireworks v1.0 Official Release - a Web Graphics Tool
Location: http://cws.internet.com/32webimg.html#fireworks
Download: http://download.macromedia.com/pub/fireworks/english/win/1.0/fireworks-esd.exe
(9.6 MB)
Rating: 4.5 Stars
- Adobe ImageReady v1.0 Beta 2 - a Web Graphics Tool
Location: http://cws.internet.com/32webimg.html#imageready
Download: ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/magic/imageready/win/ir1try.exe
(9.9 MB)
Rating: 4 Stars
- MidiGate32 v8.6.0 - an Audio App
Location: http://cws.internet.com/32audio.html#midigate
Download: ftp://www.prs.net/midig_32.exe (0.2 MB)
Rating: 2.5 Stars
-- Servers --
- Bisonware FTP Server v3.5 - a FTP Server
Location: http://serverwatch.internet.com/ftpservers.html#bisonftp
Download:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/nick_barnes/bisonftp.zip (0.3 MB)
Rating: 4 Stars
- Cassandra v1.0 Beta 2 - a News Server
Location: http://serverwatch.internet.com/newsservers.html#cassandra
Download: ftp://ftp.atrium.de/cassandra/casnntpe.exe (1.9 MB)
Rating: 4 Stars
-----------------------------
4. Updated Apps for the Week
-----------------------------
Note: The '*' icon identifies apps that have shown significant improvement since their last
updates. These apps typically exhibit important new features that make them 'must-have' updates.
- HotDog Professional Webmaster Suite v5.0 Beta 4 - a HTML Editor
Location: http://cws.internet.com/32html.html#hotdog
Download: http://download.sausage.com/HD_Installer.EXE (1.2 MB)
Rating: 5 Stars
* Internet Explorer v5.0 Developer Preview Release - a Web Browser
Location: http://cws.internet.com/32www.html#ie5
Download: http://www.microsoft.com/sitebuilder/ie/iedownload.htm (18.5 MB)
Rating: 5 Stars
- Paint Shop Pro v5.01 - a Graphics App
CWSApps Location: http://cws.internet.com/32image.html#psp
Download: ftp://ftp2.jasc.com/psp501ev.exe (7.1 MB)
Rating: 5 Stars
- DiscPlay v4.1 Beta 5 - an Audio CD Player
Location: http://cws.internet.com/32audio.html#discplay
Download: http://www.obvion.com/discplay/dp410pr/ (2.7 MB)
Rating: 4.5 Stars
* Zip Explorer Pro v2.54 - a Compression Utility
Location: http://cws.internet.com/32comp.html#zippro
Download: http://creative.net/~aeco/ZipPro.EXE (0.5 MB)
Rating: 4.5 Stars
- CRT v2.2 Beta 6b - a Telnet Client
CWSApps Location: http://cws.internet.com/32term.html#crt
Download: ftp://ftp.vandyke.com/pub/CRT/ntcrt22b6b.exe (1.1 MB)
Rating: 4 Stars
- VuePrint Pro v6.0d - a Graphics App
CWSApps Location: http://cws.internet.com/32image.html#viewpro
Download: http://www.hamrick.com/files/vuepro60.exe (0.5 MB)
Rating: 4 Stars
- HotJava v1.1.4 - a Web Browser
Location: http://cws.internet.com/32www.html#hotjava
Download: http://www.javasoft.com/hotjava/1.1.4/download.html (8.2 MB)
Rating: 3.5 Stars
* NewsBin v2.21 Official Release - a Newsreader
CWSApps Location: http://cws.internet.com/32news.html#nbin
Download: http://www.newsbin.com/nb32221.exe (0.2 MB)
Rating: 3.5 Stars
- PolyView v3.00.1 - a Graphics Viewer
CWSApps Location: http://cws.internet.com/32image.html#polyview
Download: http://www.polybytes.com/v300/polyv300.exe (1.2 MB)
Rating: 3.5 Stars
- TransSoft FTP Control v2.66 - a FTP Client
CWSApps Location: http://cws.internet.com/32ftp.html#transftp
Download: ftp://ftp.transsoft.com/pub/ftpctrl.exe (2.1 MB)
Rating: Not Yet Reviewed
- Norton AntiVirus June Virus Definition - a Virus Scanner Update
Location: http://cws.internet.com/32virus.html#scan
Download:
ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/antivirus_definitions/norton_antivirus/0610i32.exe
(1.4 MB)
Rating: Untested
-- Servers --
- CSM Proxy Server v4.1 Patch 1 - a Proxy Server
Location: http://serverwatch.internet.com/proxyservers.html#csmproxyplus
Download: http://www.csm.co.at/proxy/ppatches.htm (0.3 MB)
Rating: 4 Stars
- Eudora Internet Mail Server v1.2.1 Beta 6 - a Mail Server
Location: http://serverwatch.internet.com/mailservers2.html#eims
Download: ftp://ftp.qualcomm.com/eudora/eims2/demo21/eims21demo.hqx (1.5
MB)
Rating: 4 Stars
- First Class Intranet Server v5.11 - a Mail Server
Location: http://serverwatch.internet.com/mailservers3.html#fcis
Download: ftp://ftp.softarc.com/fcis/servers/windows/fcis511.exe (2.4 MB)
Rating: 4 Stars
* InterMail Post.Office v3.5 - a Mail Server
Location: http://serverwatch.internet.com/mailservers2.html#postoffice
Download: http://www.software.com/products/post.office/downloadnt.html
(11.7 MB)
Rating: 4 Stars
- Rumpus 1.2 Beta 1 - a FTP Server
Location: http://serverwatch.internet.com/ftpservers.html#rumpus
Download: http://www.maxum.com/downloads/RumpusDev.sit.hqx (1.1 MB)
Rating: 4 Stars
- DMail Email Server v2.2a - a Mail Server
Location: http://serverwatch.internet.com/mailservers4.html#dmail
Download: http://www.netwinsite.com/dmail/download.htm (1.4 MB)
Rating: 3 Stars
-----------------------------------------
5. Top 25 Downloads - Movers and Shakers
-----------------------------------------
The June 15th update for the Top 25 Downloads on CWSApps is now available. Here are the apps that
have moved up (the 'movers') or have fallen (the 'shakers') seven or more places during the past
week. For the complete Top 25 results for the past week, check out:
http://cws.internet.com/top25weekly.html
You can also check out the results for the entire month at:
http://cws.internet.com/top25monthly.html
--The Movers--
- Internet Explorer - a Web Browser
http://cws.internet.com/32www.html#ie
Up to #1 from #15!
- QuickTime - a Multimedia Viewer
http://cws.internet.com/32video.html#qtw
Returns to the list at #14
- TextPad - a Text/HTML Editor
http://cws.internet.com/32html.html#textpad
Returns to the list at #15
- Cosmo Player - a VRML Browser
http://cws.internet.com/32vrml.html#cosmo
Debuts this week at #24
--The Shakers--
- Microsoft Media Player - an Audio/Video App
http://cws.internet.com/32audio.html#msmedia
Down from #10 to #23
- Eudora Pro - a Mail Client
http://cws.internet.com/32mail.html#eudorap
Exits the list (#31) from #18
- Microsoft Liquid Motion - a Web Graphics Tool
http://cws.internet.com/32webimg.html#msliquid
Exits the list (#30) from #22
- AtomTime - an Internet Utility
http://cws.internet.com/32win.html#atomtime
Exits the list (#33) from #24
ServerWatch.com is the ultimate resource on the Net for timely and accurate data about Web server
technology. Because the Web server market is so unique and changes so rapidly, Webmasters utilize
ServerWatch.com daily to stay current with the latest server products and industry advancements.
You'll love the user-friendly layout featuring the latest news and trends.
Visit http://serverwatch.internet.com now and get a quick, easy snapshot of what each of the
listed servers has to offer.
-------------------------------------------
6. Cool App of the Week - Adobe ImageReady
-------------------------------------------
Location: http://cws.internet.com/32webimg.html#imageready
Download: ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/magic/imageready/win/ir1try.exe
(9.9 MB)
Version: 1.0 Beta 2
Rating: 4 Stars
- ADOBE IMAGEREADY -
Web graphics creation and optimization tools are all the rage lately, and the competition should
only get fiercer as the big boys continue to enter the fray. Tools like Ulead's GIF Animator and
GIF Construction Set brought about the emergence of Web graphics tools. But while these apps
focused primarily on creating animated GIFs, the new class of products widens the scope to
creation, manipulation, and optimization capabilities for all types of Web graphics.
The latest Web graphics tools from the likes of Adobe (ImageReady), Macromedia (Fireworks), and to
a lesser extent Microsoft (Liquid Motion) fill a need currently lacking in commercial graphics
applications like Adobe Photoshop. And while most of the new tools may be a bit on the expensive
side, if you spend any significant amount of time developing or working with graphics for the Web,
the high price of one of these tools is more than offset by the savings in time, frustration, and
overall satisfaction.
- PERFECT COMPANION TO PHOTOSHOP -
Adobe ImageReady is the perfect complement to Photoshop and Illustrator. The app gives users a
complete set of tools for publishing graphics on the web. Image compression in real time,
built-in editing tools, quick and easy animation features, and batch-processing capabilities help
you develop, optimize (via the LiveView window--see Figure 1 on
http://cws.internet.com/32webimg-imageready.html , and animate images.
The interface is a breeze to get up and running with, especially for users of Photoshop or
Illustrator. Many (but not all) of Photoshop's design tools have made their way into ImageReady,
including key tools like marquee, lasso, eraser, pencil, paintbrush, and eyedropper; resizing
commands; image adjustment commands; and Photoshop filters. The new tools are simply intuitive Web
extensions of existing features in Photoshop.
Photoshop is the premier imaging software app, but it has always been geared more toward print
media--i.e., publishing images in advertisements, newsletters, magazines, etc. Rather than
incorporating a complete set of Web graphics tools into Photoshop, Adobe decided to develop the
standalone ImageReady client instead.
While many users might prefer to have ImageReady's set of Web tools built into Photoshop, one
advantage to keeping them separate is that Adobe will be able to release ImageReady on a faster
development cycle, insuring that users have the latest tools at their disposal for the always
rapidly evolving Web.
- BETA 2 NOW AVAILABLE -
ImageReady is now in its second beta and is about a month away from o fficial release. The second
beta release adds several new features, including improved color reduction for better
optimization, support for the recently released Photoshop 5.0, the ability to import a folder as
a group of animation frames (with support for Adobe After Effects), and the ability to make a
group of animation frames from a set of layers.
As part of its support for Photoshop 5.0, ImageReady also offers Layer Effects, one of the new
features in the latest release of Photoshop. Much like Fireworks' LiveEffects, Layer Effects allow
you to apply effects like drop shadows and bevels to an image layer, and then any time the layer
is modified ImageReady will dynamically update the effect as well.
One particularly useful feature in ImageReady is that when you select any pixel in an image, you
are not only given its RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) values but also its hexadecimal value and its X
and Y position in the image. The hexadecimal value is valuable if you want to blend a graphic in
with a background color on a Web page.
If you've been using Photoshop or a similar tool to create Web images, you've probably had to open
a third-party utility or an HTML editor like HotDog Pro in order to find the hexadecimal value of
a color. Thanks to ImageReady, no longer will you have to leave your graphics program in order to
find a color's corresponding hexadecimal value. Macromedia's Fireworks offers a similar feature
except it shows the RGB values or the hexadecimal values but not both at the same time.
- CREATING ANIMATED GRAPHICS -
Creating animated graphics with ImageReady is a relatively straightforward process, but unless you
are creating an extremely simple animation, you'll save yourself a lot of time and frustration by
using a specialized tool like Ulead's GIF Animator. GIF animation tools offer a variety of
features and effects that you won't find in apps like ImageReady and Fireworks.
These tools not only make it easier to create animations, they also allow you to create more
effective and better optimized animations (for example, the animation in Figure 2 at
http://cws.internet.com/32webimg-imageready.html optimized with GIF Animator uses only 8.4 KB,
whereas with ImageReady it occupies 12.8 KB). Two areas of animation where ImageReady does excel,
however, are in its ability to import a folder as a group of animation frames and the ability to
make a group of animation frames from an existing set of layers--two features not available in
most GIF animation tools.
- IMAGEREADY FEATURES -
Features in the current release of ImageReady include support for Photoshop API filters;
editable/scalable text (a new feature in Photoshop as of v5.0),tweening (a cool morphing-like
feature that blends aspects of different images, creating interim instances with transitional
attributes), the ability to create client-side image maps (by assigning URLs to layers in an
image), two adaptive color palette controls (straight adaptive and perceptual, which weights
colors for human sensitivity and significantly improves quality in most cases), a lock button on
optimized color palettes that allows you to "lock down" specific colors so that they won't be
dropped when reducing the overall number of colors, and a Web shift button for automatically
shifting a specific palette color to the closest Web-safe palette color.
Additional features include a Droplets tool that allows you to drag and drop a batch of files and
have them automatically compressed using a set of user-defined options, a history palette that
keeps track of every compression scheme you've tried for an image and allows you to step through
previous versions to compare image quality, a browser dither view that simulates the preview of a
browser on an 8-bit (256 color) display, automatic rasterization of Illustrator and other
vector-based image files, gamma preview and correction capabilities that automatically account for
differences between viewing images on Windows and Mac platforms, and automated image slicing
capabilities (allows designers to split an image along user-defined guidelines for more precise
layout control on the Web).
- LIMITATIONS -
ImageReady definitely isn't perfect, which shouldn't really come as a surprise considering the
client is still in beta release. The client is quite buggy in a number of areas and needs
considerable tweaking in terms of performance. The real-time image optimization is an extremely
cool feature, but in the beta release it takes entirely too long to convert images--especially
for large graphics. Online help documentation is also absent in the beta release.
ImageReady lacks a few of Fireworks' more Web-centric features as well, including its JavaScript
rollover capabilities (automatically generates HTML code for interactive buttons and other
graphics), its support for server-side image maps in addition to the more popular client-side
image maps, and its vector-based interface, which allows you to apply customizable Live Effects to
any object.
Fireworks also edges out ImageReady in terms of optimization capabilities. The ability to view a
nonoptimized image side by side with an optimized image (or even three different optimized images)
is a standard feature in Fireworks that is sorely missed in ImageReady. And in terms of
optimization effectiveness and quality, for the most part Fireworks again edges out ImageReady,
largely due to its support for LZW interframe optimization. However, ImageReady does a much
better job of optimizing JPEG images than Fireworks (except it takes ImageReady considerably
longer to optimize them).
- SUMMARY -
Overall, ImageReady serves as a great sidekick to Adobe Photoshop, but at $199 ($100 cheaper than
Fireworks incidentally) ImageReady isn't for everyone. And at this early stage, you definitely
won't want to throw out your specialized GIF animation, image optimization, and image creation
tools. ImageReady is a huge step forward, but the specialized tools still offer more features
and functionality. But if you're a current user of Photoshop and have been looking for an
all-in-one Web graphics suite, ImageReady makes for the perfect companion.
* Pros: Excellent selection of tools for publishing graphics on the Web, LiveView optimization
window, Photoshop interface
* Cons: Lacks some of the features found in specialized GIF animation, image optimization, and
image creation apps
The Linux Advocate
Column #15
by Scott Dowdle
dowdle@icstech.com
June 18th, 1998
LOGIN:
On a personal note, I've been working graveyard shifts for the last two weeks and I've really had
trouble sleeping which means I've also had trouble being productive. Now being grumpy, that's
been easy for me lately. :)
Hmmm, what's been going on this past week? Lots of stuff. Opera Software has added Linux to its
supported platforms list but who knows when their browser will be made available for Linux? I
guess it all depends on how clean and portable their Windows source is. I fondly remember going
through a round of emails with a representative at Opera Software. This was a while back when
they were soliciting email feedback on which platforms they should support and were tallying the
responses they got. The Opera rep. I talked to noted that given reported size of the Linux
community, they had received a paltry amount of email from the Linux community. I counter that
that was probably because the Linux community wasn't all that interested in proprietary,
commercial software and that if Opera Software decided to release their source code to the world,
the Linux community would come alive with interest. :) Anyway, this was long before Netscape
decided to release the source to Mozilla. The response I got back from the Opera rep. was that
there was no way they would ever consider releasing their source code because it simply would
reveal too many of their programming secrets to the competition. Whatever dude. I look back on
it and laugh especially after Netscape did what they did.
The Linux distribution makers have been busy with releases and fixes. I received my official copy
of Red Hat Linux 5.1 via UPS last Friday and spent much of the week upgrading my laptop and
desktop... and playing with them both. Red Hat has since found lots of security holes and a few
things broken... and has released approx. 69MB worth of update .rpm files. While that may sound
like a hell of a lot, there is a lot of overlap. The release of XFree86 on the CD had a security
hole and every X server was updated, which makes up quite a bit of that 69MB. I ended up ftping
about 29MB worth of update packages. That might sound like a pain but at least Red Hat keeps
their ear to the ground on security issues and fixes problems immediately. The ERRATA section on
their homepage documents any and all problems and provides links to the related upgrade packages.
About the only problem upgrading is finding a site that will accept an FTP connection... as many
of them are extremely active this close to the release. Luckily there are a few dozen mirrors to
pick from.
Slackware has released a new version of their distribution. I'm not too hip on Slackware so
forgive me for not documenting it here in the column. I believe the current release of Slackware
is 3.5.
Speaking of distributions, I'll probably be trying out Debian when its next release comes out just
so I can keep up with it. Debian definitely has the bulk of software packages included. This is
accurate but the last I heard it included somewhere around 1,200 software packages. Red Hat is
around 500 or something.
As stated last column, this will probably be the last time I devote a considerable amount of the
column to Linux news since Slashdot and the Linux Weekly News site do such a good job. I don't
even have to give the URLs for those sites anymore because many of the URLs I'll list in the news
items below are sourced from them.
As noted last column, GIMP v1.0 was released and YES I did have a chance to check it out. The
version of GIMP that shipped with Red Hat 5.1 was v0.99.28 and I played with it before I went out
and ftp'ed GIMP v1.0. To be honest with you, the differences are are so subtle I didn't notice
them. :) In any event, GIMP is a very stable product and I can vouch for that. I'll put GIMP up
against Photoshop any day. As I understand it, and I could be wrong, the development cycle for
Adobe Photoshop has been rather slow in the last couple of years... and several hardware platforms
have been completely dropped. GIMP is aggressively developed and multiplatform... when it comes
to Unix flavors anyway. No Windows nor Mac version of GIMP is on the radar screen and it's not
likely... which is kind of a shame that so many Windows and Mac users can't check it out for
themselves. Hmmm, I wonder how many people would install Linux just to check out GIMP. There's a
thought. :)
NEWS: [in no particular order]
Item #1: IBM changes WWW server direction - The Apache WWW server has a new supporter, IBM. A
story entitled, "IBM to Adopt Apache as Preferred E-commerce Web Server," may be found at the
following URL:
http://www.thestandard.net/articles/news_display/0,1270,720,00.html
Item #2: Caldera in Power Computing - There is a review of the latest Caldera OpenLinux in the
pages of Power Computing, a publication that was formerly known as Unix Review. You can check it
out at the following URL:
http://www.performancecomputing.com/reviews/software/9807.shtml
Item # 3: ZDNet in UK zooms in on Linux - This month seems to be one of the biggest for Linux
coverage in the press to date. I could have flooded the news section with URLs and print
publication references but this single reference should do nicely. The UK side of ZDNet has put
together what they call "Linux Focus: The Linux story." It's a series of articles so be sure to
look through them all if you so desire at the following URL:
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/1998/22/ns-4653.html
Item #4: This just in: Microsoft allows OEMs to go to the bathroom ...Story at 11 - Although the
title is satirical, visit the following URL for a more comparative look at the Microsoft monopoly
power in action. Its a funny read so check it out at the following URL:
http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayNew.pl?/petrel/980608np.htm
Item #4: ICGnu? - A project to offer an alternative to ICQ on various platforms has been formed.
Actually, several have formed. Anyway, most of the info is on the developers front but you may
read about ICGnu (which includes links to similar projects) at the following URL:
http://www.azstarnet.com/~kennric/icgnu.html
Item #5: Linux Ports updates - I've mentioned the various ports of Linux to the plethora of
computer hardware in our computing world but given the aggressive and rapid development of Linux
and all of the ports that have sprung up, it's a rather daunting area to keep up with. I've found
a WWW page dedicated to the task of keep up to date on the statuses (is that a word) of the
ports. Check out this URL:
http://www.ctv.es/USERS/xose/linux/linux_ports.html
Item #6: PC Week: And now for something completely different: Linux -
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/opinion/0608/08week.html
I wrote an email to the author in response and you can find yet another response at the following
URL:
http://lwn.net/980618/brown.html
Item #7: Extreme Linux reviewed - ZDnet provides an overview and an introductory review of Extreme
Linux (Red Hat's release of their distribution with integrated with NASA's Beowulf software for
network clustering at the following URL:
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/reviews/0608/08linux.html
It's a decent review and they come to the conclusion taking advantage of a network clustering
environment is complex and requires custom software authoring... which isn't much of a surprise...
one just can't buy high-power, super-computer, specific research goal software packages off the
shelf. What a surprise, NOT! :)
Speaking of Beowulf (which Extreme Linux is a distribution of), a proposal has been made for the
formation of a Beowulf Documentation project. You may checkout the proposal as represented at the
following URL:
http://lwn.net/980618/beowulfdp.html
Red Hat Software wants to publish a book on Beowulf and has been looking for a writer. It turns
out that Don Becker (primary author of many network card drivers in the Linux kernel) is already
in the process of writing a book on the subject. Anyway, you can read about Red Hat's request as
represented at the following URL:
http://lwn.net/980618/beowulfdoc.html
Beowulf is making waves in the super-computing community and development team well versed in the
areas of super-computing have decided to port their impressive MOSIX software to Linux. MOSIX is
a mechanism for transparently migrating processes (running programs) from one node to another,
either in response to user requests, or in order to load-balance. Information about the MOSIX can
be found at the following URL:
http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/mosix/txt_whatis.html
Item #8: From BIG to SMALL - MicroTimes has article on the Linux port to the PalmPilot. Since I
spent a lot of time talking about Beowulf in the previous news item, it's only fair that I also
talk mention recent Linux activities on the other side of the computing scale... on a micro
controller. To learn about the port of Linux to the 3Com PlamPilot, check out the following
story in that
gives a decent rundown:
http://www.microtimes.com/180/unix.html
More current PalmPilot info was recently posted on the Linux Weekly News site. Check out the
following URLs:
http://lwn.net/980618/debpilot.html
http://lwn.net/980618/debpilot2.html
Item #9: GIMP manual now online - ...but the conversion from FrameMaker to HTML was a bit spotty
and the manual is better viewed in the Postscript or PDF formats. I checked it out (that mention
of spotty was taken from the GIMP news page) and the online manual is great! :) Oddly enough, you
can find it at:
http://manual.gimp.org
Item #10: Latest devel kernel - Linux kernel 2.1.106 out on 13June98. For complete info,
checkout:
http://www.linuxhq.com/kpatch21.html
Item #11: Microsoft running Linux and Apache? - Well, I just checked it and it's now down, but for
a few days, a machine within Microsoft was accessible over the Internet with proof that Microsoft
is running Linux. This is no surprise since they have been porting software to Linux lately
(Netshow for example). What's funny about this apparent slip is the name: linus. As we all know,
Linus Torvalds is the primary father of Linux. I wonder if anyone at Microsoft got fired for
this? :) Anyways, the URL was:
http://linus.microsoft.com (no longer up)
It wasn't anything fancy, it was just the default Apache WWW page as provided by the default Red
Hat Linux install showing the Apache and Red Hat logos and links to the master sites for both.
This isn't hearsay, I visited and saw the site for myself... before it got removed.
Item #12: Slashdot in the press? - I've mentioned Slashdot time and time again in this column so I
thought it noteworthy to mention a recent article about Slashdot in the digital pages of Salon
magazine. They did make a mistake in referring to the URL for the Slashdot site. While
www.slashdot.org will lead you there after a few clicks, the preferred domain name is
slashdot.org. It's fun, geekie reading so check out the following URL:
http://www.salonmagazine.com/21st/
Item #13: MSNBC talks Red Hat? - Recently a review of the Red Hat Linux 5.1 distribution appeared
on the MSNBC site. Check out the following URL for yet another positive review which is entitled,
"Free OS is ready for prime time":
http://www.msnbc.com/news/172571.asp
- - - - -
SPOTLIGHT:
Evan Leibovitch recently (June 9th, 1998) wrote an online paper entitled, "The four phases of
Linux acceptance." I found it excellent reading and therefore decided to make it the spotlight
item of this weeks column. Although it is represented here, it is available with the formatting
originally done by the author at the following URL:
http://www.xunil.com/xunil/r-j4phases.html
(begin huge quote here)
The four phases of Linux acceptance:
an approach to Linux advocacy
By Evan Leibovitch
(evan@xunil.com)
June 9, 1998
The rapid growth of Linux, which has come out of nowhere to become the
fastest growing non-Microsoft operating system, has taken many by surprise:
* Journalists who are supposed to keep their eye on the industry, have to cope
with an OS that lacks a PR firm, yet boasts an army of articulate and zealous
advocates who will eagerly pounce on a writer's ignorance.
* Software vendors looking for markets to sell to, have no idea whether Linux
is as good a market as some say, or as bad as others claim.
* Other operating system vendors, that is those who acknowledge Linux exists,
don't know what to make of it; nobody can even get a good count of how many of
its users are out there!
* Resellers, distributors and VARs struggle to figure out how to make money
from a product that people can download, with source code, for nothing.
>From observing the history of Linux as well as that of Unix before it, one
can observe that the opensource community sometimes exhibits difficulty
dealing with the reaction it gets from the rest of the computing world. Part
of this difficulty arises because the computing world has shown so many
different reactions, from appreciation to total indifference to active
hostility and everything in between.
According to this analysis, attitudes towards Linux in the computing world
tend to follow a pattern, and go through four distinct phases in consistent
order: Ignorance, Denial, FUD, and Acceptance.
Understanding these phases, their motivations and tactics, allows those who
wish to encourage the use of Linux to better advance their position.
Phase 1: Ignorance
Of course, not knowing the facts never stops people from offering opinions
or judgment. But don't be fooled by those who don't know what they're
talking about.
A sure sign that someone is in Phase 1 is some offhand comment that "Linux
is just a hacker system"; while it indicates that the speaker has heard of
Linux and knows it's some kind of computer software, you can't take anything
for granted past that. (For all you know, the speaker may just be playing
dumb and is really at Phase 3.)
Of course, there are a great many computer users who still have never heard
of Linux; while their number is shrinking it's still quite considerable.
Remember that the entire Linux world's advertising budget probably amounts
to what Microsoft spends on ballpoint pens. We don't have an army of PR
flaks, spin doctors, marketing mavens and advertising reps like The Other
Guys do. In some media, if you don't buy ads you don't exist; so someone
could be reading a fair number of Windows/PC magazines and never know that
such a thing as Linux, or any other alternative to Microsoft, exists.
The lack of press Linux gets in many PC-centric magazines is compounded by a
narrow Wintel-centered view of the computing universe shared by many
business computer users:
"People who labor in a PC-only realm (and there are far more of them alone in
PC-land than in UNIX country) simply do not understand [...] professional,
technical computing" -- Mark Hall, Performance Computing magazine
Microsoft has been very successful convincing much of the North American
populace that any computing job can be solved cleanly and easily if you only
throw enough NT servers at it. This, combined with Microsoft's attention to
ease-of-use features, is a very tough nut to crack.
So how to deal with the Ignorant? Many people who have never heard of Linux
will probably be interested to know that alternatives exist. Microsoft's
recent problems with US federal and state governments have called public
attention to the company's unfair business practices, and many people will
at least be open to listening to alternatives.
Do make every effort to talk to people on their level; try to avoid
technobabble wherever possible unless you know your audience can get your
point.
Emphasize Linux's popularity, its growth, and the fact that it's trusted by
a growing number of companies and government agencies.
Don't expect people to embrace Linux immediately; introduce the concepts,
maybe offer them a few URLs, and let them come around at their own speed.
Nobody likes to be rushed.
Avoid Microsoft bashing, especially at this point; if you can't introduce
Linux without badmouthing Windows, you'll turn off your audience. Give them
enough credit, that they'll know themselves about the limitations of what
they normally use. And if that means that Windows is "good enough" for their
needs, then be prepared to accept that. You'll have planted the bug in their
ear, and they'll know there's another choice when "good enough" is no longer
good enough.
Phase 2: Denial
While most end-users will totally bypass this level, it's a common resting
ground for vendors, software developers, media types and potential
competitors who believe that the best way to treat Linux is to pretend (or
convince themselves) that it doesn't exist.
Typical of this is the Adobe reaction to the question "why don't you port
your apps to Linux?": While they'd been asked this question enough times to
warrant a FAQ-style web page (which they've since deleted) to respond,
Adobe's answer dismissed Linux as too small a market to bother with.
(Adobe's deleting these pages means one of two things; they've either moved
onto another phase or gone even deeper into Denial.)
Then there are magazines that claim to cover the whole PC universe (PC World
comes to mind); but to go through their pages, you'd never know a thing
about the world's fastest-growing operating system. To those who believe
that even bad attention is better than no attention, being treated as a
non-entity can be the most frustrating attitude of all.
Right now, Deniers have a strong fact on their side; nobody really knows
just how many people out there use Linux. We know there is a "Linux counter"
web site, but that only registers in the tens of thousands and you know
that's not accurate.
But just how do you count Linux use? You can't just go to Linux vendors and
count shipments like you can with IBM or SCO; all of what's commonly known
as Linux (before vendors add on commercial elements) can be freely
distributable; once you get a Linux CD, its opensource components (which is
the vast majority of any distribution) can be passed around to everyone.
On the other hand, if you buy the 14-CD, multi-distribution Linux: The
Professional Edition, just how many Linuxs should be counted? Because of the
low cost of getting it, people can try out many versions, many
distributions, before settling on one. And because of the price, only a few
distributions even bother with special update packages; most people can
easily just buy the next release complete. Some CD makers, in place of an
update contract, simply sell subscriptions to their Linux CD packages.
All this makes it very, very difficult to accurately count exactly how many
computers around the world boot Linux. Professional research companies such
as International Data Group, usually adept at doing this kind of thing, are
having fits. At least one IDG report is quoted as accepting the research
done by Red Hat president Bob Young, who derives a 1998 Linux installed base
no smaller than five million and possibly higher than 10 million.
So have pity on the Deniers; time is not on their side. IDG reported that
Linux is the only non-Microsoft operating system to be increasing its
percentage of use on the world's computers. As Microsoft runs into legal
problems and its products' flaws become more exposed, the world will look
for alternatives; and Linux will be at the top of the list. In the meantime:
Do approach those organizations and people that you believe should be
including Linux in their work but aren't, and find out if they're genuinely
lacking in facts (in which case they're still in Phase 1), or deliberately
staying silent. Try to convince them, using facts, that Linux is no longer a
niche, a plaything or a social experiment.
Emphasize the data in the IDG reports, the Red Hat paper, and the recent
moves by Corel and Netscape to embrace Linux as primary platforms.
Demonstrate the market potential to software developers. Feel free to
suggest that anyone who claims to know the industry, yet actively ignores
such an active phenomenon as Linux, risks losing credibility amongst a
populace that's becoming more aware each day.
Don't insist that everyone must support Linux or even call attention to it.
Some folks just like sticking to a certain kind of expertise, or have their
preferences, and Linux isn't going to win every battle. Live with it.
Avoid getting into useless arguments with those who refuse to acknowledge
what they know is out there. Whether it's pressure from advertisers,
irrational bias, or other agenda, Deniers have reasons for their actions
that simple logic alone may not be able to counter. In these cases, it may
just be necessary to wait them out.
Phase 3: FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt)
Here, things get interesting; this is where the genuine Linux-bashers hang
out.
FUD is the realm of those who have discovered Linux and acknowledge its
popularity, but refuse to engage in head-on competition. Instead, they
actively seek to retard its growth by spreading mistruths, rumours, or
information that's been out of date for ages. This is done with the specific
purpose of inhibiting the acceptance of Linux into the mainstream.
(Of course, don't confuse FUD-spreaders with those who have merely heard all
they know about Linux from FUD-spreaders. These folk are really still at
Phase 1, except that there's a little un-learning to do.)
The term "FUD" goes back to the IBM mainframe days, when one of the best
tactics to put down a competitor was merely to suggest that things might not
work as promised, that things worked better merely if/because IBM said they
did, and who wants to trust their business to these upstarts anyway?
Well, now it's happening with Linux -- by the truckload. Anyone who doesn't
want Linux to succeed, yet is confronted with it too much to be a Denier
anymore, arrives in to the land of FUD.
FUD takes many forms, but most often shows up in the mouths of those who
believe they stand to lose something (money, prestige, power) from the
success of Linux. No, money need not be the only incentive; a writer may
have too much time, effort and emotion invested in something different; so
rather than consider Linux as an alternative, the answer is often to put
down Linux -- as if offering an excuse for not considering it.
Two key words will always expose a Phase 3 attack: "no support".
Over and above the official, commercial-grade support programs that Caldera
and Red Hat have developed, the Linux community-based support model has been
winning awards for its effectiveness. And the support network grows still,
thanks to Red Hat and Caldera partner programs that help bring professional
support right to the door.
Yet the FUD-mongers continue to write and announce and proclaim, whining
that Linux lacks any kind of organized commercial support.
Why? This is a classic FUD tactic. While features, reliability and
flexibility can be measured and charted, support can't easily gauged this
way. Furthermore, lack of support is the kind of accusation that can make a
corporate computer admin fearful and uncertain; "would you trust your
company and the computer facilities on which it relies, to a system without
adequate support?" Can Linux run as well and reliably as a company who
over-prices their goods in order to give clients the warm-and-fuzzies?
It's a tune that plays well in the more insecure and bureaucratic corners of
corporate computing. To some, the hand-holding is more important than the
computer itself, and there's always the knowledge that if things go wrong,
you can always blame the vendor.
(Of course, blaming the company, or sitting for hours on hold on a
tech-support line, is no guarantee you're going to get things working. But
supposedly it makes some people feel better...)
To be sure, there are other Linux myths that have become popular FUD fodder;
* It changes too fast and often for business use (only if you want to be
bleeding edge; stick with a major distribution and go slow as you choose);
* It's all made and used by hackers (by some definitions this was true at the
beginning, but Linux in business is now commonplace);
* No applications (They must be kidding, or they think the only applications
worth counting are those that empty your wallet).
There are others, but you get the idea. Their common element is being based
on information that was either never true or rendered obsolete long ago.
Also watch for style of presentation -- FUD-mongers rarely make direct
accusations or assertions, their main intent is to cause doubt and confusion
about Linux rather than attacking it head-on. When dealing with these
people;
Do confront the innuendo and rumours directly. And do your homework -- being
well-versed in the state of Linux today is essential for rebutting tired and
obsolete complaints.
Emphasize fact and logic rather than beliefs or emotions. Most Phase 3 types
would love nothing more than to portray Linux users as fanatical and
irrational.
Don't mistake informed criticism as FUD. Linux isn't perfect and has a long
way to go in some areas. There can often be legitimate beefs mixed in with a
lot of garbage; don't go blindly attacking everything that's said before
measuring FUD-factor.
Avoid wasting too much time with Phase 3 folk directly. They know about
Linux and have chosen to undermine it -- some may even be getting paid to --
so there's already an agenda at work you may not be able to counter. At a
certain point you may simply have to give up on them, and concentrate
efforts on presenting a balanced view to their audience. In this combat
zone, the only real weapon is fact.
Phase 4: Acceptance
Note, this phase is not called "love" or "conversion" or anything like that.
Accepting Linux need not mean using it or even liking it. There's no point
writing about how to "deal" with people and companies with which you agree
totally. Acceptance includes all who take Linux seriously and deal with it
on its merits, and not all such reaction can be expected to be favourable.
Few computer vendors publicly acknowledge Linux as competition, so the
community hasn't had to deal with it much -- yet. Linux hasn't been
explicitly attacked in advertising or public statements the way Dell has
gone after Unix or how Sun has attacked Microsoft. It'll be interesting to
see when that starts happening, and what effect it will have. While nobody
likes being attacked, just the fact that Linux will have become a target
gives it legitimacy in the eyes of some.
A small but growing number of software companies are reaching this plateau,
and some have gone as far as to incorporate opensource models into their own
development. However, just because a commercial software company chooses not
to support Linux does not necessarily mean they're hostile or ignorant.
Linux continues to provide some significant obstacles to commercial software
developers that can't be explained away. Different distributions have chosen
varying approaches to file placement, software management, and other
subtleties, in such a way that makes it almost impossible to make an
applications distribution that will install and run cleanly across the Linux
spectrum.
When Interbase says their Linux database product is only supported on Red
Hat, it's not because they want to blow off the rest of the market; they
simply need a reference platform that they know and can support. This kind
of problem, expressed nicely by John Taschek, in his column in the May 25
issue of PCWeek, must not be dismissed as Linux-bashing.
(Indeed, the problem of a standard porting base is significant enough that a
project called the Linux Software Base has received unanimous endorsement
from Linux International in an attempt to solve this exact problem.)
Microsoft, in getting its feet wet in Phase 4, claims that the opensource
software model lacks a marketing component which allows other companies
(like Microsoft) to incorporate user needs (rather than developer needs)
into products. While the situation is not as bad as MS claims, they're not
totally wrong; the community cannot ignore, shout down or ridicule those in
our midst who are knowledgeable, yet skeptical or even aggressively
critical.
As Linux makes its way further into the mainstream of computing, and becomes
increasingly used by non-developers, expect to hear more informed criticism
describing what's wrong with Linux. When hearing them out:
Do listen to complaints and engage in fair and rational discussion about the
problems that people and organizations experience with Linux. If you think
they're valid, try to bring them to the attention of the greater community.
If you can, suggest and help implement solutions. This is, after all, a
community effort!
Emphasize the openness of the process by which Linux has evolved, through
which individuals from everywhere in the community can and do make a
difference every day. The concept of "peer review" does not end at the
source code; all facets of Linux are open to ongoing evaluation and revision
as necessary.
Don't mistake FUD as informed criticism. Occasionally comments that appear
on the surface as real concern are just pretexts for FUD-based bashing.
Don't get sucked into an argument you don't stand a chance of winning; phase
3 tactics apply.
Avoid making an issue of personal preferences. Part of Linux's power is that
it's so darned flexible; but that flexibility means it can be different
things to different people. Don't confuse "what you like" with "what Linux
ought to be"; just because Linux is great for power-users doesn't mean it
can't be made easy to use, for example.
Advocating Linux is rarely an easy task. Often it means going up against
multi-million-dollar hype machines, and the massive inertia of people who
simply can't (or won't) be bothered to explore alternatives. Take heart from
the knowledge that Linux has momentum, it has a strong grassroots family
around the world, and it's been making inroads into the computing world
despite the best efforts of those trying to stop it.
These are indeed interesting times. Enjoy the ride.
(end huge quote here)
LOGOUT:
There's a lot of stuff to follow and read in this edition of Linux Advocate. I challenge everyone
to read everything mentioned here and provide feedback on what you thought via my email address.
Can I possibly make a more blatant solicitation for email? I think not but I'll keep trying. :)
Enjoy, Scott Dowdle (extremely close if not past deadline time!)
Taking Another Look
Nortel buys Bay Networks for $9.1 bln
Northern Telecom Ltd., confirming a much rumored takeover, said Monday it planned to buy Bay
Networks for $9.1 billion. Nortel will offer 0.6 of a share for each Bay Networks share, which it
said represents $38.21 per Bay Networks share. Bay Networks will operate as a wholly owned
subsididary of Nortel, which expects to issue 134 million common shares to close the acquisition.
Bay's shareholders will own about 21 percent of Nortel. Nortel's chief executive John Roth will
remain in that position while Bay Network chief executive and chairman Dave House will become the
president of Nortel.
Microsoft, Compaq, cable cos in high-speed Web plan
Computer, cable TV and media industry giants including Microsoft and Time-Warner said Monday they
have closed a previously announced deal to deliver high-speed Internet services to up to 27
million U.S. customers. The deal, announced late last year, calls for Road Runner, Time Warner
Inc.'s high-speed data delivery business, to market Internet services to cable TV customers. About
90,000 have signed up so far, the companies said.
Nader: Can't buy major-brand PC without Windows
Consumer advocates Ralph Nader and James Love said Monday they found it impossible to buy a
nationally branded Intel-compatible personal computer without Microsoft Windows, and asked the
Justice Department to take action. They said customers who want to purchase an Intel-compatible
personal computer for use with some other operating system - the basic software that runs the
computer - are "paying a 'tax' to Microsoft Corp. each time they buy a nationally branded
computer." Their Consumer Project on Technology ran a survey and found that no computer maker
would sell a single Intel-compatible machine without Windows, they said. Even IBM, which makes its
own rival operating system, insists on selling Windows to computer buyers.
James Joyce fans celebrate Bloomsday on Internet
Fans of the Irish writer James Joyce can participate in the annual Bloomsday celebration of
Joyce's most famous novel "Ulysses" by listening to readings from all over the world for the first
time via the Internet. Every year on June 16 Joycean fans and scholars celebrate what is known as
"Bloomsday," a day in the life of Leopold Bloom, the central character of the much-studied
"Ulysses." Joyce fans typically gather every year in bookshops or pubs and listen to actors or
Joyce lovers read from passages of his critically-revered novel, "Ulysses" or other his writings.
This is the first time readings from "Ulysses" will take place over the Internet in such a
massive, organized effort.
Internet telephone success set to wound incumbents
Making telephone calls over the Internet is getting cheaper and easier, and will soon provide
profit-threatening competition to established big operators, a report published on Tuesday said.
According to the report from Cambridge-based telecommunications strategy consultancy Analysys,
telephone business across the Internet will take 36% of the international call market by 2003. The
first reaction of big operators in the U.S. to upstart Internet telephone providers was to seek to
ban them. The FCC wouldn't go along with that, so they are gearing up the technology to fire back
at the appropriate moment, the report's co-author said.
America Online to be installed by IBM
America Online Inc. and a business unit of IBM said they signed a multi-year marketing agreement
in which IBM will pre-install AOL software on two lines of its computers. Aptiva and ThinkPad
users will be able to access the pre-installed America Online software by clicking on an icon
displayed prominently on the computer's desktop or front screen. America Online will in turn
sponsor the IBM envelope containing information packaged inside Aptiva computers. America Online
software will also be packaged with IBM-branded consumer modems. The agreement also includes a
joint marketing campaign.
Nortel, Bay Networks deal draws criticism
Northern Telecom Ltd. and Bay Networks Inc., two companies seen as bypassed by rivals, agreed to
join forces on Monday, but the deal quickly drew criticism as analysts said the combined company
would face intense competition and internal product development challenges. "There's an awful lot
of hype and fancy buzz words, but anyone who knows the realities of these two companies isn't
buying it.... There needs to be modification of their product lines and creation of new products,"
said Christine Heckart, a vice president with consultancy TeleChoice. "They've positioned this as
'This gets us smack in the middle of a new opportunity for IP-centric (Internet protocol)
networks.' But that's more hype than reality," Heckart said.
Wall Street cheers demise of Senate tobacco bill
The death of a contentious U.S. Senate tobacco bill removed a dire threat to the financial health
of the nation's largest tobacco companies, analysts said Thursday. Tobacco company stocks, which
had been drifting lower as Congress debated Sen. John McCain's $516 billion tobacco bill,
rebounded following Senate votes Wednesday that effectively killed the legislation this year.
"This industry faced two major threats - litigation and legislation - both of which were very,
very material," Dean Witter Reynolds analyst David Adelman said. "After the Senate vote yesterday,
one of those risks has been largely removed."
Ericsson in talks with Ascend & Others
Ericsson, one of the world's largest phone equipment makers, is in talks to acquire Ascend
Communications and other computer networking companies, a source familiar with the negotiations
says. Ericsson, which would have to pay at least Ascend's market value of $9.5 billion, wouldn't
comment on specific acquisition targets. The source says Ericsson wants to acquire a U.S.
networking company after talks with Bay Networks failed. Northern Telecom since has agreed to buy
Bay in a transaction now valued at $7 billion.
EU says global Internet services should be taxed
European consumers who buy and receive products or services over the Internet should pay
value-added tax (VAT) on them, even if they order from an overseas supplier, the European
Commission said. The European Union executive, stepping into a controversial debate over how to
tax the spiraling amount of global electronic business, said in a policy paper that all such
transactions should be taxed as services. That would mark a "significant change," it noted, since
private individuals who buy services from outside the EU do not now usually have to pay VAT - a
consumption tax that is applied at varying rates in the 15 EU countries. However, if online
transactions grow dramatically, that practice would be unfair, it said.
Sony launching PC into Europe, market turmoil
Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony launches its new personal computer in Europe Thursday,
and analysts say it would be difficult to pick a worse time with prices under severe downward
pressure. Prices for PCs are diving in Europe as manufacturers scamper to shift sales from dying
markets in Asia. "We haven't seen price pressure of such magnitude since the beginning of the
nineties. This is a special phase," said Simon Pearce, senior research director at high-technology
consultancy IDC. And the so-called $1,000 PC which has been available to Americans but until
recently cost Europeans more like $2,000, is fast becoming a reality here, analysts said. They
said Sony's move into an overcrowded market with paper-thin margins is defensive.
Mideast software piracy is world's second highest
The rate of computer software piracy in the Middle East and Africa is the second highest in the
world, but some regional states are taking successful steps to fight the crime, a software
watchdog said. The U.S.-based Business Software Alliance said a recent study conducted by BSA and
another watchdog group found that in 1997 the Middle East and Africa had a piracy rate of 65%,
second only to Eastern Europe's 77%. In a statement, the group singled out the United Arab
Emirates among states fighting software piracy, saying it had reduced its rate by 28% since 1995
to 60%, one of the highest reductions in the world.
C&W drops MCI lawsuit, but continues talks
Cable & Wireless Plc. dropped its breach of contract lawsuit against MCI Communications Corp. but
continued discussions about buying MCI's Internet assets, a source familiar with the talks said
Thursday. Cable & Wireless' move to drop the suit came at a crucial time in the delicate dance
involving competition regulators in the U.S. and Europe who were reviewing the proposed merger of
MCI and WorldCom Inc. Merger experts from the 15 European Union member states will meet Friday to
consider a draft decision to ban the proposed $37 billion merger unless the two U.S.
telecommunications partners make sufficient concessions.
Internet ad spending tops $351 million in Q1
First quarter Internet ad spending rose to $351.3 million, setting a pace that would easily give
the fledgling industry its first $1 billion calendar year, the Internet Advertising Bureau said.
Figures were based on data from more than 200 online publishers selling advertising, including Web
sites, commercial online services and e-mail providers, which were compiled for IAB by the New
Media Group of Coopers & Lybrand. Computers led all advertising categories with 27%, followed
closely by consumer-related products at 25%, the IAB said. Other leading categories were
telecommunications, 14%; financial services, 13%; and new media, 10%.
International communications satellite launched
An Atlas 2 rocket streaked into space Thursday carrying an international satellite that will
provide transatlantic communications links. The Lockheed Martin Corp rocket, equipped with four
strap-on boosters for extra thrust, blasted off its Cape Canaveral launch pad at 6:48 p.m. EDT.
The white booster rose through smoke haze from Florida brush fires and streaked towards orbit. The
satellite separated from the rocket's upper stage 30 minutes after launch. The spacecraft is owned
by Intelsat, an international consortium of more than 140 countries, that operates a constellation
of communications satellites.
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From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
WOW! What a difference a few months makes! It seems just a
short time ago that the West coast was being flooded out,
burned out, or covered in mud. The East coast is going
through the same thing this past week. I haven't seen this
much rain in a _long_ time. And now that I'm a homeowner,
I'm more than a little concerned. And it's not over yet.
Parts of the town I live in are under water. Fortunately,
I'm a few miles south of the affected areas. Very little
water made it into my basement, but some of my neighbors
weren't as lucky. My pool was almost full to the brim but
we were vigilant enough to drain off water a few times to
make sure it didn't get damaged.
Ah yes, Mother Nature continues to do its thing! We saw the
sun briefly today (Thursday) but expect more rain through
the weekend. How about northeast Florida?! Lots of brush
fires down there. We hope Ralph and family are coping okay
as his area is close to the "action". It's not been a
terrific June so far! Vacation coming up at the end of the
month and we're hoping the weather turns for the better so
we can enjoy it. Hope everyone on the East coast manages to
ride out the weird weather we're having and that the damage
is non-existent.
Until next time...
AtariNews: On The Prowl -- June 17, 1998: Atari Conventions
LATEST HEADLINES:
JAGUAR FESTIVAL UPDATE
Details on this year's JagFest are coming together. Here
are the "quick facts":
JagFest 98 will be held on August 1, 1998, in Corfu, NY.
Tickets are $10 each ($12 at the door). It will last from
9am until midnight! Ticket price includes stickers and a
special issue of the Atari Zone fanzine.
More details can be found at the official JagFest 98
website:
http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/4062/
For tickets, e-mail Kevin Manne at KevinManne@wycol.com.
1998 WORLD OF ATARI CONVENTION
A once-a-year International Atari Collectors/User Show is
set for August
21-23, 1998 at the Holiday Inn Casino Boardwalk in Las
Vegas. World Of
Atari 98 is being promoted by Mr. Rich Tsukiji (the man
responsible for bringing us all the terrific ST World Shows
throughout the years), and Atari Gaming Headquarters (see
the link below) will be providing the latest news
surrounding this event as more details become available.
http://www.atarihq.com/atari98/
CLASSIC 2600 TITLES ON PLAYSTATION
Activision announced "Activision Classics" to be released
this October. This title for PlayStation has 30 classic
Atari 2600 games that are emulated to play exactly like
they did on the 2600. The list of games includes Pitfall!,
River Raid, Kaboom!, H.E.R.O., Chopper Command, Grand Prix,
Boxing, Crackpots, Fishing Derby, Freeway, Frostbite,
Seaquest, Sky Jinks, Spider Fighter, and 16 others. The
collection will carry a suggested retail price of $29.95.
1998 ATARI SURVEY RESULTS
The Jaguar's Domain recently sponsored a 1998 survey to
gauge the interest level in new games for Atari consoles
such as the 2600 VCS, Lynx, and Jaguar. The results can be
found by visiting the Jaguar's Domain:
http://www.millcomm.com/~forhan/jaguar.html and clicking
on the "Survey Results (1998)" link.
COMPUTER DUNGEON MOVING SALE
From now until August 1st, The Computer Dungeon is having a
MOVING SALE. With the exception of Shareware games, select
hardware items, and magazines, all items on their list are
20% off the listed price.
Simply look over the list, select the item/s you want, give
them a call to place your order and they'll take 20% off
the total price of the items.
AND, if that's not enough, if your order totals $75 or
more, they'll take an additional 5% off the price, making
your total discount 25%!
You can reach The Computer Dungeon at:
http://www.mcs.net/~isis/dungeon/dungeon.htm
JAGUAR EXPLORER ONLINE
Clay Halliwell halliwee@dyess.af.mil is the editor of
Jaguar Explorer Online, or JEO for short. JEO is one of the
premiere online sources of Atari Jaguar news and articles.
Look for JEO #3 to be out within the next few days.
Directions on how to download the next JEO will be posted
in AtariNews.
Rumor has it that some previously unknown codes will be
released for one or more Jaguar games!
THE PETITION TO HASBRO
The petition to Hasbro needs more names. If you would like
to try to get Hasbro to support the Jaguar and Lynx, then
please sign this petition. There are currently 104 names on
the petition.
http://www.geocities.com/timessquare/arcade/8063
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://www.geocities.com/timessquare/arcade/8063
-The Jaguar's Domain:
http://www.millcomm.com/~forhan/jaguar.html
Gaming Section
* "Jersey Devil"!
* "Thrill Kill"!
* "Slingo"!
* "Chopper Attack"!
* And much more!
Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming
News!
Sony Computer Entertainment America Brings the Jersey Devil
FOSTER CITY, CALIF. (June 16) BUSINESS WIRE - June 16, 1998
- Making its way from Jersey City to the worldwide
videogame front is Sony Computer Entertainment America's
newest character-based, action adventure platform game,
Jersey Devil, for the PlayStation game console, now
available at stores nationwide.
Jersey Devil brings the darkly irreverent Jersey hero to
life in this real-time, action-packed adventure game with
color-charged, 3-D cartoon animation; a 360-degree roving
view game environment; challenging platform and
puzzle-laden gameplay; wicked character attacks and moves;
and twisted fun.
"Jersey Devil is a great complement to our PlayStation
family of popular character-based action games," said Peter
Dille, senior director, product marketing, Sony Computer
Entertainment America. "Character-based action games
continue to command broad attention among consumers around
the world. This genre's proven appeal to game enthusiasts
across all demographics and abilities will certainly drive
the success of Jersey Devil."
In the game, our thrill-seeking crusader, the Jersey Devil,
is on the loose and out to pay back the evil scientist and
his insane genetic experiments. Players are challenged
through 12 vast, 3-D cartoon animated levels filled with
treacherous passageways, mysterious objects, intricate
traps and bonus rounds, and a variety of marauding mutant
enemies. Using such wicked moves as the Jersey Devil slide,
somersault, glide, tail whip, punch and climb, players must
outsmart the sinister Dr. Knarf and his many minions before
they outmaneuver our hero. The game's mutant army includes
Dennis the Pumpkin Head, the Lovely Olga, the hungry T-Rex,
the Sumo wrestling Mole, Spraycula and others.
"The combination of powerful music and sound effects,
striking cartoon animation and graphics, and smooth,
action-packed gameplay creates an awesome game environment
for our devilishly cunning hero. The huge, mystifying
levels and loads of puzzles will keep gamers challenged for
hours on end," added Dille.
Thrill Kill Nominated for Best Fighting Game of E3 Show
IRVINE, CALIF. (June 17) BUSINESS WIRE - June 17, 1998 -
Unified Gamers Online, the largest independent gaming
community on the Internet, announced that Thrill Kill has
been nominated for the Best Fighting Game of the 1998 E3
show. Given annually through UGO's E3.Net site
(http://www.e3.net) to members of the Computer and Video
Game industry for excellence displayed at the Electronic
Entertainment Expo (E3) Show, the UGO BEST OF THE E3 SHOW
AWARD is voted on by the top journalists in the gaming
trade.
Nominees were selected for the best new gaming products in
18 categories. Winners will be named on June 22, 1998.
Twenty-seven journalists from twenty-two top gaming
magazines participated in the 1998 UGO BEST OF E3 SHOW
AWARDS Judges Committee. The UGO E3 AWARDS recognize
outstanding new products for the console, personal computer
and online game platforms. "Unlike other awards in the
industry, which are presented to already released titles,
our goal is to praise excellence and innovation in upcoming
games," said Chris Sherman, editorial director of UGO.
Published by Spelling Entertainment's Virgin Interactive,
the controversial Thrill Kill is the first 4-player fighter
for the Sony PlayStation. Several twists have been put on
the traditional fighter, such as the ability to multi-tap
with three friends for four-way fighting which is unique to
the PlayStation format. The four-player mode also opens up
the opportunity for a player to engage in team play using
special "gang-up" moves and group combos, such as allowing
the player to grab an opponent while his partner bashes in
the enemy's head, and other moves never before seen in a
3-D fighting game.
Thrill Kill features over-the-top violence and combat
between all manner of psychotic deviants, Thrill Kill is
definitely not for the faint-hearted or squeamish. Instead
of the usual fighting game fare of kung-fu masters and
monsters, this frightening bloodbath pits eleven hellbound
freaks, mutants and crazies against each other and lets
them battle it out for a chance to return from purgatory to
earth. Once immersed in the competition, gamers will voyage
to deathmatch arenas set in some of the most nightmarish
places on this earth and in the underworld including
Hellevue, the Crematorium, the Slaughterhouse of Flesh,
Sacrificial Ruins and Hell itself.
Thrill Kill's actual fight dynamic encourages the most
intense gameplay. New to this genre is a "Kill Meter," a
feature which awards the most brutal player with the
ability to completely annihilate other opponents. Each
round ends when one player is eliminated in this manner and
the next round starts with the remaining combatants. This
is not to say four-player mode is the only enjoyable aspect
of Thrill Kill. Advanced Artificial Intelligence was
incorporated to ensure the gamewould be challenging and fun
whether one, two or three players were involved. A solo
player will find himself challenged by computer opponents
who learn to anticipate the player's tactics so that the
player is constantly forced to come up with new fight
combos in order to win. This phantasmagoric feast for
fighting fans will feature an eerie, pulsating, alternative
music/gothic rock soundtrack and is scheduled for release
in Fall of 1998.
Hasbro Interactive to Develop America's Favorite Online
Game: Slingo
BEVERLY, MASS. (June 16) BUSINESS WIRE - June 16, 1998 -
Leading entertainment software publisher Hasbro Interactive
announced today it has signed an agreement with Slingo,
Inc. to develop the popular online game Slingo for the
CD-ROM platform. Slingo debuted on the America Online Games
Channel in October 1996 and quickly became the #1 game for
the country's largest online service. Slingo, a clever
combination of slots and bingo, has stolen the hearts of
game players with its incredible game play and broad-based
appeal.
"Slingo is an irresistible game," said Tom Dusenberry,
President of Hasbro Interactive. "Once you start playing,
you definitely are drawn into the excitement," Dusenberry
added. "We are very excited to be able to work with the
creative minds behind this great game and believe that
together we can expand this game play experience to reach a
whole new audience of computer owners."
"We look forward to working with entertainment software
leader Hasbro Interactive," said Lou Del Prete, co-founder
of Slingo, Inc. "Their experience at providing high quality
entertainment software to the mass market audience will
help us introduce many more game players to the outrageous
fun of Slingo."
Slingo is a unique game of chance and strategy that
combines the best attributes of bingo and slot machines. It
is an engaging single and multiplayer game that provides
players with the same excitement and exhilaration of a real
casino. The game is currently being played on America
Online and on any given night several thousand online
gamers can be found simultaneously at their computers
scoring Slingo points and chatting away. Slingo, Inc. in
conjunction with Hasbro Interactive plan to expand on the
classic game play of Slingo providing "Slunkies" (short for
Slingo junkies) with new ways to play their favorite game.
Midway Flies Aces High with Chopper Attack for Nintendo 64
CORSICANA, TEXAS (June 17) BUSINESS WIRE - June 17, 1998 -
Immersive Combat and Flight Action Lands on Nintendo 64
this Summer Dive into a fire fight, destroy enemy radar,
rescue hostages and pull friendly aircraft out of dangerous
territory. Do you have what it takes to fly a combat
mission?
Midway Home Entertainment, a leading publisher of
chart-topping entertainment software titles,challenges
gamers to answer that question when they play the
forthcoming Chopper Attack(TM). The combat flight
simulation game for the Nintendo(R) 64 will be available on
June 19.
"Chopper Attack incorporates exciting flying patterns and
realistic combat maneuvers making it a stand-out helicopter
sim," said Paula Cook, director of marketing at Midway Home
entertainment. "With its Rumble Pak(TM) feedback and the
ability to support its stunning graphics, the Nintendo 64
is an ideal system for Chopper Attack's lifelike
intensity."
Chopper Attack allows players to join an elite group of
international chopper pilots with one objective - hunt down
and destroy a renegade terrorist group bent on world
domination. In Chopper Attack, players are commanded to
engage and destroy the enemy over the course of eight
action-packed missions. After choosing one of eight
choppers, each equipped with different weapons and flying
capabilities, players set out to blow up strategic enemy
radar, shoot ground troops and destroy enemy aircraft while
rescuing hostages and escorting friendly aircraft from
dangerous territories.
During each Chopper Attack mission, fighter pilots are
rewarded with power-ups for destroying enemy installations.
These bonuses enhance the chopper's destructive
capabilities. Upon successfully completing each mission,
pilots are reimbursed with cash rewards that are used to
upgrade their deadly arsenal. These deadly weapons include
a homing missile, a straight-fire rocket bullet complete
with ten shots and a cluster bomb that can collectively
destroy on-land enemies and buildings.
Broderbund Hangs For Sale Sign
Jun 16, 1998 (MULTIMEDIA WIRE, Vol. 5, No. 115) --
Broderbund [BROD] effectively put itself on the trading
block yesterday, saying it had retained investment bank
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette to explore "strategic
alternatives." The announcement fuels rumors of an
impending acquisition of Broderbund that began last week,
when trade publication Computer Retail Week reported that
the company had held talks with potential suitor Hasbro
this spring. While Broderbund has traditionally been strong
in education software, it is struggling to compete with the
sector's two giants, Cendant Software and The Learning
Company [TLC]. In Q1, Broderbund had a 4.6% unit share of
the education market, while Cendant had 27.9% and TLC
21.2%, according to The NPD Group (MMW, May 20). Hasbro
Interactive, meanwhile, commands 2.9%.
Broderbund also said it expects Q3 revenues to fall short
of analysts' expectations, at $52m. It expects to post a
loss of $2.5m to $3.3m, or 12 to 15 cents/share. The
company's stock has risen from 17 in mid-May to more than
20 last week, but fell 3 to 17-3/16, on yesterday's news.
NetGames Launch Highlights Internet Gaming
This month sees the launch of NetGames
(www.netgames.co.uk), a new Internet-based PC/console
gamers club and games retail service. Dedicated to on-line
operation, NetGames combines a variety of different
sections including jokes, tips, cheats, shareware downloads
and on-line purchasing facilities to provide a high-quality
blend of 'club','fun' and 'retail' via its UK based web
site. These will be supplemented in July with the
introduction of a comprehensive on-line game reviews
section.
With NetGames there are no joining fees or minimum
purchases, in fact there are no costs at all. With
membership, visitors have access to all sections of the web
site, including the 'downloads' area where they can find
free shareware games. Large areas of the site - such as the
jokes and funnies sections - are open-access so users do
not even have to become club members to enjoy them.
Visitors looking to purchase the latest games via the
NetGames site can do so in the knowledge that, in the vast
majority of cases, they will pay below retail prices and
are guaranteed to never pay more. At all times, NetGames
offers the industry agreed Top 50 games for PC, Nintendo
and Sony Playstation on next day dispatch.
A 'launch Delivery' service also provides NetGames club
members with an option to pre-order forthcoming releases
and thereby avoid delays and disappointment when the games
are issued. Pre-order a game through NetGames and you know
that you will receive it on the day of public issue without
ever leaving the house.
Guaranteed low prices is just one of the benefits of
purchasing through NetGames. Every order is credited with
Loyalty Points which accumulate to enable members to claim
free games or NetGames merchandise such as T-Shirts and
Baseball caps. Every purchase is also delivered with a free
"Goodies Bag" containing a little something to show
NetGames' appreciation of the members' purchase. The
NetGames web site can be accessed at
http://www.netgames.co.uk
ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
Compiled by Joe Mirando
jmirando@streport.com
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. I can tell you right off
that this is going to be a heck of an interesting column
for me to write.
No, there's no hot news to make my heart pound and my pulse
race. This evening, not thirty minutes before I sat down to
write this column, I encountered a rather annoying hard
drive crash. I had just enough time to re-install the most
basic things (the text editors and newsgroup reader) needed
for writing this column. All the nice touches such as my
spelling checker and accelerators will have to wait until
the column is done.
It's just another one of the Universe's little jokes, I
guess. Like El Nino and his sister La Nina. It seems that
we're beginning to feel her presence even before she makes
herself visible. For those of you who don't know, La Nina
is the opposite of El Nino. While El Nino is a huge patch
of unusually warm water in the pacific ocean, La Nina is
(or will be) a huge patch of unusually cool water in the
pacific. Just as her better-known brother affects the
atmospheric currents known as the jetstreams, so does La
Nina, but in the opposite direction.
While some argue that we shouldn't put ourselves out to try
to stop global warming because we don't even know for sure
that we are causing it, isn't it only prudent to do all we
can to protect ourselves and our future?
The days of the Reagan administration making light of the
situation are over. It's time to, if not act, at least
survey our options very carefully. Remember when Reagan
aide James Watt said that the increase in ultraviolet light
reaching the earth's surface meant only that we should
start wearing sunglasses and sunblock, or that global
warming meant simply that grains would grow better in
Canada than Kansas?
Well, the jury is on it's way back, and I think we're going
to find out that cattle don't wear sunglasses or sunblock.
Nor do crops. And what exactly did Mr. Watt think was going
to replace the crops that are now being grown in our
heartland? Will we awaken one day to find a dry wasteland
or a wet wasteland where there was once both beauty and
bounty? I really don't know. I guess that puts me in the
same boat as the nay-sayers. Where we differ though, is
that I believe that we should do all we can to be sure that
we are making the correct choices. It it turns out that
what we are seeing is a natural occurrence, we will be no
worse off than we would have been had we done nothing. If
it turns out that we ourselves have been causing these
changes, then we will have the knowledge (if not the
foresight) to take corrective or pre-emptive action.
I don't want it to sound like I believe that we're doomed.
I don't. I believe that we are in for some changes, and
that lots of folks are going to be hurt by them, but that
if we keep our heads... and use them, we will come out
okay.
While we won't find the answers to this question in the
Atari NewsGroups, we can at least take a look at what's
going on with our favorite machine...
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
Andy Mellor asks about "Y2K" compliance:
"Any info on Year 2000 compliance/non-compliance out there?
We're still using a few STs as dumb terminals."
James Fillary Haslam tells Andy:
"Funnily enough, the ST is Y2K compliant, and has been
since day one. Tests of lots of programs don't reveal many
problems. The only problem program that I know of is the
Time/Date setting program for the battery-backed clock in
the Forget-Me-Clock cartridge. This only accepts two-digits
for the year. However there is a software patch knocking
about that gets around this, which goes in the auto
folder."
Galen, the Head YACcer, tells Andy:
"The ST clock is O.K. to 2028. Your software is another
issue, though. Set the clock to 2000 and check.
Guy Harrison gets a bit more in-depth:
"The ST clock starts counting from zero when you turn the
machine on. The current time and date is calculated by
figuring this counter into the date Jan 1 1980 (ie the ST
thinks it is 01/01/1980 when booted). This clock will not
wrap around back to zero for another 30 years, so no
problems there. The software responsible for setting the
actual time/date only has to adjust the counter to the
correct value - providing this software takes all four
digits of the year into account there will be no problems.
This also applies if you have attached a clock module - the
software which reads the time/date from the module must
take all four digits into account. Additionally, the clock
module itself must be capable of representing time past the
year 2000. This depends on the clock module in use.
Typically, clock modules are nothing more than counters
themselves with a battery attached to keep them alive when
the ST is turned off, so there's every chance it'll carry
on working ok. It is more likely for the software to fail.
You can check this by setting your clock module time to
23:55 31/12/1999. Wait 6 minutes and boot the machine,
praying you see 00:01 01/01/2000 as the date. As for any
other software you run, it again depends on how it stores
the time internally. If it uses all four digits you'll be
ok - same as above."
Ian Norton asks:
"Does CAB 2.6 or newer do Javascript? in fact does any
atari browser that works with sting do java?"
Nick Bales tells Ian:
"Nope. And when you see how slow Java is, even on a PII,
it's no bad thing in my opinion."
Chris Gray tells Ian:
"As far as Java is concerned, the kaffe Java Virtual
Machine works on my Falcon under NetBSD. It should be
possible to port it to TOS/MiNT/ whatever, but it would be
a lot of work (especially the graphical bit). I also
suspect it would be rather slow (it's slow under NetBSD,
anyway). Great project though for someone who has the time.
<grin>"
My old friend, Terry May, posts this little bit of news:
"I downloaded and checked out the CAB 2.7 demo. It was nice
of them to include English resource files. That should
hopefully speed up the process of porting it to English.
Unfortunately, all docs are in German. Would one of our
kind German friends please translate the update docs, so we
know what's changed since v2.5? From what I could tell, the
demo, like the 2.0 demo, is fully functional, save for
hotlist support, and the occasional alert to remind you
that you're using a demo. It doesn't seem to have changed a
whole lot. It has a few new menu entries, which are nice,
though not essential. I was hoping the problem with forms
would be fixed, but I still get "Transaction failed" on
even the simplest of forms. Is that a CAB.OVL problem? I'd
feel a lot better about it if I knew exactly what all has
changed."
Roger Cain tells Terry:
"It seems to recognise 'Cookies'."
Dennis Bishop tells Roger:
"It's the cookie suport that I need, that's why I can't use
the recycler web page a lot, they use cookies."
Steve Hammond tells Dennis:
"If you are using CAB 2.7, CAB.OVL (1.2904 by Dan Ackerman)
and StinG you will have "cookie support". And you can still
use the Recyler Web page (at least the one in LA) with CAB
2.0 (2.5) by just hitting the "Reload" icon within CAB when
you want to go to a new page. This is after trying to get
to the next page and you wind up on the one you started
with. I know it works - I have done it for some time. And I
know that the Demo version of 2.7 works in this regard also
as it will load the next page correctly where 2.5 will not.
Other sites that now work correctly are Yahoo, AltaVista,
my old friend the Citroen site in Canada that would not
load under MagiC4.0 + a host of others. In fact I have been
able to get to some problem sites with the 2.7 demo that
have caused problems with Opera 3.21 and my PC (not to
mention NetScape). NOW - when is 2.7 going to be available
in North America?"
Good question! After playing around with the demo a bit,
Terry May comes back and posts:
"One neat thing I noticed tonight was that it gives you the
ability to save the background image. Before you had to go
into the cache, find it, and copy it manually. The new
method is obviously much easier and faster. Another nice
new feature is that when you open up a link in a new
window, it immediately opens the new window, so you can see
what's happening in the status bar. Before you had no idea
anything was even happening unless you looked at the
receive light on your modem. Unfortunately, you still can't
use Alt-B on your original window, once you close your
additional window. You have to click on the left arrow to
go backwards."
Alexander Clauss, the author of CAB, tells us:
"Some Web servers refuses to send any cookies if the
browser is not Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer.
Maybe you can configure the CAB.OVL for STinG so that it
tells the server that CAB is "MOZILLA". Then it should
work. PPP-Connect 1.4 which comes with CAB 2.7 does this,
so cookies will work even on those stupid web servers. And
of course you must switch on the cookie support in CAB." I
don't know if Alexander wrote PPP-Connect or not, but in
either case I must say that unless the new version is
faster than the one that shipped with CAB 2.5, use STinG
instead! It's much faster and allows you to use ANY
STiK/STinG compliant client (NEWSie, POPWatch, etc.)
instead of only the programs provided by ASH.
Well folks, it's getting late and I want to get back to
re-installing my software, so we'll end here and pick up
next week. Oh, by the way, for those of you who are
interested, something scrambled my partition info for my C
drive. The only fix available to me was to rewrite the
partition info. Unfortunately, this also has the effect of
erasing all the data that the partition was holding. Thank
goodness for backups!
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
Once upon a time, a beautiful, independent, self-assured princess happened upon a frog in a pond.
The frog said to the princess, "I was once a handsome prince until an evil witch put a spell on me.
One kiss from you will change me back into a prince.
Then we can marry, move into the castle with my mom and you can prepare my meals, clean my clothes, bear
my children and forever feel happy doing so."
That night, while the princess dined on frog legs, she kept laughing to herself and saying,
"I don't think so!"
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