>From gary@cs.depaul.edu Mon Aug 24 10:13:50 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: IBM, Swiss mathematician to unveil hack-proof encryption system
IBM, Swiss mathematician to unveil hack-proof encryption system
By Kristi Essick
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 7:42 AM PT, Aug 24, 1998
A mathematician in IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory has devised a new
public-key encryption technology for securing Internet communications and
transactions that IBM claims is unbreakable.
IBM plans to announce the technology, which was co-developed by another
mathematician at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Monday at
a conference called Crypto '98 in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Dubbed the Cramer-Shoup cryptosystem after the two men who invented it --
Victor Shoup of IBM Research and Ronald Cramer of ETH -- the technology
prevents so-called "active attacks" that hackers use to break into
encrypted communications, IBM said in a statement.
Though active attacks are very complicated to undertake (a hacker must send
nearly a million messages written in a particular way to a system), last
year a researcher at Bell Labs Technologies found that such an active
attack could be used to decode information encrypted with the popular
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. That discovery caused an uproar this
past June among software vendors who use the product, while SSL-creator RSA
Data Security rushed to fix the problem.
Most commercially available public-key encryption systems today use a set
of complex mathematical problems that are thought to be unsolvable,
according to IBM. However, hackers using so-called active attacks bypass
the need to solve these problems by sending cleverly constructed messages
to a server that force this server to respond in ways that leaks encrypted
information.
The Cramer-Shoup system eliminates the possibility of active attacks by
adding an additional set of complicated mathematical calculations to ensure
that the server leaks no information when responding to the bogus messages,
IBM said.
While IBM plans to use the Cramer-Shoup solution in upcoming versions of
its Vault Registry software, it also plans to make the discovery available
to the general public via the Internet. IBM's idea is to get everyone using
the new technology in order to make Internet commerce more secure and
widely accepted, the company said.
"Businesses and consumers can have greater confidence in Internet
transactions because we've effectively closed down the only way around a
cyrptosystem's main line of defense," said Jeff Jaffe, general manager of
IBM's security products division, in a statement.
More information on the Cramer-Shoup cyrptosystem can be found at
http://www.zurich.ibm.com/Technology/Security/publications/1998/CS.pdf.
IBM Corp., in Armonk, N.Y., can be reached at http://www.ibm.com.
Kristi Essick is a correspondent in the Paris bureau of the IDG News
Service, an InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Oct 15 20:36:15 1998
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Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 20:42:27 -0500
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: IBM embraces Apache Web server
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IBM embraces Apache Web server
By Jon Cornetto
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 2:48 PM PT, Oct 15, 1998
As expected, Big Blue is giving the Apache HTTP Server a boost into the big
leagues, porting the open-source engine to IBM's AS/400's midrange
operating system, and beefing up the security and performance of Apache for
use with IBM's WebSphere Application Server.
IBM will deliver a beta of the AS/400 port in November and also will offer
it for free through the Apache Project, keeping true to the product's
open-source roots, the company announced Wednesday at ApacheCon, in San
Francisco.
AS/400, which has a giant installed base, has been "Web-server-challenged"
in the past, according to analysts. Nigel Beck, program director of market
management at IBM, said this announcement offers AS/400 users an
alternative to Netscape's application server.
The company also announced enhancements to the Apache-based HTTP services
in its WebSphere line, including 128-bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
encryption for financial transactions and other sensitive data.
As for speed, IBM will be adding a new internally developed caching
technology that the company claims doubles the speed of HTTP services in
WebSphere on Microsoft Windows NT. The Fast Response Cache Accelerator
(FRCA) will run in Apache's kernel, making it faster and more reliable,
Beck said.
Both technologies will ship with the next version of Websphere Application
Server due by year's end, Beck said. FRCA also will be included in the HTTP
Server for OS/390 Version 2 Release 7, expected in March.
IBM Corp., in Armonk, N.Y., is at www.ibm.com. The Apache Project is at
www.apache.org.
Jon Cornettois a contributing reporter at InfoWorld.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Oct 19 10:37:19 1998
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Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 10:43:30 -0500
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft has no plans to bring COM+ to platforms other than
NT 5.0
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Microsoft has no plans to bring COM+ to platforms other than NT 5.0
By Dana Gardner, Bob Trott, and Cara Cunningham
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:32 AM PT, Oct 17, 1998
Despite the many interoperability options coming out of Redmond in recent
months, Microsoft product plans are proving that its favorite
interoperability is that between Windows NT Servers.
Microsoft officials said they have no plans to port COM+, the next version
of its Component Object Model (COM), to Unix. That means the much-touted
COM+ system services, key to NT 5.0, will not be available on other platforms.
"We have no plans for COM+ on Unix at this time," Joe Maloney, platform
marketing group manager at Microsoft, said last week at the Professional
Developers Conference, in Denver. "We haven't ported Microsoft Transaction
Server [MTS] to Unix [and MTS is part of COM+]. The interoperability is
there with COM."
The results are multiple Microsoft bridging strategies that fall short of
the pure interoperability that has been promised by rivals.
"That leaves them with a positioning where interoperability is primarily
through bridges," said Phil Costa, an analyst at the Giga Information
Group, in Cambridge, Mass. "It would be hard to say they are an
interoperability vendor. I would say that stretches 'interoperability.'"
Robert De Cardenas, a systems network coordinator who runs an
NT-Novell-Unix shop at the Florida State Supreme Court in Tallahassee, said
his interoperability comes from his Novell software.
"They are probably only skin deep as far as interoperability goes," De
Cardenas said of Microsoft. "But even though our interop is not as full and
rich as I would like it to be, I guess I'm glad it's there on some level to
begin with."
Microsoft's argument is that the alternatives -- CORBA and Enterprise
JavaBeans -- make up a splintered camp that is unable to offer the
universality of Windows, Maloney said.
Officials at Iona Technologies, a leading maker of COM-CORBA bridges,
stated that Microsoft's middleware integration services are primarily
designed to integrate within the Windows and COM sphere of influence.
"[Microsoft doesn't] have any plans to port their stuff, it's still
proprietary. They will not make the services available on other platforms.
So that's where CORBA comes in, and that's why we are trying to make our
services interoperate with theirs," said Lean Doody, product manager for
Iona's OrbixComet, a COM-CORBA bridge.
Iona plans to update OrbixComet within a few months of the release of NT
5.0, sometime in 1999, so that it will support COM+ and MTS. Both COM and
COM+ should bridge seamlessly because they are both based on the
Distributed COM wire protocol, Doody said.
Microsoft's interoperability arsenal comprises an expensive effort to port
COM to Sun Solaris; third-party COM-CORBA bridges; Extensible Markup
Language support in NT 5.0; OLE DB and ODBC; and Microsoft Services for
Unix, due out this month.
"Microsoft supplies only as much interoperability as they need to keep NT a
viable solution," said Anne Thomas, an analyst at the Patricia Seybold
Group, in Boston.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Iona Technologies Inc., in Dublin, Ireland, can be reached at www.iona.com.
Dana Gardner and Cara Cunningham are InfoWorld editors at large. Bob Trott
is a Seattle-based senior writer.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Oct 19 10:41:38 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Communicator 4.5 to ship
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Communicator 4.5 to ship
By Paul Festa
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
October 18, 1998, 9:00 p.m. PT
In the wake of studies showing its browser market share both declining and
advancing in key areas, Netscape Communications this week will release the
shipping version of Communicator 4.5, its Internet software suite.
[It seems to already be available for download on their website. --Gary]
Version 4.5's features are no surprise to Communicator users. In addition
to two public betas of Version 4.5, Communicator users have also had the
opportunity to sample new search and navigation features, which Netscape
categorized under the term "smart browsing." These were included in the
4.06 and 4.07 releases.
The other key changes in Version 4.5 are geared at users who access the
Internet from different computers, for example corporate users who also use
the Net from home.
Also included in the final 4.5 release are fixes for privacy holes that
revealed users' browsing history, cache, and other private information.
4.07 was released to fix the bug, but another bug soon surfaced. Version
4.5 will plug both those holes, according to Communicator senior product
manager Micki Seibel.
With smart browsing, the user can type search keywords into the address bar
of the browser. Those keyword searches resolve to directory or search
results pages on Netscape's Netcenter portal site.
This feature has caused some controversy among Web site owners whose
addresses were generic names, like "scripting.com," since previous versions
of the browser would resolve single word queries to their .com, .org, or
.net equivalents, according to users' preferences. Netscape has pointed out
that users can disable the keyword function in Navigator 4.06 and higher
under the "Preferences" menu.
Another smart browsing feature, provided in conjunction with Alexa
Internet, offers a list of related sites wherever the user surfs. Netscape
has refined both the keyword and the "What's Related" databases during the
beta period, partially with the aid of user feedback, according to Seibel.
Some users have found that "What's Related" can produce unlikely
recommendations.
The third component of smart browsing is support for Web ratings used to
block certain sites for child, student, library, or corporate users.
The roaming features have largely to do with Communicator's Messenger email
component, and the Collabra newsgroup component that has been folded into
Messenger.
Messenger now supports the IMAP messaging protocol, which provides faster
performance, allows users to download attachments on demand, and lets users
work with email offline and synchronize changes between the client and the
server the next time they log on.
Support for the LDAP protocol means users can have fuller access to
LDAP-based address books and directories. While Communicator has offered
autocomplete for email addresses since Version 4.0, Version 4.5 will
autocomplete against any LDAP-based directory, such as those maintained by
411.com and WhoWhere. LDAP support will also let users change their address
book offline and have it sychronized with the server when they log on again.
Support for another Internet standard, the Message Disposition Notification
protocol, will let users obtain confirmation that messages they send have
been received and opened. A number of proprietary and mutually incompatible
notification systems exist already, Seibel said, and MDN is
backward-compatible with them.
Messenger's interface has been redone. A three-pane design offers folders,
message headers, and the message body at once.
Email searching and filtering have been expanded so users can search or
filter on multiple criteria, such as "sender" and "subject."
Communicator 4.5 bundles Macromedia's Flash animation player, Real's G2
streaming multimedia player, and Headspace's Beatnik sound effects software.
Seibel said Version 4.5's beta period was the most productive yet for the
company's browser team.
"We introduced a quality feedback system," Seibel said. "If the product
crashed, a window would pop up asking the user to file an incident report
telling us what functions were being used, what operating system they were
on, etcetera. It not only increased the amount of information we got, and
the quality of that information, but the speed with which we were able to
address problems."
As a result of the new beta process, Netscape implemented more than 4,000
customer suggestions, Seibel said, including bug fixes, performance
enhancements, and feature requests.
Netscape has been fielding feature requests of a different sort in another
part of its Internet software business, the Mozilla.org operation. Early
this year, Netscape began the process of revealing Communicator's source
code for the worldwide community of independent developers to work with.
While Mozilla.org has been managing the open source development effort,
Netscape has been picking and choosing from developer contributions for its
own branded product that will be Communicator 5.0.
A beta version of Version 5.0, expected by year's end, is on track, Seibel
said.
All these efforts come as Netscape reduces its reliance on the browser
business to focus on its portal site and its enterprise software. Netscape,
once dominant in the browser market, has watched its market share steadily
erode to Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. Recent studies have showed
that while Navigator is strong in the important corporate market, it has
slipped overall.
One from Zona Research showed Navigator maintaining a 20-percentage point
lead over IE in the office. A study from International Data Corporation,
showed Navigator's marketshare slipping overall, but maintaining its lead
in the medium- and large-sized business market.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Oct 19 11:09:39 1998
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Subject: Lucent to use Novell software
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Lucent to use Novell software
By Erich Luening
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
October 19, 1998, 7:05 a.m. PT
update Lucent Technologies today will announce that it has agreed to use
Novell's directory software in hardware that helps to manage voice and data
traffic in corporate networks, a company spokesman said.
This would be a boost for Novell in its fight with Microsoft, according to
observers. Microsoft is pushing its own directory services software, called
Active Directory, expected to be part of the forthcoming Windows NT 5.0.
Lucent said it plans to integrate Novell's directory services (NDS) into
its corporate networking switch Cajun P550, which will be available the
first half of next year.
Lucent and Novell also agreed to collaborate in seeking industry-wide
technical standards for building networks using products from different
companies, the spokesman said.
Directory software is growing in importance as the Internet accelerates the
use of electronic commerce.
Integrating NDS into the Cajun P550 switch is just the first step in
implementing the Novell technology throughout the Lucent portfolio, the
spokesman said.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Oct 19 11:43:31 1998
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Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 11:49:39 -0500
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Intel buys Shiva for $185 million, invests in Relativity
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Intel buys Shiva for $185 million, invests in Relativity
By Rebecca Sykes
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 8:51 AM PT, Oct 19, 1998
Intel announced Monday it will buy Shiva, a maker of remote access and
virtual private network products for small and medium-size businesses, for
approximately $185 million.
Separately, Intel is also taking a stake in software maker Relativity
Technologies.
Under the terms of the Intel-Shiva definitive merger agreement, each share
of Shiva stock will be converted into the right to receive $6 per share in
cash, except for shares held by stockholders who exercise statutory
appraisal rights, according to a statement from Intel. Shiva will become a
wholly owned subsidiary of Intel and will be part of Intel's network
products division, the statement said.
Intel does not plan any immediate changes to Shiva's product line, though
eventually it will be integrated into Intel's own networking product line,
the statement said.
Approval by Shiva stockholders and regulators has not yet been secured,
according to Intel.
Separately, Relativity Monday announced that Intel has made an investment
in the company of an undisclosed amount. Relativity makes applications,
including RescueWare, that are designed to automate the migration of legacy
computer applications to Internet and client/server architectures.
As part of the investment, the two companies will jointly market
Relativity's software, according to a statement from Relativity.
Intel Corp., in Santa Clara, Calif., can be reached at (408) 987-8080 or
www.intel.com. Shiva Corp., based in Bedford, Mass., can be reached at
(781) 687-1000 or www.shiva.com. Relativity Technologies Inc. can be
reached in Cary, N.C., at (919) 678-1500 or www.relativity.com.
Rebecca Sykes is a Boston correspondent for the IDG News Service, an
InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Oct 20 16:15:09 1998
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Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 15:50:19 -0500
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Symantec readies upgrade to popular Visual Cafe 3.0
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Symantec readies upgrade to popular Visual Cafe 3.0
By Dana Gardner
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 12:33 PM PT, Oct 20, 1998
Symantec next week will announce Version 3.0 of its popular Java
development tools, Visual Cafe Database Edition, Visual Cafe Professional
Edition, and Visual Cafe Standard Edition.
Available now in beta form, with shipping to begin in mid-November, the
latest Visual Cafe Java tools allow developers to plug in any version of
the Java Development Kit (JDK) features from Sun Microsystems, from 1.1
through 1.2, which is due in late November, said Symantec representatives,
in Cupertino, Calif.
Separately, Symantec is slated to deliver its comprehensive Enterprise
Suite of Java tools by year's end.
Visual Cafe 3.0, which ships with JDK 1.17, is aimed at broadening
server-side Java development by offering server-side debugging and remote
server debugging, as well as projecting the visible connection between
components for drag-and-drop interactions.
Visual Cafe 3.0 also supports the new JFC/Swing classes. By complying to
the JFC/Swing data model, JFC/Swing components are data-aware, eliminating
the need for "dbaware" components, Symantec representatives said.
The latest tools also build model, border, and icon beans, and provide
WYSIWYG support for Java Foundation Classes (JFCs) in the tools' form
designer. Full support for JtabbedPane is also offered, as is support for
any standard Java Database Connectivity driver for broad database
connectivity, Symantec said.
Moreover, the updated Java tools also include an upgraded JIT compiler from
Symantec, Version 3.1, which promotes faster start-up time for
applications, representatives said.
All available for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT, Visual Cafe
Database Edition will sell for $800, Visual Cafe Professional Edition for
$300, and Visual Cafe Standard Edition for $100.
Symantec Corp. can be reached at (800) 441-7234 or www.symantec.com.
Dana Gardner is an editor at large at InfoWorld.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Oct 21 11:01:19 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Larry Wall Wins Free Software Foundation Award
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Larry Wall Wins Free Software Foundation Award
Sebastopol, CA--Larry Wall, the creator of several popular free software
programs, has won the first Free Software Foundation Award for the
Advancement of Free Software. Wall was honored for "his many contributions
to the advancement of freely distributed software," according to the Free
Software Foundation. The award was granted on October 9 in at Masschusetts
Institute of Technology. Wall's most well-known product is Perl, a powerful
scripting language used by system administrators and web developers for
sophisticated text manipulation, system management and active Web pages.
There are about one million Perl programmers worldwide, with a core of more
than 450 on the Perl porters mailing list, who are most active in its
development and maintenance.
Wall, Senior Software Developer at O'Reilly & Associates, also won the
award for creating rn, a widely-used news reader; patch, a development and
distribution tool; metaconfig, which writes Configure scripts; and the Warp
space-war game.
In granting the award, the Free Software Foundation said, "Larry Wall has
always promoted keeping his implementations free for all to study, enhance,
and build on, without restrictions, and the freedom for all to benefit in
whatever ways they can from his products." They called Perl "a tool that
takes the UNIX ideas of flexibility and portability further than almost any
program before it."
Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO, O'Reilly & Associates, stated:
Larry's influence on modern computing goes well beyond Perl. The Internet,
and in fact much of the innovation that is driving the current boom in
Silicon Valley and Redmond, largely grew out of an academic and research
community in which the sharing of source code, and the ability to build on
the work of your peers, was taken for granted. Larry's patch program
allowed people to share modifications to existing programs and to merge
divergent source trees, encouraging a style of distributed software
development that has proven to be the most powerful methodology available.
Similarly, Larry's idiosyncratic Perl language turned out to be a key
enabler for the explosion of active content on the World Wide Web. While
industry hype focussed on Java and ActiveX, Perl quietly stole the market,
becoming a key component of the next generation "information applications"
at Yahoo, Amazon.com, and tens of thousands of other leading sites.
Wall has won other honors, including the Dr. Dobb's 1996 Excellence in
Programming Award, and the SAGE (System Administrators Guild) 1994
Outstanding Achievement Award. Perl won the WebTechniques/WebReview 1997
Editor's Choice Award for Scripting Language. Wall has received wide
coverage in the press, including in Salon and Dr. Dobb's Journal.
The Free Software Foundation awards committee members are Peter Salus
(Chairman), Scott Christley, Rich Morin, Adam Richter, Richard Stallman,
and Vernor Vinge.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Oct 22 09:01:38 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Sun to bundle NetDynamics app server with Solaris
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Sun to bundle NetDynamics app server with Solaris
By Dana Gardner
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 4:07 PM PT, Oct 21, 1998
Borrowing a few ideas from Netscape Communications and Microsoft, Sun
Microsystems laid out a strategy Wednesday that emphasizes the concept of
building enterprise Web portals aided by tightening integration between its
new NetDynamics application server with its flagship server operating
system, Solaris.
Like Microsoft, which sees little distinction between its Windows NT Server
operating system and the services that amount to an application server, Sun
-- beginning immediately -- will offer add-on bundle deals that put its
recently acquired NetDymanics Server on Solaris -- and at a 20 percent
discount.
Unlike Microsoft, however, Sun will price its popular Unix operating system
separately from its application server "forever," said Alan Baratz,
president of Sun's Java Software division in a conference call to
journalists and analysts Wednesday.
"Sun will ensure that Solaris is competitive, with the functions needed to
be successful, and application server capability is a part of that," Baratz
said.
With the news of the bundles, Sun appears to be walking a tricky line
between emulating Microsoft's direct OS-to-app server integration but also
being mindful that many other application server vendors have ported their
competing server wares to the Solaris platform.
Sun is also the license owner and driving force behind the Java and
Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) efforts, which many application server vendors
-- including Oracle, IBM, Netscape, and BEA -- subscribe to and support.
Sun is seeking to maintain a "church/state" separation between Java
development and other Sun product development by keeping them as separate
divisions within the overall corporation.
As an offering of its cross-platform intentions, Sun emphasized that the
NetDynamics server -- which will emerge in a major upgrade version early
next year with EJB 1.0 support -- also runs on Windows NT, HP-UX, IBM AIX,
and SGI Irix, according to Zack Rinat, vice president of NetDynamics at
Java Software.
The server will be optimized for all those platforms -- including Solaris,
Rinat said, adding that variants of Unix tend to scale higher than Windows NT.
To better compete with IBM CICS and BEA's Tuxedo, Sun also announced
Wednesday that it will license Inprise's VisiBroker Integrated Transaction
Service, an object-oriented transaction processing monitor. Already,
NetDynamics includes Inprise's VisiBroker object request broker. In the
future, NetDynamics plans to integrate the object transaction monitor
capabilities into its offerings, the company said.
Lastly, in banter reminiscent of Netscape's
portal-as-enterprise-services-hub marketing, Baratz laid out a portal
vision that uses Sun's family of products to help companies create a
federation of Web sites. Such sites would be centrally and seamlessly
linked so that its employees and partners could quickly and easily get to
the applications and information they need -- regardless of where they are
and regardless of where the information originates or resides.
"Portals are becoming the core of the enterprise computing environment.
That's what it's all about," Baratz said. "At Sun, we are building an
employee portal, so that with a browser I can access a site that gives me
e-mail, calendaring, news of the day, access to Web-based content on
products, and pricing -- but all browser-based on the front end and linking
into an installed base."
"It's a portal for Sun Microsystems. And I can access it from my PC at
home, at an airport kiosk, a customer site -- anywhere there's the
Internet," Baratz said.
Consequently, Sun is assembling an integrated core family of products --
including sundry Java IDE tools, NetDynamics Studio, Java Web Server, Java
Embedded Server, Sun Messaging Server, Solaris, and NetDynamics -- to allow
enterprises to build their own portals.
Calling it "the most complete software in the enterprise," Sun is
positioning "NetDynamics as the power behind the portal, and the portal is
emerging as the new enterprise software model," Baratz said.
"NetDynamics is the overarching brand for all these products, and the focus
is on the vision of Internet-based computing," Rinat said. "Java is an
enabling technology and NetDynamics will be the platform for integrating."
Sun Microsystems Inc., in Mountain View, Calif., is at www.sun.com.
Dana Gardner is an editor at large at InfoWorld.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Nov 9 13:40:16 1998
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Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 13:43:43 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: HP Java split widens
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HP Java split widens
By Charles Babcock, Inter@ctive Week Online
November 9, 1998 10:44 AM PT
Hewlett-Packard Co. said last week its split with Sun Microsystems Inc.
over embedded Java was irreparable and it was launching its embedded Java
clone, Chai, as a brand with other vendors, including Microsoft Corp.
Also last week, HP helped to form a breakaway group of 13 vendors seeking
to establish specifications for Java in real-time, embedded systems.
HP General Manager of Embedded Software Jim Bell said the Real-time Java
Working Group will establish its own standards process and select a
standards body to supervise its effort. At the end of the week, the group
was leaning toward the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
or The Open Group, representatives said.
The moves were seen as the most serious blow yet to Sun's efforts to
control all aspects of the Java development platform.
"HP, in essence, is staging a call to arms for an open, vendor-neutral Java
standard," said Ron Rappaport, an industry analyst at Zona Research Inc.
HP's Bell said HP's breach with Sun concerned only embedded-system Java, in
which HP has a huge business stake. HP's server-side business remained "an
enthusiastic Java licensee," he said.
The members of the Real-time Java Working Group include Access Co. Ltd.,
Aonix, AverStar Inc., Cyberonix, Enea OSE Systems AB, Lynx Real-Time
Systems Inc., Microsoft, Omron Corp., Siemens AG, TeleMedia Devices Inc.,
SOMA MarketNet for NewMonics and Yokogawa Electric Corp.
Members of the group did not see themselves as fostering a split with Sun.
Writing extensions to Java that could be used for real-time, embedded
systems has been "a hole that needed to be filled," and real-time software
makers and operating systems vendors want to do the work, said Ron Kole,
vice president at AverStar Inc., a real-time tools vendor.
But Rappaport was not sure the dispute could be tidied up so neatly. "Once
you let the animal loose, it's hard to restrict it for your intended
purpose," he said.
Unless HP puts strict conditions on its licenses, its licensees could use
the Chai virtual machine on servers as well as in embedded devices,
Rappaport said. HP is making a Chai Developer Kit, sample applets that it
has dubbed Chailets and the ChaiServer available for free download from its
Web site at www.chai.hp.com. The ChaiServer would control the running and
distribution of Chai applications on a server for embedded devices.
Despite HP's moves, Sun President of Consumer and Embedded Systems Mark
Tolliver said the breach with HP may yet be healed.
He said Sun was modifying its process for extending its Embedded Java to
allow nonlicensees, such as HP, to participate. "It's now open to anyone
who can send a technically qualified representative," Tolliver said. Sun
has indicated over the past three months on its Web site that it would lift
the licensees-only restriction. It plans to post an explanation of the new
process by mid-November.
But HP has persistently criticized Sun for keeping the Java
standard-setting process under its control. By posting its Chai code to a
royalty-free Web site and "taking actions that it believes a proponent of
open standards must take, it was primed for the next move that may well
extend beyond the embedded systems market," Rappaport said.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Nov 11 09:05:00 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Netscape unveils next-generation client technology
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Netscape unveils next-generation client technology
By Emily Fitzloff
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 2:20 PM PT, Nov 10, 1998
Netscape on Tuesday took the wraps off of its next-generation technology
-- code-named NGT -- designed to facilitate the development of smaller,
faster, and more modular applications for multiple computing platforms and
devices.
NGT will be the foundation for any and all Netscape client products after
Communicator 4.5, according to the company.
At the core of NGT is a browser layout engine that interprets data from
Internet sites and displays the content on a user's screen much quicker
than current browser products, according to Chris Saito, director of client
product marketing at Netscape.
According to Saito, NGT will have four major benefits for users: extensive
support for standards including HTML 4.0, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS1 and
CSS2), Document Object Model (DOM), Resource Description Framework (RDF),
and Extensible Markup Language (XML); modularity and a small footprint for
easy download and install in multiple environments including handheld
devices; table layout speed four to five times faster than that of
Communicator 4.5 and competitive products; and open-source code that was
developed in conjunction with Mozilla.org.
One analyst said NGT is important in keeping Netscape in the browser game
with Microsoft. In addition to the broad standards support, the open source
angle is also a strong competitive point, according to Michael Goulde, an
analyst at the Patricia Seybold Group, in Boston. "Can open source produce
better/faster/more functional code than Microsoft programmers? This will be
an important test," Goulde said.
NGT will also enable users to build platform-independent application user
interfaces using Web standards.
Netscape plans to release more specific details regarding product plans for
NGT before the end of the year.
Developers can access source code for NGT technologies and contribute to
its direction, development, and testing via the Mozilla.org Web site.
Netscape Communications Corp., in Mountain View, Calif., can be reached at
www.netscape.com.
Emily Fitzloff is an InfoWorld senior writer.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Nov 11 09:07:30 1998
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Microsoft delivers NT-Unix connectivity package
By Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 11:25 AM PT, Nov 10, 1998
Microsoft moved closer to fulfilling its interoperability promise on
Tuesday with the announcement of an add-on pack, Windows NT Services for
Unix, the software giant's solution for integrating NT Server and
Workstation with existing Unix environments.
According to Microsoft, the software kit, which will cost $149 when it is
released in four to six weeks, will focus on four areas.
Resource sharing will allow NT Workstation users to reach into Unix systems
to get files and Unix workstation users to access NT Server files.
Remote administration will let users remotely log on to and work on NT- and
Unix-based systems.
Password synchronization will enable users to keep a common password for
their NT and Unix machines, and make password changes on NT that will be
automatically synchronized on their Unix systems.
Common scripting across platforms will enable users to execute Unix
commands and utilities in NT environments.
To build the software, which was first announced in May, Microsoft called
on two key partners for help, Intergraph and Mortice Kern Systems (MKS).
Intergraph provided Network File System (NFS) client/server software for
the add-on pack's resource-sharing functionality. From MKS, Microsoft
licensed 25 Unix scripting commands, including KornShell, for the add-on
pack. MKS also updated its Unix interoperability toolkit with the MKS
Toolkit Update Edition, to focus on the NT Services for Unix Add-On Pack.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Intergraph Corp., in Huntsville, Ala., can be reached at
www.intergraph.com. Mortice Kernel Systems Inc., in Waterloo, Ontario, can
be reached at www.mks.com.
Bob Trott is a senior editor at InfoWorld, based in Seattle.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Nov 17 20:53:34 1998
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Subject: Judge Rules Against Microsoft In Java Lawsuit
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Judge Rules Against Microsoft In Java Lawsuit
(11/17/98, 8:35 p.m. ET)
By Reuters
In a stinging defeat for Microsoft, a federal judge Tuesday backed
technology claims by Sun Microsystems and gave the software company 90 days
to modify the Windows 98 operating system or pull it from the market.
U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte said Sun was "likely to prevail on the
merits" of its lawsuit over the Java programming language and issued a
preliminary injunction that would bar Microsoft from selling products that
use the technology.
Whyte's order bars the sale of any Microsoft products that use Java --
including Windows 98 and the Internet Explorer 4.0 browser -- beginning in
90 days unless Microsoft modifies the software to comply with Sun
compatibility tests. The order does not affect software that already has
been shipped.
For Sun, one of Microsoft's fiercest rivals, the ruling was a sweet victory
in the battle over control of Java, an increasingly popular platform for
software developers that once was seen as a threat to the hegemony of
Windows on the computer desktop.
While the highly technical lawsuit has taken a back seat to the landmark
antitrust case against Microsoft unfolding in Washington, D.C., the ruling
could reinvigorate Sun's efforts to promote Java for developers to write
software that runs on a variety of systems and not just Windows.
And government lawyers, who have called a Sun vice president to testify in
the antitrust case, contend Microsoft's efforts to undermine Java are part
of a pattern of anti-competitive behavior.
Alan Baratz, president of Sun's Java Software unit, said the company would
continue to deliver products "that give developers and users the choice to
replace Microsoft's polluted technology with Sun's compatible Java
technology."
Sun sued Microsoft in 1997 charging that the Redmond, Wash.-based software
company violated its 1996 agreement to license Java by introducing variants
in its own software and developer tools that failed to meet Sun's
compatibility tests.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
"We believe Sun's legal strategy is shortsighted and is trying to deny
customers and developers the choice of the best Java implementation in the
marketplace."
-- Jim Cullinan
Microsoft
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Sun contended Microsoft was intentionally trying to undermine Java's
vaunted "write once, run anywhere" promise by establishing conflicting
versions of the language and forcing developers to make a choice.
In a cry that echoed its defense against antitrust charges, Microsoft
contended Sun was trying to prevent "innovation" and said even Sun's own
implementation of the technology failed to meet compatibility requirements.
Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan said the company was disappointed by the
ruling but would "take the necessary steps to comply."
"We believe Sun's legal strategy is shortsighted and is trying to deny
customers and developers the choice of the best Java implementation in the
marketplace," Cullinan said.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Nov 18 09:29:18 1998
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Microsoft may follow own path on Java
By Michael Moeller, PC Week Online
November 17, 1998 7:17 PM PT
In the wake of Tuesday's ruling forcing Microsoft Corp. to ship Sun
Microsystem Inc.'s version of Java in Windows 98, Internet Explorer and its
development tools, the big question now is what happens next.
The preliminary injunction, a major blow to Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT), states
that Microsoft has 90 days to change any product that ships with Java
technologies so that it will conform with and pass Sun's Java compatibility
test suite. Currently, the Microsoft products affected include Internet
Explorer 4.0, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0 and the Java development tool
Visual J++ 6.0.
Just how Microsoft will do that is anyone's guess, at this point.
Will MS abandon Java?
Paul Maritz, group vice president and general manager of the applications
and tools group at Microsoft, did not dismiss two far-reaching
possibilities: Cancel all support for Java in its products, or replace the
Java virtual machine it licensed from Sun with a clean room version created
by Microsoft.
"That is a possibility, but I would not want to comment further on that at
this point," Maritz said during a conference call Tuesday evening, when
asked if Microsoft might create its own version of Java.
Microsoft has already taken steps that indicate it may not support Java
going forward. In the beta of Internet Explorer 5.0, released earlier this
month, Microsoft made the Java virtual machine an optional download for
users. Maritz added that Microsoft has no contractual obligations to
support Java, saying that these were fulfilled when it shipped IE 3.02.
Sun says contract is five years
However, Sun's General Counsel and Vice President Michael Morris said that
Microsoft's commitment contractually to Java runs for five years. The
contract was signed in the spring of 1996. Morris and Alan Baratz, Java
software division president, seemed to indicate that Sun would take issue
with Microsoft if it tried to use a clean room version instead of the
version its has licensed from Sun.
JNI the key
If Microsoft opts to continue supporting Java it will need to support a key
API that as been at the center of this dispute - Java Native Interface. JNI
is a bridge that connects Java code that is written natively to a specific
operating system with portable Java code the can run on any platform. The
bridge is designed to let any application be able to tap the native code
without locking the entire application into a specific environment.
Microsoft has refused to support JNI to date, saying that it duplicates
Microsoft's J/Direct, which is already in the operating system. Microsoft
will not have to remove J/Direct, according to the order, only add support
for JNI.
Maritz described the effort to support JNI in its products as "not trivial"
but that it would not have any material impact on Microsoft.
An olive branch
Baratz extended an olive branch towards Microsoft, saying that he hopes the
ruling and events will lead it back into the fold of the Java community. He
said he would be willing to help Microsoft conform to the ruling. "I hope
that they will take us up on the offer," said Baratz.
If Microsoft were to accept Baratz's offer, Sun said that it would resume
sending Microsoft the latest versions of the Java technology. Sun is due to
ship the Java Development Kit 1.2 early next month, but has withheld
information on it from Microsoft, due to their legal fight. Sun officials
said if Microsoft agrees to remain compliant and work with the rest of the
Java community, Sun will be happy to send it JDK 1.2 information.
Developer warnings
But Microsoft must do more than just change its Java VM. It will also need
to modify its use of extensions it has made to the Java language. With the
release of VJ++ 6.0 earlier this year, Microsoft include additions to the
language called keywords and directives - both of which tied Java
application to Windows exclusively and were the default setting within the
tool.
As part of the ruling, Microsoft will now have to make the creation of
cross-platform Java the default setting. It also must put a warning label
within the code of the tool that is activated if a developer elects to
change the setting to use the Microsoft-specific extensions. The warning
label is designed to tell developers that if they use the extensions, a
future ruling in the case could force them to change their code.
Tuesday's action stems from the filing of a breach of contract suit by Sun
against Microsoft in October of last year. Sun amended that complaint in
May when it asked the judge for the preliminary injunction be put in place
until the trial could be heard. It is unclear when exactly the trial might
begin.
Legal options
Saying that it is disappointed with the ruling and dismayed at Sun's use of
legal tactics, Microsoft is also exploring all of its options on the legal
side as well. According to Tom Burt, the company's associate general
counsel, Microsoft is exploring all its legal options, and may appeal the
ruling. Burt maintained that "once all the facts are introduced in the
case, we are confident that Microsoft will prevail at the trial."
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Nov 19 09:14:28 1998
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What the Java ruling really says
By Deborah Gage, Sm@rtReseller
November 19, 1998 10:04 AM ET
The U.S. District Court handed Sun Microsystems Inc. a clear victory on
Java Tuesday, despite Microsoft Corp.'s claims to the contrary, as an
examination of the ruling shows.
Microsoft is prevented from distributing any operating system, browser or
software development tool containing any Sun-copyrighted code that does not
pass Sun's Java compatibility tests. In addition to implementing Sun's JNI
(Java Native Interface) -- which dictates how Java interacts with any
native operating-system services -- Microsoft must make Sun Java the
default language for developers using Microsoft's Visual J++ 6.0, which
Microsoft began shipping in September, as well as Microsoft Software
Development Kits for Java.
Developers using VJ++ 6.0 must be warned that when they switch on
Microsoft's keyword extensions and compiler directives, the resulting
applications may not run across all Java-compatible virtual machines,
according to the court's ruling. In addition, Microsoft is prevented from
adding any new extensions and directives to future tools.
There are other provisions as well. Microsoft is prohibited from tying its
Windows logo or any licenses to exclusive use of Microsoft's virtual
machine or interfaces. Microsoft cannot advertise its virtual machine as
"the official Java reference implementation," although it can tout
performance of its virtual machine.
Microsoft must comply with the judge's order within 90 days for all new
products, unless it can show good cause why it can't. Although Microsoft
does not have to recall existing Java-enabled products, it must provide
service packs or updates over the Web or in some other fashion to bring
those products into compliance.
Microsoft has 15 days to tell customers how it plans to comply with the
judge's order. It must also admit it violated Sun's license agreements. If
Sun wins the case - Tuesday's ruling is only preliminary -- the keyword
extensions and compiler directives in VJ++ 6.0 will not be permitted to be
included in future tools. That would render any applications already
developed with VJ++ 6.0 incompatible.
Microsoft added the keyword extensions and compiler derivatives in May,
after the Redmond, Wash., company lost the right to use Sun's Java logo on
its product packaging.
Microsoft has waged a relentless PR campaign against Java and continues to
do so. Group Vice President Paul Maritz hinted Tuesday that Microsoft may
do a clean-room version of Java, which Sun general counsel Mike Morris
acknowledged is open to contract interpretation. Maritz also told press
conference questioners that Microsoft may look into using Hewlett-Packard
Co.'s Java implementation as an alternative to Sun's.
In a separate announcement Wednesday, Inprise Corp. (formerly Borland
International Inc.) announced it would be willing to license to Microsoft
its 100-percent-compatible JBuilder Java development tools for an
undisclosed amount. Inprise has partnered with both Microsoft and Sun in
the course of its Java work.
"We recognize that many customers could be adversely impacted by the
injunction against Microsoft and therefore we want to offer a solution that
will enable Microsoft to quickly comply with the ruling from the U.S.
District Court," said Inprise CEO Del Yocam in a prepared statement.
Microsoft officials said Tuesday that the company plans to comply with the
court's decision, but it did not outline Microsoft's specific technical or
legal plans for moving forward. Microsoft denied that customers would be
negatively impacted in any way by the provisions outlined in the ruling.
Additional reporting by Mary Jo Foley, Sm@rt Reseller
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Nov 19 09:58:11 1998
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Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 09:17:48 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft selling stake in RealNetworks Inc.
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Microsoft selling stake in RealNetworks Inc.=20
Copyright =A9 1998 Nando Media
Copyright =A9 1998 The Associated Press=20
SEATTLE (November 18, 1998 8:09 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) --
Microsoft Corp. is selling its 10 percent stake in RealNetworks Inc., =
whose
chairman complained before a Senate hearing this year that Microsoft =
tried
to deliberately "break" his Internet multimedia software.
Microsoft denied spite was the motive, but acknowledged its =
relationship
with RealNetworks had soured.
"I think it's fair to characterize it as a fairly rocky relationship =
for
some time," said Anthony Bay, general manager of Microsoft's Commercial
Systems Division, on Wednesday.
The decision to sell should result in a tidy profit for Microsoft. It =
paid
about $30 million for its stake in RealNetworks in July 1997, and the =
stock
today is worth about $141 million.
Shares of the Seattle-based RealNetworks closed at $42.87 1/2, up $1.62
1/2, in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Rob Glaser, RealNetwork's chairman and founder, said Microsoft's
announcement was no surprise.
"A company like Microsoft makes a decision for a million different =
reasons
and a million different circumstances," he said. "I don't think they =
needed
the cash. But I think it's pretty clear that the companies are not =
marching
in lockstep."
Microsoft will keep its license for the RealNetworks technology, which
Glaser said has been rendered outdated in the "exploding" Internet =
market.
"We're proud to be one of Microsoft's most profitable Internet =
ventures,"
added Glaser, who was vice president of multimedia at Microsoft before
founding RealNetworks in 1994.
RealNetworks makes RealPlayer and other products for watching video and
hearing audio over the Internet. It competes directly with Microsoft's
Windows Media Player. RealNetworks says it has about an 85 percent =
share of
the market.
In July, Glaser appeared before a Senate committee and demonstrated his
RealPlayer software. The software worked fine at first, but failed =
after he
installed Media Player.
"The code would have had to be written deliberately to that effect,"
testified Glaser, who was vice president of multimedia at Microsoft =
before
founding RealNetworks in 1994.
Microsoft engineers later said a bug in RealNetworks' software caused =
the
incompatibility, an argument supported by some industry experts who ran
independent tests.
Glaser is one of a string of executives, including representatives of
Netscape Communications Corp. and Apple Computer Inc., testifying at =
the
government's antitrust trial of Microsoft alleging that Redmond,
Wash.-based giant wrote software to be incompatible with their =
products.
Microsoft denies the allegations.
In July 1997, Microsoft invested $30 million to buy 3.3 million shares =
of
RealNetworks. Bay said Microsoft needed to license technology from the
Seattle company to ensure its products were compatible with those of
RealNetworks, whose software was being rapidly adopted across the World
Wide Web.
The deal set up a delicate relationship that some analysts described as
"coopetition," with the two companies working together in some areas =
and
competing in others.
Before long, it was obvious the two companies were headed in different
directions, Bay said.
"We ended up with sort of diverging business strategies," Bay said. "We =
had
a combination of a competitive and cooperative relationship and the =
balance
had sort of moved toward the competitive side."
In October, Netscape released a new version of its Internet browser =
that
includes RealNetworks' multimedia software. A month earlier, =
RealNetworks
persuaded America Online to distribute its software to AOL's 13 million
customers.
International Business Machines Corp. also is distributing =
RealNetworks'
video-player technology to 25 million corporate users of its popular =
Lotus
Notes software, and microchip giant Intel Corp., long a Microsoft ally, =
has
licensed its technology for advanced video software to RealNetworks.
Bay said Microsoft notified RealNetworks in June -- a month before =
Glaser's
testimony -- that it was considering selling its 3.3 million shares, =
and
this fall offered to work with RealNetworks to sell more stock.
The two companies could not agree, however, so Microsoft decided to =
sell
its shares on the open market, Bay said.
He said Microsoft would begin selling the shares Thursday, and had no =
time
frame for completing its divestiture.
By GEORGE TIBBITS, AP Business Writer
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Nov 19 14:07:38 1998
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Subject: Microsoft Will Modify Java Code
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Microsoft Will Modify Java Code
(11/19/98, 2:22 p.m. ET)
By Paula Rooney, Computer Retail Week
Following a court ruling in Sun Microsystems' favor Tuesday, Microsoft will
ship to the channel updated Java code for Windows 98 and its Visual J and
Visual Studio Internet development tools, company sources said.
To comply with the court injunction, which forces Microsoft to modify all
of its Java-based products to conform to Sun's standards, Microsoft will
add the Java Native Interface (JNI) to several products, including Windows
98, said Jim Cullinan, a Microsoft spokesman. It will "slipstream," or add
code, to products as they ship within the next 90 days. The changes will
have no material effect on channel partners, the spokesman said.
Windows 98 incorporates Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.0 browser, which
uses an implementation of Java not approved by Sun, which developed the
Internet programming language.
"It doesn't impact any retail product on the shelves," Cullinan said. "We
don't have to remove our technologies. We just need to add this technology
[JNI] to make sure we're compatible. It won't have any impact on our
delivery to consumers."
The Microsoft Tools Group on Wednesday was expected to announce future
plans for Microsoft's Java implementation.
Sun filed a lawsuit against Microsoft in October 1997, charging Microsoft
with trademark infringement, false advertising, breach of contract, and
unfair competition related to Microsoft's unorthodox implementations of
Java. In March, the court ordered Microsoft to remove all the coffee mug
Java-compatible logos from products on shelves.
At that time, Microsoft was required to pull about 20,000 Internet Explorer
Plus boxes bearing the Java-compatible logo from shelves and "refresh" them
with new boxes sans the logo. Windows 98 had not yet shipped at that time.
Although the court ruling is deemed a major loss for Microsoft, analysts
don't expect the software giant to hand over its standard-setting rights to
Sun. "Sun won the battle here, but it's not clear they can force Microsoft
to adopt the Java platform," said Eric Brown, an analyst with Forrester
Research, in Cambridge, Mass. "There's no way Sun can put the collar on
[Microsoft] and drag them across the dunes to accept Java."
He noted Microsoft could develop a "clean room" version of Java on its own
or refuse to endorse Sun's forthcoming Java 1.2 specification. The lawsuit
focused exclusively on Microsoft's implementation of Java 1.1.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Nov 23 09:26:48 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: America Online reportedly to buy Netscape
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America Online reportedly to buy Netscape
By Jana Sanchez-Klein and Scott Magoon
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:55 AM PT, Nov 23, 1998
America Online is in talks to purchase Netscape in an all-stock transaction
that is said to be worth more than $4 billion, according to numerous press
reports appearing over the weekend.
The press reports, appearing on U.S. television, radio, and online versions
of the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, said that Sun Microsystems may
also be involved in the deal.
The stories quote unnamed sources said to be close to the deal. Although
financial terms were not disclosed, the deal, based on the market
capitalization of Netscape, would be worth at least $4 billion. But
according to the Wall Street Journal, AOL will pay a premium above the
market price for the Netscape stock.
The leaked details include AOL taking over Netscape's Web portal, or
Netcenter, as well as Netscape's popular Web browser software. Reportedly,
Sun would take over the enterprise side of Netscape's business and pay AOL
a fee for using Netscape technology. Netscape currently sells a number of
business applications, including those used for messaging, groupware, and
Internet-commerce applications.
Sun, AOL, and Netscape have reportedly been in talks all week and this
weekend and could reach a deal before the stock markets open in the United
States on Monday morning.
The deal would mean that AOL would retain the Netscape brand name and would
not involve any staff layoffs, according to the reports. Netscape's
president and chief executive officer, James Barksdale, has reportedly been
offered a seat on AOL's board of directors as part of the deal.
The deal could have far-reaching effects on the Department of Justice case
against Microsoft, as well as changing the landscape of the browser wars.
Netscape's exit with a bang, would also likely impact the ongoing
Department of Justice antitrust suit against Microsoft, which has looked at
Microsoft's alleged efforts to drive Netscape out of business.
Sources familiar with the deal reportedly said that AOL would now be in a
position to get a huge amount of I-commerce on the Web. In addition to its
own 14 million subscribers, Netscape's Netcenter gets about 20 million
visitors per month.
Analysts see AOL, strengthened by Netscape's technology and users, as a
potential threat to Microsoft's growing I-commerce ventures.
The deal may need approval from government regulators.
None of the companies involved could be reached for comment, nor had any of
them issued a statement at the time of publication.
Netscape Communications Corp., based in Mountain View, Calif., can be
reached at www.netscape.com. America Online Inc., in Dulles, Va., can be
reached at www.aol.com. Sun Microsystems Inc., in Palo Alto, Calif., can be
reached at www.sun.com.
Jana Sanchez-Klein is London bureau chief for the IDG News Service, an
InfoWorld affiliate. Scott Magoon works for the Boston bureau of the IDG
News Service.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Nov 23 11:37:45 1998
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IBM Gives Away DB2 For Linux
(11/23/98, 11:56 a.m. ET)
By Shawn Willett, Computer Reseller News
VARs and users excited by Linux's price tag -- essentially free -- may be
interested in a database for Linux that is also free.
IBM said it plans to ship a free version of DB2 for Linux when it is ready
next spring. There will be no run-time charge for the database.
"This seems to be the right thing to do," said Jeff Jones, program manager
for data-management software at IBM, in Armonk, N.Y.
The version for Linux will not have the high-end features such as
clustering or parallel processing. However, it will support SQL-J and
include net.data, a tool for building Web applications. IBM's DB2 for Linux
is in beta and is scheduled to be available by March 1999.
IBM will not provide phone support for the free product.
"We will be opening up a moderated discussion group on the Web that will be
open 24 hours a day," said Jones.
According to Jones, DB2 for Linux is ideal for ISPs and educational sites.
IBM VARs agreed Linux will be most popular as a Web server platform and for
academic sites.
"We see extremely strong demand, especially in small businesses and
especially in Web businesses," said Bud Braseir, president of Emerging
Technology Solutions, in Denver.
"I don't have customers asking for it, but from an ISP standpoint, Linux is
easier to use than any other platform, and we can access through Linux all
our AS/400s and NT Servers," said Sean Priddy, president of Houston
On-Site, in Houston.
"We believe you will see more [Linux] especially at colleges, and all the
students coming out of schools -- that is what they are used to," he said.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Nov 24 10:32:31 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
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AOL buys Netscape, joins Sun in Java deal
By Rebecca Sykes
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 7:16 AM PT, Nov 24, 1998
America Online on Tuesday announced it will acquire Netscape in a
stock-for-stock transaction worth $4.2 billion.
AOL also announced a strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems, including
plans to develop Internet devices using Sun's Java programming language.
Under the terms of AOL's deal with Netscape, Netscape stockholders will
receive 0.45 shares of AOL common stock for each share of Netscape stock,
according to a statement from AOL. Jim Barksdale, Netscape's president and
chief executive officer, will join AOL's board of directors after the deal
closes, the statement said. Pending regulatory approval, the acquisition is
expected to close in the second quarter next year, it said.
AOL will continue to offer Microsoft's Internet Explorer to its AOL online
customers, according to the statement. Netscape's Navigator browser is
locked in battle with Explorer, and some observers had speculated that an
AOL-Netscape deal could eject Explorer from AOL's offerings. AOL will also
offer Netscape client software to its users, downloadable from the Web
using AOL's ICQ instant messaging capability, according to AOL.
AOL's deal with Sun, which is separate but related to its Netscape
acquisition, encompasses a three-year development and marketing agreement,
according to AOL. AOL and Sun together will develop the next version of
Netscape's Navigator and Communicator software clients and AOL will use
Java in its Internet-commerce offerings, the company said.
AOL and Sun also will jointly develop a suite of easy-to-deploy software
designed to help companies and Internet service providers engage in
I-commerce, according to AOL. AOL will buy systems and services from Sun
worth $500 million at list price through 2002, AOL said. For its part, AOL
will receive more than $350 million in licensing, marketing, and
advertising fees from Sun, AOL said.
The deal could have far-reaching effects on the Department of Justice case
against Microsoft, as well as changing the landscape of the browser wars.
Netscape's exit with a bang would also likely impact the ongoing Department
of Justice antitrust suit against Microsoft, which has looked at
Microsoft's alleged efforts to drive Netscape out of business.
Sources familiar with the deal reportedly said that AOL would now be in a
position to get a huge amount of Internet commerce on the Web. In addition
to its own 14 million subscribers, Netscape's Netcenter gets about 20
million visitors per month.
Some analysts see AOL, strengthened by Netscape's technology and users, as
a potential threat to Microsoft's growing I-commerce ventures.
Other analysts were still sorting out the merits of the deal, however.
"From a portal perspective it makes sense. Netscape could tap AOL's
installed base, one of the largest on the Web," said Heather Ashton, an
analyst at Hurwitz Group in Framingham, Mass. "But strategically, I'm not
sure how much sense it makes. This could move attention away from
Netscape's enterprise applications and servers to the portal side."
Netscape Communications Corp., based in Mountain View, Calif., can be
reached at www.netscape.com. America Online Inc., in Dulles, Va., can be
reached at www.aol.com. Sun Microsystems Inc., in Palo Alto, Calif., can be
reached at www.sun.com.
Rebecca Sykes is a Boston correspondent for the IDG News Service, an
InfoWorld affiliate. News Service correspondents Jana Sanchez-Klein and
Scott Magoon, and InfoWorld Editor at Large Dana Gardner contributed to
this report.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Nov 24 10:42:41 1998
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IBM readies file system software for Linux
By Ted Smalley Bowen
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 7:39 AM PT, Nov 24, 1998
Seeing a rise in demand for Linux among corporate customers, IBM's Transarc
subsidiary is preparing to release versions of its enterprise file system
software for the open-source Unix variant.
Transarc on Dec. 1 will announce versions of its AFS Server and AFS Client
for Linux. Shipment is slated for February, according to company officials.
The Linux port promises interoperability between Linux and Microsoft
Windows and other versions of Unix operating systems, according to Gail
Koerner, manager of file systems product management at Transarc.
Historically popular among academic organizations, Linux has cropped up on
the product wish lists of IBM's large corporate customers, according to
Koerner.
"These are worldwide commercial organizations -- large electronics firms,
manufacturers, telecommunications companies, government agencies, and
financial companies -- a real interesting mix for us. We decided that, at
least in our customer base, there was a business to be had," she said.
The Linux release is based on the latest version of AFS, Version 3.5, which
sports improved performance, caching, backup, and scalability, according to
Koerner. IBM next week will also announce that version's availability on
Windows NT.
The initial AFS release for Linux is certified for Red Hat's version.
AFS Server for Linux is priced starting at $1,995, with the AFS Client for
Linux staring at $99 per user. Server pricing for unlimited numbers of
users is $6,495. AFS Server for Windows NT is also priced at $1,995.
Information on AFS can be found at www.software.ibm.com.
IBM Corp., in Armonk, N.Y., is at www.ibm.com. Transarc can be reached at
www.transarc.com.
Ted Smalley Bowen is InfoWorld's Boston bureau chief.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Nov 24 16:36:01 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Sun emerges from deal smelling like a rose
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Sun emerges from deal smelling like a rose
By Michael Moeller, PC Week Online
November 24, 1998 4:32 PM ET
Like a three-team trade in baseball, today's deal involving Netscape
Communications Corp., America Online Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc. has a
little something for everyone.
Netscape gets marketing and support, AOL gets the brand and traffic, and
Sun just bulked up its entire software lineup.
Sun (SUNW) doesn't own Netscape -- or AOL's enterprise software
applications, to be precise -- but it may as well. In exchange for $350
million and some guaranteed minimum revenues, Sun has the right to sell
(and, going forward, co-develop) an entire line of intranet servers,
commerce applications and Web browser. Throw in a commitment to support
Java in the browser and support for PersonalJava, add AOL's pledge to spend
$500 million over three years for Sun's service, support and hardware, and
Sun comes out of the deal with a big win.
"Clearly this is a high-profile deal that is going to benefit Sun down the
road," said Jean Bozman, software services analyst at International Data
Corp. in Mountain View, Calif.
AOL and Sun are also committed to supporting Java and the Java Development
Kit 1.2 in the next-generation Netscape browser, Communicator 5.0. And that
is not insignificant. Until now, Netscape was planning to provide only an
open Java interface in its product, allowing any Java Virtual Machine to
work on the client. (Netscape killed its Java development effort on the
client in January.) With the partnership, Sun will now have the means to
distribute Java to Windows desktops once again. The Mountain View, Calif.,
company also gets some say in how Java will be used inside Netscape's
server software.
There are also synergies between Sun's vision for Java and its fledging
network-enabling software called Jini and America Online's AOL Anywhere
strategy. Both companies are going to work together to use a subset of the
full blown JDK -- known as PersonalJava -- as the engine for pushing an AOL
client into alternative devices, such as cell phones and PDAs. The effort
is also likely to renew the efforts of Sun and Netscape to build a pure
Java browser -- a project that was likewise shelved by Netscape in January
due to its financial problems.
All that said, there are downsides to the deal for Sun, mostly having to do
with product overlap. Currently, Sun markets and sells its own mail server.
It has also developed its own directory system. And early this fall Sun
acquired Java application server company NetDynamics Inc. All of the
products overlap with similar applications created by Netscape and now to
be sold and serviced by Sun.
"Sun is going to have to figure out this process, and let me tell you, it
is not going to be an easy one," said a source at a major software developer.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Nov 26 10:34:43 1998
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Proposal tries to contain XML chaos
By Jeff Walsh
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 4:36 PM PT, Nov 25, 1998
When the Extensible Markup Language (XML) enabled people to create their
own unique data-markup tags, many industry observers feared that chaos
would ensue.
Several vertical industry groups rushed to solve this problem and agreed on
standardized tag sets to aid information sharing. But with the recent XML
Namespaces proposal moving up to a proposed recommendation in the World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the chaos that could have crippled XML's usage
may be resolved.
XML Namespaces enable developers to define a tag that uniquely identifies
their data source at the top of an XML document. This feature will become
especially important when third parties begin to aggregate content from
other sources.
"One of the interesting things you can do with XML is get information from
multiple data sources and put it in one document," said Dave Wascha, XML
product manager at Microsoft, in Redmond, Wash. "Namespaces lets you know
which information came from which site."
Microsoft provides XML Namespaces support in the beta version of Internet
Explorer 5.0.
Michael Goulde, a senior consultant at the Patricia Seybold Group, in
Boston, said Namespaces allows for data sharing without necessitating a
standardized tag set.
However, one developer said collisions could still occur if two sites used
the same Namespace.
"A lot of what goes on in the XML world is they push the problem down a
level, but [it] still exists," said Dave Winer, president of Userland
Software, in Palo Alto, Calif.
The World Wide Web Consortium, in Cambridge, Mass., can be reached at
www.w3.org.
Jeff Walsh is an InfoWorld reporter.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Nov 26 10:46:31 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Netscape and Sun face product overlaps
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Netscape and Sun face product overlaps
By Emily Fitzloff and Dana Gardner
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 4:36 PM PT, Nov 25, 1998
Although the logistics of the agreement between America Online (proud new
owner of Netscape Communications) and Sun Microsystems seem to be ironed
out, the impact of the deal on those companies' product plans and customers
remains to be seen.
The core of the three-year development and marketing agreement between AOL
and Sun lies in the joint development of software designed to help
companies and ISPs engage in Internet commerce.
But several other server products from Netscape, including its application
server, e-mail server, and directory server, all overlap with product
offerings from Sun, leading Netscape customers to wonder what will happen now.
Industry analysts and end-users anticipate a bumpy road in the integration
of Sun and Netscape's products.
"Sun has a lot of work to do to explain the relationship of how they will
use [Sun's application server] NetDynamics and [Netscape's application
server] Kiva," said Larry Perlstein, principal analyst at Dataquest, in San
Jose, Calif.
Another potential point of contention pertains to Netscape's commitment to
support the Linux operating system -- a Sun Solaris competitor -- in future
products.
Apparently, no definitive product plans will be delivered until final
stages of the acquisition are completed, most likely this spring.
"Until the deal goes through, customers maintain current support contracts.
As far as product plans, we really need to sit down and map that out. If
something is phased out, we will have a very clear migration plan for
customers," said Lori Mirek, senior vice president of marketing at
Netscape, in Moutain View, Calif.
However, one end-user said the companies should have mapped out product
plans while they were still sitting at the negotiating table.
"I would imagine they'll be getting a lot of phone calls saying, 'Hey,
what's going to happen; which of these products will be phased out?' " said
one end-user at a government agency based in the Northeast.
Sun's application server offering, based on technology it acquired from
NetDynamics, is strikingly similar to Netscape's own application server
software that it acquired from Kiva. The companies also have competing
messaging and directory servers.
However, Bill Raduchel, Sun's chief strategy officer, seemed unconcerned.
Raduchel acknowledged the redundancy between the Kiva and NetDynamics
servers, but said, "We don't see them competing. We're going to integrate
this stuff over time."
Regarding the companies' mail and messaging solutions, "Netscape's e-mail
server has good stuff, and we think we have the industry's best messaging
store, and we'll work to combine them," Raduchel said.
Still, the core product focus of the deal remains with the companies'
I-commerce offerings and how they can best be leveraged in the future.
"The overall vision for the three companies is the same: how to be the most
successful provider of I-commerce solutions for the 21st century," Mirek said.
Sun Microsystems Inc., in Palo Alto, Calif., is at www.sun.com.
Emily Fitzloff is an InfoWorld senior writer. InfoWorld Editor at Large
Dana Gardner is based in New Hampshire.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Nov 30 15:52:20 1998
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu, Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: NT Server bug exposes user groups, users
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NT Server bug exposes user groups, users
By Scott Berinato, PC Week Online
November 30, 1998 3:08 PM ET
A bug in Microsoft Corp.'s NT Server 4.0 can expose a server's user groups
and users, according to tests done by PC Week Labs.
The bug only affects NT servers set to default settings with no firewall
protection, a configuration rarely seen unless users are not concerned with
security. So while administrators ought to be concerned, simple precautions
can prevent the situation, PC Week Labs analysts said.
However, on a Web page posted by "Vitali Chkliar," 10 companies are listed
as susceptible to the bug as of November 25. To prove the point, Chkliar
has links to the companies' hacked information.
Chkliar also has two ASP (Active Server Pages) applications available at
the site that will expose any site under the base NT configuration without
a firewall. Users only need to know a server's IP address to learn the
server's group names. Given the IP address and a group name, a hacker could
pull user names from the server, according to the site.
Chkliar could not be reached for comment. His site contains no e-mail
address or contact information and attempts to locate him have proven
unsuccessful. The Web page says that "It is also possible through lower
level API to get read, write access to the registry and folders of the
target computer, configured with default settings."
Karan Khanna, lead product manager for Windows NT security at Microsoft, in
Redmond, Wash., said this is not a security issue and that the function
Chkliar provides on his Web page is available through a base-level API.
"What's happening is, whenever you configure a server, we tell people to
lock down the server appropriately so you can control the access to
server," Khanna said. "In this situation, you haven't locked out the
appropriate ports and haven't set the right access controls. We tell
customers exactly how to lock down the systems. If you do it, this is a
non-issue."
Khanna also said the API does not allow write access, but it will allow
read capabilities.
"In Service Pack 4, we have a security configuration editor which allows
automatic lock-down of NT Server," he said.
Service Pack 4 is available now from Microsoft at www.microsoft.com.
(For security considerations, Chkliar's Web site and the names of the
hacked companies have been omitted from this story.)
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Dec 1 11:19:00 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: HP, Sun Split Over Real-Time Java Spec
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HP, Sun Split Over Real-Time Java Spec
(12/01/98, 10:50 a.m. ET)
By Alexander Wolfe, EE Times
The latest salvo in the war between Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems
for control of real-time Java will be fired this week, when an HP-led
coalition is expected to announce it has linked up with a standards body to
formally oversee its efforts toward a real-time specification.
Separately, Sun is developing its own real-time Java spec, under a process
that company officials said is open and takes into account feedback from
both licensees and the broader Java community.
The split between Sun and HP over real-time Java first came into public
view last month at the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, Calif.
There, HP and some 25 vendors officially launched their thrust under the
banner of the Real-Time Java Working Group, a coalition widely referred to
as the "splinter group," to distinguish it from Sun's ongoing spec effort.
But the embedded community isn't cleanly divided on the issue. Indeed, many
Java vendors are keeping a foot in both camps. In addition, HP and Sun are
each using as a technical starting point a real-time requirements document
created by a National Institute of Standards and Technology group in which
both companies participated.
The splinter group could gain added credibility if the National Committee
for Information Technology Standardization (NCITS), votes to take the
splinter group's effort under its wing. NCITS, formerly known as X3, is the
body that created specs for a number of programming languages including C,
C+ and Fortran.
An NCITS committee will vote on the splinter group's plan to proceed with
development of the real-time spec on Dec. 1 or Dec. 2. Anticipating a
positive outcome, leaders of the splinter group have drafted a statement
for release after the vote stating that "The acceptance of the group's
proposal by NCITS clears the way for the creation of a true standard in an
open, vendor-neutral forum."
The embedded community is likely to be roiled by continued friction over
the dueling real-time efforts.
"Sun has had some success with other Java standards, but the
embedded-systems world is just a little too fragmented to say, 'We'll let
Sun and a few of their licensees do their standard and we'll all follow
along,'" said Tucker Taft, technical director of splinter-group member
Intermetrics of Burlington, Mass.
"It's not worth our time to comment," a Sun executive said of the latest
splinter-group development.
Fractious history
Sun and HP first locked horns over Java earlier this year, when both
companies came out with separate embedded implementations.
Sun launched its EmbeddedJava technology in March with an impressive list
of licensees, including Acorn, Chorus (now owned by Sun), Geoworks, Lucent,
Mentor Graphic's Microtec division, Microware Systems, Motorola, QNX
Software Systems, US Software and Wind River Systems.
Almost simultaneously, HP debuted its own embedded Java technology.
Microsoft licensed HP's Java Virtual Machine with plans to integrate it
into its Windows CE operating system. HP has also inked licensing deals
with real-time operating system vendors Integrated Systems, Lynx Real-Time
Systems, Microware and QNX. In addition, Wind River endorsed, but didn't
formally license, the HP technology.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Dec 1 19:13:17 1998
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Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft fills NT 4.0 security hole
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Microsoft fills NT 4.0 security hole
By Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 2:18 PM PT, Dec 1, 1998
Microsoft has plugged the "Named Pipes over RPC" security flaw, the first
hole sprung by Windows NT 4.0 since the release of the company's latest
pack of fixes, Service Pack 4.
The hole allowed hackers to provoke a denial-of-service attack on an NT 4.0
system by opening multiple named pipe connections to Remote Procedure Call
(RPC) services and sending random data.
The security breach was independently discovered and reported to Microsoft
by the InfoWorld Test Center, and Mnemonix, an information security
specialist and self-described NT hacker who works for a company in the
United Kingdom. It affects Windows NT Server and Workstation, both the
standard and Enterprise editions, as well as Windows Terminal Server.
Microsoft security engineers said a hacker could exploit the way NT 4.0
deals with invalidly named pipe RPC connections. Although different system
services could be hacked, two of the services typically targeted are the
SPOOLSS and LSASS system service processes, according to Microsoft officials.
"When the RPC service attempts to close the invalid connections, the
service consumes all CPU resources and memory use grows considerably, which
may result in the system hanging," Microsoft said in a statement on its
Security Advisor Web site. "This is a denial of service vulnerability only;
there is no risk of compromise or loss of data from the attacked system."
Late in November, Microsoft posted a Knowledge Base article about the
security hole to its Web site, along with patches for all of the systems
affected except for Terminal Server. That fix will be posted as soon as it
is available, officials said.
However, officials said the fixes, although fully supported, had not yet
been regression tested and warned users against applying them unless their
systems are specifically vulnerable to the attack.
Otherwise, Microsoft recommended that users wait for the next NT service
pack, which will include a fully regression-tested version of the patch.
Microsoft has not indicated when a fifth service pack for NT 4.0 will be
released.
Service Pack 4 was released in mid-October. More than a year in the making,
it includes year-2000 fixes, support for the euro currency, and an array of
other patches, fixes, and updates.
Microsoft Corp., in Remdond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Mnemonix's can be reached at www.infowar.co.uk/mnemonix. An explanation of
the security flaw is posted at
oliver.efri.hr/~crv/security/bugs/NT/lsass.html.
Bob Trott is a senior editor at InfoWorld based in Seattle.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Dec 1 19:17:17 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
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AOL's Case pledges support for mozilla.org
By James Niccolai
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 1:36 PM PT, Dec 1, 1998
Steve Case, chairman and CEO of America Online, has pledged his support for
mozilla.org, the open-source group within Netscape which helps oversee the
development of its Web browser software.
In an e-mail sent last Wednesday to mozilla.org team member Jamie Zawinski,
Case indicated that AOL plans to back the open-source group after his
company's planned merger with Netscape goes through.
"We're very supportive of mozilla.org; indeed, we're hopeful that our
involvement might rally even more support among developers in the open
source community," Case wrote.
Ever since AOL said last week it plans to buy Netscape, the open-source
community has been watching closely to see what will become of mozilla.org.
The group has become something of a beacon for the open-source community
since Netscape went public with the source code to its Communicator browser
earlier this year.
"We certainly realize that platform innovation comes from the work of
thousands of passionate developers, and we share your view that the agenda
of Mozilla is and should be set by those who contribute to it," Case wrote
in the e-mail. "We will contribute too -- in part, by maintaining the
autonomy of mozilla.org."
Referring to a remark made by Mike Homer, Netscape executive vice president
and general manager, that Mozilla is larger than Netscape, Case wrote, "I
know it's larger than AOL, too."
Case sent his e-mail in response to a commentary by Zawinski posted on the
mozilla.org Web site, titled "Fear and Loathing on the Merger Trail," in
which he speculated about the possible ramifications for the Mozilla group
of an AOL-Netscape merger.
Zawinski's commentary, along with the text of Case's e-mail, are posted on
the mozilla.org Web site, at www.mozilla.org/news.html.
Netscape Communications Corp., in Mountain View, Calif., can be reached at
www.netscape.com. America Online Inc., in Dulles, Va., can be reached at
www.aol.com.
James Niccolai is a San Francisco correspondent for the IDG News Service,
an InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Dec 2 09:24:32 1998
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David Weinstein
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Unix trounces Windows NT in testing
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Unix trounces Windows NT in testing
By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
December 1, 1998, 9:15 p.m. PT
Windows takes a shellacking when stacked up against Unix, according to
newly released study.
Microsoft's Windows NT finished dead last overall in a comparison with five
different versions of the Unix operating system, concluded a market
research firm that assessed the latest versions of these operating systems.
IBM's AIX version of Unix topped the rankings, followed by Compaq's Digital
Unix, Sun Microsystems' Solaris, and Silicon Graphics' Irix. Each of these
four operating systems received a "good" rating from D.H. Brown Associates.
Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX earned an "OK" rating.
But "Even the Enterprise Edition of Windows NT Server 4.0 trails Unix in
every area except for PC client support," D.H. Brown said in a statement.
The company ranks the major Unix variants and NT each year using a
scorecard that judges six factors. Windows NT ranked last in every area
except one.
"NT still falls short of Unix for advanced Internet protocols and
extensions. NT also lags in features for scalability, reliability,
availability, serviceability, and system management," the study said.
Windows NT earned second place in support for PC clients, losing out to
Compaq's Digital Unix. The latter also took top marks in its support for
its support of services across a large corporation.
IBM's AIX ranked first for system management and support for intranets and
the Internet. Big Blue has taken "the most active role of the major
operating system vendors" in providing software for electronic commerce,
D.H. Brown said. However, AIX tied for fourth place in its score for
reliability, availability, and serviceability.
Solaris 7's full 64-bit capabilities launched it from last place among Unix
systems last year to third place this year, according to D.H. Brown.
Solaris won out in scalability, reliability, availability, and
serviceability, but was second-to-last in its support for PC clients.
Irix too improved overall, with a strong rating for reliability,
availability, and serviceability, the study said. HP-UX, however, slipped
backwards, in part because of HP's failure to ship promised Java-based
system management tools, which are key for managing a computer remotely.
D.H. Brown noted that the study doesn't reflect market share or customer
satisfaction. "The industry has frequently shown that the best technology
does not always win in the marketplace," the study admitted.
Companies still can highlight their system's advantages, D.H. Brown said.
"The results show that in a brutally competitive industry that relies ever
more on commodity technology, it is still possible to differentiate with
leading-edge operating system features."
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Dec 2 15:56:51 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Gates, on tape, draws laughs about stance toward Java
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Gates, on tape, draws laughs about stance toward Java
By Michael Moeller, PC Week Online
December 2, 1998 2:14 PM ET
WASHINGTON -- Bill Gates stole the show again this morning at Microsoft
Corp.'s antitrust trial with evasive answers to questions about Java.
The screening of more than a half-hour of the Microsoft chairman's taped
deposition, taken Aug. 28, was the government's lead-in to its next witness
-- James Gosling, a Sun Microsystems Inc. fellow and co-creator of Java.
Unlike previously released portions of his deposition, where Gates
assiduously dodged questions, today's excerpts proved at times amusing.
For example, at one point, David Boies, lead prosecutor for the U.S.
Department of Justice, and Gates danced through a series of eight questions
about the meaning of the phrase "pissing on," which was used in a Microsoft
e-mail sent to Gates regarding the Redmond, Wash., company's plans to
discredit forthcoming Java technologies from Sun.
"Now, Mr. Slivka [a Microsoft project leader] here says that Microsoft is
going to be saying uncomplimentary things about JDK [Java Development Kit]
1.2 at every opportunity," said Boies. "Do you see that?"
"Where's that?" responded Gates.
"'JDK 1.2 has JFC [Java Foundation Class], which we're going to be pissing
on at every opportunity,'" Boies read.
"I don't know if he is referring to pissing on JFC, or pissing on JDK 1.2,
nor do I know what he specifically means by 'pissing on,'" retorted Gates.
Frustrated with Gates' refusal to say whether the phrase meant that
Microsoft intended to discredit Java, Boies eventually asked Gates if it
was actually a code word inside Microsoft for saying nice things about
something.
While the exchange drew laughs within the courtroom -- even from District
Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson -- the majority of the video consisted
of Gates claiming he had little or no knowledge about the reasons that Sun
sued Microsoft over Java or what Java development activities were under way
at Microsoft.
Gates responded to many of the questions with "I don't know," "I don't
remember" or "I'm not sure."
At one point, Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein could be seen with a
wide grin as the tape was being played.
Gosling's cross-examination proved to be a reunion of sorts with Tom Burt,
Microsoft's associate general counsel. Burt cross-examined Gosling earlier
this year in San Jose, Calif., when Microsoft and Sun squared off in the
breach-of-contract preliminary injunction hearing.
Gosling's cross-examination, which is expected to last several days, had
only just begun before the court broke for lunch. During his hour on the
stand, Gosling answered numerous questions about the background of Java,
how the technology works and the various pieces that make up Java.
Just before the break, Burt appeared to be setting up the next piece of his
cross-examination by trying to get Gosling to confirm that Java has some
weaknesses and that it has never lived up to its promise of "write once.
run anywhere."
Outside the courtroom during the break, Microsoft (MSFT) officials said the
presentation of Gates' deposition may have been amusing, but it was irrelevant.
But Boies quickly countered, saying the purpose behind showing the tape was
to show Gates being evasive and to prove him wrong.
"That shows that someone has something to hide or knows that they have done
something wrong," Boies said.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Dec 3 09:31:33 1998
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Noah Roselander ,
Ruth Rozen
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Virginia commission endorses law outlawing 'spam'
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Virginia commission endorses law outlawing 'spam'=20
Copyright =A9 1998 Nando Media
Copyright =A9 1998 Reuters News Service=20
RICHMOND, Va. (December 2, 1998 5:09 p.m. EST =
http://www.nandotimes.com) -
A Virginia commission on Internet use endorsed proposed legislation
Wednesday that would make "spamming" illegal and subject people who =
send
the bulk e-mail messages to criminal prosecution.
The state Commission on Information Technology, which included several
leading Internet company executives, endorsed what would be the first =
law
in the United States setting out potential fines and prison terms for
convicted spammers.
"This would be the first one (state law) that is explicit in =
criminalizing
spamming," said George Vradenburg, a senior vice president and general
counsel with Dulles, Virginia-based America Online, the world's largest
Internet service provider.
In other states, including Washington and California, spammers can be =
sued
for damages in civil proceedings but cannot be prosecuted criminally,
Vradenburg said.
In the free-wheeling world of cyberspace, spamming emerged as a plague =
for
both Internet users and service providers swamped with the bulk =
electronic
mailings that have at times threatened to overwhelm computer networks.
Although free-speech protections have been extended to the Internet, =
the
Virginia commission said spamming deluges online users with =
advertisements
promoting "dubious products, pyramid schemes and pornography."
The commission, formed by Gov. James Gilmore in part to make
recommendations on boosting commercial use of the Internet, said =
spamming
should be curtailed because fraudulent e-mails threaten to undermine
confidence in legitimate electronic commerce.
"To realize the full potential of e-commerce, we must provide a private =
and
secure environment for all Internet users," Gilmore said.
The Virginia law could have a broad reach because companies based here
serve nearly half of all online subscribers, and control about half of =
the
Internet "backbone" of server computers and communications lines.
Gilmore has declared Virginia "the Internet capital of the world," in =
large
part because the state is home to America Online, which alone serves =
nearly
14 million customers.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Dec 3 13:10:32 1998
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Subject: Microsoft and Justice Department grapple over Java question
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Microsoft and Justice Department grapple over Java question
By Patrick Thibodeau
IDG News Service, Washington Bureau
Posted at 9:58 AM PT, Dec 3, 1998
WASHINGTON -- James Gosling, creator of the Java cross-platform programming
language, acknowledged in court Thursday during the Microsoft antitrust
trial that there were problems with Sun Microsystems' claim that Java is a
"write once, run anywhere" developer's tool.
Microsoft attorney Tom Burt spent the morning attacking Sun's marketing
claim. And in a sense Gosling faced a trial by news media, as Burt
introduced a series of articles and test studies by computer publications
that were critical of Sun's claims for Java.
The U.S. Department of Justice is trying to show that Microsoft's attempt
to distribute a version of Java incompatible with Sun's own arose out of
its fear that Java's growing popularity would weaken Microsoft's monopoly
on the operating system market. Sun is currently pursuing a lawsuit against
Microsoft charging that it violated the terms of its Java licensing
agreement by distributing incompatible implementations of Java.
The issue goes to the heart of Sun's allegations that Microsoft's version
of Java threatened to make the most widely distributed version of Java
technologies incompatible with the standard Java language developed by Sun
-- thus undermining Sun's efforts to allow Java-based applications to run
on a wide variety of operating systems.
Gosling disputed some of the testing results, and David Boies, the lead
trial counsel for the government, questioned the reliability of some of the
tests, saying they weren't done by scientific review.
Burt, however, said that the articles were extremely relevant because
Microsoft and Sun were in a "competition for the hearts and minds of
developers."
Gosling said repeatedly on the stand that there were problems with the
initial versions of the Java Developers Kit (JDK). "This issue of
compatibility is a function of time ... it is getting better," he said.
Gosling also took issue with some of the test data presented by different
articles. In response to one article that tested the compatibility of
different Java applets, he said, "I think that's completely false. I don't
where they got their test data, I don't know how they performed the test."
Microsoft is claiming that Sun has greatly overstated Java's capabilities
and that the programming language can only achieve portability unless there
are significant tradeoffs in performance and functionality. Microsoft has
been arguing that its specific implementation is better and preferred by
developers.
And to show the claims by Sun are not unique, and that previous efforts to
develop cross-platform languages have failed, Burt turned the clock back to
1978 and cited a textbook on the C programming language in which the
authors had claimed that C was a portable language. Many of the claims made
in the book are similar to what Sun has said about Java.
But Gosling said the situation is considerably more complicated. He said C
was "an incredibly powerful example of how standards get twisted."
As C language compilers were implemented for different operating systems
dramatic variations between them emerged. Gosling said he conceived of Java
in part "from the scars that I acquired in doing C porting."
"One of my goals in building Java was not to live through that
fragmentation again," he said.
Gosling said that Sun was "working very hard" to improve Java's
cross-platform capability. "One of the main reasons why we started our
lawsuit in San Jose was to make sure that this problem got better, not worse."
Two weeks ago, Sun was granted a preliminary injunction by a U.S. district
court in its Java technology lawsuit against Microsoft. Judge Ronald Whyte
of the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Northern District of California,
ruled that Sun is likely to prevail in the case, and ordered Microsoft to
make changes to its products so that they include an implementation of Java
that will pass Sun's Java compatibility test suite.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., is at www.microsoft.com. The U.S.
Department of Justice, in Washington, can be reached at www.usdoj.gov.
Patrick Thibodeau is a senior writer at Computerworld.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Dec 3 13:16:47 1998
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Subject: Windows 2000 Beta 3 due in February?
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Windows 2000 Beta 3 due in February?
By Mary Jo Foley, Sm@rt Reseller and Scott Berinato, PC Week Online
December 3, 1998 1:34 PM ET
Beta 3 release of Windows 2000 server will ship sometime in February,
according to a newly published report.
The Betanews.com beta tester site cites the Valentine's Day time frame as
Microsoft Corp.'s latest development target for what the Redmond, Wash.,
company says is the final beta of the operating system. Microsoft has just
passed build number 1930 internally, and the name change from NT 5.0 to
Windows 2000 has been completed in documentation and in the OS itself,
according to the site.
However, sources close to Microsoft (MSFT) said a number of priority-one
bugs remain in the code. And while earlier reports had Beta 3 arriving as
early as last month, it has been nearly two months since a major interim
release of the OS to testers. All these signs indicate Beta 3 is at least
two months off, the sources said.
The Betanews.com news flash said that "it will be all up to the [Microsoft]
team to decide what will be Beta 3 worthy code." Officials who maintain the
site could not be reached for comment.
According to sources close to Microsoft, the company is also warning beta
testers to refrain from upgrading Windows NT 4.0 servers with Service Pack
4 to Beta 2 of Windows 2000 because of possible problems.
Microsoft declined to comment on any interim releases or target dates for
Windows 2000 server. The company has maintained that Windows 2000 Server
and Advanced Server will ship in 1999, with the higher-end Datacenter
Server following within 60 days.
Microsoft is at www.microsoft.com.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Dec 3 13:53:16 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Fujitsu, Toshiba to develop 1-gigabit DRAM
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Fujitsu, Toshiba to develop 1-gigabit DRAM
By Rob Guth
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 8:50 AM PT, Dec 3, 1998
Fujitsu and Toshiba will collaborate on developing advanced semiconductor
technology that will make its way into products around 2002, the vendors
said Thursday.
The two computer companies said they are joining forces to beat the growing
costs of developing chip technology amid a market that is experiencing
falling semiconductor prices.
The focus of the work will be on building a 1-gigabit DRAM chip from
0.13-micron technology. Current mainstream DRAMs have capacities of 64 Mb
and use a 0.25-micron distance between lines etched on their silicon.
The work will require a joint team of 100 researchers, to be housed at a
Toshiba site in Yokohama, Japan, and will have a budget of more than $247
million, the vendors said.
The companies will release prototypes of the chips in 2002, depending upon
the prevailing conditions in the chip market at that time, a Fujitsu
spokesman said.
Fujitsu Ltd., in Tokyo, can be reached at www.fujitsu.com. Toshiba Corp.,
based in Tokyo, can be reached at www.toshiba.co.jp.
Rob Guth is a correspondent in the Tokyo bureau of the IDG News Service, an
InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Dec 4 09:47:51 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft, Compaq give Windows 2000 a link to SANs
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Microsoft, Compaq give Windows 2000 a link to SANs
By Rebecca Sykes
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 4:28 PM PT, Dec 3, 1998
Microsoft on Thursday announced a specification developed in partnership
with Compaq for linking Microsoft's Windows Socket (WinSock) API with
forthcoming interconnect technology for system area networks.
By Compaq's definition, system area networks, or SANs, are akin to local
area networks that have been optimized for high bandwidth and low latency
so small groups of clustered computers processing the same application can
have high-speed communications.
The WinSock/SANs specification, which will be included in Windows 2000, is
slated to go into beta release in 1999, according to Microsoft officials.
"This initiative allows system area network hardware ... to now get
instantly tied into Windows NT in a standard way," said Andy Wachs,
director of product management at Compaq's ServerNet group. "Any
application that uses WinSock can now perform operations over a system area
network vs. just a local area network."
One analyst said the decision to make SANs IP-compliant brings this
technology to a variety of devices.
"With this initiative, they can basically system area network-enable any IP
device," said JP Morgenthal, president of NC Focus in Hewlett, N.Y.
Microsoft said it distributed the first version of the specification at
this week's WinSock/SANs Design Review Conference in Redmond, Wash., and
that Compaq demonstrated the specification on its ProLiant servers.
Hardware vendors and ISVs can thus begin to work with the specification to
give their enterprise customers enhanced networks, according to Wachs.
"You can create mainframe-class systems ... out of industry-standard
servers," Wachs said.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, can be reached at www.microsoft.com. Compaq
Computer Corp., in Houston, can be reached at www.compaq.com.
Rebecca Sykes is a Boston correspondent for the IDG News Service, an
InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Dec 4 10:18:12 1998
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Date: Fri, 04 Dec 1998 09:49:19 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: U.S. exports crypto-export controls to Europe
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U.S. exports crypto-export controls to Europe
By Rebecca Sykes
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 7:17 AM PT, Dec 4, 1998
The United States has persuaded 32 countries to tighten control of their
export of encryption software, control which the U.S. government has long
maintained is necessary to properly balance national-security interests
against personal privacy.
The 33 members of the Wassenaar Arrangement, an agreement on conventional
arms and dual-use goods and technologies -- items which could be used for
civilian or military purposes -- Thursday agreed to restrict exports of
56-bit general encryption products, according to a U.S. Department of
Commerce spokesman.
In addition, Wassenaar signatories agreed to restrict export of mass-market
products with keys more than 64 bits long, the spokesman said.
Most Wassenaar countries are in Europe, with some representation from South
America and the Asia-Pacific region. The current signatories are Argentina,
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan,
Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of
Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Each country must pass its own legislation for the new encryption-control
piece of the Wassenaar Arrangement to take effect.
More information on Wassenaar can be found at www.wassenaar.org.
Rebecca Sykes is a Boston correspondent for the IDG News Service, an
InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Dec 4 22:02:03 1998
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Subject: Java prepares for its fourth birthday party
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Java prepares for its fourth birthday party
By Dana Gardner, Ed Scannell, and Ted Smalley Bowen,
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 5:29 PM PT, Dec 4, 1998
Java will get a 4-year birthday party of sorts next week when Sun
Microsystems introduces its Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.2 at the Java
Business Expo, in New York.
Among party guests will be IBM, with the next version of its WebSphere
Application Server and an updated version of VisualAge tools for Java. A
slew of companies will leverage Java's new capabilities, as well as those
of the new kid on the block Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB).
"JDK 1.2 is a huge step forward from where [Sun] was a year ago. The most
visible improvement is the Swing user interface. Some of the underlying
stuff like security is much more important to the server environment," said
Doug Pollack, vice president of marketing at GemStone Systems, in
Beaverton, Ore., now delivering its GemStone/J 2.0 EJB application server.
"It's much richer and you should see more consistency," said Anne Thomas,
an analyst at the Patricia Seybold Group, in Boston.
Not everyone is excited by Java's latest iteration.
"To me, Java is nearly an irrelevant story. Microsoft has been successful
in devaluing it from a platform to a mere language. It's an important
language, but the 'write once, run anywhere' mantra is not true," said
Vernon Keenan, an analyst at Keenan Vision, in San Francisco.
Many users remain keen on Java, even if its critics decry its rocky
evolution on the client and Sun's dictatorial stewardship of Java as a
cross-platform standard.
"We are very interested in Java. I see it as probably halfway mature, as a
young teenager," said John Bercik, systems manager at the Medical
University of South Carolina, in Charleston, S.C. "It's very exciting with
a huge amount of potential. Everyone here has changed their mind-set over
the last year. We want data everywhere."
IBM will release Version 2.0 of its WebSphere Application Server, Advanced
Edition, along with an updated version of its VisualAge for Java,
Enterprise Edition. Both will arrive by the end of this month.
WebSphere also now supports EJB, allowing corporate developers to deploy
components and applications on virtually any server across an enterprise.
The new server also contains several other Enterprise Java Server (EJS)
features.
"The Advanced Edition with EJB is primarily aimed at those who need
reusable components," said Paraic Sweeney, vice president of marketing for
IBM's Web Server products.
"The December release is the first glimpse of the EJS, plus servlet engine,
which will be merged in 1999. The December release is essentially
[WebSphere] 1.1 with some performance boosts, plus the EJS," said a source
close to IBM.
The moves could place IBM in front of the application server pack, albeit
with an open standards approach. Many of the other high-performance
application servers have been built on proprietary run times and object
containers.
"I see WebSphere on the leading edge of the market. I just hope they don't
screw up the marketing," said Tim Sloane, an analyst at the Aberdeen Group,
in Boston.
Also new from IBM next week is added support for VisualAge for Java,
Enterprise Edition.
The product is a culmination of IBM's drive to provide corporate users with
capabilities to create enterprise-level Java applications.
The Enterprise Edition comes complete with a testing and debugging
environment designed to support EJB deployment to any EJB-compliant
application server, said Valerie Olague, an IBM marketing manager.
IBM will also set new directions for its Java-based San Francisco
application frameworks by describing a custom container for the
applications that converts the applications for use on EJB-compliant
servers. The goal is to converge San Francisco applications with the EJB
2.0 specification, due in late 1999, sources said.
As IBM gets cozy with EJB, Sun next week will be busy promoting JDK 1.2.
Sun promises that the new JDK will be stable, perform well, and offer wider
compatibility.
Moreover, along with the recent unveiling of CORBA 3.0 specifications, the
interdependence of Java with CORBA will deepen with the release of JDK 1.2,
Sun officials said. Also next week, Sybase's tools division will unveil the
feature set for PowerBuilder 7.0, as well as announce the pending arrival
of Sybase's next Enterprise Application Server, code-named Vineyard.
Novell next week will deliver the consolidated Novell Developer Kit, which
offers users of C and C++ APIs; Java class libraries; and JavaBeans or
scripting languages to optimize Novell's network, Internet, and management
services.
Corel will also preview its Java-based jBridge connectivity technology. BEA
will detail a strategic partnership with Symantec on Java-based tools for
rapid application development.
Sun Microsystems Inc., in Palo Alto, Calif., can be reached at www.sun.com.
IBM Corp., in Armonk, N.Y., can be reached at www.ibm.com. Sybase Inc., in
Emeryville, Calif., can be reached at www.sybase.com.
InfoWorld Editor at Large Dana Gardner is based in New Hampshire. Ed
Scannell is an InfoWorld editor at large. Ted Smalley Bowen is InfoWorld's
Boston bureau chief.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Sat Dec 5 22:24:59 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
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Government, Intel produce nuke-proof computer chip
December 5, 1998
Web posted at: 10:56 p.m. EST (0356 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. government and Intel Corp. have teamed up to
develop a radiation-proof computer chip that could help shield satellites
from nuclear blasts in space.
The new computer microprocessor is the result of work by Intel and the
government's Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.
Intel, the largest manufacturer of microprocessors, will provide the
government with "existing technology that then allows them to go off and
build a radiation-hardened product," said a source close to the deal, who
spoke on condition of anonymity and would reveal no details about the chip.
Intel is scheduled to announce the new technology Tuesday at its
headquarters in Santa Clara, California, with Energy Secretary Bill
Richardson and NASA Administrator Dan Goldin expected to attend, the source
said.
The trade newsletter Defense Week, in an edition being published Monday,
said the new chip would one day enable systems aboard satellites and other
space vehicles to withstand the effects of a nuclear detonation.
The article said U.S. intelligence agencies are increasingly worried about
the possibility that a potential enemy could disrupt satellite surveillance
and communications simply by firing a nuclear weapon straight up and
detonating it in space.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Dec 7 09:51:38 1998
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Bluetooth group clashes with Microsoft
By Ephraim Schwartz and Dan Briody
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:38 AM PT, Dec 7, 1998
Industry support for the Bluetooth Special Interest Group's (SIG's)
wireless specification is eroding due to a series of questionable political
and technical decisions made by the group's founders.
The Bluetooth SIG founders group, consisting of Ericsson, IBM, Intel,
Nokia, and Toshiba, is missing one key industry member: Microsoft. And the
Redmond, Wash., giant is being difficult, sources said.
Even if Microsoft were to join and was given a voting membership --
currently only the five founding members have voting rights on the final
specification -- the structure allows a vote of 4-1 to approve a change to
the specification. Microsoft wants the SIG to approve only unanimous
decisions, thus giving Microsoft, or any other member, veto power over
changes to the specification, according to sources.
The SIG also requires all of its members to give up intellectual property
rights to technology developed for Bluetooth. Microsoft and current members
who did not read the fine print, are concerned.
"Some members feel they are not a full part of the process and don't have a
say on the final specs," said Phil Redmond, an analyst at the Yankee Group,
in Boston.
Without Microsoft membership, the Bluetooth specification may never get
Microsoft Logo approval. Along with a host of more technical problems, lack
of Microsoft membership may become the final straw that prevents Bluetooth
from becoming a widely adopted standard, said Rob Enderle, a senior analyst
at the Giga Information Group, in Santa Clara, Calif.
"Lack of support puts a cloud over it. If one of the two big members of the
[Wintel] platform does not support it, it is a good chance it may not fly,"
Enderle said. "Particularly when the Federal Aviation Administration is
indicating they may disapprove. It doesn't take make much on top of that to
kill it."
The specification is also facing some technological hurdles. Because it
uses the same bandwidth as the industry-standard local wireless technology,
802.11, there will be collisions -- causing lost packets -- between data
sent by more than one device working in the same environment, Intel
officials said.
Bluetooth devices could also collide with devices using Microsoft's
wireless home network technology.
Also, although the industry in general is moving toward IP as a standard
communications protocol, Bluetooth does not use it.
"It doesn't make sense. Bluetooth ought to be IP-compliant," said Andrew
Seybold, editor in chief of Outlook on Communications and Computing, in
Brookdale, Calif.
If ever adopted, Bluetooth could solve a number of communications problems
for IT managers.
"If the specification achieves its objectives, it will be the first major
initiative to allow seamless wireless interoperability between virtually
all transmittable devices from cellular phones to portable computers and
even ATM machines," said Veronica Williams, managing director at Absolute
Computer Technologies, a communications consultancy in South Orange, N.J.
"IT managers will benefit, but if it turns into a political dogfight,
everybody loses," Seybold said.
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group is at www.bluetooth.com.
Dan Briody is Client/Server section editor at InfoWorld. InfoWorld Editor
at Large Ephraim Schwartz is based in San Mateo, Calif.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Dec 7 10:17:05 1998
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Netscape to use Gecko to put developers' minds at rest
By Emily Fitzloff
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:38 AM PT, Dec 7, 1998
Netscape this week plans to allay developer fears that its acquisition by
America Online will hamper its Mozilla.org open source development project:
Netscape will release its Gecko Web browser engine to developers at no charge.
Originally code-named Next-Generation Technology, Gecko offers high
performance, modularity and support for HTML 4.0, Extensible Markup
Language, cascading style sheets, and Resource Description Framework
standards.
Netscape designed the engine to be extremely small; it fits on a floppy
disk so it can be embedded on multiple devices such as fax machines,
televisions, palm devices, and cellular phones, company executives said.
"[Gecko] will let anyone access Web content from any operating system,
device, or application," said a Netscape representative.
Gecko will be released initially on Macintosh, Microsoft Windows, and Linux
platforms, but is designed to be easily ported to any operating system.
According to Netscape executives, AOL's interest in moving to set-top boxes
will boost Gecko's momentum, and AOL will be one of the first to use the
engine by incorporating it into the next version of its Internet chat
software.
"Bringing the browser to multiple devices will help maintain its value,"
said Michael Sullivan-Trainor, an analyst at International Data Corp., in
Framingham, Mass.
Gecko was developed in conjunction with Mozilla.org and can be downloaded
from www.mozilla.org.
Netscape Communications Corp., in Mountain View, Calif., is at
www.netscape.com.
Emily Fitzloff is an InfoWorld senior writer.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Dec 7 21:22:45 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: IBM calls on Sun to hand Java to standards body
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IBM calls on Sun to hand Java to standards body
By Dana Gardner
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 5:23 PM PT, Dec 7, 1998
Adding more fuel to a fire building around Sun Microsystems to open up its
Java technology, IBM executives on Monday called on Sun to hasten its
handing over of a least part of the technology to the International
Organization for Standardization, commonly known as the ISO.
The call came as attendees were gathering here for the Java Business Expo,
and it would be but a piece of the puzzle that Sun faces in quieting
factions within the Java community who have complained about its handling
of the would-be cross-platform standard.
>From the high-end Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) specification to the low-end
embedded Java technology, Sun is facing an ever-more antsy crowd.
Sun has found itself in an atmosphere where none of the people affected by
Java are happy all of the time. Sun seems to be working to try and make
some of the people in the Java universe happy some of the time.
In such a vein, Sun in November said it would open its Java licensing
policy to allow nonlicensees a say in how aspects of Java's definitions are
created. However, those comments came only after Hewlett-Packard and
several other vendors said they were splintering off from Sun on creating
standards for embedded Java.
To try to quell anxious developers working on EJB-compliant application
servers on the high end, Sun on Wednesday is expected to roll out an EJB
reference platform for developers to test to and adhere to, said sources
close to the company.
Sun at the same time is in under mounting pressure from some of its most
important allies to improve the process behind making Java more than a
popular language. The goal that unites the far-flung Java universe is to
craft Java into a soup-to-nuts enterprise platform technology that binds
together disparate systems and jump-starts the adoption of reusable
object-oriented software in mainstream corporate computing.
As part of Java's ongoing promise the make Java into such a holy grail of
computing, Sun is holding a coming out party for its Java Development Kit
(JDK) 1.2 this week.
However, the arrival of the JDK 1.2 may be more symbolic than helpful.
Major vendors are not expected to make JDK 1.2 technology enter all of
their server and middleware products for as much as a year, said David Gee,
a Java marketer at IBM.
And it is in things such as the JDK that Sun's role should lie, say its
critics -- to foster the cutting edge of Java. And then Sun should leave
the overall maturation to outside institutions, they say.
"We won't be happy until the Java standards are in the hands of an
international standards body," said Ian Brackenburg, a Java researcher and
evangelist at IBM's Hursley Centre, near London.
As early as February, IBM wants Sun to follow through on some earlier
promises to open the Java standard, Brackenburg said.
"We're on a good track for creation of standards. Stewardship is another
thing," Brackenburg said Monday. "We're going to put on the pressure."
Not all players are advocates of opening Java to such standards bodies,
saying the process could be slowed and play into the hands of Java rival
Microsoft.
"I'm more in Sun's camp on this one," said Robin Retallick, president and
CEO of ActionWare, a maker of customer-relationship management software in
Emeryville, Calif. "I think a standards body would slow it down, and that
would play into Microsoft's hands."
In many respects, however, opening the Java process will do little to
effect the practical application of Java technology by the leading Java
vendors such as IBM, Novell, Oracle, and Sun. Instead these company's are
walking a tightrope between what aspects of Java they license and implement
for cross-platform benefits and which technologies to develop and optimize
on their own to differentiate themselves.
It is just such a quandary that led IBM on Monday to refer to Java in one
breath as an enterprise-class solution from top to bottom and in the next
as a "prepubescent pixie" of a technology, in the words of Patricia Sueltz,
general manager of Java at IBM.
These vendors tend to love Java for its baseline, common-denominator facets
while quietly pursuing ways of extending their advantage in the market
based on their product mix.
Already, a dueling technologies "co-opetition" is brewing between IBM's
reference platform for run-time EJB, announced Monday as part of the
arrival of WebSphere Advanced Edition, and other EJB products expected from
Sun.
"Sun will come out with its EJB server and IBM will, and both will get
their commonality by searching through standards," said Tim Sloane, an
analyst at the Aberdeen Group in Boston. "At the same time they will
differentiate themselves through business logic ... and go after the hearts
and minds of developers."
That leaves other makers of Java-compliant products guessing as to how much
Java to add to their products -- and when.
IBM feels that the use of the ISO to keep the Java standard widely
understood and monitored is a prudent step.
"This protects the assets of what you build," Sueltz said.
"We're a stick in the side to them to be good stewards," Sueltz said of IBM
and Sun, respectively. "We'll push on Sun to be open to all the new ideas.
If HP has good ideas, let's take a look at them."
IBM Corp., in Armonk, N.Y., can be reached at www.ibm.com. Sun Microsystems
Inc., in Mountain View, Calif., can be reached at www.sun.com.
InfoWorld Editor at Large Dana Gardner is based in New Hampshire.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Dec 7 21:31:35 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Standard for remote Web content authoring OK'd by IETF
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Standard for remote Web content authoring OK'd by IETF
By Christy Walker, PC Week Online
December 7, 1998 5:37 PM ET
The Internet Engineering Task Force on Monday announced approval of a
standard that will make it easier for distributed users to edit and post
documents on the Web.
The WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning) standard will enable
dispersed users to write, edit and save shared documents in a consistent
way. In addition, WebDAV-compliant software will use the protocol as a
standard way to link Web authoring tools and Web servers.
The IETF's final WebDAV draft explains how compliant software deals with
technical specifications including overwrite protection, which prevents
more than one user from working on a document at one time; properties,
which outlines a method for storing and retrieving information about Web
pages such as author, publication date and keywords; and name-space
management, or the ability to instruct the server to copy and move Web
resources.
Developers including Microsoft Corp., Netscape Communication Corp., Novell
Inc., IBM and Xerox Corp., were involved in the WebDAV standard.
WebDAV was first formulated in 1997 by the IETF.
Additional information about WebDAV is available at
www.ics.uci.edu/pub/ieft/webdav/. The WebDAV standard is available at
www.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/webdav/protocol/draft-ietf-webdav-protocol-10.txt.
The IETF can be reached at www.ietf.org.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Dec 7 21:47:52 1998
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu,
Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft issues year-2000 patch for Windows 98
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Microsoft issues year-2000 patch for Windows 98
By Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 11:05 AM PT, Dec 7, 1998
Microsoft on Monday released fixes for a host of "minor" year-2000 issues
in Windows 98, including a "date rollover" bug that throws a PC's system
off by two days if it is booted up seconds before midnight.
Microsoft insisted that the year-2000 bugs in Windows 98 pose no risk of PC
damage or data loss. However, the flaws are cause for some embarrassment
because the operating system was just released in June, amid promises that
it was year-2000 compliant.
The software giant posted its Year 2000 Update for free download, at
windowsupdate.microsoft.com, and also will offer the fixes on a CD-ROM to
customers who call (800) 363-2896.
The date rollover bug causes a PC's date to be thrown out of whack if it is
rebooted at the precise moment when the date rolls over on Dec. 31. The bug
initially was considered a year-2000 problem, but actually it can strike on
any day, causing the Windows 98 calendar to jump ahead two days or jump
back one day, according to company officials.
Other year 2000 issues addressed in the Windows 98 update include
fixes for year-2000 issues in Microsoft's Java virtual machine;
a leap-year display problem with the Date/Time control applet;
a bug in the Phone Dialer applet, which causes the wrong date to be
displayed in the log file;
a DOS XCOPY bug;
lagging IP lease date problems;
problems parsing dates by the Microsoft Foundation Class Library;
year-2000 bugs in older versions of Microsoft Wallet, the Internet-commerce
software that holds user's credit card information for online transactions;
problems programming to data access components;
bugs that occur when a user sets Regional Settings in Windows 98's Control
Panel; and
a WordPad year-2000 bug.
A representative said Windows programmers who are assembling Service Pack 1
for Windows 98 discovered many of the problems.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Bob Trott is a senior editor at InfoWorld, based in Seattle.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Dec 7 22:24:53 1998
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Subject: Jikes! More open source code
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Jikes! More open source code
IBM jumps on the open-source bandwagon by releasing code for Java compiler
By Antone Gonsalves and Peter Coffee, PC Week Online
December 7, 1998 9:00 AM ET
IBM today will join the growing ranks of open-source developers when it
releases the source code of its Jikes Java compiler.
At the Java Business Expo in New York, IBM will announce that Jikes, a Java
byte code generator, is being moved to an open-source mode of development.
Jikes is IBM's second piece of technology to go to an open-source model.
The first was its XML Parser for Java.
The Armonk, N.Y., company chose to adopt an open-source model, popularized
by Linux and the Apache Web server, for Jikes as a way to push more
development in Java, a critical platform for many IBM technologies,
officials said.
"It's a way to drive the growth of markets that are built on open standards
platforms, that then make it much easier for everybody to compete with
commercial products on top of that [platform]," said Jim Russell, senior
manager of Java technology for IBM, in Hawthorne, N.Y.
"Clearly in the end, IBM, like everybody else, is in the business to make
money," Russell said. "But there are cases where it makes sense from a
strategic, business sense to take a technology out of research and make it
open source."
IBM does not plan to charge users for the source code of the compiler, but
developers who use it will have to credit IBM on any product that uses
Jikes or a portion of the technology. In addition, any modifications done
to the source code would have to be approved by IBM before they can be
identified as Jikes technology, Russell said.
Jikes is actually a more stringent enforcer of Java than Sun Microsystems
Inc.'s own compilers, IBM officials said. Jikes--a rival, yet compliant,
version of Sun's Java compiler--notifies developers during compilation when
source code significantly deviates from the Java specification.
IBM's research lab has been aggressive in developing Java technology, but
Russell dismissed any suggestion that IBM was impatient with Sun's Java
development process.
"We view it not so much as we can't wait for Sun, but here's something
we're able to do as scientists that we want to contribute to the Java
community," Russell said.
Sun officials in Palo Alto, Calif., were not available for comment.
IBM will encourage developers to build new features for Jikes and will form
a committee made up of members of the open-source community and company
representatives to evaluate those contributions before they are accepted,
officials said.
"Just like the Apache group, we want to make sure the name [Java] doesn't
become diluted," Russell said. "You want the benefits of an open-source
development model, but you also want to avoid the dangers of fragmentation."
IBM's move comes as IT managers are warming to benefits of the Linux
operating system and other open-source-code offerings. Commercial companies
that have gone that route include Netscape Communications Corp., of
Mountain View, Calif., with its Mozilla project, and Novell Inc., of Provo,
Utah, which plans to open up portions of its cornerstone Novell Directory
Services software to users and developers.
The URL for the Jikes source code is www.alphaworks.ibm.com/formula/jikesos
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Dec 7 22:24:54 1998
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Subject: Microsoft continues drive to 64 bits
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Microsoft continues drive to 64 bits
By Bob Trott and Ed Scannell
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:38 AM PT, Dec 7, 1998
Microsoft is chugging along in its bid to build a 64-bit version of its
upcoming Windows 2000 operating system, hoping that slow and steady will
win the race.
The software giant has come under fire for being slow to build a 64-bit OS
-- deemed essential for a vendor that wants to storm the enterprise with
heavy-duty data-center solutions -- but Microsoft's timing may actually be
in line with what customers are looking for.
Many analysts said there is little interest among corporate users for a
64-bit version of Windows NT that runs on Intel-based servers. The obvious
reason is that Intel's Merced chip will not ship until mid-2000. But
perhaps as important, 64-bit computing is not crucial for most
mission-critical applications in the near term, they said.
"It is true that [64-bit technology] is gaining some momentum, but it is
among small pockets of users who want it for very large databases for data
mining and warehousing," said John Oltsik, a senior analyst at Forrester
Research, in Cambridge, Mass.
Windows 2000 will include 64-bit extensions, such as Very Large Memory, or
VLM, capabilities. But Microsoft is trailing in the race to build a full
64-bit OS, as other OSes -- Digital Unix; SGI's Irix; IBM's AIX, OS/400,
and OS/390; HP-UX; and Sun Solaris -- are already there.
According to one source, Microsoft is engineering its future version of
Windows 2000, dubbed Win64, to be processor-bit independent so that over
time it can be easily moved to next-generation processors, such as 128-bit
or 256-bit.
"That would indicate a single source code that can be optimized for either
[32-bit or 64-bit processors]," said Dwight Davis, a Kirkland, Wash.-based
analyst at Summit Strategies.
Because Merced is not expected until mid-2000, Microsoft has time to worry
about matters at hand, such as delivering Windows 2000, (formerly known as
Windows NT 5.0), in 1999. Still, the company is setting goals.
"We will have 64-bit NT no later than the general availability of [Intel's]
IA-64 architecture," said Ed Muth, group product manager for enterprise
marketing at Microsoft. Muth added that this 64-bit functionality will
likely be a point upgrade to Windows 2000, due in 1999.
However, because both Unix and NT will run on Merced, Microsoft will face
new competition for operating system market share on low-cost Intel boxes.
"With Merced coming, it will be Unix and NT [competing] on the same box,"
said Mary Hubley, an analyst at the Gartner Group, in Delran, N.J. "If you
want 64-bit systems, you're going to buy Unix [because that is what is
shipping]."
But that competitive point may be moot for now, Hubley added, because
"people aren't dying for [64-bit] by the time Merced ships."
In September, Microsoft obtained from Intel an updated emulator, which is
software that simulates 64-bit instruction sets, for the IA-64 environment.
"We are working to make it available to everybody," said an Intel official,
in Santa Clara, Calif.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., is at www.microsoft.com.
Bob Trott, based in Seattle, is a senior editor at InfoWorld. Ed Scannell
is an InfoWorld editor at large.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Dec 8 09:17:57 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: AT&T to buy IBM Global Network for $5 billion
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AT&T to buy IBM Global Network for $5 billion
By Kristi Essick
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:38 AM PT, Dec 8, 1998
Ending months of speculation about which suitor would step up to buy IBM's
Global Network business, AT&T announced Tuesday that it will acquire the
division for $5 billion in cash.
The deal also entails the two companies entering into outsourcing contracts
with each other. IBM will outsource a large portion of its global
networking needs to AT&T under a contract valued at $5 billion, while the
U.S. telecommunications giant will outsource certain applications
processing and data center management functions to IBM in a separate $4
billion deal.
AT&T is counting on the acquisition to bring $2.5 billion in additional
revenue in the first full year of operation, and will accelerate its
ability to offer IP-based managed network services to global customers, the
company said in a statement. IBM's network will complement AT&T's existing
plans to build a 100-city IP-based network as part of its global joint
venture announced with British Telecommunications, AT&T said.
The IBM Global Network provides leased-line and dial-up service to
businesses in 900 cities in 100 countries and allows individuals to access
the Internet from 1,350 locations in 53 countries. The network is in use by
several hundred global companies, tens of thousands of mid-size businesses,
and more than a million individual Internet users, the companies said in
the statement.
News that IBM would divest itself of its network leaked as early as the
beginning of September, with IBM confirming sell-off plans mid-month. IBM
started the network in the early 1980s to share data internally, but the
network grew as customers asked for data infrastructure services, a
spokeswoman said in September. The company never meant to become a
data-infrastructure provider and recently began to view its Global Network
division as extraneous.
The company said Tuesday that it will concentrate on offering network
services, such as messaging and I-commerce applications, as part of its
services division, but it will no longer offer data-infrastructure
services. When IBM developed its data network there were few other
alternatives for sending data across the globe. However, today most
telephone companies offer a host of data services over their communications
networks.
The fact that the deal involves cross-outsourcing agreements is no surprise
either. IBM's goal in selling the network was to find a buyer that could
also manage the network's operations, including the part of the network IBM
will continue to use, Sam Palmisano, general manager of IBM Global
Services, told the IDG News Service in September. He added at the time that
IBM was looking particularly at large telecommunications carriers as
possible buyers. Japan's Nippon Telegraph & Telephone was thought to be a
prime candidate as a buyer.
AT&T will meld IBM's network into its own networking services unit, AT&T
Solutions. Around 5,000 IBM employees will join AT&T as part of the deal,
the companies said.
The companies expect the deal to be completed, pending shareholder approval
and clearance from regulators, by mid-1999.
IBM Corp., in Armonk, N.Y., can be reached at www.ibm.com. AT&T Corp., in
Basking Ridge, N.J., can be reached at www.att.com.
Kristi Essick is a correspondent in the Paris bureau of the IDG News
Service, an InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Dec 8 09:21:11 1998
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From: Gary Weinstein
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On eve of Sun's latest JDK, Microsoft claims best JVM
By Dana Gardner
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:14 AM PT, Dec 8, 1998
NEW YORK -- Just as Sun Microsystems was about to officially anoint its new
Java Development Kit (JDK), Version 1.2, here Tuesday, Microsoft announced
a pure Java upgrade to its 32-bit Java virtual machine (JVM) for Windows
that it says works best.
Microsoft on Monday released Java Virtual Machine for the Microsoft Windows
operating system, and not referring to the JDK 1.2 moniker. The newest JVM,
however, does support the Java Native Interface (JNI) to bring it in line
with Sun's Java specification, as ordered in a recent ruling by the San
Jose Federal District Court.
Microsoft is challenging a lawsuit against it in that court by Sun, which
maintains that Microsoft broke its Java licensing agreement by optimizing
Java for Windows.
Now, Microsoft is bringing forth a JVM that it says conforms to the court
order -- and runs an average of 30 percent faster than Sun's latest
offering on the ubiquitous Windows 32-bit platform using popular benchmarks.
"While the Microsoft virtual machine is getting faster, Sun's virtual
machine is getting slower on some key metrics," said Charles Fitzgerald, a
Microsoft marketing official.
He said that Sun's JDK 1.2 has grown in download size to 20MB, as compared
to 8MB for the Microsoft virtual machine, and that Sun's version still
starts up slower than Microsoft's.
"JDK 1.2 matches the performance we had a year ago. And the main focus of
this release is performance," said Joe Herman, a Microsoft official.
The latest Microsoft JVM includes a new Just-In-Time Compiler, as well as
enhancements for developers that speed the development cycle and simplify
integration of Java code with other languages, applications, and services,
Microsoft said.
The new Windows JVM supports cross-platform applets and Windows-based
applications written in Java, Microsoft said. It also includes performance
enhancements that improve execution of Java components on the server using
Active Server Pages and Microsoft Transaction Server technology, Microsoft
said.
Microsoft is also making available an update to the Virtual Machine for
Windows that shipped with the Internet Explorer 4 browser. This version
will also support JNI, as the lawsuit requires.
It was unclear at the outset if the Microsoft JVM was actually in
compliance with the JDK 1.2, or was being upgraded strictly to adhere to
the court order. JDK 1.2 includes security enhancements and other
improvements. It could not be determined immediately if those technologies
are reflected in the latest Microsoft JVM releases.
Microsoft has not officially been provided the JDK 1.2 source code due to
the pending breach-of-contract suit, though its license did require it to
keep its Java implementations current, as defined as a six-month period
from the technology's release.
Nonetheless, Microsoft is saying that its JVM adheres to the definition of
pure Java under the JDK 1.1 release, and that its implementation performs
better on at least some criteria than Sun's newest offering under JDK 1.2.
Microsoft's new JVM works with Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT.
Developers can download the latest release free at www.microsoft.com/java.
An updated JVM for Internet Explorer 4 Win32 versions -- but not for
Macintosh and Unix -- is available at www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/mach.htm
for end-users.
Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Wash. is at www.microsoft.com.
InfoWorld Editor at Large Dana Gardner is based in New Hampshire.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Jan 4 12:14:11 1999
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AOL members spent more than $1B over the holidays
By Margaret Kane, ZDNN
January 4, 1999 12:22 PM ET
1998 was a banner year for America Online Inc. (AOL) and its merchant partners.
The company said Monday that members spent more than $1 billion online
between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And 1.25 million of those shoppers were
making their first purchases online.
>From all indications, it won't be their last.
"This isn't just a holiday phenomenon," said Wendy Goldberg, vice president
of communications at AOL, in Dulles, Va. "Once they found how much fun it
was to shop online, and how easy and convenient it is, and what great
things they could get, they planned to come back again."
Goldberg said that 98 percent of the shoppers said they plan to shop online
again within the next six months.
"It's not surprising. AOL was very heavily promoting Internet commerce
during the holiday season, and if anyone's going to bring first-time buyers
to the Internet it's going to be AOL," said Melissa Bane, an analyst at the
Yankee Group in Boston.
Banner year
Analysts had been predicting 1998 would be a banner year for e-commerce,
and from all indications they were right.
A survey of online merchants found a 230 percent increase in reported
online sales this year for the period between Nov. 23 and Dec. 20. The
survey, conducted by the Boston Consulting Group and industry organization
shop.org, found that the average order was $55.
Individual retailers reported astronomical jumps in online sales compared
to last year, when there was a relatively small amount of e-commerce
shopping going on. SkyMall Inc., best known for its in-flight catalog, said
online sales grew 600 percent from last year to $2.1 million. Online movie
seller Reel.com saw sales rise 700 percent in December, although CEO Julie
Wainwright said month-to-month sales figures were more important.
Things were the same at AOL. The company said its biggest revenue day,
December 17, saw more than $36 million in sales rung up. Last year, AOL's
biggest days saw only $1 million in sales.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Jan 4 16:04:39 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Justice Department approves AT&T-TCI merger
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Justice Department approves AT&T-TCI merger
By Nancy Weil
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 7:41 AM PT, Jan 4, 1999
As expected, the U.S. Department of Justice Wednesday approved the $48
billion merger between AT&T and Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI).
TCI has agreed to divest its interest in Sprint's PCS stock, which is to be
handed over to an independent trustee before the deal is completed.
But before the merger takes effect, it still must be approved by the U.S.
Federal Communications Commission. While that approval also is expected,
the FCC could require additional concessions.
"The stickiest areas have yet to be addressed and will be addressed when
the FCC takes a look," analyst Jeffrey Kagan said in e-mail comments
regarding the Justice Department approval. "Competitors want this new
company to be treated like a common carrier, and want access to the new
combined network. This is a can of worms AT&T wishes would go away. That
will be the really interesting debate when the FCC fires up on this one."
The U.S. Department Justice, in Washington, can be reached at
www.usdoj.gov. The Federal Communications Commission, also in Washington,
can be reached at www.fcc.gov. AT&T Corp., in Basking Ridge, N.J., can be
reached at (908) 221-2000 or www.att.com. Tele-Communications Inc., in
Denver, can be reached at (303) 267-5500 or www.tci.com.
Nancy Weil is a correspondent in the Boston bureau of the IDG News Service,
an InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Jan 5 10:19:10 1999
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Date: Tue, 05 Jan 1999 09:29:29 -0600
To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu,
Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Finjan uncovers Web security 'hole'
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Finjan uncovers Web security 'hole'
By PC Week Online Staff
January 5, 1999 10:15 AM ET
Finjan Inc. said Tuesday it has discovered an Internet security threat that
can "expose your private files or data to theft or irreparable damage."
According to a report in today's Wall Street Journal, the security "hole"
exploits a function in Microsoft Corp.'s Excel spreadsheet and other
commands that are used to divide Web sites into frames.
Finjan, an Israeli security company, has scheduled a press conference for
later this afternoon to discuss the issue.
"We think this is probably the biggest security hole in Internet history,"
the Journal quotes Bill Lyons, Finjan's CEO. "Any student at Stanford could
exploit it."
Microsoft in early December sent out bulletins warning that the feature in
Excel, known by the acronym CALL, could be used to distribute dangerous
code, according to the report. The company makes software available that
disables the CALL function.
Margaret Kane of ZDNN contributed to this report
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Jan 5 10:24:51 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Amazon.com reports $250 million sales in fourth quarter
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Amazon.com reports $250 million sales in fourth quarter
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media
Copyright © 1999 Reuters News Service
SEATTLE (January 5, 1999 9:37 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) -
Internet bookseller Amazon.com said Tuesday its fourth-quarter sales
reached $250 million, over three and a half times last year's levels, or $1
billion on an annual basis.
Increased sales at Amazon.com, a giant among Internet retailers, adds to
the evidence that shoppers are flocking to the Web. Online service provider
America Online Inc. said Monday that its subscribers spent $1.2 billion on
its network, the online equivalent of a shopping mall, during the holiday
season. Amazon.com cautioned, however, that higher seasonal sales will not
translate into reduced losses for the fourth quarter.
The company said significant music and video sales and aggressive product
pricing lowered profit margins.
Since going public, Amazon.com, like many other Internet firms, has
consistently lost money as its sinks cash into expanding its reach.
Nevertheless, investors have flocked to the company, driving the shares up
from under $10 a year ago to close at over $118 on Monday, adjusted for
stock splits.
Over a million new customers shopped at Amazon.com during the holiday
shopping season of Nov. 17 to Dec. 31. During that time the company shipped
over 7.5 million items, more than it shipped during all of 1997.
"We worked hard to create the best possible shopping experience," Jeff
Bezos, the company's founder and chief executive, said in a statement. "We
had more business than our most optimistic projections." Bezos, who left a
hedge fund to start Amazon.com in 1994, owns about 48 percent of the
company together with his family.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Jan 5 10:28:12 1999
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Date: Tue, 05 Jan 1999 09:30:50 -0600
To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu,
Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: High-end computers going cheap
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High-end computers going cheap
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media
Copyright © 1999 Associated Press
By RACHEL BECK
Look back at 1998 at www.nandotimes.com/nt/special/moreyear98.html.
NEW YORK (January 4, 1999 6:52 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - Cheap
computers stole sales away from pricey PCs this Christmas, and now
retailers are offering big discounts to clear out their high-end inventory.
That means consumers can find a wide variety of powerful computers with
lots of goodies attached for around $1,000, well below what they would have
paid a year ago.
"If you want to buy a higher-end system, this is the time to buy," said
Matt Sargent, an analyst at ZD Market Intelligence, a research firm based
in La Jolla, Calif. "The stores are overstocked and they want to clear
their shelves to make room for new inventory."
It was a strong year for the computer industry, largely because prices
dropped to levels affordable enough for the masses.
According to new research from ZD Market Intelligence, the average retail
selling price for a personal desktop computer was $983 in November, the
first time it dropped below $1,000. A year ago, the average price was $1,329.
In addition, market share increased sharply for inexpensive computers. In
October, PCs under $600 accounted for 5.5 percent of retail sales. By
November, they accounted for 16.6 percent.
Realizing consumers' appetite for lower prices, retailers counted on the
less-expensive computers to entice shoppers to their stores during the
holidays. It was hard to miss the barrage of advertisements touting
computers for as little as $400.
"There were a lot of promotions out there for the low-priced computers, but
the more expensive ones they didn't promote as much and didn't sell as
many," said David Goldstein, president of Channel Marketing Corp. in Dallas.
Now, retailers hope price cuts on higher-end models move products out of
stores quickly. Manufacturers are already shipping new inventory, and the
outdated computers have almost no shelf life.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Jan 5 12:11:15 1999
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Subject: AOL replaces ABC News with CBS
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AOL replaces ABC News with CBS
CBS will be the exclusive news provider on the 15-million member AOL site.
By Maria Seminerio, ZDNN
America Online Inc. and CBS News announced Tuesday they have finalized a
multi-year deal to make CBS the exclusive news provider for the 15
million-member online service.
The deal marks the end of CBS' rival ABC News' partnership with AOL.
The pact extends CBS' presence throughout the proprietary AOL service, the
AOL.com Web site, and AOL's CompuServe subsidiary, according to the
companies. In exchange, CBS will promote AOL "within each of its news
broadcasts, including the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, 60 Minutes,"
and several other television shows, the companies announced.
The companies will also share advertising revenue generated through AOL
areas that incorporate CBS programming, CBS and AOL officials said.
Financial terms of the deal were not announced, but AOL executives
reportedly have characterized it as a more favorable financial agreement
for the online service than was the ABC deal, set to expire this month.
AOL spokesman Tom Ziemba would not comment on the financial question or on
the exact length of the agreement. But he said the deal differs from the
ABC pact in that it calls for more cross-promotion between the two
companies' services and provides for greater exposure of CBS News'
reporters and anchors on AOL live chats and other events.
The pact is unquestionably a boon for CBS, whose online efforts to date
have been less successful than those of its network and cable news rivals.
Independent audits show the CBS.com Web site garnering much less traffic
than sites such as CNN.com. And CBS reportedly has discussed merging its
news-gathering operations with cable news giant CNN.
"Over the next 12 months, AOL members will view millions of pages with the
CBS News logo framing our editorial content. That's a tremendous number of
impressions, in a medium that augments our more traditional television and
radio audience," said Mel Karmazin, president and chief executive officer
of CBS Corp., in a press release.
"In forming this partnership with AOL, we are also developing an important
new audience and new revenue streams for CBS News," Karmazin said.
CBS will provide video news, text news stories, special features and
textual links to the CBS.com Web site from within the AOL service, AOL.com
and within the CompuServe service, CBS officials said. No changes are in
the offing for the CBS.com Web site, AOL's Ziemba said.
"By bringing one of the most recognizable broadcast news organizations in
the world to the AOL community, we're both meeting the demand for quality
news reporting and providing another reason for consumers to make AOL
brands their one-stop online home," said Barry Schuler, president of AOL's
Interactive Services unit, in a press release.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Jan 6 10:11:31 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Troubled modem maker Hayes closes shop
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Troubled modem maker Hayes closes shop
By Laura Kujubu
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 2:04 PM PT, Jan 5, 1999
Three months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, pioneer
modem-maker Hayes on Tuesday announced it is shutting down operations and
preparing for liquidation.
Hayes filed for bankruptcy court protection in October 1998, as well as in
1996, and had said it was planning a reorganization plan, which would
encompass broadband, remote-access server, and voice-over-IP initiatives.
However, the company's primary lender, NationsCredit, had refused to lend
sufficient funds to allow for continued operations while Hayes sought to
refinance or sell the company. NationsCredit was only willing to finance a
liquidation budget, according to Hayes officials.
As a result, the modem manufacturer confirmed it has ceased operations and
has laid off about 250 employees across North America and Asia Pacific. In
addition, the company announced that Chief Operations Officer Steve Mank,
Chief Financial Officer Chuck Marantz, and CEO Ron Howard are no longer
with the company. P.K. Chan will continue as president of Hayes, and Howard
will continue serving on the company's board of directors. Hayes officials
did not believe its common shareholders will receive any value as a result
of the planned liquidation and sales.
Analysts were sympathetic to Hayes, recognizing Hayes as a casualty in a
rapidly changing market.
"There were things beyond their control," said Will Strauss, president of
Forward Concepts, in Tempe, Ariz. "The modem market is a dumper as far as
prices go: At the retail level, sales are only up to 6 to 7 percent,
whereas prices dropped 20 to 30 percent."
"The modem market has been very competitive and has become a commodity
market with profit margins being very, very tight," said Lisa Pelgrim, an
analyst at Dataquest, in San Jose, Calif. "Hayes had a great brand name,
but the market has significantly changed."
Pelgrim noted that much of manufacturing in the modem market is now in Asia
and that the growing segment is in the OEM market. However, she also said
other modem companies are still managing to survive, such as 3Com.
"3Com has a lot of other products and has profitability across the board,"
Pelgrim said. "But Hayes was just strong in the retail side."
Hayes Corp., in Norcross, Ga., can be reached at www.hayes.com .
Laura Kujubu is an InfoWorld reporter.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Jan 6 17:22:40 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu, David Weinstein ,
Ron Weinstein ,
Jason Roselander ,
Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Software Job Mart: Great And Getting Better
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Software Job Mart: Great And Getting Better
(01/06/99, 4:48 p.m. ET)
By Adam Marcus, EE Times
"Never been better, and getting better." That may sound like a self-help
mantra, but it's really the satisfied reflection of Jim DeLapa describing
the job market these days for software engineers.
Nowhere is the nationwide shortage in high-tech workers felt more acutely
than in IT, where salaries are running as much as 80 percent above the
average for all other industries, said DeLapa, president of San Diego's
PrimeForce Recruiters and outgoing president of the Software Industry Council.
Just how big is the gap between supply and demand? DeLapa said there are
now 180,000 openings in the United States for people with IT degrees.
There's been some dispute about that estimate; engineering groups said
older IT workers have a much higher unemployment rate than younger ones,
indicating companies aren't tapping the well very deeply.
Still, America's colleges and universities pump out only 25,000 to 30,000
bachelor's degrees a year in IT disciplines. Whatever the reason -- be it
poor math and science instruction in secondary school or an inability to
attract young women to the field -- the end point is the same, DeLapa said:
"The demand is high, and we're not making [IT professionals] fast enough."
Driving the overall demand is "the permeation of information technology
into all aspects of every business," said DeLapa, whose company has been
placing engineers in jobs across the country for three years. "If you go
today and valet park your car, chances are the attendant will run a
software application to find out where your car is parked. A software
engineer had to write that program."
What's more, he said, in the old economy, software literacy tended to be a
highly local skill. With the proliferation of the microprocessor into
nearly every object that runs on electrons, suddenly the software
programmer is a Jack of all trades.
Indeed, the membership of the San Diego-based Software Industry Council is
a cross-section of Fortune 500 companies. Lockheed Martin and BellSouth
belong to the club, but so do New York Life and American Family Life
Assurance Company, or AFLAC, each a major insurance company. Even Publix
Supermarkets is a member, DeLapa said.
Such variety is great for engineers who dread working in Silicon Valley --
yet, it's good for the folks in that high-tech enclave, too, DeLapa said.
"The demand for software engineers in all industries is making it even
harder for high-tech firms" to compete for talent, he said. "The demand is
so high that the business is looking like real estate," with a buying and a
selling agent. "If I can't find a candidate for [a company], I'll call
another recruiting firm, and we split the fee."
In a change from the conventional wisdom of the downsized economy,
companies are essentially at the mercy of the worker when it comes to
high-tech hires, DeLapa said.
"We're seeing the really proactive companies do their pay increases and
evaluations every six months instead of every 12 months," he said. That's
not because they're looking to oust employees, but because they're hoping
to keep them.
"Companies used to guarantee your fee would be prorated if the candidate
left after a year. Now it's down to 90 days," he said.
If the software sector is hot, women programmers are, to borrow a phrase
from ESPN, en fuego. Traditionally, a company that hires someone referred
by a headhunter gives the recruiter 20 percent of the employee's annual
salary for the first year. Nowadays, however, companies looking for a
balanced workplace are so desperate for a pair of X chromosomes that
they're paying recruiters between 30 percent and 35 percent of a year's
salary for an acceptable resume, DeLapa said.
Despite the recent efforts of leading engineering schools to promote their
wares to women, and incentives to headhunters notwithstanding, the
scorching job market has a long way to go to make a difference in the
gender imbalance. Last year, only 4 percent of PrimeForce's placements into
software jobs were women.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Jan 7 10:26:27 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Intel to take wraps off the Pentium III
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Intel to take wraps off the Pentium III
By John G. Spooner, PC Week Online
January 7, 1999 10:23 AM ET
As part of a "branding announcement" set for Monday, Jan. 11., Intel Corp.
is expected to officially name its next-generation Pentium chip, code-named
Katmai, the "Pentium III."
While the company declined to comment on the announcement, one industry
source called the name "the best kept secret in Silicon Valley."
The Pentium III will begin at 450MHz and 500MHz, sources said. Intel has
already stated publicly that it would release Katmai processors with those
two clock speeds in this quarter.
The Pentium III will ship in early March, at which time a bevy of OEMs are
expected to announce systems based on the chip. A host of system hardware
and software developers are also expected to announce products optimized
for Katmai New Instructions, sources said.
Announced last January, Katmai New Instructions is the code name for a set
of 70 instructions intended to improve 3D graphics processing. In addition,
Intel has said Katmai technology will help improve the performance of
audio, video and such technologies as speech recognition. Although it is
unclear at this point, Intel may also re-name the technology.
Katmai New Instructions will first appear in the Pentium III processors.
Intel (INTC) , of Santa Clara, Calif., can be reached at www.intel.com.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Jan 7 12:59:54 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: MCI WorldCom To Bid $55 Billion For AirTouch
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MCI WorldCom To Bid $55 Billion For AirTouch
(01/07/99, 12:26 p.m. ET)
By Reuters
NEW YORK -- MCI WorldCom, the nation's second-largest long distance
telephone company, plans to join the bidding for cellular-phone company
AirTouch Communications, according to a published report.
The report, in Thursday's edition of USA Today newspaper, said MCI WorldCom
plans to bid more than $55 billion for AirTouch, creating a three-way
battle for the company.
MCI WorldCom would join Bell Atlantic, the nation's leading local telephone
service provider, and Vodafone Group, a wireless communications company in
Britain, as suitors for San Francisco-based AirTouch.
Created in 1994 after being spun off by Pacific Telesis, AirTouch is the
world's largest wireless communications company, serving more than 16
million customers through ventures in the United States, Germany, Japan,
and 10 other countries.
USA Today reported that MCI WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers met with close
advisers this week and decided to make a bid for AirTouch.
WorldCom previously has said it has no plans to enter the wireless
communications market, and early Thursday, the company declined to comment
on the latest report.
Vodafone and AirTouch also declined to comment.
AirTouch has acknowledged that Vodafone has made a bid for the company and
published stories have placed the value at about $55 billion.
Bell Atlantic acknowledged Sunday that it was discussing a merger with
AirTouch, and sources said such a bid would be worth $45 billion.
Ebbers is no stranger to corporate takeovers. As chairman of WorldCom, he
engineered its takeover of MCI in a $40 billion deal that combined the
nation's No. 2 and No. 4 long distance companies. That deal was completed
in September.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or
redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means,
is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
Reuters shall be not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or
for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Jan 7 13:01:58 1999
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Judge orders settlement talks in Java dispute
By Deborah Gage, Sm@rt Reseller
January 7, 1999 12:11 PM ET
U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte ordered Sun Microsystems Inc. and
Microsoft Corp. to hold settlement talks over how Java interacts with
native code. A settlement would remove one major issue from the companies'
contract dispute but would not settle the case.
Whyte cited Sun's Java Native Interface and Microsoft's Raw Native
Interface as two different ways for Java to interact with Windows. He said
talks would now be productive since he has already issued a preliminary
injunction ordering Microsoft (MSFT) to add Sun's JNI to its products and
because "both parties recognize that there are times when developers need
to call native code."
JNI dictates how Java interacts with all native code, not just Windows.
A Microsoft spokesman said "Microsoft has always wanted to work with Sun."
But the company has also announced it will appeal Whyte's latest
preliminary injunction and has not yet fixed Visual J++ 6.0, its Java
development tool, to comply with the injunction. A settlement over native
interfaces would have no impact on Visual J++ since Microsoft there
extended the Java language to make products developed with J++ run only on
Windows.
In his order, Judge Whyte proposed that the companies broaden Microsoft's
efforts with J/Direct, which allows Java developers direct access to
Windows native functions, to achieve "a standardized method for invoking
functions built into the platform being used."
Whyte also suggested that the companies consider developing one
specification that "achieves Sun's goal of universality and Microsoft's
goal of more efficient performance and ease of coding."
A Sun (SUNW) spokeswoman said the judge's order is standard operating
procedure and that Sun has always been willing to work with Microsoft.
Court documents show that the companies' failure to reach agreement over
how Java interacts with native code was one issue that led to the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Whyte will hold a hearing on January 15 to decide whether
Microsoft should have extra time to comply with the injunction and add JNI
to its products. Microsoft has asked for a 120-day extension on some
products and a 90-day extension on others.
Microsoft must also fix NT 4.0 Service Pack 4, NT 4.0 Option Pack and NT
4.0 Terminal Server.
Additional reporting by Mary Jo Foley, Sm@rt Reseller
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Jan 7 13:05:59 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
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Microsoft gets down to Y2K nitty-gritty
By Anne Knowles, PC Week Online
January 7, 1999 10:57 AM ET
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday will unveil plans to help its customers deal
with the year 2000.
The Redmond, Wash., company last month discussed plans to provide tools,
seminars, and support for Y2K testing and compliance of its software.
The software tools include Y2K Product Analyzer, which scans users' hard
drives for Microsoft (MSFT) software, including operating system and
applications, and determines whether they are Y2K compliant. The tool then
provides URLs where users can go to download updates that bring the
software into compliance.
The free tool will be available this quarter at Microsoft's Web site or via
the company's Y2K Resource CD.
The initial version of the CD, which will be refreshed quarterly, is
available now. It includes product guides and white papers.
Microsoft will also be distributing Excel Y2K plug-ins at its Web site.
They include the Date Fix Wizard, which changes the format of two-digit
year dates; the Date Migration Wizard, which changes dates in older
versions of the software; and the Date Watch Wizard, which alerts users
when they enter numbers into spreadsheets that will cause Y2K trouble.
Microsoft's Systems Management Server 2.0, meanwhile, which is expected to
ship this quarter, will add new Y2K analysis and remediation features,
including a Y2K compliance database that extends the Y2K Product Analyzer
for enterprise-wide use. Users will also be able to add Y2K data on other
vendors' software products to the database, said Don Jones, Microsoft's Y2K
product manager.
In addition, Microsoft is launching a series of worldwide Y2K customer
seminars; a Y2K Blueprint Seminar, jointly conducted with Amdahl Corp.,
that outlines methodologies for Y2K testing and remediation planning for
corporations; a Y2K listserv for subscribing to bimonthly alerts; the
1-888-MSFT-Y2K support line; and e-mail support.
What's missing are tools that help users check out their data. The Excel
plug-ins can scan individual spreadsheets but not applications created
around Excel macros by users, said Jones.
To date, Microsoft has tested 1,681 of its software products, said Jones,
and plans to test a total of about 1,850. So far, 93 percent of those
products tested are Y2K compliant or compliant with minor issues, said Jones.
Microsoft's Y2K Web site is at www.microsoft.com/y2k.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Jan 8 10:26:07 1999
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Subject: Microsoft fires back at Sun's Jini
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Microsoft fires back at Sun's Jini
By James Niccolai
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:57 AM PT, Jan 8, 1999
LAS VEGAS -- Microsoft here Thursday launched Universal Plug and Play, an
initiative designed to allow a broad range of devices such as PCs,
printers, and even security cameras to connect as peers over a home network
and share resources.
The initiative in many ways is Microsoft's response to the Jini technology
disclosed last year by Microsoft's arch rival, Sun Microsystems, one
analyst noted. Both technologies are designed to allow devices to connect
easily to a network and interoperate with other devices.
"As appliances become more intelligent and the distinction between
appliances and computing devices blurs, a key part of their value to
consumers will come from their ability to communicate with other
intelligent devices," said Crag Mundie, senior vice president of
Microsoft's consumer strategy division.
To achieve that level of communication, Microsoft -- along with industry
partners including Intel and Hewlett-Packard -- is developing a common set
of interfaces that manufacturers will be able to use to build products that
will be Universal-Plug-and-Play-compatible. The technology will be based on
open standards, primarily TCP/IP and XML, Mundie said.
The initiative has parallels with the Plug-and-Play initiative announced by
Microsoft and others back in 1992, which allows users to connect
peripherals to a PC without having to reboot the system. With Universal
Plug and Play, that idea is extended and applied to a home network:
peripherals can be attached to a network, they "announce" their presence,
and can interoperate with other devices already connected to the network,
Mundie said.
In a demonstration here Thursday, a Microsoft engineer said he wanted to
print a document from a PC to a printer close by on stage. The devices were
not connected, but using Universal Plug and Play and infrared technology,
the printer "announced its presence" on the network and allowed the
engineer to use the printer for his document.
In another example, a security camera was attached to a mock home network
on stage. The image from the camera appeared immediately on a home security
software application running on a PC.
Mundie said Windows 2000 (formerly known as Windows NT 5.0) will be
Universal-Plug-and-Play-compatible when it is released, and the company
will offer a software upgrade for all Windows 98 users that makes that
operating system compatible too, he said, although he didn't offer a time
frame for the upgrade.
Because the technology is based on industry standards including IP and
TCP/IP, it will work with almost any kind of a network, including wireless
and wireline networks, Mundie said.
Microsoft spokesman Philip Holden said the company hopes manufacturers will
have compatible products in the market by as early as the holiday shopping
season at the end of 1999. However, one analyst cast doubt on that prediction.
"I don't think they really know when this stuff is going to happen. They
just saw all the press Sun is getting with Jini and they said, 'Let's do
something alternative,'" said Seamus McAteer, Web technology strategies
analyst with Jupiter Communications.
"The goal is to have a complete set of specifications and sample source
code available at this year's WinHec," Microsoft's Holden said. WinHec --
Microsoft's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference -- is due to take place
April 7 to 9 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Holden stopped short of calling the technology Microsoft's answer to Jini,
but acknowledged there are similarities between the two.
Universal Plug and Play is almost certain to butt heads with Sun's Jini.
Sun is set to announce its Jini manufacturing partners at an event
scheduled for Jan. 25, and Sun also hopes to have products that support
Jini in the market by the end of 1999.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., is at www.microsoft.com. Sun
Microsystems Inc., in Mountain View, Calif., is at www.sun.com.
James Niccolai is a San Francisco correspondent for the IDG News Service,
an InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Jan 8 10:31:07 1999
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Subject: Microsoft, AT&T huddle
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Microsoft, AT&T huddle
Two titans talk about selling Microsoft Network and other properties
January 8, 1999: 8:56 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - AT&T has discussed buying the Microsoft network and
perhaps additional Microsoft media properties, according to published reports.
Microsoft (MSFT) chief executive officer Bill Gates hosted a dinner
attended by AT&T (T) CEO C. Michael Armstrong and president John Zeglis
last fall, USA Today reported Friday.
AT&T apparently decided not to buy the properties for now, but Microsoft
reportedly considers the talks to be ongoing. The discussions are said to
have included AT&T absorbing the Microsoft Internet service provider (ISP)
into AT&T WorldNet.
AT&T also could take stakes in or ownership of Microsoft media Web sites,
the USA Today article said, such as the MSN portal and Web-based Slate
magazine. In return, Microsoft would want money and a deal to have AT&T
adopt and promote Microsoft Windows NT software.
If the deal were to come through, AT&T, which is buying cable TV giant
Tele-Communications Inc. (TCOMA), would gain about 2 million subscribers
with the MSN ISP and double the size of WorldNet. It would also make AT&T
No. 2 in Internet access behind America Online. Microsoft would benefit
from selling the media properties, which analysts said have not been
profitable.
Microsoft shares closed Thursday down ¾ at 150-1/2. AT&T was down 5/8 at
82-1/4. TCI was up 1-1/16 at 61-1/16.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Jan 8 13:47:11 1999
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Subject: Study: Microsoft overcharged consumers by $10B
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Study: Microsoft overcharged consumers by $10B
By Will Rodger, Inter@ctive Week
January 8, 1999 1:16 PM ET
WASHINGTON -- Microsoft has collected $10 billion in overcharges to
consumers over the past three years thanks to its monopoly on the PC
operating system, consumer groups alleged in a study
(http://www.essential.org/antitrust/ms/cfa/cfa-jan99.html) released Friday.
As a result, officials of the Consumer Federation of America and other
consumer groups said, the company could face a barrage of class-action
suits designed to recoup those supposed overcharges if courts find
Microsoft liable in the government antitrust suit under way here.
The report was prepared by the CFA, the Media Access Project and the U.S.
Public Interest Research Group.
"We think those overcharges should be returned," said Mark Cooper, research
director of the CFA, who estimates the overcharges amount to some $35 to
$45 per computer.
Jamie Love, director of the Consumer Project on Technology, called the
overcharges a "tax" on PC users.
Microsoft (MSFT) rejected the CFA analysis. Company officials in Redmond,
Wash., said they face strong competition in the operating system market and
so must keep their prices as low as possible.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Jan 11 12:08:21 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Lucent, Ascend said to be near $16 billion merger
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Lucent, Ascend said to be near $16 billion merger
By Jana Sanchez
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:55 AM PT, Jan 11, 1999
Networking and telecommunications giant Lucent Technologies is reportedly
nearing a merger with its smaller rival, Alameda, Calif.-based Ascend
Communications, which is likely to be worth $16 billion.
The announcement is expected by Wednesday, according to a report appearing
in Monday's Financial Times, in London.
Lucent, worth $152 billion, would most likely take over Ascend, which has a
market capitalization of about $15.5 billion, the report said.
Pressure to form the deal may have been brought on by last year's buyout of
Bay Networks by Northern Telecommunications, which resulted in the
formation of Nortel Networks.
Ascend and Lucent have reportedly been talking for several weeks, according
to the Financial Times report.
Lucent, which was spun off from AT&T in 1996, supplies equipment to
telecommunications carriers. Ascend's business is mainly in enterprise
networking, IP telephony and ATM networking.
Lucent Technologies Inc., in Murray Hill, N.J., is at www.lucent.com.
Ascend Communications Inc., in Alameda, Calif., can be reached at
www.ascend.com.
Jana Sanchez is London bureau chief for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld
affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Jan 11 12:10:00 1999
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Subject: Sun backs Novell's directory
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Sun backs Novell's directory
By Deborah Gage, Sm@rt Reseller
January 11, 1999 11:22 AM ET
Sun Microsystems Inc. will unveil Jini in San Francisco this month, and
standing alongside will be Novell Inc. with its Novell Directory Services.
The two companies have been in talks for several months on Jini, which
ultimately will allow resellers to manage objects on networks that extend
beyond corporate walls. In particular, the deal could extend NDS to manage
handheld computers, cell phones, digital cameras and other devices that are
only now becoming network-enabled. And while NDS may not be the only
Jini-enabled directory, Sun partners say it will start out as the clear
front-runner.
The alliance is something of a coup for Novell (NOVL) . Although Jini's
success depends on Sun's ability to drive acceptance of networks filled
with Java-enabled devices and to control how the back-end infrastructure
develops, Jini has the potential to create entirely new business models and
generate millions of dollars in revenue for its supporters.
The deal also is a tribute to both companies' abilities to work out their
differences over Java, since Novell Vice President Chris Stone has been one
of Sun's most vocal critics.
A plugged-in world
So far, Sun (SUNW) , of Mountain View, Calif., has portrayed Jini as a way
for devices to find and use each other over a network. Plug a Jini-enabled
camera into a network, and it sends a Java agent to the network's lookup
service and announces itself. The camera is now an object, and a user
interface pops up on your PC. Take a picture, and you can store it on the
Jini-enabled Quantum disk drive you've just plugged in.
There's more. Axis is making a network interface that can represent older
devices, like bubble-jet printers, with a proxy, at least on Sun's Solaris.
Dallas Semiconductor is making what Sun calls "a Web server on a card" that
can be embedded into light switches or appliances. Theoretically, you could
control your home network by finding any device with a Java-enabled browser
and authenticating yourself with a Java smart card or Java ring.
Ultimately, Sun envisions big banks of servers holding Java objects
announcing themselves to each other. Some will be branded, some for sale.
And as Sun CEO Scott McNealy pointed out at Sun's Java show in New York
last month, networks will layer on networks. Your set-top box could provide
the lookup service for your home Jini network, while your cable company
could provide the lookup service for set-top boxes.
Miles to go
But for Sun's vision to come true, the Jini infrastructure must be much
farther along than it is today, and Novell understands that. Novell, of
Provo, Utah, wants to make NDS ubiquitous, and it has invested in
ObjectSpace Inc., a Java company that plans to make money by making Jini
work securely with less ethereal technology such as the Object Management
Group's CORBA and Microsoft Corp.'s DCOM.
"In the early days of telephony, the same thing was true," said ObjectSpace
cofounder Graham Glass. "When you connect to a component, you have to talk
in that protocol. It's like when I talk English, he hears German."
Because of such unresolved technical issues, IBM is still not officially
supporting Jini. But ObjectSpace is also working closely with IBM. All
three companies have different lookup services --Sun's, called JavaSpaces,
is totally Java-centric and is currently designed for a local area network.
ObjectSpace cofounder David Norris says he is confident Jini will be a
success and that IBM, Sun and Novell will work things out. And while NDS
may not be necessary as Jini moves to the Internet -- Norris says you could
use search engines to keep track of objects -- he is not concerned. "Novell
will be important at the corporate level, and Internet adoption of Jini
will follow corporate adoption," he said.
Novell also has allied with Cisco Systems Inc., which demonstrated a
Jini-enabled home network last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las
Vegas.
"Cisco's IOS is an object to NDS," said Stone, who won't comment on any
alliance with Sun. "You can bring it inside our directory and remotely
bring your routers up and down. Lucent [Technologies Inc.], Nortel
[Networks] and Cisco control the backbone, and ObjectSpace is about living
in the network. If you look at directories over time, you will need
federated directories."
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Jan 12 12:02:59 1999
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Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: IT managers not swayed by Office 2000
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IT managers not swayed by Office 2000
By John G. Spooner, PC Week Online
January 8, 1999 4:33 PM ET
Microsoft Corp. is about to proclaim the arrival of Office 2000, but many
corporate IT managers won't be listening.
The Redmond, Wash., company is putting the final touches on the upgrade to
its flagship Office suite and plans to ship the software late next month,
sources said. There's only one problem: Many corporate customers that have
been testing Beta 2 of the office productivity package say there's no
compelling reason to upgrade.
"The features I've seen don't yet warrant the upgrade and training
nightmare," said Chris Luise, vice president and chief technology officer
at insurance provider Skandia AFS, in Shelton, Conn., which has 13,000
Office 97 users. "I would be surprised if we were to roll it out [this
year]. It's not even a budget item."
That could spell trouble for Microsoft (MSFT) . Corporate users make up
about 80 percent to 85 percent of Office's installed base, according to
market researcher Dataquest Inc. And Office accounts for close to half of
the software giant's product revenue, generating the lion's share of its
$6.8 billion applications and content business.
Office 2000 will provide tighter integration among the suite's
applications. It adds HTML as a file format and enables some
componentization of the suite through its Install on Demand feature, with
which users can download only the features they wish to use.
Unlike previous Office revisions, which included new file formats that
forced users to upgrade, Office 2000 maintains file format compatibility
with Office 97 and Office 95. As a result, documents created in the new
suite can be viewed, edited and saved in earlier versions of the suite,
said John Duncan, a product manager for Office.
While backward compatibility is a welcome feature for customers, it
ironically gives some sites less reason to upgrade.
"I don't plan on upgrading [Office 97] unless I have to," said Eric Martin,
network manager at Harley-Davidson Motor Co.'s York, Pa., final assembly
plant. Harley-Davidson has about 2,000 Office 97 users in the United States.
Microsoft will continue to support Office 97 and Office 95 through the Web,
phone and other channels. "Products are supported until they are
discontinued, and there is extremely low to zero demand for support for a
significant period of time," Duncan said.
The shadow of Y2K
Outside factors are driving IT managers' plans as well. Most corporate
sites are busy wrestling with more critical issues, such as year 2000
compliance.
"It's going to be a long time [before we upgrade to Office 2000]," said the
CIO of a large Midwestern food conglomerate who requested anonymity. "We're
focused on Y2K issues right now."
Companies holding off on upgrading to Office 2000 could seriously affect
Microsoft's bottom line.
"When you look at Microsoft's Office revenue over the last two years, it's
clear that growth has slowed," said Chris Le Tocq, an analyst with
Dataquest, in San Jose, Calif. "One of the reasons is that they've got a
well-penetrated base. It makes it very challenging for Microsoft to
continue the revenue stream that they would expect."
That's what Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Greg Maffei told shareholders
to expect during Microsoft's Financial Analyst Meeting in November.
Microsoft, Maffei said during a presentation, has seen the average selling
price of Office drop 27 percent over the last 12 quarters. Microsoft
attributes the drop mainly to the larger number of less-expensive upgrades
vs. brand-new copies of the suite sold.
"The overwhelming threat or looming potential for saturation is very
clear," he told attendees. "We do not expect to repeat the performance in
Office revenue in fiscal '99 that we had in fiscal '98. There is no
reasonable reason to expect it."
Microsoft officials have not released figures for expected Office 2000
upgrades, and Duncan declined to specify the number of Office 95 users who
upgraded to Office 97.
According to Microsoft, there are 75 million users of Office, 45 million of
whom use Office 97.
In preparation for the Office 2000 rollout, Microsoft this week released
the new suite's pricing, which will remain the same as Office 97. Pricing
ranges from $499 for a new Standard version and $209 for an upgrade to $999
for the Developer edition.
Le Tocq predicted that the next major transition -- possibly the
post-Office 2000 version of the suite -- will offer fully Web-based
versions of applications such as Word and Excel that operate inside a
browser or an e-mail program.
Those enhancements may finally give users a compelling reason to upgrade.
But for the short term, many customers are standing pat.
"We don't have anything on our plate at this point in terms of an upgrade,"
said Jim Nathlich, a technical analyst at Chevron Corp., in San Francisco,
which has 34,000 Office 97 users worldwide. "We are pretty rooted in Office
97."
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Jan 12 13:34:32 1999
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IBM backs Linux with solid DB2
Beta ably ports leading DB technology to Linux
By Timothy Dyck for PC Week Labs
January 11, 1999 9:00 AM ET
IBM's pending release of DB2 for Linux spotlights both the benefits and
hurdles to Linux's adoption in the enterprise.
In PC Week Labs' tests of a beta of DB2 for Linux, the system demonstrated
nearly all the power and capability of the steel-hided IBM database, and it
will leverage Linux's reliability and cost-efficiency. However, Linux's
immaturity on high-end hardware, combined with other technical issues and
its relatively short corporate IT tenure, makes DB2 for Linux best-suited
for workgroup and branch office implementations. (Linux kernel 2.2, due in
the next few weeks, should resolve some of Linux's multiprocessor
scalability issues.)
We found some beta-typical glitches using and administering DB2 for Linux,
but the core DB2 product is all there: IBM has ported the full DB2 5.2
database engine to Linux, with support for parallel queries, partitioning,
Java and Web connectivity (via the Net.Data tool), row-level locking, and
all the other features we'd expect in an enterprise-quality database.
IBM hasn't decided how it will price or support DB2 for Linux when the
product ships in the first half of this year, and this uncertainty over
support is a key question mark hanging over DB2 for Linux and Linux itself.
Developers can now get support only by posting questions to a product
newsgroup.
The DB2 for Linux beta lacks some of the high-end features found on other
platforms, notably DB2's multimedia extenders, mainframe links and
replication. (IBM officials said replication is planned for the final release.)
DB2 for Linux works on any recent (at least Kernel 2.0.35) Linux release.
After a simple installation on a Red Hat Software Inc. Red Hat Linux 5.1
server, we created several test databases, then connected and accessed data
in them using Java and Windows clients on remote systems.
The Linux-based DB2's administration tools were another story. On Netscape
Communications Corp.'s Navigator and Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer,
DB2 5.2's Java-based administration console hung like wash on a line.
We got fairly stable performance using Java's applet viewer, both under the
Blackdown Organization's Linux Java 1.1.7 and JavaSoft Inc.'s Java 1.2 on
Windows, and recommend this approach.
DB2 5.2, which shipped in October, is the first server database to include
support for the new SQLJ (embedded SQL for Java) standard.
In tests, the new SQLJ tools made writing Java-based database applications
much easier than with Java Database Connectivity.
Contributing Editor Timothy Dyck can be reached at timothy_dyck@dyck.org.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Jan 12 16:47:49 1999
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Subject: Netscape envisions lengthy takeover process
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Netscape envisions lengthy takeover process
By Ben Elgin, Sm@rt Reseller
January 12, 1999 3:18 PM ET
Thanks to its impact on Microsoft Corp.'s ongoing case with the U.S.
Department of Justice, the three-way deal involving Netscape Communications
Corp., America Online Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc. may not come to
fruition until March or April.
For Sun (SUNW) and Netscape (NSCP) resellers seeking direction in the
channel, this is bad news. All three deal participants refuse to discuss
specifics until AOL's pending $4.2 billion acquisition of Netscape earns
approval from federal regulators. As part of the deal, Sun is expected to
sell and support Netscape's server software.
The delay means VARs will remain in the dark for several more months on
critical issues, such as the converging Sun and Netscape channel programs
and the two vendors' overlapping product lines.
Speaking on Tuesday to a group of reporters in Bonn, Germany, Netscape Vice
President Barry Ariko said that the three-way deal probably would not close
until late March or late April, according to published reports. He also
said that AOL's goal of a February close date was not very likely.
The reason for the delay? Microsoft's ongoing litigation with the DOJ.
While Ariko, according to the published reports, expressed confidence that
nothing would stand in the deal's way, he is expecting a longer review
process in light of the Microsoft case.
Separately, Sm@rt Reseller has learned that Sun -- which is slated to
license Netscape's enterprise software for three years -- could very well
walk away from the deal with the Netscape product line in tow.
Indeed, the pending licensing and co-development deal between Sun and AOL
(AOL) gives Sun access to source code for most, if not all, of Netscape's
products. According to an industry analyst briefed by executives from the
three companies, nothing will prevent Sun from toting away the recipe to
those products when its three-year deal expires.
"Three years from now, Sun will end up owning all of Netscape's enterprise
software," said Bob Chatham, senior analyst with Forrester Research Inc.
In essence, the pending three-way agreement could boil down to what the
deal likely would have been had tax-break considerations not interfered:
AOL buying Netscape's portal and Sun buying Netscape's high-end software.
"AOL people are painting this as a seamless, end-to-end e-commerce deal...
But AOL bought Netscape for its portal. It just happened to come with all
of this other stuff," said Chatham.
Indeed, Chatham is not alone. Other analysts doubt AOL will ever touch the
enterprise software division, beyond merely internalizing some of the
technology.
"AOL is not going to get into the enterprise server software business. How
they resolve the [Netscape] channel issue will be interesting," said Zona
Research Inc. industry analyst Jim Balderston.
Officials from AOL, Sun and Netscape all declined to comment on the
source-code agreements.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Jan 13 10:13:05 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
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Ascend to merge with Lucent in $20 billion deal
By Jana Sanchez
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:53 AM PT, Jan 13, 1999
In one of the largest-ever deals in the networking industry, Lucent
Technologies and Ascend Communications have signed a definitive agreement
to merge, the companies announced Wednesday.
Under the terms of the agreement, which has been approved by both
companies' boards of directors, each share of Ascend will be converted into
0.82 shares of Lucent, according to a joint statement issued Wednesday.
Based on Lucent's closing share price Tuesday of $107 7/8, the transaction
is worth about $20 billion, the companies said.
The transaction will most likely be completed during Lucent's third
quarter, ending June 30, the statement said. It will be accounted for as a
pooling of interests and Lucent said it expects the merger to be neutral to
earnings in fiscal 1999 and accretive starting in fiscal-year 2000.
The merger is designed to broaden Lucent's ability to sell next-generation
networks to telecommunications carriers. Lucent Chief Executive Officer
Rich McGinn noted in the statement that almost every major
telecommunications carrier is deciding how to reengineer and deploy their
networks for data, voice, fax, and video. Ascend provides WAN core
switching and access data networking equipment for telephone companies,
Internet service providers, and enterprises.
The merger is the latest step by Lucent to boost its presence in the data
networking business. In the past two years, it has acquired 11 companies in
strategic data networking technologies; developed intelligent switching,
access, and network management products internally; and signed a number of
strategic partnership deals for sales and distribution, the company said.
Lucent also needs Ascend to compete against networking giants such as Cisco
Systems and Nortel Networks, the latter itself the result of last year's
$9.1 billion merger between Bay Networks and Northern Telecom.
Ascend's organization and Lucent's Data Networking Systems, Optical
Networking, and Communications Software groups will be put together to form
the Broadband Networks Group, which will be led by Dan Stanzione, Lucent's
chief operating officer and group president. The unit will focus on selling
broadband, multiservice networks, according to the statement.
Mory Ejabat, chief executive officer of Ascend, will stay on during a
transition period in an unspecified role, the statement said.
Lucent Technologies Inc., in Murray Hill, N.J., is at www.lucent.com.
Ascend Communications Inc., in Alameda, Calif., can be reached at
www.ascend.com.
Jana Sanchez is London bureau chief for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld
affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Jan 13 10:21:46 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu,
Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft confirms 2001 time bug
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Microsoft confirms 2001 time bug
By Stephanie Miles
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 12, 1999, 5:10 p.m. PT
A newly discovered bug may cause many Windows-based applications to
register the wrong time for at least a week in the year 2001, Microsoft has
confirmed.
The bug was discovered by Richard Smith of Phar Lap Software, who last week
reported the problem to Microsoft and the BugTraq security mailing list,
according to Microsoft.
This bug affects the local time function during the daylight savings time
change on Windows-based systems. Computers running Windows 95, 98, or NT 4
will delay the one-hour time change for a week in 2001, from April 1 to
April 8. The problem has already been fixed for the upcoming Windows 2000
operating system.
"The problem is caused by the Visual C++ runtime library being confused and
assuming that daylight savings time doesn't start until April the 8th,"
explained Smith to the mailing list.
"The confusion appears to be caused by the fact that April 1 falls on a
Sunday in the year 2001. The same bug occurs in other years where April 1
also falls on a Sunday," such as 1990, and 2007, according to Smith's email
post. He could not be reached for further comment.
Microsoft has confirmed the existence of the bug but says it believes that
any actual problems resulting from the glitch will be few and far between.
"This has been blown a little bit out of proportion," said Chris Hargarten,
a product manager with the Visual C++ group. "For daylight savings time on
April 1 we failed to calculate the one-hour time difference for one week's
time. An application that uses a specific function called 'local time' will
be affected."
Although Smith traces the problem to a specific file library, Microsoft
contends that the presence of the library alone is not enough to trigger
the bug. "Not every application that uses this certain [library] uses the
local time function," Hargarten said.
Calendar-related glitches like these, while rare, can wreak havoc with
applications that depend on certain time-sensitive functions, like hotel
wake-up call services. A similar bug which can throw off the date on
Windows 98 computers was confirmed last summer.
Microsoft will post information about the problem to its Web site in the
next few weeks, and is working on a patch. At this time, the company has no
estimates of how many people are affected.
"We've got two years [to fix the bug]," Hargarten said. "We have bugs all
the time, and we take them very seriously. We have the processes in place
to take care of this."
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Jan 13 10:25:16 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Developer offers beta of encryption freeware
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Developer offers beta of encryption freeware
By Mary Lisbeth D'Amico
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 8:53 AM PT, Jan 12, 1999
A German software programmer has released over the Internet the beta
version of a freeware encryption program that he says is an alternative to
the widely used encryption software Pretty Good Privacy (PGP).
The program, called GnuPG (GnuPrivacyGuard), runs on any Unix-based
platform and features 128-bit encryption, the same strength encryption as
PGP, according to Werner Koch, the Düsseldorf-based software developer who
wrote the program. GnuPG is also compatible with PGP, Versions 5.0 and 6.0,
so it can send and receive PGP-encrypted messages.
One advantage of GnuPG over PGP is that not only is it secure, but it is
also clearly in the public domain, according to Erich Moechel, editor of
the Internet newsletter Quintessenz, who has tested the software. That
means there is no chance it will be subject to government restrictions on
exporting encryption software, he said.
In Vienna last month, 33 countries signed the Wassenaar Arrangement,
agreeing to put export controls on some kinds of secure software. Although
"mass market" software is considered exempt from these controls, the
software which falls into this category is not very secure, according to
Moechel.
"That stuff can be cracked in a matter of milliseconds," Moechel said.
It is not clear whether PGP falls into the category of public domain
software, Moechel said. PGP, Version 5.0 business edition is clearly a
commercial program, according to GnuPG creator Koch. PGP is now owned by
Network Associates and is sold commercially. Although a free version of PGP
5.0 exists, Koch said, it is not being used for commercial purposes.
Another advantage of GnuPG is that it was developed outside the United
States, so it also cannot fall under any U.S. restrictions on exporting
encryption software, Koch said. The United States requires permits for the
export of strong encryption software.
Koch released early versions of GnuPG in December 1997, and has been
improving it ever since. Now, he said, he feels he has a "good, stable
program," which is ready for beta testing. In several months Koch plans to
release Version 1.0, after which the program will only require patches,
Koch said.
Encryption technology scrambles a message so it can only be read by
authorized users who possess a key to decrypt the message. GnuPG uses a
symmetrical 128-bit key as well as an asymmetrical 1,024-bit algorithm,
which are used to scramble and unscramble the message and to electronically
sign the document.
In its current form, GnuPG will mainly be of interest to software
developers, according to Moechel.
"It doesn't have a graphical user interface. It also lacks some of the
extra features offered by PGP-based products that run on Windows, such as a
key server, which allows a function that can search the names of people
that hold a public key," Moechel said.
Koch says that feature will be included in Version 1.0, however.
GnuPG could easily be adapted for Windows, Koch said, but "I'm not going to
do that for free. I'm not that interested in Windows," he said.
The software is already in commercial use, Koch said, and is preferred by
some companies who want a program written specifically for a Unix platform
instead of for Windows. The software has some technical advantages over
PGP, working better with other Unix-based programs and using less memory
than PGP, according to Koch.
GnuPG is already in commercial use and has been translated into 10
languages, Koch said. It has been used, for example, to encrypt a mailing
list with sensitive medical information, to create anonymous e-mails in
cases where someone does not want their identity traced, and to check the
identity of certain parties who control Internet news forums, he said.
A freelance software developer, Koch created GnuPG in his spare time.
"I wanted to work on something exciting," he said.
Publishing source code in the public domain is part of a movement that its
advocates call freeware, or open-source software. The idea is to subject
source code to what some have called "massive peer review,"which allows
bugs in the software to be quickly detected and fixed by other users.
Although software released as "freeware" is public, the copyright to the
GnuPG program does exist and is held by the Boston-based Free Software
Foundation, Koch said.
For information on GnuPG go to www.gnuPG.org.
Mary Lisbeth D'Amico is a correspondent in the Munich bureau of the IDG
News Service, an InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Jan 13 10:37:36 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu,
Noah Roselander ,
Ruth Rozen
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Teenage email code's a cracker
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Teenage email code's a cracker
Wednesday, January 13, 1999 Published at 11:42 GMT
BBC News, Sci/Tech
The prize judges could not completely understand the "brilliant" code
Making your email secret is now 30 times faster, but the innovation has
come not from a multinational computer computer but a schoolgirl from
Blarney, Ireland.
Sarah Flannery, 16, has developed a brand new mathematical procedure for
encrypting internet communication.
"The algorithm is based on matrices," her father told BBC News Online. Dr
David Flannery is a mathematics lecturer at Cork Institute of Technology,
Ireland.
"Sarah has a very good understanding of the mathematical principles
involved, but to call her a genius or a prodigy is overstated and she
doesn't want that herself.
"She's a normal young girl, who likes basketball and going out with her
friends."
International job offers
But her number-crunching feat is undoubtedly remarkable and won her the top
prize at the Irish Young Scientists and Technology Exhibition.
International job and scholarship offers have flooded in, said Dr Flannery.
Last year, Ms Flannery's cryptography skill took her to Fort Worth, Texas,
as the winner of an Intel prize.
Even when high security levels are required, her code can encrypt a letter
in just one minute - a widely used encryption standard called RSA would
take 30 minutes. "But she has also proven that her code is as secure as
RSA," says Dr Flannery. "It wouldn't be worth a hat of straw if it was not."
Ms Flannery currently has a bad cold and has not had time to consider the
advice of the judges to patent the code. "She wouldn't mind being rich but
she wants to stress the great joy that the project has given her," says Dr
Flannery. She may publish the work to make it freely available to all.
Her code is called Cayley-Purser after Arthur Cayley, a 19th century
Cambridge expert on matrices, and Michael Purser, a cryptographer from
Trinity College, Dublin, who provided inspiration for Ms Flannery.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Jan 13 13:11:49 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Iomega to buy Syquest
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Iomega to buy Syquest
By Stephanie Miles
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 13, 1999, 9:35 a.m. PT
Removable drive maker Iomega will purchase all of Syquest's intellectual
property and U.S. fixed assets, the companies announced today.
Syquest, which filed for bankruptcy in November, had steadily been losing
market share to Iomega in the removable storage market before filing for
bankruptcy last year.
In its chapter 11 filing last November 17, Syquest said it was selling the
bulk of its assets to a strategic buyer, but did not name the party. Today
the companies confirmed that Iomega will purchase Syquest's assets for $9.5
million in cash.
At the time of its bankruptcy filing, Syquest said it was $85 million in debt.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court will hold a hearing on January 19 to establish
sales procedures for the sale of the assets, the companies said.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Jan 14 10:28:03 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu, Ruth Rozen
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Grading student essays by computer
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Grading student essays by computer
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media
Copyright © 1999 Christian Science Monitor Service
By MARK CLAYTON
(January 13, 1999 2:55 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - Get ready,
college students. That lovable "Star Wars'' robot R2-D2 may be grading your
next term paper.
Well, almost. A few kinks remain, but about 200 master's students at
Florida State University may soon become the first in American higher
education to have their writing graded by computer.
Only last spring, two researchers announced development of the Intelligent
Essay Assessor, Web-based software they said could first be trained to
"understand" expert writing in various disciplines - then pass judgment on
student essays.
Thomas Landauer, a University of Colorado at Boulder psychology professor,
and Peter Foltz, a psycholinguist at New Mexico State University, Las
Cruces, tested their creation first on their own students. To be fair, the
students were given a choice of accepting the machine grade on essays, or
having the professors grade them. Almost all preferred the machine.
An interesting experiment? Surely. Yet efforts over the past decade to
interest professors in such software hit a wall. This new approach,
incorporating sophisticated ways of allowing a computer to put words into
context, might also have remained a higher-ed footnote. But this time,
overworked professors with large classes are signing up.
Last fall's announcement generated a "big reaction," says Foltz, including
both ire and unusual interest from professors nationwide. Predictably, many
deride the idea.
"How much should you predicate (on) a semantic system that considers 'the
cat ate the thumbtack' equivalent to 'the thumbtack ate the cat?' " wrote
one Stanford professor via e-mail.
But others saw promise and volunteered to use the software. "I'm VERY
interested in reducing my 'Sisyphean' task of grading student essays,"
wrote a professor from the University of Wisconsin.
In fact, five professors will implement the computerized essay assessor in
classes this semester, Foltz says. Another 45 to 50 have written to say
they are strongly interested in doing so. Colleges, software companies, and
even Princeton, N.J.-based Educational Testing Service (some of its tests
include essay questions) have been calling.
One of those charging fearlessly into the future is Myke Gluck, an
associate professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee who helps
teach a first-year graduate course in Information Studies.
Along with three faculty colleagues and three graduate assistants, Gluck
plans to use the computer program this semester to grade the final essay
(several-thousand words) written by the class's 200-plus students.
Besides reducing workloads, computer grading should also lend more
consistency, which Gluck admits can vary among assistants. If any student
decides the computer has been unfair - or simply does not wish to use it -
a human will grade the paper, he says.
"We understand that there are some essays it just won't be able to handle,"
he says. "Either the content or format will be a little off. So we'll do
those by hand. ... We're just hoping to get the bulk graded by the software
- that would relieve the burden."
Landauer predicts the early, best use will be in distance learning, where
students can get lots of practice writing - and quick grading and computer
comments on what's not right.
"They'll be able to write and get instant feedback," he says. "It will be
useful for Internet classes with hundreds or thousands of students. It can
give a student instant feedback about what's missing from their essay, and
where in their textbook they might find it."
Both Landauer and Foltz say their program can be taught to grade close to
the way humans would - especially when student essays must include specific
content in fields like chemistry, medicine, or biology. Both say the
program cannot grade creative writing.
Some are less than enthusiastic about the project.
"I don't think students really want machines reading what they write - they
want people," says Dennis Baron, chairman of the English department at the
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. "It's seen as a labor-saving
device to allow instructors to do more important things. What's more
important than reading your students' writing? I'm not sure. I think you
need a human interface."
That sentiment notwithstanding, signs abound that computer grading of
student writing may soon emerge in a full-blown way.
In coming weeks, the Educational Testing Service plans for the first time
to have a computer program - its own - grade essay questions on the
Graduate Management Admissions Test, or GMAT, taken by those aspiring to a
master's degree in business.
A human and the computer will grade each essay question, says Lawrence
Frase, executive director of research at ETS. If both agree, then the grade
stands. But if the two disagree, another human will grade it to decide the
matter.
GMAT's owner, the Graduate Management Admission Council, decided to go
ahead because "the rate of agreement (between computer and human) was as
high as between two human readers," says Frederic McHale, vice president of
assessment and research.
"We're reaching a new stage in these computers where they're going to look
intelligent," Frase of ETS says. "Right now we're thinking of keeping
the humans in the loop."
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Jan 14 16:26:56 1999
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Subject: Microsoft Appeals Java Injunction
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Microsoft Appeals Java Injunction
(01/14/99, 4:00 p.m. ET)
By Lee Pender, Computer Reseller News
The dispute over Java between Microsoft and Sun Microsystems rose to a new
level Thursday when Microsoft filed an appeal to a district court judge's
preliminary injunction against the company.
In November, Judge Ronald Whyte of the U.S. District Court in San Jose,
Calif., filed a preliminary injunction against Redmond, Wash.-based
Microsoft stating Sun would likely win the dispute between the two companies.
The case began in October 1997, when Sun, in Palo Alto, Calif., sued
Microsoft for copyright infringement after Microsoft released a version of
Java that was not compatible with the version from Java-creator Sun.
Microsoft, however, filed its appeal in a U.S. Appeals Court in San
Francisco, claiming Whyte's court misinterpreted the companies' licensing
contract in granting the injunction. Microsoft officials also said the
court was mistaken in treating the case as a copyright issue rather than a
contract dispute.
"Microsoft believes the district court made several errors that should be
reversed by the court of appeals," said Tom Burt, associate general counsel
at Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft, in a statement. "This lawsuit is about
the contract between two companies. We believe the court's preliminary
injunction ruling was based on an erroneous analysis of the contract."
Meanwhile, Sun officials said the company's law firm received a copy of the
appeal late last night. Sun officials said the company stands by Whyte's
injunction and would like to work with Microsoft on bringing its version of
Java into compliance with Sun's.
"The ability to maximize compatibility and minimize switching costs is a
central value of the Java platform -- millions of developers and users rely
on that value," the Sun statement says. "They would be best served if
Microsoft would come back into compliance with the Java specifications. We
renew our invitation to Microsoft to do so, and renew our offer to assist
them in coming into compliance."
Last week, Whyte ordered Microsoft and Sun to schedule a settlement
conference in front of a magistrate to resolve their dispute. In part, the
judge said a conference would be productive because both parties had
received the court's preliminary injunction rulings. No such conference has
been scheduled.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Jan 14 16:36:48 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu, web@daphnis.cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: W3C namespace proposal strengthens XML
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W3C namespace proposal strengthens XML
By Paul Festa
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 14, 1999, 12:00 p.m. PT
XML documents are poised to become multilingual with a new recommendation
from the W3C.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) today recommended "Namespaces in XML,"
which will let browsers interpret more than one XML-based language in a
single document without confusing different elements with the same tag names.
Extensible Markup Language is a metalanguage that lets authors create
industry- or discipline-specific markup languages for the Web. MathML, for
instance, has tags that are tailored to produce mathematical operations
within the browser. Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
(SMIL--pronounced "smile") is a W3C-recommended XML-based language that
synchs images, text, and sound on the Web.
It is not hard to imagine a Web document that would use both MathML and
SMIL. If the two languages had tags with the same names, it could wreak
havoc for the browser.
Today's namespace recommendation, proposed in November, provides a way for
the browser to distinguish those homonyms.
With XML Namespaces, Web authors will have more freedom to mix and match
XML-based languages. This more modular approach will let authors reuse
existing languages instead of writing new ones from scratch.
The namespaces recommendation uses the Web addressing infrastructure to
mark each tag with a unique address. The W3C likens the effect to that of a
telephone area code, which lets identical seven-digit phone numbers be used
in different regions.
The value of the URL to the recommendation is primarily its uniqueness, and
the browser won't necessarily need to access the document located at the
identifying address.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Jan 15 11:38:38 1999
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Subject: Standards change for real-time Java fails
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Standards change for real-time Java fails
National standards body refuses to wrest control of real-time Java from Sun.
By Antone Gonsalves, PC Week
A national standards body has rejected a proposal that it oversee the
standards process for real-time Java, staving off attempts to wrest the
process from Sun Microsystems Inc., the creator of the Java language.
The Washington-based National Committee for Information Technology
Standards released voting results Friday at the request of several
companies led by Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) and Hewlett-Packard Co.
(NYSE:HWP).
The two are members of the RealTime Java Working Group, which broke away in
November from the RealTime Java Requirements Group, formed last July by
more than 50 companies to establish specifications for Java extensions in
real-time embedded systems.
The latter group, which includes Sun (Nasdaq:SUNW) and IBM (NYSE:IBM), is
working under the auspices of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology.
The splinter group claims Sun has too much control over the standards
process, which, it argues, should be independent of any vendor.
The stakes in the battle to control real-time Java are high. The market for
embedded systems, found in toys, cars, missiles, cellular phones, pagers
and any other device with a computer chip, is expected eventually to grow
to billions of dollars.
Two specs would be harmful
Having two specifications would complicate development and force developers
either to build products following both standards or to choose between them.
As reported earlier this week, the threat of two specifications prompted
the U.S. Department of Defense, which uses embedded systems in military
hardware, to hold a meeting Monday to which both sides were invited.
The DOD is a member of the NCITS, as are HP, IBM, Sun and Sybase Inc.
Among the companies voting against the proposal were IBM, Sun, Xerox Corp.,
Sybase and Lucent Technologies Inc. Those voting for it included Apple
Computer Inc., AT&T, Compaq Computer Corp., HP and Unisys.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Jan 15 11:43:04 1999
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Ruth Rozen ,
Noah Roselander ,
David Weinstein ,
Ron Weinstein ,
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: China decrees airline bosses must fly on New Year's Day
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China decrees airline bosses must fly on New Year's Day to assure they
remedy Year 2000 problems
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media
Copyright © 1999 Agence France-Press
BEIJING (January 15, 1999 2:35 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - China
has given its airlines the ultimate incentive for the managers of state-run
airlines to find solutions for the Year 2000 computer bug -- ordering
airline chiefs to personally board flights next New Year's Day.
"All the heads of the airlines have got to be in the air on January 1,
2000," said the ministry of information industry official tasked with
handling the massive Year 2000 problem, Zhao Bo.
"We have to make sure there are no problems in aviation," he was quoted as
saying by London's Financial Times Friday.
Officials at Air China and Shanghai Airlines contacted by AFP said they
were unaware the central government had issued such orders.
Fears have been expressed of air disasters at the turn of the century, due
to problems with computer software and embedded chips controlling aircraft
navigation systems or traffic-control communications.
Fears the millennium bug will hit airlines have forced the rescheduling of
a conference in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post said Friday.
Organizers of the 13th International Congress of School Effectiveness and
Improvement 2000 told the paper delegates were afraid of flying to the
territory for the Jan. 3 to 7 meeting.
"Many would have to take a plane on Jan. 1 if they are to arrive in Hong
Kong for Jan. 3," organizing committee chairman Moses Cheng said.
"But they were worried about flying on the first day of 2000 for fear of
Y2K bug chaos."
The conference is now scheduled to run from Jan. 4 to 7.
Older-generation computer systems identify years by the last two digits.
The millennium bug refers to computers' inability to distinguish between
the years 2000 and 1900, which is expected to cause massive disruptions.
According to the International Air Transportation Association (IATA), the
world's airlines will spend around $2.3 billion gearing up for the bug.
"The threat of the bug is less than in developed countries because China is
less reliant on computers," the South China Morning Post quoted Zhao as
saying.
"But for banks and other financial companies, it is a problem just as in
other countries."
Some leading state banks had already spent 700 million to 800 million yuan
($84 million to $96 million) dealing with the bug and are projected to see
the bill rise to 1 billion yuan by the end of the year, said Zhao, the
director of the ministry's division of computers and systems engineers.
Foreign analysts say lower penetration of computers in Chinese society in
no way assures a lesser impact from the bug.
The country has more than 10 million computers in operation and untold
numbers of embedded chips.
The systems the country's power, transport, financial and communications
machines depend on incorporate a mishmash of pirated software and outdated
hardware more vulnerable to Year 2000, they say.
Zhao admitted users of pirated software had a more difficult time expunging
the bug because they could not seek help from the original supplier.
His ministry has trained more than 5,000 computer engineers to tackle the
problem, but even with more on the way some analysts say the efforts could
be too little too late.
China's State Council, or cabinet, did not start to address the Year 2000
problem until July 1997 and only published a circular ordering an
evaluation of the problem in government offices and bodies in July last year.
Financial authorities have announced the country's stockmarkets will close
for an extra two weeks during this year's Chinese Lunar New Year holidays
to allow for Year 2000 preparation and testing.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Jan 15 13:29:41 1999
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Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 12:39:25 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Government seeks information on AOL-Netscape deal
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Government seeks information on AOL-Netscape deal
By Clare Haney
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 7:36 AM PT, Jan 15, 1999
The U.S. Department of Justice has reportedly requested more information on
the proposed $6.5 billion buyout of Netscape by America Online.
The Justice Department's antitrust division has asked for extra information
relating to the deal under the provisions of the Hart-Scott-Rodino
antitrust act, according to sources cited in a report in Friday's Wall
Street Journal. Such scrutiny is likely to focus on what effect the
proposed merger between Netscape and AOL might have on the Internet
software and online services markets, the report added.
Microsoft, currently in the throes of an antitrust trial instigated by the
Justice Department and 19 states, has previously attacked the U.S.
government for not raising potential antitrust issues relating to AOL's
earlier purchases, including those of CompuServe and Mirabilis, maker of
the ICQ online chat software, the report said.
In fact, last month the judge in charge of the Microsoft vs. Justice
Department antitrust case described the proposed tie-up between AOL and
Netscape as being potentially significant.
"We are all aware that there has been what might be a significant change in
the playing field, as far as the industry is concerned," U.S. District
Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson said in court last month as Microsoft's
lawyers sought to obtain access to the AOL-Netscape merger documents. The
judge didn't rule on the motion, saying he hoped the lawyers could sort
that out themselves, and they agreed to do so.
Then, earlier this month in court, Judge Jackson voiced an interest in
having AOL Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Steve Case testify in the
Microsoft antitrust trial after having read a newspaper column. The column
had an interview with Case where he was quoted as saying the merger with
Netscape has "no bearing on the Microsoft case. ... We have no flight of
fancy that we can dent in any way, shape, or form what is a [Microsoft]
monopoly in the operating system business."
The proposed stock-for-stock buyout of Netscape was first announced in
November, when the deal was originally valued at about $4.2 billion .
However, given the increase in the value of AOL's shares since that time,
the purchase is presently valued at $6.5 billion.
Netscape Communications Corp., based in Mountain View, Calif., can be
reached at www.netscape.com. America Online Inc., in Dulles, Va., can be
reached at www.aol.com.
Clare Haney is Hong Kong bureau chief for the IDG News Service, an
InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Jan 15 13:31:01 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: India Warns Against U.S. Security Software
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India Warns Against U.S. Security Software
(01/14/99, 8:31 p.m. ET)
By Malcolm Maclachlan, TechWeb
Internet privacy advocates have said for years that limits on encryption
exports could cripple the U.S. software industry, and now the Indian
government has agreed with them.
In a statement that has gone mostly unnoticed in the United States, the
Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) on Monday
issued a "red alert" warning against all U.S.-made network-security software.
In a letter to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), an Indian
intelligence agency, the DRDO cited the limits the U.S. government places
on encryption exports as the reason for the alert. The U.S. National
Security Agency limits most exported products to relatively weak 64-bit
encryption.
"To put it bluntly, only insecure software can be exported," the DRDO
letter states. "When various multinational companies go around peddling
'secure communication software' products to gullible Indian customers, they
conveniently neglect to mention this aspect of U.S. export law."
The head of the CVC indicated that he might soon make it mandatory for all
Indian financial institutions to buy only security software developed in
India. In its announcement, the DRDO said it was working on a prototype
security protocol for India, due out within three months.
U.S. encryption limits are damaging, according to Sameer Parekh, CEO of
Berkeley, Calif., software company C2Net and an encryption advocate. But
the alert from India is more a reflection of tense India-U.S. relations,
damaged by India's nuclear program and its ongoing war with Pakistan, he said.
"One reason the Indian government would make such a pronouncement is
because the U.S. has put a number of embargoes on exports to India," Parekh
said. "This could be just their form of retaliation."
Strangely, Parekh said, if U.S. companies were permitted to sell strong
cryptography products overseas, the Indian government would probably
restrict them. Despite its role as a technology leader, India is not a
bastion of free speech and privacy rights, he said.
And things aren't getting any easier in India for free-speech and privacy
advocates, said Alexander Fowler, director of public affairs at the
Electronic Frontier Foundation. Indian legislators are now debating a bill,
the Information Technology Act of 1998, that would set domestic controls on
encryption, which don't exist in the U.S.
The act would also let law-enforcement agencies use any message intercepted
through an ISP in court. Furthermore, ISPs could be held responsible for
"illegal acts" committed over their networks.
"This law, if it goes through, is as restrictive as the things we've seen
coming out of China and Singapore," Fowler said. "We haven't seen anything
to suggest that they are more enlightened than the U.S."
The Indian alert is certain to be the subject of lively debate at next
week's RSA Data Security Conference in San Jose, Calif. RSA has been a
leader in the security market in the U.S. and a thorn in the side of U.S.
regulators. Last week, the company said it would circumvent U.S.
restrictions by selling encryption technology through its Australian
subsidiary.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Jan 15 13:37:17 1999
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Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 12:47:19 -0600
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Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Win2000: Later '99 (and counting)
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Win2000: Later '99 (and counting)
Can Microsoft beat the Year 2000 budget blues? Time's running out.
By Mary Jo Foley, Sm@rt Reseller Online
If you were among those expecting Microsoft Corp. to ship Windows 2000 by
mid-1999, don't hold your breath.
Beta 3 of the long-awaited operating system is now not expected to reach
testers until April, Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) officials confirm.
And Microsoft itself, in a tacit acknowledgment that Windows 2000 won't be
a first-half product, told resellers this week that it is extending its
Windows NT Server 4.0 upgrade promotion through June 30.
If Windows 2000 slips much beyond a mid-year ship date, Microsoft could
find itself facing head-on problems that the company has claimed are
figments of analysts' imaginations: Namely, that IS departments, faced with
Year 2000 budget concerns, may hold off for a year or more from deploying
Windows 2000 en masse.
Microsoft officials this week acknowledged that April is now the Beta 3
target, and claim any date slippage in the beta won't negatively impact the
final ship date.
"We're still shooting, hopefully, for an end of year ship date," says a
corporate spokeswoman. "We are still expecting we can get it out before
year-end."
Beta tests on hold?
Microsoft steadfastly has declined to say exactly when to expect Windows
2000 to ship, other than to claim that most flavors of the product will be
available before the end of calendar 1999.
Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server are slated to ship in 1999, with
the higher-end Datacenter Server following within 60 days, Microsoft
officials have maintained.
Microsoft shipped in mid-December Release Candidate 0 of Windows 2000 Beta 3.
To many, that was a sign that the company was close to finalizing the code
which Microsoft is expected to make available to tens, if not hundreds, of
thousands of testers. At that time, Microsoft officials said Beta 3 would
ship in the first quarter of 1999.
Beta 3 in April?
Since December, Microsoft has made a number of subsequent release
candidates available to small groups of select testers. But according to
sources close to Microsoft, the company is now talking April as the date
when U.S. testers will be able to obtain Windows 2000 Beta 3 code.
If Windows 2000 slips much beyond a mid-year ship date, Microsoft could
find itself facing head-on problems that the company has claimed are
figments of analysts' imaginations.
Meanwhile, testers outside the U.S. are being told that Microsoft will
crank up its Windows 2000 Corporate Preview Program in March, according to
Nate Mook, Webmaster with BetaNews.Com.
Mook says that testers in Austria, Switzerland, Germany and the United
Kingdom will be able to order preview copies of Windows 2000 Beta 3 and
Office 2000 Beta 2 together.
In the past, notes Mook all of Microsoft's public betas have been available
in the U.S. only. But, "at the moment, no public Windows 2000 Beta 3
release has been announced for United States consumers," he says.
Resellers in dark, too
In another sign that Windows 2000 is running late, resellers say they were
told this week that Microsoft is extending its price reduction for its
Windows NT Server 4.0 upgrade promotion through the end of June.
Customers who upgrade to NT 4.0 from previous NT versions or competitive
operating systems between May 8, 1998, and June 30, 1999, are now eligible
for the reduced-cost upgrade. Microsoft is even throwing in a free copy of
Microsoft Services for NetWare, which sells for $149, as an added incentive
for customers to upgrade as part of the promotion.
How much later than June Windows 2000 will ship is anyone's guess.
Last year, market researchers at Gartner Group were advising clients to
exercise caution in implementing Windows 2000 "due to the number of new
functions and the lack of available skills for NT Server v.5.0 [Windows
2000], but mainly because of the conflict of staff resources with those
needed to prepare for 2000."
Wait to deploy
At the time Gartner issued this note, it expected Windows 2000 to ship in
Q2 1999. It was advising all but its most risk-taking customers to wait for
at least one or two service packs before deploying the new operating system.
Summit Strategies is a little less dire in its predictions. "If Microsoft
has a solid [Beta 3], it still could hit Q3 1999 for production," says
Summit analyst Dwight Davis. "If it slips into Q4, it's questionable as to
whether Microsoft will ship it or wait for next year. But Platinum
[Exchange Server 6.0] and other new Microsoft products are gated on this,
so Microsoft needs to get it out there."
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Jan 15 13:51:53 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu, Ruth Rozen ,
David Weinstein ,
Ron Weinstein ,
Noah Roselander ,
Elisa & Ophir Trigalo ,
Ophir Trigalo , rozenn@megsinet.net
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Is human chip implant wave of the future?
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Is human chip implant wave of the future?
January 14, 1999
Web posted at: 3:21 p.m. EST (2021 GMT)
by Sam Witt
(IDG) -- Is the human body a fit place for a microchip? The debate is no
longer hypothetical. The same computing power that once required an entire
building to harness now can be inserted in your left arm.
Better yet, somebody else's left arm.
Professor Kevin Warwick, director of cybernetics at the University of
Reading in the U.K., is that somebody else. On Monday, Aug. 24, 1998,
Warwick became the first human to host a microchip. During a 20-minute
medical procedure described as "a routine silicon-chip implant" by Dr.
George Boulos, who led the operation, doctors inserted into Warwick's arm a
glass capsule not much bigger than a pearl. The capsule holds several
microprocessors.
The British Broadcasting Corp. was on hand to document the historic event -
and to trouble the professor's already frayed nerves. "In theory, I was
able to see what was going on," Warwick says in a phone interview several
days after the operation (which he described as slightly more pleasant than
a trip to the dentist), "but I was looking in the opposite direction most
of the time."
Although Warwick winces at the comparison, Boulos likens him to a
latter-day Edward Jenner, who injected himself with cowpox in 1776 to
further his research into a smallpox vaccine.
"The doctor pinched the skin and lifted it up and sort of burrowed a
hole... underneath the skin and on top of the muscle," Warwick says. "It's
well inside my body, in my left arm, just above my elbow. [It's] held in
place by three stitches - partly so that the wound is held together, but
also so that the capsule doesn't float around anywhere."
Though he declines to reveal the chip's manufacturer, Warwick did disclose
that it's a "commercial" product. "For obvious reasons, both positive and
negative, they didn't want us shouting about what the name of the exact
product was," he says.
The approximately 23mm-by-3mm device stayed in Warwick's arm for only nine
days - partly to avoid medical complications, partly because it was fairly
limited in power. "Half of it is an electric coil," Warwick says, "and half
is a number of silicon chips." The chips used only eight of an available 64
bits of information to communicate with the University of Reading's
intelligent building.
Which brings us to the question: Why?
Warwick has spent more than 20 years researching and developing intelligent
buildings. "In our building in the Cybernetics department, we've got quite
a number of doorways rigged up so that they pass a radio signal between the
door frame," he says. "When I go through the doorways, the radio signal
energizes the coil. It produces an electric current, which the chips use to
send out an identifying signal, which the computer recognizes as being me."
And so, for a little better than a week, doors that normally require smart
cards swung open for the professor. A system of electronic nodes tracked
his movements throughout the building. Lights blinked on when he entered a
room.
"Hello, Professor Warwick," his PC announced when Warwick crossed the
threshold of his office, before casually mentioning how many E-mail
messages he had received. It also was reported that Warwick used the device
to run a bath and chill his wine.
Warwick
How did he like it? "In my building I feel much more powerful, in a mental
way," Warwick says. "Not at one with the computer, but much, much closer.
We're not separate. It's not as though we're good friends or anything. But
certainly when I'm out of the building, I feel as though part of me is
missing."
Asked if he named his chip, Warwick laughs. "I don't see it as a separate
thing," he says. "It's like an arm or a leg."
Warwick's family was a little slower than his body to accept the chip. "My
wife finds it really strange," he says. "She didn't want to go near my arm
for a couple of days. It was as though I had some funny disease." His
16-year-old daughter reportedly called him "crazy."
And the day after the operation, Warwick played a game of squash with his
son, but not before issuing a stern warning: "Whatever you do, don't hit my
arm. The implant could just shatter, and you'll have ruined your father's
arm for life."
Real-world applications
Though the experiment sounds like an episode of Dr. Who, its real-world
implications are "right around the corner," says Warwick, who foresees
enormous medical applications. Through a system of embedded chips
interfacing with an artificial motor system, Warwick imagines paraplegics
walking. And that's just for starters.
"Simply take measurements off muscles and tendons and feed them into the
transponder," Warwick says. "That means, ultimately, that you wouldn't need
a computer mouse anymore. You wouldn't need a keyboard."
Charles Ostman, a senior fellow at the Institute for Global Futures and
science editor at Mondo 2000, agrees. "Neuroprosthetics are . . .
inevitable," he says. "Biochip implants may become part of a rote medical
procedure. After that, interface with outside systems is a logical next step."
Warwick's eagerness is palpable, engaging, contagious. "This is where you
can speculate," he says. "This is where we take a technical thing and say,
'Right-o, got the signal, got the implant; all I've got to do is run a wire
from the implant to my nervous system.' . . . I'm so excited about it, I
want to get on with the next step straight away. Let's see if we can
control computers directly from our nervous system."
Witt is a freelance writer in San Francisco. Top photo by Mark Harrison.
Bottom two photos provided by INS Newsgroup.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Jan 15 13:51:53 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu, Ruth Rozen ,
David Weinstein ,
Ron Weinstein ,
Noah Roselander ,
Elisa & Ophir Trigalo ,
Ophir Trigalo , rozenn@megsinet.net
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Is human chip implant wave of the future?
January 14, 1999
Web posted at: 3:21 p.m. EST (2021 GMT)
by Sam Witt
(IDG) -- Is the human body a fit place for a microchip? The debate is no
longer hypothetical. The same computing power that once required an entire
building to harness now can be inserted in your left arm.
Better yet, somebody else's left arm.
Professor Kevin Warwick, director of cybernetics at the University of
Reading in the U.K., is that somebody else. On Monday, Aug. 24, 1998,
Warwick became the first human to host a microchip. During a 20-minute
medical procedure described as "a routine silicon-chip implant" by Dr.
George Boulos, who led the operation, doctors inserted into Warwick's arm a
glass capsule not much bigger than a pearl. The capsule holds several
microprocessors.
The British Broadcasting Corp. was on hand to document the historic event -
and to trouble the professor's already frayed nerves. "In theory, I was
able to see what was going on," Warwick says in a phone interview several
days after the operation (which he described as slightly more pleasant than
a trip to the dentist), "but I was looking in the opposite direction most
of the time."
Although Warwick winces at the comparison, Boulos likens him to a
latter-day Edward Jenner, who injected himself with cowpox in 1776 to
further his research into a smallpox vaccine.
"The doctor pinched the skin and lifted it up and sort of burrowed a
hole... underneath the skin and on top of the muscle," Warwick says. "It's
well inside my body, in my left arm, just above my elbow. [It's] held in
place by three stitches - partly so that the wound is held together, but
also so that the capsule doesn't float around anywhere."
Though he declines to reveal the chip's manufacturer, Warwick did disclose
that it's a "commercial" product. "For obvious reasons, both positive and
negative, they didn't want us shouting about what the name of the exact
product was," he says.
The approximately 23mm-by-3mm device stayed in Warwick's arm for only nine
days - partly to avoid medical complications, partly because it was fairly
limited in power. "Half of it is an electric coil," Warwick says, "and half
is a number of silicon chips." The chips used only eight of an available 64
bits of information to communicate with the University of Reading's
intelligent building.
Which brings us to the question: Why?
Warwick has spent more than 20 years researching and developing intelligent
buildings. "In our building in the Cybernetics department, we've got quite
a number of doorways rigged up so that they pass a radio signal between the
door frame," he says. "When I go through the doorways, the radio signal
energizes the coil. It produces an electric current, which the chips use to
send out an identifying signal, which the computer recognizes as being me."
And so, for a little better than a week, doors that normally require smart
cards swung open for the professor. A system of electronic nodes tracked
his movements throughout the building. Lights blinked on when he entered a
room.
"Hello, Professor Warwick," his PC announced when Warwick crossed the
threshold of his office, before casually mentioning how many E-mail
messages he had received. It also was reported that Warwick used the device
to run a bath and chill his wine.
Warwick
How did he like it? "In my building I feel much more powerful, in a mental
way," Warwick says. "Not at one with the computer, but much, much closer.
We're not separate. It's not as though we're good friends or anything. But
certainly when I'm out of the building, I feel as though part of me is
missing."
Asked if he named his chip, Warwick laughs. "I don't see it as a separate
thing," he says. "It's like an arm or a leg."
Warwick's family was a little slower than his body to accept the chip. "My
wife finds it really strange," he says. "She didn't want to go near my arm
for a couple of days. It was as though I had some funny disease." His
16-year-old daughter reportedly called him "crazy."
And the day after the operation, Warwick played a game of squash with his
son, but not before issuing a stern warning: "Whatever you do, don't hit my
arm. The implant could just shatter, and you'll have ruined your father's
arm for life."
Real-world applications
Though the experiment sounds like an episode of Dr. Who, its real-world
implications are "right around the corner," says Warwick, who foresees
enormous medical applications. Through a system of embedded chips
interfacing with an artificial motor system, Warwick imagines paraplegics
walking. And that's just for starters.
"Simply take measurements off muscles and tendons and feed them into the
transponder," Warwick says. "That means, ultimately, that you wouldn't need
a computer mouse anymore. You wouldn't need a keyboard."
Charles Ostman, a senior fellow at the Institute for Global Futures and
science editor at Mondo 2000, agrees. "Neuroprosthetics are . . .
inevitable," he says. "Biochip implants may become part of a rote medical
procedure. After that, interface with outside systems is a logical next step."
Warwick's eagerness is palpable, engaging, contagious. "This is where you
can speculate," he says. "This is where we take a technical thing and say,
'Right-o, got the signal, got the implant; all I've got to do is run a wire
from the implant to my nervous system.' . . . I'm so excited about it, I
want to get on with the next step straight away. Let's see if we can
control computers directly from our nervous system."
Witt is a freelance writer in San Francisco. Top photo by Mark Harrison.
Bottom two photos provided by INS Newsgroup.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Jan 15 17:24:28 1999
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Compaq to serve up Linux bundling, support plan
By Carmen Nobel and Scott Berinato, PC Week Online
January 15, 1999 4:48 PM ET
Jumping fully onto the freeware bandwagon, Compaq Computer Corp. is about
to ship and offer support for Linux servers.
Next month, Compaq and Red Hat Software Inc. plan to announce a deal to
deliver Red Hat Linux Version 5.2 preloaded on Compaq servers, according to
sources close to the companies. Compaq will also offer 24-by-7 service and
support for the Linux-based servers, the sources said.
Compaq (CPQ) now offers Linux on its servers only upon request, so a formal
bundling strategy from the world's largest PC server vendor is a big step
up for the open-source Unix operating system. While many IT managers have
been adopting and supporting Linux on their own, backing from hardware
vendors has been limited.
But that's changing, with Compaq on board and IBM and Dell Computer Corp.
also offering custom Linux systems.
A Linux server that comes with service and support may further sway
cautious corporate customers.
"[Preloading Linux on servers] will save us time. Normally, we'd buy blank
servers and have to do the installation ourselves," said a network
administrator at a major aerospace firm. "The service and support angle,
for my management, will make a lot of difference. That could be the
difference between them buying into Linux or not."
Gateway Inc. has signed a similar deal with Red Hat to ship Linux
preinstalled on servers. Officials of the San Diego company said users
could expect to see such servers by year's end. Red Hat is trying to ink a
similar service and support deal with IBM.
Compaq officials would not comment on which servers will ship with Linux,
but the Houston company offers its custom Linux installations on ProLiant
servers for use as Apache Web servers and for customers that prefer Linux
over Windows NT.
A range of Unix offerings
With its Linux support, Compaq will be able to offer a range of Unix
products. On the high end it offers Digital Unix on Alpha servers, and for
the midrange and low end it ships ProLiant X86 servers with SCO's UnixWare.
It is Compaq's relationship with SCO that could be the most affected by the
Linux plans.
"This [decision to preinstall Linux] is a statement that SCO is down in the
dumper with Compaq -- that they're walking away from SCO," said Kim Brown,
an analyst at Dataquest Inc., in San Jose, Calif. "Linux is starting to be
acknowledged as the low-end Unix alternative."
Compaq is expected to make more Unix news next month when it renames
Digital Unix to Tru64Unix, according to sources.
Later in the year, Compaq will unveil clustering software for Tru64Unix
that has features similar to those in the company's midrange operating
system, OpenVMS, including advanced load-balancing and file-sharing
capabilities, sources said.
Those enhancements are good news for users who want more than just failover
protection.
"We're looking to leverage the same kind of clustering technology on our
Unix environment as we have on our VMS system," said Joe Pollizzi, deputy
division head at the Space Telescope Science Institute, in Baltimore.
While happy with the prospect of new software, Pollizzi said he'd like to
see more innovations for Alpha hardware.
"Compaq has done a good job in saying they'll continue to support the
product that we know and love," he said. "I haven't seen any announcements
that focus on Alpha lately. I'd like to see something that really shows off
the Alpha technology itself."
To meet such demand, Compaq later this month will announce AlphaServer
DS20, an entry-level server that runs one or two EV6 processors, sources said.
Initial Standard Performance and Evaluation Corp. benchmark tests indicate
that the DS20 is as fast as the GS140, its bigger, more expensive
counterpart, according to Terry Shannon, a consultant in Ashland, Mass.
Officials at Compaq and at Red Hat, of Research Triangle Park, N.C.,
declined to comment on unannounced products or partnerships.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Sat Jan 16 11:20:20 1999
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Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Waiting for Windows 2000: Possible interim NT release
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Waiting for Windows 2000: Possible interim NT release may offset concerns
By Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 4:29 PM PT, Jan 15, 1999
The old cliche "What's in a name?" is resonating at Microsoft, where the
new moniker Windows 2000 really means the year 2000. Several sources
confirmed that the software giant is now aiming to release the chronically
late server-desktop operating system in February 2000.
The company may look to fill the gap, however, with an interim release --
possibly called Windows NT 4.5 or even NT 5.0, Windows 2000's previous name
-- which would include all of its ostensibly stable features.
According to sources who requested anonymity, many ISVs and large corporate
customers are pushing Microsoft to go the point-release route. If there is
an interim release later this year, the ship date for Windows 2000 -- which
one source said Microsoft now has pegged for Feb. 25, 2000 -- will be
pushed back even further.
"This product is horribly late, no matter how you look at it," said Michael
Gartenberg, an analyst at the Gartner Group, in Stamford, Conn.
According to Ed Muth, group product manager for enterprise marketing at
Microsoft, Release Candidate 1 (RC1) for Beta 3 of Windows 2000 will be
released in March of this year, and therefore Beta 3 will not be released
at least until April. RC0 was released in December 1998. Muth would not
discuss a final ship date for Windows 2000.
Several factors have come into play for this latest of many delays, and the
complexities of Microsoft's Active Directory services and IntelliMirror
technologies are at the top of the list.
But delays beget more delays, and as the industry continues to push ahead
without Windows 2000, Microsoft is aiming at a moving target, observers said.
"The hardware is rapidly changing underneath it, which makes it almost
impossible to complete the product they outlined," said Rob Enderle, a
senior analyst at the Giga Information Group, in Santa Clara, Calif.
For instance, Intel's Pentium III will not be available until March 1, and
the mobile version of the chip will not debut until the last quarter of the
year at the earliest, according to Enderle. Microsoft is touting Windows
2000 as the first NT system designed with both mobile and desktop users in
mind.
"The Pentium III timing, coupled with Y2K overhead and the fact that this
is the most complex and largest product ever attempted, is weighing
heavily," Enderle said. "I don't know of another product that has more
lines of code than this."
One source, who asked not to be named, added that "the creeping internal
64-bit stuff in the beta versions we have seen, along with reworking the
whole OS with Windows 2000 naming instead of Windows NT -- [and] rewriting
docs, online help, scripts, etc. -- seems to be a factor in the slippage."
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft president, and Brian Valentine, newly promoted
vice president of Windows development, are the driving forces behind the
Windows 2000 machinations.
Ballmer, who has taken responsibility for product shipping dates, nixed a
fourth-quarter release of Windows 2000. And once Valentine evaluated what
features would have to be omitted to accommodate a June 1999 release, the
February 2000 date -- as well as the possibility of an interim release --
became a reality, according to sources.
An interim release without the complete functionality that was originally
promised in Windows 2000 would be a mixed bag to many IT managers, but Muth
said Microsoft has no immediate plans to offer one.
"The absence of Active Directory would be very hurtful if that [absence]
included things like IntelliMirror and the object repository," said Roger
Abell, technology support analyst coordinator for the Arizona State
University School of Engineering, in Tempe, Ariz. "On the other hand, an NT
4.5 could be a welcome thing. But there is so much pinned on Active
Directory that [its absence] would give a lot of pause for thought."
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Bob Trott, based in Seattle, is a senior editor at InfoWorld. Michael
Vizard, Cara Cunningham, and Stannie Holt contributed to this article.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Jan 19 10:50:47 1999
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Excite, @Home To Merge
(01/19/99, 10:04 a.m. ET)
By Mo Krochmal, TechWeb
@Home Network announced Tuesday that it is purchasing Excite, one of the
most heavily trafficked Internet sites, in an all-stock transaction valued
at $6.7 billion.
@Home Network is a high-speed Internet-service company. Excite is a portal
with nearly 20 million unique visitors each month.
Portals offer search capabilities, e-mail, and other services and serve as
the place where most people navigate the Internet. They are expected to
become even more important as more people use the Internet for the first
time. Excite, founded in 1993 by five friends from Stanford University, has
carved a niche among portals such as America Online, Yahoo, and Microsoft
by concentrating on personalization.
George Bell, the CEO of Excite, will report to Tom Jermoluk, the chairman
and CEO of Redwood City, Calif.-based @Home Network, and will joint the
@Home board of directors.
@Home Network will issue 1.041902 shares of its stock for each share of
Excite stock in a deal that is expected to take three months to close.
The deal eclipsed the $4.2 billion purchase of Netscape by AOL two months
ago. Excite had previously turned down a merger proposal by Zapata, a
Texas-based food-processing company. @Home Network has outstanding shares
with a value of $10.4 billion, while Excite's outstanding shares are valued
at about $3.5 billion.
In a news release issued Tuesday, @Home Network says it plans to
"accelerate broadband addoption by exposing the millions of Excite
narrowband users to that of a media experience enhanced by the broadband
platform."
Broadband is the next issue the exploding Internet industry faces.
Companies are jockeying into position to be able to provide broadband
service to homes and businesses through the cable-TV or telephone industry
infrastructure. AT&T is acquiring Tele-Communications Inc., the major
shareholder in @Home Network.
With the purchase of Excite, @Home Network can leverage Excite's
direct-marketing MatchLogic division and offer advertisers a unified way to
target, measure, and report advertising on all devices on which the Excite
and @Home Network combination is offered. This would include cable modems,
the chief medium of distribution for @Home Network.
@Home Network has approximately 300,000 customers.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Jan 21 10:14:58 1999
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Group seeks refunds for bundled versions of Windows
By Jeff Walsh
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 5:56 PM PT, Jan 20, 1999
An online group is seeking refunds from Microsoft for unused and unwanted
copies of Windows that shipped with their PCs. The group, referring to the
unwanted operating system as a "Microsoft tax" on all computers, is
rallying Linux, BeOS, BSD, OS/2, and NetWare users to demand a refund on
Feb. 15 because of wording in Microsoft's end-user license agreement (EULA).
According to the group, Windows users are required to agree to the terms of
the EULA, and if they are unwilling to license the software according to
the terms Microsoft describes, they are entitled to a refund.
The group's Web site, which was launched Tuesday, traces the successful
case of Australian Linux user Geoffrey Bennett who secured a $110 refund
from Toshiba after saying he was unwilling to agree to the terms of his
Windows license, although the operating system was pre-loaded on his laptop.
A Toshiba America Information Systems spokesperson said the company does
not sell any systems without an operating system, and has no plans to do
so. However, customers can choose whether they want Windows NT or Windows
98 pre-loaded.
"There's no money-back agreement if they don't want an operating system.
It's a whole package," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson, based in the company's Irvine, Calif. office, did not go
into details regarding Bennett's rebate, which he obtained in Australia,
but did warn other users seeking refunds that it's "not the typical policy
and not what other people will run into if they try it."
The Windows Refund Center can be reached at www.thenoodle.com/refund.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., in Irvine, Calif., can be reached
at www.toshiba.com.
Jeff Walsh is an InfoWorld senior writer.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Jan 21 12:38:33 1999
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Intel invests $100 million in Samsung
By Terho Uimonen
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:57 AM PT, Jan 21, 1999
Intel has signed a letter of intent to invest $100 million in Samsung to
speed up the supply of next-generation PC memory chips based on Rambus'
high-speed interface technology, the two companies announced late Wednesday.
Under the terms of the proposed deal, which is subject to approval by both
companies' boards of directors, Intel will acquire convertible bonds
exchangeable for common stock representing about 1 percent of Samsung's
outstanding common stock, the companies said in a statement.
Full approval of the transaction is expected by early February, the
companies said.
The deal is aimed at accelerating the supply of Direct Rambus DRAMs
(RDRAMs), which in this year's second half are expected to gradually start
replacing synchronous DRAMs (SDRAMs) as the main memory used in PCs.
The two companies did a similar deal nearly two years ago when Intel made
an undisclosed investment in a Samsung memory plant in the United States to
secure supplies of SDRAMs.
"With this investment, our goal is to help ensure an adequate supply of
Direct RDRAM for the PC market segment over the next few years," said
Patrick Gelsinger, Intel's vice president and general manager for the
desktop products group, in the statement.
The Samsung deal follows on from Intel's $500 million investment in Boise,
Idaho-based memory maker Micron Technology last year, which was also
intended to secure the future availability of RDRAMs.
Despite Intel's efforts, however, RDRAMs may still end up in short supply
later this year, analysts said, with several major memory makers,
particularly in Japan, recently showing limited enthusiasm for quickly
ramping up RDRAM production.
Some Japanese memory makers, such as Fujitsu, are betting on a new
generation of 133-MHz SDRAM chips to become popular ahead of the RDRAM
wave, which is expected to begin with Intel's June introduction of the
Intel 820 chip set, formerly code-named Camino, with support for Direct
RDRAMs.
Earlier this week, Samsung said it has already started volume production of
RDRAMs, which the company expects will be used as the main memory in as
many as 30 percent of PCs this year.
In this year's first half, Samsung's monthly output of 72Mb and 144Mb
RDRAMs will be around 500,000 chips in 64Mb equivalent units, but that
output is expected to reach as high as 5 million units per month as the
market picks up speed in the second half of this year, the company said.
RDRAMs include one extra bit per byte for error correction, which is why a
64Mb equivalent RDRAM chip comes in a 72Mb density. One byte equals 8 bits.
Intel Corp., in Santa Clara, Calif., can be reached at www.intel.com.
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., in Seoul, South Korea, is at
www.samsungelectronics.com.
Terho Uimonen is a correspondent in the Taipei, Taiwan, bureau of the IDG
News Service, an InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Jan 21 12:40:43 1999
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Microsoft expands NT 4.0 clustering
By Nancy Weil
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 8:04 AM PT, Jan 21, 1999
Microsoft has released the Windows NT Load Balancing Service, which allows
users to cluster TCP/IP network services across up to 32 systems, expanding
networks and applications on the NT Server operating system 4.0 Enterprise
Edition.
The service is available now and included in new Windows NT Server
Enterprise Edition licenses, Microsoft said in a statement Thursday.
Existing customers can download the system component free at
www.microsoft.com/ntserverenterprise.
The clustered systems show up as a single TCP/IP address space. The Load
Balancing Service enables users to perform maintenance and upgrades without
interrupting service. That capability, along with scalability, is expected
to be particularly appealing to users whose Internet-commerce and other
Web-based applications are key to their business, Microsoft said.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Nancy Weil is a Boston correspondent for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld
affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Jan 21 12:55:43 1999
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Noah Roselander
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Microsoft cuts thin-server pricing by half
By James Niccolai
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:57 AM PT, Jan 21, 1999
Microsoft has announced new licensing terms for its Windows Terminal Server
(WTS) software that cuts the cost of deploying a Windows terminal by as
much as a half, the company said this week.
The move comes in response to criticism from users and resellers that
Microsoft's licensing terms for WTS were expensive and inconsistent,
admitted John Frederiksen, group product manager for Windows NT.
The shift in strategy, which also includes new multiuser packaging options
aimed at small and medium-size businesses, could help ignite a boom in WTS
shipments in 1999, according to one industry analyst.
WTS, formerly known as Hydra, is based on technology licensed from Citrix
Systems and forms the basis of Microsoft's thin-client strategy. The server
software allows multiple copies of Windows software to be run on a single
server and accessed by a variety of client devices, including Unix
workstations, older PCs that don't run 32-bit Windows applications, and
handheld appliances.
The main difference with the new licensing scheme is that customers are no
longer required to fork out $250 for a Windows NT workstation license for
each WTS client. Instead, Microsoft has introduced a new WTS client access
license (CAL) priced at $109. As before, customers must still purchase a
separate Windows NT server CAL, priced at $40, Frederiksen said.
The net result is that users pay around $150 for the software license to
deploy each Windows client instead of about $300, Frederiksen said. The new
WTS CAL is due to ship Feb. 1, with localized versions for French, German,
Spanish, and Japanese markets due a month later.
When Microsoft releases Windows Server 2000, expected later this year, WTS
will be bundled with it at no additional cost, Frederiksen said.
"Basically we're merging two NT server products together," Frederiksen said.
Microsoft originally pitched WTS to enterprise customers, but the software
is proving equally popular among small and mid-size businesses as well,
Frederiksen said. To better target those customers, Microsoft also
introduced CALs in five-user, 10-user, and 25-user packages, priced at
$1,299, $1,899, and $3,999, respectively. They will be available in 60 to
90 days, he said.
Customer surveys show that WTS deployments ramped up steeply late last
year, according to research from Zona Research. The trend is likely to
accelerate in 1999 as users begin to realize the efficiencies and cost
savings of centrally managing software, and as part of an overall trend
towards "access-based applications," said Zona analyst Greg Blatnik.
Further fueling momentum, Wyse Technologies in a separate announcement this
week said it will cut prices of its WinTerm thin-client terminals by as
much as 25 percent. The company said increased shipments of the product
made the price cuts possible.
However, Zona doesn't think growth in the terminal clients market will
cause PC sales to drop.
"What this does is create more options for businesses, it gives them
another model for accessing applications and for offering different
services, and the model resonates strongly in a number of organizations,"
Blatnik said.
Microsoft also introduced the Terminal Server Inter Connector, software
based on WTS that enables companies to "publish" Windows applications on
the Internet so they can be accessed by up to 200 concurrent users.
"If you had an extended intranet, and external customers or partners or
suppliers or buyers that wanted to access applications using the Internet
-- they [Microsoft] now make that possible. That's a big deal," Blatnik said.
To keep Inter Connector from cutting into its WTS licensing revenues,
Microsoft requires that none of the 200 users are company employees.
Companies could potentially try to get around buying single-user licenses
by allowing workers to access applications through Inter Connector,
Frederiksen acknowledged.
"It's true that [the license] is just a piece of paper, so we depend on
customers acting honorably," Frederiksen said.
Internet Connector will be licensed as an add-on to Terminal Server, priced
at $9,999, and is also due to be available Feb. 1.
Separately, Citrix this week said it will release a new version of its
MetaFrame server software that also allows concurrent non-employees to
access Windows applications over the Internet. Pricing and availability
will be announced at a later date, the company said.
Microsoft Corp., based in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at
www.microsoft.com. Wyse Technologies Inc., in San Jose, Calif., is at
www.wyse.com. Citrix Systems Inc., in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., can be reached
at www.citrix.com.
James Niccolai is a San Francisco correspondent for the IDG News Service,
an InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Jan 21 16:08:07 1999
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Microsoft brings Java tool into compliance with order
By Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 12:39 PM PT, Jan 21, 1999
Microsoft quietly brought its Java development tool into compliance with a
court order on Thursday by releasing Service Pack 2 for Visual Studio 6.0,
the company's suite of developer tools.
The service pack, available for free download from the company's Web site
(msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/sp/default.asp), includes files for Visual J++
6.0 that Microsoft said brings the Java tool in line with the preliminary
injunction issued in November 1998 by U.S. District Court Judge Ronald H.
Whyte.
Sun Microsystems is suing Microsoft for allegedly breaching its Java
licensing contract by using an incompatible version of Java in Visual J++,
Internet Explorer, and other products. The suit also accuses Microsoft of
illegally using its market strength to induce software developers and
others to adopt its supposedly incompatible version of Java.
Service Pack 2 also includes the updates and fixes that were released in
Service Pack 1 in 1998, as well as a new fix that addresses a Visual C++
bug that causes some third-party software to behave erratically or crash
after Visual Studio 6.0 is installed.
The pack is available in two formats, a full installation and a "core"
download that offers only the new run-time redistributable files.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Bob Trottis InfoWorld's Seattle bureau chief.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Jan 22 13:45:04 1999
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Microsoft says Visual J++ complies with Sun's Java
By Antone Gonsalves, PC Week Online
January 22, 1999 9:58 AM ET
Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it has released a service pack for Visual
Studio 6.0 that makes Visual J++, the suite's Java development tool,
compliant with a court order stemming from Sun Microsystems Inc.'s lawsuit.
"We are absolutely in compliance with the preliminary injunction at this
point," Lead Product Manager Bill Dunlap said of Visual J++.
Service Pack 2 includes a new Java Virtual Machine that supports the Java
Native Interface and switches the tool's default development mode from
Windows extensions to the language to cross-platform Java, Dunlap said.
In addition, if developers choose to add Windows extensions to an
application, a message box will warn them that the application will run
only on the Windows platform.
"There is a change in the user experience," Dunlap said. "But the actual
functionality of the tool and the applications that you build are unchanged
from before."
The service pack is available now on the Microsoft Web site in two
versions: one contains only bug fixes and updates to key executables to
Visual Studio, while the other also includes debugging libraries for C++
developers.
U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Whyte in November handed down a
preliminary injunction giving Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., 90 days to
conform any product that ships with Java technologies to Sun's standards.
Sun (Nasdaq:SUNW) claimed Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) had violated its contract
as a Java licensee by not following those standards.
The products affected included Internet Explorer 4.0, Windows 98, Windows
NT 4.0 and Visual J++.
Microsoft (MSFT) is at www.microsoft.com.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Sat Jan 23 10:49:13 1999
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Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Linux bandwagon grows
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Linux bandwagon grows
By David Pendery, Dan Briody, and Ed Scannell
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 7:15 AM PT, Jan 23, 1999
Momentum behind the Linux platform will soon surge again with both
Hewlett-Packard and Tivoli Systems planning to extend their management
platforms to the open-source Linux platform, according to high-ranking
officials at the two companies.
In addition, Compaq is expected to Linux-enable its Alpha systems soon,
according to a source familiar with Compaq's plans. Also, Lotus officials
this week confirmed that the company plans to release Notes on Linux before
the end of the year in response to market demand.
In the midst of growing Linux activity, Linux inventor Linus Torvalds next
week plans to announce Version 2.2.0 of the Linux kernel, which will
feature improvements in file systems, multiprocessing, and security, as
well as platform support for Sparc64, Alpha, and PowerPC.
Detecting an opportunity to move to the forefront of the Linux arena, HP
likely will be porting its OpenView network management system to Linux in
the near future, a move characterized as a "no-brainer" by HP's Nigel Ball,
general manager of Internet and Applications Systems, in Cupertino, Calif.
HP, which is a major Microsoft partner for NT in the enterprise, is also
considering making available support services for Linux, according to HP
sources.
IBM, meanwhile, has slowly been expanding is Linux commitment, first with
beta releases of its DB2 database and Transarc network file system, and now
with pending support from Lotus and Tivoli.
"We have done a fair amount of engineering, and have a version of Tivoli
running Linux in our labs," said Tom Bishop, chief technology officer at
Tivoli Systems, in Austin, Texas. "We see no technical or engineering
hurdles that would prevent us from delivering a Linux product. Our view is
that it's a good platform, a high-quality Unix implementation."
Bishop added that Tivoli Enterprise for Linux would be generally released
when demand is high enough, perhaps in late 1999.
Support for Linux has been growing throughout IBM.
"I have to admit that I was skeptical about why the world needed another
Unix, but the advantages are now clear to me," said Lotus CEO Jeff Papows
this week during the Lotusphere conference in Orlando, Fla. As part of its
effort, IBM is also pondering a Linux support service offering.
On the hardware front, a source familiar with Compaq's plans said the
company will announce support for Linux on its Alpha systems later this
month, and that various support and development programs are planned.
HP, for its part, believes the OS has promise, particularly in the emerging
"thin-server" market, for dedicated, single-function servers with minimal
hardware and software. These devices could be deployed for applications
such as e-mail, virtual private networks, directory services, and caching,
according to the company.
"We would strip off the bits of software and hardware you don't need," Ball
said. "At some point, the operating system becomes irrelevant. It's the
application that you care about."
The growing interest in Linux comes as a breath of fresh air to one Linux
customer.
"I'm starting to see more [support] come out; vendors are not quite as
skittish when you mention Linux any more," said Jeff Noxon, programmer and
consultant at Data Processing Resources, in Dallas.
"It's a best-of-breed Unix," Noxon added.
David Pendery is an InfoWorld reporter. Dan Briody is the Client/Server
section editor at InfoWorld. Ed Scannell is an InfoWorld editor at large.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Jan 25 10:23:38 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Sun To Unveil Much-Vaunted Jini Technology
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Sun To Unveil Much-Vaunted Jini Technology
(01/25/99, 10:01 a.m. ET)
By Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO -- Sun Microsystems will formally unveil Monday a
much-vaunted new technology called Jini that seeks to make connecting any
computing device to a computer network as easy as plugging in a telephone.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sun will announce 35 companies -- from disk-drive
makers such as Seagate and Quantum, to consumer-electronics giants Philips
Electronics and Sony, to printer behemoth Hewlett-Packard -- are licensing
the technology, which it hopes will be used in everything from printers to
TV set-top boxes to dishwashers.
Jini, which has already garnered much media attention, is software Sun said
it hopes will make computers and all kinds of devices much easier to use.
Sun's Java programming language, which lets programmers write an
application once to run on many systems, is the core of the Jini technology.
A Jini-enabled device works by announcing itself to the network, which will
immediately be able to understand what kind of device was just plugged in
and what kind of software drivers are necessary and the capabilities of the
device.
``That is the goal, to make it as simple and as intuitive as how you use
your telephone and your cell phone,'' said Mike Clary, general manager for
Jini.
For a few years, Jini was a top-secret project, headed by Bill Joy, Sun's
co-founder and now chief scientist, who works in a remote Sun location in
Aspen, Colo. Almost two years ago, more engineers joined the project,
including Jim Waldo, now Jini's chief architect.
Sun said it plans to offer Jini in a community source-code model, similar
to what it has done with the Java language. The code is free to software
developers who are working in research or using Jini for their own internal
deployment.
If a company has a commercial use of Jini, it will pay Sun a nominal
licensing fee for the use of its Jini logo to cover the trademark costs --
either 10 cents per unit or $250,000 per year, per product line.
Some of the companies are expected to have products incorporating Jini
rather soon, such as Quantum, which is expected to have a Jini-ready disk
drive this year. But analysts and industry executives said Jini is still in
its very early stages in the new technology product cycle.
``This is a real immature marketplace,'' said Rod Smith, director of
Internet technology at IBM. ``Our joy is to participate to sort things out.
There are parts of Jini that are in pretty good shape.''
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"That is the goal, to make it as simple and as intuitive as how you use
your telephone and your cell phone."
-- Mike Clary
Sun
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
IBM, Microsoft, and Lucent Technologies are also working on technologies
with a goal of connecting disparate devices on a network. Smith said IBM's
T-Spaces project is complementary with Jini because T-Spaces lets computers
and devices share network services such as messages, database queries, and
print jobs.
``Jini represents a whole new economic opportunity for these people who get
involved,'' said Clary, adding Jini will make it easier for companies to
offer network services that have not been possible before.
For example, Kinko's, the chain of printing and computing centers, said it
plans an application where one Kinko's outlet can have a document printed
in a remote city for someone else to pick up. Bosch Siemens in Germany said
it plans a dishwasher that can be remotely diagnosed for problems by
technicians.
``Jini is a great idea, but Sun has a ton of work to do to get it into
something I can buy,'' said Eric Brown, an analyst at Forrester Research,
in Cambridge, Mass. ``Sun is outstanding in technology vision, and like
Java, they now have execution on their plate. But I would not hold my
breath for Jini this year.''
Competition from other technologies, such as the recently announced
Universal Plug and Play effort from Microsoft, could also cause some
confusion and may foster a wait-and-see attitude in the industry, analysts
said.
"Microsoft still has to deal with the legacy and the installed base of the
millions of PCs out there,'' said David Smith, a Gartner Group analyst.
``When you start with a clean slate, such as Sun has with Java, you can do
a lot of things.''
Sun said it is making the Jini technology source code available Monday, and
some of the first products will be available later this year and in 2000,
targeted to the small home-office market.
``Initially, we will see it in the small office/home office market, where
they don't have professionals configuring this stuff [networks],'' Clary
said. ``Then we will see it as these networks invade the home.''
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Jan 25 12:10:52 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu, Ruth Rozen
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Groups call for Intel boycott
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Groups call for Intel boycott
Advocacy groups says users should not buy Intel products until chip ID
technology is turned off.
By Staff, ZDNN
Privacy groups are scheduled to announce a boycott Monday of products made
by Intel Corp. following news the company plans registration technology in
future Pentiums that could identify consumers on the Internet.
The boycott was called by the Washington-based Electronic Privacy
Information Center, a consumer advocacy group, and Junkbusters Inc., of
Green Brook, N.J., a high-tech lobbying group.
Intel did not immediately respond today.
Security features in chips
Intel (Nasdaq:INTC) announced last week that it would put several security
features in future processors, starting with the Pentium III later this
quarter. One plan is to put processor-specific IDs on each chip that can be
accessed by software and transmitted over the Internet.
Will you support this boycott? Add your comments to the bottom of this page.
The ID will be a 64-bit number created by fusing wires on the chip together
during its manufacturing. Along with the current 32-bit CPU ID -- a number
that groups CPUs depending on when and where they were manufactured -- the
ID will create a 96-bit unique serial number accessible by software.
The processor ID can be hidden from Net access by turning off a software
"switch. Each machine will default to having the ID on, but a Windows
control panel will allow users to turn it off.
'Big Brother' inside?
Companies could require remote users to use the technology, while banks may
offer more features to its customers that have processor IDs turned on. The
ID could also help enable the ultimate in software copy protection, tying
applications to a specific machine.
But groups including the American Civil Liberties Union raised red flags
over the technology, saying it could be used to track consumers over the
Internet. Intel has said it has no plans to match the processor IDs with
names in a database.
Boycott organizers will introduce a parody of Intel's famous "Intel Inside"
advertising campaign, but this one called, "Big Brother Inside."
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Jan 26 10:46:17 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Compaq to reveal AltaVista plans Tuesday
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Compaq to reveal AltaVista plans Tuesday
By Rob Guth
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:17 AM PT, Jan 26, 1999
Compaq's chief executive officer and president, Eckhard Pfeiffer, Tuesday
is expected to announce plans to spin off all or part of the company's
AltaVista search-engine unit into a separate company, according to
published reports Tuesday.
Under the plan reported in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, Compaq will
install new management at the AltaVista unit and take the Internet search
engine public. The report cites an analyst placing an estimated initial
valuation on AltaVista of $2 billion.
Compaq could not be reached for immediate comment.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based AltaVista was absorbed by Compaq when the computer
vendor bought Digital Equipment last year. AltaVista was a unit of Digital.
Digital had previously considered taking AltaVista public and went as far
as to file an initial public offering registration with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission in August 1996 for AltaVista Internet Software Inc.
However, in June 1997 Digital opted to roll the unit back into its main
product division.
Pfeiffer is expected to announce the spinning off of AltaVista Tuesday
morning at a news conference in New York, according to the report. With him
at the news conference will be Rod Schrock, a Compaq senior vice president
and group general manger of the company's Consumer Products Group, who is
expected to become CEO of the new AltaVista company, the report added.
Compaq Computer Corp., in Houston, can be reached at www.compaq.com.
Rob Guth is a correspondent in the Tokyo bureau of the IDG News Service, an
InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Jan 20 17:21:12 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu,
Noah Roselander ,
Ruth Rozen
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Intel to electronically ID chips
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Intel to electronically ID chips
E-commerce, anti-theft and anti-fraud efforts to benefit, but privacy
concerns are real.
By Robert Lemos, ZDNN
Intel Corp. will unveil plans to embed identification numbers in its PC
processors on Thursday, said industry insiders and cryptographers familiar
with the company's efforts.
In doing so, the Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker could be sounding the
death knell for anonymity on the Internet.
"The application is a double-edged sword. On the one hand it offers more
security -- for e-commerce and information security," said Barry
Steinhardt, associate director and privacy expert at the American Civil
Liberties Union.
"As a pure privacy issue, it allows for a means of tracking individuals on
the Net."
Intel briefed the ACLU and others on the details of its new identification
scheme in hopes of heading off any protest by privacy advocates about its
new initiative.
The plan calls for Intel to put a machine-specific ID and a random number
generator in every processor, said sources familiar with the plans.
The random-number generator will aid e-commerce by allowing PCs to encrypt
data more securely, while the ID numbers will allow merchants to verify a
user's identity and prevent stolen PCs from getting on the Internet.
What of privacy?
In fact, the plan is sort of a cross between vehicle identification numbers
and caller ID.
Users who buy a PC will have the ID number feature turned on automatically.
Merchants and other "trusted" parties will be able to verify a user's identity.
'The application is a double-edged sword. It offers more security ... [and]
it allows for a means of tracking individuals on the Net.'
-- Barry Steinhardt, ACLU
For those users who want to remain private, Intel (Nasdaq:INTC) will
provide a software patch to turn off the function. This sort of scheme --
which is referred to as "opt out" because consumers have to opt out of
participating -- mimics the current state of the industry.
That bodes ill for privacy, though. "We would rather that Intel have the
patch installed as the default," said the ACLU's Steinhardt, who stated
that such a policy would let consumers choose whether they wanted to
e-commerce-enhance their PC.
But more significantly, if the technology is seen as enabling e-commerce,
then users may (effectively) not have a choice of opting in or out -- the
feature may be required of users by companies before any transactions are made.
Such worries also extend to the collecting of identification information.
"Intel says they're not keeping a database matching users to their ID
numbers," said Steinhardt, "but the temptation down the road for someone to
keep a database will, most likely, be too great. It will happen."
Stronger security
Still, even with such concerns, there is no denying the benefits of the scheme.
"It's a matter of pros and cons," said Michael Slater, principal analyst
for chip watcher Micro Design Resources Inc. "There is a lot of benefit for
e-commerce with [Intel's] method."
The identification numbers could act like their vehicular counterparts --
essentially blacklisting stolen PCs from the Internet.
"This kills theft," said one cryptographer at this week's RSA Data Security
Conference, who had been briefed by Intel on its plans. "As soon as you go
on the Internet, you will be detected."
For merchants on the Internet, having proof-positive of their customers
will end consumer fraud and cut the cost of doing business with customers
you can't see.
End of overclocking
And for Intel, the ID scheme takes care of a problem that has been plaguing
them for years: Illegal overclocking.
Overclocking is the act of running the processor at higher speeds, usually
an act of the hardware hacker.
But Intel has repeatedly run into companies that buy, say, a 300MHz Celeron
processor, overclock it to 400MHz, and then sell it as a 400MHz processor.
Not only does this result in lost profits for Intel, but if the processor
has problems running at the higher speed, Intel is the one blamed -- not
the PC maker.
But with an electronic ID attached to each processor, consumers will be
able to check their processor against Intel's database of products and find
out at what speed the processor was sold.
This still allows hobbyists who want to overclock their PCs to do so, while
cracking down on the frauds.
Intel refused to comment for this story.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Jan 27 17:08:50 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu, David Weinstein ,
Ron Weinstein ,
Randi Weinstein , Sandra Ancell ,
Elisa & Ophir Trigalo ,
Ophir Trigalo , rozenn@megsinet.net,
Ruth Rozen ,
Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Pharmacy-on-a-chip coming?
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Pharmacy-on-a-chip coming?
By Reuters
Special to CNET News.com
January 27, 1999, 1:40 p.m. PT
A silicon microchip could one day replace painful injections,
difficult-to-swallow pills, and foul-tasting medicines.
Instead of packing it with data, scientists plan to load the tiny chip with
drugs. It could then be swallowed or implanted under the skin and
programmed to release tiny quantities of drugs at precise times.
It may sound far-fetched but researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology say a "smart tablet" or a "pharmacy-on-a-chip" could soon be a
reality.
"It's a drug delivery system, but it could be used for anything," Dr.
Robert Langer told Reuters. The prototype that he developed with John
Santini and Michael Cima could one day be used to deliver pain relief or
cancer drugs, in medical diagnostic tests, in jewelry to emit scents, or in
any capacity to deliver one or more chemical compounds in specific amounts
at specified times.
Do you want to know more?
Read related news
View story in The Big Picture
Go to Message Boards
Search News.com
It may even be possible to create a microchip that could be put in
televisions to release scents. Scenes of oceans could be matched with salt
air smells or gardens with floral aromas.
"This is the kind of prototype that may one day make those things
possible," said Langer, a professor of chemical and biochemical engineering
at MIT.
The device is the first of its kind enabling the storage of one or more
chemicals inside of the microchip with the release of the compounds on
demand. A microprocessor, remote control or biosensors can be used as a
trigger mechanism.
In a letter published in the science journal Nature today, the scientists
described how they tested a solid-state, microchip the size of a U.S.
10-cent coin. It had 34 pinprick-sized reservoirs that could hold 25
nanoliters of chemicals in solid, liquid or gel form. A nanoliter is one
thousand-millionth of a liter.
The researchers said they could reduce the size of the chip even further,
to as tiny as two millimeters (0.08 inch), depending on its desired use.
There is also the potential for more than 1,000 reservoirs, maybe
thousands, if the reservoirs are smaller.
"Envision a container with tiny little wells. Each well has a drug or
chemical and each of those wells is covered with gold. You can, by remote
control or it can be self-contained, individually remove any of those gold
caps," Langer explained. "The second you release it, and it does it
immediately, all the contents will come out on demand."
Another benefit of the chip is that it's cheap. Langer and his team are
making them in a research lab for about $20 each, but, if they are produced
in larger batches, a chip could cost just a few dollars, or less.
Patents pending
It's still to early to predict when the microchip will be widely available,
but the researchers already have two patents pending--a U.S. patent on the
fabrication of the microchips and a foreign one covering all aspects of the
technology.
Langer and his colleagues hope to test the device in animal studies and
eventually with humans. They used gold and saline as electrode material and
a release medium but they are already working on degradable plastics and
other materials.
Story Copyright © 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Jan 28 10:18:57 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Yahoo! agrees to buy GeoCities for $4.58 billion
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Yahoo! agrees to buy GeoCities for $4.58 billion
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media
Copyright © 1999 Associated Press
NEW YORK (January 28, 1999 8:46 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) -
Yahoo! Inc. on Thursday announced it would buy GeoCities Inc. for $4.58
billion in a deal that creates the largest Web gateway and speeds the
fevered spree of consolidations among Internet companies.
The terms represent a substantial premium over GeoCities' current market
valuation of about $3.02 billion including outstanding stock options.
Yahoo! is a Web search and directory service based in Santa Clara, Calif.,
and already has a minority investment in GeoCities, a Santa Monica, Calif.,
company that hosts Web pages created by individuals.
The deal would give Yahoo! another powerful brand name while helping
GeoCities reach more Web users. The combination of Yahoo and GeoCities
traffic could vault it to the No. 1 spot in terms of Internet traffic,
according to figures from Media Metrix Inc., a research firm.
Dealmaking has accelerated recently in the Internet business even as the
stock market has pushed the prices of many Internet companies to new highs.
At Home Corp. agreed last week to buy Yahoo competitor Excite Inc. in a
deal valued at $6.7 billion at the time of the announcement. America Online
Inc. agreed last fall to buy Netscape Communications Corp. for about $4.2
billion.
On the Nasdaq Stock Market, GeoCities stock closed Wednesday at a new high
of $75 a share, up $4 from the previous close. It has traded as low as
$13.25 over the past year.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Jan 28 10:20:01 1999
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Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 09:31:07 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft overtakes GE as world's most valuable company
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Microsoft overtakes GE to top list of world's most valuable companies
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media
Copyright © 1999 Agence France-Press
LONDON (January 27, 1999 11:11 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) -
Microsoft has overtaken General Electric as the world's most valuable
company, according to the FT500, the Financial Times' annual ranking of
companies around the world.
The paper said the reversal of the rankings for the two U.S. giants
reflected the markets' continuing enthusiasm for technology stocks over the
last 12 months.
The survey orders firms by their market capitalization -- their stock price
multiplied by the number of shares issued. Microsoft was worth $271,854.4
million, said the FT, while GE was worth $258,871.3 million.
Next came Exxon, Royal Dutch/Shell -- the only non-American company in the
top 10 -- Merck, Pfizer, Intel, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart Stores and
International Business Machines.
Overall 244 of the top 500 firms were American, said the paper; 173 were
European, 46 were Japanese, 20 were from the Asia-Pacific region, 10 were
Canadian, four were Latin American, two were Middle Eastern and one was
British-Australian.
Changes from the previous year reflected surging U.S. and European equity
markets over 1998, according to the FT, as well as poorly performing
emerging markers, economic crisis in Japan, a wave of mergers in the U.S.
and Europe and increasing values for technology stocks.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Jan 29 10:36:25 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Bluestone moves to marry Java and XML
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Bluestone moves to marry Java and XML
By Jeff Walsh
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 7:20 AM PT, Jan 29, 1999
Bluestone Software on Monday will launch a new freeware project that makes
the Java Swing application programming interfaces and foundation classes
available to the Extensible Markup Language (XML).
The XwingML (pronounced as zwingML) project, available now from the
Bluestone Web site, enables developers to represent an entire Java
graphical user interface as an XML document, which has an upside and a
downside to developers, according to one analyst.
"The upside is that you're not hard-coding these user interface
declarations in code," said JP Morgenthal, analyst with NC.Focus in
Hewlett, N.Y. "This means you don't have to go into code that is debugged
and tested, you just have to change the template to the layouts. The less
you have to test production code the better."
Morgenthal said the downside is that everybody is doing this in a
proprietary way, even though companies are making these projects available
on their Web sites.
"Everybody thinks that because they put something out in the public domain
it automatically matters, it doesn't," Morgenthal said.
IBM has also delivered proof-of-concept technologies that marry Java and
XML. In much the same way that XML is separating form and content on Web
sites, it is being used in development environments to separate the
graphical user interfaces from the programming logic. While Sun
Microsystems has been absent in delivering an XML strategy, other vendors
are stepping up to the plate to bring Java and XML together.
"XML completes the picture of ubiquitous programming," said Pat O'Connor,
an XML Strategist at IBM, in Cupertino, Calif. "I don't think XML affects
Java as a platform because XML is representing data and Java is the
programming language."
On Monday, Bluestone will ship XML-Server, a dynamic XML application
server, which can also be integrated with CodeWarrior to build applications
for PalmPilot users.
Looking ahead, Bluestone will deliver Visual-XML, a toolset built with
XwingML that will enable users to visually design Web applications that
link to legacy data or are built to accommodate an existing document type
definition.
Bluestone's XML-Server costs $2,995 and will ship next week. Bluestone
Visual-XML costs $99 and will go beta in March and ship in April.
Bluestone's application server, Sapphire/Web, will go into beta with its
6.0 version in April and ship in May.
Bluestone Software Inc., in Mount Laurel, N.J., is at www.bluestone.com.
IBM Corp., in Armonk, N.Y., is at www.ibm.com.
Jeff Walsh is an InfoWorld senior writer.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Jan 29 10:37:40 1999
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Boycott widened over new Intel chip ID plan
By Elinor Mills
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 7:20 AM PT, Jan 29, 1999
Intel's plan to ship its Pentium III chips with a processor serial number
in the "off" position hasn't satisfied privacy groups, who decided Thursday
to expand their call for a boycott to include any PC manufacturer who ships
a Pentium III system with the ID number, not just Intel.
Intel announced last week that it would include a processor serial number
(PSN) in every one of its new Pentium III chips for online merchants to use
in identifying and authorizing users for secure Internet commerce.
After privacy rights advocates complained that the PSN would allow sites to
monitor and profile users without their consent, Intel announced on Monday
that it would ship the chips with the PSN switched off. The company also
said it would offer software that would allow users to switch the PSN on
and off, and alert them if the PSN's mode was to be changed.
That move temporarily appeased an Arizona state lawmaker who previously
planned to introduce a bill banning the manufacture or sale of Pentium
IIIs. But privacy rights groups are still outraged after meeting with Intel
Thursday.
"This serial number is designed to facilitate tracking," said Dave Banisar,
policy director for the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
"Given Intel's marketplace share of 85 percent of the microprocessors," it
is likely that online merchants will try to monitor and profile the great
number of users with PSNs in their machines who surf the Internet, he added.
EPIC, Junkbusters, and Privacy International -- the three groups who are
leading the boycott -- are also considering sending a letter of complaint
to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the issue, according to Banisar.
More groups are expected to join the trio in leading the movement, he added.
Banisar and others pointed out several flaws in the latest Intel plan. For
one, it is not within Intel's control to set the PSNs in the off default.
The PC manufacturers who assemble the machines ultimately decide whether to
ship the systems with the PSN de-activated.
"You're relying on PC manufacturers, who in some cases want to identify
users and were behind some of the initial demands for [PSNs]," Banisar said.
With desktops managed by OEMs, "all the defaults are set to extract the
maximum amount of information from the user," said Jason Catlett, president
of Junkbusters. "It's another way to get information to trade and sell."
An Intel spokesman said PC manufacturers will have to answer to end-users,
ultimately.
"The naysayers are going to look for holes wherever they can find them,"
said Intel spokesman Seth Walker.
Secondly, critics say, the software utility that users need to activate or
de-activate the PSN is vulnerable to hacking -- something even Intel
acknowledges. Software can be used to obtain the PSN and, if the
application is Internet-enabled, can transmit it anywhere without the user
knowing it, Junkbusters said in a statement on its Web site at
www.bigbrotherinside.com.
In addition, hackers could write programs that transmit a fake ID number,
or which hide the alert that the software utility is supposed to show to
notify the user that the PSN is about to be turned on, said Bruce Schneier,
president of security firm Counterpane Systems and author of "Applied
Cryptography."
"The basic problem is there's no secure way of querying the [ID] number, so
you have no verification the number is accurate," Schneier said.
Intel's Walker acknowledged the security vulnerability with the software
utility, but said users should go to Web sites they trust. In addition,
users will have to reboot their computers before the PSN mode can be
changed, reducing the chance that the PSN could be turned on without their
knowledge, he said. Web sites that want to use the PSN will also warn users
that they are entering an area where their processor serial number could be
identified, he added.
"There is the ability for a malicious piece of software to try and disable
that [alert], but users will have to go to sites that they trust and be
careful about this feature," Walker said.
A third flaw with the PSN plan, according to critics, is that online
merchants and other service sites, who want to know as much about customers
as they can, are likely to require users to enable the PSN as a condition
for access, according to Catlett at Junkbusters. In fact, Intel has said
more than 30 companies are planning to take advantage of PSNs.
Intel spokesman Howard High agreed that some Web sites and chat rooms are
likely to restrict access to only those users who volunteer their PSNs. But
most businesses aren't likely to turn their backs on users, he said.
High and Intel colleague Walker pointed out that companies will find the
PSN helpful in keeping track of their computers, and some users may find it
helpful to be tracked for marketing and transactional reasons.
"For consumers, the potential of the Internet promises new ways to shop
online," Walker said. "But greater levels of security are required. ... The
processor serial number adds a level of security that doesn't exist today."
However, Counterpane's Schneier points out that the same flaws that make
the PSN less than secure for end-users worried about protecting their
privacy also undermine the security level of the feature for I-commerce.
One critic who was appeased by Intel's new plan to ship the PSNs in the off
position was Steve May, a Republican member of the Arizona House of
Representatives. He said Thursday that he won't submit a bill banning the
production or sale of Pentium IIIs, which are manufactured in his state,
because Intel is taking steps to address the security and privacy concerns.
May is working on legislation, to be submitted by Feb. 8, that would
address the misapplication of the technology in general going forward, he
added.
"Even if Intel fixes the current problem with the Pentium III, we now know
that this technology exists and it could be a problem from AMD [Advanced
Micro Devices] next year," May said. However, Intel chip rival AMD has
reportedly said it will not put serial numbers in its chips.
Meanwhile, Intel said the software utility will either be pre-installed on
machines or available separately from retailers, as well as downloadable
from its Web site by the time computers containing the Pentium III are
available to customers, according to company spokesman High. The chips will
be shipped to PC manufacturers before April, he said.
In response to speculation that Intel wants to be able to use the PSNs for
its own purposes, Intel spokesman Walker said the company will not use the
PSNs to track chips, to recover stolen chips, or to check that
manufacturers don't run the chips faster than the speed for which they are
rated.
"We're not going to keep any list of [ID] numbers," Walker said.
Intel Corp., based in Santa Clara, Calif., can be reached at www.intel.com.
Elinor Mills is an editor at large in the San Francisco bureau of the IDG
News Service, an InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Feb 1 10:33:13 1999
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David Weinstein
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Y2K nips NT users
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Y2K nips NT users
By Bob Trott and Jessica Davis
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 7:19 AM PT, Feb 1, 1999
Windows NT 4.0 users who have been wary of Service Pack 4 (SP4) had better
get used to it, because their systems will not be completely
year-2000-compliant without it.
Microsoft now is recommending that NT 4.0 users implement SP4 to achieve
year-2000 compliance -- a shift from the company's previous position that
Service Pack 3 (SP3) would do the job, albeit leaving minor year-2000 issues.
However, implementing SP4 -- which includes more than 650 new bug fixes,
repair of 28 memory leak conditions, several new features, and all of the
patches from Service Pack 1 to SP3 -- could be a big project for many IT
shops.
SP4's size and scope, along with the difficulties and incompatibilities
associated with it, led analyst companies such as the Gartner Group, in
Stamford, Conn., to recommend that shops spend months testing, evaluating,
and deploying SP4.
The complexity of the service pack, coupled with the approaching year 2000,
has left many users anxious.
One corporate user told Microsoft officials that his shop did not intend to
deploy SP4 because "we have assessed the risk to be too high," and had
created a Systems Management Server package of year-2000 fixes that were
issued after SP3. The user was not sure how to proceed, however, after
Microsoft's pronouncement that SP4 is required for year-2000 compliance.
"We are now putting that deployment on hold, pending Microsoft's response,"
the user said. "There is no point in doing it if Y2K problems will still
exist."
Mark Light, Microsoft year-2000 product manager, said that SP3 -- even with
all of the hot fixes issued in the meantime -- would not offer users the
year-2000 compliance available via SP4. The company has no plans to release
the hot fixes necessary to bring SP3 into full compliance, Light said. But
it does intend to maintain SP3 at "compliant with minor issues" status, a
rung down from the "compliant" status of SP4. It will release a document
about SP3 and its issues this month.
Microsoft will maintain SP4 at "compliant" status -- issuing fixes to it if
other year-2000 flaws are discovered, and assuring users who upgrade to SP4
that they will not have to implement yet another service pack by the end of
the year.
Still, some may want to stay with SP3, Microsoft officials said.
"Customers have to look at their definition of compliance," Light said. "We
recommend that customers move to SP4 for Y2K compliance, but some customers
have built their euro solutions upon SP3 and want to stay there for a while."
Other users are also waiting for more information before deploying SP4.
"We are very leery about the SP," said Robert De Cardenas, distributed
systems and network coordinator for the State of Florida Supreme Court. "I
have heard from other colleagues that the SP did not go as expected, and
this scares me."
But analysts at the Gartner Group are recommending users do the upgrade.
"IT managers need to deploy now or take the risk," said Michael Silver, an
analyst at Gartner. Gannett, a publishing company in Silver Spring, Md., is
already in the process of implementing SP4 after completing the extensive
testing that it performs on any new product, according to Eric Kuzmack, a
senior analyst at the company and a member of the InfoWorld Corporate
Advisory Board. The testing revealed only one application conflict on
something that was not mission-critical.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., is at www.microsoft.com.
Bob Trott is a Seattle-based senior editor at InfoWorld. Jessica Davis is
an editor at large at InfoWorld.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Feb 1 16:56:29 1999
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Subject: AT&T, Time Warner ink local telephony deal
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AT&T, Time Warner ink local telephony deal
By Marc Ferranti
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 12:45 PM PT, Feb 1, 1999
Even as long-distance phone giant AT&T waits for its pending acquisition
of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) to close, it has plunged ahead into
another cable deal -- a joint venture with Time Warner to offer local
telephone service in 33 U.S. states via cable television infrastructure.
The two companies expect to test the AT&T-branded service in one or two
cities by the end of the year and to offer it commercially in 2000. And as
part of a broader, strategic partnership also announced Monday, the two
companies have agreed to jointly market communications services and to
develop other broadband communications services, such as video telephony.
Together with the TCI merger, the Time Warner joint venture will enable
AT&T to reach more than 40 percent of U.S. households over the next four to
five years, said AT&T Chairman and CEO C. Michael Armstrong in a statement
released Monday.
The joint venture's services will be "priced competitively," according to
AT&T, and will offer multiple phone lines per household, along with a
variety of other features including conference calling, call waiting, call
forwarding, and individual voice mail boxes for family members.
AT&T will be responsible for the joint venture's capital expenditures, and
estimates it will have to spend about $300 to $500 per home to hook up
homes to the new cable telephone service, depending on whether or not they
already subscribe to Time Warner's video service.
Under the terms of the agreement, AT&T will own 77.5 percent of the joint
venture and Time Warner will own 22.5 percent. AT&T expects the joint
venture to have positive cash flow and net earnings after three full years
of operation, and annual revenues of $4 billion in the same time period.
AT&T and Time Warner said they expect to finalize the deal within 90 days
and to close it in the second half of the year. The deal is subject to
certain conditions, including various approvals. The AT&T purchase of TCI
is still awaiting shareholder and Federal Communications Commission approval.
Jeffrey Kagan, a telecommunications analyst, in Marietta, Ga., said the TCI
and Time Warner deals are just the beginning for AT&T.
"I think we should continue to expect to see AT&T forming alliances or
merging with other cable companies," Kagan said.
However, Kagan also warned that "cable telephony as a local phone service
has a long way to go before they are perceived [to be] as reliable as the
local phone company."
AT&T Corp., in Basking Ridge, N.J., can be reached at www.att.com. Time
Warner, in New York, can be reached at www.timewarner.com.
Marc Ferranti is news editor for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld
affiliate. Laura Kujubu, an InfoWorld senior writer, contributed to this
article.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Feb 3 10:38:23 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu,
Noah Roselander ,
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Ophir Trigalo
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: MS confirms that Win 9x kernel lives
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MS confirms that Win 9x kernel lives
NT Consumer is two to three years away, so Microsoft says at least one
'minor' update to Win98 is necessary.
By Mary Jo Foley, Sm@rt Reseller Online
Microsoft Corp. is planning on at least one more Windows 9X-kernel-based
updates to Windows 98 before the company delivers its NT-kernel based
consumer platform, company officials confirm.
For at least two years, the Redmond, Wash., company has said that the next
version of its desktop OS would be based on the NT kernel. Instead,
Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) is now planning to update Windows 98 with one, and
perhaps more, "minor" Windows 9X-based desktop upgrades before it rolls out
its next "major" Windows 98 upgrade, tentatively called NT Consumer,
company officials say.
"Our next major consumer release is two to three years off," said Microsoft
spokesman Bill Zolna. "It's still in the drawing-board phase." Zolna
confirmed the next "major" consumer release is NT Consumer.
For consumers, this likely means there will not be a need to make wholesale
changes to applications and peripherals any time soon.
Not a change
Zolna denied that Microsoft's decision to perpetuate the Windows 9X kernel
is a change in company strategy. "Microsoft always said we would provide
enhancements and features to our customers. We have offered no specifics in
terms of what this means beyond Service Packs and OSRs [OEM Service
Releases]," he said.
Zolna would not confirm that Microsoft will call the next Windows 98
follow-on "Windows 2000 Personal Edition," as sources close to the company
have indicated. He also said he had no information on when users should
expect beta or final code for the new Windows release. Customers can expect
the product to ship some time after the first Windows 98 Service Release,
which is currently in beta test and expected to be available from OEMs
preloaded on new systems around mid-year.
Different theories
Zolna also said he wasn't certain on the reasons for Microsoft's decision
to deliver one or more Windows 9X-based updates prior to rolling out NT
Consumer. Yet he added, "If I were to speculate -- and this is pure
speculation -- I'd say Microsoft realizes moving to the NT kernel will take
a long time. It's not an easy move for anybody. And OEMs want something on
the consumer side earlier than two to three years from now."
But beta testers and IS customers have their own theories about why
Microsoft may be shifting its plans. Some testers have reported that
Microsoft has had difficulties porting Windows 9x features, such as Plug
and Play, to the NT kernel and is facing a number of incompatibilities with
current Windows applications. Others say NT's large footprint and onerous
memory and disk requirements at present make NT an unwieldy consumer OS
candidate.
"I haven't heard anything on this [Windows 2000 Personal Edition]
specifically. But you've got to wonder: How much Plug and Play and PCMCIA
support can they get into NT? And the games compatibility issue could be
huge [between the 9x and NT kernels]," said one Windows developer.
Big challenges
Microsoft will definitely have some challenges on its hands if it does
decide to release another version of Windows.
"At one point, every Windows developer was put on NT 5.0 [now known as
Windows 2000]," said one developer, who requested anonymity. "Almost all of
Microsoft's developers are focused on getting Beta 3 [of Windows 2000] out
the door."
IT managers, so far, are showing little interest in the pending new release.
"From the corporate IT perspective, is it something meaningful or is it
just window dressing? If it's window dressing, who cares?" said Steve
Curcuru, resident Wizard at Mugar Enterprises in Boston and a PC Week
Corporate Partner.
PC Week's John G. Spooner and Scott Berinato contributed to this story.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Feb 4 13:35:41 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu, Ruth Rozen ,
Ron Weinstein ,
David Weinstein ,
Noah Roselander ,
rozenn@megsinet.net
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: New Computer Screen Offers 3-D Effect
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New Computer Screen Offers 3-D Effect
DUNCAN GRAHAM-ROWE
c.1999 New Scientist
Designers and computer gamers could soon be watching 3D computer images
minus the unwieldy headgear. The new screen, developed by the London-based
company RealityVision, plugs into a standard computer like any normal display.
As with other stereoscopic systems, the RealityVision display achieves a 3D
effect by projecting a slightly different image into each eye. In the new
system, the two images are interlaced on a standard LCD: the image destined
for the left eye is displayed on even-numbered rows of pixels, and the
right image is displayed on odd rows.
The key to making this work is a novel backlighting unit, in which light
from an ordinary light source is directed towards each eye by a holographic
pattern recorded on a plate fixed to the back of the LCD. The unit ensures
that light passing through even-numbered rows is directed toward the left
eye, while light passing through the odd-numbered rows only reaches the
right eye. Provided that the viewer's eyes are in the correct area, they
will see separate images.
The signal that drives the LCD can come from either a pair of video
cameras, or 3D software such as a game, a computer-aided design program or
a virtual-reality simulator. According to co-inventor David Trayner, the
screen could also be used to show two different TV programs to two people
sitting side by side.
The only constraint is that the viewer's head must stay within a certain
area in front of the screen. Move too far to the left or right and you lose
the 3D effect. But Trayner says most people naturally sit in front of a
display in the right position.
Trayner says his system provides a wider viewing zone than other 3D
techniques. Rival systems are also limited by the fact that sideways
movement leads to what he calls the ``picket-fence effect'', where the
image periodically disappears when the eyes are in certain positions. Even
worse, the left and right images can swap over as the viewer's head moves.
RealityVision is now working on increasing the viewing zone, and increasing
the resolution from its current 800 x 600 pixels to 1280 by 1024. The
company also hopes to develop a system that tracks the motion of the
viewer's head and moves the light source to maintain the stereo effect over
a wider range of angles.
The display can be changed to 2D by repositioning the light sources so that
odd and even rows are illuminated identically. ``As far as the computer is
concerned it's a normal display,'' says Trayner. ``You just switch to 3D
when you want to.''
The relatively simple design of the display should make it easy to
replicate on a mass scale, says Chris Williams, chair of the European
Society for Information Displays. ``It's been developed on a shoestring
budget and yet it works incredibly effectively.''
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Feb 9 10:17:21 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft's Vizact blurs line between Word, HTML
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Microsoft's Vizact blurs line between Word, HTML
By Ephraim Schwartz and Matthew Nelson
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 1:50 PM PT, Feb 8, 1999
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Microsoft and others are using the Demo 99
conference held here this week to announce new Internet capabilities and
what may be new communications standards.
Microsoft has introduced a concept product called Vizact, which will
eventually be part of the Office 2000 product suite from the company.
Vizact is intended to blur the difference between an HTML page and a Word
page, with the capability to add hot buttons and images to Word files.
Vizact will also allow for text, images, and hot buttons to be wrapped and
delivered within an e-mail, as well as for a time limit to be placed on how
long the text and images can be viewed.
Microsoft, along with Macromedia and Compaq, submitted the HTML + Time part
of the Vizact technology to the World Wide Web Consortium three months ago
as a possible standard for limiting the amount of time a document or image
can be viewed, according to the company.
While Vizact will be part of the Office 2000 product line, it will not be
in the initial release of Office 2000, as the company developed the idea
too late and "couldn't integrate the code," according to Karl Jacobs, a
product unit manager at Microsoft.
Vizact is expected to be released by the second quarter of this year.
Pricing is to be determined.
Also at the show, Perry Kivolowitz, Hypercosm president and CEO, gave a
demonstration of small file interactive 3D objects. With the Hypercosm
product -- which uses a proprietary language called OMAR -- users will not
only be able to see and capture modeling behavior, but also to interact
with it. Kivolowitz demonstrated the capability with an image of a barbecue
grill that could be rotated and viewed from different angles but could also
be interacted with by turning dials and pushing buttons on the graphic.
Another company hoping to redefine the operations of the internet is
Digital Fountain, which introduced a one way transmission scheme technology.
Using the Digital Fountain system, Internet connections or the sending of
files over the Internet will not have to be checked and rechecked for
acknowledgement of transmission, but simply delivered. The company intends
to lessen bandwidth constraints by removing the number of connections
necessary between messages.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Hypercosm Inc., in Madison, Wis., can be reached at www.hypercosm3d.com.
Digital Fountain, in Oakland, Calif., can be reached at www.dfountain.com.
InfoWorld Editor at Large Ephraim Schwartzis based in San Francisco.
Matthew Nelson is an InfoWorld senior writer.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Feb 9 10:19:59 1999
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Subject: IBM Gives Linux PowerPC Boost
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IBM Gives Linux PowerPC Boost
Edward F. Moltzen
February 08, 1999, Issue: 828
Armonk, N.Y. -- IBM Corp. plans to initiate a companywide effort that
should next month lead up to full-blown support of the Linux operating system.
A cross-divisional working group within IBM, examining the computer giant's
response to the growing market acceptance of Linux, has pushed the company
into making several key decisions, said sources who had been briefed. Those
decisions will lead to a series of unveilings on March 1, the sources said.
First, IBM plans to unveil wide-ranging support for Linux throughout its
product lines. The company also plans to preload versions of Linux,
initially on low-end versions of its RS/6000 systems. These bundles will be
focused primarily on the education and Web-serving solutions markets.
Armonk-based IBM is talking with a range of independent software vendors,
including LinuxPPC Inc. and Red Hat Software Inc., about cooperative
efforts to put the freeware onto IBM hardware, sources said.
The moves, and other key decisions, are expected to be unveiled on or
before the LinuxWorld trade show next month, said a source who had been
briefed.
Robert Ramos, RS/6000 product manager for Champion Computer Corp., Boca
Raton, Fla., one of IBM's largest North American midrange distributors,
said Champion already configures some systems with the open-source-code
operating system, and described the performance of those systems as "smoking."
"The last six months or so is when things have really come to life," Ramos
said. Linux now competes head-to-head with Windows NT, and the fact that
the next release of NT, Windows 2000, is delayed "plays into the favor of
the Linux community," he said.
Linux began to draw interest in accounts where an NT investment of $10,000
to implement is compared to a free investment in Linux, along with improved
support, Ramos said, adding that he had not heard, officially, about the
specifics of IBM's plans.
"The momentum and excitement is there," Ramos said. "If you don't ride the
wave, you're going to be left out."
IBM is talking with LinuxPPC about different cooperative efforts, said
Jason Haas, marketing director at the Madison, Wis. start-up that provides
versions of Linux ported to the PowerPC processor platform.
"They've spoken with us about working on a demo model of the RS/6000
running Linux in their booth at LinuxWorld," Haas said. LinuxPPC has ported
a version of Linux to the PowerPC processor platform, he said.
While IBM has dabbled with Linux-and even offers a version of its DB2
Universal Database for the operating system-it has, on the surface, been
tepid in its support, analysts said. IBM subsidiary Lotus Development Corp.
has promised a Linux version of Notes/Domino.
IBM declined for several weeks to return phone calls while its working
group continued hammering out a companywide strategy. One spokeswoman,
though, last week said IBM for years has said it would support a variety of
operating systems. A recent survey inside the company showed that 90
percent of IBM accounts use at least three different operating systems, she
said.
Pricing and market pressures, however, have put IBM in the position where
it will make a bold, supportive statement of Linux next month, industry
experts said.
Competitor Compaq Computer Corp. last week said it would offer a series of
midrange servers based on the Alpha processor. Systems with Unix-based
operating systems will be $19,900, while those with Linux will be $15,000.
Those servers will compete with IBM's RS/6000.
Copyright ® 1999 CMP Media Inc.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Feb 9 14:18:14 1999
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Subject: Lycos merger creates online giant
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Lycos merger creates online giant
By Jana Sanchez and Terho Uimonen
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 7:21 AM PT, Feb 9, 1999
USA Networks, Lycos, and Ticketmaster Online-Citysearch on Tuesday
announced a three-way merger deal that will result in a new
Internet-commerce giant leveraging both the Internet and cable television.
Under the terms of the complex deal, Lycos will merge with Ticketmaster
Online-Citysearch, in which USA Networks holds a controlling stake. USA
Networks will also add its other I-commerce assets, including the Home
Shopping Network (HSN) cable television unit, into the combined company
that will be called USA/Lycos Interactive Networks, the companies said in a
statement.
Financial details of the agreement were not immediately available. The
merger is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year.
Barry Diller, chairman and chief executive officer of USA Networks, will
become the chairman of USA/Lycos, while Robert Davis, president and CEO of
Lycos, will become president and CEO of the new company.
There is no reason why the new company cannot be a dominant player in the
transition towards interactive systems, Diller said in the statement.
On a historical pro forma basis, USA/Lycos will have combined revenues of
more than $1.5 billion, the companies said. On its first day of operation,
it will have the capacity to reach 70 million television homes and
approximately 30 million Internet users through its Web sites, according to
the statement.
USA Networks will hold a majority 61.5 percent stake in the new company,
with Lycos shareholders owning a 30 percent stake, and Ticketmaster Online
shareholders other than USA Networks holding the remaining 8.5 percent, the
statement said.
Tuesday's announcement is the latest in the Internet portal merger frenzy
that kicked off last June when the Walt Disney bought a 43 percent stake in
Infoseek for $70 million by selling its interest in Web developer Starwave
to the portal.
Last month, @Home announced its intention to purchase Excite for an
all-stock transaction valued at $6.7 billion. The deal followed a surprise
announcement in November that America Online would buy Netscape.
Earlier this month, speculation arose that NBC might take a 35 percent
stake in Lycos and merge NBC's Snap portal with Lycos. Other names
circulating as potential Lycos suitors included Time Warner and Bertelsmann.
Lycos' Davis, meanwhile, has publicly maintained that the company would
remain independent.
Lycos' stock price has benefited from all the rumors, which have helped
raise the company's market capitalization to more than $6 billion.
The deal must still be approved by regulators and Lycos shareholders, but
Lycos' largest shareholder, CMG Information Services, which owns about 20
percent of Lycos, has said it supports the deal, according to the
statement. The deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter of
this year.
Lycos Inc., in Waltham, Mass., is at (781) 370-2885 or www.lycos.com.
Jana Sanchez-Klein is London bureau chief for the IDG News Service, an
InfoWorld affiliate. Terho Uimonen is a correspondent in the Taipei,
Taiwan, bureau of the News Service. Clare Haney and Rob Guth of the News
Service contributed to this report.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Feb 9 17:06:07 1999
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Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Installation, security woes dog NT 4.0 SP4
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Installation, security woes dog NT 4.0 SP4
By Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 1:01 PM PT, Feb 9, 1999
Microsoft is dealing with more woes surrounding Service Pack 4 (SP4) of
Windows NT Server 4.0. The software giant is working on an SP4 installation
problem that affects users with specific configurations, and plans to issue
a fix this week. And Microsoft support line engineers compounded worries
for some customers by describing the fix as a "major re-release" of the
service pack.
According to Microsoft, the Y2ksetup.exe file included with the "full
download" and CD versions of SP4 causes Microsoft Message Queue Server
(MSMQ) to be uninstalled on NT servers that have both Site Server Express
2.0 and the NT Option Pack version of MSMQ.
A Microsoft representative said that no core SP4 components were affected,
and that the problem does not affect users who installed MSMQ from NT
Server 4.0, Enterprise Edition.
However, the company's handling of the issue confused some customers. One
user, who was working to deploy SP4 over hundreds of NT servers worldwide,
said he was told by Microsoft engineers to hold off on the deployment until
a "major re-release" of the service pack was released. One Microsoft
official, referring to an internal document, called the service pack
refresh "SP4a."
"In our particular case it throws off months of preplanning to hit 400-plus
servers worldwide," said the IT manager, who requested anonymity.
The representative said Microsoft was not planning a re-release of SP4, and
said the reference to "SP4a" was a "typo."
However, the representative also said Microsoft would use the installation
fix as a chance to update NT's Java virtual machine to bring it into
compliance with a federal judge's order in the lawsuit brought against
Microsoft by Sun Microsystems.
Microsoft this week also posted to its Web site a fix for a security hole
in SP4 that could allow a user to log on interactively and connect to
network shares using a blank password. Information on the bug can be found
at www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/ms99-004.asp.
The flaw mainly affects NT servers that serve as domain controllers in
environments with DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups, OS/2, or
Macintosh clients.
"In general, customers who have deployed only Windows NT, Windows 95 and
Windows 98 client workstations are not at risk from this vulnerability,"
the company stated.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Bob Trott, is InfoWorld's Seattle bureau chief.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Feb 9 17:09:57 1999
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Subject: Power struggles, brain drain cloud Windows' future
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Power struggles, brain drain cloud Windows' future
By Mary Jo Foley, Sm@rt Reseller
February 9, 1999 2:56 PM ET
For any company, managing 2,000-plus developers is no picnic. But for
Microsoft Corp., where big egos and fat stock options are the norm, it's
becoming next to impossible.
According to a report first published in The Seattle Times on Sunday,
Microsoft is expected to reorganize the company within the next few weeks
into four divisions. While the company routinely reorganizes annually, this
anticipated move -- which could end up dividing responsibilities for
consumer and enterprise operating systems -- could be Microsoft's attempt
to stem some of the inner turmoil.
Product shipment delays are a mere crack in the Microsoft "we're-on-track"
facade. In recent months, the entire Windows 2000 development process has
started to show signs of severe stress fractures. With Windows 2000 still a
no-show, Microsoft finally has confirmed that it has abandoned plans to
push consumers directly from Windows 98 to the Windows NT kernel.
The change in direction is just the latest indication that Microsoft's
developers are drowning in a sea of mixed messages, design changes and
product delays.
Consider the evidence:
- Established product directions are shifting.
- Long-time Windows marketing veterans have been reassigned to other parts
of the company.
- Many of Microsoft's midlevel managers are now millionaires (at least on
paper), which means its difficult to keep them motivated and on board.
- The less-than-stellar Department of Justice court appearances by Senior
Vice President Jim Allchin and Group Vice President Paul Maritz, coupled
with the meteoric rise in popularity of Linux, are taking their toll on
Microsoft's Windows Everywhere campaign.
Allchin in the middle
Caught in the eye of the storm is Allchin, who heads up Microsoft's
Personal and Business Systems Group. As if delivering Windows 2000 wasn't
difficult enough, Allchin has been forced to manage developer infighting,
staff departures and employee burnout among the ranks.
The mild-mannered Allchin managed to survive a showdown with former Vice
President Brad Silverberg, who took a sabbatical in 1997 around the time
Allchin emerged as the top Windows dog at Microsoft. Silverberg, who
currently consults for Microsoft, is a long-time Allchin rival and is said
to be contemplating a comeback. Microsoft officials won't disclose whether
the prodigal "Bradsi" will return. But beta testers note that Silverberg
has become much more visible on Windows 2000-related messages in recent weeks.
Other management issues also are rocking Allchin's boat. To wit, Brian
Valentine, a vice president and the design leader on Windows 2000, was
brought in to replace 11-year veteran Moshe Dunie, a former leader of
Microsoft's Windows and NT teams.
Valentine also must work with Dave Cutler, the father of Windows NT 3.1 and
current leader of Microsoft's 64-bit NT efforts. Cutler, known to be
difficult to manage, is said to prefer racing cars to writing code.
Meanwhile, a number of Microsoft's top minds have stepped away from the
Windows 2000 effort since NT 4.0's release. The defectors include marketing
guru Rich Tong, who so successfully branded Windows NT 3.x and 4.0. Rather
than stay on for Windows 2000, Tong decided to spend more time with his
family and moved onto the BackOffice team. Other high-profile Windows
veterans, such as Jonathan Roberts and Phil Holden, have jumped onto the
Windows CE team.
But it is midlevel management defections that have Microsoft's top brass
most worried, say partners close to Microsoft.
"Microsoft has started calling its millionaire managers 'volunteers,'" said
one integrator who has worked with the company over the years. "Microsoft
knows there's not much they can do to keep people who can afford to retire
whenever they want because their stock is worth so much."
In the last 12 months alone, shares in Microsoft have risen from $50 to
more than $150.
Because of these distractions, Microsoft's core operating systems business
faces a challenge unlike any trial the company has experienced to date.
Broken promises
Just last week, Microsoft was forced to acknowledge that it cannot make
good on a promise to move its mainstream operating system efforts directly
from Windows 9x to the NT kernel. Instead, the company will take one or
more stutter steps, in the form of "minor" Windows 98 upgrade releases,
before it manages to achieve its long-term goal of moving to a "major" NT
Consumer release.
Microsoft officials say the move does not signify a change in strategy.
However, the company's stated goal, since at least 1996, has been to move
its entire Windows development effort to a single code base. The original
strategy, in theory, would have simplified life for Microsoft, its
developers and its customers. Now, Microsoft will be forced to pull a
number of the developers off Windows 2000 and put them back onto Windows 9x.
One developer close to Microsoft claims the software giant already has
assembled a Windows 9x follow-on team under David Cole, vice president of
Microsoft's Web client and consumer experience division. Others speculate
that Silverberg's responsibilities, if he returns, could include management
of any Windows 98 follow-ons based on the 9x kernel. >
A Microsoft spokesman says the company decided to add new Windows 9x
releases to its lineup because the company had decided hardware vendors and
customers could not wait two years or more for NT Consumer.
Some developers, however, tell a different story. Many say Microsoft
changed course because it underestimated the effort required to make all
Windows 9x applications run on Windows 2000. Further complicating matters,
Windows 2000 contains 35 million lines of code and requires 64MB to 128MB
of memory -- which doesn't make for a nimble consumer operating system,
developers note.
Trouble at the top
Developing Windows 2000 and Windows 9x enhancements aren't Microsoft's only
problems. The company's high-end 64-bit development effort also has hit
some bumps.
Publicly, Microsoft insists it will deliver a 64-bit NT release
simultaneously with Intel Corp.'s IA-64 "Merced" processor, which is due
out in mid- to late 2000. Microsoft and Intel maintain that the effort is
going well.
But privately, the "intellectual crossfire" between the two companies is
intense, says one developer, who requested anonymity. "We have front-row
seats at the fights. The dirty little secret is 32-bit Windows applications
won't run as fast on Merced once they are compiled. Microsoft is pissed,"
he said.
Enter Microsoft's Cutler, who heads Microsoft's 64-bit development team.
Allchin is counting on Cutler to help Microsoft navigate the 64-bit waves,
but it won't be smooth sailing. Cutler, who earlier designed Digital
Equipment Corp.'s VMS operating system, is a renegade captain, to put it
nicely. He tolerates no fools -- and leaves an e-mail trail laced with
profanity to prove it. Cutler has his own ideas of how operating systems
are best designed and has no qualms about executing his vision.
Sources say Microsoft's Valentine is trying to keep Cutler in check by
putting some 64-bit code into Windows 2000.
"New cuts of [Windows 2000] Beta 3 have lots of new 64-bit code in them --
like #IFDEF64 conditional compilation statements," said one NT source-code
licensee, who requested anonymity. "We hear Valentine said, 'We better
bring back Cutler and his 64-bit team from going their own way.'"
Translation: Microsoft insiders may be concerned that NT will fragment into
two incompatible code bases (Windows 2000 and a 64-bit NT), which would
cripple Microsoft's compatibility strategy.
Microsoft officials insist the company is on target with its 64-bit plans.
Group product manager Ed Muth notes that NT64 will include a 32-bit
compatibility subsystem that will allow 32-bit applications to run
seamlessly on 64-bit systems. Muth declined to talk about interim builds of
Windows 2000 Beta 3.
"To the best of my knowledge," he said, Microsoft isn't including any new
64-bit functionality in new beta builds.
Whatever the truth, a 64-bit NT, Windows 2000 and NT Consumer remain a long
way off. At this point, it's unclear how internal squabbles, executive
brain drain and changing development schedules will affect Microsoft's
future success. But these storm clouds certainly warrant a close watch.
See more Sm@rt Reseller news.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Feb 12 12:19:52 1999
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Dell Lands $7 Million Sale Online
(02/12/99, 10:25 a.m. ET)
By Tom Davey, InternetWeek
Need proof that Internet commerce, at least in the PC industry, is
thriving? Dell has landed its biggest-ever online sale, a $7 million
notebook purchase by Norwest Mortgage.
The large Des Moines, Iowa, originator of residential loans purchased more
than 4,500 Dell Latitude notebooks to issue to its sales force. Dell
shipped the notebooks to 50 locations throughout the country, where the
salespeople gathered for training on how to use the hardware and Norwest's
custom software, which Dell installed on the machines.
A unique asset tag, which Dell attached to each notebook at the factory,
will let Norwest IS managers keep track of the notebooks, a spokesman said.
Norwest, a division of Wells Fargo Bank of San Francisco, made the purchase
through a password-protected extranet site at Round Rock, Texas-based Dell
called Premier Pages. That site also provides order status, help-desk
support, and purchase histories.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Sat Feb 13 11:20:45 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft jilts Java tool
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Microsoft jilts Java tool
By Dana Gardner
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:48 AM PT, Feb 13, 1999
Just months ago, Microsoft professed love for Java-the-language, but jeered
at Java-the-platform. Now that a court ruling has forced Microsoft to adopt
pure Java in its products, the company may be ready to jilt its own Java
tool, Visual J++ 6.0.
Sources said the company is seriously considering dropping further
development of Visual J++, which was updated last fall as part of Visual
Studio 6, and is instead working on an alternate C++-like object
development model tightly aligned with Windows 2000 and the forthcoming
Component Object Model+ (COM+) environment.
Microsoft will not go so far as to say it is dropping Visual J++, but
company officials do warn that the outcome of the lawsuit between the
company and Sun Microsystems over Java purity may not make "innovation"
around Java worthwhile.
"Java is under serious constraint and uncertainty over how any vendor can
innovate around it, whether it's our tools or any other. We have to
determine if that uncertainty is acceptable," said Greg Leake, lead product
manager for Visual Studio. "It depends on the lawsuit. I can't speculate
further than that."
For its next generation of tools, however, Microsoft is building a
Java-like development model, code-named COOL (C++ object oriented
language), that brings COM+ support to C++ developers, Leake said.
"It makes C++ programming simpler. We like Java-the-language because it is
simple -- and simpler than C++ -- but there has to be ways to make that
easier," Leake said. "Can we not take the things that are wonderful about
C++ and marry them with an easier model?"
The COOL model is dependent on COM+, due out with Windows 2000 by the end
of this year. But given that the oft-delayed Windows 2000 is very much a
work in progress, Visual J++ 6.0 users should have plenty of time to get
used to Java during the interim.
And aside from fitting Microsoft's aggressive posture of protecting its
platform and APIs, the idea of abandoning Java this late in the game for
another object model has little merit, analysts said.
"Creating a pseudo-C++ or alternatively easy object-oriented language would
be a disaster. There is just too much support for Java for Microsoft to
entice people away from it," said Dave Kelly, an analyst at the Hurwitz
Group, in Framingham, Mass.
"Microsoft has to think carefully about what it's doing. It could alienate
its enterprise customers, who our research indicates are very interested in
Java," said Phil Costa, an analyst at the Giga Information Group, in
Cambridge, Mass.
Nevertheless, there are many reasons to believe that if Microsoft loses its
suit with Sun, Java will no longer be supported by the software giant, and
the stage will be set for the new COOL model to take its place.
Earlier this month, Microsoft asked District Court Judge Ronald H. Whyte,
who is presiding over the Sun suit, whether Microsoft can distribute an
independently developed technology that performs "the same or similar
functions" as Java.
Whyte has yet to rule on the request, but it demonstrates a clear intent to
pursue COOL, Costa said.
"Indications are that they are moving away from the Sun version of Java;
they've pulled Java from other products, which means they will probably
pull it from the core technologies," Costa said.
Another indication Microsoft is abandoning its Java efforts is that it has
not announced plans to update or upgrade Visual J++ 6.0 or its other Java
implementations to comply with the Java 2 specification, which arrived from
Sun in December.
"Microsoft's original strategy was to protect its installed base against
the onslaught of Java and maintain its Windows clientele. When they lost
the court [preliminary injunction] it took their product strategy and
thwarted it," said Tom Dwyer, an analyst at the Aberdeen Group, in Boston.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., is at www.microsoft.com.
Dana Gardner is based in New Hampshire. Bob Trott contributed to this article.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Feb 17 10:09:29 1999
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Subject: 'Cool' faces hot fight inside MS
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'Cool' faces hot fight inside MS
Some at Microsoft hope it will kill Java, but 'Cool' programming technology
may never see the light of day.
By Mary Jo Foley, Sm@rt Reseller
February 16, 1999 5:04 PM PT
Whether Microsoft Corp.'s rival to Java ever makes it off company
whiteboards depends as much on internal Microsoft politics as on legal and
technological concerns.
The company's would-be Java killer, code-named "Cool", has factions within
Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) battling over whether or not to create an entirely
new language, a new variation on C++, or to stay the course and attempt to
ride out the company's legal battles over Java with Sun Microsystems Inc.
Little is known about Cool's timing or feature set. Microsoft officials say
that no one at Microsoft has written a line of code for the potential language.
But developers outside of the company insist that members of Microsoft's
tools group are actively evangelizing Cool as an alternative to Sun's Java.
Will MS ice Cool?
Indeed, advocates within Microsoft's Developer Tools Division are the ones
pushing the entirely new language approach, say sources.
But other Microsoft developers and executives -- primarily those who have
been with the company for a number of years -- are advocating staying the
course and either betting on a COM+-enhanced version of Microsoft C++
and/or Microsoft Visual J.
Sources say the leader of the latter, more conservative, camp is none other
than David Vaskevitch, vice president and chief architect of Microsoft's
Distributed Applications Platform Division.
Vaskevitch, who reports directly to Microsoft Senior Vice President Jim
Allchin, currently drives much of the data access, data architecture and
component services strategies for the company. Vaskevitch also is rumored
to be the lead candidate for the head of a new developer group that
Microsoft is considering forming as part of an expected company-wide
reorganization in the next couple of months.
Microsoft may form up to four new divisions -- Enterprise, Consumer,
Knowledge Worker and Developer -- as part of the reorganization, according
to industry reports.
And if Vaskevitch is appointed to head the developer division, the Cool
project could die an untimely death, say sources close to the company.
"If Vaskevitch gets the job, Cool is dead," said an official with one
company developing for Windows, who requested anonymity.
Vaskevitch and other Microsoft officials contacted for comment did not
respond to questions about Cool by press time.
J++ still kicking
Meanwhile, Microsoft insists it plans to continue work on its Visual J++
Java product simultaneously with any other programming language work in
which it is engaged.
Company officials deny talk that Microsoft intends to halt work on J++,
despite a number of rulings that have not favored Microsoft by the judge
overseeing the Sun vs. Microsoft Java case.
So far, Microsoft has fixed some of its products by adding Java Native
Interface support, but it has done nothing to alter its J++ language, other
than to add a warning of possible noncompliance of the product and
applications developed with it.
Microsoft's Research Group also continues to work on a number of
Java-related projects. Among these is a Microsoft-developed optimizing Java
compiler and run-time environment, code-named "Marmot."
Microsoft has built a Marmot prototype that is aimed at improving the
performance of Java when used in developing large, object-oriented,
threaded applications.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Feb 18 10:19:29 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: In a Major Breakthrough, Danish Physicist Slows the Speed of
Light
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In a Major Breakthrough, Danish Physicist Slows the Speed of Light
By MALCOLM W. BROWNE
When light travels through empty space, it zips along at a speed of 186,171
miles a second -- the highest speed anything can attain, even in principle.
A moonbeam takes only a little over one second to reach Earth.
But a Danish physicist and her team of collaborators have found a way to
slow light down to about 38 miles an hour, a speed exceeded by a strong
bicyclist.
The physics team, headed by Dr. Lene Vestergaard Hau, who works
concurrently at the Rowland Institute for Science in Cambridge, Mass., and
at Harvard University, expects soon to slow the pace of light still
further, to a glacial 120 feet an hour -- about the speed of a tortoise.
"We're getting the speed of light so low we can almost send a beam into the
system, go for a cup of coffee and return in time to see the light come
out," Dr. Hau said in an interview.
The achievement, by Dr. Hau, two Harvard graduate students and Dr. Steve
Harris of Stanford University, is being reported on Thursday in the journal
Nature. Physicists said it had many potential uses, not only as a tool for
studying a very peculiar state of matter but also in optical computers,
high-speed switches, communications systems, television displays and
night-vision devices.
One of the most desirable features of the apparatus that the researchers
built for their work is that it does not transfer heat energy from the
laser light it uses to the ultracold medium on which the light shines. This
could have an important stabilizing effect on the functioning of optical
computers, which operate using photons of light instead of conventional
electrons. A switch using the system could be made so sensitive that it
could be turned on or off by a single photon of light, Dr. Hau said.
The medium Dr. Hau and her colleagues used in slowing light by a factor of
20 million was a cluster of atoms called a "Bose-Einstein condensate"
chilled to a temperature of only fifty-billionths of a degree above
absolute zero. (Absolute zero is the temperature at which nothing can be
colder. It is minus 273.15 degrees on the Celsius scale, minus 459.67 on
the Fahrenheit scale and zero on the Kelvin scale.
Dr. Hau's group reached an ultralow temperature in stages, using lasers to
slow the atoms in a confined gas and then evaporating away the warmest
remaining atoms. The temperature they attained, one of the lowest ever
reached in a laboratory, was far colder than anything in nature, including
the depths of space.
Bose-Einstein condensates (named for the theorists who predicted their
existence, Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein) were first prepared in
a laboratory four years ago and became the objects of intense research in
the United States and Europe. They owe their existence to some of the rules
of quantum mechanics.
One of these is Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which states
that the more accurately a particle's position is known, the less
accurately its momentum can be determined, and vice versa.
In the case of a Bose-Einstein condensate, atoms chilled nearly to absolute
zero can barely move at all, and their momentum therefore approaches zero.
But because zero is a very precise measure of momentum, the uncertainty
principle makes the positions of these atoms very uncertain. In a
condensate, as a result, such atoms are forced to overlap each other and
merge into superatoms sharing the same quantum mechanical "wave function,"
or collection of properties.
It was such a superatom, made of a gas of superpositioned sodium atoms,
that provided Dr. Hau and her associates with the optical molasses they
needed to slow light down.
Beginning their project last spring, the group tuned a "coupling" laser to
the resonance of the atoms in their condensate, shot the laser into the
cold cluster of atoms and thereby created a quantum mechanical system of
which both the laser light and the condensate of atoms were components. At
this stage, the system was no more transparent than a block of lead, Dr.
Hau said.
The next step was to send a brief pulse of tuned laser light from a "probe"
into the condensate, at a right angle to the coupling laser, in such a way
that the laser-condensate system interacted with the probe laser. Under
these conditions about 25 percent of the probe laser light passed through
the "laser-dressed condensate," but at an astonishingly slow speed.
The light that emerged from the apparatus, not visible to the naked eye,
was only 25 percent as strong as the light that entered, but detectors
found that it had roughly the same color.
The speed of light is reduced in any transparent medium, including water,
plastic and diamond. Glass prisms and lenses, for example, slow light by
differing amounts that depend on the thickness of the glass. The slowing of
light causes the bending by which lenses focus images.
But the reduction of light speed in a laser-coupled Bose-Einstein
condensate works in an entirely different, quantum-mechanical way. Not only
is the speed brought to a crawl, but the refractive index of the condensate
becomes gigantic.
Refractive index is a measure of the degree to which a medium bends light.
The refractive index of the condensate created by Dr. Hau's group was about
100 trillion times greater than that of a glass optical fiber.
Although Dr. Hau said it might take 10 years before major applications were
developed, the huge refractive index of the condensate, which can be
precisely controlled, may make it a basis for "up shifting" devices that
increase the frequencies of light beams from the infrared end of the
spectrum up through visible light to ultraviolet. Possible applications
include ultrasensitive night-vision glasses and laser light projectors that
could create very bright projected images.
Laser-condensate combinations may also lead to ultrafast optical switching
systems useful in computers that would operate using one light beam to
control another light beam. Such a system could function as an optically
switched logic gate, replacing the electronic logic gates computers now use.
Slow light could also be exploited in filtering noise from optical
communications systems, Dr. Hau said.
Dr. Jene Golovchenko, a physics professor at Harvard familiar with Dr.
Hau's work, commented, "She has worked long and hard on this, and now she's
really hit a home run."
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Feb 17 17:12:20 1999
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IBM embraces Linux on client/server hardware
By Ed Scannell and Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 1:38 PM PT, Feb 17, 1999
IBM will take the next step toward making Linux an integral part of its
enterprise strategy next month when it announces it will bundle the
open-source operating system with two of its PC- and non-PC-based servers.
IBM on Thursday will announce an alliance with Red Hat Software under which
the company will ship a wide array of its products with Red Hat Linux.
Under the agreement, developers from both companies will work to maximize
performance, reliability, and security for Red Hat Linux on IBM server and
client systems, including Netfinity servers, PC 300 commercial desktops,
IntelliStations, and ThinkPads. Red Hat will also perform hardware
certification testing and provide dedicated customer training, the two
firms said.
"Our customers are asking for Linux solutions," said Bill McCracken,
marketing and strategy general manager for IBM's Personal Systems Group.
"The Red Hat alliance demonstrates IBM's commitment to the open-source
movement and to provide our customers with an unmatched range of platforms,
operating systems, solutions and services."
At the LinuxWorld show, in San Jose, Calif. in March, IBM will announce it
will bundle Linux with its lower-end RS/6000 servers and workstations as
well as with its Intel-based line of Netfinity servers, along side the
native operating systems for those platforms.
The company will also announce plans to port Linux over to the PowerPC
chip, which now powers the company's RS/6000 servers and AS/400 line of
servers.
The decision to push a strategy to sell Linux across multiple server
platforms has to do, in part, with better establishing IBM in a variety of
strategic markets in which currently it lacks a meaningful presence,
sources said.
"It is a move that can only help us sell more RS/6000s into markets where
we are not all that strong, like ISPs and universities where [Linux] grew
up," said a source close to IBM. "Plus we are seeing substantial demand
from customers and we tend to listen to them. It is a fairly easy decision
to make."
Some observers question whether bundling an open-source operating system
might threaten proprietary software businesses surrounding AIX, including
the operating system and the thousands of AIX-compatible applications. IBM
officials reportedly believe the opportunity available to them in the Linux
market can cover any losses they would suffer elsewhere.
"It isn't a dangerous decision if it creates a whole other business for
IBM. And not just for software but services and support," an IBM insider
said. "Besides most of the play for Linux will be on the Intel-based
platforms."
IBM will still back AIX as its "bulletproof enterprise operating system,"
and will continue to aggressively develop and support it, according to one
source.
In addition to IBM's work with Red Hat, the company next week will announce
support for Pacific HiTech and Caldera Systems.
"More than any other computer company, we are worldwide. We realize that
different distributors have different strengths in different parts of the
world. So to play on a world stage, it is necessary to deal with different
distributors,'' another IBM insider said.
IBM Corp., in Armonk, N.Y., can be reached at www.ibm.com. Red Hat Software
Inc., in Research Triangle Park, N.C., can be reached at www.redhat.com.
Ed Scannell is an InfoWorld editor at large based in Framingham, Mass. Bob
Trott is InfoWorld's Seattle bureau chief.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Feb 19 21:40:07 1999
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Caught in the crossfire
By Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 3:55 PM PT, Feb 19, 1999
Confusion in the Windows developers' community continues to mount as
Microsoft ponders its next Java moves - both in court and in its own
product plans.
The most recent by-product of this confusion emerged last week, when
several members of Microsoft Developers Network (MSDN) said they had not
received all of the Java-related software they were promised when they
signed up for MSDN.
Microsoft's efforts to bring its products into compliance with Sun
Microsystems' Java implementation following a court order is creating a
series of cascading delays across a range of products. For example,
although Microsoft recently released a new version of its Java virtual
machine, that version is not yet available through MSDN.
The MSDN software shipment hiccup belies Microsoft's state-ments that the
Java lawsuit, in the preliminary injunction requiring it to comply with
Sun's guidelines, would not affect its product plans and schedules.
"This ruling will not impact Microsoft's ability to deliver any Windows
operating systems product to our customers," according to a page on
Microsoft's Visual J++ Web site.
Doug Ward, a developer in Beede, Ark., spent $2,400 to become a "Universal"
member of MSDN last week. But instead of the 42 software CDs he was
expecting, he received only one.
According to Ward, MSDN representatives told him that because of
Java-compliance issues, he would not receive the full software library
until April.
"I complained about the impact this will have on my [project] deadline, and
they suggested I purchase the individual components," Ward said.
Another developer, in France, did not get his January MSDN software
shipment on time, according to a message he posted in an MSDN newsgroup.
When he checked with Microsoft, he was told that "no product related to
Java may be shipped by Microsoft." He was told that "applies to about 70
percent of MSDN."
"Because of the injunction, we had to reconfigure a little bit ... and
anything we had that wasn't compliant, we couldn't ship," said Eric
Rothenberg, MSDN lead product manager. One analyst said the MSDN situation
was an example of the little guy getting caught in the crossfire.
"A lot of people [are] pleased Microsoft has been told it's been naughty,
but tens of thousands of developers now have to wait," said Clay Ryder,
chief analyst at Zona Research, in Redwood City, Calif.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Bob Trott is InfoWorld's Seattle bureau chief.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Feb 19 21:42:01 1999
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Host of vendors puts weight behind Linux
By Jeff Walsh
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 3:55 PM PT, Feb 19, 1999
Linux will be in the spotlight in March at the first-ever LinuxWorld
Conference and Expo, in San Jose, Calif., with several vendors delivering
key announcements at the show. IBM (www.ibm.com) will bundle Red Hat Linux
with its servers and workstations, and the company will announce its intent
to port the OS to its PowerPC chip.
Infoseek (www.infoseek.com) will announce it is porting two of its key
search products to Linux, and GraphOn (www.graphon.com) will showcase its
remote-access technologies.
One vendor that will not be making any strategic announcements at
LinuxWorld is Oracle (www.oracle.com), although the show will feature a
keynote speech by Mark Jarvis, the company's senior vice president of
worldwide marketing. The company announced in July 1998 that it would
release its entire Oracle Applications enterprise resource planning suite
on Linux.
One Oracle representative said the company is still "on track for
applications on Linux," but said these applications would not be available
for two months. Database vendor Informix (www.informix.com) will announce
new channel programs to distribute Linux solutions at the show, and will
also make a joint announcement with a new hardware vendor, according to the
company.
Infoseek will ship Linux versions of its Ultraseek Server 3.0 and Ultraseek
Server Content Classification Engine (CCE) in March, according to the
company. The Ultraseek Server port, which can index documents in Extensible
Markup Language (XML) format and has Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL,
encryption, will run on Red Hat Linux 5.1 for PC and require a TCP/IP network.
The Ultraseek Server CCE is a server add-on that enables large corporate
intranets and Web sites to categorize their content for faster and more
relevant search results. The CCE port will support text files, HTML,
PostScript, Adobe's Portable Document Format, and XML files, but unlike the
Windows NT and Unix versions, it will not support Microsoft Office documents.
GraphOn will unveil a Linux Playpen at the show, in which show attendees
will be able to test various GraphOn products that enable companies to use
Windows, Java, and multiuser NT systems to access Linux applications remotely.
The playpen will feature Go-Between, a thin-client PC X-Windows server;
Go-Joe, a thin-client Java X-Windows server; and Go-Global, a thin-client
PC X-Windows server designed for low-bandwidth connection over the
Internet. Fastlane Systems (www.inetd.com) will be showing XniRT, a package
featuring conversation-based network analysis, security and accounting. The
product provides real-time viewing of network traffic flow with reporting
and remote monitoring through a Web front end. XniRT works with Fastlane's
existing Web-based reporting product, Xni.
Information on the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo can be found at
linuxworldexpo.com.
Jeff Walsh is an InfoWorld senior writer.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Feb 19 22:09:03 1999
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Win 2000: New code will demand most applications be rebuilt
February 19, 1999
Web posted at: 11:43 a.m. EST (1643 GMT)
by Sharon Gaudin
(IDG) -- The mostly new code in Windows 2000 makes it such a different
beast than its NT 4.0 predecessor that corporate developers had better
brace themselves: Most of their existing applications will have to be
rebuilt, or at least revised, to make them compliant.
The issue isn't the stability of the current Windows 2000 beta. Even if the
code in the final release of Windows 2000 is completely bug-free, many
applications that run on NT 4.0 simply won't be able to use the new
features, such as Active Directory or COM+, available in the upgraded
operating system.
"Eighty percent of the code in Windows 2000 is new," said Daniel Kusnetzky,
an analyst at International Data Corp. in Framingham, Mass. "If that's not
a new operating system, I'm not sure what is. With the Windows platform,
each migration from one version to the next has been tough. This will be
tougher."
Of course, there also are bugs in the early release of the Windows 2000
Beta 3 code that are causing some application incompatibility problems.
"That doesn't surprise me, with 25 million lines of new code," said Jon
Oltsik, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge. "That's what
betas are for. Fixing them might further delay an already late piece of
software.... The trade-off, though, is going to be if Windows 2000 is worth
all the trouble of messing with all those applications."
[25 million new lines of code and they expect people to bet their companies
on it? They've gone completely over the edge... --Gary]
New Features Are Problem
Karan Khanna, Microsoft's lead product manager for NT Server, explained
that applications that run under NT 4.0 will run under Windows 2000 if they
don't access the new features.
But if information technology managers want to take advantage of the
reasons companies want to buy in to Windows 2000, such as public-key
security and the new directory, then they will have to change those
applications.
Khanna said Microsoft is trying to ease that workload by building some of
the changes into the application programming interfaces (API) so developers
can write to the APIs instead of building the coding into the applications.
But John Scannello, director of IT planning at Consolidated Edison of New
York Inc., said he thinks his developers still have a lot of work ahead of
them. "That will be a big negative," Scannello said. "The thought of
rewriting applications is not something a large company wants to deal with.
If it's one or two applications, that would be one thing. I don't know how
we'll deal with something bigger."
Isaac Applbaum, senior vice president at Concord, Calif.-based Concorde
Solutions, a subsidiary of Bank of America, said he will probably deal with
it by devoting some developers to the task of bringing their custom
applications into Windows 2000 compliance.
"It's going to be a bigger job than expected," he said. "I can tell you
that we won't be an early adopter. When someone tells you there will be 80%
new code, I can tell them we'll be on the careful side."
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Feb 22 12:43:08 1999
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IBM's system-on-a-chip breakthrough
By Reuters
Special to CNET News.com
February 22, 1999, 4:55 a.m. PT
IBM announced today an advance in semiconductor technology that would allow
entire electronic systems to be built onto a single semiconductor chip.
The so-called system-on-a-chip technology will enhance the performance of
many electronic products--including personal computers and mobile
phones--while also making the products both smaller and less expensive.
IBM, the world's biggest computer maker, said in a statement that it had
found a way to put both logic and memory circuits on a single piece of silicon.
Logic circuits process information and memory circuits store information,
and both are used together to add "intelligence" to electronic products.
"Until now, having processing power and data on separate chips was like
having the materials you need to do the job in another office," Bijan
Davari, vice president of development for the IBM Microelectronics
Division, said in the statement.
IBM aims to start designing chips with this system-on-a-chip capability in
April.
The New York Times earlier quoted IBM executives as saying that while the
company is not the first to create such systems, its technology would work
faster than current system-on-a-chip products.
Story Copyright © 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Feb 22 16:57:56 1999
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Noah Roselander ,
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From: Gary Weinstein
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Microsoft IE 5.0 to reach multiple platforms at once
By Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 10:32 AM PT, Feb 22, 1999
Criticized in the past for its "Windows now, everybody else later"
approach, Microsoft will release the latest version of its browser,
Internet Explorer 5.0, on March 18 for a wide range of platforms, the
company announced Monday.
Versions of Explorer 5.0 for Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows NT 3.51,
Windows NT 4.0, Windows 3.1, Sun Solaris, and HP-UX will be available for
free download, Microsoft promised. Also, versions in 10 languages will be
released, and OEMs will be able to begin pre-installing Explorer 5.0 then.
Typically, Microsoft has completed work on Explorer for the latest versions
of Windows and NT months before it gets to Unix, Windows 3.1, and other
less prevalent platforms.
Nevertheless, Macintosh users will have to wait until this summer for
Explorer 5.0. Microsoft released an interim version, Explorer 4.5, in January.
Microsoft is aiming to make Explorer easier for end users with Version 5.0,
which includes some IntelliSense technology -- also found in Office 2000,
due to ship in the second quarter -- that includes a Search Assistant and
expanded AutoComplete functionality. On the developer side, Explorer 5.0
will include enhanced support for Extensible Markup Language.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Bob Trott is Seattle Bureau Chief at InfoWorld.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Feb 23 17:09:51 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Forte unveils jForte beta version, forms Java business unit
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Forte unveils jForte beta version, forms Java business unit
By Jeff Walsh
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 1:09 PM PT, Feb 23, 1999
Forte Software Tuesday formed a new Enterprise Java Business Unit and
released the beta version of its product suite that is code-named jForte,
which enables companies to deliver scalable, distributed Java applications.
The new suite provides full import and export of Java source, Java binaries
and JavaBeans/Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB), company officials said. The suite
is written in module form and can be used in conjunction with other
development environments.
The developer module supports Java, JavaBeans, EJB, and CORBA, and it can
be used to build HTML, Extensible Markup Language (XML), Dynamic HTML, and
Java clients, officials said. A team-builder component enables
collaborative testing and debugging. The jForte Application Server supports
the EJB standard, and features fail-over and load balancing.
Forte's new Enterprise Java Business Unit includes dedicated engineers,
consulting, marketing, and sales personnel focused on finding new business
opportunities and partnerships involving Forte's products, company
officials said.
Currently, Forte delivers products for Apple, Computer Associates, Data
General, Digital Equipment, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Informix, Microsoft,
Netscape, Oracle, Sequent, Siemens Nixdorf, Sybase, and Sun Microsystems,
according to company officials.
Forte Software Inc., in Oakland, Calif., can be reached at www.forte.com.
Jeff Walsh is an InfoWorld senior writer.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Feb 25 16:47:43 1999
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Elisa & Ophir Trigalo ,
Ophir Trigalo
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: FCC rules ISP calls are long-distance in nature
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FCC rules ISP calls are long-distance in nature
By Nancy Weil
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 10:58 AM PT, Feb 25, 1999
In a long-anticipated vote, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) on Thursday decided that dial-up Internet calls are interstate in
nature and not local.
The ruling overturns state decisions holding that dial-up calls to the
Internet are local. The decision also could mean that local phone companies
will be able to assess usage-sensitive access charges on ISPs, the FCC
suggested in a statement Thursday regarding its vote. Without the so-called
"ESP Exemption," consumers might have to pay per-minute fees for dialing
into the Internet on local lines, though not all Internet-access calls
necessarily will be charged at long distance rates.
The matter has been under discussion for months by the FCC, which ruled in
October 1998 that high-speed Internet access provided by GTE is interstate
in nature because a certain percentage of Internet traffic originates in
one state and winds up in another.
In a statement regarding the ruling, the FCC said that Commissioner Harold
Furchtgott-Roth did not participate in the vote out of protest over what he
contends was the denial of his process rights.
The five FCC commissioners have, "for at least 25 years" been allowed to
put off by one month any action set for consideration at a commission
meeting. According to the statement, William Kennard, the FCC's chairman
denied Furchtgott-Roth's request to push back the decision for three weeks.
Furchtgott-Roth questioned whether it is in the public interest to risk
Internet access charges, according to the statement, which went on to say
that the decision had been delayed from January at the behest of Kennard.
The Federal Communications Commission, in Washington, can be reached at
www.fcc.gov.
Nancy Weil is a Boston correspondent for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld
affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Feb 25 10:28:52 1999
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Microsoft opens doors on online shopping site
By Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:52 AM PT, Feb 25, 1999
Microsoft this week quietly opened up a preliminary version of its new
online consumer shopping site, formerly code-named Nitro.
The Web store, shop.microsoft.com, will be a highlight of the company's
I-commerce strategy day, which will hosted by Chairman and CEO Bill Gates
and President Steve Ballmer next week in San Francisco.
Nitro -- or New Interactive Technology for Resellers Online -- features
Microsoft home and business software, such as Office 97 and Encarta
Africana, a multimedia encyclopedia. It also offers hardware from Microsoft
and books from Microsoft Press.
The Web store, which went into development a year ago, was due to go online
last fall, but technological problems delayed its opening until now.
Microsoft also has had to walk a fine line with its reseller partners.
"They have to be careful not to drive anyone out of business or look like
they're muscling in on [retailers'] territory," said one observer, who
requested anonymity.
To that end, Microsoft plans to offer products on its site at prices 10
percent to 25 percent higher than retailers, according to company officials.
Once a product with Microsoft's "estimated retail price" is selected, a
customer is guided to a Web page that features a list of online reseller
partners, such as Beyond.com or CompUSA, that may offer the products at
lower prices.
Based in Redmond, Wash., Microsoft Corp. is at www.microsoft.com.
Bob Trottis InfoWorld's Seattle bureau chief.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Feb 25 10:42:13 1999
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Intel funds move to boost Linux on Pentium
By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
February 25, 1999, 4:00 a.m. PT
Linux got a serious shot in the arm with news that it will benefit from an
Intel-funded effort to add support for Pentium MMX and Pentium III
instructions.
Cygnus and Intel announced that core Linux programming tools will gain
support for the Pentium MMX instructions and optimization for Intel's chip
architecture. In addition, Cygnus has begun work on bringing the Pentium
III's new SSE instructions to Linux, and early versions of those
improvements will begin emerging in the summer, said Scott Petry, vice
president of marketing at Cygnus.
According to Cygnus, the company that performed the work, Linux programs
running on Intel hardware will run 30 to 40 percent faster as a result. The
improved software is in beta testing now and should reach full distribution
by the end of June, Petry said.
Intel's continuing support for Linux is in line with the Santa Clara
chipmaker's efforts to make its chips the basis for lots of different
operating systems: It's not just Windows anymore.
Intel wants its chips to be the "unifying architecture of choice where you
can have your operating system of choice," said Mike Pope, manager of
enterprise software programs at Intel. "We want to make sure that operating
systems that are relevant and demanded by users are optimized to take
advantage of the latest features."
"Clearly, Intel wants to expand its market share beyond the
Microsoft-oriented desktops and servers," said Tom Henkel, an analyst at
Gartner Group. "They seem to be willing to invest in anything that might
foster that cause."
Intel is investing very heavily in several Unix vendors' efforts to move
their operating system to Intel's upcoming 64-bit chips, Henkel said. "You
can pretty much get a million dollars out of Intel if you can get them to
stay awake through the whole presentation," he quipped.
Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics, Santa Cruz Operation, IBM, and
Hewlett-Packard are making their versions of the Unix operating system work
on Intel's forthcoming 64-bit chips.
Under contract from Intel, Cygnus has been updating the software that's
used to make chips like the Pentium understand the software that people
write. This technology, called the compiler, translates programs written in
high-level languages like C or C++ into machine language for the chip.
But not all compilers are created equal, and the default Linux compiler,
GNU's GCC, has some catching up to do. Linux software still speaks the
language of the 386 chip, which Intel introduced in 1985. It doesn't
include support for the MMX multimedia instructions added in 1997 or for
the new SSE instructions that arrived with the Pentium III.
Cygnus personnel, who write compilers for the Pentium and other chips for a
living and who wrote about 80 percent of the code for the GNU compiler,
have been updating the compiler to support the newer chips.
Intel said the new compiler will deliver a double-whammy performance boost.
Not only will software compiled with the new technology run faster on Intel
hardware, the operating system itself will too, Pope said.
Because the MMX and SSE instructions improve a Pentium's number-crunching
abilities as well as its two-dimensional and three-dimensional drawing
features, the compiler enhancements will improve Linux' workstation
performance, Pope said.
The GNU compiler is released as open source software, meaning that anyone
can see and modify it. Some programmers have been improving the compiler to
improve Linux performance, said Cygnus' Kim Knuttila, and Cygnus has
incorporated some of those patches into its work.
Last year, Intel invested in Linux distributor Red Hat, though Pope is
careful to mention it's not an exclusive relationship that precludes work
with other Linux distributors. "Our objective was to use them to make sure
the right Linux operating system features are being incorporated to match
our product releases," Pope said.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Feb 24 10:09:50 1999
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Intel details 64-bit Merced plans
By Ephraim Schwartz
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 2:19 PM PT, Feb 23, 1999
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Intel announced this week at its Professional
Developer Conference here that it will ship manufacturing samples of its
64-bit Merced processor by midyear and that the processor will be in
production in mid-2000.
The company also announced that it has successfully booted seven different
operating systems on the Merced simulator, including Microsoft's 64-bit
Windows OS. Other operating systems booted include Sun's Solaris, SCO
UnixWare Monterey, Novell's Modesto, HP-UX, plus full support for Linux.
By 2001, Intel 64-bit processors should be performing at 1,000 MHz, or 1
GHz. On stage at the Conference, the company actually demonstrated 1-GHz
performance using a Pentium III processor. However, brute megahertz alone
may not put the Intel processor at the top of the performance heap.
"To get performance out of the EPIC [Intel's Explicit Parallel Instruction
Computing] architecture, the software has to be optimized to use it," said
Nathan Brookwood, chief analyst at Insight 64, in Saratoga, Calif. "To do
that is a very challenging compiling task. That's where performance will
come from, and it is not clear Intel has done that yet."
The Merced chip along with the 64-bit Windows OS will be able to address at
least 4 terabytes of memory, and will have a 128-bit wide system bus,
according to an Intel representative.
The follow-on 64-bit chip to the Merced is called McKinley, and it is
actually this chip that will run in excess of 1 GHz and have three times as
much bandwidth as the Merced. Samples of McKinley are slated to ship in
late 2000, and production quality parts in late 2001.
According to Intel officials, the processor will help OS vendors create
high-availability features for enhanced error handling support and
monitoring, which will result in downtime measured in minutes per year.
Systems will include four eight-way clusters on introduction with the chip
scaling as high as 512 ways, and they will include three levels of memory
caching, according to Hemant Dhulla, IA-64 programs manager at Intel.
However, according to Brookwood, other chip manufacturers, including
Compaq/Digital Equipment and Sun Microsystems, are not standing still, and
it will still be a race to see whether Merced will outperform RISC processors.
"For IA 64 to have an impact on the industry, Intel will have to
demonstrate superior value and performance, and they haven't shown that
yet," Brookwood said.
Intel Corp., in Santa Clara, Calif., can be reached at www.intel.com.
InfoWorld Editor at Large Ephraim Schwartz is based in San Francisco.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Feb 24 10:14:31 1999
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Hewlett-Packard Leaps On Linux Bandwagon
(02/23/99, 8:32 p.m. ET)
By Stuart Glascock, Computer Reseller News
At LinuxWorld in San Jose, Calif., next week, Hewlett-Packard will formally
unveil a companywide Linux strategy stretching across its platform,
services, and software groups and joining a growing number of hardware
vendors to fully embrace the alternative operating system.
"HP really sees Linux as a significant force in the industry," said Wayne
Caccamo, HP Internet planning manager, Internet Application Server
Division. "We really expect it to emerge as a platform of choice in
selected environments, particularly in ISPs and in e-commerce software
development."
To take advantage of Linux momentum, HP is forming an Open Source Solutions
Operation, which will drive HP's Linux strategy, Caccamo said.
HP already has announced support for the HP NetServer product line with
Linux vendor Red Hat Software, in Research Triangle Park, N.C. And an HP
project is already underway to post Linux to IA-64. At LinuxWorld, HP will
further join the Linux bandwagon by supporting Linux for PA-RISC.
In an unusual twist, the PA-RISC effort will be a pure open source
development, coordinated by a group of Ottawa-based open source developers
called The Puffin Group.
"The Puffin Group is coordinating this porting project on behalf of HP,"
Caccamo said.
In the software area, HP plans to bring its entire software and
applications lines to Linux, with the aim of positioning Linux as the
preferred development strategy for HP. In addition, the company will be
starting a Linux training program and an electronic support system for Linux.
Embracing Linux does not compete with HP's own flagship enterprise
operating system, HP-UX, Caccamo said.
"We see them as complementary," he said. "While they will go after similar
things, Linux just doesn't do high-availability clustering. It doesn't scale."
In other areas, there are plans to include support for Linux users on
OpenMail, HP's Unix-system enterprise-messaging and collaborating product.
Also, HP Firehunter service-level management application is available on
Linux.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Feb 24 13:09:09 1999
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Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 12:17:25 -0600
To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu, Ruth Rozen ,
Noah Roselander ,
David Weinstein ,
Ron Weinstein
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Virginia lawmakers ban spam
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Virginia lawmakers ban spam
By Reuters
Special to CNET News.com
February 23, 1999, 9:45 p.m. PT
Lawmakers in Virginia adopted a bill that would make it a crime to spam.
The legislation, which Gov. James Gilmore has promised to sign, makes
illegal spamming a misdemeanor punishable by fines of up to $500.
"Malicious" spamming, defined as causing more than $2,500 in losses for the
victim, could be prosecuted as a felony.
Additionally, Internet service providers could sue the sender for damages
of $10 a message or $25,000 a day, whichever is greater. A spammed Internet
subscriber could seek similar damage amounts.
The bill would make Virginia the first state in the nation to have the
power to criminally prosecute people accused of spamming. It could have
far-reaching implications, because about half of the nation's Internet
infrastructure is routed through the so-called Silicon Dominion.
The American Civil Liberties Union said it expected to challenge the
anti-spamming bill on constitutional grounds, but Virginia Attorney General
Mark Earley said through a spokesman he would defend the new law.
"Spam is a scourge on legitimate Internet commerce," Earley spokesman David
Botkins said. "This legislation is crucial to the high-tech business
community, and Attorney General Earley is prepared to help with its
enforcement, where appropriate."
The anti-spamming law is backed by the governor's Commission on Information
Technology, which in December presented recommendations for the nation's
first comprehensive Internet policy.
But ACLU of Virginia's executive director, Kent Willis, said there was
little evidence that spamming was enough of a problem to justify
constraints on free speech on the Internet. "Expression is protected in the
commercial context as well as the noncommercial context, and no one has yet
to come up with a valid or compelling state interest in limiting the way
email is sent," he said.
Dulles, Virginia-based America Online, which serves about 16 million of the
estimated 50 million U.S. Internet users, has filed about 40 civil lawsuits
under existing Virginia laws, associate general counsel Randall Boe said.
But existing spam laws only allow the company to seek compensation for
actual, not potentially higher punitive, damages.
"We have only been able to recover the cost of sending the email," which is
a very small amount, he said.
Story Copyright © 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
[By the way, this message does *not* count as spam ;-) --Gary]
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Feb 24 16:31:03 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: IBM gets first corporate access to Internet2 backbone
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IBM gets first corporate access to Internet2 backbone
By Ed Scannell
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 11:44 AM PT, Feb 24, 1999
IBM on Wednesday became the first corporate partner to be approved to
connect to the Abilene, which will serve as the backbone network for
Internet2.
IBM will be connecting several of its research facilities using Abilene,
including the company's Yorktown Heights, N.Y. and Almaden, Calif. labs. In
so doing IBM will also be able to work with other major Internet2 research
labs in trying to sculpt the first advanced Internet applications, such as
middleware products to govern traffic over high-speed networks and a range
of different applications that will tightly integrate video, audio, and voice.
"Working with the Internet2 community, we will be building more powerful
applications that will be feasible only on a backbone like Abilene," said
John Patrick, vice president in charge of IBM's Internet technology. "We
hope this will lead customers into the next era of e-business as these
applications migrate over to the commercial Internet."
IBM has spent over $5.6 million to date in supporting the universities that
are participating in the Internet2 initiative. The company has had an
influence in shaping the Internet2 Distributed Storage Infrastructure
initiative as well as the Internet2 Digital Video Network projects.
Abilene's primary purpose is to support Internet2 development of broadband
applications and engineering management tools for research and education.
The backbone began operation in January.
More information about Internet2 can be found at www.internet2.edu.
IBM Corp., in Armonk, N.Y., can be reached at www.ibm.com.
Ed Scannell is an InfoWorld editor at large based in Framingham, Mass.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Feb 24 17:58:22 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft targets app server software market
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Microsoft targets app server software market
By Mike Ricciuti
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
February 24, 1999, 12:50 p.m. PT
Microsoft knows a hot market when it sees one.
The company today took steps to plant its flag in the booming market for
application server software.
Microsoft also announced that it has signed deals with Compaq, CSC
Consulting, Ontos and other companies to support various technologies in
its Windows NT operating system that the company is now referring to as its
application server.
Analysts and competitors have long referred to various Microsoft
technologies, such as Microsoft Transaction Server, Message Queuing
Services, Active Server Pages, Internet Information Server, and the
company's Component Object Model (COM), as its application server offering.
But Microsoft has not used the term itself until recently. Those
technologies has also been grouped under the "COM+" moniker.
By adopting the application server label, Microsoft has finally succumbed
to competitive pressures, said Eric Brown, an analyst with Forrester
Research. " We knew Microsoft had one [application server]--they finally
fessed up and said 'yes we do'. This is a late and long coming decision
from Microsoft," he said.
Brown argues that Microsoft's real application server is Windows NT itself,
since the company does not sell a standalone application server product.
"All five COM+ products are free -- there's no separate product on the SKU
list. NT is the application server that you pay for," said Brown.
Brown said every major infrastructure software company in the market today
must have application server product to survive. Application server
software sits behind a Web server and handles users' browser-based requests
for dynamic Web pages or information coming from back-end databases. The
software has become hugely popular--at least in the marketing departments
at software makers--as the number of Web-based applications being deployed
by corporations grows.
By Brown's estimates, there were more than 50 application server makers in
the market last fall, which he considered the peak of application server
mania. That list has since been winnowed down through acquisitions and
partnerships, he said.
Joe Maloney, a marketing manager at Microsoft, said competitors, including
Netscape Communications, Oracle, and IBM, sell separate products called
application servers, which offer the same features as Microsoft's
collection of technologies, which are being bundled into Windows 2000, due
later this year.
Maloney also points to a recent survey by Forrester Research as proof that
Microsoft already owns a sizable chunk of the application server software
market. Forrester polled Fortune 1,000 companies and asked them which
application server they were currently using. Forty-six percent said they
were using Microsoft's Transaction Server, even though the software has not
been specifically marketed as an application server.
To drive it even further into the application server space, Microsoft has
signed up Compaq to provide consulting services to help customers install
Windows-based applications. The company will devote 200 engineers and six
development centers to Microsoft applications, said Maloney. CSC will also
dedicate a service to installing Microsoft technology. Ontos will provide
consulting services.
Also, XtremeSoft, a Lexington, Massachusetts-based software developer, has
announced COMitor, a performance monitoring tool for Microsoft Transaction
Server and COM+ applications.
Microsoft's application server package is limited to Windows-only
applications, but can pull data from Unix-based and mainframe systems.
Competitors products run on both Windows NT and Unix, and favor Enterprise
Java Beans over Microsoft's COM technology.
Steven Robins, an analyst with the Yankee Group, said that Microsoft's
Windows bias may not be issue to application server buyers. "It's still
limted to Windows, yes. But they can work with other object models, and
they can certainly pull information from various sources."
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Sun Feb 28 14:01:47 1999
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Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 13:10:30 -0600
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Subject: Microsoft creates a BackOffice bonanza
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Microsoft creates a BackOffice bonanza
By Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 3:36 PM PT, Feb 26, 1999
Microsoft is looking to push its enterprise software over the top by
coupling Windows 2000 with its line of BackOffice servers, and adding to
the mix new technologies that tackle issues such as knowledge management.
At a BackOffice design review, scheduled for April 19 to April 22 in
Bellevue, Wash., Microsoft will lay out the future direction of its server
offerings, with an emphasis on three products in particular - SQL Server; a
new knowledge management product, code-named Tahoe; and Exchange Server.
The next version of SQL Server, code-named Shiloh, will include
decision-support and analysis tools that go beyond what is offered in SQL
Server 7.0, which became widely available in January.
"Shiloh is an opportunity to exploit the [SQL Server 7.0] platform for
added scalability, availability, ease of use, and business intelligence,"
said Barry Goffe, lead product manager for SQL Server.
One feature added to SQL Server will be materialized views, which lets SQL
Server precompute commonly used data points so they are ready almost
instantaneously when queried for that information.
"If someone sends a big, ugly query to your database, materialized views
will create a view that stores the result of that query in a table," Goffe
said.
Ironically, Microsoft has cried foul when database archrival Oracle used
similar technology to win TCP-D benchmark contests and claimed that its
Oracle8i database is faster than SQL Server 7.0.
Tahoe, an upgrade to Microsoft's Site Server 3.0, is expected to feature
document management, workflow, search capabilities, Extensible Markup
Language support, document version control, integration with the MSN
portal, and template-based publishing functions.
"Tahoe is a future BackOffice technology that will provide document
services, including enterprise searching and Web-accessible views," stated
Microsoft documentation for the design review.
The next version of Exchange, code-named Platinum, will include the
capability to support virtual sessions, which lets a single server support
more than one company.
"Currently, you need a dedicated server for each company," said Dwight
Davis, an analyst at Summit Strategies, in Kirkland, Wash. "But in the
hosted applications world, you need to support a bunch of small companies."
Sources say Microsoft is looking to release the next version of BackOffice
soon after the release of Windows 2000. Windows 2000 is not expected to
ship until early 2000.
The BackOffice server products will be enhanced to take advantage of
Windows 2000 technologies, such as IntelliMirror and Active Directory, said
Pat Fox, BackOffice group product manager.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Bob Trott is InfoWorld's Seattle bureau chief.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Sun Feb 28 14:03:27 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Intel fills in details of its 64-bit chip story
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Intel fills in details of its 64-bit chip story
By Ephraim Schwartz
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:45 AM PT, Feb 27, 1999
Intel announced this week at its Professional Developer's Conference in
Palm Springs, Calif., plans to ship manufacturing samples of its 64-bit
Merced processor in mid-1999, with the production version following in
mid-2000.
The company also announced that using a PC running the Merced simulator, it
successfully booted seven different operating systems, including
Microsoft's forthcoming Win64, Sun's Solaris, SCO's UnixWare Monterey,
Novell's Modesto, and Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX. Intel also plans to fully
support a 64-bit version of Linux.
At the developer's conference, a Microsoft executive said the 64-bit
version of Windows, referred to as Win64, is under development for both
Intel's IA-64 processor and Compaq's Alpha chip. Win64 for the Intel
platform will ship when systems based on the Merced chip are released, and
will be compatible with 32-bit Windows applications, according to Oscar
Newkerk, technical evangelist in Microsoft's Developer Relations Group, in
Redmond, Wash.
Despite a great deal of talk within the industry about the need for
next-generation I/O technology to support 1-GHz processing, Merced's chip
set -- the 82460GX -- will be PCI-based and run at only 66 MHz, Intel said.
But the chip set will be I/O upgradable when Intel's next-generation I/O
becomes available in 2002, officials said.
The Intel chip set will also limit the addressable memory space to 64GB,
but an Intel representative said PC makers designing their own chip sets
will be able to address "multiple terabytes" of memory.
One feature that will be available when the new chip set debuts is three
levels of cache -- Level 0, Level 1, and Level 2 -- up from the two levels
currently found in Intel's chips. Level 0 and Level 1 will both perform at
processor speed, but it will perform with almost no latency because Level 0
is closest to the registers, officials said.
By 2001, other Intel 64-bit processors -- such as McKinley, which is the
follow up to Merced and is slated to ship in production in late 2001 --
should perform faster than 1 GHz. In addition, the McKinley chip will have
a system bus speed three times faster than Merced, officials said.
On stage at the conference, Intel demonstrated 1-GHz performance using a
Pentium III processor. However, brute megahertz alone may not be able to
put the Intel processor at the top of the performance heap, according to
one industry observer.
"To get performance out of the EPIC [Intel's Explicit Parallel Instruction
Computing] architecture, the software has to be optimized to use it," said
Nathan Brookwood, chief analyst at Insight 64, in Saratoga, Calif. "To do
that is a very challenging compiling task. That is where performance will
come from, and it is not clear that Intel has done that yet."
According to Intel, new error-correcting technology in Merced will help OS
vendors create high-availability features for enhanced error-handling
support and monitoring, which will result in downtime measured in minutes
per year.
Merced will be able to power systems such as eight-way, four-node clusters,
and will be able to scale to Silicon Graphics' 512-way systems, according
to Hemant Dhulla, IA-64 program manager at Intel.
Despite such advances in scalability, other chip manufacturers such as
Compaq and Sun are not standing still, Brookwood pointed out, and there
will still be a race to see whether Merced will outperform RISC processors.
"For IA-64 to have an impact on the industry, Intel will have to
demonstrate superior value and performance, and they haven't shown that
yet," Brookwood said.
Intel Corp., in Santa Clara, Calif., can be reached at www.intel.com.
InfoWorld Editor at Large Ephraim Schwartz is based in San Mateo, Calif.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Sun Feb 28 14:07:02 1999
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Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 13:15:33 -0600
To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu,
Noah Roselander ,
Ruth Rozen ,
Elisa & Ophir Trigalo ,
otrigalo@wppost.depaul.edu, David Weinstein ,
Ron Weinstein
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Satellite seizure, blackmail reported
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Satellite seizure, blackmail reported
By Reuters
Special to CNET News.com
February 28, 1999, 7:35 a.m. PT
LONDON--Hackers have reportedly seized control of one of Britain's military
communication satellites and issued blackmail threats.
The Sunday Business newspaper, quoting security sources, reported today
that the intruders altered the course of one of Britain's four satellites
used by defense planners and military forces around the world.
The sources said the satellite's course was changed just over two weeks
ago. The hackers then issued a blackmail threat, demanding money to stop
interfering with the satellite, according to the report.
"This is a nightmare scenario," one intelligence source said. Military
strategists said that, if Britain were to come under nuclear attack, an
aggressor would first interfere with military communications systems.
"This is not just a case of computer nerds mucking about. This is very,
very serious, and the blackmail threat has made it even more serious," a
security source said.
Police said they would not comment because the investigation was at too
sensitive a stage. The Ministry of Defense made no comment.
Story Copyright © 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Sun Feb 28 14:08:52 1999
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Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 13:17:30 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Intel To Invest In Linux PC Vendor VA Research
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Intel To Invest In Linux PC Vendor VA Research
Sunday February 28 1:42 PM ET
By Therese Poletti
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - VA Research Inc., a developer of Intel-based PCs,
servers and workstations running the increasingly popular Linux operating
system, is expected to announce Monday that it will receive an investment
from chip giant Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news), according to industry
sources.
The investment, which will also include some venture capitalists, is
Intel's second in a Linux-related startup company. The announcement will be
made the day before Linux World -- the first big trade show devoted to
Linux -- begins.
Linux is an alternative version of the UNIX operating system which runs on
Intel-based systems and on other computer architectures such as Compaq
Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ - news)'s Alpha chip. Developed by Finnish
programmer Linus Torvalds in 1991, the software is maintained by a group of
far-flung programmers and given away over the Internet.
While the number of Linux users is still small compared to Windows, the
momentum for Linux has been gaining steam in recent months, as more and
more computer makers have said they will offer Linux on their hardware,
including International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news)
Late last year, Intel, Netscape Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:NSCP - news)
and two venture capital firms invested in Red Hat Inc., a distributor of
Linux which charges to distribute and support Linux software, which mostly
runs on computer servers.
VA Research, based in Mountain View, Calif., was founded in 1993 to provide
Linux-based hardware, software, service and support. Its co-founder, Larry
Augustin founded the company while he was an electrical engineering
graduate student at Stanford University.
Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital of Menlo Park, Calif. is already an
investor in VA Research.
``I can't confirm or deny anything,'' said Augustin, when asked about
Intel's investment. An Intel spokesman in Santa Clara, Calif., declined to
comment.
With its investment in Red Hat, based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., and
now with VA Research, Intel is continuing its strategy of ensuring that its
processors run on all major software environments, including versions of
the UNIX operating system, which was designed for multi-user networked
computing.
>From Owner-HyperNews@dept102.it-ias.depaul.edu Sun Feb 28 14:23:13 1999
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Links:
Information for this posting comes from the following source:
http://technet.microsoft.com/cdonline/content/complete/boes/bo/winntas/prodfact/vpnovw.htm
This VPN overview from Microsoft is full of detailed information, registration for Technet is free like MSDN
Other sources to look at:
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-pppext-pptp-08.txt - Draft of PPTP protocol by MSFT, ASCEND, 3Com/USR
and others
--------------------------------------------------------------
>From the prior postings to this question, we know that:
1. VPN's are a possible solutions to allow company employees to connect to the
LAN through the internet instead of through direct dial-up connections that become
expensive for the company to maintain
2. A VPN in it's simplest form is essentially a remote client communicating
with a private network through any intermediate public or private network
3. A viable VPN solution must provide the following characteristics:
User authentication
Assign client addresses
Data Encryption
--------------------------------------------------------------
Let's build on this a little by looking at the key concept behind implementing a VPN, tunneling. Then we will look
at the protocol many of the tunneling solutions are built on, PPP(Point to Point Protocol)
The basic method(protocol) for sending packets back and forth over any intermediate network is called tunneling. The
procedure is that on the originating end, the packets or frames(usually PPP frames) have an additional header added
to them, unique to the tunneling protocol. This special tunneling header that contains additional information to
push the packet/frame through the intermediate network to the other end of the tunnel. The packet/frame is
encapsulated with the tunneling header, and then wrapped with a header for whatever protocol is being used over the
intermediate network: IP, ATM, and so on. The packet is then sent over the intermediate network. Once the packet
reaches the other end of the tunnel it is unencapsulated(the tunneling header is removed) and the PPP frame
continues on to the proper location.
A good tunneling solution needs to support multiple protocols. While the intermediate network the majority of
corporations will try to use is the internet, there could be other possibilities for intermediate networks that use
protocols other than IP. For example, say a company has two divisions doing separate work and would like to keep
them on separate networks connected by a VPN. Let's say the internal intermediate network they use implemets ATM
instead of IP. Now at the same time they want to allow employees to access the networks from home through the
internet(IP). The same tunneling protocol now needs to be able to work for both ATM and IP.
The basic procedure for data exchange through a tunnel is summarized by this example:
Let's say we have a packet that we want to send from our network to a remote client, let's say our internal network
is using IP so we have an IP packet.
1. The remote access server on the network takes this network packet and creates a PPP frame out of it. The protocol
for making this PPP frame(described below) takes care of user authentication, addressing and encryption. So by
building the tunneling protocol on top of PPP we inherit the necessary characteristics of a viable VPN solution for
free.
2. Next the PPP frame is encapsulated with the tunneling protocol header
3. Then the encapsulated PPP frame is wrapped up in the protocol of the intermediate network(IP, ATM, IPX and so on)
and sent into the tunnel.
4. The packet is recieved on the other end, the tunneling protocol header is removed(unencapsulated) and the packet
is forwarded to it's final destination as described by the PPP frame.
Tunneling protocols such as PPTP(Point to Point Tunneling Protocol) and L2TP(Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol) are built
on PPP for the simple reason that they can inherit many of the required features of a VPN solution from it. PPP
provides the tunneling solution with the following features:
1. User Authentication
2. Dynamic Addressing
3. Data Compression and Encryption
plus more that are not mentioned here.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Since many specific tunneling solutions encapsulate - PPP(Point to Point Protocol) - what is it and how is it part
of tunneling?
The protocol defines the following sequence to create a remote connection to the network.
The first phase uses Link Control Protocol to establishing the physical connection between the remote user and the
network. Here the network control protocols are setup(IP, IPX, ATM and so on)
With the link established the user must authenticate themselves to the remote server that will give them access to
the network. Microsoft remote access server for Windows NT networks uses a modified a challenge handshake protocol
for authentication. What does this this mean? In it's simplist form, the challenge handshake protocol is as follows,
the remote server sends a arbitrary "challenge string" to the client. The remote client takes the users entry for
the password and a propritary hashing algorithm to encrypt the challenge string. It then sends the encrypted
challenge string, the session ID, user ID and the passwork back to the server. Since the server knows the users
password it can decrypt the challenge string of the user with the proper password. If the decrypted version of the
challenge string is the same as the original, then the server accepts the connection. The server never directly
checks the password. Throught the course of the session the server will send repeated challenges to the remote
client at random intervals to protect against somebody impersonating an authenticated user.
The remote server collects all this authentication information and passes it on to a central authentication server
for the Windows NT network, this is usually the primary domain controller. With authentication complete, the
networking protocols are now invoked. The remote client is given an address so that it can be identified on the
network. At this time the data compression and data encryption schemes are setup also.
With the setup complete, we now have a PPP frame for the remote connection. This frame is wrapped by the tunneling
header, compressed and encrypted by the procedures agreed when the tunnel was created. At this point the
encapsulation is complete and the packet is ready to be wrapped up and sent over the intermediate network
--------------------------------------------------------------
Kishore J Doshi - DS420 Thursday section
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Mar 1 12:53:55 1999
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Date: Mon, 01 Mar 1999 12:01:42 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Sun debuts new Java Embedded Server
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Sun debuts new Java Embedded Server
By Nancy Weil
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 9:32 AM PT, Mar 1, 1999
Sun Microsystems on Monday said the next version of its Java Embedded
Server is available now and a future release will allow service providers
to deploy Jini technology.
The next version of the Java Embedded Server will include a look-up and
registry service component that allows service providers to use Jini
technology's "Simply Connect" software for homes, offices, and remote
environments that connect intermittently to networks, Sun said. The
component currently goes by the code name "Project Aladdin," according to Sun.
The Java Embedded Server is a small-footprint server designed to extend
Sun's reach into the remote environment market. Jini technology, launched
recently to great fanfare, was created to allow any device to connect to a
network, regardless of the software or hardware used.
Sun also said Monday that the next release of its Java Embedded Server will
comply with the Open Services Gateway Initiative's (OSGI's) 1.0
specification dealing with deployment of network services to remote
environments.
As for the upcoming OSGI specification, it is expected to be out in the
second half of this year. The specification deals with services gateways,
which are connection points between enterprise data centers and LANs in
homes or small offices. Service providers use the gateways to install,
uninstall, and administer network applications via the Internet. Banks can
use a gateway server to upgrade the functions offered in automatic teller
machines at remote locations, for instance.
The Java Embedded Server, announced Monday and available now, is Version
1.0. The next version will be out in the second half of this year, Sun
said. Additional information regarding the server software can be found at
java.sun.com/embeddedserver.
Sun Microsystems Inc., in Palo Alto, Calif., can be reached at www.sun.com.
Nancy Weil is a Boston correspondent for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld
affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Mar 1 12:57:54 1999
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Subject: Major Unix flaw emerges
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Major Unix flaw emerges
Built-in bug lets hackers shut down ISPs at will, but Unix vendors don't
seem overly concerned.
By Randy Barrett, Inter@ctive Week Online
March 1, 1999 9:30 AM PT
A newly discovered Unix design flaw threatens thousands of computers that
operate on the Internet.
The vulnerability opens Unix-based servers to a new kind of
denial-of-service attack that overloads the servers' ability to answer
incoming queries, according to security expert and Internet service
provider (ISP) owner Simson Garfinkel. Garfinkel's ISP, Vineyard.Net,
experienced such an attack in early 1998, but Garfinkel soon realized the
situation was an accident caused by a subscriber's faulty software.
"The buggy software would finger our computer every minute, but it never
hung up," Garfinkel said.
By not terminating the connection, the program quickly loaded up his Unix
server's "process tables" and brought the ISP to a standstill for two hours.
"We didn't go looking for this. It hit us. It's not theoretical," Garfinkel
said.
The attack entails sending repeated open-connection requests to a Unix
server. Subprograms - like Internet Daemon, Secure Shell Daemon and
Internet Message Access Protocol Daemon - are written to automatically
answer the connection and carry out requests. But if the connection is
initiated with no request, most Daemons keep the line open, using resources
from the server's process table, which can handle between 600 and 1,500
simultaneous tasks. Repeated connections eventually overload the process
table and crash the server.
Garfinkel publicly outlined the vulnerability - which affects nearly all
Unix-based platforms, including Irix, Linux and Solaris - on a security
newsgroup Feb. 19. This was after his repeated attempts to notify
programmers at Berkeley Software Design Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Silicon
Graphics Inc. and Sun Microsystems of the problem last year. None of the
vendors gave it any notice, Garfinkel said.
"It wasn't new enough to immediately gain attention. It's a design flaw,
not a bug," said Gene Spafford, professor of computer science at Purdue
University.
Sabotage can come from outside
Process table attacks are old news to Unix programmers, but Garfinkel
discovered that the assault can come from the outside. Previously,
developers only thought such sabotage could come from someone with internal
access.
AT&T Fellow Steven Bellovin said the vulnerability is real. "If I were
running a popular server, I would at least try to add some resource
limitation."
Garfinkel said the servers most open to attack are those used for
electronic mail, file serving and Web hosting. Protecting against it is
relatively easy: Daemon programs can be rewritten to limit incoming
connections or drop them after 30 seconds.
"They need to have a governor installed," Garfinkel said.
BSDI Director of Product Marketing Douglas Urner said the process table
threat is hardly catastrophic. "In theory, there is a vulnerability here,
which is like saying the gas in your car might explode."
BSDI software safe
Urner said the flaw probably wouldn't affect most BSDI software, because of
existing safeguards.
SGI Principal Engineer Bill Earl said the threat exists but isn't a big
deal, because the Daemons can be easily configured to limit incoming
connections.
Red Hat Software spokeswoman Melissa London wasn't familiar with the
process table problem, but she said holes in Linux usually are solved
quickly on public open source bulletin boards. "If there is any breach,
we'll work to fix it," she said.
A perceived lack of responsible vendor action to patch the problem is
partly what spurred Garfinkel to make the attack known.
"They don't do anything unless its publicly exposed," he said. "I can shut
down any one of their servers on the Net."
Hard to stay hidden
But if he did, Garfinkel wouldn't be able to easily cloak his identity.
Because the onslaught can take up to 10 hours to complete, Unix experts and
vendors agree that maintaining stealth is nearly impossible.
"It's an attack you're unlikely to see people get away with," Urner said.
That fact doesn't assuage the fears of many Unix experts who take the
vulnerability seriously as yet another sign that the Internet isn't robust
enough to handle 21st century threats.
"The real deeper problem is that the whole infrastructure is pretty
rotten," said Peter G. Neumann, principal scientist at the Computer Science
Lab at SRI International.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Mar 1 13:00:15 1999
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Subject: Intel throws weight behind Linux
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Intel throws weight behind Linux
By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
March 1, 1999, 4:40 a.m. PT
update VA Research is receiving an investment from Intel and has acquired
the coveted Linux.com domain name for use as a portal site dedicated to the
Unix-like operating system, industry sources said.
The announcements are expected to occur this week at the LinuxWorld
Conference and Expo in San Jose, California. VA is expected to help get
Linux running on Merced, the first chip based on Intel's next-generation
IA-64 architecture, sources said.
Intel's Linux-related investment, on the heels of others, furthers the
chipmaker's support of operating systems other than those developed by
Microsoft.
In a related announcement, database maker Oracle plans to make an
unspecified equity investment in Red Hat Software, according to the Wall
Street Journal. Red Hat sells the operating system along with customer
support.
In another boost for Linux, Silicon Graphics, Hewlett-Packard, and other
companies are expected to join in a show of support for the fast-growing OS
this week.
HP, a partner with Intel in the IA-64 chip plan, also has pledged to bring
Linux to IA-64 chips. SGI's Intel-based Visual Workstations get a 15
percent to 30 percent performance benefit from graphics capabilities in
Intel's new Pentium III chip, and SGI has made part of its OpenGL 3-D
graphics system available to the open-source community--the group of
programmers who have helped make Linux successful. SGI also is working with
Red Hat and others to make OpenGL useful under Linux.
Obtaining the Linux.com domain is a coup for privately held VA Research,
which has sold Linux computers since 1993. The company plans to use the
domain for a general-purpose Linux site, complete with archives, technical
information and news, Linux community sources said. VA Research will
maintain the site and it will be governed by an advisory board from the
Linux community.
The address has been registered to Linux developer Fred van Kempen. Sources
said competition for the domain name was intense.
VA Research spokespeople declined comment on whether it had obtained
Linux.com or whether it would receive an investment from Intel.
Spokespeople for Intel could not be reached for comment.
Although VA Research faces increased competition as giants such as IBM,
Compaq Computer, Dell Computer, and HP join the Linux trend, the company is
holding its own. VA, for example, was able to offer new Pentium III-based
systems Friday--timed with the debut of the new chip.
In a previous interview, VA Research chief executive Larry Augustin said
part of his company's goal is to help the Linux community push Linux into
heavier-duty hardware systems, where many processors are running side-by-side.
Intel's move boosts Microsoft competition
Intel's stake in VA Research comes less than a week after the chipmaker
teamed with development tool company Cygnus Solutions to bring support for
new Pentium chips to Linux software development tools. Five months ago,
Intel announced an investment in Red Hat, which sells distributions of
Linux packaged with other software and technical support. Acting like a
venture capitalist, the chip giant typically makes minority investments in
these companies.
Intel executives have said the support for Linux is part of the company's
plan to make its chips the "unifying architecture" that many different
companies choose as the hardware beneath their operating systems. Intel is
helping Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Santa Cruz Operation, Compaq, and
others port their operating systems to IA-64 chips.
"They don't care what it's running as long as there's an Intel chip inside
it," said Tom Henkel, an analyst with Gartner Group.
When computer users are demanding a new operating system, Intel wants to
make sure that the OS works on Intel chips, Mike Pope, manager of
enterprise software programs at Intel, has said previously. That's why
Intel invested in Red Hat and Cygnus.
Microsoft concedes that Linux poses competition but claims that the Intel
investments aren't a threat. "We have to earn our way in the marketplace
every day," said Ed Muth, group product manager for Windows 2000.
"We have always had a good relationship with Intel," Muth said. "We
understand the business opportunities Intel perceives [that are] unrelated
to Windows."
He added that Microsoft has taken similar steps by selecting non-Intel
chips for Windows NT and Windows CE. Muth also argued that Linux competes
more with Unix operating systems than it does with Windows, and "most of
the world does not want to run Unix, particularly on their desktop."
But some analysts think Microsoft downplays the threat. The fast growth of
Linux "has come at the expense of Windows NT and second-tier Unix vendors,"
Gartner's Henkel said.
Linux has hit a sweet spot by offering Unix reliability without the high
price. "Customers are opting for the blue light special over the blue
screen special," Henkel said, referring to the Linux's low cost and the
"blue screen of death" that displays when Windows NT crashes.
News.com's Jeff Pelline contributed to this report.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Mar 1 13:02:15 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft to mount multifaceted I-commerce offensive
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Microsoft to mount multifaceted I-commerce offensive
By Matthew Nelson and Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 1:15 PM PT, Feb 26, 1999
In one fell swoop, Microsoft is poised this week to shake up several
aspects of the electronic commerce landscape, including commerce
applications, commerce system connectivity, and the emerging commerce
portal market.
Among the company's announcements will be the latest version of its Site
Server Commerce Edition -- likely to be renamed Commerce Enterprise Server
-- that will be so closely tied to Microsoft's future Windows 2000 that it
will not operate with Windows NT 4.0, according to sources close to the
company.
Another change in Commerce Enterprise Server will be that a staple of the
current Site Server Commerce Edition, the Commerce Interchange Pipeline
(CIP), will be removed and offered as a separate product, referred to as
Commerce Interchange Server. Although CIP previously provided its own way
of conveying transmissions between commerce applications, Commerce
Interchange Server will now include Extensible Markup Language (XML)
technology to facilitate interoperability, sources close to Microsoft said.
Commerce Interchange Server will include an interchange engine, a data
transformation engine, mapping tools, and an application connector
architecture, all of which will support XML Document Type Definitions, the
sources added.
Microsoft officials declined to comment.
One analyst said Microsoft is playing catch-up in one of the Internet's
hottest markets.
"They're way behind the eight ball, relative to IBM having mind share for
I-commerce ... Microsoft has been envying IBM's campaign for a long time,"
said Dwight Davis, an analyst at Summit Strategies, in Kirkland, Wash.
"Microsoft at long last is coming out with a strategy around Site Server
and SQL Server and other things they will claim as their I-commerce
solution. Microsoft will say that this solution already blows [IBM] away in
terms of actual installation."
Microsoft will also announce next week that it is moving into the commerce
portal arena with the creation of Microsoft Network (MSN) Marketplace,
sources said.
MSN Marketplace will be similar to Yahoo Store and Lycos Shop. It will be
based on the Microsoft New Interactive Technology for Resellers Online, or
Nitro technology and will also utilize XML. MSN Marketplace is intended to
attract consumers to use the portal for the selling of wares in a type of
"federation" of merchants.
The software giant's move into the commerce portal market demonstrates the
rapid acceptance such portals are expected to see. But Microsoft does not
have all of the pieces in place yet, one analyst said.
"MSN Marketplace is the most technically advanced vision of using XML to
create a trading community [to date]," said Vernon Keenan, an Internet
analyst at Keenan Vision, in San Francisco, which next week will release
The Keenan Report: The E-Merchant Opportunity. "But they lack a complete
solution that includes banking and other financial services. They still
require you to get your own merchant account."
Microsoft's announcements will be made at its Commerce Solutions Briefing,
hosted by Chairman and CEO Bill Gates, in San Francisco.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Matthew Nelson is an InfoWorld senior writer. Bob Trott is InfoWorld's
Seattle bureau chief.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Mon Mar 1 17:09:42 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Oracle ships 8i database
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Oracle ships 8i database
By Wylie Wong
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
March 1, 1999, 12:35 p.m. PT
A key component in Oracle's strategy to render Microsoft's Windows
unnecessary is finally hitting the streets.
Oracle today began shipping its Oracle 8i database, two months after the
company's initial release date.
"We had a minor hiccup with an eight-week slip, but for a two-and-half year
development for Oracle, we almost hit our date on the nose," said Jeremy
Burton, Oracle's vice president of server marketing.
"We said two months ago that we were...doing integration and testing of
software and development tools, and we're happy today to ship the product
out the door," he said.
Oracle has touted its Oracle 8i as a product that could kill off or at
least hurt Microsoft's Windows NT Server operating system. It is packed
with new features the company says offers customers a complete application
deployment platform for the Internet, including built-in development tools,
directory services, and a Java Virtual Machine to run Java application code.
With the new release, Oracle is trying to free itself from relying on core
Windows NT functions, such as the NT file system. The upcoming Internet
File System, now in beta and planned for a final release in late summer,
will store and manage Web pages as well as Windows application files.
A sister product--the forthcoming Oracle 8i "Raw Iron" appliance, with a
Solaris operating system kernel from Sun Microsystems--will allow
businesses to build and use applications without having to use an operating
system, such as Windows NT. The product will be sold by Dell and
Hewlett-Packard.
Merv Adrian, vice president of Giga Information Group, said Oracle's
challenge now is to do a good job marketing and selling the new database.
"What they need to do to make 8i successful, which they already are doing,
is put together an effective, coherent, and focused strategy for competing
with Microsoft--and they're doing a hell of a job."
Jeff Grant, IT manager for record company Nettwerk Productions, said he was
jazzed about 8i, but doesn't think it or the "Raw Iron" appliance will kill
off Windows NT.
Grant, who began tinkering with the beta version of 8i two weeks ago,
raves about the built-in Java Virtual Machine that executes Java
application code. The company has between 40,000 to 60,000 subscribers to
its mailing lists for artists such as Sarah McLachlan and the Barenaked
Ladies--and using the Java Mail package will save him time because he can
send email directly from the database, he said.
"It's like a life saver," he said. "No more using another mail server. No
more screwing around with building data cartridges for the server. Now you
have the ability to call the Java routine straight from the database and no
longer have to use a go between."
He doesn't see 8i--or the upcoming appliance--as the Windows NT killer
Oracle hopes it will be, but it can hurt Microsoft's sales.
"8i gives you a lot of stuff, but it can't get rid of NT," Grant said. "The
whole Sun, HP, NT thing: It's politics. And some guys live and breath and
swear by NT."
Grant, who uses Solaris on the Web site, but uses NT to code software with
his laptop, said he's excited about the 8i appliance "You no longer have to
deal with an operating system. You don't have to be a specialist in NT. In
order to be a good database administrator, all you need is to understand
the Oracle side of things."
Oracle 8i is available for Windows NT, Solaris, HP-UX, IBM-AIX, Compaq
Tru64 Unix, and Sequent DYNIX/ptx. Pricing is the same as Oracle 8,
starting at $1,475 for a five-concurrent user license.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Mar 2 10:08:45 1999
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Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 09:16:22 -0600
To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu, Ophir Trigalo
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: IBM Says Its Internet Sales Rise to About $1 Billion a Month
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IBM Says Its Internet Sales Rise to About $1 Billion a Month
JEFF BLISS
c.1999 Bloomberg News
ARMONK, N.Y. -- International Business Machines Corp. is selling about $1
billion a month online and expects to save $340 million this year as the
No. 1 computer maker uses the Internet to reach buyers and cut costs.
Last year, the company sold a total of $3.3 billion of software and
computers via the Internet.
IBM is looking to duplicate the success of Dell Computer Corp., the world's
top direct seller of personal computers, Cisco Systems Inc., the No. 1
networking company, and others that conduct business online. Companies like
Dell and Cisco sell their products via the global computer network and save
money by purchasing parts and answering customer requests online.
``They are doing what Dell and Cisco have been doing successfully for some
time,'' said Ulric Weil, an analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co.,
who rates IBM ``buy.''
Armonk, New York-based IBM will save $240 million this year by purchasing
materials electronically. It will conduct more employee training on the
Internet to save another $100 million.
IBM also will switch more of its customer service to the World Wide Web.
``The Internet is 70 percent to 90 percent cheaper than any (service)
transaction involving a human,'' said Richard Anderson, IBM's general
manager of enterprise Web management.
Dell, based in the Austin suburb of Round Rock, Texas, expects Internet
sales to account for half of its sales in two years. Dell plans to further
cut inventory levels by buying components on the Internet.
San Jose, California-based Cisco sells $10 million of products every day
via the Internet and provides almost all of its customer service on the
World Wide Web.
In November, John Chambers, Cisco's president and chief executive, said the
company saved $500 million by using the Web. Distributing software via the
Internet instead of on compact disks or floppy disks accounted for about
half of the savings.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Mar 2 10:12:55 1999
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Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Windows may crash after 49.7 days
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Windows may crash after 49.7 days
By Stephanie Miles
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
March 1, 1999, 5:50 p.m. PT
A bizarre and probably obscure bug will crash some Windows computers after
about a month and a half of use.
The problem, which affects both Microsoft Windows 95 and 98 operating
systems, was confirmed by the company in an alert to its users last week.
"After exactly 49.7 days of continuous operation, your Windows 95-based
computer may stop responding," Microsoft warned its users, without much
further explanation. The problem is apparently caused by a timing
algorithm, according to the company.
Microsoft has posted a fix for the problem, but cautions that the patch has
not yet been completely tested and should only be downloaded by users
affected by the problem. However, if you have used your computer for two
months straight without a problem, it is probably safe to assume that you
are not affected.
Microsoft confirmed the bug warning, but could not be reached to elaborate
on how many users the problem will hit, exactly why the glitch occurs, or
when a more reliable fix will be available.
Microsoft is in the process of testing a collection of bug fixes for
Windows 98, and in fact released the second version of the OEM (original
equipment manufacturers) Service Release (OSR) to beta testers, according
to a report from beta tester Web site BetaNews. Microsoft confirmed it has
released the second OSR beta.
Microsoft will likely include the fix in the OSR, which will eventually be
shipped to PC makers to load onto new systems. In addition to this fix, OSR
also includes:
Internet Explorer 5
Microsoft Active Accessibility
WebTV for Windows Update
Microsoft NetMeeting
Internet Connection Sharing
Signature Verification Tool
Related news stories
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Mar 2 10:14:45 1999
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Subject: Microsoft Windows To Use Dialogic Phone Software
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Microsoft Windows To Use Dialogic Phone Software
Tuesday March 2 9:49 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Promising to merge phone and fax functions into
computers, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) and Dialogic Corp.
(Nasdaq:DLGC - news) Tuesday said Microsoft planned to build Dialogic
software into the Windows computer operating system.
By agreeing to incorporate Dialogic software directly into Windows,
Microsoft will make such features standard in the computer industry. More
than 90 percent of personal computers run Microsoft Windows.
The plan marks a breakthrough endorsement for the so-called computer
telephony industry, which has labored in obscurity for years while awaiting
mainstream acceptance.
Microsoft said it will license Dialogic's CT Media server software, and
Dialogic will provide development services to Microsoft in return for $20
million and an equity investment of $24.2 million, giving Microsoft a 5
percent stake in Dialogic.
Dialogic is a Parsippany, N.J.-based manufacturer of components that allow
voice, fax, data, voice recognition, speech synthesis and phone operator
call center management features to be offered in computers.
The company's separate CT Media software allows a computer user to send
voice calls or faxes over the Internet. It also incorporates what is known
as ``unified messaging'' features that allow users to view on a single
screen incoming phone calls, faxes and e-mail and to automatically route
outgoing calls.
The deal promises to accelerate the use of computer telephony add-on
boards. The Dialogic software is based on open standards that will allow
Windows PCs to use equipment from a range of manufacturers including
Dialogic and rivals like Brooktrout Technology Inc.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Mar 2 13:29:42 1999
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Subject: Sun gives away major chip designs
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Sun gives away major chip designs
By Brooke Crothers and Stephen Shankland
Staff Writers, CNET News.com
March 2, 1999, 8:50 a.m. PT
update Sun Microsystems will give away core chip technology, mirroring the
open computer code movement in the Linux world.
Sun Microsystems is distributing the basic designs of its two major chip
architectures : Sparc and PicoJava. This is analogous to what's happening
in the Linux world where computer code is basically free. Netscape also
does this with its widely used Communicator browser.
The company will make tools and reference materials for its processors
available for download beginning at the end of this month.
"We'll proliferate this technology much more widely than the way we would
under the old model," said Harlan McGhan, manager of architecture marketing
for microelectronics at Sun.
The licensing terms let people use the information for research purposes,
requiring royalty payments to Sun only when people actually ship products,
McGhan said.
"Anyone can download, modify, and synthesize the processors for free. Sun
will charge a royalty only if customers ship the processors for revenue,"
according to Jim Turley writing in the Microprocessor Report's Embedded
Processor Watch.
"In the old days, Sun told start-ups and small companies, 'Thanks for your
interest, now come back when you're big enough.' Now we don't have to say
that," said McGhan.
"The maneuver is not unlike the open-source movement that is growing in
popularity among software developers. Like Linux, Apache, Netscape's
Communicator, and other software products, the 'source code' for
'synthesizing' Sun's processors will be free for the asking," according to
Turley.
After downloading the data, users may alter the core of the PicoJava or
SPARC processors in any way, even if they break a basic level of
compatibility--called binary compatibility--with other SPARC or Java
processors.
"Users will be encouraged--but not required--to give any such modifications
back to the community, so that third parties may benefit from the
enhancements," Turley said.
There is an important distinction compared to Linux, however. The design
freedom does not extend to shipping products. Before customers can make
chips and ship for revenue, they must demonstrate compliance.
Moreover, royalty terms must be negotiated with Sun before any chips ship
based on the downloaded designs. Royalty rates are negotiated on a
case-by-case basis.
The PicoJava-I technology will be available for download at the end of
March. Sun expects to make SPARC technology available by midyear, according
to Sun's McGhan. By the end of the summer, the designs for a 32-bit
UltraSparc chip will be on the Web, and the last microprocessor family, the
64-bit UltraSparc, will be up by the end of 1999, he said.
"On the surface, it appears to be a good move to broaden the appeal of
Sun's two processor families. Developers can evaluate SPARC and Java
processors with no up-front cost or risk." Turley said.
Sun's plan is similar to the way Sun is releasing the source code of the
Java 2--the original programming instructions before they're converted into
the low-level languages spoken by computer chips.
Until today, licensees had to pay an up-front royalty, a large impediment
to companies without lots of money, lawyers, or time, McGhan said.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Mar 2 16:17:49 1999
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HP splits into two independent companies
By Marc Ferranti
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 11:01 AM PT, Mar 2, 1999
Hewlett-Packard on Tuesday announced a corporate reorganization that will
split the company into two independent organizations.
HP is making the move to sharpen its strategic focus, improve its agility,
and increase responsiveness to partners and customers, said Lewis E. Platt,
the company's chairman, president, and CEO, in a statement.
The company's board of directors approved the move, one of the largest
splits in corporate history, at a special meeting called Tuesday. Under the
plan, HP stockholders will hold shares in each company.
The plan calls for the creation of two distinct companies -- one focused on
the measurement business, the other on computing and imaging, according to
Platt's statement.
The companies will be independently managed, each with its own board of
directors and its own research and development organization.
The new, as-yet unnamed, measurement company will comprise HP's test and
measurement, components, chemical analysis, and medical businesses. Edward
Barnholt, currently HP's executive vice president and general manager of
the Measurement Organization, has been named CEO of the new measurement
company.
HP may issue an initial public offering for the new measurement company by
the end of this year, company officials said.
Meanwhile, the new computing and imaging company will continue to operate
as HP, retaining the HP name and include all of HP's enterprise computing
systems, software, and services; personal computer; and printing and
imaging solutions businesses. A search is being conducted for a CEO for the
new HP, reconstituted as a computing and imaging company.
Platt will act as HP chairman, president, and CEO until the separation plan
is completed.
Hewlett-Packard Co., in Palo Alto, Calif., can be reached at www.hp.com.
Marc Ferranti is the news editor for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld
affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Mar 2 16:29:18 1999
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Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1999 15:36:55 -0600
To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu, jdp@daphnis.cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Oracle: Brave new world of Linux, Java
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Oracle: Brave new world of Linux, Java
By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
March 2, 1999, 12:35 p.m. PT
SAN JOSE, California--Linux and Java will form the core of a brave new
computer world that is centered on the Internet and eventually bypasses
Microsoft, according to the view espoused by database company Oracle.
And to assure that Oracle has a place in that future, the company will give
Linux developers free versions of its new flagship "Internet database"
Oracle 8i software, said Mark Jarvis, head of worldwide marketing for
Oracle, during a keynote address today at the LinuxWorld Conference and
Expo here.
Oracle 8i will be available for the Linux operating system in 60 days, and
Oracle will make the software free for developers in 30 days, the company
said.
Oracle has 1,465 Linux servers in use in the company--one out of every
10--Jarvis said. Oracle is working to help Linux scale so it can be used on
bigger and bigger systems, leading to a world where Linux is on big servers
instead of lots of little servers, Jarvis said.
Jarvis, liberally plugging Oracle 8i and slamming Microsoft during his
talk, said Oracle is the database that powers Amazon.com, the CIA, and the
KGB.
Oracle 8i comes with a Java virtual machine that can handle as many as
10,000 users, Jarvis said, and within three years, Java will be the
dominant technology in the computer world. "We're betting on Java," he said.
To support Java, Oracle is giving away two versions of Java development
software, one for professional programmers and one for "Sunday
programmers," he said.
Java, Oracle, and Linux will be key in moving to a world where people do
their computing with simple Internet browsers connected to powerful servers
over the Internet, he said. The approach saves money, makes it easier to
backup data or upgrade software, and typifies what is being done today on
the Internet's most powerful sites, he said.
You don't need a CD-ROM of software to use Amazon.com, he said.
Linux is a Unix-like operating system developed by Linus Torvalds and
countless other programmers across the Internet. It's growing both in
popularity and reputation, and most of the computing industry has moved to
embrace it in one way or another in recent months.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Mar 3 10:08:54 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: IBM launches biggest Linux lineup ever
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IBM launches biggest Linux lineup ever
On March 2, at LinuxWorld, IBM announced support for Linux, the open-source
operating system. The announcement, of planned key alliances, flagship
products, and the industry's most comprehensive service offering, makes IBM
the only company to provide complete solutions of hardware, software and
technical support for Linux.
The news includes:
IBM will support major versions of Linux globally, giving customers a
single point of contact for all of their technical support needs;
IBM will work with four commercial distributors of Linux -- Caldera Systems
Inc., Pacific HiTech Inc., Red Hat Software Inc., and SuSE Holding AG -- to
pave the way for co-marketing, development, training and support
initiatives that will help customers deploy Linux;
Key IBM WebSphere products will ship later this year, including two
application servers and a performance pack, enabling Linux customers to
exploit the Web to perform tasks ranging from simple Web publishing to
Java-based transactional processing;
Availability of the industry's first commercial, Java-based emulator for
Linux -- IBM Host On-Demand -- which provides secure access to core
enterprise data and applications via a Web browser;
IBM will begin beta testing, in the second quarter, its On-Demand Server
for Linux, which manages access to e-business applications by users,
groups, and devices ;
IBM is working with the Linux community to port Linux to selected IBM
RS/6000 models.
According to IDC Research, Linux is the fastest-growing server operating
environment. In 1998, some 750,000 Linux servers were installed, reflecting
a 212 percent growth rate and 17 percent of all new server placements.
To learn more about IBM's Linux initiatives, visit the Linux at IBM
overview page (http://www.software.ibm.com/is/mp/linux).
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Mar 3 11:55:44 1999
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Date: Wed, 03 Mar 1999 11:03:25 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: HP, SAP Beef Up Linux Support
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HP, SAP Beef Up Linux Support
(03/03/99, 10:56 a.m. ET)
By Eileen Colkin, InformationWeek
Linux continues to gain momentum and credibility as it receives increasing
support from dominant industry vendors. Hewlett-Packard and SAP on Monday
each touted individual efforts to increase offerings on the platform,
starting off what promises to be a big week for Linux-related announcements.
Beefing up its efforts to speed the adoption of Linux in the enterprise and
in the Internet software-development arena, HP outlined a new organization
designated to develop tools and technologies for applications deployed on
Linux, Windows NT, or HP-UX systems. The Open Source Solutions Operation
will be a subdivision of HP's Internet and applications systems unit.
According to HP, Linux is becoming the platform of choice, particularly in
the e-commerce and ISP market, and therefore, the company intends to make
Linux a key part of its operating-system strategy. The Palo Alto, Calif.,
company also plans to provide services, training, and electronic support
for developers and system administrators using Linux. HP earlier this month
integrated Linux into its NetServer and IA-64 architecture systems.
Companies like HP have brand weight and resources, which make announcements
such as this important to the Linux cause. But according to Stacey Quandt,
an analyst with the Giga Group, the trickle-down effect is equally
significant.
"When the big companies make their announcements, there are more
opportunities for the smaller applications vendors to support it, so
there's even more room for Linux to grow," she said. Quandt said she
believes HP's support of the platform is important, but said other vendors
such as IBM have made equally strong Linux pushes without forming formal
organizations.
Only a few months ago, analysts were unsure how far the open platform would
go, and if vendors would offer more than words to support the system. But
as products continue to roll out, credibility is growing, notably among the
reselling community.
According to a spot survey published yesterday by Computer Reseller News, a
sister publication to InformationWeek, 54 percent of responding resellers
think Linux's low cost and open source code are key selling points over
other operating systems, and more than half the respondents see Linux as a
viable alternative to Windows in the next 12 months.
Quandt agrees that's a compelling story. "Linux is challenging Windows NT
and Windows 2000 on the server level, but it'll take a while for it to get
to the desktop," she said.
SAP also jumped on the Linux train Monday, outlining plans to offer its R/3
enterprise application on the open platform by the third quarter. The
company said it is responding to demands by its customers that it include
the platform in its ERP offerings. SAP will be joined by several of its
hardware and software partners when it presents a full-scale offering of
Linux systems, tools, databases, and support services next week at the
CeBit 99 conference in Hanover, Germany.
Tuesday also promised to be a big day for the platform, as companies
including Computer Associates, IBM, and Intel were preparing to make Linux
development announcements and outline partnerships with Linux software
distributors Caldera Systems, Red Hat Software, and VA Research.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Mar 3 12:36:43 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Sybase says Linux now a priority
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Sybase says Linux now a priority
By Erich Luening
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
March 3, 1999, 8:20 a.m. PT
Support for Linux just keeps on growing.
Sybase today said it plans to ship a fully supported, feature-complete
version of its flagship database, Adaptive Server Enterprise, for the Linux
operating system. The move follows the recent wave of Linux support from a
large group of major vendors.
Sybase said the database will now include the same features and technical
support as Sybase's core Unix and Windows NT database releases.
Linux is a Unix-like operating system developed by Linus Torvalds and
supported by countless other programmers across the Internet. It's growing
both in popularity and reputation, and most of the computing industry has
moved to embrace it in one way or another in recent months.
Sybase is no newcomer to the Linux market. The Emeryville, California-based
company has offered a free, unsupported version of Adaptive Server
Enterprise for Linux since last August.
After months of strong customer enthusiasm for Adaptive Server Enterprise
for Linux, Sybase is extending its commitment to Linux by supporting it as
a core platform.
In addition, Sybase also announced its plans to offer a fully-supported
Linux version of its mobile and embedded database product, SQL Anywhere
Studio, targeting such applications as monitoring systems and point-of-sale
devices.
Sybase said it plans to begin shipping versions of the Adaptive Server
Enterprise for the Linux platform in the second quarter of this year.
Pricing details will be released upon general availability, the company said.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Mar 4 10:18:53 1999
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Date: Thu, 04 Mar 1999 09:26:17 -0600
To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu,
Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Dell, IBM to sign multibillion-dollar pact
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Dell, IBM to sign multibillion-dollar pact
By Jana Sanchez
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:04 AM PT, Mar 4, 1999
IBM and Dell are going to announce a strategic multibillion-dollar
technology pact, which the companies claim to be the largest of its kind
ever, at a press conference in New York Thursday.
The companies announced the press conference via a statement. Senior
executives of each company, likely to include Louis Gerstner of IBM and
Michael Dell, will speak at the press event Thursday morning.
The pact is likely to involve Dell hiring IBM to support Dell's customers
with computer services, according to a report in Thursday's Wall Street
Journal.
Another possibility is that IBM may want to partner with Dell on PCs, the
report said. Although it's as yet unclear exactly what kind of partnership
the two companies might have in mind, IBM may be looking for a deal to help
boost its dwindling market share in PCs. Dell is currently the No. 2 PC
maker behind arch-rival Compaq in first place, according to a recent report
from International Data Corp. Dell is in third place behind Compaq and IBM
internationally, according to IDC.
But it's most likely that the deal will involve services, where IBM is
strong and Dell is weak, since the direct PC vendor is currently without a
single powerful services organization to support the machines it sells.
Last May, Dell moved its services contract from Digital Equipment after
Digital was purchased by Compaq. At that time, Dell struck replacement
services contracts with Wang Global and Unisys.
Neither Dell nor IBM was reachable for comment.
IBM Corp., in Armonk, N.Y., is at www.ibm.com. Dell Computer Corp., in
Round Rock, Texas, is at www.dell.com.
Jana Sanchez is London bureau chief for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld
affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Mar 4 13:51:42 1999
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Date: Thu, 04 Mar 1999 12:59:21 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft Intensifies E-Commerce Strategy
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Microsoft Intensifies E-Commerce Strategy
(03/04/99, 1:41 p.m. ET)
By Tim Scannell and Amy Rogers, Computer Reseller News
Microsoft will release on Thursday details of an extension of its
e-commerce initiative that includes increased collaboration with industry
partners, particularly those offering specialized services or applications.
The technology aspects of this announcement and overall strategy -- called
BizTalk -- center primarily on Windows NT Server 4.0 and application-server
technologies such as Site Server Commerce Edition and SQL Server 7.0.
To date, Microsoft says nearly 200 Microsoft Certified Solution Partners
(MCSPs) have deployed Microsoft e-commerce solutions using Site Server
Commerce Edition.
Companies that have invested heavily in Microsoft e-commerce tools include
Dell, which uses the platform to generate up to $14 million per day in
online sales. Another online user, 1-800-Flowers, averages roughly 100,000
shoppers per day on its site during a typical week.
IPNet Solutions, in Newport Beach, Calif., is among partners Microsoft is
expected to reel off at its E-Commerce Solutions Briefing in San Francisco.
Bob Shields, vice president of marketing at IPNet, said the company will
add support for Microsoft's Site Server and Commerce Interexchange Pipeline
(CIP) to its suite of e-commerce applications.
Using CIP, "you can plug in best-of-breed applications developed on
Microsoft platforms for a highly compatible, almost turnkey solution,"
Shields said.
Microsoft customers are working with more than 100 leading ISVs, eight
global alliance partners, 70 hosting service providers, and thousands of
MCSPs to develop e-commerce solutions based on Microsoft technologies, said
the Redmond, Wash.-based company.
Nearly 11,000 MCSPs worldwide are implementing e-commerce solutions, said
Microsoft. At least 150 MCSPs have expertise on Microsoft Site Server
Commerce Edition, and about 1,200 MCSPs and Site Builders within the United
States were part of an Advanced Web Developer training series hosted by
Microsoft. More than 5,000 Web developers were trained in 1998 on deploying
Microsoft e-commerce solutions, said company sources.
At the briefing, scheduled to take place in San Francisco, Microsoft is
expected to release the names of top ISVs and others working with the
company to develop e-commerce solutions, many for Fortune 500 vendors
involved in ERP activities. These vendors include The Baan Co., J.D.
Edwards & Co., SAP, and PeopleSoft.
Clarus, Commerce One, and Concur Technologies are among the
corporate-minded ISVs to be specifically emphasized by Microsoft.
More than 180 ISVs and system integrators are presently members of the
Microsoft Value Chain Initiative, a consortium of customers and leading
vendors dedicated to providing a framework that lets companies integrate
applications and link "value chains" of trading partners.
More than 600 ISVs are supporting and building applications on the
Microsoft Windows Distributed interNet Applications architecture in various
industries, including financial services, health care, manufacturing,
energy, retail, and distribution, Microsoft said.
As part of its strengthened e-commerce push, Microsoft also is expected to
restate Thursday its dependence on global alliance partners and
professional services and support organizations such as Cambridge
Technology Partners and Ernst & Young.
These companies presently are working to revamp their current business
models to offer more Web-centric services. In fact, New York-based Ernst &
Young was expected to announce Thursday a service designed to help large
and small businesses establish a Web-based and e-commerce presence in less
than 30 days.
Called RapidStart, the program is designed to make use of Ernst & Young's
worldwide consulting and service resources, as well as e-commerce
applications and tools offered by Microsoft. It is described as an
extension of Microsoft's e-commerce initiatives.
As part of this effort, Ernst & Young allied with Microsoft, using the
vendor's e-commerce-related products, including those that support the
Windows Distributed Internet Applications Architecture, Site Server,
BackOffice, and Exchange.
Microsoft has a history of working with global systems integrators,
consulting companies, and other enterprise services organizations,
Microsoft is able to provide high-end e-commerce solutions that enable
organizations to forge stronger relationships with their own customers and
partners.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Mar 4 16:48:19 1999
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Subject: High-tech group recommends dividing up Microsoft
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High-tech group recommends dividing up Microsoft
By Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 1:03 PM PT, Mar 4, 1999
One of the high-tech industry's leading organizations has recommended to
the U.S. Department of Justice that Microsoft be broken up if the software
giant is found guilty of antitrust violations, a source said Thursday.
In a 40-page document, the 23 board members of the Software and Information
Industry Association (SIIA) suggested splitting Microsoft into separate
companies that are focused on specific markets, such as operating systems
or development tools. Another alternative would be creating three or four
smaller versions of the company, according to a source familiar with the
report.
Such an extreme measure is necessary to ensure that Microsoft does not
flout any remedies or circumvent them via loopholes, the source said. The
1995 antitrust consent decree signed by Microsoft and the Justice
Department has been criticized by many Microsoft critics as being too lenient.
The document was forwarded to the Justice Department recently by SIIA
spokesman David Byer, who would not comment on the substance of the report.
"It was commissioned at the request of the [SIIA's] board of directors, who
wanted to look at all the issues related to what could happen if Microsoft
is found guilty and what the potential remedies out there are," Byer said.
Microsoft is one of the 1,400 organizations the SIIA counts among its
members. The SIIA was created Jan. 1 when the Software Publishers
Association and the Information Industry Association merged.
Discussion about what will happen if Microsoft loses the antitrust case,
which is now in recess at least until April, has intensified in recent
weeks. Most legal experts and analysts agree that the software company's
defense did not go well, and they expect the government to prevail. If
Microsoft loses, the company no doubt will appeal U.S. District Judge
Thomas Penfield Jackson's decision.
Another potential remedy being considered is forcing Microsoft to make the
source code for its ubiquitous Windows widely available.
"They've always assumed that the source code for Windows OSes would remain
under their control," said one source familiar with Microsoft's thinking,
who requested anonymity. "Instead, it looks like that's the only punishment
the [Department of Justice] is really interested in."
The Software and Information Industry Association, in Washington, can be
reached at www.siia.net. Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached
at www.microsoft.com.
Bob Trott is InfoWorld's Seattle bureau chief.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Mar 2 10:06:45 1999
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Subject: HP plans major restructuring
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WSJ: HP plans major restructuring
Plans restructuring that may split company into at least two public entities.
By Steve Lipton and Don Clark, WSJ Interactive Edition
March 2, 1999 4:35 AM PT
Hewlett-Packard Co., which makes everything from personal computers to
medical instruments, is expected to announce a major corporate
restructuring that could break up the company into at least two separate
publicly traded entities, people familiar with the matter say.
A transaction, if completed, could rank as one of the biggest split-ups in
corporate history.
HP (NYSE:HWP), based in Palo Alto, Calif., wouldn't comment. But people
familiar with the matter say the company, which has annual revenue of $47
billion and a stock-market value of over $70 billion, is planning a major
announcement after the stock market closes Tuesday. In composite trading
Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, HP closed at $65.875, down 56.25 cents.
HP, one of Silicon Valley's most storied companies, was founded by
engineers Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1938 in a garage. It began by
selling audio oscillators to Walt Disney Studios, and expanded into other
technologies.
HP was considered one of hottest big technology companies of the early
1990s, brilliantly building up high-volume businesses such as computer
printers that once seemed lost to Japan. It remains a leader in large
computers, called servers, that use the Unix operating system, as well as
personal computers and low-end servers that are based on Intel Corp. chips
and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software. HP also still has large businesses
in test equipment, medical instruments and related products.
Lately, however, several of HP's cylinders have been misfiring. PCs have
produced market-share gains but low profits, due to plunging prices. The
company has been late to deliver some servers, resulting in market-share
losses to rivals such as Sun Microsystems Inc. and International Business
Machines Corp.
In its latest quarter, HP said sales of Unix servers fell, while total
sales edged up only 1 percent to $11.94 billion. Revenue from test and
measurement equipment alone dropped 14 percent, compared with a year earlier.
Moves to improve focus
In recent years, companies ranging from AT&T Corp. to ITT Corp. to Dun &
Bradstreet Corp. and Tenneco Inc. have split up to create newly formed
companies focusing on one line of business. The goal of these moves is to
increase stockholder value, with the combined stocks of the broken-up
companies being worth more than the former parent company's stock.
AT&T, for instance, spun off the equipment-making business of AT&T into
Lucent Technologies Inc. and carved out the old NCR Corp. into a separately
traded company as well.
The stock market likes "pure plays," and spinoffs have been used by
companies frequently in the 1990s to get rid of weaker businesses and
obtain better multiples on newer companies.
HP has underperformed the overall stock market significantly. According to
Baseline, a New York financial-data concern, shares of HP are up about 17
percent over the past two years, compared with a nearly 56 percent return
for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. An index of computer-hardware
companies returned 137 percent in the same time period, according to
Baseline data.
Pressure for improvement
Lewis E. Platt, HP's chairman and chief executive, has been under pressure
to produce better results. Given that situation, Mr. Platt has cut expenses
and improved HP's profitability. But he has expressed exasperation with the
lack of progress on the company's revenue growth, stating that the first
quarter showed "we're not meeting our growth objectives."
The company hired the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. to examine strategic
alternatives, setting off widespread speculation that some sort of breakup
was possible. One obvious possibility is to spin off the company's test and
measurement business, which has different growth dynamics from the computer
business. But one person close to the company said HP will likely try to
stress faster-growing markets, including Internet-related hardware, that
could command a premium on Wall Street. "They have to do something
dramatic," he said.
HP gets about 86 percent of its sales from computer products, with about
half of that derived from printers and supplies such as toner. Test and
measurement equipment represents about 8% of sales, with medical equipment
representing about 3 percent.
Kara Swisher contributed to this article.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Mar 5 11:03:19 1999
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Subject: Sun ready to roll out NetDynamics application server
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Sun ready to roll out NetDynamics application server
By Emily Fitzloff
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:30 AM PT, Mar 5, 1999
Sun Microsystems will host an event next week in San Francisco to launch
the first major makeover of the NetDynamics Application Server since
acquiring the technology last year.
Sun is positioning this release of the product as a foundation for building
business portals -- what Sun calls the third wave of computing after
client/server and the Web -- and is introducing better cross-platform and
standards support.
NetDynamics (ND) 5, based on Java 2 and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) 1.0,
delivers "beyond mega-site scalability," according to Zack Rinat, vice
president of ND at Sun, and former CEO of NetDynamics, prior to the
acquisition.
The server can support more than 225 million Web interactions per day with
a response time of less than half a second, according to Rinat.
"That's more than the daily number of transactions performed by Yahoo and
eBay combined," Rinat claimed.
The open architecture of ND 5 enables native connectivity to major
databases, enterprise management systems, and third-party platforms and tools.
Sun will announce next week the ND Platform Adapter Component (PAC) for
Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM) for integration with COM services
and components, Microsoft Transaction Server, COM clients, Windows NT,
Internet Explorer, Internet Information Server, and SQL Server.
"NetDynamics had a good relationship with Microsoft before the acquisition,
and Sun customers are tired of the religious wars -- they want
integration," Rinat said.
Sun will also announce integration with Symantec's Visual Café and Computer
Associates' Unicenter enterprise management platform.
In addition to its existing PACs for PeopleSoft and SAP R/3, Sun is
offering additional PACs for XML, LDAP, CICS, MQSeries, and AS/400.
Other added standards support includes SMTP, IMAP/POP, SNMP, and Java
Database Connectivity, according to the company.
At least one Sun end-user said he is very excited about the technology
included in ND 5.
"NetDynamics helps us connect our clients with background data sources,"
said Jim Thannum, managing director of technology management and
integration at FedEx, in Memphis, Tenn.
"It lets you go in there and write an application, especially now with the
EJB support, manipulate the information, and present it to our customers so
they can use it to their advantage," Thannum said.
Thannum said FedEx intends to use ND 5 to create a personalized business
portal for its customers that will help the company create personal
business-to-business relationships.
The NetDynamics 5 Studio is now available to developers for $895. The
NetDynamics 5 server will ship at the end of this month on Solaris and
Windows NT, with prices starting at $25,000 per CPU. HP-UX and IBM AIX
versions will be available in the second quarter of this year.
Sun Microsystems Inc., in Palo Alto, Calif., is at www.sun.com.
Emily Fitzloff is a senior writer at InfoWorld.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Mar 5 20:29:22 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: IBM leads drive to give EJB control to a standards body
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IBM leads drive to give EJB control to a standards body
By Dana Gardner
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 4:46 PM PT, Mar 5, 1999
IBM is leading the call for Sun Microsystems to cede stewardship of its
Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) specification to a neutral standards body, such
as the Object Management Group (OMG).
This call from IBM and other vendors comes as Sun plans to unveil in April
Java2, Enterprise Edition. An "enabling solution," it comprises a
collection of server-side Java technologies - with EJB at the core - for
creating server-centric applications, said Bill Roth, product line manager
for Java2, Enterprise Edition, at Sun's Java Software division, in
Cupertino, Calif.
Formerly code-named Java Profile for the Enterprise, the Enterprise Edition
of Java2 builds on Sun's Java2, Standard Edition, that was announced in
December 1998. It gives application server vendors and developers the means
to serve up JavaBean and Java Server Page-based Web applications using
elements such as EJB run times and deployment models, Roth said.
The EJB specification, about seven months into a 2-year maturation process
overseen by Sun, is currently in the review process for Version 1.1,
code-named Moscone. Now at 292 pages, the specification is expected to
arrive in a final form in June.
Once that occurs, the specification should be opened up to a standards
organization, said vendors such as IBM and application server maker
Bluestone Software.
"The EJB spec is getting bogged down and bloated," said Bob Brickel, senior
vice president of products at Bluestone Software, in Mount Laurel, N.J.
"The problem with any Java API is how to control it. It would be good to
open it up to get higher quality." IBM views the OMG as an appropriate
steward of EJB.
"I can imagine OMG becoming the logical body for the EJB spec. It's an
object spec more than a language spec," said John Swainson, general
manager, application and integration middleware at IBM, in Somers, N.Y.
"OMG already has work under way in CORBA 3 to converge CORBA 2 and EJB."
An OMG official welcomed IBM's idea.
"We believe Java and EJB should be in a process where it's truly open,"
said Bill Hoffman, president of the OMG, in Framingham, Mass. "We would
welcome the move."
Sun's Roth said such a scenario is not likely during the next two years.
"We are gratified that IBM thinks EJB is so mature that they would suggest
we turn it over to a standards body," Roth said. "But we have no specific
plans to turn a specific technology on top of Java2, like EJB, over to a
standards body. ... We believe our process is the most inclusive and
efficient way to advance the technologies, and we will use our process
probably throughout the end of our road map."
One analyst agreed. Known for its time-consuming methods, the OMG would
slow the EJB process too much, said Anne Thomas, an analyst at the Patricia
Seybold Group, in Boston.
"EJB needs two more releases" before Sun relinquishes control, Thomas said.
"If Sun does it, it will get done. Going to the OMG will throw molasses on
the process."
InfoWorld Editor at Large Dana Gardner is based in New Hampshire.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Fri Mar 5 21:00:52 1999
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Subject: Movement to halt Pentium III grows
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Movement to halt Pentium III grows
By Stephanie Miles
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
March 5, 1999, 4:55 p.m. PT
Consumer and privacy organizations are lining up to stop shipments of
Intel's Pentium III processor until additional controls are in place to
address the chip's controversial serial number feature.
Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union, the National
Consumers League, the Consumer Federation of America, Privacy Times, and
the Center for Media Education signed a letter supporting the Center for
Democracy and Technology in a complaint filed to the Federal Trade
Commission. They are asking the government to stop shipments of Intel's
Pentium III processor, which contains serial numbers ostensibly designed to
aid in secure e-commerce transactions and help track computers in large
corporations.
Privacy advocates have charged that the serial numbers can compromise
security by making it easier to track Internet users based on the way they
use the Web. In addition, these groups argue that security based on
hardware identification is weak.
"The complaint describes the substantial harm that the Pentium III serial
number may cause, not only to individual consumers but to the Internet
itself," the letter states. "It is vital to the growth of the Internet as a
means of communication for people to be able to browse the Net with anonymity.
"The countervailing argument that the [serial number] is needed for
security purposes is not convincing," the letter adds.
Intel began shipping Pentium III chips to PC makers last month, and systems
offering the chip were available on February 28.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Mar 9 10:02:13 1999
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Subject: Microsoft moves to avert Windows 98 privacy issue
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Microsoft moves to avert Windows 98 privacy issue
By Nancy Weil
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 9:26 AM PT, Mar 8, 1999
Microsoft will modify future releases of Windows 98 to allow greater user
control over a feature that could be used to collect private information on
users of the popular operating system, the company said Monday in a letter
to customers.
The software giant will offer a free utility to current users of Windows 98
who want to delete the feature, called Registration Wizard, which sends to
Microsoft a globally unique number that is tied to a given user's hardware
configuration when the user registers. The objective of having the hardware
information on file is to shorten customer service call times, Microsoft said.
However, the company learned on Friday that "the Registration Wizard might
inadvertently be sending a specific hardware identifier to Microsoft during
user registration, regardless of whether the user chose to send his or her
hardware diagnostic information," Yusuf Mehdi, director of Windows
marketing said in a letter posted Monday on the Microsoft Web site.
"This hardware ID is only used by the software system and is not used for
customer record-keeping purposes," Mehdi wrote. "Nonetheless, there are
hypothetical scenarios under which this number could be used to learn
something about the user's system without his or her knowledge."
Microsoft, meanwhile, will sift through its own database and delete
information that had been "inadvertently gathered" through the Windows 98
numbers, Mehdi wrote. The company also will modify the feature in future
Windows 98 versions so that hardware ID information is not sent to
Microsoft unless a users checks the option to provide it.
The number was first discovered by a programmer in Cambridge, Mass., who
contacted Microsoft last week, according to published reports.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Nancy Weil is a Boston correspondent for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld
affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Mar 9 10:05:43 1999
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Subject: Microsoft promises solid Beta 3 of Windows 2000
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Microsoft promises solid Beta 3 of Windows 2000
By Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 2:59 PM PT, Mar 8, 1999
Beta 3 of Windows 2000, which Microsoft has targeted for a wide release in
April, will go a long way toward fixing many of the problems reported in
earlier versions of the next-generation operating system, a key Microsoft
executive said Monday.
Since Beta 2 of Windows 2000, formerly called Windows NT 5.0, was given to
testers in August 1998, Microsoft has identified several areas of concern
that it will fix in Beta 3, according to Yusuf Mehdi, director of marketing
for Microsoft's Applications and Internet Client Group.
Among the problems were compatibility with existing applications; the
upgrade from Windows 9x systems; broader device coverage in Windows 2000
Professional, the desktop OS formerly called NT Workstation; the large
memory footprint; installation woes with Active Directory; and a lack of
Component Object Model+ (COM+) integration in Windows 2000 Server, Mehdi
said at a briefing for journalists at Microsoft's headquarters.
COM+, the coming COM update, will be a key addition to the beta version of
Windows 2000. Many developers and users have said that COM+, along with the
Active Directory, is the most important new capability in NT 2000.
Additions to Beta 3 of Windows 2000 Professional will include Internet
Explorer 5.0, which will ship next week; other user interface enhancements;
support for a digital cameras and other devices; and setup improvements.
Beta 3 of Windows 2000 Server will include COM+ integration, wizards to
help administrators set up the Active Directory, and integration with
Windows Terminal Server, Mehdi said.
Mehdi said Windows 2000 Server consisted of roughly 23 million lines of
"core" code, a figure that is significantly smaller than other estimates
from other Microsoft officials, beta testers, and others familiar with the
product. Mehdi said estimates of the product having 50 million or 60
million lines of code were erroneous.
Mehdi repeated Microsoft's public statements that it hopes to ship Windows
2000 by the end of this year, although he was quick to add that if the
product is not deemed ready, Microsoft will take longer.
Microsoft also is touting Windows 2000 for laptop computers, the first time
the company has aimed NT technology at portable PCs.
"It will be the best laptop OS, that's for sure -- even if you use Windows
98," Mehdi said.
The oft-delayed Windows 2000 has been under development at Microsoft for
years, and now the successor to the consumer-oriented Windows 98, which
will be based on the NT kernel, has been delayed past 2000 because of work
on the enterprise software. Mehdi acknowledged that Microsoft's
foot-dragging on NT has let competitors such as Novell and Sun Microsystems
get the jump in the enterprise.
"Novell has benefited a little" by NT's delays, Mehdi said. "People think
that Windows 2000 is the migration OS from Novell." However, he pointed to
a release Microsoft issued last week trumpeting the fact that Window NT 4.0
now is licensed on 28 million desktops.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Bob Trott is InfoWorld's Seattle bureau chief.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Mar 9 10:30:54 1999
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Subject: Microsoft eyes Internet-content protection
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Microsoft eyes Internet-content protection
By Marc Ferranti
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 4:11 PM PT, Mar 8, 1999
Microsoft announced Monday that it is acquiring a $15 million stake in
Reciprocal, a company that develops copy-protection technology for Internet
content.
The stake will give Microsoft a 10 percent to 15 percent share of
Reciprocal, according to officials at the companies. The companies have
also entered into a technology and marketing agreement that calls for them
to work together to speed up Reciprocal's digital rights management
technology for the Windows operating system.
Reciprocal, which until today had been known as Rights Exchange, develops
digital-rights management technologies designed to prevent copying of
content delivered via the Internet.
The announcement comes after Microsoft announced last week a broad
electronic-commerce initiative, and its intent to boost Microsoft's Web
portal, Microsoft Network, with new services. Microsoft Chairman and CEO
Bill Gates also said last week at the launch of the company's e-commerce
initiative in San Francisco that the software giant is working on
compression technology for music.
Right now, the music-download market is in disarray, as the most popular
music compression format, MPEG Audio Layer 3, or MP3, is under attack by
the major music labels because it offers no copy protection.
But Microsoft officials were somewhat coy about what the company would do
with Reciprocal's technology.
"Microsoft is really looking at the platform and infrastructure initiative
here, so we're not really talking about any specific segment right now,"
said William Poole, senior director for business development at Microsoft,
during a teleconference Monday. "We have a long-term plan we've been
working on for a number of years for making Windows a secure platform for
content."
Reciprocal was more direct about the first markets it wants to get into.
"Initially, what we're focusing on is really the music -- educational
publishing as well as professional, business-to-business publishing"
markets, according to Paul Bandrowski, CEO and president of Reciprocal.
Reciprocal is working on "end-to-end" digital-rights management solutions
for content providers, Bandrowski said. It wants to provide ways to access,
use, and purchase different types of content online, including music,
images, and text. As yet, it has no users of its technology who want to
speak publicly about what they are developing, he said. Reciprocal
technology has been rolled out so far only in limited releases.
But the company's approach distinguishes it from competitors that offer
"point solutions" for more specific content protection and transaction
problems, Bandrowski said.
However, many companies, including major record labels, may end up shying
away from all-encompassing types of content-protection-and-transaction
applications, according to Mark Hardie, a senior analyst at Forrester
Research, in Cambridge, Mass.
"Record labels are telling me they just want tools ... they're not sitting
still waiting for software developers to save them; many of them are
putting their own [digital-content] infrastructure in place, so they don't
need end-to-end solutions," Hardie said.
Meanwhile, although Microsoft was vague about its plans for Reciprocal
technology, Hardie said that it makes sense for the software giant to be
investing in the technology.
"Microsoft is thinking about Windows ... as a platform for third-party
innovation. So if they can invest $15 million -- which is not much at all
for them, really -- in technology that might help them answer the question
of what they're doing about digital content on Windows, why not?" Hardie said.
Reciprocal Inc., in Buffalo, N.Y., can be reached at www.reciprocal.com.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached www.microsoft.com.
Marc Ferranti is the New York bureau chief for the IDG News Service, an
InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Mar 10 10:53:40 1999
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To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu, Ruth Rozen ,
Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Domain Names Get Wiped Out
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Domain Names Get Wiped Out
(03/10/99, 8:58 a.m. ET)
By David Greenfield, Data Communications
Internic, the organization responsible for administering Internet domain
names, dropped thousands of names from its database last week, rendering
heaps of e-mail undeliverable.
While exact numbers aren't available, ISPs contended as many as 18,000
names were lost.
Users who have lost names will basically be forced to get new ones from
Internic's parent company, Network Solutions Inc. (NSI), in Herndon, Va.
That's led critics to speculate about why NSI bagged the names. "They [NSI]
seem to be embarking on a campaign to benefit their [Worldnic.net domain
name registration] service," said Mike Sandburg, vice president at ISP
1,000 Islands Internet, in Watertown, N.Y.
NSI dismissed the charges.
"This is part of targeting people who register thousands of domains and
sell them for a profit," said Nancy Huddleston, a spokeswoman for NSI.
Still, such skepticism makes sense, considering NSI will lose its monopoly
over domain administration in September 2000. The Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers, in Portola Valley, Calif., will begin handing
names out then. ISPs will be able to join NSI in assigning names to
customers. A key step in the whole process will occur on May 1, when NSI is
slated to begin testing an interface that lets thecompetition tap into its
database.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Mar 10 17:14:26 1999
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Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 16:21:31 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Sun extends Java to support XML
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Sun extends Java to support XML
By James Niccolai
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 10:31 AM PT, Mar 10, 1999
Sun Microsystems said on Tuesday it is creating an extension for the Java
platform to provide support for Extensible Markup Language (XML), a move
the company said will make it easier for developers to build applications
that integrate the two technologies.
The extension will take the form of a standard API that will be developed
using the Java Community Process, which takes input from multiple vendors
to define Java standards.
XML is used to create documents that are distributed over networks such as
the Internet, and is sometimes seen as a successor to HTML. While HTML
describes only how a document is formatted, XML provides more complete
information about the data, making it a more flexible tool.
Several XML proponents, including Sun, IBM, and Microsoft have already
developed programs that allow applications written in Java to read XML.
Sun's goal is to define a standard that will ensure that those programs,
known as "parsers," will all work together, said Nancy Lee, Sun's senior
product manager for XML.
"There are a lot of different implementations out there at the moment. [A
common extension for XML] will benefit enterprises because they'll be able
to count on this API to be stable and secure, and they needn't be concerned
about incompatibilities with each vendor using a proprietary parser," Lee
said.
XML also offers a standard format for exchanging data between businesses
and could help lower the cost of developing applications for electronic
commerce, supply-chain management, and other programs that rely on
business-to-business communications, Lee said.
"That's the promise of XML, but there's still a lot of work to be done,"
Lee said. For starters, vertical industries need to define common
vocabularies for the information they want to exchange, she said.
The extension for XML will provide standard classes to generate and
manipulate XML, as standard extensions should be available for just about
every Java platform, Lee said.
"Developers won't need to build these classes themselves, and XML documents
won't be as bulky as they might be because we won't need to include these
classes in the application code," Anne Thomas, a senior consultant at the
Patricia Seybold Group, in Boston, Mass., said in a statement.
Sun has outlined an initial version of the XML extension, which provides
basic functionality including the capability to read, manipulate, and
generate XML-based data streams and formats, the company said. That version
will provide a starting point for the Java Community Process.
More information on Sun's work with Java and XML technologies can be found
at java.sun.com/xml. Sun Microsystems, in Palo Alto, Calif., can be reached
at www.sun.com.
James Niccolai is a San Francisco correspondent for the IDG News Service,
an InfoWorld affiliate.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Mar 11 09:56:58 1999
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Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 09:04:02 -0600
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Subject: Intel's Pentium security woes continue
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Intel's Pentium security woes continue
By Ephraim Schwartz and Dan Briody
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 5:29 PM PT, Mar 10, 1999
Intel will not be waking up any time soon from the public relations
nightmare the chip giant is enduring surrounding the serial number ID on
its Pentium III chips, with two new controversies cropping up this week.
In a report of errata given to PC vendors this month, Intel notified its
partners that Pentium II and Celeron chips shipped in the Mobile Module
packaging have the Pentium Serial Number (PSN) technology turned on.
"In some Mobile Module products we had some prototype circuitry that we
were supposed to disable as part of the process," said George Alfs, an
Intel spokesman. "On some of the processors the circuitry was not disabled."
Alfs said the PSN was not turned off in some systems that shipped since
Jan. 25 of this year. PC makers will be receiving a BIOS upgrade to turn
the PSN off, according to Alfs.
Meanwhile, Zero-knowledge, a company which offers its customers anonymity
while Web surfing, claims to have hacked Intel's software utility program
meant to turn the serial ID off for users that do not want it.
A Zero-knowledge programmer created an ActiveX application that goes around
Intel's PSN Control Utility and places a cookie file inside the user's
system. Once the cookie is in place, even if the user turns off the unique
chip serial number, the number can be broadcast.
Austin Hill, Zero-Knowledge's president, says he was concerned with his
customers' right to privacy.
"We are developing privacy software. Our users are putting a certain amount
of trust in us to make sure information about them can't be leaked," Hill
said. "Any scheme that can be used to track users on the Internet we frown
upon. We don't see the real benefit of having a serial number for
identification purposes."
Intel saw things differently.
"In a transaction, you have to give up anonymity because when you do a
stock trade for example, they want to know who it is," Alfs said.
As to whether or not the program developed by Zero-Knowledge programmer
Mario Contestabile works, Intel's Alfs said they hadn't tried it yet.
According to Hill, PSN is a bad model for authentication.
"Authentication belongs in your wallet in smart cards and personal
certificates that are protected with a pass phrase. This is traditional
security: Something you know, something you have, something you are. Very
rarely do you carry around a PC," Hill said.
Hill believes his ActiveX program demonstrates that hackers and
unscrupulous companies can steal the number and use it maliciously to do
anything including selling your stocks or stealing your money through
illegal wire transfers.
"If you have a cookie that contains the serial number, an ad company can
look for that cookie and track you. That cookie can keep coming back even
if you erase it. It's the cookie that never goes away," Hill said.
The PSN technology has been an issue that has hounded Intel since it was
first announced. After privacy groups boycotted the company on the grounds
that the chip invaded people's privacy, several security flaws in the chip
have been uncovered.
"It has kept us employed," said Howard High, a spokesman in Intel's public
relations department. "There are probably some that wish it had never
happened, but at our core we believe that security is critical for growing
e-commerce and we believe that this feature adds value to that process."
Intel Corp., in Santa Clara, Calif., can be reached at www.intel.com.
Zero-Knowledge Systems Inc., in Montreal, can be reached at www.zks.net.
InfoWorld Editor at Large Ephraim Schwartz is based in San Mateo, Calif.
Dan Briody is the Client/Server section editor at InfoWorld.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Mar 11 21:58:29 1999
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Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 21:06:17 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: MS porting Office to Linux?
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MS porting Office to Linux?
It may sound crazy, but developers say all the signs -- and rumors -- are
there.
By Mary Jo Foley, Sm@rt Reseller
March 11, 1999 4:34 PM PT
Could Microsoft Corp. be doing the unthinkable in porting Office to the
Linux operating system?
Rumors concerning the existence of an Office port to Linux have been
circulating increasingly in recent weeks.
'[Microsoft] techies are programmers in the dev [development] group. They
are running Linux on boxes at Redmond and most have Linux on their home
computers'
-- An anonymous developer
Since last fall, when open source advocate Eric Raymond published an
internal Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) document outlining the company's view on
Linux, Microsoft's interest in the open source operating system has been
well documented and analyzed. The so-called "Halloween Memos" did not
mention any intention on Microsoft's part to port Office, one of its cash
cows, to Linux.
However, when asked earlier this week whether anyone at Microsoft is
currently involved in porting Office to Linux, Steve Sinofsky, vice
president of Microsoft Office, said "I can't talk about that right now." He
added that, "Linux is not there yet for end-user productivity applications.
Lots of factors need to gel before we make a commitment [to delivering
Office on Linux]."
Developers: Work is underway
But developers outside of Microsoft claim that the software maker has gone
beyond the contemplation stage. Last week, Unix expert and technical author
Simson Garfinkle mentioned on a radio talk show broadcast in the Boston
area that he had corresponded with developers with inside knowledge of
Microsoft's Office Linux porting efforts. Garfinkle declined to comment
beyond what he said during the radio show.
Another developer active on a number of industry news groups mentioned that
he had been in touch with developers working for Microsoft who were working
on moving Windows application programming interfaces (APIs) to Linux.
"These [Microsoft] techies are programmers in the dev [development] group.
They are running Linux on boxes at Redmond and most have Linux on their
home computers. I don't think that MS is afraid of Linux but they ought to
be," said the developer, who requested anonymity.
Another developer and Linux advocate, who also requested anonymity, agreed
that a decision by Microsoft to port Office to Linux could have the
unintended effect of fueling Linux at NT's expense.
A Microsoft Office port to Linux "will be good for corporate adoption of
Linux," the developer said. "I can tell you that I would be able to move my
main workstation over to Linux if I had Office for it, since that is what
my employer standardized on."
Hurdles ahead
If Microsoft decides to field an Office Linux product, it will have to
overcome some major hurdles first.
Porting Windows applications to Linux is not easy, especially if the
Windows apps are tied tightly to the operating system, notes Scott Petry,
vice president of marketing with Cygnus Solutions, a cross-platform
Windows-Linux porting tool vendor based in Sunnyvale, Calif. Cygnus is
working with Corel Corp. to port WordPerfect to Linux via the WINE
Windows-to-Linux translation layer.
"Office would be one of the most challenging apps to move to Unix or
Linux," Petry notes. "There's the Win32 APIs and Microsoft's implementation
of the Win32 APIs, which is what Office relies on. A lot of hand-coding
would need to be done to move Office just to the standard Win32 API set,
let alone to Linux."
Microsoft also will need to create a viable business model, via which the
company and its partners can make money from Office running on an
open-source platform. While Corel (Nasdaq:COSFF) and Star Divison GmbH have
made public their intentions to offer desktop suites on Linux, Microsoft's
main rival, Lotus Development Corp., has not announced any intentions to
move SmartSuite to Linux.
"Customers are asking us about Linux, but we can't make money on it today,"
says Howard Diamond, chief executive officer of Corporate Software &
Technology, a Norwood, Mass., software reseller. "Our challenge is walking
the line between shareware and the corporate market. The wrap-around things
-- like applications services and support, is what you need to sell."
If Microsoft does undertake an Office Linux port -- even if it is only a
prototype or test -- it wouldn't be the first time that the company has
made sure to cover all its bases with the Office platform. Microsoft
historians will remember that Microsoft denied to the bitter end that the
company was doing a version of Office written in Java, only to admit
officially last year that the company was working on a Java-ized Office
project, which it ended up scrapping.
Additional reporting by John Spooner, PCWeek.
[This is a pretty interesting strategy by Microsoft: kill off Linux by
introducing the largest virus ever invented--Microsoft Office --Gary]
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Thu Mar 11 22:00:59 1999
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Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 21:07:47 -0600
To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Silverberg walks away from Microsoft
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Silverberg walks away from Microsoft
Microsoft's Mr. Fix It won't return from his leave of absence, sources say.
Is it a blow to the company's Internet plans?
By Charles Cooper, ZDNN
March 11, 1999 6:44 PM PT
Microsoft won't get its man after all.
Brad Silverberg, a highly regarded executive who has taken a leave of
absence since the summer of 1997, is not returning to the company,
according to knowledgeable sources.
Silverberg did not respond to an e-mail request for comment and a Microsoft
Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) spokesman said the company did not discuss unannounced
personnel moves.
"There's still a 2 percent chance he'll come back, but I'd be shocked,"
said one source.
Blow to Internet plans
Barring a last-minute reversal, the decision would be a blow to Microsoft,
which was especially keen on bringing Silverberg back to help sharpen the
company's Internet focus. The software maker is expected to soon announce a
broad restructuring and wanted Silverberg to head up a consumer unit that
would embrace the responsibilities of the Interactive Media Group.
'It'd be great if Brad came back. I still hope he does but I think he's
enjoying life too much'
-- Microsoft insider
"Brad's been doing this a stuff a long time. If they offered him something
perhaps a little more mainstream, perhaps he'd go for it," said Dataquest
analyst, Chris LeTocq. "IMG is currently a hot potato and Brad knows better."
Even while Microsoft's sales and earnings have soared, the performance of
IMG has been spotty, LeTocq noted.
"It would be both a challenge and an opportunity," he said, adding "How do
you motivate a guy who has everything?"
Mr. Fix It?
It wouldn't be the first time Microsoft has looked to Silverberg for a
needed fillip.
The bearded, lanky executive has played a central role in the company's
growth since joining Microsoft from Borland in 1990.
As senior vice president of the company's Personal Systems Division,
Silverberg shepherded the Windows 95 project to completion and was named PC
Magazine's person of the year for 1995.
Silverberg added an even bigger notch to his belt when he subsequently
spearheaded the company's frantic race to catch up to Netscape
Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:NSCP). Under his direction as head of the
Internet Platform and Tools Group, Microsoft recovered from a late start on
the World Wide Web to ultimately trump its chief rival.
But Silverberg, who was a proponent of putting the Internet Explorer
browser wherever Microsoft could -- including computers that ran operating
systems other than Windows -- lost that battle to vice president Jim
Allchin, who argued that the company's efforts need to revolve around its
cash cow operating system.
By mid-1997, Silverberg decided to take a break from the grind and received
permission from Bill Gates to take a couple of months off for a
cross-country bicycle trip. The sabbatical ended, but Silverberg never
returned. Although he retained an office on the Redmond campus, Silverberg
has not been involved in day-to-day affairs since then.
"It'd be great if Brad came back. I still hope he does but I think he's
enjoying life too much," said a source close to Silverberg. "It's our loss."
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Sat Mar 13 10:47:31 1999
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Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 09:17:48 -0600
To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu,
Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Big Blue's open-source computer beats Cray
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Big Blue's open-source computer beats Cray
By Ed Scannell
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 4:42 AM PT, Mar 13, 1999
Trying to burnish its engineering image as well as demonstrate the
technical possibilities of Linux, IBM showed an "open-source
supercomputer'' at the LinuxWorld Expo, held earlier this month, that was
built around a cluster of Pentium II Xeon chips.
Using a subset of the Beowulf clustering technology, 17 of IBM's Netfinity
servers containing 36 Pentium II chips and running an off-the-shelf copy of
Linux matched the scalability and performance of a Cray supercomputer. The
IBM system executed a computer graphics-rendering application called the
PovRay benchmark.
The PovRay benchmark is intended to serve as a guide for the relative
mathematical performance of a wide variety of chips, systems, and
compilers. It is a ray-tracing, image-rendering application with which a
picture or image can be inserted in a movie such as Toy Story or Antz and
subsequently be rendered displaying all of the shadows and the rays of
light falling relative to that picture or image.
"It is a big computational job. Ten years ago it would take a [Digital
Equipment] VAX [minicomputer] 10 or 15 minutes to do. A Cray can do it in 3
seconds today,'' said Tom Figgatt, IBM's e-business manager, in Somers, N.Y.
During the demonstration, IBM's Linux-based supercomputer matched the
current benchmark record of 3 seconds, which was set by the Cray
T3t-900-AC64. That mark had surpassed what is now the second-fastest time
of 9 seconds.
The message IBM was trying to convey to users is that Linux has some innate
capabilities for linking together parallel computers that are not only
working in clusters but also working robustly using existing hardware and
software off the shelf or from the Web.
"I think we showed how easily Linux clusters together and allows you to
link multiple systems readily so you can spread your workload across
multiple systems,'' Figgatt said.
In addition to the 17 servers, IBM used a 100MB Ethernet network and hub to
connect the servers, and a piece of parallel computing software to ensure
the system's computations connected. As for the copy of Red Hat's Linux,
IBM purchased it at a local Barnes & Noble the day before the demonstration.
Although the demonstration of the application would be considered exotic by
most Fortune 1000 companies, IBM officials said they believe many
commercial accounts need this level of computing power for many of the
company's existing and upcoming electronic-commerce applications.
The advantage of the IBM-based system over the Cray, of course, is its more
attractive price performance, according to company officials. The
Netfinity/Linux benchmark was executed on approximately $150,000 worth of
equipment, while the cost of the Cray was $5.5 million, IBM's officials said.
IBM also used the demonstration to flex the muscles of its X-architecture
features and capabilities, which now are included in all of IBM's servers
up to the mainframe-class machines. For example, during one of the
rendering demonstrations IBM took one of the servers offline. The rendering
screen missed several pixels during the fail-over process, but it filled
them in by the time the rendering was complete.
The benchmark results are available at www.haveland.com/povbench. Users
must click on the button labeled "list all parallel results.''
IBM Corp., in Armonk, N.Y., can be reached at www.ibm.com
Ed Scannell is an InfoWorld editor at large.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Sat Mar 13 10:47:31 1999
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Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 09:17:48 -0600
To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu,
Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Big Blue's open-source computer beats Cray
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Big Blue's open-source computer beats Cray
By Ed Scannell
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 4:42 AM PT, Mar 13, 1999
Trying to burnish its engineering image as well as demonstrate the
technical possibilities of Linux, IBM showed an "open-source
supercomputer'' at the LinuxWorld Expo, held earlier this month, that was
built around a cluster of Pentium II Xeon chips.
Using a subset of the Beowulf clustering technology, 17 of IBM's Netfinity
servers containing 36 Pentium II chips and running an off-the-shelf copy of
Linux matched the scalability and performance of a Cray supercomputer. The
IBM system executed a computer graphics-rendering application called the
PovRay benchmark.
The PovRay benchmark is intended to serve as a guide for the relative
mathematical performance of a wide variety of chips, systems, and
compilers. It is a ray-tracing, image-rendering application with which a
picture or image can be inserted in a movie such as Toy Story or Antz and
subsequently be rendered displaying all of the shadows and the rays of
light falling relative to that picture or image.
"It is a big computational job. Ten years ago it would take a [Digital
Equipment] VAX [minicomputer] 10 or 15 minutes to do. A Cray can do it in 3
seconds today,'' said Tom Figgatt, IBM's e-business manager, in Somers, N.Y.
During the demonstration, IBM's Linux-based supercomputer matched the
current benchmark record of 3 seconds, which was set by the Cray
T3t-900-AC64. That mark had surpassed what is now the second-fastest time
of 9 seconds.
The message IBM was trying to convey to users is that Linux has some innate
capabilities for linking together parallel computers that are not only
working in clusters but also working robustly using existing hardware and
software off the shelf or from the Web.
"I think we showed how easily Linux clusters together and allows you to
link multiple systems readily so you can spread your workload across
multiple systems,'' Figgatt said.
In addition to the 17 servers, IBM used a 100MB Ethernet network and hub to
connect the servers, and a piece of parallel computing software to ensure
the system's computations connected. As for the copy of Red Hat's Linux,
IBM purchased it at a local Barnes & Noble the day before the demonstration.
Although the demonstration of the application would be considered exotic by
most Fortune 1000 companies, IBM officials said they believe many
commercial accounts need this level of computing power for many of the
company's existing and upcoming electronic-commerce applications.
The advantage of the IBM-based system over the Cray, of course, is its more
attractive price performance, according to company officials. The
Netfinity/Linux benchmark was executed on approximately $150,000 worth of
equipment, while the cost of the Cray was $5.5 million, IBM's officials said.
IBM also used the demonstration to flex the muscles of its X-architecture
features and capabilities, which now are included in all of IBM's servers
up to the mainframe-class machines. For example, during one of the
rendering demonstrations IBM took one of the servers offline. The rendering
screen missed several pixels during the fail-over process, but it filled
them in by the time the rendering was complete.
The benchmark results are available at www.haveland.com/povbench. Users
must click on the button labeled "list all parallel results.''
IBM Corp., in Armonk, N.Y., can be reached at www.ibm.com
Ed Scannell is an InfoWorld editor at large.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Mar 16 00:13:35 1999
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Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1999 23:21:20 -0600
To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Windows 98 -- a whole new edition?
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Windows 98 -- a whole new edition?
Microsoft's Win98 refresh is looking more and more like a whole new OS release.
By John G. Spooner, PC Week, and Mary Jo Foley, Sm@rt Reseller
March 15, 1999 5:57 PM PT
Microsoft Corp.'s forthcoming Windows 98 refresh will be more than just a
routine point-release update to the operating system.
The Service Release -- which has evolved into a combination of Microsoft's
planned Windows 98 Service Pack, plus its expected Windows 98 OEM Service
Release -- is now being called Windows 98 Second Edition, sources said.
Whether Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) will end up selling Windows 98 Second
Edition at retail is not certain, but some OEMs say they expect Microsoft
to do so.
If Microsoft does sell the service release, this will be a marked change in
the company's service release strategy. With Windows 95, Microsoft did not
offer the two OEM service release updates to retail customers; it made them
available only preloaded on new PC systems.
A Microsoft spokeswoman said it was too early to say whether or not
Microsoft will offer Windows 98 Second Edition as a retail product. She
also declined to comment on whether or not Microsoft is using or will
retain the Windows 98 Second Edition as the final name of the product.
On the road to Neptune
Windows 98 Second Edition will be the first of what could be several
Windows 9x-kernel-based updates to Windows 98 before Microsoft delivers its
first NT-kernel-based consumer Windows release, code-named Neptune. Until
recently, Microsoft had said it planned to move directly from Windows 98 to
an NT kernel-based consumer operating system.
The Microsoft spokeswoman denied that Microsoft's decision to field one or
more Windows 9x-based update to Windows 98 was a departure in strategy. "We
have said we will continue to keep the 9x line updated for as long as
customers need it," she says.
At Local Media Day in Redmond last week, Microsoft Windows marketing
director Yusuf Mehdi acknowledged Microsoft is still evaluating how and if
to release Win9x updates to Windows 98 beyond Windows 98 Second Edition.
But sources have said Microsoft already is preparing another Windows
9x-kernel-based update beyond Windows 98 Second Edition, tentatively called
Windows 2000 Personal Edition, which it will likely release some time
before 2003.
Interim build hits testing
Microsoft introduced the Windows 98 Second Edition name along with Interim
Build 2162 of the second beta of the Service Release within the past few
days. The build is the first widely released beta version since beta 2 late
last month, sources said.
The Redmond, Wash., software developer confirmed that the latest version of
the Windows 98 update adds a number of new features, ranging from Internet
Explorer 5.0, slated to ship this week, to a new version of Dial-Up
Networking and added support for universal serial bus modems.
The release of the final version of the update, however, remains a moving
target. Sources had said it would be available in the first quarter, ending
this month. However, it now looks like it will not ship until the second
quarter.
"Microsoft used Q1 as a goal -- Beta tester feedback was telling for the
[Service release] was getting very bulky, so we went back to figure out a
new way to have users test it. Of course that takes time," said a Microsoft
spokesperson.
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Mar 16 10:29:12 1999
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Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 09:35:59 -0600
To: compnews@gbw.cs.depaul.edu, Ruth Rozen ,
Elisa & Ophir Trigalo ,
Noah Roselander ,
David Weinstein ,
Ron Weinstein ,
Randi Weinstein , Sandra Ancell ,
rozenn@megsinet.net
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Motorola, MIT team up to develop interactive houseware
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Motorola, MIT team up to develop interactive houseware
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media
Copyright © 1999 Associated Press
By ERICA NOONAN
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (March 15, 1999 5:33 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) -
Kitchen computers that take drink orders like "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot" aren't
just for Buck Rogers anymore.
"Smart" technology, which lets machines communicate not only with humans
but with other devices to keep a whole household running smoothly, is on
the horizon.
The technology moved closer to daily life Monday as Motorola announced
plans for a new partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The company donated $5 million to the university to create the Motorola
DigitalDNA Laboratory at MIT's Media Lab. The center will be a part of the
Media Lab's new building, set to be completed in 2003.
At the new lab, scientists will work on a whole new wave of smart product
applications - like clothing with computerized labels that can tell a
washing machine which cycle to use. And dishwashers that communicate to
other household appliances about noise levels and energy usage.
Such products would improve on appliances that have the capacity to be
smart, but aren't linked with other machines by a computerized network.
"Wouldn't it be great for the consumer if smart products could be smarter
and talk to each other?"' said Hector de J. Ruiz, president of Motorola's
Semiconductor Products Sector.
Appliances able to chat with each other would make everyday life far
easier, Ruiz said. For example, a home entertainment center with "talking"
components would free users from having to struggle with several different
remote controls or download each machine's specifications into a universal
remote.
A refrigerator may someday read the bar codes of the products inside, so
you could dial in on the way home find out if you're out of milk.
While the technology behind smart products has been available for years,
few applications are available to average consumers at affordable prices.
Greg Nelson, marketing director of the Semiconductor Products Sector, said
Motorola has been working with MIT for five years. The new partnership
however, stemmed from market surveys that found consumers think many
technological advances are useless to the average person, and that many
products are hard to use.
The partnership between Motorola - one of the world's largest electronics
companies - and the 400-employee MIT Media Lab may help bring smart
products to mass markets within the next decade, said Ruiz.
"Why should people have to read a 2-inch-thick manual to do something
simple?" said Ruiz.
Eventually, when "networked" homes are the norm, people will wonder how
they ever lived without doors that recognize and open for specific people
and thermostats that respond to voice commands, said MIT Media Lab Director
Nicholas Negroponte.
"The front door can open as it sees you coming with a load of groceries,"
said Negroponte, who also serves on Motorola's board of directors. "Or it
can let the dog out but not let 10 dogs back in."
Such technology is already in use in Mercedes' new line of S-Class cars,
which features a front passenger seat that automatically recognizes when a
child safety seat is being used and reduces the air bag power. The line
also features a chip-card key equipped with a profile of the driver.
"If it's a teenager driving, (a parent) can program it to not go faster
then 50 mph," Ruiz said. "If you like country-western music and your child
likes rock-and-roll, the car will know."
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Tue Mar 16 13:31:18 1999
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Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 12:37:55 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: HP Java Test Kit Strikes Blow Against Sun
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HP Java Test Kit Strikes Blow Against Sun
(03/16/99, 12:26 p.m. ET)
By Guy Middleton, Network Week
Hewlett-Packard has struck a blow in its Java war with Sun by releasing an
open source test kit to encourage developers to build products compatible
with its Chai Virtual Machine.
The company said the ChaiVM would be packaged with Microsoft's Windows CE
3.0 and could become the most widely distributed non-Sun Java environment.
The test kit, which runs 500 tests to check for compliance with Chai, has
been added to Mauve, a developers' resource supporting open source Java
projects so anyone can develop Java without paying fees.
Last December Sun allowed its licensees to develop Java, but required them
to pay royalties once they shipped a Java-compatible product.
HP - which leads the breakaway Real-Time Java Working Group - has been
applauded for the move by some in the Java development world, but there are
concerns that rival testing specifications could lead to fragmentation in
Java, threatening the 'write once, run anywhere' ideal of its technology.
Java Lobby president Rick Ross said: "When Sun announced the Sun Community
Source License program at the Java Business Expo last December, I
immediately thought they should have made the Java Compatibility Kit free
and freely available.....If Sun doesn't have the sense to open up the
testing tools, then they should at least have the decency not to disparage
the efforts of others to make quality testing tools available."
And Sun spokesman Guy Martin was skeptical about HP's move: "There's a lot
of support needed to get the testing right, with Sun's JCK you can see how
comprehensive the testing suite is."
>From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Mar 17 15:41:42 1999
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Subject: Microsoft to take $1 million Oracle database challenge
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Microsoft to take $1 million Oracle database challenge
By Clare Haney
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 11:16 AM PT, Mar 17, 1999
Well, it didn't happen overnight, but Microsoft claimed that on Wednesday
it will be able to demonstrate that it can indeed meet the $1 million
challenge issued by database arch rival Oracle in November 1998.
Oracle Chairman and CEO Larry Ellison laid down the gauntlet to Microsoft
at his keynote address at Comdex in Las Vegas last November. He challenged
anyone using Microsoft's SQL Server with a 1 terabyte TPC-D database to run
a standard data-warehouse business query within 100 times of Oracle's best
published performance.
"If you can make SQL 7 run no less than 100 times slower than Oracle8i,
we'll give you a million dollars," Ellison said at his keynote speech.
Microsoft officially launched SQL Server 7.0 at Comdex, positioning it as a
highly scaleable piece of software and a vast improvement on the previous
release, Version 6.5. One of the features Microsoft talked up was that its
database could now run online analytical processing (OLAP) queries against
terabyte-size data warehouses.
According to a Microsoft statement issued late Tuesday, the software giant
in conjunction with Hewlett-Packard, will meet the Ellison challenge
Wednesday at less than one-sixteenth of the cost of the Oracle solution.
The Microsoft/HP response will involve using SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise
Edition, SQL Server OLAP Services, and HP's NetServer LXr 8000 server to
create a database capable of handling 1 terabyte of data. Microsoft will
solve the Oracle problem using a $600,000 system vs. a $10 million system
from Oracle, Microsoft claimed in the statement.
The demonstration of the solution will take place online Wednesday at 11
a.m. PST at www.microsoft.com/sql/gettingresults, and will be hosted by Jim
Gray, senior researcher at Microsoft; Paul Flessner, general manager for
Microsoft SQL Server development; and Michael Mahon of HP, Microsoft
officials said.
Speaking in December 1998 to the IDG News Service, Rich Tong, vice
president of applications product management for Microsoft's applications
and tools group (and whose remit includes SQL Server), welcomed Ellison's
challenge as proof that Oracle saw SQL Server as a serious competitor to
Oracle8i.
At that time, Tong predicted, "Larry's multimillion-dollar computer will
beat our $50,000 one by two-tenths of a second, because it's his test. It's
likely that the cost of the Oracle database software alone will be more
than the whole thing for Microsoft, including SQL Server, consulting,
software, and hardware."
Neither Microsoft nor Oracle officials were available for comment.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Oracle Corp., in Redwood Shores, Calif., can be reached at www.oracle.com.
Details on the Oracle challenge can be found at www.oracle.com/challenge.
Clare Haney is the Asia-Pacific bureau chief for the IDG News Service, an
InfoWorld affiliate.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Fri Mar 19 21:12:13 1999
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Subject: XML to play bigger role in development
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XML to play bigger role in development
By Michael Vizard and Ted Smalley Bowen
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 3:41 PM PT, Mar 19, 1999
As part of an effort to make its technology more accessible to developers,
IBM plans to deliver during the next 12 months an Extensible Markup
Language (XML) toolkit within its WebSphere Studio application development
environment.
With the increasing deployment of Internet-commerce applications escalating
the demand for robust transaction processing infrastructures, IBM needs to
find a way to make its application server technology - including CICS
mainframe query system, MQSeries, and IBM Transarc Lab middleware - easier
to work with for a broad range of developers.
Currently, the only way developers can invoke these technologies is through
either their existing set of complex native interfaces or by writing an
application that makes use of JavaBeans.
However, IBM now plans to make a third path to these technologies available
by leveraging XML. For customers, this means that they can make use of
IBM's transaction processing technologies without necessarily having to
hire developers that are fluent in either IBM's native interface
technologies or in Java.
"What customers are looking for is simplification. They want the system to
automatically understand the transaction semantics that are coming in and
choose the right execution path so the administrators spend less time in
setup and it becomes more transparent," said Steve Mills, general manager
of IBM's Software Solutions division.
XML offers a way for IBM to open middleware services to developers versed
in HTML, rather than Java programming or the intricacies of low-level APIs,
according to Mills.
"[Customers] want another set of interfaces for certain classes of
developers who are looking for a simple way to attach to the transaction
processor without having to understand any of the low-level structures, and
that will be accomplished with both EJB [Enterprise JavaBeans] and XML,"
Mills said.
According to Mills, the company will also utilize XML to help integrate
disparate middleware offerings by making use of XML tags to map functions
across those environments.
"We have yet to deliver the toolkit for the tags that tie to the
interfaces, but we're going to deliver an XML alternative to EJB because we
think that that's going to be a growing market," Mills said.
Because customers deploying I-commerce applications routinely run into
scalability problems, the prospect of being able to use IBM's
tried-and-tested middleware without having to use complex and
difficult-to-master development tools is compelling, according to industry
analysts.
Opening access to IBM middleware services via XML promises to speed up and
bring down the cost of development projects, according to Martin Marshall,
an analyst at Zona Research, a market research company in Redwood City, Calif.
"Ultimately, we could all go back and build everything from scratch, but
that's not the RAD [rapid application development] way to do it," Marshall
said.
"CICS programmers are few and far between, and an expensive resource,"
Marshall added. "The rationale [of an XML toolkit] is that you can get the
same thing in many cases without the high barrier of skill levels."
Marshall also noted similar XML tools initiatives from Bluestone Software,
which is shipping products, as well as from Microsoft, which recently
signaled plans to make its tools XML-enabled.
"XML is going to be huge, and this is just the first generation of tools.
[The XML toolkit for WebSphere] is a practical way of expanding the pool of
developers targeting the WebSphere server, but IBM is not the only one
working on this. There is a lot of competition," Marshall said.
IBM Corp., in Armonk, N.Y., can be reached at www.ibm.com.
Michael Vizard is InfoWorld's executive news editor.Ted Smalley Bowen is
InfoWorld's Boston bureau chief.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Fri Mar 19 21:15:53 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Dell plans to offer Linux on its Optiplex PCs
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Dell plans to offer Linux on its Optiplex PCs
By John G. Spooner, PC Week Online
March 19, 1999 2:30 PM EST
Dell Computer Corp. is getting ready to preinstall Linux on its Optiplex
line of desktop PCs.
The Round Rock, Texas, company has been pre-installing Linux for large
customers for some time, and it claims to be one of the first top-tier PC
makers to make the open-source operating system available as an option on
its workstations and servers.
Dell is currently preinstalling RedHat Software's Linux on its workstations
and will do the same with its servers beginning Monday. "We're working
toward making a similar announcement for Optiplex soon," said a Dell
spokesman. "It's not that far away."
Dell's midrange Precision 410 and high-end Precision 610 workstations are
available with RedHat 5.2 OEM System Builder Edition. The models running
Linux are available with a single Pentium II or Pentium III chip from Intel
Corp. and a Diamond Multimedia Permedia graphics card. RedHat 5.2 OEM
System Builder Edition, which includes additional drivers for SCSI de-vices
and graphics cards, will also be available soon on entry-level Precision
210 models as well, according to Dell officials.
In order to get Linux preinstalled on their machines, users must foot a $20
fee (which is $20 more than a system with Windows NT preinstalled). Dell,
however, expects those interested in Linux will find paying the fee easier
than installing the OS themselves. Workstations running RedHat include 90
days of phone and e-mail support from LinuxCare.
On Monday Dell will begin installing RedHat 5.2 System Builder Edition on
its single-processor PowerEdge 1300 and 2300 server models. The
installation will cost $99, and Linux-Care support will be an option
costing $75. Dell can be reached at www.dell.com.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Mon Mar 22 10:06:03 1999
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Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 09:12:49 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Comcast buys MediaOne in $60 billion stock swap
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Comcast buys MediaOne in $60 billion stock swap
By Kristi Essick
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:24 AM PT, Mar 22, 1999
In a deal that would bring together the third and fourth largest cable
providers in the United States to create a broadband delivery giant,
Comcast said Monday it will acquire MediaOne in a stock swap valued at $60
billion.
The combined Comcast/MediaOne entity will serve 11 million cable customers,
with its network passing more than 18 million homes, the companies said in
a statement. As one organization, Comcast/MediaOne hopes to capitalize on
the growing demand for interactive, broadband content delivery, such as
cable Internet access and cable-based telephony.
Under the terms of the agreement, MediaOne shareholders will receive 1.1
shares of Comcast common stock for each MediaOne share, or $80.16 per share
based on Comcast's closing price of $72.875 on Friday. The deal represents
a 32 percent premium over MediaOne's closing price on the same day of
$60.75. The boards of directors of both companies have already approved the
transaction, but the deal still has to obtain shareholder and regulatory
approval. Comcast and MediaOne expect the deal to be completed at the end
of 1999.
Together, the companies have a market capitalization of $97 billion.
Comcast/MediaOne plans to offer broadband Internet access, television
programming, and cable-based telephony services, the companies said in
their joint statement. Customers will benefit from the merger through the
offering of more advanced, bundled cable services, they added. While the
majority of services will be offered in the United States, MediaOne also
offers broadband Internet services in Asia and Europe.
The new company's chairman will be Ralph Roberts, president of Comcast.
Meanwhile, Charles Lillis, president, chief executive officer, and chairman
of MediaOne, will become president of the joint company.
Cable companies have been in the limelight recently, as more communications
and content providers seek to cement their foothold in the broadband
services market by acquiring or investing in cable operators. AT&T
completed a $55 billion acquisition of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI)
earlier this month in a move to provide local telephony and cable Internet
access.
Comcast Corp., in Philadelphia, can be reached at www.comcast.com. MediaOne
Group Inc., based in Englewood, Colo., is at www.mediaonegroup.com.
Kristi Essick is a correspondent in the Paris bureau of the IDG News
Service, an InfoWorld affiliate.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Mon Mar 22 10:10:23 1999
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Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 09:17:11 -0600
To: compnews@cs.depaul.edu, Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Users Test Win 2000 Beta 3 Release Candidate
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Users Test Win 2000 Beta 3 Release Candidate
(03/22/99, 7:42 a.m. ET)
By Jeffrey Schwartz, InternetWeek
The third beta release of Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system is in
the hands of a few beta testers and is on track for a more broad release
next month.
Although to fully discern how stable it is will require widespread testing,
the early release candidate of Beta 3, dubbed RC0, is looking better than
the last test release, according to two participants in Microsoft's Early
Adopter Program.
The Windows 2000 beta still has its share of bugs and problems related to
compatibility with older applications, although the latter is a problem
Microsoft officials virtually acknowledged in the release of its
Application and Developer Readiness Program, which offers tools to help
developers address those problems.
But based on a week of testing, one customer was bullish on
theimprovements. "It's pretty stable for most of our applications out
there," said Jason Bruner, manager of network systems administration at
VoiceStream, a PCS carrier.
"On the workstation side, it seems to work almost seamlessly. We haven't
discovered any major errors yet," Bruner said. "On the server side, it
appears fairly stable. It's ready to go."
Memory leaks appear to be fixed. "Now we run many applications at once and
it's pretty solid," he said. Microsoft has also added tools for improved
cluster management. Windows Internet Naming Services (WINS), Domain Name
Services and DHCP "are vastly improved," Bruner said.
But another beta 3 tester, an IT director at a Fortune 500 company that has
a large installed base of Windows NT servers, said while it was improved,
it was not yet ready for prime time.
"In my opinion it still needs work; they are not there yet," the IT
director who spoke on condition of anonymity said, noting the biggest
problem was with Active Directory. "I don't see that it is as scalable as
NDS is and it's not as easily manageable as NDS," he said.
Peter Houston, Microsoft's lead product manager for Windows NT marketing,
said it was possible the user didn't properly configure the directory, or
perhaps there were other issues. "We are running the RC0 at Microsoft
without any kind of performance or crashing problems. I know this is a
high-quality release," Houston said.
Microsoft last week cited a benchmark performed at Compaq's European
Benchmark Center in France where 16 million user objects were loaded into
Active Directory on a four-CPU AlphaServer 3100 machine with 2 gigabytes of
memory. The database took up 68.8 GB with no degradation of response time.
Microsoft also cited tests by Cisco where 7 million objects in the
directory were able to handle 5,000 queries per second, generated from 100
clients.
"We're pretty confident the directory is very stable," said Ray Bell,
Cisco's director of engineering.
Microsoft officials said the commercial beta release was still on target
for release next month.
Microsoft officials also took aim at addressing the compatibility questions
of applications designed for earlier versions of Windows NT.
The company last week inaugurated its Windows 2000-based Application and
Developer Readiness Program, aimed at providing guidelines to ISVs and
corporate developers to make sure their applications are compatible with
features in Windows 2000.
Nevertheless, analysts do not expect Windows 2000 to ship until later this
year at the earliest, while major deployments most certainly won't begin
until next year, after Y2K implications are clear.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Mon Mar 22 17:00:18 1999
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To: compnews@cs.depaul.edu, Noah Roselander ,
Ruth Rozen
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Printers to get their own Web addresses
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Printers to get their own Web addresses
By Ephraim Schwartz
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 11:27 AM PT, Mar 22, 1999
Sending e-mail messages over the Internet may take a new twist by early
next year, when users will be able to send e-mails and files, not to
another PC, but directly to someone else's printer.
The Printer Working Group, composed of all major printer vendors, ratified
this week Version 1.0 of the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) and sent it
on to the parent body, the Internet Engineering Task Force, for final
approval which is expected in a matter of weeks.
Once approved companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Lexmark International
are expected to incorporate the IPP into their printer products so that
users will be able to submit print jobs to a printer, learn the status of a
print job, cancel a print request, and discover a printer's features, such
as color capability, paper size, and number of paper bins, officials said.
"Eventually, if you had a printer that is IPP compliant, that printer will
have a Web address and anyone around the world who can get on the Internet
can print to that URL," said Robert Palmer, the editor of HardCopy Report,
in Boston, a publication that reports on the printer industry.
However, another industry expert warns that there is still some distance
between the acceptance of a technology as an industry standard and its
implementation by printer companies.
"You need a sponsor or an intermediary that will host the service so that
if you are not online the server will resend the print job to you or
directly to your printer when you get back online. An ISP might offer this
service," said Grey Held, a senior analyst at Lyra Research, in Boston.
The IPP also offers an alternative to sending faxes, especially when color
hard copy output is preferred, Held said.
Microsoft holds the final key for implementation of direct printing over
the Web.
"The real bottleneck is Microsoft," Held said. "You need software on your
computer that will allow you to select and talk to a destination device."
The Redmond, Wash. giant is promising that client-side software will be
available with Windows 2000, Held said.
On the commercial side, industry players are lining up to support the IPP.
"Netware Distributed Print Service [or NDPS] incorporates printers with
Novell Directory Services, for manageability. We are integrating the IPP
into our NDPS so that printers are not just available over IP but
manageable," said Brad Christensen, product manager at Novell, in Provo,
Utah. "A system administrator could manage his printers from a hotel room."
By putting IPP into Novell's printer management suite, administrators will
also be able to make older printers available over IP, Christensen said.
Lexmark's commercial division also announced support for the IPP and will
make the software available as an upgrade to its print server software.
A member of the Printer Working Group from Hewlett-Packard also expressed
her support.
"Everything is moving toward TCP/IP in the corporate world and this
dovetails nicely with that transition. It basically allows you to use a
printer like you would a fax by addressing its IPP address. It is a
powerful way of transmitting documents in corporations," said Sandra Matts,
a member of the Printer Working Group and an engineer scientist for
Workgroup Color LaserJets at Hewlett-Packard, in Boise, Idaho.
Hewlett-Packard Co., in Palo Alto, Calif., can be reached at www.hp.com.
Novell Inc., in Provo, Utah, can be reached at www.novell.com. The Printer
Working Group can be reached at www.pwg.org.
InfoWorld Editor at Large Ephraim Schwartz Ephraim Schwartz is based in San
Francisco.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Tue Mar 23 16:26:47 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft Shifts Gears, Aims For Settlement
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Microsoft Shifts Gears, Aims For Settlement
(03/23/99, 3:52 p.m. ET)
By Darryl K. Taft, Computer Reseller News
Microsoft officials confirmed Monday the company is open to resolving its
legaldispute with the federal government and 19 states.
The Seattle Times reported two weeks ago that the software giant had
indicated a willingness to pursue ways to resolve its case with the U.S.
Department of Justice, on the heels of news of a settlement offer Intel
made to the Federal Trade Commission.
At that time, Microsoft officials told CRN the company was open to trying
to use the recess in the trial "wisely" in reference to a comment U.S.
District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson made in his chambers to attorneys
from both sides in the case. Urging the parties to try to resolve the case
outside the courtroom, Jackson, who is hearing the case, told the attorneys
to use the time wisely.
"We're taking pretty seriously the judge's suggestion that both sides
pursue settlement discussions," a Microsoft official said, adding Microsoft
has "always said" it was open to negotiation.
However, a source close to the company said Microsoft continues to feel
strongly that it should "maintain the fundamental right to build new
features" into Windows and to keep the "destiny" of Microsoft's products in
the company's hands.
It appears Microsoft and the government remain at an impasse, as at least
some representatives from the states appear interested in gaining not only
conduct changes from the software giant, but structural remedies against it
should the government prevail in court. Such remedies could include
splitting up Microsoft along business segments or breaking the company into
three identical parts, each with access to Windows code.
Some observers said they find a settlement hard to believe. James Love,
director of the Consumer Project on Technology, said unless Microsoft is
willing to give in on the so-called integration issue, "they probably won't
settle."
Meanwhile, the government is open to negotiations with Redmond, Wash.-based
Microsoft. In a statement released Monday, Joel Klein, assistant attorney
general in charge of the Justice Department's antitrust division, said the
government had not yet received a settlement proposal from Microsoft, but
is open to a settlement that "protects consumers and assures that similar
antitrust violations do not occur in the future."
Microsoft sources provided no details as to a schedule for any talks with
the government. However, a source said if the company could "resolve this
without further litigation, that would be in everybody's best interest."
However, the Microsoft source said the company is preparing to return to
court next month for the rebuttal phase of the trial. Judge Jackson ordered
a recess in the trial that could end no earlier than April 12.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Tue Mar 23 16:28:01 1999
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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 15:34:21 -0600
To: compnews@cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: IBM Adds Linux To ServerProven Program
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IBM Adds Linux To ServerProven Program
(03/23/99, 4:02 p.m. ET)
By John Longwell , Computer Reseller News
DANA POINT, Calif. -- IBM will add support for Linux-based solutions to its
ServerProven certificationprogram sometime in the second quarter, the
company said Monday at the ResellerXChange conference here.
"The majority of our ISVs are going toward Linux, so we're going there with
them," said Sandy Carter, director of Netfinity Partners in Development at
IBM Personal Systems Division, in Raleigh, N.C.
Through the ServerProven program, ISVs obtain compatibility certification
for their applications running on IBM's Netfinity line of Intel-based
servers. ISVs also obtain sales incentives for recommending IBM hardware
with their solutions.
Carter said more than half of IBM's ISV partners indicated they plan to use
Linux for applications that will run on Intel's 64-bit architecture. "I
wasn't expecting Linux to show up in the I-64 space," she said. "It was a
good surprise."
IBM earlier said it was going to expanding its certification program to
include cluster technology, providing support for ERP and database-type
applications from vendors such as J.D. Edwards and Oracle. ClusterProven
will provide the same type of testing and certification as the ServerProven
program, she said. "Clustering is really hard so the value proposition goes
up pretty astronomically," Carter said.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Tue Mar 23 16:32:57 1999
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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 15:39:13 -0600
To: compnews@cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft Hasn't Killed Off Java Yet
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Microsoft Hasn't Killed Off Java Yet
By Deborah Gage, March 20, 1999
IE 5.0 relegates Microsoft's Virtual Machine to an optional download;
competitors ready their own strategies.
Microsoft Corp. is making its customers work a little harder to use Java.
Microsoft has included no Java Virtual Machine with the minimal install of
Internet Explorer 5, requiring users to manually download a Virtual Machine
if they want to use one.
While Microsoft still includes its Virtual Machine with the full and
typical installs of IE 5, confirms Rob Bennett, group product manager for
Windows, customers using Microsoft's minimal install are asked if they
would like to download the Microsoft Virtual Machine for Java when they hit
a Java-enabled Web page. Java applications cannot run without some vendor's
version of a Virtual Machine.
Microsoft says downloading its Virtual Machine, which weighs in at about 2
MB, should take "several minutes." Bennett says Microsoft will not provide
pointers to any alternative Virtual Machines, such as offerings from
Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Novell Inc. or Sun Microsystems Inc.
MS Competitors Answer Back
Sun is working on several new Java browsers as part of its deal with
America OnLine Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp., and customers who
install Sun's current Java Plug-in can run the most up-to-date Sun Java
Virtual Machine in both Netscape and IE on either Windows or Solaris.
But Sun's plug-in doesn't cover the use of other Virtual Machines, such as
IBM's or Novell's. In addition, developers have complained to Sun that the
plug-in is missing important features and say the source code should be
made public so developers can fix it. Sun officials say the company is
considering offering the Java Plug-in under its Community Source License.
IBM, meanwhile, says Microsoft simply is trying to distance itself from Java.
"We're encouraged that Microsoft believes Java still has enough momentum
that they haven't killed it off in their own products," says program
manager Jason Woodard. "Our advice to customers using Java is to count on
Netscape if they have any control over their browser. We also continue to
be very client-agnostic in the sense that a lot of customers building HTML
or dynamic HTML applications can use Java on the server."
On another front, Microsoft has reported "a few minor issues" with the way
IE 5 interacts with its Visual Studio 6 suite of development tools, which
includes Microsoft's Visual J++ Java tool. Microsoft has issued warnings to
developers to check technical information on the Visual Studio Web site
before installing IE 5. The problems will be fixed in the next Visual
Studio 6 service pack due this spring, a Microsoft spokeswoman says.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Thu Mar 25 15:20:58 1999
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 14:27:31 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: W3C's Berners-Lee urges agent-readable Web sites
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W3C's Berners-Lee urges agent-readable Web sites
By Jeff Partyka
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 11:19 AM PT, Mar 25, 1999
BOSTON -- Internet-commerce Web site developers need to make the data on
their pages more easily identifiable by search engines and agents,
according to World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Director Tim Berners-Lee.
"Your data needs to be understood not by people, but by machines,"
Berners-Lee said during his Internet Commerce Expo (ICE) keynote address
here Thursday.
Berners-Lee strongly urged I-commerce developers to start migrating toward
the Resource Description Framework (RDF), which, according to the W3C's Web
site, "integrates a variety of Web-based meta-data activities including
site maps, content ratings, stream channel definitions, search engine data
collection (Web crawling), digital library collections, and distributed
authoring, using XML [Extensible Markup Language] as an interchange syntax."
Berners-Lee said widespread RDF adoption will vastly improve Web searching.
"It's amazing how much you can do with a search engine -- and it's also
amazing how much you can't do with a search engine," Berners-Lee said.
As an example of the problem with Internet searching today, he asked the
audience to imagine a shopper looking for a yellow car on the Internet.
"If you have an ad on a page somewhere, it probably says something like,
'Honda for sale, good runner,' " Berners-Lee said. "Nowhere does it say
'car.' ... In cases like this, simple screen scraping just isn't effective.
You need to present your content in a format where there is data behind
that is apparent to an agent. It will have an unbelievable effect."
By embedding RDF into HTML documents, however, vocabulary that agents can
understand may be established for the type of item, the color, the model
number, the price, and other information, Berners-Lee said.
Berners-Lee stressed the importance of I-commerce site visibility to agents
and search engines, which he said will increase in the future.
"Lots of people feel that [electronic-] commerce is just people browsing,
but there's more to it than that," Berners-Lee said. "More and more people
are using programs and agents to shop for the best deal, and that's how
they're going to be getting to your site."
Addressing the question of how developers around the world might be able to
agree on an RDF vocabulary, Berners-Lee urged his listeners not to look to
groups such as the W3C, but to "get together with people like yourselves
and develop one." Over time, incremental agreements between various groups
of developers can eventually lead to global standards, he said.
"Eventually, people looking for automobiles will start to find the cars,"
Berners-Lee said.
Berners-Lee also touched upon the topic of privacy on the Web. He said a
current W3C project centers around the automation of privacy-policy
creation and maintenance. He also said privacy is a subject that is seen
differently in different nations.
"In the U.S., the general feeling is that it's OK to pass along personal
information with the person's consent," Berners-Lee said. "In Europe,
however, it's seen as an unalienable right -- you can't pass around
someone's shoe size under any circumstances."
Berners-Lee also made time in his address for two brief "rants." In the
first, he railed against the dangers and annoyances of "Web rot" -- the
phenomenon of running into "Error 404" messages when a Web address is no
longer valid.
"If you keep changing your URL, your company is letting down anyone who's
noted [the old URL] down," Berners-Lee said. "Find one you can live with
for 20, 200, or 2,000 years."
His second rant centered around form-submission buttons, which can lead to
the inability to bookmark certain pages.
"I like to do my banking at home and pay my bills without leaving the
house," Berners-Lee said. "But I can't bookmark my account page. It's
nowhere; it doesn't have a URL. It's not a page, it's a form. I even saw
one site where you couldn't even use the 'back' button -- when you hit it,
a page comes up that says, 'Please don't use the back button.' Give me a
break!"
The World Wide Web Consortium can be reached at www.w3.org.
Jeff Partyka is a Boston correspondent for the IDG News Service, an
InfoWorld affiliate.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Fri Mar 26 15:43:31 1999
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 14:49:16 -0600
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Subject: Easing browser interface development
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Easing browser interface development
By Paul Festa
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
March 26, 1999, 11:40 a.m. PT
Browser engineers are cooking up a new way to create user interfaces that
could have broad ramifications for application programming.
Engineers at America Online's newly acquired Netscape Communications unit,
along with developers working under the auspices of AOL-backed Mozilla.org,
have drafted the Extensible User Interface Language (XUL), which would let
developers create a browser's user interface using common Web development
languages.
If successful, the move could fuel a trend toward creating more application
components with Web languages, which have the twin benefits of being both
cross-platform and easier to use than traditional application programming
languages.
Browser developers currently rely on standard, interpretive Web languages
such as HTML and CSS to render content in a browser window, and programming
languages such as C to create the graphical user interface, or "chrome."
Chrome refers to the hard-coded features on the periphery of the browser
window, including menu items, buttons, and the address bar.
"XUL is our attempt to use the power of the layout engine to do all the
chrome," said Mike LaGuardia, group product manager responsible for
Communicator's Navigator browser. "We're using all of the standards we're
supporting within Gecko to actually provide our engineers and potentially
others working with this code base to create the user interface for
Communicator and other applications as well."
Gecko is the code name for the Communicator layout engine, or renderer,
which was unveiled in a developer preview in December.
XUL is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML), a metalanguage for the
creation of other industry- or task-specific languages.
The trouble with the current method of creating user interfaces is that
native code has to be rewritten for every operating system AOL wants to
support. That duplication of highly specialized effort is expensive and
wasteful, LaGuardia pointed out, making XUL attractive from a bottom-line
perspective.
"This would mean that the UI could be written once and work across multiple
platforms, and the level of knowledge that you need to do UI development
becomes less arcane," LaGuardia said. "All you need to know is how to
create a Web page, albeit a fairly sophisticated one."
In the cross-platform arena, XUL resembles Sun Microsystems' Java
programming language. But Java requires a bulky Java Virtual Machine to
make native code understandable to multiple operating systems. XUL promises
to be far more lightweight.
Moving to the cross-platform XUL makes even more sense as AOL prepares to
implement its "AOL Everywhere" strategy of making its online service
available from alternative Internet devices such as handhelds and set-top
boxes, which typically have distinct, slimmed-down operating systems.
But the nascent language, which AOL is considering sending to the World
Wide Web Consortium for review as a Web standard, also could have broader
implications for the future of application programming, according to its
creators.
"There's a trend toward using Web-building languages rather than native
code," LaGuardia said. "And we think this could really spark a programming
revolution."
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Fri Mar 26 21:40:27 1999
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 20:46:17 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Massive e-mail virus outbreak spreads like wildfire
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Massive e-mail virus outbreak spreads like wildfire
By Dan Briody
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 4:43 PM PT, Mar 26, 1999
A crippling and embarrassing virus has spent the day marauding countless
e-mail inboxes around the world, replicating itself to end-user address
books and sending an exhaustive list of pornographic Web sites to everyone
therein.
Dubbed the "Melissa" virus, the culprit has hampered -- and in some cases
entirely shut down -- e-mail systems for companies the world over. For
example, Microsoft has put a halt to all outgoing e-mails throughout the
company.
"Some users at Microsoft received an e-mail that contained a Word document
that has attached to it a macro virus," said Andrew Dixon, group product
manager for Office at Microsoft. "If that document is opened and the macro
virus is allowed to run, it is possible [for the virus] to send e-mail to a
number of other users."
Dixon said that Friday afternoon, Microsoft "temporarily turned off
outgoing e-mail" company-wide to guard against spreading the virus. Dixon
said he did not know how many Microsoft employees received the marco virus,
or how many may have triggered it
At risk are Microsoft Exchange Servers running Microsoft Outlook. With an
ever-changing subject heading of "Important Message From [end-user name],
the attachment to the e-mail is a document entitled "list.doc" with a body
of text reading "Here is that document you asked for ... don't show anyone
else ;-)."
Upon opening the attachment, Microsoft Word 97 will ask if you want to
disable the macros, to which you should reply yes, or the e-mail will
automatically be sent to the first fifty names on each company mailing list.
"If you don't disable the macros, the virus resends itself to everyone in
[your] address list," said John Berard, a spokesman for Fleishman Hillard,
which was infected by the virus and inadvertently spread it around. "We've
been shut down and working on the problem all day. It's hard working
without the effective use of e-mail. But this thing did not originate with
us."
In addition, the virus automatically changes the security settings of an
infected system to the lowest possible setting, a slick move that has IT
managers wondering if they will have to manually reset every infected PC in
their enterprise.
Fleishman Hillard immediately shut down its systems when it discovered the
virus and contacted federal authorities. Fleishman Hillard has more than
1,500 employees worldwide.
Meanwhile, the list of companies affected is growing exponentially. An
Intel spokesperson reported that the chip-giant had been "touched" by the
virus and is working on correcting the problem. "It's all over," he said.
Tom Moske, network manager for USWeb CKS, said the virus has made for a
very long day. "It's going to propagate like crazy. It's gone to all of our
client and personal addresses. We are kind of laughing, although it is
pretty bad. This is a good one."
A fix for the virus has been posted on the Trend Micro Web site. All major
antivirus companies are expected to follow suit by Monday. Symantec is on a
company-wide holiday today.
Dan Schrader, director of product marketing at Trend Micro recommends that
IT managers do not panic upon learning of the insidious virus, but shut
down the e-mail system and go to Trend Micro's Web site at
housecall.antivirus.com/smex_housecall for further instructions.
Though Schrader could not say how many companies had been affected, he did
say the his company was "getting swamped with calls and hits on the Web
site. Obviously it spreads very rapidly."
Schrader said the virus is easy to detect and not destructive in nature.
But it can cause serious bandwidth constraints and contains several quirky
characteristics.
According to Trend Micro officials, the virus has a hidden message that is
time triggered to reveal a quote from the popular TV series "The Simpsons."
Dan Briody is the client/server section editor at InfoWorld. Bob Trott,
Stannie Holt, and Michael Lattig contributed to this report.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Fri Mar 26 21:43:26 1999
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Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 20:49:19 -0600
To: compnews@cs.depaul.edu, Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Office 2000 To Go Gold Next Week
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Office 2000 To Go Gold Next Week
(03/26/99, 6:34 p.m. ET)
By Paula Rooney , Computer Reseller News
Microsoft will release Office 2000 to manufacturing next week in
preparation for April availability to select corporate customers, sources
said.
At its Office 2000 Deployment Conference in New Orleans next week,
Microsoft officials will announce the Office 2000 testing is complete and
will be available to licensed customers on CDs beginning in April, company
sources said. The shrink-wrapped Office 2000 box will be available to
retailers starting in early June, several retail sources said.
"We're very close to it," said one source. "It will be completed by the end
of the first quarter as promised. We're reaching that milestone."
The Redmond, Wash.-based company also will detail next week a host of
resources being provided to IT and reseller professionals to push Office
2000 as well as the forthcoming BackOffice 4.5 suite through Microsoft
TechNet, Microsoft Direct Access and the Microsoft Certified Solution
Provider Programs.
Microsoft said it plans to release five versions of the Web-centric Office
upgrade, including Office 2000 Premium, Office 2000 Developer, Office 2000
Standard, Office 2000 Professional and Office 2000 Small Business Edition.
The Small Business Edition will incorporate a number of small-business
tools including a Business Planner component, sources said.
Microsoft first introduced Office 2000 at PC Expo last June and indicated
it would ship in the first quarter of 1999.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Tue Mar 23 21:57:45 1999
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Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 21:03:58 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Dataquest finds IBM overtaking Oracle in database market
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Dataquest finds IBM overtaking Oracle in database market
By James Niccolai
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 4:28 PM PT, Mar 23, 1999
IBM has overtaken Oracle to regain its lead in the database software
market, according to preliminary research released Tuesday by Dataquest.
IBM moved into the top slot thanks to strong sales of its System 390 and
AS/400 systems, as well as "dramatic growth" for DB2 on Unix and Windows NT
platforms, said Dataquest, which is based in San Jose, Calif.
In 1997 Oracle toppled Big Blue from the top position in the database
market. But in 1998 IBM's worldwide share of new license revenues reached
32.3 percent, up from 28.9 percent in 1997. Over the same period, Oracle's
share dropped from 29.4 percent to 29.3 percent, according to Dataquest.
While Oracle lost the top spot overall, it still leads the relational
database management systems segment, as well as leading on the Unix and
Windows NT platforms, Carolyn DiCenzo, director and principal analyst for
Dataquest's database and data warehousing software worldwide program, said
in a statement.
Not surprisingly, Oracle sought to downplay Dataquest's findings, calling
them "a blip" and "an anomaly." Some of IBM's growth came from existing
customers in its huge installed base adding new user licenses in the course
of examining their systems in preparation for the year 2000, according to
Dom Lindars, Oracle's director of server marketing.
Dataquest also found that worldwide database sales did not slow last year,
despite fears that companies would freeze their spending in anticipation of
year 2000 problems. Worldwide sales revenues in 1998 increased 15 percent
over the previous year, to $7.1 billion, Dataquest's preliminary figures show.
Microsoft, Informix, and Sybase kept their respective third, fourth and
fifth place rankings in terms of share of new license revenues, Dataquest
said.
The database business is expected to be worth $10 billion by 2003, driven
by Internet-related applications, electronic commerce, content management,
and the need to support remote and mobile workers, Dataquest said.
While IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft will be the dominant players, "there is
still plenty of room for vendors that can cater to niche application areas
or industry-specific markets," Dataquest's DiCenzo said.
Additional information on the database market is available in the Dataquest
Perspective "Worldwide DBMS Preliminary Market Statistics: 1998."
Dataquest Inc., a unit of the Gartner Group Inc., in San Jose Calif., can
be contacted at www.dataquest.com.
James Niccolai is a San Francisco correspondent for the IDG News Service,
an InfoWorld affiliate.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Thu Mar 25 10:17:49 1999
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 09:24:26 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: AOL reorganizes to fold in Netscape, to lay off 1,000
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AOL reorganizes to fold in Netscape, to lay off 1,000
By Elinor Mills
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 3:51 PM PT, Mar 24, 1999
America Online on Wednesday announced it would reorganize into four
product groups, including one devoted to Netscape Communications'
operations, and would lay off between 700 and 1,000 workers from AOL and
Netscape combined.
The new product groups will be the Interactive Services Group, focused on
AOL's interactive services including CompuServe and Netscape's Netcenter
portal web site; the Interactive Properties Group, built on properties that
work on other platforms such as ICQ instant messaging; the Netscape
Enterprise Group, which will also be a part of the AOL-Sun Microsystems
electronic commerce strategic alliance; and the AOL International Group,
overseeing AOL and CompuServe operations outside the United States.
The company has a joint venture with Bertelsmann AG in Europe and
Australia, and with Mitsui and Nikkei in Japan; AOL also has a wholly-owned
subsidiary in Canada. The company also plans to launch services in Hong
Kong with China Internet and in Latin America with The Cisneros Group, the
statement said.
Each of the four groups will report to Bob Pittman, president and CEO of
AOL, and both AOL and Netscape executives will hold key management
positions within the groups. Netscape operations will remain based in
Mountain View, Calif., AOL said in a statement.
Meanwhile, AOL said it would eliminate between 350 and 500 jobs both
internally and at Netscape. Currently, about 12,000 people work at the two
companies, including about 2,500 at Netscape. AOL spokesman Jim Whitney
said the company would be finalizing over the next few weeks what jobs in
which areas of the companies would be cut.
Whitney declined to say which products or services of Netscape's may be
phased out. It was clear from the company's statement, though, that
Netcenter and Navigator's browsers would be maintained and developed.
AOL plans to expand the reach of Netcenter, which it said would enable AOL
to increase its daytime traffic and capture audiences by broadening its
reach worldwide. In addition, AOL will release the 5.0 Versions of
Navigator and Communicator later this year and will continue Netscape's
policy of supporting open development and open source through the work of
Mozilla.org, the organization that manages Netscape's open-source
initiative for developers.
"We will continue to build Netscape's successful businesses, including
expanding the audience for the popular Netscape Netcenter and extending
both the Navigator and Communicator browsers to the emerging market of
next-generation Internet devices," Steve Case, AOL's chairman and CEO, said
in a statement. "This acquisition will greatly accelerate our business
momentum by advancing our multiple-brand, multiple-product strategy and
helping us take e-commerce to a new level."
AOL will take a charge in its fiscal 1999 third quarter for the
reorganization and integration of Netscape, but said the amount of the
charge will be announced later.
One analyst said it made sense for AOL to reorganize along product and
service lines, particularly since Netscape's enterprise businesses are so
different from AOL's and are more corporate rather than consumer focused.
"AOL has diversified in a number of different areas, and of course their
main business is the interactive services," said Joan-Carol Brigham, a
research manager at International Data Corp., in Framingham, Mass.
However, Brigham wondered how long AOL can remain a "generic" site before
moving into specialty areas.
"Even though it's not necessarily so, AOL does have a perception of being a
sort of closed system and I think that works against them somewhat,"
Brigham said.
Rob Enderle, an analyst at the Giga Information Group, also praised the
reorganization.
"They're forming organizations that hover around their individual
strengths," Enderle said. "It looks like they've done a great deal of
thought."
Specifically, Enderle said it was a good idea to have Jim Barksdale,
president and CEO of Netscape, join AOL's board of directors, where he will
be out of the day-to-day operations, and Mike Homer, Netscape's executive
vice president and general manager of its Web site division, out of
marketing and in charge of Netcenter.
The stock-for-stock deal is believed to be worth as much as $10 billion.
When AOL announced its intent to buy Netscape in November its stock was at
about $45, making the deal worth about $4.2 billion. Since then AOL's stock
has more than doubled to just over $116 as of Wednesday afternoon.
Netscape Communications Corp., in Mountain View, Calif., can be reached at
www.netscape.com. America Online Inc., in Dulles, Va., can be reached at
www.aol.com.
Elinor Mills is an editor at large in the San Francisco bureau of the IDG
News Service, an InfoWorld affiliate.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Mon Mar 29 18:16:22 1999
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Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 17:12:45 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Office 2000 suite set to hit the street in June
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Office 2000 suite set to hit the street in June
By Bob Trott
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 10:26 AM PT, Mar 29, 1999
NEW ORLEANS -- Microsoft announced June 10 retail availability for Office
2000 at its Office 2000 Deployment conference here Monday, and said its
bigger customers will get the desktop productivity suite in late April.
The company also unveiled deals with partners such as Unisys, which will
unveil Unisys Office 2000 Solution, a program aimed helping IT managers
deploy and integrate the new suite.
In his keynote speech, Bob Muglia, Microsoft's senior vice president of
applications and tools, called Office 2000 the most IT-friendly version of
the suite yet. He said Microsoft used customer feedback in making
improvements in three key areas: cost of ownership, connectivity, and
infrastructure.
"This certainly has the largest IT focus ever," Muglia told about 850
conference attendees. "We think we've built something that will lower your
cost of management."
Another key focus, particularly for international companies, is Office
2000's multilanguage functionality. The suite allows users to use a
Language Pack to move from one language to another.
"We needed one user desktop application to support everyone we have from
Boston to Hong Kong," said Sue Hallihan, IT director for Wang Global, a
Microsoft partner, in Billerica, Mass.
Muglia said members of Microsoft's Select/Enterprise and Rapid Deployment
programs would receive CD-ROMs of Office 2000 in late April, but did not
give an exact date.
The delay in shipping Office 2000 -- which originally was scheduled for
release this month -- has cost Microsoft financially, at least in the short
term.
The company expects to report a $400 revenue shortfall for the current
fiscal quarter. Microsoft is deferring that revenue, which can only be
recognized when customers redeem coupons for Office 2000 when they bought
Office 97, until the last quarter of its current fiscal year, which ends
June 30.
Support specialist Unisys's offering -- which will employ standard
templates and tools, well-defined milestones, and proactive project
management -- will be available through the company's Microsoft Solutions
Practice, or MSP.
"With the release of Office 2000, Microsoft is delivering a true
productivity tool, with new features that address cost of ownership, Web
integration, and ease of use," said Gerry Gagliardi, president of Unisys
Global Customer Services. "Unisys is uniquely qualified to provide the
consultative services that organizations will need to quickly take full
advantage of these new capabilities."
At the conference, Microsoft is pushing its Office Web components,
Component Object Model controls for publishing spreadsheets, charts, and
databases to the Web.
Also on tap are deployment of Office 2000 on Windows Terminal Server
machines, and integration between Office 2000 and the SQL Server 7.0 database.
Through the use of SQL 7.0 wizards and tools, users will be able to build
data-warehousing and analysis applications in Office 2000.
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
Unisys Corp., in Blue Bell, Pa., can be reached at www.unisys.com.
Bob Trottis InfoWorld's Seattle bureau chief.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Mon Mar 29 18:16:23 1999
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Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 17:11:36 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft decentralizes self with 'Vision Version 2'
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Microsoft decentralizes self with 'Vision Version 2'
By Dana Gardner
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 12:55 PM PT, Mar 29, 1999
Microsoft said Monday it will reorganize itself into five autonomous
businesses that target specific sets of customers in a bid to re-energize
its vision of empowering computer and Internet users at home and at work.
"This is not a break-up into small companies," said President Steve
Ballmer. "We need to get business divisions that own a broad charter, that
have the individual resources to do their jobs ... to give our customers
the power when they want it, and where they need it."
In coming weeks and months, Microsoft will "reinvent itself" into the
Business and Enterprise Division, which will cater to the needs of IT
managers in large organizations; the Consumer Windows Division, which will
work on improving the Windows platform; the Business Productivity Group,
which will address the needs of knowledge workers and remote workers; the
Developer Group, which will help developers design software for Microsoft
platforms; and the Consumer and Commerce Group, which will get companies
online and link them to consumers, including via portal sites.
Ballmer and CEO Bill Gates downplayed any association between the move
Monday to set up more independent divisions and settlement talks due to
begin Tuesday in its antitrust litigation with the U.S. Department of Justice.
"It would be nice if a settlement could be reached ... if the right set of
principle [were agreed upon]," said Gates of the ongoing trial now in
recess d in a conference call to press and analysts. "[But] this has
nothing to do with any lawsuit."
Instead, the reorganization -- what Ballmer called "Vision Version 2" -- is
aimed at bringing "parallelism" to Microsoft so it can act with more regard
to customers and provide focus beyond just the PC to other devices and on
the Internet, said Ballmer, who became president of the leading software
maker just eight months ago.
"It became clear [since he took over] ... that if we're going to succeed
and do the right thing for customers, that we'll need to reinvent
ourselves," said Ballmer. "We want those running the business divisions to
act as if they were in independent companies" and to partner with third
parties as well as the other Microsoft divisions, he said.
Microsoft's reinvention brings many of the company's chieftains into
different roles, breaking them out of the executive committee, which has
been renamed, and giving them fiefdoms of their own to organize and run.
The developer division will be headed by Paul Maritz, the enterprise
division will be lead by Jim Allchin, the business productivity unit by Bob
Muglia, the consumer Windows division by David Cole, and the consumer and
commerce division by Brad Chase and Jon DeVaan, Ballmer said.
Among the more wholesale changes for Microsoft as a result of the
reorganization is an emphasis on giving consumers more choice on their
devices and development languages.
"We want to give people the power, connectivity, and the ability to choose
how they want to use computing in their lives," Gates said. "The PC will
continue to have a central role in this future, but it will be joined by an
incredibly rich variety of digital devices accessing the power of the
Internet."
The new developer division, Gates said, will work to allow the "use of any
language ... for development of applications on the Internet, servers, and
clients using a common approach; a framework for rapid innovation."
The work will build on Component Object Model (COM), COM+, and the
Extensible Markup Language, and is being done under the Advanced Visual
Studio project headed by Maritz. The development strategy will be further
detailed later this year, Ballmer said.
Ballmer also announced the creation of the Business Leadership Team as
replacement for the Executive Committee. It will consist of Allchin,
Orlando Ayala, Ballmer, Chase, DeVaan, Gates, Bob Herbold, Laura Jennings,
Joachim Kempin, Greg Maffei, Maritz, Mich Mathews, Muglia, Bill Neukom, and
Jeff Raikes. Brad Silverberg will become an adviser to Ballmer.
Some analysts expressed skepticism at the true extent of the reorganization.
"To say you're suddenly reorganizing around customer-focused units is one
thing, but if you look behind the curtain it's still Jim Allchin over
Windows 2000 and Windows 98," said Dwight Davis, a Kirkland, Wash.-based
analyst at Summit Strategies. "It's not quite that dramatic reorg in my
mind. There's some realignment, but there's still really the same product
groups."
The reorganization could pose some concerns, because many products will
overlap in the new groups. Office, for example, could be categorized as an
enterprise product, a "knowledge" product and a development product,
because Microsoft is pushing the suite as a development platform, Davis said.
"It's [public relations] to say 'We're now focused on customer needs,"
Davis said. "On the other hand, they are doing some things, and there is
some element of change here ... and they still have been much better than,
say, Oracle in soliciting from customers on their products."
Davis noted that at least one key position remains unfilled. Davis said the
Consumer and Commerce group, headed jointly by Chase and DeVaan, still
essentially had an opening at the top, and the company needed a "big name"
to get that division on the move.
"On Java, it's still open and [Chase and DeVaan] understand that there
could be someone [eventually] above them," Davis said. "They're painting
this as moving forward, but how far are you moving forward if you don't
have a person in charge of this?"
Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at www.microsoft.com.
InfoWorld Editor at Large Dana Gardner is based in New Hampshire. Seattle
bureau chief Bob Trott contributed to this article.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Tue Mar 30 12:39:58 1999
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Novell Breaks NetWare Secrecy
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Novell Breaks NetWare Secrecy
(03/30/99, 11:10 a.m. ET)
By Karen Rollins, Computer Reseller News UK
Novell is to release parts of its networking software to the open source
community, as it attempts to attract software developers to its technology.
At Novell's U.S.-based annual user group conference, Chris Stone, senior
vice president of strategy and corporate development, revealed the company
would release core protocols for the company's flagship network operating
system, NetWare, to computer programmers.
However, Stone said Novell will not release any security-related protocols,
which are key components of NetWare and NDS. "The company has always had
this fear people would re-engineer NetWare. Who would want to do that?"
Stone said.
Peter Joseph, corporate strategist at Novell U.K., said it is trying "to
determine which elements [of Novell software] would best suit the open
source space. But we have no official announcements to make yet."
Peter Dawes, sales director at Linux reseller Linux IT, said: "A lot of
vendors are wondering why Linux is so popular, and are pointing the finger
at its openness. Some of these moves are half-hearted and do not inspire
confidence in the developer community that they are genuine and will remain
forever."
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Tue Mar 30 13:04:19 1999
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Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 12:10:27 -0600
To: compnews@cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: SAP invests in Red Hat
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SAP invests in Red Hat
By Erich Luening
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
March 30, 1999, 6:50 a.m. PT
A major commercial-grade supplier of Linux scores a chunk of investment
dollars from Germany's leading software company.
SAP today announced an equity investment of an undisclosed amount by the
SAP Venture Fund in Red Hat Software, adding more support to the Linux
bandwagon and the open source movement.
SAP, a long-standing partner with Microsoft, said Linux is a stable,
reliable, and viable operating system developed according to the open
source model that is now mature enough to run mission-critical business
applications.
"The SAP Venture Fund is designed to foster innovative technology
developments that will have significant impact and benefits for SAP
customers," Howard Lau, executive vice president of the SAP Venture Fund,
said in a statement. "Linux is becoming a significant force in the
industry. We expect it to emerge as an attractive platform for enterprise
computing, and Red Hat is a leading Linux distributor."
Founded in 1994, Red Hat Software is based in Research Triangle Park, North
Carolina, where it develops open source operating software, such as RPM and
the disk druid installation tool. Red Hat Linux is available for Intel,
Compaq Alpha, and Sun SPARC platforms.
With its SAP Venture Fund, SAP provides funding to companies it believes
have "promising" technologies that are expected to further innovation in
enterprise computing.
Today's announcement comes just a few weeks after the German software giant
said it will support Red Hat's version of Linux for R/3 on Intel-based
systems.
As reported earlier, SAP said customers will be able to order preinstalled
and preconfigured R/3 systems on Linux. The firm plans its first shipment
of SAP R/3 on Linux in the third quarter.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Tue Mar 30 21:27:49 1999
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Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 20:33:24 -0600
To: compnews@cs.depaul.edu, Ruth Rozen ,
Elisa & Ophir Trigalo ,
otrigalo@wppost.depaul.edu,
Noah Roselander ,
David Weinstein ,
Ron Weinstein
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Russia reportedly halting Y2K work to protest NATO air strikes
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Russia reportedly halting Y2K work to protest NATO air strikes
By James Niccolai
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 6:01 PM PT, Mar 30, 1999
Russia's defense ministry on Friday reportedly said it will cease
cooperating with the United States on preparations for possible year-2000
computer problems -- apparently in a show of protest over NATO's military
intervention in Kosovo, Yugoslavia.
Government officials in Russia and the United States would not confirm the
reports, published by a variety of media outlets.
The two countries have been developing a proposal to station officials at
each other's nuclear facilities during the months before and after Jan. 1,
2000, with the goal of preventing any false alarms if a software problem in
an early warning system indicates that a nuclear strike has been launched.
The countries are also involved in a joint effort to make computers year
2000-compliant at several Soviet-designed nuclear power plants located
throughout Eastern Europe.
In a statement Friday, the chairman of a government committee examining the
year-2000 issue called Russia's reported action, "a short-sighted and
dangerous thing to do."
"It doesn't mean something bad is going to happen. But it means that our
chances of preventing something bad from happening just went down," said
Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, who is chairman of the Senate Special
Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem.
The year-2000 problem is occurring because older software code was written
with a two-digit date field that might interpret the "00" in 2000 as "1900"
and therefore could fail to make correct calculations.
U.S. officials have frequently cited concerns regarding lack of
preparedness in Russia, as well as worries that the computer problem will
trigger a false alarm indicating a nuclear attack is underway. The Senate
committee, along with several other U.S. government offices contacted this
week including the Pentagon and the State Department, said they have not
received any official notification of Russia's actions. A representative at
the National Security Council declined to comment.
An official with Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also could not
confirm or deny that his country had changed its cooperation plans with the
United States, but did say that he found the situation highly unlikely.
"I haven't seen a declaration that our government has the intention of
interrupting our cooperation in this domain," said the official, who asked
not to be named.
"I think that the development of year-2000 cooperation may [ultimately]
depend on the situation with the Kosovo crisis, but for the moment any
disruption of our cooperation in this area would not be constructive," the
official added.
U.S. officials also said Western involvement in Kosovo could contribute to
problems in the countries' joint efforts to prepare for 2000.
"We have to tread lightly because of U.S.-Russian differences over Kosovo,
but when the dust settles we'll do our best to resume the Y2K effort," said
a representative of the Senate's year-2000 committee.
In related news, the U.S.' Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it will begin
an inspection next Thursday of the U.S.' 103 operating nuclear power plants
to ensure the facilities will not run into year 2000-related problems on
Jan. 1, 2000 and beyond.
The U.S. Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem can
be reached at www.senate.gov/~y2k/home.html.
James Niccolai is a San Francisco correspondent for the IDG News Service,
an InfoWorld affiliate. Tom Diederich of Computerworld, an InfoWorld
affiliate, contributed to this article.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Wed Mar 31 09:56:39 1999
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Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 09:01:53 -0600
To: compnews@cs.depaul.edu, Noah Roselander
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Windows 2000 Beta 3 On Track To Ship April 21
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Windows 2000 Beta 3 On Track To Ship April 21
(03/31/99, 6:43 a.m. ET)
By Paula Rooney, Computer Reseller News
Microsoft Tuesday outlined specific product timing and plans for Windows
2000 and its family of related Backoffice servers, notably SQL Server and
BizTalk Commerce Server.
Windows 2000, formerly known as NT 5.0, is "on track" for Beta 3 to ship on
April 21 with release to manufacturing expected in the fourth quarter,
according to company documents.
One analyst source said the long-awaited upgrade is now slated to ship in
early October. The details on the beta 3 timing and the other servers were
provided to large account resellers attending the company's annual
Executive Synergy 99 Conference in Seattle, Wash. Microsoft will hold a
Windows 2000 ISV workshop April 7 through 8.
In addition, Microsoft provided some details about its next-generation SQL
Server, code-named Shiloh, which will focus on ease-of-use, scalability,
business intelligence and Internet commerce.
The SQL Server upgrade, based on Windows 2000, will support advanced
parallelism, fail-over clusters and log shipping, English queries, data
mining and materialized views, according to the documents provided at the
Seattle resellersummit.
The server will also be XML-enabled. Microsoft has talked sporadically of
Shiloh, mostly when addressing integrators and VARs concerned that SQL
Server was not scalable enough for large enterprises. CRN first reported on
Shiloh in November 1997.
While Microsoft executives on Tuesday claimed to have sold 6.5 million
seats of its recently-released SQL 7.0 during fiscal year 1999, other
sources say SQL Server 7.0 sales, especially relative to sales of Oracle's
database have been disappointing.
Recent CRN research shows more VARs named Oracle than Microsoft as their
best-selling database in February. These figures were striking given
Microsoft's huge advantage a year ago over Oracle and given Oracle's
historical problematic relationship with the channel, observers said.
Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., also filled in details about its e-commerce
framework for Windows 2000, known as BizTalk. The BizTalk server, which
will be used by Microsoft Office, BackOffice, Commerce Server and Windows,
will ship to beta in July, according to the documents. Commerce Server is
also scheduled to ship to beta this summer, officials said Tuesday.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Wed Mar 31 12:10:33 1999
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Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 11:15:55 -0600
To: compnews@cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Microsoft To Put APIs On Settlement Table
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Microsoft To Put APIs On Settlement Table
(03/31/99, 7:14 a.m. ET)
By Darryl K. Taft, Computer Reseller News
Microsoft has expressed a willingness to put the Windows APIs on the table
for discussion as part of the antitrust settlement negotiations, according
to sources and written reports.
The software giant began talks Tuesday with the U.S. Departmentof Justice
and 19 states on settling the Justice Department's antitrust suit.
The Seattle Times reported Tuesday afternoon that Microsoft, in a document
forwarded to the government listing topics for discussion, said it was
willing to discuss its process for developing and making available the APIs
critical to applications developers.
An opening up of the API process could gain industry support, as several
Microsoft competitors have alleged Microsoft withholds key APIs from
companies either in retaliation or to hamper a competitor's progress.
Microsoft, in Redmond, Wash., has steadfastly denied these claims. Real or
not, some independent software vendors said they believe the software giant
takes care of its own developers long before they release code to third
parties.
A source close to the government was suspicious of Microsoft's proposal to
put APIs up for discussion: "I'm skeptical. The mere definition of what's
an API is an issue."
At a recent news conference of the Association for Competitive Technology
(ACT), Jonathan Zuck, president of ACT, said, "The industry thrives on two
things among others, intellectual-property protection and platform
standards. Any settlement deal that represents an erosion of either of
these would not be supported by ACT or, for the matter, the majority of the
industry. We believe Microsoft owes it to the industry to walk away from
the table rather than concede on these points."
On Wednesday morning, Microsoft and representatives from the Justice
Department and the states are slated to meet in court with U.S. District
Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson for a status hearing to discuss scheduling
and other issues related to completing the trial, should the parties fail
to reach a settlement.
The trial is scheduled to resume no earlier than April 12, but sources said
the judge was now presiding over a criminal trial that may run through
April, putting off a resumption of the Microsoft trial until some time in May.
Microsoft delivered an initial settlement proposal to federal and state
regulators last week. The states promptly discounted the proposal as not
going far enough. In that document, Microsoft offered to relax some of its
contractual requirements on ISPs and OEMs.
However, a proposal gaining popularity with government regulators is one
that would force Microsoft to auction off the Windows source code to the
top three bidders, thus enabling other companies to distribute Windows and
breaking the so-called Microsoft monopoly.
Officially, Microsoft and the government would not comment on Tuesday's
settlement negotiations.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Wed Mar 31 16:23:19 1999
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Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 15:28:35 -0600
To: compnews@cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: IDC: Linux likely to lead OS growth through 2003
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IDC: Linux likely to lead OS growth through 2003
By Nancy Weil
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 10:29 AM PT, Mar 31, 1999
Growth in commercial shipments of the Linux operating system will outpace
other client or server operating environments through 2003, according to
market researcher International Data Corp. (IDC), which for the first time
has removed the increasingly popular Linux from the "other" category in its
OS reporting.
Linux commercial shipments will grow at a compound annual rate of 25
percent from this year through 2003, compared to 10 percent for all other
client operating environments IDC tracks, and 12 percent for all other
server operating environments combined, IDC said Wednesday. The market
researcher has prepared its first-ever Linux forecast in a new bulletin,
"Linux Operating System Market Overview."
IDC, which is based in Framingham, Mass., decided to view Linux separately
because analysts there have tracked increased use of Linux and demand for
research regarding the OS, a cousin to the multi-flavored Unix platform.
Linux was developed in 1991 by Linus Torvalds and remains an open-source
OS, available free on the Internet, with vendors selling commercial
implementations.
In recent months, a flurry of top-shelf vendors have announced support for
the OS, for which more applications also are hitting the market. IDC
expects that to continue as more application vendors port their products to
Linux and hardware makers expand the number of machines that operate on
Linux for server-side use.
Linux also has the potential to hit the desktop OS market as 2003
approaches, IDC said, with an enhanced graphical user interface and more
desktop applications boosting that market.
International Data Corp., in Framingham, Mass., can be reached at www.idc.com.
Juan Carlos Perez is Latin American bureau chief for the IDG News Service,
an InfoWorld affiliate.
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Thu Apr 1 10:26:57 1999
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Date: Thu, 01 Apr 1999 09:32:26 -0600
To: compnews@cs.depaul.edu
From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Yahoo!, Broadcast.com gain on merger pact
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Yahoo!, Broadcast.com gain on merger pact
By Larry Dignan
April 1, 1999 10:10am
ZDII
The Web's worst kept secret is finally official. Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO)
and Broadcast.com Inc. (Nasdaq: BCST) merged Thursday in a stock swap
valued at about $5.7 billion.
In early trading, Yahoo! shares jumped 4 7/8 to 173 1/4 and Broadcast.com
gained 8 3/8 to 126 9/16.
Under the acquisition, Yahoo! will issue 0.7722 of a share of Yahoo! common
stock for each share of Broadcast.com common stock. All outstanding options
of Broadcast.com will be converted into Yahoo! options. Excluding options,
the deal is valued at $4.8 billion. Options add another $900,000 to the deal.
Officials also said there are no collars on the stock swap and that there's
a "substantial break-up fee."
The deal, which had been rumored for weeks, was reported last night by
Inter@ctive Week, Dow Jones and CNBC among other news outlets.
Yahoo! said the acquisition will be accounted for as a pooling of interests
and that the company expects to take a charge in its third quarter.
Broadcast.com will operate as a separate unit.
On an analyst conference call Yahoo! CEO Tim Koogle said the acquisition is
all about leverage. "We love leverage," said Koogle, who added that the
combined company can integrate streaming media, sales operations and
audience to develop new revenue opportunities. "This deal is also about
speed and time to market."
Broadcast.com president Mark Cuban said Yahoo! gives the company a "whole
new scale" for its multimedia programming. Cuban added that Broadcast.com
events will be integrated into Yahoo!'s properties and speed the expansion
into new revenue streams such as ads within programs and pay-per-view
programming.
Including Geocities and Broadcast.com, Yahoo! president Jeff Mallett said
Yahoo! will have an unduplicated reach of 63 percent.
More acquisitions on the way?
Koogle said Yahoo! will still be in the market for acquisitions, but the
company's approach will be more measured.
"We are a big believer of partnering and acquisitions," said Koogle. "We
are very serious about extending our leadership and see a lot of potential
deals."
Koogle added that there are a number of smaller deals that could be made
before the year is out.
Koogle said he expects future acquisitions to be accretive to earnings.
However, since Yahoo! will be integrating both Geocities and Broadcast.com,
the approach will be more measured.
"We will be more measured about the rate of acquisition so we get this
right," said Koogle.
Broadcast.com's effect on earnings
Yahoo! financial chief Gary Valenzuela said the Broadcast.com acquisition
will add to earnings after the third quarter of 2000.
Valenzuela said the acquisition in the first 12 months after closing will
be neutral to earnings as a best case scenario. "In the first 12 months we
expect some dilution to EPS," said Valenzuela. "We remain focused on
operating margins of 30 percent to 36 percent. This fits into that model."
Koogle said the strategic benefit of the deal was worth any dilution to
earnings.
"We do see a real opportunity to leverage the business from the revenue
standpoint, said Koogle. Yahoo! will be able to add Broadcast.com's
advertising sales and open a new revenue stream with Broadcast.com's
business services side.
Expenses, however, will also increase and be a challenge, said Koogle.
The Geocities acquisition will be accretive to earnings in the first
quarter of 2000.
Koogle said he couldn't get too specific regarding the impact on cash flow,
but added that "right now we are expecting to remain cash flow positive."
Yahoo! reports its first quarter 1999 earnings April 7.
"Going forward, it's going to be dilutive, and this may be important, since
its share price is so closely tied to earnings," said Dalton Chandler, an
analyst at Needham & Co.
The Broadcast.com premium
Valenzuela also addressed the valuation question regarding Broadcast.com.
The $5.7 billion, or $130 a share, price tag for Broadcast.com is above the
$110 to $120 range Yahoo! was hoping to pay. Yahoo! went high to block out
networks and other bidders such as America Online Inc. (NYSE: AOL).
Press leaks also fueled run-up in Broadcast.com shares.
Valenzuela said Yahoo! paid a 10 percent premium on Broadcast.com's closing
price Wednesday. Based on Broadcast.com's 30-day trailing stock price of
$93, Valenzuela said Yahoo! paid a 40 percent premium.
Don't expect, Wall Street to sweat the valuation though.
Alex Cheung, portfolio manager at the Monument Internet Fund, said the
steep price tag might soon look like a bargain.
"It's pricey, yes, but it should be more than worth it," he said. "Think
back to the Victoria's Secret event. Where did everyone go? Who was making
it possible? It's worth the investment because while there are other
competitors, they are quite a bit behind. Yahoo! and Broadcast.com have now
moved the curve significantly farther away."
>From unknown@hawk.depaul.edu Thu Apr 1 13:32:46 1999
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Date: Thu, 01 Apr 1999 12:38:14 -0600
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From: Gary Weinstein
Subject: Surprise moves at Inprise -- Yocam, CFO quits
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Surprise moves at Inprise -- Yocam, CFO quits
By Clare Haney
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 10:17 AM PT, Apr 1, 1999
Del Yocam, Inprise's chairman and CEO, has suddenly resigned along with
Chief Financial Officer and Vice President Kathleen Fisher, the software
company announced late Wednesday.
To steer the now rudderless Inprise, a management committee has been
formed, Inprise said in a statement issued Wednesday. Members of the
management committee which will report to Inprise's board of directors
include the presidents of the company's two divisions -- James Weil of the
Inprise division and John Floisand of the Borland.com division. Jay Leite,
previously Inprise's vice president of business development, now takes on
the role of interim company CFO.
The news comes out of the blue. Yocam was bought on board in late 1996 when
the tools vendor was known as Borland International to try and stem its
serious financial problems which led to the company regularly bleeding
plenty of red ink. He took over from Borland's flamboyant founder Philippe
Kahn who left to establish Starfish Software which is now owned by
Motorola. Yocam was formerly at Apple and Tektronix and is widely credited
with helping to turn both companies' respective operations around.
Once in the saddle at Borland, Yocam embarked on a series of restructuring
exercises, all of which were designed to reinvent the company to focus its
attentions on enterprise-level customers, not Borland's traditional core
user base of developers and desktop end-users. Under his leadership,
Borland was renamed Inprise in April of last year.
The most radical of Yocam's restructuring efforts occurred in late January
of this year. Inprise was effectively split into two operations -- Inprise,
based in San Mateo, Calif., focusing on enterprise software and
Borland.com, based in Scotts Valley, Calif., acting as a Web tools and
services vendor for both itself and third-party companies.
At the same time, Inprise also announced plans to cut its global workforce
of around 950 staff by 20 percent and declared fiscal 1998 earnings for the
year ended Dec. 31, 1998, of $8.3 million on revenues of $189.1 million.
Such refocusing appeared to be paying off when Oracle substantially upped
its commitment to Inprise technology in February of this year. The database
giant signed a multimillion dollar licensing deal centered around Inprise's
VisiBroker object request broker technology. Inprise acquired VisiBroker
when it purchased Visigenic Software in November 1997 for $150 million.
At least one analyst did not interpret Inprise's high-level personnel
departures as a telltale indicator of company doom.
"There's a lot of value in Inprise right now -- certainly from a technical
standpoint," said Eric Brown, an industry analyst at Forrester Research, in
Cambridge, Mass. "My sense is that, to date, Inprise's strategy has been to
get out of the [Visual Basic] market, and into the distributed applications
and platforms space. They've paid much more than lip service to that
vision. The overall organization, to whatever extent Del Yocam was
involved, saved itself from a perilous downward spiral that resulted from
an effort to make the fat client model work."
"But, they've entered into a marketplace that is going to be significantly
influenced by the gorillas of Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, etc.," Brown added.
"There are two realistic futures for a company like Inprise -- to try to be
a free-standing force, or to find the right dance partner. And there are
few Cinderella success stories in the market."
Among potential suitors for Inprise, Sun seems the most compatible,
according to Brown.
Inprise Corp., in Scotts Valley, Calif., can be reached at www.inprise.com.
Clare Haney is Asia-Pacific bureau chief for the IDG News Service, an
InfoWorld affiliate. InfoWorld's Boston bureau chief Ted Smalley Bowen
contributed to this story.