ST Report: 23-Oct-98 #1435
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 11/07/98-01:01:23 PM Z
From: aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report: 23-Oct-98 #1435
Date: Sat Nov 7 13:01:23 1998
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October 23, 1998 No.1435
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From the Editor's Desk...
What's going on?? The time is literally flying by! This month is
almost gone and I do believe, it seems like it was the first just
yesterday. In any case... many democratic politicians are fast
realizing that defending President Clinton is very much in their best
interests. By that I mean people, from coast to coast, are sick and
tired of hearing the Republicans pushing this and urging that about
Clinton's sex life and the impeachment process. Of course, Ken Starr is
front and center as THE most disliked, inquisitional tyrant. In other
words, those Democratic Candidates that get up and say they are tired
of the persecution and want an end to it all are winning votes left and
right. I believe these events indicate the Republicans are going to
suffer the most embarrassing election results (party wise) in more than
a decade.
To those jellybacked democrats who shrunk away from defending their
President; Now is the time to stand up make yourselves heard and redeem
your, now lame, reputations. Who wants a reputation as a "weak knee'ed
fence climber"?
Also, please watch the D.C. political scenes very carefully. Al Gore
may have been keeping a low profile but that is just about all over
now. Gore comes from a Washington D. C. experienced family that's
steeped in federal politics. Gore grew up amidst the heaviest of D.C.
politics and believe this... he "knows the territory". Perhaps better
than any other politician who'll be running in the Y2K presidential
election. Gore is this nation's only real hope in extinguishing the
efforts of the "Bushwhacker Group" George H., George W., and "Jeb"
BUSH.
Daddy, George H., (a hardcore "over-performer") will definitely be
running the show from behind the scenes (one day the world will know
the truth about George H. Bush, Panama, Noriega and the MASS GRAVES in
Panama). George W. the current Governor of Texas wants to be
President and "Jeb" wants to be Governor of Florida. These three and
especially "Jeb" are monumental disasters. Jeb is against Gun Control,
Women's Freedom of Choice, Gun "cooling off" Waiting Times and favors
School Vouchers (a knife in heart of Public Schools). This guy "Jeb"
is a one man disaster. He has never held a public office and every
business he's ever ran never did well. This guy has no right wanting
to run Florida! His older brother, George, runs Texas on BLOOD. Texas
has; the worst crimes stats of the union, the highest rate of
executions in the union, a serious lack of disaster preparedness and
the worst human rights record in the union. Yessir, we "need this
egomaniacal bunch in power like we need a new, more powerful epidemic
of the Spanish Influenza"!
I'm voting for a straight Democratic Ticket.
The Republicans NEED a hard Slap in the Face as a wakeup call.
Republicans PROUDLY (right Newt? you and your goofy Republican
Revolution, what a joke!! On the American Taxpayers!!) jerked this
nation around throughout the entire Clinton Administration. It is now
payback time. The Republican Party has done absolutely nothing to be
proud of.
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Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Key Allegations Against Microsoft
Major allegations in the government's antitrust case against Microsoft
Corp. and the company's response:
Browser Bundling:
Government: Microsoft realized it had fallen behind in the market for
Internet browser software, dominated by rival Netscape Communications
Corp. To compete, Microsoft decided to include its browser within its
popular Windows operating system, an example of illegal "tying'' because
a customer who buys one product is then forced to use the other.
Microsoft: It decided to "integrate" the browser into Windows because of
consumer demand and technical advantages. The company's dramatic gains in
browser market share came about because of superior software and missteps
by Netscape. In a setback for the government, a federal appeals court
ruled in June that Microsoft's decision to bundle its browser with
Windows 95 was a "genuine integration."
Netscape Meeting:
Government: In an illegal attempt to divide the market, Microsoft met
with Netscape in June 1995 and offered a deal. Microsoft agreed not to
develop a rival browser for operating systems aside from Windows if
Netscape agreed to stay out of the Windows market. Netscape refused.
Netscape cofounder Marc Andreessen afterward compared the meeting to "a
visit by Don Corleone; I expected to find a bloody computer monitor in my
bed the next day."
Microsoft: Chairman Bill Gates calls the charge "an outrageous lie." He
said the meeting, a form of "co-opetition" by rivals, "was to discuss
various technologies Microsoft proposed sharing with Netscape, so that
Netscape's browser could take advantage of the cool new features we were
developing for Windows 95." He also notes that Andreessen later wrote to
a Microsoft employee: "Good to see you again today - we should talk more
often."
Exclusionary Agreements:
Government: Microsoft, with its significant influence due to Windows,
forced computer makers to sell its Internet browser as part of Windows.
It also signed restrictive agreements with some Internet service
providers to distribute its browser over Netscape's. And it encouraged
other Internet companies to design content for its browser, but not
Netscape's.
Microsoft: Computer makers were always free to sell PCs with Netscape
installed, but they couldn't remove Microsoft's browser. The agreements
with Internet service providers didn't preclude them from offering
Netscape if customers requested it, but required that at least 75 percent
of browsers they distributed be Microsoft's. Microsoft voluntarily waived
the agreements this year.
"First Boot":
Government: To force computer makers to help sell its Internet browser
over Netscape's, Microsoft prohibited them from altering the Windows
opening screen, which prominently featured an icon for the Microsoft
browser. This deprived computer makers of customizing the PCs they sell
to improve and differentiate their machines from rivals.
Microsoft: Computer makers are free to add other icons to Windows opening
screen, including one for Netscape's browser. Restrictions on changing
the opening screen help customers by giving them consistency. In
addition, in the past, some PC makers had made changes that
unintentionally disabled parts of Windows.
Intuit Inc.:
Government: To encourage customers to switch to its Internet browser,
Microsoft struck a deal with Intuit nc., which makes the popular Quicken
financial software. Gates sent an e-mail describing what amounts to an
offer to bribe Intuit Chairman Scott Cook into distributing the browser
as part of Quicken: "I was quite frank with him that if he had a favor we
could do for him that would cost us something like $1M ($1 million) to do
that in return for switching browsers in the next few months, I would be
open to doing that."
Microsoft: Intuit chose to distribute Microsoft's browser because it was
superior to Netscape's. It will use Intuit's public statements to support
that, as well as Netscape's own internal analysis of why it lost Intuit's
business.
Java and Sun Microsystems:
Government: Gates was "scared to death" of the potential for Java, a
programming language for software that runs even on non-Windows
computers, and he set out to "pollute" Java and distribute an altered,
Windows-only version.
Microsoft: Microsoft's version of Java, which requires Windows, allows
programs to run better and faster than Sun's version, and Microsoft's
changes to Java were permitted under a contract between the two
companies. Microsoft employees who referred to attempts to "pollute" Java
were using "humorous shorthand" to distinguish Microsoft's version from
Sun's.
Intel:
Government: Microsoft successfully discouraged Intel Corp. from
developing a new technology called Native Signal Processing, a technique
to use instructions from Intel's chips, rather than Microsoft software
code, to run multimedia and communications programs more quickly. An
Intel executive has said Gates was also "livid" about Intel's investment
in the Internet and wanted it stopped. Former Intel Chairman Andy Grove
told Fortune Magazine in 1996, "We caved."
Microsoft: Intel's NSP technology was designed for an earlier version of
Windows and didn't work properly with Windows 95. Microsoft calls it
"absurd to imagine that Microsoft could bully Intel, a large, successful
company with almost twice the annual revenues."
Key Players in Microsoft Lawsuit
Key players in the government's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft
Corp.:
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson: A Republican appointed in
1982 by President Reagan, Jackson has been a fixture in the case since
1995, when he approved the settlement in the government's first lawsuit
against Microsoft. The Justice Department later accused Microsoft of
flouting that settlement, and during hearings the company managed to get
on Jackson's wrong side: When he ordered Microsoft in December 1997 to
sell a version of Windows 95 without its Internet browser already
included, a decision later overturned by an appeals court, the company
complied but Windows didn't work anymore. "It seemed absolutely clear to
you that I entered an order that required you to distribute a product
that would not work?" he asked. "Is that what you're telling me?" Another
time, Jackson accused Microsoft of making "defamatory" comments about an
expert the judge had appointed. Since May, when the government filed its
lawsuit, Jackson has largely held his temper. But Microsoft's initial
brashness could come back to haunt it. Other high-profile trials Jackson
has overseen include the 1990 cocaine possession case against District of
Columbia Mayor Marion Barry.
Microsoft lawyer John Warden: A partner at Sullivan & Cromwel law firm in
New York, Warden, 57, is known within antitrust circles for his appeals
victory defending Eastman Kodak in an $87 million judgment in favor of
Berkey Photo. An appeals court reversed the verdict against Kodak,
agreeing that "innovation is clearly tolerated by antitrust laws," which
set a legal precedent that Microsoft itself now claims. Warden was born
in Evansville, Ind., and raised in the nearby farming town of Cairo, Ill.
He uses colorful metaphors, accusing the government of a "bait and
switch" by allegedly broadening its case inappropriately just weeks
before the trial. He doesn't enjoy the limelight, always politely
declining to talk with reporters. And he's careful not to offend the
judge, even after Jackson denied his request to delay the case and hold
trial months sooner than Microsoft wanted: "With the greatest respect for
your Honor," Warden said, "that isn't enough time for us."
Microsoft lawyer Bill Neukom: Neukom is the company's in-house lawyer,
its senior vice president for law and corporate affairs. Neukom, who
always wears a bow tie, is a former partner in the law firm of Microsoft
Chairman Bill Gates' father. Neukom negotiated a settlement with the
Justice Department in its first lawsuit against Microsoft. During
pretrial hearings, Neukom has left the courtroom arguments to Warden, but
it's typically Neukom who speaks with reporters outside the courthouse
about the company's legal strategy.
Justice lawyer David Boies: In one of the ironies of the case, the
Justice Department's lead lawyer is well-known for his successful defense
of another computer industry giant, IBM Corp., against a Justice
antitrust lawsuit that stretched 13 years and is known as the agency's
"Vietnam." Boies, who cross-examined a Justice economist in that case for
38 days, pressed to get the Microsoft case into court quickly. He's
familiar with delay tactics: "Been there, done that," Boies told one
reporter. A partner in Boies & Schiller of Armonk, N.Y., Boies was hired
by Justice as a "special government employee" for roughly half his usual
$550-an-hour fee. He frequently works without notes - even appeared once
before the Supreme Court without using notes - but has a highly polished
courtroom delivery. He isn't a high-tech person but is well versed in the
case's issues - although he stumbled recently when asked by the judge to
explain how software "streams" video across the Internet.
States lawyer Steve Houck: Lead lawyer for the 20 states plus the
District of Columbia, Houck of New York represents almost three dozen
lawyers working against Microsoft in attorneys general offices
nationwide. He was one of two government lawyers - the other was Boies -
who deposed Gates. Described by peers as "assertive with a capital A -
not an irritant, but he stands up for what is right, and he'll ask for
and receive his place at the table." At pretrial hearings, Houck had a
tough job following Boies, who was so complete he often left Houck
largely repeating arguments. Notably, Houck is among the only lawyers to
concede publicly that the case is destined to be settled in the Supreme
Court. Partly for Houck's efforts on Microsoft, the National Association
of Attorneys General awarded him its Marvin Award in July.
List of Microsoft Witnesses
Who will testify in the government's antitrust case against Microsoft
Corp.:
For the government:
James Barksdale, president and chairman, Netscape Communications Corp.,
which makes the popular Internet browser that competes directly with
Microsoft's.
David Colburn, senior vice president of business affairs at America
Online, which agreed to distribute Microsoft's browser to its 13 million
customers.
Steven D. McGeady, vice president of Intel Corp.'s content group, who led
some of the company's software development efforts and its work with the
Internet and with Java.
Avie Tevanian, vice president of programming at Apple Computer Co., among
those in charge of developing Apple's QuickTime software, which competed
directly with Microsoft's Netshow.
James Gosling, a chief Sun Microsystems Inc. architect for Java, designed
to make software that can run on any operating system, not just Windows.
John Soyring of IBM Corp., which makes computers with the Windows
operating software installed.
William Harris, president and chairman of Intuit, which makes personal
finance software. In the past two years, he was chiefly responsible for
the company's Internet activities.
Franklin Fisher, an MIT economics professor and nationally known
economics expert, who was IBM's economics expert during its lengthy fight
with the Justice Department decades ago; he worked with lawyer David
Boies, now leading the government's case.
Frederick R. Warren-Bolton, chief antitrust economist during the Reagan
administration.
David J. Farber, telecommunications professor at the University of
Pennsylvania.
Edward Felten, assistant computer professor at Princeton University.
Glenn Weadock, president of Independent Software Inc.
For Microsoft:
Paul Maritz, a Microsoft vice president the government contends helped
decide to bundle the company's Internet browser within Windows and
allegedly worked to persuade America Online to distribute Microsoft's
browser but not Netscape's. The government also contends he was partly
behind efforts to "blunt" the Java programming language.
James Allchin, a Microsoft vice president in charge of Windows 98, who
the government said wrote in a potentially incriminating e-mail that the
company should begin "leveraging Windows from a marketing perspective."
Maritz was Allchin's boss.
Joachim Kempin, a Microsoft vice president in charge of its contracts
with computer makers.
Brad Chase, a Microsoft vice president, who the government says warned in
an internal April 1997 memo that Internet browsers could "obsolete
Windows."
Robert Muglia, Microsoft vice president of developer tools, expected to
testify about Microsoft's work with Java.
Eric Engstrom, a general manager for multimedia at Microsoft, expected to
testify about meetings among Microsoft executives and those at Apple.
Cameron Myhrvold, vice president of Microsoft's Internet customer unit
and the brother of the company's chief technology officer, Nathan
Myhrvold. Cameron Myhrvold was in charge of dealing with Internet service
providers.
William Poole, Microsoft's senior director for Windows business
development.
Daniel Rosen, Microsoft's general manager for new technology.
John Rose, senior vice president at Compaq Computer.
Richard Schmalansee, interim dean of the Sloan School of Management at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A top economist, he worked
with Microsoft during the last Justice Department investigation.
Michael Devlin, president of Rational Software Corp., a small California
company with a long business relationship with Microsoft.
Court Rules AOL Protected From Suit
A woman cannot sue America Online because one of its customers peddled a
pornographic video of her 11-year-old son in an online chat room, a state
appeals court has ruled. Federal law protects online services from being
held liable for the messages transmitted by their members, the 4th
District Court of Appeal said Wednesday in upholding a lower court's
dismissal of the lawsuit. But the appeals panel asked the Florida Supreme
Court to review the case and determine whether the law should apply to
activity that took place prior to 1996, when the federal Communications
Decency Act was enacted.
"I'm ecstatic we're going to be able to go to the Supreme Court to argue
this," said attorney Brian Smith, who represented the woman known only as
Jane Doe. "But I'm disappointed because I thought we might get a
reversal." Richard Lee Russell, 31, a school teacher from Wellington,
pleaded guilty in 1995 to both federal and state charges stemming from a
1994 assault on the Palm Beach County boy and the boy's friend.
Russell admitted he used AOL, the nation's largest online service, to
meet other men who have sex with boys. In one instance, he sold a lewd
videotape of the boy to an Arizona man he met online. Russell is serving
a 14-year federal prison sentence. The boy's mother had accused AOL of
knowingly allowing Russell to sell the videotape of the boy. Her lawsuit
also claimed AOL's rules prohibiting customers from posting obscene or
illegal material were so poorly enforced the provider became "a home
shopping network for pedophiles and child pornographers." AOL spokeswoman
Tricia Primrose said the company was pleased with the court's decision.
Netscape Releases Communicator 4.5 Browser
Netscape Communications Corp. on Monday released the final version of its
Communicator 4.5 Internet software, hoping to win users over from rival
Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser. Netscape is hinging its
browser strategy on closer integration with the Netcenter Web site, an
Internet hub that is one of the most popular on the Web.
"We believe this version will help to open up the Net to many new users,
and everyone will appreciate the enriched content and superior features
it delivers through its integration with Netscape Netcenter," said Mike
Homer, senior vice president of Netscape client products, in a statement.
Several of the new features of Navigator, the browser component of
Communicator, tie the software directly to Netcenter: for example, a
button takes users directly to a personalized Netcenter home page, and
SmartBrowsing features that take advantage of Netcenter's Web directory.
SmartBrowsing's Internet Keywords feature allows users to type a
company's name into the location window, instead of typing a Web address;
the browser automatically looks up the company in the Netcenter directory
and takes the user directly to the company's home page.
The browser also includes a "What's Related" button that lists sites
similar to the location currently being viewed by the user. The What's
Related service is provided through Netcenter by Alexa Internet. The new
Communicator, which has been available for several weeks in beta-test
form, also includes several multimedia features previously available as
separate plug-ins. Macromedia Inc.'s Flash and RealNetworks Inc.'s
RealPlayer are both included with the Communicator installer. Beatnik, an
audio player from Headspace Inc., is included in the SmartUpdate feature,
which automatically downloads and installs software as it is needed.
Communicator's e-mail component, Messenger, also includes new features,
including an import wizard for transferring information and settings from
other e-mail programs. Netscape has been losing browser market share to
Microsoft since the software giant began giving away the Internet
Explorer browser a few months ago, as well as including it with other
software packages. The software has roughly half of the market at
present.
Yahoo! Acquires Direct Marketer Yoyodyne
Internet online directory Yahoo! Inc. said it had signed a definitive
agreement to acquire Yoyodyne Entertainment Inc. in a move that will
expand its interactive direct marketing efforts. Under the agreement,
Yahoo! will issue 280,664 shares of common stock in exchange for all
outstanding Yoyodyne shares, options and warrants. The transaction will
be accounted for as a pooling of interests. Yahoo! said it expects to
record a one-time charge of about $2 million in the fourth quarter in
connection with the deal. Yahoo! will integrate Yoyodyne's direct
marketing services, including online shopping sites and promotions geared
to small businesses, as a component of its extensive suite of advertising
and merchant services.
Doctors Weigh Pros, Cons Of Online Medicine
Diagnosing illnesses in cyberspace may be a distant reality, but more
physicians should take advantage of the Internet and e-mail to inform and
communicate with patients, researchers said. "E-mail has become a
ubiquitous tool for communicating with business associates, friends and
family. So there should be little surprise that et-savvy patients would
like greater digital access to their physicians," said Tom Ferguson, the
author of an editorial in a special edition of the Journal of the
American Medical Association devoted to the subject.
Only about 1 percent to 2 percent of U.S. physicians offer patients the
option of contacting them online, he said. Ferguson, the editor of a
newsletter about issues relating to health care and the Internet, and
other researchers discussed their findings on Tuesday at a conference in
Durham sponsored by the American Medical Association. "Physicians might
establish their own Web pages with lists of frequently asked patient
questions and answers, and annotated links to useful and authoritative
medical Web sites," Ferguson said.
But the researchers said there was no substitute for a face- to-face
diagnosis. Some pointed to the potential for online errors because of
inaccurately reported symptoms and had concerns about doctors' legal
liability for improper diagnoses. Questions were also raised about
patient privacy and authenticity of authorship. "But just as the most
caring, competent and sensitive physician of today would be hard-pressed
to build a successful practice without a telephone, those who choose not
to communicate electronically with patients may soon find themselves at a
similar disadvantage," Ferguson wrote.
In one example showing the Internet's potential, the authors of a study
from the University Hospital of Erlangen, Germany, sent a fictitious
query to 58 Web sites that offer dermatological information. Half the Web
sites responded and more than half of those mentioned the correct
diagnosis in their reply. All recommended seeing a physician. Another
study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston evaluated
a program where doctors used computers to make drug prescriptions. The
results showed fewer patients suffered adverse drug reactions, there were
fewer dosage mistakes and the problem of illegible handwriting in
physicians' prescriptions was solved.
Jon Postel Dies -- An Internet Founding Father
Jonathan Postel, the taciturn computer scientist who played a central
role in developing the Internet's core technologies, died Friday after
undergoing heart surgery. Postel, 55, had been best known for his role as
head of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, the technical body that
oversaw the Internet's Domain Name System and allocated Internet Protocol
(IP) addresses, the fundamental technologies for navigating and routing
on the Internet.
Postel and the IANA were at the center of the stormy debate over the
future of domain names, which increased in intensity over the past two
years as more commercial interests arrived on the Net. Most recently,
Postel was working with the U.S. government on the transition of the
IANA, which he had run single-handedly for many years, to a private,
not-for-profit corporation called the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers. Postel worked on the ARPAnet project - the network
that was a precursor to the Internet - in 1969 when he was a graduate
student at the University of California at LosAngeles. While working on
ARPAnet, he became the first editor of the Internet's "Request for
Comments" series of documents, which now are maintained by the Internet
Engineering Task Force and constitute the technical foundations for
Internet protocols.
In addition to being the Internet's most renowned technical caretaker,
Postel directed the networking research division at the University of
Southern California's Information Sciences Institute. According to
friends and colleagues, Postel considered his duties with IANA a kind of
public trust. "Jon has been our North Star for decades, burning brightly
and constantly, providing comfort and a sense of security while all else
changed," said Vinton Cerf, a senior vice president at MCI WorldCom Inc.,
current chairman of the board of the Internet Society and himself one of
the Internet's pioneering engineers. "He was the Internet's Boswell and
its technical conscience. His loss will be sorely felt not only for his
expertise, but because the community has lost a dear and much-loved
friend."
The Internet Society, which Postel helped found, said it plans to create
the Jonathan B. Postel Service Award in memory of his more than 30 years
of involvement with the Internet. The award will recognize service to the
Internet community.
A T T E N T I O N ** A T T E N T I O N ** A T T E N T I O N
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A T T E N T I O N ** A T T E N T I O N ** A T T E N T I O N
EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed
[Image]
Edupage
Contents
Congress Tries Again To Shield Kids
From Internet Porn Spoof On AOL Causes Misrouted Mail
Amazon Sued By Wal-Mart Over Trade Victories For Tech Industry In New
Secrets Budget Agreement
Intel's Merced Chip May Have A
Patent Problem Zapata Gets Zapped
News Flash New Displays Usher In The
Millennium
New Organization For Internet Europe Seeks Ways To Protect
Administration Online Consumers
School Computer Deal Draws High-Tech Coalition Gets OK For
Criticism Encryption Export
Another Try At Free Net Service Microsoft Trial Begins
Clinton Signs Y2K Legislation To Y2K Problem At Local Government
Encourage Info Sharing Level
Microsoft Says It Was Netscape That Silicon Valley "Divided And
Suggested A Deal Fascinated" About Microsoft
Lock-On-A-Chip Discounts Are Key To Web Shopping
Newsgroups Matter Most To The Microsoft And Bloomsbury
Marginalized Publishing Take On "World English"
Zulu's Online Adventure Hyatt Rooms To Get Inkjet Printers
Harris Sues Apple For Dropping The
Newton
CONGRESS TRIES AGAIN TO SHIELD KIDS FROM INTERNET PORN
The U.S. Congress has passed the Child Online Privacy Act to prevent
Internet merchants and others from giving children access to material
that is "harmful to minors," a phrase that supporters of the legislation
say "employs the constitutionally tested harmful-to-minors standard
recognized and upheld in federal courts for more than 30 years." The
legislation applies only to persons or organizations that produce the
material, and does not apply to Internet service providers or other
intermediaries if they do not themselves produce it. American Civil
Liberties Union executive Ann Beeson says the ACLU will file a lawsuit to
block the legislation, and will be joined in its suit by "a diverse range
of online speakers representing news organizations, gay and lesbian
groups, artists, booksellers and online video dealers," among others.
Michael Oxley, the Ohio Republican who was a primary sponsor of the bill,
explained: "There are literally thousands of Web sites dedicated to every
manner of perversion and brutality. A child may innocently search for key
words like 'doll house,' 'toys,' or 'pets' and be led to numerous
explicit sites." (New York Times 17 Oct 98)
SPOOF ON AOL CAUSES MISROUTED MAIL
Someone impersonating an America Online individual authorized to change
AOL's InterNIC records caused thousands of e-mail messages intended for
AOL customers to be misrouted to the Internet service provider
Autonet.net. AOL discovered the problem and corrected it, and says that
all misdirected messages should eventually be delivered to the proper
recipients. The company is working with legal authorities to identify the
perpetrator. (Washington Post 17 Oct 98)
AMAZON SUED BY WAL-MART OVER TRADE SECRETS
Wal-Mart, the giant retailing company, is suing Internet bookseller
Amazon.com and two of its affiliates for illegally duplicating Wal-Mart's
proprietary information technology that analyzes what products customers
buy in combination, such as meat and potatoes. With such a capability
Amazon.com could expand into other areas of online retailing. Wal-Mart
contends that Amazon recruited former employees and current vendors to
elicit information about the systems. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 17
Oct 98)
VICTORIES FOR TECH INDUSTRY IN NEW BUDGET AGREEMENT
A provision in the government's new budget agreement to dramatically
increase the number of high-tech foreigners who can be hired by U.S.
ompanies has cheered the country's technology industry. Other victories
or the industry include a temporary ban on Internet taxes and new
copyright protections for online content providers. Bill Hogan of the
Center for Public Integrity says, "The industry generally has a platinum
calling card. Few members (of Congress) are going to want to say anything
that might damage what they perceive as a high-growth, jobs-producing
industry." (AP 16 Oct 98)
INTEL'S MERCED CHIP MAY HAVE A PATENT PROBLEM
Graphic chip maker S3 Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., says that Intel's
latest chip, code-named Merced, might infringe on one of the patents that
it purchased, along with almost 50 others last year for about $10
million, from now-defunct Exponential Technology Inc. The details on
Merced, which is slated for mass production in mid-2000, are still
unavailable, but observers say it would be difficult at this point to
change the chip's technology in order to circumvent a patent dispute. The
Merced chip can process both 32-bit and 64-bit software, but eliminates
some redundancy because it allows the processors within the chip to share
the same resources such as the "register files" that store the data. The
patent owned by S3 describes the same technique. "It's the crown jewel of
the patents," says the patent agent who wrote the original patent for
Exponential, "because it's fairly broad and goes to a heart of the
problem" in a chip that runs two kinds of software. Intel had also bid on
the Exponential patents, but lost out to S3. (Wall Street Journal 16 Oct
98)
ZAPATA GETS ZAPPED
Zapata Corp., a Houston-based company founded by Texas Governor George
Bush, Jr. as an oil firm that has since turned itself into an Internet
hopeful, is abandoning its plans to buy up some 30 Internet entrepreneurs
as part of a new venture called Zap. Zapata had planned to transform
itself into the No. 1site on the Internet by amalgamating the resources
of numerous sites, such as Happypuppy.com and Rockmall.com. The company
then planned to go public, but says the falling prices of technology
stocks and inhospitable environment for IPOs were forcing it to shelve
those plans. "We are disappointed," says Zapata CEO Avram Glazer, "but
you have financial markets that are out of control. If Goldman, Sachs
pulled their public offering, you can't expect us to go ahead." (New York
Times 16 Oct 98)
NEWS FLASH
The message being told to newspaper executives at the annual conference
of Associated Press Managing Editors is that newspapers will not succeed
with online publications if they merely post another copy of their print
publications; instead, they must offer readers usable information about
restaurants, entertainment and services, and try to find profits from new
kinds of advertising -- such as having corporations sponsor Web pages
focusing on a specific news subject. (USA Today 16 Oct 98)
NEW DISPLAYS USHER IN THE MILLENNIUM
A new type of flat display called OLEDs, for organic light-emitting
diodes, could be widely available in a few years, ushering in an era of
video postcards, laptops with furling screens, and glowing ceiling panels
that illuminate jetliners. "This is probably the hottest research area in
the whole field of flat-panel displays," says the VP for display-industry
research at Stanford Resources Inc., who predicts that OLED sales are
likely to soar from almost nothing today to $400 million by 2004. "I
don't think there has ever been a new display technology that went from
nothing to 65 players in just three or four years." Physicist Richard
Friend, who is a co-discoverer of the light-emitting organic polymers,
predicts: "It's not fanciful to think of active electronic circuits that
are no more difficult to make than the glossy Sunday newspaper
supplement, which you throw away on Monday." (Business Week 19 Oct 98)
NEW ORGANIZATION FOR INTERNET ADMINISTRATION
The Clinton Administration has decided to support the creation of a new
nonprofit corporation to administer Internet domain names; the creation
of the new organization, called the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (or "Icann"), will mean the end of the monopoly in
domain name administration enjoyed by Network Solutions Inc. of Herndon,
Va., which has had a government contract that generated $37 million in
the first half of this year by registering names with the ".com," ".net",
".org," and ".edu" suffixes. The Administration's decision happens to
come days after the untimely death of Jonathon B. Postel, the revered
Internet pioneer who was a key proponent of the plan. (New York Times 20
Oct 98)
EUROPE SEEKS WAYS TO PROTECT ONLINE CONSUMERS
The European Commission's proposed directive on electronic commerce has
sparked a debate between the EC's internal-market directorate, which is
supporting the notion that providers of goods and service be regulated in
their "country of origin," and the consumer directorate, which fears such
a rule will encourage companies to set up shop in countries with the
least rigorous consumer protections. Given the uneven consumer protection
laws across Europe, "what the commission is proposing -- a unilateral
country-of-origin principle -- is something we cannot accept," says the
legal advisor to the European Consumers Association. An internal-market
directorate official counters, "We have done a survey that shows that it
is impossible to design Web sites that comply with very distinct national
laws in 15 countries. What happens under that scenario is that small and
medium-size businesses don't go online or they issue disclaimers on their
Web sites saying, 'This service is not available outside of my home
country.' Clearly, this is not in the interest of consumers." (Wall
Street Journal 19 Oct 98)
SCHOOL COMPUTER DEAL DRAWS CRITICISM
ZapMe, a start-up program that provides free computers and Internet
connections to schools, is coming under fire from teachers and parents
unhappy about the advertising that appears on the computer interface. One
corner of the screen is devoted to ads from ZapMe partners like
Microsoft, Compaq and Tibco Software. The partners pay to run the adds
and provide the equipment and some software. Each school receives 15
Compaq PCs, a Compaq server and a printer, as well as a GE Americom
satellite dish. ZapMe installs Web filtering software if the school
requests it, and parents are required to give their permission for their
children to use the computers. The company recently concluded a pilot
program in the San Francisco Bay area, and began full rollout on Monday.
Critics say the ZapMe business model is reminiscent of Whittle
Communications' Channel One program, which put TVs in classrooms in
exchange for the right to air a small number of commercials each day.
(TechWeb 20 Oct 98)
HIGH-TECH COALITION GETS OK FOR ENCRYPTION EXPORT
The U.S. Commerce Department will allow a group of 10 technology
companies, led by Cisco Systems, to export a new encryption technology
that keeps messages private, while giving law enforcement restricted
access to an entire message at the beginning and end of network data
transmissions. Such "private doorbell" access points can reside in data
routers or in the software programs that control networks. The
government's latest move "is a policy middle ground," says Cisco's VP of
legal and government affairs. "Right now the international market for
encryption is fragmented, and American companies have been shut out. This
gives us a foothold in the market, our chance to try and compete." Other
companies in the coalition are Ascend Communications, Bay Networks, 3Com,
Hewlett-Packard, Network Associates, Novell, Red Creek Communications,
Secure Computing, and Sun Microsystems. (Wall Street Journal 19 Oct 98)
ANOTHER TRY AT FREE NET SERVICE
NetZero Inc. is offering free Internet service to consumers, operating on
an advertising-based business model. The company isn't selling your
typical banner ad, however. NetZero's banners can "follow" users from
site to site as they peruse the Web. The company says it's spent a year
developing software that tracks users' habits, enabling advertisers to
pinpoint their messages more efficiently. "We can target within a 12-mile
radius of where (a subscriber) lives," says NetZero's CEO. Idealab
Capital Partners, which is backing the venture, thinks subscribers will
like the free access despite the ads. "People are spending $21.95 a month
for AOL -- that's a lot of money," says Idealab's managing director. "We
offer a value proposition that's hard to beat." (Investor's Business
Daily 19 Oct 98)
MICROSOFT TRIAL BEGINS
The government's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft has begun, and
opening salvos include a charge by Netscape chief executive James L.
Barksdale that Microsoft tried to "squelch competition in the browser
market" by engaging in "predatory acts designed to eliminate Netscape as
a competitor." Barksdale said Microsoft built "unnecessary technical
incompatibilities" into its Windows operating system in order to disrupt
Netscape's browser. Barksdale also charged that Microsoft deliberately
delayed providing important technical information to Netscape, and said:
"Apparently facing a worthy adversary, Microsoft could not resort to
competition in the open marketplace, but rather resorted to using its
monopoly to ensure a win." A Microsoft executive predicted confidently:
"We will show that Mr. Barksdale's testimony is long on rhetoric but
short on facts. His sweeping statements are often nothing more than
self-serving accusations with no factual basis." (Washington Post 20 Oct
98)
CLINTON SIGNS Y2K LEGISLATION TO ENCOURAGE INFO SHARING
President Clinton has signed legislation designed to encourage businesses
and organizations to share information that might help avert a Year 2000
computer crisis, when software that used only two digits to code "year"
fields may fail to make correct date calculations. The legislation gives
a limited liability protection to sharers of information, so that fear of
lawsuits will not discourage them from helping others. (AP 19 Oct 98)
Y2K PROBLEM AT LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEVEL
States are spending more than $2.5 billion to deal with the Year 2000
problem, but many of the nation's local governments, police departments,
and fire departments have not done anything to get ready. A survey found
that 54% of New York State's towns, 48% of its villages, and 26% of its
cities have not made plans for fixing the problem. Another survey found
that 42% of California cities, counties and special districts have no
funds budgeted to avert the problem. (USA Today 19 Oct 98)
MICROSOFT SAYS IT WAS NETSCAPE THAT SUGGESTED A DEAL
In the antitrust suit against Microsoft, Microsoft has introduced a
December 1994 e-mail message from Netscape chairman James Clark as
evidence that it was Netscape rather than Microsoft that first suggested
an arrangement to illegally restrain trade. Clark had written to a
Microsoft executive: "We have never planned to compete with you. We want
to make this company a success, but not at Microsoft's expense. We'd like
to work with you. Working together could be in your self-interest as well
as ours. Depending on the interest level, you might take an equity
position in Netscape, with the ability to expand the position later." He
added: "No one in my organization knows about this message." A Microsoft
attorney yesterday asked Netscape president James Barksdale of Netscape
chairman and cofounder James Clark: "Do you regard him as a truthful
man?" Barksdale paused and then replied: "I regard him as a salesman."
The Microsoft attorney said: "I'm not going to touch that." (New York
Times 22 Oct 98)
SILICON VALLEY "DIVIDED AND FASCINATED" ABOUT MICROSOFT
What does Silicon Valley think of the government's antitrust suit against
Microsoft? Industry analyst Tim Bajarin says, "You have to look at
Silicon Valley's view as divided and fascinated." Although companies such
as Oracle, Sun, and Netscape have complained bitterly about Microsoft's
aggressive business practices, many others are wary of government
activism and feel that Microsoft has made an important contribution to
the industry. Seybold Seminars analyst Craig Cline says, "Calmer voices
do recognize that Microsoft has provided the platform from which the
great chunk of wealth that the valley has earned in the past 10 to 15
years has come." (AP 22 Oct 98)
LOCK-ON-A-CHIP
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a way to build
a microscopic mechanical lock into computer chips, blocking hackers from
accessing whatever information that chip is handling, including data on
the hard drive. The lock's tiny gears are created as part of the
chip-making process, and only by typing a combination of six letters
selected by the computer owner will the chip turn on. The chip lock
design, which will cost only about a dollar more per chip, will be
perfected and brought to market in about two years, say the researchers.
(Wall Street Journal 22 Oct 98)
DISCOUNTS ARE KEY TO WEB SHOPPING
A study released Tuesday by Jupiter Communications shows that discounted
pricing is now the number one attraction for online shoppers. Pricing has
now overtaken payment security as the critical factor in persuading
people to purchase something online. (TechWeb 21 Oct 98)
NEWSGROUPS MATTER MOST TO THE MARGINALIZED
Two psychologists at New York University recently monitored participation
in 12 Internet newsgroups over a 3-week period. They selected four groups
that focus on mainstream interests (such as politics), four that concern
"culturally undesirable but conspicuous conditions" (such as obesity),
and four that focus on culturally "marginalized but concealable" behavior
(homosexuality, illicit drug use, sexual bondage and sexual spanking).
Judges who rated the messages posted found that online communities
mattered the most to participants in the "marginalized but concealable"
groups. Members of these groups posted far more frequently, often after
receiving positive feedback, than did members of the other groups. "This
is the sort of work that needs to be done, examining different types of
Internet users and different effects of computer use," says a
psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University. Many participants of the
marginalized groups said that participation in the newsgroup had enabled
them to reveal their secrets to friends or family members. (Science News
17 Oct 98)
MICROSOFT AND BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING TAKE ON "WORLD ENGLISH"
Microsoft and British publisher Bloomsbury Publishing have developed a
new dictionary of "world English," which will be marketed in both print
and electronic formats. The companies say the dictionary, which was
created with contributions from more than 250 lexicographers and
consultants from 10 countries, will reflect English "as the language of
the world." An adviser to the project says the Encarta World English
Dictionary's strength lies in its international flavor. "Dictionaries are
witnesses. They present observations on what English is like in different
places. This one was particularly good at assembling witnesses from
different places." (Chronicle of Higher Education 23 Oct 98)
ZULU'S ONLINE ADVENTURE
Zulu TV is planning to offer users of the Video Vamoose plug-and-play
device an unusual lineup of non-mainstream sports (collegiate soccer,
rugby and lacrosse), documentaries on adventure travel and scientific
expeditions, music concerts, political commentary, and live weddings. The
company, which plans its debut in mid-November, is basing its offerings
on the Vamoose an Etch-a-Sketch-sized portable device that plugs into
professional camcorders or any VCR to enable recording of Web events and
production of video content for streaming online. Zulu says its Zulu TV
will provide online broadcast services to organizations and companies
that want to deliver a message to an online audience. (Broadcasting &
Cable 19 Oct 98)
HYATT ROOMS TO GET INKJET PRINTERS
Although some hotels have offered in-room printers to business travelers
for several years, the Hyatt hotel chain is making a major commitment to
that idea by announcing plans to put inkjet printers in 5,200 rooms in 90
hotels by the end of this year. The machines were tested this summer at a
hotel in the Chicago area, and Hyatt says that 33% of the guests used
them. (USA Today 21 Oct 98)
HARRIS SUES APPLE FOR DROPPING THE NEWTON
Harris Corporation has sued Apple Computer for $17 million for allegedly
breaking a licensing agreement between the companies when Apple canceled
its Newton handheld computer technology in February. Harris said that by
that time it had already negotiated contracts to develop millions of
dollars worth of roducts based on the Newton. According to the suit,
"Apple deprived Harris of the basic benefits Harris reasonably expected
to receive from its dealings with Apple, and which Apple understood were
being conferred on Harris." (San Jose Mercury News 22 Oct 98)
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[BITSBYTES.GIF (64527 bytes)]
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[northstar1.gif (8273 bytes)]
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[Casts.GIF (10988 bytes)]
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The Linux Advocate
Column #24
October 23th, 1998
by Scott Dowdle
dowdle@icstech.net
ICQ UIN: 15509440
LOGIN:
What's going on gang? I think I've finally developed my time management to the point
where I might actually be able to crank out a column every week... but who knows? I
overlooked many, many Linux related stories in the press this week but nine of them
filtered through. Hopefully they will be to your liking.
NEWS:
Item #1: The Mighty Finn: Hacker, geek and software hero, Linus Torvalds has devised a
system that is challenging Windows - Time magazine does a personality piece on our
favorite computer industry hero. Check it out at the following URL:
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/1998/dom/981026/technology.the_mighty_f1a.html
Item #2: Project Heresy RealAudio Broadcasts - Brian Cooley and Dan Shafer continue
their coverage of the Linux market in a Radio Show they call Project Heresy. Somehow
I've been ignoring their broadcasts for some time and earlier this week I sat and
listened to about 2 hours worth of shows. Break out your favorite browser and the
RealPlayer client for some premium listening. Check it out at the following URL:
http://www.news.com/Radio/Features/0,155,205,00.html?st.bl.fd.se1.ne.-1325
Item #3: The joy of Perl: How Larry Wall invented a messy programming language and
changed the face of the web - Salon Magazine did a beautiful piece on the father of
PERL. Hmmm, Salon seems to be cranking out some real winning pieces over the past few
months. I learned that Mr. wall was famous before PERL with is authoring of rn and
patch. This article is a must read so check it out at the following URL:
http://www.salonmagazine.com/21st/feature/1998/10/cov_13feature.html
Item #4: Linux kernel development team buckles down - The development cycle for the
2.2 kernel has een a long journey indeed. Nothing really new there though because I
remember what the wait for 1.2 and 2.0. It'll get here when it is ready. It appear as
if Linus has been bogged down with the plethora of patches he receives and he just
couldn't keep up. Ok, so Linus isn't superman... so a plan to better co-ordinate the
development has been made by none other than the fellow who designed the development
models for Sun Microsystems. Check out he controversy (first URL) and the proposed and
seemingly adopted solution (second URL) if getting a better view of the Linux kernel
development process appeals to you. http://www.bitmover.com/bitkeeper/
Item #5: IBM beefs up Apache package: Big Blue hopes to break into new market by
enhancing the popular freeware - What has IBM been doing with Apache since they
announced in June that they decided to adopt it as part of their WebSphere Web Server
product line? It seems they have been busy. IBM made three announcements: 1) Apache is
available for the AS/400 now, 2) they have added SSL to Apache for secure
transactions, and 3) they have created Fast Response Cache Accelerator(FRCA) to boost
Apache's speed by two to three times. What's cool about this is that IBM, under the
agreement with the Apache group, has to give out the source code to all of this
(except for the SSL which is binary only). The #1 web server on the Internet just got
faster. Check out the full article at the following URL:
http://www.sunworld.com/swol-10-1998/swol-10-apache.html
Item #6: APPLE + LINUX = PERFECTION! - To be honest, I didn't get a chance to read
over this article too well but I thought I'd included it none the less. Anyone want to
let me know what they thought about it? In a book I'm reading (that I'll talk about in
a future column) I learned that Apple decided to choose between MS's Windows NT, Sun's
Solaris, NeXTSTEP, and BeOS as the foundation for what was to become Mac OS X. Too bad
they were deciding so long ago and picked NeXTSTEP because I think they could have
gotten so much further a lot faster if they had chosen Linux. Check out the article at
the following URL: http://www.MacKiDo.com/Opinion/AppleLinux.html
Item #7: Not Just NT That Linux Threatens - Here's another article I didn't get time
to read completely through and ponder so take it as you will. The URL follows:
http://www.internetworld.com/print/1998/10/12/opinion/19981012-ednote.html
Item #8: The Kiss of Death for Linux? - Here's an article where the author reaches the
conclusion that I came to many columns ago: Linux is in Microsoft's sites as being a
major competitor. How will Microsoft's campaign against Linux take form? Well, so far
it is anyone's guess but a recent letter by the General Manager of Microsoft France
may be set a new standard. I would have represented the URL for the letter I just
mentioned but it is in French and someone problematic but take it from me, Microsoft
shows evidence of starting and extremely baseless FUD campaign. Given my passing
comments enjoy the following URL:
http://webreview.com/wr/pub/98/10/09/frames/index.html
Item #9: Linux Press Coverage Drinking Game - Speaking of bad press, I ran into the
following web page that takes most of the silly things mainstream press people have
said about Linux and makes it into a drinking game. I'm not trying to condone mass
consumption of hard liquor or anything... the following piece is good for it's humor
value so check it out: http://segfault.org/story.phtml?id=361d6ea8-02ad87a0&mode=2
SPOTLIGHT: Linux vs Microsoft by Eric S. Raymond
I ran across this posting somewhere and I emailed the author asking permission to
reproduce it here and he granted it to me. But first an introduction for the author...
Eric Raymond has been a Unix person for a very long time. He has written several well
known papers (like the one that convinced Netscape to release the source code to
Mozilla) as well as a few books. Personally, I'm enjoying a book he co-wrote entitled,
Learning GNU Emacs, 2nd Edition for O'Reilly and Associates. I can't begin to tell you
how much I've learned about using Emacs with the help of that book, which means, look
out. perhaps there will be a future spotlight on Emacs... but I might just spare you.
:) Anyway, Eric has become known in the Linux community as the father of the term
"Open Source" which he actually trademarked if I understand correctly.
What follows is a fiery opinion news posting - classic flame bait. Enjoy.
--- begin long quote here ---
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 16:09:36 -0400
From: "Eric S. Raymond" esr@thyrsus.com
To: tim@lorien.demon.co.uk, richardb@upside.com
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu
Subject: Re: Linux vs Microsoft
If Microsoft could crush us, it would already have done so. It is now several months
too late for them to succeed.
Their window began to close when the first of the enterprise database announcements
hit the streets. With Oracle's announcement of a bundled, supported, Oracle-over-Linux
combination on CD-ROM offering the 24/7 reliability unattainable with NT, it has
effectively slammed shut.
Microsoft would have to ship a truly production-quality NT 5.0 within the next month
to prevent Oracle's power play from working. And that ain't gonna happen, because the
5.0 development is turning into a disaster so hideous that Microsoft's own marketing
people are telling large customers not to expect it to ship anytime soon or be
production-ready when it does.
The bottom line is that NT server in the enterprise is doomed; the only question
remaining is what the speed of the collapse will be. And that fact kicks the stuffing
out of half of Microsoft's business strategy, which is as dependent on keeping large
customers locked in and on a perpetual upgrade treadmill as it is on hardware tying
agreements. (That other half, of course, is under threat by the DOJ.)
Microsoft knows all this, and I think they expect a revenue crunch coming; that's why
they recently stopped their regular (and, until now, continuous) stock buybacks.
They're hunkering down for a siege, hoping the analysis won't notice -- because if
their stock price takes any serious hits, the option machine they use to pay off
developers will collapse.
As you say, Microsoft's OS and app mix makes sense on the desktop. You could have
strengthened your point by adding that the desktop is Microsoft's cash cow, so that in
a strictly financial sense the loss of their server business would hardly hurt them.
The problem with this analysis is that Microsoft increasingly finds itself in a
strategically defensive rather than offensive position. The combination of an
open-source operating system and just *one* working Windows emulator could wreck their
desktop position irretrievably within months if Microsoft ever loses its image of
invincibility -- and Microsoft knows that, too.
Therefore, Microsoft's desktop-monopoly cash cow can only be sustained by continual
`prestige' design wins in other markets. And in *all* those markets, Microsoft is in
trouble. MSN was a failure. WinCE has failed to lock in the set-top-box and appliance
market. And, as I've pointed out above, they're about to lose the enterprise servers.
All this would make it hard for Microsoft to "crush" us even if the DOJ lawsuit didn't
make any visible FUD barrage a suicidal tactic.
Not only can't they crush us, but it will take a reversal of present trends for them
to avoid a collapse into irrelevance within eighteen months.
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr Eric S. Raymond
--- end log quote here ---
SPOTLIGHT: The Wonderful World of Linux 2.2
I originally ran into the this article at the following on the Linux Today site (
which is become a leading resources for Linux news and information along with the
Linux Weekly News site, Slashdot, and Freshmeat. Since I've been talking about the
upcoming kernel for some time, and have even included earlier reports on the 2.2
kernel this article seemed natural for a spotlight this week. Hopefully this will be
the last such rundown of 2.2 before it comes out but the saying always is, it ain't
ready until it's ready. I would like to thank the author for granting me his
permission to reproduce it.
--- begin long quote here ---
The Wonderful World of Linux 2.2
by Joseph Pranevich
As any kernel developer can surely tell you, the advent of Linux 2.2 is nigh. Linux
2.1 is approaching near astronomical version numbers in its slow march to
completeness, 2.1.115 as of this writing, and all eyes are looking towards the day
when 2.2.0 will ship standard in the various distributions. Even if you don't actually
follow the Linux kernel version by version, 2.2 is an important milestone to
understand. So, submitted for your approval, here is my take on the Linux Kernel
Developments of late, with some significant bias towards Linux/i386 which is the Linux
that I use most often at home.
Please note that this document does not cover all the new hardware that Linux
supports. Many devices, such as scanners and printers, are handled exclusively in user
space. Other devices, such as video cards and mice, are handled by a combination of
user and kernel drivers. If you don't see a device class that you are interested in
listed in this document, it is quite likely that Linux 2.2 supports it -- just not
necessarily using the kernel to do so.
1) Chips Galore
The world of Intel chips is a fast and interesting thing to follow, if you have
nothing better to do. Merced, Celeron, MMX... the names of Intel technologies float
past to be replaced by new cutting-edge technology. (Whether or not these technologies
are worthwhile is a matter that I'm not even going to begin to try and debate.) In
addition, AMD, Cyrix, and other companies have become solid competitors in the market
and each have their own little optimizations, quirks, and bugs. It's a mess, to say
the least.
Linux 2.2 will be the first stable Linux to support processor vendor selection in the
kernel configuration tool for even better fine-tuning. Perhaps even more importantly,
Linux 2.2 (and later revisions of 2.0 for obvious reasons) supports bugfixes and
workarounds for widespread processor bugs including the infamous F00F Pentium bug.
Other bugs that can't be worked around, such as a couple AMD K6 bugs, are reported
during startup.
Merced hasn't arrived yet and probably isn't immediately forthcoming, but Linux 2.2
has already been ported to Sparc64, Alpha, and other 64-bit platforms so the
infrastructure for a 64-bit native kernel is already happily in place. (There are, of
course, other obstacles that would have to be overcome before Linux/Merced could be
released but having a 64-bit ready kernel is an important step.)
Multiple-Processor machines now will operate much more efficiently than they did in
Linux 2.0 with issues such as the global spinlock removed. Up to 16 processors are
supported (the same as with 2.0) but the performance difference should be amazing.
Also, there is now greater support for the IO-APIC on Intel boards that will make SMP
generally better supported.
In terms of other ports, Linux 2.2 will feature improved support for a large number of
'workstation' machines such as Sparc, Sparc64, and Alpha machines. As for 'desktop'
machines, Linux 2.2 has been ported to Motorola's m68k and PPC processors and now can
be expected to run on many of these platforms, including the Macintosh. (with varying
degrees of hardware support, of course.) Linux is also moving to processors, such as
ARM that are increasingly popular for embedded systems.
On somewhat of a tangent, there is continuing work to support a subset of the Linux
kernel on 8086, 8088, 80186, and 80286 machines. This project will never integrate
itself with Linux-proper but will provide an alternative Linux-subset operating system
for these machines.
In terms of memory consumption, the average Linux 2.2 setup will require more memory
than Linux 2.0. (Although a larger number of components can now be modularized or
compiled-out to allow a system administrator more flexibility if memory is tight.)
According to many sources, the absolute least amount of RAM required for 2.2 on
text-only systems is 5 megs. (Up from 4 with Linux 2.0) To get reasonable performance
without swapping, 8 megs are still recommended. (There have been reports of savvy
linux users getting running systems with only 3 megs, your mileage may vary.) On the
bright side, Linux 2.2 includes a number of new optimizations that should actually
improve the performance of machines with at least 16 megs of RAM. The more, the
merrier.
2) System Busses and Assorted Ilk
Although somewhat less crucial and cutting edge, Linux 2.2 will support a larger
percent of the existing x86 computers with the addition of complete support for the
Microchannel bus found on some PS/2s and older machines.
In addition to hundreds of minor patches to the bus system (including many new PCI
device names), larger improvements have taken place. The PCI subsystem, in particular,
has undergone several major changes. Firstly, the PCI device reporting interface has
been changed and moved to allow for easier addition of new information fields. This
particular change doesn't spell much of a difference for an end user but it makes the
lives of developers much easier. Additionally, it is now possible to choose whether
you want to scan your PCI bus using your compatible PCI BIOS or through direct access.
This allows Linux 2.2 to work on a larger set of machines as several PCI BIOSes were
incompatible with the standards and caused booting problems.
Sadly, there is still little kernel support for Plug-and-Play ISA devices. While that
would be a great addition, there are some problems with the currently proposed systems
that will need to be resolved sometime in 2.3 before inclusion. Fortunately enough,
there happens to be a great user-level utility, isapnp, for setting up PnP devices
that requires just a tad more work than we'd like but gets the job done in true Linux
fashion.
3) IDE, and SCSI, and USB... Oh my!
As far as Linux IDE is concerned, not much obvious has changed for Linux 2.2. The most
obvious change is that it is now possible to load and unload the IDE subsystem as a
module, just like SCSI. (This also has the added bonus of allowing one to use a
PnP-based IDE controller.) For less bleeding-edge machines, the updated IDE driver now
supports older MFM and RLL disks and controllers without having to load an older
version of the driver. Linux 2.2 now also has the ability to detect and configure all
PCI-based IDE cards automatically, including the activation of DMA bus-mastering to
reduce CPU overhead and improve performance. And finally, more drivers have been
developed for controllers that are buggy or simply different. It's amazing how even
excellent things can continue to get better.
Elsewhere in the IDE world, parallel port IDE devices have become more common and are
now supported by Linux 2.2, for the most part. It is a good assumption that many
devices that are not supported currently will be added as 2.2 progresses. The SCSI
subsystem's main improvements have been the addition of many new drivers for many new
cards and chipsets. Too many, in fact, to even begin to name here.
PCMCIA adapters (or PC-card slots, as they are called now) are not supported in the
standard Linux 2.2 but are supported by an external module provider. Thus, while not
in the kernel, PCMCIA support will be included in most distributions. IRDA devices
will also be supported in a similar manner as PCMCIA devices.
Alas, there is some bad news here. Despite ongoing efforts by several parties to
finish USB support, no support has currently been included in a Linux 2.1 release.
This could change before Linux 2.2 becomes finalized, but it is unlikely that such a
large feature would be included this close to release. It is more likely that USB
support will be provided by an external source as modules and would therefore still be
included in distributions (see the note on PCMCIA, above.)
4) Ports: Parallel and Serial
Nothing much new on this front, Linux has always had incredible support for these
basic building blocks. The parallel port driver has been rewritten with cross-platform
issues in mind and thus what was once just a 'Parallel Port' is now a 'PC-Style
Parallel Port' Functionality-wise, the only obvious change is that you can now
effortlessly share a single parallel port device with multiple device drivers. (Note
however that the naming convention used to label parallel ports has changed so you may
find that your lp1 has become your lp0. Distributions should allow for this change
automatically however.)
Serial support is chugging along as well as it always has but with one notable
difference. Previously, a serial device such as a modem involved two devices, one for
call-in and one for call-out. (ttyS and cua respectively) As of Linux 2.2, the two are
combined in one device (ttyS) and accessing the cua devices now prints a warning
message to the kernel log. On the bright side, Linux 2.2 includes support for having
more than 4 serial ports, it allows serial devices to share interrupts, and it
includes a number of drivers for non-standard ports and multi-port cards. My only
complaint with serial support is its lack of support for the standard methods for
modules to pass device parameters at module-load time via the modules.conf file and
kmod. (Instead, these parameters are set using the 'setserial' command. Somewhat
yuck.)
It should also be mentioned that Linux 2.2 will support newer UART chips than 2.0
which may translate into higher transfer rates using newer modems.
5) CD-ROMs, Floppies, and removable media
Thankfully, the hodge-podge of hundreds of CD-ROM standards has solidified behind the
'standard' of ATAPI CD-ROMs. This reprieve has given developers time to completely
rewrite the CD-ROM driver system to be more standardized in terms of support. Small,
quirky differences between the individual drivers have now all been fixed for better
support.
Rewritable CD-ROMs aren't supported nearly as well as one would like, unfortunately.
SCSI CD-ROMs are well done (and most IDE drives use SCSI-over-ATA, the SCSI-emulation
driver). With other rewritable CD-ROMs, your mileage may vary.
Floppies are working as well as ever. There are new developments in terms of large
volume floppies and it remains to be seen whether or not all of these will be
supported. Those devices that communicate using ATAPI (a large number of them,
actually) are already supported to some degree.
IOMEGA's zip drive, an increasingly popular storage solution, is fairly well supported
under Linux 2.2. These beasts come in three versions: SCSI, ATAPI (IDE), and Parallel.
Under SCSI and ATAPI, the Zip drives are supported just as any other disk would be.
The parallel version of these drives actually use a sort of SCSI-over-parallel
protocol that is also supported in Linux 2.2. (Other IOMEGA solutions such as DITTO
drives may also be supported using the ftape drivers.)
DVD drives are already supported, to some degree, under Linux as they represent
themselves largely as ATAPI drives. (SCSI DVD drives may not, but they will probably
work using the excellent SCSI CD-ROM driver.) Unfortunately, this does not necessarily
mean that all will be rosy in the Linux/DVD world as Linux does not currently support
any DVD-centric filesystems that have been proposed nor are any user-space tools
developed to display DVD movies and etc. Once the standards stabilize a bit, it is
highly likely that the requisite parts will be added to the Linux kernel sometime
during the 2.2.x cycle, following the initial release.
Other removable media may or may not be supported under Linux 2.2. If the device
connects through the parallel port, it is possible that it is supported using one of
the Parallel Port IDE device protocol modules that are included in the kernel.
6) Glorious Sounds!
At long last, the sound code has been partially rewritten to be completely modular
from start to finish. Distributions will be able to more easily include generic sound
support out-of-the-box for their users as well as making it easier for the rest of us
to load and configure sound devices. (Especially pesky Plug-and-Play ones.) Lots of
new sound devices are supported as well and it looks like this is one area where Linux
will really improve in the next year.
One very notable defect here is the remaining lack of support for the PC internal
speaker, if only for completeness. Then again, Windows 95/98 doesn't do it either so
who am I to judge?
7) Video4Linux
Linux 2.2 now has amazing support for a growing number of TV and radio tuner cards and
digital cameras. This is a truly bleeding edge addition to 2.1's roster so there may
still be some outstanding issues but it is reasonable to assume that they will be
fixed in time. In my humble opinion, this is just an amazing area for Linux to be in
at all.
8) Back me up, Scotty!
Linux 2.2's backup and tape device subsystem has not changed much since the 2.0
release. More drivers for devices have been written, of course and substantial
improvement has been made for backup devices that work off of the floppy disk
controller (including the IOMEGA DITTO).
Rewritable CD-ROMs have become a popular solution for backing up data and they are
supported under Linux 2.2 (either natively or using the SCSI emulation driver.) There
are still outstanding issues in this regard, see my note above on CD-ROMs for details.
9) Joysticks, Mouse, and Input Devices
Joysticks are better supported in 2.2 including a large number of new joysticks and
joysticks with an inordinate numbers of buttons. Likely, your joystick will work under
Linux 2.2.
Mice in 2.2 aren't really different from mice in 2.0. (As in 2.0, there are some
inconsistencies regarding mouse support that will be addressed in the future. For the
most part, mouse control is provided through a daemon external to the kernel. Some
mouse drivers however deliberately emulate a Microsoft standard mouse. The reasoning
behind this is obvious but it would be nice if it was decided on in one way or the
other.) It should be noted that, while not solely a kernel issue, mice with
Microsoft's spinning wheel extension are supported in recent versions of the XFree86,
Linux's most popular GUI. (However many Linux applications have not been designed to
take advantage of this feature.)
Additionally, several other input devices are now supported under Linux 2.2 including
some digitizer pads. If your devices emulates a mouse (as many do) then it is already
supported by Linux 2.2 (and, in fact, Linux 2.0).
10) Video
Perhaps the most surprising and cutting-edge addition to the Linux kernel version 2.2
is what is called the 'frame-buffer console' driver (or 'fbcon', for short.)
Previously, the Linux kernel (for Intel-based machines) only understood and
manipulated the video devices in text mode. Graphical support was to be provided by
two other systems: 'svgalib' for console-based graphics, and a specialized X Server
for window-based graphics. This kludgey system often required configuration
information to be repeated and each system supported only a limited slice of the
myriad of video devices in common use.
Since this addition is rather new, it remains to be seen whether it will truly replace
the previous and long-standing duality. Unfortunately, it could be nearly a year after
Linux 2.2 ships before this new system could be robust enough to support the cards and
technologies that we already take for granted as working. My personal opinion is that
this is the right idea, but I'm going to withhold judgment until we see exactly how
far Linus and the developers decide to take this feature.
As an added side-effect of this new feature, primitive multi-heading has been added
into the kernel for some devices. Currently, this is limited to some text-mode output
but it is reasonable to assume that this very new addition to the Linux kernel will
mature somewhat during the 2.2.x and 2.3.x cycles.
It should also be mentioned that it is now possible to remove support for 'virtual'
terminals as provided by the kernel. This allows very memory-conscious people to save
just a tad more.
Although unimaginable to the desktop user, Linux can now work even better on systems
that do not actually include any sort of video device. In addition to being able to
log in over serial or networked lines, as Linux 2.0 and previous Linuxes allowed, it
is now possible to redirect all the kernel messages (usually sent to the console
directly before any hardware was initialized) to a serial device.
11) Networking: Ethernet, ISDN, and the lowly modem.
I don't have a huge amount of experience here; I've been using the same network cards
in all my machines for several years. But, it doesn't take an Alan Cox to see that the
number of supported Ethernet and ISDN devices supported in Linux 2.2 has risen
sharply. I have been told that newer solutions such as cable modems are supported,
also.
My only gripe in this regard is the continued non-support of so-called 'Winmodems.'
Not that I blame Linux for their absence, making modems that are 80% software is just
a dumb idea anyway, but the idealist in me hopes that some day these pesky devils will
be supported like their less retarded cousins.
12) Amateur Radio people are Linux people, too.
Since before Linux 2.0, Linux has been one of the few desktop OSes to include native
support for computer-based amateur radio people. (Not that I actually know what that
entails but it seems to be a more popular option outside the US.) Linux 2.2 adds
support for NetROM and ROSE amateur radio protocols. The basic AX.25 layer has also
been materially enhanced.
13) Filesystems for the World
Linux 2.2 has a wide array of new filesystems and partition types for
interconnectivity. In addition, many of Linux's supported filesystems (including those
I haven't listed here) have been updated with a new caching system to markedly improve
performance. (In fact, not updating the drivers wasn't even an option if one wanted
them included in Linux 2.2.)
For the Microsoft nut, Linux will now read (and maybe write) NTFS (Windows NT) drives
and Windows 98's FAT32 drives (also used by some later versions of Windows 95). Linux
2.2 also understands Microsoft's Joilet system for long filenames on CD-ROMs. And
finally, Linux also understands a new type of extended partition that Microsoft
invented. Drivers to read and write Microsoft and Stacker compressed drives are being
developed but not yet included in the kernel.
For Mac connectivity, a HFS driver for reading and writing Mac disks has been
included. HFS+ and MFS (ancient floppy format) are not yet supported. Macintosh
partition tables can now also be read by the kernel; this allows Mac SCSI disks to be
mounted natively.
Sadly, OS/2 users will still not be able to write to their HPFS drives. Some updates
have been made to the HPFS driver to support the new 'dcache' system but not the
complete overhaul that some were hoping for.
If there are any Amiga users left, they will be pleased to know that the FFS driver
has undergone some minor updates since 2.0. This is especially useful as the new
generation of PPC Amigas will continue to support this format.
For connectivity to other UNIXes, Linux 2.2 has come forward in leaps and bounds.
Linux 2.2 still includes the UFS filesystem which is used on BSD derived systems,
including Solaris and the free versions of BSD. Linux 2.2 can now also read the
partition table formats used by FreeBSD, SunOS, and Solaris. For SysV-style UNIXs,
Linux 2.2 features a somewhat updated version of SysVFS. Linux 2.2 can also read the
Acorn's RiscOS disks. And finally, Linux 2.2 features a somewhat updated version of
the ever-popular Minix filesystem, which can be used for small drives and floppies on
most UNIXes. With so many incompatible formats (and Linux 2.2 reading so many of
them), it's amazing anyone ever got any work done.
In other news, support for 'extended' drives (the format used by much older versions
of Linux) has been removed in favor of the 'second extended' filesystem. (This
shouldn't matter to many people, 'ext2' is far superior to its predecessor.) With the
increased support of initial ramdisks, a 'romfs' has been created which has very
minimal overhead.
While not quite a filesystem, Linux 2.2 includes enhanced support for stretching a
filesystem across several disks transparently. At present, this support can be used in
RAID 0, 1, 4, and 5 modes as well as a simple linear mode.
14) Networking II: Under the Hood
On the protocol front, a lot has happened that I simply don't understand completely.
The next generation Internet protocol, IPv6, has made an appearance. SPX, a compliment
to IPX is new, as well. DDP, the protocol of choice for AppleTalk networking has also
been improved. And, just as you would come to expect by now, the existing protocols
have been improved, as well. I only wish I had the need to use some of this stuff...
On the low-end front, not much has changed. PPP, SLIP, CSLIP, and PLIP are all still
available for use. I guess some things don't need much improvement. (Although each of
those drivers have been updated in one way or another.)
The list keeps going, however. Linux 2.2 will have an excellent new networking core,
new tunneling code, a completely new firewalling and routing system called 'ipchains',
support for limiting bandwidth consumption, and a ton more. It's just amazing. I wish
I could keep track of it all. (But, who am I kidding?)
It should be noted that file and printer sharing protocols have also been improved and
markedly enhanced. SMB, the protocol for accessing Windows-based shared filesystems
has been somewhat improved with bugfixes and the like. If you are a fan of NetWare
(doubtful), you'll be happy to know that Linux 2.2 supports a large number of
improvements in this area, including access to two different kinds of NCP long file
names. Trusty NFS has also been improved, both at the server level and the client
level. And finally, those eggheads over at CMU have been hard at work developing the
new distributed network filesystem, Coda. This filesystem supports a large number of
highly-requested features including disconnected operations for laptops, an advanced
cache system, and security improvements.
On somewhat of a tangent, Linux 2.2 also includes a driver which will allow one to
share (and remotely mount) whole disk images over a network.
15) Not Everyone Speaks English.
Linux 2.0 is a very international OS with support for international keyboards and the
like. Linux 2.2 adds to this and other internationalization features the ability to
load some UNICODE codepages for translating filenames into Linux's native system.
(Currently, the only filesystems that use these UNICODE codepages include Microsoft's
VFAT and Microsoft's Joilet ISO 9660 (CD-ROM filesystem) extension.)
16) Unix98: The Next Generation
Linux 2.2 will be a more 'standard' UNIX in a number of ways. The most pronounced of
these ways to the end user will be the addition of UNIX98-style Pty devices using a
new filesystem (devpts) and a cloning device to provide the functionality.
17) And, finally...
In addition to those noted above, there are a large number of other drivers and things
that just don't fit in anywhere but should still be noted. So, in no given order, the
oddball updates of Linux 2.2: The loopback driver, which allows disk images to be
mounted and manipulated just like any regular drive, has been improved in a number of
ways. Of these improvements, the most notable difference to users will be its
increased support for encryption and the mounting of encrypted hard disks and disk
images.
A driver for accessing your computer's CMOS memory has also been provided in Linux 2.2
which may be useful in some applications. (Sadly, a similar driver to access your
BIOS's flashable RAM did not make it, it will still be necessary to boot from a DOS
floppy to flash your computer's BIOS to a new version.)
And finally, in the past, Linux used a half-user/half-kernel method of loading in and
out drivers (called 'modules') called 'kerneld' This method was good but inefficient.
Linux 2.2 has removed kerneld and replaced it with a smaller all-kernel solution
called 'kmod'.
This is the 'really final' version of this document, unless there are really stupid
mistakes or Linux 2.1 gets a really special new feature. (We're in a feature freeze...
again so that is unlikely.) I would however like to ask for interested people to
continue to send me suggestions and corrections at knight@baltimore.wwaves.com.
Thank you all for your support during the writing of this document. Unfortunately, in
the rush of suggestions and the rash of dozens of people correcting me on the same
items (Alpha as a 64-bit platform, for example), I completely lost track of
contributors. I'm sorry. In particular, I'd like to thank Alan Cox and Meelis Roos for
their contributions, they really helped out a lot in the preparation of this 'final'
draft.
Thank you, and Good Night.
Joseph Pranevich
--- end long quote here ---
LOGOUT:
I've been learning and doing a lot of PERL programming this past week and I must
confess that I fill both empowered and drained. Have you installed Linux recently? If
so, drop me a note and let me know what you thought about the processes. Enjoy
Scott Dowdle
Backlash '98?
[newt&clinton.jpg (6505 bytes)]
After dreading November's elections, Democrats now believe they will
benefit from an anti-impeachment voter rebellion.
BY JOAN WALSH
ctsy Salon
Democrat Jay Inslee says the best idea in his uphill campaign to unseat
U.S. Rep. Rick White came not from pollsters or pundits but from voters.
The aspiring congressman from suburban Seattle made national news this
week when he embraced the very issue experts had warned Democrats to run
away from: He broadcast TV ads attacking his Republican opponent for
supporting an unlimited impeachment inquiry against President Clinton.
"I was hearing the same message at the farmer's markets and the ferry
docks: People feel strongly that we need to get back to business, and
beyond impeachment," Inslee says. So he overruled his campaign brain
trust, which had opposed using the impeachment issue, and jumped onto the
airwaves with a TV spot declaring, "Rick White and Newt Gingrich
shouldn't be dragging us through this. Enough is enough." Nationally,
pollsters and political experts predicted Democrats would rush to
television studios with impeachment ads if Inslee's gambit paid off. "If
it rains," one pollster told the Los Angeles Times, "it's going to pour."
It's raining -- in Inslee's Seattle district, anyway. The challenger, who
trailed White in the state's open primary by 6 percent, had closed the
gap a little since then. But he jumped four points in the days after his
aggressive ad was broadcast, to move slightly ahead of the incumbent two
weeks before Election Day. "Yesterday a woman stopped her car in the
middle of one of Seattle's busiest streets," a bemused Inslee recounts,
"just to tell me, 'It's about time somebody had the guts to do this!'"
A month after the punditocracy predicted the Monica Lewinsky scandal
could cost Democrats as many as 30 seats in the House of Representatives,
some strategists are saying the mess could work in the Democrats' favor,
as scandal-weary voters use the election as a referendum on whether they
want to watch congressional impeachment hearings drag on well into 1999.
A relative handful of votes either way can matter: In 1996, 11 close
elections that gave the Republicans their 11-seat majority were decided
by a total of less than 12,000 votes.
The boldest -- or most partisan -- among campaign strategists are even
predicting that a national ground swell of disgust over the protracted
impeachment debate could actually help Democrats gain seats. "Democrats
should want their election campaigns to engage the impeachment issue,"
says a memo to Democrats from Clinton booster James Carville and
Democratic pollsters Stan Greenberg and Al Quinlan. "Do not run from it.
The impeachment inquiry is an opportunity."
According to the three strategists, their poll of 800 voters in
mid-October yielded good news for Democrats: The base of likely voters in
the coming election who are Democrats rose from 31 to 36 percent of the
electorate, compared to 31 percent Republicans. And after dropping in
polls just after the release of independent counsel Kenneth Starr's
report on the Lewinsky matter, Democrats nationwide have gained four
points in the last month. Carville urges Democrats to grab the
impeachment issue and ride it to victory.
"These last two weeks are likely to be very different from what we have
experienced up until now," Carville wrote in the memo. "Democrats have
been on the defensive ... But now is the time to use every free media
outlet you have because voters are ready to sit up and take notice. Hit
the Republicans hard."
To some Democrats, the best evidence that Carville and company are right
comes from the relative Republican silence on the impeachment issue in
the hundreds of congressional races around the country. Just over a month
ago, strategists were predicting a blitz of TV ads featuring Clinton's
many televised Lewinskyisms -- from denial to admission to semantic
hair-splitting in his grand jury testimony. But since then GOP candidates
have dropped the issue. The few Republicans who ran anti-Clinton ads
quietly pulled them when they yielded no gains.
But just as predictions of an impeachment-inspired Republican landslide
proved to be wishful thinking, so might the Democrats' dreams of an
impeachment backlash. Some Democrats and their supporters -- including
one of Greenberg and Quinlan's clients -- question the idea that running
hard on impeachment will help party candidates. The truth is no one
understands the inscrutable midterm electorate.
Traditionally, many fewer Americans vote in the elections held in between
presidential campaigns -- turnout usually drops by half -- and those who
do tend to be more conservative. While national polls show Democrats
leading in the congressional races by several points, the advantage goes
to Republicans when the polling universe is narrowed to likely voters.
So far, there's little hard data to suggest this election will be a
bellwether on impeachment. The real story might be that last month's
hand-wringing over the Democrats' congressional chances, in the wake of
the Starr Report revelations, had little basis in fact. There was no
difference in Democratic turnout or election support in primaries held
before the Starr Report and after according to Curtis Gans of the
Committee for the Study of the American Electorate.
And an analysis by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center in early September
found that Republicans outnumbered Democrats among likely voters in this
midterm election by eight points. But the gap was actually smaller than
the 10-point difference polls found before the 1994 midterm. (Because
Congress is already majority-Republican, where it was majority-Democrat
in 1994, an outcome similar to 1994 would merely maintain the status quo,
not doom Democrats.)
Pew's latest poll, released yesterday, says the picture hasn't changed --
yet.
"The supposed backlash against Congress hasn't made an iota of difference
in local races," says Pew director Andrew Kohut. Republicans still hold a
lead among likely voters, and in the 105 races analysts consider
"competitive," the Republicans lead 48 to 44 percent. Even though voter
opinion of Congress has "soured," Kohut says, leading to a decline in
support for incumbents to 58 percent of registered voters from 66 percent
last January, the percentage of voters who say they'll use the election
to vote against Clinton rose from 16 percent to 23 percent. Meanwhile,
only 19 percent say the Starr investigation is very important for the
nation and only 3 percent say they want candidates to talk about Clinton
during the campaign.
Yet Kohut says the Carville strategy could pay off for Democrats in
certain races. "If Democrats can bring it up in the right way, it could
be effective. But right now the anger about impeachment is mostly
confined to core Democratic constituencies -- who may not vote."
The two big questions about the election come down to who will vote, and
what will independent voters do. There's good news for Democrats on both
counts.
For two months the common wisdom has been that if the Lewinsky mess
inspires the Republican base to surge to the polls, Democrats are doomed.
But if Democrats get energized by what Clinton defenders call a
Republican coup d'tat against a popular president, Republicans are in
trouble. Most observers have expected the first scenario.
Two weeks ago, Wall Street Journal columnist Gerald Seib predicted that
public opposition to impeachment wouldn't help Democrats in upcoming
elections, because Clinton supporters tended not to vote. Likely voters,
Seib observed, were "older, richer, more conservative, more Southern and
more Republican than the overall population" -- and more likely to
support pushing on with the impeachment proceedings. "The opinions of the
millions of Americans who have checked out of the electoral process by
failing to vote don't really count for very much," sniffed Seib.
But the Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday shows that this year,
the base of likely voters is evenly split between Democrats and
Republicans. While in October 1994 -- just before the Republican
congressional landslide -- polls gave Republicans a 40 percent to 30
percent advantage, the Pew poll found Democrats and Republicans each make
up 35 percent of the likely electorate this fall.
Other Democratic pollsters are seeing trends similar to those described
by Carville and Greenberg. "I think it's safe to say that Democrats are
getting more interested in this election," says Fred Yang, a pollster
with Hart Research in Washington, D.C. "Intensity has risen and the
percentage of likely voters who are Democrats has too." Maybe most
disturbing for Republicans, independent voters -- who made up more than a
quarter of the midterm electorate in 1994 -- "are starting to go the
Democrats' way," Yang says. The Pew poll confirms this: It found that
independent voters are closer to Democrats than Republicans in their
opposition to impeachment and in their disapproval of the way Congress
has handled the inquiry debate.
But while voters' impeachment fatigue could help Democrats, some analysts
doubt that going aggressively negative against Republicans on the issue
is a winning strategy for Democrats. "I really don't think so," says
Stephanie Cohen, communications director for Emily's List, which supports
women candidates. Cohen says her group's polling -- which, ironically,
was conducted by Greenberg and Quinlan -- actually shows that women
voters, at least, are turned off by outright partisan attacks on
Republicans.
"That kind of tone -- continuing to raise the saber of impeachment with
very partisan attacks -- is not what they want," Cohen says. "Our polling
shows women want to know who has solutions: Who will fix the schools?
What are their plans to improve health care?"
Pollster Al Quinlan acknowledges there's reason for Cohen's concern.
"Stephanie is right: Women voters in particular want to hear about
issues, not politics," he says. Quinlan, Carville and Greenberg say the
best strategy is combining a critique of the impeachment mess with vocal
Democratic stands on key issues like education, health care and Social
Security.
"And we wouldn't advise a candidate to raise impeachment in certain races
-- pretty much anywhere in the South, for instance, and some places in
the Southwest. It's best seen as a strategy for Democratic challengers.
If it's done well -- and it looks like Jay Inslee did it well -- you'll
see a jump."
Impeachment or not, something is stirring the Democratic base. Turnout by
women declined by 2 million between the 1992 presidential election and
the 1994 midterm race, and more Republican women voted than Democrats,
thus erasing the gender gap that had favored Democrats in 1992. But Pew
polls show the gender gap is back: Democrats enjoy a 48 to 41 percent
edge among women voters.
"Despite what the pundits have been saying -- and they're really a bunch
of bed-wetters -- this is a very good climate for the Democrats," insists
California Democratic Party consultant Bob Mulholland. "P.T. Barnum said
it best: 'If you want to build a crowd, start a fight.'" California
Democrats are devoting $6 million to energizing their base, Mulholland
says, targeting districts with lots of minority voters and white liberals
with absentee ballot campaigns, a get-out-the-vote drive and "mailers
with photos of Ken Starr and Newt Gingrich."
Nationally, the AFL-CIO is sinking millions into grass-roots voter
turnout strategies. The Women's Vote Project is pledging to bring back
the 2 million women who left the rolls in 1994 with an aggressive
publicity and voter turnout drive. The national Democratic Party is
promising that ads and appearances by Jesse Jackson and Hillary Clinton
are planned to boost turnout among women, minorities and liberal
loyalists.
Some observers are skeptical that the Democrats really know how to
energize their base. "The problem is, they learned some of the wrong
lessons from their defeats: They learned to avoid dealing with their
base," says elections analyst Curtis Gans. "After going too far toward
identity politics in the '80s, they developed this studious, poll-driven,
middle-class appeal, and in certain ways narrowed their constituency. So
I think the Carville strategy is as good a strategy as the Democrats have
right now."
So far, though, the success of Inslee's aggressive campaign strategy
hasn't yet produced a storm of copycat advertising. No one interviewed
knew of another Democratic candidate readying similar ads. Only Ralph
Neas, a Democrat who faces a tough battle to unseat moderate Republican
Connie Morella of suburban Maryland, has hit the airwaves with an ad
attacking his opponent's impeachment stand, and he ran it before the
Inslee results were in.
"Impeachment is not a big issue in this race, ironically," says Beth
Davidson, spokeswoman for Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls, who is trying
to oust Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot in a closely watched
race. "Chabot voted against the budget yesterday, which gives us plenty
to work with on an issue that's important to our constituents."
But Inslee says his strategy was the right one for his district. Having
served in Congress for one term -- he was defeated in the Republican 1994
landslide, thanks largely to his vote for an assault-weapons ban -- he
knows the feel of a winning issue. "This didn't come out of polling. I
didn't approach this with a lot of campaign sophistication. I'm the one
out there listening to people and they're very angry. So my campaign
advisors just asked me to think about it -- did I really want to take
this on?
"And I told them I did. So we moved ahead together. I knew voters felt
strongly about it." In the Seattle area, at least, the polls are proving
him right.
Research assistance for this article by Daryl Lindsey and Fiona Morgan.
Vote Wisely Use this tool!
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Editor's MailBag
Messages * NOT EDITED * for content
From: G.L. Alston
Sent: Friday, October 09, 1998 11:29 PM
To: 'rmariano@streport.com'
Subject: Child's Play IV
October 1998
TRUE COLOR POWERED KID'S ART PROGRAM
Ruidoso, NM -- Alston Software Labs ("ASL"), developers of graphics
software titles for young users, announces the latest release of Child's
Play, a paint and colorbook program designed specifically for children
aged 5 to 12.
Features include a unique animated icon-only menu system, a built-in file
management system that eliminates the need for typing in file names, JPG
format file support for easier web postings, a page printing utility, and
dozens of kid-friendly drawing tools and special effects, sound effects
and a midi soundtrack, and support for 24 bit (16.7 million) color.
Child's Play IV utilizes the full viewing screen, which maximizes the
drawing area and prevents younger children from accidentally getting into
things on the family computer they shouldn't really be into -- such as
the family budget or checkbook! This means parents can be relaxed about
letting their children use the computer unattended.
Child's Play is available in a fully functioning test drive from various
web sites including www.download.com and www.hotfiles.com, which gives it
their highest possible (5 star) rating. Anyone can download it and try it
out for free, and are encouraged to do so.
Price: $26.00 for individuals, schools should contact ASL for site
pricing
No s/h for electronic delivery.
Requires: Windows95, 98, or Windows NT, 20 MB disk space.
Contact: ASL, P.O. Box 581, Ruidoso NM 88355
phone (507) 836 - 8494 or
fax (507) 836 - 8494 or
web -- http://alstonlabs.pair.com
Order: product #15795 at 1-800-242-4775, Ext 15795
1-713-524-6394, Ext 15795
1-713-524-6398 fax
[image87.gif (45316 bytes)]
Classics & Gaming Section
Editor Dana P. Jacobson
dpj@streport.com
From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
The high-profile news this week has got to be the Microsoft antitrust
case. This case _could_ have a major impact on the computer/software
industry for years to come - regardless of the "winner". I'm really
curious as to the outcome of this case (not that I understand all of the
nuances) and how it will affect the end-users overall as a result.
This week I've included articles which "bullet" the key points to the
case, the major players, and the likely expert witnesses. I hope these
may simplify the matter for those who are interested.
Otherwise, I don't have anything to add this week - surprise! Glad to
learn that Joe Mirando is back on his feet (or on his butt) and well
enough to rejoin the fray. Oh, and don't forget: Daylight Savings Time
this weekend - set your clocks BACK one hour Sunday morning. Enjoy the
extra hour of sleep (or play)!
Until next time...
DFW Atari Show - DEUCE 98
The Atari Users of North Texas (AUNT) Computer Exposition will be coming
again to Dallas this November in conjunction with the monthly DFW XChange
Super Saturday activities at the beautiful Dallas Infomart. Show date is
planned for Saturday the 14th. As with the last three DEUCE shows, the
actual show date will be finalized 120 days prior to the exposition. The
exposition, along with the Super Saturday activities, charge no admission
fees and are open to the general public. The one day exposition is
planned to begin at 8:30 AM and run until 4:00 PM. A Friday evening
pre-show get together and a post show get together are also being
planned.
November is still a great time to visit the Dallas Metroplex. The DFW
XChange Super Saturday activities are a monthly computer extravaganza
where thousands of computer enthusiasts get together, share their
computer interests and enjoy some of the best computer and high-tech
electronic buys in Texas. This November will again be special for us
Atarians because so many of our finest developers and dealers will be
participating in the activities. The Dallas Infomart facility, a replica
of the famous 1895 World Fair Crystal Palace, is located in the heart of
the Dallas commerce district at 1950 Stemmons Freeway (Interstate 35E).
The facility is leased by the DFW XChange each month to provide a
community service to all computer users in the Dallas-Ft Worth Metroplex
area. The Atari Users of North Texas is one of many participating user
groups that help support this community service by sharing our Atari
computer interests, general computer expertise and providing user
assistance to our local Atarians and the interested general public.
Vendors are being lined up. Systems for Tomorrow, chroMagic, Crawly Crypt
Corp and Emulators have already confirmed their participation in the
show. Vendors interested in participating can contact David Acklam at
(972) 242-9655 or via email at d.acklam@genie.com. You can also visit the
AUNT internet home page at
UK Show, November 1998
From: Atari Computing ataricomputing@zetnet.co.uk
Date: 20 Oct 1998
The Atari Computing Convention: ACC '98 Show Info Bulletin 9
First of all thanks to everyone who returned the survey forms in Atari
Computing issue 8. The majority of respondents wanted an Autumn show in
Birmingham and with that in mind we're delighted to announce the Atari
omputing Convention "ACC '98" will take place on Saturday November 14th
1998 at Bingley Hall, Stffordshire Showground, Stafford from 10am to 4pm.
The Showground is easily accessible by car from junctions 13 and 14 on
the M6 just north of Birmingham with ample free parking and they'll be a
shuttle bus service running from Stafford railway station.
Tickets will cost less than ever before - just 3 on the door with 1
further discount for Atari Computing subscribers, children, OAPs, UB40,
students and orange card holders.
Here's the current line up:
* Atari Computing
Our stand will carry all available back issues, Reader Disks and Offers
and for the first time ever we will be running demonstrations and advice
clinics covering all the major aspects of computing including MIDI/music,
DTP/word processing, Comms/Internet access and Atari emulation.
* Titan Designs
UK debut of Eclipse, a PCI adapter that enables industry standard PCI
graphic cards to be connected to the Falcon offering fast,
high-resolution, true-colour displays! Hopefully they'll also be a chance
to see a prototype of the TEMPEST 040 Falcon accelerator. DA's Layout,
Videlity and APEX Media and Nemesis will all be on display and Titan's
range of scanners, hard drives, SyQuest drives, CD-ROM drives, Falcon
14Mb memory upgrades, cables, etc. Larger items, monitors etc, can be
ordered on the day for despatch the following week.
* FaST Club
Will have the FaST Club CD#1 with Gemulator 4.8, Gemulator Pro (68030/040
Apple and Atari emulation), Imagecopy, and all the other FaST Club
software.
* System Solutions
Will be showing professional audio and MIDI products. Come and meet the
team for advice and see CD writing in action on an ST with the recently
released ExtenDOS Gold and CD Writer. Hear the fabulous sound of JAM and
boost your MIDI with the MO4.
Take a look at applications running on the new MILAN TOS compatible
computer complete with MINT'98 networking.
Of course we'll be bringing along the latest software including HD-Driver
7.6 and ASH's NVDI 5, CAB 2.7 and, making it's UK debut, jinnee
(pronounced Genie), the ultimate replacement desktop. They'll also be
show prices on hardware upgrades, modems, scanners, memory, graphics
cards, large screen monitors and more!
* Electronic Cow
Squash it! v2.0 is what we're waiting to see! This brand new sample
processor is aimed at creative musicians who want to do more than to just
cut and paste samples makes its Worldwide debut here!
They'll also be brand new releases other their other popular products
including MIDI Arpeggiator v3.0, Sound Chip Synth v3.1, Snippit Synth
v2.0, Scribble Synth v1.5 (both now support STFM playback!) and EC-909
v2.0 - which also now works on STFM machines.
Existing registered E-Cow owners can upgrade to the latest releases for
FREE but you must bring along your original master disks.
* The Upgrade Shop (TUS)
You've read the review of the Veloce+ in AC#10 now here's your chance to
meet the designer, see it in action, and book your machine in for an
upgrade - and don't forget to check out the STe IDEal interface and other
hardware goodies.
* 16/32
If you're looking for gaming or Jaguar/Lynx console action place this
stand at the top of your list. 16/32 are also the UK outlet for
SpeedoGDOS, PixArt and some other serious applications not available
anywhere else.
* FALKE Verlag/Milan Computer/Seidel Software Service
These premier German companies plan to attend and show their products
directly to the UK audience for the first time.
* Floppyshop
Check out the reviews in this issue of Sounds and Stuff and the Falcon
Select CD and you'll know what to expect. Their product line-up also
includes Positive Image, EZ-Art Professional, Easy Stitch, Family Roots
II, Power Up Plus, Tetris II, other CD-ROM titles and PD Library.
* Abingdon Synthesi Projects
Will be building CD-ROMs, hard disks and other SCSI devices into standard
PC cases and connecting them to standard Atari machines using the SCSI
burster expansion option.
Making its UK debut will be a Plug&Play serial mouse interface which
enables any PC serial pointing device to be connected to any
AtariST/e/TT/Falcon or compatible mouse port.
ASP will also be offering a back-up service to CDR in ISO9660 format so
bring along your bare hard disk mechanisms or cased drives (copyright
restrictions apply).
* * ImPrint Solutions
* Calamus SL 98 will be on display running on a Hades machine and
under MagiC Mac running with 21" monitors.
* * InterActive
* For the first time ever InterActive will be accepting registrations
"live" at the show and promoting the activities of the TransAction
translation crew.
* * CyberSTrider
* CyberStrider will also be accepting registrations "live" at the show
and promoting its commercial Internet services and products.
* * Atari Portfolio Club
The Portfolio is Atari's solution to palmtop computing and there's an
astounding range of software and extras available. Cross their palm with
silver