Silicon Times Report The Original Independent OnLine Magazine" (Since 1987) June 14, 1996 No. 1224 Silicon Times Report International OnLine Magazine Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32221-6155 STR Electronic Publishing Inc. A subsidiary of STR Worldwide CompNews Inc. R.F. Mariano, Editor Featured in ITCNet's ITC_STREPORT Echo Voice: 1-904-292-9222 10am-5pm EST STReport WebSite http://www.streport.com STR Publishing Support BBS THE BOUNTY INTERNATIONAL BBS Featuring: * 5.0GB * of File Libraries Mustang Software's WILDCAT! Client/Server BBS Version 5 95/NT Featuring a Full Service Web Site http://www.streport.com Join STReport's Subscriber List receive STR through Internet MULTI-NODE Operation 24hrs-7 days Analog & ISDN BRI Access 904-268-4116 2400-128000 bps V. 120-32-34 v.42 bis ISDN V.34 USRobotics I-MODEM NT-1 FAX: 904-268-2237 24hrs BCS - Toad Hall BBS 1-617-567-8642 06/14/96 STR 1224 The Original Independent OnLine Magazine! - CPU Industry Report - Corel Chess! - Firaxes Software - 200Mhz Pentium - IBM VoiceType - NEW Aptiva - FAT32 Explained - MS Intranet Goals - AT&T's Plan - ADS on the NET - People Talking - Atari JagNews Internet Decency Law Struck Down Gore Opposes Net "Censorship" Jewish Group Protests Net Site STReport International OnLine Magazine Featuring Weekly "Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information" Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports STReport's BBS - The Bounty International BBS, invites all BBS systems, worldwide, to participate in the ITC, Fido, Internet, PROWL, USENET, USPOLNet, NEST, F-Net, Mail Networks. You may also call The Bounty BBS direct @ 1-904-268-4116. Enjoy the wonder and excitement of exchanging all types of useful information relative to all computer types, worldwide, through the use of excellent International Networking Systems. SysOps and users alike worldwide, are welcome to join STReport's International Conferences. ITC Node is 85:881/250, The Fido Node is 1:112/35, Crossnet Code is #34813, and the "Lead Node" is #620. All computer enthusiasts, hobbyist or commercial, on all platforms and BBS systems are invited to participate. WEB SITE: http//www.streport.com CIS ~ PRODIGY ~ DELPHI ~ GENIE ~ BIX ~ FIDO ~ ITC ~ NEST ~ EURONET ~ CIX ~ USENET USPOLNET CLEVELAND FREE-NET ~ INTERNET ~ PROWL ~ FNET ~ AOL IMPORTANT NOTICE STReport, with its policy of not accepting any input relative to content from paid advertisers, has over the years developed the reputation of "saying it like it really is". When it comes to our editorials, product evaluations, reviews and over-views, we shall always keep our readers interests first and foremost. With the user in mind, STReport further pledges to maintain the reader confidence that has been developed over the years and to continue "living up to such". All we ask is that our readers make certain the manufacturers, publishers etc., know exactly where the information about their products appeared. In closing, we shall arduously endeavor to meet and further develop the high standards of straight forwardness our readers have come to expect in each and every issue. The Publisher, Staff & Editors Florida Lotto - LottoMan v1.35 Results: 6/07/96: 3 of 6 numbers with 0 matches From the Editor's Desk... My, my how some well thought out comments from a few wise and enlightened robed individuals can put an abrupt end to what some, myself included, would call a journey to the dark side of censorship. The "CDA" Communications Decency Act, has been called "unconstitutional" by a three man panel of Federal Judges convened to sit in judgment of the CDA. Of course to listen to the religious fanatics and zealots. the "end of the world" has arrived. But just last week. they were so confident that the Internet would be all but shut down. Now, one fanatic likens the net to "God knows What" but she. is overly distraught over the fact that Censorship was not permitted to prevail. Pretty sad when one considers that most of the broadcast houses are totally under the gun and thumb of censorship to one serious degree or another already. How about the "serious" Church Leaders" of the South. "Boycotting" Disney and the Disney Theme Parks. Yup! "Serious leaders" all right. Why aren't they boycotting Homelessness, Poverty and Hunger right in their own Congregations? Why? Because hitting on Disney makes for Headlines. Thus, it appears they're "doing" something effective. Why then, do they remind one of snake oil hustlers of old? If they show the statement being made again, listen to that guy spewing forth all that righteous sounding Hatred and drivel because Disney believes in the quality of human life. Another form of censorship ..plain and simple. Speaking of Broadcasters.. Have you ever noticed how CBS' Dan Rather and Crew seem to have the solution, ending, conviction etc., well before the outcome of any news making incident is actually known?? That's called swaying public opinion. That practice can easily be compared to the goof who was ever present in the old days outside the Sheriff's Office clamoring for a "hanging". Dan Rather ought to get with the times. A Judge and Jury he ain't. That also goes for a certain CBS affiliate. Ours.. Channel Four. ("The one and only")! Channel Four, WJXT, has some of the most talented people in the nation working hard to bring a comprehensive local newscast to our area. Then.. their Vice Prez... has to blow it all with her baseless and super shallow "editorials". Did I say. Editorials??? Change that to daily dose of lukewarm, gummy Pablum! Its the pits and only a biased observer would see otherwise. If they're (Chan. 4) going to call them editorials.. Then for goodness sake, let them be just that! Take issue with the various real problems facing the area. (Unresponsive City Council and Lackluster School Board). Sherry, for once. Be hard hitting and ask serious "gotcha" questions. If this cannot be done, then please. change the name from Editorial to "Pablum Time". Editorials. they ain't! Steve Wassermann, on the other hand, knew the meaning of Editorial. Perhaps a little "archival viewing and learning" by the present GM Veep is in order. Here's a good one for Sherry folks.. Jacksonville Florida, our lovely City, where temperatures in the upper nineties are more normal than uncommon. has garbage pick-up, unbelievably, only once a week! Incredible?? Not as incredible as the levels of bacteria and vermin that's proliferating on every street, alongside every home and in every backyard. I and many others only wish each City Council Critter could be forced to follow a Garbage Truck at the hottest time of day to enjoy the variety of numbingly ripe aromas and collect the fluids that ooze and drip out of the trucks back onto our neighborhood streets. They should then be forced to have these potent fluids analyzed at their own expense (since they're SO budget-minded) and then made to publicly reveal the findings of the Analyzing Laboratory. Can you easily imagine a youngster learning how to ride a bicycle a few hours later in very same spot, falling and scraping a knee in that oozed and dripped out bacterial cocktail filth? Tropics and Sub-Tropics especially should have twice and at times, three pick-ups per week. Watch the headlines folks, wanna bet Salmonella and other "happiness microbes" nail more kids this summer than last and.. nails them even harder? The Jacksonville City Council should be ashamed of themselves in trying to save a few lousy bucks at the expense of Risking the City's Taxpayer's and their Children's Health. But, on the other hand. they did vote in pay raises, added help and new electronics goodies for themselves. Its amazing to see Vice President Gore speaking out against Censorship on the Net. After all, what was it "Tipper" was harping about a year or so ago?? And wasn't it his partner and Boss who signed the horrid mess into existence? What he and the Country's Exxon's others who're quick to try to garrote the Internet ought to try doing the very same to the crooked politicians and outright thieves in government who are setting the examples for our young people on how to live their lives. Hat's Off to Janet Reno's Posse out west! They have proven (at last) that this country's government is not made up of bloodthirsty barbarians out to rid the world of "whatever". That was a nice, clean safe ending to the Freemen Incident. Job Well Done. Of Special Note: http//www.streport.com STReport is now ready to offer much more in the way of serving the Networks, Online Services and Internet's vast, fast growing site list and userbase. We now have our very own WEB/NewsGroup/FTP Site and although its in its early stages of construction, do stop by and have a look see. Since We've received numerous requests to receive STReport from a wide variety of Internet addressees, we were compelled to put together an Internet distribution/mailing list for those who wished to receive STReport on a regular basis, the file is ZIPPED, then UUENCODED. Unfortunately, we've also received a number of opinions that the UUENCODING was a real pain to deal with. So, as of October 01,1995, you'll be able to download STReport directly from our very own SERVER & WEB Site. While there, be sure to join our STR list. STReport's managing editors DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU! Ralph F. Mariano, Publisher - Editor Dana P. Jacobson, Editor, Current Affairs Section Editors PC Section Mac Section Atari Section R.F. Mariano J. Deegan D. P. Jacobson Portable Computers & Entertainment Kid's Computing Corner Marty Mankins Frank Sereno STReport Staff Editors Michael Arthur John Deegan Brad Martin John Szczepanik Paul Guillot Joseph Mirando Doyle Helms John Duckworth Jeff Coe Steve Keipe Guillaume Brasseur Melanie Bell Jay Levy Jeff Kovach Marty Mankins Carl Prehn Paul Charchian Vincent P. O'Hara Contributing Correspondents Dominick J. Fontana Norman Boucher Daniel Stidham David H. Mann Angelo Marasco Donna Lines Ed Westhusing Glenwood Drake Vernon W.Smith Bruno Puglia Paul Haris Kevin Miller Craig Harris Allen Chang Tim Holt Patrick Hudlow Leonard Worzala Tom Sherwin Please submit ALL letters, rebuttals, articles, reviews, etc... via E-Mail to: CompuServe 70007,4454 Prodigy CZGJ44A Delphi RMARIANO GEnie ST.REPORT BIX RMARIANO FIDONET 1:112/35 ITC NET 85:881/253 AOL STReport Internet rmariano@streport.com Internet CZGJ44A@prodigy.com Internet RMARIANO@delphi.com Internet 70007.4454.compuserve.com Internet STReport@AOL.Com WORLD WIDE WEB http://www.streport.com STReport Headline News LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS Weekly Happenings in the Computer World Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson Gore Opposes Net 'Censorship' Vice President Al Gore says society should not resort to "unwarranted censorship" on the Internet as an oerreaction to protect children from objectionable material in cyperspace. Speaking yesterday in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a commencement address at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Gore said government had to assist parents in protecting their children from exposure to suchmaterial, reports the Reuter News Service. However, he added, "let me also state my clear and unequivocal view that a fear of chaos cannot justify unwarranted censorship of free speech, whether that speech occurs in newspapers, on the broadcast airwaves -- or over the Internet." Said Gore, "Our best reaction to the speech we loathe is to speak out, to reject, to respond, even with emotion and fervor, but to censor -- no. That has not been our way for 200 years, and it must not become our way now." The vice president stressed the gulf separating society and science, a theme students had suggested in email messages to him. He said new technologies initially break down stable patterns and "then new ones emerge at a higher degree of complexity." He told the 2,000 graduates in an outdoor ceremony, "Societies are vulnerable to misinterpreting the first stage as a descent into chaos and then overreacting with the imposition of a rigid, stagnating order." Internet Decency Law Struck Down A panel of federal judges has ruled that a new law banning indecent speech on the Internet is unconstitutional. The three judges issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Communications Decency Act signed into law in February by President Clinton, pending the resolution of two related lawsuits. The act criminalizes the transmission of "indecent" material that children could find on the Internet. "Just as the strength of the Internet is chaos, so the strength of our liberty depends upon the chaos and cacophony of the unfettered speech the First Amendment protects," the judges wrote. Justice Department officials say they will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. "The judges in this case agreed that it makes no more sense to give the government control of the Internet than to dictate what should be in America's newspapers," says John F. Sturm, president and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America, one of 27 organizations challenging the law. "This decision will remove a major government-imposed obstacle to the Internet's growth as a viable publishing medium." Other organizations hailing the decision include the American Civil Liberties Union, Internet providers and free speech advocates. Appeal Likely in 'Decency' Case While much of the Net community celebrates a first- round victory in the debate over whether Congress can keep "indecent" and "patently offensive" material off the Internet, lawyers expect the case to move next to the U.S. Supreme Court, though the government has not yet officially decided to appeal. As reported, the three-judge federal panel in Philadelphia has ruled that the Communications Decency Act, signed into law in February by President Clinton, is unconstitutional. Covering on the case, Associated Press writer Dave Ivey says the panel, in blocking the decency law, declared the Internet "deserves the highest level of free-speech protection." "The government has said it will appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court," Ivey writes, "but following the ruling, Justice Department spokesman Joe Krovisky said a decision has not yet been reached." Krovisky said, "We believe this statute can be applied in a constitutional manner to help parents in protecting children from sexually explicit material on the Internet." First Amendment lawyer Bruce Sanford in Washington, D.C., told AP it could be difficult to overturn the panel's decision on a law inspired by a fear of the unknown -- the Internet -- adding, "Congress should stop wasting time regulating content in any medium. Because when they do, they look like a near-sighted Julia Child waving a meat ax -- they're scary, they're clumsy and somebody is going to get hurt: the American people." As noted, the act, part of a telecommunications overhaul, made it a crime punishable by two years in prison and a $250,000 fine to display indecent or patently offensive material where children might see it. However, the Philadelphia judge's panel agreed with plaintiffs -- including civil libertarians, online services, librarians, newspapers and booksellers -- that the new law was too vague, and could lead to a restriction on material that is constitutionally protected for adults. On the other side of the issue, Bruce Taylor of the National Law Center for Families and Children told Ivey he is confident the Supreme Court will uphold the law, but in the meantime, he urged parents to keep reporting cyberporn to police for prosecution under local obscenity laws. He said, "This isn't a total or permanent setback for law enforcement officers to protect children from online pornography." Meanwhile, President Bill Clinton said last night the Communications Decency Act is a legal way to protect children from online obscenity, despite a three-judge panel's ruling that blocks large parts of the act. A Clinton statement was quoted by the Reuter News Service as saying, "I remain convinced, as I was when I signed the bill, that our Constitution allows us to help parents by enforcing this Act to prevent children from being exposed to objectionable material transmitted through computer networks." The president said he would continue to work to shield children from such material, adding he also supported "the development and widespread availability of products that allow both parents and schools to block objectionable materials from reaching computers that children use." Clinton also applauded the communications industry's efforts to rate Internet sites so they are compatible with blocking techniques. Other reactions to the ruling: ú Sen. Jim Exon, a Nebraska Democrat who sponsored the law, said, "Hopefully, reason and common sense will prevail on the Supreme Court. That's where the final decision will be made." Exon told Scott Ritter of the Dow Jones news service the panel of federal judges was "bamboozled by the wizardry of the Internet," adding, "We are convinced Supreme Court will take a much more judicious approach." ú Sen. Patrick Leahy, a leading Congressional opponent of the Communications Decency Act, praised the decision. "I'm extremely pleased with the ruling. I think the court reached the only decision they could," the Vermont Democrat told Reuters. "Maybe members of Congress will start legislating concern for the Constitution rather than for political bumper stickers." ú Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said, "This is a victory for anyone who cares about freedom of expression or the future of the Internet. Technology can provide a much more effective safeguard without restricting the free flow of ideas and opinions on the Internet." ú Cathleen Cleaver, director of legal studies at the Family Research Council, a conservative public interest group that had urged Congress to adopt the curbs, told The Wall Street Journal this morning, "It's a joke. The judges take such delight in holding up the Internet as some sacred cow which no law can touch that it borders on the ridiculous." As reported, the judges' panel -- comprised of Dolores K. Sloviter, chief judge of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and U.S. District Judges Ronald L. Buckwalter and Stewart Dalzell -- heard six days of hearings on the nature and history of the Internet. Ivey says if the Supreme Court receives the case, it would have to rely on the judge's 175-page opinion in the appeal, adding the high court can review only the preliminary injunction and determine whether the lower court stayed within its power based on the findings of fact. AP notes the following passages of the Communications Decency Act were pertinent in the panel's ruling: ú "Whoever ... by means of a telecommunications device knowingly makes, creates or solicits, and initiates the transmission of any comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image or other communication which is obscene or indecent, knowing that the recipient of the communication is under 18 years of age ..." ú "Or whoever ... uses interactive computer services to display in a manner available to a person under 18, any comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image or other communications that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs ... shall be fined or imprisoned not more than two years, or both." If you want to see the complete text of the panel's ruling, it has been posted on several sites on the Internet's World Wide Web, including the pages of the American Civil Liberties Union (http://www.aclu.org/), the Center for Democracy and Technology (http://www.cdt.org/), the Electronic Privacy Information Center (http://www.epic.org/) and Voters Telecommunications Watch (http://www.vtw.org/). Jewish Group Protests Net Site Officials of the Jewish Information Network contend that an online site called "Ken's Guide to the Bible" promotes anti-Semitism and characterizes Jews as murderers. The group is urging investors in America Online, the commercial online service that carries the site, to drop their stock in protest. "I'm a strong believer in free speech but free speech ends when you incite hatred," JIN President Victor Beck said at a New York news conference. "This area promotes the idea that Jews are the trashiest people in the Bible and it says they are liars." United Press International quotes Beck as saying "Ken's Guide to the Bible" is an area called "The Hub," which is funded by AOL. Officials with AOL have not commented. UPI notes the protest follows the recent release by the Anti- Defamation League of a report entitled "Web of Hate," which describes how the Internet's World Wide Web is used as an organizing point for hate groups. "We believe that this new technology holds wonderful opportunities but is fraught with problems," ADL spokeswoman Myrna Sheinbaum told the wire service. "Our position has always been not to legislate but to counter it with education and information on the Net." MCI, British Telecom Team on Net A joint venture to launch the world's largest Internet network has been announced by British Telecommunications Plc and U.S. partner MCI Communications Corp. Reporting from London, the Reuter News Service quotes BT, which has a 20 percent stake in MCI, as saying the global alliance will boost the overall capacity of the current Internet computer network by 30 percent. In a statement, BT CEO Sir Peter Bonfield commented, "Just as the BT-MCI alliance was the first to offer multinationals seamless global telecommunication services, today we are launching the first class of global Internet services." Bonfield added, "Already we have achieved significant inroads into the European Internet market. This initiative will result in BT taking the lead in Europe in the same way MCI has taken the lead in the U.S. Internet Market." Reuters says the new network, offered by the BT-MCI joint-venture Concert, will combine the existing Internet networks of the two firms initially into eight new regional "superhubs." Says Reuters, "The eight hubs will expand with a year to a total of 20 hubs in key locations around the world. ... BT said the network would provide the first ever global Internet service performance guarantees, improved response times and greater availability." The wire service adds that the network, to be called Concert InternetPlus, will use NTT Data Communications System Corp. as a new distributor for the Japanese market and "will offer high speed dedicated access of up to45 megabits a second." Execs Urge Freeing Code Exports Software executives are urging Congress to drop export restrictions on encryption technology, saying the limitations, contained in a Cold War munitions law, hurt their competitiveness abroad, but do little to furthernational security interests. President James Barksdale of Netscape Communications Corp. told the SenateCommerce Committee's science, technology and space subcommittee yesterday, "We feel that the export controls as they currently exist provide a burden and a restraint on us that is unnecessary." Reporter Aaron Pressman of the Reuter News Service says Barksdale added the export controls do not prevent criminals from obtaining encryption to hide their files from the police, because "the bad guys don't worry about them." He said alternative software is available over the Internet and from companies outside the United States. As noted, current U.S. laws allow U.S. companies to export software containing weakened encryption that use software keys 40 bits long. "This has forced many companies to market one version of their software inside the United States, containing strong encryption, and another version abroad, with weakened code capability," Pressman notes. Barksdale noted Netscape's popular browser software uses only 40 bit encryption, a security weakness potentially hindering the development of online commerce. Meanwhile, Lotus Development Corp. CEO Michael Zisman said users of Lotus Notes have increasingly asked for stronger encryption to protect proprietary business communications. He said that with today's powerful computers, the 40-bit long key used in export versions of U.S. software can be cracked by a determined computer vandal in as little as 12 minutes. Pressman reported senators attending the hearing voiced strong support for the industry's position, adding, "Montana Republican Sen. Conrad Burns, chairman of the subcommittee, said the current policy was 'highly destructive to the most vibrant area of our economy." CD-ROM Format Challenged A new consultant report from Price Waterhouse suggests that with the launch of the DVD format later this year, the days are numbered for CD-ROM as the ruling storage medium for multimedia computers. And PW's sweeping technology forecast also predicts many online publishers will begin charging subscription or pay-per-view fees as readers increasingly use the Internet for news and other information. Reporting from New York, Michael Connor of the Reuter News Service notes DVD drives should begin appearing late this year at prices between $500 and $700 and "will challenge CD-ROMs with more than ten times the storage capacity at far superior video quality than CD-ROMs." Connor says Paul Turner, executive director of Price Waterhouse's technology center, told reporters a phone conference that the U.S. cable TV industry had a good shot at becoming a leading supplier of advanced electronic services to homes with its budding cable-modem services. Said Turner, "If the cable television industry can capitalize on that opportunity, they can be one of the prime suppliers of high bandwith to the home." Reuters notes U.S. cable companies such as Tele-Communications Inc are readying wide launches of high-speed Internet connections using the coaxial cable that already delivers their signal. However, Turner said the modems, which will be rented to consumers, were far from cheap and, says Reuters, "high costs could complicate the rollout seen by the cable industry as a key to revenue growth." Fujitsu PC Offers First Notebook Fujitsu PC Corp., a wholly-owned company of Japan's Fujitsu, Ltd., has introduced its first family of notebook computers for customers in North America. The line consists of the Monte Carlo, Milan and Montego models. All offer a Pentium processor, PCI bus architecture, a 12.1- to 10.4-inch high-resolution screen and lithium ion battery power. Built-in features include an intelligent battery management system, a palm rest, internal floppy disk drives and a mini-LCD status indicator that's visible even when the notebook is closed. System prices range from $2,199 to $5,199. "Our product family offers no-compromise, with a range of functions and features combined with extensive service and support options that meet the challenges faced by all types of mobile professionals around the globe," says Greg Chambers, vice president of marketing for Fujitsu PC Corp. IBM Offers New Aptiva System A new family of Aptiva personal computers starting at $1,799 is being introduced by IBM, which is integrating 3-D graphics into some models. The new Aptiva line will be available by the middle of this month at retailers. Reporting from Somers, New York, the Reuter News Service says the line also offers systems with Intel Corp.'s Pentium 200MHz processor, a 3.2GB hard drive, an eight percent CD-ROM drive and 32 megabytes of memory. In addition, Iomega Corp. says IBM will incorporate its Zip drive into a model that is expected to be available in the third quarter. Aptiva general manager Jose Garcia told the wire service, "Our customers told us that they wanted the best graphics, high-quality sound and premium software titles on their home PC without sacrificing full-functionality and reliability, and we have delivered." Intel Unveils 200MHz Pentium CPU Intel Corp. has introduced a 200MHz Pentium processor that will power premium desktop systems in the second half of this year. The processor's introduction creates a trio of high- performance Pentium choices -- at 200MHz, 166MHz and 150MHz -- that have been introduced in the first half of this year for high-end to mainstream PCs. The announcement today also sets the stage for the 133MHz and 120MHz Pentium processors to fill the entry level of Intel's PC processor family in the second half. "System manufacturers will be offering customers an unprecedented level of performance and value," says Carl Everett, senior vice president of Intel's desktop products group. The 200MHz Pentium processor, built on a .35 micron process technology, is in limited production today, and will ramp in volume over the next two quarters. The processor is housed in a new, more thermally efficient Plastic Pin Grid Array (PPGA) package. The 200MHz Pentium delivers benchmarks of 5.47 SPECint95 and SPECint-base95, and 3.68 SPECfp95 and 2.92SPECfp-base95. The iCOMP Index 2.0 rating is 142. In 1,000-unit quantities, the 200MHz Pentium is priced at $599. IBM Ships New VoiceType IBM Corp. has started shipping VoiceType 3.0 for Windows 95, a speech recognition product that allows users to work with their computer by talking to it. Without touching a keyboard or mouse, computer users can open applications, dictate memos, e-mail messages and edit documents with the most accurate speech recognition product on the market. IBM notes that VoiceType 3.0 is useful for customers who generate large amounts of text and need to increase efficiency and reduce turn-around time, as well as for those in professions that require hands-free computing. For example, business executives can process electronic mail by simply telling the computer: "next," discard," "reply," and so on. The newest member of IBM's VoiceType family features a combination of continuous navigation and discrete dictation in a speaker-independent product. Speaker-independent means that users do not have to train the computer to adapt to their individual voice. Users can begin talking to their computer immediately, right out of the box. The software's ability to learn as users continue to use it enables the computer to improve the accuracy rate over time. Users can also dictate text directly into applications such as WordPro, Microsoft Word and Lotus Notes. "Speech recognition technology is improving by leaps and bounds, and quickly moving towards the mainstream computing market," says Jan Winston, IBM's speech systems manager. "With this latest addition to the VoiceType family, VoiceType 3.0, we improve the highest accuracy rate and word throughput in the industry." The new version of VoiceType works with most Pentium computers equipped with industry- standard sound cards, such as SoundBlaster, and does not require additional hardware. VoiceType 3.0 for Windows 95 is priced at $699, with upgrades for current users of OS/2 and Windows 3.x versions selling for $99. Zenith Unveils Monitor-TVs Zenith Electronics Corp. says it has become the first company to include a computer display capability in commercial color television sets. Designed for a wide range of commercial applications from classrooms to boardrooms, Zenith's new Presentation Series includes 35-, 32-, 27-, and 25-inch models incorporating the video scan conversion technology developed by Focus Enhancements Inc. Zenith says its PCZTV approach, based on three-line averaging technology, allows the TVs to display computer-generated images, in real-time, from any personal computer running DOS, Windows or Macintosh applications. In addition to the integrated PCZTV technology, other models in the Zenith Presentation Series feature a SuperPort docking mechanism that accepts add-on upgrade cards for a variety of high-tech applications. Zenith also plans to make Focus' PCZTV card available separately to commercial customers who purchase 19- , 20-, 25-, 32- or 35-inch SuperPort TVs. The PCZTV1000 will plug into the SuperPort and connect to a standard VGA video output port on computers compatible with DOS, Windows or Macintosh operating systems. A stand-alone set-top box, the PCZ150, also will be available to customers who wish to transfer images from their computers to their Zenith television sets but lack the SuperPort technology to take advantage of the PCZTV cards. "By bringing computer applications to the big screen, we're addressing the needs of businesses and schools for true PC-ready TVs," says Breet Moyer, Zenith's general manager of commercial products. "Integrating Focus technology into these sets represents another industry first for Zenith in providing leading- edge technology to commercial TV users." Growing Internet Phone Market Seen Internet telephone technology may soon provide strong competition to conventional telephone carriers, finds a new study. According to International Data Corp., recent technological advances and standards activity have provided Internet telephony with the potential to rapidly become mainstream. IDC adds that the response of long distance carriers, RBOCs, cable and computer companies and the evolution of telecommunications deregulation are external influences that will affect the Internet telephony market. IDC estimates number of active Internet telephony users at 500,000 as of the end of 1995. Of active users, VocalTec (GO VOCALTEC) had the lion's share of the market at 94 percent. IDC characterizes as active individuals who use the product on a routine basis, rather than those who purchased or downloaded an Internet telephony product, tried it, and are no longer using the product. IDC says the Internet telephony market will grow to 16 million users of all types by the end of 1999. According to the market researcher, Internet telephony market revenue at the end of 1995 was about $3.5 million. IDC forecasts the market to reach $560 million by the end of 1999. It notes that growth will be driven primarily by business users who gain greater value from their Internet investments through ease of use and seamless telephone- Internet connectivity. "The primary uses of Internet telephony in 1995 were for consumer long distance calls, Internet chat groups and some modem business experimentation in intranet applications," says Mark Winther, IDC's vice president of worldwide telecommunications. "Potential future applications include interactive electronic commerce, intra-enterprise connectivity and collaborative computing." Packard Bell Paying Off Debt A well-publicized $471 million debt to Intel Corp. apparently is being paid off by Packard Bell Electronics Inc., a move characterized by The Wall Street Journal this morning as "a positive sign for the struggling personal- computer maker." As reported earlier, Intel revealed last November through a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that one of its major microprocessor customers had an accounts-receivable balance outstanding that had been converted into a loan. The chipmaker said the amount of the loan, plus the customer's remaining receivables, totaled $471 million at the time. Intel never identified the customer, but it was widely reported the customer was Sacramento, California-based Packard Bell, the dominant supplier of home PCs. "The disclosure," notes Journal reporter Lee Gomes, "offered a rare glimpse into closely held Packard Bell's finances, confirming its suspected cash woes due to its heavy price discounting and some operational problems. Packard Bell in February had to seek financial help from partners NEC Corp. of Japan and France's Cie. des Machines Bull." However, now Intel states in a new SEC filing that as of May 10, the debt had been whittled to $113 million. "It isn't clear," says Gomes, "whether Packard Bell was able to pay the debt down from cash flow, the usual source for paying trade debt, or had to use some of the $293 million of cash NEC provided in the February transaction." (In addition to NEC's cash, Packard Bell got assets from Machines Bull that brought the total value of the February package to about $700 million.) "Using the NEC cash to pay the Intel debt could indicate that Packard Bell still isn't generating strong cash flow," the Journal commented. Even so, the fact that the loan is being reduced is "very significant," Dataquest Corp. analyst Kimball Brown told the paper. "It means that some entity has decided that Packard Bell is viable enough to loan them money, and is serious about making the company a go. If that $400 million balance were hanging around year after year, that wouldn't look good at all." Ziff to Launch Web-Print Magazine The Ziff-Davis Internet Publishing Group has announced plans to launch ZD Internet Magazine, an integrated print publication and World Wide Web site. With a paid circulation of 300,000 in its first year, the print edition of ZD Internet Magazine will instantly become the largest paid circulation Internet publication, says Ziff-Davis. The magazine's Web edition will debut in October and the December issue of the print edition will premiere on November 12. Ziff-Davis says ZD Internet Magazine will be written for "power buyers" of Internet products. The publication will have its own technical lab staff to conduct product reviews. Ziff-Davis says ZD Internet Magazine will also have feature stories each month about how Internet tools are being used to transform content, how content is being delivered and viewed and how the most important communications problems are being solved by companies with these products. "There's no question that businesses are adopting the Internet as a primary communications tool faster than anyone would have expected," says Dan Rosensweig, executive vice president of Ziff-Davis Internet Publishing Group. "It is already enormous and growing at a rate that is hard to comprehend. With some 200,000 Web sites up already and more than 20,000 being added every month, it is clear that there is a powerful group of Internet communicators that see the Web as the most dynamic way to communicate with their customers, co-workers and suppliers." Multimedia PC Sales Double Boom times have come for multimedia desktop personal computers. The worldwide market more than doubled last year to some 20.8 million machines, up from 10.3 million in 1994. That is the word from researchers at Dataquest Corp., who report gains in PCs with multimedia features combining sound, graphics, animation and video -- were 35 percent in the United States, 44 percent in Europe and 391 percent in Asia. In San Jose, Calif., Bruce Ryon, director and principal analyst of Dataquest's multimedia worldwide program, told United Press International, "The Asian markets really embraced the multimedia PC in 1995. All indications are that multimedia will be integrated at a much higher rate in the Asian markets than in the U.S." Ryon added, "Multimedia PCs have held at a 42 percent average of all PCs sold in the U.S. for the last six quarters, but multimedia desktop PCs in the Asian markets are already at greater than 50 percent of all PCs sold." UPI says Apple Computer was the No. 1 multimedia PC vendor in the world in 1995 for the third consecutive year with sales growing 67.4 percent to 3.93 million. "But," the wire service adds, "Apple, which is scrambling to survive by focusing on its profitable business, saw its market share fall to 18.8 percent from 22.9 percent in 1994." A distant second was Packard Bell, with sales rising 52.6 percent to 3 million, followed by Compaq, gaining 57.5 percent to 1.93 million. IBM Corp. was fourth with an 88.9 percent gain to 1.55 million and NEC followed in fifth with 1.47 million, posting a gain of 229 percent. Web Demographics Changing Right now, the average World Wide Web surfer is a 33-year-old white English- speaking male with an income of $59,000, but don't blink - the cyber- demographics are changing rapidly. So says a study at the Georgia Institute of Technology, which found, for instance, that more women are using the Web all the time. Reporting from Atlanta, Mike Cooper of the Reuter News Service says the study reports women accounted for 31.5 percent of people using the Web, up moderately from 29.3 percent in a similar survey last autumn. In Europe, however, female users rose by 45 percent. Still, 89 percent of those surveyed said English was their native or first language and 87 percent were white. The random survey of 11,700 Web users conducted by Georgia Tech's College of Computing between April 10 and May 10 also found: ú Search engines that index the vast amount of information on the Net are the most popular destination for Web surfers. In fact, 65.6 percent said they visit search sites frequently. ú Online newspapers were read by 37.9 percent and CNN's web site was frequently visited by 35.9 percent. ú Despite the popularity of these sites, Web users still get most of their news from traditional sources, led by newspapers (63 percent) and television networks (58 percent). Online sources were third (53 percent). ú Four out of five people said their main problem with the Net was the amount of time it took to retrieve information. Also, says researcher Colleen Kehoe, Web wanders value their privacy and don't want to pay extra to get information through the Web. Two-thirds of respondents said they don't want to pay an extra fee to obtain information once they are connected to the Internet. Many prefer not to divulge information about themselves as a condition for using a Web site. Says Kehoe, "People are far more concerned with controlling their own demographic information than in being somehow compensated for giving it up. They're willing to reveal that information, but they do require that they be given some statement about how that information is going to be used." Autodesk Wins Piracy Settlement Autodesk says it has settled a software copyright infringement case for more than $220,000 against Westech College, a Southern California-based operator of trade schools. The settlement is the largest ever obtained by Autodesk's corporate anti-theft program. Autodesk says it learned about the illegal copying at Westech last December through a tip on its anti-piracy hotline, 800-NO COPIES, which led a seizure order from the United States District Court. Following a raid of Westech's campus in Pomona, California, conducted by U.S. marshals accompanied by Autodesk attorneys, Autodesk says the school admitted to using a single copy of AutoCAD to make more than 75 illegal copies of the $3,750 software on computers at Westech's three campuses in Pomona, Irvine and San Diego. "Too many businesses purchase a single software license and use it as a license to steal," says Autodesk President Carol Bartz, whose company has recovered more than $20 million in penalties since it began pursuing pirates in 1989. "This type of illegal activity corrodes the industry we are working so hard to build and maintain, and this particular case is most distressing because it occurred in a school, setting an example for its students." When confronted by Autodesk, "Westech was very willing to work with us to try to resolve the issue quickly and thoroughly," says Sandra Boulton, head of Autodesk's anti-theft program. The settlement agreement also calls for Westech to sign and abide by a "Software Code of Ethics," which will be distributed to all Westech employees and affiliates. The college also will establish and maintain a written policy governing the acquisition and use of licensed software. In addition, Westech has agreed to delete all illegal copies of AutoCAD and to submit to an annual Autodesk inspection for the next three years. Ironically, a large anti-piracy poster was prominently displayed in a room full of computers at Westech's Pomona campus, says Autodesk. Autodesk is the world's leading supplier of PC and UNIX- based design software and PC multimedia tools. Corel Corporation Begins Shipping the Newest Game in Town Ottawa, Canada - June 12, 1996 - Corel Corporation announced today the release of a new multimedia title for avid chess enthusiasts. Corelr Chess is a 32-bit interactive, computerized chess game that has been designed for all levels of players from novice to grand master. Corel Chess gives players the opportunity to compete against opponents over the Internet, via modem or over a network. The title runs under both Windowsr 3.1 (the CD-ROM also includes a 16-bit version) and Windowsr 95 and is available for a suggested list price of $59 US. "Regardless of their level of skill, chess lovers are sure to find this classic game on CD-ROM both challenging and exciting," said Dr. Michael Cowpland, president and chief executive officer of Corel Corporation. "The stunning architecture and amazing visual and sound effects may make this the best chess the player has ever experienced." Corel Chess features a fully-rotatable board with overhead and side board views, full 3D action with 24-bit color graphics, and elaborately-rendered game backgrounds. Five levels of difficulty are available, as are over 4,000 championship chess games so users can learn from the pros. Participants may play the computer, play against another person or have the computer play against itself. Corel Chess features six classic board and piece sets - Romanesque, metallic, frosted glass, wood, art deco and marble - all of which are SGI 3D modeled and accompanied by background music and Softimage animations. The customizable user interface allows the player to simultaneously display different perspectives such as the black's view, the white's view or the overhead view. These views may be displayed at any angle and scaled to any size. Corel Chess offers considerable options, which include the ability to: ú separate clocks and time constraints for each player ú load and save games ú swap sides during a game ú move pieces by either clicking on the squares or dragging the pieces ú pause, take back, replay and fast forward moves ú determine the skill level of the computer opponent through numerous criteria ú predefine the board layout (9 options available) ú detect a stalemate ú import PGN format games Players are also able to define the clock in three ways. A mean average setting allows equal time to each player and move; the blitz setting allows each player a set amount of time; and the user set depth setting ensures that the computer's search for the best move ceases after the player's specified level is reached. System Requirements Minimum system requirements for both Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 users include an IBM-compatible PC 486 33 (a Pentium recommended), 8 MB of RAM, a 640x480, 256 color graphics display, an 8-bit Sound Blaster or 100% compatible sound card, and a double-speed CD-ROM drive. An Internet connection and Winsock are required for Internet play, and a modem is required for modem play. Artech Studios Corel Chess was developed for Corel by Artech Studios of Ottawa, Canada. Founded in 1982, Artech has produced 50 titles, won 28 industry commendations and received 11 SPA (Software Publisher of America) awards for silver, gold and platinum sales. Corel Corporation Incorporated in 1985, Corel Corporation is recognized internationally as an award-winning developer and marketer of productivity applications, graphics and multimedia software. Corel's product line includes CorelDRAWT, the Corelr WordPerfectr Suite, Corelr Office Professional, CorelVIDEOT and over 30 multimedia software titles. Corel's products run on most operating systems, including: Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, MS-DOS and OS/2 and are consistently rated among the strongest in the industry. The company ships its products in over 17 languages through a network of more than 160 distributors in 70 countries worldwide. Corel is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol: COS) and the NASDAQ - National Market System (symbol: COSFF). For more information visit Corel's home page on the Internet at http://www.corel.com. Neow-Neow, Nikolai, Nikolai's Trains, NN'n N Toy Makers and Nikolai in Time: In the Time of the Knights are trademarks of I. Hoffmann + Associates Inc. Corel is a registered trademark of Corel Corporation. Corel, WordPerfect, Quattro, Presentations, and CorelFLOW are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Corel Corporation or Corel Corporation Limited. All products and publications mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and publishing houses. Market Bulletin Windows Product Team, May 1996 The FAT32 File System This market bulletin is intended to help customers understand Microsoft's FAT32 file system for Windows 95, which is due to start shipping with new PC's equipped with Windows 95 in the fall of 1996. The existing File Allocation Table (FAT) file system was invented in 1977 as a way to store data on floppy disks for Microsoft Stand-alone Disk Basic. Although originally intended for floppy disks, FAT has since been modified to be a fast, and flexible system for managing data on both removable and fixed media. A new generation of very large hard disks will soon be shipping, and the existing FAT data structures have finally reached the limit of their ability to support ever larger media. FAT currently can support a single disk volume up to 2 Gigabytes in size. FAT32 is an enhancement of the FAT file system that supports larger hard drives with improved disk space efficiency. FEATURES FAT32 provides the following enhancements over previous implementations of the FAT file system: ú Supports drives up to 2 Terabytes in size. ú Uses space more efficiently. FAT 32 uses smaller clusters (e.g. 4kb clusters for drives up to 8GB in size), resulting in 10 to 15% more efficient use of disk space relative to large FAT drives. ú More robust. FAT32 has the ability to relocate the root directory and use the backup copy of the FAT instead of the default copy. In addition, the boot record on FAT32 drives has been expanded to include a backup of critical data structures. This means that FAT32 drives are less susceptible to a single point of failure than existing FAT volumes. ú More flexible. The root directory on a FAT32 drive is now an ordinary cluster chain, so it can be arbitrarily large and located anywhere on the drive. In addition, FAT mirroring can be disabled, allowing a copy of the FAT other than the first one to be active. These features allow for dynamic resizing of FAT32 partitions. Note, however, that while the FAT32 design allows for this capability, it will not be implemented by Microsoft in the initial release. COMPATIBILITY CONSIDERATIONS In order to maintain the greatest compatibility possible with existing applications, networks and device drivers, FAT32 was implemented with as little change as possible to Windows 95's existing architecture, internal data structures, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and on-disk format. However, because 4 bytes are now required to store cluster values, many internal and on-disk data structures and published APIs have been revised and/or expanded. In some cases, existing APIs will fail on FAT32 drives. Most applications will be unaffected by these changes. Existing utilities and drivers should continue to work on FAT32 drives. However, MS- DOS block device drivers (e.g. ASPIDISK.SYS) and disk utilities for these will need to be revised to support FAT32 drives. All of Microsoft's bundled disk utilities (Format, FDISK, Defrag, MS-DOS and Windows ScanDisk, and DriveSpace) have been revised to work with FAT32. In addition, Microsoft is working with leading device driver and disk utility vendors to support them in revising their products to support FAT32. PERFORMANCE For most users, FAT32 will have a negligible performance impact. Some applications may see a slight performance gain from FAT32. In other applications, particularly those heavily dependent on large sequential write operations, FAT32 may result in a modest performance degradation. The overall effect on raw disk performance is less than 5% however, and the overall impact on application performance as measured by WinStone is typically less than 1%. DUAL-BOOT PERSONAL COMPUTERS At this time, Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 is the only operating system capable of accessing FAT32 volumes. Windows 3.1, MS-DOS and the original version of Windows 95 will not recognize FAT32 partitions, and thus they are unable to boot from a FAT32 volume. Microsoft's plans for supporting FAT32 in Windows NT are still being determined, but at this time, Windows NT is unable to access, or dual boot from, FAT32 volumes. At minimum, Microsoft will provide a utility to convert a FAT32 volume to an NTFS volume. Customers who run Windows 95 in real mode (for example, to run a game) will be able to use FAT32 volumes, however. CREATING FAT32 DRIVES In OEM Service Release 2, if you run the FDISK utility on a system with a drive over 512MB, it will ask whether to enable large disk support. If you answer yes, any partition you create that's greater than 512MB will be marked as a FAT32 partition. WHY NOT JUST ADD NTFS TO WINDOWS 95? NTFS is an advanced file system, with support for many features not present in FAT32, including per-file compression, security and transactioning. It is not feasible to implement NTFS within the memory and compatibility constraints of the Windows 95 platform. Windows 95 still supports real-mode MS-DOS for booting and running some MS-DOS based games. Adding NTFS support to the MS-DOS kernel would have required a significant amount of MS-DOS memory, and thus would have precluded the use of many MS-DOS mode games and applications. Protect-mode only support for NTFS would not have allowed Windows to boot from an NTFS volume. TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION Because of the compatibility considerations described above, the implementation of FAT32 involved very little change to Windows 95. The major differences between FAT32 and earlier implementations of FAT are as follows: ú Two new partition types are defined: 0xB and 0xC. Both indicate FAT32 volumes; type 0xC indicates a FAT32 partition that requires Extended Int13h support (LBA). ú The boot record on FAT32 drives requires 2 sectors (due to expansion and addition of fields within the BPB). As a result, the number of reserved sectors on FAT32 drives is higher than on FAT16, typically 32. This expanded reserved area allows two complete copies of the boot record to be stored there, as well as a sector in which the free space count and other file system information is stored. ú The FAT is now larger, because each entry now takes up 4 bytes and there are typically many more clusters than on FAT16 drives. ú The root directory is no longer stored in a fixed location. A pointer to the starting cluster of the root directory is stored in the extended BPB. ú The on-disk format for directory entries is unchanged, except that the two bytes previously reserved for Extended Attributes now contain the high order word of the starting cluster number. ú MS-DOS APIs that rely on intimate knowledge of the file system layout generally fail on FAT32 drives. For instance, GetDPB (Int 21h, function 32h), Int 25/26h Absolute Disk Read/Write, and most of the Int 21h, function 440Dh IOCTLs will fail on FAT32 drives. New forms of these APIs are provided in OEM Service Release 2 which works on all FAT drives. ú Win32 APIs are not affected by FAT32, with the exception of one additional API called GetFreeSpaceEx() for determining the true free space on a FAT32 volume. c 1996 Microsoft Corporation Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows and Win32 are registered trademarks and Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Special Notice!! STR Infofile File format Requirements for Articles File Format for STReport All articles submitted to STReport for publication must be sent in the following format. Please use the format requested. Any files received that do not conform will not be used. The article must be in an importable word processor format for Word 7.0.. The margins are .05" left and 1.0" Monospaced fonts are not to be used. Please use proportional fonting only and at eleven points. ú No Indenting on any paragraphs!! ú No underlining! ú Column Format shall be achieved through the use of tabs only. Do NOT use the space bar. ú No ASCII "ART"!! ú There is no limits as to size, articles may be split into two if lengthy ú Actual Artwork should be in GIF, PCX, JPG, TIF, BMP, WMF file formats ú Artwork (pictures, graphs, charts, etc.)should be sent along with the article separately ú Please use a single font only in an article. TTF CG Times 12pt. is preferred. (VERY Strong Hint) If there are any questions please use either E-Mail or call. On another note. the ASCII version of STReport is fast approaching the "end of the line" As the major Online Services move away from ASCII.. So shall STReport. All in the name of progress and improved readability. The amount of reader mail expressing a preference for our Adobe PDF enhanced issue is running approximately 15 to 1 over the ASCII edition. Besides, STReport will not be caught in the old, worn out "downward compatibility dodge" we must move forward. However, if the ASCII readership remains as high, rest assured. ASCII will stay. Right now, since STReport is offered on a number of closed major corporate networks as "required" Monday Morning reading.. Our ascii readers have nothing to worry themselves about. Many grateful thanks in advance for your enthusiastic co-operation and input. Ralph F. Mariano, Editor STReport International Online Magazine Update! Federal judges declare censorship law unconstitutional! Bill Gates' response to the June 12 court decision: "This is a great victory for anyone who cares about freedom of expression or the future of the Internet. Freedom of speech on the Internet deserves the same protection as freedom of the press, freedom of speech, or freedom of assembly. "We support thoughtful efforts to ensure that children and other users are not exposed to objectionable material, but Microsoft believes that technology can provide a much more effective safeguard without restricting the free flow of ideas and opinions on the Internet." Searching for middle ground in online censorship (3/27/96) By Bill Gates Around the world, the Internet is inspiring many emotions-excitement, hope, and more than a little outrage. Controversy is arising over the ease with which objectionable material can be accessed electronically. Smut, libel and stolen intellectual property are commonplace. Equally controversial are the steps some governments are taking to limit access to certains kinds of information on the Internet. Objections may be loudest in the U.S., where denizens of the Internet have grown accustomed of late to seeing blue ribbons adorning many web pages. These ribbons are a plea for the right to free speech in cyberspace. It's a right the U.S. Congress abridged to an unfortunate extent when it recently passed the sweeping Telecommunications Reform Act, legislation that also took many positive steps, such as opening the telecommunications industry to broad competition and encouraging investment in modern network infrastructure. The most striking evidence that Congress went overboard was language in a part of the new law called the Communications Decency Act that could make it a felony, punishable by five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, to discuss topics such as detailed information about birth control, AIDS prevention and how to get a legal abortion. The Clinton Administration has vowed not to enforce this provision, which is being contested now in federal court in Philadelphia. Some people think the Internet should be wide open. They believe interactive networks are a world apart, in which copyright, libel, pornography and confidentially laws do not apply. This is a na‹ve dream which fails to recognize that the Internet is going to be a vital part of mainstream life, not a lawless backwater. At the other extreme, some people think the Internet should be tightly controlled. They would ruin the Internet in the name of reining it in. We must find a balance that lets the Internet be both open and sheltered from abuse. A web page devoted to the blue-ribbon campaign got it right: "The voice of reason knows that free speech doesn't equate to sexual harassment, abuse of children, or the breeding of hatred or intolerance. We insist that any material that's legal in bookstores, newspapers, or public libraries must be legal online." The United States isn't the only place clamping down. In every country you'll find sensitivity to some type of material. China is attempting to restrict political expression broadly, in the name of security and social stability. It requires users of the Internet and electronic mail to register. In the United Kingdom, state secrets and personal attacks are off limits. Laws are quite strict, and the government is keenly interested in regulating the Internet with respect to these subjects. In France, which has a proud heritage of press freedom, the Internet attracted recent attention when a banned book on the health history of former French president Francois Mitterrand was republished electronically on the World Wide Web. As it happens, the electronic republication of "Le Grand Secret" by a third party wasn't banned by a court that ruled that the printed version of the book unlawfully violated Mitterrand's privacy. But if it had been banned, the content easily could have been placed on a web server outside of France and beyond the jurisdiction of French law. This is a real problem for governments. Germany, for example, wants to keep neo-Nazi propaganda from its citizens even though the information is posted on a server in Canada--where it is perfectly legal. Governments have long tried to keep unwanted information outside of national borders. Until very recently, Japan considered almost any picture or video that displayed full frontal nudity to be taboo. Dozens of housewives equipped with sandpaper were employed to scratch the objectionable material from pictures in imported magazine such as Playboy. But attitudes have changed so dramatically that many popular Japanese weekly magazines now include photographs of nude females. Presumably the sandpaper trade is a dying profession. In the emerging world of interactive networks, companies that distribute packets of electronic information cannot be asked to filter the content of what they carry, any more than a telephone company can be asked to take responsibility for everything that is spoken on a telephone system. So how can authorities, including parents in any country, effectively filter access to information on the Internet? The best solution I know of is for authorized organizations to review, categorize and rate the content of web pages, so that software can filter out that which is deemed inappropriate. Ratings are not a new idea. Movies are already rated in many countries, although to varying standards (Canada alone has seven standards systems, with most provinces having their own). In the United States, where Congress has mandated that new televisions soon be equipped with a so-called "V-chip" to allow parents to block unsuitable shows, the commercial networks are moving toward a ratings system. Ratings are rapidly coming to the Internet. CompuServe's new WOW service allows parents to limit their children to approved Internet sites, and Microsoft is among companies building support for ratings into forthcoming web-browsing software. Parents will be able to configure the software to display information only from sites that have acceptable ratings. Different rating systems are likely to answer key questions differently, giving parents- and governments-a choice of approaches. For example, one question is whether advertisements should be rated so they can be blocked. Televised baseball is suitable for small children, but the accompanying commercials for violent movies may not be. Similarly, the editorial content of an Internet site may be kid-friendly even though the advertising it displays isn't. No rating scheme is perfect. Some objectionable material will get through. But a rating system will work most of the time, and is the best approach I can imagine that doesn't unduly interfere with the great benefits of the Internet. We should resist measures that go too far. If authorities aren't careful, they'll eliminate much that's good about the interactive medium while trying to root out "bad" content. Creating Next Generation Intranets Bill Gates outlines Microsoft's strategy for delivering next generation intranet solutions. "The Internet is the most important thing to happen to [the computer] industry since the PC." --Bill Gates. Intranets are about taking the simple but powerful paradigms of the Internet and applying them to internal corporate networks. Intranets help add structure to the chaos of business communications by extending the web metaphors used for information searching and navigation. However, this dramatic improvement in information systems should not require that organizations rip out their current infrastructure and start from scratch. Rather, intranet solutions should be designed to use the simple, but powerful metaphors of the Internet to allow easy access existing stores of critical business data. Welcome to the Microsoft Intranet Strategy Day. You'll find reading ofMicrosoft's Intranet strategy and the vision as presented by Bill Gates, Pete Higgins, and Paul Maritz at the June 13th Microsoft Intranet Strategy Day event in San Jose most interesting. The day's demonstrations of upcoming Microsoft products and Q & A sessions provide information that can help corporate customers move their business communications quickly, safely, and easily to Intranets while using existing infrastructures. Bill Gates outlined Microsoft's Intranet Strategy which enables a new generation of intranets that seamlessly integrate desktops, LANs, client- server applications, legacy systems and the public Internet to create dramatically more effective business management systems. He also demonstrated upcoming products and focused on these four main areas: 1. Merging of the public and private networks. An Intranet gives people within a company the same ease of access to information as the Internet. Intranets and the Internet use the same technologies and can be thought of as one universal communications network with public and private domains. A critical component of this integration is providing IT with the tools and flexibility to create a secured environment for this integrated network of communications. 2. Adding Intranet functionality to the Microsoft products and services available today. Intranet/Internet capabilities such as navigating, and searching for information will be added in to Microsoft applications so that you can easily connect to files and data. Microsoft Internet Explorer capabilities will be integrated into the Active Desktop, and ActiveX documents will allow you to open Microsoft Office documents in their native formats within the Internet Explorer. The integration of these technologies and products will make the user experience on the desktop and beyond more connected and seamless. 3. Making it easy to develop and deploy Intranet applications. Using ActiveX controls, you can customize your Intranet/Internet environment to fit your communication needs, making it much easier to develop and deploy new applications across tens of thousands of desktops. 4. Integrating with existing systems to make a straightforward transition to an Intranet. Make the greatest use of your resources by combining existing infrastructures such as LANs, software applications, and business processes with the new Intranet/Internet technologies. Pete Higgins previewed the navigating, linking and searching capabilities in Microsoft Office 97 as well as Microsoft Outlook, the new desktop information manager included in Microsoft Office 97. Intranets are primarily used to manage and communicate information. However intranets are only as good as the information they contain. You'll see how Microsoft Office 97 makes it dramatically easier to create, locate and analyze that information . Paul Maritz showed how Intranet/Internet protocols are being integrated into Microsoft business systems applications. Existing protocols are also being used to improved file and print access capabilities for Intranet/Internet environments. Using Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 and Microsoft Internet Information Server 2.0 tools, you can build powerful backend applications using content indexing and database integration. Paul discusses scenarios for leveraging these tools in an Intranet environment. In addition to the presentations above, Microsoft will announce other aspects of its Intranet strategy. For example, Microsoft NT Server 4.0, available later this summer, will be bundled with Microsoft FrontPage 1.1 at no extra cost. These tools will combine to build powerful global web servers on the backend, and will allow workgroups to create local webs for communications and information sharing on the front end. Microsoft Outlines Intranet Strategy, Demonstrates Wide Range of New Intranet-Related Products And Future Technologies CEO Bill Gates Sees Dramatic Evolution in Corporate Computing Enabled by Internet Technologies SAN JOSE, Calif. - June 13, 1996 - In a worldwide briefing to customers and industry influentials, Microsoft Corp. Chairman and CEO Bill Gates today outlined Microsoft's strategy to deliver a comprehensive set of products and services that seamlessly integrate desktops, LANs, client-server applications, legacy systems and the public Internet to create dramatically more effective corporate computing systems. Gates also announced a broad set of intranet-related products and previewed future technologies in each of Microsoft's key product lines. Today's briefing was the third major presentation of Microsoft's strategy for the Internet. The company unveiled its overall Internet strategy and a range of new products in December 1995, then delivered a comprehensive set of technologies and tools for developers in March 1996 at the Microsoftr Professional Developers Conference - Building Internet Applications. Since December, Microsoft has delivered a wide range of Internet products and technologies across every major product line and focused its worldwide product group to develop products that help customers take advantage of the Internet. "Six months ago, Microsoft promised the world that it was hard-core about the Internet and since then we've delivered innovative products in every major product category," Gates said. "Today, we're making the same promise to our customers about the intranet." Microsoft's Intranet Strategy Intranets that integrate a corporation's computing environment with the Internet can help customers dramatically increase the effectiveness of their business-management systems. Broadly, Microsoft's strategy is to do the following: ú Seamlessly integrate internal LANs with the Internet to enhance communication between businesses and their customers and partners ú Implement new navigation paradigms pioneered on the Internet into all products to make it easier for users to find, create, analyze and collaborate ú Simplify applications development, deployment and administration to help customers streamline business processes and shorten development cycles ú Integrate new products and Internet technologies with existing infrastructures to enable customers to leverage technology investment and evolve information technology systems smoothly Intranets will have an immediate and dramatic impact on businesses over the next few years - but this is just the beginning," Gates said. "By merging the best of the Internet and the best of the PC with customers' existing computing environment, Microsoft will enable customers to develop a new generation of more powerful, flexible and cost-effective intranet solutions." Simon & Schuster, the world's largest English-language book publisher and a leader in electronic publishing, has been able to easily develop and begin using its corporate intranet by using Microsoft technologies. "To use an intranet as a full production platform, you need fully integrated tools," said Michael Packer, executive vice president of technology systems and operations at Simon & Schuster. "We believe that these intranet tools from Microsoft will enable Simon & Schuster to operate more efficiently and retain a manageable infrastructure, all the while creating substantially more value for our internal business clients." New Products and Technologies for Intranets Microsoft announced and previewed a range of new products, technologies and services that will enable customers to implement next-generation intranets: ú Microsoft Office. Microsoft previewed Office 97, a new version of its leading suite of desktop applications that will include Web technology to make it easy for business users to create, analyze and publish content on intranets. Microsoft also previewed Microsoft OutlookT, an innovative new desktop information management application that helps users organize, communicate and collaborate on intranets. ú Microsoft Windows and Windows NT Workstation. Microsoft previewed the next generation of its Web browser, Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, and the Windows Active DesktopT technologies. By integrating Microsoft Internet Explorer with the Windowsr operating system, the Active Desktop provides seamless access to information of all types regardless of location. Furthermore, it notifies the user when priority information is updated on an intranet or the Internet. ú Windows NT Server. Windows NT Server 4.0 will add Microsoft FrontPageT, Microsoft's innovative Web publishing and site-management product, and a Search Server for document searching. These features, along with Internet Information Server, the high-performance Web server already incorporated in the product, make Windows NT Server the most capable intranet operating system available, with high performance, security, and ease of use. ú Directory Server. Microsoft demonstrated its next-generation Windows NT Directory Server, designed to seamlessly integrate Internet and intranet environments. The next-generation Directory Server combines the best of DNS (domain name server) and X.500 in a seamless upgrade to Windows NT Server 4.0. The Directory Server will be available for preview in the second half of 1996. "Microsoft's new Internet strategy will make the company an important supplier of Internet and Web technology to corporate users," said John Rymer, vice president, information group at Giga, a knowledge resource firm for IT decision-making based in Cambridge, Mass. "The breadth of its product line and its ability to integrate new Internet paradigms with existing systems will make it a leader in the intranet marketplace." For additional information on Microsoft's Intranet Strategy Day briefings and announcements, connect to Microsoft's Web server at http://microsoft.com/intranet/. Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day. Microsoft, Windows NT, Outlook and FrontPage are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. For online product information: http://microsoft.com/intranet/ EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed Edupage Contents Baby Bells Put Video On Hold PacTel & AOL Team Up To Offer Internet Access Career Change For Deep Blue New Angle On LCD Technology Berners-Lee On The Web Time Warner Purchase Of Turner Goes Forward EDS Freed From GM IEEE Wants Protection For Intellectual Property Money For 3rd World Telcos Global "Free" Calls MCI & UK Telecom Merge International Network IBM Agreements With Storage Technology, Iomega Build A Mall, & They Will Shop At All The Stores Satellite TV Dispute Escalates In Canada SoHo Market A Myth, Study Says Software Language Police Ads On The Net Microsoft Buys Electronic Commerce Company Net Offers Power To The Intelligentsia Wired's Asset: "Attitude" Court Says Decency Act Violates Free Speech Intel & MCI Offer "WebMaker" For Small Businesses Intuit Expands Insurance And Banking Services Competing Intranet Strategies AT&T's Attack Plan Countering Intellectual Property Piracy In China Murdoch Plans Satellite TV Service In Japan AOL To Sell Netscape Ads Medal Of Science Winners U.S. Sues Canadian Telemarketers Voice-Mail Cooperation By Regional Bells BABY BELLS PUT VIDEO ON HOLD Tele-TV, the programming alliance formed between Bell Atlantic, Nynex and Pacific Telesis Group, is headed for downsizing, after the three Baby Bells told Tele-TV management that it should delay interactive programming development until technological advances such as wireless cable make it more economical to offer the services. The companies have decided instead to focus initially on getting into the long-distance business, where the investment is smaller and the returns more immediate. Bell Atlantic now says it will be 1998, at the earliest, before it begins large-scale offering of interactive programming. (Wall Street Journal 7 Jun 96 B4) PACTEL AND AOL TEAM UP TO OFFER INTERNET ACCESS Pacific Telesis and America Online are collaborating to offer Internet access to customers in four major metropolitan areas in California - Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco. The cost is $14.95 for 20 hours, with each additional hour costing 50 cents, up to a maximum of $19.95. An alternative pricing scheme offers 10 hours for $9.95 a month, plus $1 per hour after that. "We think we've tailored our price to the way people use the Internet," says the president of Pacific Bell's Internet Services. Bell Atlantic, Nynex, BellSouth, Ameritech and SBC Communications all are planning to provide Internet access sometime this year. (Broadcasting & Cable 3 Jun 96 p64) CAREER CHANGE FOR DEEP BLUE Freshly laid off following its loss to Garry Kasparov as a chess opponent, IBM's Deep Blue computer has a new job -- as a weather forecaster. Deep Blue will assume its new post this summer, providing up-to-the- minute weather updates to Atlanta's Summer Olympics athletes and spectators. (Information Week 27 May 96 p12) NEW ANGLE ON LCD TECHNOLOGY In an effort to make liquid crystal displays readable from more angles and in a greater variety of lighting situations, scientists at ROLIC Ltd. In Basel, Switzerland have developed a new method of liquid crystal patterning. Current technology uses a velvet cloth to rub the polymer material that encases the magnetic material on either side, thereby aligning the molecular pattern of the liquid crystals. The new method uses ultraviolet light instead of velvet, varying the liquid crystals' angle of orientation, making it easier to see from a wider range of viewpoints and lighting types. (Science News 1 Jun 96 p348) BERNERS-LEE ON THE WEB World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee is gratified that people find the Web useful, but disappointed that for most people, the Web is a browsing activity rather than a creative one. He'd like to see Web technology speed up, and the computers used to access it made easier to use. "The Web has many ways to grow. It is acquiring richness in interface, with 3-D and real- time audio and video. I hope that we can finish the process of hiding the computers and the Net. A challenge is to remove the need for a person ever to have to think up a file name." (Investor's Business Daily 7 Jun 96 A1) TIME WARNER PURCHASE OF TURNER GOES FORWARD A Delaware judge ruled against a petition by U S West to block the Time Warner acquisition of Turner Broadcasting. U S West had argued unsuccessfully that its own agreement with Time Warner precluded the new deal. The Time Warner merger with Turner still must withstand antitrust objections filed with the Federal Trade Commission. (Atlanta Journal- Constitution 7 Jun 96 F1) EDS FREED FROM GM Electronic Data Systems, the nation's largest independent computer services company, has spun off from its parent company, General Motors Corporation, which had purchased EDS from founder Ross Perot in 1984 for $2.5 billion. (New York Times 8 Jun 96 p18) IEEE WANTS NEW PROTECTION FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY To extend the protection offered by copyrights and patents, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is proposing a simple, low-cost "useful article registration" that would last for three years, could be filed by a registrant without legal assistance, and would not search for "prior art." (Computer Industry Daily 7 Jun 96) MONEY FOR 3RD WORLD TELCOS WorldTel, a London-based company created by the UN's International Telecommunication Union and funded entirely by the private sector, is planning to lay up to 40-million telephone lines in developing countries over the next decade. (Toronto Financial Post 7 Jun 96 p6) GLOBAL "FREE" CALLS Whereas 800-number "free" phone calls account for 40% of the traffic on AT&T's network, only 10% of the world's 9 million freephone numbers are held outside North America. But now the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has approved a new standard for global freephone numbers. The ITU decided not to auction popular numbers. Combinations that spell words on a dial (such as 1-800 FLOWERS) are less valuable in Europe than in the U.S. because only about one-third of handsets have letters as well as numerals. (The Economist 8 Jun 96) MCI AND BRITISH TELECOM MERGE INTERNATIONAL NETWORK MCI Communications and British Telecommunications will merge their international data networks and significantly expand their capacity in order to provide corporate customers faster and more reliable international communications. MCI senior vice president Vinton Cerf said the enhanced network would be "like first -class service on an airline. There's the same square footage, but there are fewer passengers and better food." The new operation will be run by Concert, which is the joint venture that MCI and British Telecom formed three years ago. (New York Times 11 Jun 96 D5) A Forrester Research strategist says: "This week MCI & BT will be ahead, and in a very short period of time AT&T will trump them. This is Internet dog- years -- everything gets done in one-seventh of the time." (Wall Street Journal 10 Jun 96 B6) IBM AGREEMENTS WITH STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, IOMEGA IBM will sell Storage Technology's storage systems for mainframe computers and will provide Storage Technology financing for R&D. Industry analyst Bob Djurdjevic says that "for all intents and purposes, IBM has really taken out one of the competitors in the disk market," and that Storage Technology "needed a parent with deeper pockets, because the amount they can spend on R&D and product development isn't enough to sustain them in the long run." (New York Times 11 Jun 96 D4) Meanwhile, IBM has agreed to include Iomega's removable storage Zip drive in one of its new Aptiva home PC models. The machines will be available later this month. (Investor's Business Daily 11 Jun 96 A19) BUILD A MALL, AND THEY WILL SHOP AT ALL THE STORES IBM has created a Web site called World Avenue with the idea that merchants will derive "cross traffic" from other stores at the cybermall, in the same way they do in real-world malls. The Express units of Limited Inc. and the Hudson Bay department store chain are the first merchants, with about 20 more expected this fall. An Express executive says the company is participating in World Avenue because its standalone Web site was not getting sufficient traffic on its own. (Wall Street Journal 11 Jun 96 B6) SATELLITE TV DISPUTE ESCALATES IN CANADA A Canadian company, Thomson Consumer Electronics, says it will go ahead with plans to sell 45 cm RCA satellite dishes to the public despite threats by pay-TV and satellite operators to sue. The dishes enable people to receive American television services, which the complaining companies say they have the exclusive right to deliver. (Toronto Financial Post 11 Jun 96 p9) SOHO MARKET A MYTH, STUDY SAYS A study by Computer Intelligence Info Corp. has branded the so-called SoHo (unified small office-home office) market a myth, noting that small businesses and home-based workers make very different buying decisions. While the number one computer vendor for small companies last year was IBM, home businesses patronized Packard Bell the most. Also, self-employed people, who make up the bulk of home-based workers, tend to use a wider range of software and are two-and-a-half times as likely to be regular users of online services. (Investor's Business Daily 10 Jun 96 A6) SOFTWARE LANGUAGE POLICE Quebec's language police are back as part of a toughening of provincial language laws, and computer software companies will have to release any French-language versions of their new products at the same time they launch the English-language versions. The new rules mean customers looking for French-language versions of software would have to pay several times the price of an equivalent English-language product at the time of release. (Montreal Gazette 11 Jun 96 A1) ADS ON THE NET Although online advertising represents only a tiny fraction of the $125- billion U.S. advertising market, it has been growing rapidly, from (in millions) $80M in '95, $343M in '96, and a projected $5,000M in 2000, according to Jupiter Communications. LA Times columnist Dan Akst says that the nonprofit Audit Bureau of Circulations, a creature of the newspaper industry, has the latest entry with a system called WebFacts which will offer independent certification of Web counts just as it does newspaper circulation. In opposition to these developments is the work of a small North Carolina company called PrivNet which has developed software that blocks ads, blinking texts, Web graphics and Web "cookies" that track a visitor's movements through a Web site. < http://www.privnet.com > . PrivNet's founder says that "if the advertisers want to pay for a high-speed Net connection to my house, then I would take the ads, but right now it is costing me money to look at their ads." On the other side, a Time Inc. new media editor says that the current ad model on the Web "is non-intrusive and users understand there is an implicit bargain that ads come with free content." (Los Angeles Times 10 Jun 96 B7) MICROSOFT BUYS ELECTRONIC COMMERCE COMPANY Microsoft is buying eShop Inc., a four-year-old San Mateo, California-based company that markets programming tools to help merchants set up "storefronts" on the World Wide Web. (Wall Street Journal 11 Jun 96 B6) NET OFFERS POWER TO THE INTELLIGENTSIA In an interview with Jeff Ubois, CyberCash founder Dan Lynch predicted that the Net will change the power structure in the third world: "There will be a lot of quick winners in the developing countries and a rise to power by a new class of people. Most of these will come from the academic community; that is the natural way this technology gets disseminated, and it may be a one-time opportunity for the intelligentsia to be in power. Some will flub it, but some won't. It is a power shift." (Internet World Jul 96 p75) WIRED'S ASSET: "ATTITUDE" The Initial Public Offering of Wired Ventures Ltd. indicates that its business is the creation and distribution of "branded content with attitude." Wired Ventures Ltd. owns Wired magazine, the HotWired and Suck sites on the Web, a fledgling book publishing business, a proposed TV show called "The Netizen," and the HotBot search engine. The three-year old company has never made a profit. (Washington Post 11 Jun 96 D3) COURT SAYS COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT VIOLATES FREE SPEECH A three-judge federal court has blocked enforcement of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), describing it as "a government-imposed content-based restriction on speech," in violation of the Constitution. The CDA attempted to make it a crime to place "indecent" or "patently offensive" material online where children could access it. The full text of the decision is available on the Web at < http://www.cdt.org >. The Justice Department may still carry an appeal to the Supreme Court. President Clinton defended the Communications Decency Act by saying: "I remain convinced, as I was when I signed the bill, that our Constitution allows us to help parents by enforcing this act to prevent objectionable material transmitted through computer networks." (New York Times 13 Jun 96 A1) INTEL & MCI OFFER "WEBMAKER" FOR SMALL BUSINESSES MCI and Intel are marketing a $10,000-range workstation called "networkMCI WebMaker" intended to make it easy for small companies to create and manage their own Web sites. The system, which uses a Pentium Pro Chip, the Windows NT operating system, a Cisco router, and network software from Netscape, will require a high-speed communications line that costs between $1,000 and $1,300 a month. (Wall Street Journal 12 Jun 96 B8) INTUIT EXPANDS INSURANCE AND BANKING SERVICES Intuit, the nation's leading personal finance software company, has purchased Interactive Insurance Services as a step toward selling and servicing insurance policies online. The company will also offer online banking software in a service called BankNow, to be made available on the Web and through America Online. (Washington Post 12 Jun 96 F1) COMPETING INTRANET STRATEGIES In an aggressive move against competition from Netscape, Microsoft will attempt to bundle a series of existing Microsoft products (such as database and e-mail programs) into the new version of its Windows NT operating system, to be used in corporate "Intranets," which allow employees to work simultaneously on the same documents. Netscape is developing advanced technologies for corporate collaboration by means of a new browser program code-named Gallileo and a new server code-named Orion. (Wall Street Journal 13 96 B5) AT&T'S ATTACK PLAN AT&T chief executive Robert E. Allen says that AT&T is ready to go after the local phone service market "with everything we've got," and predicts that the company will capture a third of that market within a few years, whereas "it could be well into the next century" before the local phone companies could meet the regulatory tests they must pass before they themselves can offer long-distance services. Allen says that AT&T will "take a basic $25-a- month long-distance customer and convert him or her into a $100-a-month customer for a broader bundle of services that includes long distance as well ... the 180-degree opposite of commodity service." (Wall Street Journal 12 Jun 96 A3) COUNTERING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PIRACY IN CHINA Looking at a June 17th deadline set by the U.S. for China to take action to stop piracy of copyrighted material (especially software, books, records and movies), the United States and China are close to an agreement in which Beijing would close up to half its compact disk factories, take actions against the others, and ease restrictions on U.S. entertainment products in the Chinese market. (Journal Of Commerce 13 Jun 96 1A) MURDOCH PLANS SATELLITE TV SERVICE IN JAPAN Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation will create a pay-TV digital satellite broadcast service in Japan within the next two years, and expects to be profitable "very, very quickly" because of the great opportunity presented in Japan by the fact only 6 percent of that country's households have cable TV in spite of the high disposable income of Japanese consumers. (Financial Times 13 Jun 96 p13) AOL TO SELL NETSCAPE ADS An America Online agreement with Netscape will result in AOL sales representatives selling advertisements on the Netscape Navigator browser for the World Wide Web, a deal which should yield more advertising revenue to both companies. In other developments, the New York state attorney general's office has reportedly launched a formal investigation of America Online to determine whether AOL improperly overcharges customers for time they spend online. (Washington Post 13 Jun 96 D8) MEDAL OF SCIENCE WINNERS The National Science Foundation has awarded the nation's top science award to James Flanagan, who solved basic problems in speech communications, and to Richard Karp, who applied advances in theoretical computer science to real- world problems. (Computer Industry Daily 11 Jun 1996) U.S. SUES CANADIAN TELEMARKETERS The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has launched suits against six Canadian telemarketing companies, alleging they have violated American laws by collecting fees to help debt-strapped Americans get loans and credit cards. (Toronto Financial Post 12 Jun 96 p1) VOICE-MAIL COOPERATION BY REGIONAL BELLS The four regional Bell phone companies Ameritech, Bell Atlantic, Nynex, and Pacific Telesis, plus the Stentor Alliance of Canadian phone companies, are forming a joint venture called Message Alliance L.P. that lets customers record a voice or fax message once in one system and send it mailboxes in any of the other systems. (New York Times 13 Jun 96 D3) Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) & Suzanne Douglas (douglas@educom.edu). Voice: 404-371-1853, Fax: 404-371-8057. Technical support is provided by the Office of Information Technology, University of North Carolina. EDUPAGE is what you've just finished reading. To subscribe to Edupage: send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu and in the body of the message type: subscribe edupage Marvin Minsky (assuming that your name is Marvin Minsky; if it's not, substitute your own name). ... To cancel, send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu and in the body of the message type: unsubscribe edupage... Subscription problems: educom@educom.unc.edu. EDUCOM REVIEW is our bimonthly print magazine on learning, communications, and information technology. Subscriptions are $18 a year in the U.S.; send mail to offer@educom.edu. When you do, we'll ring a little bell, because we'll be so happy! Choice of bell is yours: a small dome with a button, like the one on the counter at the dry cleaners with the sign "Ring bell for service"; or a small hand bell; or a cathedral bell; or a door bell; or a chime; or a glockenspiel. Your choice. But ring it! 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For the Hebrew edition, send mail to listserv@kinetica.co.il containing : SUBSCRIBE Leketnet-Word6 or see < http://www.kinetica.co.il/ newsletters/leketnet/ >. For the Hungarian edition, send mail to: send mail to subs.edupage@hungary.com. An Italian edition is available on Agora' Telematica; connection and/or free subscription via BT-Tymnet and Sprint (login: There have been a few other happenings here in the Atari world, but I don't find them especially news-worthy and the dust hasn't yet settled, so we'll just talk about it another time. Let's start off with Alejandro's test results for MagiC-PC: Alejandro tells me in his e-mail: "About two weeks ago, I download the demo version of the new operating system/emulator for running ST programs on the Gatesputers: the Magic-PC (remember my last e-mail?). After a few days of use, I ended up with a few comments about it and I would like to share it with you and the others who are thinking about buying a new system for use as your primary machine: The Magic-PC system is composed of two parts: The emulator, that emulates the 68000 processor and the rest of the components that makes an ST an ST; and the Operating system, composed by the Magic O.S. 4.02 (Jan. 3, 1996), including Mag!Xdesk v3.01. When I ran the emulator, my first impression was that Magic-PC was slow. But later two things changed my mind: The first was when I ran GEMBench, and I found very interesting results; the second was when I finally installed PageStream 2.2 and ran it: It took 18 seconds to load and run, versus 33 seconds that took to load and run in my 1040STe in the same circumstances. The GEMBench returns the next results: multitasked mode singletasked mode CPU: 345% 345% Graphics: 95% 96% Average: 162% 163% STE TOS 2.00 Mint not present AES v3.99 NVDI not present GEMDOS v0.25 FPU not present Blitter Enabled ROM Malloc from STRam Video Mode 640x400x16 I can only imagine running this emulator in a Pentium 166Mhz machine !!! ;-). Next, I'll point point out some things which seem important to me about Magic_PC: Pros: It can be used in any wintel (or gatesputer) computer (at least if it can run Windows95 at a decent speed). Software only emulator: can be used in notebooks. (Oh! ... I know that this destroys my idea of the protection, but at least I can buy a relatively cheap PC portable and I can have a portable ST... although in my opinion the design of the Stacy is better that all of the notebooks offered in the last year ... with a very few exceptions) The Emulator section of the Magic_PC emulates a plain 68000, and all the components of the ST. This guarantees better compatibility than MagicMac. As described on the docs (Oh! I think that I must take some German lessons ;- ( Thanks God that Ruftrade exist !!) it appears that you can access the DOS disks & partition from Magic-PC. The thing at this point is the fact that you can or not manipulate directly archives (i.e. copying, moving, deleting, launching MS-DOS Windows programs, etc.) like Gemulator 4.0. You could use the TOS environment to manipulate Windows95. Cons: It appears to be slow - The authors recommend that it could be used with a Pentium 100Mhz. In my machine (a 486DX/33Mhz) visually it is slower than a plain 1040STe. This is a problem of the VDI emulation that uses the display of the Windows95 video driver (Have you heard of a good action game for Windows95?...). You can't do rapid animation in a multitasking environment, specially in one of the Gates' operating systems). For example, for the famous game of Doom to be playable in a Wintel machine, the game substitutes the MS- DOS operating system with your own. By this way they can guarantee the necessary speed for the game. The maximum number of colors that can support is only 16 (I hope that in the final version this can be improved or at least one can use a NVDI type of program that improves the screen speed and color, a'la MagicMac). To use a diskette, you must "mount" the disk in the program - load an image of the disk in the Hard Disk for the use of the emulator. This method has the advantage of eliminating possible conflicts with Windows95 for disk access, and speeds the H.D.-to-Disk transfers (at least internally in the Emulator). It appears to be a very hot product, since Applications System Heidelberg have now a very solid operating system in three diferent platforms: ATARI, MacIntosh and the Gateputers (Who knows, maybee they are working in a new MagicAmiga and MagicSun right now . . . keep dreaming). And in all you can speed the programs without much effort (Tell me about multiplatform development). Since Branch Always Software released [or soon will ]the new version of the GEMulator - called GEMulator for Laptops - that uses Magic either 2.0 or 4.0, it will be very interesting to see some benchmarks featuring the two emulators running head to head with the same circumstances; but I think that GEMulator will win, because the time that Darek and friends devote to the Emulator and the fine software that they do for the Atari Community." Thank you very much, Alejandro, for your review of the product. I was wondering about it and how well it works... now I know! Okay, okay, I know that because this post wasn't found on CompuServe in the Atari Forums it really shouldn't be showcased in this column, but heck, not every computer user has a CompuServe account... as a matter of fact, not every ST user has a CIS account (shame on you), and it happens to fit all of my criteria: It's well-written, informative, and interesting. I'd just like to point out that this column is not an advertisement for CompuServe. It's a compilation of information and news that just happen to have been found on CompuServe. If it also happens to make CIS look good, so much the better. Now let's get on with the other good stuff: From the Atari Computing Forum During a question-and-answer volley, James Seielman asks "Mark" a few questions about our favorite computer. Mark replies: "You have asked someone fairly new in Atari, myself since 1991 when I traded my king size bed to my buddy for his 520. First of all I can't say enough good things for the TOS system, far ahead of its time and still is in many ways. The difference as I have observed between TOS 1.4 and TOS 2.06 is a more streamlined desktop, faster hard drive response, some multitasking abilities and custom fit the latest Atari software. Now, for me, I have TOS 1,2 in my '87 model Mega 2 and a 1040. To be honest, my comments about 1.04 being the most versatile has to do with that strong 5 year Atari support curve between 1985-1990. Most Atari software ever written occurred in those years and with the announcement of TOS 1.04, it was perfect to end an era in the ATARI ST series. It was the ultimate bug fix for TOS version 1. The newest piece of commercial software is NeoDesk 3.02, 1991! Now that's pretty old, but I like it with my 1.2 TOS, does what I need. The question is: what do you need, James? I can tell you right now that to run the classic stuff and those fun games, you need to stay with TOS 1.4 or less! (Now I'm open to rebuke if someone can prove me wrong on that) If you are into Calamus, audio and some video production, lots of RAM, then you should go get a FALCON or a TT, but I think that your choices are limited in overall usage, (forgive me guys but that is where ATARI has gone to) In other words, you might have the Lexus of hardware but if there is no gas (software) then you're not budging an inch. (comment: I said earlier, "the newest piece of software that I have is NeoDesk 3) My opinion is that 1.4 is still the best. If you can also get your hands on a copy of NVDI that's even better, a desktop replacement like NeoDesk will enhance your enjoyment if you have a hard drive. I have a copy of TURBO BOOST, Turbo mono and Turbo color which does about the same thing, speed up the screen redraws. I don't have any experience with Magic, but there is a lot of guys who can give you the lowdown." Wow! Now we're getting folks to "go active" with their thoughts, huh? James replies to Mark: "Actually, my Atari experience began with a 1200XL (outstanding keyboard! I wish I could put it in my 130XE) some years before I purchased the 1040. However, a few years after I got the ST (Dec. '89), I joined the Marine Corps and kinda lost touch with the Atari development stuff. I _did_ know Atari came out with the Megas and some TOS revisions, but I knew little-to- nothing about them. Some months _after_ I got out (just last Dec.) I discovered Atari released such animals as the TT and the Falcon! I did get a Lynx when I got back from Saudi, though, and thought that was just the coolest. I learned of them at an Airbase in Jubail (if I remember correctly) while we were waiting to go home :-)! They had several Lynx kiosks set up running a couple different games. Weird, eh? Later (about '91/'92), I used the ST in the armory (I was a Small Arms Repairman, armorer) until I realized it was not a very friendly environment for a computer! I then loaned it to my brother who used it for a newsletter for his Buick GN / T-Type club, using WordFlair. I ended up getting a PC and descended into an Atari Info-Void until, as I mentioned, I got out of the Corps. So, _my_ experience is lacking that critical time period! I'm now thinking of getting a TT, perhaps (despite some of the incompatibilities), or even a Falcon. They both have merits of their own. Plus I'm a hardware junkie . I have several 8-bit Atari's and a couple computers of other makes, so why not more!? As far as what I intend to do with the ST, I'd really like to update the desktop, mostly. However, if a TOS revision or replacement (such as MagiC) will do that as well as enhance the usability of the machine, I'd go that far. Your comments about NVDI, etc. tend to mirror my own wishes/observations. I will keep your opinion of 1.4 in mind, as it's also the easier of the "hardware" TOS upgrades. (2.06 requires some "extras" for my ST, as I've been informed). Since my ST is (sadly) mostly a toy of mine (my PC gets the lion's share of the working out), I don't have any one particular task in mind. Flirting with programming, some light W.P. and DTP work, games.... Of course, as with many "toys", I am not against spending a bit of my hard- earned, over-taxed income to increase my enjoyment of same ;-) !" There you have it folks, the classic "Atari User Time-Line". Oh, by the way, in case you don't know, that little bunch of characters at the end of that post isn't line noise, it's a smile. Take a look at it again... The semi- colon is a set of twinkling eyes, the dash is a nose, and the close parenthesis mark is a smile. There are many variations. My own "smile" is this: (;^{> Can you tell that I'm loosing my hair, and have a moustache and beard? Well, enough of the small talk. Mark goes on and asks: "I keep hearing about this "MultiTOS". What is it? A desktop, TO upgrade? Who likes it? Would you recommend it?" Albert Dayes tells Mark that it is... "A multi-tasking operating system (Multi-TOS). To run it efficiently requires a 68030 based cpu. The other alternatives are Magic 4.x by ASH or Geneva by Gribnif software. I have never used MultiTOS myself maybe others can make some comments about it." My own personal opinion is to forget about Multi-TOS and MiNT and get Geneva/NeoDesk4 from Gribnif Software... It's much faster than Multi-TOS and very compatible with most software. It multi-tasks, it "single-tasks for those problem programs, and it allows you to do some really cool things with your desktop, programs, and accessories. There is also MagiC, but I have no experience with it, so I can't give an honest opinion. Coincidentally, "Magic" was the code name for Geneva when it was in it's very early stages. I can remember Rick Flashman of Gribnif telling me "Something's coming soon, and it's going to be MAGIC!" Robert Spieler was trying to decide which Atari Computer he wanted to buy, he asked about what size SCSI (say SKUZZY) drives he could use on the various models. Albert Dayes tells him: "You can use SCSI hard drives of almost any size. On some machines like the Atari Falcon and TT have built in SCSI ports and only need driver software such as ICD's SCSI PRO or similar software. Others require a host adapter like ICD link or AdSCSI+ to run SCSI devices." Robert tells Albert: "Thank You... By now I know what I want: a Mega 2 or a Mega STE with 100 MB hard drive and 4MB RAM. Is it possible to equip it with a SCSII host adapter and can I use the same SCSII devices I use with a PC??" Albert tells him: "Atari STe machines are nicer since they use standard simm slots for memory. If you get a host adapter (make sure it supports parity) then most of your SCSI devices you use on your PC should work. Some people have had trouble with some drives but most have been successful." Tom Harker from ICD adds: "If you get an external SCSI host adapter like the ICD Link 2 then yes. You need to keep the partitions under 32 MB though for cross compatibility and format them on the PC. (There is a PD utility called BIG DOS that might get around this limitation though.)" Ralph Kalatucka asks for info: "I have a copy of Marcel that I downloaded months back, but I haven't de- arced it yet. Does it support my HP 540 deskjet printer? (I tried and tried to get ST Writer Elite and 1st Word to access the "times" or "roman" fancy font supposedly contained in the HP, but all I get is that god-awful "typewriter" font. Sheeesh!) So, if I read your letter correctly, I can upgrade my 1040 to 4 meg, but my color monitor would still be stuck in "medium res." and I'll still have to do my serious work in hi-res.-but-boring black and white. Thanks for caring enough to give me some input. It is sincerely appreciated." Good old Albert Dayes tells Ralph: "I never used Marcel myself but I remember that it could import/export many of the Atari word processing formats plus RTF. I never checked on its printing capability but I believe it supported a few generic printers and postscript. Maybe if you can just create a raw ASCII file with the HP escape sequences and send that first before printing. Then that way you will have the font you like. I assumed also that HP Deskjet were basically compatible with laserjet's PCL command set. Have you tried using an HP laserjet driver? The 1040 can be upgraded using 3rd party boards to 4 megabytes. If an STe than one can just use simm slots. There are 3rd party graphics cards but mostly seem to be for the VME bus or similar. You can contact an Atari dealer and see if they have any other suggestions. I guess I am partial to black and white monochrome monitors. " Bob Ledbetter jumps in and tells Ralph: "I've used Marcel for quite awhile, and when I read your post about HP printers, I dug out the docs to see if I could shed a little light on the situation. I don't haven HP printer, so I don't know first hand about the drivers. However, included in the Marcel Archive are drivers for: the HP DeskJet; 2 from the DeskJet 520; HP LaserJet; as well as an HP DeskJet 520 description file. I use a StarJet SJ-48 and even though there is not a driver for this particular printer, I recall it not being difficult to the Epson driver. In other words, modifying an existing driver is not a mind blowing task." Our old friend (and former editor-emeritus) Lloyd Pulley joins in and tells Ralph: "I just had to make the same decision. Keep/fix my old MegaST4 (one of the first ones on the market), upgrade to a Falcon, or buy another system all together. I opted to buy a PC system. My Mega was getting old, worn out and needed repairs (computer, internal floppy, and color monitor) and there was no place within 500 miles of me to get it fixed. Since I am NOT a hardware person, keeping/fixing it was out of the question. Buying a Falcon and monitor was an option, but not one that I considered that much. For just a few bucks more than a new Falcon/monitor system would cost me, I could get a full-blown PC. Plus, I'd still be stuck with the fact there was no place within 500 miles where I could get support or get it fixed if I needed it. So I bought a new PC system (Acer w/100mhz Pentium). And I have to admit, I haven't been sorry I did. With my ST system, it was mine. My son would use it when he _had to_ for word processing for school or work, and that was it. With the PC system, I almost have to make an appointment to get to use it! About 10pm my son starts coming in to check on his old Pop - "Hey Pop, don't you think you should think about going to bed. With that heart attack you had a while back, you should get plenty of sleep". Translation - he wants to get on the system so he can cruise he net, peruse AOL, do word processing, play games, whatever. And if that isn't bad enough, my wife gets home from work around 6:30 pm and she has to come in and check on me - "Hon, don't you think you should go set in the front room and prop that bad leg of yours up [when they ran the doo- hickey down the artery to clear out the heart blockage, they hit a nerve and it still gives me problems]." Translation - she wants to get on the system so she can play her games. This system almost never gets shut off. It's a 50/50 chance that when I get up in the morning (since my heart attack, I can't sleep more than 3-4 hours at a time) that my son will still be on the system. And he, and my wife, used to laugh and make fun of me when I sat up all night on my old ST. Don't get me wrong, I'm not cutting down my old Atari. I got more than my money's worth out of it. If Atari still produced _and_ supported the system, I'd probably still own one. And if your Atari system still suits your needs, by all means upgrade yours or buy a Falcon. I have to tell you the truth, I thought my old Atari system still suited all of my needs - and if I hadn't had hardware problems, I'd still probably own it. But now that I have my new PC, I realize how behind the times I was with my Mega. Not only behind the times, how I was 'making do' and claiming that it was still suiting my needs - when it wasn't really. It's nice to be able to get on the net - without having to put together and learn some archaic software. Software that en if you got it to run (and after weeks of trying, I gave up because I couldn't), still didn't do the complete job. Now I have many net software packages to choose from. And all I have to do is click on them and away I go. I don't have to learn some weird and obsolete system/language, then learn how to use the software - I just click and go. And if I don't like the way that software works, there's 'umpteen' more different brands out there for me to try. I will admit that I don't know how I'd feel if I didn't have a Window's 95 system (software and hardware). With the Acer startup package, I had the system up and running _faster_ than I did my first Atari ST (by the time you figure in modem, printer, etc). Window's 95 made it simple to hook my old Panasonic P6 printer into the system - and then _every_ piece of software I ran recognized and used it properly. Then when I added a HP 660C (naturally my P6 decided to 'bite the bullet' just a week after I bought my new system), even my wife was able to add it to the system and take out the P6. Add a CD ROM? No problem - it came stock with the system. I'd heard all of the rumors about how bad Windows 95 was and how much it crashed - mine hasn't crashed yet (I have crashed the system once - but it was due to _my_ fault, not the system's). My opinion is that if you buy a hardware system _built_ for Windows 95, start out with Windows 95 from scratch (don't try to load it over Windows 3.1 or whatever), and make sure you only run Windows 95 software (and there's plenty of it), you won't have that many problems. In closing - I am NOT a computer wizard. I'm one of those who bought 'Windows 95 for Dummies' - and then needed a translator to explain it to me! So if I can get the system up and running, anyone can. One thing though. IMO, if you've never owned a PC system before, buy a 'name brand' system and not a "Joe Schmo" special - one that's built in someone's backroom. You lose a little by buying a 'name brand' system (most are not as easy to upgrade and you have to take t comes with it - hardware and software), but you know what's in it and most are made with Windows 95 in mind. (Which 'Joe Schmo's' might, or might not be)." Darned if it isn't good to see Lloyd posting again. There hasn't been a good "knock-down, drag-out, spurting- blood, fists-flying, in-your-face fight since he left. Lloyd, if you happen to read this, Welcome back Pal! Well folks, it's getting late. Tune in again next week, same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying when... PEOPLE ARE TALKING STReport's "Partners in Progress" Advertising Program The facts are in... STReport International Online Magazine reaches more users per week than any other weekly resource available today. Take full advantage of this spectacular reach. Explore the superb possibilities of advertising in STReport! Its very economical and smart business. 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