Outline/Quotes

Ed. - Editorial comments

A server on a 486SX/33

My customer said to me that, if needed, he could have bought a Pentium class machine with more RAM and a larger hard drive, if his old 486 wasn't going to be enough. The idea of building a full featured server upon a 486/33 with only 8 megabytes of RAM did however catch my interest, and I decided to accept the challenge.

Ed. - Using Linux, Beltrame managed to overcome the hardware limitations, proving once again that it is software that runs the hardware, not the other way around.

State of the Internet: A Crisis Looms

The Internet is at a crossroads in its rapid development, and decisions made today about how it will develop further, what we want it to do on business, technical, political and social levels will shape its development for many years to come. Just as the engineers of the machine age were looked on to bring order to industrialization, the Internet technicians of today are those who can bring order to the Information Age. But as our Boardwatch's Jack Rickard frequently points out, getting ISPs together is like herding cats.

Outline/Quotes

Ed. - Editorial comments

Drawing Exchange Revisited

Many of the fundamental problems are caused by a lack of basic document exchange etiquette on the part of the sender. I’ve recently worked with a structural engineering firm on several large building projects that involve several different architectural firms. In most cases, I was astonished at the lack of exchange etiquette. The fundamental attitude seemed to be, “We’ll put a bunch of weirdly named drawings on our FTP site, and you figure out what to do with them.” .

Sweat About the Threat

The NIPC is the federal government's new, first line of defense against those who would wage what has been termed "information warfare"—attacks against strategic computer systems by terrorists armed not with explosives and firearms but with PCs and modems. For years, the nation's defense and intelligence leaders have feared such attacks were possible. But now, with the ubiquity of inexpensive consumer electronics—and a noted increase in intrusions such as those mentioned above—these same leaders fear that such attacks are probable.

Editor's Page

While questions about the social and economic dimensions of the "information revolution" have been asked ever since the Internet captured the fancy of the public four or so years ago, and even though Internet usage surveys are now commonly administered to provide a few answers -- especially for business and marketing folks - it has taken a little longer to really think about what the data mean and what the wider implications are.

Portable Email and Internet

Admit it, you're addicted to email. And news updates. And tracking your investments. And don't forget sports scores. You want them. You need them. And if you're forced to go more than a few hours without them, you start to twitch. Friend, you are not alone. This is the age of instant knowledge gratification.

The Value of a Portfolio

The general population has no idea of the damage that can result from the loss of a portfolio nor do they have any idea of the monetary losses involved. The portfolio is the equivalent of a business’s inventory. A freelancer without a portfolio to show is like a business without an inventory

Shootout in the Play Room

Nintendo has languished in the #2 position with the Nintendo 64, accepting criticism that its consoles are too expensive and complaints that there aren't enough games. Yet each title that comes out is a winner, with high marks for game play and quality. An outraged Nintendo President Yamauchi warned last year that Sony could kill off the industry with all of its "garbage."

Ed. - Yeah, it's garbage. But keep shoveling it, and we'll keep buying it. When does Crash Bandicoot 5 come out?

The $700 Solution?

You have $1,500 burning a hole in your pocket. Back in the early 1980s, it would have bought you half of a PC. Today, that money will buy you two or even three systems--sometimes with monitors. This is great news for small businesses and for consumers on a tight budget. But do these systems deliver?

Ed. - According to Lake, they may be cheaper, but they are noticeably louder and slower -- if that's the kind of thing you're into.

Newhoo squeezes past AOL

Netscape acquired Newhoo, a small Internet directory that relies on "freeware" technology in an effort to boost its Netcenter portal, called Netscape Open Directory. It is integrated with existing Netscape Netcenter services and is available through mozilla.org, a Netscape technology clearing house that will act as a central point of contact for users.

In the Future -- Let's Communicate

The digital age has been with us for about 60 years, and since the beginning, computer science theory and practice have focused almost exclusively on the transport of information. Driven by engineers at places like Bell Labs and Xerox, scientists continually develop newer and faster techniques bringing digital information to us wherever we happen to be. E-mail is now the dominant form of business communication; 1 billion people will use the Internet by the turn of the century; you can receive a fax in your car. As the 20th century draws to a close, we are up to our eyeballs in information

Trespasser

As bad as genetically reengineering dinosaurs turned out to be in Jurassic Park movies, Trespasser definitely tops them in the "good idea gone horribly wrong" department. A firstperson shooter that desperately wants to be an adventure game, Trespasser is an ugly mishmash of uncertain identity, crippled by ill-conceived ideas, a technically promising engine that totally screws up gameplay, and more horrendous glitches than ten thousand men could shake ten thousand sticks at.

Ed. - For a game based on a movie that came out nearly five years ago, you would think they would have gotten the kinks out already.

VICTORIA COLLIVER

Business `Incubator' Targets Technology Women

Whether the venture capital firms perceive women as a risk or whether women have not been able to gain entry into the relatively homogenous world of tech finance, some have decided women in technology need their own place to do business. The result is the Women's Technology Cluster, the nation's first business incubator targeted at women starting technology companies.

Is Linux Ready for Primetime?

"Easy" and "very easy" are terms that one hears bandied about by Linux advocates a lot these days. Linux is easy to install, they insist -- especially from CD-ROM -- and the Freqently Asked Questions documents for major distributions seem to reinforce this contention. So, exactly how easy is Linux to install? Is it as easy as, say, a Mac? Or Windows 98? Or Windows NT? BeOS?! The short answer is "no."

Let Your Voice Be Heard

IBM’s ViaVoice 98 appears to be a significant improvement over earlier versions such as ViaVoice gold. As much as possible this review is being written using ViaVoice 98. While I am going to correct errors that make the text unreadable [so far there have been three] and the program has selected square instead of curved brackets, its accuracy is far better than either ViaVoice gold or Dragon Systems’ NaturallySpeaking 1.0.

Bork Says Gates Out of Control

In a conference call with reporters, former Federal Appeals CourtJudge Robert Bork called Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates out of control and "disingenuous."
Bork, who spoke to reporters on a teleconference sponsored by the Project to Promote Competition & Innovation in the Digital Age, or ProComp, said of Gates: "His lawyers don't have control of Gates."

Ed. - And why should they? Who do you think pays them?!

Microsoft May Offer Price Break on
Windows

As PC makers consider their operating-system options, some are eyeing Windows CE or other operating systems as alternatives to Windows 98 and its higher price. But sources said Microsoft is "not budging" on a cheaper, full version of Windows...One observer explained that Microsoft is considering licensing a high-end version of Windows CE, such as Jupiter, to makers of low-end PCs, but noted that the price break would benefit OEMs, not consumers.

Snapshots and Stocking
Stuffers

Desktop videoconferencing may still be a dud in the business world, but those diminutive tethered cameras are becoming a popular PC accouterment in both the home and the dorm room. Let's face it, people simply like visual messages. Wouldn't you rather see your son's dorm room (then again, maybe not ) than just hear about it?

Ed. - Thank goodness there aren't odor-sensitive cameras. Those dormrooms can get a little stale.

Singapore all set to be IT leader

Information technology is key to Singapore’s economic growth, said Communications Minister Mah Bow Tan last Sunday in Las Vegas.  Speaking at the international marketing forum held in conjunction with Comdex Fall, he said that “Singapore stands ready and willing to focus and leverage on growth opportunities” in IT in the next five to 10 years.

UN eyes Y2K plans

National year 2000 experts from more than 130 United Nations member countries convened in New York last week to discuss emergency planning and crisis management as the new millennium approaches. Delegates discussed and examined reports on the state of year 2000 preparedness in areas including telecommunications, electricity and nuclear energy, oil and gas, banking and finance, aviation, and shipping and ports.

Is it safe? Is it safe?

When asked, "Do you think the Internet is a suitable media channel for financial information?" a whopping 96% responded yes. When queried, "Do you think the Internet is ready for financial transactions?" a majority, 56%, also said yes. But in contrast to their apparent support of banking on the Internet, respondents made additional comments expressing safety concerns about the medium. Why the contradiction?

AgentOS: The Agent-based Distributed Operating System for Mobile Networks

Many current researchers in the mobile computing arena share the same vision: ubiquitous access to information, data, and applications. Although there were existing frameworks and distributed systems for mobile computing, their communication models and programming models were unsatisfactory. But agent-based communication paradigms have shown enormous potential for operating in unpredictable, metamorphic environments, such as mobile computing networks.