News Common PC Linux Mac CUCUG
The February 19 gathering will be one of our joint SIG meetings. The LinuxSIG will move into main meeting time so Tom Purl can show all of us Plone, a webdevelopment tool for easy, dynamic, web site creation. Also on the bill,Kevin Hisel will show us some of the latest 3-D images from our Marsexplorers.
We'd also like to thank renewing members John Baird, Selena Douglass, KevinHopkins, Kris Klindworth, Jeff Strong and Michael Habermann.
We welcome any kind of input or feedback from members. Run across aninteresting item or tidbit on the net? Just send the link to the editor.Have an article or review you'd like to submit? Send it in. Have a comment?Email any officer you like. Involvement is the driving force of any usergroup. Welcome to the group.
Here's the list of FREE products some lucky members will WIN at the next meeting, courtesy of Microsoft (please note, you must be a 2004 member of CUCUG to participate in the drawing):
Microsoft Works Suite 2004 (Street Price $94.99)
Works Suite includes six popular Microsoft home products in one, easy-to-use package. Works Suite includes Microsoft Works, Microsoft Word and the latest versions of Microsoft Money Standard, Microsoft Encarta standard, Microsoft Streets & Trips, and Microsoft Picture It! Photo Premium. It's one of the best software values you can find!
- Six popular Microsoft home products in one, easy-to-use package
- Microsoft Works, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Money Standard, Encarta standard, and more
- Task Launcher brings all six products into an easy-to-use interface
- 500 pre-designed templates for personal, household, school, and community related tasks
- With Works Suite you can qualify for discounted upgrade pricing for Microsoft Office 2003
Microsoft Office System T-Shirt (Large)
Have you been downloading the pictures from the two(!) Mars rovers from the JPL site ( http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html )? They have some pretty nice images on the server and quite a good collection of high-res photos. NASA has also posted a number of three-dimensional pictures that require red/blue glasses to view properly.
I was frustrated at not being able to view these graphics on my PC so I searched the Internet and found a supplier for red/blue 3D glasses. I purchased 20 of them and I'll be bringing them to the meeting to hand out (free) to anyone interested (I have 19 left).
On my day off today, Karen and I went to Champaign to bum around. One placethat I hunted down was the Obsolete Technology Recycling place I mentionedat the last meeting. If you enter from the 126 W. Main address I gave you,you will find it. You just happen to have to go through a flower shop toget to it. It used to be Benchmark Computers. Anyway, it does exist, andthey do take all older computing equipment for recycling. Also, the phonenumber (if anyone wants to call) is 367-9716, or you can email them atjroyer@compet-edge.com, according to the business card I got when I wasthere. You might check out monitor recycling there. It is supposed to befree. Finally, if you wait until after Feb. 1, they will have a warehousewhich will take the equipment, making it that much easier to get to. Youwill have to call after 2/1 to get directions to the warehouse.
The next meeting of the PC Users Group will be on Wednesday, February18, 2004 from 7 to 9 pm in Room 1310 of the Digital Computing Laboratory.(Yes, indeed, after a bit of a wandering sojourn over the course of thelast several months, we will once again return to our familiarsurroundings in Room 1310 DCL!)
David Harley will discuss how PKZip (from www.pkzip.org) can be used toback up files on your PC. We will also have an Open Discussion on DigitalPhotos, Digital Editing, and Digital Photo Albums, where members will beencouraged to share whatever tips and expertise they may have gained onthese topics. We'll attempt to generate a number of URLs for freeware andinexpensive software on these topics and compare notes on what softwarepackages members of the group have already had the opportunity to sample.
Before the meeting (from 5:45 pm to 6:45 pm), we will have our usual(optional) dinner at Garcia's Pizza on Green Street for anyone who maywant to stop by and join us. (See http://www2.uiuc.edu/ro/pcug/pizza.html formore details.)
Apple Computer posted a $63 million profit on just over $2 billion inrevenue for its first fiscal quarter of 2004, boosted by strong sales oflaptop computers and increasingly obligatory iPod digital music players.Apple's gross margin was 26.7 percent, with international sales accountingfor 44 percent of the quarter's revenue (although the strong Euro boostedApple's sales in Europe). Apple also tucked some money away: the companynow has just under $4.8 billion in the bank.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2004/jan/14results.html
Apple says it shipped 829,000 Macs and 730,000 iPods during the quarter -and could have sold more iPods if it had been able to keep up with demand.More than 200,000 of the Macs sold were iBooks and 195,000 were PowerBookG4 systems. Both figures are substantially higher than totals for a yearago and lend some credence to CEO Steve Jobs's claim that 2003 would be"the year of the laptop." Sales of other lines - eMac/iMac and Power Mac -weren't as strong as in the third quarter, although the introduction ofPower Mac G5 systems let the high-end systems show a year-to-year gain,where iMac and eMac sales declined both year-to-year andquarter-to-quarter. [GD]
Apple announced last week that the company's well-respected chief financialofficer Fred Anderson will retire 01-Jun-04; he will be replaced by currentcomptroller and finance VP Peter Oppenheimer, who has been leading many ofApple's financial departments for some time. Apple plans to appointAnderson to its Board of Directors once he retires; Anderson also serves onthe boards of eBay and E.piphany. Anderson came to Apple from ADP in 1996(bringing Oppenheimer along with him in 1997) and quickly found himselfplaying a key role in leading Apple's day-to-day operations following theresignation of Apple CEO Gil Amelio in 1997. At that time, current CEOSteve Jobs was merely a "key advisor" who would be helping out with theso-called CEO search committee; he wouldn't be formally crowned CEO untilearly 2000. Although Steve Jobs' near-legendary vision and re-invention ofthe Macintosh and Apple's product line has been central to Apple'srecovery, Anderson also played a key role in shepherding the companythrough some of its darkest hours, in part by keeping the company out ofsignificant debt and preventing it from becoming a takeover target. [GD]
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2004/feb/05anderson.html
User groups have long been one of the mainstays of the Macintosh community,which is why we've always encouraged user group newsletters to reprintTidBITS articles for free. Now we want to extend that support to our newTake Control series of electronic books, so we're offering all user groupmembers coupons that are good for 10 percent off all orders. We're alsoplanning to provide a free copy of each book to user groups for rafflingoff and/or review in the group newsletter. If you're in a user group, askone of the officers of your group to contact me at (ace@tidbits.com), andI'll put your group on our list to receive the free copies and the discountcoupons. [ACE]
http://www.tidbits.com/takecontrol/
By Marsha Walton, CNN
Saturday, January 24, 2004 Posted: 12:42 PM EST (1742 GMT)
URL: http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/ptech/01/23/mac.birthday/index.html
(CNN) -- Its dedicated users are so passionate they're often described asreligious about their love for the machine.
Twenty years ago, on January 24, 1984, Apple Computer launched theMacintosh. It contained virtually unknown features, including simple icons,and an odd little attachment called a mouse.
Many newspaper stories at the time had to include a definition. SiliconValley's newspaper The San Jose (California) Mercury News, for example,described the mouse as "a handheld device that, when slid across a tabletop, moves the cursor on the Mac's screen."
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dubbed the Macintosh "the people's computer."Jobs and business partner Steve Wozniak -- a math and computer junkie --had sold their first computer, the Apple I, in 1976. They had put ittogether in a garage.
"The Mac's a symbol of a whole revolution, and most of us that participatedin it from the beginning and believed in it bought into these new ideals ofcomputers to really help people, and not something that you had to fight,memorize and learn," Wozniak told CNN. "That whole revolution justcontinues in our hearts to this day."
With such an innovative and intuitive product, then why is Apple's marketshare just 3 percent to 5 percent, with Microsoft Windows claiming morethan 90 percent worldwide?
"What Apple does so well is to focus on research and design to produce themost intuitive device and the most elegant device," communicationsprofessor Ted Friedman of Georgia State University said.
"The problem has always been that Apple was first but other companies havebeen able to come in and undercut them on price, and gradually appropriateall the features that made Apple special," Friedman explained.
Still, Apple computers have come a long way since their introduction, whenIBM's machines, not Microsoft, were the standard. Back then, people whooperated computers were part of an elite club: either hobbyists who builttheir own, or folks in lab coats who worked on mainframes.
Friedman said the point-and-click Macintosh was destined to make bothtechnological and cultural history.
"This was the product that inspired people in graphic design, and students,and other creative people. It was the whole idea of computers not justbeing something you would see in the office," Friedman said.
Techies trace that change in thinking to a TV ad that teased the Mac'sdebut during the 1984 Super Bowl. Even today that ad is considered one ofthe best ever produced.
"It was a pivotal moment in the history of computers and the history ofadvertising," said Friedman, whose book "Electric Dreams," on the culturalhistory of personal computers, is due out soon.
In the commercial a female athlete dodges storm troopers and throws ahammer to smash a giant authoritarian figure, who's ordering drone workersto conform and obey. Her message of power and autonomy, says Friedman,reflected Apple's belief that computing was more than mindless numberscrunching. It actually could fuel the creative process.
Jobs, Apple's CEO, was perhaps a good forecaster of the ubiquitous laptops,desktops, and personal digital assistants of today, when he predicted twodecades ago that Macs would not be just an office tool.
"People are going to bring them home to work on something Sunday morning,they're not going to be able to get their kids away from them, and maybesomeday they may even buy a second one to use at home," Jobs said, the dayhe introduced the simple beige box back in 1984.
But internal dramas at Apple also contributed to its notorious ups anddowns. Jobs left the company in a power struggle in the late 80s. The firmfloundered in a PC-dominated world.
But Jobs' star continued to rise. He joined the enormously successfulanimation studio Pixar, makers of hits such as "Toy Story" and "FindingNemo." Jobs returned to Apple in the '90s as the visionary savior, and thecompany returned to making products considered ahead of their time: theiPod music player, iTunes song download service, and the iMovie videoediting software to name just three.
Known in tech circles as "The Wizard of Woz," Wozniak never formally leftApple, but he's only involved in a few consulting projects at the companythese days. The former Hewlett-Packard engineer spends most of his timeworking for his firm "Wheels of Zeus," which is expected to launch someproducts later this year.
"It was just a little bit disappointing that Apple kind of got itself intothe situation where they didn't so much own what they had really brought tomarket," he said.
In a legal fight through much of the 90's, Apple accused Microsoft ofripping off Macintosh interfaces in Windows. The case was settled out ofcourt in 1997. But despite his frustrations with the outcome of the case,Wozniak is proud of being part of a revolution that started in a garage.
"Macintosh users tend to be a very independent type, and they tend to bevery loyal to their product," Wozniak said. "They've been threatened with[Macs] going out of business and being put out of their schools and out oftheir companies, and they've got to fight. There's so much passion for it."
The U.S. Justice Department on Friday expressed concern that Microsoft hasnot completely lived up to its agreement to disclose Windows communicationsprotocols, as required by a 2002 antitrust agreement.
In an 18-page filing with U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, thegovernment said the Microsoft Communications Protocol Program has "fallenshort" of fully satisfying the settlement and that "additional work stillneeds to be done."
In that settlement, designed to end seven years of antitrust litigation,Microsoft agreed to disclose each communication protocol used in Windows2000 Professional or Windows XP and to make them available for licensingfor a fee. Depending on the application, the fees range from $8 to $950 foreach copy sold by the third-party developer, less any volume discounts.
The Justice Department has "determined that further improvements need to bemade to the licensing program," including simplifying the contracts anddeveloping more straightforward ways to calculate licensing fees, theFriday filing said. The government did acknowledge that "Microsoft hasagreed to make additional modifications" to the program to respond to thoseconcerns.
Microsoft said in its own statement, filed jointly with the government's,that it "has made full compliance with its obligations under the finaljudgments a top priority of the company, and the company continues todevote substantial resources to its compliance work."
Soon, it will release a "much shorter" license agreement and makeapproximately two dozen protocols available, with a simpler cost structure,Microsoft said.
In 2002, Microsoft entered a consent decree with the Bush administration,which Kollar-Kotelly approved, to settle the long-running antitrust case.It also established a schedule for ongoing antitrust oversight of thecompany's actions. The next hearing, before Kollar-Kotelly, is scheduledfor next week.
Also on Friday, the state of Massachusetts claimed that Microsoft may beunlawfully wielding its desktop dominance to put the squeeze on searchengines and on document formats like Adobe Acrobat. Massachusetts is theonly government entity still pursuing Microsoft through the U.S. courts,and its attempt to overturn the consent decree is currently before afederal appeals court in Washington, D.C.
VANCOUVER - A student in British Columbia who made news around the worldwhen he took on Microsoft over his domain name now stands to make thousandsof dollars on the Internet auction site eBay.
[SR Editor's Note: Actually, a lot of the bids were bogus. The winning bidwas for $1,037.00 US from buyandsellyams. The auction ended on 06-Feb-0401:24:05 EST.http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3382073018&category=2312 ]
Mike Rowe, from the Victoria area of B.C., has put his 25 pages ofcorrespondence with Microsoft's lawyers up for auction on eBay, along withan inch-thick document outlining Microsoft's case to the World IntellectualProperty Organization in Geneva.
"I have two copies of these and I will be keeping one for my own personalmemoirs," Rowe wrote in the text accompanying the Internet auction item.
By 1 p.m. ET Friday, there were 98 bids for the material. Bidding hadsoared to over $33,000, with six and a half days to go before the saleclosed.
Rowe, 17, found himself at the wrong end of an international copyrightcomplaint a few weeks ago when he refused to give up the address for hisweb-development Internet site, mikerowesoft.com.
When Microsoft told him he had to remove the site from the web and offeredto reimburse him $10 for the cost of registering the domain name, herefused.
"I felt sort of insulted at that time because I'd spent so much timedesigning my website," Rowe told the CBC. "So I guess in spite, I e-mailedthem back asking for $10,000, and that didn't go over too well."
Microsoft lawyers fired back a 25-page letter and an inch-thick documentoutlining their case to the World Intellectual Property Organization inGeneva.
* FROM JAN. 23, 2004: Microsoft and mikerowesoft.com come to terms
Eventually he and Microsoft settled, after news of the dispute broke andmillions of people logged on to mikerowesoft.com to check it out.
The company agreed to pay any expenses the high school student incurredduring the process, provide him with Microsoft certification training, andgive him an Xbox video game system.
Written by CBC News Online staff
What's new: When Microsoft prolonged support for Windows 98 and other older Windows versions, many customers applauded the move. But some analysts said it wasn't necessarily an act of goodwill.A move by Microsoft to extend support for an older version of Windowsunderscores a new reality for the software giant: Convincing customers toupgrade is becoming much more difficult.
Earlier this month, Microsoft backtracked from a decision to end supportfor Windows 98 and other older Windows versions, pledging to continuesupport until 2006.
While many customers applauded the move, some analysts said that thedecision may be more than an act of goodwill. According to recent surveys,about one-quarter of all PCs run Windows 98 or older versions of Windows."Better to have people stay on Windows 98 than to start investigatingthings like Linux," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch.
Microsoft maintains that it was just looking out for customers--mainly indeveloping markets--when it extended support for Windows 98, Windows 98Second Edition and Windows ME. Of course, the call for Linux on the desktophas been strongest in emerging markets such as China, as some governments,both foreign and domestic, are actively investigating whether to switchfrom Windows to other operating systems.
Whatever the company's motives, the move highlights a growing area ofconcern for Microsoft: How can the software maker persuade existingcustomers--especially consumers who see their current software as "goodenough"--to regularly upgrade? Excluding new hardware sales, the companyderives 42 percent of its revenue from one-time software licenses andupgrades.
Microsoft has historically used two methods to move its customers to a newrelease of Windows or Office: Convince them of the merits of upgrading orcut off support, said Gartenberg. The threat of a support cutoff forWindows 98 undoubtedly got some people to upgrade, but as the deadlineneared, Microsoft saw that not everyone was going to make the switch.
"A lot of the marketplace said, 'We're not going to be pushed along,"Gartenberg said.
Some consumers have machines that just can't be upgraded to run Windows XP."We have older hardware and are unwilling to invest at the drop of a hatthousands of dollars to refit the hardware," said Mike Flynn, a softwareconsultant based in the Seattle area.
Comments like that underscore the need for Microsoft to do more to convincecustomers, particularly consumers and small-business owners, of theadvantages of moving to a more modern operating system, analysts said."They haven't done a phenomenal job yet of evangelizing folks to get on toWindows XP," the most current version of Windows on the desktop, Gartenbergsaid. "Getting folks on Windows XP really should be the priority at thispoint."
The company has tried to convince customers to upgrade more regularly,particularly through licensing programs in which customers pay an annualfee to get access to all updates for a particular product. However,analysts have expressed concern that the company's take fromlicenses--known as its unearned revenue balance--has dipped sharply in thelast two quarters. Licensing accounts for just over a quarter ofMicrosoft's revenue.
And if some customers are still clinging to a 6-year-old version ofWindows, will they want new, more complex versions now in development?Microsoft is spending billions of dollars to develop Longhorn, the codename for a new version of Windows expected in 2006.
"I think it depends on the use cases; for the moms and pops that use(Windows) for e-mail, no, or enterprises that keep it around because theyrun some ancient DOS apps, probably not," said Steve O'Grady, an analyst atresearch firm RedMonk.
Microsoft argues that the issue of whether or not to support Windows 98 isnot a major one for large companies, saying much of its support request forthe older operating systems is coming from consumers overseas. Mostcompanies, Microsoft says, upgrade their operating systems within thefive-year period during which it offers mainstream support.
However, polls show that Microsoft's older operating systems still enjoywidespread use, both worldwide and at large corporations in the UnitedStates. AssetMetrix, a firm that advises companies on software upgrades,said in December that 80 percent of the companies it surveyed had at leastone PC running Windows 95 or 98. Of those companies that did have one ofthe older operating systems, Windows 95 and 98 made up nearly 40 percent ofall systems.
Given those numbers, it made sense for Microsoft to extend support, saidSteve O'Halloran, managing director of AssetMetrix Research Labs. Squeezedby shrinking information technology budgets, many companies didn't upgradeover the past few years, he said. "The customer was needing support, andMicrosoft was gracious enough to throw them a lifeline. It's in everybody'sbest interest.
"Those old Pentiums--sub-500MHz machines--are still in considerablenumbers. Until those machines are properly retired, the ability to migrateto an operating system with greater requirements won't happen."
The hidden cost
However, while many hailed the decision to extend Windows 98 support as anunambiguous victory for the consumer, others said there is a definite costto both businesses and consumers who choose to stay with the oldersoftware.
Continued support from Microsoft will likely keep Windows 98 machinesaround longer, which means other software developers will have to supportthe OS longer, said Ray Vizzone, chief technology officer of RecommendedTest Labs. Vizzone, whose company helps software makers determine whichoperating systems they need to test their products against, said thatschools, in particular, won't upgrade until they have to.
"Education tends to stay with older OSes longer," Vizzone said. "Thosedeveloping for the education market would like not to test on so manyoperating systems."
But with Microsoft prolonging support, Vizzone said, Windows 98 is likelyto remain fairly prevalent in schools. "As we go back to our clients, we'readvising them that Windows 98 really can't be removed from your testingmatrix."
Companies will need to spend money to ensure backward compatibility thatotherwise could go into developing new features.
Another cost comes in the danger of crying wolf, argued Michael Cherry, ananalyst at research firm Directions on Microsoft. "Some customers have goneto management and in good faith said, 'We need to upgrade because supportis going to end,'" he said.
With Microsoft's about-face on Windows 98 support, the next time anend-of-life deadline looms, companies may decide to delay their upgrade tosee if Microsoft blinks.
"I fully believe Microsoft has a right to set these end-of-life dates,"Cherry said. However, he added, they should be more fixed. "This sort oftrial balloon lifecycle is just no good for anybody."
Microsoft, for its part, points out that the end-of-life dates are alwaysminimum support commitments, meaning the company could choose to extendsupport beyond those dates. The company said it has received only positiveresponses to the change, though a representative said that in the future,if Microsoft has to change its support plans for a product, it will do soearlier.
"I think if we make a change to a support lifecycle we will make thosechanges sooner in the support lifecycle," said Andy Erlandson, director ofproduct support services for Microsoft. "That's one thing we learned fromthis go-around."
Linux waiting in the wings
The coming years may represent the best opportunity yet for Linux to makeheadway against Windows on the desktop, given customers' ambivalence towardupgrading, combined with Microsoft's extended product delivery schedule.The company is not planning a major upgrade to Windows XP until Longhornarrives, perhaps around 2006. But when it does arrive, Microsoft promises amajor advance that could widen the gap between what Windows has to offerversus competing operating systems. "Longhorn--if they can deliver on thevision--will be a very compelling upgrade, I think," RedMonk's O'Gradysaid.
"That's why Linux has to get established now," he said. "I think theclimate is never going to be better for them and is likely to getsignificantly more difficult" with Longhorn.
On the server side of its operating system business, Microsoft faces asimilar challenge. Windows NT 4 Server--long superceded by both Windows2000 and Windows Server 2003--still accounts for more than a quarter ofWindows server installations. Paid support for NT 4 is ending at the end ofthis year, a fact that Microsoft touts prominently on a special Web sitegeared toward convincing server customers to upgrade to Windows Server2003.
The software maker is walking a fine line, as it tries to gently nudgecustomers away from NT 4.0 without pushing them away from Windows entirely.
Sensing an opportunity, IBM last week launched an effort to try and wooWindows NT users to its Linux-based servers. An executive from Big Bluepredicted that the workload from as many as half of the 2 million serversout there could eventually migrate to Linux-based machines.
Microsoft executives acknowledge the looming threat. "Anytime a customer isconsidering a platform change the field is wide open, not just Linux," saidJim Hebert, a general manager in Microsoft's Windows Server group.
Bottom line: Persuading existing customers to upgrade is becoming more and more difficult. As the threat of Linux looms, the software giant needs to convince consumers and small-business owners in particular of the advantages of moving to a more modern operating system.CNET News.com's Mike Ricciuti contributed to this report.
Related News
* LinuxWorld: Novell's debutante ball - January 20, 2004
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5142679.html
* Older Windows versions win renewed support - January 12, 2004
http://news.com.com/2100-1016-5139644.html
* Users cling to old Microsoft operating systems - December 12, 2003
http://news.com.com/2100-1016-5121458.html
* Get this story's "Big Picture"
http://news.com.com/2104-1012-5151137.html
Should people have to buy electronic stamps to send e-mail?
Some Internet experts have long suggested that the rising tide of junke-mail, or spam, would turn into a trickle if senders had to pay even aslittle as a penny for each message they sent. Such an amount might be minorfor legitimate commerce and communications, but it could destroy businessesthat send a million offers in hopes that 10 people will respond. The ideahas been dismissed both as impractical and against the free spirit of theInternet.
Now, though, the idea of e-mail postage is getting a second look from theowners of the two largest e-mail systems in the world: Microsoft and Yahoo.
Ten days ago, Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, told the World EconomicForum in Davos, Switzerland, that spam would not be a problem in two years,in part because of systems that would require people to pay money to sende-mail. Yahoo, meanwhile, is quietly evaluating an e-mail postage planbeing developed by Goodmail, a Silicon Valley start-up company.
"The fundamental problem with spam is there is not enough friction insending e-mail," said Brad Garlinghouse, Yahoo's manager for communicationsproducts.
The company is intrigued by the idea of postage, Garlinghouse said, becauseit would force mailers to send only those offers a significant number ofpeople might accept. "All of a sudden, spammers can't behave without regardfor the Internet providers' or end users' interests," he said.
Neither Yahoo nor Microsoft have made any commitment to charging postage,in part because the idea still faces substantial opposition among Internetusers.
"Damn if I will pay postage for my nice list," said David Farber, aprofessor at Carnegie Mellon University, who runs a mailing list ontechnology and policy with 30,000 recipients. He said electronic postagesystems are likely to be too complex and would charge noncommercial userswho should be able to send e-mail free.
"I suspect the cost of postage will start out small and it will rapidlyescalate," he added.
Restarting talks
In the meantime, the big Internet providers, including Microsoft and Yahoo,in recent weeks have renewed talks that stalled last year about creatingtechnological standards to help identify the senders of legitimate e-mail.That way, spammers would either have to identify themselves or risk thatusers would discard all anonymous mail.
But for the big Internet service providers, or ISPs, the prospect of e-mailpostage creating a new revenue stream that could help offset the cost oftheir e-mail systems is undeniably attractive.
"Sending large volumes of e-mail involve costs that are paid for by theISPs and eventually by consumers," said Linda Beck, executive vicepresident for operations at EarthLink. "Should there be some sort offinancial responsibility borne by the originators of these large volumeprograms? I think there should." E-mail between private individuals, sheadded, ought to remain free.
Differentiating among classes of e-mail is one of the substantial technicaldifficulties that e-mail postage proposals face. In wrestling with thismatter, academic researchers have proposed complex stamp systems in whicheach e-mail recipient sets the price for a message to enter his or herin-box. Gates talked at Davos about a system that would allow users towaive charges for friends and relatives.
Goodmail, founded by Daniel T. Dreymann, an Israeli entrepreneur, isdeveloping a system that it hopes will be easier to adopt. It proposes thatonly high-volume mailers pay postage at first, at a rate of a penny amessage, with the money going to the e-mail recipient's Internet accessprovider. (The company suggests, but does not require, that the Internetproviders share the payments with their users, either through rebates or bylowering monthly fees.)
The Goodmail system is designed to work even if not all senders and not allInternet providers participate. A mass e-mailer would sign up withGoodmail, buying a block of stamps--actually an encrypted code number--thatit would insert in the header of each e-mail message. If the Internetprovider of the recipient participates in the system, it decrypts the stampand submits it to Goodmail. Only then is the sender's account charged apenny and the receiving ISP paid the penny, minus a service fee by Goodmailfor acting as a clearinghouse.
Senders do not pay for stamps that are not used, but they do pay whether ane-mail recipient reads the message or not.
Under this plan, Internet providers would still accept incoming e-mailwithout stamps. But that mail would be subject to the same sort of spamfilters in use now, which can at times divert legitimate mail. The Internetproviders would deliver all stamped mail without any filter. Goodmail doesnot require that stamped mail be requested by the recipient, the so-calledopt-in requirement of most other antispam systems.
"The very notion that I have to get permission to send you a marketingmessage doesn't make sense and is not good public policy," said RichardGingras, Goodmail's chief executive. Even so, he said that Goodmail wouldrequire mailers to verify their identities and to take people off theirmailing lists if such a request was made.
This kind of approach would require major policy changes by Internetproviders, which all ban unsolicited e-mail even if they have littleability to block it.
In fact, some experts worry that big spammers will indeed pay the postage.Charles Stiles, manager of the postmaster department at America Online,said he was concerned that such a system might restrict the wrong mail,adding, "It is the spammers who are the ones with the big pockets."
AOL is taking a different approach and is testing a system underdevelopment by the Internet Research Task Force. The system, called the"Sender Permitted From," or SPF, creates a way for the owner of an Internetdomain, like AOL.com, to specify which computers are authorized to sende-mail with AOL.com return addresses. That allows a recipient's e-mailsystem to determine whether a message being represented as coming fromsomeone at AOL.com really is from that address. Most spam being sent nowuses forged return addresses.
Microsoft has been floating a similar proposal, labeled "caller ID," thatcould be expanded in the future to accommodate more-sophisticated antispamapproaches, including Internet postage systems. Discussions are under wayamong the backers of SPF, Microsoft and others involved in e-mail to reacha compromise sender notification system.
All these proposals can run into problems, because there are legitimatecases when mail sent by one domain claims to be from another. For example,online greeting-card services will send messages with the return address ofthe person sending the card, even though the message does not go throughthe sender's e-mail account.
People taking part in the discussion say that companies like greeting-cardservices may need to change their e-mail software to comply with the newstandards.
"Every proposed scheme will break parts of the way e-mail works today,"said Hans Peter Brondmo, a senior vice president of Digital Impact who hasrepresented big e-mailers in the spam technology negotiations. Thechallenge, he said, is to find a system that will require as littleretrofitting as possible to e-mail systems.
Related News
* Gates reveals his 'magic solution' to spam - January 26, 2004
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5147491.html
* AOL tests caller ID for e-mail - January 22, 2004
http://news.com.com/2100-1032-5145065.html
* Commentary: Spammers must pay - December 16, 2003
http://news.com.com/2030-1028-5125275.html
* Bush OKs spam bill--but critics not convinced - December 16, 2003
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5124724.html
* Antispam methods aim to merge - October 24, 2003
http://news.com.com/2100-1038-5096820.html
* Get this story's "Big Picture"
http://news.com.com/2104-1032-5151925.html
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Put the inventor of the light-emitting diode and themaker of the world's fastest transistor together in a research laboratoryand what kinds of bright ideas might surface? One answer is alight-emitting transistor that could revolutionize the electronicsindustry.
Professors Nick Holonyak Jr. and Milton Feng at the University of Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign have uncovered a light-emitting transistor that couldmake the transistor the fundamental element in optoelectronics as well asin electronics. The scientists report their discovery in the Jan. 5 issueof the journal Applied Physics Letters.
"We have demonstrated light emission from the base layer of aheterojunction bipolar transistor, and showed that the light intensity canbe controlled by varying the base current," said Holonyak, a John BardeenProfessor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at Illinois.Holonyak invented the first practical light-emitting diode and the firstsemiconductor laser to operate in the visible spectrum.
"This work is still in the early stage, so it is not yet possible to saywhat all the applications will be," Holonyak said. "But a light-emittingtransistor opens up a rich domain of integrated circuitry and high-speedsignal processing that involves both electrical signals and opticalsignals."
A transistor usually has two ports: one for input and one for output. "Ournew device has three ports: an input, an electrical output and an opticaloutput," said Feng, the Holonyak Professor of Electrical and ComputerEngineering at Illinois. "This means that we can interconnect optical andelectrical signals for display or communication purposes." Feng is creditedwith creating the world's fastest bipolar transistor, a device thatoperates at a frequency of 509 gigahertz.
Graduate student Walid Hafez fabricated the light-emitting transistor inthe university's Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory. Unlike traditionaltransistors, which are built from silicon and germanium, the light-emittingtransistors are made from indium gallium phosphide and gallium arsenide.
"In a bipolar device, there are two kinds of injected carriers: negativelycharged electrons and positively charged holes," Holonyak said. "Some ofthese carriers will recombine rapidly, supported by a base current that isessential for the normal transistor function."
The recombination process in indium gallium phosphide and gallium arsenidematerials also creates infrared photons, the "light" in the researchers'light-emitting transistors. "In the past, this base current has beenregarded as a waste current that generates unwanted heat," Holonyak said."We've shown that for a certain type of transistor, the base currentcreates light that can be modulated at transistor speed."
Although the recombination process is the same as that which occurs inlight-emitting diodes, the photons in light-emitting transistors aregenerated under much higher speed conditions. So far, the researchers havedemonstrated the modulation of light emission in phase with a base currentin transistors operating at a frequency of 1 megahertz. Much higher speedsare considered certain.
"At such speeds, optical interconnects could replace electrical wiringbetween electronic components on a circuit board," Feng said. This workcould be the beginning of an era in which photons are directed around achip in much the same fashion as electrons have been maneuvered onconventional chips.
"In retrospect, we could say the groundwork for this was laid more than 56years ago with John Bardeen and Walter Brattain and their first germaniumtransistor," said Holonyak, who was Bardeen's first graduate student. "Butthe direct recombination involving a photon is weak in germanium materials,and John and Walter just wouldn't have seen the light - even if they hadlooked. If John were alive and we showed him this device, he would have tohave a big grin."
News Bureau, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
807 South Wright Street, Suite 520 East, Champaign, Illinois 61820-6219
Telephone 217 333-1085, Fax 217 244-0161
(CNN) --Television's Captain Kangaroo, Bob Keeshan, died Friday morning(1/23/04) in Vermont, a family friend told CNN. He was 76.
He died after a long illness, his family told The Associated Press.
"Captain Kangaroo," a children's show, featured the walrus-mustached,bowl-haircut Keeshan entertaining youngsters with his gentle, whimsicalhumor. Among the show's other characters were the puppets Bunny Rabbit andMr. Moose, as well as Dancing Bear and the laconic Mr. Green Jeans (HughBrannum).
The show ran on CBS from 1955 to 1985, and then moved to public televisionfor six more years. The show won six Emmys and three Peabody Awards.
The format was simplicity itself: Keeshan would wander through the TreasureHouse, wearing his distinctive big-pocketed coat, and talk with Brannum andthe puppets. He'd meet with guests, tell stories, and generally entertain.
Shows were frequently interrupted with silliness, such as hundreds ofping-pong balls dropping from the ceiling or Mr. Moose's knock-knock jokes.
But the mainstay was the grandfatherly Keeshan.
"I was impressed with the potential positive relationship betweengrandparents and grandchildren, so I chose an elderly character," Keeshansaid, according to the AP.
In a statement issued by his son Michael, Keeshan's family said: "Ourfather, grandfather and friend was as passionate for his family as he wasfor America's children. He was largely a private man living an often publiclife as an advocate for all that our nation's children deserve."
"Captain Kangaroo" aired in the early mornings on CBS until 1985, when thenetwork canceled the show to expand its morning news program.
Keeshan was named Broadcaster of the Year in 1979 by the InternationalRadio and Television Society and was inducted into the National Associationof Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1998. He also spent five years as thesilent Clarabell the Clown on "The Howdy Doody Show."
Keeshan was closely involved with health and child-care issues, serving onseveral boards and working to provide child care to the children of largecorporations.
When Fred Rogers, the gentle host of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," diedlast year, Keeshan recalled how they often spoke about the state ofchildren's programming, according to the AP.
"I don't think it's any secret that Fred and I were not very happy with theway children's television had gone," Keeshan said.
Born in 1927 in suburban Long Island, the future Captain Kangaroo grew upin Forest Hills, New York, and was an NBC page for his last year of highschool during World War II. He joined the Marines after graduation.
He returned to his page job after his discharge from the Marines, andattended Fordham University.
Keeshan is survived by three children and six grandchildren.
By Jeordan Legon
URL: http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/01/27/mydoom.spread/index.html
(CNN) --A sneaky e-mail worm continued to clog Internet traffic Tuesday,spreading faster than previous Web bugs by appearing as an innocuous errormessage.
The worm -- dubbed "MyDoom," "Novarg" or "WORM_MIMAIL.R" -- was copyingitself at a fierce pace, so fast that some companies were having to shutdown their mail servers to stop it. And a new clue was emerging as to thesource of the infection.
Virus experts suggested MyDoom's author was a fan of the Linux open sourcecommunity, because the bug, which targets computers running MicrosoftWindows, launched a Denial of Service Attack on SCO's site. Utah-based SCOGroup, owner of the UNIX operating system, claims some versions of theLinux operating system use its proprietary code.
"The MyDoom worm takes the Linux Wars to a new intensity," said ChrisBelthoff, an analyst for anti-virus firm Sophos. "It appears that theauthor of MyDoom may have taken the war of words from the courtrooms andInternet message boards to a new level by unleashing this worm whichattacks SCO's Web site."
Infected messages were intercepted in 142 countries and one in 12 e-mailsbeing protected by Britain-based MessageLabs was carrying the worm, theanti-virus vendor reported. In comparison, the widespread SoBig virus thathit last August -- at its peak -- only attacked 1 out of 17 e-mails handledby the firm. Web-monitoring firm Keynote said MyDoom slowed Internetperformance significantly Monday afternoon. And the worm appeared to causean "uptick in terms of performance" Tuesday morning, said Keynote analystRoopak Patel.
"We're essentially watching the virus follow the sun as the various timezones come online," MessageLabs Chief Technical Officer Mark Sunner said.
The worm is contained in e-mails with random senders' addresses and subjectlines. While the body of the e-mail varies, it usually includes whatappears to be an error message, such as: "The message cannot be representedin 7-bit ASCII encoding and has been sent as a binary attachment."
While many computer users are savvy about not opening executable files orother attachments that may contain viruses, the latest worm masks itself asan innocuous text document or a file that your computer appears unable toread.
"This one is almost begging you to click on the attachment," said SharonRuckman, the head of anti-virus firm Symantec's security response team.
When loaded, some versions of the worm launch Notepad and show randomcharacters. At the same time it replicates itself, opens a backdoor thatcould allow hackers to break in and, in some instances, installs a"keystroke" program that records everything being typed, includingpasswords and credit card numbers.
The worm also was spreading via popular Internet file sharing networks suchas Kazaa, where it appeared with names such as "Winamp5" "ICQ2004-final."Nullsoft's Winamp offers an MP3 music-playing tool and ICQ is a popular Webchat program.
Anti-virus experts said MyDoom, which surfaced Monday afternoon, was ontrack to hit even more machines than Nimda, a 2001 worm that spread widelywith an attachment that read "Readme.exe."
This time, besides the "binary attachment" message, MyDoom comes with alldifferent file extensions including .pif, .zip and .csr. It also uses anattachment icon similar to one used for Windows text messages. All of this,security experts warn, was succeeding in tricking people into thinking thee-mail was legitimate.
The best thing to do to stop the spread of the worm, experts said, was toignore or delete it. And to update anti-virus software.
After a relative lull in the number of viruses distributed during theholidays, anti-virus experts said last week's "Bagle" worm and now "MyDoom"were keeping Internet security gurus on their toes.
"The virus writers [are] ... back from vacation and they've started pushingout their creations," said Vincent Gullotto, who runs Network Associates'McAfee Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team.
--MyDoom virus spells double trouble - http://news.com.com/2009-7349-5148600.html
(CNN) --E-mail users are being warned about a new identity theft scam thattries to snare victims by accusing them of violating the government'santi-terrorism Patriot Act.
The fraudulent message appears to be from the Federal Deposit InsuranceCorporation (FDIC) and asks people to verify their identity by clicking ona bogus Web link.
"In cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, Federal, Stateand Local Governments [sic] your account has been denied insurance from theFederal Deposit Insurance Corporation due to suspected violations of thePatriot Act," the fraudulent e-mail states.
It goes on to claim that the person's deposit insurance will be suspendeduntil certain private information, such as a bank account number, issubmitted.
Hundreds of complaints have been registered throughout the United Statessince Friday, the FDIC said, but there's no way of knowing exactly how manyconsumers may have fallen victim. The FDIC and the FBI are investigatingthe source of the fraudulent e-mails and seeking to disrupt them.
An FDIC official said Monday the federal agencies seemed to haveeffectively shut down the scam over the weekend, but the originators of thee-mail have changed their tactics. The agency said there are now a fewversions of the fraudulent e-mail circulating, each steering users todifferent Web sites.
"Unfortunately, they're still at it," the FDIC representative said. "But itappears that most consumers are calling to ask about it before doinganything."
No one should access the Web link provided within the body of the e-mail incase it spawns a computer virus, the FDIC official added. She said althoughthe fake Web sites look like the FDIC page, there was no computer intrusionat the FDIC offices.
The e-mails initially appeared to come from Pakistan, but now they seem tobe coming from computers in Taiwan and China, the FDIC said. However, thestolen data appears to be funneled through an Internet address in Russia.
It's not unusual for Internet scam artists to hijack "innocent" computersin various parts of the world to cover their online tracks.
Spoofing a particular agency or company in an e-mail message is known as"phishing" or "carding."
If someone receives an apparent "phishing" message, the Federal TradeCommission (FTC) recommends that people contact the firm requesting thedata by phone to verify the information. The FTC also suggests reviewingbank and credit card records on a regular basis, and reporting suspiciousactivity to the agency.
Previous "phishing" scams have targeted customers of companies such eBay,Citibank and PayPal.
[SR Editor's Note: Below is the text of this scam message, provided to us byone of our own members who received it. Beware.]
To whom it may concern;ToCIn cooperation with the Department Of Homeland Security, Federal, State and Local Governments your account has been denied insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation due to suspected violations of the Patriot Act. While we have only a limited amount of evidence gathered on your account at this time it is enough to suspect that currency violations may have occurred in your account and due to this activity we have withdrawn Federal Deposit Insurance on your account until we verify that your account has not been used in a violation of the Patriot Act.
As a result Department Of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge has advised the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to suspend all deposit insurance on your account until such time as we can verify your identity and your account information. Please verify through our IDVerify below. This information will be checked against a federal government database for identity verification. This only takes up to a minute and when we have verified your identity you will be notified of said verification and all suspensions of insurance on your account will be lifted.
http://www.fdic.gov/idverify/cgi-bin/index.htm
(the actual link goes to another domain)Failure to use IDVerify below will cause all insurance for your account to be terminated and all records of your account history will be sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington D.C. for analysis and verification. Failure to provide proper identity may also result in a visit from Local, State or Federal Government or Homeland Security Officials. Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
Donald E. Powell
Chairman Emeritus FDICJohn D. Hawke, Jr.
Comptroller of the CurrencyMichael E. Bartell
Chief Information Officer
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q834489
The desktop PC will begin getting a makeover in the second half of 2004,with the movement creating "tumultuous transformations" in the PC industry,according to a new study.
The changes, said Joe D'Elia of market-research firm iSuppli, will bedriven by hardware form factor and interface improvements. "The year 2004will bring tumultuous transformation to the market that will forever alterthe nature and appearance of PCs," said D'Elia. "PC and motherboard makers[will] flood the market with a host of new products in 2004."
D'Elia, iSuppli's PC market director, said the changes will bring smaller,more-robust desktops that offer major benefits to business users, becausethe result will be a smaller footprint on the desktop. Combined with flat-panel screens, the new PCs will leave desks with more space.
A series of developments are combining to bring about the changes, withmost of them centered on the new Balanced Technology Extended interface,said D'Elia. The BTX interface specification provides a flexible standards-based form factor foundation that supports the implementation of newdesktop technologies, including PCI Express and Serial ATA.
In addition, a move away from the PCI and AGP buses to the single PCIExpress bus will come into play, as PC interfaces among processors, memory,and drives will work more efficiently together. With its 66-MHz speed, thePCI bus performed well when PC processors were in the 100- to 200-MHzrange.
"The interfaces have been out of sync for some time," said D'Elia. "Theprocessors have had to wait for the buses to catch up." PCI Express, aserial bus, will bring all the interfaces closer in data-exchange speedsand lead to radically new socket and board layouts. "The acceptance of BTXas the main standard will mean that parts for smaller PCs will be availableoff the shelf. Thus, smaller PCs ultimately will become the norm, withassociated cost reductions making them acceptable in the mainstreammarket."
The smaller and more power-efficient PCs will find new places in livingrooms. D'Elia said they will be small enough to fit on top of a typicalaudio-components rack. Also, since the BTX spec establishes improvedmanagement of the thermal envelope in PCs, the number of fans can belowered. "If you want to move the PC from the den or home office to theliving room," D'Elia said, "you're not going to put up with a half-dozenfans creating a howling gale."
There are major changes coming in disk and memory interfaces, too. SerialATA will replace the aging ATA drive interface. D'Elia says that inbusiness applications, serial ATA and serial attached SCSI will replace theworkhorse SCSI interconnection. As for memory, Double data rate will bephased out by DDR2 memory technology. Virtually all the changes--mostenabled by the BTX spec--will bring about smaller PCs with improved powermanagement and wholesale socket and connection changes. As a result,desktops will likely be half the size of today's machines.
D'Elia sees a "good news-bad news" scenario in all this. The bad news isthere will be a major disruption in the supply chain, as motherboards andcomponents change dramatically; the good news will come in the form ofopportunities for new suppliers and players to enter the field during theperiod of upheaval.
I normally don't use screen savers--I think they're pretty useless ingeneral. However, I recently downloaded a free screen saver that actuallyprovides interesting info while your PC is not in use.
Sun Clock 5 from Map Maker Ltd provides you with a nice display ofworld time and other information while you are not using your PC. It'scompatible with modern Windows versions (98/ME/NT/2K/XP). It may be used asa screen saver (full screen) or run at any other time in a windowed mode.
Sun Clock 5 displays the globe as a Mercator projection (flattened for yourdisplay) and identifies all time zones. You may customize the display toshow local time in an unlimited number of locations. The map can also beoverlayed with a shadow projection which shows the areas of light and darkacross the globe. Moving your cursor around the map shows details aboutother locations via Windows tooltips.
Your local location can be programmed into the program. I had a littletrouble figuring out how to enter the exact longitude/latitude numbers forChampaign so I just estimated them as -88 longitude and 40 latitude. If youchoose your local location Sun Clock 5 will display an analog clock,digital clock, Julian date, sunrise/sunset, moonrise/moon set and positionsfor the sun and moon on the same screen as the globe map. Alternatively youcan choose just an analog clock, star map, sun path or calendar display.
As I mentioned before, Sun Clock 5 is free and published by Map Maker Ltdapparently to publicize their other professional software offerings. Icould not detect and adware/spyware present in the program.
I love this little program and now run it on most of my PCs.
You may download Sun Clock 5 from: http://www.mapmaker.com/sunclock.htm
1. There's a great new Knoppix-based distribution that allows you to readand write to an NTFS partition using emulation. You can checkout theSlashdot post here:
2. Knoppix is becoming more and more popular as a rescue disk for Linux*and* Windows computers. Here's an article that gives you tons of tips onhow to use Knoppix to help you fix any computer:
http://www.distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=review-knoppix
3. Zope 2.7 and Plone 2.0 have have been released! Zope is a free webapplication server that is written in Python and C that is very easy to useand develop with. Plone is Content Management System (CMS) applicationthat runs on Zope. It is also very easy to use and popular. For moreinformation, please see the following link:
http://www.zopezen.org/Members/pupq/270_264_p2
4. Mozilla Firefox 0.8 has been released. Firefox is a renamed version ofFirebird, which has become fairly popular with Windows and Linux users inCUCUG. The new version has tons of new features, including a Windowsinstaller as part of the Windows installation. Check out the press releaseat the following location:
http://www.mozilla.org/press/mozilla-2004-02-09.html
5. Mozilla Thunderbird 0.5 has been released. Thunderbird is likeFirefox, except that it's an e-mail client. It is free, easy-to-use, andcompatible with Netscape Mail. Check out the press release at thefollowing location:
http://www.mozilla.org/press/mozilla-2004-02-09.html
6. A new Linux distribution called Mepis is gaining a lot of criticalpraise. It comes on two cd's and can either be used as a "live cd" likeKnoppix or it can be installed on your hard drive with a few mouse clicks. I installed it this weekend and it is very easy to use and install. Ifyou're looking for a great "newbie" Debian-based Linux distribution that'seasy to install administer, then check this one out. I (Tom Purl) willhave a few copies of it on CD at the February meeting. Here are thepertinent links:
http://www.mepis.org
http://desktops.linux.com/article.pl?sid=04/01/16/1324227&tid=92
The SCO Group Inc. has taken its fight with the Linux community to CapitolHill. Earlier this month, the company sent the 535 members of Congress aletter that called Linux and open-source software a threat to the securityand economy of the U.S., SCO confirmed yesterday.
The letter is dated Jan. 8 and was published on the Internet this week byan open-source lobbying organization called the Open Source and IndustryAlliance (OSAIA). It states that the commoditizing influence of open-sourcesoftware such as the Linux operating system is bad for the U.S. economy andargues that open-source also skirts export controls that govern commercialproducts.
The letter is available online (download PDF - http://www.osaia.org/letters/sco_hill.pdf).
"A computer expert in North Korea who has a number of personal computersand an Internet connection can download the latest version of Linux,complete with multiprocessing capabilities misappropriated from Unix, and,in short order, build a virtual supercomputer," the letter says.
The letter, which is signed by SCO CEO Darl McBride, was meant to educateU.S. lawmakers on "infringement issues with regard to Linux," said BlakeStowell, a SCO spokesman.
With dozens of countries considering regulating the use of open-source, SCObelieves it's "only a matter of time before others in our country would putlegislation on the table around open-source software," said Stowell.
Linux creator Linus Torvalds disputed SCO's claim that Linux containsmisappropriated code.
SCO is also wrong to suggest that U.S. export controls apply to software,Torvalds said. "Those export controls apply to hardware, not software," hesaid in an e-mail interview. Either way, he added, a computer's operatingsystem isn't much help when it comes to designing atomic warheads. "Youdon't do much with a supercomputer if you don't have the software to run ontop of it," he said.
SCO sued IBM last March, claiming that the larger company illegallycontributed code to Linux that was derived from SCO's version of Unix,called System V Unix. SCO has since claimed that Linux also includes othercode that violates its System V copyrights, but the company has beenheavily criticized for failing to back up these assertions with proof.
In fact, Linux vendor Novell Inc. now maintains that SCO doesn't even ownthe copyrights to the System V source code. SCO filed a "slander of title"lawsuit against Novell over this matter earlier this week(http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/linux/story/0,10801,89249,00.html).
SCO's attempt to lobby Congress against open-source software shows that itdoesn't believe its own claims, said Ed Black, the president and CEO of theOSAIA. If its allegations are true, SCO should be encouraging people to useLinux instead of criticizing it, said Black. "If you had a [legitimate]claim, you'd say, 'The more people who are using it, the more I can collectfrom.'"
Black said he believes that SCO is operating at the behest of MicrosoftCorp., whose Windows operating system is threatened by Linux's popularity."Most people believe that SCO is ... a foil for our friends in Redmond tocreate fear, uncertainty and doubt about Linux," he said.
After calling Linux and open-source software "un-American" and "a cancer,"Microsoft last July announced that it had switched tactics and would resortto analyst reports and case studies instead of name-calling in its battleagainst Linux.
SCO, which was paid millions of dollars in software licensing fees byMicrosoft last year, has picked up where the software giant left off, saidBlack. "They've become a PR firm and a litigation firm for Microsoft," hesaid. "At one time, they actually had a product, but that doesn't existanymore."
SCO continues to sell its UnixWare and OpenServer software, butincreasingly, SCO's activities have focused on the company's Linux battle.SCO has been ramping up its licensing efforts. Last week, the company beganmaking its Intellectual Property License for Linux available to small andmedium-size businesses in the U.S. for the first time.
Microsoft had no influence on the Jan. 8 letter, said Stowell. SCO andMicrosoft have discussed the Linux intellectual property issues, he said,but Stowell disputed Black's claim that his company was working forMicrosoft to attack Linux. "It's not something we have strategy meetings onor anything," he said.
Separately, SCO yesterday revealed that a court hearing on the IBM lawsuitin the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, scheduled for today,has been postponed until Feb 6. The court had been expected to examinewhether SCO had complied with a December court order compelling it toprovide meaningful details of how IBM allegedly violated its intellectualproperty.
"Both sides felt we would be better served if the hearing were postponed,"said Stowell.
At the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in New York this week, Novell was inthe spotlight as the new kid on the Linux block. And there's much at stakein the open-source community, as SCO's lawsuits threaten to undercut theoperating system's momentum.
Open-source shifts spell an end for UnitedLinux
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5146194.html?tag=nl
The four-company consortium formed to counterbalance Red Hat's dominance inthe Linux market is all but dead, its one-time general manager tellsNews.com.
Microsoft faces off with open-source fans
http://news.com.com/2100-7346-5145474.html?tag=nl
An executive braves the crowds at LinuxWorld to field questions about howMicrosoft conducts business and whether it will consider making Linuxversions of applications such as Office and SQL Server.
Sun to IBM: Go Linux with us
http://news.com.com/2100-7346-5145328.html?tag=nl
The company says it's committed to a wholesale move from the Microsoftdesktop and is prepared to help IBM do the same.
How Amazon puts Linux to the test
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5145482.html?tag=nl
An Amazon exec describes in detail how the online retailer is using theopen-source operating system in nearly every corner of its business.
Linux--love me, love me not
http://news.com.com/2030-1069-5146336.html?tag=nl
news.commentary - Adoption of the operating system varies widely byindustry. Services, technology and telecommunications lead the charge,Forrester says, but others, including financial services, are holding out.
HP opens up to win Sun customers
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5144917.html?tag=nl
Hewlett-Packard says it garnered $75 million in revenue in 2003 with aprogram that encourages customers of rival Sun Microsystems to move to HPservers that run Linux.
IBM pushes Linux on Power processors
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5144897.html?tag=nl
Big Blue puts more weight behind its effort to attract customers to Linuxthat runs on its own Power processors, an initiative that distinguishes IBMfrom its competitors in the server market.
Intel mulls Linux Centrino support
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5145073.html?tag=nl
The chipmaker will likely take a two-phase approach to providing softwarethat Linux needs to take advantage of Centrino chips.
Novell advocates open source
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5144535.html?tag=nl
The Linux convert proclaims its strong support for open-sourceprogramming--but makes the case for a pragmatic approach that blends in itsown proprietary applications.
Red Hat plans Linux push in China
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5145099.html?tag=nl
The leading seller of the Linux operating system plans an expansion intoChina, potentially including a partnership with China's Red Flag Linux.
SCO sues Novell over copyright claims
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5143977.html?tag=nl
On the eve of LinuxWorld, the Linux adversary escalates its dispute withNovell over ownership of the Unix operating system.
Linux's 'center of gravity'
http://news.com.com/2008-7344-5144024.html?tag=nl
newsmaker - Linux lab leader Stuart Cohen heads a consortium that findsitself on the front lines in the battle over the future of open-sourcedevelopment.
MySQL and JBoss cozy up
http://news.com.com/2100-7346-5144084.html?tag=nl
The companies form a partnership to jointly sell and market products tolarge corporate customers interested in expanding their use of open-sourcesoftware.
Linux penguin waddles to GameCube
http://news.com.com/2100-1043-5144302.html?tag=nl
A group of programmers is working to expand the reach of Linux software tovideo game consoles and wants Nintendo's GameCube to be next.
Red Hat makes provisions for utility computing
http://news.com.com/2100-7784-5144430.html?tag=nl
The company launches its network service, as expected, so customers can setup or reconfigure Linux servers from afar, a "provisioning" system thatmarks its entry into utility computing.
Sun plans Linux software push
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5144074.html?tag=nl
The company plans to expand its Linux software portfolio substantially overthe coming year, including a version of its Java server software suite.
SuSE wins Linux a new security badge
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5144459.html?tag=nl
Novell announces that SuSE Linux, the version of the open-source operatingsystem it acquired earlier this month, has passed a higher level ofsecurity certification.
LinuxWorld: Novell's debutante ball
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5142679.html?tag=nl
New partnerships with server makers Dell and Egenera will be among thedisplays of Novell's newly bought Linux status at the LinuxWorld Conferenceand Expo beginning Wednesday.
Red Hat offers software warranty
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5143326.html?tag=nl
In response to SCO Group's legal action against Linux, Red Hat is offeringnew legal protection that guarantees the company will replace any codefound to infringe copyrights.
Qualcomm taps Linux for wireless wares
http://news.com.com/2100-1039-5143381.html?tag=nl
The company plans to expand development and operations of electronic games,e-mail, ring tones and other wireless applications on IBM Linux-basedservers and software.
Oracle apps to work with Mozilla
http://news.com.com/2100-1012-5142791.html?tag=nl
The database company is working on a project to let Mozilla's open-sourcedesktop software work better with Oracle's business applications.
Linux brings in $2.5 billion for HP
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5141324.html?tag=nl
Hewlett-Packard says it garnered $2.5 billion selling Linux-relatedproducts and services in 2003.
Previous Coverage
Red Hat raises $600 million with bond -
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5139640.html?tag=nl
SGI releases midrange Linux server -
http://news.com.com/2100-1010-5138719.html?tag=nl
Intel chips in on anti-SCO defense fund -
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5138820.html?tag=nl
Torvalds updates Linux kernel -
http://news.com.com/2110-7344-5138566.html?tag=nl
Wind River joins Linux group -
http://news.com.com/2110-7344-5138005.html?tag=nl
IBM turns inward with Linux desktop project -
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5137815.html?tag=nl
Software makers team on Asian Linux -
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5137250.html?tag=nl
SuSE, IBM in retail equipment alliance -
http://news.com.com/2100-1016-5137098.html?tag=nl
Ximian software gets SuSE support -
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5136383.html?tag=nl
Microsoft ad campaign digs at Linux -
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One of the first things I learned at LinuxWorld upon arriving at the showin New York City's Javits Convention Center is that next year's show istaking place in Boston. Suggesting that some sort of scandal is behind themove, open source maverick Bruce Perens told me over dinner that somejournalist needs to do his or her homework. "That sort of story is not inmy wheelhouse," I told Bruce.
Scandals aside, I was happy that the show was moving within commutingdistance, but I was also a little disappointed. For the first time sincemoving to Massachusetts, I took the train to New York instead of flying onthe shuttle. Aside from having lots of room to spread out, every seat onthe Amtrak's high speed Acela has power outlets. No one was tellingpassengers when they could and couldn't use their electronics devices orcell phones or get out of their seats. On the downside, neither the trainstations nor the trains have any sort of Wi-Fi service. Apparently, an RFPhas just been completed and a provider has been selected to bring the Wi-Fiservice into six Eastern seaboard train stations by early summer:Baltimore, Wilmington , 30th St in Philadelphia, Penn Station (NYC),Providence, and the Rt. 128 station just outside of Boston.
The company has its sights set on the trains as well, but not until afterthe six stations are up and running. My guess is that the service won't befree. Whether you'll need to pay Amtrak or subscribe to some Wi-Fi providerremains to be seen. Fortunately, I always have plenty of work to dooff-line, so lack of connectivity isn't a deal breaker for me. If it were,I'd probably invest in a card to connect to Sprint's CDMA service (see "Whygo with WiFi when CDMA can do?").
The trip was pleasurable and relaxing compared to the rushed and stressfulairborne alternative. As I got off the train in Penn Station with almostfour hours of uninterrupted work (free of battery concerns) in my bag, Ipredicted I would never fly again to LinuxWorld. Little did I know thatLinuxWorld itself would be the one to make that prediction come true.
Wednesday, 8:15 am, The Tic Toc Diner
One of the funny things about LinuxWorld in New York in the dead of winteris the crystalline look on the faces of the folks from California's SiliconValley when the first stiff wind off the Hudson River hits them. Such werethe looks on the faces of Veritas' executives as we tried to hail a cab inthe heart of rush hour. To be fair, I'm from Boston and I was cold too.Prior to stepping onto the frozen tundra of New York City, I learned abouthow VMware's ESX Server was added to the list of other operating systemsthat are supported by Veritas' Cluster Technology (VCS). The announcementputs a unique twist (one that I explore in more detail in another column)on the sorts of systems that VCS has traditionally supported.
Wednesday, 9:23 am, The Jacob Javits Convention Center
I must be in the wrong place. It seems like everybody in the building,including some guy with an electronic lapel pin streaming words, is wearinga suit and tie. My suits and ties are back in Boston. The guy with themarquis on his lapel turns out to be Bruce Perens. This ain't yourBirkenstocked, pony-tailed father's LinuxWorld anymore, is it? I bypass theopportunity to corner Perens since I'm having dinner with him, Codeweaverspresident Jeremy White, and Linux Terminal Server Project's Erik Tyacklater tonight.
Wednesday, 10:00 am, Novell CEO keynote
Fresh from aquisitions of Ximian and SuSE, and a day after SCO announcesthat it's launching a suit, Novell CEO Jack Messman gives an impassionedkeynote about how his company has adopted a new religion: open source. Hesets the stage for two themes that for me will drive the focus ofLinuxWorld: raising the bar on managing everything from Linux desktops toservers to clusters and the SCO indemnification issue. Novell indemnifies.HP indemnifies. Red Hat announced it will replace any code found to beinfringing. But what about IBM, Sun, Dell and others?
Wednesday, 12:30 pm, BEA rountable
At an invite-only, closed-door roundtable, BEA trots out some of itsbiggest customers, and its own CIO Rhonda Hocker, to talk about how they'veall gone mission critical with Linux for their internal systems. Hockersaid, "In two year's time, Linux will be the operating system of choice forenterprise computing." My first thought was that this can't be good newsfor Sun whose systems have traditionally been paired with the majority ofBEA's Weblogic installations. Depending on what day it is and how the Sun,the moon and the stars are lined up, and how badly the data being furnishedto the research outlets by the vendors has been massaged, BEA's WebLogic iseither the top-selling or second most top-selling (behind IBM's WebSphere)Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE)-based application server. To make mattersworse for Sun, BEA Systems Java Runtime Group vice president and generalmanager Bob Griswold spoke in great detail of BEA's partnership with Intelto tune and optimize the company's various Java Runtime Environments (JREs)for use with Intel 32- and 64-bit processors. Intel Software and Solutionsgroup vice president and general manager Will Swope, who was sitting nextto Griswold, nodded silently in approval.
The two most interesting characters at the roundtable were Bob Schwarz,Northern Trust's vice president of worldwide technology, and DemetriMouratis, senior technical Unix architect. The two providing a rare peekinto how a Fortune 500 company deals with open source. For example, to keepits nose clean on issues relating to intellectual property, Northern Trustpays close attention to which of the Open Source Initiative-approved (http://www.opensource.org/) open source licenses is paired with atechnology that the company is interested in using. Said Schwarz, "So far,we've approved eight of the licenses. The most recent one was for Eclipse,which we've standardized on internally for development."
A Fortune 500 company going with Eclipse is just more bad news for Sun. Theopen source license that Schwarz was referring to is IBM's Common PublicLicense. I asked Schwarz what his perception was of the fact that IBM sofar has not joined the recently formed Java Tools Community to which heresponded, "Eclipse is a great tool. IBM is the way to go."
With Novell's CEO Jack Messman having just talked about how he expectsother industry vendors to emulate Novell's choice to offer indemnificationfrom the wrath of SCO to customers using Linux, I asked Schwarz andMouratis if Northern Trust was taking the potential liability seriously. Sofar, Northern Trust is standardized on Red Hat's distribution of Linux.According to Mouratis, "It is of concern to us legally, and as such we havediscussed the matter with our legal department. That said, every technologydecision is about managing business risk and this is no different. We'vegone way down the path with Red Hat and currently have no plans to changethat. But it's a situation that continues to develop and we are keeping aneye on it. We're confident that [sticking with Red Hat] is what's right forNorthern."
I also asked Schwarz and Mouratis their opinions when it comes to Windowsvs. Linux and security. Unlike BEA, which CIO Rhonda Hocker said is goingwith Linux on all new internal IT deployments moving forward, Schwarz spokeof how The Northern Trust is a strategically more heterogeneous. "Microsoftis a strategic vendor for us," said Schwarz. "We have Microsoft's .NetFramework deployed. Compared to Linux, the frequency of security and bugfixes on Windows has been a struggle to keep up with, but I can't say thatthe problem is solved by simply replacing it with Linux." Schwarz didacknowledge that the frequency of the patches can drive the cost ofinfrastructure management up. "The more servers you have and the moreapplications that the patches need to be tested against before applyingthem, the higher the cost, particularly if we discover a problem with oneof the patches," Schwarz said. "Fortunately, we haven't discovered problemswith any of the patches yet, so the time it takes us to patch is usuallywithin a few hours but never more than a day."
Wednesday, 3:00 pm, LinuxWorld Press Room
One of the big changes at this year's LinuxWorld compared to last year isthat Wi-Fi-based connectivity to the Internet is free. Like last year,there are only a couple of hot spots, but this time there's no $10 per daycharge. Proving the old axiom that you get what you pay for, theconnectivity situation was a mess. Despite signs that provided the detailson what Wi-Fi SSID to look for, no one was successfully getting aconnection, except for a technician with a walkie-talkie who periodicallyshowed up with his Wi-Fi-enabled iPaq to announce that everything is fine.Meanwhile, everyone in the press room tries to tell him he's mistaken, andhe leaves again. The problem never gets solved. This is either a realtestimony to the difficulty in bringing up ad hoc Wi-Fi networks, orLinuxWorld has made some terrible choices in equipment and/or technicians.Just another good reason to get that Sprint CDMA card.
Wednesday, 5:05 pm, La Giara Restaurant
I arrive almost an hour early for my dinner with Perens, White, and Tyack.The transportation situation outside LinuxWorld during rush hour in NewYork is a mess since cab drivers seem to avoid the Javits Center like theplague.I'm told that this is about the time that most cabbies do theirshift change, which explains why all the cabs driving by the Javits Centerhave their off-duty light on.
Fortunately, New York is full of vulture limousine drivers who are hip tothe problem. I negotiate a $30 fee to get across town to La Giara, a cozyItalian restaurant on New York's east side, to hook up with Perens, White,Tyack and Jill Ratkevic, a director from public relations firm Neale-Maye.
Over wine and spaghetti and meatballs, the discussion goes all over themap. As expected, I'm given a hard time for taking notes on a notebookrunning Windows. Tyack explains about how large enterprises are loving theLinux Terminal Server Project's http://www.ltsp.org thin-client technologyfor Linux because of the way it allows them to take old 233-MHz Pentium IIsystems and turn them into desktop terminals that are every bit as capableas a modern-day Linux desktop.
We contemplate the future of QuickTime, as I predict that video is in thefuture of Apple's iPods and that Apple will make some serious dough in themovie download business in the same way it is beginning to succeed withmusic. Perens points out that the deal that Jobs crafted with Disney couldmake that a reality sooner than we think.
The SCO indemnification issue comes up, and Perens unequivocally statesthat SCO has no case and that before I become too enamored with vendors whoare offering indemnification, I should read the fine print. "In every casethat I'm aware of, people hear they're indemnified and they're moresanguine than they should be because they don't know what the real terms ofthe indemnification are," Perens said.
My favorite Perens quote of the evening, however, had to do with hisoff-the-cuff summary of the open source movement: "Imagine what it took forMicrosoft to piss off so many people that they're all willing to work nightand day without pay just to bring that company down." I half wonder what,if anything, Microsoft would do differently if it could turn back theclocks.
Coming soon: Part 2 of my trip to Penguin Land, including conversationswith MySQL CEO Marten Mickos, ZEND President and CEO Doron Gerstel,Computer Associates Senior Vice President Sam Greenblatt, Scalix CEO JulieFarris, and AMD's Director of Worldwide Business Development, Kevin Knox.
You can write to me at david.berlind@cnet.com. If you're looking for mycommentaries on other IT topics, check the archives.
In Part 2 of my adventures at LinuxWorld, I talk with MySQL CEO MartenMickos, ZEND President and CEO Doron Gerstel, Computer Associates SeniorVice President Sam Greenblatt, Scalix CEO Julie Farris, and AMD's Directorof Worldwide Business Development, Kevin Knox.
Thursday, 9:10 am, Press Room, LinuxWorld
Thanks to the Morgans Hotel's front desk that refused to call me a cabuntil I was physically present in the lobby of the hotel, I was ten minuteslate to meet with MySQL CEO Marten Mickos and Marketing Vice President ZackUrlocker, and ZEND President and CEO Doron Gerstel. ZEND is "the PHPcompany" and PHP, according to Gerstel, is now the world's most widelydeployed scripting language for Web applications.
I suddenly realized that I was meeting with the "MP" part of "LAMP." LAMP,a.k.a. Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP, is the most commonly deployed open sourcestack. The primary point of the meeting was for the two CEOs to publiclyreaffirm their commitment to each other. Mickos told me, "Everyone hasknown about LAMP for a long time. MySQL and ZEND have worked together on apractical level for a long time. But now that relationship is formalizedand we'll be co-marketing each other's technologies."
"It's been a big year for MySQL" Mickos told me. "Most important is that weadded support for stored procedures and in April, we'll be rolling outsupport for clusters." Between the two features, it will be difficult foranyone to question the enterprise readiness of MySQL. Database providersMicrosoft, Oracle, and IBM, all of which have already had their marketshares nibbled by MySQL, will now have a tougher time dealing with the opensource phenomenon. Worse for Microsoft and IBM (each of which like to selloperating systems with their SQL databases), the increased attraction toLAMP that comes as result of MySQL's support for stored procedures andclusters will work to the detriment of non-Linux operating systems.
Mickos and Urlocker had to leave the meeting early. As they exited, theonly question in my mind about MySQL's future is "who will acquire it?" Mytop three choices are Novell, BEA, and Sun. Novell in particular has beenon the open source acquisition trail. After Ximian and SuSE, MySQL wouldfit into Novell's portfolio like a glove and, furthermore, would make itthe only company to have two of the letters (L and M) in the LAMP stack.Such a portfolio would arguably position Novell as the leading enterpriseopen source player in the world. BEA has a bit of open source fever aswell. Though its not open source, BEA's acquisition of JRockit, sent aclear message to the market that the checkbook was out and it's shoppingfor technologies that it's willing to give away.
BEA is doing quite well in the application server market. But over time, Ianticipate that the company will feel an increasing amount of pressure toexpand its own portfolio. IBM, Microsoft and Oracle all have more completetechnology portfolios (including database servers, application servers,integrated development environments, compilers, and even operating systemsin the case of IBM and Microsoft). There's a lot of market consolidationgoing on, and even though both BEA and Borland maintain Switzerland-likeneutrality in their niches, I'm not sure how much longer either cancontinue without more pieces of the stack. MySQL would make a nice additionto that pair.
And then there is Sun. Whereas the role of open source in the strategies ofIBM, HP, and Novell seems relatively clear, I still get the sense that Sunhas a few adjustments to make. Although the three companies recently joinedhands to form the Java Tools Community, Sun's relationship with BEA andOracle has become noticeably strained over the last couple of years thanksin part to Linux. The company has an application server, an operatingsystem, a directory server, development tools and a gaggle of otherenterprise stack components, but it doesn't have a database. Culturally,MySQL may not be a good fit for Sun, but cash (which Sun has an abundanceof) is the sort of brute strength that has overcome cultural misfits before(remember IBM and Lotus?).
Those three companies--Novell, BEA, and Sun--might equally benefit frombringing the Israel-based PHP-provider ZEND into their folds. In hindsight,I wish I had asked the leaders of both companies if they thought anacquisition was in the cards for them. Not that they would have been ableto comment, but the look on their faces could have provided me with someinformation.
In addition to the formalized relationship with MySQL, the big news fromZEND is the forthcoming release of WinEnabler. "A lot of people arebuilding Web applications with Apache and MySQL on top of the [Windows] NTcode-base (Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows 2003, etc.)," said Gerstel.With 'N' standing for 'NT,' Gerstel says "Until now, NAMP (as opposed toLAMP) hasn't been possible. Now, it will be."
Although he probably should have called it WAMP (with the 'W' for Windows),this is bad news for Microsoft. As long as PHP was the missing link inWAMP, there were more hurdles in transitioning from WAM to LAMP. Theavailability of WinEnabler, as long as it works, will clear the pathbetween the two platforms, thus making it one of the enablers (no punintended) to BEA CIO Hocker's aforementioned prediction: "In two yearstime, Linux will be the operating system of choice for enterprisecomputing."
Another feather in Gerstel's cap is a relationship with Sun wherebydevelopers will also be able to use PHP to script J2EE-based servers.Gerstel's other main messages for 2004 had to do with object and XMLsupport in PHP5 and establishing a U.S. presence. Currently, ZEND has nooffices in the U.S. but lots of programmers.
Thursday, 10:30 am, Microsoft Booth
Since the show began, the Microsoft booth has been cloaked in a blackcurtain with instructions to return today at 10:30 am for the big news.Throughout Wednesday and all of this morning, there was plenty of rumor andspeculation going around the show as to what Microsoft had up its sleeve.As it turns out, it was little more than a silly publicity stunt. Inanticipation of something earth shattering, a small crowd formed around theMicrosoft booth just prior to the moment of unveiling. When the clockstruck 10:30, the crowd was informed that Martin Taylor, general manager ofplatform strategies at Microsoft, had decided to brave the climate atLinuxWorld and would answer any question the audience had about Microsoft.After cursing to myself because I ran up two long flights of stairs to makesure I didn't miss the fun, and because I was missing Sun's Chalktalk onthe Java Desktop System, which, coincidentally (or maybe not) was scheduledfor the same time, I ran back down stairs to catch the Chalktalk.
Thursday, 10:35 am, Sun's Java Desktop System Chalktalk
There wasn't much in the way of earth shattering news here either. It wasmostly a reaffirmation of stuff I've already heard, such as Sun'scommitment to make it's entire stack, including the Sun Java Studiodevelopment tools and SunRay, available on Linux. AMD's Kevin Knox wasthere to say that the partnership between Sun and AMD was no flash in thepan.
After the meeting, I spoke with Sun officials who encouraged me to see theLooking Glass demo that Computer Associates senior vice president SamGreenblatt would be giving during his keynote that afternoon (a demo that Imissed, but I saw Sun CEO Scott McNealy demonstrate it at Comdex lastNovember). Sun is pitching Looking Glass, which is sort of a3D-meets-theatre-in-the-round desktop user interface, as the next bigthing. Sun officials I was speaking with after the ChalkTalk said that asubstantial portion of the work that Sun had so far done on Looking Glasswould be contributed as open source for integration into GNOME. Later Ilearned that Sun won't have much choice since the Looking Glass source codeis already full of modules with GNOME headers. You gotta love those opensource licenses.
Thursday, 1:00 pm, Meeting with RLX
Nothing earth shattering here either but RLX does have a good story. Thebiggest news from RLX public relations manager Simon Eastwick is that, inaddition to breaking further away from its Transmeta-based heritage (a goodmove in my estimation), RLX has a blade management product called ControlTower that will manage IBM and HP's blades as well. Though I didn't get achance to look at the product, Eastwick gave a pitch in which he criticizedthe competing management platforms, such as HP's combination of the oldCompaq Insight Manager and Altiris' provisioning tools and IBM's Director.Eastwick implored me to take a look at the product and said that once I do,I'll be convinced. "Nothing else comes close." I plan to check out hisclaims, so stay tuned.
Thursday, 2:00 pm, Meeting with CA's Sam Greenblatt
Greenblatt's first question was, "Did you see my keynote?" Unfortunately Imissed it, but Greenblatt said he didn't really have anything to announcein his keynote. However, in my meeting with him, Greenblatt and Marcel denHartog, a strategist in CA's Linux Technologies Group told me that ComputerAssociates has a message for enterprises looking to make Linux their nextbig thing. As you might expect from CA, den Hartog said that with each newrevolution in computing the stuff needs to be managed, and that CA's worldclass management tools will be moving in lockstep with enterprise classopen source projects to make them more manageable. Open source projectsthat CA is watching and wants to provide some enterprise-class managementfor (via Unicenter) are Linux itself and clustering technologies such asBeowulf, Jessica2, and PARIS.
Thursday, 3:30 pm, Meeting with Scalix CEO Julie Farris
After comparing notes with Scalix CEO Julie Farris, I was shocked that wehad not met before. Farris is a messaging maven, having cut her originale-mail teeth long ago during the days when cc:Mail (which was eventuallyacquired by Lotus and absorbed into Notes) went head-to-head againstNetwork Courier (eventually acquired by Microsoft, changed into MS-Mail andthen evolved into Outlook/Exchange), and Novell's Message Handling Service(which went poof). Over my 13 years of high-tech journalism, messaging hasalways been one of my favorite topics, and I grew to know most of themembers of the messaging community, but not Farris.
If you're wondering whatever happned to HP's OpenMail technology, giveScalix a call. The company has taken combined the original source code andthe scaleability of OpenMail with the economics of Linux and come up withwhat could be the first real Microsoft Exchange-killer to come along inyears.
Farris is staking out a position that's identical to that of Oracle when itcomes to mail. Oracle routinely assails the architecture of Microsoft asbeing limited in terms of scalability and fault tolerance. Sounding verymuch like Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Farris says, "The problem with Exchangeis that you end up with hundreds of servers all over the place, and thecost of managing that infrastructure is out of control. What we offer isthe opportunity to bring those costs down by consolidating all of thoseservers down to one or a handful of servers. We can run over 5000 users offof one Proliant box."
So what's cool about Scalix? For starters, it natively emulates Microsoft'sMAPI protocol, which means that Outlook clients that depend on ExchangeServers for both e-mail and group calendaring won't even know thatsomething has changed. Furthermore, Scalix provides migration tools so thatall of the mailboxes on an Exchange Server remain intact after beingmigrated to Scalix.
"We support any client and any directory service including LDAP and ActiveDirectory" says Farris. "We even have an LDAP directory. One of the reasonsExchange 5.5 users like our solution is that they have use Microsoft'sActive Directory in order to upgrade, and a lot of them don't want to dothat."
Dating back to her experience working on the Notes team at Lotus, Farrislearned a thing or two about replication and reliability. As with Notes,which can store mailbox replicas on multiple physical servers (which meansusers can just switch to a functioning replica if one disappears due to aserver crash), Scalix has the same sort of fault tolerant capabilities. "Ifa server goes down, Scalix handles the failover to a functioning servermuch more gracefully than Exchange does" says Farris. Of course, withoutany testing, I can't vouch for many of Farris' claims. Based on hercurriculum vitae, she certainly has the credentials to earn the ear of anyIT manager who is already committed or dabbling in open systems and opensource. Also, at an entry price of $3,000 and with a cost of about $40 to$50 per user, the product is competitive with other highly scalable andfault tolerant enterprise class e-mail systems.
Well, there you have it. My most excellent adventure in Penguin Land.Finally, perhaps all the suits, ties, and management messages are a signthat Linux not only has a reserved parking spot outside the executive suite(which it has had for a while), but that it's getting the finishing toucheson its decade-long grooming for the enterprise. Or, perhaps the suits werejust to keep the heat from escaping everyone's clothing. If LinuxWorld werein the summer, the Birkenstocks would be back.
-LinuxWorld complete coverage - http://zdnet.com.com/2251-1110-5144290.html
You can write to me at david.berlind@cnet.com. If you're looking for my commentaries on other IT topics, check the archives.
Twenty years of Macintosh. At this year's Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs playeda version of the famous "1984" ad that launched the Mac, and AlanOppenheimer, who was responsible in large part for AppleTalk, gave afabulous talk about the history of networking on the Mac. What I found mostinteresting was that although twenty years have passed, many of theoriginal people from those days are not only still around, they're stillproducing great work. The history of the Macintosh is not only still beingwritten, some of the same people are still doing the writing.
http://www.opendoor.com/nethistory/
Let me introduce you to another member of the original Macintosh team,Bruce Horn, who was responsible for a number of the key aspects of the Macand who has continued to write innovative code. At Apple, Bruce wasresponsible for the design and implementation of the Finder (oh, that!),the type/creator metadata mechanism for files and applications, and theResource Manager (which handled reading and writing of the resource fork infiles; a note in Apple's technical documentation at one point exclaimed,"The Resource Manager is not a database!"). The Dialog Manager and themulti-type aspect of the clipboard also appeared thanks to Bruce'singenuity.
So, to commemorate this 20th anniversary of the Macintosh, I wanted to talkwith Bruce about not just what he did at Apple, but also what he's up tonow, since in many ways, his current work is both a return to his roots anda glimpse at what might be possible with the Macintosh in the future.
Bruce: Several different goals drove me to these solutions. Having had most of my programming experience in Xerox's Smalltalk environment, where you could change anything you wanted at runtime (changes made while the program was running), I was looking for a dynamic way to handle objects in the system so data such as localizable strings, menus, images, etc. could be modified by non-programmers without recompiling the source code. At the same time, I was realizing that the kind of data that I needed to manage with the Finder - icons for applications and documents, and bindings to those icons - needed the same sort of mechanism, and I wanted a unified solution. So the Finder's Desktop Database was the driver for much of what the Resource Manager ended up providing.
The file metadata also was driven by Finder needs. Early on I realized that to provide a double-click-to-open mechanism for documents, I'd need a simple way to link a document to a default application that would open it. Similarly, since multiple applications could open multiple file types, I couldn't just have a single mapping from a type to an application that would handle all files of that type. Thus the separation of the type code (the actual format of the file) and the creator code (the default application, which could be easily changed). Independent type and creator codes stored in the filesystem also enabled us to avoid polluting the filename with type information, which I felt was a significant advantage of our approach over others.
The Desktop Database was a cache of the bindings between types and creators and the icons representing them, stored as resources. Since application bundles - groups of resources tied together describing document type and icon information - were stored in application resource forks, installing an application simply involved copying the appropriate resources from the application into the Desktop. The redundant information - type and creator information in the directory, and bundle information in application resource forks - made it possible to rebuild the database at any time without losing anything. It turns out that this was important in the early days.
Resources were, of course, heavily used in factoring out non- program data (like menus and text strings) that could be localized to different languages. With ResEdit, this allowed language experts to quickly create versions of an application without needing access to the source code.
Once I was able to convince Andy Hertzfeld of the utility of the Resource Manager, he rewrote most of the Toolbox to take advantage of it, which saved significant space in the ROM and gave us the ability to easily localize applications in a general way.
Bruce: Yes and no. The original rationalization behind this was that Mac OS X needed to be compatible with Windows filename conventions, and to do so we'd need to force filename extensions to be provided. Because there are so many places that a file might leave the sanctity of the Mac OS and go out into the cruel world where extensions are required, it was deemed impossible to translate names from the Mac convention (with types and creators) to the outside world's convention. As far as compatibility is concerned, this did the trick.
But over time it has become apparent that it is difficult to do this right, and the original mechanism of having redundant type information, and allowing the user to name the files whatever she wants, was more flexible and less prone to error. It turns out that Mac OS X still needed a creator mechanism by which individual documents could be opened by specific applications, so this information is stored in the resource fork of the file (of all places, since Apple is discouraging use of the resource fork), rather than simply in a creator code.
So the filename extension approach has worked, but with a little less elegance than the original.
Bruce: It would have been nice. I had some ideas in mind, but when it came down to fitting it in the 64K ROM, the Resource Manager was all we could fit. It was a real effort on everyone's part to make code as small as possible. The Resource Manager was 3K, and the Finder 46K - amazing considering the size of applications these days!
Bruce: I left Apple in the spring of 1984, after doing a "final" version of the Finder. I guess I was just looking for something new to do: having spent several years working intensively on the Mac, I was ready for a break. Being on the Mac team, working with absolutely tremendous people, was one of the most significant things I've done, and it still gives me wonderful feelings when I think about those times.
Bruce: After Apple I went to Adobe and worked a bit on a variety of small projects, including a LaserWriter spooler. When I was there I met a couple of Carnegie Mellon grad students, and, to make a long story short, they convinced me that I should go to CMU for graduate school (Chuck Geschke, one of the founders of Adobe, was also a CMU Ph.D.) Grad school was a great experience. I spent some time at the University of Oslo, Norway as a research assistant, did some consulting at Apple now and then, and had a chance to work with some intriguing startups while I was a student. My Ph.D. thesis described the design of a constraint- based object-oriented programming language called Siri, which I'd love to re-implement someday.
After graduating I went back to Apple as a consultant in the Advanced Technology Group and worked on a project called LiveDoc with Tom Bonura and Jim Miller, among others. LiveDoc was an experiment in automatically structuring documents so that various recognizers could determine that, for example, 555-1212 was a phone nu