NC Or Net-PC?
Sun Microsystems will begin marketing a "network
computer" (NC) called the JavaStation, priced at $742
for a basic model and $995 with keyboard, mouse, and
color monitor; data and software will be stored on
server computers and downloaded over the Internet (or
an organization's own intranet) as needed. NCs will also
be marketed by IBM and Oracle, in a challenge to the
PC-oriented network computers (Net PCS) backed by
Microsoft, Intel, and (with the exception of IBM) most
of the companies with established positions in the PC
business, including Compaq, Dell, Digital Equipment,
Gateway 2000, Hewlett-Packard, Packard Bell, NEC,
and Texas Instruments. Netscape and Apple have agreed
to the NC standard. Sun chief executive Scott McNealy
says the network computer represents an opportunity
"to kill Microsoft - that's the top priority for all of us."
(New York Times)
Coupon Clipping NET Style
The Sunday morning coupon-clipping ritual goes
high-tech at H.O.T. Coupons, a new way to save money
on home, office and travel products on the Web.
Discounts at the site cover a range of products and
services, from photo processing to a seven-day
Caribbean cruise ($699 at press time) to pizza. You can
search the 30,000 offers by region or zip code. To
redeem coupons, just download them and print as many
as you need. It pays to check in often; the deals are
updated daily. <http://www.hotcoupons.com>;
MCI Ponders New Internet Pricing Scheme
MCI, which currently carries an estimated 90% of all
U.S. Internet traffic, is considering replacing its
flat-payment schedule with a new pricing scheme based
on how much data is transmitted over its lines. The
company says flexible pricing will allow it to
accommodate what it terms "value-added" services such
as real-time videoconferencing , 3-D graphics and
Internet voice calling. The company hopes that by
charging more for services that take more time,
overall efficiency will be improved. "I think that
pricing so as to assure that increasing capacity can be
paid for is vital," says MCI Senior VP Vint Cerf.
"Ultimately, it must be the case that the pricing
covers the cost of service - and in circumstances
where usage is not stable but growing, one needs to
price according to use. While I am a strong advocate
of flat-rate methods to stimulate market
development, I think one has to be realistic about
relating price to cost." (Electronic Engineering
Times)
MICROSOFT PUBLISHER 97 SHIPS
The new release of the top-selling desktop-publishing
program ($80, Windows 95 CD-ROM) lets you post
your work on the Internet - a Web wizard
automatically generates the HTML code to put pages
you've created onto the Web. Mail merge, new clip
art and an enhanced design gallery for the Web round
out the update. Microsoft, (800) 426-9400, (206)
882-8080, <http://www.microsoft.com>;
JOT-IT Sticky Notes For PC
Version 2.1 of this memo maker ($39.95, Windows
3.1) not only lets you attach on-screen "sticky notes"
- with sound - to your programs, but to Web sites as
well. Use them as reminders that the file you need is
in the "Service & Support" section of the page, for
instance, or write yourself a memo with the password
you used to register at a site. Evergreen International
Technology, (800) 667-4340, (604) 986-6121.
AOL Bans Mail From JUNK MAIL Domains
America Online's new "Preferred Mail" junk e-mail
blocking tool was activated several days ago on all
6.5 million accounts; it blocks all e-mail from a list
of (currently) 53 network domains that AOL has
identified as junk e-mailers. Many of the domains
have been used in the past by Stanford Wallace, who
is suing AOL for blocking his messages. One blocked
domain, managed by an Internet service provider called
Cybercom, has been tentatively removed from AOL's
prohibited list, after protesting that it had been placed on
the list not because of its own actions but because two
of its 1500 clients sent adult-oriented junk e-mail,
causing AOL immediately to block all mail to AOL
subscribers from any Cybercom customer. (Atlanta
Journal-Constitution)
Cable Modem From SCIENTIFIC-ATLANTA
Scientific-Atlanta will soon be selling a new cable
modem to cable operators (not consumers) for $199,
which is about half the price of competing products.
The company says the relatively slow 1.2
megabit-per-second speed will not detract from its
usefulness, because most personal computers can't
accept data any faster than that. (Atlanta
Journal-Constitution)
CSI Issues Security Manual
The Computer Security Institute has published a
"Manager's Guide to Cyberspace Attacks and Counter
Measures," offering advice on thwarting every known
form of electronic threat, including the recent
denial-of-service attacks, viruses, system break-ins,
equipment theft and interception of network traffic. The
book is written by Georgetown University professor
Dorothy Denning, and is free to CSI members and
available for $10 to non-members. (Information Week)
< www.gocsi.com/ >
E-Mail Users Earn More
A new study conducted by a professor of economics and
business administration at Ursinus College shows that
workers who use e-mail earn, on average, 7.4% more
than colleagues in similar situations who don't. The data
comes from a 1993 U.S. Census Bureau survey of nearly
10,000 workers. The study showed that the discrepancy
between wages of e-mail users and non-users was
greatest among service workers. Executives who used
e-mail out-earned their non-wired peers by almost 10%.
(Chronicle Higher Education )
Digital Schmigital
Wired, which has just withdrawn its second attempt
to issue an initial public offering, is not the only
Digital Age company now being viewed skeptically
by Wall Street; the list of corporations whose stock
prices are substantially lower than they were earlier
in the year include companies engaged in the whole
range of Internet-related businesses: Internet search
engines and directories, electronic commerce,
Internet telephony, Internet service suppliers, Internet
information services, and commercial online services.
The reason? Richard Shaffer of New York-based
research firm Technologic Partners says that
investors "have become more realistic about how
long it will take for many of the Internet companies
to show any profit and more enthusiastic about the
continuing growth prospects for established
technology companies. It's the Internet plumbing
companies that are making money." (New York
Times)
New SUN Chip Provides a JAVA Jolt
As Sun Microsystems prepares to roll out its first
network computer, it's also debuting pico Java -- the
core of the microprocessors that Sun plans to market
to makers of future Java-based devices. Chips with
the pico Java core have the Java instruction set
embedded in them, making them faster, cheaper, and
platform-independent. The chips will be used to
power NCs, peripherals, cell phones and pagers.
"We do not expect our chips to go into PCS," says a
Sun manager. "It has no ability to run compiled code
for binary applications. What we are trying to do
with this chip is to extend the Java paradigm to other
devices that can live on the network, yet the code can
be kept somewhere else." (Information Week)
FCC Appeals To Supreme Court
On Telecom Freeze
The Federal Communications Commission has asked
the Supreme Court to lift a freeze imposed last week
on the agency's local phone competition rules, saying
it "draws into question not just the timing of
competition in the local market, but also the timing of
full entry by the (regional Baby Bell phone companies)
into the long-distance telephone market." State
regulators, who oppose FCC's handling of the new
telecommunications rules, have said that by taking the
matter to the Supreme Court, the FCC itself is
delaying competition. State regulators and local
phone companies have argued that the new rules usurp
states' authority and are unfair to local phone
companies. (Investor's Business)
Microsoft Launches Attack On NC's
Microsoft and allies Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq,
Dell and other computer makers are proposing their
alternative to the widely touted network computer.
Microsoft's device, which is not yet named, will be a
simpler, less-expensive PC that uses a modified
Windows operating system to access applications
programs and data stored on servers, much like the NC.
The strategy is to drive the price of a PC below the
$1,000 mark, providing stiff competition to backers of
the NC concept. "The PC folks have so much invested
that they are going to do a lot to stave off any change
that will upset the applecart," says a Forrester Research
analyst. "The idea is to make the NC stillborn so it
doesn't even get out." Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates
has said that the alliance will deliver the new machines
in 1997. "With the drop in component prices, it's
becoming possible for a real PC to cost what the
promised NCs will," says one PC maker. (Wall Street
Journal )
ORACLE'S Response
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison isn't worried by Microsoft's
new plans. He's hoping that Microsoft's ongoing
browser wars with Netscape will distract Microsoft's Bill
Gates long enough to give Ellison a chance to pull
the rug out from under him: "Then, if we can sneak
underneath Microsoft with appliances that are much
cheaper and easier to use than PCs, rather than
Windows everywhere, it could be Windows
nowhere." Ellison is infamous in the industry for his
combative approach to competition -- and everything
else: "I have never seen a company that has so much
in-fighting," says a technology strategist with C2
Ventures. "It's phenomenal. At Oracle they don't
hold hands and sing `Kumbaya.' They'll be holding
one hand and have a dagger in the other." (Fortune)
Net Link To Neo-NAZIS
The neo-Nazi Heritage Front has outraged Canada's
Reform party by suggesting on the Internet that they
are allies. The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal
Center discovered the Heritage Front-Reform link
while scrutinizing the racist organization's World
Wide Web site. The site details what the movement
stands for; such as an end to high immigration levels.
It then invites users to link to five other sympathetic
groups, including racist groups and Holocaust denier
Ernst Zundel. (Toronto Star). |
