Message-Id: <55206A473154D011924D0020AFF7ACB53270AF@mail1.oulan.ou.edu>
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 19:20:31 -0500
From: "Swisher, Bob" <bswisher@ou.edu>
To: "'it-fyi@ou.edu'" <it-fyi@ou.edu>
Subject: Edupage, 23 October 97
> ************************************************************
> Edupage, 23 October 1997. Edupage, a summary of news about
> information technology, is provided three times a week as a service by
> Educom, a Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and
> universities seeking to transform education through the use of
> information technology.
> ************************************************************
>
> TOP STORIES
> Microsoft Competitors Testify To Tough Tactics
> Intel, Digital Settle Alpha Suit
> Intel Heads Up PC-Based Arcade Effort
> Costa Rica Testing Online Elections
> Virginia Library Applies Internet Filters To Adult Patrons
>
> ALSO
> Chat Rooms Could Boost Business, Says Jupiter
> The Transition From Technology To Business
> Technostress (Do You Get Nervous Without Edupage?)
> Live, Streaming Educom97
>
> MICROSOFT COMPETITORS TESTIFY TO TOUGH TACTICS
> A Compaq Computer executive says in a deposition that his company
> decided against providing PC buyers easy access to Netscape
> Communications' We browser software after Microsoft threatened to end
> Compaq's Windows 95 license. Compaq had planned to include a Netscape
> icon on its computer screens, but "When they (Microsoft) found out
> about it, they sent a letter to us telling us that, you know, they
> would terminate our agreement for doing so." A Microsoft VP says his
> company was simply enforcing the terms of the Windows 95 license.
> Microsoft's position regarding the 1995 consent decree reached with
> the U.S. Justice Department is that it has the right to integrate new
> features into the operating system, and the Internet Explorer
> browser software is one of those features. He added that PC makers
> were free to add software from other companies, as long as they keep
> Internet Explorer, too. (Wall Street Journal 23 Oct 97)
>
> INTEL, DIGITAL SETTLE ALPHA SUIT
> Intel and Digital Equipment Corp. have reportedly reached an
> out-of-court settlement that will require Intel to pay Digital $1.6
> billion -- 50% in cash and the rest in discounts on Intel chip
> purchases. In return, Intel will have access to Digital's Alpha
> microprocessor technology, and will help Digital develop products for
> it. (Investor's Business Daily 22 Oct 97)
>
> INTEL HEADS UP PC-BASED ARCADE EFFORT
> Intel Corp. is leading a group of more than 80 companies in developing
> PC-based, coin-operated arcade machines that incorporate Intel
> microprocessors and Windows NT operating systems. In the past, arcade
> games have used cheaper circuitry and chip-stored rather than
> disk-drive-stored games, making it difficult to upgrade systems to
> play different games. Under the PC-based system, an arcade owner who
> wanted to switch to a more popular game could simply slip in a new
> CD-ROM, rather than install a new system board or buy a new machine.
> Intel says it isn't so much interested in the machines themselves, but
> the fact that the arcade business stretches computer performance in
> graphics and other areas, enabling Intel to incorporate those
> developments more quickly into PCs. "Everything we do goes back to
> boosting demand for our primary market," says and Intel VP. "In doing
> so, we're bringing the economics of the computer business to operators
> of arcades." (Wall Street Journal 23 Oct 97)
>
> COSTA RICA TESTING ONLINE ELECTIONS
> With the help of students from Villanova University Law School, the
> government of Costa Rica is launching what appears to be the first
> test of a national election online, with hopes that if the test is
> successful, paper ballots will have been eliminated entirely by the
> next election in 2002. The project will use computers located in
> schools around the country and linked to the Internet, and security
> experts at AT&T Labs in New Jersey will help design and implement the
> system. (New York Times CyberTimes 22 Oct 97)
>
> VIRGINIA LIBRARY APPLIES INTERNET FILTERS TO ADULT PATRONS
> The library board of Loudon County, Virginia, has voted 5-4 to apply
> filters that would prevent all patrons, including adults, from viewing
> "pornographic and obscene material" or from accessing sexually
> explicit e-mail or chat rooms in the library. The head of the
> American Civil Liberties Union calls the policy "an outright violation
> of your First Amendment rights under the Constitution." (Washington
> Post 22 Oct 97) [Postscript: Filtering software recently caused
> Edupage to be blocked for a brief time at a high school in California.
> The blocking was subsequently deemed by school administrators to have
> been a "mistake," and Edupage distribution was reinstated.]
>
> =======================================
>
> CHAT ROOMS COULD BOOST BUSINESS, SAYS JUPITER
> Businesses could improve relations with their clients and market their
> products more effectively if they sponsored "chat rooms" on their Web
> sites that would enable customers to exchange information among
> themselves, says researcher Jupiter Communications. Opportunities to
> chat would also help companies close sales, position themselves
> competitively and build communities. About 25% of online users now
> visit chat rooms. (Investor's Business Daily 23 Oct 97)
>
> THE TRANSITION FROM TECHNOLOGY TO BUSINESS
> Asked how technologists can make the shift from technical to
> business-related jobs, Novell Chief Executive Eric Schmidt answers:
> "Businesses are mostly people-intensive, and technologists usually
> discount the value of personal relationships. Managers can fuse
> influence as well as 'being right' to get things done. If you love
> people, you can easily make the transition." (IEEE Internet Computing
> Sep/Oct 97)
>
> TECHNOSTRESS (DO YOU GET NERVOUS WITHOUT EDUPAGE?)
> In their new book, "TechnoStress," psychologists Michelle M. Weil and
> Larry D. Rosen say that the growing dependence on technology affects
> us negatively, and that we count on our machines to do so much that
> when something goes wrong with our technology, we are thrown into a
> tailspin. " Some people become so immersed in technology that they
> risk losing their own
> identity" -- a syndrome called "technosis." You are a victim of
> technosis if you answer "yes" to questions such as: "Do you feel out
> of touch when you haven't checked your answering machine or voice mail
> in the last 12 hours?" Symptoms of technosis include overdoing work
> and never feeling finished, believing faster is better, and not
> knowing how to function successfully without technology.
> ("TechnoStress," John Wiley & Sons 1997)
>
> LIVE, STREAMING EDUCOM97
> The three keynote sessions at EDUCOM'97 will be available as live,
> streaming webcasts via RealMedia at
> www.educom.edu/conf/97/webcast.html. Viewers will need the
> RealPlayer, Version 5 (at www.real.com) and at least a 28.8 connection
> to the Internet (as always, faster connections are better). Webcast
> times (CST) are 9:30 am October 29 (Educom Medal awards and address by
> Eli Noam), 9:45 am October 30 (address by Sherry Turkle), and 11:15 am
> October 31 (address by John Perry Barlow). The webcasts are produced
> through the cooperative efforts of colleagues at the University of
> Michigan, the University of Minnesota, and RealNetworks.
>
> Edupage is written by John Gehl <gehl@educom.edu> & Suzanne Douglas
> <douglas@educom.edu>. Telephone: 770-590-1017.
>
> Technical support is provided by Information Technology Services at
> the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
>
> ************************************************************
> Edupage ... is what you've just finished reading. To subscribe to
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>
> Hurry! The EDUCOM'97 Conference, the premier national conference on
> information technology in higher education, will be held this year
> October 28 to 31 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In addition to almost 100
> presentations from leaders in information technology in higher
> education, the conference will feature Eli Noam, director of the
> Columbia Institute for Tele-Information; Sherry Turkle, MIT professor
> and author of Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet;
> and John Perry Barlow, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier
> Foundation. For conference information check out <http://educom.edu/
> >, call 202-872-4200, or send e-mail to
> conf@educom.edu. Register now!
>
> Educom Review ... is our bimonthly print magazine on information
> technology and education ... Subscriptions are $18 a year in the
> U.S.; send mail to offer@educom.edu. When you do, we'll ring a
> little bell, because we'll be so happy! Choice of bell is yours: a
> small dome with a button, like the one on the counter at the dry
> cleaners with the sign "Ring bell for service"; or a small hand bell;
> or a cathedral bell; or a door bell; or a chime; or a glockenspiel.
> Your choice. But ring it!
>
> Educom Update ... is our twice-a-month electronic summary of
> organizational news and events. To subscribe, send mail to:
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> Franklin (if your name is Benjamin Franklin; otherwise, substitute
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>
> Translations & Archives... Edupage is translated into Estonian,
> French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Hungarian, Korean, Lithuanian,
> Portuguese, Slovak and Spanish. Send mail to
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> translations. See http://www.educom.edu/web/pubs/pubHomeFrame.html for
> Edupage archives.
>
> Today's Honorary Subscriber is Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), American
> diplomat and statesman who also found success as a printer, publisher,
> author, wit, inventor, city planner, university founder, bon vivant,
> government administrator (as the country's first postmaster general),
> and co-drafter of the Declaration of Independence, who changed
> Jefferson's words "We take these principles to be sacred and
> undeniable" to read "We take these principles to be self-evident." As
> an inventor, he is well-known for the "Franklin stove," but his most
> important work was in the field of electricity, where he developed and
> executed a clear -- and dangerous --
> test of the hypothesis that lightning was the discharge of electricity
> from clouds; here is how he described the famous "Philadelphia
> experiment" that greatly enhanced his reputation as a scientist: "To
> determine the question, whether the clouds that contain lightning are
> electrified or not, I would propose an experiment to be tried where it
> may be done conveniently. On the top of some high tower or steeple,
> place a kind of sentry-box big enough to contain a man and an
> electrical stand. From the middle of the stand let an iron rod rise
> and pass bending out of the door, and then upright 20 or 30 feet,
> pointed very sharp at the end. If the electrical stand be kept clean
> and dry, a man standing on it when such clouds are passing low, might
> be electrified and afford sparks, the rod drawing fire to him from a
> cloud."
>
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> Educom -- Transforming Education Through Information Technology
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