Message-Id: <55206A473154D011924D0020AFF7ACB549D254@mail1.oulan.ou.edu>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 1997 12:11:01 -0600
From: "Swisher, Bob" <bswisher@ou.edu>
To: "'it-fyi@ou.edu'" <it-fyi@ou.edu>
Subject: Edupage, 18 December 1997
> ************************************************************
> Edupage, 18 December 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
> Netscape's Battle Tactics
> Justice Seeks Contempt Ruling In Microsoft Case
> Clinton Honors Net Pioneers, Okays $96 Million In New Tech
> Funding
> Tactical Shift By Workstation Companies
>
> ALSO
> Debate Over Privacy Issue: Regulation Vs. Self-Regulation
> New Domain Name Group Offers To Expand Membership
> Information Technology At Cal State
>
> NETSCAPE'S BATTLE TACTICS
> Seeking to take advantage of the court order prohibiting Microsoft
> from requiring PC manufacturers that license the Windows 95 operating
> system to install Internet Explorer browser on the computers they
> sell, Netscape Communications is taking three major actions: it is
> using hundreds of Web sites to provide instructions and software for
> eliminating Explorer from a user's computer; negotiating with PC
> makers to convince them to add Netscape Navigator to new computers;
> and launching a massive campaign to
> distribute Navigator through third parties. (Washington Post 17 Dec
> 97)
>
> JUSTICE SEEKS CONTEMPT RULING IN MICROSOFT CASE
> The U.S. Justice Department is asking a federal judge to hold
> Microsoft in contempt for what it terms a "naked attempt" to
> circumvent the purpose of a court order mandating the separation of
> its Internet Explorer browser software from its Windows operating
> system. "Microsoft has gone from tying its products to tying the
> hands of its vendors," says an assistant attorney
> general for the antitrust division. "The more Microsoft continues its
> practices, the more consumers are harmed." A Microsoft VP counters
> that the company is complying with the court order by offering PC
> makers a choice of deleting the Internet Explorer software, which then
> impairs the newer Windows 95 operating system, or installing an older
> 1995 version that works without the browser. Meanwhile, an antitrust
> attorney following the case warns: "If one is in violation of the
> spirit of an order while complying with the letter, that can indeed
> come back to haunt you." (Wall Street Journal 18 Dec 97)
>
> CLINTON HONORS NET PIONEERS, OKAYS $96 MILLION IN NEW TECH FUNDING
> President Clinton has awarded Vint Cerf and Robert E. Kahn the
> National Medal of Technology for their creation of the TCP/IP
> protocol. In addition, Clinton announced $96 million in new funding
> for technology R&D projects, including smaller microcomputer and
> microprocessor development, handheld videophones, and radio ID cards
> for missing children. The new money will combine with
> industry-pledged funds totaling $200 million in R&D for
> government-sponsored projects in 1998. (TechWeb 16 Dec 97)
>
> TACTICAL SHIFT BY WORKSTATION COMPANIES
> Silicon Graphics Inc.'s plan to allow SGI graphics software to run on
> Microsoft's Windows NT operating system provides new evidence that a
> growing number of companies are giving up on Unix and instead
> standardizing on Windows NT. SGI hopes to be able to use its
> experience in developing high-end graphics software without having to
> spend a great deal of time building the underlying technology
> represented by an operating system. (Washington Post 17 Dec 97)
>
> ==============================================
>
> DEBATE OVER PRIVACY ISSUE: REGULATION VS. SELF-REGULATION
> Civil libertarians are unhappy with the Federal Trade Commission's
> decision to allow self-policing and "voluntary guidelines" by
> companies that maintain personal information on people -- companies
> such as Lexis-Nexis, Equifax, and Information America. "Privacy
> Times" newsletter editor Evan Hendricks says: "The reality is that
> many of the players here don't have a very good
> history of complying either with the Fair Credit Reporting Act or
> voluntary guidelines. Congress should just do its job and pass a law
> and give Americans the rights they deserve." But FTC chairman Robert
> Pitofsky says: "This is an impressive step in the direction of
> self-regulation. The history of self-regulation is you start here and
> then see where you go in the future." (New York Times 18 Dec 97)
>
> NEW DOMAIN NAME GROUP OFFERS TO EXPAND MEMBERSHIP
> The Geneva-based Policy Oversight Committee -- the group attempting to
> replace the U.S. government's role as Internet domain name allocator
> -- has offered to increase its membership from 11 to 20 members,
> including representatives of Internet service providers and users.
> The committee hopes this latest move will help to deflect some of the
> criticism it has faced, but some members say this latest move is too
> insignificant to give it the moral authority it will need to do its
> job effectively. Currently, there
> are 200 organizations supporting the Geneva group's efforts. "I think
> that 1,000-plus members need to be recruited first to give it
> credibility," says one British committee member. The U.S. will give
> up its responsibility on March 31, 1998. (TechWeb 16 Dec 97)
>
> INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AT CAL STATE
> The Chronicle of Higher Education is issuing the following correction
> of its article last week about a proposed technology plan for the
> California State University system: Rather than automatically
> receiving the money that the system currently budgets each year for
> computing technology, the partnership envisioned in the plan would
> make proposals to individual campuses to win their business. Also,
> people who are now employees of the university system would remain so.
> (Chronicle of Higher Education 19 Dec 97)
>
> Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) and Suzanne Douglas
> (douglas@educom.edu). Telephone: 770-590-1017
>
> Technical support for distributing Edupage is provided by Information
> Technology Services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
> Hill.
>
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> Translations & Archives... Edupage is translated into Estonian,
> German, Greek, Hungarian, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. For
> accessing instructions, send a blank message to
> translations@educom.unc.edu.
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> Today's Honorary Subscriber is C(harles) P(ercy) Snow (1905-1980),
> the English physicist, novelist, and government bureaucrat who is
> perhaps best remembered as the creator of the phrase "the two
> cultures" to describe the lack of communication between the scientific
> and literary communities. Here is a sample passage from the famous
> "The Two Cultures" lecture he gave at Cambridge in 1959:
> "Most scientists would claim that you cannot comprehend the world
> unless you know the structure of science, in particular of physical
> science. In a sense, and a perfectly genuine sense, that is true. Not
> to have read 'War and Peace' and 'La Cousine Bette' and 'La Chartreuse
> de Parme' is not to be educated; but so is not have a glimmer of the
> Second Law of Thermodynamics. Yet that case ought not to be pressed
> too far. It is more justifiable to say that those without any
> scientific understanding miss a whole body of experience: they are
> rather like the tone deaf, from whom all musical experience is cut off
> and who have to get on without it. The intellectual invasions of
> science are, however, penetrating deeper. Psychoanalysis once looked
> like a deep invasion, but that was a false alarm; cybernetics may turn
> out to be the real thing, driving down into the problems of will and
> cause and motive. If so, those who do not understand the method will
> not understand the depths of their own cultures."
>
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