Message-Id: <55206A473154D011924D0020AFF7ACB55E6A12@mail1.oulan.ou.edu>
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 15:37:31 -0600
From: "Swisher, Bob" <bswisher@ou.edu>
To: "'it-fyi@ou.edu'" <it-fyi@ou.edu>
Subject: Edupage, 3 February 1998
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Edupage, 3 February 1998. 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.
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TOP STORIES
Edupage In French
Internet2 Focusing On Applications
Apple Picks CompUSA For Product Distribution
Europeans Voice Disappointment Over U.S. Domain Plan
Microsoft Wins Temporary Victory
ALSO
Netscape Takes Judo Lessons
AOL Bumps Niche Products Off The Shelf
College Students Swell Ranks Of Internet Addicted
Banner Ads That Take Your Order, Too
Video Game For Would-Be Olympians
EDUPAGE IN FRENCH
We are please to announce that, after a hiatus of several months, there
is once again a French-language version of Edupage, available
http://cursus.edu/thot.asp/. Welcome once again to our French-speaking
readers of Edupage. Nous sommes heureux d'annoncer qu'après un hiatus de
plusieurs mois, la traduction française d'Edupage est de retour.
Effectuée par Cursus, La formation à distance sur demande, elle est
accesible à: http://cursus.edu/thot.asp. Elle est également disponible
sur abonnement électronique gratuit. Bienvenue à nouveau aux lecteurs
francophones d'Edupage.
INTERNET2 FOCUSING ON APPLICATIONS
Doug Van Houweling, CEO of the University Corporation for Advanced
Internet Development, the group creating Internet 2, says that a major
focus of that project is commercial applications: "We're starting off
this time with an even more determined effort to work with the major
companies in the industry. The applications are the focus of what we do
-- we don't want to build a highway for some kind of vehicles that will
never arrive." Among the many possibilities are the use of Internet 2
by manufacturing companies to securely transfer technical design data
between offices and suppliers. (New York Times CyberTimes 2 Feb 98)
APPLE PICKS COMPUSA FOR PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION
Apple Computer says it has chosen CompUSA to be its sole national retail
distributor, and will phase out products from Best Buy, Circuit City,
Computer City, Office Max and Sears. "These have been very important
business relationships, but we believe it's an important time to move
away from them," says Apple's senior VP of the Americas. "This does not
represent a retreat from retail, but instead a redefinition of what the
retail buying experience will be for our customers." In addition to the
CompUSA stores, Apple will sell its products through regional retail
chains, specialized Apple dealers, value-added resellers and catalogues.
(TechInvestor 2 Feb 98)
EUROPEANS VOICE DISAPPOINTMENT OVER U.S. DOMAIN PLAN
A leading member of the European-based Internet Policy Oversight
Committee and the Council of Registrars (CORE) says they do not intend
to accept the recently announced U.S. government plans for privatizing
the Internet domain name registration process. "The problem with the
concept of top-level domains being owned by commercial registries is
that the database is worth tremendous commercial value. We could have a
situation where one company in the U.S. is going to have right to one
very high value domain name, such as .inc." The committee and CORE plan
to meet soon with White House technology adviser Ira Magaziner to
express their concerns. The alternative plan they had proposed has been
endorsed by a number of European government officials, who now stand to
be "extremely embarrassed by this [new] plan," says the president of
Euro-ISPA, a European Internet service provider association. "They have
made a major contribution to reforming the domain name system, but they
lost the debate." (TechWeb 31 Jan 98)
MICROSOFT WINS TEMPORARY VICTORY
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia handed Microsoft
a victory by ruling that a "special master" (Harvard Law professor
Lawrence Lessig) desist in his effort to study the issues of the
Microsoft antitrust suit until a three-judge panel studies his role in
the case more carefully. In other developments, the Software Publishers
Association is taking a position unfavorable to Microsoft, its largest
member; the group is advocating that makers of "dominant" computer
operating system software should not use their market power to help
distribute other products or limit access to material on the Internet.
(Washington Post 3 Feb 98)
==============================================
NETSCAPE TAKES JUDO LESSONS
Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian, professors at the University of
California's Haas School of Business in Berkeley, say that Netscape's
latest move to make public the source code for its Communicator Web
browser is the equivalent of delivering a judo blow to Microsoft. Judo
uses the opponent's strength and size against him, and Shapiro and
Varian note: "Netscape has not only matched Microsoft by starting to
give away its browser, but has raised the stakes by allowing anyone with
the requisite skills to extend, modify, customize and enhance the
program." The authors point out that Netscape runs the same risk as
Unix did, generating a slew of incompatible almost-look-alikes, but
concede that the novel strategy has a good chance of working: "Netscape
is giving its customers a fully customizable browser, something
Microsoft will have a hard time matching. In judo the prize goes not to
the biggest player, but to the one who is most nimble and has the best
moves." (Wall Street Journal 2 Feb 98)
AOL BUMPS NICHE PRODUCTS OFF THE SHELF
America Online no longer makes it easy for its small content providers
to reach an audience, and instead submerges them into information
"channels." An AOL spokesperson explains: "Our new mission reflects our
belief that there is limited shelf space online or on the Internet and
that in order to compete in the content business, we needed to launch
categories that target large consumer segments, not niche players." And
the company's president of creative development explains that it's a
cruel world out there on the Internet, just like everywhere else: "We
want our partners to be successful. But guess what? We can't guarantee
that. Just like in television with the new fall season, there's going
to be one success for every eight failures." (New York Times CyberTimes
2 Feb 98)
COLLEGE STUDENTS SWELL RANKS OF INTERNET ADDICTED
An article appearing in the journal CyberPsychology and Behavior says
that students between the ages of 18 and 22 are especially at risk for
developing "Internet addiction," defined as "a psychological dependence
on the Internet, regardless of type of activity once 'logged on.'"
According to the article, administrators at Alfred University have noted
a correlation between high Internet use and a high dropout rate among
students, and a number of schools have set up support groups for
Internet addiction. Meanwhile, the University of Washington is
attempting to curb Internet overuse by limiting online time available to
each student. (Chronicle of Higher Education 6 Feb 98)
BANNER ADS THAT TAKE YOUR ORDER, TOO
Advertising technology firm Narrative Communications Corp. has developed
technology that provides a shortcut to buying products online. In a
demonstration of a banner ad for Eddie Bauer, consumers who clicked on
the ad saw the ad replaced by information about Eddie Bauer jeans. They
could then enter information about their size and desired color, credit
card number and mailing address, and the order was completed without
ever leaving the original site where the ad appeared. The technology
will enable retailers to track more carefully which ads are generating
sales, and should make online shopping easier for consumers. "A lot of
times when you do leave a site to go off somewhere following a banner,
you don't necessarily end up at the right section of the new site," says
an analyst with Forrester Research. "This allows advertisers to put the
information where consumers can get to it easily." (Wall Street Journal
3 Feb 98)
VIDEO GAME FOR WOULD-BE OLYMPIANS
Konami Co. has released a Nagano Winter Olympics '98 video game that
enables mouse potatoes to participate in Alpine skiing, giant slalom,
speedskating, ski-jumping, bobsled, luge and curling events from the
comfort of their PCs. The game was a year in the making, and designers
worked closely with Olympics officials who have licensed it as the
official video game of the Winter Games. "You'll see a snowboarding
game out there and some skiing games, but nothing that has 12 or 13
events that are all unique," says Konami of America's senior products
manager. The game is available for the Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64
platforms. (Los Angeles Times 2 Feb 98)
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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