From: "Swisher, Bob" <bswisher@ou.edu>
To: "'it-fyi@listserv.ou.edu'" <it-fyi@lists.ou.edu>
Subject: it-fyi: Edupage, 23 March 1999
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 16:49:26 -0600
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Edupage, 23 March 1999. Edupage, a summary of news about information
technology, is provided three times a week as a service of EDUCAUSE, an
international nonprofit association dedicated to transforming higher
education through information technologies.
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TOP STORIES
Comcast Buys MediaOne In $53 Billion Cable Deal
Settlement Of Microsoft Case Possible But Not Likely
Trench Warfare In The Information Age
Privacy Group Scolds Microsoft But Does Not Demand Audit
House Panel Urged To Support Computer Research
ALSO
E-Business Insurance
Novell, IBM Hook Up On Networking
Dell Workstations Sport Linux Software
Hughes Plans High-Speed Satellite Data Network
Honorary Subscriber: Hedy Lamar
COMCAST BUYS MEDIAONE IN $53 BILLION CABLE DEAL
A planned Comcast acquisition of MediaOne will make the combined company
the nation's third-largest cable TV company. A main motivation for the
deal is the desire to beat the phone companies in offering high-speed
Internet access. Industry analyst Howard Anderson of the Yankee Group
says, "There is a race to be first to offer Internet access and
ultimately telephone service to the upscale neighborhoods that will buy
it first. It's called the 'first-move advantage.' If customers go with
the phone companies, it will be hard, if not impossible, to lure them
back to cable. So cable companies want to get big so they have as much
cash flow as they need to build their Internet business. Size is
everything." (New York Times 23 Mar 99)
SETTLEMENT OF MICROSOFT CASE POSSIBLE BUT NOT LIKELY
Although Microsoft is apparently planning to offer the Justice
Department and 19 states terms for settling the antitrust suit against
that company, most lawyers think the prospect for settlement is unlikely
because the two sides are still far apart on the issues. Microsoft has
said that it is "going to work in good faith with the government to see
whether there is a resolution that's possible that would be good for
everyone involved," but a response of a lawyer for the government was:
"They need to understand a trail has taken place. They can't just come
in with minor contractual changes. That won't fly." (Washington Post
23 Mar 99)
TRENCH WARFARE IN THE INFORMATION AGE
The National Research Council has issued a report warning that military
forces are not giving sufficiently serious attention to their Command,
Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence Systems (known as
C4I). "The rate at which information systems are being relied on
outstrips the rate at which they are being protected. The time needed
to develop and deploy effective defenses in cyberspace is much longer
than the time required to develop and mount an attack." Military
analyst Kenneth Allard says, "Twenty-first century combat is the war of
the databases, in which information flows must go from the foxhole to
the White House and back down again." (AP 22 Mar 99)
PRIVACY GROUP SCOLDS MICROSOFT BUT DOES NOT DEMAND AUDIT
The Santa Barbara, Calif.-based nonprofit group called Truste that
monitors online privacy policies has chastised Microsoft for
compromising consumer policy by including a unique ID number in each
copy of the Windows 98 operating system to surreptitiously collect
consumer data. On the other hand, Truste said that it had found no
actual privacy violations involving information collected through
Microsoft's Web site. Privacy advocate Jason Catlett, who is critical
of Truste's decision not to demand a full audit of Microsoft's privacy
policies, says that "they haven't caused any consequences for Microsoft
other than this rebuke. It really demonstrates that self-regulation is
a toothless tiger." Microsoft is a "premier corporate partner" of
Truste and has contributed $100,000 to the organization. (New York
Times 23 Mar 99)
HOUSE PANEL URGED TO SUPPORT COMPUTER RESEARCH
Supporters of the Information Technology for the 21st Century program
appealed to lawmakers last week to fund the $366-million endeavor. The
program, which would involve six government agencies working with
university research centers, would focus on long-term research,
improving computer infrastructures, and exploring the social, economic,
and workforce effects of information technology. The Information
Technology for the 21st Century effort was conceived in response to a
recent report by the President's Information Technology Advisory
Committee, which urged more funding for long-term computer science
research. (Chronicle for Higher Education 26 Mar 99)
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E-BUSINESS INSURANCE
A unit of insurance giant Marsh & McLennan Co. will begin offering
clients "e-business" insurance under its Net Secure coverage. The
policy is intended to protect companies from damages caused by hackers,
viruses, "spammers," or other Internet perils that could disrupt their
businesses or expose them to liability lawsuits. Net Secure also will
provide a preset amount of compensation for loss of "intellectual
property" stored on a network that has been violated. Although other
insurance companies also offer "e-business" insurance, a spokeswoman for
Marsh & McLennan says her company's coverage limit of $200 million is
among the highest available in the industry. (Wall Street Journal 22
Mar 99)
NOVELL, IBM HOOK UP ON NETWORKING
IBM and Novell have agreed to link Novell's NetWare network operating
software with IBM's WebSphere e-commerce software to provide businesses
an all-in-one solution to setting up business on the Net. The
combination will boost NetWare's market share as companies race to get
online and will position the duo to take on the likes of Microsoft and
America Online in the burgeoning e-commerce arena. (Los Angeles Times
22 Mar 99)
DELL WORKSTATIONS SPORT LINUX SOFTWARE
Buyers of Dell workstations and servers can now request
factory-installed Linux 5.2 operating system software from Red Hat
Software. Customers pay an extra $20 installation fee (not applicable
for buyers of Windows NT software), which includes 90 days of customer
support from a separate company called Linuxcare. Dell previously
offered Linux to customers who placed bulk PC orders, but is now making
it available to single-PC purchasers. It soon plans to offer Linux
pre-installed on some models in its OptiPlex PC line. (InfoWorld
Electric 22 Mar 99)
HUGHES PLANS HIGH-SPEED SATELLITE DATA NETWORK
Hughes Electronics is planning a $1.4-billion North American satellite
network designed to provide high-speed bandwidth for data, Internet
access, videoconferencing, etc. The Spaceway, as it's called, will
debut in 2002 as part of Hughes' Direc services, which include DirecPC
Internet and DirecWay Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT). Spaceway
will offer users 16-Mbps uplinks and 400-Mbps downlinks. (Data
Communications 23 Mar 99)
HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: HEDY LAMAR
Today's Honorary Subscriber is Hedy Lamar, famed sex-goddess (and
overlooked inventor). See the very end of today's Edupage.
Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educause.edu) and Suzanne Douglas
(douglas@educause.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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UPCOMING EDUCAUSE CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS:
The Council of Independent Colleges and EDUCAUSE, Mar 25-27, 1999,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. http://www.cic.edu/conferences/
Networking'99 Conference on Advanced Networking, Apr 28-30, 1999,
Washington, D.C.
http://www.educause.edu/netatedu/contents/events/apr99/
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HONORARY SUBSCRIBER
Today's Honorary Subscriber is the famous Austrian-American actress Hedy
Lamar (b.1913), the film star of the 1940s and '50s who played a role in
the development of cellular phone technology. Lamar's first husband,
Fritz Mandl, was a munitions manufacturer whom she left in the late
1930s when he became involved in work for the Nazis. She moved to
London and then to Hollywood and during the course of World War II began
to think about the way radio signals were used to control missiles. The
problem was that it was very easy for an enemy to block such signals, so
Hedy Lamar came up with the idea of having both the sender and receiver
of the signals change frequencies quickly, to foil any attempted
interceptions. Together with the composer George Antheil, Lamar devised
a scheme for using player-piano rolls to keep sender and receiver
synchronized, and they jointly patented their "Secret Communication
System" in 1942. However, by the time the Navy used the idea many years
later, the original patent had expired, so Lamar and Antheil never
received any royalty payments for their invention. The 86-year-old Hedy
Lamar now lives in Florida.
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EDUCAUSE, an international nonprofit association dedicated to
transforming higher education through information technologies
************************************************************