From: "Swisher, Bob" <bswisher@ou.edu>
To: "'it-fyi@listserv.ou.edu'" <it-fyi@lists.ou.edu>
Subject: it-fyi: Edupage, 9 April 1999
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 17:05:07 -0500
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Edupage is a service of EDUCAUSE, an international nonprofit association
dedicated to transforming education through information technologies.
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TOP STORIES for April 9, 1999
Microsoft Alters Windows Strategy, Hinting It May
Unveil Underlying Code
Yahoo! Posts Big Gains for 1st Quarter
Net Legislation Pours Into Congress
ALSO
IBM Drives Research Into Advanced Multimedia on Net
Biology Computes
Delivering U.S. From E-Mail
MICROSOFT ALTERS WINDOWS STRATEGY, HINTING IT MAY
UNVEIL UNDERLYING CODE
Microsoft vice president Brian Valentine said the company is "seriously
considering" opening the source code of the Windows NT kernel to allow
outside programmers to improve on the technology. The company may not
follow through on the idea, but the fact that it is even considering the
open-source strategy is a major shift in thinking for a company known
for fiercely protecting its intellectual secrets and dismissing the open
source movement. The news follows another about-face this week by
Microsoft, which announced it would release a new Windows 98-based
consumer operating system and tailor the long-awaited Windows 2000 for
corporate use. Previously, the company had planned to abandon Windows
98 and focus on the entirely new code contained in Windows 2000. (Wall
Street Journal Interactive Edition 04/08/99)
YAHOO! POSTS BIG GAINS FOR 1ST QUARTER
In the first quarter, Yahoo!'s earnings, revenue, and Web site traffic
soared beyond Wall Street predictions, and the company expects to
continue growing. Yahoo! reported net income of $16.4 million, up from
$3.3 million for the same period one year ago, while revenue reached
$86.1 million, up from $30.6 million. Wall Street had estimated the
company's revenue for the first quarter would be between $77 million and
$82 million. In addition, the number of registered Yahoo! members
increased to 47 million from 35 million. Page views per day in March
averaged 235 million, compared with 167 million a day in December 1998.
The
company is valued at over $40 billion, and reports $525 million in cash.
(Wall Street Journal 04/08/99)
NET LEGISLATION POURS INTO CONGRESS
So far this year, Congress has introduced more than 50 bills pertaining
to the Internet or electronic commerce, about two dozen of which would
directly affect the Internet industry. The amount of Internet-related
legislation is no surprise "given the explosion of the Internet itself,"
says Internet Alliance Executive Director Jeff Richards. "If 1997 was
the year of the explosion of Internet legislation and 1998 was the
beginning of the dance between legislators, regulators, companies, and
their consumers, then this year, 1999, is the year I think we all get
serious and decide on some fundamentals," he says. Meanwhile, the
Internet industry is cowering at the thought of new federal regulations
being imposed on the Internet. John Scheibel, director of government
relations for Yahoo!, says a piecemeal approach to regulating the
Internet can quickly add up to a patchwork of burdensome regulation.
(San Jose Mercury News Online 04/09/99)
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IBM DRIVES RESEARCH INTO ADVANCED MULTIMEDIA ON NET
IBM recently announced that it has opened the International Center for
Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) with Northwestern University. The
center is dedicated to the development of next-generation multimedia and
e-business applications that run over the high-bandwidth Internet2
network. Internet2 is expected to run 1,000 times faster than the
traditional Internet. As a result of the increased speed, the network
will be able to handle media-rich applications. The new center is
devoted to developing such applications, and will initially focus on
videoconferencing, manufacturing and design simulation, collaborative
engineering, and interactive distance learning technologies. (InfoWorld
Electric 04/06/99)
BIOLOGY COMPUTES
Scientists and researchers from the fields of biology and computing are
exploring connections between the two sciences that could lead to a
better understanding of living creatures and to advanced computers that
handle information in a similar manner as animals and humans. Shawn
Lockery and researchers at the University of Oregon's Institute of
Neuroscience have created a worm robot, or "biobot" that is programmed
to "think" and act like a round worm searching for food. Instead of
sniffing levels of chemical concentrations to find food as an actual
round worm would do, the worm robot detects a range of light
intensities. Round worms have neuron signaling far more powerful than
the computing used by desktop computers, and the worm robot could lead
to computers that better adapt to changing conditions and component
failures. Meanwhile, a group of researchers at Case Western Reserve
University in Cleveland are working on a robotic hexapod, resembling a
cockroach, and robots similar to crickets and ants have been developed
at European universities. (Popular Science 03/99)
DELIVERING U.S. FROM E-MAIL
The U.S. government is facing a dilemma as it tries to limit the amount
of email it receives from its constituents, while still keeping channels
of communication open. The government is makingthe effort to ensure
that its email intake does not adversely affect its work output.
Indeed, the Forest Service was recently swamped by thousands of emails
from environmentalists and forest industries. Concerned that the
agency's system might crash, Forest Service Chief Michael P. Dombeck
announced a policy change, declaring that all emails from constituents
to Forest Service employees must first go through him. Meanwhile,
Congress is also deciding how best to restrict its intake of constituent
email. (Washington Post 04/06/99)
If you have questions or comments about Edupage, send e-mail to
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UPCOMING EDUCAUSE CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS:
Networking '99 Conference on Advanced Networking
April 28-30, 1999, Washington, DC
http://www.educause.edu/netatedu/contents/events/apr99/
Information Resources for the 21st Century
May 5-7, 1999, Portland, Oregon
http://www.educause.edu/conference/regional/nwacc/1999/
CUMREC '99 Breaking Through: 2000 and Beyond
May 9-12, San Antonio, Texas
http://www.cumrec.com/cumrec99/
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Edupage Copyright 1999, EDUCAUSE
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EDUCAUSE, an international nonprofit association dedicated to
transforming education through information technologies
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