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 September 25, 1998                                                  No.1431
                                       
                                       
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09/25/98 STR 1431    "Often Imitated, Never Surpassed!"
  
      - NT 5.0 Set For Early Takeoff?        - Compaq To Use Alpha Chip
      - Infoseek's Express Arrives           - EA Ships Madden '99
      - Free Internet Service-U.K.           - Radar/Antenna Tower
      - Virtual University Virtually Empty   - Two Best-Selling PCs
      - Giga-PCs                             - The Millennium
      - The Check Is Still In The Mail...    - AMD Chip=Cheaper Laptops
      - STReport MailCall                    

                    MS - 1.5 Million Win98 Upgrades Sold
                       Lotus Attacks MS in Mail Market
                       Hatch Advises FTC To Be Careful
                                       






  
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From the Editor's Desk...

Thank heavens, Georges is away from here. Now on to the crux of the
times... Heard about the new "Wind-up Doll?? You know, the one where you
wind it up and it bleats don't do what I do do what I say... Its name is
the GOP party Doll.  Gingrich and all his buddies are looking absolutely
like the fools of the court they are. Gingrich is trying so hard to be a
statesman its almost hilarious.  About the only thing he can really brag
about is his weight loss. Other than that he is still a slimeball who got
caught breaking the rules and was nailed by Hyde's committee to the tune
of censure and three hundred thousand dollars fine. Which by the way, was
paid for out of a loan made to Newt by his Republican buddy, Bob Dole.
So Newt wants to stand there "mouthing off" about "its too soon to make a
deal" and "why should there be a deal". I agree there should be no deal
until after the elections because with the manner in which the
Republicans are acting now, they'll blow these elections "Big Time".
Besides, it'll be interesting to watch all the dirt come out as the
electioneering gets hot and heavy.  Watch the feathers and fur fly when
the gotchas about the Senate and House pages and the politicos "playtime"
starts to leak out. While we think about all this garbage.... let's think
about Monica's keeping a semen soiled and stained dress for over six
months with out cleaning and of course about Monica baby's "friend" Linda
Tripp..... Now, there's a number if there ever was one. This lump looks
like she hates the world because of the hand fate dealt her. Its sad but
one thing I'll interject here... Someone ought to tell Kenny Starr you
cannot BREAK the LAW trying to ENFORCE the LAW! Dearies...  (or, is that
Drearies) this is very dangerous.  REAL dangerous... it smacks
of Himmler and his tactics. I pray that the entire story comes out about
the Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp "Tijuana Dog and Pony" Show. Then you
see some heads roll. Guaranteed mostly, members of the GOP.

                                                            Ralph
  






  
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STReport
Headline News
LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
  
Judge To Consider Microsoft Testimony Request Later


A federal judge told Microsoft that once its landmark antitrust trial
begins on Oct. 15, he will consider the company's request to limit the
breadth of testimony, but not now. With that, District Judge Thomas
Penfield Jackson turned down Microsoft's motion to narrow testimony.
Jackson had previously told the company that he had a broader view of the
case than it does. The Justice Department and 20 states have alleged that
Microsoft's 90 percent share of the market for operating system software
to run personal computers amounts to a monopoly, and that the company
illegally abused the power from that monopoly.

Microsoft lawyers argued that the charges are narrowly focused on
allegations that it abused monopoly powe r by tying its Internet Explorer
browser to the Windows 98 operating system.

Microsoft has sought to block government lawyers from offering evidence
related to companies, including Apple Computer Inc., Intel Corp.,
RealNetworks Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc.

During the hearing, David Boies argued for the government that the
evidence would be offered during the trial to show the ``state of mind''
of those in Microsoft.

But John Warden, arguing for Microsoft, said that the judge should use a
narrower legal standard so that t he government could bring in only
evidence that demonstrated a ''pattern and practice'' by the company in
preparation for the specific illegal acts alleged.

Jackson said it was premature to rule either way and he would consider
the relevance of evidence as it is brought up at trial.



U.S. Says Microsoft Depositions Should Be Opened


The Justice Department argued that depositions by Microsoft CEO Bill
Gates and other executives in the government's antitrust case against the
software giant should be made public. A similar brief was filed by a
group of news organizations, including The New York Times, Reuters and
Bloomberg.

The Justice Department brought suit against Microsoft in May, charging it
violated antitrust laws by unfairly leveraging a monopoly in software
operating systems for personal computers.

Gates gave testimony on Aug. 27 in preparation for the trial, which is
set for Oct. 15. Several news organizations, including Reuters, asked to
be present at the depositions under a federal law, the Publicity in
Taking Evidence Act. That act requires depositions to be open in
antitrust cases brought by the government.

A federal judge ruled that the law required that the depositions be open,
but an appellate court overturned the judge pending arguments in the
case.

The Justice Department argued Tuesday that tapes and transcripts of the
depositions must be opened, except for proprietary materials.

Microsoft has argued that Congress did not include ''discovery
depositions,'' which are to find new evidence , but only meant to require
the opening of depositions held in place of live court testimony.

In its brief, the Justice Department argued that in some instances the
depositions will be used in place of live court testimony and, in any
event, the law is broader than Microsoft contends.

The news organizations argued that Microsoft incorrectly tried to attach
special meaning to the word deposition.

``In the 85 years since (the law was passed) ... all three branches of
the federal government have consistently expressed the understanding
that, absent specific legislation to the contrary, the act applies to all
depositions,'' the news organizations argued.



Lotus Attacks MS in Mail Market


The battle between Microsoft Corp. and Lotus Development Corp. for
corporate messaging seats is escalating into a price war.

In what company officials are terming as their "most aggressive move to
daae," Lotus uuveiled Tuesday a promotion offering companies a 30 percent
discount if they dump competing messaging platforms in favor of its Notes
and Domino platforms. The offer, called "Trade Up to Lotus Messaging,"
clearly is aimed at Microsoft's Exchange platform, but it also applies to
such products as Banyan Systems Inc.'s Banyan Mail, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s
HP OpenMail, Netscape Communications Corp.'s Netscape Mail and Novell
Inc.'s Groupwise.

The promotion is building upon a similar Lotus deal, in which it offers
its cc:Mail customers an upgrade to the Notes messaging platform.

 "The timing seemed right for this move," said Glenn Matsuda, director of
product marketing for Notes. "When we started talking to our customers
about upgrading from cc:Mail to Notes, a lot of them said they were using
multiple e-mail platforms but would like to consolidate on one. We're
jumping on the opportunity."

Lotus is the long-running king of the messaging hill, but it has watched
Microsoft quickly erode its lead. Surveys show that, for the first time,
Microsoft gained more new corporate seats in the first half of 1998 than
Lotus.

Analysts expect Lotus will regain the lead once it releases its
next-generation R5 Notes and Domino products, which are being designed
around a Web browser-style interface. At the Lotusphere conference in
Berlin this week, the company restated that the commercial version of R5
will be released before the end of the year.



Hatch Advises FTC To Be Careful On Intel Case


Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch said that the Federal Trade
Commission needs to be ``careful'' as it pursues Intel Corp. for alleged
violations of antitrust law. Hatch, a Utah Republican, dwelled mostly on
potential violations of antitrust law by Microsoft Corp. in a speech to a
conference sponsored by Summit Magazine. Hatch has been a strong defender
of the Justice Department's pursuit of Microsoft for alleged violations
of antitrust law.

But he took a different tack on Intel Corp., the world's largest producer
of microprocessors for personal computers. Most personal computers use
Microsoft's software and Intel's chips. Hatch said that there is a
tension between intellectual property rights and antitrust law which is
``at the heart of the FTC's current Intel case.''

On June 8 the FTC alleged that Intel had violated antitrust law by
denying three of its customers -- Digit al Equipment Corp., Intergraph
Corp and Compaq Computer Corp (CPQ - news) -- technical information they
needed to develop computer systems based on Intel microprocessors.

The FTC alleged that when the three tried to enforce their patents, Intel
``retaliated by cutting off the n ecessary technical information and
threatening to cut off the supply of microprocessors.'' The FTC said
Intel holds a monopoly on microprocessors for PCs, while Intel said it
does not.

Hatch cautioned that the ``FTC and antitrust enforcers generally should
be rather certain that any effort t o enforce intellectual property
rights both is intended to and actually will injure competition in a
significant way, before concluding that it represents monopolistic
behavior.''

The Intel case is set to be heard before an administrative law judge
early next year.

An FTC spokeswoman had no comments on Hatch's remarks.



AMD's New Chips May Mean Lower Notebook Prices


As expected, Computer chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has
introduced a new 300-megahertz speed microprocessor for mobile computers
that promises to reduce the price of notebook PCs significantly.

The new AMD K6/300 chip generates less heat and uses less power than a
comparable desktop PC chip. Although it has fewer graphics processing
features than a 300-megahertz Pentium II mobile computer chip made by
archrival Intel Corp., the AMD chip is more price-competitive, a
spokesman said. The AMD chip coots $229 per chip in volume, about
one-third less than the Intel Pentium II 300-megahertz chip. As the AMD
chip is adopted by computer makers, this should translate into lower
notebook prices for the consumer.

Meanwhile, Compaq Computer Corp. is rolling out several new Presario
computers, including two price-competitive ``minitowers'' and new
notebook models.The company said its minitower personal computers -- the
Presario 5150 and 5170 -- are priced below models with less advanced
features from rivals Dell Computer Corp. and Gateway Inc. The new Compaq
models come in minitower format, allowing the central processing unit to
be hidden away under desks. They feature state-of-the-art digital
technologies, one-touch access to the Internet, electronic mail, and
secure online shopping.

The Presario 5150 is based on an AMD 350-megahertz microprocessor and is
priced at $1,199.

The 5170 runs Intel Corp.'s Pentium II 350-megahertz chip and is priced
at $1,499. The list prices reflect a $100 rebate that Compaq offers to
customers who accept the company's offer of a 50-hour free trial of its
Compaq Easy Internet Access service.

Compaq also said it had redesigned its Presario 1200 consumer notebook
line with new high-performance sound and graphics.

It said its Presario 1250 is the first computer to feature a new line of
high-performance microprocessors optimized for notebooks built by AMD.
The computer features AMD's mobile 300-megahertz K6 processor and is
priced at $2,400, including the Internet rebate.



Microsoft Says 1.5 Million Windows 98 Upgrades Sold


Microsoft Corp., the No. 1 software company, said it had sold more than
1.5 million upgrades of its Windows 98 operating system for personal
computers since it was launched on June 25. The company, which has more
than 85 percent of the market for PC operating systems, said demand for
Windows 98 has been stronger than expected in Japan, even though the
country is mired in a recession. In the first two days Windows 98 was on
sale, the Redmond, Washington-based company said more than 250,000 retail
upgrade units of the program had been bought.

Not only is customer demand for Windows 98 better than expected, but the
sale of peripherals and hardware related to Windows 98 has exceeded
forecasts, Microsoft said.

``Windows 98 has undoubtedly provided a boost to the home PC industry in
Japan,'' said Rei Suzuki, senior ex ecutive vice president, marketing and
sales group for Sofmap Co., Ltd.

On Tuesday, Microsoft's Chief Operating Officer Bob Herbold said sales of
the company's Windows 98 remaine d ``slightly ahead'' of the unit pace
set by Windows 95, which was launched into a far smaller installed base.

Without providing further specifics, he said the company had shipped more
than 1.5 million copies of the u pgrade since its launch on June 25.
Retailers sold more than three million copies of Windows 95 in its first
five weeks on the market.

Herbold also said the software company had licensed more than 150 million
copies of all 32-bit operating s ystems, including Windows 95, Windows 98
and Windows NT.

He made the comments at the NationsBanc Montgomery Securities investment
conference in San Francisco.



Microsoft NT 5.0 Readied For Early Takeoff?


Code name clues and developer promises point to the possibility of a
spring launch for NT 5.0.

Office pool participants and top market researchers may have NT 5.0
pegged for a year 2000 launch, but Microsoft Corp. has begun telling its
development partners that all signals are go for a Q1 1999 delivery.

The shift in Microsoft's NT 5.0 timetable is just the latest in a series
of delivery promises and date misses. Last week at the Intel Developers
Forum in Palm Springs, Calif., Microsoft officials said NT 5.0 Beta 3
could hit by Thanksgiving, with final code delivery possible 12 to 15
weeks after that, according to conference attendees. That would create
the possibility of a late Q1 or early Q2 launch.

Most industry watchers have been predicting Beta 3 won't be ready for
testing until mid-1999, with final NT 5.0 delivery slated for late 1999.
GartnerGroup issued a report earlier this summer that predicted NT 5.0
will not launch until sometime in the year 2000. Gartner has been telling
its clients for nearly a year to hold off on NT deployments until they
have dealt with Year 2000 bugs and Euro currency conversion changes,
suggesting most IT shops would do well to wait until NT 5.0 Service Pack
1 hits before moving to the new operating system.

Publicly, Microsoft officials are continuing to caution developers,
resellers and customers not to expect NT 5.0 to be commercially available
for another year at the earliest. But privately, Microsoft started
telling developers two weeks ago that Beta 3 could make it out by
Thanksgiving, with release candidates for the final product showing up by
next spring. "The information you hear about Microsoft trying to get NT
5.0 out early is true," said one Microsoft development partner, who
requested anonymity. "They've told developers we need to have our final
NT 5.0 products done by March 1."

Microsoft officials refused to comment on any changes in the NT 5.0
timetable. A spokesperson said that Microsoft continued to hold to the
party line that NT 5.0 will ship when it's ready.

However, there are other signs that NT 5.0 could be closer than expected.
For one, code names and promises for post-NT 5.0 technologies have begun
leaking en masse from Microsoft. Some see the early appearance of
information on the next round of Microsoft operating system and
BackOffice products as little more than the usual vaporware creep. But
other industry watchers are interpreting the spread of information on
these next-generation products as a sign that NT 5.0 may be closer than
many think.

Microsoft has begun selectively spreading the word to its reseller and
developer partners about NT 5.0 service pack 1, code named Asteroid; NT
6.0, code-named Janus; SNA Server 3.0, code-named Babylon; Proxy Server
3.0, code-named Comet; and a future user-interface prototype technology,
which could be integrated into NT 6.0 Consumer or a later release,
code-named Neptune. According to current timetables, Babylon and Comet
both could go into early beta test before the end of this year, according
to reseller sources.

"Microsoft is about to wire down some of the capabilities of the future
releases," said a source close to the company who requested anonymity.
"That will happen over the next few months. Today, many piece projects
(e.g., forms, storage, graphics, programming model, etc.) are all
underway, but they are not tied to a delivery vehicle yet."

Microsoft last week paved the groundwork for resellers to be able to
provide services and support for NT 5.0 Beta 3 by starting to ship its NT
5.0 Channel Readiness Kit to 25,000 VARs, integrators and other partners.
Microsoft also is putting the finishing touches on new NT 5.0 training
curriculum materials due to ship later this month. The NT 5.0 Channel
Readiness Kit includes information on NT 4.0-to-5.0 migration planning
and training options, as well as NT 5.0 beta 2 software; deployment aids
and relevant white papers.

While Microsoft has declined consistently to provide any timing details
for Beta 3, officials have promised it will go to far more than the
nearly 300,000 customers and partners who received Beta 2 in August.  In
fact, anyone willing to pay for CD shipping and handling will be able to
get NT 5.0 Beta 3, officials have said.



Clinton Backs Y2K Information Exchange Bill


President Bill Clinton has asked Congress to waste no time in passing
legislation unveiled this week that would allow companies to share
information about fixing computers unable to handle dates beginning with
year 2000.

``I urge Congress to act quickly to approve this critical legislation
before the end of the session so I can sign it into law,'' Clinton said
in a statement. ``If it is not enacted this session, we will miss an
important opportunity to help our nation prepare its computer systems for
the new millennium.'' The legislation, backed by a bipartisan group of
senators, is intended to help break the silence by businesses and others
and encourage greater disclosure of plans to wipe out the dreaded
''millennium bug.'' The bill would not provide liability protection for
failures that may arise from so-called Year 2000 problems -- related to
older systems programmed to read only the last two digits of years -- nor
does the measure remove liability for selling products or services that
fail to work. ``This bill's protections are limited to those that are
necessary to encourage greater information sharing,'' Clinton said.

The bill was also warmly received by a number of influential groups, such
as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of
Manufacturers and the National Governors' Association.



Infoseek's Express Arrives

Infoseek Corp. Tuesday launched Express -- a desktop-based search tool
that draws results from several search engines, including such
competitors as Excite Inc. and HotBot.

Express pulls into the station during Infoseek's transition to a new
business model. As part of joint venture Go Network, with Walt Disney
Co., Infoseek will back away from its plans to build its brand as an
all-around Internet hub and focus on search and directory services.
"Infoseek's core competency is search, and we're concentrating on that,"
said Bill Rose, general manager of desktop products for Infoseek.
"Having a desktop product is part of that."

Express will be downloadable from Infoseek's site, as well as from any of
150 distribution partners, including Broderbund Software, USA Today and
TV Guide. Each partner-distributed version will be stamped with the
partner's brand and will include links to the partner's content.

Once installed, Express alters the appearance of the Web browser to
include a button in the interface. Users hit the button to go to Express,
which operates just like a Web page. But since the machinery of the tool
runs on the user's desktop, it is faster and has more features than would
be possible on a Web site.

Infoseek will run ads on Express to pay for the service. When users click
on results from another search engine they will see the ads from that
search engine, as a trade-off for Infoseek's use of the results.

"We have a standard for our own search, that if people use our results,
we demand they show our ads," Rose said. "We're just keeping that policy
with this product."

Infoseek cites research that states 75 percent of users generally use
more than one search engine to find the information they want, while 25
percent use multiple search engines for the same query.



Virtual University Virtually Empty


Just 10 students have enrolled in the Western Governors University since
the Internet-based school spanning 17 states opened its virtual doors
this month.

The school is still processing 75 applications. WGU spokesman Jeff Xouris
said enrollment has been snarled by problems - computer problems.

Officials had set an enrollment goal of 1,000 by the end of this term.

``It would have been great to have a massive enrollment when we first
(opened), but we're finding students want to know more ... they want to
find out about the university, how it works,'' said Jeff Edwards, WGU's
director of marketing. ``It's a real new idea.''

The idea for a virtual university came out of a Western Governors
Association meeting three years ago as a way of serving sparsely
populated areas at a low cost.

WGU has a staff of about 20 working in Denver and Salt Lake City and has
raised $9.5 million in public and private funds so far. It does not offer
any of its own classes, but acts as a broker for Internet and television
classes provided by existing schools, who charge whatever they want.

The university has not received accreditation and currently offers only
two-year associate of arts degrees.

In addition to the Internet classes, WGU offers competency-based degrees
which will be awarded to students who pass WGU's tests. There are no
requirements that any classes be taken.

That is one of the reasons for the slow enrollment, Edwards said.
Students want to talk to WGU advisers to learn more about how to get a
degree, not just take a few courses.



Hackers Become Security Consultants


The hacker calling himself Mudge pushed his long hair back, scratched his
beard and stared at the computer screen. He knew there was something
wrong with the data traffic he was watching, but what was it?

A week earlier, Mudge and his fellow hackers in their hangout known as
the L0pht - pronounced ``loft'' - had acquired some software that was
supposed to let computers talk to each other in code. But as Mudge
watched the data he realized someone else was doing the same and maybe
even decoding it, which shouldn't happen.

``So you are saying that you're using DES to communicate between the
computers?'' Mudge recalled asking representatives of the software maker.
Yes, they said, they were using DES, a standard encryption method that
for years was considered virtually uncrackable.

But this wasn't DES, thought Mudge. It's almost as if...

Whoa. He blinked and felt the adrenaline kick in. This wasn't secure at
all. In fact, the encoding was only slightly more complex than the simple
cyphers kids did in grade school - where ``A'' is set to 1, ``B'' is set
to 2, and so on.

The company was selling this software as a secure product, charging
customers up to $10,000. And yet, it had a security hole big enough to
waltz through.

Instead of exploiting this knowledge, Mudge confronted the company.

``You realize there isn't any secure or 'strong' encoding being used in
your communications between the computers, don't you?'' he asked.

``Well...''

``And that you claimed you were using DES to encrypt the data,'' he
pressed.

``That will go in the next revision.''

Mudge is a ``real'' hacker - one who used to snoop around the nation's
electronic infrastructure for the sheer love of knowing how it worked.
His kind today are sighted about as often as the timberwolf, and society
has attached to them the same level of legend.

Like the wolf, they were once considered a scourge. Law enforcement and
telecommunication companies investigated and arrested many of them during
the late 1980s and early '90s.

Today, many elite hackers of the past are making a go at legitimate work,
getting paid big bucks by Fortune 500 companies to explore computer
networks and find the weak spots.

And none too soon. The void left by the old hackers has been filled by a
new, more destructive generation.

So today, Mudge - who uses a pseudonym like others in the hacker
community, a world where anonymity keeps you out of trouble - wears a
white hat. As part of L0pht, the hacker think tank, he and six comrades
hole up in a South End loft space in Boston and spend their evenings
peeling open software and computer networks to see how they work.

When they find vulnerabilities in supposedly secure systems, they publish
their findings on the World Wide Web in hopes of embarrassing the
companies into fixing the problems. A recent example: They posted notice
via the Internet of a problem that makes Lotus Notes vulnerable to
malicious hackers.

A Lotus spokesman said the company was aware of the flaw but it was
extremely technical and unlikely to affect anyone.

The hackers at L0pht have made enemies among industry people, but they
command respect. They were even called to testify before the U.S. Senate
Committee on Governmental Affairs in May.

Why do they publish what they find?

``If that information doesn't get out,'' Mudge replies, ``then only the
bad guys will have it.''

The ``bad guys'' are the hacker cliche: secretive teen-age boys lurking
online, stealing credit card numbers, breaking into Pentagon systems, and
generally causing trouble. One of L0pht's members, Kingpin, was just such
a cad when he was younger, extending his online shenanigans to real-world
breaking and entering. Today, L0pht keeps him out of mischief, he said.

``We're like midnight basketball for hackers,'' said Weld Pond, another
member.

Malicious hacking seems to be on the rise.

Nearly two out of three companies reported unauthorized use of their
computer systems in the past year, according to a study by the Computer
Security Institute and the FBI. Another study, from Software AG Americas,
said 7 percent of companies reported a ``very serious'' security breach,
and an additional 16 percent reported ``worrisome'' breaches. However, 72
percent said the intrusions were relatively minor with no damage.

American companies spent almost $6.3 billion on computer security last
year, according to research firm DataQuest. The market is expected to
grow to $13 billion by 2000.

Government computers are vulnerable, too. The Defense Department suffered
almost 250,000 hacks in 1995, the General Accounting Office reported.
Most were detected only long after the attack.

This is why business booms for good-guy hackers.

Jeff Moss, a security expert with Secure Computing Inc., runs a
$995-a-ticket professional conference for network administrators, where
hackers-cum-consultants mingle with military brass and CEOs.

``I don't feel like a sellout,'' said Moss, who wouldn't elaborate on his
hacking background. ``People used to do this because they were really
into it. Now you can be into it and be paid.''

News reports show why such services are needed:

- Earlier this month, hackers struck the Web site of The New York Times,
forcing the company to shutter it for hours. Spokeswoman Nancy Nielsen
said the break-in was being treated as a crime, not a prank. The FBI's
computer crime unit was investigating.

- This spring, two California teen-agers were arrested for trying to hack
the Pentagon's computers. Israeli teen Ehud Tenebaum, a k a ``The
Analyzer,'' said he mentored the two on how to do it. The two Cloverdale,
Calif., youths pleaded guilty in late July and were placed on probation.

- Kevin Mitnick, the only hacker to make the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list,
was arrested in 1995, accused of stealing 20,000 credit card numbers. He
remains in prison. A film called ``TakeDown,'' about the electronic
sleuthing that led to Mitnick's capture, is in the works.  Comments
protesting Mitnick's prosecution were left during the hack of the New
York Times Web site.

- In 1994, Vladimir Levin, a graduate of St. Petersburg Tekhnologichesky
University, allegedly masterminded a Russian hacker gang and stole $10
million from Citibank computers. A year later, he was arrested by
Interpol at Heathrow airport in London.

``Lemme tell ya,'' growled Mark Abene one night over Japanese steak
skewers. ``Kids these days, they got no respect for their elders.''

Abene, known among fellow hackers as Phiber Optik, should know. He was
one of those no-account kids in the 1980s when he discovered telephones
and computers. For almost 10 years, he wandered freely through the
nation's telephone computer systems and, oh, the things he did and saw.

Celebrities' credit reports were his for the taking. Unlimited free phone
calls from pilfered long-distance calling card numbers. Private phone
lines for his buddies, not listed anywhere. And the arcane knowledge of
trunk lines, switches, the entire glory of the network that connected New
York City to the rest of the world.

But Abene's ticket to ride was canceled in January 1994, when, at age 22,
he entered Pennsylvania's Schuylkill Prison to begin serving a
year-and-a-day sentence for computer trespassing. The FBI and the Secret
Service described him as a menace. The sentencing judge said Abene, as a
spokesman for the hacking community, would be made an example.

And yet, to many in the digital community, Abene's offenses amounted to
unbridled curiosity. He was just a kid poking around, doing what teen-age
boys do, going to places they're told to avoid.

``Phree Phiber Optik'' pins appeared. Many felt Abene embodied the hacker
ethic espoused by his friend and fellow hacker, Paul Stira:  ``Thou Shalt
Not Destroy.''

With black hair parted in the middle and falling to the center of his
back, a thin beard ringing his mouth, the 26-year-old Abene still looks
like a mischievous kid. Hacking, he said, is hardwired in boys. When they
play with toys when they're young, they break them, then try to figure
out how the parts fit back together.

He added, ``For some of us, it just never goes away.''

Still, the hackers of the 1980s and early '90s have grown up. Some got
busted, others simply graduated from college and fell out of the scene.

Today, many want to be seen as mainstream, said Jeremy Rauch, a network
security expert for Secure Computing Inc. When it's time to talk
consulting contracts with major corporations, the hair gets neatly
combed, the suit replaces the combat boots and black T-shirt, and the
counterculture rhetoric gets toned down.

A hacker in San Francisco who edits the online publication Phrack and
goes by the pseudonym Route talks about his job at a security firm as a
sign of maturity. Contentedly, he notes he can work from home, write as
much code as he can and never punch a clock.

``Are there still hackers out there?'' asked Mike Godwin, counsel for the
Electronic Frontier Foundation, a cyber-rights group. In the early 1990s,
he pushed hard for the EFF to champion Abene and other members of the
cyber gang Masters of Deception. By 1993, he said, hysteria surrounding
hackers began to sputter, to be replaced by a fear of pornography.

``There never were very many hackers,'' he said, not major ones, anyway.
Mainly, they were and are ``this tiny minority of 13- to 18-year-olds who
learned how to make toll-calls for free.'' Today's younger hackers pull
programs off the Web that sniff for passwords and unlock backdoors
automatically. It's the equivalent of rattling every door on a street and
finally getting lucky, chancing upon one that's unlocked.

As for the true hackers of the first generation, Godwin said: ``These
guys are genuinely smart and genuinely have a fascination with the
technology. And they're mostly harmless.''

What do younger hackers say to all this?

Not much, if you judge by interviews at DefCon6.0, the sixth annual
hacker forum and party held in Las Vegas at the end of July.

Some said they hack to learn. Others took a counter-culture stance:
hacking as civil disobedience. They wouldn't give names or talk
specifically about any criminal activities. It was as if they wanted to
present themselves as blank slates, upon which the fears of their
non-wired elders could be inscribed.

At DefCon, they set off stink bombs at one point, and pulled other
juvenile pranks.

``Paging Mr. Mtinick,'' the intercom droned through the hotel-casino's
meeting rooms. The unwitting hotel staff member repeated the call for the
jailed hacker. ``Paging Mr. Kevin Mitnick.''

Pony-tailed guys dressed in black smirked. Gotcha.

As hard house and techno music provided a sound track, they drooled over
new software and pawed through piles of stuff for sale: computer
equipment, of course, but also more books on conspiracy, privacy
protection, and police methods than any paranoid could want.



  
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EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed 


Contents

Hatch Warns FTC To Handle Intel Case With Care
Judge Rejects Microsoft Request To Limit Testimony
WebTV May Fade Out In Two Years-Says Dataquest
Universities Push Professors To Retain Copyrights
Computer Companies Back Digital Display Technology
Compaq To Use Alpha Chip
Scandal Debates Stall Technology Bills
Broadcom Packs Cable-Modem Circuitry On A Chip
New AMD Chip Means Lower-Priced Laptops
The Check Is Still In The Mail...
Ticketmaster Offers Site With A View
Chrysler Goes With Wintel Workstations
A Search Engine's Search Engine
Web Offers Kinder-Gentler Market Research
Net Surfing Vs. Channel Surfing
Gigamachines By The Millennium
Invisible Worlds Wants To Map The Internet
Call-Block Service Designed To Defeat Telemarketers
Two Best-Selling Personal Computers
Jetson-Like Communications Aircraft
Start-Up Juniper Networks Challenges Cisco On Routers
Free Internet Service In The U.K.
Transpac Network Will Link U.S. And Asian-Pacific Universities


HATCH WARNS FTC TO HANDLE INTEL CASE WITH CARE

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch says that the Federal
Trade Commission needs to be "careful" in its pursuit of Intel Corp.  for
alleged antitrust violations. In contrast to the case the Justice
Department is pursuing against Microsoft Corp., the senator noted there
is a tension between intellectual property rights and antitrust law,
which is "at the heart of the FTC's current Intel case." The FTC's case
alleges that Intel violated antitrust law when it denied three of its
customers -- Digital Equipment, Intergraph Corp. and Compaq Computer --
technical information they needed to develop computer systems based on
Intel chips.  Hatch says, "FTC and antitrust enforcers generally should
be rather certain that any effort to enforce intellectual property rights
both is intended to and actually will injure competition in a in a
significant way, before concluding that it represents monopolistic
behavior." (Reuters 18 Sep 98)


JUDGE REJECTS MICROSOFT REQUEST TO LIMIT TESTIMONY

The federal judge presiding over the government's antitrust suit against
Microsoft, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, has ruled
against a request by Microsoft to prevent the Justice Department and 20
state attorney from introducing into the proceedings details of meetings
between Microsoft executives and executives at Intel, Apple, Sun, and
RealNetworks. Government lawyers assert that the meetings show a pattern
of abusive power by Microsoft to force other companies to abandon
projects competitive to its own interests. (Washington Post 18 Sep 98)


WEBTV MAY FADE OUT IN TWO YEARS, SAYS DATAQUEST

A consumer applications analyst at Dataquest says the future of WebTV and
the use of set-top boxes to access the Internet will be short-lived.
"The set-top box on its own really has no future," says Dataquest's Paul
O'Donovan. "The stand-alone set-top box will just disappear. They will
probably disappear in the next 18 months to two years as digital
television arrives... But in the long term, the functionality will appear
within the TV or through digital set-top boxes." With regard to WebTV,
O'Donovan says, "Microsoft has a history of announcing bold technology
strategies and being perfectly prepared to drop them if they don't work.
They may take the technology of WebTV and put it in other devices."
(TechWeb 18 Sep 98)


UNIVERSITIES PUSH PROFESSORS TO RETAIN COPYRIGHTS

There's a growing movement among academicians and their institutions to
retain the copyright on articles published in scholarly journals, rather
than turning those rights over to the publisher as is usual. The
California Institute of Technology will be hosting a three-month-long
discussion of the subject on an electronic network, beginning Oct. 1. "It
became clear to me," says Caltech provost Steven Koonin, "that copyright
is the linchpin. If you're going to change that system, copyright is the
nexus that you have to go after." Other universities now considering
turning the tables on publishers include Yale University and the
University of Kansas.  Koonin says he'd like to see Caltech and its
faculty members jointly own the copyrights to journal articles and
license those rights to publishers on a limited basis. "The publishers
have basically been getting a free good up to this point -- which is the
copyright." Meanwhile, publishers are not enthusiastic about the
movement, and an Elsevier Science VP says she has "serious reservations"
about a university policy that would require its professors to retain
their copyrights. (Chronicle of Higher Education 18 Sep 98)


COMPUTER COMPANIES BACK DIGITAL DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY

A group of high-tech companies, including Intel, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard,
IBM, Microsoft and Dell, say they will work together to promote a display
technology developed by closely held Silicon Image. The cooperative
effort is aimed at accelerating the adoption of flat-panel displays that
will slim down the look of PCs, improve the image quality, and take
perhaps $100 off the price of each display. (Wall Street Journal 18 Sep
98)


COMPAQ TO USE ALPHA CHIP

Compaq's Tandem division will use the Alpha chip, which it acquired as
part of its purchase last year of the Digital Equipment Corporation, in
its high-end Himalaya computers starting in 2000, replacing the MIPS
System processor that Tandem has used since 1988. (San Jose Mercury News
18 Sep 98)


SCANDAL DEBATES STALL TECHNOLOGY BILLS

Among the bills put on the back burner because of current Washington
distractions are: Internet taxes, visas for technology workers,
encryption rules, copyright protections for digital material, digital
materials, and tax credits for research. Whichever bills failed to pass
before the 105th Congress adjourns will die, and will need to be
reintroduced into the 106th Congress next January. (Atlanta
Journal-Constitution 19 Sep 98)


BROADCOM PACKS CABLE-MODEM CIRCUITRY ON A CHIP

Broadcom Corp. has developed a single chip that combines functions
normally found on a three-chip set, promising lower prices for the modem
boxes that provide cable Internet service. The chips are expected to sell
for $50 each in relatively small lots, and economies of scale could bring
the price much lower. That's good news for cable operators who hope to
capitalize on their larger "pipeline" into the home. So far, operators
have been buying the necessary boxes for about $500 apiece and renting
them to customers. But cheaper chips could bring the cost of the boxes
down below $200 -- a price point that would transform the boxes into a
standard retail product, much like today's telephone line modems. "That's
where the business must go to work," says a senior semiconductor analyst
with International Data Corp. (Wall Street Journal 21 Sep 98)


NEW AMD CHIP MEANS LOWER-PRICED LAPTOPS

Advanced Micro Devices has developed a new 300 megahertz microprocessor
that it plans to sell for $229 -- less than half of the $637 that Intel
sells its comparable Pentium II chip for. AMD says customers for the new
K6-300 product include No. 1 PC maker Compaq Computer. The disparity in
price between Intel's 300 megahertz chip and AMD's will mean that
computer makers could shave prices on laptop computers from $3,000 to
somewhere between $2,000 and $2,500. "There is no question that notebook
prices are coming down," says an analyst with ARS Inc., a market research
firm. "I think you'll see more impact next year and a reaction from
Intel to speed the introduction of new technology." A spokesman from
Intel responds, "We welcome competition." (Wall Street Journal 22 Sep 98)


THE CHECK IS STILL IN THE MAIL...

More than 47.4 billion business and personal checks were printed last
year, up 1.4% from 1996. "Checks are a U.S., Canada and U.K.
phenomenon," says a Citibank VP. "In the U.S., having more than 12,000
banks and savings and loans makes it hard to agree on electronic
standards, which encourages checks." Not only that, but banks benefit
from selling all those checks, to the tune of $1.7 billion last year --
that doesn't include the additional $1 billion they made charging for
bounced checks. And issuing paper checks enables the banks to keep closer
tabs on their customers. When people move, one of the first things they
do is order new checks. But all this may be changing -- a new standard
called IFX is due out in February, which will enable consumers to receive
bills online from any vendor, and analysts say people are much more
likely to pay an electronic invoice electronically (and, conversely, a
paper bill with a paper check). "When checkless transactions do catch
on, the adoption rate will be tremendous," predicts a Deutsche Bank
analyst. (Investor's Business Daily 22 Sep 98)


TICKETMASTER OFFERS SITE WITH A VIEW

Beginning in early October, Ticketmaster's Web site will include an image
of the view a customer would have from the seat he or she is selecting.
Eighty venues across the country -- including the Great Western Forum,
Madison Square Garden, and the United Center of Chicago -- will be
included in the initial rollout.  Smaller theaters will use still photos
to convey the user's perspective, but the larger concert halls and
stadiums have been mapped using three-dimensional computerized modeling
software. (Los Angeles Times 21 Sep 98)


CHRYSLER GOES WITH WINTEL WORKSTATIONS

Chrysler Corp. says that over the next few years, it will be replacing
its Unix workstations with machines based on Intel Pentium II Xeon chips
running Microsoft's Windows NT software. The company currently owns some
4,000 IBM RS/6000 and Silicon Graphics Octane workstations. (Wall Street
Journal 22 Sep 98)


A SEARCH ENGINE'S SEARCH ENGINE

Direct Hit Technologies Inc. offers a HotBot search engine aid that trims
the number of links produced by an inquiry to just the top 10 sites,
based on which sites are clicked on when a similar request has been made
in the past. Each time a link is selected, it moves a little bit higher
on the list. Another ranking system, called Google, does essentially the
same thing, but in this case the Web sites are rated by the number of
other sites linked to them. The higher the number of links, the higher
ranking the site is accorded. (Business Week 28 Sep 98)


WEB OFFERS KINDER, GENTLER MARKET RESEARCH

When market researchers choose to use the Net to reach you, they may be
sparing you some phone calls during the dinner hour. John Gilbert, the
marketing research manager at United Parcel Service says, "When you do
an e-mail or Web-based survey, you're less intrusive with a respondent.
On the Internet, they can respond at their own leisure. They can do it
after hours if necessary. They can give it much more thought." Gilbert
worries that market research may be confused with spamming. "A lot of
people are getting spammed. It's certainly undermining more legitimate
marketing." (Reuters/San Jose Mercury News 18 Sep 98)


NET SURFING VS. CHANNEL SURFING

As people become active surfer on the Internet, do they watch less
television? A study commissioned by Discovery Networks has concluded
that, as households begin to use the Internet, television use by
teenagers tends to drop but use by everyone else tends to increase. (New
York Times 21 Sep 98)


GIGAMACHINES BY THE MILLENNIUM

Tomorrow's computer users will escalate their search for ever more
computing power, as they begin to take advantage of technologies such as
speech software and voice e-mail. "You will want a gigahertz machine for
multimedia, three-dimensional graphics, continuous speech input,
visualization, video conferencing and so on," says the VP and general
manager of business platforms at Intel. "We will also introduce 'constant
computing' to utilize the unused idle power." Meanwhile, a researcher at
IBM predicts, "By the millennium, 50 million people will be using speech
software to control their computers. You will be able to ask your
browser to find you things on penguins in Antarctica or dictate your
e-mails, which will be multimedia, so instead of dictating the text you
could record your voice and it would automatically arrive at either the
recipient's PC or telephone. People will realize that voice is more
valuable than the same words recorded as text." (Financial Times 23 Sep
98)


INVISIBLE WORLDS WANTS TO MAP THE INTERNET

Internet software developers Carl Malamud and Marshall Rose have founded
Invisible Worlds, Inc. with the goal of creating a way to navigate the
Internet using maps that portray the relationships between computers and
information as three-dimensional space. "We think you should be able to
take your mouse or joystick and drive around the Internet," says Malamud.
"One of the reasons the Web seems so chaotic is there is no way to see it
visually." The navigational tools, which will be available some time next
year, will be known as the Blocks protocol. Initially, users will view
the interactive maps using their Web browsers, but Malamud hopes to
someday offer map-viewing software with more powerful visualization
features. Malamud traces his inspiration to the work of such writers as
Thomas Pynchon, whose "Mason & Dixon" novel celebrates the role that the
cartographer can play in defining uncharted territory. (New York Times 23
Sep 98)


CALL-BLOCK SERVICE DESIGNED TO DEFEAT TELEMARKETERS

Ameritech has developed a service called Privacy Manager that intercepts
calls that can not be traced with Called ID and then has an automated
voice ask who is calling. If the caller fails to respond to that
question, the system hangs up; it the caller replies, the system dials
the customer who can then still choose to accept or reject the call. (USA
Today 23 Sep 98)


TWO BEST-SELLING PERSONAL COMPUTERS

The PC Data market research firm says the two best-selling personal
computer systems for the month of August were Hewlett-Packard's Pavilion
6330 (Windows-based) and Apple's iMac system. The HP 6330 represented 8.6
percent of all systems sold, while the iMac rang in with 7.1 percent of
sales. The iMac was only available for sale 17 days in August. (C/Net
News.Com 23 Sep 98)


JETSON-LIKE COMMUNICATIONS AIRCRAFT

A new aircraft called High Altitude Long Operation-Proteus is designed to
circle for hours some 50,000 feet high over major cities, functioning
like a communications relay satellite does in space and carrying
broadband wireless services, including high-speed Internet access and
video-teleconferencing. A region might receive 24-hour service from a
fleet of three planes, each flown by two-man crews on eight-hour shifts,
with each aircraft flying fixed patterns providing coverage to an area
75 miles in diameter. Industry analyst Jeffrey Kagan says, "I knew it
wouldn't be too long before the Jetsons became reality. In the next
several years, you will see truckloads of methods for delivering high
speed methods of data to homes and offices." (San Jose Mercury News 23
Sep 98)


START-UP JUNIPER NETWORKS CHALLENGES CISCO ON ROUTERS

Start-up Juniper Networks Inc. is taking on Cisco Systems with what it
claims is the first router designed especially for the Internet. The
Juniper M40 processes more data at a time than Cisco's high-end
GSR-12000, says an analyst at RHK, a telecom research firm: "These guys
have the most realistic threat to Cisco on the high end." The M40 router
is enhanced by IBM's Internet Processor chip, which, combined with
Juniper's Junos routing software allows users not only to retrieve Web
pages and send e-mail, but also do more advanced things like send audio
and video across networks. (Investor's Business Daily 23 Sep 98)


FREE INTERNET SERVICE IN THE U.K.

British consumer electronics retailer Dixons Group and telecommunications
firm Energis are teaming up to provide a free Internet service to
citizens in the U.K. Users will not be required to pay any registration
or usage fees, but will be charged $1.68 a minute for technical support.
The move is expected to force other Internet service providers in that
country to reevaluate their pricing structures. (Wall Street Journal 23
Sep 98)


TRANSPAC NETWORK WILL LINK U.S. AND ASIAN-PACIFIC UNIVERSITIES

Indiana University has won a five-year $10 million grant from the
National Science Foundation to create (jointly with the Asia Pacific
Advanced Network consortium) a computer network that will give American
universities access to a great number of research and educational
institutions in the Asia-Pacific region. The network will be called
Transpac. (AP 23 Sep 98)

  






  
NEW!  by R. F. Mariano

Whew!!! Good old Georges is getting close. Now if only he loses his gusto
in the Gulf. I might add that I suspect a right turn by him up around
Punta Gorda or so and a back door entry to Jacksonville, back out into
the Atlantic and up the coast.

Once he hit the NY Bight, it'll signal the end of Bluefishing up that
way and send the lunkers down here.

This is one mean storm. Its responsible for over 200 deaths and the
count is climbing. God help anyone it touches.  Bits & Bytes, the boat
we've been working on is nearing completion. The antenna farm is done and
wired in. If notice the two small ball shaped antennas on either side of
the Radome, those are the two GPS antennae for the NorthStar and Garmin
GPS units. The Differential antenna mounts on the port bulkhead as a
matching opposite to the VHF antenna on the starboard bulkhead.

The Ground Plate is also installed. Nothing spared here... the sucker is
solid Bronze! (see below) It mounts under the hull with a thru hull
electrical connection. It is about eighteen inches long and is there to
provide an adequate earth ground for the boat's electronics systems.
Additionally, it'll provide a marvelous "ground plane" for the various
communications devices. From the CB to the VHF and Cellfone. As you can
see from the pictures we have been seeing a great deal of cloud cover and
rain. What with the Tropical Storms in the Gulf and the Hurricanes in the
Tropical Atlantic.

I was never good at keeping secrets... Next week, I'll let you in on a
POWERHOUSE of a matrix device that is designed to make the interfacing
between the above goodies a "cakewalk to set up and use. Don't miss this
because for each and everyone of you that is contemplating setting up an
electronics array similar to that on the B&B this is a need to know item.



Got a question relative to something.... 
  We have covered or reviewed?
  Want something reviewed?
  Want to tell us a thing or two?
  
  Request a Brochure about a product?
  This is the place... 



  






  
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The Linux Advocate


#20 September 25th, 1998
by Scott Dowdle
dowdle@icstech.com
ICQ UIN: 15509440

LOGIN:

Two weeks sure did role by fast. I'd like to take this opportunity to
mention how great I think three Linux sites are. This isn't the first
time I've mentioned them nor will it be the last. Computer Industry News
and Rumors - Slashdot - The BEST source of Linux News - Linux Weekly News
- Unix Software News - Freshmeat - All three sites have had so much
traffic over the past couple of weeks, that at peak times they aren't
able to serve it all, so bare that in mind.


NEWS:

Item #1: Intel looks to Linux community for help with UDI - In yet
another show of respect towards Linux, Intel announced that they really
need the help of the Linux community on a project they have decided to
support, the Uniform Driver Interface (UDI) project. The following URL
even mentions that the Intel people even spoke directly to Linus Torvalds
on this issue. Information on the UDI project may be found in the
following URL: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/1998/37/ns-5501.htm Linux
Weekly News http://lwn.net also carries the UDI story as the lead item
in this week's issue.


Item #2: People hated OS/2 and network computers; why don't they hate
Linux? - Yet another article by Nicholas Petreley... who mentions that he
is "soon to be editorial director of a Webzine called LinuxWorld". This
one explains why there doesn't seem to be a negative feeling in the press
about Linux.
http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayNew.pl?/petrel/980921np.htm

Item #3: VAR Resuscitates NT Server: Microserver Solution Solves Heart
Clinic's Network Overload - Here's an article that details a Heart
Clinic's struggle with Windows NT and their eventual switch over to an
Internet Toaster like device (toaster as in plug it in and it works)
called the Cobalt Qube. Column readers will remember that I did a brief
overview, including a picture, of the Colbalt Qude in edition #13
(http://www.icstech.com/~dowdle/LA/LA-13.html). The Cobalt Qube is a
custom designed device that runs Linux and uses a WWW form based System
Administration system.
http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?CRN19980921S0076

Item #4: NASA Tackles Computer Crime Workload In-House - Gee, seems like
I've been ignoring all of the Beowulf press lately so I thought I'd
include this one. It's another story about the security system that NASA
has set up. When you go to the following URL, you'll find the article
about two-thirds down in the content... just FIND IN PAGE "NASA" and
you'll jump right to it. Here's a sample from the top of the article,
"Analyzing computer-crime evidence and tracking cybercriminals has gone
from taking weeks to mere minutes, now that the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration's (NASA) Computer Crimes Division (CCD) has employed
Beowulf." http://www.govtech.net:80/gtmag/1998/sept/news/news.shtm

Item #5: Now and Zen - In an article in detailing Novell's NetWare 5, the
author does a comparison between Netware, NT, and Linux. Who do you think
he picked as best Network Operating System? Well, considering I'm
mentioning it, you can bet it's Linux. Anyway, there is a decent
comparison of networking features so check it out if connectivity
interests you.  http://www.ehsco.com/opinion/19980917.html

Item #6: IBM to announce DB2 for Linux - The San Francisco Chronicle ran
a piece by Tom Abate about competition in the hard drive manufacturing
business. Oddly enough, there was a mention that IBM was expected to
announce an upgrade for their DB2 enterprise database. One of the new
features is that they have a Linux version now. While I don't know much
about IBM's DB2, from what I understand, IBM has been primarily marketing
it on their AS400 systems. With DB2 becoming available for Linux, it can
now be moved off the expensive AS400 hardware and onto cheaper, PC
hardware...  assuming IBM just supports Intel Linux. I'm sure if the
product becomes popular enough on Intel Linux, they'd make it available
for Alpha Linux. I doubt porting between the different platforms of Linux
would difficult at all if they released DB2 in source format but I don't
expect that to ever happen. Usually porting from one platform of Linux to
another is only a matter of recompiling... with little or no
modification to the source code. Here's a quote from the passage ---
"tomorrow IBM will announce that it is porting DB2 to the freeware Linux
operating system, something that would have been unthinkable in the
company's button-down days." The URL follows:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/09/22/BU52
03.DTL

Item #7: Caldera and Sybase, Caldera's Latest Moves - Speaking of
database systems, here's details of yet another database maker moving
into the Linux market, but this time in a more direct way... working out
an arrangement with a major Linux distribution maker. Here's a blurb,
"Today, Caldera and Sybase co-announced that the Sybase Adaptive Server,
Enterprise Edition is now available for Linux. The version being shipped
is 11.0.3.3, the same version available for other platforms. The Sybase
product will be available on both the Caldera and Sybase web sites.  It
will also be included with the Caldera OpenLinux 1.3 product, which will
be available on September 28." There's more to the press release so feel
free to find out more at the following URL:
http://www.linuxresources.com/news/calderasybase.html

Item #8: SuSE introduces Office 99 - In what seems a breakthrough in
pricing, SuSE announced that they will be offering the latest version of
ApplixWare (v4.4.1) with their fantastic SuSE Linux 5.3 distribution.
The price is slated to be $79.95 which includes the full version of
ApplixWare with ApplixBuilder and ApplixData. Details are kind of sketchy
(their German site seems to differ from the USA site so I'm not sure of
the details). Oddly enough, this happens right after Red Hat Software
announced that they are giving back ApplixWare to the Applix folks to
concentrate more on their distribution. In any event, you can check for
the latest developments by checking out the following URL... more on this
next column I'm sure.  http://www.suse.com/Product/Office99/

SPOTLIGHT: Wabi - A Windows Emulator? Not really.  About two months ago,
I picked up a copy of Wabi from the LinuxMall folks
http://www.linuxmall.com mainly because the price is so low (less than
$50) these days. I had seen and played with Wabi about a year ago and the
product really hasn't changed in that time... but I did install my newly
purchased copy and give it a run through. I don't really have a need for
the product, so I doubt I'll actually use it very often, but I can also
envision that it might come in handy some day.

What is Wabi?

Many people call Wabi, "A Windows Emulator," but it really isn't. While
Wabi is certified to run a certain number of Windows 3.x applications, it
really doesn't run then under an emulator. You see, one has to have a
copy of Microsoft Windows 3.x in order for Wabi to do its thing. In fact,
the first time you run Wabi after installing it, it asks for Windows
disks so that you can install Microsoft Windows on your filesystem. There
are two basic strategies for installing Windows in Wabi... a single,
shared copy of Windows, or a copy of Windows for each user who plans on
using Wabi. That might sound crazy... to have a copy of Windows installed
for each user that wants to run Wabi, but it makes sense. You see,
Windows wasn't designed for a multiuser environment and has no method to
story individual user preferences... ie, the storage of system
preferences in Windows 3.x is global. By allowing each Wabi user to
install their own copy of Windows (generally to their own home directory
area), each Windows user now has the ability to store their own Windows
settings and Windows software, without interfering with any other Windows
user on the system. Each copy of Windows lives in its own little world
and is under totally control of the user who owns it. Hmmm, perhaps I
should give Wabi more credit because it actually runs Windows without
DOS... so there obviously is quite a bit of emulation going on.

Wabi History

Wabi is a product developed by SunSoft, a division of Sun Microsystems.
I'm not sure if SunSoftactually exists anymore because I know Sun
reorganized several months back, and merged several of its divisions. Ah
well, that really isn't important. Somewhere along the way, Caldera Inc.
and SunSoft struck a deal to have Wabi ported to Linux... so now we have
a version available for Linux.

Wabi Installation

As with virtually all software these days, Wabi comes on CD-ROM. I'm not
going to assume that every Linux user is the master of his own machine
because there are a lot of people living on networks these days... and
having to rely on a System Administrator to install software for you.
Wabi requires the installer to be able to mount a CD-ROM with execution
permissions set for it so that the install script may be run directly
from the CD. There are probably ways around that but I'm not going to
discuss them here. Anyway, once Wabi is installed on the machine, each
user may install their own copy of Windows or the System Administrator
may set up a global, shared copy. My use of Wabi was on my own machine
and I'm the only one using it so most of things were non-issues for me.
Oh, by the way, Wabi does not come with a copy of Windows 3.x; You have
to provide your own copy.  Finding a new copy of Windows 3.11 might be a
daunting task these days but many of us old timers have multiple copies
of Windows 3.x just laying around taking up shelf space.

Windows installation

After Wabi is installed, it handles the process of installing Windows
and it's pretty darn easy... kind of like the real thing... you just feed
it the Windows disks and a progression scroll bar fills in as you go
along. Wabi works with all versions of Windows 3.x included Workgroups
for Windows.

Using Windows applications

Wabi is only certified to work on a number of Windows software titles
(list included below) but I've found that most everything I tried worked
fine, even if it wasn't guaranteed to work. Any Windows 3.x stuff that
was written for the WS-32 32-bit libraries will not work as Wabi is only
for true 16-bit applications. Who remembers the hybrid 32-bit support
they offered on Windows with that hybrid library? A lot of Windows 3.x
software vendors relied on the 32-bit library there near the later
stages of Windows 3.x's popularity. Applications Certified to work with
Wabi

  Microsoft Excel 5.0 and 4.0 
  Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0 and 2.0 
  Microsoft PowerPoint 4.0 and 3.0 
  Microsoft Access 2.0 
  Microsoft Mail Client 3.2 
  Microsoft Office 4.3 
  Microsoft Project 4.0 and 3.0 
  Microsoft Windows 3.1 
  Microsoft Windows 3.11 
  Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11 
  Microsoft Schedule+ 1.0 
  Intuit Quicken 4.0 and 3.0 
  Intuit Quicken Deluxe 4.0 
  Paradox for Windows 5.0 and 4.5 
  Quattro Pro for Windows 6.0 and 5.0 
  WordPerfect for Windows 6.1 and 6.0a 
  CorelDRAW 4.0 and 3.0 
  Harvard Graphics 3.0 and 2.0 
  Aldus PageMaker 5.0 and 4.0 
  ProComm Plus 2.11 and 1.02 
  Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows 5.0 and 4.0 
  Lotus Amipro 3.1 
  Lotus Approach 3.02 and 2.1 
  Lotus Notes Client 3.3 and 3.0c 
  Lotus Organizer 2.1 and 1.1 
  Lotus SmartSuite 4.0 and 3.1 
  Lotus WordPro 96 
  Lotus cc:Mail Client 2.2 and 2.03 
  Lotus Freelance Graphics 2.1 and 2.01 

Who would want to use Wabi?

That's a good question. Considering the nature of most Windows software,
especially titles made by Microsoft themselves, the usefulness of running
legacy Win 3.x stuff seems rather moot. Take for example the headaches of
data file exchange between different versions of the same application
software. However, if you still work with a lot of 16-bit Windows 3.x
stuff, I'm sure Wabi would come in very handy.

How does Wabi Perform?

It seemed to run full speed, although we aren't talking about running
video games here, rather applications. This is actually surprising
considering that Wabi runs Windows just like any other program on your X
Window System desktop. To Linux, Windows is just another program.

Limitations of Wabi

Wabi only runs in 8-bit color mode so if one typically runs the X Window
System in 16, or 24-bit color, you'll have to restart in 8-bit color.
This also means that Windows applications are run in 8-bit color as well.
I have found a way around this though. It's not that friendly of a work
around but it works just fine if you have a decent amount of RAM (32MB or
more). Remember gold old VNC (Virtual Network Computing) from LA #18?
Well, if one starts up a second copy of the X Windows System in 8-bit
color, and then connects to it by running the vncviewer in the X Windows
System at 16-bit color... you can run Wabi in VNC just fine. Of course,
it's slower that way but it works just fine.

DOS Emulation

If you want to run DOS programs from the Program Manager (or whatever
method you are used to using in Windows), you'll have to have a DOS
emulator installed. I tried using the version of dosemu that comes with
Red Hat 5.1 and I believe it comes setup with FreeDOS (no copy of MS-DOS
needed). While I didn't give it much testing, from a cursory view, it
seems to work fine.

Where are the screenshots?

I hope to include some screenshots of Wabi in action next column. I was
running behind when I wrote this, and although I realize it is a big
oversite on my part NOT to have any pictures this edition, that is just
the way it has got to be.

LOGOUT:

As always, thanks for reading and feedback is welcome. Sorry I didn't
get to proof read this edition too closely so enjoy the mistakes. :)

Scott Dowdle
  




 



STR Editor's Mail Call "...a place
for the readers to be heard" 

Editor's MailBag 
Messages * NOT EDITED * for content or spelling


From: Erich and Tink Erdmann [erdmanns@gte.net]
Sent: Monday, September 21, 1998 1:33 AM
To: rmariano@streport.com
Subject: clinton
He is a liar....he deserves what he gets!!!

     So then I ask sure... sure... But you.... have NEVER Lied??

From: Erich and Tink Erdmann [erdmanns@gte.net]
Sent: Monday, September 21, 1998 10:49 AM
To: rmariano@streport.com
Subject: Re: Clinton

Yeah I have lied but NOT in court. President Idiot is suppose to be a
leader and set an example for our children. He is unfit to lead and under
the new terms set in 1974 with Hillary as one of the framers, he should
be impeached. Clinton in addition to the Lewinsky mess has abused his
power against common people like Billy Dale and invaded the privacy of
numerous Republicans in filegate. Clinton may as well be a gestapo chief.
Bill Clinton is a nazi tyrant. He deserves everything that is comming to
him....I will watch with pleasure as his power is taken from him; )

From: greg_evans (GREG_EVANS)
To: Ralph Mariano (STREPORT)
DateTime: 9/17/98 8:56 PM

Ralph,

Thanks for the reply. I'm not going to comment on items which are
personal preferences, just the couple of items which seemed to have been
left as factual differemces.

1. The budget would not be in balance if the Treasury did not take excess
Social Secirty receipts and replace them with I.O.Us which must be
repaid by future tax revenues. I got my information from A. Jaeworth
Robertson, the former Chief Actuary at the Social Security
Administration. Oops, that's Haeworth. There is no Social Security trust
fund, it's simply a bunch of I.O.U.'s in the form of Treasury bonds.
Because of the changes to SS taxes in the early 80's the taxes collected
today far exceed, by 10's of billions the amount being used by current
beneficiaries. The excess is spent, not put away. I write software for
employer retirement plans, this is my area of expertise.

     But at the same time it still sounds like the Republican rhetoric...
     slobbering all over themselves trying to drown Clinton.  They just
     don't get it do they... they're going to destroy themselves.

2. My point on the 1994 election was in response to your statement about
the Party resisting the will of the American people or some such.

     OK

3. Check the OIC law about Congress's ability to unfund the OIC. I'll see
what I can find.

     I did and they're able to do so at the point the OIC is seeking
     further funding.

4. The 500 billion dollar deficit was an estimate.  It's not that hard to
figure out though, if we take the sum of insurnace premiums and claims.

     I gave the facts about the Balanced budget.

Finally, thanks again for answering the "Letter". Thanks for
understanding it in the spirit it was delivered also. I was concerned you
might take it personally.

Greg




From: Jim [noyfb@nofb.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 1998 2:06 PM
To: rmariano@streport.com
Subject: REPUBLICANS vs BILL CLINTON

If your comments are not ment as a joke....Your nuts! Thank god we don't
have socailzed medicine.

I didn't inhale, I didn't have sex..... The guy is a public discrace and
a piss poor roll model for our kids.

Don't try to justify his actions with past actions of others.

Thanks... I needed a good laugh!!



From: Greg Evans [gevans@sysnet.net]
Sent: Sunday, September 20, 1998 12:15 PM
To: rmariano@streport.com
Subject: This weeks editorial...

Hi Ralph,

Just read your editorial and wanted to remind you that Richard Nixon
never testified before a grand jury.

"...Nixon and countless other BAD guys have had all the Grand Jury
Investigative testimony KEPT SECRET. But not Bill Clinton."

Ronald Reagan did, however and Lawrence Walsh released his 8 hours of
videotaped testimony to the public the SAME DAY he testified. He
certainly did so without Congress's permission. In the current case, Ken
Starr received judicial permission to release the grand jury information.
Congress then voted overwhelmingly (only 63 voted "NO") to release ALL
materials by Sept.. 28. The majority of Democrats joined Republicans in
that vote. Remember, the GOP only has 11 seats more than the Democrats.

     True, but Ronnie baby's testimony was a rehersed and Republican
     Orchestrated bag of noise put together for Him by George Bush and
     his CIA cronies.

On the matter of last week's editorial...  I am curious about why you
chose to print my original letter and your reply but not my subsequent
letter. Maybe Dana didn't forward it to you. In any case, the facts are
that excess Social Security taxes are spent every year and that amount
must later be repaid by future taxes. This is from the former Chief
Actuary of the Social Security Administration. The budget would be far
from balanced if those excess SS taxes did not mask it.

     Why then are the Republicans so eager to dispose of the surplus in
     the form of tax cuts??
 
The 1994 election was not an incumbent election. If it had been, the GOP
could not have gained the majority in the House or Senate. Many, many
Democrats lost and no Republican governor, representative or senator
did. The fact that the Congress followed the Bush administration means
nothing. The President doesn't appoint members of Congress. Your original
argument was that the GOP has tried to thwart the people. You then
changed that to thwarting the will of Bill Clinton. Those are not the
same things.

     Ah, but the FACT that Congress DID follow the Bush administration
     meant EVERYTHING. We are "enjoying" the benefits of that debacle
     today.

People used to feel the same way about law enforcement as you feel about
this President. "Hey, at least the crime rate's low, who cares if the
sheriff is a crook himself." In this case, it's the economy instead of
crime that's the overriding factor. If you like President Clinton,
that's fine. If you think he's done a good job, great. If those opinions
are supported by facts why pretend that the facts don't matter when it
comes to the law. I'd like to hear you tell Kathleen Willey, Paula Jones,
etc. that you think it's okay for the President to expose himself, touch
their bodies, kiss them, etc. because the economy is good. Think about
the women you care about and imagine yourself saying the same things.

     My daddy once told me something about these "kiss tell" women... no
     matter how much they protest, you have to remember... You simply
     cannot thread a needle unless its held still".

I missed the reference to George Bush being behind this investiagtion
when I read your reply online. What??? Where did you get that from?  Give
me facts, here Ralph.

     Come now, do you really think I'm going to reveal sources and
     instances that can point to my sources of info?? George Bush is
     perhaps one of the most powerful men alive today.

I'm sure Bill Clinton sees his redemption in a Jimmy Carter post-
Presidency like rahabilitation. President Carter is an honest man and
what he's done after leaving office, both very good and not so good
(North Korea was not so good) are a continuation of the man he was while
in office. He may be seen more favorably now and there is some
satisfaction inseeing an honest man be successful. No, I'm sorry but Bill
Clinton will not be Jimmy Carter. I'm afraid, given his proclivities,
he'll be more like PeeWee Herman. Some day he'll either get arrested or
get himself beat up by some woman's husband or father.

     If someone does.... they'll be justifiably arrested and incarcerated
     for the commission of a felony. What's your point?? Please, you've
     been a pleasure to debate this with.... don't go getting emotional
     on me now.  <grin>




From: Mitchell, John [jmitchel@temmc.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 23,1998 6:55 PM 
To: 'rmariano@streport.com' 
Subject: Your Stance On Clinton


What you need to know about me:
  I voted for Clinton.
  I have been involved in a lawsuit and the deposition process.
  I don't care what he did with Monica Lewinsky.

President Clinton lied under oath in the Paula Jones deposition. His
lie(s) led to that lawsuit being dismissed SO SHE DIDN'T GET HER DAY IN
COURT!

I can't continue to support Clinton because if I do, it is saying to
everyone, "It's OK to lie in a deposition if you want to. The truth
doesn't have to be told even when you promise TO GOD that you will tell
the truth."

Don't you understand that? What Clinton did during the deposition
process is an affront to every American who relies on the court system
for "justice". If the President gets away with this, why should any
American feel compelled to tell the truth in the future? The thinking
will be, "Well, the President lied, so why shouldn't I?"

Let's get personal about this: you sue your neighbor over something and
the neighbor lies in their deposition and coaches their friends on how to
give false depositions that will strengthen their defense. The judge
throws out your lawsuit because of the lies that are entered into
evidence. HOW DO YOU NOW FEEL???

THAT is the question. Clinton has caused a Constitutional crisis because
he lied under oath. I don't care how "fine" he thinks he split the legal
hairs in his deposition, he LIED and we all know it. Then he LIED to the
American people in his remarks on January 17 and, as he said during the
Nixon impeachment investigation, "If a President lies to the American
people, he should resign." I agree with what Clinton said back then: HE
SHOULD RESIGN!

I can't trust him as my President any more.

     John Mitchell.... now there's a familiar name. Of course you make a
     valid point however dull.... but then who would trust what Paula
     Jones has to say??

  


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  No Indenting on any paragraphs!! 
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Word or Word Perfect format. Do NOT, under any circumstances, use the
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Ralph F. Mariano, Editor
rmariano@streport.com
STReport International Online Magazine
  







  
Classics & Gaming Section
Editor Dana P. Jacobson
dpj@streport.com


> From the Atari Editor's Desk              "Saying it like it is!"
  """"""""""""""""""""""""""""



What a country live in!  Imagine...the most rich, and the most powerful
are being legally taken to task.  The Republicans, they've got a big set
of "scrotes"!  Clinton's biggest problem was that he didn't pay enough
attention to Monica for too long; she felt scorned; and she got even.
You can't tell me that she didn't set up poor Billy-boy!  Sure, she just
happened to keep a dirty dress hanging around!  He got caught - his only
blunder.  He was stupid and got caught with his pants around his ankles.
Big deal.  Like the rest of them are so squeaky clean...  This entire
event is so foolish yet look at the attention it's drawing.  A media
circus....a government lynch mob.....a public lack of interest or caring.
The saddest part of all: it cost the American taxpayers $40 million to
see Hillary and Chelsea as public victims of a family crisis.  We should
feel really proud to be Americans....

Until next time...



"The Atari A to Z" book shareware release files
 From: "Mark Baines"
<msbaines@cix.compulink.co.uk>


"The Atari A to Z" Book Shareware ASCII Text Release

Jargon, terminology and acronyms are the staple diet of any professional,
technologist and hobbyist. The world of computing is no exception and to
the uninitiated home or small business user, magazines, manuals and books
can be very daunting.

Written by someone who understands these frustrations and needs, "The
Atari A to Z" isn't just a convenient encyclopaedia of modern computer
terminology but a specific reference source of material pertaining to
Atari computers for the ST, TT and Falcon enthusiast.

Whether you play games on an ST, run your business on a TT, or write
music on a Falcon, this book is aimed at helping you get to grips with
those magazine articles that are more perplexing than enlightening. In
here, you will find many explanations, mini-articles and a plethora of
other miscellaneous bits and pieces to help you gain a better
understanding of your Atari computer.

The material in this book was written with all Atari users in mind.
There are simple definitions for the uninitiated and technical data for
the experienced. You take what you want, when you want it. "The Atari A
to Z" is a valuable addition to any Atari user's library.

These book files are direct ASCII conversions of the Protext files used
for the fifth printing. Some typographical changes have been made to keep
within the bounds of the Atari character set. Tabs were replaced with
spaces. A carriage return and line feed terminates each line.

There have been some minor textual changes and some updates and
revisions, especially in the Appendices. There are 2,239 entries, 101
tables and 128,000 words here.

"The Atari A to Z" book text files package is shareware and costs a
minimum of 5 UK Pounds. Details are in the accompanying files.

These files and all my other software including PROFILE 2 - *THE* System
Analyser are available on my web site:
http://www.stsd.demon.co.uk/linnhe.html

Mark

Mark S Baines - Inver, Scotland
Linnhe Computing - Quality Atari Software
http://www.stsd.demon.co.uk/linnhe.html



CoMa Voice/Pro 4.7.0 (Communication Manager)
From: Siegfried Hartmann <Hartmann@ThePentagon.com>


Programme-Name:  CoMa for Atari Voice/Pro 4.7.0 (COmmunication-MAnager)
       Purpose:  fax & voice-mail-system, to send & receive fax,
                 answering machine, mailbox & terminal with internal
                 z-modem
Programme-Type:  Shareware / Crippleware
        Author:  Siegfried Hartmann
   Requirement:  Computer with MagiC[Mac|PC] or TOS

CoMa  has  the following common functions and attributes in all levels
 - english documentation
 - fax-class 2  &  2.0
 - polling (send poll-request-tone only with class 2.0 and some class
   2-modems)
 - network-capable fax-job-management (3 jobs in 24 hours)
 - Serial fax
 - Display of the calling-number with ISDN-modems
 - Display of call units with ISDN-Modems
 - internal editor
 - incoming pages are displayed during  fax-reception !!
 - text can be mixed with graphic-logos and signatures
 - fax-voice-data-number management, including groups
 - management for incoming fax/messages/mails
 - administration of 8 telephone companys
 - zone- & and time-dependent selection of telephone-company
 - mailbox with internal send & receive-z-modem
 - terminal mit internal z-modem

CoMa Voice (additional)
 - Answering machine for ZyXEL, Creatix, Elsa/TriStar,
   Sportster VI/Voice/Flash and Smarty/Cybermod, kik & Lasat-Modems
 - Day  & time programmable answering messages
 - Multiple outgoing messages for several ISDN-MSN
 - Time dependent redicrection of incoming calls
 - Remote control / recall of new received faxes
 - Recall of 7 special messages by DTMF-code
 - Real time decoding of sound for Mac/Atari-Soundsystem of ZxXEL
   ADPCM3/ADPCM4, Smarty/Cybermod u-Law- & Rockwell ADPCM4-Sounds
 - Wave-Sound conversion in ZyXEL- & Cybermod- & Rockwell-format

CoMa Professional Version
 - fax- and voice-on-demand-system
 - any amount of messages via DTMF tone recall is possible
 - each category can contain up to 100 messages and/or 100 fax-pages.
 - statistic of category recalls
 - first-level- and second-levelmessages can be put together from
   multiple voice-files.
 - for the mini-mailbox you can assign personal passwords and
   download-folders to as many  users as you want
 - personal message for each caller, who has an entry in the numbers-list
   (with ZyXEL Elite & MicroLink ISDN, if caller MSN is displayed)
 - unlimited fax-jobs
 - Faxtransmission via polling request (DTMF-PIN not needed -
   only for Class 2.0 modems)
 - permanent poll-sender possible (caller gets fax pages even without
   sending a poll-request)
 - time-dependent messages for 10 MSNs for ISDN
 - connect-mode can differ for each MSN

New in CoMa 4.7.0
- New preferences-dialog for zone- & and time-dependent telephone
  companies
- Remind date for every Calls-Entry
- new modem Blatzheim BM-33k6/ISDN
- If "Never" is weekday the timeslot will be ignored
- Mailbox output in German or English
- various bugfixes

e-mail: <mailto://Hartmann@i.am>    <http://i.am/Softbaer>
Mailbox: 030/62709-572  ISDN  X.75 (64000 bps)  &  V.34 (28800 bps)
Voice:   030/62709-466  Fax: -459
Voice & Fax-On-Demand-Test-System: -573





>In This Week's Gaming Section  -  "Devil Dice"!  NE Patriots & PSX!
 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""     "Moto 2"!  "Red Jack"!  "Off Road 2"!
                                                         Hasbro Interactive!  And more!


        

>Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile  -  The Latest Gaming News!
 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""



New England Patriots Take a "Time Out" With the PlayStation Game Console


The PlayStation(R) game console, America's best-selling video game
system, is heading to Foxboro Stadium for an afternoon with the New
England Patriots. Patriots players will receive a welcome break from the
rigors of practice with a PlayStation videogame tournament and a
demonstration of great new games.

Sony Computer Entertainment America will be visiting several teams during
the season to fulfill the requests of NFL players and teams who have
become PlayStation game console fanatics.  PlayStation game consoles can
be found in the locker rooms of 28 of the NFL's 30 teams and in one out
of every 10 U.S. households.

When:    Thursday, September 24
         4:30 p.m. (after practice)

Where:   Patriots Club
         Foxboro Stadium

Visuals:

--   A behind-the-scenes look at New England Patriots players enjoying
     a break from the rigors of practice as they compete against each
     other in a PlayStation videogame tournament.
--   New England Patriots players playing top PlayStation sports games
     including Gran Turismo(TM), North America's top-selling videogame
     title.
--   Interviews with many New England Patriots players who are
     videogame fans.



989 Sports' Videogame MLB '99 Predicts Sammy Sosa Will be Home Run Leader
               

MLB(tm) '99, the popular baseball videogame for the PlayStation(R) by 989
Sports, was played to predict Sammy Sosa finishing the 1998 season with
66 home runs, one ahead of Mark McGwire.

MLB '99 is built with all the real teams and players and includes a Home
Run Derby(tm) gameplay mode. Players are rated and designed to play to
their actual ability, making 989 Sports' predictions worth paying
attention to.

MLB '99's state-of-the-art 3D game engine provides new polygonal graphics
and real-time rendering, which translates into the realism of the
gameplay. MLB '99 also features more than 300 new personalized moves and
stances from the game's biggest stars, like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.



Electronic Arts Ships Moto Racer 2 for the PlayStation

Sequel to Popular Motorcycle Racing Title Features Easy-to-Use 3-D Track
Creator, 16 High-speed Motorcycles, 32 Challenging Tracks, Two Gameplay
Modes and Enhanced Graphics


SAN MATEO, Calif.- (BUSINESS WIRE) - Sept. 17, 1998 - Electronic
Arts(TM), the world's largest interactive entertainment software company,
announces the release of Moto Racer(TM) 2 for the PlayStation(R), the
follow-up to last year's popular high-speed, arcade-style motorcycle
racing title of the same name.

The game delivers an intuitive, easy-to-use 3-D Track Creator to design
custom courses, 32 pre-existing tracks, 16 motorcycle types, two
different race modes, as well as enhanced graphics and weather effects.

``Moto Racer 2 offers something different for every type of racing game
fan. Players will find that this version delivers an impressive array of
cool features and enhancements, while keeping true to the fun and
addicting gameplay of the original Moto Racer,'' said Dave Davis,
producer of the game.

A key feature to Moto Racer 2 is the new 3-D Track Creator. The Track
Creator -- which offers a simple, yet intuitive interface -- allows
racers to create original tracks or customize existing ones quickly and
easily by dragging the different ``control points'' with the controller.

Players can race street or dirt bikes on customized or pre-set tracks set
in five different realistic locales such as the Sahara Desert, the Amazon
Rain Forest and the European countryside, to name a few. Additionally,
racers can also save up to 120 tracks on a standard memory card, as well
as create championship circuits that can be traded with other game
players.

Building upon the success of its predecessor, Moto Racer 2 delivers
improved graphics including varying weather conditions such as rain and
snow that directly affect the gaming experience. For instance, roads will
become slippery when raining thus making it more difficult to maintain
control of the bike, especially on turns.

In addition, new real-time lighting effects, i.e. shading and
highlighting, help create richer, more intense racing environments.
Players now on sunlit courses can see 'moving' shadows of their bikes and
their competitors bikes on the ground. The game can also be raced in both
day and night times (with head and brake lights).

Moto Racer 2 caters to racing enthusiasts of all types. Players can race
in either arcade or simulation mode, depending on their preference.
Arcade mode, which is similar to the original Moto Racer, offers
motorcycles that are easy to handle, allowing for extremely fast racing
action. Simulation mode features motorcycles that respond in a manner
reflective of their real-life counterparts. For instance, if brakes are
not used when required, such as speeding around a corner, the bike will
slide out and crash.

The game features intense ska/punk rock music from two up-and-coming West
Coast bands, BottomDawg and The Have-Nots.

Moto Racer 2 for the PlayStation can be raced two player via split screen
and supports the Sony Dual Shock(TM) controller. Developed by Delphine
Software International(TM), Moto Racer 2 for the PlayStation carries a
suggested retail price of $49.95 and has an ``E'' ESRB rating. The PC
version of the title will be available in early November.



THQ Solves PlayStation Puzzle Void With New Game, "Devil Dice"


CALABASAS, CALIF. (Sept. 23) ENTERTAINMENT WIRE - Sept. 23, 1998 - THQ
Inc. is rolling its lucky number with the launch of "Devil  Dice," a 3-D
multiplayer puzzle game for the PlayStation game console.

Developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., "Devil Dice" is now
available in North America for a Suggested Retail Price of $39.95.

This addicting puzzler challenges players to beat the clock or square off
against each other in a frantic, high-speed circus of tumbling dice.
Players can choose from four different game modes, ranging from
mind-bending brainteasers to dizzying multiplayer wars.

"'Devil Dice' is the ultimate puzzle game for every member of the
family," said Michael Haller, senior vice president, THQ. "This
irresistible entertainer combines all of the crucial elements that make
up a great puzzle game -- once you start playing, you won't be able to
stop. It has unlimited re-playability and its unusual brain-twisting
puzzles are continuously challenging."

The object in "Devil Dice" is to make as many dice disappear as possible
by matching similar numbers of dice. To do this, players can choose from
four different modes: Trial (1 player), Battle (1-2 players), War (1-5
players with a multi-tap) and Puzzle (1 player).

In Trial mode, gamers control feisty devils that race across the tops of
giant dice, feverishly turning them over in an attempt to group similar
numbers. As the dice are lined up and cleared, new ones appear to keep
the game moving.

In Battle mode, players take on a friend or the computer, competing to be
the first to line up three, four or five dice patterns. But be careful:
opponents can steal patterns already lined up. The War mode is a 5-player
simultaneous survival game. Each person (or computer opponent) has a life
meter. As others line up dice, the number of dice they make disappear
will be subtracted from everyone else's score.

The object of Puzzle mode is to line up all the dice and make them vanish
in a certain number of steps. If the challenger cannot line up the dice
properly in the allotted number of steps, they must try again.  Players
will encounter five different types of dice as they progress through the
game, adding to the difficulty of each puzzle.

For example: Normal dice slide one square in any direction; Wood dice
roll; Ice dice keep moving until they hit another block or the edge of
the playing field; Stone dice can only be moved from the floor; and Iron
dice won't move at all!



THQ Sets Sail With Swashbuckling Pirate Adventure


Game publisher THQ Inc. has raised the anchor on the new PC/Mac
action-adventure game "RedJack: Revenge of the Brethren," shipping to
retailers worldwide.

"RedJack: Revenge of the Brethren" by CyberFlix, developer of the
top-selling "Titanic: Adventure Out of Time," is available for a
suggested retail price of $39.95.

"With its immersive story, thrilling action sequences and rich, cinematic
3-D graphics, 'RedJack: Revenge of the Brethren' is a new kind of PC
adventure game," said Brian J. Farrell, president and CEO, THQ.
"Adventure fans will be enthralled by the intricate story and
mind-boggling puzzles, not to mention the oddball cast of characters.
Hardcore gamers will dive right into the real-time fight sequences.
'RedJack' has something for everybody."

"We're very proud of 'RedJack,' and what we've been able to produce with
the latest version of our DreamFactory technology," said Erik Quist, vice
president and general manager, CyberFlix.

"Since the release of 'Titanic,' our authoring technology has advanced
considerably, and we think that the differences will be evident the first
time people see 'RedJack' -- particularly with respect to the title's
cinematic qualities and our new capabilities in creating animated
characters."

Quist continued: "What this title offers is feature film-styled animation
and a full-fledged adventure epic delivered onto computer screens. Our
aim has always been to broaden the scope of what adventure games can do,
and 'RedJack' is one more step along that path."

Featuring an epic storyline that combines a sweeping pirate legend, a
mystery-riddled race for lost treasure and villainous danger at every
turn, "RedJack: Revenge of the Brethren" establishes a new standard in
adventure gaming.

Gamers play as the hero, Nicholas Dove, a 17-year-old boy on tiny Lizard
Point Island, who joins the crew of the renegade pirate ship Marauder to
follow his destiny -- which may just hold a fortune in gold and treasure
that has been hidden for 17 years by the infamous pirate legend RedJack.

To claim the lost treasure, gamers must journey to exotic ports-of-call
in the lawless West Indies and go blade to blade with cutthroats,
assassins and ghosts. Gamers are aided along the way by Shoeless Lyle, a
pirate from the Marauder, who teaches players how to defend themselves,
sword fight, and fire pistols and cannons accurately -- all of the skills
gamers will need to survive the many challenges that lie between them and
their destinies.

More than 40 challenging puzzles, fights and adventures will dog gamers
throughout theirs travels through "RedJack: Revenge of the Brethren."
Players may have to spring traps or find hidden passages before they can
proceed.

Items discovered earlier may be useful in solving these stumpers. When
gamers reach a dead end, talk to friends; they may know or have something
that will help solve the conundrum.

Each of the characters gamers meet and interact with along the way is
well developed and highly expressive -- the Magistrate's raised eyebrow
or Elizabeth's shoulder shrug communicate as loudly as Bone's classic
swashbuckling dialogue and Erzulies' voodoo incantations. Whether friends
or enemies, "RedJack: Revenge of the Brethren's" colorful cast are as
likely to make gamers laugh as they are to send a chill down one's spine.

"RedJack: Revenge of the Brethren" boasts more than 20 interactive, 3-D
characters in six stunning locales -- all in spectacular 32-bit color, as
well as a haunting, atmospheric soundtrack with dynamic ambient effects.

CyberFlix's patented DreamFactory technology provides players with the
ability to move fluidly throughout the game's lush 3-D environments.
Dark forests, mysterious villages and ruined temples are just a mouse
click away.



Accolade's Test Drive Off-Road 2 To Feature 20 Licensed Vehicles


SAN JOSE, CALIF. (Sept. 22) BUSINESS WIRE - Sept 22, 1998 - Accolade, a
leading software publisher and developer of video games, announced today
that its Test Drive Off-Road 2 racing game will include 20 licensed
vehicles and four licensed songs from three bands. The game will be
available for the PlayStation(R) game console and personal computer in
November of this year.

"Test Drive Off-Road 2 will put gamers right in the middle of fast paced
off-road racing with access to incredible vehicles," said Monte Singman,
senior producer of Test Drive Off-Road 2. "The heart-pounding soundtrack
from Test Drive Off-Road 2 and licensed off-road vehicles make for an
intense gaming experience."

The Test Drive Off-Road 2 soundtrack will feature the songs Falling and
Drown from TVT Records' gold-selling alternative band Gravity Kills, as
well as hard rock band Sevendust's hit single Black. Sevendust's
self-titled debut album spent 12 uninterrupted weeks at the number one
spot on the "heavy rock/metal" charts. Roadrunner Records futuristic rock
artist Fear Factory will contribute the song Shock. Tommy Tallarico
Studios will be providing additional music and sounds for the game.

The game will feature an exclusive license with Hummer(R) AM General and
19 additional licensed off-road vehicles including: Land Rover Defender
90, Land Rover Range Rover, Dodge(R) Ram V12, Dodge(R) T-Rex, Ford
Explorer, Ford F150, Saleen Explorer, Chenowth Fast Attack Vehicle,
Jeep(R) Wrangler and Jeep(R) Grand Cherokee. Access is given to eight
cars at the beginning of the game; as players win races and advance, 12
additional cars will become "unlocked."

Players choose from 12 tracks in six real-world locations and drive over
mountains, through deserts and across grass lands and beaches.  Users
have the capability to drive their vehicle in thick mud pits and splash
through flowing rivers. Locations include a volcano track in Hawaii, the
muddy trails of the Santa Cruz Mountains in California, the chilly
mountains of Switzerland, deserts in Mojave and Morocco, and the green
countryside of Wales.

Test Drive: Off-Road 2 features multiple racing modes including: single
race competition and multiple-race world tour modes. The PlayStation
version supports the Sony Dual Shock(R) Analog Controller which allows
gamers to feel every bump in the road. The PC version includes
multiplayer capabilities for up to eight players via the Internet, LAN or
modem.



Fox Interactive's "CROC: Legend Of The Gobbos"


Fox Interactive's first original property and strongest seller, "CROC:
Legend of the Gobbos," will now join the other stellar titles in
PlayStation's Greatest Hits line-up.

The critically-acclaimed title will continue to rock this September with
a new low price of $29.95 (SRP). The PC version of "CROC: Legend Of The
Gobbos" is also available at the same low price.

Released in December 1997, "CROC: Legend of the Gobbos" has already sold
more than 1.5 million units worldwide and continues to win over fans
everywhere and garner international acclaim.

"With this new low price, we expect Croc will have strong appeal with
newer, younger PSX owners," said Jon Richmond, president, Fox
Interactive. "This is an excellent chance for a whole new generation of
gamers to have a great game at a great price."



Electronic Arts Ships Madden NFL 99 for the Nintendo 64


SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BW SportsWire)-- Sept. 24, 1998 - Electronic
Arts(tm), the world's largest interactive entertainment software company,
today announced that it has shipped Madden NFL(tm) 99 for the Nintendo(R)
64 with a revolutionary One-Button Mode(tm).

This simple optional setting enables novice users to quickly develop the
skill and strategy needed to play the game, allowing moms and dads to
play on equal footing as their game-savvy kids. Madden's legendary
gameplay is better than ever with enhanced Madden designed Artificial
Intelligence, all new offensive moves and bone-jarring wrap tackles.
Madden NFL 99 for the PlayStation(R) shipped in August.

EA SPORTS'(tm) John Madden Football(tm) series has sold more than 11
million units over the lifetime of the franchise. According to market
research firm The NPD Group, it was the world's best-selling football
computer and video game in 1997.

``Madden NFL 99 delivers on fun and depth,'' said John Madden, Emmy
Award-winning broadcaster and former Super Bowl(tm)-winning coach. ``I'm
very excited about the One-Button Mode we've put into the game this year.
When I diagram a play on TV, I try and explain it in such a way that
anybody watching at home can understand what I'm talking about. After
all, football doesn't have to be brain surgery so there is no reason to
make it more complicated than it really is. Madden NFL 99 allows a rookie
to simply pick up the game controller and start hitting somebody!''

EA SPORTS also enlisted the help of All-Pro running back Barry Sanders to
design player moves. ``I've always loved Madden football, but the one
element that was missing for me was a killer 'juke' move,'' said Sanders.
``I wanted that one awesome move that leaves a defender grasping nothing
but air when he tries to tackle me. I worked with the team at EA SPORTS
to implement the new juke move in Madden NFL 99 so now I play as good on
the video field as I do on the real field. You need that juke move in
your arsenal to get around those big linebackers.''

Perhaps the biggest feature in the history of the franchise is the new
One-Button Mode that opens the game up to a whole new group of people.
The One-Button Mode enables beginners to concentrate on enjoying Madden
NFL 99 without any frustration due to a lack of game playing experience
or in-depth football knowledge. Thanks to One-Button Mode the user can
now hike the ball, hand off to a running back, throw the ball to the open
receiver, make a big tackle, spin the ball carrier, throw a stiff-arm or
hurdle to avoid a tackle by simply hitting the ``X'' or ``action''
button.

The Madden NFL 99 artificial intelligence (AI) is so sophisticated that
it automatically reads what is happening in the game and will make the
appropriate choice for the user when he presses the action button. Then,
as beginner game players hone their skills, they will be able to graduate
to higher levels of gameplay.

``EA SPORTS recognized the opportunity for interactive football games to
have an easier point of entry for novice game players,'' said Scott Orr,
vice president and executive producer of the John Madden Football series
at Electronic Arts.

``The idea that dads can finally be on equal footing with their kids is a
tremendous opportunity and opens sports video games to a whole new
audience. Just as EA SPORTS previously saw that users wanted advanced AI,
touchdown dances, a TV-style presentation, and the ability to draft,
release and trade players, we are again ahead of the innovation curve and
are the first in the industry to give people the hottest and most popular
features.''

For those gamers who want total control over everything that happens on
the field, the traditional mode of play is still available and better
than ever. New features in Madden NFL 99 include multiple ``wrap''
tackles and bone-jarring hits that bring in-your-face realism to the
game. Also new are improved spin moves and stiff arms that deliver a new
level of control to the user.

Madden NFL 99 for the Nintendo 64 is the latest installment of the
award-winning franchise that leads the industry in quality and
innovation. Visually stunning graphics, top-notch gameplay and
groundbreaking features have defined this franchise since its inception.
Madden NFL 99 continues this tradition by being the first NFL game to
implement a play editor so that die-hard gamers can design their own
running plays, blocking schemes and pass routes. Madden NFL 99 is the
first game to create a Franchise Mode so that simulation fans can play
the role of general manager over multiple seasons.

Madden NFL 99 offers well over 100 past and present NFL teams. All 30
current NFL teams, 85 All-Time and Super Bowl teams, plus numerous secret
teams provide a multitude of match-ups for historical football fans and
those interested in this year's teams. Every stadium in the NFL is fully
rendered in a vivid 3-D environment. Madden NFL 99 has high-resolution
polygon graphics and the NFL license across all platforms. The game can
be run in a simulation mode that stays true to real life conditions for
athletes, or an arcade mode in which player moves and skills are
exaggerated.

Madden NFL 99 for the Nintendo 64 supports the Rumble Pak(tm) controller
so that big hits are felt right through the users finger tips in the form
of vibrations, and the Nintendo Analog joystick that allows player
movements to be accelerated with quick joystick control.



Hasbro Interactive To Stabilize Into Christmas, 1999


Sep. 17, 1998 (MULTIMEDIA WIRE, Vol. 5, No. 180 via COMTEX) -- Having
brought MicroProse into the fold, Hasbro Interactive is looking for
stability going into the holiday season, but will re-emerge in
acquisition mode in 1999, President Tom Dusenberry tells MMWire.

The acquisition of MicroProse is "only the beginning" of Hasbro's plans,
he says.

The company yesterday confirmed that MicroProse's former MD of
Europe/Asia Pacific, Tim Christian, had been appointed MD, International
for Hasbro Interactive and will take care of day-to-day business.
Hasbro's current international MD, Barry Jafrato, has been promoted to
Senior Vice President of Global Business Development and will "lead the
cause in product acquisitions" and relations with inventors and
developers. MicroProse chairman Gilman Louie has been offered a position
with the company and an announcement will be made this week.

MicroProse CEO Steve Race will leave the company (MMW, Aug. 13 and Sept.
16), Dusenberry confirms, but no timetable has been set for his
departure. "We think the world of Steve. He's a world-class guy."
Dusenberry plans to work with Race to integrate MicroProse into Hasbro.

Dusenberry also reiterates that R&D and studios will be kept 100% intact.
The inevitable consolidation will occur at the operations level. Hasbro
Interactive has established an integration plan, Dusenberry says, and is
dealing with employees affected by the deal before making announcements.

Hasbro needs to digest the acquisitions of the Atari properties from JTS
Corp (MMW, Mar. 17), board game maker Avalon Hill (MMW, Aug. 14) and
MicroProse, "so we will probably go through a semi-quiet period here.
It's a major maneuver for Hasbro Interactive because we haven't had R&D
studios before, so we want to make sure there is stability and
continuity...We're very focused on making the 1998 business happen, but
will re-emerge in 1999 as a pursuer of acquisition opportunities."



Square Soft Strategy Guides to be Published by BradyGAMES


INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- BradyGAMES, the video game
industry's leading strategy guide publisher, today announced an agreement
with Square Electronic Arts L.L.C. to publish the official strategy
guides for Square's upcoming titles Parasite Eve(TM), Xenogears(TM), and
Brave Fencer(TM) Musashi(TM).

Expectations are high with this ground-breaking news.  Under the terms of
the agreement, Brady will publish the only official strategy guides for
Parasite Eve, Xenogears and Brave Fencer Musashi.  This arrangement
follows the stellar success of collaboration on four previous titles,
most notably Final Fantasy(TM)VII for PlayStation, BradyGAMES' biggest
selling title of all time.  Square Soft(R) and BradyGAMES are once again
prepared to launch revolutionary new titles across several gaming genres.

"This agreement between Square Soft and BradyGAMES promises to be one of
the most important arrangements ever entered into between a game company
and a strategy guide publisher," said Lynn Zingraf, publisher BradyGAMES
Strategy Guides.  "Final Fantasy VII has sold more retail copies since
its publication than any other strategy guide to date, and we haven't
stood still since then. We've already followed that success up with three
exciting, new RPG game guides."

The official strategy guides for the newest Square Soft games (Parasite
Eve, Xenogears, and Brave Fencer Musashi) are scheduled for late 1998
release. Parasite Eve is a captivating adventure with state-of-the-art
elements of science fiction, bone-chilling horror, and action-packed
exploration.  The Parasite Eve Official Strategy Guide includes
full-color maps for Parasite Eve exploration, with a complete list of
items, weapons, and enemies.  The thrill-seeking game player can discover
the secrets of how to combine weapons and armor in special, revealing
guide chapters.  The Official Xenogears Strategy Guide breaks out maps
for every mission in this intricate tale for the growing, serious RPG
audience.  Fans will uncover detailed battle strategies and weapon lists,
character bios, and a window into the world of Xenogear robots.  And the
final game guide of this cutting-edge trilogy is The Official Guide to
Brave Fencer Musashi.  Musashi takes game-playing fun to the max and the
strategy guide uncovers secrets of the fast-paced game, with bonus items
throughout for those puzzle-solving, hard-core gamers.

Square Soft intends to remain at the forefront of the gaming world's
attention, and with these new titles  continues to broaden technology
horizons.

"Our agreement with BradyGAMES on the production of the Square Soft game
strategy guides will bring top quality, cutting-edge technology tips to
today's RPG-savvy game player," said Jun Iwasaki, president of Square
Electronics Arts L.L.C.  "We are committed to a progressive and
successful relationship with the industry's leading game strategy guide
publisher, and a supercharged future of providing the best technology and
information to game players."




>Gaming Online STR InfoFile    -    Online Users Growl & Purr!
 """"""""""""""""""""""""""


Battlesphere Answers by T-Bird - Crosspost from JI2
From: <sidg@sidg.net>


Heya Guys...

Here's a post by T-Bird on Jaguar Interactive II that most of you will
find answers to your questions about Battlesphere(tm) from. Hasbro
REALLY pisses me off.

Gary

---- Begin Crosspost ----

Here are some bullet points regarding the Hasbro Situation. I get the
feeling the things are getting lost because people seem to think there
is something 4Play can do about the situation, or something THEY can do
is going to help. I reserve the right to verbally trounce anyone who
ignores these points: 

1) BattleSphere is FINISHED. (The final cut was played by hundreds at
WoA. Proof is on Mark Santora's Video)
2) 4Play does NOT need a "Publisher". We have plenty of avenues to have
the cartridges built.
3) BattleSphere CANNOT be released to the public without encryption. It
will not run on a consumer Jaguar unless it is encrypted.
4) Telegames does NOT do encryption. They bought pre-encrypted game
binaries and published them.
5) Hasbro OWNS the ONLY KNOWN COPY of the Encryption Key. Even if a
person owned the Encryption Program, the KEY is what makes it secure.
7) Hasbro's employees are too busy to search the Atari pile (Literally
at that is left of Atari exists as a pile of boxes in a closet). For
a disk with the key on it.
8) The name of the KEY file is not known to 4Play or Hasbro. Having the
filename of the key -could- make finding it easier. Only a few
higher-ups at Atari had access to the key file.
9) The encryption is crackable, but it would take a considerable effort
and is not something 4Play is prepared to do unless we get
Hasbro's PERMISSION to release the game without the standard KEY.
10) 4Play WANTS to release BattleSphere(tm), but we are mired in the
Hasbro Red-Tape and they apparently want nothing to do
with helping us.

If you think YOU are frustrated because you can't play BattleSphere,
imagine how WE must feel after spending 4 years coding it and having
this happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thunderbird
4Play

---- End Crosspost ----

Re: Battlesphere Answers by T-Bird - Crosspost from JI2
    From: Kyle Jones <kyle_jones@wonderworks.com>
 
sidg@sidg.net wrote:
 > Here's a post by T-Bird on Jaguar Interactive II that most of
 > you will find answers to your questions about Battlesphere(tm)
 > from. Hasbro REALLY pisses me off.

What should really piss you off is that any of this is even necessary.  I
remember a time when people who made computer hardware were glad when
other people developed software to run on their machines.  Now they want
to pinch a dollar from everyone who even looks at their hardware.  The
encryption guarantees that everyone must beg at the door of hardware
manufacturer and now you see the result.

If a computer as rock-stupid by today's standards as an Apple II can be
used to load, play and develop games, there's no good reason why today's
fancy consoles require so much rigmarole.  Look at the barriers to simply
experimenting with the hardware.  Exotic media.  Encryption.  Expensive
proprietary "development" hardware.  If these barriers were not in place,
you could be playing new Jaguar games TODAY, because people who love to
hack on computers for hacking's sake would be doing it now and would have
been doing it years ago.

Re: Battlesphere Answers by T-Bird - Crosspost from JI2
    From: Brian Matchick <matchick@enteract.com>
 
sidg@sidg.net wrote:
: Heya Guys...
: Here's a post by T-Bird on Jaguar Interactive II that most of you will
: find answers to your questions about Battlesphere(tm) from. Hasbro
: REALLY pisses me off.
: Gary

Would it help if we ALL start talking to Hasbro.  I mean nicely at first.
Just send some letters and leave a few voice mails to the right people.
Anyone go names and nubmers?

I do remember hearing of laws regarding 'dead' computer systems.
Commodore was sued at one time and some company got all the rights to one
of their old CBM boxes because Commdore wouldn't support it anymore.  I
don't know if Hasbro has the right (in the long run) to sit on the Jag
and refuse people the right to produce softeare for it.  4-Play may have
the right to just release BS if Hasbro won't give them the key.  But I
see why 4-play doesn't wnat to end up in court.

This sucks.

Brian
matchick@enteract.com


Re: Battlesphere Answers by T-Bird - Crosspost from JI2
    From: <richardhutnik@hotmail.com>
    Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 20:56:03 GMT    (Page 1 of 3)
    Responding to: <6trbr7$npk@crystal.WonderWorks.COM>

In article <6trbr7$npk@crystal.WonderWorks.COM>,
  kyle_jones@wonderworks.com (Kyle Jones) wrote:
> sidg@sidg.net wrote:
>  > Here's a post by T-Bird on Jaguar Interactive II that most of
>  > you will find answers to your questions about Battlesphere(tm)
>  > from. Hasbro REALLY pisses me off.

Since the release of the NES, the encryption thing has become standard
practice amongst video game companies and their systems.  Nintendo did it
to control the cart market on their machine, for both good and bad
reasons. Other companies followed suit.  Of course, when you hit a
situation like the case of the Jaguar, developers would end up getting
screwed, as 4Play (I don't think 4Play should come after getting screwed,
but I digress :-P. Someone shoot me please :-P) did in regards to Hasbro.
I am sure they wll eventually come up with the encryption thing, but it
may take awhile.

- Richard Hutnik


Re: Battlesphere Answers by T-Bird - Crosspost from JI2
    From: Mark Rathwell <av999@FreeNet.Carleton.CA>
    Date: 18 Sep 1998 12:54:52 GMT    (Page 1 of 2)
    Responding to: <6trt12$qel$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>

> Since the release of the NES, the encryption thing has become standard
> practice amongst video game companies and their systems.  Nintendo did
> it to control the cart market on their machine, for both good and bad
> reasons.

Not to nitpick but Atari actually had encryption on the 7800 before
Nintendo had it on the NES. They didn't want "Custer's Revenge" popping
up with 7800 graphics.

Nintendo's encryption tactics were to monopolize the market. The NES
certainly had a dearth of low quality games and Nintendo didn't do
anything to stop them from coming to life. It was simply a money making
tactic for them (Nintendo got 2/3 of the money from the sale of ANY NES
cart).

Mark


Re: Battlesphere Answers by T-Bird - Crosspost from JI2
    From: BELJAN E <lvpy67c@ix.netcom.co>
    Date: 18 Sep 1998 20:32:05 GMT    (Page 1 of 1)
    Responding to: <6ttl6s$5h@freenet-news.carleton.ca>

In <6ttl6s$5h@freenet-news.carleton.ca> av999@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Mark
Rathwell) writes:
>(Nintendo got 2/3 of the money from the sale of ANY NES cart).
>
Thats the real reason they still use carts today.



ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine          The wires are a hummin'!



                           PEOPLE... ARE TALKING

Compiled by Joe Mirando
jmirando@streport.com


Hidi ho friends and neighbors. I guess that since summer has officially
ended, Mother Nature has decided to drive the point home here in the
northeast. It was a chilly 48 degrees when I awoke this morning. While
some may dislike the sudden change, I find it exhilarating. There's
nothing like a blast of cold air in the morning to wake you up and
reassure you that you are alive. No, I'm not going to turn this into a
"that's why I use an Atari" piece. I just found it a welcomed change.
 
On the news front, John Rojewski has just released NEWSie v0.92. I have
downloaded it, but haven't had a chance to look at it yet. If it is
anything at all like its predecessors, it's well worth having if you want
to 'do' UseNet browsing and/or email on the internet. It also has some
web browsing capabilities and fully functional ftp support. As a matter
of fact, I use NEWSie to gather all of the UseNet posts I include in this
column. It hasn't let me down yet, and I seriously doubt it will. I think
the nicest thing about the last several releases of NEWSie is that it is
available in six languages. On John's web site
(http://www.primenet.com/~rojewski/newsie.html), there are two archives
available: The english-only version (about 235 Kbytes ZIPped), and the
six-language version (about 486 Kbytes ZIPped). The languages available
are: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish. The author
has also added a handy little utility to automatically select which
language files to install. This, in my opinion, is a great idea and
should be applauded by everyone who uses the program.
 
I've been downloading, using, and sending contributions for shareware for
about ten years now, and it still amazes me that there is such wonderful
software out there for the asking. Some authors, like John, don't even
ask for monetary contributions (NEWSie is released as FreeWare). For the
amount of work that a programmer puts into a program like this, I find
that simply incredible. If you use a program other than NEWSie, that's
okay too. Personal preference counts for a lot too.  I've used other
programs for email, ftp, and UseNet access, but I still like NEWSie the
best. If you like one of the others and it works well for you, by all
means stay with it!

The same words of praise go for all the other wonderful programmers who
write all of this great software just because they can, and then let us
use it as shareware, freeware, or even "postcardware". Peter
Rottengatter's STinG is probably one of the three best pieces of software
on my TT right now, and it is free. Peter has done a great job with
implementing a PPP enabled communications package for Atari computers...
something that several knowledgable people told me couldn't be done.
There are others that deserve the same praise as Peter, but I'll leave
that to another time (you'll see why in a moment).

Well, let's get on with all the news, hints, tips, and info available
this week on the UseNet.


From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================

"JonK" posts:

"OK this is what I don't understand, why would someone make a TCP/IP
stack and then abandon it. There hs not been an update for about six
months I believe. I personally wrote Peter 2 emails explaining that I
could not dcc send with the older tcp module and could with the newer one
but my connection to the rest of the net was super slow. I know I am not
the only one having this problem because I have talked to other people
with the same problem. So am I out of line?"

Denesh (Danny) Bhabuta tells JonK:

"Maybe the same reason many other programmers 'abandon' their projects -
they get bored.

or it could be they have hit a brick wall and do not know how to better
the software or where to start bettering the program.

or it may be - lack of time!"

Michael Grove adds:

"Peter dedicated a lot of effort into the project, and still supports
technical issues on a regular basis here. I don't think I would entertain
the idea that he abandoned his efforts, he is much more serious than
that. I know that I was pleasently surprised when I realized this guy was
going to go the distance with his package.

It's a team effort here, and maybe it's just time for another player to
take the ball (round or oval:) for a while. I'm sure that his efforts
have not ended and that he is even now advising another on what is to be
accomplished next.

I am constantly amazed at the quality software that is developed for our
simple platforms. E ticket software for the price of a 10 cent ice cream,
and every bit as good."

Terry May tells JonK:

"You are so far out of line, you're on another planet.  STinG is
*FREEWARE*.  You paid *NOTHING* for it, so you have no right to be [mad].
We are lucky that Peter has done as much as he has..."

Hallvard Tangeraas adds:

"Peter...  has put a LOT of work and time into his work, and in addition
taken the time off to answer questions via email and news and even taken
the time to test out network connections people have said they couldn't
work out.  And all of this without asking for anything (well, only for a
postcard if I recall correctly which I gladly sent him)."

Roger Cain adds his own thoughts:

"STiNG works PERFECTLY for me. I see no reason why it needs any more work
doing on it. Developers do not HAVE to continue tinkering with a product
if it does what it promises in fact I think it is a good thing that they
reach a comfortable state of stability.  Who would you trust more .. a
young teenager who is forever trying to find out 'who he is' or a grandad
sitting by the fire with pipe and carpet-slippers? I think STiNG is
nicely into carpet-slippers now.<smile>"

Don Schoergarth asks:

"Any one know anything about the Atari Sparrow?  What is it worth?  I
know it was before the Falcon but, what are the major differences?"

Nicholas Bales tells Don:

"No Atari Sparrow was ever released by Atari. I think there was a
prototype at one point called the Sparrow. It might have been the
Falcon040 proto or a Falcon-based console, maybe even something else.

If you've seen one for sale, it's either a valuable collector's item, or
complete bull..."

Tony Cianfaglione takes the conversation back to STinG when he asks for
help:

"When I attempt to start STinG, it says 'cannot find default.cfg' and
then shuts off. I've looked through everything that came in the STinG zip
but can't find the default.cfg.  Where would I find this file?"

Terry May tells Tony:

"It should have came with your STinG package.  As for where it should be,
you should have a file in your AUTO folder called STING.INF, with a line
containing the path to your DEFAULT.CFG, e.g.: D:\STING\"

Chris Crosskey asks about a problem with using his CDROM:

"I've just tried to read a CDR that I burned at work, it's mostly text
and graphics files from my hobby designing and building analog
synths....problem is some of the folders have names all in lower case and
I can't open them. They open OK in WIN95 so I guess I could transfer them
all onto a PC again and reburn the whole thing, but a generic fix would
be to get a Falcon, TOS4.04, NVDI, Metados to read them."

Jo Even Skarstein tells Chris:

"Use SPIN! by Julian Reschke. It can read just about anything, very nice
driver. I can't remember JR's URL right now, but you can find it on
Hallvard's Atari Hyperlink Launchpad (www-atari.nvg.ntnu.no/launchpad/)."

David Moore tells us that he...

"Just got a Falcon the other day. It has 14 megs memory and am using the
VGA adaptor. The problem seems to be that certain programs that worked
fine before no longer work at all or do really strange things.

Do these programs work with the Falcon?

1)  UIS III 2)  PageStream 2.2

Programs which no longer at right is ones like CAB it tends to lock up
alot during information transfer.

The dialer no longer will connect at 19200 (connects at 9600) though the
modem.cpx is set for 19200. This all worked fine before switching to the
falcon.

Also when using MaciC 4 and using the dialer for CAB it gives me some
error about not being to transfer something or another to CAB

I really thought the Falcon was suppose to be a much better machine that
the older ST's?   Anybody have an idea what is going on here????"

Michael Grove tells David:

"First, I would recommend getting Selectric. I don't know that much about
UIS, but Selectric is very stable and has much the same options.  The
PageStream problem is with the fonts. Again I don't know why, but if you
reduce the number of fonts, you will notice that it will start up much
faster. It's funny as it does boot much faster on an ST. Maybe someone
can give more detail. Start PageStream again and give it about five
minutes and play around. It should come up."

Paul Nurminen asks for help with POPWatch:

"I'm having a bit of a problem with POPwatch (2.73).  If I receive an
e-mail with a large file attachment (example:  today a friend sent me an
MPEG that was about 4.5 megs), POPwatch _will not_ even tell me that I
have e-mail. It connects, and then just sits there until I get a "user
timeout expired" message.  For some reason large e-mails (or many small
e-mails) are a problem for POPwatch; it can't seem to pull in the header
information.  And I see no way to change the length of time before a
timeout occurs.  I've e-mailed Gary but haven't heard from him either.

Also, when this happens, often NEWSie will do the same thing.  If I do a
"check mail" in NEWSie, it sits for several minutes - basically locks up.
I have to hit ESC, at which point NEWSie informs me I have "0 mail"
(which isn't true).

And after this happened today with the single MPEG e-mail, I also tried
MyMail.  It basically did the same thing - sitting for a while then
coming up with a message saying there was an error or I possibly had a
bad password (not true).

The only way I am able to get e-mail when this happens is to log onto my
ISP with a term program (they also have a "shell account" for this
purpose) and then I can get it and download it without problems.  But,
I'm thinking of switching to another ISP soon, and they don't offer this
term program / shell account access.  So if I get a large e-mail, or too
many, I'll never be able to see them.  And it would conceivably prevent
me from ever getting any e- mails once there were too many!"

Katherine Ellis tells Paul:

"I don't think it is the size of the file, but the way the header of this
email is.  Have you tried with POPGEM 2.1?

btw starting a project like popgem and smtpgem is not for fun only.  But
Just that no emailer prog so far on atari work efficiently. They make me
mad. MyMail seems to be the most promising."

Ronald Hall tells us:

"I have a SyQuest EZ-135 that I had formatted with ICD's Pro v6.5.5 to 1
partition (134.x megs), that I wanted to use to exchange large files with
a PC owning friend. I took the EZ and 1 cart to him, and Windoze refused
to find it. He reformatted it under Windows '95 (rev 1), and this worked,
so he copied over 100+ megs of fractals, MPEG's, etc,...  When I got home
though, I could not get either my Falcon (TOS 4.04) or my Mega ST (TOS
1.4) to recognize the cart.

Can anyone tell me what I have to do, to be able to have an EZ cart that
will be accepted by both TOS and Win '95? (I'm sure this info.  has been
posted here before, but I didn't have a need then to read it)"

Steve Stupple tells Ronald:

"HD Driver v7.5 allows you to format drives so that they can be read and
written by Atari and PC's."

Steve Hammond adds:

"The easiest way is to partition the EZ 135 cart on the PC and then use
BIGDOS under TOS to allow you to access the cart. OTOH you could use
HDriver (I think you would need version 7.XX to be able to do this)."

Ronald tells Steve:

"Thanks for the reply. Is BIGDOS easy to use? I'm assuming I can find it
at most of the popular ftp sites?"

Ken Springer asks about NEWSie:

"Do any of the Atari emailer programs support the blind carbon copy
function, such as you find in Netscape, Internet Explorer, Eudora, and
Lotus CC:Mail?   I have need of such a function.

Charles Stanley wrote that he was having no problems with Newsie .90.
Wish that were true here.  It's deleting messages here from the hard
drive before I even read them.  The messages are listed in newsgroup
window, but are missing from the hard drive.  I do all my reading
offline.

And it's screwing around with the subject lines, too.  The subject as
listed in the newsgroup window many times does not match the subject line
in the message itself.  It's so bad that I don't trust it here to be able
to read the subject list in the group listing window and decide on
whether to read the message or not."

Louis Holleman tells Ken:

"Who was that, shouting "don't get hysterical about Newsie" again? Bug's
still there...

Well, I moved on. If you don't wanna go into the quite time-consuming set
up for Okami/Newswatch/Popwatch, I could recommend FireNews... it's an
OFFline reader only, but works decently. Works with StinG too. The URL
for it is http://www.alfaskop.net/~faltrion/FireSTorm/ Need to register
if you wanna hook up more than 5 groups, but that's just a matter of an
e-mail to Christian. If you need help setting it up, gimme a yell."

The author of NEWSie, John Rojewski, tells Ken:

"Its never been requested, so its not been written.  The Nicknames will
generate a "blind" copy, since there is no header generated when
Nicknames are used.  This might suffice for you.

There was a problem in 0.90 that would delete the news file (at the users
request), but not remove the line from the overview window.  This is only
noticiable in offline reading, and is fixed in 0.92, to the best of my
knowledge."

Charles Silver adds his thoughts and experiences:

"Well, I've tried as hard as I can to duplicate those having problems
with NEWSie v0.90. But, I can't. I'm using a 14meg Nemesis/Falcon with a
810meg Fujitsu IDE/SCSI 135meg EZ Drive using TOS4.04/or MultiTOS/MiNT.

My HD's are formatted/partitioned using AHDI. I use the "Optimizer" to
keep my HD's defragmented. It seems those having the most problems are
using TT's with other OS's. Can't help there. All I can say is that there
is absolutely *NO* HD problems or corruption of any files using NEWSie.

So, what's up here? No e-mailer is perfect for everything, but I've
downloaded binaries over 3megs, sent messages everywhere, downloaded ng's
and ftp's all with no problems. This doesn't help those with major
problems, but it doesn't happen to me. If it did, I wouldn't use NEWSie.
For me, it's an excellent prg/the best. So, take a second look at your
setup. Dimes to donuts, it ain't like mine..."

Louis replies:

"OK, here come my experiences with the versions 0.80, 0.82, 0.86, 0.88
and 0.90 for the last 6 months.

Some of you might recall me having those problems with corrupted
Route.tab and cache.dns files at the start (using 0.80/0.82/0.84). Solved
by leaving out canhe.dns, whereafter a new one was generated and the
problem was over.  I recall at least 4-5 other people been having similar
problems with corrupted files.

Only problem turning up every now and then was articles missing in the
offline folders. I *know* I never deleted them, but Newsie must have
deleted them anyhow. They were still mentioned in the overview, but
"pressing the article line" to bring it to a window gave me an empty one.
Checked the offline folder and they were just gone. Not happening
everyday, but on occasions.

I can't recall having lost e-mail.

The only other problem I had with an earlier version was using UUE
attachments: only able to do one per program start. It's OK with 0.90 but
I switched to MIME in the meantime.

So all in all: I can live with that. What Charles Stanley described,
every now and then on somany bytes or a multiple is happening here too
occasionally, but the articles DO show up. I set the time-out to
something like 5-6 secs to prevent long waiting times between those
articles. Works good enough for me.

What it also doesn't do right is handling the article numbers upon
transfer completion. Everytime I have to edit the Default.grp to prevent
it from fetching articles for the second time. I gather it has something
to do with the time-outs for this above mentioned problem.

What I don't like however, is the ability of Newsie working behind the
back of Gemdos... thus it IS possible it starts screwing around with
files on literally any partition, and it just could as well be the FAT's.
To my knowledge it hasn't happened and I do hope it never happens, but
don't blame me when it happens to YOU. Go ask Peter if you'd like.

I'm running Okami now for about a week (plus FireNews for evaluation
since a day or 4) and I haven't seen trouble with these at all. Okami
will be the major replacement, but ever since I started with those
programs I had to say "Newsie was fine, easy handling, lotsa features, if
only I could get a guarantee my files won't get screwed...!"

Newsie's still on my disk, I use it only for ONLINE work now and that's
another thing it does very well.

I won't get hysterical about Newsie, I appreciate several options highly
if only its ability to screw files would be suppressed...

And the suggestions made by this other guy (forgot his name): would be
nice ones!"

Well folks, that's about it for this week. Believe it or not, I hadn't
seen the large number of posts about NEWSie when I started the column. I
guess that things just work out that way sometimes.

Be sure to tune in again next week, same time, same station, and be ready
to listen to what they are saying when...

PEOPLE ARE TALKING





EDITORIAL QUICKIES



  
A BILL to Regulate the Hunting and Harvesting of Attorneys

PC 370.00 

370.01 Any person with a valid California State Rodent or Snake hunting
license may also hunt and harvest attorneys for recreational and sport
(non-commercial) purposes.

370.01 Taking of attorneys with traps or deadfalls is permitted. The use
of United States currency as bait, however, is prohibited.

370.01 The willful killing of attorneys with a motor vehicle is
prohibited, unless such vehicle is an ambulance being driven in reverse.
If an attorney is accidentally struck by a motor vehicle, the dead
attorney should be removed to the roadside, and the vehicle should
proceed to the nearest car wash.

370.01 It is unlawful to chase, herd or harvest attorneys from a power
boat, helicopter or aircraft.

370.01 It is unlawful to shout, "WHIPLASH," "AMBULANCE," OR "FREE SCOTCH"
for the purpose of trapping attorneys.

370.01 It is unlawful to hunt attorneys within 100 yards of BMW, Mercedes
or Porsche dealerships, exept on Wednesday afternoons.

370.01 It is unlawful to hunt attorneys within 200 yards of courtrooms,
law libraries, health clubs, cosntry clubs, hospitals, or brothels.

370.01 If an attorney gains elective office, it is not necessary to have
a license to hunt, trap or possess the same.

370.01 It is unlawful for a hunter to wear a disguise as a reporter,
accident victim, physician, chiropractor or tax accountant for the
purpose of hunting attorneys.

370.01 Bag Limits per day:
  yellow-bellied sidewinders 2
  two-faced tortfeasors 1
  back-stabbing divorce litigators 3
  horn-rimmed cut-throats 2
  horn-rimmed cut-throats turned politician 35
  minutiae-advocating chickenshits 4
  honest attorneys -- protected (endangered species)


  





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