[11324] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Ask Dr. Internet Part I
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Public-Access Computer Systems For)
Thu May 22 20:36:03 1997
Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 16:14:18 -0500
From: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
Ask Dr. Internet Newsletter, May 1997, Part I
From: "Michael S. Hart" <hart@prairienet.org>
Answering questions from Mid-April to Mid-May
Well, we have finally had a relatively quiet month, most of the
questions have had to do with troubles at AOL, and we are still
not sure how to fix all the hassles for AOL users, or even that
our best efforts CAN fix them, but we are trying, with a degree
of success that prompts us to continue trying.
The "Browser Wars" have slowed down enough that most users were
apparently not upgrading or changing browsers, though we should
remind you to back up all your bookmarks regularly: especially
just before you change to a new version or browser.
A lot of the Mac users have complained that we don't publish as
many statistics about Macs as about Intel powered PC's, but the
trouble is that none of them have any information for us, so we
don't have as much to post. Our guru did come up with 8 errors
in the floating point math section of the new PowerPC chips but
that is about all.
There have been some legal hassles about "who actually designed
the Pentium chip" but even that issue seems pretty quiet.
Q1.
More about floating point chip errors from Intel and Apple.
Q2.
Browser users causing some sites to hide their files.
Q3.
Uninstall programs may not be all they are cracked up to be.
Q4.
More on Push Technology.
Q5.
I still predict it will cost $1 Trillion to fix the year 2000
bugs that saved a few cents per file back in the old days.
Q6.
More about UNIX on the Mac
Q7.
Headlines From Edupage
Q8.
Continued Interview with Jude Milhon [St. Jude],
the first woman in Cyberspace.
***
Q1.
More about floating point chip errors from Intel and Apple.
A1.
PENTIUM II & PENTIUM PRO BUG REPORT
An unidentified college professor claims to have found a bug in Intel's
Pentium Pro chip and its new Pentium II chip designed for high-end
computers. Intel is investigating the report, and says it will publish
Put in info about
information about the problem if the report is true. The problem involves
the floating point unit, which determines the accuracy of very precise
You can also run
Linux and a version of CMU's Mach called MachTen. And some
numbers. (New York Times 6 May 97)
mac servers come with
But I agree she's
So what else is new. There are 8 fp bugs in the 604e chip, nobody ever
graphics, and the
tools just aren't there at the same price-performance
hears about them.....
level with UNIX
variants as with Mac.
And a note: the 604e is the fastest incarnation of the PowerPC. The 603e
develops higher clock speeds (for the moment) but the throughput of the
604e is higher. It takes a 240 MHz 603e to work as fast as a 180MHz (or
thereabout) 604e. Though it's not in a commercial system (yet) Exponential
Technologies recently demo'ed a system running their 604e-alike chip. The
X704 was running at 533 MHz and they claim gigahertz speeds are possible.
It's supposed to be shipping in commercial systems later this year, so
we'll see.
***
(1) Regarding the 603e chip.
The PowerPC line of chips has two major microprocessors right now, the 603e
and the 604e. The 603e is cheaper, draws less power and is slower than the
604e. In fact, the 603e at 220MHz is about the same speed as a 604e at
166MHz.
Comparison of either of these chips to Intel's Pentium and Pentium Pro is
best done on a feature-by-feature basis. All of the PPC chips, for example,
beat the pants off of the Pentium family in floating point calculation.
In addition, Motorola has licensed Exponential Technologies to create
refined versions of the chips in the PPC family using cutting-edge
fabrication techniques and *much* high clock speeds than Motorola makes
itself. Exponential has demonstrated chips over the 500 MHz level already
and a number of Macintosh clones with chips in the 400MHz range are on the
market or have been announced.
Q2.
Browser users causing some sites to hide their files.
A2.
For those who still haven't figured out that it really does cost more
to keep data on remote systems. . .
I recently visited a few sites that have closed off large portions of
their Web Pages due to too much drain on their bandwidth capabilities
. . .those who download have much faster and much more permanent file
access. . .and leave much more bandwidth for other users.
It is cheaper to keep the files on your system, and much faster.
Q3.
Uninstall programs may not be all they are cracked up to be.
A3.
A few of our users have reported that using uninstall programs should
be cause for concern. Some of them apparently delete more files than
those just being used by their particular programs. Wouldn't hurt to
backup those directories before running the uninstaller. Be sure the
operating system and /system directories are both backed up.
Q4.
More on Push Technology.
A4.
NETSCAPE BEGINS PUSHING NETCASTER
Netscape Communications today is demonstrating its new push technology
called Netcaster (formerly called Constellation), which will allow news,
sports, stock prices and other information to be displayed on a computer
user's screen. Two pre-set packages of 10 channels -- one designed for the
home user and one for businesses -- will include material major news and
entertainment providers, but Netcaster users will be able to add other
sources of their own choosing (such as Edupage!). The Netcaster software
will be available in the next experimental version of the Netscape
Communicator browser software. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 15 Apr 97)
"Pointcast officially released its Mac version a few weeks ago. It seems
pretty stable, if you like that sort of thing. Personally, I find that the
news at http://www.foxnews.com/news/wires/ is updated more often and
creates less of a strain on my system. Of course, articles from the Los
Angeles Times, New York Times and San Jose Mercury News are deeper than
those available from Fox, but I don't demand Pulitzer quality in my online
news."
Q5.
I still predict it will cost $1 Trillion to fix the year 2000
bugs that saved a few cents per file back in the old days.
A5.
YEAR 2000 COST ESTIMATES RISE
Labor costs for Year-2000 projects have risen 30% since last year, when they
averaged $60 an hour, and they're still climbing, says an analyst at the
Gartner Group. The revised labor cost works out to about $1.50 per line of
code, up from $1.10, causing Gartner to up its widely cited estimate of $300
billion to $600 billion for all corporate Year 2000 projects. A study
released by Morgan Stanley & Co. last week suggests that companies could
save some money by replacing some code with packaged software and discarding
some of the 35 million lines of code that are typical for a large company's
computer system. Meanwhile, a study of 24 federal agencies by Federal
Sources Inc. estimates that it will cost about $5.6 billion for the federal
government to rewrite all of its code to be Year-2000-compliant. That's
about 2-1/2 times higher than an estimate submitted to Congress in February
by the Office of Management and Budget. (Information Week 7 April 97)
I did read something by a silly person who said that companies had
saved over $1 million per gigabyte of storage by leaving out those
two character in the File Allocation Table [FAT], but I found that
very hard to believe.
I would ask you to consider what would happen if some hackers were
to mess up things to the tune of $1 Trillion. . .you could pay off
a huge chunk of the national debt with that.
Q6.
More about UNIX on the Mac
"You quip that A/UX is the only Unix for the Mac. In fact, A/UX was
abandoned several years ago, but there are many other Unix systems
available for the Mac. These include an excellent Mach-based commercial
unix from Tenon corp and MkLinux, which is being created by the FSF with
Apple's blessing and support. There is also a BSD implementation in the
public domain called FreeBSD, as well as Minix for the 680x0 family.
"Since NeXTStep is based on Mach, it's not much of a stretch to say that all
new Macs will be running some version of unix in a year or so."
***
Q7.
Headlines From Edupage
GATEWAY 2000 DEBUTS NETPC
On May 21, Gateway 2000 will unveil the industry's first NetPC -- code-named
Tomahawk -- priced at less than $1,000 without a monitor, and sporting a
133-MHz Pentium chip, 16 MB of memory, a 1-gigabyte hard disk and a speedy
network connection. "This is going to be great for the corporate market,"
says Gateway's VP. The slimmed down PCs run Windows programs and have the
advantage of the hard disk -- one item the widely touted NCs (network
computers) won't have. NCs rely on a server for software applications and
file storage. "With such low prices, that would allow me to go in to my
managers every year or so and say I need new machines," says a Merrill Lynch
VP. (Business Week 26 May 97)
NET GIVES HONG KONG INSURANCE ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Fearing that freedom of the press will be curtailed after it is transferred
from British to Chinese rule on July 1st, Hong Kong is moving rapidly to
sign on to the Internet, which is expected to remain a source of uncensored
exchanges of news and views. In the past year, the number of Hong Kong
companies with Web pages has more than tripled. Dr G. S. Rao, of the
University of Brunei, Darussalam, says: "Tightening the Net is difficult
because the information flows like an unstoppable wind. Once you try to
block people, they try to get in another way. The Net is unpoliceable."
(Financial Times 14 Apr 97)
VIRUSES SPREADING DESPITE INCREASED EFFORTS TO COMBAT THEM
The National Computer Security Association reports that the number of North
American businesses infected by computer viruses tripled in the past year
despite increased use of anti-virus products. Survey results indicate that
e-mail is one of the main culprits in spreading the viruses. Macro viruses
in common word processing documents and spreadsheets were the biggest
problem. (Investor's Business Daily 15 Apr 97)
HOME PCs ARE BIG ON CONSUMERS' WISH LIST
In a Wall Street Journal analysis of consumer spending trends since 1989,
home computers now represent a much large portion of the total spending
picture -- 1.3% of total consumer spending, or about 12 times the percentage
spent seven years ago. And while seven years ago, consumers were obsessed
with acquiring the biggest RAM on the block, now they're more concerned with
using their PCs as information-gathering tools. "The person who's made it
nowadays is the one with the most knowledge," says a researcher at
Yankelovich Partners. The increase in home PC spending represents the
largest jump in any consumer spending category. (Wall Street Journal 14 Apr
97)
MICROSOFT INVADES TV LAND
Microsoft has seen the future and it is digital TV. The computer giant has
been making deals with TV producers to launch proof-of-concept shows that
incorporate Web-based features, and so far it's lined up gigs with Spelling
Entertainment Group's "Moesha," and the USA Network's "Pacific Blue," "Silk
Stalkings," and "Big Easy." In the new version, the original show appears
as a window that fills about two-thirds of the screen, while a Web page
wrapped around the left and bottom edges beckons with icons that promise
more information on the actors' careers or outtakes from the show's
production. Initially, viewers with intercasting capability will be able to
watch these shows on their PCs, but Microsoft's real goal is to provide a
reason for consumers to purchase WebTVs -- a company Microsoft bought last
week for $425 million. (Wall Street Journal 16 Apr 97)
SPEED ISN'T EVERYTHING WHEN IT COMES TO CD-ROMs
CD-ROM drives are getting faster, but industry analysts say consumers should
beware of marketing hype: "The speed race that is going on between the
CD-ROM drive vendors is more for the benefit of the PC makers," says a
Disk/Trend Inc. researcher. "They need some way of differentiating their
product... Beyond (8x), from a user point of view, there is almost
imperceptible improvement." With an 8x drive transferring data about 1,200
kilobytes per second, most experts say that's plenty, even for video
playback. "In the home or SOHO (small office-home office) environment,
there is very little to be gained by moving to leading-edge CD-ROM drives,"
says an analyst with Freeman Associations Inc. (Investor's Business Daily
17 Apr 97)
BACTERIA-ON-A-CHIP
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are using live bacteria, fixed
onto silicon chips, to test for traces of pollution that could linger
following a toxic waste clean-up effort. The engineers used a common
microorganism that had been genetically altered to emit a bluish glow in the
presence of naphthalene -- a component in jet fuels. The microbes are
placed in a porous polymer matrix on the surface of the chip, and when they
start to glow, the chip sounds an alarm. The scientists hope that
eventually these critters-on-a-chip could be deployed by the dozens at any
polluted site. Using a variety of microbes to detect different chemicals,
the chips could send back wireless progress reports for a fraction of the
cost of the optical fiber sensors and bulky electronic equipment used today.
(Business Week 12 May 97)
BORLAND SUES MICROSOFT FOR RAIDING KEY EMPLOYEES
Software firm Borland International has filed a lawsuit charging Microsoft
with hampering Borland's ability to compete by hiring away from Borland at
least 34 of its top software architects, engineerings and marketing managers
during the past two and a half years. The Microsoft response is that
employee defections are common in the software industry, and that "Microsoft
wants to hire smart people working on software problems, and if those people
are at Borland, then the company wants to hire Borland people." But Borland
chief executive Delbert Yocam says that Microsoft "is hell-bent on seeing
the demise of our company... It's like you're in the desert and Microsoft is
stealing your water bottle." (New York Times 8 May 97)
