[12018] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
"Ask Dr. Internet" for February, 1998
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael S. Hart)
Wed Feb 18 21:31:07 1998
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998 14:10:49 -0600
From: "Michael S. Hart" <hart@prairienet.org>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
This is "Ask Dr. Internet" for January, 1998
Answering questions from January and February
[DrNet usually goes out the 3rd Wed per month]
Contents:
Q1.
More About Clock Programs and the Year 2000 Leap Year
Q2.
More About the Microsoft Internet Explorer Wars
Q3.
More About Domain Names
A1.
Q1.
More About Clock Programs and the Year 2000 Leap Year
There are definitely a few clock programs out there a
person would do well to be sure will handle Leap Year
2000. . . . Not all programs handle this in the same
way, and you would be wise to know beforehand how the
situation can be handled.
Pre-Windows 9x users take note!!!!
Check your clock programs NOW to be sure they DO date
properly on February 29th, 2000. If you try to set a
date on the versions I have tried, it skips from Mon,
Feb 28th to Wed, Mar 1. It knows there is a Tuesday,
but it won't let you set for it. You may just try it
by setting your clock for 2/28/00 near midnight, then
watch to see if it will roll over to 2/29 by itself--
which at least some versions of Windows 3.1 will do--
I just tried one of my oldest installs and it worked,
but that one also WOULD let me directly set the date.
Several people have helped me on this and I thank you
wholeheartedly. At least one person who has been the
consistently irritating type has taken an opportunity
to remind me, and others, not to take myself even the
slightest bit seriously. . .however, if you want your
computer to be able to date things February 29, 2000,
I would suggest that you actually check things, well,
beforehand. It could save you a lot of hassles. The
current estimates for the "Year 2000 Bug" are rising,
and I still predict, as I did last year, and before--
the total cost of that bug will reach $1 trillion, in
US counting terms of US dollars. [In many countries,
"illions" are arrived at by multiplying by a million,
rather than by a thousand, as done in the US.]
Not that anyone reading this is terribly likely to be
using the same program 102 years from now, but I have
not yet been able to locate ANY clock program that is
correct on the leap years from 1900 to 2100. If your
program correctly identifies 1900 and 2100 as NOT the
leap years and 2000 as the leap year...please send me
the name of the program. Actually, we would like the
names of ANY programs that just 2000 properly, other,
of course, than those named below.
Here are some examples:
One Windows 3.1 clock program will NOT do 2-29-00 but
will do 2-28-00, which the DOS clock underneath would
interpret as MONDAY, February 28, 2000, even though a
reset of the DOS clock program would say INVALID DATE
when trying to set it for 2-28-00. . .it must be done
from Windows or some other non-DOS clock program. It
is VERY interesting that the Windows clock program is
NOT able to set for 2/29/00. . .BUT. . .that if it is
set to 3/1/00 the DOS clock knows it is WEDNESDAY. A
day is acknowledged to have been skipped, even though
you can't use either of the programs to set that day.
This was true for the one I tested last month, but in
the interest of completeness, I tried other versions,
on other machines, of Windows 3.1, and some worked in
a perfect manner, while others would not let me set a
date for 2/29/2000.
The Windows 95 clock program WILL do 2-29-00, and the
DOS clock underneath responds the same as above. The
Windows NT clock has not been tested at this time.
The program called "ddate" by Hal Simpson will do the
leap year in 2000 properly and will set the DOS clock
properly when it does, but it won't do either 2100 or
1900 at all. It stops at 12/31/2099 and 1/1/80.
The only way to be sure is to try it yourself, and it
doesn't take all that long. Most of you will find it
works just fine, but I am sure some will have to do a
bug fix, or just ignore the problem. Business with a
lot of versions of the "same" software may find, as I
did, that not all versions with the same number are a
perfectly identical operating system and clock.
Q2.
More About the Microsoft Internet Explorer Wars
A2.
MICROSOFT AVOIDS CONTEMPT CITATION
Microsoft has agreed to offer PC manufacturers the latest version of its
Windows 95 software without requiring them also to install the company's
Internet Explorer software for browsing the Internet. This action settles
one part of a larger antitrust suit brought against Microsoft by the U.S.
Justice Department, and lets the company avoid a contempt of court citation
from U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson. (AP 22 Jan 98)
MICROSOFT BROWSER STRATEGY IN EUROPE
Deflating the antitrust inquiry begun by the European Commission, Microsoft
has announced that contracts with European providers of Internet services
will be revised to drop Microsoft's requirements that the service providers
offer their customers the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser as a
condition for being listed in the Windows 95 operating system. Microsoft
claims that the action is an independent business decision, unrelated to
the EC's antitrust inquiry. (New York Times 22 Jan 98)
and
MICROSOFT'S DOMINANCE
A new survey of 300 corporate executives by Olsten Staffing Service shows
the extent of Microsoft's expanding dominance in the software business.
Since 1995, the percentage of survey respondents who used Microsoft Word
has grown from 43% to 80%, whereas the percentage using rival product
WordPerfect dropped from 61% to 21%. During the same period, comparable
statistics for spreadsheet, groupware, and presentation graphics software
were: Microsoft Excel rose from 44% to 79%, in contrast to Lotus 1-2-3's
fall from 65% to 27%; Microsoft Exchange rose from 19% to 32%, in contrast
to the fall of Lotus Notes from 49% to 31%; and Microsoft Powerpoint rose
from 18% to 86%, in contrast to Harvard Graphics' fall from 27% to 3%.
Microsoft attributes its success to its "consistency of delivering better
products in the marketplace," whereas critics of the company attribute it
to the power of "bundling" - packaging separate products into the software
suite called Microsoft Office. (USA Today 22 Jan 98)
and
JUSTICE TARGETS MICROSOFT CONTENT PLANS
The U.S. Justice Department, already at odds with Microsoft over the
inclusion of its Internet Explorer software in its Windows operating system,
now is suggesting that the company's plans for providing Internet content
could possibly violate antitrust laws. "The best way to make people switch
browsers is to make sure they have to, in order to get the best content,"
said a Microsoft VP in a 1996 memo. The latest version of Microsoft's
Internet Explorer and Windows 98 create attractive "channels" for content
suppliers that appear on the PC user's initial screen. Justice will
investigate deals that Microsoft cut with its most prominent content
suppliers requiring media companies to customize their sites with
Microsoft's technology and commit to promotional plans that advocate
Microsoft's browser over Netscape's. (Wall Street Journal 13 Feb 98)
and
MICROSOFT MOVES BROWSER UNIT INTO WINDOWS GROUP
Under fire from the Justice Department for integrating its Internet Explorer
Web browser into its Windows operating system, Microsoft has quietly shifted
its browser business group into the unit that develops and markets its
Windows system. Analysts agree that regardless of the outcome of the
antitrust case, it makes sense to consolidate the business units. "Internet
Explorer is an integrated product," says a financial analyst at Nationsbanc
Montgomery Securities Inc. "You better integrate the reporting
responsibilities." (New York Times 6 Feb 98)
Q3.
More About Domain Names
A3.
Network Solutions' Domain Name Dispute Policy (Revision 03) will become
effective on February 25, 1998. A copy of the Policy, with a summary of
the changes, is available at:
http://rs.internic.net/domain-info/nic-rev03.html
***More From Edupage***
SPEEDIER NET ACCESS, YES; HIGHER PRICES, NO
With the proliferation of ISDN and DSL telephone lines, and satellite and
cable Internet access, Web users are beginning to enjoy Web surfing at
speeds many times what they've grown accustomed to via plain old telephone
service -- the only hitch is, they don't really want to pay for it. A
recent Yankee Group survey of more than 1,900 U.S. households found that
while more than two-thirds want faster access, only 10% are willing to spend
even $40 a month for it. "For us to drive the kind of penetration that's
possible, we have to drive the cost down," says a U S West VP. (Business
Week 16 Feb 98)
COMPUTER ASSOCIATES MAKES HOSTILE BID FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES
Computer Associates, a leading supplier of software to Fortune 500
companies, is making a $9 billion bid for Computer Sciences, which supplies
consulting services to the same kinds of companies. If the takeover
succeeds, Computer Associates will be surpass Oracle in revenue and become
the No. 2 independent software maker after Microsoft. CA chief executive
and founder Charles Wang, who built the company through more than 60
acquisitions and many large layoffs, says there were won't be large layoffs
this time. (USA Today 12 Feb 98)
VIRTUAL TV STUDIOS
If you're like most people, you haven't really noticed that a number of TV
anchorpersons are now posed in front of sets that don't exist, except in the
mind's eye of computer graphics. Some examples: Discovery News, WCBS-TV's
11 pm newscast, and ABC's 1996 election coverage, which was produced in its
entirety on a virtual set. Designer Dan Devlin, whose set-design style
tends to feature decoratively painted walls in mottled colors, says: "The
viewing audience at home should not be able to tell. That's the key to good
design." (New York Times CyberTimes 12 Feb 98)
POWER COMPUTING SHUTS DOWN
Power Computing Corp., which until last summer was the fastest-growing PC
company of the 1990s, has closed its doors, after failing to make the
transition from being an Apple Macintosh clone maker to a Wintel machine
maker. The company had stopped production of the Wintel machines in
December, citing parts shortages, but said it planned to start back up early
this year. According to a security guard at Power Computing headquarters,
"The show is over, the monkey is dead, and they've folded the tent." (Tampa
Tribune 9 Feb 98)
WEB PROFITS STILL ELUSIVE
[For those who only want a profit. . .leave the Internet in 1998]
Despite record Internet advertising revenues in 1997, most analysts are
predicting a wave of consolidations and failures this year, as revenues
continue to fall far short of the expenses involved in electronic
publishing. And even for those publishers tenacious enough to hang on, it
could still be another three or four years before they can expect to realize
a profit. "I think this is the year where the contenders will step forward
and the pretenders will step back," says the executive VP of SportsLine USA.
The problem boils down to too many Web sites chasing too few ad dollars, and
advertisers remaining wary of the new medium: "Many people are expecting
the big-brand advertisers like Coca-Cola and McDonald's to pile in, but we
find that this is not a great medium for brand advertisers," says a
Forrester Research analyst. (Miami Herald 8 Feb 98)
AOL RAISES THE BRIDGE AND LOWERS THE WATER
In a two-punch move that has delighted Wall Street, America Online has
raised its subscription prices (from $19.95 to $21.95 a month) while at the
same time announcing a layoff of 50% of the 1,000 employees who had come
from the recent CompuServe acquisition and who have mostly been customer
service representatives. Industry analyst Michael Parekh says: "The
Internet needs to raise prices. None of the 4,000 Internet service
providers that want to grow their subscriber base can make money at $19.95."
(New York Times CyberTimes 10 Feb 98)
ARGENTINE SUPREME COURT RULES SOFTWARE PIRACY LEGAL
Executives of Microsoft, IBM and Unisys are protesting a recent Argentine
Supreme Court decision ruling that antiquated copyright laws don't cover
computer software. Software makers point out that royalties aren't paid on
about 70% of the software sold in Argentina, resulting in roughly $165
million in revenue losses annually. A recent study by Price Waterhouse &
Co. indicates the biggest abusers are Argentine federal and local government
agencies and small private businesses. "There's no culture in Argentina of
assigning value to software," says a Unisys unit president. (Wall Street
Journal 6 Feb 98)
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