> WIDE-RANGING CORDLESS PHONE
> A new digital cordless phone made by Lucent Technology can make and
> receive phone calls at a range of up to 4,000 feet -- nearly a mile --
> from its base. (Investor's Business Daily 8 Apr 97)
Anyone out there know anything more about this? Sounds compelling...
> YEAR 2000 PROBLEM HITS CREDIT CARD ISSUERS
> Here's a new wrinkle on the Year 2000 problem -- credit card companies
> have discovered that the cards with a 2000 expiration date are being
> rejected by thousands of point-of-sale terminals located across the
> country. First USA has already recalled all cards with the
> troublesome date and MasterCard International is asking member banks
> not to issue cards with an expiration date later than 1999.
Makes you almost feel sorry for the credit card companies.
> Hypercom Inc. and Verifone Inc., the largest manufacturers of debit
> terminals, have launched a program to help retailers upgrade their
> terminals, but a Verifone consultant says many companies may find it
> easier to just buy new machines. (St. Petersburg Times 7 Apr 97)
Sneaky way for Verifone to pump up the sales.
> MICROSOFT COMES AROUND ON NETWORK COMPUTER
Rut roh.
> In response to competitors' efforts to reduce computing costs through
> streamlined machines, Microsoft is developing its own network computer,
It's called the Volkswagon PC.
> dubbed the Windows Terminal.
I was close. Is the "Windows Terminal" where windows go to die?
> The design is similar to that being promoted by Oracle Corp. -- a
> desktop machine with no disk drive that relies on a central server for
> applications programs and file storage.
Can you say, MAINFRAME?
> Microsoft's earlier challenge to the network computer was a slimmed
> down machine called the NetPC, but that approach has been questioned
> by analysts, who call it "too little, too late."
As opposed to most Microsoft products, which are "too much, too soon."
> Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates touted the advantages of the Windows
> Terminal last week in a speech to software developers, noting that
> such a machine would avoid the constant upgrade aggravation:
To leave plenty of room for the variable types of aggravation.
> "So that's a machine you never have to replace until there's some
> radical change in the way that people interact with the computers."
> (Wall Street Journal 7 Apr 97)
Might that radical change involve sledgehammers? *evil grin*
Let's see now. Microsoft buys WebTV, Microsoft pushes Windows Terminal,
Microsoft funds pet projects in the W3C's Technology and Society cabal,
Microsoft gets its Transaction Processing software out a year earlier
than Sun's JavaSpaces will be anything close to compelling, Microsoft
expects Windows NT 5.0 and IE 4.0 and Windows 98 to be out in a year or
so, all (along with Office 97) integrating the Web with the desktop...
yup, it's official. Microsoft owns the Web. You can all pack your
bags, and head to Internet II. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.
----
adam@cs.caltech.edu
You have to have stuff that sucks so you can tell the stuff that's cool.
-- Butt-head