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Edupage, 14 November 1996. Edupage, a summary of news about information
technology, is provided three times a week as a service by Educom, a
Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and universities
seeking to transform education through the use of information technology.
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INTERVAL RESEARCH TO SPIN OFF THREE START-UPS
Closely held Interval Research -- founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul
Allen -- is spinning off three separate start-up companies in an effort
to commercialize some of its more viable inventions. One company,
Purple Moon, will focus on developing interactive software and related
products for girls age 7 to 12. Much of the product line is inspired by
computer-design expert Brenda Laurel, whose work has focused on
discovering why many girls don't find today's videogames entertaining
and how to engage their interest. Another, Ogopogo Studies, will use
live video combined with computer-generated images to enable children to
create imaginary landscapes and situations. The third, Carnelian Inc.,
will market technology developed for online publishers, incorporating
new payment mechanisms and copyright protections. "These represent the
things that were ripe to take to market," says Interval CEO David
Liddle. "We don't want anybody to conclude that they are the whole
scope of what we are doing here." (Wall Street Journal 13 Nov 96 A3)
INTERNET TRANSACTION TAX URGED
Acting to stem the tide toward broad taxation of Internet-based
activities, the Interactive Services Association has called for state
and local taxation entities to target online purchasers rather than the
entire information technology industry. "The industry believes that the
only type of tax that can be applied effectively to Internet and online
transactions will be a transaction tax that is imposed upon the
purchaser, not upon the industry," says the executive summary of a
soon-to-be-released ISA white paper on the topic. The paper also urges
one uniform tax rate within each state: "The greatest threat to the type
of tax system contemplated here is any requirement that a remote seller
have to account for a multiplicity of taxes at lower levels of
government." ISA warns that "relieving the industry of such a
requirement is the key to obtaining the industry's cooperation" in
collecting such taxes, and suggests that states move slowly in
developing their tax policies for the online industry. "A deliberate
and cooperative approach will avoid the dangers that lurk in precipitate
and uninformed action on the part of the states." (BNA Daily Report for
Executives 8 Nov 96 H3)
MCNEALY PREDICTS SUNNY FUTURE
Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy predicts that in five years, Sun will
be one of the "Big Three" hardware providers: "We want to be a computer
equipment supplier providing the `Web tone' and `data tone' to MIS
departments and Internet service providers. We'll provider the servers.
We'll do chips, software, the whole deal. Who do I think will be the
big three players? ...IBM is the leader in the host-based computing
market. WinTel is the leader in the desktop stand-alone computing
market. We're the leader in the network computing model. I think the
network computer model is the only one that matters down the road."
(Investor's Business Daily 14 Nov 96 A8)
POINTCAST RIDES WAVEPHORE'S NETWORK
PointCast Inc., which offers a real-time newscast service via the Web,
is teaming up with WavePhore to offer businesses a subscription-based
service using WavePhore's proprietary satellite or FM wireless data
broadcast network as the delivery vehicle. The OneCast service will
offer a combination of public news, internal company news and
business-to-business news, using its Pro-Server software. "The premium
service will run alongside the PointCast service and the internal
newscasts," says PointCast's marketing VP. "Every time something
happens, it flashes on your screen in a headline." (Broadcasting &
Cable 4 Nov 96 p67)
IBM TARGETS WEB SERVER MARKET
IBM says it's happy to let Netscape and Microsoft duke it out on the Web
browser front -- what Big Blue's really interested in is the server
software that runs the computers hosting Web sites and other
information. "Nothing helps us more than competitors that become
distracted," says IBM Internet division head Irving Wladawsky-Berger,
who says Microsoft is "out of their league" when it comes to developing
industry-specific Internet applications capable of operating on a global
basis. Meanwhile, Lotus president Jeff Papows thinks Netscape lacks the
experience and workforce numbers to support and maintain Web server
software that could compete with Lotus's Domino. "We've got more people
in Akron, Ohio than they've got worldwide." (Wall Street Journal 13 Nov
96 B6)
MICROSOFT JOINS MCI/BT TO DEVELOP GLOBAL INTRANETS
Microsoft is joining forces with MCI and BT to manage private
communications networks for global corporations and their clients. In
the heated competition to provide intranet services for multinational
companies, the Microsoft/MCI/BT team will be facing off against such
opponents as Sprint, AT&T, and IBM. (Wall Street Journal 14 Nov 96 B6)
Edupage is written by John Gehl <gehl@educom.edu> & Suzanne Douglas
<douglas@educom.edu>. Voice: 404-371-1853, Fax: 404-371-8057.