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The January 15 gathering will be one of our joint SIG meetings. The Linux SIG will have Tom Purl doing a presentation of LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project). The presentation for the main meeting will be Kevin Hisel showing the CUCUG online forums.
We'd also like to thank renewing members Quentin L. Barnes, Emil Cobb, Jerry A. Feltner, Edwin Hadley, Ed Serbe, Norris Hansell, George F. Krumins, Elaine Avner, Mark Zinzow, Joseph Wayne Hamilton, Chuck Jackson, Anthony Philipp, Thomas E. Purl, and Richard Hall. Likewise, we'd like to express our appreciation to our Lifetime members Kevin Hisel and Richard Rollins. And finally, we'd like to welcome back, Angelo Koutsogiannis, our last 8-bit Librarian, returning to us after several years absence. Quite a family!
We welcome any kind of input or feedback from members. Run across an interesting item or tidbit on the net? Just send the link to the editor. Have an article or review you'd like to submit? Send it in. Have a comment? Email any officer you like. Involvement is the driving force of any user group. Welcome to the group.
Here's the list of FREE products some lucky members will WIN at the January 15th meeting, courtesy of Microsoft (please note, you must be a 2004 member of CUCUG to participate in the drawing):
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight
Enthusiasts around the world will experience the history of aviation with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight. As the world celebrates the 100th anniversary of powered flight in 2003, A Century of Flight allows virtual pilots to feel what it's like to take the controls of nine historic aircraft--the record-breakers, the workhorses and the innovators--such as Charles Lindbergh's Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis, the Douglas DC-3 and the world's first successful powered aircraft, the 1903 Wright Flyer. Engaging, interactive multimedia provides a wealth of historical information on the planes that shaped aviation history and the pilots who flew them. Informed and insightful articles help players discover all that Flight Simulator and its fleet of 24 aircraft has to offer. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight also introduces an updated, dynamic weather system, enhanced automatically generated (auto-gen) scenery and detailed visual effects, as well as 15 modern aircraft, including the Robinson R-22 Beta II helicopter. Street Price $44.99.
Faster Smarter Microsoft Office 2003 (book)
The 2003 release of Office has loads of new functionality so that you can do the everyday÷and the extraordinary÷faster, smarter, and better. So dive in! This friendly, high-energy guide shows the best ways to use Office, so you spend more time doing and less time learning. Create professional- looking documents÷from memos and invoices to complex reports. Use spreadsheets and charts to analyze data. Get your e-mail, calendar, and work day under control. Produce and deliver compelling presentations with great visuals. Share and reuse information among programs to simplify work and get better results. Each chapter offers a 10-Second Summary so you can find what you need quickly, and a Fast Wrap-Up that highlights the best ways to get things done. Aha! Tips throughout the book fuel readersâ productivity. And putting the information in a real-world context ensures that readers get exactly the information about Office they need to get the job done! Street Price: $13.99
Office 2003 T-Shirt (XL)
Membership is still only $20. You could save that easily with just one answer to a vexing computer question!
President: Richard Rollins Vice President: Emill Cobb Corporate Agent: Kevin Hisel Secretary: Kevin Hopkins Treasurer: Rich HallThanks to our returning officers.
What's new:
Intel and Microsoft say it's time to ditch the outmoded BIOS, or basic
input/output system, which for 23 years has served to start a PC's
hardware before the operating system takes over. The companies say the
Extensible Firmware Interface, or EFI, makes it simpler to add
improvements to PCs and speeds up the booting process.
Intel and Microsoft are gearing up to move toward the first major overhaul
of the innermost workings of the personal computer--the boundary where
software and hardware meet--during 2004.The companies will begin promoting a technology specification called EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) as a new system for starting up a PC's hardware before its operating system begins loading, a process that kicks in every time a PC is switched on or restarted.
The pair will establish a forum to promote the specification as a standard. If EFI-based software is accepted broadly, it could prompt the first changing of the guard in preboot software in the history of the PC industry--even though some critics say the transition may take a while or may not happen at all.
Right now, the task of getting a PC's hardware ready to accept the operating system is handled by software called BIOS, or basic input/output system. While the BIOS was once relatively straightforward in its design, over the years it has morphed into a figurative bowl of spaghetti as it's been changed and updated to accept new technologies.
Advocates say EFI would make it simpler for companies to add improvements, while also enabling PCs to boot up faster.
"We've been through four OS generations and multiple bus generations (a system bus helps move data around inside a PC), but we're still on the first version of BIOS," said Mike Richmond, manager of platform software in Intel's Software and Solutions Group. "It's become, increasingly, a barrier to innovation in the industry."
The first EFI computer, a Gateway PC, went on sale in November. Others are expected to appear in 2004, with ever greater numbers coming in the following years. But not everyone is jumping on the EFI bandwagon. PC makers have been historically reluctant to change as their customers, especially businesses, often prefer stability. Hence the resilience of the floppy drive, despite many efforts to kill it off.
One of the largest BIOS software companies, Phoenix Technologies, says it's in no hurry to adopt EFI. The company, whose BIOS software is used by most of the world's largest PC makers, says it won't consider EFI until it becomes a standard. Meanwhile, Phoenix has developed its own potential BIOS replacement, dubbed Core Management Environment, for notebooks. It plans to add similar software for servers and desktops in 2004, company executives said.
EFI does have one thing going for it. Many industry players agree that something needs to be done, and soon, if PC makers want to continue to easily make transitions to new technologies.
"Realistically we're using a BIOS that consists of patches upon patches and extensions that go back to 1982. Something needed to be done to clean things up and to add functionality," said Dean McCarron, analyst with Mercury Research.
EFI for dummies
The EFI specification is essentially a preboot environment that allows a PC to conduct activities such as scanning for viruses or running diagnostics. Intel has used EFI to create a preboot software framework that can supplant the BIOS. The framework, called Platform Innovation Framework for EFI and sometimes referred to by the code name Tiano, allows PC makers to write preboot software modules, which are similar to Windows drivers, designed to get a PC's hardware up and running before handing off control of it to the operating system.
Intel and Microsoft will promote EFI as an industry standard by establishing a forum to assist others in adopting the specification. The forum will be officially announced within the next 90 days, Richmond said.
Intel believes promoting the specification as a standard will ultimately help PC manufacturers and please PC users by making computers start up more quickly; by improving the ability to manage PCs and servers remotely; and by helping hardware makers cut manufacturing and support costs--EFI PCs will be able to run diagnostic utilities, for example, before loading their operating system.
"We've been through four (operating system) generations and multiple
bus generations, but we're still on the first version of BIOS. It's
become a barrier to innovation."
--Mike Richmond
Intel's Software and Solutions Group
"We think, in the long run, we can bring boot time down, because (the EFI
framework) only has to touch the things it needs to boot. It also helps the
overall reliability of the computer," Richmond said. "In the PC world, we
put up with that stuff, and we shouldn't."Intel and Microsoft will also promote EFI by supporting it with their products. Microsoft will support EFI in Longhorn, its next version of the Windows operating system. Intel will support the technology in future chipsets--chips that move data inside a PC. The chipmaker has also been licensing its EFI framework to third parties, including BIOS software companies.
Despite the efforts of Intel and Microsoft, there's no doubt that EFI, BIOS and potential competitors, such as Phoenix's Core software, will coexist at first.
Starting up
The speed of any transition should have a lot to do with how quickly EFI is adopted as a standard. Over time, Intel believes, EFI will be broadly adopted because of its potential benefits and also because of a shortage of skilled BIOS software engineers, Richmond said.
One Intel EFI licensee, Insyde Software, has already created an EFI-based product, called Insyde H20, that PC makers can use to write preboot software, said Jonathan Joseph, the company's president. H20 simplifies writing the software for customers who are short on BIOS engineers.
"It's a dramatically better development environment than assembly language BIOS code," Joseph said. "It's a better way to make BIOS than BIOS."
Gateway, which uses EFI in its all-in-one Gateway 610 Media Center desktop, said it chose to do so because EFI proved a more efficient way to code preboot software and can also help to improve the product from a long-term development perspective, a company representative said.
Still, some companies might see EFI as a way for Intel and Microsoft to push their own ideas for the future of PC design, McCarron said. There are "some concerns that it's being used to enable features that customers don't want," he said.
Intel says such suspicions are unfounded--companies that decide to go with EFI will be able to use it any way they like, by picking and choosing different features. EFI users don't necessarily have to work directly with Intel, either. They can gain access to the technology by working with companies like Insyde, or eventually use technology developed by the forum, once it gets started.
Even Phoenix indicates a willingness to evaluate EFI, once the technology becomes an industry standard.
"Everybody is looking to this...But only when it becomes an industry standard will the (PC) industry adopt it," said Tim Eades, senior vice president and general manager of corporate marketing and products at Phoenix. "When it becomes a standard, we will investigate it."
Despite its potential benefits, no one--including Intel--expects EFI to appear in PCs overnight. Technology transitions such as the move to USB (Universal Serial Bus) generally take several years for the PC industry to complete.
Although EFI may take several years to hit its stride, Intel chipsets will offer the EFI framework as an alternative to a BIOS in 2005, Richmond said. The company's chipsets will support BIOS software for many years to come. However, as time passes, some chipset features may be accessible only via EFI. That's the price of progress, Richmond said.
"After 23 years, it was time to start from scratch," said Richmond. "There's a certain life span for every technology. You can expand it and grow it, but at some point you have to start over."
Bottom line:
Although many agree that the BIOS is out of date, a new technology
isn't likely to be adopted until it's declared an industry standard.
Intel and Microsoft will push for that, but with PC makers
historically resistant to change, EFI is, if anything, likely to exist
alongside BIOS for some time.
ToC
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- California prosecutors took the unusual step of setting up a Web site on the Michael Jackson case to alleviate a media frenzy and, in doing so, triggered a debate on use of the Web within the legal community.
Some legal experts said that posting documents detailing the criminal charges against the 45-year-old entertainer was a breakthrough for public access. Others countered that it would undermine the spirit of the law and court proceedings, creating even more of a circus-like atmosphere.
Over the last five years, the Web has often been used to spin the views of one side or another in sensational civil cases, like the Microsoft class-action case.
But lawyers and law professors said it was rare for a governmental prosecuting attorney's office to set up a Web site devoted entirely to a particular criminal case.
Many said they expect it to become a trend, and, while a specialized Web site appears to be an anomaly in criminal cases, media-hounded prosecutors in other high-profile cases like the Kobe Bryant rape case and the upcoming Scott Peterson murder trial have also put links on their Web sites to documents.
"The Web has been such a driver of information in civil cases, it has really changed defense tactics. The legal battles that now go on over the Web are not insubstantial," said Katrina Dewey, editor of the LA Daily Journal legal newspaper.
"And now, this [trend] just moved it into the criminal arena," she said, referring to the Jackson Web site set up by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon at (www.sbscpressinfo.org).
To be sure, loads of court case data has long been available on the Web and the legal profession has changed dramatically with the Web's emergence.
People can stay abreast of changes in the law or government agency regulations by using various Web services, like (www.watchthatpage.com) which collects data from sites a lawyer or anyone might have special interest in.
Lawyers, journalists and the general public can also get news fed to them with software that scans major legal Web sites and legal online newsletters or Web logs, or blogs, for short.
Law-related blogs -- known as "blawgs" -- have sprung up with the rise of the blogging self-publishing trend in general. Popular blawgs include an appellate court site at (www.appellateblog.blogspot.com).
Some law firms create blogs for the sole purpose of making data available to the general public, like the Washington, D.C. firm, Goldstein and Howe, whose popular U.S. Supreme Court blog, SCOTUS Blog, is at (www.goldsteinhowe.com).
There are a variety of specialist legal sites, including Doug Isenberg's Internet and patent technology law site, GigaLaw.com. Nolo Press of Berkeley, California, offers a variety of resources for do-it-yourself lawyers at (www.nolo.com).
Other popular court news Web sites include (www.thesmokinggun.com) and (www.crimelibrary.com), both of which are owned by the CourtTV.com television network.
Many U.S. courts also cite decisions, court news, summaries of recent opinions and docket information.
To get familiar with what various federal courts have online, go to (www.uscourts.gov).
But while many law professors said the Internet is a great learning and research tool, some hold more traditional views when it comes to using it as a forum during an ongoing trial.
"Many documents are available online through the courts, but there involves a process in getting them," said William Weston, who is an associate dean and professor of Concord Law School, the nation's first all-online law school where students can earn a law degree wholly via the Internet.
In fact, to most people unfamiliar with legalese, reading documents online is like reading Greek.
In the Jackson case, however, the Web site is specifically designed to be user-friendly and even provides frequently asked questions about the case -- a step considered troublesome by some legal experts.
Weston said he was concerned that people may be compelled to download the documents, editorialize and then spread them further around the Web.
"When you throw details out on the Internet, it diminishes the dignity of the court. It now puts the case in the court of public opinion," said Weston.
NEW YORK (AP) -- One more sign the technology sector is rebounding: An Internet domain name is again commanding seven figures.
Last week, a Florida man sold men.com for $1.3 million, a healthy profit over the $15,000 he paid for it in 1997.
The buyers, largely entertainment industry folks who have opted to remain anonymous behind the acquiring company, men.com LLC, want to create a portal for men.
"In the last couple of years, the domain names were selling for significantly less than what they did in '99, 2000," said Monte Cahn, chief executive of Moniker Online Services, which brokered the sale.
He said the seven-figure price tag for men.com "is a big indicator of what's yet to come."
At the market's height, a handful of domain names sold for millions of dollars, including $7.5 million for business.com in late 1999 and $3 million for loans.com in January 2000.
But countless others sat unclaimed, and the dot-com bust forced many domain name speculators to give them up when they came up for re-registration, at roughly $30 apiece.
Ryan Levy, vice president of marketing for men.com, said the company also has purchased more than 1,000 other domain names over the past year at fire-sale prices to use in conjunction with the new portal.
The seller, Rick Schwartz, believes he could have gotten much more for men.com by waiting longer.
But Schwartz, who owns more than 4,000 other domain names, said he wanted the money now -- so that he can buy others before prices really skyrocket.
"RealNetworks' legal action today is unfortunate and particularly surprising given the intense competition in the digital media marketplace.
The facts are clear. There is vibrant competition in this marketplace, and RealNetworks' own reported growth shows that it has thrived on Microsoft¨ Windows¨ and many other operating system platforms. Computer manufacturers are free to install and promote any media player on new PCs. Consumers are free to use any media player, and many consumers use several different media players.
It's hard to reconcile Real's own statements on its marketplace success with today's lawsuit. Real claims to be the No. 1 provider of digital media solutions, with massive distribution of its software and more than 1 million player downloads a week. Thus, this is a case where a leading firm is seeking to use the antitrust laws to protect and increase its marketplace share and to limit the competition it must face.
These issues are a rehash of the same issues that have already been the subject of extensive litigation and a tough but fair resolution of the government antitrust lawsuit. The government antitrust ruling imposes a range of significant restrictions on Microsoft's business and provides considerable new opportunities for companies like RealNetworks; we accept these new rules and we are committed to full compliance.
Media playback technologies have been included in Windows as far back as the early 1990s. Microsoft has competed on the merits in the digital media marketplace by creating superior technology that delivers better quality, an open platform for software developers and device manufacturers and benefits to consumers. Companies are bringing new media players and services to the marketplace every week. That is what is going to benefit consumers and move this marketplace forward, and not this kind of rear- view-mirror litigation.
The forthcoming second service pack for Windows XP focuses on security by making it easier for everyday Windows users to let Microsoft protect their computers. The biggest changes are the new Windows Firewall and an increased emphasis on turning on the Automatic Updates feature.
Over the holidays I obtained the first widespread beta of Microsoft's forthcoming Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). Microsoft says this beta represents a subset of what will be released when this software is finalized sometime during the first half of 2004.
I tested the new software on several machines over the last few weeks and found it to be very reliable. It's not recommended that you install this beta in a production environment, however. Even so, I found that its uninstall routine works extremely well.
Unlike most Windows service packs, this one adds quite a bit of new functionality. There are four main areas where Microsoft has made feature and user-interface changes. They are:
1. Automatic Updates
2. Windows Firewall (formerly known as Internet Connection Firewall).
3. Wireless networking controls
4. A pop-up blocker for Internet Explorer
Full-Automatic Updates
With the beta of Windows XP SP2, Microsoft appears to be shaking a finger, figuratively, at users who don't turn on Automatic Updates ÷ or who limit its ability to do its job by not allowing updates to be installed automatically. The first screen you see after installing SP2 and rebooting is a blue warning page that asks you to turn on Automatic Updates. You have two choices:
1. Yes, help me protect my PC by automatically downloading and installing
updates (strongly recommended)
2. Ask me again later.
The properties screen that controls Automatic Updates settings has been changed. There are now four radio button options (it's really the same number of options presented differently), and the first is the most automatic option; the same one that Microsoft calls "strongly recommended." By default, it automatically downloads and installs patches at 3AM every day. This hour may be a mistake. Many people turn off their computers at night. I haven't tested the point, but the default 3AM time may prevent patches from being installed automatically on many PCs. A better default time might be during the noon hour, with a dialog that pops up and waits for 10 minutes asking you what time of day is best for you.
In general the changes to Automatic Updates are a good idea. Some businesses may not want Automatic Updates to be quite so automatic, but on most consumer desktops, this is the correct setting.
Workable Windows Firewall
What used to be called Internet Connection Firewall (and is still called that in build 2055 of the product tested for this story), has been upgraded and rechristened "Windows Firewall." There are several minor changes, but the biggest and best change is that, according to Microsoft, XP's firewall should work much better with applications. In part, that should be brought about by the new default "On" setting that's something like a medium level of protection. There's also an "On with no exceptions" setting that provides a high security level (similar to the only level of security provided by default in Internet Connection Firewall).
The feature I like best is Windows Firewall's new Network Connections tab. Like ZoneAlarm's Trusted Zones feature, it automatically detects networks and lets you disable firewall protection for, say, your peer LAN. Without this feature, Internet Connection Firewall was nearly impossible to use in more complex networking environments. It's still not ideal in an enterprise setting, but in my tests the default configuration stayed out of the way. And that's a good thing because Microsoft currently intends to turn Windows Firewall on by default.
As will likely be the case with Automatic Updates, some IT managers are bound to be concerned that a software firewall will be turned on by default in Windows XP SP2. While it's easy to turn off, and presumably turning it off by default using enterprise Windows installation tools will be a simple thing, it could be a mixed blessing. Although this requires Windows servers, Microsoft says central administration of Windows Firewall will be available through Active Directory Group Policy.
Easier Wireless Networking?
Microsoft has added a new unified wireless networking client whose main focus appears to be providing standard client services for third-party wireless hotspots without having to install proprietary software. Microsoft is basing this enhanced wireless-hotspot functionality on Wireless Provisioning Services. I wasn't able to test the workings for this review, but one of the aspects clearly evident in the revamped wireless networking-related settings pages is the notion of automatic connection to wireless networks.
The new "Choose A Wireless Network" dialog replaces the functionality of a property sheet in the original Windows XP. Our initial tests of this dialog found it not to be functional. After a lot of contact with Microsoft on this point, it turned out that something was wrong with the XP machine we were testing this feature with. A clean install of Windows XP and reinstallation of the SP2 beta did the trick.
Microsoft has also tweaked the wireless networking settings screens in positive ways, but I still found some areas that need improvement:
1. You may not be aware of this, but it's possible to make a small icon appear in the system tray, or "notification area," (the icon area next to the clock) for each network to which your system is connected. To turn this on, open the Network Connections Control Panel, then right-click each network connection in turn and put a check in the box beside "Show icon in notification area when connected." Experienced XP users rely on this icon to monitor their network connections. But there's also another benefit. The icon provides a shortcut by giving you the ability to right-click it and choose "Open Network Connections" to access the wireless networking (or regular networking) properties. Accessing the properties this way is definitely sort of round-about, but it winds up being the fastest set of steps to get there, just not the most obvious route. This is notably improved in SP2, since the Open Network Connections" is what was replaced by the better "Choose A Wireless Network."
But there's something missing from the context menu for each notification area network-connection icon ÷ a properties menu item. Microsoft should take this opportunity to make accessing the wireless or wired network connection properties easier for experienced users by adding that menu item in this release. The alternative is a continuation of the confusing, multiple-click process that even experienced network administrators sometimes forget how to do.
2. Another area of frustration pertains to the signal scan for available wireless networks. When multiple wireless access points use the same SSID on different channels, they show up as a single network entry, not as individual results identified with their channel numbers. While that's a simpler presentation, there are times when it's crucial to be able to connect to a specific access point, not just the strongest one with the strongest signal (what I assume Windows is doing). The utility that comes with Netgear's WG511 Wi-Fi card (and others) shows the functionality of a scan for wireless networks that works as I've described.
Another type of wireless, Bluetooth, also receives an update with SP2. Not tested for this story, Microsoft says the point of the update is to provide support for a wider range of the latest Bluetooth devices, including wireless keyboards, mice, and connections with cell phones and PDAs.
Security Baked In
There are some significant areas of security improvement that are invisible in SP2, but they represent some of the more important changes. Windows Messenger Service, the network messaging feature (not to be confused with Windows Messenger, the instant-messaging client), is turned off by default in SP2. The Windows Messenger Service has been the target of spam pop-ups for more than a year. More recently, it has been identified as a possible area of exploit by hackers and malware.
For those who use Microsoft's Outlook Express e-mail program or Windows Messenger instant-messaging client (no and no, for me), the software maker is implementing some security fixes in these products. File attachments to emails or files passed with Windows Messenger will be treated with more suspicion by default. Attachments will only be able to open and execute with the fewest permissions possible, limiting their potential areas of impact. Outlook Express will also no longer download external content (such as graphics) in HTML mail by default ÷ so the preview window won't be such a gotcha area (but newsletters may not display properly either). Additionally, Windows XP SP2 will deliver the latest versions of Windows Media Player 9 and DirectX 9.0b, both of which have numerous security tweaks.
Microsoft has also partially disabled the Remote Procedure Call aspect of Windows, which was targeted by MS Blaster and its variants. It runs with reduced privileges in SP2 and will no longer accept unauthenticated connections by default.
The Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) has been given "more granular COM permissions to give administrators the flexibility to control a computer's COM permission policy," according to a Microsoft document. In the current environment, it's not possible to allow a local-area network access to COM without also implicitly allowing that application access via the Internet too.
Microsoft is also going after the most-often cited cause of computer attacks, the buffer overrun. Just how it is working to minimize buffer overruns in Win XP SP2, the software maker isn't saying in great detail. All Windows code released since Windows XP has been recompiled using Microsoft's Visual Studio, which the company says reduces the likelihood of certain buffer-overrun vulnerabilities. The company is also developing software for use with future microprocessors to help Windows support hardware-enforced "no execute" (also known as NX) restrictions. Unfortunately, only high-end, server-oriented AMD chips have this functionality right now. For more information on NX and also deeper details on Windows XP Service Pack 2, see this Microsoft TechNet article: Changes to Functionality in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2. A long- time Microsoft beta tester and Scot's Newsletter Forums regular, ThunderRiver, had these thoughts when reading this review:
Microsoft is working on Version 5 of Windows Update in conjunction with Service Pack 2. It has much better user interface and certainly provides additional update support for products like Office 2003. Although it is still in its infancy, I find it to be a good toward a centralized patching system. Another thing to be aware of is the Microsoft Java VM. If you installed SP1 prior to SP2, the Microsoft JVM should continue to work. On the other hand, many people have reported difficulties applying the JVM after SP2 is installed on machines with SP1a.
Said and Done
Although ThunderRiver has found SP2 to be a little unstable, I've found quite the opposite to be true. And I've been surprised about that. Some functionality is still being added to this larger-than-usual service pack release, but a lot of it is in place. Microsoft is slated to deliver this by early summer, but it would not surprise me if they pushed this one out the door sooner.
Large corporate users of Windows software will clearly benefit from the changes that Windows XP Service Pack 2 brings, but it's important to note that SP2 is not aimed primarily at businesses. It's best to think of SP2 as Microsoft's response to the MS Blaster worm. Everyday PC users increasingly have always-on broadband connections, and we're leaving our PCs on. Many of those PCs (not the ones operated by Scot's Newsletter readers, of course) may not be protected well enough. Microsoft is taking the bull by the horns to ensure that more and more people are protected with a built-in firewall and automatic updates. Given that worms and Trojans not only infect unprotected PCs, but use them as staging areas to infect other PCs, this is an important step for Microsoft to take. It's part of the responsibility I feel the company owes Windows customers everywhere.
Nevertheless, there are some concerns. If Windows Firewall causes too many problems, it's possible that Microsoft will decide to minimize it further or even turn it off by default. I wouldn't bet on that last option though. Microsoft has done a better job of testing its security patches over the last 18 months. That improvement was key because it's now that much easier for companies and individuals to decide to install every update that comes along ÷ or let Windows do it for them. Many of us would have been very uncomfortable with that thought two or three years ago.
All in all, SP2 is a solid set of improvements. While not earth-shaking, it's a more ambitious Windows service pack than most, and everything about it is labeled "security." So it's a welcome update as soon as Microsoft straightens out all the kinks you expect from this beta service pack.
When Microsoft pulls the plug on Windows 98 support next Friday, it will offer a free CD designed to help users "make the most" of the aging operating system, without any further assistance from the software giant.
Six years after its launch, Windows 98 is still used by about a fourth of Web surfers. Microsoft announced last year that it would stop supporting Windows 98 on Jan. 15, meaning that millions of users will soon be left exposed when new exploits and vulnerabilities are discovered.
Lars Ahlgren, senior marketing manager at Microsoft, told ZDNet UK that the CD, which the software giant created with Future Publishing, will provide hints and tips, technical content and exclusive Knowledge Base articles. The content will also be published on Microsoft's support Web sites.
"We have made an arrangement with Future Publishing so we get Windows 98 content that is not just technical; it is also about how to get more from your Windows 98 machine. For those who have difficulties getting on the Web or want the content on a CD, we will ship them the CD for free, if they call us or register on the Web," Ahlgren said.
Ahlgren also acknowledged that Microsoft is hoping to keep Windows 98 users' expectations low, so that if there is a serious security breach the company decides to patch, they will be pleasantly surprised.
"It remains to be seen," whether there will be further updates, he said, noting that "we want to set expectations and overdeliver rather than underdeliver."
Users who need to do a clean installation of Windows 98 will, for the moment, still be able to connect with the Windows Update service in order to install the most recent patches, but the future of this service is far from clear: "We have not yet made a decision when we are going to remove Windows update. We realize there is a huge install base out there, so we will try to be as open and loud as possible with our decision," Ahlgren said.
Ahlgren pointed out that certain patches released in the future could be generic and work on all Windows operating systems, including Windows 98. In that case, an update would be possible: "If the patch is a generic Windows patch that applies to Windows 98, it will be available," he said.
Before Microsoft does remove the live update function for Windows 98, users will be able to download and burn the patches onto a CD, in case they are needed at a later date.
Last month, Microsoft began testing a security CD designed to enable users of older versions of Windows, with low-bandwidth connections, to update their systems.
Microsoft said the Windows 98 support CD and the new content on its support Web sites should be available Jan. 15.
NetGear unveiled a Wi-Fi device on Tuesday that is designed to retrofit stereos so they can connect to wireless networks.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company plans to demonstrate its NetGear MP101 Wireless Digital Music Player at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas later this week. It will also show off a wireless router with storage-sharing features.
NetGear CEO Patrick Lo has said in past interviews with CNET News.com that he sees a significant opportunity for manufacturers in adapting older devices--such as televisions, music stereos and handheld devices--so they can work with wireless networks. The digital music player is the first product to result from this push.
The MP101 network adapter allows a stereo to play music stored on PC or other device connected to the wireless network. It will be available in stores in February at a price of around $200, according to NetGear. It comes with a remote control and connects to 802.11b and 802.11g wireless networks. It plugs into a stereo through audio inputs and plays MP3 and Windows Media files.
Using the device, people will be able to navigate music libraries and view song, artist and album information using a remote control that communicates with the box, which features a liquid crystal display. The device plays Internet radio streams and comes with a 30-day trial of RealNetworks' Rhapsody music service.
NetGear worked with Digital 5 on the software in the MP101 that allows stereos to access files stored on a PC.
Linux leader Linus Torvalds issued his first update to the new 2.6 kernel at the heart of the open-source operating system, releasing 2.6.1 on Friday. The new version includes changes to improve Linux for digital TV systems and for servers with Intel Itanium or Advanced Micro Devices processors, along with myriad other changes that often had been put on hold, as programmers focused on getting 2.6.0 out the door.
Although Torvalds released the new version, most of the updates were approved by Andrew Morton, who has been named to maintain the 2.6 software.
What's new:
Apple Computer introduces a lower-priced version of its popular iPod
music player and announces that Microsoft will soon release an updated
version of Office for the Mac.
SAN FRANCISCO--Apple CEO Steve Jobs kicked off Macworld Expo on Tuesday by
announcing a smaller iPod music player, new multimedia software and an
update to Microsoft's Office package.The "iPod Mini," which uses a new generation of tiny hard disks, holds 4GB of storage--or about 1,000 songs--in a half-inch-thick case the size of a business card. The device, which will cost $249 and come in a choice of five colors, will be available in the United States in February and worldwide in April.
The announcement of the music player and several new software packages mark the beginning of the 20th anniversary year of Apple's Macintosh computer, a landmark product for the computer maker.
"We've got a lot of things on the way," he said, wearing his trademark black mock turtleneck and blue jeans. "It's going to be a great 20th anniversary year."
This is a critical period for Apple, which has now branched out from its focus on personal computers to a broad range of multimedia software and hardware, all designed to be used with the PC as the hub. But Windows-based machines are quickly catching up on several multimedia fronts that Apple has dominated, despite its small market share.
On the iPod front, "Apple is going to have instant competition," said Tim Bajarin, president of research firm Creative Strategies.
Digital Networks North America (maker of the Rio line), Creative Labs and Archos all offer 20GB players in the mid-$200 range, for example. That price is equal to the iPod Mini, which holds one-fifth the data, and cheaper than the $399 Apple charges for a 20GB iPod.
Nor will the iPod Mini be without competition. On Monday, Digital Networks said it will release a 4GB Nitrus player, and others are on the way.
Still, Bajarin said the iPod Mini's interface and design would attract buyers.
Expo attendee Monique Krauer-Redmond, who works on information technology for biotech firm Genentech, agreed. "I like the size; I like the weight" of the mini player, she said. "I want to get an iPod--it just made the decision harder."
But another attendee, Chico State University student Jeffrey Cutter, thought the price could be a deterrent. "It's pretty cool, because it's small," he said. However, "It's still too pricey."
Meanwhile, rivals of the company's successful iTunes song store are popping up at the rate of several per month, and Windows computers are increasingly being used for a wide range of multimedia applications, from powering home entertainment centers to recording professional quality music.
Transformation, 20 years later
The introduction of the Macintosh 20 years ago brought the graphical user interface, windows-based screens and the use of the computer mouse to the mainstream computer market for the first time.
Highlighting the anniversary of the company's most famous product, Jobs showed pictures of the first brochure distributed for the Macintosh and photographs of the original Macintosh development team.
"We had to teach people what a mouse was, what pointing and clicking was," Jobs said. "It was a strange concept."
Jobs also replayed the infamous "1984"-themed advertisement that ran only once, during that year's Super Bowl. The clip, however, did have one modification--the main character sported an iPod.
But computers, whether Mac- or Windows-based, are now undergoing a substantial transformation. Once largely personal productivity tools or game-playing machines, they are now evolving to the point of rivaling the television and home entertainment centers for music and video consumption, and they're giving consumers powerful new ways to create their own multimedia projects.
Apple's anniversary-year strategy is geared largely around that transformation.
As part of its own stream of new products, the company is providing a substantial update of its iLife media creation products--including the addition of home-recording software called GarageBand.
With dozens of simulated software instruments, virtual guitar amplifiers, and recording and mixing capabilities, the software makes much of what is available in professional studios available on the desktop.
Apple has been recognized for its work with musicians, even winning a Grammy in 2002 for its "technical contributions to the music community." Previously, musicians had fewer, third-party tool options, such as Digidesign's Pro Tools package.
The release of GarageBand is recognition that lower-priced software packages such as Sonic Foundry's Acid or Cakewalk's Sonar have begun luring musicians to PCs. GarageBand includes many of the features developed in those earlier programs.
Other software announced Tuesday includes a new version of the iPhoto digital photography package, which will now support up to 25,000 photos without slowing down, Jobs said. Previous versions had slowed substantially when trying to load a large number of photos.
The new version also allows easy sharing of photos between different computers over a wireless or wired network connection, using the company's Rendezvous software.
iMovie, Apple's basic digital video-editing software, also includes several new features, such as improved audio handling and title making, and the ability to import video from Apple's iSight Webcam. iDVD, the company's DVD-creation software, will have improved navigation and encoding capabilities.
The iLife package, including GarageBand, iTunes, iDVD, iPhoto and iMovie, will cost $49 or will be free with new Macs, Jobs said. The company will no longer provide free downloads of iPhoto or iMovie, a strategy it seriously considered last year and that could anger some customers.
iPod, iTunes moving ahead
The $249 iPod Mini was the most anticipated announcement of the show, as rumors of smaller and cheaper players had circulated for weeks. Jobs also said the existing 10GB iPod will be expanded to 15GB while retaining its $299 price tag. Like the older iPods, the Mini will work on Macs and Windows PCs.
Jobs noted that the iPod has a 31 percent market share among all MP3 players sold, as of November. Jobs also confirmed that the existing iPod was a strong seller during the holidays, with 730,000 of the players selling last quarter.
Focusing on the company's iTunes music download store, Jobs said the company had now sold more than 30 million songs, up from 25 million in mid-December. The rate of purchases spiked in late December, reaching close to 1.9 million songs a week, he said.
Jobs also showed figures from Nielsen/NetRatings that show that the iTunes store still has 70 percent of the legal online music download market, despite increasing competition from rivals such as Napster and Musicmatch.
"It feels great to get above that 5 percent mark, doesn't it?," Jobs remarked, referring to the company's market share in the broader computer market, which has stayed below 5 percent for years.
The music store has been a core focus for Apple since last spring, when it released the first Mac-only version of the iTunes download service. The company released a Windows version in October, a move that marked Apple's only major Windows-based software, aside from its venerable QuickTime multimedia software, and underscored the importance of the download service to its corporate strategy.
Jobs previously said Apple doesn't make substantial profits on the sale of songs, however; it instead relies on the store to help drive sales of its profitable iPod.
The announcements come just days ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where several other companies, including RealNetworks, are expected to unveil digital song stores.
Although rumors had circulated of protests planned by customers upset about iPod battery life and iBook laptop reliability issues, no such demonstrations emerged before Jobs' keynote. Attendees, largely faithful Macintosh devotees, appeared more interested in hearing about new iPods than complaining about old versions.
Other software announcements included the spring release of Microsoft's Office 2004 and a new version of the Final Cut Express home video-editing software.
The development of Mac Office 2004 is good news for Apple, given that many potential customers consider compatibility with Office to be a key requirement before purchasing a Mac. Microsoft previously said little about the next version of Office for the Mac.
Apple did not announce updates to any of its mainstream Macs at the show, but did introduce new versions of its Xserve server and Xserve RAID storage products.
The new Xserve G5 adds the G5 chip to the rack-mounted server, as well as other changes. A 2GHz single-processor server sells for $2,999, while a dual-processor version sells for $3,999.
On the storage front, Apple introduced an updated Xserve RAID that can store up to 3.5 terabytes of data. The prices range from $5,999 for a 1TB version to $10,999 for the 3.5TB version.
Bottom line:
The new iPod could help Apple retain its lead in the market for
portable MP3 players, while the Office update may reassure customers
who are concerned about compatibility with documents created on PCs
that run Windows.
ToC
Apple last week lifted the cover on a significant upgrade to the Xserve, its line of 1U (one-unit high) rack-mount Mac OS X-based servers. The Xserve G5 features single or dual 2 GHz G5 processors, a 1 GHz frontside bus for each processor, an 8 GB RAM ceiling, an 80 GB Serial ATA drive with support for up to 750 GB in three drive bays, and an optional slot-loading CD-ROM or DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo drive. In addition, the Xserve G5 offers two built-in Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, two FireWire 800 ports, one FireWire 400 port, two USB 2.0 ports, and two full-length PCI-X expansion slots on independent buses. (PCI expansion options include video and SCSI support, additional Ethernet interfaces, an Apple Fibre Channel card, or third-party RAID support). Three configurations are available: a stripped-down Cluster Node version (for distributed applications such as video rendering) with dual 2 GHz processors and a 10-client Mac OS X Server license, as well as more traditional Single Processor and Dual Processor configurations with unlimited client versions of Mac OS X Server. Prices start at $3,000.
Apple also revamped the $6,000 Xserve RAID, a 3U (three-unit high) rack-mount system which offers up to 3.5 TB (terabytes) of storage in 14 hot-swappable drive bays. The Xserve RAID connects to Xserves using a 2 Gb Fibre Channel interface. The new Xserve RAID sports throughputs of up to 210 MB/second, and Apple also unveiled support for using the Xserve RAID with Linux and Windows systems. [GD]
http://www.apple.com/xserve/raid/
Apple announced Final Cut Express 2 at Macworld Expo, an updated version of its mid- range video editing software originally introduced in January 2003. Final Cut Express 2 enhances its RT Extreme capability of playing back video layers, transitions, and effects without having to render them first, and is also optimized for the Power Mac G5 and Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. Audio improvements include real-time volume and filter adjustment, automated audio keyframe recording, support for Audio Units (the Apple audio plug-in format for Mac OS X applications), and the capability to export markers for Apple's Soundtrack application. You can now also capture footage across timecode breaks (a common issue encountered with consumer DV camcorders). Since it's built from the code base of Final Cut Pro 4, Final Cut Express 2 features a customizable interface for creating shortcut buttons to favorite functions and tweaking the appearance of many interface elements. Final Cut Express 2 is available now for $300; upgrades from Final Cut Express 1.0 cost $100. [JLC]
http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/
Microsoft last week announced the upcoming release (sometime in the first half of this year) of Office 2004 for Macintosh. The first major revision to Office since the release of Office X in fall 2001, the new Office suite offers a new Project Center feature in Entourage to link related bits of project data and allow collaboration with shared material on a file server or an iDisk.
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/officex/officex.aspx
Other Mac-first features demonstrated at Macworld Expo included section tabs and a notebook view in Word 2004, and a new page layout view in Excel 2004. Microsoft's Technology Guarantee Program offers a free upgrade to Office 2004 when it becomes available, to anyone purchasing Office X between 06-Jan-04 and 30-Jun-04. Microsoft says this spring's release will offer three editions of Office; Office X is currently available in Standard Edition, Professional Edition (which includes Virtual PC), and a discounted Student and Teacher Edition. [MHA]
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/default.aspx?pid=office2004tg
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07325
For the first time in recent memory, Apple's announcements at the latest Macworld Expo didn't involve any new consumer Mac hardware, instead focusing primarily on software improvements and the iPod mini. The star of the show was iLife '04, an upgrade to Apple's iLife suite of digital hub applications, which now includes the music-creation tool GarageBand as well as improvements to iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and iTunes.
Attendees were able to get only a taste of iLife '04 on the show floor. In contrast with the initial version of iLife released at last year's San Francisco expo, iLife '04's individual applications, other than iTunes 4, are not available for free download. Until last week, you could download iPhoto 2 and iMovie 3 for free, but you had to buy the suite to get iDVD 3, which was too large to download. This change, designed to make the iApps into a revenue center rather than a significant financial drain, is likely to engender significant grousing among existing Mac owners.
The iApps do remain a reason to buy a Mac, since purchasers of new Macintosh models receive iLife for free. If you bought a qualifying Mac on or after 06-Jan-04 that does not include iLife '04, you can get it for $20 (see Apple's iLife Up-To-Date Program page for details). Also, an iLife '04 Family Pack, which licenses up to five Macintosh computers for household use only, is available for $80.
http://www.apple.com/ilife/uptodate/
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMoreM9466LL/A
Apple dubbed iLife '04 as being "like Microsoft Office for the rest of your life" (which sounds more like a curse if you read it as "until the end of your life" instead of as "the time when you're not working"). Is the new package worth the upgrade price? Here are details on what's new based on Apple's information and our hands-on experience from the show floor.
GarageBand
According to Apple, about half of U.S. households include someone who can play a musical instrument. While several of us attending the keynote tried to determine how all of those people manage to hide their talents, Apple announced GarageBand, a program that enables even the casual musician to play over 50 software-based instruments (such as pianos, drum kits, basses, organs, and UFOs from outer space) using any USB or MIDI keyboard or controller, digitally mix up to 64 tracks, and integrate live audio, whether recorded from a microphone or an electric instrument plugged in to the Macintosh. In traditional Apple fashion, GarageBand's interface is fairly simple to understand and use. Like iTunes's playlists or iPhoto's albums, you click a plus-sign icon to add new instruments, then customize their specific sounds (such as adding distortion or using a British Invasion guitar sound).
http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/
The software offers over 1,000 music loops (professionally produced drum beats and backing tracks), 200 pro-quality audio effects (from traditional echoes and phasing to wacky filters), plus a small collection of vintage and modern guitar amplifier emulations to intrigue the Hendrix wanna-be in your household. When you've recorded and tweaked your next chart-topping hit to your satisfaction, GarageBand offers one-click export to iTunes; from there, you can share your work with other iTunes users and other iLife applications, transfer it to an iPod, or burn your magnum opus to CD. (During the keynote we were commenting that the only thing missing is a "Sell my song on iTunes" button that would upload it to the iTunes Music Store.)
http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/accessories.html
In addition to GarageBand's default sounds and tones, Apple also offers the $100 GarageBand Jam Pack with 2,000 additional loops and over 100 additional software instruments. Apple is also selling an M-Audio 49-key USB keyboard (like a piano keyboard, not a typewriter keyboard!) for playing software instruments.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M9428Z/A
We're curious to see how GarageBand is embraced. Adam and Jeff, for example, have little musical inclination, but we can easily envision budding 14-year-old musicians adopting it immediately. Apple also pointed out several times that GarageBand is great for practicing one's guitar or keyboard with background instruments. Your kid's next Battle of the Bands competition at school may be just a single lad onstage with a guitar, PowerBook, and GarageBand. By the way: Apple licensed use of the name from GarageBand.com, which (with the demise of MP3.com) now claims to be the largest online musicians community. With the debut of the GarageBand application, even more aspiring artists are sure to join GarageBand.com's ranks.
iPhoto 4
Apple claims that the latest iPhoto now supports up to 25,000 photos in the browser with no display delays, time- based organization features and "smart" albums (similar to smart playlists in iTunes), and network photo sharing via Rendezvous. The previously U.S.-only photo book and print ordering feature of iPhoto will expand to Japan later this month, and to Europe in March. Unfortunately, Apple said nothing about Australia, New Zealand, or other parts of the world.
http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/
Other new features in iPhoto 4 include a keyboard control overlay on slideshows that helps users quickly rotate photos and cull bad ones from the last import, star ratings like those in iTunes, new slideshow transitions, a new Sepia button for making photos look old, and batch processing of photo titles and comments.
Those frustrated with iPhoto 2's limitations may still have issues. You still can't create hierarchical albums (Apple feels the new smart albums and time-based albums will "scratch that itch," to quote Phil Schiller). There's still no provision for sharing photos among multiple users on the same Mac (something we provide instructions for doing in Kirk McElhearn's "Take Control of Users & Accounts in Panther" ebook). And as far as we know currently, iPhoto still lacks Image Capture's capability to import selected photos from a camera or memory card.
http://www.tidbits.com/takecontrol/panther/users.html
iMovie 4
On the surface, iMovie 4 doesn't seem like much of a change over iMovie 3, but two improvements are particularly welcome. Apple boasts improved performance, specifically when rendering titles, transitions, and effects. Copies running on demo models on the show floor seemed snappier than iMovie 3 (which initially had terrible performance issues; see "iMovie, Take 3" in TidBITS-665_), but we won't know if that was just due to beefy hardware until iLife '04 ships.
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07059
http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/
The second major improvement is that iMovie has implemented non- destructive editing. Previously, trimming away a section of a clip threw it in the Trash, and the only ways to get those frames back were by using Undo or restoring the entire clip. Now, you can simply drag the edges of a clip to hide the frames you don't want to use; dragging them back makes the frames reappear. This is the method used by professional video editing programs such as Final Cut Pro, and promises to make the editing process much easier for iMovie editors. Other improvements include a keyboard shortcut (Command-E) for switching between the Clip Viewer and Timeline Viewer, bookmarks for marking spots you want to return to easily (and which are separate from iDVD Chapter Markers), and the capability to insert Color Clips, which are the same as earlier versions' black placeholder clips but with the option of choosing solid colors.
iMovie 4 also offers new and enhanced title options, such as clipped image or video showing through a title, and an angled vertical scroll that drew cheers from the Star Wars fans in the Macworld keynote audience. The new version can also import video directly from Apple's iSight camera, easily share movies (either full movies or single clips) to a .Mac account's Web space, and scrub audio (i.e., hear the sound as you scroll) by Option- dragging the playhead. To bone up on some of the new features, in addition to some existing ones, check out Apple's new iMovie 4 Hot Tips page.
http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/hottips/
iDVD 4
Like iMovie 4, iDVD 4 appears unchanged at first viewing, but several things have changed in the latest incarnation. In addition to adding 20 new "Hollywood-quality" themes, iDVD 4 adds a navigation map and enhanced menu capabilities (including one of Jeff's favorites, the capability to create multi-line chapter titles). iDVD 4 runs on Macs without built-in SuperDrive DVD burners, so owners of older Macs can work on an iDVD project and archive it to be burned later on another Mac (this feature was quietly added to iDVD 3.0.1; see "Using iDVD 3.0.1 on Non-SuperDrive Macs" in TidBITS-690_).
http://www.apple.com/ilife/idvd/
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07287
Most exciting for iDVD users is the capability to create projects up to two hours in length. Previous versions were limited to 60 minutes at good quality, or 90 minutes with added compression and decreased visual quality. We don't know yet what a two-hour project will look like, but Apple's implementation - the same used in Final Cut Pro, according to Steve Jobs in his keynote - sounds smart. By default, projects are still set to 60 minutes and can be rendered in the background. If you switch to a manual mode, you lose the capability to render projects in the background, but iDVD determines the amount of compression to use based on the length of your project; so, a 30-minute project will be rendered at very high quality, while a 100-minute project will be rendered at lower quality - but both occupy the same amount of disc space.
iTunes 4
iTunes 4 didn't receive an update in iLife '04, but Apple did improve the iTunes Music Store slightly by adding Billboard charts from 1946 to the present, collections of classic songs labeled iTunes Essentials, 12,000 new classical music tracks. Apple now boasts that the iTunes Music Store contains a total of 500,000 tracks, including an increasing number of independent musicians, although Apple executives said they're still working on the necessary infrastructure for the indie labels to submit songs and metadata to the iTunes Music Store.
Apple claims that the iTunes Music Store, which has now topped 30 million tracks sold, currently has a 70 percent market share of the online music market, prompting Steve Jobs to note drily, "Feels great to get above that 5 percent, doesn't it?" Apple also announced that one person, whose identity wasn't revealed, has spent $29,500 on the iTunes Music Store - now that's pent-up demand.
Add It Up
As with nearly every Apple software release, some people were annoyed that Apple would charge for the iLife '04 update, while others were quick to point out that single improvements - such as iDVD's capability to store two-hour projects, or GarageBand's 1,000 professional musical loops - were more than enough to justify the $50 upgrade price. Steve Jobs illustrated in his keynote that buying Windows applications that approximated the same features of iLife '04 would cost $306. We prefer to think of iLife as a collection of five $10 programs, making the bundle worthwhile even if you don't end up using one or two.
We weren't the only ones in a mad rush toward the end of the year, and some of Apple's engineers probably enjoyed their holiday breaks more after shipping a variety of updates. They include Mac OS X 10.3.2, iTunes 4.2, QuickTime 6.5, and Battery Update 1.1.
Most awaited of the updates is Mac OS X 10.3.2, which promises improved file sharing and directory services for mixed Mac and PC networks, more robust printing to PostScript printers, improved font management, updates to Mail and Address Book, and new ATI and Nvidia graphics drivers. Apple offers an expanded change list on the Web. Improvements in 10.3.1 and recent security updates are also bundled in for anyone who hasn't already gotten those. Unfortunately, Apple says nothing about the problems users experienced with FireWire 400 hard drives in Panther, merely reiterating the note from 10.3.1 that says users with FireWire 800 drives should still upgrade their drives' firmware. Mac OS X 10.3.2 is available in Software Update as a 38.2 MB download; it's also available separately as a 36.4 MB download.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25652
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n120288
iTunes 4.2 appears to be a fairly minor release, primarily adding support for signing into the iTunes Music Store from an AOL account. You can now view the iTunes Music Store in a separate window (useful for checking to make sure you don't already own a particular song), and iTunes 4.2 also reportedly features a number of performance improvements. iTunes 4.2 is a 6.4 MB download from Software Update; it requires Mac OS X 10.1.5 or later, with Mac OS X 10.2.4 or later necessary to share music. In related news, Apple and AOL announced that AOL members can now preview, purchase, and download songs available on AOL Music by clicking an iTunes button next to featured tracks, a move that can only help iTunes Music Store sales, which topped 25 million songs at the end of December.
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2003/dec/18aol.html
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2003/dec/15itunes.html
QuickTime 6.5, an 18.2 MB download from Software Update, enables creation and playback of 3GPP2 and AMC "mobile multimedia" formats, improves text track support and DV playback options, and enhances support for iMovie, iDVD, and Final Cut Pro. QuickTime 6.5 requires Mac OS X 10.2.5 or later.
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
Lastly, owners of white iBooks and aluminum PowerBooks will see Battery Update 1.1 appear in Software Update as a 520K download (it's also available as a 160K standalone installer). Battery Update 1.1 claims to enhance the performance of the battery to ensure that full capacity is available. Some users on TidBITS Talk reported significantly increased fan activity after installing Battery Update 1.1 and Mac OS X 10.3.2; see the discussion on TidBITS Talk. If you download and install the update manually, it alerts you if it's not necessary for your computer; relying on Software Update is probably easiest.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120281
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=2133
Apple Computer's Macintosh turns 20 years old this month. To mark the occasion, Wired News is running several stories this week about the groundbreaking machine, the people who created it and the Mac's impact on computing and culture in general.
Over the years, one company has stuck by Apple through thick and thin. While plenty of other companies, friend and foe alike, abandoned the Mac platform, one firm's support never wavered.
And when other companies failed to make products compatible with Macs, this software maker frequently made sure it shipped cross-platform products.
In fact, without the backing of this firm, Apple likely would have died.
Who is Apple's guardian angel? It's the firm that Mac users most love to hate, the bogeyman of the Mac universe, the one company whose products some Mac fans refuse to use on principle: Microsoft.
Though many Mac users might be loathe to admit it, Microsoft has solidly supported the Mac from the get-go.
"A lot of developers quit the Mac platform, but Microsoft wasn't among them," said a former Apple marketing manager who worked at the company through the mid- and late 1990s and asked to remain anonymous.
"During the dark days they kept developing Office, and that was way important," the source added. "That was the true test of loyalty. Others weren't so loyal."
The source said Office is so important to the Mac, without it the platform would have withered away. "To have a mainstream platform, you've got to have Office," he said.
This week, Microsoft announced at Macworld that Office for OS X will soon be released in its second version; it's one of the first major applications to reach the version 2.0 milestone.
Of course, no company in the Mac universe is as reviled as Microsoft. The company is hated for its apparent desire to brutishly dominate every business it touches. Where Apple is seen by Mac enthusiasts as creative and individualistic, Microsoft is corporate and conformist; Apple is elegant and easy to use, while Microsoft is ugly and buggy.
The company is routinely referred to in Mac circles as Microshaft, Microshit or Micro$oft.
Yet Microsoft always has been a good ally to Apple. During Apple's darkest days, in the mid to late 1990s when the company looked doomed, a lot of software developers scrapped important products for the platform. The list includes big names like Lotus and Intuit, as well as veteran Mac publishers like Adobe Systems (which killed its video editing package Premiere).
These days, Apple doesn't look so shaky, but there are scores of companies that won't consider publishing for the platform: almost the entire games industry, for example.
And there are plenty of software makers that have been tardy in porting their Mac products to OS X. QuarkXPress is the most notable example, but Adobe wasn't exactly quick off the mark with a new version of Photoshop.
In fact, of the 10,000 applications now available for OS X, most were released in the last six to nine months. The operating system has been out for two years.
By contrast, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was one of the first applications converted to run on OS X. Office was also an early OS X release.
"We've been supporting the Mac since its inception," said Tim McDonough, marketing director for Microsoft's Mac business unit. "If you look at our history, we were generally there first compared to other (software publishers) on the platform."
As well as OS X, McDonough cited Microsoft's support for Apple System 7. Again, the company ported Office to the new operating system ahead of everyone else, he said.
Microsoft, in fact, always has been closely associated with the Mac. Microsoft created some of the Mac's first software applications: Excel and PowerPoint, for example.
While the fledgling Mac was kick started by Microsoft's support, the relationship also benefited Microsoft, which at the time relied on sales of DOS and had only 100 employees. Bill Gates, then 25 years old, wanted a way to get into the profitable applications business, and the Mac was his ticket.
Since then, Microsoft has done well on the Mac platform, and therein lies the key to Microsoft's continued support.
"It's common sense," said McDonough. "It's a very good business for us. We have a lot of Mac customers. We have 7 million Office users ... and there's a lot of strategic Microsoft customers ... who want a cross- platform product for their Macs."
The anonymous ex-Apple source agreed. "It's a pretty profitable business for Microsoft," he said. "They didn't get where they are by throwing away money."
The source suggested Apple and Microsoft have a "marriage of convenience."
Microsoft props up Apple with Office, and Apple keeps the Justice Department off Microsoft's back by offering some competition in the operating system market.
The source noted that, of course, there have been ups and downs in the relationship.
There was, of course, a multi-million dollar legal battle throughout most of the '90s after Apple accused Microsoft of ripping off the Mac interface in Windows. After years of wrangling, the suit was settled out of court in 1997, when Microsoft made a symbolic $150 million investment in Apple and pledged products for the next Mac for the next five years.
The contract expired last year. Shortly after, Microsoft stopped developing Internet Explorer for the Mac. Apple had just released its Safari Web browser.
Microsoft also has been slow in offering Mac support for its Exchange Server, used for e-mail and other business applications. And there are a number of Windows-only applications that Microsoft will never bring to the Mac.
Likewise, there are some Mac users who will never hold out an olive branch to Microsoft. Charles Moore, for one, purged all Microsoft software from his system. He now proudly lives Microsoft-free.
"I've been happily Microsoft-free for 18 months now, and I don't miss either Microsoft applications or the system instability that went with them," Moore wrote. "Try it. You have nothing to lose but your chains.
[Editor's Note: This article was submitted by our PC maven, Kevin Hisel.]
To analyze the events of the year in the Amiga Community is very simple. It is basically identifying how the two major system elements, the computer motherboard and the operating system, have failed to materialize on a timely basis for the two competing systems that tend to be of primary interest to the Community. Obviously, the efforts to get both major elements of the Amiga One/OS-4 and the Pegasos/Morph systems to market have not been the only events of interest to the Amiga Community during the course of the year, but they have so totally overshadowed any others that all others pale by comparison. Interestingly, the problems encountered by each of the systems have been diametrically the opposite of the other. With both systems, early on, their intent was to have both the motherboard and the Operating System available initially and include them both as a package. Both began promising initial availability around early second quarter to mid 2002. The availability continued to slip, until very near the end of 2002. At that point, products were beginning to become available in very small quantities.
Amiga One hardware was available, but its path to market was delayed hoping OS-4 would be available very soon so they could be marketed as a package. It didn't happen. The major problem was that Amiga, Inc. had chosen Haag and Partner to update the Amiga OS for versions 3.5 and 3.9. However, they selected Hyperion to develop the new OS-4.0, which converts the OS to operate on the Power PC chip set. This caused hard feelings that resulted in a lack of cooperation requiring Hyperion to, essentially, develop the entire OS from scratch. This was complicated by the need to maintain compatibility with the previous OSs. As it became clear OS-4 would be delayed, it was decided to proceed with marketing the Amiga One motherboard, providing PPC versions of LINUX with it, so it would be a useable product. By this time, OS-4 has been demonstrated all around the world, but the demonstrations, apparently, continue to be done with alpha and beta versions. The release date seems to continue to slip. In the meantime, Amiga, Inc. appears to be in severe financial problems. One wonders, since the actual products for both parts of the system are being developed, produced and marketed by separate firms, what will happen if Amiga, Inc. goes away.
On the other hand, at about the same time, the Pegasos/Morph system hit the market. The Morph OS was fully operational, although some elements were still in development, the Pegasos1 was available and they were sold as a package, along with a PPC version of LINUX. Early on, however, problems appeared with one of the chips used in the Pegasos. As an interim fix, a replacement chip was supplied to purchasers and a small additional group of Pegasos1s were sold with the new chip. The decision was made, at that point, rather than continue with a compromise solution, the motherboard would be redesigned to solve the problems. Thus was born the Pegasos2. It was also decided to give puchasers of the Pegasos1, the option to trade them in on a Pegasos2 for an additional charge. Therefore, for most of the year, Morph has been available without the Pegasos. Pegasos2s were to be available by mid December, but apparently someone has purchased their entire first production run, so the availability of the Pegasos2 motherboards is still an unknown.
It does appear that things are finally coming together and sometime in early to mid 2004, all the problems will be solved and that both systems will finally be available to anyone who wants one. The primary hope, then, is that there will be enough demand for both systems to make them economically viable, support their developers and their continued development.
Leuven, Belgium. - December 25, 2003
Hyperion Entertainment and the OS 4.0 development team are pleased to announce that OS4 development has now sufficiently advanced for a comprehensive Developer Pre-release of Amiga OS 4.0 to be distributed to all current AmigaOne owners shortly after the New Year.
In view of the fact that quite a few of you reminded us that you do not have broadband internet access, the original idea to offer an initial version of OS 4.0 for download was abandoned in favor of an "easy to install," self-contained distribution on CD.
Whilst this will obviously entail more cost to Hyperion and require more time for duplication and distribution, the upside is that we will be able to provide developers with everything they need to start developing for OS 4.0.
The developer material will include sample source-code, an initial version of the AmigaOS 4.0 SDK as well as native OS 4.0 compilers (GCC 2.95.3, GCC 3.4 and VBCC) and cross-compilers for various platforms (Linux x86/PCC, Mac OS X etc.).
The Developer Pre-release will require an upgrade of the AmigaOne firmware which was bumped from U-Boot 0.1.1 to U-Boot 1.0 and which is currently undergoing final testing.
Further details will be announced shortly.
Hyperion Entertainment and the OS 4 development team would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your continued support and patience.
The fact that you are still here, 10 years after the demise of Commodore, has been a tremendous encouragement to us during these 2 years of laborious development.
Make no mistake: your patience will finally be rewarded with the fastest and most powerful incarnation of AmigaOS ever.
Merry X-mas and a prosperous 2004 to all of you!
December 18, 2003 - President Richard Rollins began the Annual meeting with the traditional introduction of club officers.
The first item of official business was the elections of the officer corps for next year. Steve Gast moved the nomination of the platform of current officers. This was seconded by Ben Johnson. The floor was opened for new nominations. As there were none, Steve Gast moved closing the nominations for club officers. This was seconded by Mark Zinzow. The vote was taken by show of hands. The vote for the platform was unanimous. So, the officers for 2004 are:
President: Richard Rollins () Vice-President: Emil Cobb (e-cobb@uiuc.edu) Secretary: Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu) Treasurer: Richard Hall (rjhall1@uiuc.edu) Corporate Agent: Kevin Hisel ()The next item of business was the Annual Treasurer's report. Richard Hall gave the CUCUG Treasurer's Report, after which Rich asked if anyone wanted to reopen nominations for Treasurer. He said he thought someone might want to get their hands on the money. A general discussion of the club expenses followed the Treasurer's Report.
Kevin Hopkins requested a round of applause for Mr. Hisel whose work with the Amiga Web Directory was nearly single-handedly responsible for the current solvency of the club. Ed Serbe requested a round of applause for Kevin Hopkins and the newsletter. Both requests met with the members approval.
The floor was then opened up to member concerns.
Jerry Feltner brought in some 7 mil Satin Photo Paper for anyone who wanted it. This is the kind of generosity that makes CUCUG what it is. Jerry takes the time to cut this paper himself. He advised that you print on the shiny side of the paper and, yes, it works in a laser printer.
Mark Zinzow asked if anyone has played with MakeISO-FS.
Ben Johnson said his Palm Tungsten C is cool and showed it to anyone who was interested.
Mark Zinzow said he wants to talk to Mike Latinovich, host of CUCUG discussion list, about placing advance notices of his bulk purchases.
With regards to the notice in the newsletter, there was a discussion about the future of the Linux SIG. Next month, Tom Purl will be doing a presentation for the Linux SIG of LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project). Tom says this is a cheap way to set up your own computer network.
Greg Krumins talked about his recent purchase of a Plextor PX-708A DVD rewritable drive.
PC News - RealNetworks suing Microsoft.
George Krumins brought up the policy of IBM giving away PCs. The only catch is you have to play an ad CD every so often.
Anthony Philip talked about some stuff.
Kevin Hisel brought up the Firebird browser from Mozilla.org. He said it is pretty cool. He said it is "Mozilla lite". He said you need do a Google search for "Firebird installer unofficial" to get some valuable installation information.
http://seb.mozdev.org/firebird
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firebird
Kevin loves it's fonts handling. Use Control-Plus or Control-Minus to make the font bigger or smaller. Mark Zinzow said it also has a pause and resume on download.
Steve Gast asked "Who's been impacted by IE flaws?" Mark Zinzow said the infected machines he's dealt with have almost all gotten their viruses from web sites.
Kevin Hisel talked about stuff given by Microsoft in support of the club. He passed out two Microsoft pens each.
The December meeting of the CUCUG executive board took place on Tuesday, December 23, 2003, at 7PM, at Kevin Hisel's house. (For anyone wishing to attend - which is encouraged, by the way - the address and phone number are both in the book). Present at the meeting were: Richard Rollins, Kevin Hopkins, Kevin Hisel, and Rich Hall.
Rich Hall: Rich gave his Treasurer's report: "We still have money."
Richard Rollins: Richard reported that we have no presentation yet for the PC or Mac SIGs.
Kevin Hopkins: Kevin reported that last year (2003) CUCUG membership topped out at 49 members. At this point in the renewal cycle, we have 24 members.
Kevin Hisel: Kevin informed us that the Starship Forums are down. He asked if anyone knew anything about Mike Latinovich, their maintainer. Kevin Hopkins said he would provide Kevin with Mike's phone number.
With regards to the Forums, Kevin said he could do a demo on them for the next meeting.
Rich Hall said that he has had a Windows laptop for about a year now and he requested a demo on cleaning up a Windows machine of all the files one accumulates over time that aren't really necessary. Kevin said Rich could start the process by looking at http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php .
Some other sites Kevin suggested during the discussions in the remainder of the meeting were:
http://www.refdesk.com
http://www.instapundit.com
http://www.bensbargains.net
Meetings are held the third Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Champaign in Savoy. The FBC-CS is located at 1602 N. Prospect Avenue in Savoy, on the NE corner of Burwash and Prospect. To get to the the First Baptist Church from Champaign or Urbana, take Prospect Avenue south. Setting the trip meter in your car to zero at the corner of Kirby/Florida and Prospect in Champaign (Marathon station on the SW corner), you only go 1.6 miles south. Windsor will be at the one mile mark. The Savoy village sign (on the right) will be at the 1.4 mile mark. Burwash is at the 1.6 mile mark. The Windsor of Savoy retirement community is just to the south; Burwash Park is to the east. Turn east (left) on Burwash. The FBC-CS parking lot entrance is on the north (left) side of Burwash. Enter by the double doors at the eastern end of the building's south side. A map can be found on the CUCUG website at http://www.cucug.org/meeting.html. The First Baptist Church of Champaign is also on the web at http://www.fbc-cs.org .
Membership dues for individuals are $20 annually; prorated to $10 at mid year.
Our monthly newsletter, the Status Register, is delivered by email. All recent editions are available on our WWW site. To initiate a user group exchange, just send us your newsletter or contact our editor via email. As a matter of CUCUG policy, an exchange partner will be dropped after three months of no contact.
For further information, please attend the next meeting as our guest, or contact one of our officers (all at area code 217):
President/WinSIG: Richard Rollins 469-2616 Vice-Pres/MacSIG: Emil Cobb 398-0149 e-cobb@uiuc.edu Secretary/Editor: Kevin Hopkins 356-5026 kh2@uiuc.edu Treasurer: Richard Hall 344-8687 rjhall1@uiuc.edu Corp.Agent/Web: Kevin Hisel 406-948-1999 Linux SIG: Tom Purl 390-6078 tompurl2000@yahoo.com
Visit our web site at http://www.cucug.org/, or join in our online forums at http://www.cucug.org/starship/index.php .