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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 04 Issue 03
Volume 4, Issue 03 Atari Online News, Etc. January 18, 2002
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2002
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Rodolphe Czuba
Mark Duckworth
To subscribe to A-ONE, change e-mail addresses, or unsubscribe,
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Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0403 01/18/02
~ XP Updates On Hold! ~ People Are Talking! ~ eBay Raises Fees!
~ .name Domain Starts! ~ E-snoop Bill Hits Snag ~ 'Gigger' Virus!
~ AOL Hikes Some Prices! ~ CT60 Test News! ~ AOL: Upgrade ICQ!
~ HP Board Slams Hewlett ~ New: Atari-Source.com! ~ DGEM Updated!
-* Gates: Security Top Priority *-
-* Feds Nab 30 'DrinkorDie' Pirates! *-
-* Court Settles Internet Cable Pricing Suit! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well, we continue to be lucky here in New England with just a trace of snow
on the ground! There wouldn't be anything if the temperatures rose a little
bit. I don't know how long this good fortune will last, but I'll keep
enjoying it while I can. Being a longtime New Englander, I realize that
we'll "pay the price" eventually!
For some reason, I've been reminiscing about the "old days" pertaining to
things Atari. As I mentioned around the end of the year, I had considered
some sort of retrospective article, but at the time it didn't seem
appropriate with everything else going on in the world. This past week I've
seen a number of posts on the UseNet asking about, or talking about some old
Atari BBSs still running. They brought back memories of my own Toad Hall
BBS. I ran it for almost 13 years and I remembered the fun we had there.
The internet pretty much killed the BBS community, as well as the lack of
continued support for the various BBS software available.
But that talk reminded me of what I had wanted to mention a few weeks ago.
For some reason, I started thinking about the various WAACE shows that I had
attended over the years. I also remembered many of the people that I met
down there, especially the likes of J.D. Barnes and company who worked so
hard to make those shows a great success. And then I started to think of
all the people I met at the shows, including the vendors and visitors.
People like the CodeHeads, Gribnif, Dave Small, John Jainschigg, Clay
Walnum, Chet Walters, Patti and Bill Rayl, and too many more to mention.
Those really were terrific days for Atari users. I really miss those days;
it was that kind of fondness for a computer platform that kept me
enthusiastic. Once those kinds of events started to falter, so did my own
enthusiasm. I've often wished I could afford to put on an AtariFest reunion
and make it free for anyone to attend. I think that would take an act of
god or a major winning lottery ticket to pull off these days! But it would
be fun! I've often wondered what happened to all of these people that I met
over the years. Well, enough of that - there's no re-living the past!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
Renaissance's DGEM 0.14
Bonjour :)
You can find the latest version 0.14 of DGEM
(embryo of Dungeon Master clone) on http://rajah.atari.org
(direct : http://www.multimania.com/nef/files/dgem014.zip 315Kb)
News: new harddisk friendly file format for the images, option
for PC keyboard, zoom function (experimental).
For the dungeon: doors, retractable walls, trap-doors, pads &
switches, teleporters, wall inscriptions.
Please be kind if you find bugs. Report them ;-)
Thanks to Daroou (building & bug report) and Mateo (support).
I will release the DGEM GFA sources and its editor next week.
Bye
Rajah Lone / Renaissance
CT60 Test News
Hello,
The 060 is now running at 80 MHz! This is a 60 MHz model and I will try
with a 50 MHz model as soon as possible...but it should work too.
I actually finished to solder a very small clock driver to do tries at
100 MHz.
The THERMAL sensor of the 060 is running well and we can read a temperature
of 47C for a 80 MHz 060 running a simple loop to read the temperature and
draw it on the screen (some flash accesses, TLV0831 accesses & videl
accesses).
Now the SDRAM is tested.
First test is the read of the EEPROM of the DIMM to get parameters to be
set into the SDR60 chip.
Rodolphe CZUBA
email : rczuba@free.fr
WEB : www.czuba-tech.com
Atari-Source.com Is In Full Swing
Hey everyone,
Atari-source.com is in full swing. There's new articles and updates daily,
news, reviews, help-guides and debates. I work to make sure I release at
least something new per day, making this a great place to go for daily news
updates about things that are really relevant in the Atari user community.
We are geared towards open source, and atari as a useful machine today
which includes source code revisions, operating system updates and system
hardware upgrades. We syndicate news from atari-users.net and I pull a lot
of my news from great places like atari.org and the German site
st-computer.net. This site is strictly American/English which is a
refreshing change in the many language Atari community.
As the site is a lot of work I am looking for someone to help me
administrate and add news and articles. Anyone up for the challenge?
I offer free advertising to any atari related COMMERCIAL or non-commercial
product project or website. I don't think atari developers or users need
to be held back with silly advertising fees.
That is pretty much all, so come check us out if you haven't already,
http://atari-source.com If you have already, Thank you
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. It's been a long week. I don't know why
exactly, but there's obviously some kind of Einsteinian time warp going
on here.
Maybe it's because we've gotten our first real snow of the season here
in southern New England, or maybe I'm just getting cabin fever. But
this week seems like it's been ten or twelve days long.
The only other thing I want to mention before we get to the UseNet
stuff is the Team Atari SETI@home search group. We have contributed
almost SEVENTY years of CPU time to the search for extraterrestrial
intelligence. We're not the biggest group, or the most active, but we
keep on plugging along. And an extra 70 years of CPU time is nothing to
sneeze at. You can check out who's in the group and how much CPU time
they've "donated" at:
http://iosef.ssl.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cgi?cmd=team_lookup&name=Team+Atari
If you are interested in joining up, check out SETI@home's main page at:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu
Okay, as promised, here we go with the news and stuff from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
JLensbo posts this about a BBS:
"The longest running (and STILL running) ATARI BBS I can find is:
PayBax BBS 302-454-7797
It runs on FoReM ST software, which is not Y2K compliant, so it thinks
the year is 1990-something (complain to MATT SINGER).
I think it's been running for like 12 years now. Can anyone find an
older one?"
Mike DePetris tells J:
"Mine is running since 1989, running initially QuickBBS and now Octopus.
Atarian ST - TS! [+39-040-8331217] 2:333/608@FidoNet
Ciao, *Mike* mikenews@triesterivista.it www.triesterivista.it"
Seizing the opportunity, Mark Duckworth tells Mike:
"I would like to get the source code to Octopus to implement a telnet
interface to it such that we could all utilize the glory of the
internet to continue and expand our atari bbs's. Also I think ConNect
would be great with the ability to telnet with STiK. ssh would be
even better. Just a thought. Anyone know how to get ahold of the
ConNect author?"
Our own Editor in Chief, Dana Jacobson, tells 'the guys':
"It's amazing how many people ran BBSs back in the "old days"!! I ran
Toad Hall from 1987 until about 1999. I started out with MichTron, but
reluctantly went to RatSoft to be able to use a faster modem. I also
started with a 20-meg drive and eventually had at least 1-gig and a
CD-ROM. I hated to shut it down, but the internet and long-distance
charges after I moved out of the city made it a dinosaur. Those were
terrific days and I really miss the friends and activity because of the
BBS."
Dave Krem asks about joysticks for his ST:
"I have an atari 1040STf, I'm wondering if these joysticks (which work
on the 8-bit atari machines) will work on mine:
Quickshot 2 plus TAC30 TAC3
Also, how are they as far as joysticks go? Is a "classic" atari
joystick a better bet (I was going to get one from ATY computers - what
do they look and feel like)?"
Bill Freeman tells Dave:
"I think any 8 bit Atari joystick will work on an ST, but they aren't
very good quality compared to some of the aftermarket sticks. My
favorite are the Epyx and Wico units that nestle into your palm. One to
avoid is the "Best" brand. It has lousy switches."
Bob Retelle adds:
"Any joystick that will work on an 8-bit Atari (or Commodore 64 for
that matter) will work on an Atari ST.
The "genuine" "classic" Atari joystick is my all-time favorite
joystick.
They are fairly easily damaged, so you have to exercise some care when
you're playing, but they are quite sensitive and responsive.
I've tried many, many other types and brands and have always come back
to the "classic".
This is the same joystick that was originally shipped with the Atari
2600VCS video game system and the 8-bit Atari systems. It's also the
one Commodore got in trouble over for copying (it was that good).
You'll probably recognize it when you see it."
Greg Goodwin adds his thoughts:
"I have several TAC30s. They are O.K., but not great. If money is no
object, I'd recommend an adaptor to use a modern joystick intended for
another system. If the 'old feel' is important, original 2600 era
joysticks can still be found. I've picked up three in recent years."
Martin Tarenskeen tells us about his latest triumph:
"I finally traced a problem I was having when I tried to use XaAES in
combination with SPIN. The problem lies in the order of execution of the
vmoose.xdd and spin.xfs files. If spin.xfs is executed first, vmoose.xdd
will not do it's work properly. You don't notice this at first, but
XaAES crashes with an error message "/dev/moose not found".
Then I removed both files from my mint folder, and copied them back. But
this time with vmoose.xdd first and spin.xfs next. XaAES and SPIN now
work perfectly together. Problem solved, but still: It shouldn't be
like this.
These kind of problems should only happen with auto folder programs, not
with xdd and xfs files in the mint/multitos folder. I don't know if
SPIN, or XaAES, or MiNT is responsible for this strange bug. Because
that's what it is, even though I have found a work around now."
Lyndon Amsdon tells Martin:
"Indeed the order shouldn't be a problem for xdd and xfs as I've been
told, have you reported this to Henk?"
Henk jumps in and tells Lyndon simply:
"He did."
Hallvard Tangeraas asks about cross-platform file transfers:
"I'm working on my Notator FAQ again
(http://www.notator.org/html/notator_faq.html) and am in the midst of
updating the part about transferring files from other platforms over to
the Atari ST.
As I have and use an Apple Mac myself I'm adding Mac specific
problems/solutions to it, but I could need some help regarding transfers
from PCs...
On the Mac, when a floppy disk is inserted in the drive, some
Mac-specific files are created and stored on that disk (text/icon
display mode, window size/position etc.). This causes no problem for the
Atari ST, but it does use up some disk space which is why Mac users
start wondering what's wrong when they get a "disk full" message before
the files they're transferring actually take up all that space!
Now I'm wondering if there are similar issues with windoze on PCs? I
seem to recall some talk a while back about windoze writing some stuff
to floppy disks. Can someone please elaborate?
Any other issues one should be aware of except the obvious (using an
MSDOS formatted floppy disk)?"
Bill Freeman tells Hallvard:
"I have used occasionally a PC at the local college to download Atari
files. The only extra files I have seen a PC write to the disk are
related to storing and recovering information about long filenames.
The Atari OS doesn't need them, and gives a false determination of
their size. The Atari says they are huge in size, but they are not,
and can be deleted with no apparent effect to the Atari data.
I'm still looking for an efficient way to transfer files between Mac
and Atari. So far, all I do is via floppies. Unfortunately, most of
my Atari disks are formatted with extra tracks or sectors, and the Mac
can't read them.
I'm wondering if HD Driver can format a hard drive that is readable by
both Atari and Mac?
An good Ethernet solution for the TT would sure be nice. I have an
ethernet/cable router that has a serial printer port. I thought I
might try getting data to the TT via the serial port on the router. I
don't expect it to work, but may be worth a try. I still haven't tried
doing Mac to TT via the TT LAN port, which I've been told will work."
Hallvard asks Bill:
"Are filenames truncated to something along the lines of "THISISA~.TXT"
where a "tilde" (~) character is inserted to show that it's been
truncated?
I didn't know that the filenames changed in size if used long filenames.
Are you saying that the file sizes aren't as big as they are shown (i.e.
"view as text" on the Atari ST desktop) and the floppy reports "disk
full" when there really is a lot of space left?
Or... do long filenames really take up a lot of extra disk-space?
What should I be looking for in order to find (and delete) those extra
Windows specific files related to long names?
There's no windoze-specific data stored on the disks related to view
options etc. such as on the Mac? (on a Mac, several Mac-specific files
are created to store this sort of information. They're invisible on the
Mac of course, but if you insert them in an Atari ST you'll see them,
and can safely delete them. If you insert the disk in the Mac again,
new Mac-specific files will be written. This is the reason why many a
Mac user is surprised when they download something that should fill
exactly one disk doesn't!) I've written about this in the FAQ.
Yeah, it's a real pain. Several years ago I spent lots of time
reformatting all my disks to MSDOS standards (using "Hcopy"), so I don't
have that problem any longer. Then again I've transferred all my Atari
software over to a (ISO-9660) CD which is very practical -all things in
one place! The only situation where I can run into floppy disk problems,
where it can't be read on the Mac is with original disks that I've
bought. I don't want to mess around with those, so I insert them in the
STe, copy the files over to the harddisk, format a blank disk to MSDOS,
then copy the file back to that disk. A bit cumbersome, but fortunately
I don't need to do that often.
Apparently later versions of HDdriver can allow a special format to be
read on both STs and PCs, but I don't know the details. I'm sure Uwe
Seimet will explain.
For connecting a harddisk to a Mac.... well, I've got MagiCMac installed
on my own Mac, and that allows you to connect standard Atari ST
formatted SCSI hard disks to it! The drive isn't readable and even
recognized on MacOS itself, but within MagiCMac it works like a charm!
I've used this a lot when transferring large amounts of data between the
two machines, where floppy disks aren't practical.
I haven't tried anything like that yet, but as I also have a Mega STe
which I believe has the same LAN port it might work here as well if you
get yours to work."
Bill tells Hallvard:
"Yes, that's exactly what it does, insert a ~.
The files are essentially unchanged in size. There may be a few bytes
one way or the other.
The PC added some cryptic filenames, I presume one for each file that
contained some data. These extra filenames are apparently related to
storing the long filename information. The added "name" files are
shown by the Atari OS to be very large, but they are actually small.
Apparently whatever is written there by the PC can't be calculated for
file size by the Atari.
They will show up in the Atari file selector, if they are there. Maybe
the later Microsoft OS doesn't even use them. It was about 5 years ago
that I was seeing this on my disks, I think it was when Windows 95 was
the OS. It has been that long since I used a PC to download files for
my Atari.
I can't remember if they can be deleted directly or not. I don't
remember having to reformat the disks to get them off. I'll see if I
still have some floppies around with the extra filename info. It's
been a while since I was doing this and don't remember all the details.
Thanks for the information about MagicMac. I did not know it would
read an Atari hard disk. I just bought MagicMac v.2 but haven't read the
manual or used it very much yet. I will see if it will read one of my
external Atari hard drives."
Well folks, that's it for this week. Tune in again next week, same
time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying
when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Activision Acquires Wolfenstein Devs!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Activision Acquires 'Castle Wolfenstein' Developer
Video game publisher Activision Inc. said on Monday it has exercised its
option to acquire the remaining 60 percent of game developer Gray Matter
Interactive Studios for $3.2 million in stock.
Los Angeles-based Gray Matter developed ``Return to Castle Wolfenstein,"
the sequel to the legendary PC game. ``Return" was recently released to
wide acclaim.
Santa Monica, California-based Activision said it issued 133,690 shares of
common stock to pay for the acquisition, and that it did not expect the
deal to affect earnings or revenue guidance during fiscal 2002 or 2003.
Activision also said a number of Gray Matter executives -- including studio
head Drew Markham -- have signed employment contracts with Activision.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
U.S. Nabs 30 Suspects in Antipiracy 'DrinkorDie' Raids
Federal investigators have turned up roughly 30 suspects and continue to
raid college campuses a month after moving to shut down a massive software
piracy ring, a Customs Service official said Monday.
Federal agents have not arrested any members of the "DrinkorDie" piracy
ring but roughly 30 people, including an executive of a major company, have
retained lawyers to negotiate settlements with the government, said Allan
Doody, who is overseeing the antipiracy effort.
``We're in a situation where we're working with attorneys, the suspects
aren't going anywhere," said Doody, a special agent in charge of the
Customs Service's Baltimore-Washington office.
Doody told Reuters that agents were poised to raid an East Coast university
Monday or Tuesday to search for more evidence.
Investigators have seized more than 200 computer hard drives believed to
have been used by DrinkorDie members to distribute everything from computer
operating systems like Windows XP to movies like ``Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone," Doody said.
Justice Department officials said last month those found to be
participating in the piracy ring could be charged with distribution of
copyrighted material, which carries a maximum sentence of five years per
count.
The Customs Service, working with other government agencies and five
foreign countries, conducted more than 100 raids last month to break up the
DrinkorDie ring.
The Customs Service estimates that the ring and other similar ``Warez"
groups are responsible for 95 percent of all pirated software online,
causing at least $1 billion in lost sales annually.
Federal agents have raided corporate offices and private residences, but
have focused much of their efforts on college campuses, where computer
networks often feature lots of available storage space and low security
barriers.
DrinkorDie members stashed pirated software at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Duke University, the University of Oregon, the Rochester
Institute of Technology, and the University of California at Los Angeles,
Doody said.
Investigators have their hands full sifting through the mountains of data
on the hard drives they have collected so far, he said.
``We're still trying to get a handle on that," he said.
Worm Posing as Microsoft Update Moving Slowly
A new computer worm masquerading as a software update from Microsoft Corp.
is capable of deleting all files on the hard drive of an infected computer
but has so far spread very slowly, an antivirus vendor said on Monday.
The so-called ``Gigger" worm is a low threat since so few computers have
been infected, said Vincent Gullotto, senior research director for Network
Associates Inc.'s Antivirus Response Team.
``It's a mass-mailer with a dangerous payload, but it's not in the wild,"
he said. ``If it was to begin to spread it could cause significant
problems."
Apparently, few people have been duped into opening the attachment, which
has limited the spread of the worm, according to Gullotto.
The worm, a self-propagating virus, is written in Java Script and uses
Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, and mIRC, Instant Relay Chat channels,
to spread.
It arrives as an attachment to an e-mail that has a subject line of
``Outlook Express Update," and sends itself to addresses in the address
book as well as tries to delete all files on the hard drive, according to
Gullotto.
AOL Urges Instant Messagers to Upgrade for Security
AOL on Monday urged users of older versions of its ICQ instant messaging
program to upgrade to the latest version because of a new security hole
that could leave computers vulnerable to hacking.
A bug has been found in the voice/video and games features in versions
earlier than version 2001b of ICQ, which was released in October, said
Andrew Weinstein, a spokesman for the Dulles, Virginia-based company.
The problem results when the application is flooded with more code than it
can handle, triggering a so-called ``buffer overflow" error and allowing
extraneous code to be executed. That could allow someone to download
malicious code onto a targeted computer.
People using older versions of ICQ can download the newest version from
(http://www.icq.com/download/). Users of the newer version of ICQ do not
have to make any changes, according to Weinstein.
The company has made some modification to its servers to mitigate the risk
to affected users, he said.
``The exploit, to our knowledge, never has been used in the wild,"
Weinstein added.
A University of Pennsylvania student first discovered the hole and it was
posted to Bugtraq, a security e-mail list, a week ago, he said.
There are 125 million registered users of ICQ, Weinstein said.
It is the second such security flaw to be found in AOL instant messaging
software this month.
Two weeks ago a buffer overflow-related security hole was disclosed in
AOL's other instant messaging program -- AOL Instant Messager, also called
AIM. That hole could allow a malicious hacker to take control of computers
through AIM's advanced game-playing feature.
There are about 100 million registered AIM users, 29 million of which are
active users, according to an industry report.
Botched Update Puts Windows XP Updates On Hold
Engineers are working to fix a glitch in a Microsoft Web server that has
prevented Windows XP users from downloading software updates, including a
patch for a new security hole, a company spokeswoman said on Monday.
The problem, discovered last Thursday, was created when engineers
attempted to update software on a server, she said, adding that it is
expected to be corrected before Tuesday.
The spokeswoman said she could not confirm the number of people affected
by the problem, but said about eight million people download Windows XP
software updates each week.
The news doesn't bode well for Windows XP users who are at risk from two
serious security holes announced by the Redmond, Wash., company last
month.
The vulnerabilities could leave computers open to malicious hackers and at
risk of being temporarily shut down from a denial-of-service attack or
used in such an attack on other computers.
Under a denial-of-service attack, a server is flooded with so much
Internet traffic that it's rendered inaccessible to legitimate traffic.
The holes were serious enough to prompt the FBI's National Infrastructure
Protection Center to urge Windows XP users to disable the Universal Plug
and Play feature that contains the holes.
The new operating system, released Oct. 25, has been touted by Microsoft
as its most secure operating system ever.
'About Time' for Microsoft Security Plan
Computer security experts, who have long complained about holes in
Microsoft Corp. software, said on Thursday they were pleased to see
Chairman Bill Gates proclaim security as the highest priority after years
of lip-service.
In an e-mail sent to Microsoft's 47,000 employees on Tuesday and released
to the press Wednesday, Gates said focusing on the security of products,
instead of new features, was vital to the success of the company's new .NET
Web-based services strategy.
``It's about time," said Marc Maiffret, chief hacking officer at security
firm eEye Digital Security, who discovered two security holes last month in
Microsoft's new XP operating system, touted by Microsoft as its most secure
ever.
``Because of Microsoft's dominant position in software, they have the
ability to singularly affect the security of the Internet," said Bruce
Schneier, chief technology of Counterpane Internet Security. ``To have
Microsoft as a company focusing on security will make the Internet a safer
place."
In the past, Microsoft dismissed criticism, arguing that customers demanded
functionality and convenience over security. But an increase in the number
of Microsoft-specific security problems over the past year have raised
concerns just as the company begins rolling out its .NET platform.
The new software will not only make applications available over the
Internet, but will increase the exposure of computer users to malicious
hackers and viruses, experts say.
``They bet their whole company on the .NET strategy and if you can't trust
Microsoft to sell you software on a CD-ROM you're certainly not going to
trust them to provide you software online," said John Pescatore, research
director at market research firm Gartner Inc.
As part of its new strategy, the Redmond, Washington-based software giant
will provide security training to all 7,000 Windows developers over the
next two to three weeks and examine all its Windows .NET server code, said
Steve Lipner, Microsoft director of security assurance.
Microsoft executives acknowledge that the directive will require a huge
cultural shift at the company.
``What we're doing is a mind-set change," said Pierre De Vries, director
of advanced product development at Microsoft, who added that protecting the
privacy of customer data would also be a priority.
Gates conceded in his memo that .NET could not succeed without the
confidence of customers and an improvement in the company's reputation.
``Flaws in a single Microsoft product, service or policy not only affect
the quality of our platform and services overall, but also our customers'
view of us as a company," Gates said.
``If I were in his position I'd be kind of embarrassed about all the
problems they've been having," said Richard M. Smith, a Boston-based
Internet security and privacy consultant. ``The security and privacy
problems have been getting worse, not better."
Although Lipner said customers would notice changes in .NET server, experts
said it would be a few years before the proof is in the products.
``It will be a lot of work, there's a lot of code there," said Gary
McGraw, chief technology officer at Cigital, a Dulles, Virginia company
that does software risk management.
While most viruses and security exploits affect Windows, last year two
high-profile viruses, Code Red and Nimda, proved nasty for Microsoft
Internet Information Server (IIS) users. Pescatore urged people to switch
from IIS, while British-based insurance underwriter J.S.Wurzler previously
had raised its rates for IIS users.
While generally lauding Gate's action, Pescatore said he hopes Microsoft
will do more to make it difficult for computer users to get themselves in
trouble. For example, they should ship Windows XP with the personal
firewall turned on, instead of the default off setting.
``We'll truly have seen proof of change when they start proactively
releasing advisories on security holes they've discovered themselves,"
Maiffret said, somewhat skeptically, of Microsoft.
HP Board Slams Walter Hewlett
Hewlett-Packard on Friday released a letter to shareholders bashing
dissident board member Walter Hewlett for his opposition to the company's
planned acquisition of Compaq Computer.
"Walter Hewlett, an heir of HP co-founder Bill Hewlett, is a musician and
academic who oversees the Hewlett family trust and foundation," the letter
states. "While he serves on HP's board of directors, Walter has never
worked at the company or been involved in its management. His motivations
and investment decisions are likely to be very different from your own."
HP is fighting to gain shareholder approval of the deal amid opposition
from Walter Hewlett and other members of the Hewlett and Packard families
and their foundations--who collectively hold roughly 18 percent of HP's
shares.
Assuming the family members don't change their opinion, HP will need
roughly two-thirds of remaining shareholders to support the deal. Although
HP has been making its case in regulatory filings, press releases and an
advertising campaign, Friday's letter is its first direct appeal to
individual shareholders.
The letter, which comes amid a two-day meeting of HP's board of directors,
is signed by the entire board, with the exception of Walter Hewlett. It is
the latest in the escalating war of words over the multibillion-dollar
deal and comes two days after Walter Hewlett penned a letter of his own to
HP shareholders.
A representative for Hewlett said he had not seen the HP letter and could
not immediately comment on it.
Before the proposed merger was announced on Labor Day, Hewlett voted in
favor of the merger as a board member. But in November, he publicly came
out in opposition to it, followed a day later by David Woodley Packard,
son of HP co-founder David Packard.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, HP's largest shareholder,
announced in December its preliminary decision to oppose the deal.
In Friday's letter, HP said it spent two years exploring various
alternatives and reiterated why the board believes the Compaq deal is HP's
best alternative.
"The problem isn't just that he is saying 'no' to the merger--he's giving
us nothing to say 'yes' to," the letter states. "While opposing the
merger, he has failed to propose any alternatives that your board hasn't
already analyzed, debated and rejected because they fail to create
sufficient shareowner value."
The company repeated its contention that the deal will add $5 to $9 per
share in value by cutting $2.5 billion in costs.
"This sounds like a good deal because it is," the letter states.
Internet Suffix for Individuals Starts
The first Internet address suffixes created exclusively for individuals on
Tuesday join the familiar ``.com" and ``.org" domain names.
Currently, Internet users with personal Web sites tend to use ``.org,"
which is commonly associated with nonprofits.
Operators of ``.name" are hoping individuals will be lured by e-mail and
Web addresses featuring their own names.
The London-based Global Name Registry, which in 2000 proposed and won
rights to administer the suffix, is also exploring expanding ``.name" to
mobile phones and other personal devices later this year.
``We think the personal space is in its infancy," said Andrew Tsai, the
registry's chief executive.
The ``.name" suffix was one of seven approved in November 2000 by the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, an Internet oversight
body. They are the first major additions to the domain name system since
its creation in the mid-1980s.
The new names were approved to help relieve domain name overcrowding.
Registration of ``.com," ``.net" and ``.org" names more than tripled in
2000, ending the year at 28.2 million.
But tackling the details of actually creating the new suffixes took much
longer than expected. In the meantime, the Internet economy slid, and names
lost much of their speculative value.
Total domain name registrations increased only slightly in 2001, a 13.5
percent jump to 32 million as of September.
Ross Stevens of New York got ``.name" addresses for himself, his wife and
a 6-month-old daughter. He plans to set up a Web page with baby pictures
and to use ``.name" for lifetime e-mail addresses.
The service costs about $30 a year for both e-mail and Web addresses. The
fee is for the name only; the user still would have to set up an e-mail
account or buy Web space from an Internet service provider.
Two other suffixes, ``.biz" for businesses and ``.info" for informational
sites, debuted last fall, with more than 1.2 million names registered
combined.
In addition, ``.museum" began operating in November on a provisional
basis, meaning assigned names may still change, and ``.coop" for business
cooperatives became active Jan. 9. A few thousand names have been requested
under each.
Debuting later this year are ``.aero" for aviation and ``.pro" for
professionals.
The Global Name Registry began allowing pre-registrations in earnest last
month for ``.name" suffixes. For duplicate names requested as of Dec. 17,
one was selected at random. The first batch of 60,000 names was to be
activated Tuesday.
Additional rounds will be activated every two weeks or less until ``live"
registration begins in mid-May.
Tsai said the slow rollout should help the ``.name" registry avoid some of
the troubles that ``.biz" and ``.info" faced.
The ``.info" registry failed to block some bogus trademark claims, while
the ``.biz" operators were hit with a lawsuit charging that their
procedures amounted to an illegal lottery. Both ``.info" and ``.biz"
changed their procedures to address the concerns.
-
The seven new domain names:
``.info" - For informational sites. Became operational Sept. 23, with more
than 700,000 registered so far. Early problems with speculators jumping
ahead of queue by claiming bogus trademark ownership. To rectify, operators
of ``.info" plan to refer as many as 10,000 registrations this week to
arbitrators at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
``.biz" - For businesses only. Became operational Oct. 1. Lawsuit
challenged registration process, calling it illegal lottery. To address
concerns, operators changed procedures for handling names for which more
than one application was received. More than 500,000 names registered
through mid-December.
``.name" - Individuals can register a name in form of
``firstname.lastname.name" for Web sites and
``firstname(at)lastname.name" for e-mail addresses. About 60,000 names
were to be activated Tuesday.
``.museum" - Names for some museums were approved provisionally in
November. Some names work now, but the suffix becomes formally operational
in March. Names subdivided by location as in ``sanfrancisco.museum" and
type of museum as in ``maritime.museum." Index available at
http://index.museum.
``.aero" - For aviation industry. Registration begins in March.
``.coop" - For business cooperatives, such as credit unions and electric
coops. Some preregistered names became active earlier this month. Regular
registration begins Jan. 30.
``.pro" - For professionals, initially doctors, lawyers and accountants.
Individuals and companies requesting names must show proof. Details still
being negotiated.
Court Settles Internet Pricing Suit
In a victory for the cable industry, the Supreme Court said Wednesday that
a federal agency can control rates that cable companies pay for high-speed
Internet lines. The ruling could affect the availability and cost of
online services.
Cable television companies pay utilities to attach wires for high-speed
Internet service to the utilities' poles.
A federal appeals panel had ruled that the Federal Communications
Commission did not have the authority to regulate pole rental rates for
Internet service. The Supreme Court reversed that decision.
``It's a good thing for the public. It makes it more likely high-speed
Internet access will get into their hands faster," said Randal C. Picker,
a law professor at the University of Chicago.
Cable industry spokesman said Dan Brenner said the decision ``overcomes a
potential impediment to broadband deployment, especially in rural areas."
Justices also said cellular telephone companies are entitled to pay
government-limited rates for attaching their equipment to utility poles.
Picker said there is a downside to the decisions. ``It will make more
clutter on telephone poles. It will become more crowded and a little more
unsightly."
Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice David H. Souter, dissented in
part of the ruling. Thomas said the FCC should be required to explain its
rationale for regulating rates.
``Such a determination would require the commission to decide at long last
whether high-speed Internet access provided through cable wires constitutes
cable service or telecommunications service or falls into neither
category," Thomas wrote.
The case is one of three the court is considering this year involving a
1996 congressional overhaul of the nation's telecommunications laws.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority, said electric
utilities wrongly argued in this case that ``if a cable company attempts to
innovate at all and provide anything other than pure television, it loses
the protection of the Pole Attachments Act and subjects itself to monopoly
pricing."
Kennedy said Congress in 1996 intended to promote expanded Internet
service, not discourage it.
With government regulation of the rates, the cable industry paid about $5 a
pole annually to string and operate its wires, according to the National
Cable and Telecommunications Association. After the 11th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals ruling in 2000, one utility began charging $38 a pole, the
association had said.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor did not participate in the decision. She has
stock in companies that could be affected by the court's ruling, including
telephone companies AT&T and MCI, and several computer or Internet firms.
The cases are National Cable Television Association v. Gulf Power Co.,
00-832, and Federal Communications Commission v. Gulf Power Co., 00-843.
AOL Hikes Prices For Some Subscribers
America Online said Wednesday that it plans to raise the monthly
subscription fee for people accessing its features using a different
Internet service provider.
Dubbed "Bring Your Own Access" (BYOA), AOL in October 2001 increased the
service's monthly fee by 50 percent to $14.95, but it allowed existing
members to continue paying $9.95 a month. Now, AOL is preparing to charge
all BYOA members $14.95 a month for the service.
The price change will begin in March 2002.
The price hike is happening just as AOL, the online division of AOL Time
Warner, falls under scrutiny for sagging revenue because of the collapse
of advertising dollars. AOL Time Warner executives have said the division
will be hit particularly hard in the first two quarters of 2002.
Executives are not factoring revenue growth for the AOL division into
their budgets.
AOL would not say whether the price change has any relationship with its
current revenue trouble.
"This price plan is going to help fund continued investment in the AOL
service," said AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham.
About 1 million out of AOL's 33 million members currently access the
service through the BYOA plan. The plan was created five years ago; this
is the first change in pricing for existing members.
The majority of AOL's 33 million members pay $23.90 a month for flat-rate
access.
Given the state of AOL's advertising dollars, any potential revenue
increase does not hurt the division. Jordan Rohan, an equity analyst at
SoundView Technology Partners, expects the change boost its incremental
cash flow by $35 million next year, factoring in subscribers who leave.
"This is an easy way for AOL to exercise its market power," said Rohan.
"Very few companies can increase price in this type of economic
environment. AOL is one company that's been able to do so."
EBay Raises Auction Fees
EBay Inc. on Thursday raised fees on its popular Web auction service.
The rate hikes, which will go into effect on January 31, mark only the
third time eBay has increased fees to people selling items on its site.
Under the new pricing structure, ``final value fees" will be increased by
0.25 percent, and will range from a total fee of 5.25 percent on items
selling for $25 or less up to 1.5 percent for those sold for $1,000 and
more.
Reserve fees, which let sellers set a minimum sale price, will be increased
from $1 to $2 on items worth more than $200, and a new 5 cent fee will
apply to the ``buy it now" feature, which enables sellers to offer an item
at a fixed price, instead of at auction.
EBay will also increase final value fees on cars sold at eBay motors to $40
from $25.
EBay, which did not suffer any significant loss in business from its prior
fee increases, said the rate hikes will help it put more money into
marketing, technical upgrades, and customer support.
Safa Rashtchy, an analyst with U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, said the new
fees could increase eBay's revenues by at least 10 percent, beginning in
its second quarter.
E-snoop Bill Runs Aground
A bill that would give California law-enforcement officials unprecedented
power to monitor the e-mail and phone conversations of suspected criminals
has hit a roadblock.
A state body that provides legal opinions on pending bills has determined
that such wide-ranging surveillance would run afoul of federal laws.
A provision of the bill, which is sponsored by state Assemblyman Carl
Washington and backed by Gov. Gray Davis, proposes giving law enforcement
the ability to use "roving" wiretaps on any phone a suspected criminal may
potentially use.
But the Legislative Counsel of California said state law-enforcement
officials are not authorized under federal law to use roving wiretaps,
even though federal law-enforcement officials may do so. State lawmakers
will probably revise the bill to comply with federal law.
California's efforts to expand the surveillance powers of its
law-enforcement agencies come as federal lawmakers try to make it easier
for law enforcement to snoop on people's electronic habits in the wake of
the Sept. 11 attacks.
In October, President Bush signed the USA Patriot Act, which expands law
enforcement's ability to monitor electronic communications, in an effort
to thwart terrorism.
But civil libertarians have protested both that act and the California
bill, saying the two could violate the privacy and rights of citizens who
are not under investigation, and allow abuses to go unchecked.
=~=~=~=
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