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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 04 Issue 38
Volume 4, Issue 38 Atari Online News, Etc. September 20, 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:
Kevin Savetz
Marc-Anton Kehr
Erik Hall
Fred Horvat
To subscribe to A-ONE, change e-mail addresses, or unsubscribe,
log on to our website at: www.atarinews.org
and click on "Subscriptions".
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and your address will be added to the distribution list.
To unsubscribe from A-ONE, send the following: Unsubscribe A-ONE
Please make sure that you include the same address that you used to
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To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the
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http://people.delphiforums.com/dpj/a-one.htm
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http://a1mag.atari.org
Now available:
http://www.atarinews.org
Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/atari/
=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0404 01/25/02
~ The :-) Turns 20! ~ People Are Talking! ~ MyMail Update News!
~ Bidding For Napster! ~ HotMail To Can Spam?! ~ Ellison Exits Apple
~ Cybersecurity Plan Off ~ Faster PowerMacs Ship! ~ Mac OS X Update!
~ New Linux Worm and DOS ~ EasyMINT Forum Open! ~ Virus Armageddon?
-* Gemulator 10th Anniversary! *-
-* History of Antic's Cyber Software! *-
-* Rivals: Microsoft Violates Antitrust Deal! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I'll probably regret it, but I'm going to give Joe an opportunity to do his
famous ROTFLOL impersonation. Officially, I'm old today! Yes, I know, I
said that when I turned 30, then 40, and also 50. But, I can no longer say
that I'm 50. Egads! 51! I'm more than a half a century old! I wonder how
long it will take to get used to this! Well, I guess you're as old as you
feel, according to many. Ahhhh, I feel much younger now!
It's been a great week weather-wise. It was nice to get out on the golf
course a couple of times this past weeks and not have to worry about the
heat. Even getting the lawn mowed is less of a task than usual. It's a
nice time of year in New England; and it will get even better once the
leaves start to turn in a few weeks.
Okay, let's get right to this week's issue as we have lots of good stuff
this week. And, it will also give me the opportunity to get in some
celebrating!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
EasyMiNT Forum Open
Hi all,
I have created a forum for EasyMiNT and other programs of mine, you can
reach it from my HP http://mico-mint.atari.org
or via direct link
http://www.carookee.com/forum/EasyMiNT
Have fun!
Marc-Anton
MyMAIL 1.58
Hi all,
New version of MyMail (1.58) is released.
This is basically a binary update.
no changes is done on the RSC, help texts or Docs.
New/changes:
------------
- Fixed memory leaks
- Added loadable charset
- Some minor bug fixes
Languages supported:
--------------------
- English
- Swedish
- German
- French
- Polish
Download from:
--------------
http://erikhall.atari.org/programs/mymail.html
MyMail mailing list
-------------------
You can add or remove yourself from MyMAIL mailing list.
The add/remove page is found at:
http://www2.tripnet.se/~erikhall/mymailupdates.html
MyMail WWWBoard
---------------
http://erikhall.atari.org/mymailboard/wwwboard.html
Best Regards
Erik Hall
10th Anniversary of Gemulator
Hello from Emulators Inc. in Seattle,
You are receiving this email because you registered your email address
with us at the Emulators online store (which you visited either through
http://softmac2000.com or http://softmacxp.com). I am writing to update
you on the status of our products.
Earlier this summer just prior to Macworld we sent out a mailing to
thousands of our customers and people like yourself to announce the latest
SoftMac Xpress release. Due to the strong response which we have received
we are currently backlogged several weeks in our order processing. If you
placed an order with us this summer, you have likely already received
another email from me to notify you of this delay. We expect to have the
backlog cleared by later this month and be back on our 5 to 7 day order
turnaround schedule.
September is the 10th anniversary of the release of our Gemulator product,
the world's first 68000 emulator for MS-DOS which featured both Atari ST
and Apple Macintosh emulation for the PC. We first released Gemulator to
the "net", not quite the Internet at the time, but rather to a series of
BBSes as well as America Online and CompuServe, back in September 1992. The
same month that I launched it in person at the 1992 Glendale Atari Fair. It
is amazing how fast these past 10 years have gone by, and incredible number
of product releases that we have made during that time. Including Windows
3.1, Windows 95, and Windows 2000 releases of Gemulator, the 68030
emulation featured in Gemulator Pro, and the 68030 and 68040 Apple
Macintosh emulation featured in our SoftMac product lines. Not to mention
ST Xformer and PC Xformer Atari 8-bit emulators for GEM and DOS, the
Xformer 98 and Xformer 2000 emulators for Windows, and the popular
Gemulator Explorer file exchange utility for reading Atari ST and Macintosh
disks on the PC.
We are preparing a 10th anniversary Gemulator release, which I'll be
announcing on the Emulators web site in a few weeks as well as other news.
I am glad to report that work on the SoftMac Professional emulator
continues, with an expected release next year which will bring even faster
68040 emulation to the PC and new PowerPC emulation. I will once again be
attending our booth at next year's Macworld Expo in New York to demonstrate
the product as I did last year. I am also happy to announce that contrary
to previous reports, we will posting a free release of the PowerPC emulator
to the web. It will not be a pay-only product as some have reported.
Which bring me to my final topic, that being to remind everyone that as has
been our policy these past 10 years, and really, for the whole 15 years
since I first posted the Xformer Atari 8-bit emulator to CompuServe back in
January 1997, that our products are FREE for non-commercial home use. All
our of emulators and cross-platform utilities - Gemulator Classic for
MS-DOS, Gemulator 2000 for Windows, SoftMac 2000, Xformer, Gemulator
Explorer, SoftMac XP - can be downloaded from our web site. These are
non-demo releases, and are the same releases which we sell on CD-ROM and
license to schools and corporate customers, a concept strange to some but
familiar to anyone who uses free products such as Linux and a concept I've
always believed in. As someone who started my career in the computer
industry as a teenage hobbyist in the 1970's, I learned from free software
I downloaded from BBSes and learned from free listings printed in computer
magazines. So I've always made it a point to freely give away most of our
products for home use and why I remain so vigilant against computer
consumers getting ripped off by multi-national multi-billion dollar
corporations. And as with the free SoftMac XP 8.2 and the file system
driver source code release earlier this year, we will continue to release
new updates to our products and source code to some of our products free of
charge via our web site. and yes, that will include the PowerPC emulator.
Please don't email me asking for release dates or other unannounced
information or for pre-releases. Remember to simply visit the
http://www.emulators.com web site every few weeks for new announcements
and new download. And don't forget to tell your friends that free
emulators still _do_ exist on the web and will continue to be maintained
and developed in the future.
If you have any comments concerning our products, our Emulators web site
at http://www.emulators.com, or have computer tips you wish to share with
me for publication on our Secrets page http://www.emulators.com/secrets.htm,
please feel to email me directly at darekm@emulators.com.
Thank you for your time and enjoy our emulators!
Darek Mihocka
President, Emulators Inc.
http://www.emulators.com <http://www.emulators.com/>
History of Antic Cyber Graphics Software
Martin Doudoroff has created an amazing history of the Cyber graphics
software that Antic published for the ST.
"This Web site documents some moderately obscure computer graphics
software history: a suite of animation products produced in the late
1980's for the Atari ST personal computer platform. Although the fact is
not widely known, this Atari software, published by a defunct computer
magazine called Antic, directly preceded and led to the Autodesk 3D
Studio and Discreet 3ds max products used by thousands of people today.
The articles herein basically comprise an oral history: the information
is drawn from interviews and hands-on exploration of the software,
running under emulation or on original equipment."
http://asterius.com/atari
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Before we get to the stuff from the
Usenet, I want to mention two things.
First, people are idiots. They really are getting dumber and dumber. On
my way to work this morning, I came upon an intersection that I come to
every morning. This time, there was a flatbed truck in the middle of the
intersection. Now, we're not talking about a busy street. We're talking
about a small road that goes from a town of about 20,000 people to a
town of about 35,000 people. The truck evidently began going straight
through the intersection and then decided that it should have made a
left turn. Unfortunately, there were cars at two points of the
intersection with a two cars behind the truck ahead of me.
Obviously, the only move for the truck driver was reverse. So, being the
last car behind the truck, I put it in reverse and moved back about a
car length. I smiled a small smile as the car ahead of me also began to
back up.
The smile went a way quickly as I watched the driver cut his wheels to
the left and pull out into the oncoming lane and end up directly in the
middle of the intersection, next to the cab of the flatbed. Now, no one
could move. And no one did for several minutes. I sat there in mute
amazement as one or two beeped their horns and made various hand
gestures at no one in particular.
The "Stalemate of Stupidity" finally ended when one of the cars
perpendicular to the road I was on decided to turn around and seek an
easier way to work. From there... one by one... vehicles left the
intersection until the truck was able to make the turn that it had
intended to make in the first place.
As far as I'm concerned, this instance is proof in a supreme deity. How
could such people possibly exist without divine intervention??
The second thing I want to mention is that the TEAM ATARI search group has
just passed ONE HUNDRED years of contributed CPU time searching for radio
signals from an extraterrestrial intelligence. Just think of it, a hundred
years of CPU time contributed by fifty people in under forty months!
HAPPY CENTENNIAL!!!
You might have noticed that I said "fifty" people contributed CPU time,
and that there are actually 52 people participating in TEAM ATARI.
That's because two people haven't returned any results.
It's not too late to join up either. If you're interested in joining,
point your browser to: http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu and join
SETI@home. Then go to:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_21046.html and join
TEAM ATARI.
After three years of doing this, I still think it would be the coolest
thing in the world to have the first signal from an extraterrestrial
intelligence found by an Atari user!
C'mon and join us. Maybe we'll have a big online party for our
bicentennial! <grin>
Well, let's get to the news, hints, tips, and info from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Derryck Croker asks:
"Anyone any idea if the word "Ansch" in this line:
LiA -3 5250 4 ; LiA(Ansch,rest,length)|Linear depreciation per period
has an English meaning, and if so, what?"
Gerhard Stoll tells Derryck:
"In my dictionary stand:
Anschaffungswert = cost (or acquisition) value."
Derryck tells Gerhard:
"Thanks Gerhard, I've used "cost" - I'm no mathematician so I hope all
this stuff is correct"
Jim DeClercq jumps in and tells Derryck:
"Did you know that you can type "ansch*" into LEO, and get all the words
that contain that root, and get as confused as I did?
It seems to have the English meaning of "origin" or "original", as in
"original cost" which seems to be the sense in context.
If true, where the percentage entry? "Rest" I do not recognize.
If we are on the same page, I would expect to see "original value",
"percent per period" and "number of periods" in a linear depreciation
calculation."
Peter West adds his interpretation:
"It's obviously an abbreviation, possibly for 'Anschaffung' =
acquisition or purchase. Could also be 'Anschlag' = plot or estimate
or 'Anschluss' = addition or 'Anschreiben' = put to one's account.
'Anschwellen' = increase (a less likely possibility).
I'd go for the first one if the context is something like compound
interest on a loan or mortgage."
Derryck tells Peter:
"It looks like "cost" is the most probable translation.
Once this is confirmed I'll be releasing the English Texel 2.20 resource
files and other data files.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to do the text that's embedded in the
binary however, it's a very complex job."
Claude Bourgoin asks about using a ZIP drive with his Falcon:
"I have a Falcon030 with a 100 meg iomega SCSI zip drive. I used HDriver
7.+ to format and partition. The problem I am having is when I run Magic
5.11 the Falcon030 sees the zip drive, when I just run TOS 4.04 the
falcon can no longer see the zip drive. Does anyone know what I am doing
wrong or missing a step in the process?"
Uwe Seimet tells Claude:
"Sounds as if you have created a DOS compatible partition on your ZIP
cartridge. Please refer to the HDDRIVER manual for more information on
partition types."
Claude tells Uwe:
"Yes, that is exactly what I did. Because I needed to transfer some
large files from my PC to the Falcon. I tried running Bigdos but the
falcon still didn't see the zip drive."
Uwe adds:
"I forgot to mention that the best solution in your case is most likely
a partition that is both DOS/Windows and TOS compatible. This way you do
not need any additional software for the Atari."
Claude now asks about his Falcon and SC1224 monitor:
"When I connect the Falcon030 to an Atari SC1224 monitor under tos the
SC1224 monitor works fine. If I run Magic 5.11 using MAGXBOOT.PRG from
the auto folder, as soon as the MAGXBOOT runs the monitor starts to
scroll rapidly. Is their a solution to this problem?"
Don Wolfe tells Claude:
"I have one machine that has a similar problem, a MSTE-4mg with a 1224
monitor running MagIC 4.1 during the boot process the screen will start
pulling and distorting. The cure for mine is a small program called
Rezflip in the Auto folder and all is well."
Britt Park asks about a mouse for his Falcon:
"Does anyone know a supplier for a Falcon030 compatible mouse? Is the
mouse the same for the Falcon030 as for earlier STs?"
James Alexander tells Britt:
"In short, yes you can use any st compatible mouse with a falcon,
whether its the plain st mouse, beetle mouse, golden image or one of the
others."
Well folks, I know it's very short, but things have been a little slow
in comp.sys.atari.st lately. 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 - Gearing Up for Cyber Wars!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Sony Ships 40 Million PS2s Globally!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Japanese Game Developers Gear Up for Cyber Wars
Online gaming is still seen as a risky business, but Japanese software
developers are positioning themselves -- some aggressively and others
cautiously -- for a new battle over the next frontier of videogame play.
And analysts say online games, in which users go head-to-head over Internet
connections, could hold the key to success in boosting their war chests
over the long term.
"We are talking about incremental revenues, subscription-based business and
very stable revenue streams for a company that is engaged in a hit-or-miss
business," said Jay Defibaugh, an analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston.
Japanese game publishers are expected to ring up profits, at least for a
few years, from brisk sales of traditional software as the three mega
console makers -- Sony Corp., Nintendo Co. Ltd. and Microsoft Corp. -- wage
price wars, spurring demand for hardware as well as software.
But the longer-term prospects for Japanese game publishers appear less rosy
than they would like.
The costs of developing software titles are rising as consoles have become
highly advanced, armed with powerful chips that offer faster games and
dazzling graphics.
Some analysts also noted that ordinary packaged games, which usually sell
for 6,800 yen ($55.50), now look expensive compared with the consoles and
may have to undergo price cuts.
Following a series of price reductions this year, Nintendo's GameCube now
sells for 19,800 yen, Microsoft's Xbox costs 24,800 yen and Sony's
PlayStation 2 retails at open prices.
Japan's declining birthrate and shrinking gaming population are also
concerns, with data from the Computer Entertainment Suppliers Association
showing that sales of game software in the country declined to 517.4
billion yen in 2001 from 577.9 billion a year earlier.
But Nomura Research Institute has estimated the online game market in
Japan will grow nearly eight times to 271 billion yen in 2006 from 35
billion yen in 2001.
With console systems all hooking up to the Web, growth of the online game
market is expected to accelerate.
Sony began selling network adapters early this year while Nintendo, which
had been the most wary about online gaming among the three, plans to
release a similar device in October.
Microsoft, the most aggressive of the three, will start a trial run for its
online game service, Xbox Live, some time after October in Japan.
Daisuke Kobayashi, a game developer at mid-sized software firm Enix Corp.,
says having a head start is key as players tend to concentrate on a few
online game Web sites and are unlikely to move on to newer offerings.
Unlike conventional software business where games can be popular even if
similar titles exist, only one or two online games per genre can survive,
he said.
"It's very much like an oligopoly," said Kobayashi. "It's first come, first
served."
In July 2001, Enix launched the online game "Cross Gate" for personal
computers and now has six million registered players in Asia, including
Japan, with one tenth of them being avid users.
Kengo Nakajima, president of CommunityEngine Inc, an Enix affiliate that
offers online game system solutions, said publishers need time to groom
new types of creators as online games require a different set of skills
than traditional titles.
"You need people who know the power of having a mass audience, who can
communicate with them and are flexible about listening to them," Nakajima
said. "It's like being a politician, and we don't see many people who meet
these criteria." Capcom Co. Ltd. rolled out racing and fighting online
games in 2000 for dial-up connections on PlayStation 2, and plans to offer
its hit "Biohazard" action game for possibly broadband and "Tekki" for Xbox
Live.
"We are at the stage of planting seeds before the blooming season comes," a
Capcom spokesman said.
Sega Corp also started offering its role-playing mainstay "Phantasy Star
Online" games for Nintendo's GameCube earlier this month in Japan.
Still, some analysts said community-type online games in which a large
number of players participate won't take off for a few years, as they
require hefty investments to run Internet servers and support other network
systems.
Instead, they said, online games where people play one-on-one, or with a
small number of people, will likely be the main format.
"Until the next generation of game consoles comes out, people will likely
play peer-to-peer online games," said Takashi Oya, a senior analyst at
Deutsche Securities. Oya also said software developers have been
disappointed by a slow start for Square Co Ltd.'s "Final Fantasy XI," an
online version of its popular role-playing game that sold more than 38
million copies globally.
Since its May launch, the online game so far has amassed 120,000 players.
Credit Suisse First Boston's Defibaugh said financial strength is a
crucial factor, but added that just as original ideas brought major success
to some small Internet businesses, online gaming could represent a vital
opportunity for many firms.
"I'm quite sure that they do see opportunities here and they do feel that
at least early on, some amount of investment is required and appropriate,"
he said.
($1=122.22 yen)
Sony Ships 40 Million Playstation2 Globally
Japanese electronics group Sony Corp. said on Thursday that it had shipped
40 million units of its blockbuster PlayStation 2 home video game console
globally, after passing the 30-million mark on May 5.
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, the game division of the consumer
electronics giant, said 10.97 million of the units shipped to Japan, 17.01
million to the United States and 12.06 million to Europe.
The company aims to ship 20 million consoles globally in the year to March
2003, aiming to solidify its leadership position and widen the gap with
Microsoft Corp's Xbox and Nintendo Co Ltd's GameCube.
Xbox, launched more than a year after PlayStation 2, has struggled to gain
a foothold in the competitive gaming market.
Weekly Famitsu, a major Japanese game publication, said Microsoft has sold
274,000 Xboxes since debuting in Japan on February 22, while Nintendo has
sold 1.565 million GameCubes in Japan since its launch in September 2001.
To shore up sales, Microsoft said on Thursday it would unveil five new
software titles for Xbox at the Tokyo Game Show which kicks off on Friday.
The U.S. software giant said it plans to showcase 18 games, including five
new offerings and two online games.
The new five titles includes "Battlefield Pizza Girl" whose content has
not been unveiled yet, fighting game "The Wild Rings" and "Natural
Ultimate Digital Experiment (N.U.D.E.)" in which a player assumes the role
of a caretaker of a girl, who would then develop her own character and
emotions.
The two online games are "True Fantasy Live Online," an adventure game set
in a fantasy world, fishing game "Fishing Live Online."
Microsoft plans to start a trial run for its online gaming service, Xbox
Live, sometime after late October in Japan with 5,000 players. Microsoft
has been making a big bet on online games, building a proprietary online
service. Xbox comes with built-in hard drive and an Ethernet port.
Sony and Nintendo, on the other hand, are less aggressive, both letting
software publishers run their own networks and charge whatever they want.
PlayStation 2 and GameCube require separate add-ons to play online games.
Also, users of Xbox need broadband connections while those for PlayStation
2 and GameCube can use either a broadband or a narrowband connection
service.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
The Coming Virus Armageddon
Computer virus writers are known for building on each other's work to
create ever-deadlier malware. In the future, a truly malicious code might
not create an immediate uproar by hitting the Internet with a big bang.
Instead, it could slowly and quietly seize control of a vast number of
computers, doing significant but not immediately apparent damage to data.
How conceivable is the supervirus threat? "We never say never in this
business," McAfee.com virus research manager April Goostree told
NewsFactor. "We've never really seen it, but we've seen some things that
are pretty darn close. I really don't see why it couldn't be done."
But Trend Micro global director of education David Perry disagreed, telling
NewsFactor that given the nature of viruses today, it is unlikely that one
could cripple the Web. "I really don't believe in the concept of there
being an ultimate computer virus," he said. "There are rumors about there
being a metavirus or megavirus, but it's fiction."
Regardless of probability, Goostree and Perry agreed that the key trait of
a virus with the ability to knock out the Internet has nothing to do with
technology. Rather, the ultimate virus would hinge on social engineering
-- antivirus jargon for the tricks virus writers use to fool people into
infecting themselves and others.
While most viruses use a mass-mailer to spread infection via e-mail,
Goostree said it is even more effective to spread viruses surreptitiously,
via a slow dissemination that draws little attention as it infects and
inflicts damage.
Perry agreed, saying, "The worst viruses are the viruses that don't make
any noise at all."
In addition to being stealthy, experts said, the ultimate computer virus
would be polymorphic -- able to change its code, message and form to avoid
detection. For the most part, antivirus software vendors detect and
identify malicious code by using virus definitions, or virus fingerprints,
that are unique to a specific virus.
One polymorphic virus in the wild is Hybris, which climbed the charts this
year as it spread. "It changes so that antivirus products that could have
caught it in x form won't pick it up anymore," Goostree said.
Recently, malware also has begun to grow more deadly by targeting computer
defenses, as the Yaha worm does. For example, malicious code might disable
antivirus and firewall software.
Such interference, coupled with installation of a Trojan program that would
enable an attacker to control a machine remotely, could leave users "dead
in the water," Goostree said. "You'd have no antivirus, no connection and
no communication method to try and get help. It would effectively really
cripple our communication system."
While most damage done by viruses today comes in the form of computer
downtime and lost productivity, the ultimate computer virus of the future
probably would destroy or overwrite files, according to Goostree.
However, execution of a lethal payload would be an impediment if a virus
writer wanted to infect a large number of users, because data destruction
would alert users to the virus' presence. "People would figure it out and
fix it immediately," she added.
Although Trend Micro's Perry discounted the threat of a supervirus that
could bring the Internet to its knees, he said emerging communications
platforms -- including wireless and peer-to-peer networks -- are likely to
come under fire from virus writers.
"I would stop thinking in terms of the Internet model we use to access
computers today," Perry said. "As we proliferate more and more and more --
streaming media, video, new media, cell phones, PDAs and other
internetworked devices, including the automobile -- all of those things are
going to be eligible for viruses."
However, fear of viruses often does more damage than actual viruses, Perry
noted, adding that if data is treated like property -- such as a home or
automobile -- it will remain safe. "The proper technology and proper user
education will lead us to a world where data is more secure," he said.
New Linux Worm Threatens Serious Denial Of Service Attacks
Security vendors are warning users running Linux Apache Web servers that
they're vulnerable to attack from the first worm to use peer-to-peer
networking technology. Dubbed the Linux.Slapper.Worm, it exploits a buffer
overflow vulnerability within OpenSSL, often used in Apache Web servers.
Internet Security Systems Inc. is reporting in an advisory that the worm
has "very powerful" distributed denial-of-service capabilities. Because of
the worm, ISS has raised its Internet warning status to AlertCon 3, one
notch below its highest level, AlertCon 4. Internet Security Systems
estimates that the worm is spreading slowly and has infected 11,000 to
13,000 Web servers.
The Linux.Slapper.Worm spreads in similar fashion to last year's Nimda and
Code Red worms, by scanning for, and then infecting, vulnerable systems.
Because this worm establishes peer-to-peer links among infected servers,
experts fear it could create a powerful platform to launch
denial-of-service attacks against virtually any target on the Internet.
According to Dan Ingevaldson, team lead of the X-Force R&D division at ISS,
the first version may be a test to see how well the worm works before more
deadlier versions surface. "Unlike Code Red and Nimda, where virus writers
didn't have immediate access to the source code, the source code for this
worm is already widely public," he says. "I'd expect new versions to start
to surface."
Users of OpenSSL through versions 0.96d or 0.9.7beta1 are urged to upgrade
to the latest version of OpenSSL, currently 0.9.6g. The OpenSSL
vulnerability the worm attacks was first reported at the end of July.
Cybersecurity Plan Offers Tips, Not Rules
A Bush administration plan to improve computer security will impose no new
regulations but instead use the "bully pulpit" and the federal checkbook to
reduce cyberattacks, administration and industry sources said on Monday.
When cybersecurity czar Richard Clarke releases the long-awaited proposal
on Wednesday in Silicon Valley, he will shine a spotlight on "safe
computing" practices that security experts say are not widely enough used
by Internet users.
Observers expect Clarke to announce that the federal government will direct
some of the $50 billion it spends each year on software, computers and
other information technology toward products that meet certain security
standards.
But the former counterterrorism expert will shy away from imposing similar
rules on an industry that has lobbied for months against them.
Instead, Clarke will offer a wide range of suggestions to businesses,
universities and individuals about how to voluntarily shore up their online
defenses, and will ask the private sector to offer suggestions of its own.
High-tech officials say the hands-off approach will allow them to lock
down cyberspace faster than they could if they had to follow new laws or
regulations.
"Talking and spending is probably the most effective means to get something
done, rather than proposing legislation," said Stratton Sclavos, chief
executive of security company VeriSign Inc..
But others said businesses were unlikely to spend extra money to secure
their networks in the midst of a recession if they were not required to do
so.
"Security budgets are flat for most corporations. If anything, they took
money away from cybersecurity over the past year," said Ed Skoudis, vice
president of security strategy for New York consulting firm Predictive
Systems.
A Bush Administration official said the sheer scope of the project required
the private sector, which control 85 percent of the Internet, to take the
initiative. Voluntary "best practices" would get quicker results than laws
which could take months or years to pass, he said.
While early drafts of the proposal required Internet service providers
(ISPs) to bundle firewalls and other security software with their service,
Clarke will now only suggest their use, high-tech officials said.
"ISPs take the position, quite rightly, that they're not security
specialists," said Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology
Association of America. "There are important issues about capacity,
liability, cost."
Alan Paller, research director at the System Administration, Networking
and Security (SANS) Institute, said Internet service providers can easily
detect and stop Internet attacks. But they don't want to spend the extra
money needed to upgrade their systems to help prevent worms or
denial-of-service attacks, Paller said. They also don't want to be held
liable for failing to do enough.
A proposal to ban the use of wireless networks by government workers, as
the Department of Defense is considering, has similarly been softened.
"I think earlier versions of the draft did either imply or direct federal
agencies to make pretty radical breaks with wireless technology until the
security improves," said Mario Correa, director of Internet and network
security policy at the Business Software Alliance, a high-tech trade group.
The latest version of the proposal only suggests that federal agencies and
departments should not use wireless technologies in certain circumstances,
Correa said.
The plan also suggests that federal agencies should follow the Department
of Defense's lead in buying only software and hardware that have received
certain security certifications.
In addition, the proposal asks industry to ship products that are more
secure or in default secure settings, and get software patches and fixes
out more quickly.
Clarke will also ask power plants, water-treatment facilities and other
"critical infrastructures" to ensure that their internal networks cannot
be hacked by outsiders, and ask universities to better monitor their
systems so they are not used in cyberattacks.
Hotmail Aims to Can Spam
MSN Hotmail users may see a decrease in spam clogging up their inboxes in
coming weeks, Microsoft said Wednesday, as it announced a deal with
Brightmail to incorporate the company's spam-filter technology in its free
e-mail service.
Microsoft said that it will deploy Brightmail's Solution Suite to filter
spam at the incoming SMTP gateway, before it is delivered to Hotmail users'
inboxes.
The spam guard will be fully deployed later this year, Microsoft said, to
serve Hotmail's 110 million worldwide users.
The Redmond, Washington, company's spam-stymieing move is nothing new for
free e-mail services, many of which have already adopted spam-fighting
measures. Yahoo, for example, routes unsolicited e-mail to a bulk e-mail
folder in users' inboxes.
The Brightmail solution works by leveraging a collection of more than 200
million e-mail addresses designed to attract spam, allowing Brightmail to
identify and eliminate spam before it reaches users' inboxes.
San Francisco-based Brightmail to have a significant foothold on the
antispam market, boasting clients such as Earthlink, AT&T WorldNet, and
now MSN.
Apple Releases Mac OS X 10.2.1
Apple today released the first update to the company's new operating
system, bringing it to version 10.2.1.
According to Apple, the update delivers enhancements and improvements to
the following applications, technologies and components: Mail, Image
Capture, Help Viewer, graphics, printing, networking, Rendezvous, Kerberos,
USB, FireWire, SCSI device compatibility and includes additional Digital
Hub peripheral device support.
The update is currently available via the Software Update Control Panel
in Mac OS X.
Apple Now Shipping 1.25GHz Power Mac
Apple Wednesday announced that its dual 1.25GHz Power Mac system is now
shipping. The company introduced new Power Mac G4 systems on August 13,
moving the entire line to dual processor configurations.
The new dual processor machines feature Xserve architecture with support
for up to 2GB of Double Data Rate (DDR) memory at up to 333MHz, an ATI
Radeon 9000 Pro graphics card and an enhanced enclosure with increased
storage up to nearly half a terabyte, according to Apple.
"The Power Mac G4 with dual processors running at 1.25 GHz is the fastest
Mac ever made," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of
Worldwide Product Marketing in a statement today. "The combination of the
Xserve architecture and Mac OS X version 10.2 'Jaguar' provides an
incredibly powerful and stable platform for our professional customers."
Each Power Mac system has two 400Mbps FireWire ports and four 12Mbps USB
ports (two on system, two on keyboard). In addition, the systems have a
front headphone jack; Stereo audio line in and line out minijacks; Built-in
56K v.92 modem; and an Apple speaker minijack. Currently the v.92 modem is
available on the PowerMac and the eMac -- the iMac is still equipped with
the v.90 modem.
Using graphics cards from Nvidia and ATI, Apple's desktop systems feature
dual display support across the product line. A single AGP 4x graphics card
has both the Apple Display Connector (ADC) and a DVI connector.
The dual 1.25 GHz Power Mac G4, for a suggested retail price of $3,299,
includes 256K on-chip level 2 cache and 2MB of DDR SRAM backside level 3
cache per processor; 512MB of DDR SDRAM memory; ATI Radeon 9000 Pro
graphics card with 64MB DDR SDRAM in 4x AGP slot; 120GB Ultra ATA/100
7200 rpm hard disk drive; and SuperDrive DVD-R/CD-RW optical drive.
Apple: .Mac Membership Swells to More Than 100,000
Apple announced Tuesday that more than 100,000 Mac users have already
subscribed to its .Mac service. .Mac was unveiled to attendees of Macworld
Expo New York this past July as the successor to Apple's free iTools
service.
Available for US$99.95 per year, Apple's .Mac service offers customers
100MB of Internet storage capacity, hosting for home pages, the ability
to share files and calendars via Apple's recently releases iCal calendar
application, file backup capabilities, anti-virus protection and e-mail
service through IMAP, POP and Webmail-based services. .Mac has been made
available to existing iTools for a reduced price of $49.95 since the
service was first unveiled in July.
.Mac has been the focus of some controversy since it was unveiled and
Apple announced plans to discontinue the free iTools service; some iTools
subscribers had wanted their free service to continue, or had hoped for a
lower tier of .Mac services that would cost less money with reduced
features. That hasn't come to pass, however, and users have been forced to
either migrate their existing iTools accounts to .Mac accounts or face
losing them come September 30.
With tight integration like Finder-based iDisk access and more, Apple is
leveraging .Mac as an extension of the operating system. Additionally,
newly introduced features like iCal calendar publishing and Backup 1.2 are
only available to Mac users who have Mac OS X 10.2, "Jaguar" or later
installed.
New Mac users can sign up for a free 60-day .Mac trial from the Web site.
The .Mac package is also available as a retail package available through
Apple Stores and participating authorized resellers.
Rivals Say Microsoft Violates Antitrust Deal
Microsoft Corp.'s rivals complained to the U.S. Justice Department on
Wednesday that the company is reneging on some of the promises it made to
settle its antitrust case last year.
In a letter to the department, a trade group representing Microsoft's
critics and competitors said the software giant had not lived up to a
promise to make it easy to substitute non-Microsoft software for some
features in the Windows operating system.
Under the proposed settlement, Microsoft is required to provide a way for
consumers and computer makers to enable or remove access to key software
features such as the Internet browser and media player.
To comply with that provision, Microsoft added a feature to Windows XP in a
"service pack" update to the operating system that the company released on
Sept. 9. It allows computer users to remove access to some Microsoft
features such as Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player and add similar
software from other companies.
But the anti-Microsoft trade group, known as ProComp, complained the move
is "hopelessly inadequate and misleading" because the company had made the
new utility difficult to obtain and hard to use.
ProComp said Microsoft should have offered the utility separately, not as
part of the bulky, hard-to-download Windows update. And it said the company
has not given it a prominent place in the Windows "start button," as it
promised to do in the settlement.
Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler said the complaints were groundless. He said
the changes had been made in consultation with officials from the
government and the computer industry.
"We are doing a great deal and are committed to implementing the proposed
settlement, and will work closely with government and industry to ensure
its success," Desler said.
"It's unfortunate but hardly surprising that this special interest group
chose to play politics rather than participate in this process," Desler
said.
The settlement crafted by Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department in
November of 2001 gives computer makers greater freedom to feature rival
software on their machines by allowing them to hide some Microsoft icons
on the Windows desktop.
Nine of the 18 states in the lawsuit agreed to sign on to the deal, but
nine others have asked U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly for
tougher restrictions. Her decision is pending.
Ellison Resigns From Apple Board
Software mogul Larry Ellison resigned from Apple Computer Inc.'s board
Friday, in a move that analysts attributed to investors' demands for more
vigilant directors.
Ellison, the flamboyant chief executive officer of Oracle Corp., had
attended less than 75 percent of Apple's board meetings during each of his
five years as a director, according to Securities and Exchange Commission
filings. No other Apple director missed as many meetings during that time.
Ellison stepped down after concluding that his attendance record wouldn't
improve in the upcoming months, given his duties at slumping Oracle and
his upcoming bid to win the America's Cup yacht race.
"My schedule does not currently allow me to attend enough of the formal
board meetings to warrant a role as a director," Ellison said.
Ellison's spotty attendance record at Apple's board meetings hadn't been
an issue until a recent wave of corporate accounting scandals sharpened
Wall Street's focus on the watchdog role of company boards.
The current push for more aggressive directors outweighed the cachet
Ellison brought to the board as a Silicon Valley legend and one of the
world's wealthiest men, said Soundview Technology analyst Mark Specker.
"It's the end of the dilettante board era," Specker said. "Investors won't
tolerate having a director miss board meetings because he is too busy
racing sailboats."
Ellison's departure leaves Cupertino-based Apple with just five board
members, including its CEO, Steve Jobs.
Ellison and Jobs have been close friends for years, a kinship that could
have raised hackles with investors on the lookout for possible conflicts
of interest.
But analysts said Ellison's chumminess with Jobs probably wouldn't have
prevented him from remaining on the board if he could have shown up at
more board meetings.
"Financial ties are more of a problem than friendships," said Charles
Elson, director of the Center for Corporate Governance at the University
of Delaware.
Still, if Apple replaces Ellison, "it would be nice to see someone from
outside the Silicon Valley who isn't just another buddy of the CEO," said
A.G. Edwards & Sons analyst Brett Miller.
Elson said shareholders should have been raising concerns about Ellison's
frequent absences from board meetings long ago.
"Like the saying goes, 90 percent of life is about just showing up. If a
director can't come to more than 75 percent of the board meetings, then he
shouldn't be on the board," Elson said.
Ellison joined Apple's board in 1997 when Jobs rejoined the computer
company that he co-founded during the 1970s.
With Apple suffering major losses at the time Jobs returned, Ellison
helped give the company badly needed credibility and guidance, analysts
said.
"It was nice to have a friend like (Ellison) on your board because he is a
guy who has made his big dreams happen," Specker said.
Ellison said he will continue to counsel Apple's management and Jobs said
the advice will be welcomed.
Ellison, with an estimated fortune of $15 billion, didn't receive cash for
serving on Apple's board. Apple began paying its directors with stock
options in 1997. Ellison held 70,000 Apple stock options, according to the
company's most recent SEC disclosures.
Bidders Vie for Napster Remains
The most recent bidding in the auction for the remaining assets of the
bankrupt file-swapping service Napster closed late Tuesday and the process
of sorting through those offers has begun.
"There were over two dozen inquires from around the world with two
additional bids put forward in the court hearing on Friday. There are less
than 12 formal bids and we are now determining which one of those bids has
the highest probability of closing. Our goal is to present that bid to the
bankruptcy court in Delaware on September 27," says Rick Chance, managing
director of Investment Banking at Trenwith Securities.
Trenwith, the company conducting the auction for Napster, is a wholly
owned subsidiary of BDO Seidman, with headquarters in Costa Mesa,
California.
Chance declines to name the companies bidding for the remaining assets of
Napster, though one bidder, Private Media Group, an adult entertainment
media company based in Barcelona, Spain, last week made public its offer
of 1 million shares of common stock in exchange for the Napster trademark
and Napster.com domain name.
Earlier this month, Judge Peter Walsh of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the
District of Delaware, in Wilmington, Delaware, blocked the sale of
Napster's assets to media giant Bertelsmann, due in part to objections
from record labels and music publishers.
Along with its brand, Napster's remaining assets also include its
technology for file sharing and DRM, or digital rights management.
"Because the assets of Napster have always mainly been the intellectual
property and the technology, its primary assets are still intact oddly
enough. There are also the hard assets, as well as the management team and
employees. Though most of the employees are gone, some have expressed an
interest in being rehired by the new owners," Chance says.
According to Chance, some of the bidders for Napster's assets have "very
interesting business models" that make use of the file swapping technology.
"Some of the business models involve music sharing in a way that would not
require music labels to authorize the use of content, and some of the
models are non-music related. There were really a wide range of bids from
all over the world," Chance says.
Online 'Smiley Face' :-) Turns 20
It was 20 years ago Thursday that Scott Fahlman taught the 'Net how to
smile.
Other computer scientists know the IBM researcher for his work with neural
networks -- a computer technique designed to mimic the human brain -- and
helping to develop Common Lisp, a computer language that uses symbols
instead of numbers.
But the planet's 500 million Internet users can thank Fahlman for a flash
of inspiration 20 years ago that helped to define online culture, in all of
its ungrammatical glory.
On Sept. 19, 1982, Fahlman typed :-) in an online message.
The "smiley face" has since become a staple of online communication,
allowing 12-year-old girls and corporate lawyers alike to punctuate their
messages with a quick symbol that says, "Hey, I'm only joking."
Fahlman's innovation has since inspired countless other "emoticons," like
;-) to signify a wink, :-0 to show surprise, and (:)-) to say, "I am a
scuba diver."
"I've certainly spent 10 times as much time talking with people about it as
I did coming up with it in the first place," Fahlman said from his
Pittsburgh home. "Hopefully my actual research career will add up to more
in the long run."
In the early 1980s, computer networks were rarely found outside university
science departments and secretive government facilities.
But even then, discussions on primitive online "bulletin boards" could
quickly turn nasty when touchy users misinterpreted remarks meant to be
taken lightly.
After a particularly tangled joke about mercury contamination in an
elevator, users of a Carnegie Mellon University bulletin board proposed
a variety of markers for humorous comments, including *, %, &, (#) and
\__/.
Fahlman suggested :-), along with the admonition to "read it sideways."
Before long, other bulletin board users were placing the smiley face in
their messages. The practice spread as Internet users found the symbol
useful as a rough approximation of a twinkle in the eye.
Predictably, the smiley face encountered a few frowns as the online
population exploded.
"Humans have managed to communicate with the written word for thousands
of years without strewing crudely fashioned ideograms across their
parchments. It is as if the written word were a cutting-edge technology
without useful precedents," groused Neal Stephenson in the New Republic in
1993.
Fahlman stands by his creation. "If Shakespeare were tossing off a quick
note complaining about the lack of employee parking spaces near the Globe
Theater, he might have produced the same kind of sloppy prose that the rest
of us do," Fahlman writes on his Web site.
Emoticons now crop up regularly in advertisements, and could eventually
become an accepted part of the English language, said humor expert and
Long Island University professor Jim Lyttle.
"Eventually, yeah, they'll creep in and become accepted," Lyttle said.
"Most of the things that are in our language crept in colloquially."
Yahoo!, Microsoft and America Online all incorporate emoticons into their
instant-messaging systems, while telecom firms, jewelry makers and online
retailers have filed trademark applications for products and slogans that
incorporate Fahlman's smiley face.
But Fahlman has never seen a dime from his creation.
"If it cost people a nickel to use it, nobody would have used it," he said.
"This is my little gift to the world."
Net Use Ho-Hum for College Students
Andy Perez uses the library at Rice University in Houston for the quiet,
not the books. He does his research online.
Edell Fiedler taps into the Internet to register for classes and check
grades at Minnesota State University, Mankato, sometimes saving her the
60-mile drive to school. Rakesh Patel regularly uses e-mail to ask his
professors at Chicago's DePaul University questions about assignments.
Stories like those have become increasingly common on college campuses.
Now a new survey, released Sunday by the Pew Internet & American Life
Project, has confirmed what they suggest: the Internet has become an
integral part of college life, and not just for studying.
The survey of college students across the country found that 86 percent
use the Internet, compared with 59 percent of the overall U.S. population.
"For this group of college students, the Internet just works. It's like
turning on the tap and getting water or turning on the TV," says Steve
Jones, the report's lead author and chairman of the communications
department at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Anyone walking into a college computer lab, or classrooms that have
computers, is likely to find students flipping through any number of
Internet activities. They surf for information for assignments, download
music files and play online games - all the while taking time to message
friends who may be across campus or across the world.
It's what David Silver, an assistant professor of communication and the
director of the Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies at the University
of Washington, calls "social multitasking."
The survey found that much of students' Internet surfing is not related to
schoolwork. In fact, 42 percent of students who use the Internet say they
use it most often to keep in touch with friends by instant message or
e-mail, compared with 38 percent who use the Internet most often for
academics. Nearly three-quarters say most of the e-mail they send is to
friends.
"My old roommate had Instant Messenger open 24 hours a day," Perez says,
referring to the America Online service that allows private, real-time
conversations via computer.
Though he thinks that's a bit excessive, Perez acknowledges checking his
own e-mail "every minute" he's logged on.
That doesn't mean students are slacking off. Jones says his research
indicates that students are simply using the Internet to help them pack
more activity into less time.
Nearly 80 percent of students surveyed said the Internet has added to
their college academic experience, while 56 percent said e-mail alone has
enhanced their relationships with professors. The survey, which has a
margin of error of 2 percentage points, was distributed randomly and
answered by 2,054 students this spring.
E-mail "gives you the ability to revise and edit your thoughts more
carefully, whereas you might become nervous and slip in a public setting,"
says Ron Ayers, a Boston resident who recently graduated from Clarkson
University in Potsdam, N.Y.
At Clarkson, Ayers oversaw that school's version of the Daily Jolt, a
group of student-run Web sites that include everything from campus news
and weather reports to dining hall menus.
"If they didn't have the Internet, I find it highly doubtful that they
would read newspapers," Ayers says of his college peers,
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