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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 08 Issue 40
Volume 8, Issue 40 Atari Online News, Etc. October 6, 2006
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2006
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
Thomas Richter
Francois Le Coat
Rob Mahlert
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0840 10/06/06
~ HighWire Goes Wiki! ~ People Are Talking! ~ New ARAnyM Packages!
~ AOL Debuts OpenRide! ~ YouTube Set To Crash? ~ Google Buys Garage!
~ ASMA Gets Major Update ~ 'The Hub' Closes Down! ~ New Atari+++ Released!
~ Microsoft Appeals Fine ~ Search Code With Google ~ Turgen System 3 Released!
-* US Steps Back On Web Control *-
-* Vista Will Get Antipiracy Functions *-
-* AOL Offer Parental Controls To All Users! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well, if you've read the Atari newsgroups this week, you'll have noticed that I
ran into some system problems. I had a tower system built about 10-15 years ago
and had numerous components put into it: two hard drives, a Syquest44 drive, and
a CDROM drive. The hard drives died some time ago, as did the internal Falcon
drive. I've essentially been using my Syquest drive (with numerous carts) as my
only hard drive. Well, earlier this week, the tower lost power for some reason.
I haven't figured out the problem yet, and enlisted the users of the newsgroup
for suggestions. I've received a couple so far, but I don't have the knowledge
to determine either of those possibilities [yet].
In the meantime, I needed to find something to get myself back up and running,
at least temporarily. Now, if you know me fairly well, you know that I have
more hardware and software than I know what to do with! However, most of it has
been boxed up and stored in closets and the basement for years! I knew that
somewhere I had at least one or two drives from my old BBS, a case of drives
that I had put together for my wife's use, and perhaps another couple of spare
drives that might still work. The challenge was to find one! Well, I started
in the closet in my study. I tore that closet apart months ago and put
everything in huge plastic storage bins. But, I didn't label them (that was to
occur when I moved them). I finally found a couple of drive cases and the first
one that I hooked up finally powered-up! However, it wasn't designed to
auto-boot. So, I connected my ICD FA*ST drive to the drive, dusted off some old
back-up tapes, and restored the necessary programs to get the drive up and
running. While I was at it, I restored a variety of programs and utilities to
get me to where I needed to be able to work on A-ONE. As you can see, I managed
to get far enough along to get this week's issue out! Over the next few days,
I'll clean up some "garbage" that's sitting on the drive, restore some other
software that may come in handy, and hope that this drive will last awhile. To
be safe, I'll resume the search for more spare drives, and set them up as need
be.
In the meantime, I have a week's worth of work to get done getting this week's
issue finalized! So, I'll end this saga and get back to it.
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
HighWire Wiki
I've had it installed for a while, but never announced it.
If you'd like to help with the HighWire documentation, We now have a
Wiki!
Very little has been setup on the wiki, which might be good for a fresh
start on the documentation.
Check it out at http://highwire.atari-users.net/wiki
Rob
-------------------
Atari Users Network
www.atari-users.net
Atari Talk Forums
www.atariforums.com
AtariForge
www.atariforge.org
ARAnyM Packages
Hi,
You may be interested by the following uptodate version of ARAnyM.
Very latest devels have been taken into account.
- The Pack_3D at http://ebmodel3.atari.org/Pack_3D/ that works on
3 OS/platforms including Windows, Linux and MacOSX.
It includes ARAnyM 0.9.4beta and
EmuTOS dated from 2006/05/22
FreeMiNT+XaAES from 2006/09/23
TERADESK 3.84
EB MODEL3 3.62a version (only available in this pack)
EB_DUMP 0.9.7
EUREKA 2.12 beta from 2006/09/09 (only available in this pack)
QED 5.0.5
POV 3.1g
ZVIEW beta 7
ZTASK 1.0
MESA_GL 0.93 version (derived from Mesa3D 2.6)
CAB 1.5
HIGHWIRE 0.3.0
HYP_VIEW 0.35.2e version
PAULANG 0.2b
ready to start with. Quake 1.01 works great with it ! Really.
You may have a look, for Quake, at http://www.dhs.nu/
- The minimum pack at http://eureka.atari.org/MacAranym.zip that
is built for MacOSX.
Enjoy :)
-- Francois LE COAT
Author of Eureka 2.12 (2D Graph Describer, 3D Modeller)
http://eureka.atari.org/
atari++ 1.50 Released
Hi folks,
A new release of the Unix/Win32 atari emulator is available for download
at:
http://www.math.tu-berlin.de/~thor/atari++/
Credits for this release go to:
- Sebastian Pachuta (again!) for pointing me at some bugs in the player
missile timing logic. It is still not perfect, but much closer than
before.
- Bennet (beip...@yahoo.com) for providing me with very detailed
information about the antic DMA timing that got incorporated into the
1.50 release.
What's new this time: Apparently a lot, thus a new tenth digit in the
release counting:
Atari++ 1.50
- This release is mainly a bug-fix release that addresses
a couple of issues especially on 64 bit systems:
- Fixed various erroneous varargs usages, mainly active during
error handling, that caused crashes on AMD64 systems.
- Fixed reference to the linux joystick device. Newer kernels
place this device at /dev/input/jsx instead of /dev/jsx,fixed.
- The H: device handler wildcard matcher now also finds files
whose extender consists of blanks.
- The joystick handler contains now a workaround against
some faulty implementations of the emu10k1 (SoundBlaster)
gameport interface and got basically self-calibrating by
using the second unused joystick axis.
- The DMA timing got reworked heavily. Thanks for that goes to
Bennet (beip...@yahoo.com) for providing me with more detailed
information.
- The way how horizontal timing is organized changed
heavily, and the timing constants for ANTIC and GTIA changed.
Thus, new items in the menu will adjust the timing, and
old ones got removed.
- The player/missile generator changed a bit and is now aware of
some internal GTIA reaction times. Thanks for providing examples for
this goes to Sebastian Pachuta (thanks again!)
- Some heavy bugs got fixed in the X11 interface that could have
caused conflicts with at least some window managers because it
re-opened windows to fast. These problems are now avoided by using a
more careful logic.
- An out-of-bounds memory write in the mathpack emulation got fixed.
- Error handling in the complete menu and error requesters
itself got improved.
- Errors from the X11 subsystem are now captured and reported in
a more user-friendly way.
- The complete user menu creates now string-gadgets for numeric
values whose numeric range is too large to be fine-tunable by
a slider alone.
- Improved the speed of the X11 true-color output by enlarging
the output/color buffer.
And, hopefully, the file server of the TU will make it for a couple of
days, this time... (-;
So long,
Thomas
ASMA 3.1 + ASMADB
ASMA 3.1, the biggest update ever, has come! 188 new tunes, many fixes
and changes. And not only that. We are proud to present you ASMADB, the
search engine to browse through the collection on-line (additional
information in FAQ)!!! Last but not least there are new players
available - ASAP, mmSAP and sapemu.
URL: http://asma.atari.org/
TURGEN SYSTEM 3 Released
(TURGEN SYSTEM 3 is a utility which transfers data from PC to 8-bit
ATARI using Turbo 2000/SuperTurbo)
* New SuperTurbo plugin, allows faster data transfer (2725 bd instead of
2270)
* Improved and simplified plugin system, ready to generate any kind of
Turbo
* Documentation improved and fixed
* Users can sample their own pulses to reach better speed
* Version 3 is now experimental but should work fine
* Source code available
Additional link for atarians from former Czechoslovakia:
http://www.baktra.wz.cz/software/turgen2.html
URL: http://www.baktra.wz.cz/english.html
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Well, we're barrelling straight into
autumn here in the northeast, and the tree in my front yard is starting
to turn colors.
Y'know what that means to me? It means that I'll have to rake the
suckers off the lawn in a week or so.
In the meantime, I found out that the pain in my shoulder is NOT being
caused by the herniated disc in my neck, but by rotator cuff damage.
Ain't entropy great?
I'm going to keep it short this week, since typing is, quite literally,
a pain. But I hope we'll have some interesting conversation despite the
relative brevity.
It's funny, but even though I've been involved with Atari computers for
almost two decades, I still find little surprises once in a while. It's
those little surprises that keep us young, right? I mean, I'm not
ancient or anything, but with the world of high-tech, if you blink, you
get left behind. I don't need to always be at the head of the pack.
There's a lot to be said for being "out front" all of the time.
Another thing I want to mention is that elections are about a month away
here in the States. If you're not registered to vote, get your butt to
your Town Hall and register. That wondrous document, The Constitution,
has given you a voice. Now use it. Like the old joke goes, if ya don't
use it, ya gonna lose it. And don't be taken in by these cheesey
e-voting machines. I'm sorry, but I don't trust 'em. If you know that
your voting district is going to be using electronic voting machines,
call the town registrar and ask if there will be paper ballots
available at the polling places. If they say 'no', ask what recourse
someone who believes that these new machines are open to... ummm...
interference... yeah, that's it... ask 'em what you can do if you
think the new machines are too open to outside interference. If all
else fails, you may still be able to request an absentee ballot.
The bottom line is that I don't care who you vote for (of course, I'd
prefer it if you'd vote my way), but you've GOT to get out there and
vote.
Well, let's take a look at what's new on the UseNet, huh?
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
====================================
Joakim Högberg posts this about XaAES:
"We would like to know what kind of interest there is in keeping
FreeMiNT/XaAES compatible with Atari computers that lack the PMMU.
There are some big changes coming, and Ozk needs to know if there is
enough interest to justify the work needed to maintain compatibility
with setups that lack the PMMU. So how many many Atari ST/e/fm users
are still interested in running XaAES?
Feel free to discuss this matter here, but to report your interest you
should post a comment here too:
http://www.atariforums.com/read.php?26,2285,2287#msg-2287 "
Joe Iron tells Joakim:
"My opinion:
I'm not up-to-date with the current state of XaAes, but if there are
bugs and list of improvements, then it should has the first priority.
After that, the 68000 port should come."
D. Hugh Redeimeier adds:
"My vote shouldn't count much, but I'm interested. I have an STe and a
Mega ST that i'd like to try with FreeMINT/XaAES. I don't even know
how to start. (I've only run TOS and OS/9 on them, and not recently.
How much work is involved? Does the constraint impair support for
newer machines?"
Mark Duckworth adds his thoughts:
"I have a passing interest but last time I checked only 500KB or 1MB is
free when done booting XaAES. The 2.5MB left after MagiC isn't really
all that usable so I'm going to have to say no. Leave the 68000
machines to MagiC."
Joakim tells Mark:
"I think with the latest pre-alpha, something like 2Mb was free after
loading Teradesk. Ozk probably has a better memory regarding this
though."
Michael Bernstein adds:
"I am so crazy and try nearly everything on an old ST without PMMU. From
this point i would like the ability to run XaAES on such machines.
But at the other side there is to less RAM available if i boot with
MiNT, NVDI and XaAES to work seriously with this machine. Only with a
emulator which gives me more than 4 MB ST RAM it was useful. A
reasonable decision was to leave such machines behind and look only at
Ataris with more RAM which mostly have PMMUs (like TT, Falcon)."
Rory McMahon asks for help with his SLM605 laser printer:
"[I've] Got a tough one....
Does anyone have the latest Atari drivers for the SLM605? Cant find the
disk(s) here at home or online...
I have v1.2 driver for the 804, which works somewhat. Printing problems
have arisen.
When I have the 605 connected to 1040STe alone, the printing is fine.
Both screen dumps and text print fine. Have not tried a page with both
simultaneously. I will hunt down my Pagestream disks very soon.
When the 605 plus a hard drive setup with a ICD ADSCSI+, screen dumps
ok and text is readable but looks like extra toner appears randomly
around text. The text is readable, but has dots around it like it was
double striked with an offset. I am using HD-Driver 8.16 with the ICD
interface to std 50pin scsi ibm drive. Any ideas? suggestions?"
Our own publisher, Dana Jacobson, posts this about his tower system:
"Well, having used many many Atari systems and related hardware over the
years, I realize that things malfunction, and eventually die. <sigh>
Well, I had a tower case built many moons ago. That tower housed two
hard drives, a CDROM drive, and my Syquest drive. The hard drives died
ages ago and were never replaced. However, my Syquest has been a
mainstay for my Falcon forever. Well, when I went to work on A-ONE
Monday night, I loaded a Syquest cart like I always do, but it didn't
power up. Damn, here I was thinking that the drive finally went to
Atari heaven - finally - like many of its predecessors. However, I
noticed that the power light on my tower was off. Phew, is that all!?
I turned the switch only to find that I had no power. Okay, so one of
the dogs probably unplugged it. Nope, it was plugged in Nada. Zip.
Zilch...
So my question is, before I break down the tower and my study looking
for a drive I can use with my Falcon, I have a question. It's been
ages since the last time I opened up this tower. Is it likely that
there's a fuse that could have finally blown; and that if I find one
and replace it, I'll be back in business? Most of my old Atari
equipment, including a few drives that were working prior to being
packed and stored, are scattered all over my basement in boxes. So if
I can find a quick and easy solution, I'd prefer not to have to start
digging!!! Any help/advice readily accepted. I know that if there's
an answer to my problem, I'll find it here!!"
Derryck Croker tells Dana:
"Almost certainly a fuse. As to where it is, you'll have to look inside
the case. But first, make sure that the actual plugtop fuse is OK (I
assume that there is one fitted to mains plugs in your country), and
it's always worth trying a new mains lead and checking the wall socket
with something you know works."
Dana replies:
"Well, for the moment, I've found an old hard drive that I hooked up to
the Falcon. I need to do some organizing, but I should be able to do
what I immediately need to do (like get this week's issue of A-ONE
worked on and completed!). One private observation made to me
suggested that the power supply unit on the tower crapped out. We'll
see....
Thanks for the suggestion. I threw caution to the wind, figuring that
I had nothing to lose. I took the cover off of the tower - what a
dusty mess!! <grin> There was no obvious fuse - at least the type
that I thought might be there. I did find a "box" that housed the fan
and outlet plugs. There appeared to be a fuse inside, but it wasn't
what I was expecting (a "regular" fuse of sorts), but appeared to be
some connectors attached to "something". I couldn't get at it to get a
better look, so I left it alone. I put it all back together, for now.
I've found an old hard drive that I've attached to my Falcon. I can
get it to power up, but it must have been a secondary drive that hasn't
been set up to boot. So right now I'm going through my old ICD tapes
in an attempt to set this drive up to boot, as well as load the
software that I need to do what I'd like to do. It's been a long
time....."
'Alyre' asks about ethernet -> serial conversion:
"Could I use an ethernet to serial converter along with Stik to connect
my TT to my ethernet hub to which I have a PC running linux and another
running windows XP? Would this work? Is there an easier solution?"
David Wade tells Alyre:
"If you have an ethernet to serial converter you could use it.
Throughput would be somewhat limited by the speed of the serial link in
the TT. Also these days probably better using STING....
There are a couple of solutions that will offer better performance. If you
can find a Falleron or Daynaport SCSI/Ethernet adaptor then you can use the
drivers from http://www.anodynesoftware.com/ethernet/main.htm. A couple of
problems with this. First these things seem to be getting rare (I got two
from a "Ham Fest" for four dollars canadian a piece) but try an Ebay search.
Actually I found one...
http://tinyurl.com/ecarx <URL converted by Editor>
Secondly they render the floppy drive useless....
The second is an "ethernet" or "EtherASCI" interface. SOme one has made
these (try the archives at groups.google.com) or:-
http://tinyurl.com/hmdbx <URL converted by Editor> "
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 - PlayStation3 Buying Guide!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" No Price Cut for PSP!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Free Report Reveals How to Buy the Playstation 3 for Less than $200
Jeff Mulat, an expert at finding deals on products and services, has two
secret sources on the Internet where gamers can buy the Playstation 3 for
less than $200 when it is released.
It is hard to believe gamers do not know about these places. One of the
two businesses was featured on major news sites such as News.com,
CNNMoney.com, as well as local news stations.
How are your secret sources able to sell the Playstation 3 and still make
a profit?
These businesses are different. They have a business model unlike the
typical online store. If you want to know the details, you have to read the
report to find out, he says.
Mulat reveals his secret sources in his free special report How To Buy
The Playstation 3 For Less Than $200. He is currently transferring the
report to CDs. He will send the report on a CD to any gamer who wants a
copy. But he is only making a limited number of copies. He predicts that
they will run out fast.
Mulat is willing to mail gamers his report because he has made a special
deal with his two secret sources. He will make money in return for sending
them customers. Everyone wins, he says.
If you don't want to pay retail price for the Playstation 3, read my
report.
The free report is available to anyone by visiting
http://www.jeffmulat.com.
Contact:
Jeff Mulat
http://www.jeffmulat.com
Sony Won't Cut PSP Price In '06
Sony Corp. does not expect to cut the U.S. price of its PSP handheld game
system for the rest of 2006, and the number of available games will nearly
double to about 230 in that time, Sony said on Thursday.
Sony introduced the PSP, or PlayStation Portable, in 2005 in a bundled
package that included several accessories and has sold some 5.5 million
units in the United States. Currently it sells the device for $200 without
some original add-ons, as well as a $250 package including the device, a
movie and a memory card.
"We don't necessarily see the need to cut the price," John Koller, a
product manager at Sony Computer Entertainment, told Reuters. "We need to
offer broader value and introduce new consumers to what the PSP can do."
PSP - which offers interactive video games, digital music and video and
lets users surf the Web - faces a tough challenge in the market for
pocket-sized media devices such as Nintendo's DS and Apple Computer Inc.'s
iPod. Critics have suggested a dearth of compelling games has hurt demand.
But Koller says there will be about 110 new titles available by the end of
2006, bringing the roster to about 230. Moreover, Koller added that since
the PSP is a diverse system, with the ability to play games, download video
and enjoy media, its does not compare directly to the other handheld
systems.
He added that Sony would soon detail how the PSP would integrate with
Sony's highly anticipated next-generation game console, the PlayStation 3,
which is due in November.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Vista Will Get Antipiracy Functions
Microsoft will introduce a new system for fighting software piracy with
its upcoming Windows Vista and Windows Longhorn Server operating systems,
company representatives said Wednesday.
Called the Microsoft Software Protection Platform, it's a collection of
technologies that aims to do better at detecting pirated versions of
Windows, and will also force unauthorized versions of its software into a
limited-functionality mode, encouraging users to obtain a legal copy.
People using unlicensed copies of Vista will be blocked from accessing
certain features, including a new interface design called Windows Aero, and
software for fighting pop-up advertisements called Windows Defender,
Microsoft said. The company has already used a reduced functionality mode
with Windows XP.
Users with an unlicensed versions of Windows will also see a persistent
reminder message in the corner of their screen, reading "This copy of
Windows is not genuine."
The new software is bound to come under scrutiny. Microsoft's previous
attempt to reduce unauthorized use of its software, Windows Genuine
Advantage, was partially rolled back after it was criticized as "spyware"
for stealthily installing itself on users' PCs and reporting information
back to Microsoft.
Microsoft said the new technologies are necessary to fight software piracy,
and said end users can also benefit because they are less likely to be
exposed to faulty or compromised software.
End users installing pirated Vista copies, or who don't register their
software using a product key within 30 days, will have their OS
functionality reduced. The product key is an ID number assigned to
customers for each purchase of Windows. The company said it will also be
able to track more easily when products are activated with product keys
that have been stolen from a business.
Regardless of the authenticity of their Vista copy, all users will have
access to Microsoft security updates, the company said.
For businesses that use volume license keys for Vista and Longhorn Server,
Microsoft will introduce new, policy-based tools for activating those
systems. The new tools, called Microsoft Volume Activation 2.0, won't be
linked to Microsoft's software billing systems, the company said.
Windows Vista and Windows Server Longhorn - the code name for the next
version of Microsofta??s server software - will be the first products to
ship with the antipiracy technologies, but they'll eventually be used in
more of its products.
Around 35 percent of all software installed worldwide in 2005 was pirated
or unlicensed, Microsoft said, citing a figure from the Business Software
Alliance, an industry group.
AOL To Debut Unified 'OpenRide' Software
AOL on Wednesday plans to launch a new version of its software that lets
users access their e-mail, instant messaging, search and media on the same
screen.
The new software, dubbed AOL OpenRide, comes after it announced plans this
summer to offer most of its services for free in an effort to boost online
advertising sales.
It also stopped marketing its Internet dial-up access service, but
continues to maintain and charge for it.
OpenRide, which lets users check e-mail from rivals such as Google Inc. and
Yahoo Inc. reflects a new approach to courting users.
Although it has made most of its services free, AOL now also aims to have
users rely on its software for other functions, such as viewing photos or
listening to a music collection stored on the PC using the OpenRide.
The software screen is divided into four parts that change size depending
on what the user is viewing. Elements of one window, an e-mail message for
example, can be dragged and dropped into another window, such as the
contact name on a buddy list.
AOL Offers Parental Controls Software To All Web Users
AOL on Monday started offering its parental controls software to all Web
users, the latest step in the Internet service provider's transition to an
entertainment portal.
AOL, a unit of Time Warner, has always made the software available to
subscribers of its proprietary service, which was mostly used by dial-up
subscribers. The tools provide parents with age-based access controls to
Web sites, as well as controls on instant messaging and chat. In addition,
parents can get email reports on their children's online activities.
The software is available at no charge through the AOL portal. A credit
card is needed for age verification during registration.
AOL has been opening up its proprietary services as part of its strategy of
transitioning from a closed ISP to a public Web portal competing for ad
dollars with Yahoo and others. The move followed several years of a
declining subscriber base as people traded dialup for broadband.
Rivals Charge Microsoft Wants To "Hamstring" Them
Microsoft is working to hamstring software companies trying to overcome
"inherent weaknesses" in Windows security, rival McAfee Inc. charged in a
full-page ad in Monday's Financial Times.
McAfee, Symantec and other security software companies argue Microsoft's
new Vista operating system will make it more difficult to protect customers
because for the first time, they have been denied access to the core of the
operating system.
Neither company has filed a formal complaint and so far the European
Commission has taken no formal action on the matter.
"We have an ongoing dialogue with Microsoft. It's not up to us to give them
a green light. It's up to them to assure full compliance" with the law, a
European Commission spokesman said.
The Commission says it gained authority over Microsoft's additional new
offering as part of a landmark 2004 case which found that the company
abused its dominant position in the Windows operating system to damage
rivals.
Microsoft says it may withhold shipping Vista to European Union states
when it distributes the operating system next month to computer makers and
companies, out of concern about enforcement action. But no decision has
been made.
"Our goal is to deliver a fully innovative, secure version of Windows Vista
that is compliant with EU law. We have an ongoing and constructive
dialogue with the Commission on these issues," a Microsoft spokesman said.
McAfee's ad echoes comments by Symantec officials in a recent interview
that Microsoft has withdrawn cooperation as it moves to substitute their
security software with its own, giving its own product a leg-up in Windows.
They say they are denied access to the heart of the operating system
through built-in software locks, which makes it much harder to protect.
"Microsoft is being completely unrealistic if, by locking security
companies out of the kernel (core), it thinks hackers won't crack Vista's
kernel. In fact, they already have," the advert in the Financial Times
read.
Microsoft disagrees.
"Partners are at the core of Microsoft's business model. We have worked
closely with our security partners throughout the development of Windows
Vista, and continue to do so," it said.
The informal complaints of security companies echo those of other companies
over the years, which charged that Microsoft illegally cut them out of
their core markets.
The companies sued or were at the center of enforcement actions in the
United States, European Union and South Korea. Regulators tried to get
Microsoft to get changes its business practices, but none has succeeded.
Microsoft defends its practices as proper, legal and a boon to consumers
and innovation. It says that it should be able to improve Windows without
harassment by governments and has made a court challenge to the
Commission's 2004 decision.
Companies have lost their dominant positions to Microsoft, then either
exited the market, ceased competing or settled their lawsuits against the
software giant for sums reaching hundreds of millions of dollars.
These firms include the browser maker Netscape, now defunct, the server
maker Novell and the streaming media player RealNetworks.
Once Microsoft conquers a market its innovation generally slows as it turns
to focus on new, unconquered markets.
McAfee argues that Microsoft "seems to envision a world in which one giant
company not only controls the systems that drive most computers around the
world but also the security that protects those computers from viruses and
other online threats.
"Only one approach protecting us all: when it fails, it fails for
97 percent of the world's desktops," McAfee said in the ad.
"Computer users around the globe recognize that the most serious threats
to security exist because of inherent weaknesses in the Microsoft operating
system."
Microsoft Says Appeals 281 Million Euro Fine
Software giant Microsoft has filed an appeal against a 280.5 million euro
($356.4 million) fine the European Commission imposed in July, holding it
defied a 2004 antitrust ruling.
"As Microsoft said in July, we would appeal the fines imposed on the
company at that time. The deadline for the appeal was October 2," a
Microsoft spokesman said on Tuesday.
The appeal was lodged with the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg, the
second highest European Union court. Microsoft says it has been trying to
comply with the 2004 decision but the Commission said the company has
dragged its feet.
The 280.5 million euro fine was on top of a record fine of 497 million
euros the Commission imposed in its landmark antitrust decision against th
U.S. software giant in March 2004.
Microsoft also appealed the 2004 decision to the Court of First Instance.
The court is expected to rule late this year or next year in the main case.
Developers Can Now Search Code With Google
Google Inc. is introducing a new search service that only a geek could
love.
The Web search leader said late on Wednesday it is introducing Google Code
Search, a site that simplifies how software developers search for
programming code to improve existing software or create new programs.
Google product manager Tom Stocky said the Mountain View, California-based
company is set to help programmers sift through billions of lines of
computer source code using its familiar search box to uncover snippets of
reusable software.
"For a long time it has been sort of an unsolved problem," said Stocky, a
product manager in the developer products group. "It is hard to find
references to this sort of data."
Google is applying the same machine-driven techniques it uses to help
consumers search the Web for text, images, video and books to help
professional programmers as well as computer enthusiasts overcome stumbling
blocks to writing code.
Searchers can seek out specific programming terms or computer languages and
dive deep into compressed code to locate specific features. Users also can
narrow a search to find software code based on specific licensing
requirements, which is a big deal in warding off future patent litigation.
Similar to how a consumer might type a few words into a standard Google
search box for answers, programmers can seek out relevant lines of code at
http://google.com/codesearch-except the results are for machine-readable
phrases such as "go{2}gle" "hello,\ world" or "^int printk."
It's commonplace, when looking to improve a particular line of software,
for most code writers to search the Web for quick tips. But finding actual
programming code rather than just discussions about a particular coding
problem is tough.
To meet this need, sites such as Koder, O'Reilly Labs or
ProgrammingIsHard.com have sprung up that offer repositories of code. Most
are small, require membership and are often devoted to only a specific
class of software or problem.
Some programmers say Google Code Search answers some of the nightmares of
building software, by creating a central place to trawl for publicly
available code.
"(Google Code Search) may come in handy when looking for different ways of
approaching a particular programming problem," said Niall Kennedy, a San
Francisco technical blog commentator.
Others were less impressed: "Functional and simple, but therein lies the
problem," said the writer of a site called "Digital Alchemy", who sees few
advantages over existing sites.
Google searches through code repositories that are popular among
programmers-CollabNet's Subversion and another alternative called CVS,
Stocky said.
The service began as a way for Google programmers to search through
internal company code. It added a search of publicly available code and
recently Google decided it might as well open up the service to others.
Google Code Search is in test mode on Google's Labs site.
Initially, Google Code Search is free of advertising. Should the site prove
popular, Stocky said Google may consider running pay-per-click advertising
along search results, the way it makes money from its more mainstream
search services, he said.
U.S. Steps Back from Internet Control
The U.S. government is loosening its grip on the domain name system and is
edging closer to giving ICANN - the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers - a greater measure of autonomy in making decisions about the
future of the Internet.
ICANN described the organization's new pact with the U.S. Department of
Commerce as "a dramatic step forward."
ICANN, a private, nonprofit international organization, currently oversees
the domain name system under a contract that was to expire on September 30.
The organization has been the target of much criticism in the U.S. and
abroad for conducting its business in private and for keeping the domain
name system within U.S. control.
Under terms of the new pact, ICANN will no longer be under the direct
control of the Commerce Department, with future decisions about the domain
name system to be made by the organization itself in conjunction with the
global community.
ICANN will now issue an annual report to the Commerce Department rather
than an update every six months. And from now on, the Commerce Department
will meet with senior ICANN staff "from time to time."
A chief argument against completely handing over control is whether ICANN
is ready for the job. Over the past several years, there have been many
calls by other countries for ICANN itself to become more international and
operate more like the U.N., with members from countries around the world
voting on key decisions.
Among those weighing in on the transfer of power is Internet name registrar
and hosting service GoDaddy.com, which contends that the U.S. should remain
involved to guarantee ICANN accountability.
Others, such as The Internet Society, said that any delays in handing the
domain name system over to ICANN threaten the political credibility of the
system and its international development.
"The Internet has been global from at least the time when it became
commercialized," said Brian Washburn, an analyst with technology research
firm Current Analysis, in a recent interview. It "stands to reason" that
the governing body should also be outside any single country's control, he
said.
Google Buys Garage Where Empire Began
Internet search leader Google Inc. has added a landmark to its rapidly
expanding empire - the Silicon Valley home where co-founders Larry Page and
Sergey Brin rented a garage eight years ago as they set out to change the
world.
The Mountain View-based company bought the 1,900-square-foot home in nearby
Menlo Park from one of its own employees, Susan Wojcicki, who had agreed to
lease her garage for $1,700 per month because she wanted some help paying
the mortgage.
Wojcicki, now Google's vice president of product management, didn't work
for the company at the time and only knew the Stanford University graduate
students because one of her friends had dated Brin.
During Google's five-month history there, the garage became like a second
home for Page and Brin.
The entrepreneurs, then just 25, seemed to be always working on their
search engine or soaking in the hot tub that still sits on the property.
They also had a penchant for raiding Wojcicki's refrigerator - a habit that
may have inspired Google to provide a smorgasbord of free food to the 8,000
employees on its payroll.
When Page and Brin first moved in the garage, Google had just been
incorporated with a bankroll of $1 million raised from a handful of
investors. Today, Google has about $10 billion in cash and a market value
of $125 billion.
The company's astounding growth has imbued its birthplace with the same
kind of mystique attached to other hallowed Silicon Valley spots like the
Palo Alto garage where Hewlett-Packard Co. started in 1938 and the Los
Altos garage where Steve Jobs and his partner Steve Wozniak first began to
build Apple computers in the 1970s.
HP paid $1.7 million for 12-by-18-foot garage that co-founder William
Hewlett first rented for $45 per month.
Google declined to reveal how much it paid for its original home, but
similar houses in the same neighborhood have been selling in the $1.1
million to $1.3 million range. That's a small fraction of the $319 million
that Google paid earlier this year for its current 1-million-square-foot
headquarters located six miles to the south.
Although the Google garage isn't considered a historic site quite yet, it
already has turned into a tourist attraction.
The busloads of people that show up to take pictures of the house and
garage have become such an annoyance that Google asked The Associated Press
not to publish the property's address, although it can easily be found on
the Internet using the company's search engine.
Google may use the home as a guest house, but nothing definitive has been
worked out. "We plan to preserve the property as a part of our living
legacy," said Google spokesman Jon Murchinson.
Google In Talks To Buy Web Video Site YouTube
Internet search leader Google Inc is in talks to buy popular Web video site
YouTube Inc. for close to $1.6 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on
Friday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
According to the newspaper, the talks are at a sensitive stage and could
break off.
Representatives for Google and YouTube were not immediately available for
comment. Separately, Internet blog TechCrunch.com talked of what it called
a completely unsubstantiated rumor of talks between Google and YouTube.
YouTube has quickly ascended to the rank of top Internet video site since
it was founded in February 2005 by letting users share homemade video
clips.
The site has been a subject of buyout speculation for months since its
Chief Executive Chad Hurley was the toast of Allen & Co.'s media mogul
retreat in July. Hurley has said in interviews with Reuters and elsewhere
that the company was not up for sale.
The site reports serving about 100 million videos daily and has attracted
scrutiny from major media companies for pirated versions of copyrighted
entertainment appearing on its pages.
YouTube commands a 47 percent share of the online video search market as
of September 30, compared with 22 percent for News Corp.'s MySpace video
site and 11 percent for Google Video, according to Internet measurement
firm HitWise Inc.
YouTube site serves about 32 million unique visitors monthly and has about
$11.5 million in venture capital financing from Sequoia Capital.
YouTube Headed for a Big Crash
YouTube, one of the world's most popular Web sites, might be headed for a
crash. At least one industry watcher is predicting crippling
copyright-violation litigation coming from the entertainment industry.
Forrester Research has added its voice to the growing chorus of naysayers
who believe video service YouTube will soon go the way of Napster, the
once-ubiquitous file-sharing service brought down by a myriad of lawsuits.
"I don't believe they can avoid a lawsuit and maintain their popularity,"
said Forrester's Josh Bernoff.
Much like Naspter during the late 1990s, YouTube is building its business
by using material that often contains copyrighted content. Although Napster
eventually rebounded and relaunched in 2001 as a legitimate digital-music
service, it never regained its massive popularity.
YouTube has grown dramatically over the last couple of years by providing
users the ability to post and share videos to a worldwide audience. It is
the third most viewed site on the Internet after MySpace and Yahoo.
Recently, financial analysts have tagged the company's value at around
$1.5 billion.
However, of the more than 100 million videos watched daily on YouTube -
approximately 60 percent of all videos watched online - an estimated 90
percent violate copyright laws, according to analysts.
Universal Music Group, the world's biggest record company, recently accused
YouTube of being a serial copyright infringer. Universal CEO Doug Morris
said as much during a Merrill Lynch investors' conference speech last
month.
"The poster child for (user-generated media) sites are MySpace and
YouTube," said Morris, according to released transcripts of the closed-door
meeting. "We believe these new businesses are copyright infringers and owe
us tens of millions of dollars."
One big issue for YouTube is that most videos on its site created by
amateurs are accompanied by other people's music. "If YouTube was to police
all submissions, and post only original content from users, the material
would be less entertaining, and the site would lose a large percentage of
its visitors," said Bernoff.
The company has made moves to stave off potential lawsuits from the music
industry by trying to cement deals with players who might have the most
reason to go after them in court. Last month, for example, YouTube inked a
deal with Warner Music Group to distribute music videos. And in June, NBC
said it would promote its fall TV lineup on YouTube.
Bernoff wrote in a recent blog posting that YouTube needs to proactively
make more moves like these, or it's going to be a lot more difficult to
maintain its user community. Bernoff also said YouTube would be best served
by removing the reams of copyrighted material on its site and allow users
to only post material that does not violate copyright.
Wal-Mart Closes MySpace Clone 'The Hub'
Wal-Mart Stores has shut down "The Hub," its attempt to cash in on the
craze for social networking with a MySpace-like clone.
Visitors to The Hub web site on Wednesday morning were greeted with the
message: "Sorry, but the School Your Way promotion has ended. You will be
redirected to Walmart.com where you can always find the hottest fashions,
music, and more all year long."
Soon after The Hub launched in July, visitors to the site were reportedly
turned off by "user" comments that promoted the site and Wal-Mart products,
convincing some that the users were in fact hired spokespeople. Advertising
Age called the site "highly sanitized and controlled".
In a statement made to Arkansas paper The Morning News, however, a
Wal-Mart spokeswoman characterized The Hub as "an online destination for
students to preview the latest back-to-school fashions and merchandise at
Wal-Mart while engaging in a creative contest to express their personality
and style," she said.
Interestingly, however, Wal-Mart has published its own MySpace page, which
allows users to vote for their favorite musics, electronics, and "dorm room
essentials". The site's "friends" also include past and present Wal-Mart
employees.
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