DIGITAL DIVIDE
Penguin Enrolls in U.S. Schools (Wired)
India's $200 ``Simputer'' Set for November Roll-Out (SJM)
ANTITRUST
Court's Rebuke May Push Microsoft Toward U.S. Deal (WSJ)
WIRELESS
Bluetooth Wireless Stumbles at the Starting Gate (NYT)
DIGITAL DIVIDE
PENGUIN ENROLLS IN U.S. SCHOOLS
Issue: EdTech
For financially strained public school systems, Linux (and its Penguin
mascot) represents a way to avoid
paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for software. Although 98 percent of
the schools in the U.S. have
Internet access, software costs can be prohibitive, especially now that
Microsoft is stepping up efforts to stop
license infringement in schools, forcing them to pay for every single copy
of Windows they run. The solution
for many schools is an open source platform such as Linux. The appeal is
self-evident: everybody can copy the
operating system, modify it and download free software from the Internet;
and, according to some, Linux is
easier than Windows NT to keep in shape -- a linux system can be can be
administrated remotely. Another
plus is that Linux runs on 486s and Pentium 75s -- machines incapable of
running the latest versions of
Windows, but still on stock at many schools. The next step is to go beyond
homework, word processing and
school administration into the nature of open source itself -- by enabling
students and teachers to do their own
development. At the Beacon School, an alternative public high school in New
York City, students get their
own shell account, and are offered a class in programming languages Java,
PHP and SQL.
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Angel Gonzalez]
(http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,45862,00.html)
INDIA'S $200 "SIMPUTER" SET FOR NOVEMBER ROLL-OUT
Issue: Digital Divide
The ``Simputer,'' a $200 hand-held Indian computer that uses Linux
open-source software
will hit the market in November, according to the firm spearheading the
manufacture of
the device designed by a non-profit trust. Designed for mass use, the
Simputer is part of an
effort to bring the Internet to rural areas in India and potentialy other
parts of the
developing world. Besides being able to access the Internet, the larger
small computer has
a text-to-speech software and other easy-to-use applications aimed at
bringing the benifits
of technology to people who can't even read. The Simputer, powered by an
Intel chip
offers a 32 megabit memory and can be shared by users through a ``smart
card'' reader
which stores personal information. Less than one percent of the Indian
population currently
have personal computers, but several provincial governments are increasingly
using
technology to help the rural population.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/tech/078985.htm)
ANTITRUST
COURT'S REBUKE MAY PUSH MICROSOFT TOWARD U.S. DEAL
Issue: Antitrust
Antitrust experts are citing a harshly worded federal appeals-court order
and uncertain prospects before a
lower court as major incentives for Microsoft to make a deal with the
Justice Department in its antitrust case.
Paul Rothstein, a Georgetown University law professor, said he thinks the
appeals court was "trying to
position things for a settlement" when it rejected the stay and rebuked
Microsoft for having "misconstrued" an
earlier appellate decision setting aside Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's
order to break up the Redmond,
Wash., company. Microsoft had asked the appeals court to delay the remedy
while it appeals its case to the
U.S. Supreme Court, contending it may get the whole case thrown out based on
inappropriate comments to the
media by Judge Jackson. But in its order Friday, the appeals court said
Microsoft "has misconstrued our
opinion, particularly with respect to what would have been required to
justify vacating the district court's
findings of fact and conclusions of law as a remedy for the violation" of
antitrust law. "That's awfully harsh.
They didn't have to say that," said Robert Lande, a University of Baltimore
law professor. Mr. Lande and
others said the tone of the rebuke suggests the only potentially sympathetic
judicial forum left for the
company is now the Supreme Court.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Simpson & Wigfield]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB99806603799795018.htm)
(subscription required)
WIRELESS
BLUETOOTH WIRELESS STUMBLES AT THE STARTING GATE
Issue: Wireless
Bluetooth: after a slow start and endless hype, will the wireless protocol
live up to expectations? Bluetooth
has been lauded for what it could do: make cell phones and computers
synchronize their contact lists as soon
as they were within 30 feet; enable hand-held computers to send documents
through the air to a nearby
printers; or allow laptops to surf the Web using a phone's cellular network.
Supporters have argued that every
electronic device or appliance - from computers to microwave ovens - will
eventually use a Bluetooth chip
to talk automatically with other devices. But "eventually" can be a long
time. Estimates of widespread
Bluetooth use by 2005 won't be met because of a sagging tech market, slowing
sales of handheld computers,
trouble with the specifications and the rise of competing wireless protocols
have contributed to generally poor
uptake. Industry leaders say that with a new set of technical specifications
and a more stable platform,
Bluetooth is finally ready to pick up speed later this year, and take off in
2002. Motorola, Ericsson, 3Com,
Compaq, Toshiba Palm will have a Blueetooth device available by end of year.
Chief challenger to Bluetooth
is another networking standard, IEEE 802.11b, or Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi networks allow
computer users to connect to
the Internet wirelessly from coffee bars, as well as from some shops,
airport and hotel lounges and corporate
offices and college campuses.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Chris Gaither]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/20/technology/ebusiness/20BLUE.html)
(registration required)
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