.net (French) 1996 November/.net Magazine (FR) - Issue 01 - Nov 1996.iso/mac/Courrier/Pegasus Mail v2.1.2 Folder/Mail/PCF8B0.CNM

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Edupage, 2 May 1996.  Edupage, a summary of news items on information
technology, is provided three times each week as a service by Educom,
a Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and universities
seeking to transform education through the use of information technology.
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TOP STORIES
        MFS To Buy UUNET, Stock Options Scrutinized
        NBC Looks To MCI To Replace Satellite Distribution
        Companies Get Javatized
        Georgia Law Could Prohibit Web Links
        Cookie-Cutter Microchips
        Pentium Prices Plunge, Dell Passes Savings On
        Greener Chips

ALSO
        Mcafee Abandons Merger Try With Cheyenne
        WTO Global Telecom Deal
        Digital TV Converter Boxes
        Gerstner:  IBM's No Longer An Endangered Species
        American Giants Take Aim At Telesat
        Online Advertising
        Bell Companies:  No Knife, No Kettle, No Boiling Water

MFS TO BUY UUNET, STOCK OPTIONS SCRUTINIZED
MFS Communications will purchase UUNet Technologies for about $2 billion in
stock, giving MFS the ability to offer its corporate customers one-stop
shopping for local, long-distance and Internet access services.  (Wall
Street Journal 1 May 96 A3)  The Chicago Board Options Exchange is looking
into unusually heavy trading of UUNet stock options just prior to the
disclosure of its deal with MFS.  Trading volume in certain UUNet options
contracts more than tripled on Monday.  The CBOE will turn its findings over
the Securities and Exchange Commission.  An investor with inside knowledge
could have bought 100 UUNet options for $30,000 on Monday and sold them
Tuesday for $65,000.  (Wall Street Journal 2 May 96 B6)

NBC LOOKS TO MCI TO REPLACE SATELLITE DISTRIBUTION
NBC will begin testing MCI's high-speed HyperMedia service to distribute
video to its affiliate stations around the country.  The service allows
affiliates to use video workstations to connect to the server via 1.544-Mbps
to 12-Mbps switched multimegabit data services, or 45-Mbps asynchronous
transfer mode technology.  Other possible HyperMedia customers include
companies who want to do video training over the network and hospitals and
research centers providing telemedical services.  "This is part of the trend
of moving applications onto the network," says MCI's chief engineering
officer.  (Information Week 22 Apr 96 p28)

COMPANIES GET JAVATIZED
Apple Computer has licensed Sun Microsystems' Java software for use in
Apple's Macintosh, Newton and Pippin operating systems.  (Wall Street
Journal 1 May 96 B7)  Sun Microsystems also announced licensing agreements
with Microsoft, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and others, giving Sun the potential
for turning Java into an operating system for the Internet.  "Java
accomplishes what has been considered by many to be the Holy Grail of
computing, to enable software to run across all operating systems," says the
president of Sun's JavaSoft subsidiary.  (Investor's Business Daily 2 May 96 A9)

GEORGIA LAW COULD PROHIBIT WEB LINKS
Legislation recently signed into law by Georgia Governor Zell Miller is
aimed at preventing fraud in cyberspace, but critics say it could force
developers of World Wide Web pages to remove links to other pages.  The law
makes it a crime to "falsely identify" oneself on the Net, or to direct
people to someone else's computer without the other person's explicit
permission.  "The law is written so poorly, and it criminalizes things that
are a very basic way of operating on the Internet, that we're not sure how
it would be enforced," says the legal counsel for the Electronic Frontier
Foundation.  (Chronicle of Higher Education 3 May 96 A29)

COOKIE-CUTTER MICROCHIPS
While other researchers are experimenting with X-ray lithography for etching
minute lines onto silicon wafers, a professor at the University of Minnesota
has developed a way to stamp ultrathin lines on microchips "almost like they
were cookies."  Stephen Chou's research team recently was able to imprint
wafers with lines just 0.025 microns wide, and Chou's "quite confident" that
they can get down to 0.01-micron lines -- "maybe even smaller."  (Business
Week 6 May 96 p95)

PENTIUM PRICES PLUNGE, DELL PASSES SAVINGS ON
Intel has cut the price of its Pentium and Pentium Pro chips by 10% to 30%,
bringing the cost of a $428 150 Mhz Pentium down to $364, for instance. In
response, Dell Computer has lowered prices on its OptiPlex computer line by
21%, and some of its Latitude laptops by 8%.  "When the cost of components
such as memory chips or processors drops rapidly, a company that maintains
about 30 days of inventory is able to quickly pass along those savings in
the form of lower prices by the end of the month," says CEO Michael Dell.
(Investor's Business Daily 2 May 96 A9)

GREENER CHIPS
A study financed by the Semiconductor Research Corp., the National Science
Foundation and Sematech will look for ways to improve the environmental,
health and safety aspects of semiconductor manufacturing.  The University of
Arizona will work on reducing the amount of highly purified water needed to
rinse and clean silicon wafers, and will try to reduce energy needs in the
process.  (Investor's Business Daily 1 May 96 A6)

===================================================

MCAFEE ABANDONS MERGER TRY WITH CHEYENNE
Deciding not to continue a merger attempt that would have turned into a
hostile takeover, McAfee Associates (maker of software for detecting
computer viruses) has withdrawn its $1 billion offer to take over Cheyenne
Software (maker of software for managing personal computer networks).  (New
York Times 2 May 96 C6)

WTO GLOBAL TELECOM DEAL
World Trade Organization talks aimed at liberalizing telecommunications
regulations have been put on hold until after the U.S. presidential election
is over and American negotiators are free to make the sort of compromises
they dare not make in the lead-up to the election for fear of offending
industry groups and voters.   (Toronto Globe & Mail 30 Apr 96 B8 & 1 May 96 B7)

DIGITAL TV CONVERTER BOXES
The General Instrument Corporation will begin shipping the first generation
of digital converter boxes to cable companies Tele-Communications Inc., Cox
Communications, and Comcast, allowing viewers to receive up to 320 channels
with superb picture and sound.  General Instrument has also contracted with
small companies such as Wink and ACTV to develop software to allow
customized versions of programs -- e.g., giving a viewer the ability to push
a remote control to see an "instant replay" on demand.  (New York Times 1
May C18)

GERSTNER SAYS IBM'S NO LONGER AN ENDANGERED SPECIES
IBM CEO Louis V. Gerstner Jr. told the annual shareholder's meeting that
when he took over the company "IBM was on the endangered species list,"  but
that dramatic cost cutting and market changes have shifted demand to IBM:
"IBM has an opportunity to lead the shift to network computing.  That's
where the action is again, and that's where it hasn't been for many years."
(Atlanta Journal-Constitution 1 May 96 D1)

AMERICAN GIANTS TAKE AIM AT TELESAT
Telesat Canada's ambitious $1.6-billion satellite program has run into
fierce opposition from American broadcasters who want to stop competitors
from using Canadian satellites to beam into the lucrative U.S. market.  At
least five major direct-to-home companies (including AT&T, MCI, DirecTV,
Echostar Satellite and United States Satellite Broadcasting) want the
Federal Communications Commission to block rivals Tele-Communications Inc.
and Telquest Communications from using Telesat Canada satellites since
neither company can find space on American satellites.  Although the FCC has
no jurisdiction over Canadian satellites, the two companies still need FCC
"landing rights" licences.  (Toronto Financial Post 30 Apr 96 p1)

ONLINE ADVERTISING
Proctor & Gamble has raised the ire of online services by limiting payment
for some of its ads on the World Wide Web to the number of people who
actually seek additional information rather than everyone who sees the ads.
Advertising Age magazine reports Web directory service Yahoo! has agreed to
accept ads from P&G, one of the United States' major advertisers, on a
"click-through" rather than an "eyeball" basis.  (Ottawa Citizen 29 Apr 96
A10)  ...  And in the United Kingdom, an interactive TV commercial is being
piloted with 100,000 London-area homes;  viewers watching the Frosted
Flakes cereal commercial will be able to send commands through a set-top
box to control some of the actions of Tony the Tiger and other cartoon
characters.  (Financial Times 1 May 96 p1)

BELL COMPANIES:  NO KNIFE, NO KETTLE, NO BOILING WATER
Rejecting suggestions that the proposed Bell Atlantic merger with Nynex will
slash into jobs and restore the Bell companies to their original monopoly
status,  Bell Atlantic CEO Raymond W. Smith says:  "There are folks who just
can't help ruminating about the Bell System jumping up one more time -- like
Glenn Close in 'Fatal Attraction' -- to murder competition and boil it in a
kettle."  (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 1 May 96 D3)

Edupage is written by John Gehl ([e-mail]) & Suzanne Douglas
([e-mail]).  Voice:  404-371-1853, Fax: [phone].

Technical support is provided by the Office of Information Technology,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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