MacFormat 1996 October/MacFormat CD Edition MF42 (October 1996).ISO/mac/Shareware City/Info/Tidbits/tidbits-329.etx

Text File | 1996-05-27 | 29.3 KB | 601 lines | [TEXT/R*ch]

TidBITS#329/20-May-96
=====================

It's the week after WWDC and the Macintosh world is buzzing. Check
   below for info on the next version of the Mac OS and Apple
   technologies like Project X, Apple e.g., QuickTime and Linux for
   the Macintosh. Also this week, details on using Apple's LocalTalk
   and LaserWriter Bridges with Open Transport, everything you could
   every want to know about TidBITS, and a thought-provoking essay
   from Robert Hettinga on Apple, big business, and the Internet.

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- <[e-mail]>
   Makers of hard drives, tape drives, and neat SCSI accessories.
   For APS price lists, email: <[e-mail]>
* Northwest Nexus -- 206/455-3505 -- <http://www.halcyon.com/>
   Providing access to the global Internet. <[e-mail]>
* Power Computing -- 800/375-7693 -- <[e-mail]>
   Now shipping... The Award-Winning First MacOS Compatible!
   Press comments! <http://www.powercc.com/News/quotes.html>
* America Online -- 800/827-6364 -- <http://www.aol.com/>
   The world's largest provider of online services.
   Give Back to the Net -- <http://www.aol.com/give/>
* EarthLink Network -- 800/395-8425 -- <[e-mail]>
   Providers of direct Internet access for Macintosh users.
   For eWorld refugees: no setup fee! <http://www.earthlink.net/>
* DealBITS: Great CD-ROM and hardware deals this week! <----- NEW!
   <http://www.tidbits.com/dealbits/> -- <[e-mail]>

Copyright 1990-1996 Adam & Tonya Engst. Details at end of issue.
   Information: <[e-mail]> Comments: <[e-mail]>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

Topics:
    MailBITS/20-May-96
    TidBITS on TidBITS
    LaserWriter/LocalTalk Bridges with Open Transport
    Crazy Ideas from Apple
    Apple, the Business Market, and Geodesic Networks

<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1996/TidBITS#329_20-May-96.etx>


MailBITS/20-May-96
------------------

**Before Copland, Harmony** -- Following Apple's announcement that
  Copland (now being referred to as "Mac OS 8") would not ship until
  mid-1997, Apple surprised no one at WWDC by speculating there
  would be a pre-Copland release of the Mac OS, currently codenamed
  "Harmony." Scheduled for release in roughly the first half of
  1997, Harmony should wrap QuickDraw 3D, QuickTime 2.5, OpenDoc,
  Cyberdog, and some Copland technologies into the system. I've also
  heard Harmony will carry through on Apple's recently announced
  plans to build a Web server into the Mac OS, and incorporate Java
  support (last week, Apple licensed Natural Intelligence's Java
  implementation in an effort to get better performance and reduce
  dependencies on Sun). [GD]

<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1996/q3/
960516.pr.rel.roaster.html>


**Developer Release of MkLinux** -- Apple recently announced the
  first developer release of MkLinux, a port of the Linux operating
  system for the Power Macintosh based on the Mach microkernel (see
  TidBITS-313_). Although right now MkLinux only runs on NuBus-based
  Power Macs (the 6100, 7100, and 8100), Apple plans to make MkLinux
  available for PCI Power Macs and on future PowerPC Platform
  machines. You can purchase CD-ROM versions of MkLinux DR1 for $10
  from Prime Time Freeware (with complete source code!), but if you
  have a (very) fast connection, the entire release is available
  online. [GD]

<http://www.mklinux.apple.com/>
<http://www.ptf.com/ptf/products/MKLP/>


**Info-Mac Web Site** -- It's been a long time coming, but the
  Info-Mac team has finally assembled an "official" Info-Mac Web
  site in cooperation with Pacific HiTech. The volunteer-run Info-
  Mac archive has been a staple of the online community for over ten
  years, and the new Web site should serve as a central location for
  finding information about Info-Mac, mirror sites, search engines,
  the Info-Mac digest, and more. Even better, when you tell people
  about Info-Mac, you can now give them a single URL. [GD]

<http://www.pht.com/info-mac/>


**Metrowerks** recently announced the availability of CodeWarrior
  9, the latest installment of its Mac software development
  environment. CodeWarrior 9 offers full support for Java as well as
  third-party plug-ins, including compilers from Apple and Motorola.
  Metrowerks also announced it has signed an agreement with
  Microsoft to provide support for Java and ActiveX (Microsoft's
  Internet version of the little-loved OLE). Not stopping there,
  Metrowerks will provide Java support for Microsoft Internet
  Explorer along with InterCon's Internet products. [GD]

<http://www.metrowerks.com/
<http://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo/press/1996/may96/metro2pr.htm>
<http://www.intercon.com/pressreleases/metrowerks.html>


**Connectix and America Online** have announced a joint project to
  bring rudimentary videoconferencing to AOL users. AOL will begin
  selling the Connectix Color QuickCam (now available for both
  Macintosh and Windows) in its online store, and Connectix will
  implement technology to allow AOL users to exchange still images
  and even video while communicating online. Software to enable
  these features is expected later this year. [MHA]


TidBITS on TidBITS
------------------
  by Adam C. Engst <[e-mail]>

  Publishing TidBITS every week for the last six years has given us
  a good sense of continuity. We usually know off the top of our
  heads whether we've written about a topic, who wrote about it, and
  how long ago the issue was published. But it's easy for us to
  forget that many of our readers - in fact, _most_ of our readers -
  haven't been along for the whole ride. During Macworld Expo in
  January, I met many TidBITS readers, but two in particular made me
  decide to write this article. One reader introduced himself, said
  how much he liked TidBITS, and that he'd been reading since issue
  50 in 1991. A few minutes later, another reader came by, said he
  liked TidBITS, and had been reading for two issues. So, though
  long-term readers have read a few articles like this, I thought
  I'd write another to help newer readers figure out who publishes
  TidBITS, where TidBITS came from, and why.


**Who, When, Why, and How** -- Being on the TidBITS staff is more a
  life-style than a job. TidBITS is run by an odd triumvirate
  consisting of myself, Tonya Engst, and Geoff Duncan. I sometimes
  take the title of Publisher, Geoff is more or less our Managing
  Editor, and Tonya is probably our Senior Editor and the most
  organized of us all. A multitude of other people help with
  TidBITS, and we are grateful for their able assistance. In
  particular, Mark Anbinder, our News Editor, has written loads of
  articles for us over the years; Mark Williamson at Rice University
  has been stunningly gracious in administering the TidBITS mailing
  list; Lauren Snell makes DealBITS possible, and a whole slew of
  wonderful people translate TidBITS into a variety of languages.

  TidBITS started in April of 1990, before Tonya and I were married,
  long before we met Geoff, and when we still lived in Ithaca, New
  York, where we'd both grown up and attended Cornell University.
  TidBITS began as an effort to summarize the latest news in the
  Macintosh industry and has expanded to include software reviews,
  editorials, and an emphasis on the Internet.

  We distributed the first 99 issues as a HyperCard stack that
  functioned as a cumulative archive. With issue 100, we moved to
  the setext format, which let us to increase readership immensely,
  since you no longer had to download and decode each issue. That's
  remained a guiding force in our distribution philosophy, and is
  one of the reasons we don't use Acrobat, DOCMaker, or any similar
  file formats. If you want to read more of the early history of
  TidBITS, check out TidBITS-222_.

  In November of 1994, we hired Geoff Duncan as our Managing Editor.
  Geoff assembles and distributes each issue, writes articles and
  most of our MailBITS, coordinates submissions, and manages
  editorial email. He also scripts everything in sight and develops
  custom tools. To read more about why we hired Geoff, see
  TidBITS-256_.

  Although TidBITS has always been free to readers, we've funded it
  over the last few years with corporate sponsorships along the
  lines of the PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) model. The
  companies that sponsor TidBITS ensure we can pay Geoff, travel to
  Macworld Expos, and buy the occasional piece of hardware. TidBITS
  has always been profitable because of how we do business (spend
  nothing you don't have), but we're not talking about big bucks.
  Also, because of our incredibly low overhead, we don't need a big
  cash intake - a lesson for Internet entrepreneurs.

  We started DealBITS relatively recently (see TidBITS-297_) to help
  smaller companies who couldn't afford sponsorships get exposure,
  experiment with ways to promote commerce on the Internet, and to
  bring in a little more revenue. Lauren Snell <[e-mail]>
  joined us a few months ago to coordinate DealBITS with
  advertisers.

<http://www.tidbits.com/dealbits/>

  Despite its 150,000 readers and 40,000 person mailing list,
  TidBITS gets relatively little media attention in comparison to
  newer and flashier Internet publications and services. I attribute
  it to the fact we've been around a long time, prefer to provide
  quality information rather than bandwidth-wasting glitz, and let
  our work be our primary method of self-promotion. We don't
  arbitrarily add people to our mailing list (an extremely impolite
  way of getting bigwigs to read your stuff), nor do we publish the
  many kind letters from our readers (they'd steal space from more
  important information).

  We stay excited about creating TidBITS by sticking to our main
  criteria for how content gets in the issue - we tend to only write
  about stuff that enthuses us or that we think is newsworthy and
  important. It's no fun to use boring or mediocre products, so we
  rarely review them. Although we overlap a bit, Geoff tends toward
  breaking news, system software, and development stuff; Tonya
  writes about word processors and Web authoring tools these days;
  and I concentrate on Internet connectivity, clients, and
  philosophy, as well as various unrelated bits of software. We also
  publish many articles submitted by TidBITS readers - usually if
  someone thinks something is cool enough to write a decent article
  about it, the product is cool enough that we want to publish the
  article.


**Finding TidBITS** -- One development that's surprised us
  recently is that some TidBITS readers have _only_ encountered
  TidBITS on the Web - they have no idea we're primarily a mailing
  list (and have been since 1990!). Similarly, people who have read
  TidBITS for years may not realize TidBITS issues are available via
  the Web. So, quickly, here's where to find TidBITS.

  You can subscribe to the TidBITS mailing list by sending email to
  <[e-mail]> with this line in the _body_ of the
  message:

SUBSCRIBE TIDBITS your full name

  Substitute your real name for "your full name." You can also find
  TidBITS issues at the FTP and Web URLs below. TidBITS issues are
  available on a number of other sites, and translations are
  available in a variety of languages (check the links at the final
  URL below).

<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/>
<http://www.tidbits.com/sites.html>


**Reprinting Articles** -- Another of our guiding philosophies is
  that TidBITS should be free to readers (or so cheap that no one
  would notice, which isn't currently possible on the Internet). As
  an extension of that philosophy, non-profit, non-commercial
  publications (such as user group newsletters) should feel free to
  reprint TidBITS articles. All we ask is that you give credit to
  TidBITS and to the author and include the <[e-mail]>
  address so people can get more information. For-profit
  publications should contact us to work out a reprinting
  arrangement.


**Articles and Submissions** -- We can't be experts on everything.
  If you think something deserves coverage in TidBITS, consider
  writing an article about it. We like publishing other points of
  view and are happy to work with authors and edit articles to fit
  the TidBITS style. We can pay only in fame, but a number of
  TidBITS articles have been reprinted (with payment to the author)
  in other major and minor publications, and some of our more
  regular authors have found additional work based on having written
  for TidBITS.

  If you think you'd like to write an article for TidBITS, send a
  note to <[e-mail]>; we'll send you guidelines and let
  you know if similar articles are already in the works.


**Questions and Email** -- We attempt to read and reply to the
  email we receive, but that's become increasingly difficult as the
  volume has increased. In addition, many people seem to view us as
  a source of free technical support. This can be frustrating -
  although we welcome comments and are happy to help out when we
  can, we don't know everything and dealing with all the mail takes
  time away from researching and writing articles.

  Another class of email that takes a significant amount of energy
  to handle is email asking us what we know about some topic or
  another. Since TidBITS is a publication, if a topic is current
  it's conceivable (even likely) that we've already covered it.
  However, sometimes we don't talk about current topics for good
  reasons - they may be unconfirmed rumors, we may not find the
  topic interesting, or we may be trying to find the time to finish
  researching the issue. In addition to our own interest in covering
  subjects thoroughly, we've learned that if we cover a topic in an
  incomplete manner, we will be deluged with questions.

  There's a searchable archive of TidBITS issues online at the URL
  below. Though it might be difficult to reach at times, searching
  there is almost certainly faster than asking us via email whether
  we've written about something.

<http://wais.sensei.com.au/macarc/tidbits/searchtidbits.html>


**And the Eternal Question...** In closing, I'd like to clear up
  the mystery of why the BITS in TidBITS is uppercase. I don't know
  that we've ever explained this, and Geoff complained recently that
  in over a year as managing editor, he still didn't know why.
  Here's the scoop: we came up with the name for TidBITS at about
  the time the NeXT machine from Steve Jobs shipped, when all cool
  products at least had weird capitalization, and the super-cool
  products had wacky capitalization. Naturally, we went the wacky
  capitalization route, though we admit that it takes hard work, not
  just wacky capitalization, to make for a super-cool product.


LaserWriter/LocalTalk Bridges with Open Transport
-------------------------------------------------
  by Caleb Clauset <[e-mail]>

  There seems to be a bit of confusion about the status of Apple's
  LaserWriter Bridge and LocalTalk Bridge with regard to Open
  Transport. These bridges, allow a machine connected to both a
  LocalTalk and an Ethernet network segment to act as a "bridge"
  between the two networks. Apple's LaserWriter Bridge (as the name
  implies) allows a LocalTalk LaserWriter to be shared with an
  Ethernet network; the LocalTalk Bridge allows the full range of
  AppleTalk services to travel back and forth across the two types
  of networks.

  To date, the released versions of the bridges (2.0.1) are not
  compatible with any version of Open Transport. Apple's LaserWriter
  Bridge and LocalTalk Bridge software were designed to check for a
  specific version of AppleTalk software, and because Open Transport
  registers itself as a more recent version, the bridges will not
  launch.

  Although Apple-supported updates for Open Transport-compatibility
  are currently underway (to be released as version 2.1), they are
  presently only available to developers. For now, the only work
  around is a temporary patch that modifies the bridges' version
  check to recognize Open Transport.

  The patch is available in two flavors, one for LaserWriter Bridge
  and one for LocalTalk Bridge:

* LaserWriter Bridge OT Patch only works on LaserWriter Bridge
  (2.0.1) from the Network Software Installer 1.5.1-ZM or the System
  7.5 Update 2.0.

<ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/comm/atlk/lw-bridge-ot-patch-202.hqx>

* LocalTalk Bridge OT Patch works with LocalTalk Bridge (v2.0.1).
  If you had v2.0 installed, the patcher will first update the
  software to v2.0.1 and then apply the patch.

<ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/comm/atlk/localtalk-bridge-ot-patch.hqx>

  Make sure to use the appropriate patch for your version of
  LaserWriter or LocalTalk Bridge. For those brave enough to use
  ResEdit to apply the patch manually, you can do the following:

* Open the FRED resource 128 (named "Mnd")

* At HEX 0448, change the "<" to an "="

  The patch should work on all Macintosh computers (including PCI
  Power Macs and clones) using Open Transport version 1.0.8 or
  higher. Please note this patch has not been tested extensively; it
  is considered a hack and should be treated as such. If you have
  any doubts in applying this patch to your software, wait for the
  Apple-supported update which should appear soon.


Crazy Ideas from Apple
----------------------
  by Geoff Duncan <[e-mail]>

  Over the years, Apple has talked about, released, and made popular
  all kinds of new products: personal computers with graphical user
  interfaces, PostScript printers, Newtons, personal file sharing,
  and more. On the software side, Apple popularized everything from
  drag & drop to QuickTime. Apple is bursting with crazy (and often
  excellent) new technologies, and - at least in part - that's why
  the press scrutinizes Apple so closely. Last week, at its World
  Wide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple gave the press more food
  for thought.


**Project X** -- Though the name might be unimaginative, Project X
  is a information browser that presents list views and three-
  dimensional "information spaces" that can represent a Web site, a
  hard drive, or audio tracks, and can be extended to other
  information sources. Project X is built on top of Apple's own MCF
  (Meta Content Format) file format, which is basically a
  hierarchical way of storing information about other information.
  Though the last thing anyone needs is another file format
  (especially one that's not yet publicly documented), it's still an
  interesting model of information navigation with advantages over
  the Finder and other schemes. Apple demonstrated a MCF view of
  Yahoo at WWDC, and a demo of Project X for Power Macs is available
  now, with a 68K version expected shortly (along with a white paper
  on the MCF format). Apple plans to make a Cyberdog-capable version
  of Project X, and possibly versions for other browsers. Though
  it's too early to predict the future of Project X, it's attracting
  attention and is notable for its small disk footprint and RAM
  requirements.

<http://www.atg.apple.com/go/projectx/>


**Apple e.g.** -- Apple e.g., a free searching CGI for WebSTAR or
  other Web servers, uses the V-Twin search engine (built into part
  of Cyberdog and Mac OS 8's search agents) to provide speedy full-
  text searches along with relevance ranking of results. In a neat
  twist, search results appear with checkboxes beside them; if you
  don't find what you wanted, you can check the closest matches and
  tell Apple e.g. to "find more things like this." Apple also
  announced a developer's kit to let other parties roll Apple e.g.
  into other products, although the kit doesn't include the full
  V-Twin engine. Apple e.g. should be available shortly from Apple's
  CyberTech Web server. And though some feel its product name might
  be a little too imaginative, it beats "Apple Internet Full Text
  Searching Solution for the World Wide Web."

<http://cybertech.apple.com/>


**HyperCard and QuickTime** -- Almost overlooked in the Internet-
  hype of WWDC was a significant public statement on the future of
  HyperCard and QuickTime. Despite recent signs of life and a
  steadfast following, HyperCard has had a moribund reputation for
  several years as its multimedia capabilities were eclipsed by
  products like Director and SuperCard. (Though HyperCard remains
  one of the most useful prototyping tools around.)

  At WWDC, Apple showed running demos of HyperCard 3.0, and the
  biggest surprise is that the new version is built around QuickTime
  3.0. Essentially, every HyperCard stack becomes a QuickTime movie,
  and is playable in any application that can handle QuickTime,
  including MoviePlayer, Netscape plug-ins, Cyberdog, and word
  processors. Using QuickTime finally gives HyperCard completely
  integrated color capabilities as well as cross-platform support
  (QuickTime is already well established on Windows). According to
  the presentation, existing HyperCard externals will continue to be
  usable and there will be Internet-savvy media handlers giving
  HyperCard (and QuickTime) the ability to use remote content. Both
  QuickTime 3.0 and HyperCard 3.0 are scheduled for release in
  spring of 1997.


Apple, the Business Market, and Geodesic Networks
-------------------------------------------------
  by Robert Hettinga <[e-mail]>

  Despite all of the doom and gloom about Apple, the company is
  still doing well in the home and education markets. The doom and
  gloom comes in part from Apple's ever-increasing trouble in the
  business market. I don't think there's anything new in that.

  Apple's heart was never in the business market. For all its lip
  service to business, Apple never felt passionate about building
  better word processing and spreadsheet boxes, even if the company
  did have the best one at the time of the big ramp up of the
  business microcomputer market, before Excel and Word moved to
  Windows. This lack of interest showed in Apple's attitude toward
  most business people. Apple's commercials portrayed outside
  consultants and mavericks as heroes, thus attracting outside
  consultants and mavericks to the Macintosh at the expense of
  attracting large businesses and conformists.

  When compatibility with mainframes became an issue (for the short
  time people were off-loading mainframe data onto LANs) Apple
  didn't want to be there. With the advent of LANs, Apple didn't
  build the technology to deal with LANs on their own turf, large
  corporations. Instead, Apple built peer-to-peer networks of
  collegial desktop machines. Unfortunately, they never paid
  attention to two major problems: the network bandwidth and the
  multitasking necessary for those networks to function properly
  from the high-volume user's point of view. Power users would
  suffer from problematic performance hits when they tried to work
  while printing in the background and having their Macs accessed
  via file sharing.

  For PC users, multitasking was less of a problem, because those
  two jobs were usually off-loaded to separate machines, whose jobs
  were to do nothing but run a printer or serve files. In contrast,
  on most Macintosh networks (especially after System 7 came out),
  every machine is potentially a server for everyone else, and
  everyone is their own print server. Only late in the game did
  Apple release the Apple Workgroup Servers.

  Fortunately, the first problem, bandwidth, has been addressed,
  because most Macs now come with Ethernet, while the second
  problem, preemptive multitasking on faster processors, is being
  solved slowly. This is good for Apple, because peer-to-peer
  architecture is where the world appears to be headed. The whole
  Internet is a peer-to-peer, "geodesic" network, where each machine
  is optimized for its own particular function, be it serving or
  switching information. The Internet has no central repository of
  anything, and that has been Apple's view of networks since day
  one.

  If it's any consolation, in the future, we won't even need LANs to
  do business. A couple months ago, I saw Netscape running in the
  bond trading room of the largest institutional trustee bank in the
  United States. In this case, Netscape beat PowerBuilder hands-down
  in a prototype development shootout. The prototype _was_ the
  production version. Netscape can do anything from secure outside-
  the-firewall SQL calls to conducting actual cash commerce. Game
  over. Netscape is not special in this regard - any sufficiently
  secure browser/server combination can do the same thing. Either
  one, client or server, can be developed for a dime a dozen even
  now. This is especially true when compound document architectures
  come online, like Apple's Cyberdog.

  We won't need LANs because the only real difference between a LAN
  and the Internet is a firewall for security, and the need for
  clients to speak Novell's TCP/IP-incompatible proprietary network
  protocol. With Internet-level encryption protocols like the IETF
  IPSEC standard, you won't need a firewall. The only people who can
  establish a server session with _any_ machine connected to the net
  will be those issuing the digital signatures authorized to access
  that machine. Then, networks will need to be as public as
  possible, which means, of course, TCP/IP, not NetWare. It's like
  Heinlein's old joke about space: "once you're in Earth orbit,
  you're halfway to anywhere". So, once you've gotten _rid_ of the
  firewall, you're everywhere.

<http://www.ietf.cnri.reston.va.us/html.charters/ipsec-charter.html>

  What happens to the information concentrated behind those
  firewalls - or proprietary software markets, for that matter -
  when, because of strong cryptography, firewalls disappear?
  Remember what happened to those floating globs of grease in the
  detergent commercial? Surfacted away into tiny bits. I can hear
  Bill Gates now: "I'm melting! I'm melting!" Now you see why he's
  fighting so hard to be Internet-compatible all of a sudden.

  In this "decade of the Internet," the user interface, platform,
  desktop, LAN, whatever, is meat and real life is on the net, to
  paraphrase William Gibson.

  For the time being, I have thought that the Mac, at least as long
  as Apple makes most Macs, is the computer for the "best of us,"
  not "the rest of us." I've learned to live with that. I no more
  worry about Apple's prospects than I do about Porsche's. I expect
  Apple management, like Herr Doktor Porsche, is just waking up to
  the fact that even though Apple designed the Volkswagen, it can't
  possibly mass produce them efficiently at a decent enough profit
  to advance the state of the art, which is where Apple's heart has
  been all along. Sooner or later, Apple will go back to cranking
  out 917s that demonstrate the power of the technology, 911s that
  offer a more affordable version of that power, and 928s that are
  for those of us who only want to look the part. Fortunately, there
  are lots of companies, like Power Computing, to produce
  Volkswagens for those who can't afford Porches, and "Macintosh"
  won't mean just "Apple" anymore.

  To me, a fully-credentialed Mac Bigot and camp-follower, Apple's
  future means Cyberdog, and Cyberdog means breaking down large
  "glops" of information and software "grease" and surfacting them,
  fractally, into little bitty bits out into the net, where
  _all_machines_, not just dumb Java terminals, can use them better.
  It also means developing cryptographically strong Internet-level
  security, so anyone can talk to any machine from anywhere if they
  have permission to do so, and _nobody_ without permission can get
  in or see what those authorized people are doing. It means
  building into all network applications the ability to do digital
  commerce. That is, the ability to handle digital bearer
  certificates, like Digicash's ecash and the ability to handle
  micropayments, like the MicroMint protocol, or their successor
  technologies. Imagine if your code could send you money in the
  mail, or if a router did real-time load balancing by changing its
  micropayment price-per-through-packet when traffic got too high or
  too low. The future of the net may be a strange place, indeed.

<http://www.digicash.com/>
<http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~rivest/RivestShamir-mpay.ps>

  Until that happens, I suppose Porsche parts is still a lucrative
  business, as long as developers keep in mind what business they're
  in.

  [Robert Hettinga writes frequently about digital commerce and the
  Internet; for more on the topics above, check out his other
  essays.]

<http://thumper.vmeng.com/pub/rah/>

$$

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