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March 6, 1999
News
- This week was the first-ever LinuxWorld Expo, a tradeshow
devoted to the alternative operating system, and it proved to be quite an event. Around
15,000 people attended the three day show, held at the San Jose Convention Center, and
many big name players made important announcements at the event. For those of you who may
not know, Linux, like Windows, is an operating system that you can install and use on PC
hardware. In addition, there are versions of Linux that can also run on a Mac and other
platforms. Unlike Windows, however, Linux is completely free to download and, if
you’re interested, you can even get access to the source code that actually makes up
the software. As a result, Linux is generically referred to as a type of open source
software. As its name suggests, Linux is a variation of the Unix operating system, which
is a complex piece of software commonly used with engineering workstations. Recently,
however, many efforts have been made to make Linux, which was started by and still
overseen by a former Finnish student named Linus Torvalds in the early 1990s, much
friendlier. One of the big announcements at the show, for example, was the official 1.0
release of the GNOME user interface for Linux. GNOME looks and works a lot like Windows,
which makes it much easier to get used to Linux. GNOME can be downloaded and installed
separately, but it will also be bundled with distributions of Linux from several different
companies, including RedHat Software and Debian. Linux distributions, which typically cost
around $50, include all the pieces of software you need to run and use Linux, including
both the operating system and applications, as well as documentation and technical
support. In many ways, Linux is currently like a software tinker toy set, where you can
piece together different components to create a complete system. Most of the Linux
applications to date have been for servers, but there’s more and more efforts being
made towards bringing Linux to the desktop. In many people’s opinion, it’s not
quite ready for prime time yet as a Windows replacement—primarily because there are
so few Linux applications—but it’s unquestionably moving in that direction. If
you’d like to find out more about Linux, I’ve got links to a couple of resources
on my This Week’s Links page, including the general purpose Linux Online site, as
well as an article from the current issue of PC Magazine that reviews the most common
distributions of Linux, and includes basic instructions on how to install it.
- The Pentagon’s computers have apparently been under an
organized attack over the last several months, and it appears that the attacks may be
coming from Russia—or, at the very least, being passed through Russia. The US
Department of Defense admitted this week that their systems have been the target of
sophisticated hacking efforts that are trying to get at sensitive US government
information. Based on the reports I read, it doesn’t appear that the Pentagon’s
computers have been compromised, but it does seem to be a problem for them.
- Creative Labs, makers of the Sound Blaster line of sound
cards, this week announced that they will be releasing portable MP3 Player, a la Diamond
Multimedia’s Rio. The new Sound Nomad device will be able to connect to a PC to
download songs and other audio in MP3 format to the device, where they can be listened to
at a later time. Neither the official price nor the ship date have been announced yet for
the Sound Nomads, but they should be available sometime in the second quarter of this
year.
- Well, here’s a good one. Apparently Microsoft has
discovered an obscure bug in Windows 95/98 that will cause the computer to crash after
exactly 49.7 days of continuous operation. Of course, since there are no known instances
of Windows lasting that long without crashing anyway, we can probably put this one into
the list of "hypothetical" bugs….
- Looking for a printer you can connect directly to a digital
camera without needing a computer? Then you’ll want to check out Olympus’ new
P-300 and P-330 Personal Photo Printers, which are 300 dpi dye-sublimation printers that
can print images directly from a digital camera. Using glossy (though expensive) paper
stock, the printers can print up to 4" x 5.5" photos that are virtually
indistinguishable from the real thing. The P-300 is a basic model and the P-330 is a more
advanced model that also includes the ability to digitize single images from a video
signal. If you have an Olympus digital camera, you can print directly from the camera and,
thanks to the P-330’s built-in SmartMedia card reader, any other digital camera that
uses SmartMedia for storage. You can use the P-330 in conjunction with a TV, as well, if
you want to view the images on a screen before you print them.
- In addition to the LinuxWorld expo, another big show that
took place last week was the Seybold Publishing show in Boston. The big news there was the
formal introduction of Adobe’s new InDesign page layout program, which is intended to
compete with Quark Xpress. The $699 InDesign, which will be available for both the Mac and
Windows in June, apparently offers over 1,400 new features, including the ability to
directly read existing Quark and PageMaker files. Speaking of Pagemaker, the company also
announced PageMaker 6.5 Plus, which is expected to retail for $499 and be available for
both Macs and PCs sometime this month. Adobe is repositioning PageMaker as a tool for
business layout and adding a cutdown version of Adobe’s Photoshop 5.0, as well as
lots more templates and clip art. Existing PageMaker owners will be able to upgrade for
$99.
- Another new graphics program is the 2.0 version of
Macromedia’s FireWorks web-oriented image editing program. The new version, which is
also expected later this month, includes numerous new enhancements, including tighter
integration with the company’s DreamWeaver HTML editor, enhanced animation and
editing controls and lots more. In addition, Macromedia announced a DreamWeaver/Fireworks
Studio, which retails for $399.
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