House: USDA fails to give farmers Net access
House members scolded the Agriculture Department for making excuses and dragging its feet in rolling out an infrastructure to let farmers communicate with USDA via the Internet.
Y2K grades rise, but some systems not ready
The government has received its first above-average grade for fixing date code, but some major-league systems remain unready, according to Rep. Steve Horn's most recent year 2000 report card.
Retired general: I'll muster a DOE IT security team
The Energy Department's new security czar told lawmakers last week that he and chief information officer John Gilligan will move swiftly to tackle the department's computer security problems.
$50 OpenLinux 2.2 puts on a friendly face for its users
No operating system fits every task. That is the main reason why open-source Linux has risen in the past couple of years from obscurity to OS superstardom.
Defense builds smart Pentagon
In the first phase of a massive Pentagon renovation, the Defense Department is installing separate networks for voice, video, and classified and unclassified data.
Tera Rex: How supercomputing is roaring back
During supercomputing's first heyday in the late 1970s, the federal government spent millions on big iron from a stellar array of hardware makers. The giant systems of that era solved huge sets of equations that turned into global weather models, gene maps and nuclear weapon simulations. But gradually the hot-running vector machines grew too big and costly for their niche.
DOD's Money blasts U.S. software industry
The Defense Department's chief information officer this month ripped commercial software companies, calling most of the products DOD is receiving 'absolute crap.'
Tech Refresh
Federal Macintosh enthusiasts can get Apple Computer Inc.'s high-style iMac for $1,138 on the National Institutes of Health Electronic Computer Store II contract held by Government Technology Services Inc. of Chantilly, Va. The iMac runs Mac OS 8.5.1. It has a 333-MHz PowerPC G3 processor, 32M of synchronous dynamic RAM, a 6G IDE hard drive, 24X CD-ROM drive, 56-Kbps modem and two Universal Serial Bus ports. The iMac becomes operational as soon as the buyer plugs
Cyber-Sign does biometric signature verifications write
Given the right equipment, your personal signature can sign you onto a network. Just about every biometric verification device I've tested has an inherent weakness. The flaw usually does not grant access to illegitimate users, but it can and does keep out authorized users. Take voice verification programs, which commonly break down when the user has a cold. Fingerprint readers do better, but a cut or burned finger might keep the user out until
IRS foresees another decade of dependence on tape records
WILLIAMSBURG, Va.—The success of the IRS' modernization project will depend on the replacement of its tape Master File, the agency's chief information officer said last month. "We have modern equipment. We just have antiquated software," CIO Paul J. Cosgrave said. It takes the IRS a week to update the taxpayer Master File because the data is still stored on magnetic tape, he said.
Marines begin NT migration
The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif., last year began moving its messaging platform from Banyan Systems Inc. Vines 8.5 and StreetTalk 8.5 to Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0, Exchange 5.5, and Outlook 97 and 98. The change will give users a chance to develop more collaborative applications after they have learned the new software. Also making the change to NT are database and common storage file applications, said Capt. Bob Hendricks, assistant data
GSA expects to leave no Millennia money unspent
Its experience with an existing systems services buy tells the General Services Administration that the government will likely hit the $25 billion ceiling on the new 10-year Millennia information technology services program. GSA's Federal Technology Service awarded 12 contracts last month for Millennia, the follow-on to the Federal Systems Integration and Management Center's 9600 IT services program.
Can't stomach software metaphors? Chew on the Digital Digestive System
Packet Rat R. Fink The Rat has grown weary of the software industry's tendency to squeeze a metaphor until every possible variation has dissolved into fine dust. Take the rash of coffee-related product names that followed the introduction of Java. It got to the point where everything had been trademarked, and one vendor tenuously extended the metaphor by naming its product Twin Peaks in reference to the frequent line from the television series,
Linux makes the most of its Unix roots
As chairman and chief executive officer of Red Hat Software Inc., Robert F. Young has seen the fledgling start-up grow in four years into the world's leading supplier of Linux operating systems. Young has 20 years of experience in computer industry finance and marketing. After graduating with honors from the University of Toronto, he headed two computer leasing companies before he noticed the Linux user phenomenon in 1992.
GSA adds a new strategy to training
WILLIAMSBURG, Va.—The General Services Administration and the Chief Information Officers Council are creating a new training program for federal information technology professionals and managers. The Strategic and Tactical Advocates for Results program will focus on strategic thinking, said Emory Miller, director of IT professional development in GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy, during a presentation last month at the Trail Boss Roundup conference.
A second Stillman, he of HHS, signs off
Described as a man of integrity and commitment to public service—and a stickler for detail—Neil Stillman retired this month as deputy assistant secretary for IRM at the Health and Human Services Department amid accolades from friends and co-workers. He worked 34 years for the federal government, including stints with the Air Force and Defense Intelligence Agency.
GAO: Agencies fail to account for Y2K funds
Nine agencies did not keep track of year 2000 expenditures, according to a GAO report released last week. Five agencies only estimated expenditures, and three agencies—the departments of Agriculture, State and Treasury—refused to respond to GAO inquiries. "GAO discovered that some funds were spent on non-Y2K activities," according to the Office of the House Majority Leader, Rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas).
NASA center creates in-air scenarios
The air traffic control tower is real, but the panoramic windows show virtual views of any large airport. NASA's Virtual Airport Tower at Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., can simulate weather conditions, times of day, sounds, and up to 200 moving planes and ground vehicles. Raytheon Data Systems developed the simulation programs for NASA.
CIO: Follow industry's lead
The Defense Logistics Agency is modeling itself after the private sector by relying on commercial products and by boosting efforts to recruit, train and retain information technology professionals, said Carla A. von Bernewitz, the agency's chief information officer. Government must be willing to change its culture to take advantage of information technology, von Bernewitz said at a recent seminar sponsored by Computer Marketing Associates in Tysons Corner, Va.
Center puts IDEAS to work
A team of six programmers re-engineered an aspect of Air Force Personnel Center operations with a demographics information system that cost the government about $100,000 and has saved the center's staff a lot of time. As word of the Web application has spread, the Interactive Demographics Analysis System (IDEAS) has noticeably reduced the number of pinkies, or personnel information requests, the center gets, said Master Sgt. Eddie Stevens, Internet application developer for the Air Force Personnel
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