Corel offers free WordPerfect 8 version for Linux
The freeware Linux operating system has had plenty of adherents but, until now, few commercial-quality applications. That is changing rapidly, thanks in no small part to Corel Corp. Corel carried on WordPerfect's long cross-platform tradition with Corel WordPerfect 7 for Linux, the most popular productivity application for the upstart OS. Now Corel is jump-starting mainstream interest in Linux by giving away a personal version of WordPerfect 8 for Linux without a manual, clip
WorldMark servers gain speed, cut prices
The WorldMark 4800 and WorldMark 5200 servers that NCR Corp. were set to ship last month are an order of magnitude faster than their predecessors and about half the price, according to NCR officials. The gains come from 450-MHz Pentium II Xeon processors and faster interconnect technology. The WorldMark 5200's Bynet switch connects four-way processing nodes at 80 megabytes/sec.
Brother's mobile units take color printing on road
Road warriors who want color printouts can easily pack the 2.2-pound, 2-inch-thick Brother International Corp. MP-21C or MP-21Cdx mobile color printer in a briefcase. Both printers make a direct PC Card connection to a notebook PC for data and power, eliminating the need for separate AC adapters and battery packs.
Device monitors PC's power supply from USB
Pros and cons: USB, meet UPS. When a Universal Serial Bus port meets an American Power Conversion uninterruptible power supply, the fusion works well. The Back-UPS Pro 350 all-in-one power appliance does a good job, except for a minor glitch in the Microsoft Windows 98 software. The sleek, black box has lost some weight and girth from earlier incarnations, which were beige and elongated like toy 18-wheeler trucks. The new UPS
Professional Calendar
Luncheon address. Washington. Contact Government Computer News; phone: 301-650-2000; Web: www.gcn.com. Conference. Norfolk, Va. Contact the Navy; phone: 757-444-9967; Web: www.it-umbrella.navy.mil/ct/. Conference and exposition. Langley Air Force Base, Va. Contact National Conference Services Inc.; phone: 888-603-8899; Web: www.ncievents.com. Luncheon seminar. Washington.Sponsored by the Association for Federal IRM and the Information Technology Association of American. Contact AFFIRM; phone: 703-715-6701; e-mail: affirminfo@affirm.org; Web: www.affirm.org.
ENTERPRISE COMPUTING | Beat the Clock
| Beat the Clock "We're saying it's going to be broke, and you got to go fix it," Dave Brumitt told the audience at a recent SAS Users Group International conference. SAS Institute is still reviewing its source code and incorporating minor C language fixes into SAS System Version 8, which will be ready for general release this fall. Officials described the new code as maintenance fixes for "little odds and ends" that most SAS
Axis servers use 100-MIPS chip, browser control
The multiprotocol Axis 5400 and Axis 5500 print servers from Axis Communications Inc. incorporate the company's new Etrax 100 thin-server chip. Both print servers are fully integrated with Axis ThinWizard, a Java management tool for administering Axis ThinServer products via Web browsers. In combination with ThinWizard device management software, the Etrax system-on-a-chip automatically discovers and maps all Axis print servers on a network.
AF makes quick work of patch to B-1 software
The Air Force equipped its storied B-1 bombers with new radar-tracking software in less than four days—a task that usually takes months—so the service could use the aircraft for NATO's Operation Allied Force in Yugoslavia. The 53rd Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., spearheaded the effort late last month to build what the service calls Emitter Identification Data files that give the B-1 Lancer bomber situation awareness, said 1st Lt. Victor Falsone, a B-1 defensive
Data General designs rackmounted, single-app server
The rackmounted design of the AV 3704R server from Data General Corp. matches what the company sees as a growing user preference for multiple servers running a single Microsoft Windows NT application apiece. The trend away from multiple NT applications on a single box coincides with user desires "to avoid a single point of failure," said Lisa Robinson Schoeller, manager of product marketing for Data General of Westborough, Mass.
Check out free tools that let you make smart use of the Net
Your agency probably has a mandate to use the Internet more that it used to, but the trick is to use the Internet without letting it use you. So much information is there for the mining that users tend to get lost in the jumble. How about a little help in file storage and forwarding?
GCN INTERVIEW | Peter B. Hayes, Microsoft advocate for federal standards
|Peter B. Hayes, Microsoft advocate for federal standards Under Hayes' direction, the federal systems unit has reorganized and started to promote use of more government requirements and standards inside Microsoft products—one of Hayes' priorities. He joined Microsoft in 1991 and held sales and marketing positions before becoming general manager of federal business operations. Before that, he worked for 12 years in sales and management positions at IBM Corp.
BLS applies tough-love policy for Web posting
Twice burned by premature Web postings in recent months, the Bureau of Labor Statistics no longer trusts software scripts or people working alone to publish time-sensitive economic data on the Web. Until the bureau comes up with better automated processes, it will adhere to interim procedures adopted after the premature postings, said Thomas Zuromskis, director of technology and computing services.
Service has GIS, will travel
The Marshals Service has installed a desktop mapping system to plan the sometimes dangerous task of transporting federal prisoners. "We needed a visual mechanism to analyze where our resources were" and to match them against shifting prison populations, program manager Jeff Cotter said. The Marshals Service houses about 32,000 pretrial prisoners in 1,500 contract jails nationwide. It takes over responsibility for people apprehended by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Customs Service, Drug Enforcement Administration,
AID creates electronic maps of Balkans
To give relief workers assisting the thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees displaced by the conflict in Kosovo a clear picture of the region, the Agency for International Development this month issued detailed electronic maps created with a geographic information system. The agency's disaster assistance response teams are working at refugee camps at Kosovo's borders with Albania and Macedonia. The teams are armed with color maps made with ArcView GIS 3.1 from Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc.
Feds see flexibility as key factor to PC outsourcing
DENVER—In the government's first brush with desktop PC outsourcing, managers are finding that communication is critical to success. PC outsourcing is in its infancy, but project managers for two major programs said they have already learned that the rollout requires flexibility between contractors and agencies' users.
MasterConsole IIs connects multiple CPUs to one monitor
Like many other users, I enjoy being in control of lots of systems. But the clutter of monitors, mice and keyboards recently started to get to me. I needed to simplify. Before installing Raritan Computer Inc.'s MasterConsole IIs, I had five monitors crowding three desks. Now, I have one monitor and two clean desks.
DOE signs four BPAs and starts Web buying pilot
The Energy Department has trimmed its PC blanket purchasing agreements from six to four and has set up a Web buying pilot. Energy signed the new BPAs—with Dell Computer Corp., Gateway Inc., Government Technology Services Inc. of Chantilly, Va., and Micron Electronics Inc. of Nampa, Idaho—in late February and early March, said Jeffrey Rubenstein, Institutional Services Division director at Energy headquarters.
PageMaker 6.5 Plus is not just for the graphics expert
Adobe Systems Inc.'s PageMaker 6.5 Plus, the first new release of the electronic pagination package in two years, aims at the typical user rather than the graphics expert. Microsoft Windows users can browse and search PageMaker 6.5 Plus image and template files through a palette. The package comes with 4,700 stock illustrations in Adobe Illustrator format and a file converter for Microsoft Publisher 97 and 98 programs. The toolbar resembles that of Microsoft Office, with shortcuts
DOD aims to protect unclassified network by speeding traffic and limiting protocols
DENVER—The Defense Department is beefing up its Non-Classified IP Router Network to protect traffic on the network from attack. DOD wants to more quickly move traffic that could be used maliciously, said Col. John Thomas, chief of the Defense Information System Agency's Global Operations and Security Office. The redesign of NIPRnet, which the department uses for unclassified but sensitive communications, will likely be finished this month, Thomas said recently at the Government Information Technology Executive Council's Information
Enterprise Computing
The government last month added two more financial management packages to its schedule of approved general ledger accounting software. Financial management packages from PeopleSoft Inc. and SAP America Public Sector and Education Inc. earned places on the General Services Administration's Financial Management System Software Schedule. That brings to 11 the number of vendors offering financial management packages approved for federal use in core accounting systems.
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