Contracting officials focus on price, configuration before buying online
Who's buying online and what are they looking for? So far, federal contracting officers seem to be using Web sites primarily for configuration and price information. A few are making small buys from vendor sites. "I want to go to a Web site that's easy to use and has a powerful search engine that doesn't reject my query," said Francis X. Duggan Jr., contract specialist at the Naval Sea Logistics Center in Mechanicsburg, Pa.
Justice seeks review of Microsoft source code
The Justice Department and state attorneys general have demanded a close look at Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows 98 source code. Justice and state lawyers filed the motion this month following a July 30 ruling by the U.S. District Court for Utah that ordered Microsoft Corp. to turn over the source code to antitrust plaintiff Caldera Inc. of Orem, Utah.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Call or write to the appropriate editor In your story "Software glitches leave Navy Smart Ship dead in the water" [GCN, July 13, Page 1], there are several errors of a technical nature to which I feel compelled to respond. Primarily, the statement "blame it on the OS" reaches an entirely specious conclusion. For example, Anthony DiGiorgio states that a $2.95 calculator gives you a zero when you try to divide a number by zero.
It's easy to see that Vortex is frustrating to read
Pros and cons: + Very large text display + Works with most word processors – Unusual text delivery method Real-life requirements: Win95 or NT Tenax Software Engineering bills Vortex IV as the greatest advance in reading since the stone tablet. But I suspect even Cro-Magnons would go back to their cave drawings after a few minutes with this flashy but frustrating program.
Air Force's DMS base rollout reaches halfway point
The Air Force is almost halfway to its goal of setting up Defense Message System sites at 92 active-duty bases worldwide by 2000, an Air Force official said. The service will have Defense Message System sites up and running at 35 locations in the United States, four bases in Europe and six bases in the Pacific by the end of the month, Air Force officials said.
To master your e-mail, make sure your server has the right settings
This is the summer practically every agency is upgrading mail servers. Many users are just discovering fancy new e-mail options and mailing unreadable messages. Last issue's column discussed ways to merge address books and store messages from multiple mail accounts. Now let's take a look at two e-mail transmission problems on the rise.
Adobe PageMill 3.0 is an inexpensive way to build Web pages
Pros and cons: + Easy for making complex Web pages with frames, forms, tables, sound, Java and ActiveX controls + Entire-site view from your local hard drive – Upload functions not compatible with all FTP servers – Most documentation in PDF Real-life requirements: Win95 or NT 4.0 or later with 24M RAM for NT, 20M free on hard drive, CD-ROM drive, Internet connection
Military has smart-card idea in store for recruits
To automate payroll and registration for recruits, the Financial Management Service and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service are issuing smart cards to recruits at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. The Lackland program kicks off a militarywide initiative. The Defense Department plans to eliminate checks and cash as the chief payment methods for recruits at Army, Navy and Air Force training posts, said Gary Grippo, FMS program manger for electronic money.
Agriculture division monitors investment portfolio via intranet
A new intranet in the Agriculture Department's Rural Development Division lets employees research rural community investments online instead of sifting through boxes of computer printouts or tracking down information on the phone. "Prior to the intranet, questions such as 'What were Rural Development's investments in 1997 for the Mississippi Delta region?' required weeks of data gathering and analysis, and yielded answers with an 80 percent accuracy rate," said Kathleen Jackson, a Rural Development computer specialist. "Now,
Ubiquitous effort helps handle job
BOSTON—We live in a world filled with increasingly complex technology that we take for granted. That is, until we're faced with an unresponsive PC, printer or modem. Then, finding someone who understands the problem can be the hardest part of the repair process. But for folks at the General Services Administration's Boston office know just the man to call.
Warfighting systems get a once-over during JWID
SUFFOLK, Va.—The sign in the lobby of the Joint Training, Analysis and Simulation Center here said it all: "Warning! All Portable Computers and Diskettes Brought Into the Center Must Be Virus-Scanned And Marked." As visitors entered the facility, security guards at the front desk used a scanning station to enforce the edict.
Bureau of Prisons, NOAA ink equipment, services BPAs
Bracing for a rush of fiscal-year-end orders, the Bureau of Prisons and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently negotiated blanket purchasing agreements. The Justice Department's BOP signed BOPNet 2000 BPAs with IntelliSys Technology Corp. and Vanstar Government Systems Inc., both of Fairfax, Va. Under the BPAs, the companies will supply PCs, printers, servers, software and related peripherals, said Ron Williams Sr., BOP's director of ADP contracting.
Rat roars a rallying cry: 'Parts, shmarts—we gotta replace servers!
The dawn of yet another ozone action day found the Rat sweltering in his server room. When the air conditioning had gone out over the weekend, three servers had stewed in their own juices. The Rat managed to switch the applications over to standby systems but at a lower performance level than the users had accustomed themselves to, and they didn't like it.
FEMA runs its Web page as a news site
Starting with this issue, GCN will periodically review government sites on the Web, chronicling new Web management ideas and the technology behind them. Best and worst features + Daily news appears on the front page and on lead pages of several sections. + The local communities library details things such as arson investigation resources.
Software helps create an inventory of network assets
The NetworkCharter Pro diagramming tool draws all the products on an IP or IPX network and supplies their corresponding addresses. The information lets administrators keep an inventory of PCs, peripherals and servers for year 2000 readiness and other tasks. The package from Micrografx Inc. of Richardson, Texas, gives precise names and other data for Simple Network Management Protocol devices. When the administrator indicates a device on the network, NetworkCharter can link it to specifications in its
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Call or write to the appropriate editor DiGiorgio denies reported statements Regarding your story on the USS Yorktown [GCN, July 13, Page 1], just for the record: I did not say that the Yorktown was towed into Norfolk. Logic does not allow the combination of the words "self-proclaimed whistle-blower." It may sound good, but there is no such thing.
Not every agency considers UPS protection a priority
The gospel of uninterruptible power systems has yet to win converts at all agencies. Early on, data centers installed proprietary UPSes for their mainframes and minicomputers. But most agencies do not routinely connect UPSes to client PCs or servers, although data loss from power problems is 15 times more common than from virus attacks, according to a survey by Contingency Planning Research Inc. of White Plains, N.Y.
Graphics app's upgrade caters to Web designers on tight budget
Pros and cons: + Supports most new Web graphical formats, such as PNG and progressive JPEG + Compatible with after-market plug-ins – Some common operations harder than they should be Real-life requirements: Win95 or NT (24M RAM for NT), CD-ROM drive, 65M free on hard drive
Feds eye single sign-ons for full access to network apps
Federal users have a growing need to simplify their password access to dozens of applications, according to industry officials who develop access control software. "Last year it was mostly tire-kicking. This year there are funded, dedicated projects for single sign-on," said Michael McLaughlin, federal sales manager for PassGo Technologies of Boxborough, Mass.
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link
If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.
Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.
Cookie List
A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:
Strictly Necessary Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Functional Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Performance Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Sale of Personal Data
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.
Social Media Cookies
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.
Targeting Cookies
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.