$8,000 Dell WorkStation can take on $20,000 Unix rivals
Achieving the fastest rating is relative when chip makers can always crank up clock speed a notch. The 300-MHz Pentium II may be just another step up the clock speed ladder for Intel Corp. But the dual-processor WorkStation 400 from Dell Computer Corp. cranks up speed in less obvious ways.
Don't hector vendors
Finalizing the rules has dragged on for years, as GSA officials, certain inspectors general and vendor groups fought behind the scenes. In that sense, it's a relief for OMB to have finally blessed the rules. As reported by senior staff writer Kevin Power [GCN, Aug. 25, Page 3], GSA will keep the right to demand best-customer pricing from MAS vendors. But by retaining the right to audit vendors' pricing practices, GSA must stress pre-award audits,
Agencies increase pace of year 2000 contract awards; six go to Viasoft
After months of preparation, agencies are stepping up the pace of contract awards for tools and services to fix their year 2000 date code problems. Viasoft Inc. of Phoenix will license its MVS and VM Cobol tools to six Cabinet-level agencies at discounted prices through the company's US2000 program for the federal government. Each site license runs close to $100,000.
DOD blueprint details paperless contracting
The Defense Department has drafted a blueprint for achieving a paper-free contracting process by 2000. DOD has relied on labor-intensive paper methods to handle the writing, administration and finances for contracts. The department's buying process often involves the manual and repetitive input of data from multiple sources across DOD.
Roll out the big guns and pull more users to your agency's Web site
Government offices face a dilemma when it comes to Web presence. They post all kinds of information they want to share with the public, yet the public often doesn't use it or even know about it. As the fiscal year winds down, many sites are under pressure to prove they're viable public resources. With funding at stake, getting noticed becomes doubly important.
I Corps likes its laptops tough
It still works. Turner, an information systems procurement and standards officer with the Army's I Corps at Fort Lewis, Wash., paid $4,600 each for four of the portables from Panasonic Personal Computer Co. of Secaucus, N.J. He bought the notebooks through a Navy blanket purchasing agreement with General Services Administration schedule contractor Government Technology Services Inc. of Chantilly, Va.
When it comes to buying, EC and U.S. are not so different
One way is to compare the government's procurement process with that of other countries. A case in point is the European Community, which strives to expand access to the government markets of its member countries. The book EC Public Procurement Law by Christopher Bovis presents a good outline of the EC's efforts. The author, director of a British institute on European law, traces the EC's attempts to create a truly common market for government procurements.
Plug-in for graphics apps adds power to special effects
Kai's Power Tools 3.0 from MetaTools tops the list of these plug-in filter collections, both in ease of use and in number of filters. But its installation is difficult. Instead of accepting the setup defaults and clicking OK, you first must decide which image-editing application you want the filters to work with, then switch to its plug-in directory to install.
Hone puzzle-piecing skills for Web work
In the tradition of the Web's ubiquitous Frequently Asked Questions from users in search of answers, here are some hands-on FAQs that agency webmasters and site designers may ask. Q:When I try to preview Hypertext Markup Language pages on my development server with Microsoft Internet Explorer, the browser attempts a dial-up connection and displays the message, "Cannot findhttp://localhost/webcontent/page.HTML." What's going on?
INS will roll out inspection kiosks at airports in fall
After four years of prototypes, the Immigration and Naturalization Service will roll out the INS Passenger Accelerated Service System at selected airports by the end of the year. INS officials expect INSPASS to decrease immigration inspectors' workloads because low-risk passengers, such as frequent business travelers, will process their own immigration clearances at system kiosks.
NetScout tracks speed blocks
Like many network experts, Ken Wong often hears users complain that the network is slow. "It becomes a black hole," said Wong, an electrical engineer at the National Institutes of Health. "Where is the network slow?" NIH runs a WAN backbone of four Fiber Distributed Data Interface rings with about 100 routers from Cisco Systems Inc. of San Jose, Calif.
Expect renewed fight over MAS co-op plan
A cooperative purchasing plan to let state and local governments buy through Multiple-Award Schedule contracts may not be dead--yet. Although the Senate and the House Appropriations committees this summer voted in favor of banning cooperative purchasing, which Congress proposed three years ago, the issue may end up at the budget conference table.
Are federal workers playing games just for fun?
Sens. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D-Colo.) and Lauch Faircloth (R-N.C.) have decided to rid the federal government of the pestilence of computer games. Section 639 of S 1023, the fiscal 1998 Treasury, Postal Service and General Government appropriations bill, directs heads of federal agencies to remove computer games not required for official business from agency computers and prohibit their installation on such computers.
Kodak digital camera raises the industry standard
Digital cameras in this so-called megapixel range have been around for a while now, but the DC120 is the first at this price. It gets its maximum 1,280-by-960 resolution with 24-bit color through some of the same legerdemain that scanners use to reach higher-than-actual optical resolutions. The DC120's actual optical resolution is 836,400 pixels. The interpolation process that increases the apparent number of pixels by almost 50 percent causes a slight degradation in picture quality.
Is this efficiency?
We don't endorse products in GCN, but I'd like to repeat a particularly cogent piece of copywriting from an ad that appeared in a recent issue. "To improve efficiency, it's not your people who have to work harder. It's your software." I wish I'd thought of that one. It summarizes the dilemma that every agency faces as it tries to do better work with fewer people and less money than a year ago, or five
Software development suite is less than sum of its parts
The Microsoft Corp. suite would be a loser if judged solely on its current integrated development environment. But developers are likely to value its standalone tools more than its nascent integration features--as well they should. Priced at $1,500, Visual Studio would be a steal even without integrated functions or shared interfaces.
Applixware gives agency a Unix-to-Windows bridge
To ease cross-platform communications, the Forest Service is installing a Unix-compatible desktop automation package on 5,000 new PCs running Microsoft Windows 95. For two years, the Agriculture Department agency has been using Applixware from Applix Inc. of Westborough, Mass., on its Unix systems to handle word processing, edit pictures, create charts and design graphs for presentations.
AF coders earn 3rd star
The Air Force's Standard Systems Group has earned a Level 3 Capability Maturity Model rating, joining the elite ranks of government software development shops. Carnegie-Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute (SEI) in Pittsburgh designed the CMM to help organizations improve software development procedures. Level 3 is midway on the CMM scale for software development.
SEC looks to Webware to serve more information agencywide
The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking at new ways to use World Wide Web technology to streamline agency operations as it prepares to upgrade its Internet server. Fran Rowell, a computer specialist and webmaster for SEC's intranet, said the commission has realized the importance of Web technology and plans to increase its use.
DMS demo marks beginning of end for AUTODIN system
For four days last month, the Army's project manager for the Defense Message System demonstrated to dozens of visitors the future of military messaging once the Defense Department phases out the antiquated AUTODIN system. Col. Robert C. Raiford's audience included not only agency DMS managers but also network and systems administrators. The Pentagon's telecommunications center sent 10 representatives.
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