Net computers to be tested in fed agencies
Several federal agencies have scheduled pilots to test the NC, or network computer, as an alternative to the PC. An Agriculture Department office in Denver is among those planning to try NCs, simplified computers that can cruise the Internet and perform basic tasks by downloading server-based applets instead of storing applications locally.
With CorelDraw 7, illustration is as easy as paint-by-numbers
With their mysterious interfaces, odd menus, eccentric terms and unfriendly feedback, illustration programs can confound even the wiliest power user. Since CorelDraw 6's release more than a year ago, Corel Corp. has delivered several packages from its illustration suite for such specific tasks as clip art and World Wide Web authoring. It also acquired Novell Inc.'s PerfectOffice and has given that suite a graphical twist. Along this route, Corel seems to have adopted a praiseworthy
Low-priced modem calls on your CPU for some processing
Fast connections are a hot topic, and in view of all the new modem features and vendors' speed claims, I'd like to point out that not all V.34 and V.34+ modems were created equal. For instance, there's a new kind of PC-dependent modem out there. The first one I've run across is U.S. Robotics' Sportster Winmodem. Don't misunderstand me, there's nothing wrong with this inexpensive, internal 33.6-kilobit/sec unit. It's just that to achieve a two-digit
Outsourcing looks more like monopoly at NASA
NASA has two big centers for manned space flights. Shuttles are launched at Kennedy Space Center, and when the shuttle clears the tower at Pad 39, control shifts to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston. In the past, a dozen or more contractors and far more subcontractors contributed to the shuttle effort. But in November 1995, NASA administrator Daniel S. Goldin signed a sole-source justification that will end competition for space shuttle operations
DOD Briefing Book
Despite official announcements this summer that Vice Adm. Arthur Cebrowski will succeed Vice Adm. Walter Davis as the Navy's director of space and electronic warfare, Davis is expected to stay in his current post until mid-December. The extension will give Davis, holder of the prestigious Grey Eagle trophy, the opportunity to transfer the trophy to Rear Adm. Andrew Granuzzo in a ceremony aboard the USS Constellation off San Diego on Dec. 11. The trophy is
Congressional Concerns delay weather system
Despite the National Weather Service's best efforts, its Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System will not be installed in government forecasting offices and weather centers before year's end. NWS had planned for AWIPS implementation to begin late last month. But Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor postponed his decision on whether to approve nationwide deployment of AWIPS until January.
Make your page a beacon
Is the Internet ignoring your Web pages? Have you worked for months to put your agency's program on the World Wide Web and nobody seems to care? Or has that fickle public moved on, leaving your pages high and dry? Gone are the days when writing Web pages was something special on the Internet. Today, every pimple-faced teenager is writing in Hypertext Markup Language. So keeping your monthly hit rate in seven figures requires marketing
The Middle Ages had thumbscrews, the 20th century has OS/2
Rumors of the Rat's demise are greatly exaggerated. He hastens to explain that last month's West Coast Internet outage, blamed on a "fried" rat in some electrical generating equipment, in fact was caused by an unfortunate cousin who mistook a power grid for a T1. The Whiskered One is feeling fried these days for other reasons.
Industry Exec of Year Phil White is betting on smart cards, not NC
Data mining and visualization tools will flourish as organizations stock their data warehouses for World Wide Web publication, predicted Phillip E. White of Informix Software Inc., GCN's 1996 Industry Executive of the Year. Digital content--text, audio, video and still images--"is going to be king," said the Informix chairman, president and chief executive officer, in Washington to accept his award at GCN's Awards Banquet.
Auctioning is not the wisest choice if you want best value
Auctions let winning set the price of a contract, when value otherwise would. For auctions of purchase to have any chance of working, all prices must remain firm or only be lowered. But proposed changes to Section 15 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation would create a special class of simplified procedures to allow price revisions, up or down.
Suites obsolete? You wouldn't know it by Lotus SmartSuite97
The Roman Empire survived for years beyond its prime on sheer inertia. The same can be said of office suite software but, as with Rome, it has reached its peak before its fall. I tested Release 2 of the SmartSuite 97 beta, which was stable and full-featured enough to give a good preview of the commercial release due in January.
Don't let the turkeys who give you bad advice get you down
Management by headlines afflicts all professions, but it is particularly troublesome for federal IT professionals. We are caught between rapidly changing technology and politicians seeking re-election. We are constantly buffeted by dire news and dramatic opinions. Management has few options in the face of these pressures. About all the senior managers can do is shift people and funding from current projects to meet new challenges. As IT expertise can be highly specialized, this approach can
For smooth sailing, try out alternative to Netscape frames
Are frames giving you a pain? There are some decent alternatives--and I don't mean the frames enhancements in Netscape Communications' Navigator 3.0. Ever since Netscape 2.0's arrival, the frames capability has allowed division of a World Wide Web browser screen into several windows, each containing a separate, scrollable Hypertext Markup Language document. You can jump to other documents or even other Web sites in one frame while the rest stay put.
Don't bury problems
Memo to: Sally Katzen, Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget Re: 19 agencies without Chief Information Officers in place yet cc: John Koskinen, Deputy Directory for Management, OMB Sally, You gave a heck of an after-dinner speech the other night. You know, the one in Richmond at the Executive Leadership Conference sponsored by the Industry Advisory Council. After hearing you, no one could doubt that OMB is on top
Beat the clock
They should feel a bit cheered to know that the Veterans Affairs Department's Austin Automation Center in Texas already has finished converting 1 million lines of its mission-critical Cobol code for about 80 cents a line. That's lower than many industry estimates we've been hearing. Per-line costs can be misleading, because they're averages. Code conversion costs more if the code is complex, less if it's well-documented. The average per-line cost of the VA's conversion project
Wait no longer for a Pentium MMX PC, go for the RAM now
Pentium MMX chips have taken a dip since I predicted a few months ago that Intel Corp.'s new multimedia processors would make current Pentiums old-fashioned, if not obsolete. The first of the crop of new MMX PCs was supposed to have sprouted by now. Software vendors may have readied their applications, but it looks as if the MMX chips won't arrive till closer to spring.
Bill threatens Ag with loss of IT authority
The chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee is proposing that all authority for Agriculture Department systems spending be handed over to a three-member IT System Control Board. In a bill introduced Sept. 30, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) blasted the department for a "lack of strong central leadership" that has led to "hundreds of millions of wasted dollars over the past decade."
The new dance the Rat is shimmying to is the ISDN shuttle
The Rat finally discovered what ISDN really stands for: Idiots Support Dis Network. Even the cynical Cyberrodent wasn't prepared for the high-quality entertainment that getting a basic Integrated Services Digital Network connection up and running would provide. It began when the Rat seeded his department head's brain with the idea of letting some members of the tech staff work remotely on occasion. No doubt sensing an opportunity to ease his supervisory burden, the Rat's manager
Navy signals a trend with 4 blanket buys
At the Navy, it's hello BPAs and goodbye IDIQs. The Navy has awarded one-year blanket purchasing agreements to four vendors under the Tactical Advanced Computer-4 (TAC-4) PC buy. The three-year agreements could be worth up to $90 million as a group. Under the four BPAs, Navy buyers can obtain desktops, printers, servers and other peripherals at discounts from the contractors' General Services Administration schedule prices.
NTIS is an information policy disaster
It is common in Washington to find two inconsistent policies in full bloom at the same time and in the same place. For instance, members of Congress strongly oppose wasteful government spending while merrily bringing home as many local spending projects as possible, regardless of merit. Pools of rhetoric are available to support each objective. Clever politicians dip into the appropriate pool to make whichever point they want. The truly adroit can advance conflicting goals
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