Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4 may have been released last October, but Irish ISPs are still shipping the older IE 3 to their customers, reports Eoin Licken. According to Kieran McDonell, Internet customer unit manager in Microsoft Ireland, ISPs "want to run down their stocks of IE 3 before giving out IE 4". He said Microsoft ships an administration kit which allows ISPs to customise the new browser "in three to four man-days". However, he admitted, nearly three months later ISPs are still shipping the old browser, although some will provide IE 4 to customers who specifically request it. He said all the ISPs who provide Microsoft's browser are expected to move to IE 4 at the beginning of the New Year. If you can't wait till then, you can of course try to download the latest versions of IE 4 and Netscape's Navigator from the Web.
EUDORA Heavy:
First the good news. . . Qualcomm has just released version 4.0 of Eudora Pro, its popular email software, as well as its Eudora Pro CommCenter communications suite. Besides email you get voice messaging, chat, paging, various utilities and other features. Qualcomm's new Web-based email service will also open for business next Thursday. - info: http://www.eudora.com/
EUDORA Glitch:
Now the bad news. . . Qualcomm is warning Eudora users not to save their passwords on their PCs due to the ease with which some programs can decrypt them. One such program available on the Web, called Eudpass.com can decrypt Eudora passwords saved on Windows PCs. Macs are similarly vulnerable, Qualcomm says, but not to that particular program.
Multimedia Grants:
The European Commission's DGXIII/E has issued two new calls for proposals under the INFO2000 programme to accelerate the development and uptake of multimedia and the Internet in Europe. Over IR£7 million in EU funding will be available, covering up to 50 per cent of the costs of projects. The larger of the two involves making public sector information more readily available in multimedia format. The second call is for pilot or exploratory projects to enhance current multimedia rights clearance processes in Europe.
- info: tel 061-202428 Key Man:
A paper published just before Christmas by a retired officer of Britain's secret Communications-Electronics Security Group claims he invented public-key encryption in the late 1960s. Cryptographers Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman published their description of the technique seven years later in 1976. The officer, James Ellis, died on November 25th, shortly before his paper was published.
Laptop Strain:
Workers using laptops can suffer from various health problems including headaches, eye, back and arm pain, according to a report by Britain's biggest union, Unison. It surveyed 500 careers advisers, and said some laptops weighed up to nine kilograms if they included printers and paper.
NEC Buys Packard Bell:
Japan's NEC Corp has effectively cemented control over Packard Bell after agreeing to invest an additional $240 million in the struggling personal computer maker, company officials said on Christmas Day.
Teledesic Prince:
Saudi Arabia's billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal plans to invest in Bill Gates's Teledesic satellite corporation.
MCI Merger Stalled:
The European Commission is seeking more information from WorldCom and MCI Communications before ruling on their proposed merger.
Banking On 3COM:
3Com has won a major contract from Deutsche Bank to replace its existing network environment with a $50-million advanced high speed data network. When completed, Deutsche Bank will operate the largest single computer network based on high performance Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology. The bank processes 13 million transactions a day from over 1,600 branch offices, 1,600 automated teller machines and thousands of customers using PCs.
LOTUS Award:
Lotus Development Ireland has been awarded several EU-funded grants for software R&D by the IDA. Its Dublin team will develop Java applets covering multinational "calendaring" and an object oriented approach to localisation that improves the productivity of Java developers. The value of the two R&D grants is $500,000. In another EU funded R&D project for automating natural language translation of software it received grants worth $725,000.
Name Change:
The Geneva-based Policy Oversight Committee, which is trying to replace the US government's role as Internet domain name allocator - has offered to increase its membership from 11 to 20 members, including representatives of Internet service providers. The US will give up its responsibility on March 31st next. Meanwhile UCD has decided to give up its role as naming authority in the Irish (".ie") domain.
AGRESSO Deal:
Mentec has formed a partnership with Agress to distribute and implement its high-end business and accounting software package Agresso 5 throughout Ireland. - info: tel 01-205-9797, email john.gray@mentec.ie
IONA Shares:
Dealings in shares of one of Ireland's top software developers, Iona Technologies, began on the Irish Stock Exchange earlier this month. Iona's American Depositary Receipts have been traded on the Nasdaq stock market in the US since February. Iona's CEO Chris Horn said: "Our decision to apply for a listing in Dublin reflects the widening of our shareholder base."
YEAR 2000Y2K CDROM:
Suzzex-based Y2Ki has produced a CDRom bringing together information and guidance on Year 2000 programmes from leading organisations and experts in the fields of project management, PCs, embedded systems, mainframes, and internal audit. "It should be particularly useful for SMEs embarking on their projects." Price £49.95 sterling incl. P&P (£58.69 incl. VAT). Ordering details in various currencies are on Y2Ki's Web site.
- info: http://www.jks.co.uk/y2ki or email sales@jks.co.uk
MICROFILELast year there weres1:
three times more scientific publications by Irish-based scientists in respected scientific journals than one might expect from Ireland's GDP
No. of users of Microsoft Exchanges2:
over 7.2 million; licences for Windows NT Workstation now exceed 11 million
The FBI's estimate of the odds on a successful prosecution for extortion using comptuers
22,000 to 1
Sources:
1 Letter in Nature's December 18th-25th issue; 2 Microsoft/ Reuters; 3 Alexander Baugh, senior vice president of professional indemnity at AIG Europe, talking at a seminar in London on "The Internet and Crisis Management".
TEXTBITES"It is important to realise that the Web is what we make it. `We' being the people who read, the people who teach children how to surf the Web, the people who put information up on the Web. Particularly the people who make links. . . The Web doesn't force anything down your throat. If you are worried that your children are going to read low-quality information, teach them. Teach them what to read. Teach them how to judge information."
- The Web's inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, in this month's Scientific American
"We are using 19th-century procedures to pursue 21st-cen- tury criminals."
- Britain's Home Secretary, talking yesterday about proposals he is considering to give police and intelligence agencies Europewide powers to intercept secret messages sent on the Internet by criminals. "The Internet was never intended to support the 100-storey skyscraper we're trying to build on it. There is still this myth of a silver bullet that provides absolute security, and what we're finding out is that all this new openness is creating problems."
- Thomas Noonan, president of Internet Security Systems, at a recent technology conference in Florida.
"Microsoft is like a Great White Shark. When it gets hungry it eats everything around it that can't swim faster."
- Mitchell Kertzman, chairman and chief executive of computer database specialist Sybase, talking at the ITxpo97 symposium.
Computimes is edited by Michael Cunningham. Email only (no faxes please) to computimes@irish-times.ie (private correspondence should be marked NOT FOR PUBLICATION)