GEN, GREET: Sunday column...change of pace

[Russell Smith <rssmith@TENET.EDU>]

    "And now for something completely different!" (It's a horse! No it's
a couple of coconut shells!....)


              From my weekly newspaper column, "Perspective,"

        ...this is the August 6, 1995 article. (should have written on
Hiroshima I guess... oh well)  (free reprints to all educators)


        Bill Gates Holding Trump Cards in Windows 95 Litigation


By Russell Smith


     Bill Gates had a little chat last week with Clinton and later with
Newt Gingrich. These meetings come as Microsoft is on the verge of getting
sued once again for antitrust violation. It seems that the big complaint
is that Microsoft will be getting an unfair advantage over the established
online computer services by including an option in the new Windows 95
software package to sign up with the fledgling Microsoft Network (also
known as MSN).

     My private hunch is the fix will be in from Washington to have the
federal judge issue sanctions not too terribly restrictive against the big
software company (sample conversation: "Judge SoandSo... this is
Bill...Bill Clinton...and you know that little problem we're having with
Microsoft...well I want you to send a strong message, but not too strong
to that good tax-paying company. Oh and by the way... you know that when
the next Supreme Court opening comes up you will be high on my list of
candidates.")

     Because Bill... Bill Gates...had this conversation previously with
Bill Clinton: "Uh..Bill... I mean Mr. President....have you seen Vancouver
Island when the leaves turn red in the fall? Just beautiful... and I hear
the business real estate up in Canada is also just beautiful to interested
American businessmen. Of course I would hate to have to move one of the
largest American corporations to Canada... especially with the 1996
elections coming up. We'd hate to miss all that fun. And Newt kind of
agrees it would be a terrible waste of taxpayer dollars."

     Meanwhile Microsoft has been manufacturing the packages of Windows 95
like crazy for the past three weeks. Not only at the Redmond, Washington
facility, but also at five other software manufacturing companies who are
subcontracting from Microsoft. Their goal is to have 30 million copies
ready for sale when the new software officially goes on sale August 24,
1995.

     This use of non-Microsoft labor throws a new wrinkle in any judge's
desire to punish Microsoft by ordering the software recalled. If a judge
issues such an order it could cause serious financial losses for those
companies.  He could well issue an order stopping the further manufacture
of Windows 95 with the Microsoft Network option included, but my bet is he
won't stop the software already produced.

     In other Windows 95 news.....I recently gave a Windows 95
demonstration at Ranger Junior College to a group of educators and public
librarians. Representative John Cook spoke first about telecommunications
regulation in Texas and Mark Ansboury from the Department of Information
Resources (DIR) spoke about the services provided by that state agency.

     I showed how Windows 95 is a very stable operating system. Previously
I loaded huge computer files that caused a Pentium machine (a 90 megahertz
machine with 32 Megabytes of RAM) to fail using the older version of
Windows. Then I showed how the same files would easily load on a
low-powered 486 machine.

     Next I showed clips of famous art I downloaded from the Internet. I
made the audience guess who were the authors of the famous works of art.
They got the Mona Lisa right (Da Vinci) and Van Gogh's self-portait was a
snap.  Escher and Rembrandt were also fairly easy for this educated
bunch. But they struggled a little as I successively displayed famous
works of art by Botticelli, Matisse, Miro, Van Ecyk, Ernst, and Dorothea
Tanning (the American wife of surrealist Max Ernst).

     The next set of graphics I showed the audience (on a large screen
using an LCD panel hooked to my computer and illuminated by a high-powered
overhead projector) was the Gem and Mineral collection from the
Smithsonian Museum. Included was the crown and earrings Napoleon gave his
wife, rare emeralds, opals, quartz jewels, and brilliant rare sapphires.
Of course the final slide was the famous Hope diamond in all its glory.

     Then I showed them some other fabulous graphics I downloaded from the
Internet from a huge Swedish computer network. I had pictures of rare
animals, classic automobiles, the B1 bomber, and famous actors and
actresses. Included were science photos of meteorites, Halley's comet,
the largest petrified tree in Petrified Forest National Park, and a
picture of Buzz Aldrin standing on the moon.

     I also had written the day before to my colleagues on the Internet on
the librarian mailing list LM_NET (4,000 librarian and technology support
people from around the world) asking if they would send greetings to the
Ranger workshop. About 70 responded, one from as far away as Guam. I
printed out many of the letters and gave them to the people at the Ranger
workshop. I believe they got a true feel of the power of the Internet
reading those wonderful letters from the great folks on list LM_NET.
There's a lot of brainpower out in cyberspace and I'm glad to be connected
to it.

-30-

Cheers,

Russell Smith
rssmith@tenet.edu          rssmith7@delphi.com
Ed.Tech Consultant         Newspaper and Magazine Columnist
Region 14 ESC Abilene, Tx  Fax 915.675.8659 Voice 915.675.8647