ACM TechNews - Monday, September 10, 2001

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ACM TechNews
Volume 3, Number 250
Date: September 10, 2001
Site Sponsored by Gateway (http://www.gateway.com)

Top Stories for Monday, September 10, 2001:
http://www.acm.org/technews/current/homepage.html

"Microsoft Drafts Settlement Bid in Antitrust Suit"
"Computer Service Jobs Drop, First Time In 10 Years"
"Anger in Downturn Turns Against Foreign-Born Workers"
"Linux Users Warned of New Trojan Danger"
"Censors and Surfers Locked in a Battle Over Internet Access"
"Security Experts Protest Copyright Act"
"Government Retreat Will Take a Toll On Competition"
"For PCs, the 'Wow' Factor Is Gone"
"Risks of Grasping a Tiger By the Tail"
"Net Crucial in Spreading U.S. Message"
"Pioneer Steps Out of Net Rutt"
"Internet Address Debates Move to Uruguay"
"Uncle Sam Wants His Geeks Back"
"New Polymers Reveal Their Hidden Strengths"
"Report: Online and Offline Business Integration Services to Boom"
"The Bill Comes Due"
"More For the Money"
"IT Favors Telecommuting"
"Age Schism"

"Microsoft Drafts Settlement Bid in Antitrust Suit"
Lawyers close to the Microsoft antitrust trial are saying the
software giant is drafting a settlement to placate the demands of
the Justice Department.  Last week, federal officials dropped
their bid to break up Microsoft in order to more effectively work ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item1

"Computer Service Jobs Drop, First Time In 10 Years"
A decline in computer service and communications jobs added to
the August unemployment rate, according to the Labor Department.
Computer service jobs fell by 5,000 in August, according to the
department; the numbers indicate the first decline in the sector ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item2

"Anger in Downturn Turns Against Foreign-Born Workers"
A backlash against foreign-born tech employees working in America
under the H-1B visa program is brewing in response to layoffs
triggered by the economic slump.  Georgetown University estimates
that the number of H-1B workers in the United States last year ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item3

"Linux Users Warned of New Trojan Danger"
The Remote Shell Trojan virus could spell trouble for Linux
users, according to a warning from security companies.  The
self-replicating Trojan virus proliferates via email and
throughout infected systems, and its similarity to the Back ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item4

"Censors and Surfers Locked in a Battle Over Internet Access"
Chinese authorities will soon face a more daunting task from an
American startup when censoring Internet content viewed in their
country.  Currently, government workers monitor Web traffic in
China constantly in order to block access to Web sites considered ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item5

"Security Experts Protest Copyright Act"
Two authorities on computer security have taken their research
off their Web sites, fearing legal action from the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act.  One of the two is Dug Song, an expert
of security at Arbor Networks, a network protection firm; he ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item6

"Government Retreat Will Take a Toll On Competition"
The Justice Department's abandonment of the breakup bid in
Microsoft's antitrust trial could mean indefinite legal oversight
of the company as it continues to extend its monopoly from
operating systems to other areas.  Columnist Dan Gillmor says a ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item7

"For PCs, the 'Wow' Factor Is Gone"
Some analysts are saying that Compaq and Hewlett-Packard's recent
merger signals that the personal computer revolution is over, or
at least stopped for now.  One reason is that two-thirds of
American households now have computers and that new technology ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item8

"Risks of Grasping a Tiger By the Tail"
Other analysts warn that the Hewlett-Packard and Compaq merger is
fraught with dangers, such as those that befell the merger of
Burroughs and Sperry in 1986 to create Unisys.  That partnership
was also meant to challenge IBM, a goal that HP Carly Fiornia ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item9

"Net Crucial in Spreading U.S. Message"
The U.S. State Department stressed the importance of the Internet
as a diplomatic tool at the second annual Net Diplomacy
conference.  "We have got to use these technologies to tell
America's story, to promote America's interests, and perhaps ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item10

"Pioneer Steps Out of Net Rutt"
Jim Rutt, non-executive chairman of Analog Design Automation,
believes that the Internet no longer offers exciting
advancements, and so has abandoned the Web for the field of
complexity science.  Complexity science examines the formation of ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item11

"Internet Address Debates Move to Uruguay"
ICANN's upcoming Uruguay meeting will address two important
issues: reforming ICANN's governing structure, and incorporating
multilingual domains, which ICANN calls "internationalized domain
names."  ICANN structural reform should be a hot topic, with some ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item12

"Uncle Sam Wants His Geeks Back"
The U.S. Army wants to hire IT professionals who have gone into
the private sector, said Gen. Dave Bryan Wednesday at the InfoWar
conference.  He heads the Joint Task Force on Computer Network
Defense, which was created in 1998 to protect Defense Department ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item13

"New Polymers Reveal Their Hidden Strengths"
Researchers are exploring new types of plastic polymers that will
likely serve as high-tech materials we take for granted in the
future.  One new polymer developed by NASA scientists expands and
contracts according to an electronic signal, much like human ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item14

"Report: Online and Offline Business Integration Services to Boom"
Businesses will spend $116.5 billion in 2005 on integration
services that help them mesh together back- and front-end
operations seamlessly, according to IDC.  Moreover, the markets
for customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item15

"The Bill Comes Due"
Although President Bush has taken the time to talk to leaders of
the high-tech industry, the information technology community
continues to view the Bush administration with suspicion.  The IT
industry is not happy about the amount of funds Bush wants to set ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item16

"More For the Money"
As a result of the economic downturn, employers are downgrading
or eliminating bonuses and other special offerings for IT
professionals, focusing more on job security and non-monetary
incentives.  The University of Massachusetts medical school is a ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item17

"IT Favors Telecommuting"
Working from home is highly desirable among IT professionals,
according to a Techies.com survey.  Fifty-one percent of 1,953
surveyed IT workers said that they want to work from home half
the time, 19 percent wished to telecommute full time, and 17 ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item18

"Age Schism"
Information technology remains a youth-filled industry that has
not been able to shed the perception that ageism is rampant.
Mike Oliver, former chair of the Maryland State Bar Association
Technology Committee, says even the firms that do business with ...
http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2001-3/0910m.html#item19

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