[1] From: James O'Donnell <jod@ccat.sas.upenn.edu> (15)
Subject: laus machinae
[2] From: Maurizio Oliva <oliva@denison.edu> (18)
Subject: Proprietary Vs. Open Systems (comment, Edupage)
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 19:31:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: James O'Donnell <jod@ccat.sas.upenn.edu>
Subject: laus machinae
I went to print a letter of recommendation for a colleague and suddenly
realized that the printer for which I was casually reaching will in a few
weeks be ten years old. Easily the most cost-effective investment in
electronic technology I've made since the table model radio at Radio Shack
for $50 in 1968 (it still works too). My printer was the first laser
printer I thought I could afford. 51,000 pages later it has never given
me a moment's mechanical trouble, and is still remarkably effective (at 8
ppm) for my personal needs. To be sure I have a fancier one on the
network at the office that I can send stuff to, but this printer got its
start when my computer had DOS 3.0, WordPerfect 4.2, and 512K of memory,
and now works equally cheerfully with NT 4.0, WP-Win 6.1, and 32M of
memory, and I cannot imagine why I would ever need a new one. Amazing.
Jim O'Donnell
Classics, U. of Penn.
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 11:07:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: Maurizio Oliva <oliva@denison.edu>
Subject: Proprietary Vs. Open Systems (comment, Edupage)
Time to take matters into our own hands. I am very glad that
Microsoft and the flock are pushing for an open standard Java. Java is the
future. I hope that Microsoft wins, the same way I hoped they will win
with TicketMaster. I hope too that soon we will be able to do the same to
Microsoft with their operating systems (and everybody else's operating
systems, for that matter). I really think that operating systems should be
lean, based on open architecture, and copyrighted under the GNU agreement.
Maurizio
SUN WANTS JAVA AS A STANDARD OF ITS OWN Sun Microsystems is accusing
Microsoft of trying to cripple the Sun-developed Java computer language by
leading Intel, Compaq, and Digital in a call for Sun to turn Java over to
the Geneva-based International Standards Organization (ISO). "Every
single thing that Microsoft says and does is designed to protect their
monopoly," says Sun executive Alan Baratz. Sun wants to win ISO approval
for Java as an industry standard and yet retain ownership of Java by Sun.
(New York Times 23 Sep 97)
Maurizio Oliva, Director, Multimedia Language Lab, Denison University
Fellows 302, Granville, OH 43023, O (614) 587-6684, F 587-6417, H 235-9618
oliva@denison.edu http://www.denison.edu/mll
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