Campus Bytes! PAGE 6A TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1997
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TECHNOLOGY • INTERNET • SOFTWARE • ONLINE ISSUES
Guest Column
Government suit against Microsoft based in ignorance
The United States Department of Justice filed suit against Microsoft Corporation claiming that the software maker was trying to manipulate the Web browser market.
Microsoft, as you know, is more likely to corner the operating system market with its Windows 95 software. Fifty-three percent of computers use the latest Windows, according to WebTrends, a site on the Web. Compare that with 15 percent using the now-obsolete Windows 98.
x and a mealy 6 per cent running Macintosh systems. The remaining 26 percent use a variety of other systems. If you want to use today's software, you'd best pick up a copy of Wm5s.
Those Windows 95 CD-ROMs now include Microsoft's Web browser, Internet Explorer. That's what irks the Justice Department. It claims that Microsoft is using the dominance of its operating system to corner the browser market as well.
Andy Rohrback
WebTrends also reports that 27 percent of Web wanderers use
net Explorer. But the majority do their surfing on Netscape's hugely popular Navigator, recently revamped and repackaged as Communicator. With less than one-third of the total browser market, how can Microsoft be accused of manipulation?
What Microsoft is doing is providing free software to their customers. They've been planning this move for some time. No one faults them for packaging Microsoft WordPad with the software. WordPad is nothing less than a harshly scaled-down version of Microsoft Word 7.0. But no one accuses the software company of cornering the word-processor market — despite the fact that Word is one of the most popular word processors out there.
Besides, users always have the option of removing Internet Explorer from their system. Installing this browser doesn't mean you can't change your mind later — and HTML files are just as easy to open in Netscape. All you lose by switching from one browser to the other is your bookmarks and e-mail address book, and often your bookmarks can be translated to the browser you switch to.
Besides, Microsoft doesn't make money from Internet Explorer when it's packaged with Windows 95. From the looks of things, it's going to be difficult for any browser to become a cash cow anytime soon. Both Microsoft and Netscape offer their browsers for free, and attempting to charge for the software would only hurt either company's market share. The only money-making aspect of these two programs is their boxed versions, which have slightly more capabilities and are marginally easier to install, at a cost of $40.
The Microsoft lawsuit is just one example of why the government shouldn't pretend to be savvy when it comes to technology. A few months back, President Clinton promised to revamp the Internet and bring it to every school for free. Last week, the judge in the trial of Massachusetts au pair Louise Woodward promised to issue his decision via Internet before releasing it to reporters. He placed it on the Web site belonging to Massachusetts law journal "Lawyers Weekly." So many people visited the site that it promptly crashed. Government types aren't known for their computing skills.
It's true that the government needs to regulate commerce to ensure a level playing field. But there are elements of the Microsoft issue which the Department of Justice just doesn't seem to understand.
Rohrback is an Andover junior in journalism.
Yahoo! Timetable is on Internet
Online resources aid enrollment
By Daniel E. Thompson
dthompson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
Around the time of enrollment, timetables disappear quickly. Students take them, and if they enroll the way they are supposed to, they flip and thumb back and forth between the time table and the course catalog.
But for about a year now, there has been a searchable online timetable and course catalog, said Michael Grobe, manager of distributed computing for the Computer Center.
Grobe said that a user can easily click back and forth between the catalog and the timetable.
By clicking on lark.co.ukans.edu/cgi-
wrap/catalog/lookup-course96.pl,
click here.
thumbing and flipping through books becomes unnecessary. At the address, a searchable course catalog will show a class description and then link to the timetable for that course.
The catalog can be searched in several ways: By department, course number, distribution areas or a combination of all of these.
The less-than-easy-to-remember address also can be found by going through Academics from the main KU Facts at www.ukans.edu/kufacts and then through Enrollment or Courses/Timetables.
"I didn't get a course catalog, so I had to borrow one," said Kara Fisher, Minneapolis freshman, about her first enrollment. Fisher, who is online, was unaware that the searchable online version of the catalog existed.
"That's a good idea. It would be helpful," she said.
The new problem with the online version is letting students know that it exists — because very few do.
"I suppose they could advertise when you pick up a course catalog," Fisher said. "Because even if you have one, it might be easier to look it up on the Internet."
Jon Tosterud, Vermillion, S.D., senior who is graduating in December, said he would use an online version of the catalog and timetable during enrollment had he known about it.
"They could put something in the paper during enrollment or a supplement in the timetable," he said.
While one of the tougher aspects of putting something online is letting students know about it, the difficult part has already been done.
Grobe said that no database existed for the 4,806 classes taught at the University, and the online version was created from an electronic version of the printed output. When the timeta-
Catalog and timetable
KU Facts page
www.ukans.edu/kufacts
lark.cc.ukans.edu/cgiwrap/
catalog/lookup-course96.pl
"Even if you have [a timetable], it might be easier to look it up on the Internet."
Kara Fisher
Minneapolis freshman
ble or catalog is printed, the information is put on a disk, Grobe said. From that disk, the classes and descriptions were organized and put online.
Cyber travel agents offer discount rates
"Part of the issue here is getting people to like the idea," Grobe said.
Melissa Ngo Special to the Kansan
Type here. Click there.
And send. That's all students have to do to make travel reservations.
The Internet has many sites that allow users to make travel reservations. Some offer discount air fares and hotel rates. Others offer travel packages such a skiing and kayaking.
"Some of the systems are really nice. I've found that they give you good itineraries, sometimes better than from a travel agent. It's basically a cyber travel agent," said Kelly Corn, Clovis, N.M., sophomore.
John Hazlewood is chief executive officer and president of Intransco Travel Center, which operates two travel Web sites, Teleportal On and the Fly Travel.
Questions include where they want to go, where they are leaving from and when they want to return.
"Teleportal was one of the first online booking sites when it was created in the summer of '95," he said. "It's grown significantly over the last couple of years. We get over a thousand people looking at our site per day."
Hazlewood said some advantages to Web sites included cheaper tickets and around-the-clock availability.
At a site for airplane reservations, there is a list of airlines and air fares, and the users choose what they want and how to pay.
Despite the convenience of making online travel reservations, one student said he was worried about the security of the transaction.
"It's just not a good idea to reserve tickets over the Internet because someone could possibly get a hold of your credit card number. I think it's just too risky," said Kevin McGill, Wichita freshman.
Most sites ask users to fill out a travel itinerary.
The Web sites do have safeguards to protect consumer information. Some Web sites encrypt all of the information users send.
Many insist that the address to which the tickets are sent is the same address to which the credit card bill is sent. Others allow users to send a check or to make a phone reservation after getting the information from the site.
Hazlewood said that his company used safeguards and was working on developing more.
"We're creating some encryption security," he said. "Right now we have
Online travel
Some online travel reservation sites:
www.etn.eth/cheap
www.mat.net/nets-fittre/s
Z/air/airfare.html
wwwteleportal.com
ontheflytravel.com
www.adventureland.com
people fax us a copy of their credit card. We do that to make sure the person really has the card and hasn't just stolen the number."
Marcia West, a travel agent at Carlson Wagonit Travel/Sunflower Travel Service, said that traditional agencies have not been affected by these Web sites.
"One of the advantages of a travel agent is that we can usually get cheaper fares. Plus, often people don't want to work at searching for stuff," she said.
West said that people had called her after checking online and asked her to book those flights for them. She said she often found cheaper rates than those offered online.
"I remember once someone called, and they had found a $134 ticket, and I was able to find a $78 ticket," West said.
Federal agencies clean Web to rid Internet of scams
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Consumer protection officials in 25 countries have told hundreds of Internet Web site operators that their get-rich-quick business opportunities and pyramid schemes may be illegal, including some sites based in Kansas.
International Internet Sweep Day was conducted Oct.16, the Federal Trade Commission announced yesterday.
The operation was sponsored by the International Marketing Supervision Network, an association of consumer protection law enforcement agencies around the world, and coordinated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
In the United States, the trade commission and the federal Securities Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission joined consumer protection agencies and securities regulators in 22 states in targeting suspect Web sites. The FTC then issued warnings to 180 site operators.
A prime objective of the sweep was to educate businesses using the Internet about consumer protection laws and to deter any future violations.
But the FTC said the sites would be revisited later, and if additional information suggests that they are illegal
More information
Further consumer education materials are available on the internet at the FTC's web site, www.ftc.gov or by phoning the FTC at 202-326-2222
operations, law enforcement action may be taken.
"We want to put computer con artists on notice: Law enforcement agencies throughout the country and around the world are patrolling the Internet," said director Jodie Bernstein of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
The FTC advises consumers to investigate all earnings claims, beware of phony references, avoid any plan that includes commissions for recruiting additional distributors, ask for a disclosure document if they are investing in a franchise, get specific information about work-at-home plans and get all promises in writing, including any refund policy.
States participating in Internet Sweep Day were Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Texas and Wisconsin.
Questions? Call Pres. Chris Lovvorn@ 838-9293 Visit our website @ http://www.ukans.edu/~goldkey
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