December 1997 - Contents
- Apache dances the Samba
- Microsoft shows off Hydra
- Internet Explorer for Unix
- Pegasus grounded
- Spam, spam, spam, spam...
- BT admits ISDN too expensive
- Site design
- Sun beats the drum for Java
- Those crazy people at HP
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We chose to use the Apache web server
running on a Linux box. Apache is a
descendant of the NCSA httpd server and is fast, and very popular, being the
most used WWW server running on 695,000 sites (according to the
Netcraft survey, November 1997).
It is also free, but
unsupported, which might be a drawback for some organisations, though advice is
available through the
comp.infosystems.www.servers.unix
newsgroup and fault reports can be submitted to the developers. There are also
third parties who will provide support.
We have also implemented
Samba on our Linux fileserver.
This is an almost magical piece of software that permits file and printer
sharing between Unix and Windows, and other operating systems, such as VMS,
MVS, Novell and
OS/2. Unix file systems appear as Windows file systems in Windows Explorer,
and with the addition of
SMBFS
for Linux, Windows file systems can be mounted under
Unix. Again, this is all free software, and, from our experience so far,
appears to be rock-solid.
Gosling gave some examples of the advantages of Java over other programming
languages. He described the experience of an Australian defence contractor
that used two equally experienced C++ development teams in an
evaluation of Java technology.
Both teams were given the same task: one team was to use C++, the other
had to learn Java and then use it.
Their management saw around a 2 times productivity increase within
the Java team.
At a later presentation, Sun Microsystems attempted to give a feel for the
size of the Java market:
One example of the use of Java for an embedded system is that
developed by a lock manufacturer. They have produced
a ring (about the size of a wedding ring) that will communicate with a
door lock and only open it for authorised people. The ring has only two contacts
(one data and one ground)
and no battery; it is powered solely from the data contact.
Some more statistics from the Java Forum:
Apache dances the Samba
R-cube's own intranet continues to grow at an tremendous pace.
Already we have over 2000 pages, covering such things
as our quality manual, meeting minutes, project files and
technical documentation. Our own experience of vastly improved
access to information confirms intranets can have major benefits
for small companies as well as large organisations.
Microsoft shows off Hydra
Microsoft demonstrated a beta version of
Hydra at Comdex last month.
Hydra is a package that sits on top of NT Server 4.0 and provides support for
multiple end-user sessions running on thin clients. The end-user runs a Windows
session on the server and accesses it via a client program running on
a new Windows terminal or an NC. Microsoft also claims client sessions could be
run on Windows 3.1 or 95 desktops, DOS, or UNIX.
With Hydra, Microsoft is once again lumbering into a market created
by smaller, nimbler, competitors; in this case,
Citrix's WinFrame
and Insignia Solutions' NTrigue.
Internet Explorer for Unix
A beta release of
Internet Explorer 4 for Sun Solaris systems is now available.
Pegasus grounded
Users of the Pegasus e-mail program may have encountered difficulties recently
because of a misunderstanding in the Computer Incident Advisory Capability bulletin
which listed Pegasus as a package used for delivering bulk e-mail.
As a result, some
Internet Service Providers added Pegasus to their anti-spam filtering so that any
e-mail with Pegasus headers was blocked. Pegasus is a very popular free e-mail
program with a large user base. Unfortunately, it has also proved popular with some
developers of bulk e-mail packages that have incorporated Pegasus in their
products, and this is presumably why CIAC named it.
CIAC's revised bulletin
makes it clear that blocking on the mailer type can result in the loss of a
lot of genuine e-mail.
Pegasus's developer, David Harris (who is understandably
very angry at both the cock-up and the spammers) has had to create a new version
of Pegasus with altered headers;
Pegasus Mail for Windows v2.55 is
available for download now. Harris has also tried to
tighten up Pegasus's licence
to stop spammers using it, but admits that it will be difficult to enforce.
Spam, spam, spam, spam ...
While on the subject of junk e-mail, there is a lot of useful advice out
on the Internet. For example, the
CIAC bulletin
mentioned above advises you not to send 'remove' messages back to a spammer,
as it simply lets them know you really exist and can be safely included on
future lists. Systems administrators may find it worth looking at the
Spam FAQ to find out more about the types of tricks spammers get up to.
If you are getting deluged with junk e-mail, then you could consider
one of the filtering programs, such as
Spamicide,
a shareware program for Windows and POP3 mailers.
BT admits ISDN too expensive
Remember BT's recent ISDN advertising campaign about how ISDN makes
businesses more effective? Computing (13 November 1997) reported how
a part of BT rejected ISDN for an internal security project linking video
cameras at vehicle sites. Instead, they have opted for using modems over ordinary lines.
ISDN provides clear pictures, but BT's southern home counties security manager
explained, "The low cost attracted us to PSTN, which is just as effective. Most systems
work on ISDN, but it takes a long time to get the line and it's more expensive."
Our italics.
Site design
IBM gets this issue's plaudits for its
E-business Web site. A combination of
Javascript and tables is used to good effect to navigate this site. It's a bit on the
slow side for the Internet, but the ideas used here would be excellent
for intranet usage.
Sun beats the drum for Java
Sun's James Gosling was the keynote speaker at the Road to Java conference
at Olympia, London on Wednesday 3rd December. He gave an upbeat presentation
of the prospects for Java to become the key programming language of the
next decade. One of the criticisms of Java is slow execution but Gosling
said there were a number of developments in the pipeline that would
end this criticism. The
next generation of the Just In Time compiler will include optimistic optimisation
to produce code that out performs current C++ compilers. Sun themselves
have internal versions that produce significantly faster code. They should be available
next summer.
The point being made was that Java is not restricted to the (comparatively) small
PC market: it is a development language for all of the
above platforms.
Those crazy people at HP
HP has created a PC 'virtual pet' called the MOPy fish
to promote its range of "Multiple Original Printers". The idea of MOPs is that
they cut photocopying requirements by making it easy to print an original several times.
So where does the fish come in? Like any Tamagotchi, the MOPy
fish craves attention, and will die if left unattended. In addition to feeding and
playing with the fish, its "owner" earns extra points (and a happier fish) every time
he or she uses a HP Multiple Original Printer. HP's bid to
stop people doing any useful work is proving
remarkably popular. There are already 300,000 people who have
downloaded the fish
and HP cheerfully admits it is aiming at 10 million.