Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Tue, Feb 18 1992 Date: Tue, 18 Feb 92 06:36:31 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update Feb. 18, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network IBM MAY GIVE AWAY OS:2 SOFTWARE: IBM is considering giving away its latest version of OS:2, the personal-computer software IBM touts as a successor to MS:DOS, the basic software that runs most PCs. According to the Feb. 17 issue of trade magazine InfoWorld, IBM thinks it's time to make an assault on Microsoft and its best-selling Windows software. Windows and OS:2 are the operating software that control a PC. WINDOWS 3.1 DUE OUT IN MARCH: Microsoft is scheduled to ship the next version of Windows - Windows 3.1 - in March. Infoworld says IBM might offer its latest OS:2 software - version 2.0 - for $49.95 a copy or even free to customers that now use DOS or Windows. Windows have revolutionized the PC-software market by letting users operate IBM and IBM-compatible PCs with on-screen symbols and pointing devices. MINISCRIBE CASE SETTLED: Coopers & Lybrand Monday reached a settlement with plaintiffs in the MiniScribe case just after Texas District Court Judge Roy Engelke set aside a jury verdict and ordered a new trial. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Two weeks ago, a jury awarded plaintiff Kemper Management and its clients $568 million in the case over losses from the failure of computer firm MiniScribe. FUN KEY TO HOME COMPUTER USE: Fun is the key to computer learning programs at home, say Marion Blank and Laura Berlin, authors of The Parent's Guide to Educational Software (Microsoft Press, $14.95). The 1991 book rates 200 programs. They says parents uncomfortable with computers should ask retailers or school experts for help buying software "that allows the child to grow with the program." HUGHES GAINS NASA CONTRACT: An international effort to measure tropical rainfall from space will use a scientific instrument built by Hughes Aircraft Co. that can see through clouds. Hughes' Space and Communications Group has been selected to build the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Imager for the NASA, through its Goddard Space Flight Center. The contract value is $23.7 million. DISCOVERY TO BE OVERHAULED: Crews are working on space shuttle Atlantis, scheduled for a March 23 launch, and shuttle Discovery has returned to Kennedy Space Center to begin a six-month overhaul. Discovery will get 46 modifications that will improve the shuttle's ability to safely fly in space. "We're looking for a mid-October launch date," NASA's Chris Fairey said. TWO-WHEEL DRIVE BIKES ON WAY: Inventor Bill Becoat hopes to build bicycles that go anywhere in all kinds of weather and road conditions. Becoat, of Alton, Ill., has come up with a two-wheel drive bike design. It features nylon ring gears attached to both wheel hubs, which are linked via a flexible, rotating steel cable. They are expected to arrive in biking stores by August at prices ranging from $140 to $220. FIRMS JOIN FORCES: Martin Marietta Corporation and Lockheed Corporation have joined to compete for a contract to develop the Strategic Defense Initiative's National Missile Defense System Ground Based Interceptor program, the firms said Monday. The program calls for deployment of 100 ground-based interceptors capable of distinguishing and destroying ballistic missile warheads in space. STORAGETEK BUYING DISTRIBUTOR: Storage Technology Corp. Monday made a public offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Edata Scandinavia AB, its European distributor. It also has reached agreement with key stockholders to purchase their shares of the Sweden-based company. The firm says its European revenue has more than doubled since 1989. The total stock purchase is valued at approximately $75 million. ROBOFAX OFFERS FAX ON DEMAND: Add-on America's new Robofax-EZ answers incoming calls made from a fax-connected touchtone telephone with a voice greeting and a list of available documents. After selection by the caller, Robofax-EZ then automatically faxes back, over the same fax telephone line, the requested documents without any human operator intervention. It is priced at $1,295. NCR MERGES GROUPS: NCR Corporation Monday announced the creation of a new product development organization headed by William T. O'Shea, a former AT&T Computer Systems executive who joined NCR in July during the merger. The new Integrated Systems Group combines NCR's existing Network Products and Integrated Systems Groups. CODENOLL'S FDDI CERTIFIED: Codenoll Technology Corp., developer of fiber optic network products, Monday said its 100 million bits per second fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) has been certified by Novell. Codenoll's CodeNet FDDI is the only Novell-certified solution for attaching a NetWare server directly to an FDDI network, says Michael Howard of Infonetics Research Institute. Technology Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 08:0002180000D0218 TELE-R M Centel-sale-may-be-close.............. A D0218 This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM