Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech,americast.usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Mon, Sep 21 1992 Date: Mon, 21 Sep 92 04:39:57 EDT Message-ID: 09-21 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update Sept. 21, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MICROSOFT MAY FACE FTC CHARGES: A two-year probe of Microsoft by the Federal Trade Commission is nearing its end and action could be taken soon, according to a report in the Sept. 28 issue of Businessweek magazine, out Monday. The report says lawyers at the FTC's Bureau of Competition may recommend that the FTC act as early as next month on Microsoft's near monopoly on the market for computer operating systems. IBM TO UNVEIL NEW LINE: IBM introduces a line of PS:2 personal computers Monday aimed at corporate computer users. The upscale PS:2 line includes five desktop systems and four multimedia PCs with audio and video capabilities. All the systems will be pre-loaded with IBM's OS:2 2.0 operating system. Two weeks ago, IBM unveiled a line of low-cost PCs aimed at small businesses and home computer users. HEWLETT-PACKARD ADDS VECTRA: Hewlett-Packard, best known for its printers and workstations, will introduce a line of computers targeted at the corporate market Monday. Hewlett-Packard says its Vectra 486N computers will be priced about the same as comparable systems from personal computer clone-makers. AMENDMENT TO STOP B-2 FAILS: The Senate by a 53-45 vote Friday rejected an amendment by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that would have ended funding for the B-2 stealth bomber. The vote came as the Senate debated the Defense Department authorization bill that lays out a spending blueprint for fiscal year 1993. Leahy opposes the bomber as an expensive and obsolete aircraft. SHUTTLE EXPERIMENTS ARE STUDIED: Scientists Sunday began assessing the 43 experiments - from space-spawned tadpoles to Oriental hornets - that shuttle Endeavour's crew worked in space. The experiments are an important step toward space station Freedom, slated for later this decade. One failure: Two-thirds of 180 hornets died due to high humidity. Next Shuttle Launch: Columbia, in mid-October. DIGITAL PLAYERS OUT IN JAPAN: Digital compact cassette players are going on sale Monday in Japan, six weeks before the new music system's debut in the USA. DCC is one of two new home recording formats designed to replace the audio cassette. It was developed by Philips and Matsushita. The first player carries a $799 suggested retail price. The price of a 90-minute blank tape is $9.99. DCCS TO HIT U.S. MARKET IN NOV.: Philips officials say 500 prerecorded titles and blank tapes for its Digital compact cassette players should be available in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago the first week of November. Most major markets should have DCC players by year's end. Also due by Christmas are Sony's MiniDisc players for $549.95 and recorders for $749.95. GE TOP USER OF INFO TECHNOLOGY: General Electric is the largest user of information technology in the USA, according to InformationWeek. The magazine ranked the 500 largest users of information technology in its issue due out Monday. GE was followed by AT&T and Sears Roebuck, respectively. The rest of the top 10: United Technologies, General Motors, GTE, American Express, Prudential, IBM and Chrysler. NEW FAX GATEWAY IS INTRODUCED: OSIware Inc. has introduced an X.400-to-facsimile gateway product. The Messenger 400 Fax Access Unit (FAU) is a personal computer-based product housing up to four fax boards, an X.25 card and transmission Control Protocol:Internet Protocol software. It costs $10,000. NEW ATMS ARE ON WAY: According to a report from Gartner Group Inc., Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) interfaces will appear within two years, Network World reports. ATM switching fabric will be available within three years and ATM to the desktop will be widely available in five to seven years. ATMs facilitate efficient operation in networks that must transport "bursts" of information. SIERRA WINS HAYES INJUNCTION: A federal district judge in California has granted a preliminary injunction to Sierra Semiconductor. It keeps Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. from advertising that the Sierra TIES modem has a serious reliability problem that could cause data to be destroyed or erased. The order said that Hayes could not cite any such instance and CEO Dennis Hayes testified he had not seen any. MULTITECH WINS INJUNCTION: A federal district judge in Minnesota has issued an injunction in favor of Multitech Systems similar to an injunction against Hayes Micrcomputer Products Inc. in California. The injunction keeps Hayes from issuing test kits touted in ads. The ads warn of a "fatal flaw" that could exist in non-Hayes modems and offer test kits to uncover the "flaw." Technology Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 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