All seems to
be forgiven between Microsoft and this administration re: monopolies. I wonder why that is?
KWC
Microsoft
joins US Army
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2003/06/26/2003056831
BLOOMBERG
Thursday, Jun 26, 2003,Page 12
Microsoft
Corp won a US$478 million, six- year contract to provide
software
to the US
Army, the biggest order ever for the company's programs.
The
agreement
covers 494,000 desktop computers, Microsoft spokesman Keith
Hodson
said. The
Army will buy the software from a Microsoft reseller,
Softmart,
based in
Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Hodson didn't know how the
companies
will divide
the revenue.
The Defense
Department has questioned the security of Microsoft and
rival
products in
the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. One of
the
department's
server computers was attacked in March using a flaw
in
Microsoft's
Windows program. The contract shows the Army has decided
that
Microsoft's
security is sufficient, said Rob Enderle, an analyst
at
Forrester
Research Inc.
And speaking of source codes, there may be
more news soon on that, but here's something I ran across in my benign Sunset
magazine that is helpful at the local choice level: (paraphrased)
Those tiny stickers on loose fruit and
veggies have another purpose besides bar code inventory and pricing at the
checkout counter: the Price Lookup Code (PLU) tells how the item was grown.
Produce grown the conventional
way with insecticides comes with a four-digit
code. On organically-grown items, a number
9 precedes that basic code,
on genetically modified produce, a number 8.
So an apple with a code 4133 was
conventionally grown and the organic apple would be 94133 and the GM apple
84133. -(Sunset July issue, pg.
140)
