OPINION

Clear-Cutting the Future: We’ll Hear More About This in 2005

Terry Calhoun, IT Trends Commentator
Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)
University of Michigan

It’s really hard to decide between my two favorite holiday presents. The antique jigsaw puzzle, complete in its original box, of the characters from the old “Terry & the Pirates” cartoon strip delighted me; in part because it helps me appreciate how much popular culture has changed (and hasn’t) since the early 1950s and in part due to vanity — I was named after the major character.

But I think my overall favorite is the tiny little, black (stealth) keychain device, which purports (and so far has proven it many times over) to let me turn off any remote-enabled television. I have a serious hate-hate relationship with televisions. My dislike of television has grown for years but tipped into activism after a blood pressure-induced hospital stay a year ago, during which I learned that there were no television-free patient rooms in the University of Michigan hospital.

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IT NEWS

PeopleSoft CEO Resigns Ahead of Oracle Takeover

David A. Duffield resigned as CEO, chairman and director of PeopleSoft on December 21. (USA Today)
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Collaboration Begins on P2P Issues at FTC

The RIAA and the MPAA were both at the FTC’s table, along with representatives from users and the manufacturers of file-sharing software. The FTC is collecting preliminary information. Some think it is laying groundwork for full-blown FTC regulation of some kind. (Wired)
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Operation FastLink Gets U. Iowa Student

The student “was part of the ‘warez scene,’ an underground network of individuals and organized groups that compete in the market of large-scale, illegal dissemination of protected software. Members gain[ed] access to copyrighted material, often before its release, crack the digital protections and put it online for others to access, reproduce or pass along.” (Iowa City Press Citizen)

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Employees Who Won’t Stay Fired - They’re Dedicated!

Rom Avitzur’s project (and his contract) at Apple was cancelled, but he and others kept coming in to work and even using their own money to finish the project. (Wired)
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i2hub a Hit at U. Mass

This controversial but rapidly proliferating file sharing software uses Internet2 to serve up tunes as fast as one every several seconds or so. Fast enough to draw the attention of a good percentage of the UMass student population, and on campuses elsewhere. (The Republican)
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Wi-Fi Networks Slated for Ph'enix-Area Downtowns

Still in the planning stages, a Wi-Fi network to cover and connect downtown Ph'enix, Scottsdale, and Tempe, AZ, is being proposed by the Downtown Ph'enix Partnership. (MSNBC)
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U. Alaska Hangs Up on Dial-Up Net Service

Noting the many commercial competitors available to students, university administrators will spend the saved money on the campus network. In November of 2004 just five students dialed in through the university. (Daily News Miner)
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Grand Valley State on the Anti-Spam Warpath

Students will get emailed a list of “quarantined” messages every six hours and will be able to reject or accept them at will. (Grand Valley Lanthorn)
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RESOURCES

U. Wisconsin Replaces PeopleSoft with Alumni Association-Developed Software

The central UW alumni association split with the university several years before the U adopted a PeopleSoft module for departments and colleges. Now the U is bringing the central alumni association software available to all parts of campus instead. (Wisconsin Technology Network)
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From the Campus to the Commons: The Free Culture Movement

Is it the environmentalism of the next generation? What happens when the philosophies of the free/open software movement are applied to protect freedoms of creativity and innovation? (AlterNet)
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Linux’ Code Contains Fewer Bugs Than Its Competitors’

This study shows that Linux actually has about 100 times fewer bugs-per-line-of-code that the average piece of commercial software. (Wired)
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DEALS, CONTRACTS, AWARDS

Suffolk County Benefits from Recent Grants

Stony Brook University's Center of Excellence in Wireless Technology received $1 million. Furthermore, St. Joseph's College received $400,000 to fund the creation of 37 technologically integrated "smart classrooms," 22 at the Brooklyn campus and 15 at the Patchogue campus.
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Verizon Awards Nearly $75,000 to Washington State Nonprofits

The Verizon Foundation has awarded nearly $75,000 to 10 Washington nonprofit organizations with the goal of advancing community technology and work force development. The Washington State University Foundation received $9,500 to fund a mobile, wireless broadband teaching lab that will reach students in remote areas. Also, the Lake Washington College Foundation received $8,000 to create a computer lab for low-income students.
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