News from PANUG/BizNix - June 5, 2002 http://panug.org - http://biznix.org BBS SOFTWARE by Ameneh Tahayori I was wondering if anyone is willing to part with their character-based BBS hosting software. If not, do you know anywhere that might sell them? My email address is ameneh@zygo-usa.com LINUX FOR TERRORISTS submitted by John Henry Maurice The following article discusse why open source software is bad because it's used by terrorists and that a MCSE certification is better than a four year college degree. In other words, more MS FUD. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/25569.html WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER & PASSPORT by Ed Sawicki - Accelerated Learning Center / Tailored Computers The article that John points out above indirectly points to the following web site that reminds us that the Windows Media Player (WMP) phones home to notify Microsoft that you're watching a DVD movie. If you sign up for the WMP newsletter, your email address is then associated with your WMP. Finally, if you subscribe to Passport, your full identity is associated with WMF. http://www.computerbytesman.com/privacy/wmp8dvd.htm TAIWAN & OPEN SOURCE You've seen articles about various governments choosing Open Source software but seldom have the cost benefits been so well documented as Taiwan. Here's the article: Taiwan will subsidise the development of open source systems for both public and private sectors, the Taipei Times has reported. Chuang Tze-nan, director of the National Center for High Performance Computing, was quoted as telling a meeting that locally developed software systems could save the government NT$2 billion in royalty payments to foreign manufacturers, while the private sector could save NT$10 billion. The meeting was convened by the technology and information industry commission of the Legislative Yuan with officials from the National Science Council, the National Center for High Performance Computing, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Industrial Technology Research Institute, Academia Sinica and the Public Construction Commission. Legislators told the meeting that the government had failed to react to Microsoft's monopoly on Taiwan's office software market. National Science Council vice-chairman Hsieh Ching-chih said that for quite a long time Taiwan's consumers had had little choice but to use imported software. Government statistics at the end of 2000, showed that government agencies and schools had 1.23 million personal computers, which, if they used Microsoft software, would mean royalty payments in excess of NT$10 billion, Hsieh said. ACCESSIBILITY & PDF by Raymond L. Robert System Administrator Oregon Board of Medical Examiners The ACCESSIBILITY & PDF link in Monday's broadcast submitted by Patrick Corrigan talks about the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 amended Section 508 (29 U.S.C. § 794d). Section 508 is often thought of as "ADA for the Web," although it doesn't apply to commercial sites and does apply to all technologies used in Federal offices. It requires agencies, when they can without "undue burden," to provide access to information and data that is "comparable," not necessarily identical, to that afforded non-disabled individuals. Through the power of the purse, the Federal government attempts to apply it to state and local governments as well, although most voluntarily comply. The paper from the American Foundation for the Blind is a well-expressed opinion, but only that. Like many government agencies, we use PDF on our Web site for two primary purposes: (1) reducing handling costs by ensuring that forms printed from the Web will be uniform in layout and appearance; and (2) a convenient way of presenting lengthy or involved tables. I agree that Adobe's accessibility guidelines aren't simple to achieve in practice. So when used for purpose (2), a text or HTML copy should accompany the form. The U.S. Access Board, which is responsible for enforcing Section 508, provides both alternatives to its PDF documents (http://www.access-board.gov/508.htm). Our practice is to provide an equivalent HTML. The AFB suggests no alternative to the use of PDF for purpose (1), rendering uniform printed copies. Obviously, these aren't "print-protected" forms. A draft XML "standard" doesn't help us decide how else to post forms today. But the AFB's point is well taken that when PDF is used, it is good practice to provide reasonable non-PDF alternatives. I have asked our Webmaster to review our Forms page with this in mind.