HIGH TECH CORNER: BELL COMMITS TO ADSL FOR CAPE, BUT WHEN?

This makes two years for me writing articles for the Southeast Missourian. The electronic world has changed so much in such a short time, from the performance and features of computing power to the vast amount of information that is available at everyone's fingertips. But we all want more, of course. As an example, Southwestern Bell, the largest local long distance company, serving 30 percent of the United States, has committed to bring all of its customers ADSL high-speed Internet access by 2004 with 80 percent covered by 2002. But with ADSL only operating up to 17,500 feet from the switch in the Bell Broadway Building, they will have to run fiber optics around Cape and all its surrounding areas and T-off copper from these hubs. Well, Bell is finally making the commitment that on either June or July 4 they are moving in two techs who specialize in DSL service. Now this does not mean that the Big Switch downtown will be ready by then, but let's hope so. If Bell can pull it all off by this summer, we will all benefit greatly. I don't believe that Bell understands how big a market Cape will be for true broadband Internet service. They will find a tremendous amount of growth potential.

Of course, the U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson slammed Microsoft very hard for being a monopoly. Why is it that between 70 to 80 percent of all Americans say to leave them alone? Could it be that Microsoft is more than a software/hardware company because they are also listed with Intel on the New York Stock Exchange? The potential economic havoc that could happen in this country if Microsoft took a nosedive would be horrible on the world economy.

I like Word 2000, and I really like Windows 2000. It's like Win

98 and NT mixed together and given steroids. So if Microsoft keeps coming out with products that I want to buy, why are they getting punished? In some cases, bigger is better. And of course, Mr. Bill is only $8 billion short of being worth $100 billion.

So you say you're just tired of running Microsoft Windows? Then Linux might be your next step. Red Hat Linux is the number-one selling Linux and, I might add, over 240 on the Dow. Corel might have a quick leg up soon. At Comdex they showed their version of the Linux Operation System with the standard Windows 98 look and feel. It even comes bundled with WordPerfect. Hot in development at Corel is the world class Corel Draw for of course Corel Linux. You can get a sample of their Linux at www.corel.com on CD for $4.95. But if you are nervous about putting a second OS on your computer because you feel Windows is too flaky, then have no fear because in February Tiger Direct, www.tigerdirect.com, should have ready for their new home and office computers with Corel Linux and Word Perfect already installed and ready to go. The big deal here is that besides from being more stable than Windows 98, it still looks like what you use at work and the OS is free. This means that Linux installed computers will all cost less than any Microsoft Windows-installed computer. Plus, with Windows they don't give you a copy of Word 2000 at no extra cost.

As always, if you have any comments or questions, contact me at rich@digitallabs.com.