Issue 3000 was published on Monday 17th January 1994. This issue included a repeat (from four years earlier in issue 2000) of his description of the origin of VNS by Marios Cleovoulou which may be viewed here. Colin Blake, who took over as publisher from Marios, then described the publication system. This description may also be read here.
<><><><><><><><> T h e V O G O N N e w s S e r v i c e <><><><><><><><>
Edition : 3000 Monday 17-Jan-1994 Circulation : 6406
VNS Announcement ................................... 164 Lines
VNS MAIN NEWS ...................................... 48 "
VNS COMPUTER NEWS .................................. 139 "
VNS TECHNOLOGY WATCH ............................... 91 "
For information on how to subscribe to VNS, ordering backissues, contacting
VNS staff members, etc, send a mail to EXPAT::EXPAT with a subject of HELP.
VNS Announcement: [Colin Blake, VNS Publisher]
================= [Nashua, NH, USA ]
**********************************************************
** 3333 0000 0000 0000 '' **
** 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 '' **
** 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 ' t h **
** 3333 0 0 0 0 0 0 ' tttt h **
** 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 t hhh **
** 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 t t h h **
** 3333 0000 0000 0000 tt h h **
** **
** EEEEE DDDD III TTTTT III OOO NN N **
** E D D I T I O O NN N **
** EEEEE D D I T I O O N N N **
** E D D I T I O O N NN **
** EEEEE DDDD III TTTTT III OOO N N **
**********************************************************
This is edition number 3000. That's right, 3000! VNS has been "printing"
now for almost twelve and a half years.
In this issue I'd like to take the opportunity to explain two of the
most frequently asked questions; how did it all start, and how is VNS
produced.
How it all started is best explained by Marios Cleovoulou, who was the
publisher of VNS from 1983 to 1993. This is what Marios had to say in
the 2000'th edition back in February 1990:
The VOGON News Service started after a number of software
engineers from Reading, England relocated to the Spit Brook Road
facility in Nashua, NH, USA. Amongst them were Alan Blannin and
myself. Alan asked a friend, Richard De Morgan, still in
Reading, to send him the test match scores so that Alan could
keep up to date on events in his favourite sport -- cricket.
Richard sent not only the requested results, but also included
some small snippets of news.
Alan forwarded this information on to other "expat Brits" in the
U.S. and the VNS (although it wasn't known as such then) was
born! Issue number one was "published" on the 3rd of August,
1981. Soon after, Richard, being at the time on node VOGON::,
jokingly titled his MAIL to Alan "The VOGON News Service" and
the name stuck.
(A Vogon is an ugly extraterrestrial which enjoys torturing its
victims by reading his exceptionally bad poetry to them. For
further references on Vogons readers should consult "The
Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy", by Douglas Adams) .
Alan left DIGITAL at the end of July 1983 and I took over the
job of "publisher". Our circulation was then just over the 100
mark and we had just taken on a new staff member -- Tracy
Talcott [VNS COMPUTER NEWS]. Mike Taylor [VNS TECHNOLOGY WATCH]
joined us at the end of 1983 and Ken Merrick [VNS UK SPORTS
REPORT] enlisted in January, 1989.
Andrew Payne [VNS MAIN NEWS] signed up in October, 1989,
carrying on the tradition of providing news for British expats
started by Richard De Morgan who had recently left DIGITAL.
Marios left Digital at the beginning of 1993, and that was when I took
over as publisher. After seven years of being produced in Valbonne,
France (node CASEE), VNS moved to Spit Brook Road in Nashua, New
Hampshire (node EXPAT). Since so much of the work involved in producing
an edition of VNS had been automated by Marios, VNS's move across the
Atlantic went very smoothly and not a single edition was missed (or was
even late!). In fact, most people probably didn't realise that it had
moved. And this leads me into the second most frequently asked question,
"How is VNS produced?"
As publisher of VNS I do NOT have to collect all the articles for the
day's edition (at 4 o'clock in the morning!) and manually assemble them.
Instead, VNS is produced each morning by a batch job. Yes, it's true!
And it's been that way for years (I guess Marios didn't like getting up
early!!!). The batch job, actually a collection of DCL command files
TPU section files and RMS data files is the VNS publishing system and
is referred to simply as "VNS".
Articles are sent by the various correspondents to a mail address on
EXPAT where VNS automatically stores them for inclusion in the next
edition. Then, each weekday, just after midnight (5am UK time), VNS
checks to see if it has received the Main News yet. If it has received
the Main News then it will publish the next edition. If it hasn't
received the Main News then it will wait and re-check at regular
intervals and when the Main News does arrive the next edition of VNS
will be published. If the Main News hasn't arrived by 5am local time
(10am UK time) then VNS checks to see how many articles it has received
and it there's sufficient will publish VNS without the Main News.
To publish an edition VNS collects the articles it has received, adds
the appropriate header to each one, sorts them, creates the main header
(which contains the contents and circulation information), adds the
trailer section, and mails it out. This is all totally automated and
requires no action on my part. VNS also creates the VTX edition and
sends this out to the appropriate infobases and instructs the relevant
servers to update these pages.
VNS currently has a circulation of over 6000 readers. In order to keep
the network traffic down it implements a feature known as "node
hopping". This significantly reduces the number of mail messages that
have to be sent and it works as follows.
Nmail is used for VNS distribution. Nmail talks the MAIL-11 protocol and
deals with the MAIL object at the receiving node directly. There are two
significant (for VNS) parts of this protocol; (a) there is only one
message per destination node sent, no matter how many recipients are at
that node, and, (b) the parsing of the address is done at each stage in
the delivery. A small example best illustrates the benefit of node
hopping. Here's an extract from the VNS distribution list:
NM%BONNET::NM%CLARID::JENSEN
NM%BONNET::NM%CLARID::KING
NM%BONNET::NM%CLARID::WILSON
NM%BONNET::NM%VISA::BIJAOUI
NM%BONNET::NM%VISA::BONGARTZ
NM%BONNET::NM%VISA::CHURCH
NM%BONNET::NM%VISA::GENTILI
The first thing that happens is the whole lot gets queued for Nmail
delivery on node EXPAT. Nmail then delivers ONE copy to BONNET. The
MAIL object at BONNET sees the "NM%" after BONNET:: and puts it all
into the Nmail queue on BONNET. Nmail then delivers one copy to each of
CLARID and VISA where MAIL deals with handing it out to the right
people. Thus only one copy of the VNS goes from Nashua across the
Atlantic to Valbonne instead of seven or two. Since the BONNET
distribution actually has a total of 176 readers on 29 nodes (as of the
end of December), the reduction in network traffic is considerable.
To further reduce the amount of network traffic the concept of "primary"
and "secondary" hopper nodes was introduced. The total system works
like this:
- Primary hopper nodes get their VNS directly from EXPAT.
- Secondary hopper nodes get their VNS from their nearest primary
hopper node.
- Subscribers get their VNS from their nearest (primary or secondary)
hopper node.
There are currently 12 primary hopper nodes and a further 28 secondary
hopper nodes spread around the world. This means that EXPAT only sends
12 mail messages when it initiates the distribution of an edition of
VNS. Each primary hopper node handles the distribution within its area,
sending both to secondary hopper nodes and regular nodes as appropriate.
Whenever a new subscriber is added, or an existing subscriber changes
his or her mailing address, VNS automatically determines which
hopper(s) to use based on the physical location of the subscriber.
Using this technique VNS can efficiently distribute each edition ina
timely manner. The network certainly has a lot to thank Marios
Cleovoulou (author of the "node hopping" code) and Dave Porter (author
of Nmail) for!!!
There's a bit more to "VNS - the system" than what I've described here,
but I won't bore you with all the gory details today. I'1l save that
for the 4000'th edition!
To end with I'd like to highlight a couple of VNS ten year anniversaries
that occurred during 1993. Tracy Talcott [COMPUTER NEWS] celebrated his
tenth year of ie ates: es vNS in August (his first contribution appeared
in VNS #388 on Thursday, 4th of August 1983). And Mike Taylor
[TECHNOLOGY WATCH] also celebrated his tenth anniversary, having joined
the VNS "staff" on the 13th of December 1983. Tremendous thanks to both
of you guys for making VNS the success that it is. Here's to the next
3000!
VNS MAIN NEWS: [Andy Payne, VNS UK News Desk]
============== [Fareham, England ]
Here is the News at 09:00 GMT on Monday 17th January 1994
---------------------------------------------------------
UK News
-------
The Prime Minister is due to give evidence to Lord Justice Scott's
arms-for-Iraq investigation today.
Welsh Secretary John Redwood has denied that right-wingers in the
Cabinet are unhappy with John Major.
Seven men have been arrested after a loaded mortar was found in County
Tyrone.
Tory MP Gary Waller, 48, has admitted he fathered a child in a
relationship with Commons secretary Fay Stockwell. His disclosure follows
claims in the People newspaper which he had earlier denied.
World News
----------
Syrian President has assured US President Clinton of his commitment to
peace with Israel. Syria seeks a just and lasting peace, he said after
more than five hours of talks with Mr Clinton. Mr Assad called on
Israel to "show courage" and come to terms with the Arabs on all fronts.
The architect of Russia's economic reforms, Yegor Gaidar, has said he
is leaving the government. He wrote to President Yeltsin to say he was
declining the post of first deputy prime minister in the new
administration. US Secretary of State Warren Christopher said he did
not attach any significance to the news as there were other strong
reformers.
The Pan Africanist Congress has said its armed wing has suspended its
struggle against the South African government. PAC president Clarence
Makwetu said the Azanian People's Liberation Army had declared a
ceasefire while the PAC pursued negotiations with the government. The
government has welcomed the move. APLA has been blamed for a series
of armed attacks on policemen and white people.
Somali clan leaders have signed an agreement aimed at stopping the
fighting in the capital, Mogadishu. The talks were chaired by an Islamic
leader and attended by some 200 clan elders who said they were tired of
war. Gereral Aideed and Ali Mahdi Mohammed, the main faction leaders, did
not attend the meeting.
{News courtesy of the BBC}
VNS COMPUTER NEWS: [Tracy Talcott, VNS Computer Desk]
================== [Littleton, NH, USA ]
Friday's Market Digital Fair Market Value
Quote Change Dow Jones Change 28-May-1993 $44.50
IBM 58 5/8 - 1/8 30-Nov-1993 $36.812
HPkd 87 1/2 +2 85% of lower $31.50
Msft 85 5/8 + 1/4 1-Dec-1993 $35.875
DEC 37 - 3/8 3867.20 +24.77
VNS - Edition 3000
Those of you who've been reading VNS for a while may remember that for the
past several 500th-edition "specials" I carry on about quality and customers
and what a good job I think Honda does servicing their cars and taking care of
their customers. The old '85 Honda CRX drove it's last commute with me at the
wheel some time after issue 2500. New England winters finally got the better
of its frame and it was time for another car. What to do? Well, knowing that
edition 3000 was only months away I had only one choice; I purchased a used
‘91 CRX (the last year they were manufactured). I looked at a couple of new
cars, but in the end, as a satisfied customer I went with a product I thought
I'd be happy with, so you may be hearing about my Honda through (hopefully)
edition 4000.
My main message for No. 3000 is pretty short. There are fewer of us at
Digital than there were a year or two ago, and it sounds like there will be
fewer still in the months ahead. But we still sell one heck of a lot of
goods, services and cqmsulting, and have a lot of people out there betting
their businesses and futures on what we produce. As we work through the
"right-sizing" and reorganization, it's important to pull together and work as
a single, cohesive team to give our customers what they need. It isn't
important to them that we've been re-aligned, re-deployed, or re-anything'd
else; what counts is doing a quality job and caring about what we do. If we
can do that, we're well on the way back up the ladder of success. I can
remember 20+ years ago playing on a flag-football team (players wear flags and
removing a velcro-attached flag is the equivalent of a tackle). Our official
name was the Barranca Mesa Bears, but we were known throughout the league as
Barranca Mesa Bear Nakeds. We scored only one touchdown all season when Neil
Fraser, playing defense, intercepted a lateral and ran it in for the score.
Surprised the heck out of everyone, including us. While we had a tough year,
it was a memorable one. We all gave everything we had and we always stayed
tight with each other and committed to the team and the idea of winning.
While we didn't learn much about football, we learned alot about getting going
when the going was tough. The important thing is that regardless of how well
or poorly we did on any given game, we never lost sight of our ultimate goal
of winning. If you lose sight of your goal and spend your time bickering
amongst yourselves, you're almost guaranteed never to achieve what you set out
to accomplish. My message for edition 3000 is to try to look past any
roadblocks you currently face and work with each other as a team to work to
keep our customers satisfied. Getting bogged down in what's going wrong is
real easy and in the end gets you nowhere. One other more recent memory I
have comes from working for Digital in Tewksbury in the late '70s. We were
having all sorts of problems - the hardware we designed wasn't working, and
other groups weren't coming through on their commitments, and how were we
going to do our stuff when someone else wasn't holding up their end, etc. etc.
etc. Amid all our moaning and groaning, one Ernie Crocker said "I don't want
problems! I want solutions!!" And son-of-a-gun, if that isn't what we got
once we concentrated on the goals at hand. So as you work this week, try
focusing on your goals and the best way to accomplish them, and rather than
expending energy complaining about roadblocks, work past ‘em and strive to
keep those customers happy. - TT
Borland - To acquire ReportSmith in stock deal valued at about $18 million
{The Wall Street Journal, 13-Jan-94, p. Al2}
RerportSmith is a closely held software maker. Borland said it will take a
write-off of at least a majority of the acquisition price in its fiscal 4th
quarter ending March 31, or its first quarter ending June 30. Borland said it
will acquire ReportSmith, which makes software that simplifies tapping into
corporate databases and creating reports, in exchange for about 1.2 million
shares of Borland stock. Borland will have about 28 million shares
outstanding after the acquisition, which it expects to complete in March or
April.
IBM - $300 million agreement signed with Unisource Worldwide
{The Wall Street Journal, 13-Jan-94, p. Al2}
Alco Standard's Unisource Worldwide unit said it signed a contract valued at
more than $300 million to outsource its data processing operations to an IBM
subsidiary. Under the 10-year agreement, IBM's Integrated Systems Solutions
Corp. will provide hardware and software to service Unisource's core
distribution service., including improving its national accounts system and
automating its warehouse system. All 123 of Unisource's data processing
employees would become employees of Integrated Systems Solutions. Based in
Valley Forge, Pa., Unisource is a distributor of printing paper and industrial
products. Integrated Systems Solutions, based in White Planes, N.Y., is a
provider of information services.
Conner Peripherals - To acquire Quest Development Corp. for cash and stock
{The Wall Street Journal, 14-Jan-94, p. B8}
Conner said its new software development unit has agreed to acquire the
closely held software concern. Conner created Arcada Software Inc. in
November and transferred its software assets into the unit late last year.
Under the agreement, Quest shareholders will receive cash and Arcada shares in
exchange for all Quest stock. Conner wouldn't place a value on the
acquisition. Conner intends to use Arcada as an "acquisition vehicle" to gain
muscle in the market for software that manages mass storage of computer data,
said William J. Schroeder, Arcada's chief executive. Conner "spied what is an
opening market opportunity in storage-management software," he said, adding
that "this is the first clear step that shows we're serious about it."
Vice President Al Gore - Mistypes his way through on-line forum
{The Wall Street Journal, 14-Jan-94, p. B8}
Only two days after delivering a speech about the so-called "information
superhighway," Vice President Al Gore last night became one of its roadside
attractions. CompuServe and U.S. News & World Report sponsored an on-line
discussion with the vice president, who fielded about 20 questions ranging
from the superhighway's impact on industry to the war in Bosnia. Nine
hundred people participated in the 45-minute forum. This is believed to be
the first time a major political figure participated in a live on-line
discussion, which allows subscribers to type in a question and receive an
immediate types response. Typing, apparently, is not one of the vice
president's fortes, said Josh Harris, an on-line services analyst at Jupiter
Communications Co. He said Mr. Gore typed about "six accurate words per
minute." Mr. Harris said, in fairness, that the backspace key wasn't working
for technical reasons but added, "he's not ready for the secretarial pool."
While a CompuServe spokesman said "line noise" introduced some extraneous
screen characters, the vice president seemed to make a few typos of his own.
For example, he spelled his own former title, senator, with a "K."
Digital - Announces 'òAmericas' area, realigns sales territories
{Livewire, Worldwide News, 14-Jan-94}
Digital has realigned two of its major sales geographies to position the
company to sell effectively in emerging worldwide markets, Ed Lucente, vice
president, Worldwide Sales and Marketing, announced today.
Effective immediately, the United States, Canada and the Latin
American/Caribbean territories will form a new Americas Area. Digital Vice
President Russ Gullotti has been appointed Americas Area president. The
Asia/Pacific Area will be headquartered in Singapore under its president,
Digital Vice President Bobby Choonavala.
"We see great potential for growing sales and improving operating
efficiencies by grouping these sales territories. The Asia/Pacific region is
also poised for growth and requires us to concentrate our efforts there with a
strong management presence," Ed said.
Scott Roeth, vice president, has been appointed to lead the U.S. Territory.
Scott, along with Luis Zuniga, vice president, who heads the Latin
America/Caribbean (LAC) territory, and Ron Larkin, vice president, who heads
the Canada territory, will report to Russ.
Russ will appoint a team to design the Americas Area organization. Until
that plan is complete, the Asia/Pacific headquarters team in Acton, Mass. will
continue to support Canada and LAC, as well as the Asian operations.
"The realignment of these areas, along with reduction of the number of
European territories from seven to five announced by Vincenzo Damiani,
president of Digital Europe, give Digital a worldwide sales organization that
is poised to capitalize on market similarities, regional trade agreements and
compatible time zones," Ed concluded.
VNS TECHNOLOGY WATCH: [Mike Taylor, VNS Correspondent]
===================== [Littleton, NH, USA ]
VNS: 3000 issues over 10 years for more than 10,000 readers
From the introduction of the DEC Rainbow, IBM PC, and Apple Mac to the
DEC Alpha, Microsoft WNT, and Apple Newton, VNS has kept me, and I hope
you, informed about the world, the industry and new technology. During
that time I have seen a change in the emphasis and importance of
technology to the people I meet in the hallway. From discussing:
Project Reality, the next generation 64-bit machine to be built by
Nintendo and Silicon Graphics, was previewed at the recent Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev.
Japan's NIT, released a color videophone system based on ISDN
(integrated services digital network) technology that can connect a up
to 5 locations for videoconferencing. The standard-sized phone has a
5.6" color TFT (thin film transistor) display that can be folded onto
the phone when not being used. The screen, refreshed 15 times a second,
can be divided into 4 small screens, with the user able to switch
between them. The phone can also be connected with a TV monitor, a VCR,
a video camera, and a fax machine or printer. A built-in camera is
attached at the top of the display. The Picsend costs $6,700.
{Contributed by Alan Maltzman}
to:
Sequent Computer Systems announced quarterly revenue million for its
fourth quarter, toping $100 million for the first time, but the company
also described a restructuring that cuts 5 percent of Sequent jobs
worldwide.
XEROX announced in December it would cut 10,000 jobs worldwide "to cut
costs and improve productivity", also closing and consolidating an
unspecified number of manufacturing plants. According to the New York
Times_, "Xerox takes its place among financially sound companies
seeking higher profits through mass layoffs." (12/9/93). NCR, ATT's
computer division, announced in November it was cutting 7,500 jobs, to
remain "competitive." In October, NCR offered early retirement to
5,500 workers aged 50 or older. Italian computer giant OLIVETTI
threatened to "temporarily" lay off 2,000 workers after negotiations
with the union representing the workers there broke down. DIGITAL
EQUIPMENT will continue its job cuts in 1994 ( Wall Street Journal_,
11/5/93). PC software pioneer SOFTWARE PUBLISHING laid off 140
workers, or 21% of its workforce last September (_SFE_ 9/17/93) INTEL
will add about 1,000 jobs to its planned research facility near
Sacramento, CA, and NEC is adding 250 jobs to its Roseville, CA
memory-chip plant. Will there be unemployed shanty-towns along
the information highway?
John Sculley's severance package from Apple included: $1 million, plus
his $1.5 million in salary and bonuses for 1993; a one-year consulting
job paying $750,000; purchasing Sculley's upscale Woodside home at
"fair market value", purchasing Sculley's Lear 55 jet, and paying
moving costs back to Greenwich, Conn. Apple also agreed to let Sculley
exercise his stock options valued at $2.42 million. (_SFE_)
{CPU: Working in the Computer Industry #7}
resulting in:
"There are residual costs [to layoffs] in worker trauma and, some say,
lost productivity and efficiency, at least over the short haul,"
according to a Reuters story (_SFE_ (12/9/93). Dubbed "layoff survivor
sickness" by management consultant David Noer, "survivors of layoffs
hunker down in trenches and do not take risks... And once stress
reaches a certain level, they shut down and are not as productive. The
consequence is that American companies are fielding wounded players on
the global economic playing field." According to an American Management
Association survey, half of all American companies had gone through
downsizing in the past year, and expected the pace of reductions to
continue in 1994. 80 percent of companies that downsized saw company
morale decline, and only 44% saw profits rise after the cuts.
{CPU: Working in the Computer Industry #7}
How the work is done has also changed:
"... [W]ay back 15 years ago, a hacker could sit down and write an
entire piece of software by himself. Now, that's no longer possible.
Software comes out of factories, and hackers are, to a greater or
lesser extent, assembly-line workers. Worse yet, they may be managers
who never get to write any code themselves."
{CPU #7 attributed to Neal Stephenson, _Snow Crash_}
Summary:
"What's ahead for the next six years? When we look ahead at the types
of products that might be in volume in the next six years, it is
apparent that technology revolutions are unneeded. What is needed is
cost-effective evolution of current technologies. ... Execution rather
than creation will be the guiding principle to the year 2000."
{PACKAGING TO THE YEAR 2000 by Dr. Eric Bogatin,
Surface Mount Technology, December 1993}
Thank you for your continuing interest.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
For information on how to subscribe to VNS, ordering backissues, contacting
VNS staff members, etc, send a mail to EXPAT::EXPAT with a subject of HELP.
Permission to copy material from this VNS is granted (per DIGITAL PP&P)
provided that the message header for the issue and credit lines for the
VNS correspondent and original source are retained in the copy.
<><><><><><><><> VNS Edition : 3000 Monday 17-Jan-1994 <><><><><><><><>
History of the VOGON News Service 