The precarious growth of the software empire: bit-eating bugs and computer crashes

Article Abstract:

Recent disruptions of phone services in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Washington, DC, which have been traced to 'computer glitches,' highlight concerns about a new problem: the software-induced calamity. Computers are used in more and more applications, and failure in a computer program has a significant potential impact. Computers and complex computer programs are used in telephone call-routing equipment, air-traffic control, bar-code scanning, automobile transmissions, automated teller machines, B-2 Stealth bombers, combat computers aboard submarines, and in other vital machines and processes. It is almost impossible for programmers to anticipate all possible real-world situations, so that an unusual event can sometimes initiate a sequence of decisions in a program, generating an unforeseen outcome. According to Leonard Lee, who has written a book about software reliability, which is titled 'The Day the Phones Stopped,' computers become more reliable as they become more advanced, but if they fail, their failure tends to be more spectacular.

Computer software industry, Computer industry, Software industry, Product quality, Authorship, Reliability (Trustworthiness), Bugs (Software), Reliability, Applications, Failure, Software Quality, Program Errors, Defects, Lee, Leonard

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Plugging the gap between E-mail and video-conferencing: Group Technologies's Aspects software lets people at far-flung sites work on a project simultaneously

Article Abstract:

Group Technologies Inc offers a computer program called Aspects that allows Apple Macintosh users at various locations to work together simultaneously on the same document. The software fills a niche between electronic mail systems and video conferencing. Aspects allows participants either to engage in 'free-form' meetings, in which everyone takes part at once, or in structured meetings, in which participants take turns. Aspects is an example of a new kind of program variously known as 'groupware' or 'collaborative computing' or 'work group computing.' With Aspects, as many as 16 people can collaborate on a project at one time. Apple is promoting this product, which costs $299. Industry analysts seem pleased, saying that Aspects is fast and inexpensive. Aspects can also run on low-powered versions of the Mac.

Design and construction, Work group computing, Workgroup computing, Teleconferencing, Computer Conferencing, Group Technologies Corp., Aspects (Office automation software)

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A.T.& T. sees the future in games

Article Abstract:

AT and T is paying an undisclosed sum for 20 percent and an option to take control of Sierra Online, a startup that has created a round-the-clock interactive game network. Venture capital company General Atlantic Partners is also purchasing 20 percent of Sierra Online. The pact is integral to AT and T's long-range strategy of building a new industry around online entertainment and amusement. The Sierra Online network is easy to use and delivers rich, colorful images across ordinary phone lines. AT and T and Sierra Online have been in discussions since late 1991, when the prototype network comprised four microcomputers in a converted barn near Fresno, CA. Sierra Online, which currently has 40,000 subscribers, each paying $12.95 per month and up, will rename itself the Imagination Network.

Electronic computers, Telephone communications, exc. radio, Management, Investments, T, Online information services, Information services, Information services industry, American Telephone and Telegraph Co., Online Information Service, Market Entry, Sierra On-Line Inc., SIER

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