Word: pcs
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...effective mix of policies. It originally prospered largely by cutting out the middleman and selling custom-built products directly to buyers. That strategy was probably old in the agora of ancient Athens, but it was new to the computer industry in 1983, when Michael Dell started selling hand-built PCs out of his dormitory room at the University of Texas. As it grew into a giant, Dell Computer insisted on keeping only a six-day inventory, vs. a six- to eight-week supply for most of its competitors. That not only lowered costs but also gave Dell the ability...
Well, millions of Quake freaks would beg to differ, but there's no doubting the depths of the Everquesters' passions; already tales are circulating of companies' banning the game from their in-house machines and college girlfriends stealing the discs from their boyfriends' PCs. Last week eBay had 140 virtual Everquest items up for auction: weapons, spells, even the game's currency trading for U.S. dollars--what one might call a cyber exchange rate...
...asking her nicely doesn't work, visit shareware.com for a software solution. The Block for Macs uses an elaborate password system, while Encrypted Magic Folders for PCs hides files and folders. For the truly paranoid, RedHand Pro (PC) blocks access to programs and websites, disables the modem and password-protects your entire PC. It even logs attempted break-ins. First time with shareware? Download WinZip (PC) or StuffIt Expander (Mac) first; you'll need them to open the programs...
...with it are built and maintained by volunteers scattered all over the Net. The source code, the usually secret "recipe" that determines how the software works, is published online for anyone to read and improve on. As a result, Linux is amazingly stable. There are stories aplenty of Linux PCs that have been running crash-free for years, without ever being rebooted. Best of all, you can load Linux on an outdated PC or Mac with minimal RAM, and your old machine will zip along like a young jaguar, multiprocessing with the best of them. If you're looking...
...last quarter (in 1998 it earned $5.4 billion on sales of $53 billion), its core long-distance business suffered a 3.4% decline in the face of stiff competition from MCI WorldCom and Sprint. Also worrisome: AT&T's wireless-telephone business is in danger of being lapped by Sprint PCS. MediaOne provides AT&T with sorely needed growth opportunities in previously closed markets, particularly local telephone. "That's what AT&T really knows how to do," says Armstrong. "We're going to be the lowest-cost product out there...