Word: plugging
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...primitive in others. A creative local manufacturer has developed a PDA that Beijing traffic cops use to record fines and track stolen cars in a new cashless system that eliminates the chance for bribes. Innovators have experimented with voice recognition and designed built-in modems so users can plug PDAs directly into phone lines for Internet access, a useful feature in a country where less than 2% of the population owns a computer. But the China market is hindered by a lack of common software standards. Each PDA maker has gone its own way, creating homegrown?and incompatible?programs...
...sides circle each other warily, each is awaiting guidance from that long-delayed Copyright Office study. Meanwhile, library users can only hope that nobody pulls the plug on their books...
...What am I talking about? I'm talking about the fact that Windows XP, the next generation PC operating system which just entered its penultimate testing phase, has had its Java removed. Java is the plug-and-play web application that works on any machine. It is the code behind most of the animation on tens of thousands of websites out there. It is what, for many years, made the American flag flutter at whitehouse.gov, and examples don't get much more patriotic than that...
...jewel in Sun's crown and start using XML, which forms the basis of Microsoft's .Net software. Much the same thing is happening with the XP version of Windows Media Player, which Microsoft has just announced will support the MP3 format - as long as you download a plug-in and pay an extra $15 for the privilege, that is. Otherwise, all your WMP digital music will be in Microsoft's proprietary format...
Perhaps, if things went really well, Microsoft might decide to pull the plug on MSN, its rival online service. The trade-off: Microsoft could provide all the software that people use on AOL, everything from its Passport program for storing credit-card info to its Media Player, which--let's just speculate here--could be the only one licensed to play Warner Bros. movies and Warner Music on demand...