e-LEARNING CONSORTIUM REPORT - The MASIE Center's eLearning Consortium
organized and facilitated a group of learning professionals who worked together for several
months to generate a collection of information "to help 'the average person' understand the
rationale, development and implication of learning standards and to accelerate their
adoption." The group's report, "Making Sense of Learning Specifications & Standards: A
Decision Maker's Guide to their Adoption," is available at no cost on the Web in PDF
format at: http://www.masie.com/standards/

IS GOVNET A SOLUTION TO ELECTRONIC THREATS? - Last year the General
Services Administration asked for comments regarding the feasibility of building a separate,
secure, federal intranet for vital government functions. After receiving more than 160
comments, federal cybersecurity advisors determined that the project, GovNet, was
feasible. Vice chairman of the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, Howard
Schmidt, believes that the federal government should be proactive in dealing with potential
threats to the electronic infrastructure of the government, rather than simply responding to
problems as they arise. The next step will be deciding if GovNet is an appropriate solution.
Some experts have said that the development of a virtual private network for sensitive
government functions could realize the same results. See:
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176029.html (Newsbytes, 19 Apr 02)

BUSINESSES FIND TIME AND MONEY SAVINGS WITH LINUX - Some large
companies are finding Linux a highly attractive alternative to Microsoft. British Petroleum,
Banca Commerciale Italiana, Winnebago and Korean Air have moved much of their
computer operations over to Linux, and as many as 15 banks in London are also using
Linux. According to Scott Harrison, director of Linux distributor Red Hat, many
companies are drawn to Linux because software upgrades are not tied to hardware
upgrades, as they often are for new Microsoft products. Other factors helping Linux
include concerns over software licensing costs from Microsoft and the ability to make
very powerful Linux clusters using old hardware that would not work well with new
Microsoft products. IBM has moved 841 internal servers to Linux, according to David
Valentine, IBM Linux sales and marketing executive, and will move many more because
it offers a "structured low- service way" to lower costs. See:
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-887961.html (ZDNet, 22 Apr 02)