Peter Coffee

In 1989, I reviewed Prowares $50 PC-MIX (Multitasking Interactive Executive), which brought astonishing concurrent capability to 8088-based DOS PCs. It created virtual machines that provided even more usable memory than bare-metal DOS on a 386 with memory management software. Thirteen years later, modern utilities finally offer even greater control of both personal and enterprise computing. […]

These three power connectors for AC adapter/rechargers reveal rather different ideas of good design. Apples connector (left) looks a little too much like an audio or video plug—although the diameter is actually slightly smaller, and that scary-looking exposed center pin doesnt carry above-ground potential. The translucent ring glows green or orange to indicate charger activity. […]

Developers will find Microsoft Corp.s Office XP Web Services Toolkit a mixed offering: It eases the initial shock of confronting a new application model, but it also highlights the impediments that will complicate the lives of early Web services adopters. Released last week, Office XP Web Services Toolkit invites application developers to transform desktop data […]

I was reading through a Web page—the lengthy Frequently Asked Questions, in the somewhat resource-intensive Adobe PDF format, for a product that I was reviewing—when I noticed something alarming at the bottom of my screen. The indicator for free disk space, part of a customized cluster of sensors that I display with Symantecs Norton System […]

As the business motivation for new IT projects rises higher on the radar of enterprise developers, System Architect, from Popkin Software and Systems Inc., can help managers ask and answer questions of “Why?” as well as “How?” More than merely descriptive, more than just a cave-painting approach to software documentation, an enterprise model and diagram […]

I cant carry a penknife on a flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco, but I can sell a supercomputer to Pakistan or the Ukraine. Welcome to 2002. In March 1999, lobbyists for industry trade groups were hoping to lift what was then the ceiling of 10 billion TOPs, or theoretical operations per second, for […]

If theres one thing that a Java development platform should be able to produce and host, its a first-rate integrated Java development environment. Many candidates for that title have come through eWeek Labs, but Oracle Corp.s Oracle9i JDeveloper 5.0 (which we reviewed in its late-November build) is one of the most responsive, complete and best […]

Perhaps youve heard the story about the physicist, the engineer, the economist and the can of beans. The three people find themselves stranded on an island with no other food and with limited tools, and theyre discussing their options. “We could heat the can until it explodes,” suggests the physicist. “Wed need to have some […]

During my years with Exxon, I developed an almost reverent awareness of the difference between “capital” and “expense.” The only good thing you could say about expense was that you got to deduct it. Capital investment, on the other hand, meant wed found an opportunity to invest in our business at a rate of return […]

Experienced aviators warn novice pilots, “the problem with a multiengine airplane is that sometimes you need them all.” During takeoff, for example, failure of even a single engine is a high-risk situation—but with more engines, there is a greater chance of at least one failure. Distributed computing systems, such as grid computing, involve a similar […]