Crispin Hull

The software writers are learning slowly. It is not what a program does that matters, but how easily it does it. Microsoft is putting together Windows 4. It main concentration is not on what it does, but how easily it does it.

Microsoft has produced what is called its first beta version and the computing press were given a peep in Sydney last week.

The program may not be called Windows 4. In the development stage it is being called Chicago internally, but it is difficult to see Microsoft abandoning the “”Windows” trademark altogether. Too many people see Windows is a computer program not flat glass in a frame. If the program does not run on Windows, they say, forget it.
Continue reading “1994_08_august_chicago”

The 1993-94 ACT Budget had come in $37 million under estimate, the Chief Minister, Rosemary Follett, said yesterday.

Expenditure was $50 million below estimate and revenue was down $13 million because of lower Commonwealth payments.

The Consolidated Fund deficit was $40 compared to the Budget estimate of $77 million.

Ms Follett said planning delays in the capital works such as the Magistrates Court had contributed to the result.
Continue reading “1994_08_august_budget”

The Encyclopedia Britannica has been quietly going on CD-ROM. At the weekend the Royal Blind Society was lent a copy to use with its software that converts text into sound.

Mark I is expected to be available in October with an official announcement on the launch date next month. It will be text-only. There has been some copyright difficulties with the pictures which is being overcome for Mark II.

Apparently it is to have some sophisticated query software which does not need complicated Boolean operators but will accept dumb questions like “”Do fish hibernate?” Presumably you can do standard word searches as well. The Windows-based software will remember searches and will allow cut and paste into other applications.

The single CD will contain the 41 million words in the Britannica.

Apparently the cost will be about the same as the books, but searching for information will be easier and more thorough.

For example, searching for “”Beethoven” would reveal the Beethoven entry, plus the fact that the word “”Beethoven” appears three times in the entry under “”Symphony”, twice under “”concerto” and so on.
Continue reading “1994_08_august_britann”

Wayne Berry’s action in proposing a Private Members’ Bill on abortion is another in a line of Bills in the ACT taking up issues that politicians elsewhere fear to tread. Euthanasia; addictive drugs; smoking in public places, citizens’ initiated referendums, fluoride are other examples.

It makes for an interesting polity.

Often these laws are short and drafted in fairly plain language.

Berry’s law is the shortest and plainest of those mentioned. It has only two operative clauses. One repeals three sections of the Crimes Act on abortion and one repeals all common-law offences on abortion.

In a legal sense it is abortion on demand. In a practical sense, however, you cannot get a hip replacement or a dozen other medical procedures on demand in the ACT. You still need a doctor willing to do it and a medical facility to do it in.
Continue reading “1994_08_august_abort10”

All statute and common-law criminal offences relating to abortion will be abolished in the ACT under Wayne Berry’s private members’ Bill, a draft of which was made public yesterday.

The Bill has just two operative clauses. The first repeals those sections of the Crimes Act which make it an offence punishable by 10 years’ jail for a woman to procure an abortion; for a doctor to perform one; or for anyone to provide drugs with the intent of causing an abortion.

The second repeals all common-law crimes related to abortion.

M Berry, a Labor MLA, said: “”It would be just up to a woman and her doctor.”
Continue reading “1994_08_august_abort09”

The following is a chronology of the Vitab affair:

1964: ACTTAB set up as a separate entity to take off-course bets on horse races. It runs a totalisator scheme: bets on a race are totalled and dividends calculated so 85 per cent of takings are returned as winnings. The remaining 15 per cent to go to administration, government and the racing industry.

July 2, 1985: Northern Territory TAB starts. ACTTAB runs computer services and pooling operations, collecting 0.5 per cent of turnover.
Continue reading “1994_08_august_vitabchr”

Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke said yesterday that ACT Liberal influence with the Liberal Governments in Victoria was not the reason Victoria had pulled the pin on ACTTAB’s link with the Victorian superpool.

He said there were other reasons, but he would not say what they were in an interview on ABC Radio 2CN.

He also refused to say what his share of the $3.3 million settlement between Vitab and ACTTAB would be.
Continue reading “1994_08_august_vitab20”

Am seeking Carnell comment and will phone a few pars if she calls.

The ACT TAB settled its dispute with Vitab for $3.3 million last night and signed a contract to restore the pooling link with the Victorian superpool.

The terms of the three-year Victorian contract are similar to before the Vitab fiasco. It is expected that the injunction against ACTTAB from severing its computer link to Vitab in Vanuatu will be lifted in the Federal Court today and the pooling arrangement with Victoria will begin on Monday, the day the Victorian TAB becomes the privatised TAB Corp.
Continue reading “1994_08_august_vitab11”

The injunction requiring ACTTAB to take and process bets from the Vanuatu-based Vitab Ltd was continued until further order in the Federal Court yesterday sending TAB dividend payments into a tizz.

The injunction is likely to stay in force for at least two weeks.

The link between ACTTAB and the Victorian superpool remained cut yesterday and will remain cut while ACTTAB continues to take bets from Vitab, as the court order demands.
Continue reading “1994_08_august_vitab03”

The ACT TAB lost the commercial and legal trifecta in the past 48 hours.

Its very favourable link with the Victorian superpool was severed. It has an interim court injunction against it preventing it from severing links with the Vanuatu-based Vitab Ltd. And it faces an action for damages from Vitab in any event.

This is despite repeated assurances over the past two months from the present Minister for Sport, David Lamont, that he was confident a pooling arrangement would continue and repeated boasts from his predecessor, Wayne Berry, that the Vitab deal was good for the ACT.
Continue reading “1994_08_august_vitab02”