News

In view of the increasing importance of computer facilities and the complexity of networking in the University, ensuring smooth running of the computer systems and networks have become a high priority issue in departments as well as in the Computing Services Centre (CSC).Since many departmental computer facilities are managed and supported by departments’ technical staff, close cooperations between technical staff of various departments and of the CSC are therefore essential in order to achieve a reliable and seamless integration of computer network. This kind of cooperation is crucial as we are aiming at maintaining effective distributed management while mastering the complexities of the computer network. Moreover, standards, compatibility and consistency in set-up, good practices in operations, etc. across the entire campus network will also have to be agreed and adopted.

A survey was conducted in December 1999 to find out how Help Desk users think of our service during the year, and any recommendations for improvement. Thirty questionnaires were sent to a mixture of academic, administrative and clerical staff who frequently called the Help Desk for assistance. Findings 19 out of 30 questionnaires were returned. The response rate was 63%.

One day, Jane was asked to buy a PC for her department. Being a new staff member and knowing little about PC, she was at a loss on what to buy. Fortunately, someone suggested her to try the University Computer Shop. She did try and at the end was pleasantly surprised with the quality products and services. What impressed her most was the one-stop shop service, from the ordering of PC and delivery to installing the hardware and connecting it to the network.

Based on the smart card technology, an electronic voting system named SmartVote has been successfully developed by the CSC and is now available for use inside the CityU. On request, the CSC will help set up PCs with smart card readers at the venue of voting. Upon verification of the eligibility to vote by reading the staff/student CityU ID card, an eligible voter can simply fill in the electronic ballot form through the Web-based application and cast his/her vote right away.

The Office Tools Evolution Looking back to the era of WordStar, MultiMate, Freelance, VisiCalc, Lotus 123 and dBASE, these innovative tools helped a lot in increasing the office productivity. People used these office tools to perform basic editing functions, advanced word processing functions, desktop publishing, presentations, spreadsheet calculations and development of database applications.

What’s New in MS Office 2000?The most noteworthy feature in MS Office 2000 is its unprecedented integration with the Web. With the help of Office Server Extension, SQL Server and IIS on the NT server, users can manipulate documents via the Web such as Open/Save files directly from/to the Web, Web collaboration, Web discussions, Web subscriptions and notifications, and multilingual support. Moreover, it improves the user-friendliness by enhancing the user interface like multiple collect and paste, personalised menus and toolbars, etc. In addition, it supplies built-in analysis tools to reduce the programming effort, for example, PivotTables and PivotCharts, Excel OLAP integration and Data Access Page. You can visit the MS Official Web site - to see a list of new and improved features in Office 2000.

A lot has been said about the benefits of implementing wireless LAN in the entire campus of CityU. As a matter of fact, the successful outcome of the pilot project was reported in the previous issue of Network Computing. The response was very positive and those staff and students engaged in the project recommended that the provision be extended to a larger number of classrooms. In view of this, the Computing Services Centre had requested funding to expand the project and to provide additional wireless connections in the classrooms, the academic departments and the common areas like the Library, the Mall and the student canteen. In addition, it was proposed that the number of video projectors be increased, and made available through a loan system for use in the classrooms. As an ample supply of notebooks is needed for the success of wireless LAN, the introduction of a notebook loan scheme was also proposed.

>Huge volume of outgoing Internet traffic, amounting to over 5 Gigabytes per hour, was recorded between 28 September and 5 October 1999, resulting in slow Internet responsiveness during the period and the University was subject to a charge for jeopardising the shared HARNET Internet link.>Four SUN workstations were identified having contributed to such traffic. These workstations are believed to have been compromised by an unknown hacker and used for launching attacks against some Internet sites. Presumably these were some sort of denial-of-service attacks in which the remote systems (victims) were bombarded with heavy incoming traffic in order to cripple or bring down their services. Even though the four SUN workstations were also victims (for being hijacked) themselves in this case, they are nevertheless legally liable for any damage (such as losses in bandwidth, cpu, data, service, business, etc.) caused to the remote systems.

The successful implementations of Intranet and VideoNet have opened up a series of new services. Now sitting comfortably in your office, you can read newspaper, listen to the radio or even watch TV all on your networked PC.In the past, you might be used to buying a newspaper on your way to work. Why not change your habit and read the electronic version being delivered to your PC instead? It is absolutely free no matter how many of them you read. You may also glance at all the headlines and clippings of different newspapers.

A computer, a popular and indispensable tool today, may still have not found its place in our students’ homes before. To enable our students to take home a brand new computer for studies or leisure, the Computing Services Centre organised a “Computer Ownership Programme for Students” in October 1999.Special offers on desktop and notebook computers from well-known vendors such as IBM, Dell, Compaq and Sun Microsystems were provided in this Programme, and the prices were guaranteed to be the lowest in town.