Group A: Intranet server suites
Group B: Message-oriented middleware
Group C: Mobile code
Group D: Data warehouses
Group E: Database management with objects
Group F: Object Web
Group G: CORBA vs. DCOM
Group H: Groupware
Group A: When is a service provider needed?
Group B: Networked computing vulnerabilities
Group C: Global networks
Group D: Organization of the computer industry
Group E: The information glut
Group F: Making money on Internet content
Group G: Internet telephony
Group H: Privacy and free speech
The client/server survival guide will be a good starting point on some of these topics.
Goal: Educate your fellow students and instructors about this product category. Relate to the topics covered in the class.
Format: Documentation on group homepage, including description (about 5-10 pages) and links to any tutorial material and products. In-class 15 minute summary presentation for each group. The key to a 15-minute presentation is to get across the most compelling points concisely; other students will be assigned to read your written report to complete their understanding. Suggested content of the presentation (please adjust as appropriate depending on the characteristics of your category):
VG 1. What is the intended purpose or uses of this product category?
VG 2. What are the primary features or functions of this category?
VG 3. What are the companies or standards groups involved in this category? How are their features of capabilities differentiated?
VG 4. What techniques covered in class are exploited in this category?
VG 5. What, if any, are the controversial issues (technical or non-technical)? Can you speculate on the future evolution of this category?
A.6. TP monitor products and standards
A.8. Compound documents: OpenDoc vs OLE
A.11. System management tools: Internet, OSI, DME, X/Open, Tivoli
Goal: Identify the major issues for the future in this issue, understand the "conventional thinking". Think deeply and creatively, and make an educated speculation on how this issue might be resolved in the future, and/or the process that might lead to its resolution.
Format: Do some exploration of existing literature on these topics, four to five papers or articles should suffice to glean the "conventional" thinking. Think about and discuss the issues with your group. Write an extended essay, refined through drafts and discussion, roughly 7-20 pages on your group homepage (no need to make it longer than necessary to get across your ideas -- conciseness is valued!). Your main goal is to frame the issues and try to define a process by which these issues could be resolved. If you have strong opinions about solutions or outcomes, you are welcome to state them also. What new processes or organizations or political bodies or regulatory bodies may be needed? A premium will be placed on creativity in the identification of compelling issues, rather than length. No class presentation.
B.1. How will future networked applications get invented, and who will develop them -- intraorganizational development groups, systems integrators, industry-wide solutions, consortia or inter-organizational collaboration?
B.10. Will standardization be more or less important in the future of networked computing? How can we develop more effective standardization processes?