>X-From_: [log in to unmask]  Mon Jun 15 12:53:18 1998
>Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 14:52:06 -0500
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>From: "Gregg C. Vanderheiden" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <[log in to unmask]>
>X-Comment: list for discussion of universal access to information systems
>
>Below is the text of an article about a new program that puts a toolbar in
>the blank space on the outside edges of the CRT monitor.  This is the space
>not used by the computer normally to display information.  In order to do
>this, the software actually has to write directly to the monitor's VGA
>driver.
>
>I extremely doubt that any screen readers will be able to detect this
>information, although a screen reader that replaces a monitor's driver
>might.
>
>About the only saving grace is that there is no such space on a laptop
>computer.  As a result, this will have to be a feature that is available
>only on standard television monitor-type displays, and there will always
>have to be an option to move it onto the regular display area so that's
>functionality can also be enjoyed by laptop users.  However, this type of
>very hardware-dependent display, which goes completely around all of the
>operating systems, etc., will be something that we may see more of, and
>will definitely raise access issues.
>
>Just a heads-up.
>
>Gregg
>
>-- ------------------------------
>Gregg C. Vanderheiden Ph.D.
>Professor
>Director - Trace R & D Center
>Waisman Center and Dept of Industrial Engineering
>University of Wisconsin- Madison
>mailto:[log in to unmask],    WWW,GOPHER&FTP at  Trace.Wisc.Edu
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>
>
>-- ----------------------------
>PIXEL THINKS OUTSIDE OF THE WINDOWS BOX
>
>By Bob Trott
>
>Like a feisty new realtor eyeing the land surrounding Microsoft's Redmond,
>Wash. campus, a Seattle start-up is laying claim to the real estate that
>surrounds Windows.
>
>The Pixel Company's MySpace is a control bar made up of "functional
>cartridges" that will let users access applications, channel content, the
>Internet, hardware devices, digital video disc titles, other operating
>systems, and other information using the pixels outside of the Windows
>desktop.  MySpace writes directly to a monitor's VGA driver, producing a
>GUI on the bottom edge of a user's computer screen.
>
>A version geared for the enterprise, dubbed WorkSpace and including an
>intranet jump-off point and other business-oriented features, will be
>released later this year, or in early 1999, officials said.
>
>Because it will use the space outside of regular screen dimensions --
>usually 25 pixels high when a computer is in 800-by-600 mode -- the control
>bar will be available to users at all times.
>
>"All four edges of the screen are available," said Pixel CEO Tom O'Rourke.
>"With one click, Windows goes away and you can operate in a Java operating
>system, or whatever else you want."
>
>On June 24, Packard Bell-NEC will begin shipping systems with the MySpace
>control bar pre-loaded.  Pixel has also lined up content partners,
>including ABC News Online, NASDAQ, Amazon.com, ESPN, Disney, and
>Merriam-Webster.  Pixel is negotiating with other OEMs to bundle MySpace
>and Workspace, O'Rourke said.
>
>The technology speaks to a key issue in the legal battle between Microsoft
>and the U.S. Department of Justice.  Desktop presentation is a key
>strategic point for Microsoft, which has fought the Justice Department's
>attempts to alter the "boot screen" that users see when they first turn on
>their computers.
>
>"This falls outside the Windows space, an area that, arguably, Microsoft
>doesn't control," said Rob Enderle, an analyst at the Giga Information
>Group, in Santa Clara, Calif.  "Microsoft could take exception and go to
>court, and a very small company would not be able to survive such a
>Microsoft attack.  But in this [antitrust] climate, they probably view this
>the other way, that it's a way to design around Windows and innovate in a
>way that's acceptable to them."
>
>Microsoft officials would not comment.
>
>The Pixel Company, in Seattle, can be reached at
htt://www.thepixelcompany.com
>
>
>-------------------------
>Infoworld, June 8, 1998, p. 31
>
>