Copyright 1994 IDG Communications, Inc. InfoWorld August 1, 1994 SECTION: NOTES FROM THE FIELD; Pg. 86 LENGTH: 1410 words HEADLINE: Will Microsoft make CompuServe a Marvel or teach NSA to break code? BYLINE: By Robert X. Cringely BODY: Well, Las Vegas barely survived DEF CON, my favorite computer trade show. You can have your Windows World (last week) or Macworld (this week). I'll take DEF CON, the hacker's show where a good portion of the audience at any one time is under indictment. "You seemed to fit right in," said Pammy. TAX DOLLARS AT WORK. While there was lots of information shared at DEF CON, my favorite part was the Spot the Fed contest. To quote the conference program, "If you see some shady MIB (Men in Black) earphone penny loafer sunglass wearing Clint Eastwood to live and die in L.A. type lurking about, point him out." Verified Fed-spotters get an "I spotted the Fed T-shirt," while the Fed gets an "I am the Fed" T-shirt. Silly? Nope. The kids of DEF CON smoked-out four flunkies from the super-secret National Security Agency for a start. The NSA types paid their $ 30 registration fee with a check from some bogus veterans organization, but it was their fanatical support for the Clipper encryption chip and general lack of computer knowledge that really set them apart. Shortly after being identified, all the Feds disappeared, failing even to claim their festive T-shirts. Since the NSA is one of the world's largest users of Next hardware, those guys would have been happy to hear that black will be back this fall under a Canon label. The Japanese company, with help from some American consultants, has turned Next's never-released dual 88110 machine into a dual PowerPC. This means there will also be a PowerPC version of NextStep to compete this year with AIX, System 7.x, and Windows NT. PC PARANOIA. An important difference between this DEF CON and last year's event is that the hackers have generally switched their interest from cracking systems and stealing other people's data to protecting their own systems and keeping their own data secure. And there is evidently lots to worry about, because I came away understanding that Internet security is an oxymoron and anonymous E-mail mailers aren't anonymous at all. Go forth and encrypt, my children, especially over the Internet. EXTEND AND DIE. Getting more or less back to business, a DEF CON speaker suggested that Windows itself makes a very fine virus detector, because it will crash if anything at all is amiss. Extend that rule, also, to Microsoft Office Professional, which waits until the 31st and last disk before crashing on install if you have the wrong NetWare drivers. And extend the rule in advance for Chicago, too, which is having features pulled madly from it to make a delivery date in this lifetime. Facing the truth, Microsoft has started a new group working on Windows 4.01, the bug-fix version. The kids in Redmond may also have canceled Marvel, their would-be on-line service. This might fall more in the category of rumor than little-known fact, but my understanding is that Marvel would be replaced by a closer relationship with CompuServe. This could even mean an outright purchase of CompuServe (owned by H&R Block) by Redmond, but I think BillG will balk at the $ 2 billion price tag. TTFN. Pammy discovered video poker during this trip to Vegas and walked away with $ 78.50 after 30 minutes. She's considering a new career. I, too, am working on what purports to be a career, which will take me away from InfoWorld for the next several weeks. I'll be madly trying to finish my new book, because the only alternative is giving the money back. I have a stand-in lined up, starting next week, and if you think I'm strange, wait 'til you meet this guy! So give him a break. Call with lots of industry secrets at (415) 312-0555; fax: (415) 358-1269; or cringe@infoworld.com. GRAPHIC: Picture, no caption. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE-MDC: August 09, 1994