Welcome to the Journal of Open Computing: A word from the editor on open systems, the UniForum Association, and the inaugural issue of this journal.

Open Source Groundswell: Some background on the journey of Open Source software from unsung IT hero to the next media darling.

The Car and the Corn: Jon "maddog" Hall, Senior Leader of DEC's UNIX Software Group and Executive Director of Linux International, expounds upon standards, commodities, monopolism, and where POSIX fell short.

What's in store for HTML?: Michael Kane develops and administers web applications and sites at the World Bank in Washington, DC, and is a member of the Capital PC User Group (CPCUG) Internet User Support Team. In this interview, he fills us in on the current and future convergence and divergence of HTML, and what XML means for the future of Net.

Issues in Metadata Exchange: In 1995, a group of vendors formed the Meta Data Coalition, committed to fostering a tactical solution to metadata interchange between products. Katherine Hammer is President and CEO of ETI, one of the founding members of the Coalition; here she provides the history and the status of MDIS, the Meta Data Interchange Specification.

The Productivity Underground: In the nation's capital, unnamed users clandestinely flout their office's Microsoft Office-only policy, in a desperate attempt to get some work done. A good primer on how NOT to implement an organizational software policy.

Spotlight on O'Reilly & Associates: Longtime savior of Unix and TCP/IP troubleshooters, ORA has been taking an increasingly activist role in the Open Systems world. Includes a brief review of ORA's recent Managing Mailing LIsts.

A Primer on Unix® Clusters: In this recent white paper, The Open Group lays out the basics of clustering, and explains the superiority of Unix® clusters in terms of scalability, availability, and cost.

Why Unix?: Scalable, cost-effective, mature, state-of-the-art, open standards-based, supported by all major vendors - The Open Group makes the case for Unix. Includes an update on the Single Unix Specification and the "Unix 98" label.