Kiosk mode webbrowsers interesting news

[Chuck Bearden]

Hmmm ... 

I don't think the Kiosk Commander is the kiosk solution I am 
looking for.  

The software is expensive ($295 for first copy, $75 for each 
therafter), and it looks like it requires touch-screen monitors, 
which I'm sure aren't cheap.  We presently have 80 workstations 
(and eventually ca. 300, when the branches get TCP/IP) that we 
want to secure, and these workstations double as our OPAC GUIs, so 
a keyboard and trackball or mouse are really needed to make them 
usable.  Our present security is fine as long as we don't want to 
let our patrons print and FTP (which we do).  

I want something that will let us secure our existing 
workstations, with their keyboards & trackballs.  To my mind, 
Hyper Technologies' IKIOSK looks great for kiosking the browser, 
if it is ever finally released.  Then we need something that will 
(a) constrain all saves to floppy; (b) prevent execution of apps 
from floppy (e.g. through Win95 Open/Save common dialogs); (c) 
protect files on the hard drive from modification or deletion; (d) 
prevent copying of files (except patron FTPs or saves of web pages 
& images) to floppy.  This something shouldn't leave an icon in the 
icontray or in the Startup group of Start | Programs, and a 
particular security configuration should be easily implemented on 
a large number of machines without having to make all the settings 
through the interface on each one.  

We aren't especially interested (at least as far as I know) in 
locking our patrons into a particular set of links or in 
restricting their surfing, which seem to be major functions of 
the Kiosk Commander.  It would be great for setting up info kiosks 
or convention demos, but for library OPAC and open-access WWW 
workstations, it doesn't look to me like the right tool.  

I do find the website appealing, with funny little Java applets.  
It's worth a visit.  

	http://www.rockmedia.com/multimedia/webkiosk.html

I would certainly like to hear from anyone using this product in a 
library.

Chuck

-------------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Bearden			email: cbearden at hpl.lib.tx.us
Catalog Department		voice: 713/247-3499
Houston Public Library		fax:   713/247-3158
500 McKinney Ave.
Houston, TX  77002		-=> NOT SPEAKING FOR HPL <=-
-------------------------------------------------------------
      -=>HPL's Homepage: http://sparc.hpl.lib.tx.us<=-


------------Original message---------------

Hi fellow troubled public-use-webbrowser users
A while ago I announced I was going to make a kind of front end that 

would
run Netscape in a kiosk mode, with all kinds of functions disabled.
It seems now that someone has done this work already for me !
Please check out http://www.rockmedia.com/multimedia/webkiosk.html 
to find
exactly what I am trying to build. At the moment of this writing 
I've only
seen the WWW pages but to me it seems VERY promising. Anyone else to 
coment
on this product ? Please let us all know !

Andre Backs
afd. Automatisering
ProBiblio Alkmaar
postmaster at probiblio.com
+31-72-5199755