114 - Knowledge Tax and Depreciation Formula Proposed in Congress; Windows 98 Sued for Non-Y2K Compliant Title; On-Line Kindergarten

1. Knowledge Tax and Depreciation Formula Proposed in Congress: With the
U.S. Presidential election nearing, both political parties are looking for
issues that will capture the imagination of the electorate. Recently,
TechLearn Trends was briefed by two political advisers in Washington about
an intriguing proposal. In order to raise revenue in alignment with the
digital age, there is a new tax plan calling for a Knowledge Tax and
Depreciation Deduction.

This concept would tax individuals and organizations for their acquisition
of Knowledge. And, as the knowledge they possessed became old, an
offsetting deduction would be allowed on the tax form. "This tax reflects
the core idea that Knowledge is the Currency of the New Age", said one of
the authors of this revolutionary proposal. "During your "get smart" years,
you would contribute more tax. As you got stale, you would be able to
increase your deductions. Likewise, the smartest companies would pay the
most tax and the dumbest would get rebates". When asked if this might
actually create an incentive for ignorance, the politicians said that in the
age of the internet that could NEVER happen.

2. Dunkin Donuts Plans for Digital Doughnuts: A recent study by The MASIE
Center indicated that one of the biggest incentives for attending corporate
training was the quality of the food served. Great doughnuts had the
highest impact on increased attendance and positive class evaluations.
This is what Kirkpatrick calls: Tenth Level Evaluation.

Dunkin Donuts, the largest seller of delicious round pastry devices, sees
this as an enormous business opportunity. "We want to continue to play a
learning support role in the exploding on-line learning field", said Dunkin
Doughnuts VP for Corporate Development. "In 2000 we will be launching our
Digital Doughnuts product. As learners accomplish the specified objectives
of an on-line course, they will be awarded points. When they achieve target
point levels, they can print out a coupon for free doughnuts at any of our
stores. If they are taking an Executive MBA program on-line, the doughnuts
will actually be delivered to their homes, hotels or airport lounges."
While they would not discuss actual financial targets, they believe the
expenditures for on-line learning food might actually surpass revenues for
instructional content. "The way to the heart and mind of an on-line
learner is through their stomachs."

3. Windows 98 Sued for Non-Y2K Compliant Title: The litigation goes on.
Four state attorney generals have announced they will be adding additional
legal suits against Microsoft for their failure to name their current
operating system in a Y2K compliant fashion. "The correct title for Y2K
compliance would be Windows 1998. By using the non-Y2K compliant title
Windows '98, millions of corporate users are being exposed to the wrong use
of dates. This could cause zillions of dollars of damage, which is what we
hope to recoup from Gates for this horrible deed."

The MASIE Center was shocked by this legal suit, realizing that our
TechLearn '99 and Learning Decisions '99 conferences were also vulnerable
for litigation. We are therefore renaming our events TechLearn 1999 and
Decisions 1999 to placate the attorney generals. Wheww.

4. On-Line Kindergarten: Time Shifting for Busy Children: As we have
reported in earlier Trends, the demand for on-line learning is
driven more by time shifting than by the desire to learn at a distance. A
recent announcement from AOL supports this model. They are entering the
on-line kindergarten marketplace in several months. The on-line resource
reports that today's busy children are often unable to attend traditional
kindergarten classed due to their schedules.

"Between soccer classes, dance classes, reading enrichment programs and
other obligations, a good number of children ages 4 to 5 are unable to make
it to a half-day residential kindergarten. Event if they can make it to
school, many are distracted by other activities coming up later in the day.
Kindergarten On-Line (KOL) will provide a wonderful opportunity for them to take
their kindergarten learning experience later at night or earlier in the
morning," reported AOL's President Steve Case. "The digital kids are
demanding more learner choice in their ability to take learning anytime,
anyplace and anywhere. In addition, on-line classes will provide more
interaction than the traditional sit in your seat kindergarten lecture."

5. Learning Quotation: Plato

"Someday, in the distance future, our grandchildren's grandchildren will
develop a new equivalent of our classrooms. They will spend many hours
in front of boxes with fires glowing within. May they have the wisdom to know the
difference between light and knowledge"

--- Plato: Discourse on Future Learning