Hype out
The hype cycle (Online, January 3 2001) wrongly presents the take-up of any new information technologies as inevitable, partly because it fails to address the non-technical issues that shape the adoption of new information technologies. These include user understanding of the technology, legislation and government intervention, social trends, usability and pleasure of use, and the requirement for supporting infrastructure (both technological and in business).
The article assumes that because a technology can do something groovy there must be an implicit or explicit need for it. In fact new technologies have a lot in common with the apocryphal talking horse, which people ultimately judged on its rhetoric rather than its novelty. Finally, it is important that we differentiate business applications from consumer-oriented technologies, which are shaped by quite different dynamics.
Nico Macdonald
nico@spy.co.uk
Unix solution
"Desktop Unix is another idea that seems to have fallen into a black hole... More than a dozen years later, it still doesn't seem to have taken more than about 0.25% of the market."
On the contrary - 2001 was the year desktop Unix finally arrived in the consumer-friendly form of Mac OS X.
Gordon Barr
gbarr@chem.gla.ac.uk
Twilight zone
According to Telewest, I am in an NTL area. According to NTL, broadband is not available in my postcode zone. Plugging in a postcode for a neighbouring street, no more than a few hundred yards away, gets a hit. Emails to respective sales departments, asking what is so unusual about my street elicit no response.
So, for the moment, it's 56k or nothing for me.
Alan Wilson
dralanwilson@btopen world.com
Flying finish
With reference to the correspondence about whether BTInternet can or cannot provide a good connection. I was at the end of my tether, concluded I needed a faster modem, still couldn't get anything going - it all boiled down to a duff phone line, which BT phones sorted out quickly at the exchange - and I'm flying. I doubt if I'm the only one who hadn't realised that that was the problem. Claire Hodgson
c.mhodgson@btinternet.com
Bah humbug!
I was given Windows XP for Christmas. You'll never guess what happened when I loaded it, so, if you're sitting comfortably, I'll tell you. The following ceased to work. First, my Canon N650U scanner (Canon has no plan to upgrade the driver). Second, my Norton AntiVirus 2001 (Symantec: "Seize this opportunity to upgrade to NAV2002!"). Third, my modem (update... forget it!). I eventually fathomed out how to uninstall the monster (they didn't make that very convenient either). So, is Bill incompetent, unscrupulous, a charlatan, or what? No, he's a billionaire and, guess what, he don't care! David Cawley
dcawley@btinternet.com
Techie attack
There have been a number of snide and sharp comments about Jack Schofield's Ask Jack column (eg Graham Hibbert, December 20 2001) in recent weeks. I daresay that for the techie what he says is either obvious or simplistic. However, for the footsoldiers in the IT army like me, his columns are great and full of useful tips which I have followed with profit. Ask Jack is one of the best things about OnLine. Please keep publishing it and, Jack, don't be put off. Daniel Lamont
dlamont2@compuserve.com
Fair solution
Karlin Lillington (December 20, 2001) provides an excellent insight into online copyright.
Yes, publishers must be able to generate revenue from selling copyrighted material. But if the consumers cannot easily access it, then protection isn't going to do the publisher any good. Consumers can't be bothered to fight their way past the protection to access the content. They'll simply dig out their print book or drop a CD into their old college hi-fi system.
When someone can sit down and demonstrate a simple and effective solution that enforces copyright in a manner that seems "fair" to both the consumer and the publisher, we can alter our focus.
Martin Lambert
VaughanWilliams@heraldcommunications.com
