Big Brother
I'm very disappointed with the conclusion at the end of Working the Web BBC (May 30). "You may as well use it, since (for now at least) we are all footing the bill."
The BBC, with its massive public funding, totally skews the commercial media business in the UK. This doesn't hit just the big media companies, it hits small businesses as well. Look at what they've done to the magazine market.
The same is going to happen on the internet. No small business stands a chance against the mighty BBC and its publicly funded development budgets.
I am launching a new website, Curiousfox.com, in a couple of weeks. It's a local history and family history contact site. It's a good idea, the time is right and we've set it up on non existent budgets. But if it works, how long before the BBC just throws a few switches and puts us out of business? In the UK, the BBC is the biggest threat faced by any new media business.
Rosanne Sharp
rosanne@waystone.com
RealPlayer
Paul Trueman correctly says that you need RealPlayer to optimise value from the BBC website. Unfortunately, RealPlayer is not available for the new Mac OS X operating system. So, until the end of this year, I and many other Mac users, will be unable to access BBC content. Warren Newman
warren.newman@btinternet.com
Inky fingers
Choosing a computer printer (Second sight, May 30) is even harder than choosing a mobile phone, where the buyer is clearly shown the running costs for each offer.
That is not the case with printers. The price of cartridges is often similar between models, but the capacities vary enormously. HP's Deskjet 820i printer has a 39ml colour cartridge; its Deskjet 840 colour cartridge contains just 15ml. How many pages per ml? Nobody is telling.
We have a national standard for comparing fuel consumption of cars and energy costs for fridges. So why not for printers?
John Geddes
john@takeyourtoothbrush.com
Waste not
Jack Schofield blithely argues that disposable printer cartridges may be best. But we need to realise that on our finite planet there is no "away" to throw anything. Maybe Jack should read the UN report Global Environment Outlook 3 prepared for the Johannesburg summit which demonstrates the severely threatened state of the earth and realise that we all have a responsibility for working toward sustainable solutions? Professor Peter Reason
mnspwr@management.bath.ac.uk
Potential print
I'd been refilling an old Olivetti 192 for a while, then bought an Epson 790, failing to check the question of refilling. I sourced a refilling kit, but five inks and a resetter would cost £60, including £15 for the chip resetter. Cartridge World in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, has the kit but still charges £10 a refill. I wrote to Epson but got no reply. The Intellidge chip system doesn't seem to measure the ink, but to count the pages. I would say this contravenes trade descriptions, and normal expectations, of the product. Please let me know how I can dispose of the 790. The latest in this line is the 810. Does this have the chips? I have gone back to using a couple of old Canon BJC 4200s which are adequate as I went off the digital photography idea, thanks to the 790. John Sanders
johnsanders1@onetel.net.uk
Fix it, Linux
Neil Barnes (Feedback, May 16) asserts that there is a problem with getting files from Linux to windows. There are solutions in Unix but they are not well distributed. If you break a Linux Window manager (Craig Nelson, same page) tell someone and they will get it fixed. Fixing problems is a purpose of the Linux developer community. Ralph Hinton
London
Data defence
I have had a number of problems with a northern university failing to supply all the data that they hold, in a subject access request in 40 days. The vice chancellor's nominee admitted that they breached the Data Protection Act.
Interview notes, which it voluntarily refused to supply, saying it was not their policy to allow access to them, were not available to me when I asked for them in a data subject access request, having being turned down for promotion by an all-male interview panel in favour of two men.
J Priestley
jpriestley@ntlworld.com
ADSL success
On the recommendation of a friend, I signed with Pipex for the Xtreme Solo Service (a DIY ADSL connection). I booked the service on its website on Monday. By Saturday I was watching the green light and a box pop up on my screen to confirm my 256Kb upstream and 512Kb downstream connection.
This is the only real answer for anyone who wants "24/7" access.
John Robinson Head of ICT services London Guildhall University
