I totally agree with your editorial about Jean Monty. His departure and BCE’s decision to extract itself from Teleglobe is just another example of what a large
corporation like BCE must do to please its investors in a very uncertain and volatile market. I still think that his vision behind Teleglobe remains true. At the time, no one could have predicted the pitfalls in the industry caused by the downfall of the dot-coms.
The investors in the market are still jittery and are retreating from the IT industry, but I think it’s just temporary. Once the industry starts growing again at a steady pace investors will be back. Maybe then BCE will be able to pursue its expansion on the international scene with, hopefully, a strong international partnership.
Alain Thibault
Re: Storage costs shift to manageability of products (April 24)
I also worry about performance of SANs as volume grows. At some point in time the storage device will be the bottleneck, as it often was in the mainframe days. There may be new challenges in diagnosing and recovering from such problems. They may not manifest themselves as a heavy load on any one component, especially if some security checking is involved.
Peter Macnaughton
Re: Canadian IT still in U.S. shadow: CGI president (April 23)
CGI’s president has the right vision of IT in Canada. I fail to understand how Canada and some provinces, namely Saskatchewan, can just sit back and practically wave bon voyage as its people move on due to lack of opportunity. So what if the government has big goals on connecting Canadians? What pride will it have for us if it is all supported and maintained by American owned companies? As Michael Roach says, the real opportunity will come from the private sector, but until this sector is given the room and resources to grow and stay Canadian we are just running a greenhouse of budding IT professionals.
David M. Little
Re: The doctor will see you now (April 18)
There will be so many services that can be delivered efficiently, quickly and effectively over broadband, that it must become as common in residences as the telephone today. In fact, in 20 years (or less, I would hope) there will be no plain old telephone service lines — all communication will take place on broadband.
In his Foundation series, Isaac Asimov reflected (from 25,000 years hence) on the primary reason the human race was able to overcome its warlike nature, and join in a spirit of cooperation that enabled them to populate the galaxies. He determined that it was the abolishment of long distance telephone charges. I believe he was prophetic, and that broadband/Internet will get us to that day much sooner than he anticipated. Eventually, free and uninhibited communication may give us the peace we have sought in vain over the millennia.
Making broadband available, at least on a communal basis, to the poor, the elderly, the sick and the isolated, would probably do more to enhance their quality of life than any other welfare scheme we have ever devised.
John Stoll
Re: Media 54, where are you? (April 18)
You’re dead right about the text messaging thing. If there’s any justice in the world, the jerks who set it up will be the ones killed by someone sending a message while driving. The good news is that the service relies on people registering their numbers, and no-one’s that stupid, so it goes nowhere. Cowboys tried the same thing here in Australia last year.
The issue of distracted driving has become very topical this year. There are lots of research reports around. If you’re interested, you could probably find them by searching. (I don’t have the references to hand.) Using a phone while driving increases the risk of crashing by four times, which is the same as .05 blood alcohol level. Text messaging must be much more dangerous.
A UK truck driver got five years jail for killing a person while sending a text message driving down the street. In California, an actress ran over a little girl on a pedestrian crossing. The actress was talking on her phone. There are many such cases.
Tony Healy
Software engineer and road safety researcher
Sydney, Australia
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