Re: Ought we all to be in pictures? (Nov. 06)
My wife and I use the Internet for banking and some purchasing. If I had to pick one service on my cell, besides the standard telephone
options, I would like to be able to Google through my phone (voice activated and voice response would be great). For me, the wealth of information available on the Internet is what gives it value. Put that in a user’s hand and you have the killer app of this decade. One qualification though: avoid teeny-tiny keypads and use touch a screen interface — like the Palm — where that type of interaction is required. The reason my wife, who considers computers to be akin to black magic, uses online services is that they are easy to use and genuinely convenient.
Kevin McLean
Director, information systems/operations
Healthcare Information Technologies
Re: A tale of two studies (Nov. 04)
Good column, Shane. I think you hit the nail squarely on the head. Well written, too.
Morgan Smyth
Braegen Group Inc.
Re: Letters to the editor (Oct. 25)
Let me see – they estimated that since I bought a new computer, and that I pirated software for it. Said computer now has installed:
- Windows 98 (old computer died – reused operating system)
- Visual Basic Dos Pro
- Power Basic 3.1
- Turbo Pascal 6
- Open Office 1.1
- Qmodem Pro (Telnet app)
- Trade Wars 2002 Game Server
- Personal Ancestral File
All of the software came from the old computer — and all of it is the software I depend on. Oh, and I’ve got other software I could have installed — I have over 100 CDs that I’ve bought, probably close to 1,000 floppies (both 3.5 and 5.25). I don’t upgrade software unless necessary, and I have enough thatI’ve almost always got something that will do the job.
If CAAST is counting me in their estimates, they are out to lunch.
Wayne Borean
Re: Life after Nortel (Oct. 25)
Thinking with tingle terms like “”customer traction”” is what got Nortel into trouble in the first place. Dilbertarian weasel words if ever I heard any. I’ll send them to Scott Adams.
Nortel lost track of true customer value and what was happening at the edge of the network, that is to say, up the value chain. You know, where the real money comes from. They replaced it with perceived customer value which has a poor correlation with true customer value.
Their slogan, “”What Do You Want the Internet To Be?”” is apropos because they certainly don’t know either.
Ron Pinder
Shane, loving your columns on ITBusiness.ca. Keep up the good work.Charlie Younghusband
Letters to the editor must include the writer’s name and company name along with an e-mail address or other contact information. All letters become the property of ITBusiness.ca. Editors reserve the right to edit submissions for length and content.
