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One wonders how many of Hotmail's millions of foolishly trusting customers have been devastated by the purge of outboxes. In my case, my only copies of several years of outgoing letters have vanished, with only platitudes from Hotmail in response to requests for retrieval. Hotmail has acted unethically and irresponsibly in destroying customers' files.
Spam, spam, spam
I read this article (The Edge, 30/7) and found it very interesting. It certainly highlights the grey area between spam and all those places that send you information and newsletters.
By the end of it, I almost felt sorry for Gary B. Green. Almost.
There was a point in the article where you quoted him: "There's no law against putting a flyer in someone's mailbox and this is no different to doing that," he says.
There are big differences.
Unfortunately these differences are very important. If you could turn spam off, it wouldn't matter. But more and more organisations are capable of sending more and more spam our way.
If it wasn't for people getting angry about spam, the amount would continue to grow until . . . e-mail became unusable. The amount of bandwidth used up by this activity could endanger the working of the Internet.
I wonder if every time you went to your letterbox it was surrounded by a mountain of flyers, would it soon be illegal for people to distribute flyers?
IBM's vicious circle
I'd like to highlight the issue of software licensing when buying a new computer from IBM.
I bought a new laptop from IBM in May. Upon delivery, I was presented with an IBM product agreement. By "using the product or where the seal and/or shrink-wrap has been broken" I had "indicated my acceptance of the terms".
These terms stated unequivocally that I could only return the product for a refund or credit within seven working days and that if the seal had been broken or the product used then I was not entitled to this return or credit.
I opened the box (thereby indicating my acceptance of the agreement and voiding any chance of a return to IBM) and turned the laptop on. I was presented with an OEM install of Windows XP, which then asked me to agree to the Microsoft end user licence agreement (EULA).
I disagreed with the terms of the EULA, and, according to the EULA, was entitled to return the software for a refund.
I called IBM but was told its contract with Microsoft meant that every machine had to ship with a copy of Microsoft Windows and thus, if I were to return the Windows licence for a refund, I would also have to return the machine.
IBM then wrote to me stating that under the terms of the IBM agreement it would not issue a refund for my Windows XP licence nor my IBM laptop.
This is deceptive and misleading conduct. To obtain a refund of XP, I must return it with the laptop within seven days, and I can't return it if I open the box or turn on the laptop. Yet I have to turn on the laptop to view the Microsoft EULA.
According to Microsoft, if I disagree (with) the Microsoft EULA, I am entitled to return it for a refund. However, I can't return it because IBM won't accept the software return without an accompanying machine and they won't accept the machine because I opened the box and turned on the machine (to view the EULA). It's a vicious circle.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has indicated this is deceptive and misleading conduct.
I urge all users who have encountered similar problems to report them to the commission.
Synaxis - Information Consultants
Hackney, South Australia
I have been working with and providing live-online e-learning solutions and training across Australia with considerable success, in direct contrast to Eric Wilson's somewhat narrow view of delivery platforms (In Training, 30/7). I am a qualified live-online trainer.
While I agree that the newsgroup or e-mail experience is dry and unrewarding without lively fellow students and instructor, there is a middle ground between that and full multi-way video conferencing that Eric completely misses.
A proven, viable and easy way to learn is to use collaborative software that allows full two-way audio using voice-over IP and a comprehensive replication of a classroom or meeting room. Multi-person, full duplex video is certainly not necessary.
We can use Web cams to show the presenter live but are requested by the learners to turn the function off as it is more of a distraction and gets in the way of real learning.
With online tools such as Centra (www.centra.com), you can talk directly to a group and you can do it more often because no travel is involved.
It is true that with only audio you do not have the benefit of interpreting body language. (But) Just like radio, you can quickly understand the true depth of feeling in the viewpoint of any participant.
Ian Rabbitt, director,
In response to the story, IT show ponies shown the virtual door (30/7):
I never liked baseball caps but I'm not sure why a change in business outlook has led to a decrease in flexible working hours. I work in a small team of programmers in a Sydney-based software company with international success. If it weren't for the approach of the company, most of us guys would be working our skills in some country where the marginal tax rate isn't 50 per cent and where we would never have to pay back our HECS debt.
Frankly, it's not programmers who need more business sense, it's business. These are the same business/HR managers that two years ago were saying there had to be much more IT training, and screaming at the IT personnel shortage. These are the people who came to Australia on a Commonwealth sponsored migration program for HR in the IT industry. These are the people, who have now skipped the country that are being sought for misleading and deceptive conduct in relation to the statements they made to job candidates about share option schemes, likelihood for advancement and prospects for international expansion. These are the people who prompted a large switch of "mediocre" people's career paths and expectations.
I claim to be a competent programmer. I don't pretend to be an expert in workforce planning and forecasting but surely HR "professionals" do. They should stop whingeing and do a better job as a profession. The brighter ones would know that wearing a baseball cap doesn't impede the ability to program.
Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
One trench fits all
I've always wondered why so many utility companies have to dig up the street to lay cables when it would be so much more efficient to have one "public" trench that all companies use. The trench could be owned by a non-profit entity such as the local council and paid for by a service fee charged for the use of the trench by subscribers. That way the street only has to be dug up once and future upgrades to networks will be cheaper.
I am an IT professional who has experienced much of what the article Resumes no longer fit the profile (23/7) is speaking about. From the employer's point of view, I believe that the concept of e-profiling of candidates is a good one, however there is one flaw. In the example of 900 candidates going for three positions, how much time was spent by each candidate completing the online application form?
It is very time-consuming to complete a single application. If there are only three positions available for 900 applicants, does it not stand to reason that 897 of those applicants are going to want to be filling out as many of these applications for as many different positions as possible?
It seems to me that while increasing the efficiency of business, this concept would actually decrease the efficiency of the application process for candidates.
I believe that candidate profiling is a step in the right direction but I am certainly frustrated at the amount of time I am now expected to spend completing applications when my chances of actually securing that position are greatly reduced.
Batemans Bay, NSW
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