Re: Allan Rock: What broadband means to me (Feb. 12)
I am not convinced that the politicians mean what they say. Sure, broadband access will stretch east to west and north to south
but how many people will be left out? I live just outside of Kingston, Ont. and I do not have access to high-speed Internet service and there is no indication that it is coming — at a reasonable price. It is hard enough to talk to a real person at Bell Canada and when you do manage to speak to someone, there is no indication about when or if we will ever get high-speed access.
Karen Clarke
Re: Allan Rock: What broadband means to me (Feb. 12)
I was amused to read the article about Rock’s new vision for broadband rollout. These politicians are like the ISPs you refer to in your editorial (Bit parts): you know you’ve got to have them. Unfortunately, Rock is not known for listening to anyone other than Chrétien, and I sadly predict a boondoggle of epic proportions.
Did you guys ever think about doing a survey of remote users to see what the demand and willingness to pay might be? It would be a great idea for a group like yours to ask intelligently-worded questions. Government-posed questions are typically self-serving: Would you like instant access to information, or would you like to communicate by smoke signal? Result: “”Almost 90 per cent per cent of recently polled Internet users strongly endorsed the rollout of broadband in Nunavut.””
Joe Seigo
It was interesting to read your editorial on this issue especially since when I arrived at home there was a postcard announcing a Rogers application before the CRTC to remove price capping. The coincidence had me thinking that one objective is very likely buried within the other.
The impact on homes and businesses of bit capping can be huge. If “”large”” providers like Rogers and Sympatico feel it necessary to move to this new revenue-generating model then maybe we (the users through government) should containerize the providers by similar rules that have seen the big Bells (monopolies) forced into being the carriers for less mature, cheaper providers. I already pay for the privilege of using the Internet and I’ll be damned if I’m forced to pay even higher fees just so they can get around the established fact of the Internet becoming a household necessity/tool.
T.L. Darby
Why give a voice to whiners and complainers who forget the good deal they have?
At some point in any system there tends to be a bottleneck that reflects high/overload usage and a need to make additional investments. In our user-pay world, those who use most must bear a little more of the economic costs.
Compared to most things, Internet service is a real bargain. Just compare your monthly telephone/cell bill to your ISP charge. The value added to your life (social, business, etc.) by your ISP is greater than its monthly fixed fee. I wonder if the whiners are smokers?
Brian Ralph
Re: Developers give thumbs-up to Visual Studio.Net (Feb. 12)
I don’t doubt Visual Studio .Net could become the Web development tool of choice, much like Visual Basic has. But now, those who developed in Visual Basic are stuck with it.
Here is my story, and my question: My business and production applications run on good old DBL with ISAM files on a SCO Unix server. My company has developed tools to connect COM or Java apps to the database, so we will be able to develop a Web interface in Java using my database.
I will drop MS Exchange 5.5 and replace it with a Web-based IMP mail server and Hylafax on Linux with other firewall software. Even if these open source software tools are doing the job I want, I will be able to modify it as I need.
Why drop Exchange, you ask? Because if I want to move to Exchange 2000, I must have an MS Exchange 2000 server installed with Active Directory on it — with all the necessary licences. Plus, I will have to upgrade all the software related to SQL, anti-virus and fax, and as soon as the installation is completed, I will have to move onto the new Microsoft OS. It’s never-ending.
This new configuration will allow me to be fully Web-based, with no need to use Citrix Server.
Here’s my question: Will Visual.Net allow someone to develop Web-based software that will run even if a company has no Windows desktop or Windows servers, just a Unix-Linux server? If the answer is yes, then good. That means it will be 100 per cent Web-based.
Alain Forcier
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