Tuesday, January 31, 2006
UK Linux guru backs GPL 3
UK Linux guru backs GPL 3: "Linus Torvalds may have his doubts, but Alan Cox is supporting the next version of the GPL"
Are politics delaying the $100 laptop?
By John Markoff
The New York Times
Published: January 30, 2006, 5:42 AM PST
DAVOS, Switzerland--It sounds like a project that just about any technology-minded executive could get behind: distributing durable, cheap laptop computers in the developing world to help education.
But in the year since Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory, unveiled his prototype for a $100 laptop, he has found himself wrestling with Microsoft and the politics of software.
Negroponte has made significant progress, but he has also catalyzed the debate over the role of computing in poor nations--and ruffled a few feathers. He failed to reach an agreement with Microsoft on including its Windows software in the laptop, leading Microsoft executives to start discussing what they say is a less expensive alternative: turning a specially configured cellular phone into a computer by connecting it to a TV and a keyboard.
Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, demonstrated a mockup of his proposed cellular PC at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, and he mentioned it as a cheaper alternative to traditional PCs and laptops during a public discussion here at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
Craig Mundie, a Microsoft vice president and chief technical officer, said in an interview here that the company is still developing the idea, but that both he and Gates believe that cell phones are a better way than laptops to bring computing to the masses in developing nations.
"Everyone is going to have a cell phone," Mundie said, noting that in places where TVs are already common, turning a phone into a computer could simply require adding a cheap adaptor and keyboard. Microsoft has not said how much those products would cost.
Mundie said there was no firm timing for the cell phone strategy, but that the company had encouraged such innovations in the past by building prototypes for consumer electronics manufacturers.
It is not clear to what extent Negroponte's decision to use free open-source software in the laptop instead of Windows spurred the alternative plan from Microsoft. But Gates has been privately bitter about it, and Mundie has been skeptical in public about the project's chance of success.
"I love what Nick is trying to do," Mundie said. "We have a lot of concerns about the sustainability of his approach."
This has not deterred Negroponte. At a private breakfast meeting on the digital divide at the forum on Saturday, Negroponte said that he had a commitment from Quanta Computer of Taiwan to manufacture the portable computers, which would initially use a processing chip from Advanced Micro Devices of Sunnyvale, Calif. He also said he had raised $20 million to pay for engineering and was close to a final commitment of $700 million from seven nations--Thailand, Egypt, Nigeria, India, China, Brazil and Argentina--to purchase 7 million of the laptops.
Also on Saturday, Negroponte's nonprofit group, One Laptop Per Child, signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Development Program at a news conference here, under which the two will work together to develop technology and learning resources.
Negroponte is showing only a mockup of his laptop, which will have a carrying handle, built-in stereo speakers, a wireless data connection, a hand crank to generate power and a screen that is visible even in bright sunlight. He said that he hopes to be able to hand out working laptops next year to some participants at the forum in Davos.
He also acknowledged that months of discussions with Microsoft and Apple Computer about using their operating system software for his computer had been fruitless, and that as a result, the laptops would use a version of Linux, the open-source operating system.
According to several people familiar with the discussions, Microsoft had encouraged Negroponte to consider using the Windows CE version of its software, and Microsoft had been prepared to make an open-source version of the program available.
Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, had also offered a free version of his company's OS X operating system, but Negroponte rejected that idea because the software was largely not open-source, meaning people could not get free access to software and its source code, which they could then modify. Negroponte said in an interview here that he had resolved to use Linux not because it was free but because of its quality and maintainability.
"I chose open source because it's better," he said. "I have 100 million programmers I can rely on."
At the same time, Negroponte, who is on the board of Motorola, said he is not opposed to the idea of building a low-cost computer using a cell phone. He said his research group at the MIT Media Lab had experimented with the idea of a cell phone that would project a computer display onto a wall and also project the image of a keyboard, sensing the motion of fingers over it. But the researchers decided the idea was less practical than a laptop.
Some business and development policy specialists have raised questions about Negroponte's laptop, pointing to the price of Internet connectivity, which can cost $24 to $50 a month in developing nations. But Negroponte said networking costs would not be an obstacle because the laptops would be made to connect automatically in a so-called mesh network, making it possible for up to 1,000 computers to wirelessly share just one or two land-based Internet connections.
The Media Lab researchers are also planning to approach an upcoming meeting of the international consortium overseeing GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) for cell phones about setting up a data standard that would allow low-cost and educational use of wireless network capacity.
"We call the concept 'standby bits,'" Negroponte said, explaining that the concept is similar to the way standby passengers on airlines can travel when there are empty seats. The laptops would send and receive Internet data only when higher-paying commercial data was not being transmitted.
At the Davos meeting, a number of participants raised questions about the wisdom of Negroponte's plan to persuade governments to underwrite the cost of the laptops.
Stuart Gannes, director of the Digital Vision Program at Stanford University, said a better way to bring computers into poor countries would be to put them into the hands of entrepreneurs and make them revenue generators. "We need to look at technology as a way to bring cash into the poorest communities," Gannes said.
Negroponte said that "a lot of people were apprehensive" about the project before he won the backing from Quanta, but that he believed he had put the doubts to rest. Quanta manufactures about one-third of the world's laptop computers, he said.
Source here
The New York Times
Published: January 30, 2006, 5:42 AM PST
DAVOS, Switzerland--It sounds like a project that just about any technology-minded executive could get behind: distributing durable, cheap laptop computers in the developing world to help education.
But in the year since Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory, unveiled his prototype for a $100 laptop, he has found himself wrestling with Microsoft and the politics of software.
Negroponte has made significant progress, but he has also catalyzed the debate over the role of computing in poor nations--and ruffled a few feathers. He failed to reach an agreement with Microsoft on including its Windows software in the laptop, leading Microsoft executives to start discussing what they say is a less expensive alternative: turning a specially configured cellular phone into a computer by connecting it to a TV and a keyboard.
Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, demonstrated a mockup of his proposed cellular PC at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, and he mentioned it as a cheaper alternative to traditional PCs and laptops during a public discussion here at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
Craig Mundie, a Microsoft vice president and chief technical officer, said in an interview here that the company is still developing the idea, but that both he and Gates believe that cell phones are a better way than laptops to bring computing to the masses in developing nations.
"Everyone is going to have a cell phone," Mundie said, noting that in places where TVs are already common, turning a phone into a computer could simply require adding a cheap adaptor and keyboard. Microsoft has not said how much those products would cost.
Mundie said there was no firm timing for the cell phone strategy, but that the company had encouraged such innovations in the past by building prototypes for consumer electronics manufacturers.
It is not clear to what extent Negroponte's decision to use free open-source software in the laptop instead of Windows spurred the alternative plan from Microsoft. But Gates has been privately bitter about it, and Mundie has been skeptical in public about the project's chance of success.
"I love what Nick is trying to do," Mundie said. "We have a lot of concerns about the sustainability of his approach."
This has not deterred Negroponte. At a private breakfast meeting on the digital divide at the forum on Saturday, Negroponte said that he had a commitment from Quanta Computer of Taiwan to manufacture the portable computers, which would initially use a processing chip from Advanced Micro Devices of Sunnyvale, Calif. He also said he had raised $20 million to pay for engineering and was close to a final commitment of $700 million from seven nations--Thailand, Egypt, Nigeria, India, China, Brazil and Argentina--to purchase 7 million of the laptops.
Also on Saturday, Negroponte's nonprofit group, One Laptop Per Child, signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Development Program at a news conference here, under which the two will work together to develop technology and learning resources.
Negroponte is showing only a mockup of his laptop, which will have a carrying handle, built-in stereo speakers, a wireless data connection, a hand crank to generate power and a screen that is visible even in bright sunlight. He said that he hopes to be able to hand out working laptops next year to some participants at the forum in Davos.
He also acknowledged that months of discussions with Microsoft and Apple Computer about using their operating system software for his computer had been fruitless, and that as a result, the laptops would use a version of Linux, the open-source operating system.
According to several people familiar with the discussions, Microsoft had encouraged Negroponte to consider using the Windows CE version of its software, and Microsoft had been prepared to make an open-source version of the program available.
Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, had also offered a free version of his company's OS X operating system, but Negroponte rejected that idea because the software was largely not open-source, meaning people could not get free access to software and its source code, which they could then modify. Negroponte said in an interview here that he had resolved to use Linux not because it was free but because of its quality and maintainability.
"I chose open source because it's better," he said. "I have 100 million programmers I can rely on."
At the same time, Negroponte, who is on the board of Motorola, said he is not opposed to the idea of building a low-cost computer using a cell phone. He said his research group at the MIT Media Lab had experimented with the idea of a cell phone that would project a computer display onto a wall and also project the image of a keyboard, sensing the motion of fingers over it. But the researchers decided the idea was less practical than a laptop.
Some business and development policy specialists have raised questions about Negroponte's laptop, pointing to the price of Internet connectivity, which can cost $24 to $50 a month in developing nations. But Negroponte said networking costs would not be an obstacle because the laptops would be made to connect automatically in a so-called mesh network, making it possible for up to 1,000 computers to wirelessly share just one or two land-based Internet connections.
The Media Lab researchers are also planning to approach an upcoming meeting of the international consortium overseeing GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) for cell phones about setting up a data standard that would allow low-cost and educational use of wireless network capacity.
"We call the concept 'standby bits,'" Negroponte said, explaining that the concept is similar to the way standby passengers on airlines can travel when there are empty seats. The laptops would send and receive Internet data only when higher-paying commercial data was not being transmitted.
At the Davos meeting, a number of participants raised questions about the wisdom of Negroponte's plan to persuade governments to underwrite the cost of the laptops.
Stuart Gannes, director of the Digital Vision Program at Stanford University, said a better way to bring computers into poor countries would be to put them into the hands of entrepreneurs and make them revenue generators. "We need to look at technology as a way to bring cash into the poorest communities," Gannes said.
Negroponte said that "a lot of people were apprehensive" about the project before he won the backing from Quanta, but that he believed he had put the doubts to rest. Quanta manufactures about one-third of the world's laptop computers, he said.
Source here
Flickr Widget updated
Flickr Widget updated: "Flickr recently updated their API, so the Flickr widget (FlickIt) has been updated accordingly."
Google readying its own Google OS!!
Google readying its own Google OS!!: "Google is preparing its own distribution of Linux for the desktop, in a possible bid to take on Microsoft in its core business - desktop software. A version of the increasingly popular Ubuntu desktop Linux distribution, based on Debian and the Gnome desktop, it is known internally as 'Goobuntu'."
Flickr Hacks
Flickr Hacks: Rough Cuts Version
By Jim Bumgardner, Paul Bausch
Rough Cuts Release: January 2006
Print Book Release: February 2006
Series: Hacks
ISBN: 0-596-52709-8
Retail Price: $24.99 US
Flickr Hacks expands the fun and the utility of Flickr, Yahoo!'s popular digital photo-sharing service, by customizing this cutting-edge technology to store, sort, and share photos. The book adopts the game-like appeal of the Flickr site, in individual projects ranging from easy to advanced. quick hacks show you how to post photos directly to blogs and upload photos from a cell phone. Advanced hacks teach you to use the Flickr API, make photo puzzles and collages, and geocode photos to plot on a map.
Source here
Over two million registered Flickr users and counting have discovered the ease and fun of organizing their photo libraries, showing off their favorite pictures to the world, and securely sharing their private pictures with friends, family, or ad hoc groups. But Flickr's own plethora of intuitive menus, options, and features just scratches the surface.
Flickr Hacks goes beyond the basics of storing, sorting, and sharing your photos to the much bigger playground of what's possible. Whether you're a beginner looking to manage your metadata and play with tags, or a programmer in need of a detailed reference of Flickr API methods, you'll find what you're looking for here. In addition to getting under the hood of some of the most popular third-party Flickr toys already in the wild, you'll learn how to (...) / here
By Jim Bumgardner, Paul Bausch
Rough Cuts Release: January 2006
Print Book Release: February 2006
Series: Hacks
ISBN: 0-596-52709-8
Retail Price: $24.99 US
Flickr Hacks expands the fun and the utility of Flickr, Yahoo!'s popular digital photo-sharing service, by customizing this cutting-edge technology to store, sort, and share photos. The book adopts the game-like appeal of the Flickr site, in individual projects ranging from easy to advanced. quick hacks show you how to post photos directly to blogs and upload photos from a cell phone. Advanced hacks teach you to use the Flickr API, make photo puzzles and collages, and geocode photos to plot on a map.
Source here
Over two million registered Flickr users and counting have discovered the ease and fun of organizing their photo libraries, showing off their favorite pictures to the world, and securely sharing their private pictures with friends, family, or ad hoc groups. But Flickr's own plethora of intuitive menus, options, and features just scratches the surface.
Flickr Hacks goes beyond the basics of storing, sorting, and sharing your photos to the much bigger playground of what's possible. Whether you're a beginner looking to manage your metadata and play with tags, or a programmer in need of a detailed reference of Flickr API methods, you'll find what you're looking for here. In addition to getting under the hood of some of the most popular third-party Flickr toys already in the wild, you'll learn how to (...) / here
$100 PC project will 'invigorate Linux desktop push'
$100 PC project will 'invigorate Linux desktop push': "Putting an open source-based laptop in the hands of millions of users around the world will help drive home the importance of non-proprietary development and applications, says Red Hat"
Monday, January 30, 2006
Arctic Monkeys Sell Thousands on First Day
news.yahoo.com
Wed Jan 25, 9:24 AM ET
LONDON - The Arctic Monkeys sold almost 120,000 copies of their debut album in a single day, and it may become one of the year's top-sellers, retailers said.
The British band shot from obscurity to fame in a matter of months, thanks partly to savvy use of the Internet to market their music to fans.
A stream of adulatory media articles followed, and the group's debut singles, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down," both topped the British singles chart.
The band's album, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," sold 118,501 copies within 24 hours of its release Monday, more than the rest of the top 20 album chart combined. If sales hold up, it will become Britain's fastest-selling debut, surpassing the 306,631 copies sold by Hear'Say's "Popstars" in 2001.
Phil Penman, head of music for retailer HMV, said Tuesday the Monkeys were "well on their way to having the first million-selling album of 2006."
Formed in 2003, the quartet from Sheffield in northern England signed last year to Domino, the independent record label that is home to Scots rockers Franz Ferdinand.
Source here
Wed Jan 25, 9:24 AM ET
LONDON - The Arctic Monkeys sold almost 120,000 copies of their debut album in a single day, and it may become one of the year's top-sellers, retailers said.
The British band shot from obscurity to fame in a matter of months, thanks partly to savvy use of the Internet to market their music to fans.
A stream of adulatory media articles followed, and the group's debut singles, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down," both topped the British singles chart.
The band's album, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," sold 118,501 copies within 24 hours of its release Monday, more than the rest of the top 20 album chart combined. If sales hold up, it will become Britain's fastest-selling debut, surpassing the 306,631 copies sold by Hear'Say's "Popstars" in 2001.
Phil Penman, head of music for retailer HMV, said Tuesday the Monkeys were "well on their way to having the first million-selling album of 2006."
Formed in 2003, the quartet from Sheffield in northern England signed last year to Domino, the independent record label that is home to Scots rockers Franz Ferdinand.
Source here
Municipal broadband deployments to double in 2006
dmeurope.com
27/01/2006 by John Tilak
There are over 400 cities worldwide currently planning to deploy municipal broadband networks, and that number will double in 2006, making community broadband initiatives a very real and significant trend, according to a report from market research firm Visiongain.
Despite legal opposition and intense lobbying from incumbent telcos and cable companies, municipal broadband is well on its way. As of the first quarter of 2006, there are over 100 city and regional wireless broadband networks operational worldwide, more than 40 of which are in the US.
Small town rural deployments were the beginning of the wave, but the tide is now embracing large urban metropolises. New York, San Francisco, Rome and Paris are among the major cities planning wide-scale deployments. Major vendors, such as Motorola, Cisco, HP and IBM, are already reaping cumulative contract awards running into hundreds of millions of euros.
For a large number of reasons, municipalities are considering the concept of a municipal broadband network as the 'fifth utility.' These communities are choosing between deploying fibre or wireless broadband networks using wi-fi hotspots, mesh networks or pre-WiMAX technology.
Source here
27/01/2006 by John Tilak
There are over 400 cities worldwide currently planning to deploy municipal broadband networks, and that number will double in 2006, making community broadband initiatives a very real and significant trend, according to a report from market research firm Visiongain.
Despite legal opposition and intense lobbying from incumbent telcos and cable companies, municipal broadband is well on its way. As of the first quarter of 2006, there are over 100 city and regional wireless broadband networks operational worldwide, more than 40 of which are in the US.
Small town rural deployments were the beginning of the wave, but the tide is now embracing large urban metropolises. New York, San Francisco, Rome and Paris are among the major cities planning wide-scale deployments. Major vendors, such as Motorola, Cisco, HP and IBM, are already reaping cumulative contract awards running into hundreds of millions of euros.
For a large number of reasons, municipalities are considering the concept of a municipal broadband network as the 'fifth utility.' These communities are choosing between deploying fibre or wireless broadband networks using wi-fi hotspots, mesh networks or pre-WiMAX technology.
Source here
Why New Labour Doesnt Get IT
insnews.org
Why New Labour Doesnt Get IT
Jan 30, 11:47 AM
UNCORK the champagne: the British Government spends 20% more on information technology (IT) than its European neighbours. Its IT spend accounts for around 1.2% of gross domestic product. That might seem a good reason for celebration but, unfortunately, it is not a large part of the Pounds 14bn a year spent by the UK government on IT vanishes into cyberspace, with taxpayers left holding the bill.
Who says so? The governments own Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Its most recent report, published in December 2005, warned of the risk of Pounds 10bn (E14.6bn, $17.7bn) of public money going to waste on IT services no-one wants and no-one may use. The government record in IT provides plenty of evidence for concern.
Consider the following. Last week an IT fiasco in the governments Rural Payments Agency meant that Englands 120,000 farmers are likely to get only part of their new subsidy payments next month. Farming minister Lord Bach admitted there had been continuing problems with the IT system chosen by the Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). A select committee said it was deeply unimpressed by the failure. Payments to Accenture, the company given the job of writing the software, have doubled from Pounds 18m to Pounds 37m.
The likely cost of the governments controversial plans to introduce a digital identity cards scheme is likely to be Pounds 19.2bn, against its own estimate of Pounds 5.8bn.
Internal government e-mails recently leaked to the media claimed that the governments Pounds 6.2bn investment in National Health Service IT is in danger of being derailed because of delays in developing Choose and Book, the electronic appoinment booking system that underpins much of the broader NHS IT strategy.
A computer programme has overpaid around Pounds 2bn of UK tax credits (most of which will never be recovered). The IT contractor responsible, the US firm EDS, was then awarded a new Pounds 4bn defence contract by the government. The Treasury has spent 30 times more than its original estimate of Pounds 2.3m on computers to cope with pension changes, sending the total bill to date soaring to Pounds 68m.
And there is more. What is going wrong? First, government departments have failed to yet fully grasp, as business has done, that making an investment in IT has to be justified by financial returns within one year. Few government departments, if any, have such a discipline in place.
Second, there has been little accountability on the part of different government departments. Although this is changing, the situation is still far from satisfactory.
Ian Watmore, the man who was charged with changing all this when appointed Head of eGovernment in September 2004, accepts the criticism: He was promoted to head of the Prime Ministers Delivery Unit just before Christmas, where he says he will continue to oversee government IT strategy. In principle, Watmore agrees that business best practices have to be adopted by government with regard to IT in order to avoid future waste.
The way I believe the UK can get more from its IT is to bring the management of all the many public IT projects now running more in line with the kind of practices used in commercial organisations, said Watmore.
One key area is the proportion of the Pounds 14bn spent on new IT projects and that used to prop up older, less-efficient IT, known as legacy systems. According to Watmore, best business practice is seen as having a 60/40 split between legacy and new systems.
Across UK government IT Watmore reports that the split averages 70/30. He reckons that bringing IT spending in line with best business practice could free up an additional Pounds 1.4bn a year for new IT projects.
In his role as head of eGovernment, Watmore tried to introduce a degree of individual accountability by chairing regular meetings with IT heads of the various government departments. I called regular meetings in order to ensure expensive systems are not duplicated across the country, said Watmore. Sine his promotion,Watmores successor as Head of eGovernent has yet to been named, so even this limited degree of accountability is currently missing.
There is an alarming and rapidly growing body of evidence that much of this cash is wasted or spent in ways that are of dubious merit. The catalogue of errors ranges from IT malfunctions such as the software flaw that resulted in overpaying of Pounds 2bn of tax credits, to the commissioning of vast national IT projects that have little or no proven merit, such as the 100 or so major IT projects under way across various government departments aimed at allowing the public to access government services via the internet.
Alarm bells should have started ringing in Downing Street two years ago when giant US-based IT contractor EDS botched the introduction of Chancellor Gordon Browns flagship tax credits system.
A faulty computer program overpaid the staggering sum of Pounds 2bn in 2003/04, the first year of operation. EDS recently agreed to pay Pounds 71.25m to the government in compensation, but that is a tiny proportion of the money lost. It is still unclear as to how much of the lost billions if any will ever be recovered.
EDS is reported to have said the mistake occurred when an under- tested software went live. Despite this fiasco, EDS headed a consortium that last year landed another huge contract from the UK government. Far from being blacklisted from future tenders for having cost taxpayers dearly, EDS went on to win a highly lucrative 10-year defence contract, worth around $4bn over its lifetime.
Despite the earlier fiasco with the tax credits system, the government again chose EDS and rejected the tender made by the other consortium headed by Britains telecoms giant BT, which has successfully mutated into a global IT and communications contractor for large organisations.
EDS and Fujitsu [a member of the EDS consortium] are both strong suppliers to the MOD. But EDS has had problems with its multi- billion dollar outsourcing contract with the US Navy, which has been marred by delays and technical difficulties. EDS appears to have convinced the MOD that it has learned lessons from this contract, said Georgina OToole , a senior analyst at City-based research company Ovum.
Even today there are still ongoing IT problems with the tax credit system. In December, Whitehall unintentionally revealed details of a massive online security breakdown in the tax credit payments system. Up to 13,000 Job Centre staff had personal details, such as names, national insurance numbers and dates of birth, compromised by criminals making fraudulent claims for tax credits.
Revenue & Customs was forced to close its website temporarily for tax credit applicants on 1 December after discovering that false applications had been made. It was at first thought that only 1,500 job-centre staff might have had their personal details stolen, but it was swiftly acknowledged that the problem was far larger than initially believed.
According to the PAC, the big IT disasters, such as the tax credit payments, are only the tip of a massive iceberg of IT overspend and waste. Its report made it clear that the governments IT strategy has been a costly disaster. Its report accuses government departments of squandering billions of pounds on waste and mismanagement, but the report reserved its severest criticism for public sector IT projects.
As well as presenting detailed criticism of specific projects, the PAC highlighted a major risk of Pounds 10bn of public money going to waste on IT projects nobody wants.
In its rush to make Prime Minister Tony Blairs dream of a broadband Britain a reality, the government is supplying the UK with a complicated network of internet-based IT systems. The idea behind it is to allow British citizens to use the internet to access every level of government, although there is little evidence of any demand for such a service, as the PAC highlighted in its December report: There is also the risk that departments provide services online but the public do not use them because they see no benefit in doing so. Should this happen the significant investment in e-government would be wasted, it said.
But even this huge IT spend is a fraction of the IT spend by the Department of Education, the Department of Defence, the legal system and Britains emergency services, where there is mounting evidence that government departments are spending far more than needed in ways which will not benefit the public as they should.
The Committee catalogued other examples of IT mismanagement going back years. One is the LIBRA project, designed to provide new IT systems for Magistrates Courts. The contract for the project was renegotiated twice, each time with computing giant ICL asking for more money. As a result of the first re-negotiation, a revised contract for 14.5 years at a price of Pounds 319m was agreed in May 2000.
Within 10 months, ICL informed the government it was in financial difficulties even at the price negotiated a year before so the government reached an agreement for ICL to deliver only the infrastructure at a cost of Pounds 232m over 8.5 years. The total cost of the project was subsequently estimated at Pounds 390m for just 8.5 years of service.
Other cost overruns include the implementation of the National Probation Information Systems Strategy (NPSISS), which came in at Pounds 118m, an estimated 70% at constant prices above the expenditure forecast in the original business case.
The government is also accused of failing to implement many of the recommendations made in a previous PAC report published in June 2000. Despite being accepted by government five years ago, the PAC recommendations have yet to be fully implemented. In particular, there has been limited progress in collecting and publishing systematic information on the development of government web traffic, the take-up of electronic services by the public and the condition of government websites and crucially in developing a methodology for justifying expenditure on web provision.
Departments need to consider how information technology can be used to streamline current ways of working, reduce time-consuming procedures and improve productivity, The PAC said. Simply converting conventional processes to internet-based applications will not realise the significant improvements in efficiency that IT improvements can make possible.
While many of the projects highlighted in the PAC report may appear to be insignificant when compared with some of the headline- grabbing billion pound-plus contracts, they are just as crucial. Because of the way that IT systems are woven together within government departments, the failure of one system can have a dramatic knock-on effect giving rise to a blame culture.
For instance leaked e-mails were alleged to show that Richard Granger, director general for IT at the National health Service (NHS), had blamed a senior civil servant in the Department of Health for potentially derailing a Pounds 6.2bn programme by interfering with the execution of a new booking system.
When approached by The Business, Granger refused to comment on allegations that he blamed senior civil servants in the Department of Health for delays in the Choose-and-Book electronic booking project that could threaten the whole Connecting for Health programme. Only around 20,000 people are estimated to have so far made use of the booking service, against a target of 250,000.
The data shows that NHS spending on IT has increased dramatically. Three years ago 1.8% of the total NHS budget was spent on centralised IT. Now around 2.8%, some Pounds 700m a year, is spent on centralised IT.
Granger says the proportion of the NHS budget spent on centralised IT is still less than the proportion of cash spent by many commercial organisations.
But he also admits to having uncovered wasteful purchasing procedures when he took over his post. He quoted the example of cash being spent on PACS, a system designed to provide computerised X- ray images. Unlike film X-rays, these can be viewed in 3D and sent between medical staff at the touch of a button. But this type of technology does not come cheap and the entire project, designed to run over 10 years, will cost the NHS around Pounds 800m.
Granger says when he took over the project, equipment for the scheme was being provided by a cosy group of suppliers who all knew each others prices. He added: We have managed to break that level of margin.
The UK government is now bent on introducing IT in areas where the potential for mistakes costing billions of pounds is even greater.
One recent example is its controversial plan to introduce biometric passports and national identity cards. The London School of Economics (LSE) predicts that the cost of a national ID scheme could be as high as Pounds 19.2bn, a figure the government refutes. The LSE report, The Identity Project: An Assessment Of The UK Identity Cards Bill And Its Implications, estimates the potential cost at more than triple the governments Pounds 5.8bn estimate, a figure supported by a report from international consultancy firm KPMG. The figure includes the physical manufacture and distribution of the cards as well as the IT.
Not surprisingly, the national ID card scheme received a severe mauling recently in the House of Lords, which voted 237 votes to 156 in favour of an amendment that would force a detailed breakdown of costs to be made public. MPs would then vote on this again once the cost breakdowns were known.
But this amendment is being opposed by government, which argues that a breakdown of costs must be kept secret in order to get the best deal from contractors. Apart from the implications for privacy, what is really worrying their Lordships is the potential for massive cost overruns on this scheme. Given the governments track record on IT to date they have good grounds for being alarmed.
Source here
Why New Labour Doesnt Get IT
Jan 30, 11:47 AM
UNCORK the champagne: the British Government spends 20% more on information technology (IT) than its European neighbours. Its IT spend accounts for around 1.2% of gross domestic product. That might seem a good reason for celebration but, unfortunately, it is not a large part of the Pounds 14bn a year spent by the UK government on IT vanishes into cyberspace, with taxpayers left holding the bill.
Who says so? The governments own Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Its most recent report, published in December 2005, warned of the risk of Pounds 10bn (E14.6bn, $17.7bn) of public money going to waste on IT services no-one wants and no-one may use. The government record in IT provides plenty of evidence for concern.
Consider the following. Last week an IT fiasco in the governments Rural Payments Agency meant that Englands 120,000 farmers are likely to get only part of their new subsidy payments next month. Farming minister Lord Bach admitted there had been continuing problems with the IT system chosen by the Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). A select committee said it was deeply unimpressed by the failure. Payments to Accenture, the company given the job of writing the software, have doubled from Pounds 18m to Pounds 37m.
The likely cost of the governments controversial plans to introduce a digital identity cards scheme is likely to be Pounds 19.2bn, against its own estimate of Pounds 5.8bn.
Internal government e-mails recently leaked to the media claimed that the governments Pounds 6.2bn investment in National Health Service IT is in danger of being derailed because of delays in developing Choose and Book, the electronic appoinment booking system that underpins much of the broader NHS IT strategy.
A computer programme has overpaid around Pounds 2bn of UK tax credits (most of which will never be recovered). The IT contractor responsible, the US firm EDS, was then awarded a new Pounds 4bn defence contract by the government. The Treasury has spent 30 times more than its original estimate of Pounds 2.3m on computers to cope with pension changes, sending the total bill to date soaring to Pounds 68m.
And there is more. What is going wrong? First, government departments have failed to yet fully grasp, as business has done, that making an investment in IT has to be justified by financial returns within one year. Few government departments, if any, have such a discipline in place.
Second, there has been little accountability on the part of different government departments. Although this is changing, the situation is still far from satisfactory.
Ian Watmore, the man who was charged with changing all this when appointed Head of eGovernment in September 2004, accepts the criticism: He was promoted to head of the Prime Ministers Delivery Unit just before Christmas, where he says he will continue to oversee government IT strategy. In principle, Watmore agrees that business best practices have to be adopted by government with regard to IT in order to avoid future waste.
The way I believe the UK can get more from its IT is to bring the management of all the many public IT projects now running more in line with the kind of practices used in commercial organisations, said Watmore.
One key area is the proportion of the Pounds 14bn spent on new IT projects and that used to prop up older, less-efficient IT, known as legacy systems. According to Watmore, best business practice is seen as having a 60/40 split between legacy and new systems.
Across UK government IT Watmore reports that the split averages 70/30. He reckons that bringing IT spending in line with best business practice could free up an additional Pounds 1.4bn a year for new IT projects.
In his role as head of eGovernment, Watmore tried to introduce a degree of individual accountability by chairing regular meetings with IT heads of the various government departments. I called regular meetings in order to ensure expensive systems are not duplicated across the country, said Watmore. Sine his promotion,Watmores successor as Head of eGovernent has yet to been named, so even this limited degree of accountability is currently missing.
There is an alarming and rapidly growing body of evidence that much of this cash is wasted or spent in ways that are of dubious merit. The catalogue of errors ranges from IT malfunctions such as the software flaw that resulted in overpaying of Pounds 2bn of tax credits, to the commissioning of vast national IT projects that have little or no proven merit, such as the 100 or so major IT projects under way across various government departments aimed at allowing the public to access government services via the internet.
Alarm bells should have started ringing in Downing Street two years ago when giant US-based IT contractor EDS botched the introduction of Chancellor Gordon Browns flagship tax credits system.
A faulty computer program overpaid the staggering sum of Pounds 2bn in 2003/04, the first year of operation. EDS recently agreed to pay Pounds 71.25m to the government in compensation, but that is a tiny proportion of the money lost. It is still unclear as to how much of the lost billions if any will ever be recovered.
EDS is reported to have said the mistake occurred when an under- tested software went live. Despite this fiasco, EDS headed a consortium that last year landed another huge contract from the UK government. Far from being blacklisted from future tenders for having cost taxpayers dearly, EDS went on to win a highly lucrative 10-year defence contract, worth around $4bn over its lifetime.
Despite the earlier fiasco with the tax credits system, the government again chose EDS and rejected the tender made by the other consortium headed by Britains telecoms giant BT, which has successfully mutated into a global IT and communications contractor for large organisations.
EDS and Fujitsu [a member of the EDS consortium] are both strong suppliers to the MOD. But EDS has had problems with its multi- billion dollar outsourcing contract with the US Navy, which has been marred by delays and technical difficulties. EDS appears to have convinced the MOD that it has learned lessons from this contract, said Georgina OToole , a senior analyst at City-based research company Ovum.
Even today there are still ongoing IT problems with the tax credit system. In December, Whitehall unintentionally revealed details of a massive online security breakdown in the tax credit payments system. Up to 13,000 Job Centre staff had personal details, such as names, national insurance numbers and dates of birth, compromised by criminals making fraudulent claims for tax credits.
Revenue & Customs was forced to close its website temporarily for tax credit applicants on 1 December after discovering that false applications had been made. It was at first thought that only 1,500 job-centre staff might have had their personal details stolen, but it was swiftly acknowledged that the problem was far larger than initially believed.
According to the PAC, the big IT disasters, such as the tax credit payments, are only the tip of a massive iceberg of IT overspend and waste. Its report made it clear that the governments IT strategy has been a costly disaster. Its report accuses government departments of squandering billions of pounds on waste and mismanagement, but the report reserved its severest criticism for public sector IT projects.
As well as presenting detailed criticism of specific projects, the PAC highlighted a major risk of Pounds 10bn of public money going to waste on IT projects nobody wants.
In its rush to make Prime Minister Tony Blairs dream of a broadband Britain a reality, the government is supplying the UK with a complicated network of internet-based IT systems. The idea behind it is to allow British citizens to use the internet to access every level of government, although there is little evidence of any demand for such a service, as the PAC highlighted in its December report: There is also the risk that departments provide services online but the public do not use them because they see no benefit in doing so. Should this happen the significant investment in e-government would be wasted, it said.
But even this huge IT spend is a fraction of the IT spend by the Department of Education, the Department of Defence, the legal system and Britains emergency services, where there is mounting evidence that government departments are spending far more than needed in ways which will not benefit the public as they should.
The Committee catalogued other examples of IT mismanagement going back years. One is the LIBRA project, designed to provide new IT systems for Magistrates Courts. The contract for the project was renegotiated twice, each time with computing giant ICL asking for more money. As a result of the first re-negotiation, a revised contract for 14.5 years at a price of Pounds 319m was agreed in May 2000.
Within 10 months, ICL informed the government it was in financial difficulties even at the price negotiated a year before so the government reached an agreement for ICL to deliver only the infrastructure at a cost of Pounds 232m over 8.5 years. The total cost of the project was subsequently estimated at Pounds 390m for just 8.5 years of service.
Other cost overruns include the implementation of the National Probation Information Systems Strategy (NPSISS), which came in at Pounds 118m, an estimated 70% at constant prices above the expenditure forecast in the original business case.
The government is also accused of failing to implement many of the recommendations made in a previous PAC report published in June 2000. Despite being accepted by government five years ago, the PAC recommendations have yet to be fully implemented. In particular, there has been limited progress in collecting and publishing systematic information on the development of government web traffic, the take-up of electronic services by the public and the condition of government websites and crucially in developing a methodology for justifying expenditure on web provision.
Departments need to consider how information technology can be used to streamline current ways of working, reduce time-consuming procedures and improve productivity, The PAC said. Simply converting conventional processes to internet-based applications will not realise the significant improvements in efficiency that IT improvements can make possible.
While many of the projects highlighted in the PAC report may appear to be insignificant when compared with some of the headline- grabbing billion pound-plus contracts, they are just as crucial. Because of the way that IT systems are woven together within government departments, the failure of one system can have a dramatic knock-on effect giving rise to a blame culture.
For instance leaked e-mails were alleged to show that Richard Granger, director general for IT at the National health Service (NHS), had blamed a senior civil servant in the Department of Health for potentially derailing a Pounds 6.2bn programme by interfering with the execution of a new booking system.
When approached by The Business, Granger refused to comment on allegations that he blamed senior civil servants in the Department of Health for delays in the Choose-and-Book electronic booking project that could threaten the whole Connecting for Health programme. Only around 20,000 people are estimated to have so far made use of the booking service, against a target of 250,000.
The data shows that NHS spending on IT has increased dramatically. Three years ago 1.8% of the total NHS budget was spent on centralised IT. Now around 2.8%, some Pounds 700m a year, is spent on centralised IT.
Granger says the proportion of the NHS budget spent on centralised IT is still less than the proportion of cash spent by many commercial organisations.
But he also admits to having uncovered wasteful purchasing procedures when he took over his post. He quoted the example of cash being spent on PACS, a system designed to provide computerised X- ray images. Unlike film X-rays, these can be viewed in 3D and sent between medical staff at the touch of a button. But this type of technology does not come cheap and the entire project, designed to run over 10 years, will cost the NHS around Pounds 800m.
Granger says when he took over the project, equipment for the scheme was being provided by a cosy group of suppliers who all knew each others prices. He added: We have managed to break that level of margin.
The UK government is now bent on introducing IT in areas where the potential for mistakes costing billions of pounds is even greater.
One recent example is its controversial plan to introduce biometric passports and national identity cards. The London School of Economics (LSE) predicts that the cost of a national ID scheme could be as high as Pounds 19.2bn, a figure the government refutes. The LSE report, The Identity Project: An Assessment Of The UK Identity Cards Bill And Its Implications, estimates the potential cost at more than triple the governments Pounds 5.8bn estimate, a figure supported by a report from international consultancy firm KPMG. The figure includes the physical manufacture and distribution of the cards as well as the IT.
Not surprisingly, the national ID card scheme received a severe mauling recently in the House of Lords, which voted 237 votes to 156 in favour of an amendment that would force a detailed breakdown of costs to be made public. MPs would then vote on this again once the cost breakdowns were known.
But this amendment is being opposed by government, which argues that a breakdown of costs must be kept secret in order to get the best deal from contractors. Apart from the implications for privacy, what is really worrying their Lordships is the potential for massive cost overruns on this scheme. Given the governments track record on IT to date they have good grounds for being alarmed.
Source here
Saturday, January 28, 2006
CommunityServer 2.0 beta3 released
CommunityServer 2.0 beta3 released: "Telligent releases 2.0 beta 3 for an open source .NET community server. The software package includes forums, blogs, photos galleries, rss reader, rss aggregator and a full management system for. The system is fully skinnable and used wide in many personal and business websites. (source is only provided with RTM)"
UN body backs $100 laptop for world's kids
UN body backs $100 laptop for world's kids: "The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will sign a partnership agreement with the head of the project, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Nicholas Negroponte, in the Alpine ski resort of Davos on Saturday, officials said.
"
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Update: Lights go out at satellite broadband firm
Update: Lights go out at satellite broadband firm: "Aramiska 'disgusts' customers with just a few hours' notice...
===
By Will Sturgeon
Published: Friday 27 January 2006
Satellite broadband provider Aramiska today informed customers it is shutting down, giving many just a few hours to find an alternative service provider before the service ceased at 15:00(GMT).
In the case of customers in remote and rural areas Aramiska's satellite service has at times been the only option for those too far from the nearest broadband-enabled telephone exchange or cable networks.
(...)
===
By Will Sturgeon
Published: Friday 27 January 2006
Satellite broadband provider Aramiska today informed customers it is shutting down, giving many just a few hours to find an alternative service provider before the service ceased at 15:00(GMT).
In the case of customers in remote and rural areas Aramiska's satellite service has at times been the only option for those too far from the nearest broadband-enabled telephone exchange or cable networks.
(...)
3G finally taking off in Europe
3G finally taking off in Europe: "William Eazel, vnunet.com, Wednesday 25 January 2006 at 00:00:00
Vodafone shines as operators breathe collective sigh of relief
Vodafone Group yesterday reported an encouraging uptake in the number of 3G subscribers across its global markets. The operator reported a significant gain of 287,000 UMTS customers in the UK during..."
Vodafone shines as operators breathe collective sigh of relief
Vodafone Group yesterday reported an encouraging uptake in the number of 3G subscribers across its global markets. The operator reported a significant gain of 287,000 UMTS customers in the UK during..."
London loses top Wi-Fi status
London loses top Wi-Fi status: "Iain Thomson, vnunet.com, Friday 27 January 2006 at 00:00:00
Seoul takes the crown as worldwide wireless networks hit 100,000 mark
London has lost its place as the city with the most Wi-Fi hotspots, according to a recent survey. Wi-Fi mapping company JiWire found in January 2005 that London, New York..."
Seoul takes the crown as worldwide wireless networks hit 100,000 mark
London has lost its place as the city with the most Wi-Fi hotspots, according to a recent survey. Wi-Fi mapping company JiWire found in January 2005 that London, New York..."
Science Museum recognises gaming
Science Museum recognises gaming: "After Hours: Nintendo is paying £1m to sponsor a display of gaming history and an interactive educational exhibition at the Science Museum"
Friday, January 27, 2006
More Welsh SMEs see benefit of e-commerce, broadband
More Welsh SMEs see benefit of e-commerce, broadband: "The proportion of Welsh SMEs with broadband access has more than doubled, according to the latest 'State of the Nation' report, which focuses on the adoption and the use of e-commerce by Welsh businesses."
===
The proportion of Welsh SMEs with broadband access has more than doubled, according to the executive summary of the latest 'State of the Nation' report produced by the eCommerce Innovation Centre.
The report focuses on the adoption and the use of e-commerce by Welsh businesses. Of the 2,537 SMEs surveyed, nearly three quarters use a computer and more than 65 per cent have an internet connection.
Classifying businesses as 'narrowband' or 'broadband' users reveals that 58 per cent of connected Welsh SMEs have a broadband internet connection - more than double the mere 25 per cent reported to have a broadband connection in the 2003/2004 report. ADSL broadband appears to be the preferred internet connection method among SMEs of all sizes.
When it comes to internet access and website implementation, medium-sized businesses are more advanced than micro- and small businesses. Likewise, SMEs based in non-Objective 1 areas perform better than SMEs based in the Objective 1 areas.
64 per cent of SMEs in the Objective 1 area have an Internet connection compared to 69.7 per cent in non-Objective 1 areas; 55 per cent of SMEs in the Objective 1 area have a company website, compared to 60 per cent in non-Objective 1 areas;
Monmouthshire and Newport feature the greatest number of connected SMEs, closely followed by Swansea and Bridgend and then Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.
In terms of industry sectors, professional services indicate the highest level of internet connection (92.3 per cent), mostly broadband users. At the other end of the spectrum is the agricultural sector (22.2 per cent), with nearly two thirds of those using dial up connections.
Paradoxically, the hotels and restaurants industry, which uses the internet to accept online payments and attract customers, depends largely on dial-up internet access.
Over 40 per cent of connected businesses plan to expand their use of e-commerce. Main benefits of e-commerce perceived by SMEs include increased customer base (31 per cent), more efficient internal processes (21.2 per cent) and increased opportunities to reach overseas markets (29.6 per cent).
Other findings show that nearly half of the SMEs surveyed stated that there were no barriers to e-commerce for their business. However, less than 10 per cent of connected businesses allow customers to make payments online while just over a third make payments online themselves, suggesting that SMEs haven’t yet exploited e-commerce to its full potential.
The full report is expected to be released online via the Opportunity Wales website, though no date for publication has been provided as yet.
===
The proportion of Welsh SMEs with broadband access has more than doubled, according to the executive summary of the latest 'State of the Nation' report produced by the eCommerce Innovation Centre.
The report focuses on the adoption and the use of e-commerce by Welsh businesses. Of the 2,537 SMEs surveyed, nearly three quarters use a computer and more than 65 per cent have an internet connection.
Classifying businesses as 'narrowband' or 'broadband' users reveals that 58 per cent of connected Welsh SMEs have a broadband internet connection - more than double the mere 25 per cent reported to have a broadband connection in the 2003/2004 report. ADSL broadband appears to be the preferred internet connection method among SMEs of all sizes.
When it comes to internet access and website implementation, medium-sized businesses are more advanced than micro- and small businesses. Likewise, SMEs based in non-Objective 1 areas perform better than SMEs based in the Objective 1 areas.
64 per cent of SMEs in the Objective 1 area have an Internet connection compared to 69.7 per cent in non-Objective 1 areas; 55 per cent of SMEs in the Objective 1 area have a company website, compared to 60 per cent in non-Objective 1 areas;
Monmouthshire and Newport feature the greatest number of connected SMEs, closely followed by Swansea and Bridgend and then Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.
In terms of industry sectors, professional services indicate the highest level of internet connection (92.3 per cent), mostly broadband users. At the other end of the spectrum is the agricultural sector (22.2 per cent), with nearly two thirds of those using dial up connections.
Paradoxically, the hotels and restaurants industry, which uses the internet to accept online payments and attract customers, depends largely on dial-up internet access.
Over 40 per cent of connected businesses plan to expand their use of e-commerce. Main benefits of e-commerce perceived by SMEs include increased customer base (31 per cent), more efficient internal processes (21.2 per cent) and increased opportunities to reach overseas markets (29.6 per cent).
Other findings show that nearly half of the SMEs surveyed stated that there were no barriers to e-commerce for their business. However, less than 10 per cent of connected businesses allow customers to make payments online while just over a third make payments online themselves, suggesting that SMEs haven’t yet exploited e-commerce to its full potential.
The full report is expected to be released online via the Opportunity Wales website, though no date for publication has been provided as yet.
Half of Wales 'has no web access'
bbc.co.uk
Last Updated: Thursday, 26 January 2006, 18:14 GMT
Man working on a computer
Computer skills are needed for 90% of new jobs
More than half of the Welsh population has no access to the internet, leading to a £9m assembly government project for better computer literacy.
Communities@One has been set up to encourage people to learn computer skills to help bridge what has become known as the digital divide.
Computer use is lowest in some of the poorest parts of Wales, with areas like Cardiff and Swansea having high usage.
Experts predict social exclusion unless people become more computer literate.
According to a report carried out by the Welsh Consumer Council in 2005, 56% of the Welsh population has no access to the internet at home or at work.
Unless people have a degree of engagement with technology, they are going to get left behind
Alun Burge
And it is predicted that 90% of all new jobs require some knowledge of technology.
It has led to the assembly government funding a project to encourage people living in Communities First areas - some of the most deprived in Wales - to use computers.
Alun Burge, who is heading the project, said encouraging people to take up some computer skills was vital for the Welsh economy.
"Society is becoming increasingly reliant on technology and unless people have a degree of engagement with technology, they are going to get left behind," he said.
"At the moment, it's still socially acceptable to say 'I'm rubbish with computers', but you never hear someone boasting that they are illiterate or innumerate."
Debbie Holmes
Debbie Holmes said computer skills were vital for social inclusion
The three-year project aims to inform community groups about IT services available in their local areas. It will have local 'brokers' who pass on information about what services are available to community groups.
It is thought to be one of the first schemes of its kind in the UK and is expected to be a model to which others could follow.
But why are such a high percentage of people in Wales computer-illiterate?
Relevance
"I think there are a lot of people who have never used computers because there are so many perceived barriers," said Debbie Holmes, who will work in north-east Wales as one of 11 brokers being employed as part of the Communities@One project.
"Many people don't see the need for using them because they haven't had to use them in their jobs so far, for example.
"And they can't see what relevance they would have on their lives by using them.
"There are also a number of other reasons - many people who have never used a computer are actually quite scared of using a computer in case they break them and they are also worried about the cost of computers."
"My husband became interested in computers when we were buying a car and because he was able to get a cheaper car on-line, it demonstrated the usefulness of it to him," added Ms Holmes.
The scheme was launched in New Tredegar by Social Justice and Regeneration Minister Edwina Hart.
Source here
Last Updated: Thursday, 26 January 2006, 18:14 GMT
Man working on a computer
Computer skills are needed for 90% of new jobs
More than half of the Welsh population has no access to the internet, leading to a £9m assembly government project for better computer literacy.
Communities@One has been set up to encourage people to learn computer skills to help bridge what has become known as the digital divide.
Computer use is lowest in some of the poorest parts of Wales, with areas like Cardiff and Swansea having high usage.
Experts predict social exclusion unless people become more computer literate.
According to a report carried out by the Welsh Consumer Council in 2005, 56% of the Welsh population has no access to the internet at home or at work.
Unless people have a degree of engagement with technology, they are going to get left behind
Alun Burge
And it is predicted that 90% of all new jobs require some knowledge of technology.
It has led to the assembly government funding a project to encourage people living in Communities First areas - some of the most deprived in Wales - to use computers.
Alun Burge, who is heading the project, said encouraging people to take up some computer skills was vital for the Welsh economy.
"Society is becoming increasingly reliant on technology and unless people have a degree of engagement with technology, they are going to get left behind," he said.
"At the moment, it's still socially acceptable to say 'I'm rubbish with computers', but you never hear someone boasting that they are illiterate or innumerate."
Debbie Holmes
Debbie Holmes said computer skills were vital for social inclusion
The three-year project aims to inform community groups about IT services available in their local areas. It will have local 'brokers' who pass on information about what services are available to community groups.
It is thought to be one of the first schemes of its kind in the UK and is expected to be a model to which others could follow.
But why are such a high percentage of people in Wales computer-illiterate?
Relevance
"I think there are a lot of people who have never used computers because there are so many perceived barriers," said Debbie Holmes, who will work in north-east Wales as one of 11 brokers being employed as part of the Communities@One project.
"Many people don't see the need for using them because they haven't had to use them in their jobs so far, for example.
"And they can't see what relevance they would have on their lives by using them.
"There are also a number of other reasons - many people who have never used a computer are actually quite scared of using a computer in case they break them and they are also worried about the cost of computers."
"My husband became interested in computers when we were buying a car and because he was able to get a cheaper car on-line, it demonstrated the usefulness of it to him," added Ms Holmes.
The scheme was launched in New Tredegar by Social Justice and Regeneration Minister Edwina Hart.
Source here
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Half of EU set to be on 'triple play' of TV, broadband and phone by 2010
Half of EU set to be on 'triple play' of TV, broadband and phone by 2010: "More than half of European homes will be hooked up to digital television offering 'triple play' services by 2010, a new study says."
===
More than half of European homes will be hooked up to digital television offering "triple play" services of TV, broadband internet and telephony by the end of the decade, a new study forecast yesterday.
The study, by consultants Booz Allen Hamilton, found that the creation of the digital home will trigger €100bn (£60bn) of investment and generate 100,000 jobs, mainly among infrastructure providers such as cable and telecom operators. A further €35bn will be invested by content providers.
The consultants warned that heavy-handed regulation, blocking competition among the providers, could cut the cumulative investments by 40% to €59bn and wipe out 90% of the job creation.
The analysis came days after France Télécom, the incumbent operator in Europe's third-largest economy, confirmed it had lost 600,000 fixed-line subscribers last year - mainly to new "triple play" providers such as Neuf Cegetel and Alice. Issuing a profits and sales warning, Michel Combes, the group's finance director, said internet-based telephony (VoIP) would account for 40% of fixed-line traffic by the end of this year, compared with 15% in 2005 and 1-2% in 2004.
Thomas Künster, Booz Allen Hamilton partner, said digital TV would be available in 60% of homes in the 25 EU states by 2010 and would overtake broadband internet penetration, which would stabilise at 53%. "The long-term winners will be the players who are first to offer consumers the so-called 'triple play', access to all three services from a single source, on favourable terms and conditions."
About 20% of EU homes now have digital TV, including 11% in Germany and 57% in Britain, while 24% have broadband internet, including 23% in Britain and 44% in the Netherlands.
According to Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for the information society and media, there are more than 50m broadband connections in Europe - up 60% in the last year. The information and communications sector accounts for 5.3% of GDP, 3.4% of employment and 25% of productivity growth.
Mr Künster said telecom incumbents such as France Télécom, which is stepping up its high-speed broadband and TV offerings, could dominate the digital home market as they were already much more dominant than cable operators. But given the right regulatory framework to promote competition among infrastructure providers, cable TV operators could emerge as the only credible contenders, generating a third of new jobs.
"The pressure to consolidate in the European cable TV industry is further increasing. Moreover, we can also expect to see mergers which cut across the traditional boundaries of the industry, as the example of Virgin Mobile and NTL/Telewest shows," he said.
Ms Reding, meanwhile, said in Munich that regulators must encourage new entrants to high-speed networks and avoid unilateral national solutions in a market that was becoming more and more European. "It is absolutely crucial we all understand this is a European process and that the [European] commission cannot tolerate fragmented national approaches which may favour only the former national incumbents and could thereby block competition and the development of a true European market for electronic communications," she said.
Ms Reding singled out Germany for concern, urging the regulator to ensure that the relevant access obligations under EU rules are fully complied with. "Otherwise, the German consumer will have to pay the price in a couple of years, lose interest and then turn his back on the so promising world of the digital economy."
She coupled this with a call for a pan-European system of intellectual property rights to enable EU content providers to compete with those on other continents. A revised "television without frontiers" directive should allow for a British video-on-demand provider to deliver services to all 25 EU states on the basis of British law.
===
More than half of European homes will be hooked up to digital television offering "triple play" services of TV, broadband internet and telephony by the end of the decade, a new study forecast yesterday.
The study, by consultants Booz Allen Hamilton, found that the creation of the digital home will trigger €100bn (£60bn) of investment and generate 100,000 jobs, mainly among infrastructure providers such as cable and telecom operators. A further €35bn will be invested by content providers.
The consultants warned that heavy-handed regulation, blocking competition among the providers, could cut the cumulative investments by 40% to €59bn and wipe out 90% of the job creation.
The analysis came days after France Télécom, the incumbent operator in Europe's third-largest economy, confirmed it had lost 600,000 fixed-line subscribers last year - mainly to new "triple play" providers such as Neuf Cegetel and Alice. Issuing a profits and sales warning, Michel Combes, the group's finance director, said internet-based telephony (VoIP) would account for 40% of fixed-line traffic by the end of this year, compared with 15% in 2005 and 1-2% in 2004.
Thomas Künster, Booz Allen Hamilton partner, said digital TV would be available in 60% of homes in the 25 EU states by 2010 and would overtake broadband internet penetration, which would stabilise at 53%. "The long-term winners will be the players who are first to offer consumers the so-called 'triple play', access to all three services from a single source, on favourable terms and conditions."
About 20% of EU homes now have digital TV, including 11% in Germany and 57% in Britain, while 24% have broadband internet, including 23% in Britain and 44% in the Netherlands.
According to Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for the information society and media, there are more than 50m broadband connections in Europe - up 60% in the last year. The information and communications sector accounts for 5.3% of GDP, 3.4% of employment and 25% of productivity growth.
Mr Künster said telecom incumbents such as France Télécom, which is stepping up its high-speed broadband and TV offerings, could dominate the digital home market as they were already much more dominant than cable operators. But given the right regulatory framework to promote competition among infrastructure providers, cable TV operators could emerge as the only credible contenders, generating a third of new jobs.
"The pressure to consolidate in the European cable TV industry is further increasing. Moreover, we can also expect to see mergers which cut across the traditional boundaries of the industry, as the example of Virgin Mobile and NTL/Telewest shows," he said.
Ms Reding, meanwhile, said in Munich that regulators must encourage new entrants to high-speed networks and avoid unilateral national solutions in a market that was becoming more and more European. "It is absolutely crucial we all understand this is a European process and that the [European] commission cannot tolerate fragmented national approaches which may favour only the former national incumbents and could thereby block competition and the development of a true European market for electronic communications," she said.
Ms Reding singled out Germany for concern, urging the regulator to ensure that the relevant access obligations under EU rules are fully complied with. "Otherwise, the German consumer will have to pay the price in a couple of years, lose interest and then turn his back on the so promising world of the digital economy."
She coupled this with a call for a pan-European system of intellectual property rights to enable EU content providers to compete with those on other continents. A revised "television without frontiers" directive should allow for a British video-on-demand provider to deliver services to all 25 EU states on the basis of British law.
Nokia, Motorola, Intel form alliance for mobile TV
Nokia, Motorola, Intel form alliance for mobile TV: "Other firms in the alliance include Intel Corp., Motorola, Texas Instruments and Modeo, owned by Crown Castle International Corp., it said in a statement."
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HELSINKI (Reuters) - Mobile phone giant Nokia has teamed up with other technology firms to promote the DVB-H technology standard for mobile TV, Nokia said on Monday.
Other firms in the alliance include Intel Corp., Motorola, Texas Instruments and Modeo, owned by Crown Castle International Corp., it said in a statement.
The tie-up, called the Mobile DTV Alliance, aims to encourage open standards for TV broadcasts to mobiles, focusing on the North American market.
DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) technology bypasses mobile networks and broadcasts directly to handsets from TV masts, allowing millions of phone users to access the service at the same time.
It also allows them to use interactive services and order "on-demand" programs via mobile networks, which operators hope will be a new source of income.
Mobile operators are keen to exploit the marriage of mobile phones and TV as revenues from voice calls fall because of competition and regulatory cuts to call charges.
The Mobile DTV Alliance said more than 10 DVB-H network trials are under way or have been completed, including in Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States.
It said most major U.S. markets are expected to have DVB-H infrastructure ready for use by 2007.
DVB-H competes with digital audio broadcast (DAB) technology, which is also under test by operators, as well as wireless firm Qualcomm's MediaFlo technology.
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HELSINKI (Reuters) - Mobile phone giant Nokia has teamed up with other technology firms to promote the DVB-H technology standard for mobile TV, Nokia said on Monday.
Other firms in the alliance include Intel Corp., Motorola, Texas Instruments and Modeo, owned by Crown Castle International Corp., it said in a statement.
The tie-up, called the Mobile DTV Alliance, aims to encourage open standards for TV broadcasts to mobiles, focusing on the North American market.
DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) technology bypasses mobile networks and broadcasts directly to handsets from TV masts, allowing millions of phone users to access the service at the same time.
It also allows them to use interactive services and order "on-demand" programs via mobile networks, which operators hope will be a new source of income.
Mobile operators are keen to exploit the marriage of mobile phones and TV as revenues from voice calls fall because of competition and regulatory cuts to call charges.
The Mobile DTV Alliance said more than 10 DVB-H network trials are under way or have been completed, including in Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States.
It said most major U.S. markets are expected to have DVB-H infrastructure ready for use by 2007.
DVB-H competes with digital audio broadcast (DAB) technology, which is also under test by operators, as well as wireless firm Qualcomm's MediaFlo technology.
Firefox rated as a top 10 global brand
Firefox rated as a top 10 global brand: "Marketing professionals have rated Firefox as more influential as a brand than eBay or Sony"
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The open source browser Firefox has been rated alongside Google, Apple and Starbucks as one of the most powerful brands in the world in 2005, according to a study published on Monday.
Brandchannel.com, a Web site for marketing professionals run by global branding consultancy Interbrand, asked over 2500 readers during November and December which brands had the most impact on them that year. Firefox was voted as the eighth most influential brand worldwide in 2005 — the first time that a piece of open source software has featured in the top 10 list in the five years that the survey has been carried out.
Robin Rusch, the editor-in-chief of Brandchannel.com, admitted that the readers of his Web site are not average consumers, but claimed they are good at identifying influential brands before they go mainstream.
"While it's true that our readers appear at first glance to be easily lured by shiny design, innovative technology, coffee and booze, they should not be dismissed as a bunch of hyper-caffeinated gearheads. Year after year Brandchannel voters identify brands that the mainstream world eventually catches up with; impact is felt first by these early adopters," Rusch said in a statement.
Asa Dotzler, the community coordinator at the Mozilla Foundation, said the survey showed that its marketing campaigns around Firefox are working.
"One area that I think we've done a pretty good job of during the last two years has been the development of, and marketing of, the Firefox brand. Today we get another sign that our efforts in this area are bearing fruit," said Dotzler in his blog. "Firefox has moved into the top ten most influential brands in the world. Sitting at number eight, Firefox bests eBay and Sony. Not bad :-) "
Although the Mozilla Foundation's marketing budget cannot compare to those of billion dollar corporations, it has capitalised on its large and enthusiastic user-base to carry out large scale community marketing campaigns, such as the publication of an advert for Firefox in the New York Times which was funded by community donations.
In an interview with ZDNet UK last year, Dotzler said that community marketing is more effective than corporate marketing because it's more believable.
"We have real people who wouldn't say something if our product wasn't good. It takes a lot of repetition with a banner ad online, or a jingle on the TV — they need to keep hammering it to make a sale. When it's your best friend or neighbour it doesn't take any hammering," he said.
The full results of the Brandchannel survey can be seen here.
===
The open source browser Firefox has been rated alongside Google, Apple and Starbucks as one of the most powerful brands in the world in 2005, according to a study published on Monday.
Brandchannel.com, a Web site for marketing professionals run by global branding consultancy Interbrand, asked over 2500 readers during November and December which brands had the most impact on them that year. Firefox was voted as the eighth most influential brand worldwide in 2005 — the first time that a piece of open source software has featured in the top 10 list in the five years that the survey has been carried out.
Robin Rusch, the editor-in-chief of Brandchannel.com, admitted that the readers of his Web site are not average consumers, but claimed they are good at identifying influential brands before they go mainstream.
"While it's true that our readers appear at first glance to be easily lured by shiny design, innovative technology, coffee and booze, they should not be dismissed as a bunch of hyper-caffeinated gearheads. Year after year Brandchannel voters identify brands that the mainstream world eventually catches up with; impact is felt first by these early adopters," Rusch said in a statement.
Asa Dotzler, the community coordinator at the Mozilla Foundation, said the survey showed that its marketing campaigns around Firefox are working.
"One area that I think we've done a pretty good job of during the last two years has been the development of, and marketing of, the Firefox brand. Today we get another sign that our efforts in this area are bearing fruit," said Dotzler in his blog. "Firefox has moved into the top ten most influential brands in the world. Sitting at number eight, Firefox bests eBay and Sony. Not bad :-) "
Although the Mozilla Foundation's marketing budget cannot compare to those of billion dollar corporations, it has capitalised on its large and enthusiastic user-base to carry out large scale community marketing campaigns, such as the publication of an advert for Firefox in the New York Times which was funded by community donations.
In an interview with ZDNet UK last year, Dotzler said that community marketing is more effective than corporate marketing because it's more believable.
"We have real people who wouldn't say something if our product wasn't good. It takes a lot of repetition with a banner ad online, or a jingle on the TV — they need to keep hammering it to make a sale. When it's your best friend or neighbour it doesn't take any hammering," he said.
The full results of the Brandchannel survey can be seen here.
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