Jamaica Gleaner News – Scrap metal exports banned – Wednesday | October 31, 2007
If this report is true, this will be good news for the companies that have been suffering at the hands of scrap metal thieves.However it is debatable whether an outright ban while regulations are being formulated is the best way to deal with the problem. I have no idea who are the key players in the export of scrap metals but doesn’t an outright ban lump together people doing legitimate businesses (i.e. purchasing scarp metals from legitimate sources) with those scrap metal businesses purchasing metals from crooks? or are they all crooks? Will we not lose foreign exchange that we need so badly during the period that the ban remains in force? Has the government established a committee/task force with a clear mandate and with a definite time table when this exercise should be completed? How many people depend on income from the scrap metal industry and how many families will suffer from the loss of income?
We should send a strong signal to crooks that we are going to put them out of business, but in the process we should not hurt the innocent.
Jamaica Gleaner News – Scrap metal exports banned – Wednesday | October 31, 2007
Penalized for using ‘Jamaica National Live’!
Jamaica National Building Society recently launched its Internet Banking Web-site called ‘Jamaica National Live’. The moment that I became aware of it, I applied for access to my account. This was a long overdue move by JN as now I do not have to wait in long lines to do simple transactions. For those of us that have access to the Internet, this could not have come at a better time. With so many bill collection agencies charging for the service of paying bills, JN has given us another option and for that they should be applauded.
How then after ‘all this positive vibes’ could Jamaica National impose a penalty of $100 on my account for accessing their e-banking facility. They call it an ‘e-banking lien’ saying that it will become available to me on April 13, 2078. I am currently 51 years old and although I love life a lot, it is unlikely that I will live to collect that money. Do not get me wrong, it is not the amount of money that is the problem, it is the principle. Those of us accessing our account on the Internet are actually saving the company significant amount of money. Just consider the fact that accessing our account on the Internet means less calls to their Call Center thus allowing them to deploy their staff members more efficiently. Also, not visiting a branch to pay bills or do transfers etc. will mean less burden on their overburden branch staff.
I call upon the management of the company to reconsider this decision as it is NOT in the best interest of the company.
You can assess their Web-site using the following link.
Security threat to e-business in Jamaica
No one can question the fact that the government is intent on taking steps to ensure that Jamaicans can "cash in" on the technological advances that have proliferated the first world countries. The infrastructure has been put in place with the liberalization of the telecom sector and more recently the granting of licenses for the construction and operation of two submarine fibre optic cable networks linking Jamaica to North America and the rest of the world. It is expected that this will trigger a reduction in the cost of broadband and other data services of up to 70% of their current prices.
The government itself has been pursuing an e-business strategy as a means of improving customer service to the public but before we jump headlong into it we should raise the level of awareness of the general public to the dangers and risk associated with e-business. There are security issues with the e-business Web-site as well as with the PC that is used to access the site. Jamaicans have been exposed to e-business for years as we have been purchasing goods and services on the Internet. Up until now however, we have not had any major fallouts resulting from hacking. This is partly due to the fact that our participation in e-business was that of customers, not as owners or operators of the e-business sites themselves. Now that we have begun to invest significantly in e-business we must address the issue of security as we have now become more ’suitable’ targets for hackers and consequently must prepare ourselves for our ‘hacking Tsunami’. This can be approached from many angles, but I am going to address just one, cost.
Firstly, the government can make computers and software cheaper by rolling back the GCT on these items especially on security products used to combat spyware, viruses, worms and Trojan horses. It makes no sense if the government and the general public become e-business partners when generally the PC’s being used to conduct these transactions are not secured. I should point out that ’secured ‘ PC’s are another way of combating yet another cost that is ‘waiting in the wings’ to capitalize on the first major fallout resulting from an attack by ‘hackers’ i.e. insurance premiums. As someone that is involved in the business of selling and repairing computers, I have observed that most PC’s are only ’secured’ in the initial 3-6 months after purchase when usually some ‘brand’ name anti-virus program is installed on the PC on a trial basis and permits upgrades for the duration of the trial. No further attempts are made to secure the PC even if there are ‘free’ alternatives as there is an expectation gap that once one of these ‘brand’ name security programs have been installed on a computer, there is no need to update the software and the PC is protected against all current and future threats from viruses, worms etc.
Secondly, the cost of maintaining an up-to-date Windows PC is exorbitant especially with the current call charges of using a modem to dial-up an ISP. There were 51 updates excluding SP2 for Windows XP home edition for the period May – December 2004. Downloading these updates varied from a few minutes to over 2 hours depending on the size of the file being downloaded. Based on the charges to dial the ISP and using a 56K modem, these costs could run into hundreds of dollars, yet another cost/disincentive to keep your computer up-to-date.
The cost of keeping your computer adequately secured via anti-virus programs and spyware removal tools and the cost of keeping your operating system and application software up-to-date may well deter the general public from venturing into e-business. This could backfire on the government and all the other e-business merchants that are waiting to capitalize on their new frontier and spread there influence over the Internet. The system will not be profitable if it is not utilize by the public. Hackers strive in an environment that is not secure and so the government would be well advised to play their part in reducing the cost of security to the users of personal computers. This means that if they cannot roll back the G.C.T. on computers and accessories, at least remove it from the ’security’ products. Cable & Wireless should also consider charging a reduce rate for calls made to ISP’s rather than using the normal intra parish rate as a means of encouraging increased use of the Internet.
Finally, all attempts should be made to reduce the ‘expectation gap’ mentioned above. The government and the ISP’s should launch a public education program focusing on the security of personal computers. Additionally, we should consider setting up a lobby group to approach Microsoft, who recently entered the anti-virus and ’spyware’ removal tools market to see whether we can secure some preferential prices on these products. Secure computing and secure browsing are admirable goals as we take e-business to the next level in 2005. Happy surfing Jamaica.
P.S. -This item was published originally on my Web site www.jitdistributors.com
ConfigSafe by Imagine LAN Inc.– A” must have”
As PC users, we all have something in common. We have all experienced a system crash resulting from installing unstable or incompatible software on our Windows PC. The offending software sometimes relates to games, sometimes to drivers for new hardware or sometimes to application software not suited to our version of Windows. Recovering from these mistakes is usually costly as it involves a visit to the technician. Now there is a solution to the problem. This fix can be used by system builders, PC technicians, IT professionals or simply a home PC owner. Imagine LAN Inc. has created ConfigSafe for your protection.
This is a utility that will allow you to take snapshots of your system that will allow you to recover from these crashes in minutes. You can now install new untested software (trials, Beta versions etc.) and hardware without fear.
This software can be used on all Windows platform. Imagine LAN Inc. is best at describing their products so you should follow this link and visit their website at www.imaginelan.com/configsafe/index.html where you can get more information and buy the product.
Ubuntu as seen by a novice
A chronicle of my experience with Ubuntu 7.04 -Feisty Fawn – released in April 2007. This is a very popular Linux based platform. It is currently being installed on a number of ‘Dell’ computers. This decision followed a customer survey done by Dell where customers indicated that they would like open source software on their PC’s instead of the Microsoft products. In my case, I used a Dell PC that had previously been used for installations of Windows 98 SE to Windows XP for test purposes.
1. THE PC USED
I used an old Dell OptiPlex GX1 PC to run Ubuntu. It has a Pentium III 500 GHz processor,10GB Hard Drive and 128MB memory. This met the ‘minimum’ requirement’ for running Ubuntu. The system however kept ‘timing out’ when I attempted to boot from the Ubuntu CD. After a significant number of attempts, I decided to bump the memory up to 256MB and eureka, it worked.
2. THE TEST RUN/GETTING STARTED
The instructions were simple enough, you either run a scaled down Ubuntu demo from the CD (in which case no changes were to your current system) or you installed Ubuntu on your PC . Installing Ubuntu on the PC gives you the option of replacing you current system or alternatively , installing Ubuntu in a separate partition thus facilitating the two operating systems. As I am a conservative person, I chose to run the demo from the CD first.
3. THE EXPERIENCE
Customizing:The Ubuntu desktop is arranged in a fairly organized way. The equivalent of the ‘Quick Launch’ bar in Windows (called panel in Ubuntu) is located at the top of the desktop. This gives easy access to ‘Applications’ the Windows equivalent of the ‘programs menu, ;places, the equivalent of the Windows directory and ‘System’, the equivalent of the Windows control panel. There is also a panel at the bottom of the screen. These panels can be easily customized by either ‘right clicking’ the panel and adding the icon for the applications from the various groups available or by dragging the icon and dropping it on the respective panel.
Login on to Ubuntu
On a number of occasions the login screen process was corrupted as my user name and password was not recognized. After several rebooting of the system, the problem was solved.
Pictures and Graphics
The software was able to recognize my digital camera and imported my pictures without the use of the manufacturer’s software CD. I thought that it handled this well but a number of the pictures needed to be edited before they were ‘picture perfect’. I had already viewed them on my Windows Vista PC so I was able to make an easy comparison of the two.
Networking
The original installation of Ubuntu did not include the files for ‘file sharing’. This required the installation of Samba or NFS. This just adds a little complication to someone who is not comfortable with setting up networks. This leaves a lot to be desired as you know with Windows there is a wizard that makes setting up a network a breeze.
Internet Browser
It is noteworthy that the Firefox Web Browser is the choice here. This is the most popular Web Browser after Internet Explorer. It is probably more popular in Europe where recent surveys have suggests that it enjoys support in the range of 30%. If you follow the literature, you will notice that there is a wave of anti-Microsoft sentiments in Europe in recent days.
Games
The games menu includes the usual card games (Solitaire, Free cell) but it also includes some exciting games such as Mahjongg and Sudoku among others.
4. THE VERDICT
After a reasonable exposure to Ubuntu I decided to install the program and replace my current operating system. This was done with the full realization that I could lose the functions of some of my hardware. I am please to inform you that after the installation I only lost the use of the sound card. The PC on which I installed Ubuntu was a PC that was used for test purposes. This problem was fixed by cannibalizing a recent computer and removing and installing the sound card in my ‘Ubuntu PC’. This made it possible for me to explore Ubuntu while enjoying music in the background.
Not being able to send faxes is a major shortfall as potential small business clients from developing countries are seeking solutions that will enable them to save costs. If they adopt Ubuntu, they would have to consider investing in a conventional fax machine.
It was pretty easy for the ‘Ubuntu PC’ to recognize other PC’s on the Windows network, but in the absence of a ‘Network Wizard’ that we are accustomed with in Windows, configuring the network required more detailed knowledge when compared to the process for setting up a strictly Windows network.
The system ‘help’ needs to be more elaborate. People from the developed countries often forget that access to Internet is not as pervasive as it is in ‘first world’ countries. If Ubuntu is to be adopted universally, then the help screens have to be comprehensive enough as most users in the developing world does not have access to the other means of obtaining help which are largely Web based.
It is going to take a long time for people in the developing world to gain easy access to the Internet as the main players that control the infrastructure are multinational companies and it would appear that they are all on a ‘get rich quick’ mission as despite using the same Internet technology that they deploy at home, they are charging the developing countries several times more for Internet access than they do at home. The consequence of this is that although the technology is present in the developing world the vast majority of the population cannot access it. These companies are being myopic as there are numerous Internet based products even some developed by some of these same companies, that will not take off as people are not able to afford the access to the Internet in the first place an so cannot take advantage of the products. I am referring to products such as all VOIP based products, bill payment systems offered by a few Jamaica based companies, Western Union money transfer system (the Internet side), e-commerce generally, all WEB 2.0 products etc.
