Gettin’ wiki with it

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: December 27, 2004

===================================================

Does the open-source paradigm apply only to software? If there can be collaboration amongst thousands of people on the writing of program code for things as complex as a computer operating system, why can’t this model be used for other products as well?

It sure can. In fact, whenever any kind of manufacturing in the traditional sense is not required, and the ‘product’ is largely information-based and modular, the open-source model can work very well indeed. For proof of the potential one need look no further than wikis—special websites that can be compiled easily and then edited or extended at will by a group of people (that could potentially include just about anyone, since no programming knowledge whatsoever is required).

My Reference Desk

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: December 13, 2004

===================================================

In today’s interactive world, communication is king. No matter what your profession or line of business, impressive communication—both written and spoken—is often instrumental in elevating you above the crowd and helping you stay ahead of the ruthless competition.

Of course, in some fields, communication forms the very core. Take journalism, for instance. Our writers churn out tens of thousands of words worth of articles every week, and apart from being technically sound and providing analytical insights into high-falutin’ technologies, they also have to be letter-perfect in terms of the language. But that last part’s quite a tall order, given the profile of most technical journalists. So we need language reference aids of the widest variety and highest quality, available at our fingertips at all times.

Reflections on Technology Senate 2004

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: November 22, 2004

===================================================

If you were not present at our Technology Senate event in Colombo last month, you sure missed something. Like, free notebooks and desktops, return tickets to London, all-expenses-paid holidays to choice Asian destinations, gold coins, shopping vouchers, bags, watches, T-shirts and all kinds of other fancy whatnots.

But of course that’s not the reason why almost two hundred of India’s finest CIOs and IT heads attended Asia’s largest exclusive hosted event for the CIO community—the delegates had more serious stuff on their minds.

The Paperless Chase

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: November 8, 2004

===================================================

Over a billion trees are felled yearly to produce the world’s annual paper supply, almost all of which comes from plant cellulose obtained from tree wood pulp. Are there no alternatives?

It’s so long ago, I just cannot remember the last time I wrote a personal letter on paper and posted it to a friend. For that matter, I haven’t received a personal letter by post for quite a while either. E-mail has kind of put paid to that mode of communication. Indeed, all our intra-office communication and most of our external dealings too are also effected via some mode of electronic communication these days. As a result, less paper is used, and surely, that’s great news for trees.

Or so you’d be tempted to think. But paradoxically, study after study has found that paper consumption has zoomed since the digital and Internet revolutions. True, interpersonal communication is rarely on paper these days, but in every other way the information explosion, coupled with easy and inexpensive access to PCs and printers, has meant that more and more people are printing out an increasing number of documents for reference, research and permanent filing.

The soul of a new magazine

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: October 18, 2004

===================================================

“Be careful,” my well-meaning but decidedly risk-averse friends and relatives warned me. “They’ll make you slog and then pay you a pittance, if anything!” But throwing caution to the wind, I took up the project to launch India’s first weekly IT newsmagazine back in the spring of 1990. Still relatively fresh out of B-school, I designed and executed a comprehensive market research study, chalked out an ambitious editorial plan, and then brought out the first four flimsy issues of Express Computer. All for the then princely sum of Rs 15,000 (which, incidentally, was paid to me promptly by the Indian Express management, sans fuss).

Spammers Anonymous

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: September 13, 2004

===================================================

Most of you who caught my phishing column last time would have realised that a good number of the Web’s security problems originate from the anonymity that e-mail provides to those tech-savvy enough to cover their tracks completely.

Cyber security conferences and the popular press often sensationalise the more glamorous cybercrimes like cyberstalking, hacking of popular websites, denial-of-service attacks and corporate espionage, and also warn of the impending threat of cyberterrorism. But the problems that cause the most damage to the majority of Internet users (either directly through data and financial loss, or indirectly through productivity loss) are often glossed over, as they are of a relatively mundane variety—viruses, worms, spam, spyware and phishing.

Phishing in a troubled Web

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: August 23, 2004

===================================================

Whenever I’m deleting spam from my official e-mail account—and that’s pretty often, since my e-mail address is widely published and publicised—I’ve always wondered who on earth could possibly be idiot enough to fall for all the bizarre schemes and scams in that spam. Well, it turns out that at least a couple of million folk in the US have been so conned, if a recently-published study by research-firm Gartner is anything to go by.

The return of the ASPs

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: August 9, 2004

===================================================

While the initial public offerings of Google and Tata Consultancy Services have understandably been given top billing by the media, I’ve been considerably more intrigued by a much smaller outfit that successfully went public recently—Salesforce.com. Intrigued not so much because Salesforce’s flamboyant top dog Marc Benioff zips around the office on his Segway scooter, or because Benioff’s pet dog Koa is designated as the company’s chief love officer, but because Salesforce has proved that a software products company can survive and thrive on an alternative business model.

The Importance of Search

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: July 12, 2004

===================================================

Here’s a thought-provoking prediction: More than two centuries will elapse before we have artificially intelligent search functionality that can match the intuitive capabilities of the average human reference librarian of today. That sobering comment is from Craig Silverstein, technology director of Internet search-engine leader Google Inc, in a recent interview. And if you need further corroboration, here it is: “We think the sun has not set on even the first day of the search opportunity.” That’s from Yusuf Mehdi, a Microsoft vice president responsible for the company’s MSN portal.

Our future’s in the balance

Express Computer :: “Between the Bytes” :: Val Souza :: June 14, 2004

===================================================

Over two thousand years ago, the great Greek dramatist Euripides wrote about the importance of ‘balance’: “The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us,” he recommended. “If you can do that and live that way you are really a wise man.”

Twenty-one centuries on, his advice still holds. For, in all probability, the BJP-led government was knocked off the precipice of power in the recent Indian elections mainly because it forgot all about balance—balance between urban and rural, agricultural and industrial, radical and moderate, middle-class and poor.