PART 5 NOW WHAT?

Again letters to the editor

I would like to register my complaint on how the Justice Department is handling the Microsoft case. Totally waste of taxpayer's money. They don't have a clue. Government should stay out of free enterprise. I do not want businesses to be run like the government. We don't have Y2K problems in business, only in government where taxpayers' money was misused when computer memory costs drastically dropped. Government chose to postpone Y2K resolutions and extort taxpayers by waiting until the last minute to address issues and fabricating an emergency. We don't hear Wal-Mart threatening their customers with Y2K failures. It doesn't happen in free enterprise where people have competitive alternatives.

I can remember the IBM case. Back in the sixties, IBM was requiring customers to buy or license hardware, proprietary operating systems, software applications, maintenance, support, and supplies (even the punch cards). The Justice Department was unsuccessful in breaking up IBM in a case where a company operated in a much more threatening, monopolistic, and proprietary manner than Microsoft. IBM's percentage of big business was and still is incredible. IBM just wasn't flexible and creative enough to keep an exclusive hold on desktop systems (re: OS/2, PC, etc.). The Microsoft case is and will

continue to be a total waste of taxpayer's money.

Politicians supporting the Justice Department in this case should be identified and replaced.

I consider a monopoly to be an exclusive ownership through a legal privilege such as utilities not a business entity such as Microsoft. Microsoft has only been a public company for 13 years. Companies are appearing daily with comparable opportunities both as startups and mergers. You can't restrict

them through government action -- too slow and costly. Just not practical from the government who brought us the Y2K problem, fifty years in the making. It's like attempting to control roaches by burning the house down or killing the patient to cure his disease. If companies fail to meet customer needs they will be replaced by better alternatives. Market resolution is the only solution. Government solution will be a travesty.

On Friday, December 31, 1999, The Harrison Daily Times had in large headlines:

Y2K CAUSES GLOBAL HYSTERIA

(AP)—Up against the deadline for fixing an unprecedented technological blunder called Y2K bug, the world exhibited some jitters Thursday over the prospect of failures in the computers on which we so depend. There was testing galore and a few confessions of Y2K – unreadiness.

Experts say that given this planet’s hundreds of millions of computers and tens of billions of embedded microcircuits – and the inexactitude of computer science – some failures on Jan. 1 and in ensuing weeks and months.

Governments and companies have been too vague on their Y2K preparedness, however, for anyone to predict the scope and severity of this once-in-a –lifetime shock to the systems……..

What timing! I found the headline to be much more scary and threatening than it should have been.

 Your comment Re: Not panicking over Y2K bug.

 Y2K “Bug”

 Webster defines a bug as an unexpected defect, fault, flaw, or

 imperfection. The Y2K computer date issues were known since their

 inception nearly 50 years ago. It was only used as an efficient, cost

 saving technique for the purposes of reducing the investment in computer

 memory and minimizing data entry inconsistencies. A 25% reduction in

 memory requirements offered a substantial savings.

 Twenty five years ago, three megabyte of memory cost nearly ten thousand

 dollars. The same price as a luxury automobile in 1974. Today the

 automobile would cost at least $30 thousand and the memory would cost

 less than the postage stamp used to place the order.

 Viable businesses have made prudent Y2K adjustments well in advance due

 to the cost savings. Most of the time spent by business over the past

 four years has been associated with tests to mitigate frivolous

 litigation as well as for obvious competitive reasons. Loan

 amortizations, as well as other software, have been run for years that

 successfully extended into the next millennium. The laggards have been

 the monopolies and government agencies. They have gotten the media to

 buy into their definition of the Y2K problem as a “Bug”. A “Bug” or

 unexpected problems implies that the public should subsidize the

 solution to their problem.

 As far as foreign countries, I have found most are leapfrogging the US

 in technologies. They aren’t inhibited by legacy software and

 legislation. I’ve seen ranchers in Uruguay going from a crank phone to

 wireless in the past two years. Cable companies in Guangzhou, China

 handling 500,000 subscribers on Y2K compliant desktop computers. Hong

 Kong, well it’s in a class by itself. No US city compares as far as

 technology. Most of our problems are from 1960 and 1970 software that

 have long outlived their value and should have been replaced years ago.

 While the business world is moving at Internet speed, the media

 continues to think at the speed of an hourglass. Apparently on the same

 narrow bandwidth as our government and monopolies.

Herb Lair

Letter to the editor response – you always expect disagreement

After all the hype surrounding the Y2K bug, I was pleased to read

Herb Lair's comments (Voices, Jan. 11). I think Lair provided a

common-sense answer to the hysteria that some people generated with

their predictions about the year 2000.

    As Lair stated, a lot of companies and organizations, not just in

the United States but around the world, had started preparing for the

year 2000 long ago; therefore, when the New Year rolled around, we

didn't see the system failures and blackouts that the doomsayers

predicted.

    Also, in their predictions of anarchy, I think those doomsayers were

simply scaring people. There is nothing wrong with warning people about

a coming disaster. However, predicting the worst without actually

finding evidence to support one's argument does nothing except causing

people needless harm, especially when they already have a lot of other

things to deal with.

    For many of us, despite all the dire predictions, Y2K was a

non-event. I thank Lair and others like him for giving some common sense

to an issue that has been misunderstood--and at times exploited.

    KEN SCHOONOVER

    Springdale

Serious needs for advanced subscriber management marketing, operations and financial database information have come about in the last 15 years. During the past five years, the unparalleled hyper-evolution of the PC industry and multimedia networks, including video streaming, via the Internet has magnified the value of a cable customer with bandwidth.  Pay-per-view, video on demand, near video on demand pay TV packaging, digital, along with stricter customer service requirements, as well as keener competition from telephony, VCR, and satellite (DBS) providers. But subscriber management and customer database management continues to take a low priority in the food chain. In many systems, subscriber management is still viewed as a costly necessity and not as a cost savings or a way to generate revenue. 

The Net

A cable multiple system operator cannot allow its legacy subscriber management system solution to restrict business growth. It must invest heavily in database management and marketing and be willing to make Internet technology their new best friend. They should remove immediately any thoughts that they are in a monopolistic industry. Competition from the Internet for the subscriber’s disposable income has no geographic limitation. Video streaming content on the net will improve rapidly over the next two to three years. Primitive forms of movies are being tested through sites such as ifilm.net. Broadcast.com, purchased by Yahoo for $5.7 Billion, broadcasts music and video events on the Internet. The swirl of activity illustrates “how quickly the Internet is changing from a text-and-graphics medium to a multimedia experience”—Eben Shapiro, staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal. 

Even though marketing databases are not cheap, the value of a household has multiplied as the number of in-home offices and homes with multiple phone lines have exploded. Consider the recent prices paid for systems by AT&T, Paul Allen, and Comcast. Add in the number of subscribers with cellular phones, pagers and Internet access, and it’s easy to see the value attached to each home in recent system sales. Because households are becoming the equivalent of small enterprises, long-term success will require effective data warehousing and data mining.

HARRISON DAILY TIMES – March 2000

Opinion

e-Commerce Risky Business

By D. JEFF CHRISTENSON/PUBLISHER

I have never bought a single item from an on line retailer. I may be living in never-never land, but my plan is to not succumb to the temptation until I have no other choice. I hope that day never comes.

I have, however, been to several e-commerce retail sites out of curiosity. I've been to e-bay a time or two and attempted to check out airline prices from priceline.com one time. Visits to both sites, especially priceline, were not good for me, and I hope that will never be the last choice in the shopping repertoire.

Quite frankly, despite the lack of results, I got bored quickly and realized this was not something I would be interested in doing with any regularity. I felt uneasy about dealing with people I couldn't look in the face and ask real questions to. I felt even more uneasy about having to give out information, like credit card numbers, to a computer.

Those are the logical reasons for my lack of desire to shop online.

Here are the pragmatic ones.

¥ Loss of state and local taxes collected from purchases made on line.

¥ And the obvious lack of support for our local retailers.

Until the federal and state governments find a suitable and fair method of dealing with the loss of taxable revenue from shopping online, I personally feel we are driving nails in the coffins of local retailers, especially if we spend money on items purchased tax-free via the internet that can be bought right here in Harrison.

Some will argue that is exactly what should be happening - a complete and total dismantling of the tax codes, as we know them. The more we buy online tax free, the more likely we are to eventually rid ourselves of any and all taxes. I doubt that would ever happen.

I support the revision of some of our tax codes [capital gains and social security mostly], but hardly think shopping on line will cause either of those to be overhauled for the better.

More likely, what would happen is our public education system would fall further into ruin, local communities would eventually find public libraries, good streets and clean water things of the past.

All in the name of cheaper items bought on the Internet.

We can and should find a suitable method of applying taxes to those items purchased online. There is no justifiable reason why a flannel shirt from Eddie Bauer purchased at www.eddiebauer.com should not be subject to sales tax any more than the same shirt bought at an outlet mall in Branson, Mo., or the Northwest Arkansas Mall in Fayetteville. That shirt is still part of the GNP that determines the economic success or failure of our city, state and country.

I spend a substantial amount of time on the internet every day.

Sometimes I enjoy those moments, other times they are just plain annoying.

My time online is either related to work or sending or replying to e-mails from colleagues, friends and the daughter who is in Spain. Past that, I'm not interested in additional Internet activity.

I think the majority of the people that find Harrison and the Ozarks a great place to live and work will agree with my philosophy on this.

Until Friday.

Subj:

      

       News Release-- re e-commerce article, etc.

 Date:

      

       Sun, 2 Apr 2000 9:15:27 AM Eastern Daylight Time

 From:

      

       HLair

 To:

      

       jpublish@oztech.com

    CSINEW~2.DOC (691200 bytes)

 Hi Jeff,

 FYI

 Probably news release is significant locally only in that there are

 businesses (I might add, very good ones) that are located in Harrison who

 sell to others in other parts of the country and world. If the idea was

 pressed in those communities of buying local, then we wouldn't exist. Can't

 isolate ourselves like we did fifty years ago. Wal-Mart and overnight

 deliveries have long changed those dynamics.

 I started a business with 100% local revenue -- now all is out of state and

 most is out of country -- none local. Staying and being welcome in Harrison

 is now becoming a big issue. For example, the geography and demographics in

 Arkansas is similar to Utah, but Utah has been much more successful in

 welcoming high tech and new ideas.

 CSI, LLC mentioned in news release is Consulting Solutions International, LLC

 headquartered in Harrison with an office in Scottsdale, AZ

 Regards,

 Herb Lair

Consulting

New Release

News Flash                                           

CSI, LLC and Proxima Systems  Ltd. join forces and form strategic alliance

Leading provider of customer management and billing software joins forces with management consulting firm to develop Latin America

Montreal, Quebec, March 27^th 2000 – Proxima Systems Ltd., developer of Customer Management and Billing software solutions for telecommunications operators providing telephony, cable/pay TV, and Internet services, and Mr. Herb Lair, President of CSI, LLC, announce that they have formed a strategic alliance to develop new partnerships and identify new opportunities in Latin America.

Under the terms of the agreement, Mr. Lair will act as a consultant in the field of Customer Management & Billing business development. His 27-year experience in the cable industry will contribute in establishing new contacts with operators, distributors, and technologic partners.

About Mr. Herb Lair

Founded CUO Inc.  In 1973 – developer of the first in-house subscriber management and billing system for cable television.  Mr. Lair then sold his company to CableData, division of USCS Intl Inc. in 1994 and continued his expansion under the name CUO CableWorks. Mr. Lair served as President of CableData Desktop Solutions for the past five years. Throughout his career in the cable industry, he has sold and installed billing systems in over 45 countries with 13 different languages making him the leading consultant in the industry.

About Proxima Systems Ltd.

Founded in 1986, Proxima Systems Ltd. is an industry-leading provider of advanced Customer Management and Billing solutions for the telecommunications industry. With a worldwide reputation for reliability and responsiveness, Proxima software is used in billing several million customers of telecommunications service across the Americas and Europe. Proxima develops and markets Mystral™ - a truly integrated Customer management and Billing software solution specifically designed for rapidly converging telephony, cable and Internet markets. Proxima is headquartered in Montreal, Canada, with sales offices across North America and Europe.

All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

If   ----- by Rudyard Kipling

 

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools;

 

 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Enjoying life, making it without leaving the Ozarks. I’m reminded of a story told me by a business partner in South America.

The American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, only a little while.

The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you.  You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”

”But what then?”

The American laughed and said that’s the best part. “When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

”Millions. Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you play your guitar with your amigos.”