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War Online
By Jim Balderston
According to a variety of reports, people flocked to
the Internet this week as the war in Iraq finally kicked off. Many major news
sites, including CNN and MSNBC, suffered performance degradations as a result
of high Web traffic. While polling data showed that most people were still
using television as their major source of news about the war, many people
found the Internet to be useful for augmenting network coverage. Sites
offering non-U.S.-centric visions of the war reported significant increases
in traffic. News Web sites updated war developments as quickly as they came
in during the past week, and many sites, like Google News, offered the opportunity
to scan news items from outlets around the world, many within minutes of
their posting. The Web also provided access to censored or generally
unavailable images, including videotapes of deceased U.S. soldiers that U.S.
networks refused to broadcast. Weblogs (blogs) also have been a substantial part of the news
fabric. These online diaries from individual civilians, journalists, and
organizations not only provided visitors access to personal accounts and
scanned news items from around the world, but were also picked up as
“exclusives” by major news outlets.
The past week’s developments in the war in Iraq
provide an interesting and useful contrast to the 1991 conflict, one that
indicates just how far the Internet has made its way into mainstream life across
the globe. With “embedded” journalists reporting from the front lines and Al Jazeera now within a mouse click, the ability of people
around the world to see many different visions of the war becomes a much
greater reality. The contrast to 1991, where the coverage consisted of CNN
and the other networks re-running CNN footage, could not be starker. As the
Internet becomes more indispensable, events like major armed conflicts or
terrorist attacks like 9/11 show the ongoing value of giving the end user more
control over what information they seek. Web surfers who are looking for
specific information can move beyond annoyingly repetitive and increasingly
homogenized network news cycles, dashing in to get what they want and then
getting on with their business.
While the Internet is a long way from – and perhaps
not ever to become – the primary means by which people get all their news,
the impact the medium is having on what news people see on TV should not be
underrated. In the past, if the major networks and news outlets failed to
cover an element of a story, it took time and usually extraordinary
journalistic effort to drive the overlooked item into the mainstream news
feed. Yet today, more and more of what the big media players overlook
initially is making its way into the Weblogs and
alternative media outlets that have found homes on the Web. To be sure, many
of these stories – and how they are reported – do not deserve greater
exposure. But in some cases, meaningful and unreported stories have enough
substance to deserve to be seen by larger masses of viewers, thereby ensuring
not only a wider range and depth of information, but also offering some
assurance that there is an effective watchdog keeping an eye on the major
media’s performance. While some would argue that the Internet will not arrive
until it becomes major medium itself, we would argue that influencing the
entrenched players is no small accomplishment, and one that provides real
value in times like these.
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IBM and Dell Announce New Printer
Products
By Charles King
IBM announced this week the immediate availability
of a new “plug and print” 802.11b Wireless Print Adapter that the company
says allows users of laptops, PCs, and PDAs to print documents remotely
without the need to purchase a new WiFi-enabled printer or multi-function
device (MFD). The device offers a wireless solution for Ethernet-capable
printers, MFDs, and resident print servers, and
supports Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP) using 64- or 128-bit encryption
for secure transmission of print data. The IBM 802.11b Wireless Print Adapter
can receive wireless Ethernet transmissions up to 1,200 feet away from the
transmitting host in an open area. The list cost for the new device is $212.
In an unrelated announcement, Dell Computer introduced four new Dell-branded
printers for users ranging from consumers to corporations. The Dell A940
Personal All-In-One machine is a standalone printer, scanner, and copier that
also includes fax software and will be priced at $139. The Dell P1500
Personal Laser Printer, designed for home and business use, is available for
$289. The Dell S2500 and S2500n Workgroup Laser Printers are designed for
standalone or networked business use and sell for $499 and $839 respectively.
On the face of it, the IBM and Dell announcements
appear to have little in common beyond printing technology, but we believe
they offer interesting glimpses into how each company is strategically
focusing on their respective customers. The fact is that low-end printers for
consumers and businesses have essentially become commodities that offer
vendors a foot in the door to deliver other more lucrative products (i.e.,
ink and paper) and services. This is the business model that printing/imaging
innovator HP keeps riding to notable financial success. While IBM-branded
printing products are manufactured by vendors including Hitachi and Ricoh,
the company also understands the economics of managing and maintaining
enterprise IT solutions. WiFi solutions may qualify as the latest family of
trendy gizmos, but their application in the enterprise offer some unique
benefits. Not only are wireless-enabled workers freed from specific desks and
locales, shifting the balance of staffing and workgroup models, but deploying
wireless IT resources is considerably cheaper than hardwired alternatives.
From a practical standpoint, the IBM 802.11b Wireless Print Adapter makes
life a bit easier and more affordable for the company’s business customers,
and as vendors are well-aware, happy customers also tend to be generous
customers.
So that being the case, Dell’s new
Lexmark-manufactured printers are certain to be a slam dunk success, right?
Well maybe, among certain classes of customers anyway. Protestations aside,
Dell’s melodramatic jump into the inky printer pool a few months ago appeared
to us to be more aimed at blackening HP’s eye than
improving the lives of Dell customers. This is not meant to smear Lexmark,
which makes peachy keen low-end printers. Instead it merely suggests that
Dell tends to be most comfortable dealing with vendors it holds some
advantage over, a not unusual circumstance in modern business life. For Dell
to make a dent and a buck in the printer business, they need to deliver
products that are notably cheaper than the competitions’ (i.e., HP) if not
necessarily better in quality. The printers Dell announced this week fit that
scenario well enough, and we expect the company will find some success among
the consumers and small businesses who are more concerned about initial cost
than quality or long term reliability. However, corporate customers and
corporate printing are considerably tougher nuts that we believe Dell is
unlikely to crack anytime soon.
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“But I Don’t Like Spam!”
By Jim Balderston
Spam was a prominent topic in IT circles this week
as a number of developments concerning unwanted email solicitations made the
news. In one, Microsoft changed its Hotmail policy to limit the number of
emails a user can send from a free MSN Hotmail account to 100 in any 24-hour
period. Those using MSN’s Internet ISP services for a monthly fee will have
no such limits. Meanwhile, Mailblocks, Inc. announced a new antispam service
that promises to block all spam while allowing desired email to make it through
to one’s inbox. The company, founded by a former Microsoft VP and co-founder
of Web TV, not only uses existing spam-blocking blacklists and heuristic
techniques but also deploys what it calls a “challenged response” which asks
the sender to type a provided seven-digit number into a reply, something
automated spam machines cannot do. When a reply containing the seven digit
number is received by the recipient of the email, the sender is added to his
or her accepted senders list while others are permanently locked out. The
annual cost of this service is $9.95 with 12MB of storage, or $24.95 with
50MB storage. In other news, a ruling from the U.S. Eighth District Court of
Appeals upheld a law banning unsolicited fax advertising. Antispam activists
said that the ruling will have a material affect on coming antispam
legislation. Finally, the Chinese government is apparently using “phone spam”
to force illicit advertisers to come in and pay fines for posting illegal
advertisements in cities. These small bumper-sticker sized advertisements
list phone numbers, which the government then bombs with phone calls,
rendering the numbers largely useless if the owner keeps it, and make the
advertising null and void if the owner switches phone numbers.
Spam continues to be a topic of hot debate all
around the Internet, but most of the heated debate about this nuisance is
among what are termed “power users” who constitute about one in five Internet
users. Those who become increasingly dependent on the network find the
invasion of spam – especially on their home or non-work computers –
increasingly annoying. Of course, the criteria for what defines a power user
– especially related to spam – will continue to be generalized out into the
population as it ages and gains experience with the Internet. Considering the
growing size and influence of the Internet-enabled population, we will not be
surprised if antispam legislation makes headway in the near future. Given the
high profile of the issue, the Eighth District Court’s ruling and the ongoing
efforts to allow consumers to sign up for “Do Not Call” registries on both a
state and national level to free themselves from dinnertime telemarketers is
not especially surprising. We would even expect antivirus companies to include
such offerings in their ever-expanding suites of home computer protection,
and ongoing refinements from the enterprise security vendors who must try and
keep all of those porn and penis enlargement emails out of corporate email
inboxes for reasons of probity and liability, as well.
This having been said, we also suspect that spam –
and spammers – are going to be a lot harder to eradicate than by simply
putting a filter here or a gizmo there. Spam is clearly one of the Web’s most
viable businesses, otherwise why would so many people be partaking of it,
with seemingly more joining the fray every day? Yet it will be when the issue
is roundly noted, not as a theft of disk space or of users’ time, but instead
as an impediment to the network itself that we suspect the tide will finally
turn for good against spammers. As billions of emails offering Viagra or
Russian brides actually have an impact on the daily business of doing
business on an increasingly mainstream and relied-upon communication network,
the idea that anonymous, annoying, and in many cases illicit merchants can
ply their trade without regulation will fade, perhaps forcibly, away. Until
that time, we suspect that most antispam technology efforts will continue to
act as temporary fences of short-lived use that spammers will find ways
under, over, and around.
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Tracking the Online Electorate
By Charles King
The Pew Internet and American Life Project released
a new report this week analyzing Internet-related political activities by
individuals and campaigners during the 2002 midterm elections. In the weeks
following the elections, the Institute for Politics, Democracy, and the
Internet spoke with campaign staff from thirty-three hotly contested
elections to gauge their use of and satisfaction with online resources.
Additionally, the Pew Project sponsored a tracking survey in the weeks
leading up to and following the elections with 2,745 U.S. adults, 62% of whom
were Internet users. Of that subgroup, 741 (43%) said they got political news
and information online. The surveys documented two major developments in
online politics; the use of email as a mainstream channel for political communication
(two thirds of those surveyed said they had sent or received such emails);
and the growing popularity of interest group Web sites (nearly three quarters
of respondents said they visited such sites). Overall, survey respondents
believed the candidates missed as many opportunities as they seized. While
they succeeded in utilizing the Internet to conduct valuable research and
communicate with the press, they were less successful in coordinating their
online activities with national parties and failed to provide adequate
financial data or information of interest to ordinary citizens on their Web
sites. In fact, while individuals complained that they were often unable to
find information they were looking for on candidates’ sites, they enjoyed
participating in online polls and swapping jokes about candidates and the
elections. Additionally, respondents found that major Internet portals such
as AOL, MSN, and Yahoo developed extensive toolsets and directories for
campaign and election activity, but did not promote them adequately. The
survey concluded that campaigners, citizens, and portals would be wise to
improve online activities including grass-roots support efforts, Get Out the
Vote operations, and searchable databases.
In a sense, the most interesting thing about the Pew
survey results is how mundane they appear. More than a decade into the
Internet Revolution, email continues to make headlines and the Internet
remains a valuable tool for discovering, collecting, and disseminating
information of particular interest to users. However, the Internet’s genie
also seems to remain comfortably ensconced in its bottle, no matter how hard
self-styled experts, media giants, and geek-wise specialists polish the
sucker. So what gives? The Internet began and remains a means of
communication that is as analogous to the telephone as it is the television.
Sure, it can be used as a means of information or entertainment delivery, but
it primary power (and the source of continuing frustration to commercial
promoters including portals) is in the autonomy of its users. Switching or
ditching Web sites is easier than hanging up the phone and only slightly more
difficult than changing channels or hitting the mute button (exercises that
advertising and marketing professionals continue to be in deep denial about).
So what does this mean to politicians in light of this latest Pew study?
First, while folks online often search out information that largely reaffirms
already held opinions (in other words, they’re just like people offline),
they can usually tell thin data from thick, and have any number of resources
to gather what they want or need. In other words, go light on the
self-promoting B.S. and deliver what your constituents are looking for.
Additionally, while the goal of most every modern politician is to stay “on
message,” the power and passion inherent in the Internet lays in enabling
lively dialogues between individuals and groups. Campaigners who use the
Internet successfully know that the water is both deep and fine. Those who
fail to make that leap run the risk of staying high and dry.
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Primus Announces eMail
Assist
By Myles Suer
Primus Knowledge Solutions this week announced
Primus eMail Assist, an application the company
claims will create cost savings by altering the way customer support agents
receive and respond to emailed customer questions. The new product integrates
with the existing Primus knowledgebase software and enables customer service
representatives (CSR) to find solutions not only in these structured
knowledgebases but also in content located elsewhere in the host enterprise.
For these systems, eMail Assist includes natural
language processing which the company says can understand customer’s
questions by automatically examining the problem description. According to
Primus, software agents review suggestions, click to embed what they
determine to be the best solution in an email-ready template, and instantly
deliver the answer to the customer. Primus eMail
also integrates with call tracking and other CRM systems by opening tickets
or linking to existing tickets for consolidated records of customer responses
and interactions. Currently, the Primus software only integrates with email
management systems from Microsoft. The company announced general availability
of the product but pricing details were not included.
We believe that eMail
Assist does two things that are interesting. First, it direct-links the
trouble ticket and email support systems. For many call center providers,
email support has been a distinct channel not considered part of mainline
systems, a notion we believe limits opportunities for both providers and
customers. Second, eMail Assist allows agents to
tap into other sources of enterprise product knowledge, potentially reducing
support costs because new product knowledge is often discovered through
impromptu dialogues between support personnel and technical experts located
elsewhere in the organization. Typically, this product knowledge is not
shared between agents or captured in the knowledgebase until the knowledge
discovery process is repeated multiple times. Sharing this knowledge could
help reduce support cost by streamlining this process.
Nevertheless, we see what Primus has created with eMail Assist as essentially an automated support system
similar to those offered by Banter, Kanisa, and
Native Minds for support agents. To be fair, these systems have not been
perfect even with natural language support, and we do not expect to push the
state of the art. It also appears that Primus is
limiting its opportunities in not integrating with email systems from vendors
including Lotus, Oracle, and Send Mail. We do think that applying eMail Assist technology to automated support is on track.
Here, linkage to the trouble ticket system makes tremendous sense, especially
if consumers of such systems are provided advantages for trying these
solutions first. Giving the user a call acceleration number means that the
consumer gets to call center support staff faster. It also means the system
can use information discovered during automated support to accelerate the
process, potentially sending the consumer to the agent with the most
likelihood of solving the problem. This improves the consumer’s and the company’s
use of time. Lastly given that Primus integrates with Microsoft email
systems, we think Primus would be wise to explore Microsoft Instant Messaging
integration, since with an automated support front end, IM is a long term
replacement for both chat and email support that drastically improves
customer satisfaction. So far, Primus and others in this space including the
company’s CRM partners have failed to realize that binding together automated
support systems and instant messaging has the potential to redefine the
support process. We believe they would be wise to reconsider this stance.
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