Editorial
What A Surprise -- NOT!
When I published a few "warnings" about leaping straight in, signing up to
i4free and downloading their software I received a terse email from Ms Presley
(as mentioned in an earlier editorial).
In that email she booed and hissed me and said : "the information you have
published is wrong and you are misinforming your subscribers."
She also suggested that perhaps I was getting a back-hander from IHUG -- gosh,
if I was Irish I might have even sued for defamation! :-)
Of course I still haven't received a response to my reply to Ms Presley, nor
has she submitted a right of reply so as to put her side of the story to
Aardvark's readers.
Anyway, it seems that at least some of my warnings were indeed well warranted.
This morning, IDG is this morning reporting that
"i4free
software causes unexpected problems" -- gosh golly!
In fact, i4free has apparently emailed all its users to acknowledge the
problems -- here, let me wipe the egg from your face...
In my
April 5th column I warned
"There have also been the inevitable reports of the installation
software screwing up users' PCs to the extent that they have
been forced to reinstall Windows to restore its proper
operation."
Several readers emailed me and said I was scaremongering and being too
harsh -- saying there was no such problem... oh yeah?
It also seems that, as I predicted, i4free users are busy spamming their
friends and other contacts in an effort to recruit them and gain extra
benefits for themselves.
The "form email" that i4free suggests you use to annoy the stuffing out
of your friends reads:
Dear ....,
I have just joined i4free, a "free internet access forever" service
and I think you should too!
When you join, the best part is, you are entered into win a
holiday worth $5,000 from http://www.travel.co.nz/
You must be quick as this is only available for the first 8,000
people to join up.
Take a look for yourself, just visit http://www.i4free.co.nz/
Regards ....
If that's what they're encouraging their users to do -- I wonder what they're
going to do with your email address in the name of "direct marketing"?
I repeat my warnings...
- If you're going to sign up with a free ISP, don't
use an email address you want to keep for any length of time -- get a throw-away
one from Hotmail or Yahoo.
- Don't download and run any software from a free-ISP site unless you are
able or prepared to deal with the consequences. Such software, at best makes
complex changes to your computer's registry settings and at worst -- well who
really knows??
It's also worth remembering that you probably have a one-in-four chance of
picking a free ISP that is going to survive. The NZ marketplace
isn't really big enough to support a single free ISP, let alone the three
or four currently touting for your custom.
So, in summary -- make the most of the free lunches on offer but be careful
out there.
Be Afraid... Be Very Afraid...
If you've ever wondered what Aardvark gets up to in his (rather limited) spare time
you'll find out here in Real Video (800K unstreamed),
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here in AVI MPEG (4MB).
All the files are the same but just presented in different formats.
Free republication rights available
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General News & Current Events:
TODAY'S KEY NET-NEWS HEADLINES
Tuanz calls on Govt to solve telcos row
The telecommunications users association, Tuanz, is
calling on the Government to step in and try again to
broker a solution in the dispute over 0867-prefix internet
access...
NZ Herald
No Internet for drug suspect
An Auckland judge has ordered that a businessman
alleged to be part of an international heroin ring be
denied a cellphone and Internet access as part of a
growing list of bail conditions...
NZ Herald
Australian star sees value plunge 24pc
Caught up in the carnage on the Nasdaq, internet directory LookSmart saw its
shares plunge 24 per cent as investors turned on companies in the internet
content sector...
AFR
Telstra on "CreditWatch"
STANDARD & Poor's today placed Telstra's AA-plus
long-term corporate credit rating on "creditwatch"...
Australian IT
[Australian] PM backdown on TV Internet ban
PLANS to limit access to the Internet via television have
been watered down by the [Australian] Prime Minister amid a business
backlash against proposed digital TV legislation...
Australian IT
Amazon sued over music samples patent
Amazon.com, the world's largest Internet retailer, was accused by Intouch of
infringing patented methods for consumers to preview prerecorded music samples
over the Internet...
CNet
U.S. Charges Five Over Internet Child Pornorgraphy
U.S. prosecutors on Thursday unveiled indictments against five alleged Internet child pornography
peddlers, including the first U.S. charges against suspects abroad for offering the material for sale on
the Web...
Yahoo/Reuters
Clinton Hails 'Old-Fashioned' Newspapers in Web Era
President Clinton on Thursday said there was a ``special role for the old-fashioned newspaper'' despite
sweeping changes in journalism and the Internet revolution...
Yahoo/Reuters
Where Is WhoAmI.com?
Another domain owner finds its name hijacked and
transferred to someone somewhere in the Balkans.
Like past victims, the company says Network Solutions
has a big hole to plug...
Wired
More Domainz News
