Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 6 May 2003
Note: the comments below are the unabridged
submissions of readers and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher.
From: Simon Hamid For : Right Of Reply (for publication) Subj: Mickeysoft using unlicensed software? An interesting thing happened to me while navigating the catacombs of the great halls of Microsoft.com. After downloading several self executable winzipped files from within, after running I am told that the "Winzip self extractor is NOT LICENSED for distribution" and "Any distribution of this file is prohibited and is a violation of US copyright law and international treaty". "The registered version does not display this message." Is this a case of the shoe being on the other foot on the part of MS? Or are MS exempt from copyright infringement? I have approached the makers of Winzip and am awaiting a reply. Needlees to say I intend on seeing this through to a resolution. I have made attempts to go through regulatory channels but there does not seem to be anyone to report this to except for MS themselves in NZ. The BSAA is the closest body in Australia. From: robert rozee For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: a fair and simple solution for flat rate DSL it would seem that a fair solution to the DSL bandwidth- hog problem is quite simple: set a 'soft' data cap. a soft data cap works as follows. given that the customer has a 'soft' data cap of X gb, and a bandwidth limit of Y mb/s, then within the billing period: - the first X gb is delivered at Y mb/s, - then the next X/2 gb is delivered at Y/2 mb/s, - then the next X/4 mb is delivered at Y/4 mb/s, - then the next X/8 mb is delivered at Y/8 mb/s, and so on. the end result is that the customer can NEVER exceed double the data limit within the billing period. BUT, they never experience any loss of service; the service just gets slower and slower. the ISP advertises this as "flat rate, with an absolute data limit of 2X gb/month traffic". personally, i would NEVER subscribe to a normal capped DSL plan, not due to the data cap itself, but due to the high risk and costs that may be imposed IF the data limit is passed - not necessarily by myself, but by some malicious third party. i am always conscious that with a DSL connection that customer has little to no protection against an outside attack generating excessive traffic. for much the same reasons i NEVER recommend anyone subscribe to any web hosting plan that had a monthly traffic limit and that charges for the excess traffic. there ARE companies out there that provide uncapped hosting, or that have automatic shutdown systems for accounts that hit their limits (www.discount-hosting.com for one). so, the solution to the problem is simple, and fair. why isn't anyone doing it this way? From: Ray Dobson For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: Snap For the past 7 years Snap (Netaccess) (whatever) has been OK except until recently when it's got so bad I can't even access my home page (Aardvark) after 7pm. Hope it will improve soon. From: Martin For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: hotmail Hotmail have changed the get your free hotmail tag at the bottom of every email to Surf the net and talk on the phone with Xtra Jetstream @ http://www.xtra.co.nz/products/0,,5803,00.html I'll be updating my preferences to set a bogus address of Aus From: Tim For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: A cap for on peak sounds good to me I think the idea of capping on peak traffic, but letting off peak traffic flow freely is a great idea. I'm more than happy to set my downloads to run while I'm sleeping, and 4Gb on peak is plenty for surfing or getting things "right now" instead of waiting till morning. From: Wally Kaos For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: Heavy ADSL Users Good On Ya ISPs take on board all the customers they can sign up. They do this by offering all you can eat flat rate un capped accounts all over the media etc. Two many customers then battle with their ISP over small pipes. If a customer has a Jetstream Jetstart 128kbps account,their ISP must maintain a 128kbps throughput in their system or network at all times. If their system is overloaded due to poor network redundency than cut off or reduce the number of logins on line at any one time. Its obvious that the ISP is not managing its network. You ISPs must engineer your networks so they work to customer account agreements,but you all hide behind the fine print and blame the heavy users when the issue is too many users. Customers want a quality ADSL service that maintains bandwidth speed. Most ISPs run low quality ADSL services overloaded by too many customers sharing small pipes. When are we going to get an industry scale of acceptable standards regurading ADSL ISP internal line speeds. From: tim For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: kiwi in seoul - broadband experience For the past year i've been living in seoul, South Korea. My Internet access is 1mbit/2mbit (up/down) ADSL. It costs less that $40NZ per month, there was no signup fee! Actually thats considered a slow internet account, my korean friend was rather dissapointed when he signed me up and wanted to know whether I still wanted it or not, the wiring in my house isn't that good. Shame, ONLY 2mbit! The thought of going back to dialup in new zealand makes me kind of sad. question, why do they not offer uncapped highspeed national traffic, and capped internation traffic at the same time? or do they? eg 128kbit 30gb international, 2mbit uncapped national, or something similar to that. that'd be ok :) From: Tim For : The Editor (for publication) Subj: kiwi in seoul - more on seoul I should also mention that no ISP's in korea have bandwidth caps, the concept simply doesn't exist to them. I asked a korean about it and they laughed and said that if an ISP tried to introduce caps they'd be out of business pretty quickly. BTW i'm not trying to make any comparisons to NZ or anything, completely opposite to nz in almost every aspect, large population, very high apartment density (in seoul), a government that has spent billions on Internet infrastucture and a ideal geographic location for connecting to Internet backbones, etc Interesting tho, VDSL is slowly being introduced here also, they're offering 20,50,100mbit connections. Wireless, satellite, CDMA connections, etc are also available.Hit Reload For Latest Comments
Now Have Your Say
Home | Today's Headlines | Contact | New Sites | Job Centre | About