Readers' Comments

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.
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