analysis

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=3 height=65 BGCOLOR="#990000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="00f00410dvldzz.gif"> <div> analysis</div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=162 BGCOLOR="#999966" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Background"><U>Background</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Information Empowerment"><U>Information Empowerment</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Conventional Personal Computers"><U>Conventional Personal Computers</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The History of Personal Computing"><U>The History of Personal Computing</U></A></div> <div> <B>analysis</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="what weve got"><U>what we've got</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Telecom Solution"><U>Telecom Solution</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="obsolete cellular technology"><U>obsolete cellular technology</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id58.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Heres how it could work:"><U>Here's how it could work:</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id59.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Off Line Readers"><U>Off Line Readers</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TMM"><U>TMM</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Initial Benefits"><U>Initial Benefits</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Virtuous Circle"><U>Virtuous Circle</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Conclusions"><U>Conclusions</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Update"><U>Update</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id68.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Useful Links"><U>Useful Links</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.telepathic.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.telepathic.com"><U><B><IMG SRC="0d264190.gif" border=0 width="100" height="25" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=385 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >The first thing to notice is that, outside of big corporations, </FONT>the PC is <I>still</I> a standalone system. <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >The original uses of personal computers have not substantially changed. While there have been some new popular personal applications e.g. Quicken or Microsoft Money, these have really been variants on the core applications (word processing, spreadsheets and databases).</FONT></div> <div> The main difference is the modern machine can communicate and share large amounts of information with other machines if linked over a network. But looking further at this situation; the reality is rather different. Outside of the huge multinationals and mega-universities when networks of personal computers have been created the n<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0033CC" FACE="Arial" >etworks are actually small. </FONT>The average commercial network size is only 35 seats. A network of this size cannot afford to have its own administrator since the cost of employing a person to administer a small network is an unacceptable overhead. This means that, outside of major multinationals and universities, Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes and the like are unsuitable environments for creating virtual communities through linking up PCs in networks since all of them require professional network administrators. A community school needs to find some other solution to enjoy the benefits of a networked environment. </div> <div> The third feature is that the sophisticated network systems contains a large number of features which are not actually used. Research has found that the majority of users of Lotus Notes only use it for e-mail; they completely ignore its conferencing capabilities. It now appears clear that t<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0033CC" FACE="Arial" >oo many features create user barriers.</FONT></div> <div> Finally looking back over the past twenty years of the personal computer industry two empirical "rules" can be seen. Colloquially expressed these are :</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8cc330000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">If it works it's obsolete</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8cc330000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">All new releases of software run slower and require more memory</div> <div> By the time a user has finally got his software working and is able to use it on a day to day basis without error he has to upgrade to the latest version. And that latest version is likely to require a hardware upgrade.</div> <bR> <div> This leads to the clear conclusion that the PC, as currently packaged, is <I>not</I> going to revolutionise emerging economies - <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0033CC" FACE="Arial" >it is the wrong approach to the problem. I</FONT>nstead what is needed is a <I>flexible inexpensive solution.</I> So let's go backward when forwards fails. Let us see <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0033FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="what weve got"><U><B>what we've got</B></U></A></FONT></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=30 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The History of Personal Computing"><U><B><IMG SRC="0021f150.gif" border=0 width="31" height="21" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B> </B><A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="what weve got"><U><B><IMG SRC="0041f150.gif" border=0 width="31" height="21" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>    </B><A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Smart Communities on Diminished Budgets"><U><B><IMG SRC="0031f150.gif" border=0 width="31" height="21" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B> </B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="21" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="31"></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>