Letters: Snyder sparks reaction

Victimizing small business

In reference to Joel Snyder’s recent column “Tech Support Makes You Feel Small”, dealing with these large computer and software companies has become a nightmare. Small business is just the latest victim. No matter how it falls in your personal case, this is victimization and it needs to be fixed.

I suggest filing a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission and IC3 to bring attention to the legal authorities of these kinds of theft, misrepresentation and “take the money and run” mentality.

There seems to be an outright negligence and carpetbagger air that needs change.

Competence, accuracy and sustaining credibility is not only the bad guy’s responsibility. I have experienced the same problems, and did the repairs needed to keep my system up and running, which used my time, money and effort.

It is time-consuming to go for regulations, sanctions and penalties for negligence and misdeeds of others, however, it has great impact on those whose only purpose is to remain incompetent, unconscionable, arrogant and stupid. With outrage and consistent complaint, we can force the authorities to move on our behalf. Isn’t that what they are there for?

Wil Johnson

Tucson, Ariz.

Quick and dirty e-mail

I just wanted to thank Mark Gibbs for mentioning MailList King in his recent column on e-mail list management. I needed to find a quick and dirty solution to send an e-mail to an artist’s e-mail list. I remembered reading about such a program in a Gearhead column. I found the column on Network World‘s Web site, downloaded the program, configured it, imported the 1,276 addresses and was ready to send the mass e-mail out within 15 minutes or so. I have no doubt that it would have taken less time if I had read the instructions and/or documentation. We will definitely be purchasing this application.

Derek Poepoe

Torrance, Calif.

Outraged by CRB decision

I am an overly busy IT manager for a very large church, but previously I was a radio broadcaster. I went to school for this and worked at both AM and FM radio stations before Internet Radio even existed; for more than 11 years, I lived and died by federal governmental rulings, most of them pretty lame. When I first heard of Internet radio, I was very excited and have happily watched the industry grow over the last several years.

When I read Mark Gibbs’ story about the Copyright Royalty Board’s decision to “rape and pillage” across the landscape of Internet radio, I was so incensed that I put all the smoldering servers and people crying for new fonts on hold and sat down to write my congressman a letter. Rarely am I moved enough by a story to take action, but your story really lit a fire under me. We have to protect what little free territory we have left in both Internet and broadcast radio. I hope you are inundated with more correspondence like this and more importantly, that Congress and the Senate are too.

Bill Meixner

Gresham, Ore.

Disregard for facts

I was appalled at the ignorance and disregard for the facts presented in Mr. Anderson’s March 15, 2007 column “Wal-Mart and the Three Great RFID Lies.” Anderson either failed to do any current research on the topic or simply chose to ignore the most current information about RFID in order to make his case or provide for an entertaining read.

Anderson states that there “isn’t a single industry standard yet…” when in fact there are many standards for RFID technology and its use. For example, the UHF air interface protocol used by Wal-Mart (which Anderson references repeatedly ), was ratified more than a year ago, and has been accepted as ISO standard 18000-6C. As you can see by this link the standard can be acquired very easily. There are, and have been for quite some time, many other air interface and data protocol standards pertaining to RFID. Public transit systems collect thousands of fares each day with ISO-standard contactless fare cards. There have been numerous other RFID standards ratified by ISO and industry associations for item management, asset tracking, cargo seals, ID cards and other uses.

Anderson also states that “RFID was supposed to replace bar coding,” a claim no leading or responsible RFID company has ever made. Where was this fact uncovered by Anderson? Many media outlets have referred to RFID as the “electronic bar code” simply to help their audience quickly get a sense of the technology. Leaders of the bar code industry have been the leaders in developing RFID technology and marketing it is a complement, not a replacement, to bar coding. RFID, bar code, OCR, magnetic stripe and other automatic data collection technologies have different strengths and therefore you see them in different application areas. My organization foresees RFID working in parallel with bar code and other technologies for the foreseeable future.

Finally, Anderson posits that suppliers suspect Wal-Mart isn’t attaining the benefits it hoped for from its RFID program. This may well be true, but Wal-Mart and its European rival METRO Group have each publicly reaffirmed their confidence in RFID on numerous occasions. Each has presented independent studies that document the RFID benefits they have received; to refute this, Anderson presents only conjecture from unnamed suppliers.

I have been involved with RFID technology for over a decade. To see this article in your publication in 2007 is inexcusable. Anderson needlessly distorted facts to support what appears to be his larger opinion that RFID has been over-hyped and may not meet the expectations of Wal-Mart.These are fair points that are worth exploring but they are also important enough to have a journalist delve into the facts and most current information. The RFID industry has its share of problems. It is extremely unfortunate that Anderson’s attempt at entertainment failed to delve into facts and provided such misguidance regarding a technology that is already offering businesses and consumers benefits on a daily basis.

Daniel P. Mullen

President, AIM Global – Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility