NWC | Letters | Letters | | December 15, 2002

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December 15, 2002

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"The old school network repair shop mentality will eventually become a relic." ~ R. Beaufait

Modest Means
I enjoyed Lori MacVittie's proposal to make the Internet safe from Microsoft and Internet Explorer ("A Modest Proposal," Nov. 15, 2002, ). Certainly, deleting the "WINNT" or "Windows" folders on computers would spare system admins much wasted bandwidth and save time otherwise spent disinfecting users' PCs. And, of course, there's the potential entertainment value. However, some users won't notice any difference when their computers boot (particularly if they're running Windows Crash Edition--I mean, Millennium Edition).

To truly advance civilization, we need to be more proactive. Certainly we can all upgrade to Linux. We could even dig out those old DOS disks and run Lynx on our systems. However, for those addicted to Redmond products, perhaps the safest thing is to minimize the use of Windows. Although I'm committed on two of my PCs to Windows 2000, I prefer the Opera, Netscape and Mozilla browsers and Pegasus Mail. I use Open Office instead of Microsoft Office, and I attempt to be cross-browser compatible when designing Web sites.

There are many good alternatives to Microsoft products and, if Redmond releases its code base to other software developers, we will see even better, more stable programs in the future.

David Petrie
President, David Petrie Associates
david@davidpetrieassociates.com

I just read Lori MacVittie's "A Modest Proposal," and I say, bravo!

Now if we could only get the big companies to visit http://www.webstandards.org, maybe the world would be a better place.

Maurice Uribe
HTML Programmer
BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company)
maurice_uribe@bd.com

It's Been Done
In "Jack of All Trades...," Bruce Boardman says, "There's no such thing as good network management" (Nov. 1, 2002 ). Let's put that statement into proper context. The tools Bruce Boardman recommends in his column are fine niche products to be used only in very small networks. Good network management is very possible and is even essential for large networks.

I agree that no one tool or platform can properly do it all. To create a good enterprise management system, you need the element managers, event streams and niche tools for networks, computers, servers, databases and applications. It's possible, it's been done, and for the full FCAPS [Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance and Security] model.

I'd like to see more articles on the exciting new developments in EMS/NMS and some of the success stories. It's the future. Resistance to change is powerful, but the old school network repair shop mentality will eventually become a relic.

R. Beaufait
Senior Network Management Systems Engineer
Company name and e-mail withheld by request

Pricey Access Point
I found Dave Molta's Sneak Preview "Flying on Aironet" (Nov. 1, 2002) interesting, but I would have loved for Molta to show how much more the Aironet 1200 costs than the competition. Even the Apple Airport 2.0 is remarkably cheaper at $300 list, and you can still hack a much larger antenna to it. I recognize that Cisco makes its access points like tanks, but that's largely done with better capacitors and more rugged casing.

When I saw the Aironet's price listed at $1,399, I was astounded. You could have an armful of Airports at list and still be cheaper for it--and have a reliable network.

Don Tillman
Computer Engineer
Department of Psychology, Wright State University
dtillman@wright.edu

On the Edge
I enjoyed David Willis' column "How Will We Justify VoIP" (July 8, 2002). I especially liked how he quantified the question of getting user buy-in.

He did miss a key point, however. As we see technologies advance at an unprecedented rate, more and more companies are becoming concerned with staying on--or at least within sight of--the edge. This is understandable when you take into account the cost of maintaining equipment when you know the shelf life of the technology is nearly expired. More and more companies are weighing the costs of maintaining legacy PBX equipment against the costs of implementing VoIP-capable networks. They're buying into the premise that data and VoIP are the future of communications.

Other benefits to a VoIP-capable network are increased speeds and bandwidth to move data. These are becoming necessary regardless of VoIP considering the size of the programs used today compared with the size of programs used when 10Base-T was "faster than anything we'll ever need." We're seeing 10Base-T networks revamped into Gigabit Ethernet networks for a relatively low cost. We're also seeing these upgrades funded by monies previously earmarked for PBX upgrades.

P.S.: Willis' article seemed to imply that the new VoIP phone systems don't require as much user training as legacy PBX phones. This doesn't appear to be the case in the real world. User training is key to a smooth transition to VoIP phones.

Respectfully submitting my two cents.

John Culbertson
Area Plant Supervisor
CenturyTel
john.culbertson@centurytel.com

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