FEEDBACK
iPhone user responds
While reading your recent babble (August Viewpoint, “I wish I had an iPhone”), it got me thinking; if I wrap fish guts in your article, will it make them stink more rapidly by having been subjected to your opinions.
My purchase of an iPhone paid for itself the first week. I can demonstrate third-party software and pull multimedia presentations out of my pocket. The productivity gained from its elegant ease of use is a constant enjoyment.
You might have brought up the state-of-the-art predictive intelligence built in, or that the high-resolution viewable image is largely optimized because keys are only there when you need them.
May I suggest that if you have a tendency to lose things like phones in the water or in cabs you tether them to your belt like janitors do their keys.
Your sarcasm falls short of being entertaining or educational. Don’t you think your readers expect well-informed, forward-thinking positions, and not Andy Rooney of telecom? I suggest you stick to fishing, or come up with something worth reading next issue.
–Craig Larson
Ekistics Research
From the editor: Thank you for your feedback. My tongue-in-cheek editorial was meant to infuriate or entertain. I guess you experienced the former.
Zen or control?
Balancing the need for control of the IT environment against the pressure brought unintentionally by our users to use software and non-approved devices is indeed a challenge.
We are a service industry and I have found that if we try to dictate what services our customers should want, we have taken step one toward creating an adversarial relationship. This is never productive. By not trying to lock down everything, by spending our energies trying to help educate the consumer about how their goals and our goals are really the same goals, we’ve been able to get a fairly high degree of cooperation where and when it’s most needed.
Do they still do things we wish they wouldn’t? Absolutely. Do they from time to time make us mumble and grumble within the IT team? Absolutely. Do they view the IT team as their partners, as a ready resource to call upon when they have a need? Absolutely.
–Doug Sands
Chief Information Officer
Royal Pet Supplies
A faithful fan
A few months ago, with heavy heart,I decided not to renew my subscription to your illustrious magazine that has had a great history. For many years, it provided me much guidance and timely informationrequired forconducting my professional career that began in 1955 with our development of the first commercial modem, the first S/F message switching system and the first digital ACD, whileworking at Collins/Rockwell International. After 1965, I became involved with network modeling, designing and planning that resulted in my authoring three textbooks.
After retiring in 1984 from Rockwell, I became an independent consultant and an adjunct professor at SMU in Dallas. Your magazine was also kind enough to publish several of myarticles that brought me much recognition. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge my debt and to thank you all forpublishing Communications News during the formative years of telecommunications.
–Roshan L. Sharma
Dallas
Communications News welcomes your comments. Please send feedback to Editor Ken Anderberg at
kanderberg@comnews.com.