Open government: By the people, for the people
What I would like to see is the public service standing up for itself and taking accountability for Open Government itself.
How can Australia build a great technology sector?
If we can get a consensus about a solution as strong as the one that existed yesterday in reaction to my initial piece on Atlassian's situation, that might be a starting point to take Australia forward and help it to become a real technology powerhouse.
How long can Atlassian stay Australian?
We're not going to build a great Australian technology sector if we constantly have our eyes tuned towards the Silicon Valley stars and our hearts tuned towards the pages of the Wall St Journal and TechCrunch. That can only be done if we reinvest constantly in the Australian market, base our companies here, refuse to be acquired by US multinationals and maintain the Australian rage.
Would you vote for a party which supports filtering?
Australia's technology press is banding together on a common survey question regarding the Federal Government's mandatory internet filtering policy. We're asking just one simple question: Would you vote for a political party which supports the internet filter?
An overview of Officeworks’ eBook readers
My recommendation, if you don’t care about buying books through Australian eBook stores is that the Pico and Stash are very good value. If you do want to purchase commercial books in Australia, this is not the device to use with our DCMA-inspired Free Trade Agreement legislation.
Conroy’s temporary filter all Australia needs
Research has consistently demonstrated that Australians don't want their internet to be censored. But if the Government feels it must, let it learn a lesson from last week's experience and change its policy towards one that is voluntary and only tackles a very limited field of content. That's something we can all agree on.
Conroy’s implied Lundy ‘child porn’ slur is astounding
Last week one senator from Canberra made the astounding accusation that another senator for Canberra wanted to “opt into child porn.” The antagonistic parties are former Daramalarn student and current Minister for Communications, Senator Stephen Conroy and current ACT Senator, Kate Lundy, both members of the Australian Labor Party.
How can small booksellers get ahead with eBooks?
If B&T and Blio can work out a format and DRM regime that won’t annoy the long-suffering consumers already overburdened with DRM, incompatible devices and numerous apps required to read a book, having friendly local sellers onside may be the secret ingredient in winning the format wars!
The NBN should be opt-out — not opt-in
There are already plenty of good reasons why all Australians should have to actively opt-out from having their houses connected to the NBN, rather than having to opt-in.
Oh dear: What colour should Tassie’s NBN cables be?
All of Australia's political parties have a bright, vivid colour associated with them -- it's like painting with your hands in pre-school. Labor is red -- representing its roots in the working community and the socialist movement. Liberal is blue, representing its conservative and liberal background. And of course, the Greens are green, representing their focus on the environment.
Why DRM hurts eBook sales: A piracy analysis
Piracy of eBooks is real. It is also an element of the marketplace and is market forces at work.
Wake up and smell the democracy, Stilgherrian
I couldn’t help but laugh when I read Stilgherrian’s rant on ABC Unleashed yesterday about how Australia’s “digital elites” may understand technology but somehow don’t get how the apparently unbelievably complicated world of Federal politics works.
How bad are things at IBM Australia?
Just for right now, I would like to entreat IBM to stop and think about several things. Is it treating its staff the right way? Are its processes for evaluating new work – such as Queensland Health's payroll system – adequate? And most of all … will it learn from its mistakes?
Oh dear: Phil Burgess is … totally a bikie
We knew that former Telstra group managing director of public policy and communications Phil Burgess -- one of former CEO Sol Trujillo's team of 'amigos' had taken a trip with his son on Harleys during a US spring break. But we didn't have the evidence, until now.
Oh dear: Mark Newton’s epic government rant
Mark Newton's submission to the Cyber-Safety Committee is one of the most epic rants we have ever had the pleasure to read.
Oh dear: Conroy watched the soccer during the spill
Draped in the colours of his favoured soccer teams (Chelsea and the Socceroos), Conroy made it clear he was quite busy on the night of the spill.
Ten reasons Gillard should promote Conroy
Senator Stephen Conroy has done such a good job as Communications Minister that he should be promoted to take over the Finance Ministry even before incumbent Lindsay Tanner retires at the next election.
The eternal symmetry of Quigley’s spotless life
I can't help but imagine that NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley (pictured) must have taken some time out last week to reflect on the strange symmetry of his life over the past few years.
Oh dear: Conroy gets mashed up
In the absence of any statement from Communications Minister Stephen Conroy about yesterday's Prime Ministerial leadership spill, iTNews.com.au has mashed up a bunch of existing Conroy statements into this intriguing video.
The sorry story of Finance’s Windows Vista fail
A month before Windows 7 is released, the Federal Department of Finance and Deregulation upgrades to Vista. Fail.
eBook price war: The impact on Australia
News that there is a price drop for the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook has done the rounds with the tech pundits and Twitterverse. But we Aussies need to ask, is the price war good for us?
Oh dear: Victorian town worships the god of USB
According to Wikipedia, the town of Waubra in Victoria has just 500-odd residents and was previously known as The Springs. Its Post Office opened...
Telstra has finally sealed its own doom
Telstra's management will come to regret its $11 billion deal with NBN Co signed this afternoon as the most disastrous decision it has ever made in the telco's long and tortured history in Australia's telecommunications sector.
Oh dear: Kogan creates “spams & scams” portal protector
Kogan Technologies has created what it describes as a "portector" -- a device designed to protect Australians from what Communications Minister Stephen Conroy recently...
Oh dear: How many Aussie CIOs did NOT buy an iPad?
When Delimiter started snooping around this week to work out which Australian chief information officers had bought an Apple iPad, we expected to find quite a few that had. What we didn't expect to find is that almost every chief information officer that we checked out had picked up one of the hyped Apple tablets.
Facebook continues to stonewall Australia
When you hold unimaginable personal details about much of the civilised world, you need to be transparent about how you use that information. Any other approach will eventually see you relegated to the dustbin of corporate history.
Oh dear: Twitter.com.au’s great Australian web design
Australia has a long-running history of sheltering cybersquatters. Various international giants such as YouTube and Facebook have, over the years, been forced into action on our shores to retrieve the .au versions of their domain names.
Why Megan Fox should star in the NBN ads
Why the NBN is for porn and Megan Fox should star in the NBN commercials.
iiNet’s IPTV is three times the cost of Telstra’s
opinion Like any competitive industry, Australia’s broadband market has been characterised by a certain predictable dynamic for some time now.
First, customers become frustrated by...
Oh dear: The top ten funniest Conroy YouTube videos
Sometimes it's worth taking a lighter look at how some sections of the Internet -- notably, the denizens of YouTube -- have portrayed Communications Minister Stephen Conroy. So we've scoured the video sharing site for our favourite videos.
Conroy vs Lundy: A 14-year comparison study
It's important to look back at the history since Conroy and Lundy both joined the Senate in 1996 to learn why one has maintained a strong reputation in Australia's technology sector while the other is having theirs torn further into shreds every day.
The truth about politicians and technology policy
The recent adult rating for computer games debate has raised a concept that I’ve alluded to a few times in the media recently (and if you’re unlucky enough to be someone who knows me in a private sense, you’ll have had it there too), namely the dichotomy of what democracy means – how politicians view it and how everyone else does.
Please Father Steve, unlock Telstra iPhone video calling
There was one thing that stood out from the iPhone 4 launch like a rotten blood orange smouldering at the bottom of the fruit bin full of of shiny golden delicious chunks of goodness.
Oh dear: Mario gets jiggy with it
When Nintendo invited us to a harbour cruise to celebrate the launch of its flagship new game Super Mario Galaxy 2, we knew it was going to be big. After all, the Japanese gaming giant pulled out all the stops and organised Ministry of Sound's DJ Goodwill to "mash a mix of Mario tunes".
Virgin’s internet porn sackings somewhat hypocritical
I couldn’t help but feel amused by the irony on Friday when the news broke that Virgin Blue had sacked 20 staff for what the Sydney Morning Herald reported was the dastardly offence of swapping porn on the airline’s computers.
Oh dear: Pollenizer’s pie in the face
We always knew the guys at Australian IT startup consultancy Pollenizer were fun, but we never knew quite how fun. They are so fun, it turns out, that they’re willing to take a pie in the face for charity. Kudos, Mick Liubinskas and team.
Wi-Fi patent has driven CSIRO money mad
The CSIRO should give up its pointless chase of global technology giants and telcos, and let sleeping laptops lie.
Linux to dominate Australia through T-Box and Android
In only a couple of years, millions of Australians will directly be using the open source Linux operating system in their everyday personal and professional lives.
Oh dear: eBooks are for pr0n
Not all eBooks sold through Borders' new store are of a high-brow nature.
Five reasons Australians should quit Facebook
Is this a company that Australia should be supporting? Not in my book.
Conroy must apologise to Google for appalling attack
Stephen Conroy must immediately stop his vicious public attacks on Google and apologise for his clear lack of understanding of the technical details of the recent potential privacy breach in the collection of Wi-Fi data by the search giant’s Street View cars.
Forget 3DTV … buy an IPTV instead
If there is one thing I am sick of, it is receiving proud press releases from TV stations and manufacturers about how they have created some tiny piece of obscure content in three dimensions.
Labor hardly better than Opposition on tech policy
I feel obliged to point out that when it comes to having policies about technology, the Australian Labor Party -- the party which is currently governing Australia -- is little better than the Coalition.
Borders launch showed eBook leadership
I went to Borders' launch of its new eBook reader on Wednesday expecting to be disappointed by yet another half-assed effort by Australia's publishing industry to convince readers it is serious about eBooks. I came away inspired and hopeful for the future, believing that the industry had turned a page in its eBook dialogue and was now on the right track.
Oh dear: Harapin’s SCG race heats up
Bloody hell! Poor old Harapin is going to have a tough time in this race for the SCG board. So we decided to give the poor VMWare MD a little help along the way.
Power plays: Vendors court Thodey
If you watched closely, you could see a thousand naked power plays being performed yesterday during Telstra chief executive David Thodey's speech to the Trans-Tasman Business Circle.
Telstra’s David Thodey is on top of the world
Everything about Thodey's approach screams that he is enjoying his position in life to the absolute maximum. That he loves running Australia's great warhorse of a telco and wouldn't give it up for anything. That he really believes in his mission to take back the hearts and minds of Australians and stop them using the word "Telstra" as a swearword.
Oh dear: Alan Jones, Chika, Steve Waugh and VMWare?
The trustees list of the of the Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust reads like a roll call of Sydney blue blood royalty.
Google shouldn’t stop collecting Wi-Fi data
Google's decision to stop its Street View cars collecting harmless data on the location of Wi-Fi hotspots (including in Australia) is an over-reaction to the baseless concerns of a few privacy experts and should be reversed.
The end of the Wii era
Nintendo's Wii is dead. OK, hyperbole check. It's still kicking mass-market butt, actually. But that's not going to last much longer. So allow me to rephrase: Nintendo's Wii will be dead by the end of this year.
Narrowband – it’s all we’re getting
I don’t want to be a pessimist, but it's becoming increasingly clear that the rollout of the National Broadband Network is never going to be completed. That grand vision of a fibre-to-the-home network providing high-bandwidth, cheap, accessible internet access is never going to reach the 90% of households the government said it would.
The Kobo eReader: What you need to know
My personal opinion is this is the best project we can expect to see in the market in the short to medium term, and should be successful for Borders Australia.
On folly, freedom and filters
Hannah has been using the Internet since she was four ... When Hannah uses the Internet, she uses a connection at home that is completely unfiltered, neither by the router we use nor by activating the fairly comprehensive parental controls that come as a standard part of modern operating systems. She has administrator access to the machine she uses and she also knows and understands how to access and manage the home network.
Publishers need to stop hogging the eBook pudding
More than anything else, Australians get frustrated when – due to our geographical isolation compared to major population centres in the US and Europe – we get something late, or not at all, or it is overpriced.
Oh dear: Microsoft Twitterer doesn’t know who’s who
You have to hand it to whoever was running Microsoft Australia's official Twitter account today during the launch of Redmond's latest and greatest Office 2008 suite.
Implementation study gets the NBN numbers wrong
The McKinsey-KPMG national broadband network implementation study released last week by Stephen Conroy is deeply flawed. Even if we overlook very optimistic assumptions and logical inconsistencies, its fatal flaw is that it fails Finance 101.
Google: Filter could legitimise overseas censorship
While Google views comparisons of Australia’s filtering proposal to China's censorship regime as unhelpful and inappropriate, we also worry that the Government’s plans to enforce mandatory filtering could legitimise government censorship elsewhere, and is a first step away from free expression and a free and open Internet.
E-Health announcement is really bizarre and very incomplete
As with all such announcements the only thing that is missing is any detail. Until that becomes clear this is so much hot air. Worryingly, the lack of information on the following issues leave one wondering just how seriously all this has been planned and developed.
The analyst firm of the future
I believe that the future of the large ICT analyst houses is inextricably tied to the innumerable boutiques that exist in every market that is geographically and economically relevant to the ICT industry.
iPad shock and awe
What is a bit unbelievable there is that we're getting remarkably close pricing to the US, at least on this spin of Apple's magical wheel of price fixing. But getting the local Telcos — and especially Telstra — to deliver some surprisingly good and genuinely competitive 3G data pricing? Now that is unbelievable.
KPMG waffle obscures Qld’s payroll disaster
It reminds me of Franz Kafka's classic satire The Trial. Reading KPMG's report released today is more or less an exercise of letting your mind run around and around in circles and reading out words that have no context and no meaning.
Why Delimiter is launching a forum
We have decided to keep the Delimiter forum and attempt to post content in it to attract users so that many more topics and many more Australian voices are heard. As always, it'll be a work in progress -- let us know what you think and what you want from it!
Did Apple shaft Aussie telcos on the iPad?
I was shocked by the revelation yesterday that neither Telstra or Optus would be directly selling the iPad from their retail stores (we don’t know about VHA yet). As I wrote the news stories about the telcos, just one thought was crossing my mind: Are they completely insane? Don’t they want to make money? What the hell is going on here?
Victoria is ‘gun shy’ on big IT projects
We may be at the end of a major IT project era until the Government’s confidence in its ability to successfully deliver large IT-enabled transformation projects is restored.
Where’s the NBN policy?
All of this leads to interesting questions about just how vertically integrated a company has to be in order to be considered in the same basket of market power as Telstra. If such a vertically integrated TPG existed, would the government then need to structurally separate them as well?
Oh dear: Tony Smith doesn’t really ‘get’ Twitter
Politicians tend to be a mixed bunch when it comes to interacting with Twitter. Some seem to really understand the social networking tool, like NSW Premier Kristina Keneally. And some, like Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, seem to ignore it altogether. And then there's Tony Smith.
Dear Stephen, your site is broken again
You know how I wrote to you in February letting you know that your website is broken? Yup, it happened again.
Oh dear: Conroy’s failure to launch
Today was finally the big day. After carefully making all the right arrangements, crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i', and most importantly, getting permission from Chairman Rudd, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy was finally ready to reveal to the world his big project.
Oh dear: Telstra comes to the mountain
It's safe to say that Australia's largest telco Telstra hasn't exactly had the *best* of relationships with the fiery denizens that reside in the deep and swirling waters known as Whirlpool. And who can blame it?
Is Exetel’s NBN pricing for real?
As we've previously noted, John Linton is not (that) crazy. And in fact, if you examine the logic behind Exetel's NBN pricing plans, you'll find they actually make a strange kind of sense.
10 reasons the iPad will be a huge success in Australia
Apple has just sold its millionth iPad -- not bad for a product that's only been out for a month. Here are 10 reasons why the iPad – due here later this month – will be a success.
Will Android kill Australia’s iPhone obsession?
The question that I and a number of other people are asking at the moment is: Is the tide starting to turn on Apple's flagship iPhone in Australia? Is it time to dump the iPhone and join the other camp?
How to lose a cyber war without really trying
Australia is among at least 20 countries which are not just preparing to fight a cyber war, but are already at war, day in day out, defending against incursions by both foreign states and non-state actors, and preparing its own offensive capabilities to deploy against the power grids, telecommunications services, financial networks and the wider digital infrastructure of potential adversaries.
Government response to the Government 2.0 Taskforce Report – my thoughts
Overall, I give the response a good B+, though I think it could have been stronger in part with clearer commitments. It’s missing information on where the digitally disconnected are helped and connected with offline (Government 2.0, after all, isn’t just online), as well as concrete commitments with timelines. It’s also missing anything on measurement of success and how this will be done.
Should Victoria pay for injured man’s Wii?
Ridiculing the Wii Fit as a video game in 2010 just makes politicians look silly. My aching muscles and -- by now, no doubt -- millions of people around the world using the device to make their daily health just that little bit better would argue it is much more.
Gigabang for your buck
This week Fairfax reported on Australia’s broadband pricing “war” in an article appearing in both the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age. The chart .... shows the pricing of a number of broadband internet plans offered by the four largest internet service providers (ISPs) in Australia.
Reports of the filter’s death are premature
This is a temporary cessation of the filter policy, but the storm clouds of round two are gathering in the distance.
McAfee is calm, collected … and doomed
The bug that McAfee suffered last week has the potential to very seriously undermine its business prospects in Australia in the medium term.
Can T-Hub-thumping save the landline?
T-Hub is a heavier, bulkier, less appealing version of the iPad that will in no way lure customers to Telstra home services.
Oh dear: “Unlimited” doesn’t mean “Unlimited”
The Delimiter office was a little surprised this afternoon when a courier appeared and handed us a copy of The Little Oxford English Ditcionary & Thesaurus. But what was inside?
Let’s talk about Telstra and the NBN … again
Telstra's "threats" of competing with an alternative access strategy are this time all nonsense. They can't get enough wireless out there, they have major building access issues with HFC and they should be cricified by sharehlders if they try to over-invest in their PSTN.
Five reasons the iPad needs to succeed in Australia
Let's take a different tack, five reasons we NEED the iPad to succeed in Australia!
Australian technology tax is a golden rip-off
Our friendly overseas IT suppliers must think that the currency is around US$0.63, or are bashing Australia with the greed stick.
eHealth — Where is the duty of care?
After watching the failure of the Government Home Insulation Scheme and the Payroll issues with Queensland Health unfold its clear that the eHealth issues in Australia are part of a much bigger problem.
Oh dear: CommBank CIO’s divided heart
Commonwealth Bank technology chief Michael Harte got some humdinger questions after his lunch speech to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) last week.
A political price for Telstra
It’s now more than four months since Telstra and the NBN team formalised their terms of engagement and kicked off negotiations. Since then, they have got nowhere. Both sides say the talks have been constructive and that much has been achieved, but they are miles apart on price.
Five reasons the iPad will fail in Australia
There's just not enough information yet to know whether the iPad will succeed or fail yet in Australia. But here's five reasons why it might.
McAfee clients: do you have the guts?
McAfee customers whose systems went down yesterday should demand they get given money or an extended licence for the time they had to spend fixing the problem.
The Change Program is a failure … and that’s not all
There is absolutely no question that the Change Program is a failure. It's over budget by hundreds of millions of dollars, it's late, and by late I mean publicly announced "delayed" so many times that it's hard to remember what decade it's meant to be delivered. And now we hear that the first instalment of the software has miserably failed the very customers who paid for it.
Get it right, Twitter: Conroy’s not the ACTA minister
To what extent should Senator Conroy should be aware of the ACTA negotiations? Only partially.
Is Australia facing another ICS-style IT disaster?
As I have watched the Australian Taxation Office's troubled IT Change Program sink to new and disturbing lows over the past few months, I can't help but be reminded of that other Federal Government IT initiative that cost the nation so much -- both financially and in others' confidence in our ability to drive major IT projects.
‘Justice’ isn’t a ‘right’ in NSW …
We have another issue, involving 'incorrect' billing that we will be pursuing over the next week or so and doubtless Telstra will display the same attitude and tactics as they have done in the issue just concluded. We are also pursuing a similar issue against the TIO, an organisation that displays identical attitudes and tactics as Telstra does.
Oh dear: ACMA chief’s broadband “nightmare”
Chris Chapman, the chairman of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, yesterday went into a fair amount of detail about his personal household broadband connection.
Four Corners report short on technical detail
When is Australia's technology sector going to get the full picture on what went on at BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue?
Scoping the NBN cost crater
NBN Co’s Mike Quigley has confirmed what most rational analysts have long taken for granted by telling a Senate committee yesterday that it would probably take decades for the new National Broadband Network to generate a satisfactory return on the capital invested by the Federal Government.
DRM is clouding Australia’s eBook market
I started to look at eBook retailers. And cried. Big Fat Girly Tears. DRM. Lots of DRM. Lots of formats with DRM.
Oh dear: NBN, ABC and … 4chan?
After our recent article on a pamphlet drop by NBN Tasmania, some readers have suggested the fledgling Taswegian company might have gone a bit far with its logo.
My first iPad experience
This morning I held the iPad for the first time. It was not the romantic moment I had hoped for. It felt heavier than I expected and a little smaller. But then I turned it on and after it flipped every which way, I found myself staring at SmartCompany. It looked so slick!
Kim Carr’s eBook working group is a joke
I couldn’t help but laugh when I read the list of industry luminaries who have earned a spot on Industry Minister Kim Carr’s illustrious strategy group to solve all of Australia’s electronic book problems.
Australian CS5 pricing: Adobe responds
Delimiter invited Adobe to respond in a letter to the editor on the issue of the disparity in pricing between the US and Australia regarding its new Creative Suite 5.
End of April approaches
My feelings is that all of this secrecy is bad for us poor consumers in Australia. We almost always pay a “premium” for Apple products, I reckon we’re going to get slugged this time.
Relax: Conroy’s filter can be safely ignored
The government does not care, in the least, whether you reconfigure your system to bypass the filter, or teach a hundred people to each teach a hundred others to do it.
First impressions of the new Realestate.com.au
Certainly they could have done more, and I am not a fan of everything that they have changed but with the number one site in the space you have to be mindful of the "If it ain't broke don’t fix it" rule.
Oh dear: Conroy’s like a boss
It looks like some enterprising souls on YouTube have taken The Lonely Island’s already hilarious satirical video “Like a Boss” and applied it to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy. We’re sure many people have already seen this video, as it aired on January 23rd this year. We recommend you watch both videos, the original first, to get the full effect.
Is there any future for Telstra at all?
I couldn't help but get the impression that these negotiations, whichever way they come out, give every sign of being Telstra's "last hurrah" as a relevancy in Australian communications.
How’s that going to work, then? – Government 2.0 and purdah
Perhaps it's time we stopped considering departmental web sites and social tools an optional bolt-on and put them where they belong – as a part of the critical communication network government agencies rely upon to get their message out and serve their government and public.
Sir Humphrey Appleby on the internet filter
To understand the situation that we find ourselves in regarding the internet filter, we need to refer to the great political textbook of our age: Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister.
Conroy’s wrong on net filtering
Take the money allocated to the technical path and distribute it across the other goals of the overall cyber safety policy of the government, and we'll all be in a better place.
Calling Conroy an idiot won’t stop the filter
Getting rid of Conroy won't get rid of the filter -- it's not just a personal thing, it's endorsed by Cabinet. Attacking him in the hope that his unlikely removal would kill the proposal is just a waste of time.
Fair suck of the sav, Blizzard
Blizzard, I suggest that you need to put at least one character in StarCraft II with an Australian accent. The Protoss seem a bit up themselves and the Zerg are quite weird, so it would have to be a Terran character.
Tassie Liberal leader should take Conroy hard line
I've got one message for new Tasmanian Liberal Premier Will Hodgman: Stop letting Stephen Conroy get away with whatever he wants in your state and provide some scrutiny on the National Broadband Network process.
Without civil liberties, government is just a criminal racket
Even if we choose to believe Senator Stephen Conroy's claim that this is only about protecting us from inadvertent access to child abuse material, once the system is in place, could a government resist the temptation not to extent the scope just a little bit? And a little bit more?
Conroy is right to question Google’s privacy record
Google should not expect to be beyond international criticism while it offers the US Government access to its data on request but lambasts other governments for interfering with the rights of online users.
Oh dear: Is there some form of CS5 event coming up?
Judging from its Twitter account, it looks like someone at Adobe Australia and New Zealand has been told to drum up support for the company’s upcoming launch of its Creative Suite 5 products (Photoshop, InDesign and so on).
Tense Telstra times
After last year's resignations of David Moffatt and Holly Kramer, who along with Milne were favourites within former chief executive Sol Trujillo’s regime, it would appear the stresses within the ‘new’ Telstra are starting to show.
On Conroy’s information byway, there’s some roadkill
If you care about democracy, follow the worm. This worm has a name: Stephen Conroy. While Australians were distracted by another worm this week -- top of the screen for Rudd, bottom for Abbott – few bothered to watch the more insidious wormling, Conroy.
NEHTA — On the road to nowhere?
The NEHTA plan, as it stands will deliver fragile single purpose interconnectivity with little or no interoperability ... As it stands they are on a road to nowhere. We have been down that road and we know where it leads.
Oh dear: Customer service, NetRegistry-style
It was apparent right from the start of this Whirlpool thread that NetRegistry chief operating officer Brett Fenton wasn't having a good day.
Dear Mark, in Australia we love “the Facebook”
I know that your team is sorting through everything, day and night. You can't post just anything on 'the Facebook" and get away with it, can you Mark? You guys notice everything. And are you on Twitter yet?
NBN study release a major Greens victory
It is perhaps fitting that as Minchin is leaving the stage, Greens Senator Ludlam is emerging as the defacto Shadow Communications Minister, in the absence of Opposition will to engage in the portfolio.
Media companies don’t get it: Open market = sales
The running gag on the interwebs is that Aussies are the best BitTorrent downloaders in the world. When will companies realise that there are people willing to pay for content, and that piracy is a market correction to supply an obvious demand?
Telstra NBN negotiations nothing to worry about
Don't take too much notice of the waffle going on around Telstra and the NBN at the moment.
Datacentre strategy a big downer
When I read the summary of the government's datacentre strategy for the next 15 years, the first thing I wondered was how it could have taken the government months to come up with this document.
Oh dear: How Lotus can win Qantas back
Delimiter is prepared to bet that the Lotus Notes camp wasn't happy to learn in February that Qantas had decided to switch sides and was now playing for the Exchange team. But not everyone took the decision lying down.
Why the Apple iPad will change the face of healthcare
In the healthcare setting, and no doubt numerous other settings also, those added inches make a significant difference.
When Agile doesn’t work
I am a huge fan of Agile software development and since becoming Elcom's Technical Director I have made it my business to push us to become more Agile at every step. But a few months ago I realised I was pushing a square block into a round hole.
Atkinson: Are gamers celebrating too soon?
It may take another couple of elections before those in favour of game censorship run out of credits.
Oh dear: Telstra exec banter and Yes, Minister
At Delimiter we're big fans of iTnews weekly video the Crunch. This week's episode refers to the bantering we reported on between Telstra chief information officer John McInerney and chief technology officer Hugh Bradlow, as well as some rather unusual footage of NSW Education Minister Verity Firth at an Adobe event.
Telstra’s ticking clock
NBN Co is trying to negotiate a deal based on a conviction that Telstra's copper network has already been massively devalued, while Telstra is trying to negotiate an outcome that salvages some of that value.
Give poor Huawei a break
Australians should stop making up stories about mythical back doors in Huawei code and let the company get on with selling its products to customers who clearly want to buy them.
Dotcom turns twenty-five
Whether it's an effort to block Google access in China, an effort toward mandatory internet censorship in Australia, or otherwise, these efforts are truly futile.
Internet: ignorance is the real threat
In the 21st century it should be utterly unacceptable to elect representatives who wilfully fail to understand how our country has changed in the presence of technology.
Tasmanian NBN pricing so far is horrible
The proposed National Broadband Network prices released this week by iiNet are simply way too expensive for the promised 100Mbps speeds and will need to be reduced significantly to drive customer uptake.
NBN2 pricing no clearer now it’s published
So the lower-end pricing from iiNet is uncompetitive with ADSL2 and the higher end pricing that gets you the 'headline 100Mbps speed' is way beyond any of the current high end ADSL2 plans available from any number of ISPs.
Oh dear: Those pesky, unrepentant EFA boys
So Communications Minister Stephen Conroy talked a little smack yesterday in the Senate ... but the boys at Electronic Frontiers Australia are unrepentant.
How high-speed broadband will be the death of Telstra
The opposition is doing the government a favour by blocking the legislation that will allow Telstra to be broken up.
Joe Hockey and Kate Lundy: A new Democrats
It is interesting that Hockey falls for one of the Conroy confusions. Refused Classification is not the same as illegal. It seems that Joe, in defence of liberty, thinks that it should be his job as a parent to decide what otherwise refused classification material his kids see.
Oh dear: Serkowski’s fighting words
Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey might have come out swinging against the Federal Government's internet filtering plans last week, but not everybody was impressed. Pirate Party Australia secretary Rodney Serkowski apparently thought Hockey's enlightened stance hadn't had the full force of conversion.
Conroy can safely ignore Tony Smith
As a journalist I have attended thousands of presentations, speeches and debates, and rarely have I encountered a speaker as stultifyingly boring as Tony Smith.
The rage building over Telstra
At some point, Telstra shareholders are going to have to decide whether the cost of not doing a deal with Conroy and Rudd is too high, or, alternatively, whether the cost of doing a deal is too high. Either way, compared to the current situation, they lose.
Oh dear: Optus didn’t learn from Telstra’s mistake
If there’s one thing that Delimiter finds amusing, it’s when history repeats itself. As it so often does in Australia’s fickle telecommunications industry.
iiNet and Netspace? Hell, it’s about time
Having known the principals at both the ISPs -- iiNet chief Michael Malone and Netspace MD Stuart Marburg -- for some time, I would be surprised if the pair hadn't flirted occasionally with the idea of a merger on and off for the past decade.
Buying Pipe … a good decision?
I read a couple of speculation pieces in the Australian financial press over the last two days as to whether the required 75 percent of Pipe shareholders would approve the $6.30 per share offer made by TPG to buy the company.
Apple and the enterprise – Are you ready?
Apple isn't ready for the enterprise. Apple has been ready for years. Now, the enterprise is ready for Apple.
Is our SAP user group too close to SAP?
I’d love to hear from some IT managers and CIOs out there about what they think of SAUG’s latest moves. Is it just me, or this one vendor relationship that is a little too close?
An Inconvenient Truth
We all agree it shouldn't be, that it's a basic technical pre-requisite for modern collaboration, and everybody has great ideas for new ways to do it ...but... the truth is that sharing digitally at Macquarie is harder than it should be.
Lack of NBN detail now outrageous
The Rudd Government's 'trust me' approach to spending on its $43 billion National Broadband Network is starting to appear genuinely ridiculous.
Mr Jobs, thanks for the iPads
My wife asked me the other day how much iPads would cost in Australia. "Don't worry," I said. "Just let Steve handle it. Steve knows what's best."
Don’t privatise the NBN
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy should do more than just remove from the NBN legislation the option for it to be a retailer – he should put in a clause that it will never raise equity or be privatised.
ISP filtering policy is not evidence-based
The principle objection I have is that the policy mandates that ISPs spend a huge sum of money to deploy and maintain masses of new infrastructure. Whether this burden is passed onto Australians via taxes or via increased ISP fees, we will end up paying for it. We will end up paying, and it won't do anything.
Oh dear: How crazy can Pamela Anderson get?
It looks like local domain name reseller Crazy Domains has got itself into a spot of bother with the Advertising Standards Bureau about its advertisement (below) featuring former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson.
More blah blah blah: IT Advocate announced
The problems small and medium sized Australian companies face in winning Commonwealth IT contracts are as perennial as the grass. Two and a half years into a three year term and the Rudd Government solution is the appointment of a "respected industry figure" to "provide leadership."
Peter Dutton MP are you for or against the filter?
Peter, seriously if you cared what I thought you would notice I am not overly interested in a stock standard response letter. I get that from my bank and let me tell you I don’t like them much.
Cloud computing is the new green IT
If I hear the word "cloud computing" mentioned one more time in the next month I am going to petition Kevin Rudd to create an ombudsman to deal with the matter.
Australia is at a digital crossroads
A love of freedom is likely what terrifies me about parts of Mr Conroy's agenda. But the thing about freedom is it must be exercised to be of value.
Dear Stephen, your site is broken
Someone -- probably someone in your IT department that is left over from when Helen Coonan was the minister -- has put this bit of code that will remove the word "ISP filtering" from your list of most popular tags.
Why I didn’t expect AFACT to appeal
The plot of AFACT vs iiNet is very similar to that of gritty Baltimore drama The Wire -- only without so many guns.
Tasmania’s dirty bunyip not the last
There's more dodgy laws in the swamp where Tasmania's ridiculous electoral online comment legislation came from.
Is Nintendo being too harsh?
All I’m saying, Nintendo, is that the law and order thing is fine … but maybe your princess is in another castle?
Will nice guy Thodey finish last?
Telstra chief executive David Thodey charmed the pants off press and analysts at the telco's half-yearly financial results briefing last week.
The NBN Company is boring … and deliberately so
Let's not pretend the NBN Co is not tuning its own message for public consumption, or that its deliberately boring exterior shell represents reality.
Why Modern Warfare 3 needs Australians
A good name would be something ocker like "Dazza", because that’s pretty Australian, or even better, "Budgie", which kinda says he likes to take the piss.
iPad telco plans will sting Australians
Steve Jobs may have created a new category of electronic device. But he’s also created a new category of wireless broadband plan to go with it.
Why John Linton’s not (that) crazy
John Linton is one of the few people in Australia to honestly and loudly speak the truth about the nation’s telco industry’s business — or at least, the truth as he sees it.
Why I’m starting Delimiter
The reason that I'm starting Delimiter (and may launch other sites in the future) is that like that 25 per cent, I love Australia. While I do follow international news, what I'm really fascinated with is Australia's technology sector in all its facets (IT, telco, gaming, consumer gadgets and so on). I've worked in that sector myself. I wanted to found a site that would cover that sector in minute detail. A site that would tell the stories of Australians, for an Australian audience.