Man who nailed the DIY domain

I must thank you for your kind comments regarding the www.diy.com registration (Be master of your own domain, print edition, 14 November). [Internet Editor David Neal wrote that rival do-it-yourself stores must rue the day that B&Q hired the “young, web-savvy go-getter” who spotted the availability of the domain.] It was me who spotted it... I suppose I was young back then!

Pete Hanson, B&Q

Microsoft is having a laugh

Les Hatton echoed my feelings about Microsoft “responding” to my requirements (well, I am a customer aren’t I?) for a faster upgrade cycle (Just who is Microsoft trying to kid? 12 December).

Microsoft has completely misunderstood me: I didn’t want to fork out for new versions every 18 months rather than every 24; no, I merely wanted better software.

An 18-month cycle will encourage me, and corporate IT managers, to go for every second version so as to gain a three-year cycle that offers just that little bit of stability in a difficult world. Skipping every other upgrade like this will also mean I won’t have to keep re-re-rewriting my software training courses quite as often.

Jonathan McColl

Old upgrade habits die hard

Les Hatton wrote about Microsoft’s plan to regularise its product release schedule (Just who is Microsoft trying to kid? 12 December).

Of course the company has gone through the same exercise once before. Back when Windows NT Service Pack 4 came out in 1998, it had been quite a long time since Service Pack 3. So Microsoft said it would thereafter release its Service Packs every six months.

I think SP5 came out on schedule... and then SP6 was a while after that... and then the company crept back to its old way of thinking.

Glen Goldsmith

Security has an image problem

One security issue is still widely overlooked when threats are considered (Malware Attacks nearly double, print edition, 12 December). Maintaining and deploying hard-drive master images that are not properly updated can be a major risk.

Incorporating patches into all your enterprise images may only happen once or twice a year because it is such a time-consuming task – meaning a new machine cloned from a master may succumb to a virus previously eradicated from an organisation.

Until enterprises can maintain cloning operations more effectively, big security holes will remain.

Geoff McIntosh, Binary Resource (UK)

Strategies for system security

Alan Paller of the Sans Institute argued that software suppliers must take greater responsibility for security issues related to their products (Hackers train sights on new targets, 5 December). I am sure his comments will be warmly received by IT managers. However, his suggestion that there is no other solution doesn’t wash.

Application security products already provide the equivalent of seatbelts, airbags and bumpers. A multi-layered approach to system security needs to be adopted – similar to installing alarms, bars and security lighting, in addition to securing the doors.

Until software manufacturers work more closely with customers to solve security problems, computer criminals will always be one step ahead of the game.

Steve Withers, Radware UK

Data watchdog must try harder

Paul Owen’s contention – that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) shows a remarkable reluctance to pursue complaints – is amply demonstrated by its annual report for 2004-5 (ICO will go from bad to worse, Letters, 5 December).

The report lists a total of 12 successful prosecutions resulting in fines totalling £8,350 plus costs of £9,980.

Compare that with the vigour with which motoring offences are pursued. There can scarcely be a motorist in the country who has not contributed to the £100mor so collected in fines each year.

If data protection rules are to be properly enforced, perhaps the ICO should be made self-financing, depending on fines from successful prosecutions.

The 2003-4 annual report shows a running cost of £12m. At current averages, it would only take the ICO about a thousand times more prosecutions to reach break-even.

The regulations supposed to be enforced by the ICO can attract much larger fines than those for speeding – a single marketing call to a number registered with the Telephone Preference Service can supposedly attract a fine of £5,000.

Anyone registered with TPS will confirm that unwanted marketing calls continue, and to date I believe the number of prosecutions is zero.

Alternatively, can the ICO please take over management of speed cameras? That way only when we’ve been identified as a persistent offender would any action be taken – and that would just be a polite note asking us to pay more attention in future.

Rob Hindle

64bit apps present a testing dilemma

I think Martin Veitch overlooked a significant issue in his comment about Microsoft and 64bit server software (Microsoft pushes users down path to 64bit, 5 December).

The cost of buying new 64bit servers is frankly a moot point, because we can simply use what we’ve got – the current version of Exchange or whatever – until the server needs to be replaced.

The real issues are training for IT staff who are unfamiliar with 64bit hardware, and the problem of creating test environments. Who currently has a 64bit server lying around that can be used for testing new 64bit server software? I know I don’t.

When Microsoft starts chucking betas – sorry, Community Technical Previews (CTPs) – at me, they will simply be left in the packaging, because I’ve got nothing to try them out on.

The net result will be poor beta testing of the next round of Microsoft server software, which means bugs. Which means I’m not going to use it.

Steven Kendrick

Bugs multiply as features creep in

Roger Howorth speculated that software quality problems with Visual Studio 2005 might result from testers not being able to find the bugs in time (Bugs arrive on schedule, 28 November). I think this is unlikely. Testers have no difficulty finding bugs quickly – I’ve seen hundreds spotted overnight. The real problem is feature creep.

In the case of Microsoft, a beta product will be tested by many committed customers. The result, in addition to a list of bugs, is a list of features the beta doesn’t have.

The more innovative a product, the larger the problem. New features put on top of bugs will lead to huge amounts for reworking – and this is likely to be the real problem in most cases of failed or delayed product releases.

Managing and reducing rework is where we should focus attention.

A key step is to spend more time getting the requirements right before development commences.

Bob Bartlett, SQS-UK

Why students are right to shun IT

There is much talk of skills shortages. However, like many other 50- year-old IT workers I have been unemployed for more than a year (Why fewer students see a future in IT, 28 November). I was a contract worker with a relevant and up-to-date skill set, with 30 years’ IT experience.

I have been “pipped at the post” several times in the past few years by cheaper work-permit holders.

The permits are for five years, so they will affect the UK’s IT sector for some time. Work permits are not meant to be issued if they affect either wages or employment in an established employment sector, but under the highly-skilled migrant system, no job is required before entry into the UK.

Clearly the ethos of globalisation providing a cheap labour economy via immigration is one that prevails.

Ageism is also a major factor. Remove ageism, and the skills shortage would be resolved. It seems pointless raising the retirement age to 69 when it’s not possible for me to get a job at 54.

And why would an undergraduate choose a career with high levels of unemployment? The 2004 graduate employment survey rated IT as the very worst subject for getting a job after graduation.

Paul Sladen

ICO will go from bad to worse

I recently pursued a complaint through the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) but I fear that under its new policies my case would not be investigated at all, being filed as “one person complaining about a misuse of data that has long since been rectified” (Private investigations, Leader, 28 November).

Last year I complained that a large credit reference agency had knowingly sold out-of-date personal data to my bank. Both the agency and the ICO flippantly dismissed the complaint – even though the harm done was significant and almost certainly affected a large number of customers.

My MP had to threaten a parliamentary ombudsman’s investigation before the ICO would even question the agency. It reluctantly – and very politely – told the agency it might have broken the law, ignored any wider implications and refused to take further action.

To the best of my knowledge, the agency has not changed its processes at all.

By narrowing its remit I wonder if the ICO isn’t simply looking to give itself an easy ride. Or perhaps it has a hidden agenda. A period of lax enforcement will significantly worsen the data protection problem, giving the ICO justification for more funding.

Paul Owen