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ISSN 1039-5008

9"771039"500007PPN No. 255003/00967

nineteen hundred and ninety five

on the new knowledgeperspectives

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A Strategic Publication

the Official Publication of the Australian Computer Society

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Wagers on the future of

work 4Try to imagine a world

without jobs, without bosses. Anarchy? No, it’s

life in the information economy, and as Adam

Lincoln writes, it’s coming to a workplace near you.

Online art’s right royalty struggle 22

The Internet is an exciting new medium for artists and musicians, but Kate Cooney

finds the laws safeguarding intellectual property are

struggling to keep pace with the technology. Online artists

believe that it’s their livelihoods on the line.

Daniel and Goliath 28

With the launch of two long awaited products looming, there’s much ado about Microsoft at the moment. Graeme

Philipson speaks to maturing wunderkind

Daniel Petre about the company, the criticisms,

and his career.

Cover: Main photo by Mark Kratochvil. Beach scene: Stock Photos NSW. Image

manipulation: ACP Color Graphics.

4 Editor’s briefDeath of the job?

6 FluxusCelebrity bytes:Actor Angela Punch McGregor wants to sing • Congo the movie: Gorillas in the Mist meets Raiders of the Lost Ark, with a high tech twist • Online offence: France’s nuclear testing cops a serve on the Internet •A museum dedicated to Mary MacKillop •

8 InformerNews highlights

34 Brush with SocietyNew chief logs in: meet Arthur Dyster, the new CEO of the ACS • Code mode: feedback is sought from members on the new draft Code of Conduct and Professional Practice •ACS news » Golden opportunities: your visa for travel and entertainment bargains * Society Dates: professional diary

TechnicalitiesWorld of objects In the leadup to this year’s Object World conference and exhibition in Sydney,Dr Julian Edwards provides an overview of developments in the domain of object oriented technology.

july ninety five

3

informational editor’s brief

m&m

death of the job?I can quite honestly say I don’t watch daytime soap operas and

talkback shows. The reason has nothing to do with intellectual snobbery, but rather a lack of opportunity. Given a chance, I would

happily tune into the shenanigans on Days of Our Lives, and I’m one of those rare people who are prepared to admit I love watching Oprah Winfrey and Phil Donahue getting to the heart of a matter.

The reason I don’t get to see these shows is because, as you can see, I have a job. And I don’t have a video player.

I work in an industry where quite a few people work from home, at least some of the time, and it’s an option that has been suggested to me. But I am yet to pursue it. One of the reasons is that I don’t trust myself to do eight or nine or 10 hours of work at home, when there are temptations like midday movies, and cleaning the bathroom.

A lot of people make a lot of money out of predicting the future. It doesn’t matter if the predictions don’t come true - if they predict events far enough out, people will have forgotten what they had to say. And if they get it right, all they have to do is remind everyone of what they had to say all those years ago.

The “death of the job” has had a lot of airplay in the 1990s. It sounds like a dream scenario: no more 9 to 5, no more bossy bosses. Visions come to mind of endless days at the beach (how ironic that the skin cancer thing has thrown a dampener on carefree days in the sun). Of course, the death of the job, if it happens, won’t mean the end of toil. And because the way work is structured is so fundamental to the way our society operates, any changes to that structure raises a whole lot of other imperatives, from telecommunications infrastructure, to public transport, to the administration of social security.

The demise of the traditional job, with its constraints and stresses, will undoubtedly mean a flexibility of huge benefit for a lot of people. But I hope the job doesn’t completely die. I like working in the middle of a big city. One of my favourite things is the sound of shoe heels echoing in the tunnel between Town Hall Station and the Queen Victoria Building as Sydney workers rush lemming-like to and from their places of work. There’s a sense of anticipation.

Sitting at my desk at home just isn’t as exciting. Likewise, the thought of working at a decentralised office in the suburbs doesn’t appeal. For a start, I’d probably have to buy a car, because with public transport, all roads currently lead to the CBD.

As Harry Dent says in this month’s cover story, “People like working with people.” While e-mail banter has it’s moments, it’s just not the same as face to face combat.

Adam Lincoln - Editor mhs.adaml@spg [email protected] P0 Box Q400, Queen Victoria Building, Sydney, 2000

Editor Adam Lincoln, Assistant Editor Kirsty Harris, Art &c Production Editor Murray Finlayson, Sub Editor Kate Cooney, Layout Artist Sarah Stothart, Advertising Sales Manager David Lowe, Circulation Services Sarah McKee, Editorial Director Graeme Philipson, Publisher Alistair Gordon. Published by Strategic Publishing Group, Level 6, 131 York Street, Sydney NSW 2000. Postal address: PO Box Q400, Queen Victoria Building, Sydney NSW 2000. Ph: (02) 286 5900 Fax: (02) 267 2094. InformationAge is the official monthly publication of the Australian Computer Society (ACS), and is published monthly February-November by Strategic Publishing Group, on licence from the ACS. The Australian Computer Society, PO Box 319 Darlinghurst, NSW 2010. Ph: (02) 211 5855 Fax: (02) 281 1208. President Garry Trinder Vice-presidents John Manders, Prins Ralston Past President Geoff Dober National Treasurer Glen Heinrich Publications Board Director John Hughes

Contributing Editor for ACS Caroline New CEO Arthur Dyster. Editorial Advisory Board:

# Michael Doyle, Graham Keen, Frank Liebeskind, Allan Milgate, Chris Rawlinson, Arthur __________________________________________

Tatnall, Robin Wiley. Subscriptions: $36.00 (10 issues). Copies are distributed free to STRATEGIC

members of the ACS. All material m InformationAge is protected under the Commonwealth pi TtlT TCTTTVTY"2Copyright Act 1968. Film output and colour proofs by ACP Colour Graphics. Printed by TPOffset Alpine Printing. ACN 054 973 652 ISSN 1039-5008 " » |UKUUr_________

july ninety five4

mailto:[email protected]

informationage convergence

imprudent?

I am writing in reference to the article by Stuart Kennedy titled Object Occult in the May edition of Information Age. I must protest at the comments made in the second last paragraph. The use of the

term “Prudential’s IT lady” is unnecessary and demeaning. The use of this term in conjunction with the fact that the MITS people are supposedly personality massaging experts and are having trouble striking rapport is also slanting the perspective of the situation. The other prospective clients of MITS within the article are referred to by name and/or position. Why isn’t the same courtesy given to Prudential’s IT executive? Also, the ability of the MITS representatives to strike rapport with these other people is not mentioned.

I felt that this paragraph let the whole article down as it tends to suggest that Prudential’s personnel (well at least one in particular) are difficult to get on with and unreasonable in their demands.

If it is the ACS’s aim to motivate women to enter, and achieve executive positions within the industry, balanced reporting must be encouraged.

I also ask Stuart Kennedy how he would have reported the loss of MITS’s Smalltalk trainer had that person been a male and stayed in the USA to marry a woman. This was another unnecessary sentence in the article.

Vanessa Beer Senior Consultant DMR Group Australia

parochial?

I was very interested in the “Reinventing IS/IT” seminar conducted by Ed Yourdon, Larry Constantine and Rob Thomsett. But it was available only in - where else - Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

This and other such events cause me to ask whether there has been a name change from “Australia Computer Society” to the “Eastern Coast Computer Society”. Are we in South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania paying subscriptions to the national body and no-one has bothered to tell us that we no longer belong?

While Rob Thomsett has recently been to WA and been greatly appreciated, neither Ed nor Larry have ventured across. When I lived in Sydney, the “far west” was Bourke and Hay. To some on the east coast, it is true the world really is flat, and you fall over the edge when you reach the SA border.

The other explanation is that the ACS well recognises that WA skills are much higher than those in NSW, Queensland and Victoria, and that we necessarily subsidise those poor unfortunates on the east coast to help them reach the skill level we already have. Perhaps these erstwhile gurus (ie. Larry and Ed) could venture over here to raise their skill levels! We in WA have a highly developed sense of social responsibility, and are only too willing to help.

Marion Blair BSc (NSW), MACS North Beach, WA

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OUR WORK ! MfflBtSKSS

t I T i i « * r tii i > f i t mi i » n iDENTHARRY 8

Job Shock is the latest release from Harry Dent, interviewed for this month’s cover

story. Dent is also the author of the 1993 international bestseller The Great Boom Ahead, and publishes the HS Dent Forecast.

After graduating from the University of South Carolina with a degree in accounting and finance, Dent received his MBA from Harvard Business School. He has worked as a consultant to several Fortune 100 companies, and has himself been CEO of several companies.

Dent enjoys a high profile in the USA, where he has appeared on Good Morning America and been featured in Fortune, Success,The Wall Street Journal and Omni. He has been on the public speaking circuit since 1988, and has consistently been rated in the top one per cent of hundreds of speakers by the Executive Committee, a worldwide network of business CEOs.

Job Shock is pubhshed by Bookman Press, RRP $17.95.

Also mentioned in the cover story is the Open Interchange Consortium, a fledgling organisation that serves as a forum for discussion on technological developments, while keeping a keen eye on the imphcations for society. For more information contact Stephen Gould on (02) 699 3518.

july ninety five

5

informationage

fluxus /’flAkses/n n- a festival or occasion similar to a happening (def.S) which incorporates elements of theatren musicn literaturen etc-n not in their traditional forms- CL: flowing!

High jinx in the jungleThe techno-inspired films

just keep on coming. According to its production

notes, Congo is a “dazzling blend of state of the art technology and primal adventure - technology versus nature, with a lot of suspense, action, thrills and chills.”

The film is based on Michael Crichton’s 1980 book of the same name, but makes full use of recent technological developments. The plot centres on the search for the legendary Lost City of Zinj by a motley crew of experts and fortune hunters, each with their own agendas; characters include a gorilla named Amy who uses a ‘data glove’ to communicate with humans.

Congo is released nationally on 6 July. Courtesy of United International Pictures, InformationAge has 10 double passes for Congo to give away. The first 10 readers to e-mail Kirsty Harris [email protected] or fax (02) 267 2094 will receive the free passes.

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mother multimedia

These days no museum worth its salt would open without a multimedia component of some kind, and an impressive tribute to

Mary MacKillop is no exception. Situated in North Sydney, Mary MacKillop Place is a high tech affair that

celebrates the life and legacy of Australia’s first saint. Individual exhibits represent various stages in Mary’s life, one of the “highlights” being a computerised model

of Bishop Shiel excommunicating her. Mary MacKillop Place, 7 Mount Street, North Sydney. Phone 02 954 9688.

Admission charges: Adults: $5.00, Concession: $4.00.july ninety five

6


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informationage

While Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Gareth Evans led a delegation in Paris, Internet services provider AUSNet Services has been quick to do its bit

to let the French know “we are not amused” by the country’s announcement that it will resume nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific.

AUSNet has set up a letter of protest that can be accessed through its “Your Say” feature on the AUSNet home page. The letter criticises French President Jacques Chirac over the decision, and questions France’s commitment to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, signed only recently.

“Sending an e-mail message is a powerful way of delivering a protest to the French,” says AUSNet’s Chris Campbell. “If users want to double the impact of their message they can download the letter and fax it to the French Embassy and consulates around Australia.

“We should utilise every communication channel available to us to protest at this arrogant decision. E-mail is a quick, effective way for Australians to register their indignation.”

Not in our backyard! The AUSNet address is http://www.world.net/yoursay

angela punch mcgregorYou’re at a party and someone says they work in computers. What’s the first thought that springs to mind?They’re more intelligent than me.

What application of information technology most amazes you?The “voice” computer, which types what you’ve spoken. I can’t wait to get one!

What, if anything, do you consider the biggest downside of IT?Children spending more time with technology than with human beings.

If you could make IT perform any function or solve any problem, what would it be?To clean my entire house at the push of a button.

If you could experience virtual anything, what would it be?To feel I was taking the part of Madame Butterfly in Puccini’s opera.

Angela Punch McGregor is one of Australia’s most distinguished performers of stage and screen. She has earned two AFI Best Actress Awards, for her roles in Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith and Annie’s Coming Out, as well as Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Newsfront. She received a further nomination for what is perhaps her best known role, as Jeannie Gunn in We of the Never Never.

july ninety five

7

http://www.world.net/yoursay

informationage informer

Budget bytes

The proposed abolition of the computer bounty and the removal of

the sales tax exemption on software embedded on EPROM memory devices were the two most controversial elements of the federal budget, according to industry analysts. Executive director of the AHA, Peter Upton, says that dropping the bounty seemed contradictory with other government directions, because it would be withdrawn from the companies the government purports to encourage: innovative, value adding organisations.

Financial Review, IS May

Power company sees the light

Sydney Electricity has awarded a three year

outsourcing arrangement to Hitachi Data Systems. Jack McElwee, executive manager of information technology services, says the organisation hopes to save between $4 million and $5 million during the period of the contract.HDS is to rebuild Sydney Electricity’s data centre and bring it up to date with international standards. HDS will own, service and maintain the equipment, although SE staff will operate and use it on a daily basis.


Training the technophobe

Technophobia has long been acknowledged, but rarely taken seriously.

Now, a study of computer anxiety conducted at Deakin University

indicates the affliction might seriously impair a person’s ability to function in a society increasingly littered with technology. Computer anxiety can lead to great stress in the workplace. One of the most effective ways to overcome the phobia is through appropriate training. Trainers need to explain the workings of a computer first, and only when users are comfortable with the theory should they be introduced to the practice.


Big database for big state

The QueenslandDepartment of Lands

has developed an automated titles system (ATS) that speeds up a land title transfer from 20 days to four. Brisbane based Ingres specialist Technology One developed the software, while Unisys Australia supplied Sequent 790 and 490 machines, running Unix. Data capture began in April 1994, with 2.7 million titles to be keyed into the the database. By the time the project is completed in December, the database may be the biggest Ingres DB in Australia, weighing in at 30 Gbytes.

Computer Daily News, 17 May

Unis keep options open

Industry commentators are predicting an alliance between Sybase

Australia and Optus Communications will supply an interactive online learning network for Australian universities. It is believed senior level

discussions have taken place between the two companies, and sources say initial reaction among universities looking for alternatives to Microsoft - Telstra has been positive.

Computerworld, 19 May

ALL for one in Ade Laide

A group of Adelaide based companies are

pooling their resources in an effort to pfevent the state government’s whole of government desktop computer tender being swamped bymultinationals. Members of United Technology include Lodin Computer, Random Access,Intelligent Machines and Kern Technology.

Pacific Computer Weekly, 19 May

Megabucks in big systems

The mainframe and Unix markets are growing, but only a small

group of vendors are celebrating. According to IDC’s manager of multiuser systems John Blair, DEC, Sun, Hewlett-Packard and Tandem are responsible for the $100 million growth experienced by the sector. DEC comes in at number one, its revenues growing 68 per cent on last year thanks largely to Alpha shipments. Tandem is currently the number two player, its Himalaya range helping its revenue to grow by 50 per cent. Blair says IBM had mixed fortunes in the mainframe market. Although shipping more mainframe Mips than ever before in its history, the company saw a decline in mainframe revenue.


july ninety five

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HP still hot stuff

Hewlett-Packard just keeps going from strength to strength. The

company has reported a 41 per cent rise in earnings to $US577 million for its second quarter ended 30 April. Sales were up 19 per cent to $7.4 billion.US sales were up 12 per cent to $3.1 billion, while overseas revenues rose 24 per cent to $4.3 billion.


Internet buddies

Two Australiancompanies have joined

forces to create a combined platform of hardware, software and access for PCs to the Internet. Netcomm has acquired Internet service Connect.com which provides access to the Internet over its national and international network. The companies say that the united front gives them the customer base, distribution, marketing and technical expertise to achieve substantial growth.

Financial Review, 22 May

Open Net opens

Open Net, the online educational service

being provided by the private (but government sponsored) company of the same name, has been launched amid much fanfare and a video linkup between ABC Studios in Sydney and Perth. According to the Minister for Employment,Education and Training, Simon Crean, the service represents the first step in the establishment of a national education

informationage

network (EdNA). While the content is far from certain, the costs are known: Open Learning students will be charged $5 an hour to access Open Net, and non-OLs $6 an hour. The service is accessed by a local phone call and provides Internet access, including the World Wide Web.


Virtual bonus from banks

An Australian bank is considering giving its

top 500 customers PCs and modems as part of a grand plan to improve customer service, according to an Ernst & Young survey. On the subject of “virtual banking” the survey found that although nearly two thirds of all transactions are currently conducted in “bricks and mortar branches”, within two years the figure will be less than 50 per cent, with the remainder carried out via technological interfaces.


Cancer talk ridiculed

A US federal judge has dismissed a law suit

charging that use of a cellular phone caused a fatal brain tumour. The suit, filed against NEC and GTE Milnet, was dismissed on the grounds of “junk science”. David Reynard, who claimed that use of a cellular phone caused his wife’s brain cancer, mounted a high profile public relations campaign; the publicity caused a fall in stocks of companies in the cellular game, including Motorola and McCaw Cellular.


Warm and fuzzy in a wired world

Vern Rayburn, the man responsible for the

Wired World strategy across the Paul Allen Group of international multimedia companies, believes a truly wired world is at least a decade away. But it will be worth the wait, he says. “I’m an optimist because I really believe technology has a humanistic, altruistic side that should bring together great benefits for all classes and cultures. Predictions of a global village torn by a great divide between information rich and information poor classes are absolute rubbish,” Rayburn says.

The Australian, 23 May

EdNA not yet spoken for

The taskforce in charge of preparations for the Australian Education

Network (EdNA) has moved to allay fears that Microsoft will automatically win the right to supply the necessary communications infrastructure. The Department of Employment, Education and Training will likely issue a call for tenders in September; extensive consultation with industry is promised as part of the selection process. Rivals of Microsoft say the tender process will buy them time to educate bureaucrats and politicians of the merits of their offerings, compared to the Microsoft/Telecom OnAustralia venture.


informer

Disposable computers

The age of thedisposable computer is

edging closer, driven by the tumbling cost of hardware. In Sydney last month Dr Doug Kalish, partner in charge of Price Waterhouse’s technology centre in Silicon Valley, also said that if the advances in the electronics field had been mirrored in the car business, a Cadillac would run for 500,000 miles on a single gallon of petrol and cost $2.50. Turning his crystal ball to the software market, Dr Kalish says there “could be a significant change, and the big boys such as Lotus, Novell and Microsoft may not be leaders in the next five years.” Instead, the software winners will be those organisations which developed “small and sweet” applications, finely tuned to user needs and able to link with other applications by using techniques such as object linking and embedding.


Online and accountable

A New York judge has issued a ruling that, if

upheld, will impact greatly on the nature of online information services. By ruling in a dispute that Prodigy Services is a publisher of information, not just a distributor, the judge not only cleared the way for a $278 million libel lawsuit against the company, he also suggested that online service providers should be legally liable for comments posted electronically by users. The

july ninety five

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information informer

decision comes at a time when “decency in communications ” legislation is being considered by the US Congress and several State legislatures.

Financial Review 29 May

See you at the Net Library

Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett chose a Melbourne shopping mall

to launch the Internet based Victorian libraries network, Vicnet. The purpose of Vicnet is to give users access to information and a range of services, including dial up access to library facilities such as CD-ROM and library catalogues; community bulletin boards and e-mail facilities; state and local government information; and access to the Internet - for a fee - using the library as an international gateway. More than 1000 libraries will be linked to Vicnet by the start of 1996. The address ishttp://www.vicnet.net.au.


AARNet enters Telstra phase

Telstra’s new pricing model for Internet users kicks in on 1 July as

the carrier settles into the manager’s chair at AARNET, the network’s main backbone in Australia. The biggest losers will be sites which previously enjoyed flat rate arrangements with AARNet. Under the new system, affiliates who previously paid a flat $25,000 per year for a 64 kbps link will be charged $108,000. However, prices will be lower for

o

Acquiring tastes

In a surprise move, Microsoft has dropped its $2.1 billion plans toacquire Intuit Inc. The deal, originally announced last October, would

have been the biggest merger in the history of the computer software industry. Instead, Microsoft will pay Intuit $46.25 million for termination of the agreement. Microsoft had intended to make Intuit’s popular personal finance PC program, Quicken, a gateway to online financial services, an area the company is very keen to promote. But the US Justice Department, ever vigilant where Microsoft is concerned, slapped an antitrust lawsuit on the company, fearing that competition was at risk. With the launch of Windows 95 and the Microsoft Network imminent, Microsoft decided it would not engage in a protracted legal battle. Some commentators believe the company feared it would lose the Intuit case, and decided to wait for a better battleground on which to face broader questions about its ability to buy competing firms or enter new markets.


In what ranks as the world’s largest software company takeover,Computer Associates has announced it will buy Legent Corporation for

$USI.78 billion ($2.5 billion). The acquisition will help CA compete with IBM in the mainframe sector, and also to gain a firmer footing in the client/server arena. Although some of the products Legent sells are complementary to those in CA’s portfolio, others compete with existing products, so some rationalisation is likely. Computer Associates’s history of growth by acquisition is well documented - only last June it bought the ASK Group for US$3 10 million. Despite this latest takeover, CA’s revenues will not match Microsoft’s, which last year reached $US4.6 billion. CA will now surpass the $3 billion mark, however.


narking the software industry’s biggest merger ever, Lotus has agreed to be bought out by IBM. The $US3.52 billion ($4.9 billion) deal should impact profoundly on the personal computer software industry by putting

IBM in a position where it can truly challenge Microsoft. What began as a hostile takeover bid, announced publicly a week ago just moments after Lotus had been informed, seems to have ended with smiles all round.(Lotus executives up to that time had rejected offers from IBM over a five month period.) Under the terms of the deal, Lotus’s chief executive, Jim Manzi, will become a senior vice president of IBM, continuing to lead Lotus, which will retain its name. While there was speculation that other companies, such as AT&T or Oracle, were interested in Lotus, none countered IBM’s offer. Lotus’s portfolio of products is particularly well suited to IBM, but the key attraction for Big Blue is undoubtedly the groupware product Lotus Notes. In addition Lotus’s application programs, such as its wordprocessing and spreadsheet software, include top sellers that work with IBM’s OS/2 operating system.

The Australian, 13 June

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http://www.vicnet.net.au


most service providers. It is expected the new fees will encourage lightly loaded high speed links over saturated low speed lines, which should improve overall network performance. It is hoped the absence of tariffs on outgoing international traffic will encourage more Australian content.

Computerworld, 2 June

Net shopping suspicions

Anew survey byDataquest confirms

what most people already suspected: computer owners may like surfing the Internet to see what’s offered, but they are reluctant to use credit cards to buy products advertised on the global computer network. Fewer than 25 per cent of Internet users are willing to hand over their card numbers for purchases on the network. Security is the main concern, cited by some 60 per cent of respondents. Others said computer screens should be designed so they are more user friendly for online shopping. Allen Weiner, an analyst at Dataquest, says “Simply providing a different way of doing the same old . thing will not lead to success in this market. Software should be developed to provide a convenient and pleasurable shopping experience.”

Financial Review, 5 June

Something in common: crime

Crooks around the world are making

clever use of vast financial resources and sophisticated technology

to move huge amounts of money across continents and steal sensitive information. And according to speakers at a three day international conference held in Britain, police are being hopelessly outclassed. Many of them are using primitive computer systems and lack the trained personnel to deal with the techniques of the underworld. Another problem is that crime knows no frontiers, but crime prevention does - police attempting to follow criminal trails from one country to another are constantly faced by legal hurdles. In Bulgaria, criminal gangs are writing computer software and selling it abroad, with the specific aim of helping hackers break into computers.

Financial Review, 5 June.

Wimpy stance on pi racy

Robert Holleyman, US chairman of the Business Software

Association, has criticised the Australian Government for its poor record of convicting software pirates. According to Holleyman, “The handful of prosecutions do not serve as an effective deterrent against other software thieves.” Under Australian criminal law, software thieves are liable for up to $50,000 in fines, and/or six months in jail. In the USA the criminal sanctions are much heavier, with penalties of up to five years in jail and $US250,000 in fines.


Missing Links for Saigon

Pirelli Cables Australia is to supply telephone cable worth $13 million to

regional operator Ho Chi Minh City Post and Telecommnications, following approval of the deal by the Vietnamese Government last month. The contract will triple the amount of cable currently installed in Ho Chi Minh City. Export Finance and Insurance Corp financed the deal with a low interest loan to the city’s telecommunications authority.


Priceless predictions

The fifth Price Waterhouse

Technology Forecast has hit the shelves, with hundreds of predictions about general computer technology trends during the next three years. Predictions include: notebooks and subnotebooks will be the first to incorporate mini CDs; audio cues will bring a significant improvement in the quality of user interfaces; and a computer that replaces paper pads will be available by 1997.

Financial Review, S June

Cost Ly c Lients

Anew report by Compass Analysis claims cutting IT staff on

client/server sites can actually increase end user costs. “Shedding staff might seem like a good way to lower costs but our analysis proves it actually increases costs at the other end,” says the company’s Rawdon Simon.

“If the end user can’t get the service he or she wants, it could mean consultants, additional staff at their end, and so on. In a mainframe environment, hardware represents about 70 per cent of the cost to the end user while in the client/server environment, people represent about 70 per cent. In the average client/server environment, the average cost per client is close to $10,000 a year, fairly evenly divided between end user and direct costs. If you try to lower direct annual costs by even a small amount, the cost per client will shoot up.”

Computer Daily News, 6 June

Top trademarks

Philadelphia trademark attorney Glenn Gunderson has compiled a

survey into the most popular words used in trademark applications in the USA. Of 140,000 applications last year, 226 included the word “virtual” and 199 included the word “cyber”. Other buzz terms on the way up include “interactive”,“multimedia” and “Internet”.


0Lympic spirit on the Net

The Sydney Committee for the Olympic Games (SCOG) has posted

pages on the World Wide Web to make available to the public information on all aspects of preparations for the event. IBM Australia is establishing the server, which will provide regular updates on the games, supported

july ninety five

II


by images. The address is http://www.sydney.olympic.org


Leaking to the Libera Ls

The federal government is keeping mum about its efforts to tighten

security in the wake of massive leaks from the Attorney-Generals Department last year. Shadow Attorney-General Senator Amanda Vanstone says the Attorney-General’s Department and the departments running similar systems haven’t done enough to ensure the systems are secure. Vanstone received 783 text documents, 5281 e- mail messages and 17 spreadsheet documents after a hacker broke into files containing encrypted passwords and cracked the code. The leaks came from the Attorney- General’s internal Unix based network called LOIS (Law Office Information System).


Cathay Pacific cruising a Long

Cathay Pacific has made a successful start to

the seven month process of moving its data centre from Hong Kong to Sydney. With the help of ISSC Australia, the joint services venture between IBM and Lend Lease, Cathay will transfer its reservations, ticketing, engineering and cargo handling systems. Cathay plans for the systems to be down for only 10 hours during one weekend while the data transfer is completed.


Honest MIS

Tip-offs from MIS managers and staff lead to more than half of

the software piracy lawsuits filed against corporations in Australia and New Zealand, says Ron Eckstrom, vice president of the Business Software Association (BSA) in Asia. Although MIS staff who have been retrenched or left under bad terms are more likely to tell on their former employers, MIS managers are also inclined to dob in their current employers. Experts say many MIS managers are simply not prepared to be held responsible for the crime, so they call the BSA anonymously.


Austel still calling shots

Telstra is to remain constrained by the pricing provisions of the

Telecommunications Act 1991, following preliminary findings from Austel’s inquiry into the carrier’s dominance of international services. Austel ruled that Telstra is in a position to dominate the international services market, but not the transit or international hubbing market, and therefore remains constrained by the Act.


Digital video: fast, at last

Cards that support the coming generation of

on demand digital video streams delivered at high speed across the enterprise will be widely available by Christmas.

According to the US chairman of the MPEG standards committee,Peter Schirling, they will conform to the MPEG-2 video transmission standard which can scale up in speed almost indefinitely. Shirling says that after seven years of work on the standard, a number of MPEG-2 pilot networks are poised to go into production later this year and that next year will see an explosion in MPEG-2 capacity. While large organisations will have online, real time networks, smaller companies will opt for the cheaper alternative of after hours delivery.


Aussie Power Mac connection

An agreement signed between IBM and Apple means that one

third of the world’s Power Macintoshes will contain central processor daughtercards made in Australia. The first cards destined for Apple’s Singapore plant (for inclusion in Apple PowerPCs made for the Asia Pacific), rolled off the production line last month. Singapore manufactures a third of all Power Macintoshes sold. The deal is expected to generate more than $40 million in exports to the Asia Pacific region this year.


Interactive far from active

Australia has years to wait for true

interactive broadband services - despite a $7 billion investment in

cabling infrastructure - according to Philip Sykes, general manager of network and platform systems at Telstra’s multimedia group. Sykes says it will be the turn of the century before the final step is taken to a network that will feature ATM connectivity delivered to the consumer via fibre optic cabling.


Windows 95: nice little earner

nicrosoft Australia has announced local pricing for Windows 95.

Users will be charged an estimated $160 for an upgrade from existing Windows environments, and $310 for the DOS upgrade. The figures correspond roughly with those for the US market, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Microsoft says IDC research points to 500,000 upgrades to Windows 95 in the first year of availability in Australia. If this is achieved, revenues of $80 million will be reaped.


Support saps system budgets

Unmanaged PC support costs local companies

more per user than the technology itself, says a report by Nolan, Norton & Co, a subsidiary of KPMG Information Solutions. The consulting company examined the annual cost of end-user computing in 18 of Australia’s largest private and public enterprises since 1993, finding that the average visible cost of

july ninety five

12

http://www.sydney.olympic.org


owning a PC was $4700, including the cost of dedicated support personnel. However, the average hidden cost, arising out of the user seeking self support, is $5600. Self support is attributed to dissatisfaction with available support and the absence of end-user computing planning practices.


Intellectualtrips

The TRIPS (trade related aspects of intellectual property)

element of the GATT agreement now includes a body of enforcement provisions as part of an international multilateral intellectual property agreement. And not before time: statistics from the Software Publishers Association reveal the personal computer software industry lost $US8.8 billion last year, through the illegal copying of business application software alone. In the Asia Pacific region, Australia and New Zealand are the only countries to have piracy rates below 50 per cent.

The Australian 13 June

Canadian appointed CGIO

Andy Macdonald, for three years Canada’s chief informatics officer,

has been appointed to the new position of chief government information officer for the Australian government. From the middle of July Macdonald will fill the role for three years, on secondment

from the Canadian government. “I see my role as creating the vision, selling the vision, communicating the vision, getting the buy in links and getting people moving in the same direction,” he says.


Beefing up brain cells

Leading Britishtechnology futurist

Professor Peter Cochrane predicts that scientists will be able to link the human brain directly to a computer within 50 years. “The link would create a physical connection between the carbon based memory of the human brain and the silicon memory of the computer chip,”Cochrane says. If the link is achieved, people will be able to carry the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica on a chip inserted in their head. “By 2015,the computer will be equal to you and I in terms of storing the stuff you and I can store,”Cochrane says.


Surfers are rich and smart

A study of World Wide Web users by SRI

International has found that 50 per cent of Web users are highly educated, early adopters of technology; eclectic; and earn a median income of $US74,000 a year. In the real world, this demographic group makes up only 10 per cent of the population. The male to female ratio on the Web is put at 70:30.


f)BriefGr than briafESTABLISHED... In Adelaide, Tandem Services

Co’s Advanced Development Centre, which will specialise in developing software solutions for Tandem clients ... in Sydney, Motorola’s Australian Research Centre, the first such centre the company has established outside the USA; the electronics giant has also invested $6.8 million in a software centre in Adelaide ... in Melbourne, Siemens has invested $75 million in a Regional Centre for Synchronous Digital Hierarchy, as well as a World Centre for Network Planning Tools ... SAP and Hewlett-Packard’s regional competence centre has opened in North Sydney; the facility will provide standard demonstrations of R/3 and HP products

EARNT ... Compaq’s Eckhard Pfeiffer raked in a salary of $US5.05 million last year, making him the top earner in IT. The amount represents double his earnings for the previous year ... IBM’s Lou Gerstner came in at number two, with $US4.6 million ... Microsoft’s Bill Gates cleared $458,000 in salary and bonuses, but not to worry - he is reportedly worth $US9.3 billion

EXPECTED ... Australia’s modem market isset for an explosion in sales, thanks to increasing demand for online services; Netcomm’s chief operating officer Peter Townsley expects household usage in Australia to rise from the current four per cent to more than 15 per cent by 1997 ... the worldwide memory market is expected to grow by 40 per cent during 1995; strong demand for dynamic RAM (DRAM) will contribute to market revenues of $US45 billion, up from $US32 billion last year ... rumour has it that Rupert Murdoch’s US based Delphi Internet is planning to set up shop in Australia; there is also speculation that Sydney based OzEmail is having high level discussions with the Internet mammoth, with a view to joining forces ... a technical support alliance between Microsoft and Novell is likely in Australia within the next year; the long time combatants have agreed on a deal to jointly support customers whose site includes products sold by both companies

july ninety five

13

informationage cover story

wagers oEconomic soothsayers are predicting the death of the job. But as Adam Lincoln writes, the information economy won’t necessarily mean the end of hard work.

The promotional brochure for Harry Dent’s latest book, Job Shock, declares: “Contrary to popular opinion, we are on the verge

of the greatest economic boom in history. And when it’s over, no-one will have a job!”

Of course, the US based author of the 1993 bestseller, The Great Boom Ahead, doesn’t mean this literally. It’s not that no-one will work, for there is plenty of work to be done. Rather, it’s the way that we work that will change. And Dent believes the developments will be for the better.

“People are unnecessarily pessimistic about the role they will play in the society of the future,” he says. “They think computers are going to take over their jobs, and make life even more bureaucratic and more techie. In reality, computers will free up people to do more of the things they like: deal with human beings, be creative, be entrepreneurial.

“Computers are the new bureaucrats, but you don’t have a bunch of sluggish people slowing everything down, telling you that you can’t do this or you can’t do that.”

Fortune tellingDent is just one of many commentators predicting the demise of the traditional job. William Bridges, in his book JobShift, writes: “What is disappearing is not just a certain number of jobs, or jobs in certain industries or jobs in some part of the country or even jobs as a whole. What is disappearing is the the job itself, like a species that has

outlived its evolutionary time.”The reason for the demise of the job

is simple. While the industrial revolution gave us mass production and large bureaucracies, the information economy shifts the focus to tailoring products and services for the all-important customer. The work that must be done in the future will be best done outside a structure of regular hours, rigid job descriptions and unvarying pay.

“The job is a social artifact so deeply embedded in our consciousness that most of us have forgotten its artificiality or the fact that most societies since the beginning of time have done just fine without jobs. The job is an idea that emerged early in the 19th century to package the work that needed doing at the time. Before people had jobs, they worked just as hard but on a shifting cluster of tasks, in a variety of locations, on a schedule set by the sun and the weather and the needs of the day,” says Bridges.

Dent says that in the information economy, decisions will increasingly be made on the frontlines by everyday workers. He identifies two general career tracks: “frontline generalists” and “backline specialists”. Workers will have to think like business people, while managers and backline experts - such as IT professionals - will be forced to relinquish much of their decision making power to these frontline generalists, and concentrate on serving them so that the frontliners can serve the customers.

“Except for strategic matters, top managers will no longer be decision makers but coordinators and facilitators for frontline teams, whose members will make most of the decisions for their customers.”

Dent speaks of right brain skills - the creative and emotional - and left brain skills - the analytical, and mathematical. Workers will run their own ‘businesses’, often within larger concerns. Success will, more than ever, depend on the individual finding a niche that suits them, and capitalising on skills that computers can’t hope to emulate.

“We will see the power of 16 supercomputers on a single microchip for less that A$150 by 2003,” he says. “How can a manager, clerical worker or factory operator compete with these incredible left brain machines when their jobs are based on left brain skills?

“Yet two human eyes have more information capacity than all the world’s supercomputers put together. The secret is leveraging our right brain and sensory systems - our human creative capacities.

“The information economy will mean a new flavour of entrepreneurial opportunities that will suit a broader array of people, as they will be lower

july ninety five

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The flattening of hierachies and increasing focus on self-managed teams has already started in many workplaces, but how will people adjust to this new kind of organisational structure? Do people like - subconsciously or not - to have an authority figure at work?

“They do,” says Dent. “That’s why a lot of people are resistant to change. Twenty per cent of the population wouldn’t change the pecking order if you put a shot gun to their heads. On the one hand nobody likes to be told what to do, but at least if you screw up and you were following the orders of a boss, the onus is on them.

“The biggest demand on people, other than to tap into their creativity - their right brain - is to take responsibility for their lives, their careers, their decisions, their customers, and learn to make decisions and be accountable.

“It really doesn’t matter if they resist because sooner or later they’ll have to do it or they won’t have a job.”

New age thinkingThere have long been predictions that by the year 2000 most people will work 30 hour weeks, the rest of their time devoted to the pursuit of leisure. The recession put paid to that, or at least delayed it. Instead it seems the choice is a 50 hour working week, or unemployment.

Greater leisure time is at best a long term goal, says Dent.

“We have a lot more leisure time than most people before the Industrial Revolution. But right now we are in a transition period. When you’re going from an old economy to a new, there’s always difficulty and turmoil, so it’s not surprising that most people are working harder than they did in the 1960s.

“It won’t really be a matter of more leisure time, but more flexible leisure time. We will always have an

risk and more incremental in nature.”In the new order, bureaucracy will

be replaced by “ad-hocracy”, a concept first described by Alvin Toffler in The Third Wave. Employment opportunities will have a finite term of life, for the duration of specific projects. The Future of Work Foundation concurs: “The practice of having one employer and one workplace will become an increasingly minority practice, in favour of multiple employers - both simultaneously and over time - and multiple workplaces.”

For some time, the lifetime employment that could be relied on from the public service and big corporations has been on a fast track to anachronism. The big losers typically have been from the middle management layers of companies.

Newer companies seem to run tighter ships without some of the pain. Telecom Australia, despite considerable reengineering, still has some 15 management layers from top to bottom. Optus, with the benefit of a clean start and customised IT, has six layers from CEO Bob Mansfield down. Tower level staff are empowered to make a wide range of decisions without consulting management superiors.


re of workinstitutionalised working week to an extent, but the lines will be fuzzier. ”

Increasingly people are prepared to sacrifice income and career prospects for improved “quality of life”. Coupled with developments in IT and telecommunications that facilitate remote computing, this has led to the rise of SOHO - the small office and home office - and telecommuting.

Employees may be keen to work from home, but studies suggest benefits for employers as well. Productivity increases have been put at 15 per cent. ‘Sickies’ are fewer, and in the longer term, reduced need for office space means real estate savings.

But progress is slow.Addressing a lecture meeting of the

Open Interchange Consortium, Nick Hough, President of the Asia Pacific Telework Association, said:“I was asked to provide an overview of what’s happening with teleworking overseas. Well I’d have to - there’s nothing much happening here!”

There is the well documented case of the Public Sector Union, which negotiated a Home Based Working Award for federal public service members, handed down by the Industrial Relations Comission in February last year. Of the hundreds of applications by public servants wishing to work under the award, so far only 14 have been approved.

The potential benefits of teleworking have been reinforced by several telecommuting pilot projects in the USA and Europe. But in Australia, the only significant pilot to date is an initiative of the NSW Roads & Traffic Authority. For the past year some 90 staff, mainly classed as ‘professionals’, have been working from home or from nearby regional RTA offices for one to three days a week.

There is a good reason for the slow local uptake of telecommuting - the absence of legislative incentive.

july ninety five

15

Dent: “I don’t think it will reach the point where everybody is working in their homes.”

By contrast, the US Clean Air Act requires that employers with 100 or more employees at a single work site must form ‘commute incentive programs’ that encourage employees to shun single occupant cars in favour of public transport, car pooling, bike riding, walking or telecommuting to work. Hough says it is a “law with teeth” because it applies to the employer, not the employee.

In late 1993 the European Commission announced it would plough $576 million into a program

aimed at encouraging teleworking, while investigating the pitfalls. In Australia governments are yet to do anything comparable, although North Sydney Council, capitalising on new powers granted under the Local Government Act, is lobbying employers to reduce car usage, and will be applying punitive parking charges. Proponents of teleworking hope this action will, albeit indirectly, encourage uptake of the practice.

Hough refers to research completed a few years ago by Cornell University’s Dr Franklin Becker, which found that in a typical large office, only 30 per cent of desks were occupied for large periods of time - the other 70 per cent were empty. Meetings, client visits, training programs, holiday and sick leave accounted for much of the absentia from the office, but Becker’s study estimated that 12.5 per cent could be attributed to unofficial telecommuting.


Dent agrees that teleworking is a growing trend. “But I don’t think it will reach the point where everybody is working in their homes. People like to work with other people. Part of this revolution will be getting people out of offices where they have relationships with their colleagues but they never see a customer.

“There will be a move to working in small teams - ‘schools of minnows’ - with small groups of customers. I think it’s likely the typical small team will set up an information centre/meeting place close to where they live, not downtown. They will be able to congregate there, have part of their time at home, part of their time at their customers’ offices.

“One thing is for sure, and it has already started: the headquarters of businesses and central governments will shrink. On a network you can concentrate so much information so cheaply that you don’t need lots of people. The database becomes the head office.”

In time, the effect on CBDs will be profound. But so far the employment drift away from the CBD workplace to the suburbs and regional towns has

Marketing mythst the 1940 World’s Fair, American industry promised that computers and

automation would eliminate toil, freeing citizens to pursue higher goals. In the 1980s the promise was reduced burden on office workers, and new career opportunities. In the 1990s, the computer industry is vaunting an information revolution that will allow incredible communication between people.

These, and other claims, are just advertising pitches tuned to the popular concerns of the moment, says Jerry Mander, senior fellow at the Public Media Center in San Francisco (the only non-profit advertising agency in the USA).

Mander says the utopian vision of the 1940s — that machines would eventually do most of the work while humans relaxed — could only be realised if the economic benefits of automation and computerisation were somehow shared with workers.

Not a likely scenario, he adds.If anything, it is the burden on

managers that has been eased, because technology facilitates a level of on-the-job surveillance that makes personal observation virtually unnecessary.

“It used to be that there were secretaries who were human beings. These people made contributions to the workplace, although often unappreciated,” Mander says. “Now, the office worker is just a very replaceable cog in an electronic assembly line.”

The belief that the information revolution will foster untold communication and synergy between people is a myth, says Mander. “The activity of the information superhighway is inherently centralising of economic and political power. It will feed the most voracious aspects of transnational

corporate desire.” Indeed, Mander is adamant the true beneficiaries

of technological advancement are transnational corporations and supranational bureaucracies. “The technophiles who think of themselves as progressive are just dazzled by the capabilities of the technology. They lack a world view that systematically considers where the advantages are really going.”

Mander believes that in the future fewer people will have jobs, simply because computers are automating away most kinds of employment. All three sectors - industrial, agricultural and services - will be hit. “Soon you won’t even find anyone serving hamburgers at McDonalds,” he says.

“Bill Clinton’s plan to retrain workers for a high tech future is stupid, a preposterous joke. There are no jobs once you embrace the information age.”

- Emily Leinfuss

july ninety five

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informationage

not been dazzling. Hough estimates that 300,000 workers in Australia, one million in the UK and almost 10 million in the USA have turned their backs on the traditional workplace. US research company Cognetics Inc predicts demand for CBD office space in the USA will fall up to 20 per cent over the next decade; the major East Coast cities will suffer even more. Australian cities face similar problems. In Sydney, space in the newer office towers currently leases at $350 per square metre, allowing for incentives. But planned developments will need to earn $800 per square metre if current investment expectations are to be met. This can only lead to further decentralisation.

“Most studies point to the likely move by employees away from the present CBD workplace and back toward their place of residence,” says Hough. “Initially this will be by their telecommuting but, in the longer term, the employer will choose to relocate them to regional telecentres or to employer owned communal satellite offices.” (See box page 19).

Professional prospectsDent describes the MIS department as the “final frontier for all bureaucracies”. The reason, he says, is simple. “They control the computers that make companies run. In most companies, you can’t get anything done without kissing the cheeks of and bowing before the MIS guru.”

So how will the IT professional fit into the information economy? Increasingly, says Dent, IT professionals in MIS departments will be “humbled to discover that noncomputer people are capable of coming up with sleek, workable system solutions to meet their needs.”

Others share this view. For a recent special edition of MIS magazine called Stargazer, 50 IT industry figures were asked whether there would be more or fewer IT professionals in the year 2000. Thirty five respondents said there will be more, based on the continued growth in uptake of more conventional technologies, such as the PC, and newer factors such as the Internet,

multimedia and the converging communications technologies. Twelve respondents said there will be fewer IT professionals, and three said the number would remain fairly constant. Most believed that, if anything, it is the definition of ‘IT professional’ that will evolve.

“As computing becomes more pervasive, most people will require skills in its use. Those who choose IT as a profession will need to understand a spectrum of ‘solution’ options, as opposed to today’s technology option,” replied Peter Thompson, vice-president, Australia/Pacific region, Memorex Telex.

The managing director of Cisco Systems Australia, Richard Freemantle, believes there will be more IT professionals, “but not in the IT department. They will be disguised as computer literate people and their role will not be exclusive to IT.”

John Costello, writer, consultant, and founding editor of Computerworld Australia, believes there will be fewer IT professionals in 2000 and beyond. “As computing becomes more a part of everybody’s work, they will accept IT as part of their everyday lives. We can all drive a car but few of us are professionals.” The managing director of Hewlett-Packard Australia, Bill Hilliard, agrees that the number of true IT professionals will decline. “But their influence will be greater,” he says.

In Job Shock, Dent describes his vision for the company of the future using the fictional example of an upmarket underwear supplier called Customers ‘R’ Us. “Half the original techies are gone and the remaining people are organised into teams. Only two real frontline oriented functions remain. First, a small MIS team maintains the home office information and hardware systems that keep the frontline phone and retail field operators efficient. Second, there are people who man the 24 hour technical hotline. Two outside accounting and software firms work closely with the sales force to design and upgrade the software to stay on the cutting edge of the technology.”

cover story

Boom and bustDent believes there are organisations well positioned for success in every industry. Although loath to name names, he believes a minority of companies and industries will grow very rapidly, while a majority will grow slowly or decline and continue to downsize.

So how will unemployment be measured in the new economy?

“It will be harder, because more people will be part time, people will be changing jobs more often, and more people will be working in their homes. On the other hand, information systems should get to the point where the government can track it, and not for the sake of some Orwellian sense of control, but for the sake of the welfare state.

“Farge parts of the industrial economies are downsizing and will never upsize again. Yet there’s this growing economy of customised, information intensive businesses. The two ought to be measured separately. In some of the more mature industries, the unemployment rate may actually be 20 per cent. But to somebody in one of the growing industries, being told unemployment is 8.5 per cent makes no sense at all. They can’t get enough good people, they can’t grow fast enough.”

Dent’s forecast of economic boom is based on US baby boomers approaching their top spending years, reaching a peak in 2007. Because the elevation in birth rates post World War II extended to about 1970 in Australia, Dent says Australia’s economy will hit a peak 10 years later than the USA’s.

The information economy will still suffer slumps, because it will be even less government driven. Dent believes that after 2007 the USA will go into a decline, and eventually a substantial depression, lasting until around 2023. The less dramatic fall in births experienced by Australia in the 1960s, apart from delaying our zenith, will mean Australia will suffer only a mild recession, if one at all.

“I tell all my friends that in 2007 I’m going to pack up my business and migrate to Australia,” he says. ES

july ninety five

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The term teleworking was coined in the early 1970s by Jack Nilles of the US Department of Transporation.

Literally meaning working from afar , it is generally accepted as applying only to those who exploit current IT and telecommunications facilities to carry out and deliver their work. The landscape of future work will be distinguished by:• Telecommuting: the concept and

practice of employees of a specific organisation working away from their usual place of employment, either at their home, or from some sort of remote office.• Teleworking: a generic term

covering the concept and practice of working remotely from an employer or client. The term teleworker is specifically applied to one who provides services to multiple clients and is self-employed, as opposed to being an employee and thus a telecommuter.

At present, the largest category of teleworkers is the independent teleworker or independent knowledge worker in US jargon. The category already encompasses a wide range of skills: consultants, software developers, journalists, translators, information miners , graphic designers and desktop publishers.• Telecottages: small centres of IT

skill and equipment availability. Usually community initiated and managed, and mostly located in rural or remote towns.• Telecentres: increasingly an

alternative term for telecottages, but also a more generic term for remote or satellite offices. The concept orginated in Scandinavia, where the winter weather was a motivation. Programs have been established by Swedish Telecom and several government departments, but most of the telecentres are operated as small private enterprises. Often the principal shareholders are the managers, but in some cases there is

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true community ownership, with the villagers or local community associations being the shareholders.

In Australia, of course, it is distance that has encouraged similar developments. Principally due to initiatives of the federal Department of Primary Industries and Energy, there has been a surge in the creation of rural telecentres over the last three or four years; there are probably now more than 100 centres operating. Of these, about 40 per cent are DPIE funded but community

owned , 50 per cent are state government owned and used for distance education delivery, and 10 per cent are privately owned commercial ventures.• Satellite offices: here, the

decentralisation and regional development aims of governments can coexist happily with the desire of employees who want to work nearer their homes. Satellite offices are the answer to the long commutes faced by many employees.• Televillages: a collection of

houses designed specifically for and marketed to individual teleworkers. Recently, work started on a village of 250 houses near the Colorado resort of Telluride. The houses in Skyfield, as the village is known, will beinformation capable to attract independent knowledge workers

from America s cities. Plans for a similar project of 55 homes at Springwood in NSW are currently being considered by the Blue Mountains City Council.

t u r ® u o r Ik

• just in time offices: Andersen Consulting in Melbourne has established what it calls a just in time office. The company provides only enough desk space to accommodate 30 per cent of its consultants at any one time. Anyone wishing to work in the office must pre-book a desk. Other organisations refer to the practice as hotelling orhot desking .• Virtual companies: small teams

and individuals linked by real time information systems and empowered to make their own decisions.

Peter Langkamp, the general manager of Loyalty Pacific (the company that administers Fly Buys) describes his organisation as a

1990s virtual company . With huge amounts of data to manage, outsourcing is the name of the game: Tandem handles facilities management, Sales Force Victoria runs the service centre, DDB Needham the advertising, Lee Marvin looks after the production of the plastic cards, and Hermes Precisa does all the printing. More than 1.4 million Australian households are in the Fly Buys scheme, yet Loyalty Pacific employs only 23 people.• Resort offices: at this stage a

Japanese initiative, designed more to encourage the executive to take a holiday, rather than as a regional development strategy. The resort offices are situated in holiday areas and provide both family accommodation and office space for executives. There are currently six centres operational in Japan; at some of them, the office and IT amenities are in a separate building, rather than within the accommodation areas. They are all privately owned, usually by employer companies.

Primary Source: Teleworking: the Impact on Society, presented to the Open Interchange Consortium by Nick Hough, president of the Asia Pacific Telework Association.Contact: [email protected]

july ninety five

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informationage intellectual property

Why do artists feel threatened by the Internet?The answer, writes , is simple. Copyright lawsdon’t adequately protect their intellectual property, and the

online artists say their livelihoods are on the line.

Olline

wmT m i....anight

Streams of music could be heard echoing down Federation Mall in Canberra. A place of sobriety had turned into song as some of Australia’s biggest pop stars assembled on the steps of

Parliament House to perform. The audience was not limited to the fans who’d turned up on the day - the potential audience numbered millions as the concert was sent down the lines to the Internet.

Australia’s rock stars gathered in Canberra to highlight to politicians the lack of adequate copyright protection over the Internet. Aptly titled Who Stole the Music, the 27 April concert was transmitted in CD quality sound on the Internet. It could have been downloaded and saved by anyone without breaching copyright law.

“We staged the concert to show politicians that we now have the technology available to download a broadcast on the Internet with CD quality,” says John Woodruff, the Internet concert organiser and a prominent rock music manager. On the day of the concert we proved this could be done by downloading the music, which had been broadcast on the Internet, using a 28 kbps board modem and a 64 kbytes/sec line. It took 35 minutes to download a four minute song from the concert, which we then sold to the audience.

“The Internet is a wonderful concept. However, it poses a threat to musicians’ incomes. Right now it is quite legal to get a digital signal of someone’s music from the Internet and transmit it anywhere without their permission. If someone was to go into a music store and steal a CD they would be arrested and prosecuted, but because a broadcast over the Internet is made up of intangible digital signals a lot of people don’t realise that it’s valuable property. It might be the difference between $30 worth of CD and 30 cents worth of floppy, but they have the same intellectual property,” says Woodruff.

Woodruff says that the problem is there is no transmission right in Australia. If a transmission right was included in our Copyright Act it would bring the law up to date with the Internet technology. “The law is always slow to catch up with new technologies. Australia had radio broadcasts for many years before broadcasts were actually covered by the Copyright Act. The real danger is that the technology to reproduce music off the Internet in CD quality sound is here, but there is no transmission right in place. If

july ninety five

22

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John Woodruff, Internet concert organiser and rock manager.

we don’t get transmission rights I don’t know if musicians will be able to make a living out of their intellectual property.”

Woodruff’s concerns haven’t fallen on deaf ears. In 1993 the Australian government established a Copyright Convergence Group to address the need for urgent amendments to the Copyright Act. The group recommended that “a technology neutral, broad based right to authorise transmissions to the public should be introduced into the Copyright Act”. This would allow the owners of sound broadcasts the right to control the electronic transmission of their recordings, thereby making it illegal for people to download from the Internet without the author’s permission.

The Group’s findings were published last year, and although the recommendation for a new transmission right was acknowledged by the government’s Creative Nation Policy statement last October, transmission rights are yet to be implemented in Australia.

Digital artists are also concerned about the lack of copyright protection given to artistic works on the Internet.

“Nobody has any confidence in the Internet as an artistic medium. I’m not putting any finished work on the Internet right now as I’m too afraid it will be ripped off,” says Phillip George, a digital artist who creates images with the use of his computer. “I’ve already been ripped off twice this year and I just don’t have the money to pursue my

claims in court. I really don’t see artists being recompensed for the work they place on the Internet. Either you choose to place a picture on the Net knowing full well that it could be taken and used by someone else without your consent, or you don’t put stuff on it.

“There are two groups of artists. One group is very excited about the anarchic nature of the Net. This group of artists are creating images especially for Internet release. They are creating interactive artworks that are meant to be downloaded by anyone, added to, then replaced on the Net. There is another group, though, who are worried about this anarchic quality, and rather than have their work taken without their permission, they choose not to put anything up on the Internet. I’ve chosen to put works on the Internet that are supposed to be manipulated. Other work that I’ve spent a lot of time and money on I won’t let near it.”

George believes copyright laws don’t protect artists who use the Internet as an artistic medium. The problem with copyright over the Internet is enforcing it. If it’s too difficult to determine who is downloading the picture,

then how can you possibly sue them for breach of copyright? It’s a catch 22 situation.

The government is addressing the problem. In April the Copyright Law Review Committee, under the auspices of the Attorney General’s Department, published its recommendations for change to the Copyright Act. The committee proposed that artwork created with the assistance of computer programs should be given copyright protection. That means digital artists like Phillip George will be invested with the copyright ownership of their computer generated art in the same way that more traditional artists are.

This provides little solace for George. Even if the government does activate the committee’s proposal, there is still the problem of enforcement. George thinks that simply making it illegal to steal a computer generated artwork will not stop people from doing it. “The problem is,” he says, “that there is no way of knowing who’s

((The real danger is that the technology to reproduce music off the Internet in CD quality sound is here but there is no transmission right in place. I don’t know if musicians will be able to make a living

out of their intellectual property.” , . . „r r * John Woodruff

july ninety five

23


hitting your page on the Internet, or who is downloading your image onto their PC.”

While there are some people, like Phillip George and John Woodruff, who are anxious that the government take measures to ensure intellectual property remains safe on the Internet, there are others who aren’t concerned about the government’s inaction.

“The government doesn’t think the Internet will go away,” says Shayne Simpson, founder of Sydney based law firm Simpsons Solicitors.“It’s obviously taking it very seriously indeed.We just have to remember that what is happening in the digital revolution has happened very fast. There were no laws about computers in the 1960s and everybody was saying at that stage the law could not cope with the new environment. Over time, we have developed sophisticated systems, if imperfect, of computing law.

“This process is already happening with the Internet. The Internet is no greater challenge to the copyright system than the photocopier.It is just the latest in a long line of challenges provided by technology,” he says.

Simpson agrees that there are problems with copyright law on the Internet. Like George, he sees the problem as one of enforcement. “The real problem in a digital world is proving who did it, when they did it, where they did it, and indeed if they did it at all. At the end of the day, it is harder to base a case on bytes than on atoms.”

As far as Simpson is concerned, the government is addressing these problems by way of the Copyright Law Review Committee and the Copyright Convergence Group. “The launching of committees to investigate these copyright issues is not some sort of ‘Yes,Minister’ response to ensure that nothing happens. It is designed to make sure that the government gets the best advice from a wide range of non-government

experts. If it hadn’t launched those committees, I would be very worried.”

Simpson says the solution won’t arrive by eradicating copyright law altogether. “It is absolutely essential to

providing the answers that everybody is looking for. It is far too easy to say let’s do away with copyright! Copyright is the way that our society remunerates creativity and investment in the ‘primary production’ aspects of our cultural life. It is a $2 billion dollar industry in Australia alone. Those that think the Internet means the death of copyright need to take a cold shower,” explains Simpson.

But Simpson admits that in the short term, the solution may come from new technologies rather than changes to the Copyright Act. “I suspect that the problem will be resolved by a combination of two things. First, the development of a technology which allows the tagging of digital information so that transmissions and reproductions can be traced and identified. This is not possible yet but there

are a lot of people working very hard on it. Second, the identification of uses, collection of money, and distribution of that money to owners can only be carried out by collecting societies. No single copyright owner is going to be able to do this work themselves. It will have to be collectively administered. This is the only way of doing it efficiently,” says Simpson.

Phillip George also thinks the solution will be technology driven. A pay per view system whereby the artist gets paid every time someone hits their page on the Internet may be the only answer. If it’s too difficult to enforce copyright laws then people will begin to develop technology to fill this vacuum, and offer those who want to protect their intellectual property on the Internet

^Nobody has any confidence in the Internet as an artistic

medium. I won’t be putting any finished work

on the Internet right now as I’m too afraid

it will be ripped off.H

Phillip George

From a series entitled Mnemonic Notations by Phillip George, this image was created by using a combination of software packages

including Photoshop, Tips, Painter 3.0, and Life Picture 2.

july ninety five

24

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eeinformationage intellectual property

Can’t stop the musicOne company that is keenly

addressing the problem of copyright protection over the Internet is Sydney based Arrowsmith Associates. “We believe that if consumers have the capability to download product, and music is a prime example, rather than let piracy run rampant, we will provide them with an approved easy access point whereby they could be billed inexpensively,” says Terrence Cavelle, the company’s sales and marketing manager.

At present, it is possible for anyone to place music on the Internet for the whole world to access free of charge, without the permission of the copyright

^Those that think the Internet means the death of copyright need to take a cold shower.7’

owner. As the usage of the Internet is growing at an enormous rate, this kind of activity proposes a huge dilemma for the music industry. What will happen to musician’s royalties once the technology is in place to enable anyone to record from the Internet in CD quality sound?

Arrowsmith believes that by setting up a Legal Music Access

a means of doing so. But as this type of technology is not yet available, George says it’s up to the individual to decide whether they want to accept the situation and continue to place art over the Internet, or just ignore it.

John Woodruff places his hope in the government introducing a transmission right. “The music industry is ready for the Internet, we just need the government to give us the legislation, the rules so that we may be able to play the game. Australia is sitting on the edge of a new world order, Prime Minister Paul Keating is pushing us to become the leaders of the Asia Pacific area. And what better way to gain international respect than to become the first country in the world to introduce a transmission right.

“If we do it you can bet that the rest of the world will follow. We have the

Channel, where a large array of music products are readily available and royalties are paid directly to the copyright owner, the problem can be overcome.

Music products can already be accessed from the Internet, with services ranging from a Scottish music archive to information about Frank Sinatra. Arrowsmith says it will offer a music supermarket, where a whole range of music products are available under the one roof. People won’t have to surf the Net looking for small specialised music providers, as all their music needs will be satisfied by just tapping into Arrowsmith’s music channel.

The Legal Music Access Channel will offer services such as concert ticket purchases, buying of merchandise, and the downloading of music and video, as well as the chance to chat with other music fans and fan clubs.

Arrowsmith believes the channel will be of great benefit to the music industry, by ensuring that artists receive their due royalties. The Internet music channel will also provide new artists early exposure, both locally and internationally.

Arrowsmith hopes to get the music channel up and running on the Internet by the end of the year.

opportunity of entering the 21st century riding on the wave of new technology and being at the forefront of law.” SI

The company is interested in receiving input prior to the launch of the music channel. Contact: [email protected]

july ninety five

27


informationage

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daniel petre

Next month marks

the release of

Microsoft’s long

awaited Windows’95

operating system, as

well as the OnAustralia

Microsoft-Telecom

information network.

Graeme Philipson

talks to Microsoft’s

Daniel Petre, who

drives a lot of the

company’s sexier

projects - when he’s

not deflecting the flak.

Daniel Petre nearly became a fighter pilot. There were28 places that year in the RAAFs Point Cook Academy, and he came 30th, out of 2000 applicants. He would have

been accepted, but as a navigator rather than as a pilot. Not quite the same, really.

His second choice, initially, was medicine. But on reflection, that didn’t appeal either. All that looking down people’s throats and up people’s ...

Third choice was computers. Fresh out of Turramurra High School on Sydney’s North Shore, 18 year old Daniel Petre started a course in computer science and statistics at the University of NSW. The year was 1978. Daniel Petre, son of Romanian refugees, was on the way.

From university Petre joined Burroughs, then one of the largest computer companies (Burroughs merged with Sperry to form Unisys in 1986). His first job was as a systems analyst on minicomputers. The PC revolution had been under way for a few years, but not at Burroughs.

“Burroughs saw PCs as a way of selling more mainframes,” says Petre. “It was very frustrating, Burroughs provided excellent training, but the reason I joined the computer industry was to be on the cutting edge. In the mid 1980s, Burroughs B90 minicomputers were very definitely not the cutting edge.”

In 1984 Petre joined the Australian marketing arm of Japanese computer company NEC, which was just starting to make a name for itself in PCs. “They were exciting times. The IBM PC standard was still settling down, and NEC had a great opportunity. In 1986, when the IBM PC AT was released, we convinced Japan to sell an AT class machine in Australia at PC XT prices.

“They really took off. It was a very price-sensitive market. NEC was soon the leading PC supplier in Australia. Eighty per cent of NEC’s computer business in Australia was coming from PCs and PC peripherals.

“We were so successful that the company didn’t quite know what to do with us. NEC could have continued to grow at the rate it was, but the corporation had a mainframe mentality, like Burroughs, and I started looking around for something else. I believed I could be a managing director, even though I was still in my 20s. I was a rather arrogant young man.”

Arrogance paysPetre was arrogant and self-confident enough to land the position, in July 1988, of managing director of Microsoft Australia, at the ripe old age of 28. Microsoft was not the company then that it is today, but it was very much a rising star. Petre took over a company of $17 million, with 23 staff. His interview process took him, for the first time, to Microsoft’s head office outside Seattle.

“Bill Gates was sick that day. I was one of the few country managers hired without Bill’s personal approval. But they liked me, and I liked them, and I got the job.

“One thing that impressed me most about Microsoft was the people. They were very smart. You could tell that they really thought things through. That made a big impression on me.There’s no substitute for being intelligent.”

Petre didn’t meet Bill Gates until later that year, when the great man, all of six years older than Petre himself, visited Australia for the first run anywhere of what were to become regular “vision” statements. “I was a bit apprehensive. I picked him up at thejuly ninety five

28

airport. But it all went OK.So did Bill’s seminar.”

It was a far cry from today, when it’s standing room only for Bill Gates in the Sydney Opera House. About 100 people turned up in a basement room at the Hyatt Kingsgate Hotel, and Bill Gates gave a slightly nervous presentation, using overhead slides on a rickety projection stand.

It’s worth remembering how far Microsoft has come in a short time. That was 1988, less than a decade ago, and Bill Gates was still completely unknown outside the computer industry. Microsoft’s star did not start to shine brightly until the release of Windows 3.0, in late 1990.

After that visit Petre flew back to Seattle with Gates, which gave them a good opportunity to talk.

“He said at first that I hadn’t sacked enough people. That was a joke. During my time as head of Microsoft Australia I had an enormous amount of freedom. We were really encouraged to do our own thing. More than many American companies, Microsoft has an international focus, and many good ideas from outside of the USA are later incorporated into the corporation’s strategy. ”

“He said at first that I hadn’t sacked enough people.That was a joke.”

Daniel Petre, on an early meeting with Bill Oates

Australia firstA good example of this, says Petre, was Microsoft Australia’s decision to sell Microsoft Office, the suite ofMicrosoft’s standalone desktop applications, at only a 50 per cent higher price than one component of the suite.

“The conventional wisdom in the company was that pricing the whole suite that low would hurt sales of Word or Excel. But the suite wasn’t exactly selling well, because it cost so much, so we came in at that low price. Sales took off. It didn’t hurt the bottom line, it added to it greatly. We had the biggest revenue growth we have ever had on the back of that strategy. The US picked it up, and achieved the same high growth rates and massive market share that we had.”

Petre’s success in Australia led to bigger things. In 1990 Bill Gates asked him to work in head office for a couple of years. “He didn’t offer me any specific position. He just suggested I should come and work on campus for a while.

“I refused. I said that I’d only been in the job in Australia for a couple of years, and that I still had more to prove. Bill kept upping the pressure. He can be very persuasive. Finally, in July 1991,1 moved my family to a house a mile from

july ninety five

29

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The tr>!*>-'-- •Microsoft’s headquarters

in Bellevue, Washington.”Petre’s new position was as vice-

president of Microsoft’s workgroup division, in charge of 150 people. He was only the second non-American to be a Microsoft vice-president.

Microsoft had recently bought a company called CSI, which developed the product that became known as Microsoft Mail. Arch-rival Lotus had ccimail, and its Notes groupware product was just starting to make some impression on the market. Petre was in charge of Microsoft’s response to the Lotus challenge. Microsoft’s reply to Notes, called Exchange, will be released later this year. It will depend on Windows’95 for much of its functionality, hence the long delivery cycle.

But Petre will not be part of that release. He has come back to Australia. Eighteen months after he arrived in the USA, his sister in Australia was killed in a car accident. Shortly afterwards his second child was born. The first event made him aware of the finitude of human existence, the second brought the

track witt* realisation that he wanted his children to grow up as

Australians, rather than Americans.“It became more important to me

to return to Australia than stay in America,” says Petre. “I wanted to come back in some sort of technology role, but it happened that at that time Microsoft’s Asia-Pacific operations were in a bit of a mess. Bill asked me to take on a regional role to help sort things out. I agreed, but I asked if I could take some of the interesting technological stuff as well.”

Return of the nativeIn November 1993 Petre returned to Australia. He spent a year or so managing the region, which comprised Australia, New Zealand and the ASEAN countries. “My job was essentially a sales and marketing role. I could do it, but I found I no longer enjoyed it. Once you’ve done that sort of work it ceases to be very profound. When my sister died I thought a lot about what I wanted out of life, and sales and marketing was not it.

“I began to think about how technology can change, and improve, society. After we sorted out the problems in the region, I assumed the role of director of advanced technology, with both a regional and a corporate responsibility.”

Microsoft’s advanced technology division is responsible for corporate strategy in four areas. The research group conducts R&D into natural language and distributed computing. The multimedia development group

concentrates on building Microsoft’s library of multimedia titles, which includes building titles for the US market here. In light of this, Petre’s appointment to the board of the government’s Australian Multimedia Enterprise, announced as part of the Creative Nation cultural policy statement, has raised eyebrows.

The third area is the controversial Microsoft Network, which will be launched next month in Australia as OnAustralia, a 50/50 joint venture with Telecom. The final area is broadband services, such as interactive TV. The group is still very much in its infancy, addressing the TV set as an interactive device.

Petre is very aware of the criticisms of OnAustralia and the Microsoft Network, and those criticisms irritate him more than a little. “People say that it’s American cultural imperialism, or Microsoft cultural imperialism. That’s just not true.

“Australia is the only country in the world where Microsoft Network is being launched with a local equity partner. There will be an extremely high level of local infrastructure, including substantial local content. Australia will be one of the few countries where the ease of access will be the same as in the US. The network will be available for the cost of a local call and a low national tariff from anywhere in Australia.”

The launch of OnAustralia will happen at the same time as the launch of Windows’95. That is not a coincidence. OnAustralia will be able to be accessed directly from Windows’95. That software is distributed with the operating system, which should mean that many more people will be able to access it than can currently get onto the Internet.

Barbed wiresThat ease of access has Internet aficionados, and the US based networks like CompuServe and America Online, up in arms. It reeks, they say, of unfair competition. It is yet another example of Microsoft using its dominance of desktop operating systems to shoehorn its way into a new market.

july ninety five

30

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informationage daniel petre

“You can’t win, can you,” says Petre. “OnAustralia and Microsoft Network will offer access to the Internet. We do not want to compete against the Internet. But we will also offer a higher degree of security, cheaper access costs, and greater bandwidth. We’ll also provide better development tools for information providers. They are the things people want. Why should we be criticised for supplying them?

“Information providers can put their stuff on Microsoft Network, or they can put it on the World Wide Web, or both. We’ll have a multimedia authoring tool called Blackbird, which will make it easy for them to put their stuff on Microsoft Network. But we will offer total freedom of choice. The perception that Microsoft Network will be in competition to the Internet is not right.

“We believe that we have the potential to greatly increase the number of people using online information. There’s a perception that the Internet has taken over the world, but usage is really very low compared to the possibilities. About 25 per cent of Australian homes have PCs, but only about two per cent use any form of online service. The technology could be pervasive. We’d like to hasten that process.

“Microsoft Network will be successful. It’s a logical progression. All the criticism of Microsoft’s deal with Telecom just doesn’t make sense. It would be ludicrous to develop a service unique to Australia. The US and European markets, because of their size, will decide the standards. And how does the Internet innovate? There’s a lot of talk about the Internet, but it’s all over the place.The Microsoft Network embraces and enhances Internet access.”

When OnAustralia is first launched, all information will be US based. But by December this year, says Petre, Australia will be a Microsoft Network web site. By January 1997 there will be multiple distributed servers in Australia, with an Australian domain on the network. One advantage of Microsoft’s unique position in Australia with OnAustralia, says

Petre, is that Australian publishers will have an opportunity to operate on a global stage.

Changing the worldPetre is passionate about the potential the technology has to change the world, which is, after all what he wants to do. “The biggest change will be the move from passive to active entertainment. As the great book by George Gilder has it, there is life after TV. PCs and the interaction they bring will allow people to take control of their lives again, after two generations of passive TV.

“We are also looking at a vast increase in the range of information available to people, and at a much greater array of services available online, such as banking and insurance. There is a lot of talk about the information rich and the information poor, but it has always been like that. This technology has the potential to raise everyone’s level of information, and that can only be for the common good. Governments could help the process, if they understood it, and if they got more involved.

“The real excitement, and the big challenge, will come when PC technology and multimedia merge with TV. I believe there will still be two separate devices, but they will use a similar technology. The PC-type device will be close to the individual, for personal use. It will be capable of a high degree ofmanipulation, and handle functions like e-mail

and personal finance.“The TV-type device will be

further from the individual, for family or group use. It will not have as high a degree of manipulation, and it will be used for things like video on demand and interactive TV. There’s still a lot of uncertainty about how the entertainment and information worlds of the next century will look, but some trends are emerging.

“I think the TV and media type companies have the wrong model. They' are talking in terms of wide bandwidth into the home, and narrow bandwidth out. If you’ve got wide bandwidth in, there’s no reason why you can’t have wide bandwidth out. There’s no reason why the home can’t become a content provider, just like Channel 9. The TV companies don’t want that, but that’s what will happen. They will have to change. Prime time will be when and where you want it.”

So where does Daniel Petre want to be in this brave new world? “Not doing what I’m doing now. I’m still only 35 years old. I’d like to get this thing off the ground, but then I’m not sure. I’ve done a lot, and the industry has been very good to me. Maybe I can put something back. Ask me in a few years’time.” PEI

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-5 ,n8l. ANSERRA - industry ptm™ « mountuMicro^ Government to keep' the doors

mni-lJ, V__ - to competition in the tead-up to its selectionramp onto the information superhighway. In a ran

informationage society pages

New chief logs inArthur Dyster believes in calling a spade a spade. Despite over 20 years as a

Commonwealth public servant, or perhaps because of it, the new chief executive officer of the ACS is not only forthright but also disarmingly droll.

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The sort of person who iscompletely honest both with himself and those around him,

Dyster expects the same response from others. In our first five minutes of conversation he referred easily to his “ample girth” and a need for exercise. With his elbows leaning on the wooden desk that dominates his

office, he was quick to confess a lack of experience in IT, but

•equally open about his extensive expertise in

issues management, government relations and association management.

A qualified barrister,Dyster has worked closely with two prime ministers during 10 years within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, advising on a range of policy issues including development projects, constitutional issues, intelligence and security, art, sport and the media.

Association. He has been credited with propelling this organisation into a high-profile lobbyer whose views are sought by Canberra when determining policies affecting local government.

Dyster has also spent several years as a private consultant, advising on government relations and assistance

new to the industry willfact thatallow me to make determinations based on an

outsider's view from the inside, without letting the 'facts' confuse the issue

- Arthur Oyster

He left the public service in 1983 to pursue a career with Rothmans. In 1986 he was promoted to Director of Corporate Affairs, responsible for government and media relations, public issues management, corporate advertising and events, community relations and employee communications.

In 1991, Dyster became CEO of the Australian Local Government

with lobbying at all levels of government.

He is matter-of-fact about his aspirations for the Society.

“I would like to see the ACS continue to provide greater leadership in any public debate of IT issues, and be recognised by other decision-makers within the IT sector as having an important contribution to make,” he says.

“One thing common to all professional associations is that you cannot remain silent on public issues. We will not be taken seriously unless we are seen to have a view on things pertaining to the IT industry.”

Dyster is a great believer in “having as much good news out there as you can” and will be working to promote

the aims and activities of the Society through every possible channel.

“Getting noticed is the first element. My approach to this job is to gain full recognition for what the ACS is doing and trying to achieve, to ensure the policies of the ACS are fully implemented and that we have in place recognised practices,” he says.

Dyster says he does not plan to make any immediate changes, but will look carefully at all of the association’s activities and processes.

“There’s an opportunity with the changeover of key personnel to look at what’s being done and see if it can’t be improved.

“My background, and the fact that I’m new to

the industry, will allow me to make determinations based on an outsider’s point of view from the inside, without letting the ‘facts’ confuse the issue,” he quips.

“I’m also very aware of the relationship with the AHA and plan to consolidate and develop that to the benefit of both our organisations and members.”

- Caroline Newjuly ninety five

34

Calling all leader typesNominations for the position of ACS President for 1996-97 close on 24 August 1995. The current president, Garry Trinder, and immediate past-president, Geoff Dober, are not eligible for election.

Nominations are also sought within the same timeframe for the positions of Vice President and the Director of the Community Affairs Board. More information on the activities of the Community Affairs Board is available from National Office.The nominations, including a position statement from each candidate, should be forwarded to the Chief Executive Officer, Suite 1, 200 Riley St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010.

A case of law and Internet orderThe DataLaw ’95 Sydney forum at the Sheraton Wentworth Hotel on 28 July, will address the implications of doing business on the Internet. The event is being organised by DataLegal Publications in association with the ACS and Griffith University.

Minter Ellison’s Mark Carkeet will examine the legal implications of Internet involvement, dealing with the liability of Internet service providers and users, copyright, defamation and the requirements of transacting business over the Internet. Griffith University’s Marilyn Beamish will demonstrate how the Internet can be used to solve hypothetical business problems, while Bruce McNaught of the ACS will discuss the considerations relevant to providing Internet access in the workplace, outlining measures and safeguards of which managers should be aware.

Paul Wilson of Pegasus Networks will explain the crucial role of the Internet service provider and how they can assist productivity and efficiency.

Contact DataLegal Publications on (07) 839 2296.

ITUorld TS countdownOrganisers of ITWorld’95 have been encouraged by initial responses to early publicity.


newsOver 150 people who attended the

CeBIT Expo in Germany responded to ITWorld’95 posters and indicated an interest in attending the Australian event. In addition, 65 per cent of delegates to the recent “Reinventing IS/IT” seminar series with Yourdon, Constantine and Thomsett indicated a strong interest in attending ITWorld’95 in Brisbane in September.

At this stage, the most popular Forums running under the umbrella of the conference are the Object- Oriented Forum, the IT Futures Forum and the MIS Managers Forum. This year there will be a Forum focusing on CEOs. Current research indicates that the education level of senior management is a significant factor in determining the success or failure of IT in organisations.

Conference organisers want ACS members to make their senior management aware of this opportunity to develop their understanding of IT issues. When you receive your ITWorld’95 promotional material, remember to copy it not only to members of your team, but also to your manager and other key decision-makers.

Forum for funLarry Constantine and Rob Thomsett will be the major speakers at the Software Developers Forum to be held as part of ITWorld’95.Those participating in the inaugural Software Challenge will have from midday Saturday until midday Sunday to generate a proof-of- concept prototype, while other Forum attendees will have the opportunity to take part in a Larry Constantine workshop on team-building and a Rob Thomsett workshop on Quality Function Deployment.

Social opportunities for networking are also on the agenda.

july ninety five

35

A formal IT Industry Ball will be held on the Saturday night, with a more relaxed paddle steamer trip up the Brisbane River providing alternative entertainment.

The Official Cocktail Party will take place on Sunday evening and the Conference Dinner on the Monday night. At this event,Keynote Speakers will be located at different tables throughout the room to provide guests with the opportunity for relaxed discussion with these noted experts.

IFIP' papersThe Mobile Communication Conference (one of three Conferences being held under the banner of IFIP’96), has issued a Call for Papers. The conference will operate across two tracks: Mobile Technology, Tools and Applications; and “Trusting” in Technology, Authentication, Security.

Prospective speakers are invited to contribute in either of the two tracks. Topics for track one include architecture of information systems with mobile clients and stationary servers; networking issues and protocols; interaction of clients with mobile systems; integration; hardware developments; and application case studies, among others. Suggested topics for track two include reliable communication; protection of privacy and anonymity; interoperability; encryption; and access control.

IFIP’96 runs from 2-6 September next year. Responses should be forwarded either by fax: 0011 49 6151 155 430 or e-mail: [email protected]

Rules resolutionThe Annual General Meeting of the ACS, held in Brisbane on 26 May 1995, voted to accept the Rule changes contained in Special Resolution 1 and to reject the Rule changes contained in Special Resolution 2, both Special Resolutions having been forwarded to members with the notice of the AGM. The amended rules, having been lodged with the Registrar’s Office in June, are now in force and can be found on the ACS-link Conference acs.news.national



ACS Fellows, Members and Associates can take advantage of many discounted and convenient services available to ACS VISA Gold Card holders. Services like Preferred Seating give members excellent seats for a wide range of concert, theatre, opera, ballet and selected sporting events, as well as the opportunity to book tickets to major international shows. Only

A Reserve or Premium Reserve tickets are purchased. Right now, you can book for any of the following events:THE SECRET GARDEN begins its Australian tour at the Lyric Theatre in Brisbane (27 july-26 August) before moving to

Sydney’s State Theatre (7 September) and then on to Melbourne. Inspired by Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel, the star- studded cast includes Marina Prior, Anthony Warlow, Philip Quast and June Salter.

Disney’s BEAUTY & THE BEAST, the musical, premiers at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne on 9 July. It’s the story of Belle, a imaginative young woman, and the Beast, a prince who is trapped in a terrible enchantment.

MISS SAIGON opens this month at Sydney’s newly-restored Capitol Theatre. This modern day musical tells the story of tragic love and self-sacrifice. A young Vietnamese woman and an American soldier meet at the time of the fall of Saigon.

The ticket price includes chocolates and a glass of champagne.1996 FORD AUSTRALIAN TENNIS OPEN - You can be at Centre Court when the world’s greatest tennis stars

IS battle it out at the National Tennis Centre in Melbourne next January. Book early for good seats as J ^ availability is limited. Tickets to the final four days are sold as packages.S SYDNEY KINGS BASKETBALL - A limited number of good seats are available for Sydney Kings matches at

HS the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

jjjjSp, To book your seats for these and other events, simply call Preferred Seating direct on (02) 352 3300 from 8.30am to 7.00pm AEST. Have your credit card handy for payment. You’ll receive immediate confirmation of

your booking over the phone. Tickets are either mailed to your nominated address or held for you at the theatre on thenight of the performance.

VISA GOLD CARD COMPETITION: Use your ACS Visa Gold Card during August and you will automatically enter a draw to win a weekend away for two people to your nearest capital city. The winner and their guest will fly business class,

courtesy of travel strength, and enjoy two nights accommodation at a selected Parkroyal, Centra or Travelodge hotel.

The competition closes on 31 August and will be drawn on 29 September. Winners will be notified by mail and names will be published in The Australian on Tuesday 3 October, 1995.

All tickets are subject to a minimum $6.00 per ticket service fee to cover booking and delivery. Once purchased, tickets cannot be cancelled, exchanged or refunded. Bookings are subject to availability. Sorry, no concessions available.

dfc'

As part of its on- "going program to |

achieve its mission of advancing professional excellence in information technology”, the ACS has drafted a new Code of Professional Conduct and Professional Practice for use by its members. The Code is a key requirement for recognition of the ACS as the professional society for the IT industry under the new

Professional Standards Legislation. The Code, which updates the

existing Code of Practice, provides authoritative and

contemporary guidelines for members on acceptable standards of personal behaviour and methods of practice within the IT industry.

The document is divided into two distinct parts: a Code of Professional Conduct, which considers issues such as public interest, integrity, confidentiality, competence and keeping up-to-date; and a Code of Professional Practice, which covers a wide range of areas including

code moorganisation and management, development, testing, contracts, implementation and security.

National vice-president, John Manders, has been working on the document for several months, incorporating the many changes in thinking of recent years.

“The existing Code of Practice was last updated over 10 years ago. The document talks mainly about data processing and punch cards,”Manders says. “Not only is the terminology out of date, but it focuses on developers and doesn’t address those people working more at a strategic level, or those working in sales and support. We have tried to correct that in this document.”

National president Garry Trinder says the ACS has a responsibility to provide its members with a yardstick by which people can be measured in terms of what they do and how they do it. “A Code of Practice is also part

of the mosaic of Quality. The Quality Standards require you to have a

methodology or set of guidelines which define the way you operate. The new Code also recognises the now-accepted thinking that IT systems are developed to benefit the business and, the fact that in the 1990s the client is a more important cog in the wheel than the IT professional.”

The ACS is seeking feedback from members on the Code, and hopes to have a final version of the document adopted by the National Council at its last meeting for the year in September. Copies of the draft Code can be obtained from branch offices and the document can also be accessed on ACS-link, at a conference named: acs.news.national. It will also be available on the ACS Home Page on the World Wide Web.

Members wishing to comment on the document should do so within the next few weeks, as the draft must be finalised by mid-August.

july ninety five

36


Pro f ass!anal Diary8-10 Aug SA __________

Comtec 95, South Australia’s annual computer exhibition and conference, Adelaide Exhibition Hall and Convention Centre. Arthur Dyster, CEO of the

ACS will speak at the official Comtec lunch on 10 August, which is sponsored by the ACS South

Australian Branch. Carol Haslam on (08) 364 4723.

_________ 5-8 Sept Sri Lanka ______SEARCC’95, the annual conference of the

South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation in Colombo. Theme: “Sharing

Information Technology Achievements for Regional Growth”. ACS National Office on

(02) 211 5855.

18-21 Sept NSWThe International World-Wide-Web Asia Pacific Conference has moved to Darling

Harbour in Sydney. Authorised by the International WWW Committee. Theme:

“WWW - changing the way we work, learn and play”. Professor Bob Moore, phone (069) 332 853

or fax (069) 332 733.

24-27 Sept QLDITWorld’95, the first Asia Pacific IT Congress,

Brisbane Parkroyal. The Keynote Day will feature world-class speakers discussing the Development of

a National Information Infrastructure; some 20 independent forums will also run. Contact

Angela Laffey on (07) 263 9777.

16-18 Oct QLDThe inaugural Asia Pacific Distributed

Solutions Event, Hyatt Regency Coolum. Entitled “Real Solutions for a Distributed World”, this

event will discuss solutions to distributed computing problems using real-life case studies.

Speakers include Patricia Seybold. Contact Liz Armstrong on (07) 365 4310.

13-17 Nov ACTAl’95, the 8th Australian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Canberra, will include

streams on Al research and real-world applications of Al, as well as tutorials and

workshops. Dr Bob McKay on (06) 268 8169.

6-9 Dec QLDAPSEC’95, the Asia Pacific Software

Engineering Conference, Brisbane. Keynote

speakers are Dines Bjrner and Steve Meunch. Contact Angela Laffey on (07) 263 9777.

11-14 Mar 1996 FranceThe European Design & Test Conference and

Exhibition, Paris. For more information, contact the Conference Secretariat, CEP Consultants

Ltd, 43 Manor Place, Edinburgh EH3 7EB, telephone: +44 131 300 3300,

fax: +44 13 I 300 3400.

23-25 Apr 1996 CanadaBroadband Communications ’96, Montreal.

This international conference will focus on the latest research and experience gained on a range of topics central to broadband communications. For more information, contact Professor Lome

Mason on telephone: +1514 765 7836, fax: +1514 761 8501, or e-mail:

[email protected]

21-24 May 1996 Greece IFIP SEC’96, the 12th International

Information Security Conference, Island of Samos. For more information, contact: KYROS

(local organiser), 77 Kountourioti St, Athens 12242 Greece, or e-mail:

[email protected]

4-7 June 1996 Japan IEA96AIE, the Ninth International Conference on Industrial & Engineering Applications of

Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems, will be held in Fukuoka. Contact the General Chair,

Professor Moonis Ali, on telephone: +1512 245 3409, fax: +1 512 245 8750, or

e-mail: [email protected]

2-6 Sept 1996 ACTIFIP’96, the 1996 World Computer Congress, National Convention Centre, Canberra. The

Congress will comprise three concurrent conferences on Mobile Communications; Advanced IT Tools; and Teleteaching ’96.

ACS National Office on (02) 21 I 5855.

14-18 July 1997 NSWInteract97, the international conference of IFIP

TCI3, Darling Harbour Convention and Exhibition Centre, Sydney. Theme: “Discovering New Worlds of Human-Computer Interaction”.

Judy Hammond on (02) 330 1822.

july ninety five

37




informationage technicalities

In recent years, object oriented technology (OOT or simply OT for object technology) has emerged into the mainstream IT

marketplace, promising to move software development from the craftsman-like cottage industry of today to a true manufacturing industry based on standardised components.

The emergence of OT has been the result of increasing pressures upon the businesses served by IT: a continually changing business environment, a steadily growing applications backlog and an increasingly complex computing environment involving client/server and peer-to-peer distributed architectures, GUI interfaces and multi-vendor hardware architectures.

OT is an approach to software development rather than any single piece of software. It provides a coherent collection of ideas and software practices that are embodied in different languages and software, such as Smalltalk, C++ and Eiffel. Object oriented development offers a number of significant benefits including reusability of components, maintainability and extensibility of systems and, with sufficient infrastructure, reduced delivery times for applications.

The cornerstone of OT is the object model. The object model is based on a number of simple concepts: classes, their relationships and messages. A class is best described as any concept important in a problem and it encapsulates, or localises in one place, everything that is known about that concept including the data, the behaviour (functions) and the relationships of the concept being modelled. The way in which objects communicate in a system is by sending messages to one another. These messages request the receiving object to perform some function. The message-based approach encourages the notion of encapsulation whereby different parts of a program are viewed as being relatively isolated from one another resulting in a very

modular system. This high degree of modularity, together with the notion of inheritance, which allows the components to be extended without changing them, is the basis of the flexible, maintainable and reusable software systems that can be developed using OO techniques.

Indeed, it is the goal of the OO industry to make classes the equivalent of the integrated circuit (IC), as used in the hardware industry. In other words, to have them as plug compatible components which can be reused across applications. Such a notion has been termed the Software IC. In practical terms, class libraries are already emerging in the marketplace, as evidenced by the Object Windows Library from

Borland, the C Set++ from IBM, the Booch components from Rational and the Microsoft Foundation Classes. Class libraries are already being heavily used, with estimates of class library use ranging to the 30 per cent mark within the next two years amongst Australian organisations using OT.

The object model and classes are, however, simply the start of the story when it comes to harnessing the power of objects. As with nearly all successful concerns, be they organisms, companies or sporting teams, it is the interrelationships and synergy of putting the components (classes) together into larger structures that really provides the leverage business requires.

Within the OO arena, these larger scale structures are known as patterns and frameworks. A pattern is a software design that repeats itself time and again in applications. By documenting, teaching and applying the pattern to new situations, the software developer is able to leverage

the expertise of others in their current application leading to quicker and better solutions. Patterns may thus be viewed as a higher level mechanism for providing reuse and increased productivity. Today, collections of patterns for software engineers are the equivalent of engineering handbooks for civil engineers. By learning patterns, the software developer is able to use the programming language as a much more expressive and powerful tool.

Frameworks are a yet higher order mechanism for leveraging the power of objects. Frameworks are a related set of classes that work together to achieve some functionality. They are often an abstract model of a problem which can be adopted by a developer

in its entirety and then refined to cope with the problem at hand. Examples of frameworks include the GUI frameworks, database frameworks and security frameworks which are becoming available through Taligent (the IBM/Apple/HP joint venture).

As well as non-domain specific frameworks, a number of domain specific frameworks are emerging, such as Infinity, which is a treasury- based framework supporting many important classes for dealing and managing trades, and VisualBanker, a retail banking framework.

The notions of software ICs, patterns and frameworks are relatively new but potentially important advances in the goal of greater productivity. They are enablers in the process of moving software development to a manufacturing rather than cottage industry model. EEl

Dr Julian Edwards is Principal Consultant, Object Oriented and Program Chairman for Object World - Australia’95, at the Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour, from 1-4 August 1995.To register, contact Elke Roewekamp on Tel: (02) 957 1092. More information can be obtained at http://www.ozemail.com.au/objectworld

world of objectsDr Julian Edwards looks

at developments in object oriented programming.

july ninety five

38

http://www.ozemail.com.au/objectworld

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And with Composer, you don’t have to be.Instead, your developers can focus on your business problems rather than on complex technologies and methodologies. Because Composer by IEF allows them to build and deploy applications without being technology experts. Think of the money saved by not having to retrain your staff. Think of the capital expenditures you won’t have to make for new tools for growing technologies.

Judges were recently so impressed with Composer by IEF, they gave Texas Instruments and Travelers Insurance the DB/Expo ‘94 Real Ware Award for “Client/Server Computing in Support for Mission-Critical Business Opportunities”.The excitement of Composer by IEF is captured in a white paper about enabling business change through information technology. A copy is yours when you call our global network of sales and support offices at+ 61 2 415 1322.

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All trademarks and brand names are the property of their owners. CAP 5.4.6

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