World IT scene full of action in 1999

World IT scene full of action in 1999

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): Just like the Intel Pentium III processor, which
Intel introduced early last year, developments in information
technology (IT) never seemed to let up in 1999. It increasingly
felt as if it was a full-time occupation keeping stock of the new
things that appeared in the industry every day.

One of the biggest splashes last year was the inroads made by
the Linux operating system (some people pronounce it "line-uks",
others "lin-uks"). Started in 1991 as a noncommercial effort by a
Finnish computer scientist by the name of Linus Torvalds, the
UNIX-based operating system for the Intel, PowerPC and Alpha
platforms suddenly gained momentum and posed a growing threat to
Microsoft's Windows. Today, the Open Source movement is gaining a
foothold all over the world, including here in Indonesia. The
greatest attraction is the free access to the software -- you can
download it from the Internet for free.

In the area of Internet connections, Digital Subscriber Line,
particularly the Asynchronous flavor spearheaded by Alcatel, also
gained momentum in the United States and other advanced
countries.

Close to home, Singapore launched large-scale ADSL through
SingTel's Magix. With an ADSL connection, Magix subscribers can
access the Internet at 512 Kbps, or almost 10 times the speed of
the 56Kbps modem. What's more, the enviable Singaporeans can surf
the Net while talking on the phone or sending or receiving faxes
without a second phone line. The cost is S$60 per month,
including 30 hours of online time, and there's no phone charge.
That invites a sad comparison with Indonesia, where we have to
pay for the online time and the phone pulses for a paltry 28.8
Kbps connection -- if we're lucky enough to get that speed.

And while our own PT Telkom is still struggling with the basic
infrastructure, a.k.a. the fixed wireline phone services, the
world has been moving full-steam ahead to "Internet anytime,
anywhere". Its foundation is the Wireless Application Protocol,
or WAP, which allows us to use handheld devices, such as our
cellphones and PDAs, to access E-mail and browse a text-based Web
page. WAP is a standard that has been worked out by the three
major cellular phone makers: Motorola, Ericsson and Nokia, so
you'll know how it turns out.

The trend toward Internet services for people who are always
on the move was accompanied with the growing popularity of
Personal Digital Assistants, or PDAs, after a couple of years of
lackluster success. Palm, which is owned by 3Com, introduced Palm
III, V and VII (just like the BMWs) during 1999. Compaq also
entered the handheld PC segment with its Aero. A newcomer by the
name Handspring launched its Visor, which immediately became very
popular and even threatened the dominance of the Palm PDAs. And
don't leave out Casiopeia from Casio, which is now available in
Indonesia as well.

All the tremendous fuss about the Internet and e-commerce also
led a couple of brave entrepreneurs in the U.S. to believe that
they could become rich by giving away PCs. So the free PC trend
took off last year in an effort to lure a lot of people to the
Internet. Those who believed that there was such a thing as a
free PC would get a decent machine as long they agreed to let
themselves be bombarded by advertisements and signed a long-term
contract with a particular ISP.

Webpreneurs also had another idea for selling their banner ad
space: they offered free Internet access. And, just as the year
came to its final days, one of them, FreeNet, came to Kuala
Lumpur and promised to offer free Internet access to subscribers
in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia. Now it
will be interesting to see how our government will respond to
this.

The design of the PC itself underwent a radical change last
year, thanks to the overwhelming success of the sexy iMac from
Apple. Actually, a couple of years ago Compaq offered an all-in-
one PC -- a complete PC with an LCD monitor, but the time was
evidently not right for that idea. Today, however, we see so many
cute PC models attached to the back of the LCD panel from leading
PC vendors such as Acer, Fujitsu, Mitac and NEC.

Other strong trends were the increasing capabilities and
decreasing prices of digital cameras and photo printers, the
growing acceptance of home networking, the runaway popularity of
MP3 and the sealed-box business PCs.

On the other hand, among the ideas that did not show much
progress last year were speech recognition technology, smart
cards, virtual reality, confederation computing such as Jini and,
of course, the fight against software piracy.

Unfortunately, amid all the excitement resulting from rapid
advancements of information technology, we also saw what
observers called "The Great Digital Divide". Simply put, it
refers to the rapidly expanding gap between those who have
instant access to information through their computers and the
Internet and those who have no such access.

The digital divide occurred not only between developed and
developing nations, but also within the developed nations
themselves. Even in the U.S., where the Internet was born, some
places and segments in society have ready access to the Internet
while others do not. It is also occurring here in Indonesia,
where only a small fraction of our population has access to a
personal computer and the Web.

The digital divide is a really frightening phenomenon because
it will only bring unequal distribution of wealth and prosperity
to an even higher level. Just take a look at how wealthy the
digital entrepreneurs have become. Even in the U.S., according to
a Harris Poll published in the Dec. 27 issue of Business Week,
the majority of people did not believe that the wealthy
businesses resulting from the Internet Age had improved their own
lives in any significant way. Clearly, the digital divide is
something our current policymakers should not only be fully aware
of, but something they should do something about. Happy New Year!