Cloud computing is a good thing? Well probably, however it is predicated on the availability of cloud applications to run in the cloud (Cloud computing will change business technology, knowledge.computing.co.uk).

Problem - applications to service particular functional needs are frequently determined and bounded by organisational preferences rather than inherent characteristics, so software tends to reflect the likes and dislikes of the commissioner, which many others reject on a "not invented here" basis.

The solution is that there needs to be a consensus on best of breed functional flows before applications can be easily picked up. For  example, the accounting industry has a best-of-breed process defined by the  accounting standards and several hundred years of double entry book-keeping. Result - companies can pick up most accounting software and use it successfully.

A converse example is the industry and sector where I am employed - public education for 16 to 19-year olds. Here we have little common and even less agreed mapping of function in, say, the administration of students. This results in multiple vendors with differing packages which do not even meet
external constraints in standard ways. Here, and throughout higher and further education generally, institutions cannot see a way to introduce even limited shared services, according to a recent survey.

So, for us, cloud computing is just a dream.

Jim Blair

Big volumes of data is not the issue regarding criminals hiding in the virtual world (Volume reduction,
letters.computing.co.uk).

Today's machines can process far more bytes than we can produce. Every single person online is becoming more traceable. With the eventual introduction of IPv6, anyone will be able to know exactly who and where you are. It will be quite the opposite - you will not hide online, you will go offline to hide.

Dave Walker

I run an e-commerce site, and in my experience what stops people buying across countries is the excessive postage charged (EU to encourage cross-border e-commerce, www.computing.co.uk/2219738).

At the moment it is many times more expensive for us to ship from the UK to Europe. Were it not for this, we would put more energy into translating our sites and accepting the euro, and marketing in mainland Europe.

As it is, the postage makes it too expensive for people to buy from us.

Paul, submitted on the web

This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard (Staff using social networks to talk to customers).

Social networks do not allow you to totally separate your private and business life - people generally tend to aim their profile at one or the other. You cannot keep a true audit trail of communications with your customer, or guarantee them a service level in case MySpace/Facebook were to break.

Corporate email and web sites, and the many companies that offer products and services to link into these, are there for a reason.

Any company that allows its employees to conduct business with their clients through social networks
instead of the corporate  infrastructure they paid for is incompetent.

The exception is companies that run themselves from a social networking site. Graduates need to get real if they think they can go to their first "real" job and use Facebook to talk to  colleagues or customers.

DHD, submitted on the web

The writer of the article "iPlayer piling the pressure on worried ISPs" suggests that ISPs might protest
because "they have sold unlimited connections to people on the understanding that they will not use them much (an arrangement called fair use), and the BBC has broken that agreement."

Sorry? The BBC has broken that agreement?

The unrealistically-priced ISP offerings only made business sense because the average user would not know how to access the more technical bandwidth-draining services such as online  gaming and movie downloads - pirate or otherwise.

Now a well-known brand has entered the market and made it easy for the ordinary, non-technical, user
to access the sort of material the internet evangelists (including these bottom-end ISPs) have long promised - material that could make the internet as pervasive  as the TV.

These cheap ISPs have gone "lunatic" because their flawed business models have been shown up to be entirely unsustainable in the world that they actually promised.

Adrian S, submitted on the web

As businesses, and particularly small and medium-sized businesses, rely  increasingly on the internet for core functions such as e-commerce web sites, email and hosted applications, any interruption in service is a huge concern.

In the current economic climate, every opportunity to sell must be maximised. Hosting providers have
become adept at building in get-out clauses to protect themselves, rather than their customers, in the event of failures - even when they appear to offer a 100 per cent uptime guarantee.

So when selecting a hosting provider, do not be bamboozled by marketing puff and false promises. Place
issues such as resilience,   customer care, hardware fix times and real-world service level agreements at the top of your list.

Ben White

We have reached a point where if an online store's branding and reputation conveys a sense of trust, the brand and its web site displays the key authentication symbols/certificates, we should shop, shop, shop (Are we really so scared when online shopping? newsdesk.computing.co.uk).

The banks cover fraudulent transactions and getting something back from banks these days is a triumph in  itself. Perhaps this is why banks are pushing these highly annoying secondary security systems. It is beginning to defeat the purpose of the exercise, which is speed and convenience.

Having to carry tokens  is impractical and having  to create number/letter combination passwords just forces us to write all our numerous passwords down, again defeating the purpose of the security measures in the first place. Let  technology do its job.

Bryan Hunter

I was very interested to read the article, Face value or face ache?. A bit that especially interested me was the views of David Hobson regarding the adverse impact social networking sites can have on bandwidth and productivity.

Our experience suggests that a combination of well thought-out policies underpinned by appropriate technology can safeguard the interests of employers, while providing a work environment that meets the needs of the staff themselves.

The key is to adopt a trusting approach, allowing   employees to plan their own time according to their
individual requirements. The result can be improved morale and motivation  combined with less pressure on bandwidth because staff are not accessing the   internet at the same time.

Simon Norris

Some time ago, a fair chunk of Backbytes was taken up with arguments about the meanings of
active, reactive and proactive (backbytes.computing.co.uk). In the end, I think the consensus was that they all meant, er, something or other.

Interesting then to read that Mark Samuels is advocating "a proactive reaction" to the release of .asia domains (Stake a claim to your Asian domain, knowledge.computing.co.uk).

As one cannot react to an event until that event has happened, but to be proactive one must take action in advance of the event, can anyone explain what a proactive reaction is?

Antony Hawkins

Great article (Web 2.0: Your business needs a strategy now, knowledge.computing.co.uk). IT managers are increasingly being told by senior managers to ‘build Facebook for my company’.

While commendable in its outlook, unfortunately this often masks a lack of any real understanding of what the business is trying to accomplish or how social collaboration tools can genuinely benefit an enterprise – just that they need to have Web 2.0. More fuel for the hype bubble, I guess.

Alastair Mitchell, submitted on the web

Businesses are finally catching on to the importance of the consumer web – but companies need to embrace Web 2.0 from the inside (Businesses can learn from social web sites).

The Facebook generation expects collaboration and dynamism – not just through social networks, but also in corporate software. And this is something that stagnant, on-premise applications simply aren’t able to provide.

While users of traditional desktop applications are unwrapping boxes of software and waiting for it to install so that they can register it, hosted solutions are allowing other businesses to gain a head start.

Enabling collaboration and online sharing, Software as a Service allows businesses to access vital information wherever they are. And with our workforces becoming increasingly mobile, what use are office-based applications?

Organisations need to stop pigeonholing Web 2.0 as a consumer phenomenon. They must start embracing such common sense benefits as ease of use and greater intuitiveness in the enterprise. Only then will businesses fully reap its benefits.

Lindsey Armstrong,Salesforce.com

If new laws target downloaders, I think a lot of internet companies will lose a lot of custom (Government to attack download pirates). Most people have the internet so they can download whatever interests them. I know for a fact that I will cancel my broadband subscription if this is made law.

Perhaps if cinema tickets and DVD hire were cheaper, people would not download as much. Most of the films being made these days are such rubbish that I cannot see why anyone would want to pay to watch them anyway.

Tony, submitted on the web

In his letter, Steve wrote: “One might think that banks had introduced chip-and-PIN merely so they can refuse all refunds on disputed transactions because they can always say: ‘How did they know your PIN?’" (Suspicious minds, Letters blog).

Was this not precisely the reason chip-and-PIN was invented? Credit card fraud cost banks more than £150m per year, because the rules said that users would be protected from fraud that was not the user’s fault. Chip-and-PIN was designed as a way of proving blame. If you can prove it was the card user’s fault, for example they gave away their PIN, you can deny liability.

Phil, submitted on the web

Accenture's research reinforces the fact that the retail industry is still a long way from operating on a customer-centric strategy (High street problems send shoppers to the web).

Holistic customer profiling and behavioural targeting need to become a key priority if store visitor numbers are to be improved. By having the technological capability to understand what is driving customers in terms of preferences and behaviours, retailers will be able to cater their in-store offerings a lot more effectively.

Retailers such as Waitrose are using forecasting and merchandising software to ensure quality service is being delivered to their customer base. More stores need to use this type of actionable insight to improve the in-store experience. There is no excuse for retailers that are under-delivering in terms of customer service and stock availability. Continuing down this route will result in damaging the customer experience and destroying brand loyalty.

Jason Goodwin, SAS UK

I was pleased to read of the launch of a Web 2.0 security forum in Computing (Web 2.0 security forum launches), as our view has been that more and more companies are adopting Web 2.0 technologies without implementing sufficient security policies and practices.

Web 2.0 within the workplace is not a fad that is going to disappear; the technology and applications make a whole new mode of working possible that will lead to increased productivity and profitability. However, it will be necessary for businesses to face up to the accompanying security issues to reap the benefits Web 2.0 promises.

Businesses need to educate staff on best practice and their individual responsibility in helping secure new web applications.

IT departments must also take responsibility for the security below this surface level, which involves keeping a close eye on the network and bandwidth rhythms and professionally auditing applications.
Organisations that work to raise awareness of these issues can only help the overall progress of new, powerful applications in the enterprise, as secure best practice here will enable whole new ways of working.

Simon Haighton-Williams
Web Technology Group

I could not agree more (Facebook is not all it was cracked up to be).

Fast forward five years from now and all the most successful networks will either have a common cause, such as microfinance for the poor, or be a utility that helps you achieve a goal over and above just "hanging out" and self-publishing.

Recent scientific studies suggest that sustainable networks - those that do not degrade - are associated with "low clustering". In other words, diversity in groups is far more successful than density - so networks with thousands of small groups rather than dozens of big groups are the most robust.
Facebook is a highly dense cluster. A word to the wise: decentralise - small pieces, loosely joined.

Leon Benjamin

I had stopped downloading my music illegally because of web sites such as Pandora (Pandora to halt UK service).

This narrowmindedness from the royalty collectors  is beyond belief. I would hear new music on this service and then buy it. As a result of the shutting of Pandora, I will be returning to my nasty old downloading ways to sample new music.

Stevie, submitted on the web

As a regular traveller with children, I know that online check-in does not work (Nearly all airlines set for online check-in). It is simply an inconvenience. I almost always have to use more than one booking reference.

When a flight is full, as is the case for most flights I can afford with a family, I cannot locate seats together. The result: unhappy children - and unhappy fellow passengers who have to sit next to them.
As a family member, I also have to check in bags. This too represents a major problem, despite the so-called baggage kiosks.

Lastly, those who do not check in their oversized and overweight bags - as most want to do with self-serve check-ins - should be aware how dangerous this practice is. You should see what an overhead locker failure does to the seat occupant below it in a forced landing.

Name withheld on request

Are we so desperate that comment from businesses that have yet to use Facebook become spokespersons? (Business faces up to social networks).

Rather than Zopa thinking about it, what about Lending Club, which launched on Facebook?
Business needs to stop talking about it and start trying it. Sony BMG's Dylan application is proof that more pointed advertising applications work if they are well thought-out and designed.

Understanding the relevance to your business is key, but Facebook has been much hyped for several months. Any advertiser still talking about it may have missed the boat already.

Two of the UK's leading lights for innovation, and they're stuck on how to use Facebook. How frustrating.

Charles, submitted on the web

In your editorial comment on 6 September you asked: "Is e-invoicing a government issue?"

The simple answer is that the invoice is not just a commercial document, it is also the key document for VAT, which is very much a government concern. With the best of intentions, the European Commission has legislated to allow the use of electronic invoices for VAT purposes.

Unfortunately, implementations across the community are not uniform and, as a result, there is a lack of interoperability. Overcoming this does not need a new IT system, it needs agreement on standardisation between businesses and commercial providers, and the adoption of  a common approach by the various tax authorities in member states.

This is exactly what the Commission's taskforce - made up of industry specialists - has recommended. It is challenging but achievable, and will bring enormous benefits to business throughout Europe.

Tim Lambertstock
VocaLink

Pushing back the start date of the faster payments initiative is the only course of action for the industry (Faster payment scheme slows down). For such a sophisticated system to reach its full potential every component must be right from day one.

The arrival of faster payments is eagerly awaited and the benefits it will bring will be tremendous.

When expert advice was sought on the viability of launching in November, the advice stated that technically more time was needed.

Testing is a crucial part of the development process as it prevents a great deal of problems further down the line. If additional rigorous testing is required it should be carried out. The industry will just have to hold its breath a little longer.

When faster payments is launched it will revolutionise the payments landscape, opening up a much more cost-effective and efficient service to a much broader  spectrum of customers, both consumer and corporate. We need to make absolutely  sure faster payments is robust and successful from day one, and the extra time  will be useful for further preparation. It will be worth the wait.

Georgia Leybourne

A single smartcard for all uses will never, ever happen (A smartcard for smart users, Letters blog, letters.computing.co.uk). It's not a technology problem. Multi-application cards exist today. It's a business problem. First, there are the obvious security and liability issues around the issuing process. Secondly, the cards are crucial marketing devices - hence the fancy graphics and novelty shapes. How will issuers compete for the coveted 'front of wallet' position as co-hosted applications on a single card?

Jonathan Tuliani

Is the threat actually the level of detail of users’ profile gathered by firms such as Google or the fact that information is monetized without our consent? (Not looking good in profile, Letters blog, letters.computing.co.uk). In other words, can we blame the Googlefolks to prepare the ground for innovative business habits? More importantly, François said in his last paragraph that in France companies are not allowed to manipulate/store private data – does this imply that government organisations are?

Cybarefoot

The news that Tesco is going to deploy Web 2.0 technologies to provide customers with a sense of community is good news (Tesco chases online appeal).

We at ICT Gateshead have been deploying these technologies for a while. We create dynamic social network Web 2.0 sites to recreate the school community online.

Schools enjoy this technology as communications are increased with the people who want to interact with parents. Pupils also enjoy the ability to interact with each other. In the primary school setting we provide support for the curriculum using web blogs as a means to engage pupils in writing. We have been deploying podcast technology for a long time ­ our radio station had podcasts before the BBC.

In the ‘real world’, early adoption of technologies is very rare, this is why I am excited by the Tesco announcement as it is a move to legitimacy. What is currently new technology will soon be adopted and used by more and more people.

We as educators can at least say that we were there to support this take-up by making sure pupils were
given the skills to interact with the technology.

Mike Carter

In the days of tobacco advertising, the big players used to maintain they were not encouraging folks to take up smoking, but trying to steal existing smokers from the other brands. Non-smokers were apparently impervious to their advertising.

The claims by Google and Yahoo that they are trying to be more specific in who they advertise to sound rather familiar (Google’s battles are breaking new ground).

Their claim that small businesses only want to advertise to people who want their products will soon see these small businesses stagnate or disappear. You cannot expand if you only sell widgets to people who already buy widgets, you need to encourage the folks who may never have even seen them to start buying.

The search companies are simply trying to justify their hoarding of masses of data while they try to think of ways to make money from it.

Mike Pepper

Karen Williams warns that banks need to think about customer retention as they move to near real-time transaction processing (Letters, 29 March).

She may have missed the initiative a few years ago by Abbey National’s problem-solving geniuses, who came up with the idea of restricting online internet banking payments to branch opening hours. So we lost 24-hour, seven days a week banking and ended up with five and a half days of eight hours a day. For example, a payment made after noon on Saturday does not get actioned until 9am on Monday.

Cheque deposits via automated teller machines that used to be credited the same or next day by branch staff, now take an extra two days. Whereas cheques posted into an insecure wooden box in the branch get processed next day.

Name withheld on request

As a local authority security manager, I have followed the debate about online fraud (Lloyds TSB extends card fraud technology, 14 March, Letters, 22 March). I thought my personal precautions were adequate.
But I must commend the Co-operative Bank for preventing one of my Visa cards being used to withdraw at least £4,000 in Norway, the only Scandinavian country I have yet to visit.
The first I knew of it was when I tried to buy a Mothers' Day gift for my wife in the Body Shop and had to answer a few security questions before the transaction was authorised.
I had used the card infrequently over the past year in the UK and few times on holiday in Malta and Barcelona. I was always careful to conceal my Pin and other security information and used it only at trusted outlets, apart from perhaps abroad.
It just goes to show that no one is immune from this type of theft and the sooner a more secure system is introduced, the better for everyone.
Tony Hainsworth

Yogesh Raja’s suggestion that we use memory sticks to combat credit card fraud is a terrible idea (Lloyds TSB extends card fraud technology, 14 March, Letters, 22 March). If someone steals my card, they have to guess my PIN, with a memory stick all they have to do is remember to steal that as well.
How can I then prove a transaction was not made by me when it was authorised by my stick. Raja’s scheme would also involve massive investment to replace all the old ATMs to achieve less security than chip-and-PIN.
Standardisation would be a nightmare, no two banks would use the same system and ultimately this would fail because the skimmed info would bee-mailed abroad to be used in ATMs there.
But I would support the use of ID cards to replace e-wallets, cards and memory sticks. All I would need is a card reader for my PC and some software from the bank to heavily encrypt my details onto the card.
It would be really nice to be able to configure the ID card for different levels of security for different levels of transaction. For example, Pin for purchases under £30, but up to £50 if no finger print scanner is available. Ultimately I would like to leave my cards at home and only use my ID card, only breaking out cards for trips abroad.
Michael Pearce

I see that Lloyds TSB is to expand automated phone alerts for suspicious card activity to include debit cards (Lloyds TSB extends card fraud technology, 14 March).
But fraud will continue to grow until banks start to use memory stick systems. These can be used to stop fraudulent ATM use. An ATM would only be activated by the personalised code stored on the stick. Why would anyone be tempted to use stolen or skimmed cards when they know that ATMs will not work without the key?
The sticks can also be used to activate printers to print out small stickers with the individual's image and name on it. These can be attached to documents and countersigned.
Anyone misusing the system for criminal purposes would also be providing the authorities with their identity.
Yogesh Raja

What extra security does David Barnes think that Active X, which has full access to your machine, gives over Java applets, which run in a restricted environment (Letters, 1 March).
It is not signing that is at issue here because Java applets are signed too. Not that signing is worth much. Even trusted web site certificates are frequently out of date or not recognised and people just ignore the warnings.
Stephen Baynes

It is great to see contributors making such good commonsense observations (Letters, 8 February). As Simon Wilson suggest, we see advertising campaigns telling us 'Speed kills' and 'Smoking kills'; why not, 'Phishing empties your bank account'?
We may know not to reply to phishing attacks, but it is the non-technical public who are getting ripped off and they are the ones who need to be warned.
Robert Farmer

Timothy Gilson suggests that rather than concentrating on tightening security at the organisational level or by educating the public, people should reply to phishing emails with false information, ideally provided by banks (Letters, 22 February).
Banks cannot encourage customers to give false responses to phishing, since this would require people to access the phishing web sites and expose their PCs to malicious viruses and Trojans through browser vulnerabilities.
As for attacking and identifying phishers by spamming their databases, this is a good idea. But such services are already commercial available, and are widely used.
The problem with these measures is that they are invisible, and so do nothing to build consumer confidence.
Jonathan Tuliani

I was interested to see that police are testing online tools to help small firms combat e-crime (Police pilot system to improve e-crime handling, 15 February).
But on their web site, yorkshire-safe.org, I saw a note saying, ‘To use some extra options you need to have JavaScript enabled’, together with a link to an article ‘Drive-by web attack could hit home routers’, which explains how dangerous Java is.
All client-side scripting, whether JavaScript, VBScript or Java applet, is dangerous. Every web site you visit with these enabled can invisibly use your browser session to do anything to other machines on your network.
This can include reprogramming your router. In a worst-case scenario your web session can connect to your server and extract Hipa or DPA protected data and upload it.
The quicker we go back to Authenticode-signed ActiveX the better. If a site needs some clever client-side stuff then it will need to be signed. At least then you have a verified identity and somewhere to send the police if it hacks your system.
David Barnes

Previous laws were inadequate at protecting consumers, the very people they were designed to help (ID theft law could incriminate innocent people, 15 February).
Do I care if this law makes it a little harder for a debt collector to collect a debt? No. You report that the Institute of Credit Management is complaining that innocent credit managers could be prosecuted. So many of these laws and regulations would not even be needed if the companies that the ICM represents had done the right things to protect consumer data in the first place.
Do not let them fool you. This law is a great leap forward for consumer data protection.
Evan Francen