Contents
1. Big Business v Local United Front
2. Opinion & Review Time
3. Weekly News Summary
4. Weekly Events Summary
5. Helpware Notice

1. Big Business v Local United Front

"There seems to be no place for small businesses anymore, as we create our ideal global economy." - Kyle Lamb

This week I want/I'm going to complain about the unavertable nature of big business and the consequences on society, culture and communities. I live in a small town on the River Thames (England) called Marlow, the local scenic and cultural atmosphere, the excellent transport links and location, the affluent skilled workforce, and other similar attributes have attracted development by many multinational and corporate companies.

These companies have brought money, jobs and people into the local community, and with them other large businesses, which in tern have brought in money, jobs and people of their own, etc. Encouraging growth and expansion of the town and the new local industries.

So far this all sounds reasonably good doesn't it? Well unfortunately everything is not as rosy as it seems, like many before Marlow is becoming a DONUT town, IE nothing in the middle!

Marlow and the surrounding areas now have negative unemployment, these companies have brought jobs, there are now more jobs that the community can facilitate. This has lead increased wages and salaries, better working conditions, better living conditions in the area. Small local businesses can no longer afford employees wages - thus close due to lack of service, no staff to tender work.

Marlow has/had a very good high-street, due to the local and close nature of the housing and accommodation around the town. Rents and rates have soared though the sky, the original local businesses are being forced out and replaced, typically by expensive cloths/dress stores. Retail prices in Marlow are now almost double the national average.

Marlow is growing/expanding as new people move into the area, often relocated by those very same large businesses. House prices and values are extremely high and increasing, as the demand for houses/flats far exceeds the supply available, and local inflation of prices. The elderly (and young) are being forced away from Marlow, the only place they have ever known and grown up in - to never be able to return, to afford live here once again.

With the new businesses, people and way of life came new facilities, outside Marlow they built a large sports complex, v-large ASDA supermarket, John Lewis superstore, six screen Cinema, etc. The donut has begun, as people take their cars (when once they always walked) travel to the out of town shopping centres. The centre of town dies.. The small stores disappear..

Recently Marlow was fitted with CCTV (Close Circuit Television), they cut the local police force to ‘two policemen', the entire of Marlow.? Last I heard they were thinking of closing the station.?

As the community and the community resources disappear I just remember what it was once like, knowing very well that you just have to accept change, and there is little that I can do about it, as the local markets and the community changes.

The Internet
I also live on the Internet, another well developed community which has many similarities to Marlow, with many attractions for development by multinational and corporate companies. The Internet is the greatest of all transport mediums, since physical transport or access is always local. The Internet has an incredibly affluent and skilled workforce. The Internet also has an excellent affluent audience for sales opportunities.

These companies, many of them new, have brought money, jobs and people into the expanding community, and followimg them are other large businesses, which in tern have brought money jobs and people of their own, etc. Encouraging growth on an astronomical scale, major expansion of the Internet and of completely new industries (for the Internet community).

So far much like Marlow, this all sounds reasonably good doesn't it? I think by now you know there is a catch coming, well like many communities before the Internet is becoming DONUT like, goods and facilities can be provided by large companies out of town, where rent is cheaper, but where smaller business wouldn't survive.

The skilled workforce which supply the Internet, now have extreme negative unemployment problem, to use the same expression, or rather there is a skills shortage - there are more jobs than there are people with skills to facilitate them. This has lead to increased wages and salaries, better working and living conditions (luxurious conditions explains it better). Small businesses all over the world can't afford to hire developers to work on Internet sites - thus close or will close since they seem not to exist.

As the Internet expands, businesses are moving over from the High Street, to the Internet, during 1998 alone two million (2,000,000) new sites were created. How many Internet sites then do you use regularly, 200, 400, 900 - no probably five at tops, with an additional ten or twenty for special occasions, kept in your favourites folder. Big businesses have the upper hand because small sites, like those created by small businesses can not, and are not being found or used, so again they seem not to exist. The cost of developing a large site, or advertising to the specific local target audience is too costly and not effective for a small/medium sized business to consider.

With the new businesses, people and way of life on the Internet come the new facilities to support them, many new portals (a portal is a site which is designed to provide a listing of other sites in which they support, or their own selection provided for the benefit of the users of the site) to the Internet are created, providing their own selections of ‘The Best of The Web' - typically all the large and highly developed sites - which small businesses can't create or maintain.

Within the coming years the western population will become dependant upon the Internet, from everything from buying the shopping, to doing business and serving customers. The smaller businesses will disappear, never to be seen or heard of again. "There seems to be no place for small businesses anymore, as we create our ideal global economy." - Kyle Lamb

The comunity united fights back..
Don't give up get, on yourselves or me - I've got a plan, but doesn't mean it will be easy..

Unless, these groups of smaller and larger businesses get together, via a medium & method which will allow them all to be seen together. Most towns and city areas have local Businesses Societies, such groups are separate from the Council, but are set-up so the local businesses have a say in the local planning issues, like Christmas decorations, town events, etc.

Together smaller with the larger businesses in the area, the group will be able to create it's own site, offering goods and services from the local area, communicating with the local people, attracting members into local societies and charities, local jobs database and newspapers/guides, services for the local school (often the kids will teach their parents) get the idea - just about everything that acts or trades in the local area! A portal specifically for a local community, which only provides local community links and resources.

The secret to making it work, is to unite the local businesses, and provide join services like, collection and delivery, and credit card ordering! Make every effort possible to make your site known locally and to get people connected, but cheaply think about it first, display posters in all the shop windows and outside schools, the library, the Gym, the out of town supermarket, everywhere many people are going to go.

Now, if your are reading this, and I know that you can recognise the underlined problem and the opportunity I present to you - contact me - I will help where ever I can, I have a thousand and one other ideas and tips, from designing the site, to making it work in the community. All it really requires is a little bit of thought, a small dedicated group, and a new found community spirt.

BTW: You can easily get grants from the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) and the National Lottery, if you can show that it involves the entire town - do you planning first, hold a town planning meeting (well advertise it), then apply to them...

I'm in the progress of pre-paring a site centred around building local community enterprises, along with tools and facilities to help along the way - I hope to publish it about the end of May.

If you have something to say, please e-mail me: kyle@nerds.co.uk
Next week my column will be based upon your opinions.

I like to start by making my own contribution as ‘helpwhere', to find this news I typically use three sources, firstly anything which is sent directly to me from readers, secondly the news channel at NERDS> (all produced, and submitted by readers), and thirdly Silicon News (www.silicon.com) a professionals news resource - but really serves just as publicity medium for businesses and people.

• Vodafone (a mobile telecommunications provider) have been given permission to build its £120,000,000 headquarters, located smack in the middle of a ‘green belt' conservation area north of Newbury, Berkshire. Although this development is in direct contravention of government policy! Why: Vodafone offered £10,000,000 for "green transport", including a proposed park and ride scheme, and a computerised car-sharing scheme.

  Now this was just what I was talking about in this month's column! I hope every time you use your mobile phone, you just consider what it has cost to the environment, and the local community there now monopolised by a single company - providing 3,400 jobs in the area! However, if you care about the environment, one provider which really does care (in my humble opinion) is Orange - and NO they didn't offer me anything ;).

• Microsoft are working on their quality scheme again, they have launched an ‘initiative' designed to encourage job seekers and under-graduates to choose a career in IT. The ‘initiative' as their press release calls it is actually a web site, which can be found here:

  http://www.microsoft.com/uk/skills2000/

  I agree with their strategy, which doesn't seem to have a direct recruitment twist (yet, apart from their certification schemes). There are currently about 115,000 IT related job vacancies that remain open and look to remain open indefinitely (for a prolonged period) throughout the UK, this is a crisis, employers pinch each others staff, while paying astronomical salaries, and in general providing terrible service to their customers and consumers. Which, at the end of the day the main benefit (which they forgot to stress) is if you work in the IT industry, you are most likely a wealthy person.

• Another from Microsoft, my copy of Windows 2000 pre-Beta3 arrived today, they sent it to me via currier (they know that the NERDS> publication date is 1st month), Microsoft promised that it would be ‘feature rich' and it is indeed. I will include a detailed evaluation/appraisal next week.

  I expect to see Windows 2000 final release by around late October, early November. There will soon be an open Beta release (I'd imagine in the next week), and there are over 300,000 people who have asked to receive it. Microsoft are pulling out all the stops, they are throughly testing and debugging in an effort to make a ‘feature rich' and very reliable (that means stable) Operating System for the 21st Century.

  Microsoft's biggest image problem is ‘bugs' and stability of their software, particularly in combination with each other, and other software. It is my belief that they are now activity working on this, contacts in development teams at Microsoft claim that testing and compatibility issues, has taken over their previous typical programming operations.

  An example of ‘Microsoft's Problem', can be found between Internet Explorer 5 (IE5) and Outlook 97 or 98. Unofficially: there is a conflict, Installing IE5 over a machine which has Outlook installed which uses a LAN connection, will sometimes cause Outlook to bring up an error on execution and even prevents you from re-installing Outlook due to this same conflict.

  Microsoft Technical Support, who seemed oblivious to the problem, suggested (after 30min on the phone) re-installing Windows - most helpful..? I hope to find out more on Monday when I'll speak to Neil Holloway - MD, Microsoft UK and Ireland

• You may know that the domain name registration system is being privatised. The five contract winners: AOL, Core, France Telecom, Melbourne IT Registrar and register.com now have the joint power to award ‘.com' addresses. NetNames is furious and is trying ungently to get in, otherwise they could loose their entire business, as they wouldn't be able to compete.

  The problem I believe is that no-one else in the industry likes them, because they are not very cooperative when they loose an account to a competitor - It has taken me four months to transfer a single domain from them, that was after the threat of legal action. Other hosting companies will tell similar stories - we now turn customers away that want to transfer domains from NetNames.

• Apparently BT will offer customers free calls. Catch: The line would be interrupted before or at the beginning of each call, and at regular intervals throughout, with targeted advertising. From June BT will be piloting this scheme in Tyne and Wear, and in Bristol - if it proves to be successful (as in Sweden) they would likely provide it throughout by the end of the year.

  Research in Sweden suggests that it is mainly Students and other low-income families that use the scheme... Well that suggests to me, that it is a nuisance to callers. I could actually see most students in England using it, why, because students own almost all the mobile phones in the country (as I found out when researching the Vodafone story above - from Orange). The land line is only used in emergencies, when the parents call from home and ordering takeaways, most students already have free calls via the mobile phone to all their piers.

• Subscription-free ISPs are all the rage now, started by Dixons Freeserve which was launched last November. Would you believe that these services are so successful in terms of uptake that ISPs are unable to take all the calls. On average 10% of attempts to logon to ISPs now fail, compared to the 3% before Christmas. The speed at which the Internet is going makes it even more important that businesses get onto the web, yet business web site growth is incredibly slow - more about this in my feature column next week...

Note: Much of the news from last week probably still applies today, so if you missed the last issue, don't forget to go and have a look - you can find previous issues from our Internet site.

Remember: Your comments on my interpretation of the news, or other news, is always welcome and invited - Kyle Lamb. I'm trying to give you news, make discussion and provide links to relational resources, not to provide a means for publicity.

4. Weekly Events Update

WebMaster Expro ‘99 takes place on the 12th - 13th May, at Olympia 2, London. This exhibition is being run by IT Events Limited (www.itevents.co.uk, 01256 384000), the invitation I've received promises that the top WebMasters and IT professionals will be attending - although I declined their offer to participate.

Internet World 99 takes place on the 25th - 27th May, at Earls Court 2, London. The promoters claim to have received a huge response to an advert they've been running, and have told everyone about their success, via what is a self-referential press release which publicises the success of their publicity - very weird.. The exhibition is being run by Mecklermedia, 0171 976 0405

4b. Dates for your Diary

• WebMaster Expo '99
  12th - 13th May 1999
  Olympia 2, London

• Internet World 99
  25th - 27th May 1999
  Earls Court 2, London

• The Windows NT Show '99
  26th - 28th October 1999
  Grand Hall, Olympia, London

• IT Trade Expo '99
  27th - 28th October 1999

• The Java Show '99
  17th - 18th November 1999
  Olympia 2, London

• Linux Expo '99
  17th - 18th November 1999

• The Windows Show 2000
  Spring 2000
  National Hall, Olympia, London

Remember: If you have attended an event or exhibition that you think might be of value to other readers, your input is always welcomed - Kyle Lamb

5. Helpware Notice

Now, The Briefing is not free. It is 'Helpware.'

Each week you must help one other person who is less informed than you. Pick a newsgroup posting or an email each week and help that person get in touch with the world. Trust me, this will make you feel better, and together united, will help the web community work together.

Also, help me make The Briefing better. If you have a suggestion, idea, news item, event your running, which you think will help other readers - my e-mail is below.

I would like to thank Jim Wilson for inspiring me to write this weekly update. I've found his own newsletter particularly useful as a web developer. Thanks. http://www.virtualpromote.com/

To unsubscribe from The Briefing visit:
http://nerds.co.uk/The_Briefing/unsubscribe.htm

To subscribe to The Briefing, visit:
http://nerds.co.uk/The_Briefing/subscribe.htm

If you have missed previous issues of The Briefing and would like to read them, you can find them at this URL:
http://nerds.co.uk/The_Briefing/

The contents of 'The Briefing' do not necessarily reflect the opinions of NERDS> or Beyond Limitations. Beyond Limitations makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, about the truth or accuracy of the contents of 'The Briefing'.

Editor:	Kyle Lamb kyle@nerds.co.uk http://nerds.co.uk/The_Briefing/
Contributing Researcher:	Chris Jones chris@nerds.co.uk http://black-sun.co.uk/

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole, or in part, without the express written consent of the author.

If you have found 'The Briefing' useful, why not recommend it to a friend?