i-Witness

Will innovation and IPR suffer if technology is patented?

June 1, 2006

What do you see when countries negotiate in the bilateral and multi-lateral trade agreements? I see perpetual catching-up in economic divides if we are not careful when dealing with issues that involve patents, copyrights and intellectual property rights.

That said, it’s quite disturbing to hear that Malaysia will pass the Patents Act (Amendment) Bill as the country has decided to accede to the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) by the end of 2006.

As it is, apart from the PCT, Malaysia is also acceding to three additional treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), namely the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT), the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) and the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Micro-organisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure, or in short, the Budapest Treaty.

Patents can be easily related to escalated costs in building quality of life, and there is sufficient evidence to support this argument, with patented medicines as a solid example. Patented anti-retrovirals administered on AIDS patients used to be US$15,000 per patient per year. The generic versions, which are just as safe and effective, are US$150 per patient per year.

Continue reading "The devils called Patent & FTA" »

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Technology is meant to improve life, not to aggravate it

May 16, 2006

How did you file your income tax returns this year, by manual submission or e-Filing? Let me tell you this, I tried e-Filing. I gave up, and returned to paper submission.

Despite the hype, the Inland Revenue Board just isn’t ready with the electronic tax returns processes. My benchmark is the electronic visa application process employed by the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, which has a similar methodology. You need Internet connection, filling of electronic forms and final output in PDF. It’s done in a jiffy, as all information submitted electronically will be verified with the government’s backend databases. In contrast, our IRB is half-baked with their processes, with loopholes in between.

Continue reading "From e-Filing to e-Flying" »

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When beating competitors simply means making them irrelevant

April 16, 2006

When big corporations as diverse as Nintendo and Cirque du Soleil are adopting ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ in their marketing campaigns, you better watch out. Smart CEOs around the world are having a new book for their bedtime reading.

The book is titled: ‘BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant’ co-authored by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne (Harvard Business School Press, 2005). It deals with new approaches to tackle competition in the market place.

In the book, the authors use the ocean as a metaphor to describe the competitive space in which an organisation chooses to swim. Red oceans refer to the frequently accessed market spaces where the products are well-defined, competitors are known and competition is based on price, product quality and service. In other words, red oceans are an old paradigm that represents all the industries in existence today.

In contrast, the blue oceans denote an environment where products are not yet well-defined, competitors are not structured and the market is relatively unknown. Companies that sail in the blue oceans are those adept at beating the competition by focussing on developing compelling value innovations that create uncontested market space.

Kim and Mauborgne’s book is based on a study of 150 strategic moves that spanned more than a hundred years (1880 – 2000) and thirty industries. Ther authors argue that tomorrow’s leading companies will succeed not by battling competitors, but by making strategic moves which they call “value innovation”. It’s a grand design to create powerful leaps in value for both the firm and its buyers, unleashing new demand, thus rendering rivals obsolete.

Continue reading "Blue Ocean Strategy" »

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Beware of Tim O’Reilly, Web 2.0, IE7, and broadband mobile devices.

April 1, 2006

There is absolutely no Internet surfer experience without a browser. But why did Microsoft, which professed to dominate in Internet-enabled applications as its core business, take browser so lightly that it had allowed Internet Explorer (IE) to age for the last five years without fundamental upgrades?

Many a Microsoft detractor views the software giant as a business strategist good at knocking off emerging competitors. Some believe Microsoft allows nimble players to R&D new applications, but it will not hesitate to move in to eat their lunch if situations warrant it.

You remember when Microsoft was an industry joke when it launched Internet Explorer 1.0 in August 1995? People thought Netscape was a better product for web browsing. Microsoft worked hard for six years to gain dominance in the browser war, and IE6.0 was finally introduced in October 2001, though still full of bugs. But IE6.0 was epoch-making as it effectively resulted in the premature retirement of Netscape, and Internet visionary Jim Barksdale. The web browser became but a conquered territory.

Continue reading "Someone will eat your lunch" »

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Brands and service providers should look beyond network access

March 16, 2006

There is a distinct differentiation between multimedia and network service providers in the developing and developed countries. While both blocs continue to have under-served areas within their respective countries, the former keep their sight on rolling out telecommunications infrastructure, and the latter focus on providing solutions to emerging communication needs, which see a rapid change in digital lifestyle.

The business case behind this lifestyle change is the convergence of information and communications technologies. Leading brands in the world, the First World to be exact, have been swift in tapping into this emerging trend, and come out with new gadgetries, applications and lifestyle solutions to excite and humour the digital generation. Some of these big names form strategic alliances to tap into each other’s strengths and dominance in the life of their respective end-users. Novelty, an oft-tried and perishable form of trapping customer loyalty, has been rudely replaced by old paradigms honey-coated with new flavours. Buzzwords: Mobility, Innovation, and Day-to-Day Problem-solving.

For most of us in the productive generation, we are living in a world signified by Blackberry, 3G, blogs and Google search. Our lifestyle has become an undetachable part of the big rat-race. We need information on the tap to make informed decisions in business and in privacy, incessantly. Solving day-to-day problems and myriad challenges, both in the office and at home, is now a lifestyle by itself. So much for digital generation, you may say.

Continue reading "Convergence in Digital Lifestyle" »

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Let’s push for Open Document Format the way Massachusetts does.

February 1, 2006

What will the Malaysian ICT industry be looking at in pushing the envelope for Open Source this year? We can’t be keeping the evangelical talks after the government has started to incorporate Open Source solutions into its procurement procedure since 2004.

Despite the fact that budget allocation and expenditure for Open Source solutions are relatively miniscule at the moment, it was a good start since the Open Source endorsement policy came into being. Our next job is to show the government the next step. Yes, we need to take that bigger step to realise the benefits of adopting Open Source in terms of innovation and justifiable alternatives in resources planning in the ICT sector, both in the government agencies and the commercial world.

In 2005, I noticed there had been some missteps on the part of the industry’s flag-bearer, the Association of Computer and Multimedia industry Malaysia (PIKOM), with regards to its position on adopting Open Source. For the record, PIKOM during the time when Mr Looi Kian Leong was the chairman was instrumental in the creation of an Open Source Special Interest Group (OSSIG). Some monumental results were produced, one of which was a white paper on adopting Open Source software and solution in the public sector, which was presented to the then Ministry of Communications and Multimedia. The gist of the white paper was also presented at inaugural Public Sector CIO Conference organised by MAMPU in 2002.

However, during the General Public Policy Conference (GPPC) 2005 hosted in Kuala Lumpur by PIKOM, the present PIKOM leadership was reported by the mainstream media that it was reviewing its position on Open Source vis-à-vis the 2002 white paper on Open Source it endorsed via the PIKOM-OSSIG. As a founding member of the OSSIG, I was made aware of the protracted debates that ensued behind the scene within the OSSIG.

Continue reading "2006 Open Source driver" »

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Flaws in the prepaid registration may spawn new security problems

January 16, 2006

There are several execution flaws to the Government’s directive to register all prepaid phone account clients, irrespective of new or existing ones, starting January 1. This is a follow-through of a 3-month pilot project in Penang and Malacca launched in the last quarter of 2005. At the nationwide level, a 6-month timeline is tied to the exercise, whereby the respective service providers must terminate the phone numbers if the users did not comply with the requirement.

There are three major issues involved. One: There is no legal framework pertaining to the guarantee of security and confidentiality of personal data, and the attorney power of the data custodian is not clearly defined. Two: Registration of user data is relegated to the retail/dealers level and there is no guarantee of quality of custodians of data in transit before the data is transmitted to the mobile operators. Three: Mobile operators are non-committal to a professional workflow while industry regulator, the MCMC, does not provide a clear guideline for operators to adhere.

Let’s take a look at the registration procedure. Recently, media reports said that the government and cellular operators were very satisfied with the cooperation of the public to the registration exercise. But the claim has been challenged, the validity of the statistics and information severely questioned.

Continue reading "Personal data at stake" »

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A reflection over 2005… we need more People’s stories

January 1, 2006

Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, alongside Irish rocker Bono, have been jointly named "Persons of the Year 2005” by Time magazine for their charitable work and activism aimed at reducing global poverty and improving world health.

Interestingly, the honour, especially for Bill Gates, has nothing to do with personal computer and software that made him a legendary figure in information technology. Instead, the Gates are honoured for their philanthropic contributions via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - the world's largest foundation, valued at US$29 billion, which spends almost the same amount each year as the World Health Organization (WHO).

Time said the Foundation has saved at least 700,000 lives in poor countries by investing in vaccination programmes, has donated computers and Internet access to 11,000 libraries, and has sponsored the biggest scholarship fund in history.

It’s a thought-provoking event as the honour bestowed on Gates is exactly twenty-three years after the PC, the device that created much of his personal fortune, was named Time’s "Person/Machine of the Year" in 1982.

The irony is, Gates would rather dispense his wealth through philanthropic activities than to allow his company to offer affordable copies of Microsoft Windows in the resource-impoverished developing countries targeted by his foundation. What does that tell us?

Continue reading "Technology should enrich humanity" »

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)