Abstract This paper explains that, in 1993, the Justice Department (DOJ) began an investigation into the allegations that (1) Microsoft used predatory pricing tactics to destroy competitors and eliminate competition in the marketplace and (2) erected technical barriers within their operating systems to make it difficult or impossible for non-Microsoft software to run on Windows; on July 15, 1994, in a consent decree, Microsoft agreed that it would not tie other Microsoft products into its Windows operating system. The author points out that this dominance was due to Microsoft's (1) development of a commonuser interface, which allows users to use similar commands in each of the individual application products, (2) concept of backward compatibility so that the older versions of applications work with newer versions of the operating system and (3) integration of its individual applications allowed users to create and use data between applications such as a spreadsheet created in Excel could be imported into a PowerPoint presentation. The paper continues to describe several other anti-trust cases such as the 2004 agreement with the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and Novell.
From the Paper "In order to understand the environment in which the Microsoft anti-trust actions occurred, it is necessary to examine the beginnings of Microsoft. After an early career as a hacker, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Traf-O-Data in Seattle, Washington, a company started to develop and market a machine to generate traffic flow statistics. This machine was not the success that Gates and Allen hoped for, however. It may have been the youthfulness of the owners (Gates was 16), or it may have been that the state of Washington began to offer the same services for free."
Abstract This paper is an overview of sixteen common fallacies used in debate. The paper provides two examples of each in the hopes that students can better discern these fallacies when they emerge in debate and/or in academic literature. As a useful point, these examples can also be used to highlight the partisanship of leading politicians eager to spread their own agenda.
From the Paper "Ad Hominem: personal attacks of any kind are ad hominem attacks. Two examples would be Al Franken's loud denunciations of Bill O'Reilly and others while another would be someone dismissing George W. Bush's policies because he is (allegedly) "stupid". Ad Populum: Two examples of ad populum fallacies would be recent gall-up polls showing weak support for the war in Iraq and/or an argument that insists that "most people" do not want gay marriage or an end to abortion."
Abstract The paper explains how globalization and user fees are so strongly related that they are cause and effect. The paper examines how, at the present time, Canada is under increasing pressure from the United States to introduce a system of user fees in the system of Medicare. The paper further examines how this is linked to global competitiveness and the argument that Canada will have to adopt user fees in order to be efficient and cost effective. This paper analyzes the positive and the negative points of Canada's use of user fees.
Abstract The writer explains that it is a great responsibility for the designer to understand and visualize the design of the software interface that is going to be selected or produced for the end user. The paper discusses the potential problems, for example the colors used, and gives suggestions of how best to use them. The writer suggests that the use of cognitive psychology, which involves the study of how our mental resources are used effectively to deal with information, is the best way to decide how to design user-friendly interfaces. The paper notes that the effects of cognitive limitations depend on many factors, such as type, complexity, discrimination and familiarity with the items to be remembered, besides the size and nature of the task to be performed with these items. In conclusion, the writer states that the application of cognitive guidelines sometimes produces satisfactory results, but that it is important to remember that they are based on a simple view of human cognition.
Table of Contents:
Cognitivism Problems and User Interface
Introduction
Criteria Problems Cited:
Screen Design
Response Time and Exhibition Interval
Messages
Color
Window Design
Help Systems
Access Mechanisms
Presentation Mechanisms
Integration
Problems Associated with Interface and the Communication Process
Using The Fundamentals Of Cognitive Psychology For Interface Design
Bibliography
From the Paper "The format of messages with warnings or explanations about mistakes is very important, both for beginner and expert users. This influences the user's acceptance of the system.
"The error messages correct distractions or, even, incorrect comprehension. They must be specific and precise, avoid codes, and appear in the exact moment the user makes a mistake. These messages must present a constructive and positive orientation, be informal, and contain sentences directed to the user him/herself. They must also present a physical format adequate to each condition or situation, and maintain some consistency as far as visual format (position and grammatical format) is concerned."
Abstract This paper explains that systems and applications are being developed to facilitate the traditional manual process; code testing is a critical element to this procedure to ensure that systems function well and that they meet user-requirements. The author points out that manual code testing involves evaluation and assessment of program codes through manual process and whether the functionalities match those listed in the detailed design. The paper relates that unit testing, the process of checking the units (i.e. modules, subprograms) of a software product, involves individual checks and tests of every software component.
Table of Contents
Testing
Code
Manual
Automated
Unit Testing
Integration Testing
Regression Testing
User Acceptance
At Whose Site?
From the Paper "User acceptance test may be performed either in the development site or in the implementation site (users? site). Normally, the pilot test is done in the development site which facilitates the need for modification should it be required. Upon the success of the pilot test, another user acceptance test may be performed in the implementation site to ensure that the system or software also functions well in the users? site."
Tags:user-requirement, manual, code, implementation, pilot
Abstract This study focuses upon observations of mobile phone use and the ways in which users employ their mobile phones while socially involved in a group or pair. The controversial technological determinist Marshall McLuhan claimed that "all media work us over completely" (McLuhan, 2001:26). The aim of this paper is to investigate to what extent this is true with regard to the mobile phone and to look at how users select calls when in the presence of others using the affordances and constraints of the technology. The degree to which the mobile phone became a part of the social context and in particular the way in which participants in a group or pair responded to the interruption of a mobile phone conversation is the central focus of the study.
From the Paper "To help analyse the observations it is important that we have an understanding of the different identities involved in a telephone conversation and their role in progression. The terms used by most academics when analysing data are that of the "caller", "answerer" and "called". Hutchby considers the answerer of the telephone call at a disadvantage. In Conversation and Technology he notes "the caller knows who they are trying to call, and why they are doing so" the answerer knows nothing on either count? (Hutchby, 2001: 111). Whilst I support this model, I would like to propose that the extent to which this concept is true has changed with the invention of the mobile phone. The possibility to monitor then selectively answer or reject incoming calls by using the caller identification function featured on most mobile phones has changed the traditional role of answerer."
Abstract The advent of new database technologies has proved beneficial to our society in many different ways. These technologies allow businesses and other organizations to run smoothly and keep track of vital information. However, the creation of such technology has created a communications barrier between developers and users. This paper investigates the issue of communications between database developers and database users.
From the Paper "A book entitled Preparing the Information Professional: An Agenda for the Future, examines communications barriers that exist between designers and users. The author shares the results of surveys that were taken from college librarians(Rehman 2000). There were seventy-five respondents and the results found that the respondents emphasized the need for database training (Rehman 2000). The book asserts that the respondents "urged placing a stronger emphasis on information technology-based curriculum and instruction. Another 13 demanded better coverage of database design and retrieval in the library and information education curriculum. Curricula of the existing programs include information technology-based courses in the core and elective components"Swift changes in information technology and national agendas for the creation of an elaborate information infrastructure require concomitant changes in the curriculum. However, library and information education programs are not as prompt to react to these demands for change."
Abstract This paper explains how on-line collaboration makes it possible for people to transfer information anywhere in seconds. It describes how users in certain local area networks and other networks are capable of communicating with each other through their PC by swapping files and e-mails in text files and other files. It also includes a list of software for use in online collaboration. It discusses how the company can ensure "integration" and "appropriate use" factors of this tool, online collaboration.
From the Paper "Online Collaboration bases the system on what have been started by the earlier PC networking system. Users in certain local area and other network are capable to communicate each other on their PC by swapping files and mails in text file, although during the early time it was limited to text data in small size. As technology has developed more sophisticated facilities, it is possible for people to use the complete system to transfer information anywhere in seconds, enabling people to cut time and travel and having the whole work, outline, discussions and commands transferred through the wire. People are dependant on computers to connect to each other nowadays. With the emergence of the internet, many industries will find an open door to spread the news and support the growth to anywhere in the world. Controlling the whole world's business will need the most effective way to unite people in the entire organization. The technology has offered its capability to contact a group of people and bring them in a forum where they can chat, send messages, transfer file, and perform exactly like what they do on a traditional meeting, only this one is done through the net."
Abstract This paper provides general information and guidelines for the following topics: cookies, spam, firewalls, and viruses. The author explains how the user can surf without headaches and protect his or her privacy.
Abstract This paper is a review of Michael Bremer's "The User Manual Manual". The author discusses Bremer's use of audience analysis, grammar, spelling, and writing style, organization, layout, and graphics, and analyzes positive and negative aspects, while providing specific points from the document to back up his arguments.
Abstract Whatever "Al Gore: A User's Manual" may claim to be, it is propaganda in the guise of sinister history. Authors Cockburn and St. Clair are wholly committed to a portrayal of Gore that is unabashedly pejorative. There are no insights offered in this book, neither are there critical considerations of the contexts within which Vice-President Al Gore has worked, nor complex understandings behind decisions Gore has made, nor changes Gore might personally have undertaken. It is low-brow literature, jingoistic, and, mostly, quite juvenile in its approach to political analysis.
Abstract This paper examines the foreign policy established by the European Union during 1993. The paper explains that the aims of the policy include issues such as safeguarding common values and fundamental interests shared by all Member States as well as strengthening the security and co-operation between Member States. The paper points out that the European Union functions as part of a larger conglomerate of countries that foster relationships to the advantage of all partners involved. The paper also looks at how the EU is exemplary of the amiable collaboration between countries to find common ground rather than points of conflict. In conclusion, the paper shows that the relationship between Russia and the EU promotes the mutual trust and respect necessary for countries to function well together. By collaborating, these countries then become more than the sum of their parts, and become beacons of excellence and an example for the rest of the world to follow.
Outline:
Introduction: Foreign Policy
History of EU/Russia Relations
The Way Forward: Common Spaces
- The Common Economic Space
- The Common Space of Freedom, Security and Justice
- The Common Space of External Security
- The Common Space on Research, Education, and Culture
From the Paper "A common European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) was established in 1999 in order to streamline security operations such as peacekeeping and conflict prevention. This has been applied successfully in locations such as Bosnia and the Republic of Congo. On the domestic front security and peace are two issues that enjoy top priority in the European Union. Indeed securing peace in Europe as a whole is one of the reasons behind the integration of the continent into a single entity. As such the EU has followed a paradigm of expansion inviting all to share in its collective paradigms of democracy and peace across the European continent. Countries are invited to join the Union under its European Neighborhood Policy. Under this policy, the EU is also collaborating with countries such as Russia in order to create mutually beneficial paradigms that will eventually extend beyond the borders of these alliances in order to benefit the earth as a whole."
Abstract The paper discusses common law and explains its interpretations and many applications. The paper examines the history of the development of common law, and explores its connection to and the differences between equity law. The paper further details common law and explains it as an adversarial judiciary system of laws. The paper continues by explaining equity law and its origins. The paper concludes that in 1873 courts of law and equity were united in England. In the United States, courts of equity also developed, however there was no distinct separation between courts of law and equity in the federal system.
Outline:
Introduction
What is Common Law?
What is Equity Law?
Differences between Common Law and Equity Law
Conclusion
From the Paper "The common law is made out of the dust of conflict - the Judges will have their feelings powerfully evoked on behalf of the various dramatis personae. They will experience emotions from appreciation to indignation and from approval to disapproval. It is only against that vivid background that the rationales for the decisions of cases are created. Common Law Judges do not often sail into the oceans of abstraction."
Tags: fraud, breach, of, confidence, criminal, matters, dramatis, personae
Abstract This paper details the main themes in Paine's renowned pamphlet "Common Sense", written and published in 1776. It discusses Paine's main goal, which was simply to convince the people of America that a revolution was needed, which would result in the establishment of an independent nation. Paine's publication was generally met with considerable interest by its audience and more than a little ill-humor by academics who considered his writing style to fall far short of the neoclassical ideal. It examines the main themes in "Common Sense" as well as the author's unique method of appealing directly to the highest sentiments of the most common people and the simplest convictions of the most literate. It also discusses the views of various critics who found and continue to find fault with the content and style of writing in Paine's work.
From the Paper "The original publication of Thomas Paine's work was generally met with considerable interest by its audience, and more than a little ill-humor by academics who considered his writing style to fall far short of the neoclassical ideal. One contemporary said that his style was"so coarse, that you would think he meant to degrade the language as much as the government." Even a relatively sympathetic colonial magazine, The Monthly Review, recorded in 1791 that Paine was "desultory, uncouth, and inelegant. His wit is coarse, and sometimes disgraced by wretched puns, and his language, though energetic, is awkward, ungrammatical, and often debased by vulgar phraseology."
