Bobcaygeon Promoter, November 16, 2001
NetScoop: Second Class Citizens on the Internet
by Anne Panter
For a short time last month, Microsoft greeted people visiting their web site with an unpleasant surprise. Anyone using a non-Microsoft browser was advised they must "upgrade" to Internet Explorer in order to enter. Most Macintosh users and Sympatico customers, for instance, were among the many uninvited guests. Admittedly, in the ensuing furor, Microsoft quickly revised their site, but one has to question the marketing policy that prompted the move in the first place.
Imagine a gas station owner deciding he will sell only to drivers of General Motors cars, because he also happens to own the Buick dealership next door. His economic strategy might be summed up as "cutting off his nose to spite his face". Even if the Microsoft "gaffe" was a deliberate message ("we intend to own all the gas stations and all the car dealerships"), I doubt if it won over many new customers.
While Microsoft may be the most blatant example, the internet abounds with web sites which seem to deliberately lock out their customers. The average computer user, armed with a 56k modem, spends most of his time waiting for ad banners, animated graphics and fancy flash screens to load, before he is allowed to check his phone account or pay his bills. Once logged in, he then may have to "drill down" through several pages to get to the one he needs. (I think the Bank of Montreal "bill payment centre" is now four layers deep). Worse, some sites use browser-specific code, so look or behave differently in, say, Netscape and Explorer.
So why are companies surprised to learn that, while internet use is expanding, "e-commerce" is not being embraced by the masses? Certainly there are security and privacy concerns, but speed and reliability are major factors, and these can be easily addressed.
I don't suppose the folks who designed the Bank of Montreal page (working, of course, on a high-speed network) have ever used it to pay bills over a 28.8 modem. While customer satisfaction may not matter a whole lot to a major bank, surely it does matter to most companies. And, the majority of those customers are still arriving by old-fashioned phone lines.
Brian Tobin would like us all to have high-speed internet access, but let's not hold our breath. His price tag is $1.2 billion. The private-sector estimate is closer to $4 billion: about $133 for every man, woman and child in Canada. Let's round that up to $150, to pick up the tab for kids who don't yet pay taxes. Now Mr. Tobin isn't suggesting the government will supply us all with internet accounts - just the "infrastructure": cable, DSL phone lines, radio towers (or maybe satellite dishes for all?), so if we want to make use of our $150 investment, we'll still have to cough up at least $40 per month for an account. Somehow, I can't see this selling well in Kamloops or Kapuskasing, or, in fact, anywhere in Canada in these economic times.
So, how do we ensure that those of us (still in the majority) limited to standard phone lines don't become "second class citizens" of the internet? Well, Microsoft very quickly "fixed" their web site in response to enraged customers around the globe. Surely other companies would respond to customer feedback. If you find you can't use a web site because it's too slow, or it causes errors in your browser, email the company and let them know that their site may be costing them customers.
The Kawartha Internet Users' Group meets on the second Thursday of each month, 7pm, at the Lions Club, Main St., Bobcaygeon. New faces are always welcome
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apanter@kawartha.net
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