E-commerce fails at the last mile
This letter is in reference to the story, ‘Can Avenues India trigger off e-commerce boom’? (Express Computer, November 4, 2002). While the company definitely deserves credit for making an attempt to boost e-commerce trade in India — the same cannot be said of most well known e-commerce websites in India. For instance, my brother had ordered a Walkman through one of India’s most wellknown portals, Rediff.com. Even after waiting for over a month, the Walkman was not delivered. Finally in frustration we send a mail cancelling the order. To our surprise the Walkman was delivered the very next day.

This in reality is what the current e-commerce scenario in India is all about. Ideally, websites should offer a discount if they fail to deliver a product in time.

What is the use of blaming infrastructure when the mindset of the vendor itself is flawed. It is high-time some organisation in India decides to monitor such issues as they can kill the industry even before it takes off. My family for one will now never buy anything from the Internet and I am sure there are others who think the same.

- Linsen Varghese (Via e-mail)

Be-all and end-all
The Internet is a part and parcel of our life. Despite the dot-com debacle, banks and financial institutions solely depend on the Internet as the fulcrum of the business circle. The Internet is now available at district headquarters, which are in turn connected to the whole district on local dialling. It will be easier for banks to sell Internet-based products and services as it does not require installation of any software at the clients’ computer. A simple Internet browser at the client’s end will more than suffice. For banks Internet is the be-all and end-all now.

- C K Subramaniam (Navi Mumbai)

More hardware please
I am an IT professional, working as a centre head of information technology for NIST Computer Education, Jammu. I am a regular reader of Express Computer. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on the fantastic issue dated October 28, 2002 on Bangalore IT.COM/Channel Special.

I request you to add more information about computer hardware and its working besides the knowledge you provide on software. Continue with the good work and it’s my sincere prayer that Express Computer will always be a success.

- Aleem Iqbal (Jammu)

Japan, here we come
Our share of the software market in Japan is less than 1 percent. A lot more initiatives are required to achieve further penetration. Learning Japanese is one of them. In fact, entering the market is not difficult but identifying the fields were we can succeed is going to be a tough nut to crack. We have to provide them with cheap labour and resources at rates, which are at par on those offered by China. We need to participate in Japanese exhibitions, seminars and symposiums to let them know where our interests lie.

Efforts should be taken by the government and universities to introduce Japanese in the university and if possible tie-up with universities in Japan. This will go a long way building a strong relationship between the two countries.

- Sibban (Shillong)