Fairfax Columns 2004
Since early 1999 I have written a weekly opinion column for the Tuesday IT section in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, published by John Fairfax. This supplement is now called 'Next'. I also write occasional feature and news pieces.
You can download any of these articles from this website. Note: 
- All files are MS Word documents
- They are as I originally wrote them, not as subsequently edited by Fairfax
- There are no headlines - these are added by Fairfax subeditors
Here are the columns for 2004. There are brief synposes of each piece - no full text search available, sorry.
| Date | File | Synopsis | Download |
| 20 Jan 2004 | F040120predict | New predictions for the IT industry for 2004 | download |
| 27 Jan 2004 | F040127itmedia | Reflections on the changing nature of the IT media | download |
| 3 Feb 2004 | F040203mac20 | The 20th anniversary of the Apple Macintosh |
download |
| 10 Feb 2004 | F040210pctech | Changes in PC technology, and how laptops and desktops are converging |
download |
| 17 Feb 2004 | F040217rsvp | The phenonenon of Internet dating and the success of RSVP.com.au |
download |
| 24 Feb 2004 | F040224information | The sheer volume of information in the modern world, and how it continues to grow |
download |
| 2 Mar 2004 | F040302employment | The changing nature of employment in the IT industry, and how the glory days have gone |
download |
| 9 Mar 2004 | Not published | ||
| 16 Mar 2004 | F040316neopets | The Neopets phenomenon - virtual pets and the world's most popular kid's website |
download |
| 23 Mar 2004 | F040323itgov | How IT governance has become a big issue, and how it is just another name for effective IT management |
download |
| 30 Mar 2004 | F040330printers | Advances in printer technology, and what is in store for the future |
download |
| 6 April 2004 | F040406onshoring | An alternative to offshoring - Australia should promote itself as a destination |
download |
| 13 April 2004 | F040413s360 | The 40th anniversary of the IBM S/360, and why it was such an important event |
download |
| 20 April 2004 | F040420aria | The Australian Record Industry Association's ridiculous protestations that recorded music is in trouble from downloads |
download |
| 27 April 2004 | F040427rfid | Trends in radio frequency identification (RFID) and their consequences |
download |
| 4 May 2004 | F040504aria2 | Feedback and further obervations and reflections on copyright, following on from 20 April's column |
download |
| 11 May 2004 | F040511wiredhome | The coming convergence of digital comunications, consumer electronics, networking and home automation |
download |
| 18 May 2004 | Not published | ||
| 25 May 2004 | F040525copyleft | More on copyright and IP, with reference to open source and the copyleft initiative |
download |
| 1 June 2004 | F040601obrien | Review of Tim O'Brien's book "Exploiting the Internet: A Practical Guide for Growing Enter- prises" |
download |
| 8 June 2004 | F040608mobiles | The wonder of mobile phones - how they have gone from luxury to necessity in a decade |
download |
| 15 June 2004 | F040615babbageinst | GP's visit to the Charles Babbage Institute in Minneapolis, and the importance of maintaining our computing heritage |
download |
| 22 June 2004 | not published | ||
| 29 June 2004 | not published | ||
| 6 July 2004 | F040706ingres | The Ingres database and how its release into the open source community shows the changing nature of the game |
download |
| 13 July 2004 | not published | ||
| 20 July 2004 | F040720batteries | Debate over mobile phone batteries and chargers. Can any Nokia charger be used with any Nokia phone? |
download |
| 27 July 2004 | F040727firefox | The Firefox web browser and why it is so much better than Internet Explorer |
download |
| 3 Aug 2004 | F040803tandem | A walk down memory lane, looking at the story of Tandem Computers |
download |
| 10 Aug 2004 | F040810browser2 | Feedback on the Firefox article two weeks ago | download |
| 17 Aug 2004 | not published | ||
| 24 Aug 2004 | F040824broadband | ADSL, satellite and wireless broadband, and its introduction in Australia |
download |
| 31 Aug 2004 | not published | ||
| 7 Sept 2004 | F040907broadband2 | The rise of true broadband in Korea, and how Aust- ralia is way,way behind in broadband implementation |
download |
| 14 Sept 2004 | not published | ||
| 21 Sept 2004 | F040921voiceweb | Voice on the web - not VOIP, but the development of the SSML standard to bring voice into web apps |
download |
| 28 Sept 2004 | F040928govtpolicy | The coalitions IT policy (or lack of it), in reference to the impending federal election |
download |
| 5 Oct 2004 | F041005alpit | The ALP's IT policy for the federal election | download |
| 12 Oct 2004 | F041012Spam | The scourge of spam and what to do about it, with reference to GP's use of the TotalBlock product |
download |
| 19 Oct 2004 | F041019unicrc | Interesting work in interrfaces being done at the Smart Internet CRC at teh Australian Technology Park, with reference to the relationship generally between academia and IT |
download |
| 26 Oct 2004 | F041026corvu | Australian BI company Corvu and its recent history, with mention of the move to BPM (business perf- ormance management) |
download |
| 2 Nov 2004 | F041102localgovt | A quick overview of IT in local government in Australia |
download |
| 9 Nov 2004 | F041109search | Why Copernic is better than Google's new desktop search, and a brief look at the market and the technology generally |
download |
| 16 Nov 2004 | F041116paper | The future of paper and why we'll never see the paperless office |
download |
| 23 Nov 2004 | F041123analysts | How the IT analysts work, especially Gartner. A look at Dave Noble's Australian analyst relations research |
download |
| 30 Nov 2004 | F041130mainframes | Why the mainframe will never die | download |
| 7 Dec 2004 | F041207witsa | Relative IT expenditures in different countries of the world, and where Australia fits. Based on recent data from WITSA (World IT and Services Alliance) |
download |
| 14 Dec 2004 | F041214fud | Why Microsoft is the inheritor of IBM's FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) marketing techniques |
download |