BY the time you read this, I should already be dead.

Dead sick and tired of all the ad pullouts the Inquirer is being subjected to. That's why I hope things would change and some people would evolve to develop brains as part of their nervous systems when I come back from the Informix and Apple events.

You see, Informix will hold in San Diego Solutions Portal '99, the database company's annual conference. Then, MacWorld New York, the biggest Mac event in the West Coast, will be held in--where else?--New York.

Will tell you more about it next week. The action starts tomorrow. Jean-Yves Dexmier, the new president and CEO of Informix, and Apple iCEO (Interim CEO) Steve Jobs will be there. As an added bonus, noted author Alvin Toffler--the man behind the Third Wave concept and that classic trilogy about technology--will also be speaking in San Diego.

In the meantime, let's hear it from our readers who have long been wanting to join the discussion about the IT issues being discussed here in Infotech. In other words, I'll shut my mouth for a change and let our readers do some talking.

I look forward to seeing all of you guys again in August, especially Engr. Fernando Fabros and Nanding Barroga of Cainta.

Here's one from Jim Lacson:

"In your two previous columns you addressed the text interconnection issue between Smart and Globe.

"You stated that Globe has more to lose by interconnecting its text system to Smart since Smart has fewer subscribers.

"Following this line of reasoning, PLDT shouldn't interconnect with anyone else since it has everything to lose and nothing to gain. The telecommunication industry was deregulated to provide us, the consumer, with more choices and better service at competitive prices. What Globe is doing clearly goes against the spirit of deregulation.

"I do not begrudge a company's right to protect itself against competition but Globe is a public utility. As such, it is subject to a different set of rules and shouldn't be allowed to make decisions that negatively affect the consumers. If Globe wants to ward off Smart it should do so by improving its service_not by locking its system up.

"Unfortunately for us consumers, this attitude is prevalent in the telecom industry. If the situation were reversed, Smart would probably do the same thing.

"Telecom is a key industry in the information age. The local telecom industry will play a key role in the economic future of our country. It scares me that the people running this critical industry think like a bunch of 19th century monopolists."

This time, Gregory Mark Dangcil of Cincinnati, Ohio, gives his opinion about the ongoing debate about the National Computer Center and Executive Orders 34, 35 and 37.

"I am in total disbelief on the callousness of Mr. Gus Lagman--for that matter, also to whoever is in connivance with him to question the wisdom of the two sections of EO 37 (Section 2 &3).

"To my understanding, it is the noble intention of the said EO to ensure that IT resources are properly handled in government, not to mention_to curtail the proliferation of graft and corruption in IT resource acquisition.

"I can understand the predicament of Mr. Lagman and his compatriots in the Philippine IT industry, for they tend to loose their big chunk of the pie.

"May I ask Mr. Lagman, et al, do you honestly believe that when the EO's are repealed or junked, the government IT infrastructure will zoom into an IT architecture that is at par with that of Malaysia and Singapore?

"I bet it will just result into higher spending on people's money, bloating further the bulging pockets of the preying IT businessmen who are in connivance with the equally greedy and corrupt government personnel.

"I believe that with the NCC standing firm on the ideals of good governance and professionalism, the government IT infrastructure will continually improve to serve the common tao."

Here's Robert Fuller, still on the issue of whether or not the National Computer Center deserves the powers it now has by virtue of the EOs:

"This is precisely why the Philippines is being left behind by the rest of the world with regard to Information Technology. Too mush politicking, less action taken.

"Having understood the concept of IT, working in the SiliconValley for the past 10 years: As we move to the new century, we are becoming too fragmented politically. But at the same time we are becoming increasingly interdependent economically. Decisions made outside a country's borders, or events which occur are more important than ever before.

"Government will be somewhat constrained, but the notion of thinking globally is more forefront as we try to reconcile the two differences.

"That also applies to IT, where corruption will be eliminated through the computerization of the government agencies. What is needed is to further improve the services being provided to the people rather than having an independent IT infrastructure platform and hardware in different government agencies. In such a case, the actual beneficiaries are the different power-hungry wheeler-dealers and vendors that are in cahoots with local officials.

"I do not see any reason why we stifle the NCC's task to ensure that all agencies are in agreement as to what IT requirements should be. It is being applied here in the various federal agencies (of the United States) to ensure the security of the IT infrastructure. The system is protected from hackers but procurement systems are centralized into one shopping cart system for the Federal government, thus eliminating voluminous paperwork and directly benefiting the small businesses through transparent bidding processes."