As most businesses start to make the transition from a one man show to becoming a growing enterprise, owners are faced with the difficult but crucial task of identifying information systems and processes, a major part of which today is procuring the right software and hardware. Even all large corporations are consistently faced with this task of improving the systems, redefining processes and procuring the correct hardware and software to either support the growth of the business or deliver efficiency in times of downsizing.

1. Planning – Must use external help for this to get a better view of the situation and your business.
2. Analysis – External help over here is a must. It will help a third party clearly interpret what you need, thereby making the requirements of the entire project or solution clear.
3. Design – Contrary to the popular belief that you won’t need this if you buy an off the shelf solution, you will always need this. Software does not design a system or vice versa.
4. Development – For most complex pieces of software that you procure, the will need some customized development. So don’t forget to budget for this whether you’re costing.
5. Implementation – You always need a contingency plan. What if implementation does not go right? What can go wrong and how will you tackle the situation. Not planning for this can be very expensive.
6. Maintenance – You’ve heard that prevention is better than the cure. Well, it’s true of systems and software. Reactive maintenance is very expensive. If you’re proactive and stay on top of this, you’ll save millions in the years to come.

Here is something that your SEO consultant or marketing firm will never want you to know: there are 2 parts to SEO. And here’s the second part of what your marketing or SEO consultant will really not want you to know at all: most SEO consultants and marketing firms do, respectively, one half each. This is a topic I’ve been meaning to write about for a while, but since I don’t spend a whole lot of time doing SEO for any of my own websites or businesses, well, I haven’t really had the motivation to pen (or in this case, screen) the issue. Now that I’m done sorting out some of the basics that I consider more important than issues like SEO and PPC marketing for a business, I’m coming back into this rather messy affair.

I can name many of my clients who consistently spend hundreds, if not thousands of pounds and dollars every month in trying to get their SEO to work. Let’s get one thing out of the way before we have the marketing folks butt-in: SEO is not the same as PPC, so let us not confuse the two. PPC optimization, although similar in some regards to SEO, is a different line of work. There are no, per se, two parts to it on a macro level, although I think you can break up PPC into two different parts if you want to get a view from the inside out.

So, what really are the two parts of any SEO campaign? Well, let’s see…

The Technological Part

If you have a marketing firm that claims they’ve got SEO down, this is the part they are most likely not doing. I personally know firms who are spending 5 figures of Great British Pounds Sterling every month in an attempt to get their SEO up and running in addition to a GBP 20k+ Pay per Click bill, but SEO is just not working. The content may very well be right because that’s probably what their SEO provider is OKAY at (not brilliant, just OKAY), but the reason that Google or Yahoo don’t give them any importance is simply because their pristine, apparently clear and clean-cut looking design isn’t so clean when you look at the source code. It’s rampant with violations of W3C XHTML and CSS standards, javascript errors, lack or misuse of meta tags, and many more to name a few. What’s worst is that these chaps still haven’t figured out what they’re getting wrong, and it’s not all their fault.

To develop their mammoth online project, they hired a technology consulting giant like Sapient, but got a possibly unqualified employee to manage the relationship. So, in essence, the code produced is not particularly garbage, but it is something most decent developers wouldn’t feel heartache about trashing. Second, the XHTML and CSS interface was developed by an idependent party which, it seems, specializes in developing interfaces that work toward the stern purpose of being non-standard compliant. The SEO company has no clue why their magic doesn’t work and the reason why that’s happening is because they don’t fully understand the business or recognize or realize the techological or technical faults that are holding the company back.

It’s the same old issue: marketing firms become web development and web 2.0 software consulting firms, create garbage product, but sell it hard by throwing money on PPC and Out of Home Advertising (OOH) and all their client seem to think they’re doing  a great job, without actually realizing that they could save a huge amount of money spent on PPC every month by simply streamlining some of the technology issues involved in SEO.

I’m not going to go into what it is that you need to do to get the technology right; at least not in this article. What I do want to do is illustrate the benefit of having the technology issue resolved. Let’s be clear on one thing: with the right age and domain length and correct coding, etc. (i.e., fullfilling the techincal requirements of SEO), you’ll certainly land yourself a higher Google PageRank than a website that foscuses solely on cosmetic appearance and writing fancy content but misses the boat on writing Google friendly code. If your competitor has done this part right and you’re relying on your good old marketing man to provide you with SEO services, when somebody does search for your keywords you will end up getting the small corner to the right that google has reserved for AdWords, where as your competitor, even if he doesn’t have the right kind of content on his website (which is valid to  a search term), is getting a good 80% of the screen. Who do you reckon your potential customer will click on, someone Google thinks is providing valid content or someone Google says is paying money to ‘appear’ to provide valid content. Maybe not all clients work like that: I sure do.

The Marketing Part

Okay, this is the part where you need to not listen to your SEO consultant, who knows the technical aspects of what Google, Yahoo and MSN like to see, but has no clue about how to sell. Remember, most technical people suck at selling. They like to brief and give information, not make the effort to pretend like they care about your business and sell you their skills. Hence, that’s what you need to use them for.

I can’t stess the importance of getting this part right. As much I bash marketing firms for getting the technology part of SEO wrong, ultimately, selling lies at the heart of every business. No sale means no business, so get this right!

Here is an example of how companies get this wrong: Fix all your tags and content on each page, so that when google does list you organically, people at least land on the correct page. Not landing on the correct page means you’ll never make a conversion from visitor to customer. The first part giving yourself the ability to appear in the 80% portion of the screen of a Search Engine by getting the technical portion right. The second, is to strengthen the credbility of the visitor who trusts the judgment of the search engine to list you in their organic listings by giving the visitor what he or she is really searching for.

Once there, the content needs to be right. Don’t hire a car salesman for this unless you are selling cars. You need a short, sofisticated form of copywriting, not those long sales letters that eBook copiers and MLM scammers have used and misused and abused over the last decade.

Here is the most important thing you need to take away from this article. Don’t believe everyone you see on Google or Yahoo’s first page. Most often than not people will show up and stay there until the next crawl when the search engine realizes that a certain website has cheated. So, look for decent history when picking a provider. Also keep in mind that not all businesses that do SEO spend resources on SEO: they don’t need to. They get their business from other resources like management consulting. In fact, that’s how some of the largest contracts are signed, by consultants know nothing except for how to close a deal.

Lastly, there are very few companies out there who can do SEO and PPC right at the same time and score both on the marketing and technological front. It’s the same reason why marketing guys are horrible at using technology AND the same reason why your IT guys can’t sell for shit. Get your technical SEO person to liaise with your marketing team. That’s how you can results out of your Search Engine Optimization efforts.

Lastly, always remember this simple piece of advice: you get what you pay for and here is why: opinions are free, consultations are NOT. Which one are you looking for?

Taxation has always been a source of concern in the US.  Income tax in particular has caused more controversy than any other type of tax levied in the history of the country.  From the time the country was formed in 1776, from Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist No. 21 explaining why taxing states and individuals on the revenue they earned was by no means justifiable, people have come up with arguments against the now current system of taxation.

For a good 124 years, the US functioned with a system of taxation very similar to the proposed FairTax[1].  For the last 100 years or so, however, the country has functioned fairly well with the current income tax system too.  In fact, the US has excelled in world politics and economics in the last 100 years far more than it did in the first 124 years.  It has become the global economic, political and military leader during the last century.  Some might argue that the revenue the government earns (via income tax) has nothing to do with it; the mere fact that the country matured over time might be enough to explain US dominance in the world today.  However, for the government, or Congress, who benefit from the income tax system, the maturity is hardly relevant justification to weaken the position of the income tax system.

The FairTax plan proposes to replace the federal income tax, including capital gains taxes, all payroll taxes, the estate gift tax, and corporate and self employment taxes, with a single stage, 23 percent federal sales tax on the sale of all new goods and services at the final point of purchase.  No family or individual will pay taxes on basic necessities, because of generous rebates built into the FairTax plan.  Such rebates make the FairTax much more progressive than the current income tax system, refunding all taxes paid on consumption expenditures up to the poverty level for families of various sizes[2].  The FairTax is revenue neutral, that is, the 23 percent is calculated based on the expected change in consumer spending due to the change to FairTax while keeping governmental revenue the same as it is under the income tax system.

Support for FairTax has grown to a peak recently, with more than 20 members of the Congress co-sponsoring the plan introduced by Rep. John Linder of Georgia[3].  People in favour of switching to a Fair Tax have given numerous arguments against the Income Tax System that the Fair Tax solves for them.  However, they all suffer from the same fallacy.  From the very first argument given by Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 21 to any argument you can find in support of the Fair Tax today, anyone has yet to mention the advantages or benefits to Congress or the US government.  Supporters of the FairTax in the enthusiasm and rush of excitement based on the advantages that FairTax will bring to them have evidently forgotten who makes the decision.

Given that in the purest form of democracy Congress and the government are supposed to do what the people that elected them want, we must understand that bureaucracy and corruption of politics make sure that none of the purities of democracy come into play.  That being said, we must understand that Congress’ most powerful resource for raising revenue on a relatively short notice as well as controlling the public is the Income Tax[4].  Now, keeping in mind these factors, if we were to look at any of the arguments in favour of Fair Taxation, they give Congress no reason whatsoever to switch from the Income Tax to the Fair Tax.

The only reasonable situation under which the Congress or US government would even consider thinking of the FairTax would be when they are told exactly what they gain from it.  If it is to their advantage to switch to the Fair Tax system, then there is a reasonable chance that they will do it.  Think of the United States of America as a big corporation and think of the Congress as upper level management.  When someone proposes something to management, they must tell them what good it will do to them.  If it is to their benefit, they declare it as being beneficial to the corporation.  If it is not to their benefit, the proposal hits the recycle bin.  Whether a decision based on such management criterion is ethical or unethical is a different argument; the unfortunate fact of the matter is that this is how the system works.  We have seen that in the business world recently (with Enron and MCI Inc.) and unfortunately the US government leads with example.  The stakeholders, or in this case the general public, do not have much of a say in how anything works.  Just as the shareholders do, the public elects the government and the Congress and is then at their mercy.

Having established that, we now need to see what Congress gains from the FairTax.  Every year, the IRS spends millions of dollars on tax audits under the Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program (TCMP), trying to make sure that people pay the amount of taxes they owe.  The problem arises due to the extremely complex income tax system.  Majority of the population is not aware of whether they should file a tax return and if they should, how they are to fill out the complicated form(s) that makes the lives of even the most qualified accountants and tax professionals miserable.  In 1997, the General Accounting Office, in a tax gap report said:

“The TCMP (Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program) data showed that an estimated 33 million of the 42 million taxpayers (82 percent) were not assessed a fraud negligence penalty, suggesting that much of their noncompliance was unintentional.”

This merely shows that the income tax system has become too complicated for people who cannot afford accountants.  Research shows that even the expertise of the latter no more guarantees correct tax calculation.  In the annual Money magazine surveys 50 accountants prepare a hypothetical middle class couple’s tax return and come up with at least 45 different answers each year.  This is a major indication that the tax system is too complex for even the tax professional.

Due to such complexity, the IRS has to spend money auditing innocent individuals who are unaware of their tax liability.  In most cases, whether penalties are assessed or not, the money spent on the audit is not recovered by the amount of tax these people end up paying.  As mentioned above, 82 percent of the people’s inability to pay tax was due to their lack of knowledge about the income tax system.

The FairTax will not only make the life of the IRS simpler, but it will also mean that they do not have to spend as much money on audits as they do under the income tax system.  Under the FairTax, even if we assumed that every business in America was a retailer and required to file a tax return, no more than 19 million businesses would be required to file returns compared to over 154 million returns (of all types) filed today[5].  This would mean a reduction in the amount paperwork filed to and processed by the IRS, literally hundreds and thousands of dollars in all the excessive paper that floats around (despite the IRS’ valiant efforts to encourage people to file online).

Alongside, if every business in the country were to be audited, the IRS only has to audit 19 million businesses, there by reducing amount of audits conducted by almost 55%[6].  As of 1997, the IRS spent over$ 4.5 billion on tax audits.  Under the FairTax this figure would also be reduced by 55%, thereby making it $2.025 billion (in 1997).  Also, since fewer returns would have to be processed, the IRS would not require half the staff it requires now.  In 1997, the IRS spent a whopping $ 1.78 billion on the management of the organization itself.  These costs could be cut substantially under the FairTax (due to fewer returns needing processing), giving the Congress billions of dollars to play with[7].

However, the issue of ethics comes to mind the IRS has to lay off employees.  Such employees would now become part of the private sector, thereby, again saving the government money in the form of wages, pensions etc.  Also, because under the FairTax, what you earn will be what you take home. Americans will be able to save more and invest more. The FairTax will, therefore, dramatically increase investment levels compared to levels that would have been achieved under the current income tax system[8].  This means that the US economy would grow, thereby producing more jobs in the private sector, creating employment for the then ex-IRS employees.  Although such a transition would take time, the long term effects would benefit the Congress, at the same time helping the economy grow.

A major source of concern expressed in papers in favour of the FairTax has been the excessive amount of money spent by the private sector in complying with the IRS code.  Arthur Hall, a tax Foundation economist, estimated compliance costs at $ 225 billion for the year 1996[9].  Compliance costs have become such a massive number not because that’s what it takes to follow the tax code but because due to its complexity, “holes” and problems have been created that even the IRS and writers of the IRS code are not aware of.  Money is spent on locating these holes and exploiting them to minimize the tax liability of people.  If the tax code were simpler, there wouldn’t be as many holes or chances of exploitation or what can sometimes be classified as unintended errors by the tax professionals themselves who proudly discover such problems in the tax code (for an hourly fee that most heart surgeons charge during surgery), thus meaning that the IRS would not have to audit people who were trying to work their way around the tax code.

The FairTax makes compliance with itself relatively simpler.  A flat national retail sales tax would eliminate so much of the trouble caused by the variable income rates in the income tax system.  Moreover, the simplicity of such a system would not leave much room for exploitation of the tax code, thereby reducing the amount of money wasted in the economy on compliance with the tax code (and by the IRS to assure such compliance) and making it available for the private sector to invest in and help grow the economy.

There is, however, one problem that has been brought up in discussions that is thought of to be prevalent even under the FairTax system.  As of today, there are millions of businesses out there that misrepresent the amount of sales tax they owe to the government / charge to their customers.  The 23 percent proposed FairTax rate has been calculated keeping in mind based the sales tax that is actually reported by such businesses.  In my experience as a business owner, and as knowing others who own small businesses, about 30% of the sales are not reported[10].  This means that most businesses are actually not reporting 30% of the sales tax that they owe to the government.  Opposition to the FairTax argues that the FairTax will in no way improve such misreporting of the FairTax.  However, I beg to differ on that.

The amount of money the IRS spends on making individuals (not businesses) comply with the tax code is phenomenal[11].  Let’s assume that of the 154 million current tax payers, if 19 million are actually businesses that need to charge and report sales tax, there are 135 million individual income tax payers.  Under the FairTax, the billions of dollars saved on making these people comply with the tax code would be saved.  Since there are now only 19 million taxpayers, it is very possible for the IRS or any other tax implementing authority to track every business and all the sales via an information system that centrally holds and stores all the sales data from these businesses.  This, again, will not only mean more control for the IRS over the taxpayers (which should be heavenly for Congress), but after an initial investment it would mean an extensive amount of revenue generation.

With the current technology, it is possible and very feasible for the IRS to host a database (or to outsource it to someone) whereby they keep track of Point of Sale (POS) terminals in every store.  This would mean that every registered, legal business (at least retail) can only use sale terminals that are sold or authorized by the IRS, i.e., linked to their database so that they can keep track of every sale.  This would greatly reduce, if not eliminate misreporting of sales tax dollars.  Better yet, even if the IRS will conduct and audit of all 19 million business annually, they can make sure that these businesses are not using any unauthorized terminals.  Auditing costs for the 19 million businesses stay the same as under the income tax system (saving the money spent on the other 23 million audits as per the General Accounting Office report); the question now remains of the investment required to design such a system.  As mentioned earlier, the IRS would only spend about $ 2.025 billion on Tax Law enforcement with the 19 million businesses.  That leaves them with another $2.5 billion as of 1996.  This investment alone from 1996 should be enough to cover the cost of building such an information system.

Better yet, if the IRS out sources the productions of POS systems to manufacturers who already produce them, they can be made compatible with the new system with minor hardware and software changes.  This could also include a business opportunity for the government where they could produce and sell such units; thereby generating more revenue for itself.  19 million is a traceable number; 154 million, however, is probably not.  Also, this would only be a one time investment with relatively small maintenance costs in preceding years and if it is done right, a manufacturing business that would more than cover all such costs.

Lastly, a benefit to Congress; be it more political than practical, nevertheless, will exist with the acceptance and implementation of the FairTax.  Today, the US claims to be the closest thing to a pure Capitalist economy in the world.  One of the major determinants of a capitalist or market economy is generally consumer’s ability to use the items in demand according to his/her ability to pay for such items.  Based on that very principle, consumers should be taxed on their ability to pay for consumption of goods in the economy, rather than their investment in the economy.  The current income tax system, however, does not do that.  Whether people use the money to reinvest it into something or to actually spend it on an end product, under the income tax system they are charged income tax on it.  No matter how steeply the tax on income is graduated, it does not necessarily make an income tax progressive over the course of one’s lifetime[12].

Innocence on part of the American public, but if they were to see how the income tax system (in the American economy) violates the very basics of the (capitalist) system it claims to be best representative of, they would express such severe dissatisfaction that would make the life of Congress rather miserable (as most would think they deserve).  The FairTax solves this problem just like it does the others.  As suggested in a paper on http://www.fairtax.org titled “Fairness and Federal Tax Reform,” the author writes that:

“…the FairTax, far more than an income tax, is based on a taxpayer’s ability to pay precisely because it is based upon consumption.  Whether or not a taxpayer can consume for personal enjoyment is a more accurate litmus test for whether or not that taxpayer has the ability to pay (for consumption of goods and services produced by/in the economy).  When taxpayers do not consume for personal enjoyment, but have income, they must be saving or investing those resources.  When taxpayers save and invest, they contribute to public welfare (and they should not be taxed on contributions to public welfare).”

The income tax system is known to be in violation of the US Constitution in its purest form.  Although such a violation of the US Constitution does not concern the international community, the US claim to be a highly capitalistic and free society can come under some scrutiny due to the income tax system.  In its purest form, the income tax system is no different from the roots of communism, which gives the governing authority the ability to control the population, take their money and distribute it as they see fit.  Upon reflection of the income tax system, the US could be blamed for practicing the very idea that it has opposed over the last century; which caused it to aid other enemies of Communist Russia in its destruction.  If light were shed on such issues on the international community, it could arise some very serious questions as to the validity of the political dominance (without any military intervention) of the United States in the world today.  It is, therefore, to the benefit of the United States government to move away from the income tax system before the international community receives a “wake-up call.”  Although such political ramifications are not the topic of this paper, their mention merely shows the advantage of switching to the FairTax (which is the goal of the paper).

True as it is, there is no guarantee as to the accuracy of the numbers proposed by the evaluators and supporters of the FairTax.  However, the numbers available for 1996 and 1997 show that switching to the FairTax will not only increase the available cash to the US government, but with the predicted growth of the economy due to the increase in consumer spending, tax revenue will also increase over the years.

I believe that switching to the FairTax brings more than financial advantages to the Congress and the US government.  It will validate many claims that the US makes in the international world about being fair, just and providing a free environment for its people.  More than that, it might give Congress the respect and willingness to comply that it would like from the population.  In that scenario, they do not need the control and power that income tax system (in the opinion of most free citizens) unnecessarily gives them.

I wrote this paper in my junior year at university.  I still believe that fair tax is probably the fairest and best way to go with today.  Living in the UK, you really learn to appreciate the US tax system, fair or not, it certainly is a blessing compared to this country.  In the UK, the government takes approximately 57.5% of your disposable income in the form of PAYE, National Insurance and VAT.  There are other additional taxes and payments that are imposed on UK residents, with the net tax for some totaling about 65% of gross income earned.  Is it just me, or does that reflect on the lack of the British people to protest?  You decide!

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Works Cited

[1] Origins of the Income Tax.  Research and Support.  Americans for FairTaxation http://www.fairtax.org/origins.asp.

[2] The FairTax and the Federal Revenue Income Tax: A Comparative Analysis.  Americans for FairTaxation. http://www.fairtax.org.   For further information plese see, “The FairTax Plan,” Americans for Fair Taxation.

[3] Picket, Joseph.  Slay the Withholding Beast.  June 5, 2003.  http://www.cfif.org/htdocs/freedomline/current/guest_commentary/fairtax.htm

[4] For more information refer Dr. Scott Butterfield and his cynical lectures on Income Tax.  College of Business, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

[5] See SOI Bulletin, Winter 1998-1999, table 12, p. 210.  Note:  Sole Proprietorships with less than $ 2,500 in annual receipts excluded since the de minimus rules in the FairTax would not require most of them to file returns.

[6] (42million -19 million) / 42 million x 100 as per the General Accounting Office Data.

[7] FY 1997 IRS Budger Request.  IRS Fact Sheet # FS-96-06.  IRS News Releases.  February 03, 1996.  http://www.unclefed.com/Tax-News/1996/Nrfs96-06.html.  © 2002, National Tax Services, Inc.

[8] Jorgenson, Dale W.   Ph.D.   The Economic Impact of Taxing Consumption. Harvard University, Testimony before the Ways and Means Committee, March 27, 1996.

[8] Jorgenson, Dale W.   Ph.D.   The Economic Impact of Fundamental Tax Reform.  Testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, June 6, 1995.

[8] Jorgenson, Dale W.   Ph.D.   The Economic Impact of the National Retail Sales Tax. Harvard University, November, 1996.

[9] Federal Tax Compliance Costs Climb to $225 Billion.   Tax Features, Tax Foundation, March 1996.  See also, Match 20, 1996, Dr. Hall’s testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee.

[10] Personal Experience, it does not get any more authentic than this.

[11] The exact figure would be some part of the $ 4 billion spent; however, there is not enough information available to compute it.

[12]Kahn, Joseph.  Examining a Change to a National Retail Sales Tax Regime: Impact on Households.   Decisions and Ethics Center, Stanford University, unpublished draft position paper, November 1996.

A University Corporation: Integrating Education & Experience

Executive Summary

The purpose of this report is to examine the problem that the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) College of Business (COB) graduates, particularly IS graduates, face in finding jobs in their areas of emphasis and to provide a solution to this problem. A detailed description of the problem along with its causes is provided. Research suggests that students face difficulty in finding competitive jobs in their area of study primarily due to lack of practical work experience in this area. Other important reasons like the location of the university in a smaller metropolitan area and stiff competition faced by other CU campuses are discussed in the report. An analysis of the problem and its causes establishes that the successful creation and implementation of a corporation at and owned by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs College of Business that primarily writes software is the solution to solving the job requirement of experience for UCCS graduates. Such a corporation will also help CU-Colorado Springs resolve other issues of credibility in the academic and business world that arise due to its location in a smaller city and the idea that it is a subsidiary to CU-Boulder. The corporation will integrate the education and help develop skills of various students from all departments, creating a real world experience. Such a corporation will, among other things, help CU-Colorado Springs gain more credibility and achieve its stated goal of becoming one of the top-rated, comprehensive, regional universities in the country.

Introduction

Background

About CU Springs

The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) is one of four campuses in the University of Colorado system. CU-Colorado Springs boasts a variety of degree programs in the liberal arts and sciences and professional programs in business, engineering, nursing, education and public affairs. The campus’ stated goal is to become one of the top-rated, comprehensive, regional universities in the country with an estimated population of 10,000-12,000 students. This goal is a result of CU-Colorado Springs’ status as the fastest-growing university in the state and one of the fastest growing in the nation. The university is known for its high-quality education and active engagement with the community. In recent years, CU-Colorado Springs was named a top Western public masters university by U.S. News and World Report and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities named the university one of two national leaders in community engagement efforts (http://www.uccs.edu). Colorado Springs is the second largest city in Colorado with a population of about 500,000. The city is located at the base of Pikes Peak in the Rocky Mountains of southern Colorado. It offers a diverse population with numerous and varied recreational opportunities (http://www.uccs.edu). The city economy includes manufacturing, amateur sports, technology related industries and the military. Large employers in the area include industry leaders in the high tech and health care sectors like Hewlett-Packard, Agilent, Atmel Corporation, SCI Systems, Inc., Electronic Data Systems Corporation, Oracle Corporation, and Penrose-St. Francis Health Services (http://www.uccs.edu).

CU-Colorado Springs offers 25 bachelor’s degrees, 17 master’s degrees, and 2 doctoral degrees. There are six colleges on campus: business; education; engineering and applied science; public affairs; letters, arts and sciences, and nursing. More than 514 faculty and 392 staff members support the campus (http://www.uccs.edu).

Education at the UCCS College of Business

“At UCCS, the College of Business (COB) is committed to providing a valuable and innovative learning environment for the students. The College seeks to incorporate a solid foundation both in the classroom and in the real world environments. The COB has implemented a “learning lab” approach in support of this mission wherein students are encouraged to apply their knowledge firsthand in the business community (Martz 2).” The learning lab approach is one of the tools that the COB uses to meet the campus goal of becoming one of the leading regional universities.

The College offers Undergraduate (B.S) and Graduate (M.B.A) Degrees in Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, Marketing, Human Resource Management and Organizational Management. A Distance MBA program that uses state of the art online teaching technology like WebCT and enrolls students from all over the globe has forced the College of Business to provide a higher level of education, helping it offer one of the most comprehensively educating degree programs available to students in Colorado. Despite providing an exceptional quality of education, the College faces stiff competition from the business colleges on other CU campuses.

The Problem at the College of Business

Being a staff member and a student (in two departments) at the College of Business, I have developed a serious appreciation for our curriculum, instructors and support staff. However, despite the efforts made by faculty and staff to help provide a level of education that will help students jump start their careers in various fields, students have had problems finding jobs. Those that have had luck finding the right job (as so deemed by most graduates/students from that department) have had trouble finding employers that are willing to pay them the same as a student from, say, CU-Boulder.

The problem is particularly common in the Information Systems (IS) Department, where most graduates have a very hard time finding jobs. Some might say that the reason for why IS students face more problem than others is due to the decline in the technology industry. I don’t see how that misnomer has specifically caused problems for CU-Colorado Springs graduates seeing as Colorado Springs is the second home for many high-tech firms. I might be willing to accept the idea that such a decline has played a part in the difficulty faced by our graduates, but it is not the main reason why our IS students remain unemployed longer than most others.

Also, further observation will suggest that the problem is not just common to the IS Department. Graduates from other departments like Finance and Marketing are also known to have had extended periods of unemployment before they find a job pertaining to their field.

Based on my research and involvement with the College of Business and some of its recent graduates, I have discovered that the reason for the low job success rate is lack of training, or what employers frequently call experience in job description requirements. As it is, not many students from other schools or colleges graduate with experience either. How, then do they find more and better paying jobs than our graduates? The discussion that follows gives all possible reasons for graduates from CU-Boulder and CU-Denver scoring better jobs than CU-Colorado Springs graduates.

The Solution to the Problem at the College of Business

Knowing the reason behind the low success rate of UCCS graduates finding jobs in their respective fields should help us change the curriculum or method of education so that students who walk out of UCCS are better equipped for jobs than graduates from other colleges. I believe, that after seeing employers’ preferences, hiring patterns and the reasons why the problem exists, the IT Committee and all other readers of the report will see that the creation of a Corporation (that primarily writes software) owned by the College of Business and run by students and alumni will not only help students meet the experience criteria set by all employers, but will also train students in their fields better than many other colleges in the nation can. Successful implementation and management of a university corporation can very well boost the ratings of a College or University, as the creation of Ventana Group Systems did in the case of University of Arizona.

Methodology

Since one of my primary goals is showing how the creation of a corporation will benefit the students and the college itself, I used articles in business journals and magazines that speak of the success of university spinout corporations (USC). The fact that one of the faculty members at the UCCS College of Business, Dr. Benjamin Martz, who is also a member of the IT Committee, has already been involved with the creation of a USC at University of Arizona really helps my case. He was one of the major sources that helped me envision the successful creation of a corporation at UCCS. Although University of Arizona has always been one of the leading schools in the IS field, the springing of a successful company from the University has given its IS program the credibility that has help it become one of the top three IS schools in the nation. I have, therefore, vastly used the success of projects like the one at University of Arizona to promote the idea of a corporation.

Scope

The report covers reasons for most CU-Colorado Springs (especially IS) graduates facing difficulty in finding jobs in their fields. It goes in-depth about the experience phenomenon that employers ask for in job requirements and gives a solution to overcoming that particular problem, which will eventually take care of the other reasons that aggravate the problem.

Discussion

Statement of the Problem

The problem at the UCCS College of Business is one of graduates being unable to find jobs for three reasons:
1. CU-Colorado Springs is not a large, well-known university.
2. CU-Colorado Springs is not located in a large/major metropolitan area.
3. CU-Colorado Springs graduates, like all other graduates, do not possess enough experience to meet job requirements. Objective/Purpose of the Proposal

The proposed solution, if implemented, will, over an extended period of time, solve the above mentioned problem. It will rid the UCCS COB and its graduates of the three reasons that employers have to discredit UCCS students and deny them employment. Analysis of the Problem Why CU-Boulder and CU-Denver Have an Advantage If you go outside the state of Colorado, nationwide or internationally, CU or University of Colorado typically means CU-Boulder. Anyone who does not know much about Colorado or the education system in Colorado seems to think that if you went to the University of Colorado, you went to CU-Boulder. Boulder, therefore, is a well-known phenomenon in the education industry.

People who have not heard of CU typically know of Denver since it is one of America’s large cities and the capital of Colorado. Therefore, the name of a school or university that has Denver attached to it automatically comes with the credibility that a large city and metropolitan area brings to the business world. Also, a college located in a large metropolitan area typically offers a better business education than a college located in a less developed area. The success of schools like NYU (located in downtown Manhattan), University of Arizona (located in Tucson) and University of Pennsylvania (located in Philadelphia) are representative of that fact.

CU-Colorado Springs is neither a phenomenon in the educational industry like CU-Boulder nor does it carry (in its title) the name of a major metropolitan area like Denver or New York attached to it. Also, until the fairly recent introduction of the high-tech industry in the city, Colorado Springs was primarily known for its military importance. Therefore, employers have no reason to believe that a student graduating from a school in Colorado Springs has more to offer than a graduate of Boulder or Denver, both of which hold more credibility merely by name. Also, the fact that most of the state funding goes to Denver and Boulder doesn’t really help us establish a good research facility or marketing plan at UCCS.

Lastly, CU-Boulder has a major advantage over CU-Colorado Springs for out of state employers who do not know much about education in Colorado. With technology becoming an important part of the recruiting process at most companies, when employers go to http://www.colorado.edu to look up the educational system in Colorado, they are forwarded to the CU-Boulder site. That leads to national employers thinking that the best, if not all, that Colorado has to offer education-wise, comes from Boulder. However, with CU-Boulder’s recent interaction with the media, when employers do here of other CU campuses, they typically associate our students with the likes of Boulder, which doesn’t exactly help our situation.

As further reading of this document will suggest, the successful creation and implementation of a corporation that writes software will produce a more skilled and competitive labor force in the form of UCCS COB graduates. Such successful creation of graduates will, over time, help CU-Colorado Springs build more credibility, and eventually, a better educational reputation than Boulder or Denver. Most employers don’t realize the fact that the likes of Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Texas at Austin come from relatively smaller cities, and not the largest metropolitan centers in their respective states.

Why Employers Require ExperienceWith the economy taking a hit after 9/11/2001, many individuals, who had been employed in their areas of expertise for years, were laid off. Companies could not afford to pay employees what they were paying three years ago. Therefore, only the best and the most experienced were retained at the higher-level positions in industries like Information Systems, Marketing, Finance and Computer Science. The experienced employees, who were not as good as the best ones and were laid off in 2001, took a major pay cut to go down to the lower/entry level positions, which in their good times, were being filled by fresh college graduates.With the economy taking a hit after 9/11/2001, many individuals, who had been employed in their areas of expertise for years, were laid off. Companies could not afford to pay employees what they were paying three years ago. Therefore, only the best and the most experienced were retained at the higher-level positions in industries like Information Systems, Marketing, Finance and Computer Science. The experienced employees, who were not as good as the best ones and were laid off in 2001, took a major pay cut to go down to the lower/entry level positions, which in their good times, were being filled by fresh college graduates.As a result, positions that only college graduates were willing to take earlier, these experienced former employees were now willing to take up for the same wage that a college graduate without any experience would. Therefore, most employers could now get experienced employees for the price of inexperienced ones and since the goal of every business is to maximize efficiency, most businesses and employers chose to hire the experienced personnel. For various reasons, and depending on the field, some employers chose and still choose to hire new graduates rather than experienced employees. The general trend, however, since employers have been able to get experienced employees for entry level positions, has now become, to ask for a minimum of 2-5 years of experience in fields like IS, Finance and Marketing.

With the economy taking a hit after 9/11/2001, many individuals, who had been employed in their areas of expertise for years, were laid off. Companies could not afford to pay employees what they were paying three years ago. Therefore, only the best and the most experienced were retained at the higher-level positions in industries like Information Systems, Marketing, Finance and Computer Science. The experienced employees, who were not as good as the best ones and were laid off in 2001, took a major pay cut to go down to the lower/entry level positions, which in their good times, were being filled by fresh college graduates.As a result, positions that only college graduates were willing to take earlier, these experienced former employees were now willing to take up for the same wage that a college graduate without any experience would. Therefore, most employers could now get experienced employees for the price of inexperienced ones and since the goal of every business is to maximize efficiency, most businesses and employers chose to hire the experienced personnel. For various reasons, and depending on the field, some employers chose and still choose to hire new graduates rather than experienced employees. The general trend, however, since employers have been able to get experienced employees for entry level positions, has now become, to ask for a minimum of 2-5 years of experience in fields like IS, Finance and Marketing.So, how does a graduate out of school get 2-5 years of experience in his/her field? It is one of those catch 22s. Therefore, to fix the problem, experience must be built into the college curriculum. If students already have 3 years of work experience in a corporation at the time of graduation, it gives them a lot better chance of scoring a job than they would have with no experience. Thus, a corporation at the College of Business at UCCS will better prepare students for a career in their respective fields.

Why Our IS Graduates Have Problems Finding Jobs

As a student who has done his research, the IS program offered at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs is comparable to the program offered at any other school, including the likes of University of Arizona and University of Texas at Austin. The credit largely goes to our IS faculty, almost all of who (including the Dean of the College of Business) are former University of Arizona faculty.

The IS program at UCCS offers comparable, if not better, teaching in basic programming, systems analysis and project management. However, unlike institutions like University of Arizona, CU-Boulder or UT Austin, we do not have a name to back us up. Therefore, by default employer perspective, an IS graduate from a more well-known institution is supposed to be more knowledgeable than a graduate from CU-Colorado Springs. Hence, if employers have to pick from amongst two new, inexperienced college graduates they will pick one from the better know university, which means that the UCCS graduate goes unemployed.

Why Experience is Vital in IS

Experience, however, is more vital to the success of an IS professional than it is to most others. One of the main reasons for this experience requirement is that about 67% of all IS projects either fail or come in late. Therefore, in order to increase success rates for their relative companies and to better handle situations where projects will come in late, employers prefer to have more experienced employees. In IS, an experienced person from a Community College will probably have a better chance of landing a job as an analyst or project manager than would an MBA graduate from CU-Boulder with no experience. The reason: you learn to deal with failure only when you come across it.

That said, if a UCCS student graduates with 3 years of analyst or project management experience, he would certainly have a better chance of landing a particular job than would a similar student from CU-Boulder or UT Austin. A corporation at the College of Business will help produce graduates with 3 years of experience, making them eligible for jobs in the IS field.

Why the Experience Problem is Contagious Over time, employers and businesses have realized that experienced employees are better at the decision making process than inexperienced graduates. Unfortunately, there is no substitute for experience. The problem (the experience requirement), though very prominent in the IS field, spreads to fields like Finance and Marketing, where experience makes you more skillful at the particular function.

The problem faced by Finance and Marketing majors is the same as that faced by IS majors. It is, however, not quite as severe as the one faced in IS. Since the two fields are generally known to be more business oriented than IS, graduates with these degrees can make a better fit for other business functions than IS majors, since they are supposed to have had better business training. Nonetheless, the fact that current graduates from UCCS do not have any experience and a name like CU-Boulder or UT Austin coming with their degrees, they have trouble finding jobs in their respective areas of emphasis.

Statement of Need

The UCCS COB faculty and administration need to consider the introduction of something different into the curriculum which will help the campus succeed and grow. Although UCCS has been the fastest growing campus in the system, the growth is not coming at an increasing rate. The increase in the percentage of students enrolled has gone down, a result of which has been a cut in the funding of the university.

Although the introduction of the voucher system (for funding CU) into the CU System might change the way each campus gets funded by the state, an increase in enrollment, which can be achieved by the implementation of a corporation that will better prepare future students/graduates for careers, will under the current system of state funding help improve the financial situation of the campus. Such a financial increase will, in turn, give UCCS the ability to hire more qualified faculty, thus making the campus more attractive to prospective students.

Description of the Proposed Plan

The solution to all of the above mentioned problems lies in the creation of a corporation which primarily writes software. It is important that the primary goal of the corporation be to write software. Before I get into the details of how the corporation will be a solution to our problem, it is important to discuss the structure of the proposed corporation.

The University Based COB Owned Corporation Before anything else about the entity is determined, the majority shareholder of the corporation should, at all times, at least until such a point in time that the corporation can take off on its own, should be the College of Business. The corporation needs have formal departments set up, one for every function in which the COB offers a degree. These would include Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, Human Resources/Organizational Management and Marketing. An additional department will be set up for computer science, the primary function of which will be to write code for the software the corporation chooses to write, the management of which will be overseen by the IS students in charge.

The Corporate Structure & Departments

With a set up like this, and the initial hiring of students to fill in the required functions by faculty, the corporation should be created. The finance function can determine the corporate structure of the corporation; whether it will be a non-profit or profit based organization and how the capital structure should be set up. Letting the students determine the status of the corporation will help them see the benefits that each has to offer. The accounting function will be handled by the accounting students, who will get financial accounting, record keeping and tax-return drafting experience before they graduate. The market function should, knowing the nature of the students, employ marketing students to go out and get businesses that have a need for information systems but cannot afford to pay a large private corporation for one. Several local businesses have come to UCCS before with such requests but the COB has never had a structure set up to do something of that nature. With a university based corporation, a structure will be in place primarily for this purpose. The HR function, which will comprise HR students, will be in-charge of managing all the paperwork necessary for the hiring and payroll of all corporate employees.

Lastly, the IS department will oversee each project that comes in with a software request and determine which one to accept and which one to turn down. The Corporation can hire programmers/code writers from the computer science department and project managers from the IS program, thus creating the real world experience of management and oversight of software development for IS students.

Implementation of the Plan
The Working of the Corporation

A university based corporation will require motivation on the part of faculty and students who are willing to start a career right out of college. I believe, that with our faculty and most of our student base, motivation should not be a problem. Qualified students should and will be hand picked by faculty for the initial start up company. Once the start up staff has been chosen, the students should be allowed to run the corporation as management, consulting faculty for help whenever they run into a problem.

A university based corporation will require motivation on the part of faculty and students who are willing to start a career right out of college. I believe, that with our faculty and most of our student base, motivation should not be a problem. Qualified students should and will be hand picked by faculty for the initial start up company. Once the start up staff has been chosen, the students should be allowed to run the corporation as management, consulting faculty for help whenever they run into a problem.Such availability of faculty will be one of the most valuable resources available to students involved with the corporation. It will allow them to create their own management and practical strategies, which when overseen and improved upon by faculty, will help them see how successful business policy and practice is designed and implemented. This method of students managing the corporation, with faculty playing the role of business consultants in their various fields of expertise will help solidify the learning lab approach that the COB has been trying to implement.

The Finances of the CorporationSetting up a Corporation only costs about $ 50. The process includes filing paperwork with the Colorado Secretary of State (which all accounting students are capable of producing). To the best of my knowledge, the $ 50 incorporation fee will be waived since the corporation will be owned by the state of Colorado, since the College of Business is a part of the state owned CU System.Setting up a Corporation only costs about $ 50. The process includes filing paperwork with the Colorado Secretary of State (which all accounting students are capable of producing). To the best of my knowledge, the $ 50 incorporation fee will be waived since the corporation will be owned by the state of Colorado, since the College of Business is a part of the state owned CU System.Students working in the Corporation will be compensated in the form of stock options, which has become a very popular way of paying employees in corporate America. The corporation will be charging companies it writes software for. Competitive prices that the corporation will be able to offer can get us a larger market share because of the resources available via the university. The Corporation will not have to buy any computers or equipment to write and test code on since such resources are already available to students at the college of business. Only students with exceptional performance on a particular project will be compensated with cash, based on the amount of work performed, with the financial compensation determined by the Board of Directors, or shareholders. Students can, and will be awarded credit that will be applied toward their degree for work performed in the Corporation. Students majoring in more than one area can transfer to different departments to gain experience in the needed fields.

Setting up a Corporation only costs about $ 50. The process includes filing paperwork with the Colorado Secretary of State (which all accounting students are capable of producing). To the best of my knowledge, the $ 50 incorporation fee will be waived since the corporation will be owned by the state of Colorado, since the College of Business is a part of the state owned CU System.Students working in the Corporation will be compensated in the form of stock options, which has become a very popular way of paying employees in corporate America. The corporation will be charging companies it writes software for. Competitive prices that the corporation will be able to offer can get us a larger market share because of the resources available via the university. The Corporation will not have to buy any computers or equipment to write and test code on since such resources are already available to students at the college of business. Only students with exceptional performance on a particular project will be compensated with cash, based on the amount of work performed, with the financial compensation determined by the Board of Directors, or shareholders. Students can, and will be awarded credit that will be applied toward their degree for work performed in the Corporation. Students majoring in more than one area can transfer to different departments to gain experience in the needed fields.Feasibility/RationaleThe creation and successful implementation of a corporation that is set up and performs functions according to the above mentioned will produce graduates from the College of Business who have already had experience working in their respective fields. Most students choose their area of emphasis by the end of their freshman year.The creation and successful implementation of a corporation that is set up and performs functions according to the above mentioned will produce graduates from the College of Business who have already had experience working in their respective fields. Most students choose their area of emphasis by the end of their freshman year.Such students will have 3 years of experience of working in a corporate setup when they graduate from UCCS. Over time, the Corporation will produce more skilled and experienced students, which will not only fulfill employer requirements, but make better the reputation of University. Employers will see that the best students do not necessarily come from large metropolitan areas or popular universities.

The creation and successful implementation of a corporation that is set up and performs functions according to the above mentioned will produce graduates from the College of Business who have already had experience working in their respective fields. Most students choose their area of emphasis by the end of their freshman year.Such students will have 3 years of experience of working in a corporate setup when they graduate from UCCS. Over time, the Corporation will produce more skilled and experienced students, which will not only fulfill employer requirements, but make better the reputation of University. Employers will see that the best students do not necessarily come from large metropolitan areas or popular universities.Furthermore, over an extended period of time, when word spreads statewide and nationwide about how UCCS graduates have a career job lined up for them, enrollment on the campus will go up. Also, as has been seen in the case of Ventana Group Systems at the University of Arizona, companies have become large enough to branch out separately from the university, becoming known as university spinout companies. According to the Journal of Systems Management, Ventana Group Systems is now creator of the most popular group meeting software available in the industry (“Journal of Systems Management” 19). After the interview with Dr. Ben Martz, who was involved with the management and creation of Ventana Group Systems, I can conclude that the success of a university corporation can substantially improve the ratings of a school. University of Arizona, with the success of Ventana Group Systems, soon became one of the top institutions for business and Information Systems.

Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the creation of a corporation will not only benefit the students at UCCS, but it will also help the school become more established and recognized in the academic and business world.

Benefits

University Corporations is a phenomenon that has been in existence for a few decades. The idea was originally very popular in the UK, with larger universities indulging in research and eventually separating from the university to sell the results of their research. The concept has become so developed and popular in the UK, that New Age Media, a business related journal, highlights the success of a corporation that was formed to help corporations spin out of universities they were originally formed at, once they had the capital and product to do so (Dudley 8).

A 2002 survey (summarized in Table 1 on page 20) conducted by the Association for University Research and Industry Links, Nottingham Business University and the University Spinout Association suggests that between 2001 and 2002, the UK created about 300% more spinout corporations than the US.

The popularity of the concept speaks of its success; all the more reason for the UCCS COB to create a university corporation.

Furthermore, since university corporations are backed up and supported by the experience of professors, major companies are willing invest in and donate money if the research or software being written by the corporation is of interest to them. Intel Corporation, for instance, is reported to have invested in a corporation that spun out of Cambridge University, Cambridge, England. The creation of a corporation at CU-Colorado Springs what writes software will open such opportunities since many high-tech firms are located in the city. Such opportunities could help UCCS get more funding for research and become more actively involved with the community.

Conclusions

1. The creation of a university based corporation at the UCCS COB will better equip students with the skill set and experience requirement of most employers to help jump start a career after graduation. 2. The creation and successful implementation of a university based corporation at the UCCS COB will, over an extended period of time, help the university develop more credible reputation in the academic and business community. 3. The creation of a university based corporation at the UCCS COB will increase enrollment in future years, thereby increasing the state funding to the campus. 4. The creation of a university based corporation at the UCCS COB will also help the student body and faculty become more engaged in the community. 5. The creation of a university based corporation at the UCCS COB will be a step toward helping the CU-Colorado Springs campus achieve its stated goal. 6. The creation and successful implementation of a university based corporation at the UCCS COB might (though not discussed as a goal of the corporation) convince CU-Boulder to authorize the CU-Colorado Springs COB to offer a doctoral program, which they (the folks at Boulder) have been considering for over a year now.

Recommendations

I believe that it is very important to the success and future of UCCS that its graduates find jobs in their respective fields that pay competitively. Without the creation of a university corporation, I do not see how any change in the curriculum or teaching methodology will help get graduates a jump start to their careers. As can be seen from the above discussion and the drawn conclusions, the creation of a corporation will solve all problems faced by graduates in finding jobs, and set the University up for success in the near future. Research also suggests that there is a strong co-relation between the creation of a university spinout corporation and the academic quality and social involvement of Universities (Sue and Nocolaou 1702). I urge the IT Committee at the COB to consider the creation of the corporation. Such consideration and action will further help to implement the learning lab strategy at the COB and give the CU-Colorado Springs campus the support and advancement it needs to meet its stated goal of becoming one of the top-rated, comprehensive regional universities in the country.

Asif Nawaz is a Business Consultant specializing in the fields of finance, accounting, web development & deployment, software development, and Management Consulting. For more information about his professional consulting operations, please visit http://www.asifnawaz.net/.

Published on October 3, 2007. © Copyright Asif Nawaz 2007. ® All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this article in part or full is strictly prohibited. If you would like to republish, reprint, or use the material in this article elsewhere, please contact publications[at]asifnawaz.net.

Works Cited

Dudley, Dominic. “FINANCE.” New Media Age 23 Oct. 2003: 8. EBSCOhost. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Al Kraemer Library. April 29

Dudley, Dominic. “FINANCE.” New Media Age 23 Oct. 2003: 8. EBSCOhost. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Al Kraemer Library. April 29Lieberman, David. “Intel buys equity stake in Cambridge Display Tech.” Electronic Engineering Times 981 (1997): 29. EBSCOhost. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Al Kraemer Library. April 16

Dudley, Dominic. “FINANCE.” New Media Age 23 Oct. 2003: 8. EBSCOhost. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Al Kraemer Library. April 29Lieberman, David. “Intel buys equity stake in Cambridge Display Tech.” Electronic Engineering Times 981 (1997): 29. EBSCOhost. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Al Kraemer Library. April 16Birley, Sue and Nicos Nocolaou. “Social networks in organizational emergence: the university spinout phenomenon.” Management Science 49 (2003 ): 1702-1724.

“GroupWare.” Journal of Systems Management 46 (1995): 19. EBSCOhost. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Al Kraemer Library. April 27

Martz, William Benjamin. Personal Interview. April 9. 2004

Martz, William Benjamin and Nawaz, Asif. “Partnered to Succeed.” 2004 UCCS SIFE Team Annual Report.

“Campus Information.” University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. April 29, 2004.

”UK University Commercialisation Survey: FY 2002.” Association for University Research and Industry Links. April 29, 2004.

Today, my HP dv2120US gave up. It refuses to function. I bought the notebook in December, 2006, and it started to give me problems in April, less than 5 months after I bought the machine. This is not my first HP laptop or desktop, neither is this my first ever HP device. I have owned several HP printers in the past, and owned a zd7140us, before I upgraded to a dv2120us, not because I wanted to, but because the zd7140 had given up. However, it lasted me 2+ years, although it took several trips to the HP support centre for hardware problems and repairs.

However, I’m not in the US anymore and that seems to be quite an issue, as HP is unwilling to provide any support for laptops purchased in the US internationally. Not even that, I know what the problem is, and these pricks KNOWINGLY sold defective hardware, and they accept that the hardware is defective (they can’t deny seeing as how thousands of people have run into the same problems), but REFUSE to provide support. Not only that, their customer service keeps suggesting I’m incompetent and stupid, which is why they can’t ship me the defective hardware at MY cost. I mean, how hard is it to change a mother board? The wireless card vanishing and disappearing, the problems with support for HP QuickPlay, defective hardware, equipment that produces enough heat for me to boil water on it, are all reasons why I have decided that I will NEVER buy an HP product again, unless I have absolutely no other choice. It is sad, since I once praised HP, but they have finally brought me to this. So, here are the 10 reasons why NO ONE should buy an HP laptop or PC:

1- Quality, quality, quality. HP most certainly compromises in this department. It has been my experience that HP laptops are always slightly cheaper than a Sony or Toshiba, and in fact, possibly even Dell. There’s a reason for that, they use the cheapest possible equipment. I own several laptops, including Sony, Toshiba, and Dell, and none of them have been to the manufacturer for repairs, except for me HPs. Sad, but true. It’s better to spend that extra couple of hundred dollars, because with a Sony Vaio or Toshiba Tecra, you won’t have a faulty HDD or defective motherboard or overclocked processors. You know what they say, you get what you pay for.

2- Support. Yes, HP has some awesome support features: like the support chat on their site, and they were one of the first to come up with that. But the competence of the support personnel has gone down substantially, possibly because they’ve moved support over to India, and are using Indians with Christian names like Jack and John, whereas the person you’re really talking to has the technical competence of a graphic designer, if at all. They’re really trying to deceive you, because all this online support does is copy and paste from pre-written text, and half the time their English is so fucking weak, that they don’t know what “my wireless card disappears, and does not show up in the device manager” means. Horrible support, and to back it up, they flat out tell you they can’t help you out with any repairs if you live outside the US. I said I would pay for one or both way shipping, but they still refused. Apparently, only FedEx can pick it up on a shipment scheduled by them and redeliver it to the same address. Why, exactly? Security reasons? Come on HP, product differentiation. Customer service! Where are your business basics, you monkies?! The company has lost its ability to think; they function on process only.

3- Defective Hardware. Compromise on quality is one thing, but its a whole new ball game for a company the size of HP to be pulling stunts like shipping defective hardware, then providing the wrong drivers for that hardware, and then quietly removing the new driver that supposedly provided a fix, and reverting back to the old driver and let people sit on defective equipment. Instead, they let people rot in agony on their forums, but refuse to help them or take acceptance for their actions. Hell, they don’t even discuss refunds. Maybe it’s time for a class action lawsuit? Interested, please send me an email. I’m compiling a list of people, and as soon as I have a reasonable number, I might actually go ahead with it.

4- HP QuickPlay. Can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent on this software. It’s a wonderful piece of software, no doubt, but the support HP provides for it is nothing short of horrid. Instructions for fixing QP issues on this and other sites are flat out rejected by HP support, and they claim that there is NO way to restore HP QuickPlay, at least not HP Quick Play Direct Play, unless and until you use the recovery CDs that come with the laptop. Bullshit, as most of you know, which brings me to my next reason to not buy from Hewlett Packard.

5- Vista Upgrade. Can someone please tell me why hp offers upgrades from XP Media Center Edition to Vista Home Premium? What common functionality do the two have? If the upgrade was from XP Media Center to Vista Ultimate, it’s a fair upgrade! I can’t even play DVDs on Home Premium; what kind of bullshit is that! Oh, and if you’ve lost your purchase receipt, forget it, you can’t get the HP Express Upgrade Kit. You have no proof of purchase, and neither do they. I wonder how they keep track of stolen laptops.

6- Recovery Discs? Whoever came up with the idea of making a recovery partition instead of recovery discs was a real son of a bitch! To save the cost of 2 CDs, he has made the lives of many of us miserable. What’s worst is that you don’t know that if you had a Vista Compatible laptop that you upgraded to Vista without touching that partition, it’s gone anyway. You can’t see that sucker. Here’s what’s even shittier: I ordered recovery discs from HP, and they’re defective. They keep getting stuck on 51% and nothing happens. I ordered them originally because some monkey with online support told me that the original recovery will solve the wireless card problem and the HP QuickPlay Direct problem. I ordered them and then paid someone more money to ship them to me internationally, but they don’t work. What kind of horse shit is that?

7- Tea, anyone? Both HP laptops that I have had produced SO much heat that they are barely eligible for lap top use after 15 minutes. I can actually boil water on my dv2000. I kid you not, the sucker heats up, and hello to Hewlett Packard, maybe that’s causing all the hardware problems.

8- Junk Software. I understand that HP writes a lot of software, and somehow they feel the need to wrap up all their advertising junk in them when we buy new laptops from them. I typically spend a day cleaning out a new laptop, or cleaning out a laptop that I have just recovered from workable recovery discs, if I can ever find them.

9- HP Driver Updates. Okay, this is rather shady. Only with HP have I seen this. HP update provides one driver update for a certain device on the notebook, and it’s different from the one provided by the manufacturer of that particular hardware device AND/OR different from the driver provided by Microsoft/Windows Update. Who is right? We’ll never know, because it’s not like there’s one defect. Upgrade one driver and you run the risk of another malfunction, as we have seen with the mystery of the disappearing wireless broadcom card in the dv series notebooks.

10- Average Life. In my experience, the average life on an HP notebook is as much as its warranty, if you have access to it. No access, no warranty, and you could run real short. Using support for one of my HPs and not for the other, for me the average life so far has been about 1.25 years per laptop. That’s pretty low. However, if I can somehow get my dv2120 to the US and back with a new mother board and replaced hardware, the life may go up, although it won’t be a very pleasant or happy life.

So, that’s all for now. You may wonder now as to why I’m displaying HP ads on my site, because naturally, adsense may pick up on this anti Hewlett Packard content. Well, figure that shit out for yourself. All in all, HP is a bad investment for any hardcore user. Support, quality, durability, ease of use are all BAD. I will not be recommending HP to anyone anymore.

By Asif Nawaz

With Windows Vista having been released over three months ago, many of us have had the chance to try and use the once long anticipated Windows Vista as a replacement for the largely successful Windows XP. I was largely impressed with the Microsoft Windows Vista Operating system, and as a Microsoft Partner, I was lucky enough to try out a Beta release before Vista hit the market in 2007. For the last three months, I have used Windows Vista as my primary operation system. I have been happy for the most part; but contrary to Microsoft claims, and those of its partners (such as HP and Dell), many products that are labeled as “Windows Vista Compatible,” are in fact, not quite there yet.
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The Apple Effect

One of the first impressions you get of Vista, especially with all the hype going on, is that maybe Microsoft has finally been able to match Macintosh Operating Systems (not like it was ever a competition for some Microsoft users). In particular, Vista seems to bear a striking resemblance to OS X on several grounds, although users of the Macintosh will differ from me for various sentimental reasons, the discussion of which I will not admit to this article. Not only is Vista similar in appearance to OS X, but in my first few days of usage, I realized that is also functions a lot like OS X, picking up some of Apple’s most distracting features.

One of the main highlights of the Macintosh OS X is the Operating System’s undying ability to crash and ask for a reboot. You would think this is a good feature, but not being able to crash means the system slows down as you use the operating system, and eventually the OS freezes. That’s a problem. I can’t tell you how upset I’ve been with Steve Jobs for having that rotating cursor/icon flashing in my face while OS X tries to open a file that I know it’s not going to. That typically won’t stop you from using other programs, but since a certain amount of memory and processing power is dedicated to opening just this one program, it slows down all the other processes on the computer. Windows Vista functions very similar to OS X in this matter and it can be extremely taxing when you have two RAM intensive programs running at the same time. Windows XP would typically crash under this scenario, or give you an illegal operation type error to close one of the two. Windows Vista will stick to not responding, fade the window out, and allow you to use the rest of the PC as if nothing is wrong; except that you have fewer processing power and RAM for other applications. What’s worst is that the End Task functionality doesn’t work quite as efficiently as it does in Windows XP. With all the talk going on about how stable OS X is because it is UNIX based, Microsoft has made a very decent effort to mimic the stability that users and customers have demanded. However, I’m not sure that’s all good unless you have a computer that operates more than 2 GB of RAM. On a machine with that kind of leverage, a user can afford to dedicate 100 MB or RAM to figuring out the problem with a certain defective file or program. With 1 GB, you’re going to be in trouble.

However, all is not bad. This is probably the only negative affiliation Windows Vista has with OS X. The look and feel is definitely clean, and the OS certainly competes with the cleanliness in appearance, quality, and feel of the Macintosh System.

Bottom Line: So what’s the compatibility issue here? All HP and DELL machines that claim to be Vista Compatible are marginally so. Some features of the OS will not function on such computers; and even if the OS works on them, they will choke and give you several signs of incompatibility. You need good hardware to support Windows Vista. Apple usually provides the hardware needed for good functionality of the Macintosh Operating System. This is a problem most computer savvy users can fix, but that leaves out the mass market that Microsoft targets.

The Progress Bar

This is another rather frustrating fault in Windows Vista. The redesigned progress bar, which typically appears during installation and uploading/downloading, has become increasingly inaccurate. It doesn’t take too long to figure this one out, but the bar is extremely ‘flaky,’ as in it refuses to move on several occasions, and jumps up rather inaccurately. Not only that, the installation or download time that Windows Vista displays alongside this bar is off, not just by 10%, but by more than 50% half the time! I’m not sure why that is, but it is certainly a problem that needs to be addressed.

Bottom Line: Most users like a progress bar that does just that (show progress). People would like to know how much download time something takes or how long a certain piece of data will take to move over. Windows XP wasn’t bad with that. Windows Vista absolutely fails in this department.

Smart Phone Support?

Here’s another arena where Windows Vista promised a lot, but upon release and use of the operation system, you see that the support for Smart Phones is virtually non-existent. Granted Windows Vista has a ‘Mobile Phone Sync’ feature for all phones that run on Windows Mobile, but did anyone at Microsoft stop to think exactly how many phones do run in Microsoft Windows Mobile? As of mid-2005, Microsoft only controlled 7.6% of the Smart Phone market, when Symbian dominated the market with a shopping 76% (Microsoft Expects to Dominate Smart Phones in three years). And here’s where the problem arises, millions of users use Sony Ericsson, Nokia, and Motorola Devices, and none of them have any support. I own a Sony Ericsson p990i, and although it’s an excellent phone, my primary beef with it was my inability to have it sync with Windows Vista. Sony Ericsson claims on their web site that they will have an updated version of their Smart Phone PC Suite available in the second quarter of 2007. So far, there’s no support available for it. I’m not sure what the problem here is, but not having Smart Phone Support is very frustrating for a user that uses the Smart Phone as an on the go notebook computer.Now I purchased my p990i recently, and before I purchased it, I made a serious effort to purchase a phone that supported the Windows Mobile Operation System, but I had no luck. There just aren’t enough options in the international market with Windows Mobile Smart Phones. It’s a different ball game in the US, but in Europe and South East Asia, Smart Phone options are restricted to the iMate or older Motorola models, all of which are highly overpriced or lack basic functionality for the international businessman. This may be one of Microsoft’s schemes to dominate the smart phone market, but that doesn’t change the fact that smart phone support and compatibility is poor.

Bottom Line: Windows Vista is not very Smart Phone Compatible. This needs to be resolved, and is one of the reasons I have switched back to Windows XP Professional.

Disk Defragmentation Fragged

Sometimes when your PC slows down, you can simply run disk defragmentation by right clicking on your hard disk partition to better organize the files on your hard disk drive, and that can substantially increase processing speed. Not anymore! With Windows Vista, the defragmentation feature has disappeared, at least on the surface. Unless you’re a command line person and know a little about the inner workings of the operating system, defragmenting the hard drive can be a challenge.

However, all is not bad, explains Christopher Heng of howtohaven.com. Christopher explains that “there are a number of changes between Windows Vista’s defragmenter and XP’s defrag tool. In general, Vista’s defragger is designed for the average user and is thus tuned for automatic behind-the-scenes work: by default, the defrag utility is scheduled to run weekly. It defragments all the partitions on all your hard disks automatically. Unlike the Windows XP defragmentation tool however, it will only defragment files with fragments smaller than 64 MB on NTFS file systems. The lack of any useful user interface in the Vista defrag utility is consistent with this design decision of having an automated defragger running behind the scenes without user intervention.” (Heng) Chris goes on to suggest that this may actually be a good thing for the average user, who may not be too familiar with the process of defragmentation.

I don’t agree with his opinion in that regard, but there are bigger things at play here. I used Windows Vista for three months, and when I looked at my hard drive with the defragmentation tool in Windows XP, about 80% of my hard disk drive was fragmented. That’s how well Vistas automatic disk defragmentation works.

Nonetheless, Chris Heng has been kind of enough to share his expertise with the rest of us, and tells us how to defragment our hard drives in Windows Vista in the article posted on: http://www.howtohaven.com/system/vistadefragmentation.shtml.

Bottom Line: Vista’s built-in defragmentation feature is inefficient, and no user-friendly or viable disk defragmentation tool is provided with the operating system.

The ‘Replace with’ Reversal

Have you ever changed an already existing file in a certain folder by dropping a newer version of the file into it? Windows will show a dialog box that will ask if you would like to replace that certain file with a certain size that already exists with the new one that you’re dropping with the new size. This is useful, especially when the kind of work you do requires regular updating of certain content and you update the existing files on a daily basis.
Windows Vista makes a good addition to this. It gives you the option of renaming the file you drop into the folder (if another one with the same name already exists) by adding a suffix to it, so you can keep both versions. However, size of the new file and the existing file on the dialog box ix incorrect. The two sizes are reversed. So if you’re dropping a file named xtest.doc that’s 45 KB in size into a folder that already contains a file named xtest.doc at 32 KB, the dialog box will show the following:

Replace:
Original file xtest.doc (45 KB) with xtest.doc (32KB).

Although Vista will replace the 32KB file with the 45KB file, it can be sometimes disturbing to see the incorrect information pop up, especially when you’re uploading documents to a web server via FTP. This is not a major defect, but a simple bug. It’s amazing how something this simple was overlooked.

Bottom Line: Such bugs should not exist in software available in the market for retail by someone who comes with a reputation like Microsoft. It shows that maybe the product was not tested as it needed to be.

So what is Windows Vista Compatible?

What I’ve outlined above are just some of the issues that spit out into your face when you use Windows Vista. They’re not all bad, but the point here is to not say that Vista is bad operating system. It is, by all means, a wonderful piece of software, but it still needs to become a mature Operating System before it will fully convince the Windows XP user to move over.

Upon switching back to XP, my first impression was “wow, XP is fast.” It is, but it’s nowhere as snazzy as Vista. At this point, Vista is recommended for anyone who has a powerful machine that is not just Vista capable, but runs it comfortably. However, I recommend it only as a second machine, until Vista becomes mature enough to provide support for some other software and removes some of the basic bugs.

In essence, there is a lot of software out there that is compatible with Vista. As a financial accounting Consultant, I can tell you that almost every major accounting software manufacturer has released a new patch or new version of the software that is compatible with Windows Vista. It may be expensive, but the new software is available in the market.

Upon the release of a Service Pack 1, however, I think Windows Vista will become a robust operating system, especially when with time the minimum available configuration of hardware available in the market will be, at worst, Windows Vista Compatible and Capable.

Asif Nawaz is a Business Consultant specializing in the fields of finance, accounting, web development & deployment, software development, and Management Consulting. For more information about his professional consulting operations, please visit http://www.asifnawaz.net/.

Published on June May 17, 2007. © Copyright Asif Nawaz 2007. ® All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this article in part or full is strictly prohibited. If you would like to republish, reprint, or use the material in this article elsewhere, please contact publications[at]asifnawaz.net.

Works Cited

Heng, Christopher. Howtohaven.com. 22 December 2006. 17 May 2007.

Microsoft Expects to Dominate Smart Phones in three years. 28 June 2005. 17 May 2007.