Letters and blogs


What does neutral mean?

· In an article on net neutrality, [Andrew Orlowski] has actually uncovered something that has been worrying me since I first heard about the debate (Can the internet be truly neutral, April 5). The problem is, how do you define the term? You can get five definitions from Wikipedia alone.

· When the ink is dry on this issue, historians will see it more as a testament to the power of the internet to win support for dubious causes than anything else. To think that neutralitarians have actually built a movement to pressure Congress to enact laws against unprecedented, speculative, hypothetical ills is actually mind-boggling. Don't they have enough real problems?

It's not so Flash

There is no doubt that Flash can provide richer content for web pages, and my daughter loves some of the Flash games that are available. But it was disappointing that the article (Flash is the new publishing tool of the century, April 5) failed to make any mention of the issue of accessibility (complying with the DDA) - an issue that has dogged Flash in the past. I know newer versions of Flash can produce content that is more accessible than older versions can, but it still relies on the authors of the Flash movies to understand all the issues and put accessibility features in (something that to a large extent you get for free with HTML). The reality is that few Flash developers do this.
Graham Armfield

· I'm a card-carrying member of the Mark Anders fan club, but saying that Flash is the new publishing tool of the century is a bit much. Flash may be Gutenberg's printing press, providing a huge jolt and showing everyone how revolutionary things can be, but there's still a lot of innovation to be had in our little section of the web.

· First, members of my fan club have secret decoder rings, not membership cards, but more importantly, I had no idea what he was talking about with "the new publishing tool of the century" line. Where did that come from? ... I don't remember using those words, and interestingly, in the article they do not appear within quotes. However, in looking at the context of the statement, I think I understand what it means ... I do believe that as we've moved into the 21st century, the web has transformed to include more than just text and images, and that Flash has been an enabler of that shift to a richer web experience.

· The Flash/Flex/Apollo Ecosystem is a powerful combination when it comes to building not just web apps but disconnected desktop apps. But the true power of Flash is still being dreamt by Adobe so I expect exciting times for web publishing.

You can buy DRM-free

Your analysis of EMI's move to drop DRM (Label leads way with DRM-free music, April 5) was pretty good. However, you neglected to mention Magnatune, an online music store that offers its DRM-free music in the customer's choice of Ogg Vorbis, MP3, FLAC, AAC, and more. In addition, 50% of their gross revenue goes to the artists.
Matt Flaschen
Atlanta, Georgia

Rwandan computers

The slight tone of scepticism with which you report Rwanda's rush to buy Negroponte's "$100" wind-up children's computers (Google joins the technology push into sub-Saharan Africa, April 5) is well-placed. Negroponte is pushing this clockwork-powered toy, which he intends to sell in its millions, as a serious development tool for the Third World; but, aside from the technical issues you raise, there also is a serious moral problem here. In a world riven with war, pestilence and hunger, is this the best way of spending (with the usual manufacturers) millions, which might otherwise be put to better purpose?
Brian Winston
Lincoln Professor of Communications, University of Lincoln
