Malaysia may have a lot of catching up to do in terms of technological services compared to other nations, but it is a nation that is slowly but surely turning in the right direction with global networking through advance technology.

In line with Vision 2020, we have gathered several articles that shed some light into the current status of Malaysian Information Technology.

MISTAKES OF GOVERNMENT WEBSITES: SOMETHING WE NEED TO RECTIFY
As they say, a rotten apple mixed with good ones can spoil the whole basket. Such is the case when many are asked about the quality of Malaysian websites, particularly government websites. Many have seen these websites and have assumed all our websites are of the same quality, but these are clear mistakes that must be rectified and avoided in the future if we are to compete with the global quality of websites in general. Here are a few quality remarks that Danny Foo discovered regarding these "mistakes"

Browser incompatibility
Okie, everyone may be using Windows XP or Vista. But not everyone are using Internet Explorer. The smarter (or geekier) ones prefer Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari and etc. So it should be a requirement to test on several browsers.

Unnecessary Flash media usage
So what you’ve got a nice introduction on the front? All I want to know is who won the election or how can I check my MyKad application online. And, what?! you want to force me to sit and see your introduction by disallowing me any method to skip the movie.

No direction information highway
The last thing I remembered, I clicked on how to find out more about applying a Malaysia MyKad but now I’m reading about illegal immigrants without a Malaysia MyKad. Hmm…must have made a wrong turn somewhere. Oh wait, I think I clicked on the wrong menu button. Hmm…that’s not it either. Argh, which is the menu I’m suppose to use.

Uninvited popup windows
Ahh, here’s the information I want. Then at the click of the mouse, I get a fright of my life because the computer just did something I never intended it to do. I’m also wondering if popup windows are the cause for making users forget they have a button on their browsers to go back to the page they previously visited.

Hence, if we are to compete, we have to be up-to-date with the current trends of web design, which will give Malaysia a better projection of itself…

THE AFFIRMITY OF FOREIGN VENTURE CAPITALISTS
In one way or another, foreign venture capitalists seem to know a good investment whenever they see one compared to their local counterparts, as noticed by The Star.

Foreign venture capitalists are taking the lead from their local counterparts, according to the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), caretaker of the MSC Malaysia initiative.

Roslan Zakaria, technopreneur development division head at MDeC, said the foreign VCs showed they are more aggressive during a pitch by 35 MSC Malaysia affiliated companies on the sidelines of WCIT 2008 recently.

“One VC offered a startup US$3mil (about RM10mil) immediately after it heard its plan,” said Roslan.

SPAMMERS EXPLOITING WORLD PROBLEMS
It is infuriating that many inhumane creatures out there are like reapers preying on those who care for the welfare of others as discovered by The Star Online. If this persists, people will loose faith in kindness…

One earthquake donation scam requested donations for the China victims, where the scammer used a legitimate website and inserted a fraudulent page under the root domain.

When the user clicked on the URL in the spam e-mail message, he was directed to the fraudulent site and asked to make a donation, Symantec said in a press release.

“Spammers are aiming to capitalise on the harsh economic situation and prey on those in our society facing financial pressures,” said C.M. Woon, general manager for Malaysia at Symantec.

“By adapting their tactics to fit current trends, spammers have been able to maximise the effectiveness of their attacks.”

THOUSANDS SIGN UP FOR W1MAX & A HEALTHY DEMAND FOR BROADBAND
The Star Online discovered that most people seem to acknowledge the effectiveness of wireless broadband technology. Hence when plans to expand this form of technology were made, people responded positively.

The subscribers had signed up for the service at P1’s booth during the Pikom PC Fair which was held here earlier this month. Others also signed up at Intel Malaysia’s booth at the same event.

The US-based chipmaker had earlier invested RM50mil in the form of convertible bonds to help P1 in its WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) service capital expenditure over the next four years.

“Now that we know where the interest for WiMAX is, we will be rolling out our services more aggressively,” Lai said at a press conference after launching P1’s service, called P1 W1MAX.

MSC BEGINS NEW CHAPTER AS IBM DEVELOPS A NEW COURSE FOR UNIVERSITIES
The Malaysian technological base MSC is finally opening up its horizons to bring in new conceptual connectivity with the community through the Multimedia Development Corp.

“Many people have asked us ‘what has MSC Malaysia done for me?’ and it was always meant to benefit everyone,” said MDeC chief executive officer, Datuk Badlisham Ghazali. MDeC is the custodian of the MSC Malaysia initiative.

He was addressing the media on the outcome of the 20th MSC Malaysia Implementation Council Meeting at the sidelines of the MSC Malaysia-Pikom Export Forum last week.

While MSC starts to look deeper into the community technology sector, IBM Malaysia initiated plans to collaborate with 11 local universities to establish and develop the concept of Multi-Discipline curriculum called the Service Science Management and Engineering. This is practically a better step to reach out to the people in a direct way.

The curriculum is a new academic discipline that mixes both technical and business aspects.

It brings together the present technical subjects such as computer science and ­engineering with ­business studies subjects like operations research, ­management ­sciences, ­business strategy, social and cognitive sciences and legal sciences.

The universities that will help develop the programme are Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, University Putra Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Universiti Malaysia Pahang.

FRIENDSTER MOBILE NOW AVAILABLE IN MALAY
The nation is taking steps to move further into the technological direction, by widening its network base and having Frienster also produced in the Malay language.

Friendster, Inc, the No.1 social network in Asia announced its mobile site is now available in Malay. The Marketing and PR director of Friendster, Jeff Roberto talks to Lucinda Joseph about this latest feature.