…On Offshoring (August 2004)

Good article. It’s about time something like this was done. The present administration’s position is that outsourcing is a good thing. Let’s see if this is really true when we add the effects on salaries and jobs in this country into the equation.

— Warren McCroskey
IEEE Life Member
Fort Wayne, Ind.

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…On Effective Presentations (August 2004)

In addition to verbal presentations, the bathtub-shaped audience attention curve also applies to written papers, technical reports and articles. State your interesting result first, back it up with data and reasoning in the middle of the paper (include pictures or charts if you can), and repeat your result again in the conclusion. Your writing will be more effective.

— Kevin VanZuilen
IEEE Member
Fort Wayne, Ind.

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…On Black-on-Black Design (June 2004)

I thoroughly enjoyed your article. I wonder when we will see more emphasis placed on courtesy, simplicity and reliability in software. I say this as a DEC PDP/8S programmer who, in 1969, thought the operator must never be kept in the dark for more than two seconds — and he only had 4K of 12-bit memory for the program, which was a lot!

— Elmer Bourque
IEEE Senior Member
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

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…On Picking a Winner (August 2004)

Most of us can name a handful of architects who made several good predictions about technological futures during their careers. Somehow, we often don’t remember those who fail to make the correct predictions. We should remember them, though, because they are the ones who learned the hardest lessons most effectively. So three cheers to the men and women whose predictions didn’t pan out. I want them on my team.

— Grant Sandy
IEEE Member
Groton, Mass.

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