How soon will Armenian Internet users have access to the benefits of global IT-accomplishments?

PanARMENIAN.Net - IT experts are already talking of a possible large-scale war between these two giants of the computer sphere. Moreover, as it usually happens in war-time the confronting parties are trying to attack each other on the Achilles' heel. Namely, Google is going to substitute the already usual and popular operating systems of Windows, while Microsoft, in its turn, took up the search market, introducing its new search engine Bing and entering into a partnership agreement with the owner of a large share of this market - Yahoo!.

All the services offered by Google, such as G-mail, browser Chrome and others are presented by the company as fast, free and easy to use. Users believe that the new operating system will be analogous.

In their turn, representatives of Microsoft are talking of the new operating system as the best product ever offered by the Company and assure that all the innovations and refinements were made based on user feedback. The Company does not even conceal that they "learned" certain things from their competitors, such as the use of large program icons at the bottom of the screen, like Apple.

Like all the previous versions of Windows, the new version of the operating system differs from its predecessor by its beauty. In addition, the new one offers three-dimensional scrolling of pages, instant translation of any foreign-language site, minimization of unnecessary windows when the mouse touches the necessary one, quick access to maps, and much more. But most importantly, experts say, even old computers work fast with this system. For the first time the follow-up operating system of Windows uses fewer resources than the previous one!

Along with the release of the new Windows, Microsoft presents a new set of office applications, Office 2010. And, strange as it may seem for the products of this company, its use is free once you don't install it on your computer but use the Web-accessible versions of Office applications that Microsoft plans to make available to registered Office 2010 users next year. In confirmation of this initiative, as it became known recently, Microsoft has bought the domain office.com, which previously belonged to the Belgian company ContactOffice and was used to establish a virtual e-mail client accessible through desktop and mobile Web browsers. It is expected that Microsoft will use the domain office.com for posting online versions of office programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.

So what makes the fruits of this competition between the two information giants so remarkable? Products fall in price, they become more accessible and sometimes even totally free. An original answer to these striking events of the global IT industry is that Armenia continues discussions on the implementation of the project "Electronic Government". However, when Armenia will be able to see the real fruits of this project is still unknown.

For several years the Armenian Government has been notifying Armenian public of the work being carried out on the projects of e-government and e-control. Armenian mass media has been elucidating the work done in this field, but what the Government does for the implementation of these projects and the projects themselves are wrapped up in halo of mystery. Certain aspects of the projects, of course, are already known, but the government avoids answering certain questions, such as those on the specific date the projects will be implemented, and they simply use such phrases as "soon", "in the near future", etc.

Recently, however, the veil of mystery has begun to fall, and the constituent parts of the project were introduced to the Armenian community, namely the plans of the Government to provide the entire territory of Armenia with broadband internet, and the procedure to maintain the communication through an optical network connecting all major cities and towns. The Government also plans to realize the projects of e-taxes, e-education, e-health and, what is even better, to start the development and introduction of electronic identity cards, which afterward will replace passports inside the country. These projects, including the project "Electronic Government", will form part of the global project "Electronic Governance".

But let us look at everything in line. On July 29, 2009 the Armenian Government held a regular meeting on the issues of developing Information Technology in Armenia, and the following message in the official report once again appeared on the government website: "Introduction of electronic governance in Armenia was discussed among other issues at today's sitting of the Information Technology Support Council of the RA Government. It was noted in particular that works on e-government are continuing, priority actions in this direction become certain. In line with the instructions given at the last meeting some progress has been registered but certain issues are still under discussion. The Prime Minister instructed to continue the search for solutions to the issues raised".

The first step that will allow implementation of all the above-mentioned projects is to provide the entire territory of the country with fast Internet connection, for which it is necessary to increase the carrying capacity of the aforesaid throughout the republic and to construct reliable fiber-optic infrastructure, connecting at least all the major built-up areas of the country. From then on the Government will have a real opportunity to implement the remaining projects, and Armenians will gain access to all the benefits of global competition between IT companies.