Compliance Mania

If only the legislators believed that. Instead, they've taken it upon themselves to enumerate every form of theft, fraud and other crimes. But by implication, their detailed definitions exclude all emerging variants of crime. Hence, the lawmakers are forever losing in the race to close legal loopholes.

What's more, they confuse a failure to maintain proof of compliance in precisely prescribed forms with the wrongful conduct such compliance is supposed to deter. Burdening law-abiding citizens with regulations that don't encumber those who choose to disregard them will simply encourage others to flout the law, leading to a free-for-all where representations no longer have any meaning.

Let juries, not legislators, determine who the spammers, malicious hackers, identity thieves and scammers are. Until wrongdoing can be proved, people and businesses should be left alone with their assets, time and creative energies intact for constructive purposes. Otherwise, not only will our economy flounder, but our civilization as well.

Paul Rowe
Director, VP, COO

Company name and e-mail address withheld by request

Stick With the Old

Like reviewer Daniel Koffler, I tried Business Objects' new Crystal Reports XI ("Improving With Age," March 3, 2005). Having used version 8.5 successfully for several years, I thought it was time to upgrade.

I was expecting big things from the leader in report generation. Boy, was I disappointed!

As soon as I installed version XI, I found out that it doesn't support Advantage Database Server, my main data source. I also discovered that Business Objects' customer support is lacking. Two phone calls, the limit for free support, ended with no one who could resolve the problem. Everyone blamed everyone else. So now the new version sits on the shelf while I continue to use my old 8.5.

Steve Cervas
Director of Fiscal Services

Ashtabula County (Ohio) Community Action Agency
[email protected] Koffler replies: I spoke with representatives from Extended Systems, publishers of the Advantage Database Server product. They informed me that the current release of their company's Crystal Reports drivers supports only up to version X. However, they've assured me that support for Crystal Reports XI will be available in November, when Extended Systems launches the next major upgrade of its Advantage product.

You may not even have to wait that long. Extended Systems is talking to customers to determine whether to release an updated Crystal Reports driver before the November product upgrade.

Contact your Extended Systems rep if you want to make your voice heard. In the interim, you can always use ODBC to access your Extended Systems database from Crystal Reports XI.

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