The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

10 - Orono Weekly Times 1937 - 2012 · Celebrating 75 Years Wednesday, April 4, 2012 Basic Black by Arthur Black Whatever happened to email? It's safe to assume that no one alive has ever seen a quagga. The last specimen died in an Amsterdam zoo in 1883. Quaggas, a kind of a half-zebra, half-horse combo, used to roam southern Africa in huge, dense herds but they're extinct now, just like T. Rex, the Dodo and email. Beg pardon? Email? Extinct? Well, almost, according to Atos, Europe's largest IT firm. The company claims that 90 percent of email messages sent among its employees are a waste of time and money. Accordingly, Atos employees - all 74,000 of them -- have been ordered to ditch the email and go back to the telephone. Email was supposed to boost office productivity; in fact, it's behaved like cholesterol, clogging the arteries of the business machine. Think of all the crap emails you get. Think of the millions of people who, like you, take time out to at least glance at their crap emails. Studies show useless emails can cost a company of 1,000 employees as much as $10 million a year. Ah, well. We're getting used to extinctions these days. Tyrannosaurus Rex terrorized the river valleys of Western Canada for a couple of million years during the Upper Cretaceous period before flaming out, whereas, say, the Polaroid Land Camera barely lasted sixty years (1948 ­ 2007) before being flung into the Land Fill of History. And remember the Pager? Back in the 1980's it was hard to find a doctor or a salesman who didn't have one clipped on his or her belt. One or two rappers ever went briefly pagercrazy in their performances. Then along came the mobile phone to gobble it up. R.I.P. noble Pager. And who doesn't have a Sony Walkman gathering dust at the back of a drawer? When they first appeared in the early 80's Walkmans drove a stake through the heart (or the centre hole) of phonograph LP's. Then, just a few years ago along came a mutation called the iPod and the Sony Walkman went straight to the Museum of Quaint Artefacts. It had lots of company. The Palm Pilot, born in 1997, was a wonder of its time. Imagine having all your contacts, an accurate calendar and personal notes in one handy gizmo! With a touch screen and a personal stylus to boot! What could possibly improve on that? A company named Apple for one. Hello iPhone; adios Palm Pilot. Then there's the Atari 2600. Customers snapped up more than 30 million of those to play video games like Pong, Pitfall and Combat. For all its fame Atari lived for only seven years: 1977 ­ 1984. All these techno dinosaurs share two characteristics. Number one: they were each once on the very knife-edge of surging technology, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Number two: their collapse was utter and lightning-swift in evolutionary terms. Thirty years for the Sony Walkman. A decade for the Palm Pilot. Seven years for Atari. And now we're watching the titanic struggles (which look increasingly like death throes) of Canada's own BlackBerry. Just a couple of years ago it was the world leader in smartphones, commanding over 50 percent of the American market alone. That share is now down to ten percent and circling the drain. But evolution's like a baseball game: it's not over until the last at-bat. Back in the mid1990's, a company named Apple was on the ropes too. They appointed a guy named Steve Jobs as CEO. They did alright. As for email, the prognosis isn't bright. "The younger generation has all but given up on it" says a feature story in the London Daily Mail ­ in favour of social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Why? Instant-messaging feels more `immediate'. Messages don't languish unread in somebody's in-box. In fact with Twitter, it can feel almost like you're having an actual, one-on-one conversation with somebody. A face-to-face conversation. You can remember what that was like, can't you? Classified Business Directory LARRY Debra Inglis Interior Design JACKSON PLUMBING & WATER CONDITIONING Automotive Specialties BRIAN COUVIER Licenced Technician 117 Mill St. Orono L0B 1M0 Custom Drapery "Energy Saving Specials" Dealer & Fine Finishes by T. Osmond COMPLETE LDR CONTRACTING * Snow Removal * * Bobcat & Minihoe Service * Dump Trailer Service * * Tree Planting & Stump Removal * · Backhoe Work/Trenching · Pump Repairs & Installation · UV Lights · Water Softeners · Free Estimates For Friendly, Expert Service 905-983-9919 Furniture Repair and Restoration Caning · Veneering · Carving French Polishes & Wicker Repair Luke or Lindsay Porter H. 905-983-9924 C. 905-914-6979 "Look to us for all your general repairs to most make & models" Rims · Tires · Brakes · Tune-Ups Custom Exhaust Systems Castrol Engine Oil & Filter Service Specials Car & Truck Accessories Professional Installation 905-983-6214 905-983-5900 www.inglisdesign.ca 4312 Conc. #6, Kendal 905-786-2477 Experience You Can Trust I&T Carpenters · Licensed · 27 Years Experience · Custom Homes · General Contracting · Additions · House Trim · Stairs · Decks ·Windows ·Doors · Barns And all carpentry related work. Orono Veterinary Hospital Complete Residential Renovations, Additions and New Structures Windows · Soffit · Interlocking Waterproofing · Doors · Roofing Ceramic Tile · Siding Eavestroughing · Chimney Repair ~ Specializing in Stone Facing ~ ROBERT E. JACKSON Heating · Electrical Air Conditioning · ADDITIONS · RENOVATIONS · DECKS DOOR & WINDOW REPLACEMENTS · EXTERIORS · CABINETRY "We're here to serve you" Dr. Derrek de Haan Dr. Mathew Stephenson 30 Cobbledick St., Orono L0B 1M0 Tel: 905-983-9010 Fax: 905-983-5308 Authorized Consumers Gas Dealer Independent Lennox Dealer Furnaces · Air Conditioners and Appliances Main Street, Orono 983-6221 DAN ZEGERS 905-983-9543 TYLER SMITH broker "KRACO" CARPENTRY & CONTRACTING Since 1976 · Custom Built Homes · Renovations/Additions · Designing IVAN JONES TONY FANARA Newcastle 905-987-5819 Hampton 905-263-9988 FREE ESTIMATES Call Mike Bonneau Mobile: 905-435-4181 Home: 905-983-9005 6495 Leskard Rd., Orono L0B 1M0 Nails & More By Becky... 905-983-9883 32 Mill St., Orono 905·697·1900 * Residential * Farms * Rural Properties * Investment Rudy Kraayvanger www.homesmiths.ca 905-623-1101 www.kraco.ca