Continuous Ink Supply System For I-Café Printers

Printing as additional source of revenue for an i-café has been discussed on this blog and with the tight competition going on, it is a must for the business to find ways to reduce his printing costs. Depending on the kind of printing jobs to handle, an i-café owner should decide what is best for his business when it comes to the type of printer(s) to use and his choices are as follows:

1. Dot-Matrix Printer - initial cost of unit is high but the ink ribbon cost is low.
2. Inkjet Printer - cost of the unit is low but original ink cartridges cost high.
3. Laser Printer - costs of the unit and the ink cartridge are reasonable but power consumption is high.

Check If Your Anti-Virus Is Working

Having virus-free computers in an i-café is a must if you are to keep your loyal customers.  Not only will the customers shy away from your shop if you have virus-infected computers, you could also lose your investment for the equipment because there are viruses that could make them defective. It is not enough that you have a rollback program that could eliminate them when your units are restarted. There are chances that the next customer get to use a unit infected by the activity of the previous user if you fail to restart it before assigning the unit to him. A second line of defense and it is the usual practice, is the installation of an anti-virus software and making sure that it is working.

The Pornographic Site Filters For I-Cafés

Filtering the Internet for adult pornographic (porno) contents is not an issue among majority of i-café owners. Almost everyone agrees that porno sites must be filtered to prevent both young and old customers from viewing them. Many local government units have ordinances requiring i-café owners to install filters that will block those unwanted sites aside from mandating the to have posters around the shop announcing the prohibition. The recently approved implementing rules and regulations of The Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 has the same prohibition among its many provisions. From a moral standpoint and whether the law is getting implemented or not in his locality, an i-café owner must install filtering software to avoid websites with adult content from getting viewed by his customers.

The Valid Microsoft Operating Systems For I-Cafés

This is an article about the licensed Microsoft Operating Systems (MS OSes) that can be legally used in the operation of an i-café. The issue of which MS OSes are valid for i-café use came out when the Microsoft I-Café Program was launched in the last week of January 2010. The program is aimed at legalizing the existing pirated operating systems and productivity suite being used by i-cafés. Windows 7 Professional and MS Office 2007 are offered under the program so clarification on the issue of using genuine XP Home OS in i-cafés cropped-up.

The official policy of the company on what are the valid Microsoft OS base licenses for i-cafés is contained in Item 3 of the FAQs at MS website, part of which is as follows:

Linux As Operating System For I-Cafés

Like it was in 2005 when the government conducted the first nationwide campaign against software piracy, the clamor nowadays is again to look at Linux as an alternative operating system (OS) for i-cafés. The idea to use Linux in i-cafés  crops-up every time there is a crackdown on the use cracked or pirated proprietary software. The recent low-price offering of licenses for the proprietary Windows OS and MS Office productivity suite under the Microsoft I-Café Program was beneficial to some i-café owners who decided to avail of the promo to legalize the pirated software that they are using. However, for those who cannot afford or simply do not want to use proprietary software anymore, Linux is their best alternative if they wish to continue operating legally without fear of getting caught for violating the intellectual property rights of the software developers.

Microsoft Licensing And Rental Rights Agreement For I-Cafés

Click to watch the video

Microsoft (MS) operating systems are installed and being used in the big majority of i-cafés in the Philippines. It should be of help for i-café owners to know the different kinds of software that he can use on his business and be on the right side of the law. PC software piracy in the country has remained at sixty-nine (69%) percent despite the effort  to bring it down. Microsoft itself made a promo that offers Windows 7 and MS Office 2007 at unprecedented low prices. An information campaign for i-café owners to know his options in licensing his MS software is on-going with the hope of reducing piracy.

Bandwidth Requirement Of An I-Café

The bandwidth (expressed in kilobits per second or kbps) requirement of an Internet café is always a favorite topic in forums of I-Café owners. Questions like “How many PC units can I run if I subscribe to a regular Smart BRO account?” or “What kind of PLDT Business Plan should I subscribe to if I want to have 16 units in a café that I will open?” The specifications of the different DSL subscriptions cannot help because our Internet Service Providers (ISPs) always specify very high bandwidth per unit to be connected to them because they definitely want to earn more from their subscribers.