"Cyber cafe" timekeeping software

[Jonathan Hutchins]

On Monday March 15 2004 01:47 pm, KRFinch at dstsystems.com wrote:

> Just me, but I wouldn't automatically log them out after 5 minutes of
> inactivity.  If it kept them logged in and chewed up their hours faster,
> they would soon develop the habit of logging out when they were done, which
> is a good computing habit to have.  You figure if everything you are
> talking about is in place, the most it would chew up is an hour at a time
> anyway.

In a commercial situation this would be a real headache, as it would generate 
a lot of customer complaints - complaints that would have to be handled by a  
barrista or some equivalent, who wouldn't have any real input to management's 
policies.

A lot of American companies make the mistake of being very greedy and 
draconian when they're introducing new technology.  I think this is done with 
the impression that "early adopters" will pay just about anything for the 
privilige of use, and will put up with abuse.  This has the effect of souring 
a lot of people who might be interested in early adoption, but won't put up 
with the abuse.  The negative reputation these companies build this way 
lingers long after they straighten things out and adopt more reasonable 
policies.