At left, Magnus Johansson, Vice President of Broadband and IP Services at Cable and Wireless, answers questions from Observer TeenAge Writers' Club members about the MaX Personal Internet Communicator. (Photos: Naphtali Junior)

Cable and Wireless has put another link in the bridge across the gap between the world and the average Jamaican. The MaX Personal Internet Communicator (PIC) is their new product on the market geared towards getting Jamaicans computer literate and online in an affordable way.

The MaX is a complete answer to the cost conscious person, inclusive of a monitor, keyboard, mouse, (all of which can be used with another computer), four USB connections and dial-up and broadband internet capability.

The MaX is a Microsoft and AMD endorsed product that comes with pre-installed software, which includes Text Maker (Word), Plan Maker (Spreadsheet), Internet Explorer, Games, Media Player, Email Client and Image Viewer. The MaX also includes My Documents, Favourites, Settings and other items, which will be familiar to Microsoft Windows users.

Unfamiliar items might be Error Reporting, where the user can opt to log errors generated by the PIC, and Storage Manager, which allows the user to define the amount of storage to be allocated.

The MaX Personal Internet Communicator

The MaX is fun, easy to use, durable and affordable. Anyone can use it, with built in tutorials and detailed set-up instructions and support. With 128 MB of RAM and an AMD Geode GX 500 Processor the MaX allows the user to log on to the Internet and browse and download as you would on a normal computer. One major advantage, according to Magnus Johansson, Vice President of Broadband and IP Services, is that the MaX system is virus proof. The MaX runs on a closed system that does not allow the PIC to run executable programs which were not pre-installed, so even if a virus is downloaded, they will not be able to run - talk about crash proof!

The MaX can be considered an entity by itself or another home add-on with the other computer. The system is available at any of the eight Cable and Wireless offices, where there is a payment plan waiting for you.

Teenage@jamaicaobserver.com

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