Monday, December 31, 2001		Article

O-ranges for online auction of custom software solutions
Tribune News Service

MOUTH-watering though it may sound yet www.o-ranges.com has more to do with software and online auction of custom software solution rather than the juicy winter citrus fruit.

Launched by Eurostep Infotech Ltd., a firm with registered office in Texas, USA, and a corporate office in Chandigarh, the site, O-ranges, is a solution portal for professionals and companies offering a wide range of services. This includes posting a project to get it developed with complete satisfaction from a service provider and from posting any technical question to getting an answer from the professionals or finding the best sites on the Internet.

The site also offers project assistance for IT services and graphic design categories with staff members providing project management. The portal that is an online auction site for all custom software solutions helps companies meet their demands via a reverse auction system. No service charges or finder fees is charged for buyers!

The site helps to sell professional services to buyers by bidding on IT projects (including Website design, application development and Web hosting). The portal is also being used as a platform to buy professional services and get them delivered online. Job seekers can submit the resume for free and employers can use O-ranges to search for professional resumes.

However, the home page is full of typographical and grammatical errors. Designers is Deisngers, Content writers is Content writes, Ask Experts is Ask Expertise.... But then who cares as long as the project of this 'o-ranges' remains fruitful.

SMS in China

CHINESE embraced the Christmas spirit this year, sending up to six times the average number of short messages over computers and cellphones, industry executives said. A flood of holiday greetings spelled out in Chinese characters caused a spike in China's airwaves on Christmas Eve, allowing portals and mobile carriers to cash in as bargain-conscious consumers celebrated the Western holiday.

Internet users sent friends and family five to six times more short text (SMS) messages on the night before Christmas than on an average day, said Chen Tong, the Website manager of China's popular Internet portal Sina.com.

Using Sina's mainland Web site (www.sina.com.cn) to send an SMS message costs 0.5 yuan ($0.06), which is collected by one of China's two cellular carriers and then shared with Sina.

"I trust that on New Year's Day it will be higher, and that Spring Festival will mark an even higher record," Chen told Reuters.

Using the Internet or a cellular phone to send an SMS message is usually cheaper than a direct cellular phone call, making text messaging increasingly popular in China's cost-conscious market.