Yes on the 3 issues and I recommend a fourth: niche differentiation cost....From a providers’ standpoint.

The Indian farmer doesn’t need Zucker-book, everything shouldn’t be in English, and (excellent example...) the Punjabi matrimony site needs to be differentiated from the Gujarati matrimony site. And of course, Bharat Matrimony also needs to exist for the cultural diversity we seek to foster!

So question is: what’s the cost of niche differentiation? Not much....beyond not being able to target the masses.
Real stimulation for these best laid plans(CSC) won’t come from picking out the low hanging fruits(because that’s too awfully convenient and obvious to be the right answer), but by reaching out to those that don’t know how to use computers and cannot speak English.

Because if you solve their specific(niche) problems, and make their lives efficient, they -will- adopt the world you’re laying out for them. And learn how to use computers along the way.

Most government sites fail to live up to their hype--and consequently fail to deliver the projected benefits. For instance:

1. Interface design is complete afterthought, as is poor navigation and consistency in site design. Even most of the central government ministry sites are pathetic--not to talk of state government sites.

2. Site performance is often miserable--many are hosted on inadequate servers or have poor quality data uplinks. It can take ages to retrieve even a single page--and often the sites time out. So, users will give up in sheer frustration.

3. Content is usually poor, incomplete and often out of date. Latest circulars, notifications and the the like are usually not provided. Neither is the entire list of office staff, officers and phone numbers. Often, it is easier to get the information from visiting the office than the concerned web site. Information needs to be correct, complete and current if it is to have any value to the public.

4. Does anyone answer the emails or the contact forms? Are they even checked and routed to the concerned person for a remedy or an answer?

Unless the e-governance mission aims at providing an “ATM-like” functionality to the masses--where you can actually do something which is economically useful without interacting with sundry officious minions and babus--the entire effort will be a waste.

excellent points, critic.

i missed out on the government angle altogether(i suppose i subconsciously felt like it wasn’t even worth talking about).

but you’re absolutely right: UIs suck, performance is pathetic, content is archaic, and communication is NIL.
which pretty much sums up the big reason broadband penetration and adoption is so incredibly sluggish: the bureaucracy is stunting the democracy.