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Talk To an Astute IT Industry Observer

Posted by Roblimo on from the swamis-of-silicon-valley dept.

Dan Gillmor is about as high on the IT journalist and industry pundit "respect" totem pole as you can get. Slashdot has linked to hundreds of his articles. What do you ask this veteran observer of the Silicon Valley scene? Whatever you like, one question per post. We'll email 10 of the highest-moderated questions to Dan 24 - 36 hours after this post goes up, and run his answers shortly after he gets them back to us.

4 of 261 comments (clear)

  1. Re:How much longer will programming stay in the US by Hanno · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Being a German software developer, I don't quite get your question. Software development was never a solely US-based industry.

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  2. Hidden corruption? by PhotoGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I've seen an awful lot of money spent during the .COM boom, in awfully questionable ways. Ways that were just completely beyond comprehension. I've often thought that a better explanation than sheer stupidity, might be that there were kickbacks and other shady dealings going on (you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours).

    With so much money having been tossed around, surely there was a lot of corrupt dealings; however, I haven't seen any press or other talk of such happenings.

    Is it primarily because these companies weren't public and thus publicly accountable that any mini-Enron's were simply never discovered?

    In some ways, corruption would be a little more comforting of an explanation than sheer stupidity.

    I feel like I might be pretty naive in not realizing some of this is going on. What's your take on corrupt dealings, patronage, and such in the industry?

    -me

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  3. Publicity vs Reporting by Lucas+Membrane · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why is so much of the 'reporting' on and even ratings of and published recommendations of tech products based on what the maker says the product will do (ie feature lists) and so little based on actual performance (ie quality)? After buying a few highly-rated products way too buggy to use, why would anyone want to pay any attention to the press anymore?

  4. Will the DMCA be overturned or changed? by ellisDtrails · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Will the DMCA be overturned or changed? Will the freedom-loving internet/technology community ever be able to coalesce and become an effective lobbying organization to effect politics in a real way (e.g. the NRA, the farm lobby, Microsoft)?

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