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TRON: The Unknown Open-Source?
jordandeamattson writes "Over on CNN there is a very interesting article about Tron, an open-source real-time operating system from Japan first developed and distributed in the early 1980s. The claim is that it is more widely distributed than Windows (in some 3 billion devices world-wide), that the developer (Ken Sakamura, a University professor) would be worth mucho if he had just charged for it, and that Microsoft/U.S. goverment used trade rules (Super 301) to block it adoption by schools in Japan. Check it out for an interesting read and a 'what might have been ...'" (Here's a previous mention of Tron from March about MontaVista's work to combine it with Linux.)
Myopic is not looking past the first step of the capitalistic process. What happens is that labour overseas stops being quite so cheap as more and more labour is demanded. Eventually there is a natural equalization between the economy you are "abusing" and your own. No, it is not 100% good for your own economy to export jobs, but at the same time, it is not catestrophic either. Also, this HIGHLY conservative behavior has the most liberal effect of bringing poorer nations more in line with western standards of living (while bringing down the west somewhat). That is the true VALUE of capitalism - if left alone, it will always self-equalize.
Everybody does it, too many jobs move overseas. Nobody at home can afford your prices, because they're unemployed.
Yes, but as 'everyone does it' the demand for jobs overseas increases, and as the supply is not unlimited, the price of overseas labor will also increase. At the same time wages over here decrease, until wages in that particular sector have reached parity. Of course, there may be price differences due to regulation and taxation, but they are probably not that different then the costs of shipping, communication, cultural barriers, corruption, etc.
Nobody at home can afford your prices, because they're unemployed.
Overseas they can't afford your prices, because you never paid them enough.
Ah, but we're talking about services and information not goods. So a company with an expanded market share can sell 50 million licenses at $20 rather then 10 million licenses at $100. And this is ignoring differential pricing for different markets as well.
It constantly amazes me that people calling them 'smart' and 'technically literate' can continue to spout this nonsense that shows nothing other then a complete ignorance of economics. Yeah, it's bad for you in the short term, but better for humanity in general (as long as we have things like minimal working conditions and environmental regulations, etc)
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.