I really enjoyed the straight forward answers and the precise thought that went into them.
1. The core solution being "dendrite" free plating of the anode and solid "not" liquid electrolyte
2. The problem of current batteries being the "highly" flammable organic electrolyte
3. The catastrophy being an exploit of dendrites discharging (due to a short circuit) so fast the electrolyte is "ignited"
4. The direct point about the new Patent lawyers "being" more competent than before, and "exclusive" licensing being deliberately "eliminated"
5. He did not bury the Sodium battery tech that will follow up two years [after] this hits the market.. which will be almost immediate.. its just a matter of ramp up
6. He was flat out honest that the [key] was new plating tech.. that did not exist.. before.. that is what made the breakthrough possible.. it wasn't some random insight.. they knew exactly what the problem was all along.. it was a materials science problem.
I was also taken by his generosity and personal interest in "changing the world" for the better.. without demonizing anything as it is currently done.. he is a spot on solid scientist first.. and a pretty dedicated one at that.
The comment on energy density [never] eclipsing that of fossil fuels was also very honest.. but nevertheless practical.. seeing as how its a lot easier to transport electromotive force over long distances than messy fossil fuels.. and to maintain machines that convert that potential into kinetic energy at high efficiencies "much much" easier.. than the "chemical manufacturing plants on wheels".
He deftly moved from topic to topic like a political "Wizard" unseen since Richard Feynman's days.
Why not try "importing" cheap labor from other parts of the US?
I mean sponsoring "immigrants" from lower paid workers from surrounding states.. paying them less than those already conditioned to the higher life style cost of living in California.
I think its pretty much the same solution as fixing wages for peoples incoming to the US or just moving around the US is.. about the same thing.
The H-1B visa unintentionally set a "fixed" Lower Maximum Wage.. the terms Wage contract meant if they needed to downsize they did not have to give the employee or make notice in the news or press.. two big benefits to companies seeking to control wages and headcount.
I think for most people this will be an incredibly good deal.
The screen resolution is not great, but its good enough and will serve aging using and younger people ourside the Narrow 25-32 agre group quite well.
The point is your phone is a tether taxed, flash drive and quick access touch device. Its not a laptop.
The 'Shelltop' is a light weight cell phone "dongle" that is quick to setup, light weight, smaller than a Huge screen Retina Cinerama that weighs in like an MacBook Pro.. and it just more practical.
Its like 3.5 mm head phones, you don't have to worry about what it does and does not work with.. just plug in the USB-C or the now included USB-A full sized USB port and you instantly have a [wired and reliable] full screen display and multi-touch track pad.
You also don't have to worry about the App gap, which the MacOS, iOS, Windows and Linux continuum wannabe's try to say are not important. Their Walled gardens with payware and adware supported desktop apps.. simply the model is inverted and contained. If you want that adware supported stuff.. the app has in app purchases.. but its contained within the app.. app-walled.
Scaling is also something people forget about. Teamviewer and other web session tools will "Scale" a desktop over whatever you have.. same with this.. you can make it larger, or smaller to best ustilize your available pixels.
This is not for building a Gamers PC with a Wall of LCD monitors.. its for tanking those Hulktops that strain the straps on your undesized Backpack.
I for one would like to skip Scoliosis of the Spine.
There is a GitHub site for downloading the installer, works on Windows 7 for me, but I see no limitations to prevent it from working on OSX or Linux.
The documentation isn't great, but the software is very good, quite on par with most of the BookDrive or BookScanner types of programs.
Digital Book Collecting, or Scanning or Ripping depending on how you prefer to call the process; is basically two things:
1. Capture 2. Post processing
Capture is usually to a series of TIFF files, which are lossless compressed images files, sometimes people compile those direct into PDF files, but are usually not satisfied with the size or the results.
So the "gold standard" is direct to TIFF (although direct to large JPG is kind of becoming common)
You generally want to make sure the images are scanned at around 300x300 dpi, to make really good Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is possible. (Abby Fine reader has been the gold standard for OCR for years). Also an image is not indexable or "Searchable" which is what people start wanting when they need to search a document.
A PDF will hold multiple TIFF images and the results of an OCR scan in a single PDF file, and its a nice format in which you open and can use the built-in "Find" to skim the index and take you right to a page.
A PDF can also have a full functional Contents page and Index with clickable "hot links" to take you direct to a page.. this is also almost "expected" these days, but first you need software to OCR and index it, and usually someone to make the links for you.
A "Cross Document" searcher like FileCenter by Lucion will even index multiple PDF files in a catalog and let you search between them for references. FileCenter will also work direct with Fujitsu TWAIN scanners to let you capture and OCR everything that will fit in the scanner into arbitrary folders on your computer or home nas device.. its fairly inexpensive paperless office software (and it actually works, I use it a lot). http://www.lucion.com/
For Step #1 Capture you need some type of stable camera stand and a camera to snap a picture of a document/book, if it is a loose group of pages a Scanner can work, Fujitsu usually makes the best and still support TWAIN on their high end. They have Automatic Document Feeders (ADF) and flatbed models, and ADF+Flatbed all in ones. Fopydo makes some stiff plastic construction board type stands for very low cost that will support a book or documents and your cell phone for capturing images, and they are available on Amazon. Atiz makes very high end scanning "booths" which support professional DSLRs and flood lights to illumninate opposing sides of a 'V' shaped cradle with a plexiglass levitated platform for pressing the pages of a book flat before photography. They are somewhat combersome to use and require a permenant location dedicated to scanning. Atiz also former made a Canon Powershot model to take advantage of lesser expensive prosumer cameras for shooting images, but the Booksnap is no longer available. The Planetary or Overhead shooting tower that uses a Cell phone cam or a dedicated image sensor built-into the tower is becoming more popular, Fujitsu makes one one high quality, but it appears a bit slow and its still quite expensive.
For Step #2 you will want to break it down into Prep work before the OCR, then Post work after the OCR and finally Binding or Publishing the eBook to a format of your choice. Scan Tailor, BookDrive, and others are for Prep work before the OCR, they let you adjust contrast, tease out image artifacts or correct for under/overexposure and the "bleed through" bright lights and thin pages can bring out from the opposing side of the page that was imaged. OCR requires either the freebie copy of whatev
I've been wrestling with the same thing. Neverware is a USB boot Chromebook solution that works with older legacy hardware. You can try going Chrome without changing out their OS and still boot to the old OS by removing the USB stick if they need something that way. ChromeOS is updated automatically and has AntiVirus.. so it might be an option.
You might even think of transitioning to a Full Chromebook if they like the Chromebook and can live with Office 365 and Gdrive. My Mom regularly asks why her desktop doesn't sync everywhere.. Chromebook can do this. And at this point the only "apps" she really uses are Cloud Apps.. like Banking software or TurboTax.
The rest she either watches in a Browser Video player or goes to the DMV through a browser.. not much need to downloading a Windows 32 bit app anymore.
Right now she is using a Feature Phone, but I can see the day of a SmartPhone is coming.. If she likes ChromeOS.. a Nexus device without all that insane Vendor Add-on crap will make things really easy.. it will sync with her desktop. She'll also have a compaion to talk to (Google Now) a built-in GPS (Google Maps) and a Google Finder (Android Find my Device).
I thought iPhone.. but Apple has really gone nuts since Steve Jobs has left and catering more to fashion models and tweens.. which if the medium age of the country is drifting upwards.. really seems crazy for a company to do.
Interesting he passed at 76, for men aroun 75 seems to be the break even point where your 50/50 to living to the next year.
There are some fantastic developments in Brain Cancer treatments coming a just a few years, but they might not be effective once you get past 75 yr old.
They focus more on tagging the Cancer cells such that the bodies Immune system will focus on those cells and demolish them. The use of the Polio vaccine on 60 minutes comes to mind, but there have been others.
Several studies have focused on the seemingly mystical statistic that no one currently alive will live past 120 years old.. the simplist and most well thought out reason is the Immune system simply gives out, or shuts itself off. After that if Cancer doesn't kill you then something like Pneumonia will. Assuming of course you don't die of Little Debbies overdose or a Sugar induced Coronary... well I guess that's a psychological illness manefest physically... not breaking the carb addiction until its too late.. like smoking. Funny how lifes stressors and Seretonin levels can lead to additctions.. food or otherwise.. and ultimately to a shortened life span.
It will probably drive up the level of Consumer intimacy with code.
As more "experienced" end users with more time on their hand, and less tolerance for poor quality code emerges. And more "experienced" programmers reside on the Consumer end of the pipeline... with lots of surplus time on their hands.
The concepts of "open source" and "shared source" will probably grow.
Microsoft will probably even have to "open up" and may receive help with "documenting their code" for future generations... or risk irrelevance like an ancient fossil buried in time. Software archeologists will be unearthing Technet in the far flung future.. unless they adapt.
Its rather an anomaly that we currently have industries based on the idea of "software rarity, scarcity, and end exclusivity.." its more natural to consider a program and source code to be included in the Appendix of a book. Because once it looses currency or context.. the book is the only referent. Consider a niche spreadsheet like Quattro Pro 123 or Wordstar.. anybody "know" how to install or productively use those today?
Microsoft is as much like Apple and Apple is like Microsoft.. they live in the moment.. and if they slip into the past too much.. then they disconnect with the customer base willing to accept the unique ideology "pay for software".
Eventually that ideology will shrink.. as free software, documented and opensource software gets "good enough".
Google and Red Hat on the other hand will probably become even more relevant.. even if Patents are used to attempt to strangle them simple because of the "poison pill" built into making their source code available. As a support model.. they could go out of business and be forked..
Kinda of started this conceptual debate.
Whether it is mechanical or biological, there is no reason to imagine we won't reach the point where a human mind could be uploaded into a synthetic brain.
At which point, who shall be offered the option of skipping out on death, or extending their lives dramatically.
And then, what would a twice removed or twice updated human being life's be worth? Will we treat them with the same respect and rights as a First born?
Will their knowledge be viewed as a blessing or a curse, remembering things hundreds or thousands of years ago.
Some say death gives meaning to life, or retirement makes way for new and fresh ideas, makes us more ready to adapt to new situations.. holding on to the past too far could spell apathy or depression.. to the point of just sitting down and dying in the face of adversity.
Sparks a lot of ideas..
With perspective I can tell you that is probably won't matter what your degree is in.
When I was in your situation I tried, like all of us do, to solve problems with what I knew today, what I had experienced. And try to predict or control the future based on the tools I had today.
Sometimes people try to even control the future more by getting a Masters degree. I think its a waste of time, and a mistake.
The truth is it all comes down to "right time, right place" and how you interact with people.
Which has nothing to do with your grades in the 8th grade, or the 12th grade or your choice of College Major.
What did make a difference was having a solid degree in a field you have more than a passing interest in and almost autonomically keeping it up over time.. through hobbies, or self interest.
Because sooner or later, you'll get a chance to stop doing whatever your doing and try that for a while.
Credentials are useful by way of introduction.. after that people will give you a chance.
Sometimes you'll even get that chance without the credentials.. but when the times get tough, people will also use the lack of them to separate you from the people they want to keep.. so if your looking for stability.. an edge could be to have the credentials for what your doing.. otherwise just consider it a temp job.
On outsourcing.. that's just another form of people politics.. the thing is, there are bits of culture in software writing that don't translate well over seas.. consider tech support.. should an email icon look like a basket, or a postbox? How do you say Hello.. Howdy? The smallest things add up to a successful product.. or ones people just get tired of and won't buy.
My view is that Outsourcing is a fad.. and the financial reasons can evaporate as fast as a Subprime Mortgage.. its just something new they're trying this week.
Bottom line is a start up anywhere in the world based on software, or netware, will generally start with local people.. not trusting a person in a far off land, be it New Dehli or New Jersey... remember we tend to try to solve problems with what we have on hand or know.. not with what we don't have or don't know.
There's been a tremendous slow down in the last fifteen years in solving software problems.. we've tended to get bored with the problems we know.. and settled into a pattern of learned helplessness.. and that has been outsourced... confusion or frustration feels the same be it bought at the local store or a big store down the street.
But the new problems, the new startups.. are still occuring here in the US.. just look at all the Venture Capital between busts.. they are investing it here.. not there.. and that perspective is not US centric.. when an AntiVirus company based in Israel or Russia starts up.. they look for local help.. not foreign help.
So its all people politics.. just like the ones you know.
Customization of software, and turnkey solutions also tend to be stable.. for as long as there is not a generally accepted solution. They're really a lot like Plumbers in that the software has to "fit" a customers unique situation.. and big companies like Mercury, EDS, IBM, HP seem to know that and make a lot of money at it.
Speed and Experience is very important and tends to get you into a job faster. People want to pay for experience.. not your futher education. There aren't a lot of companies that invest in their employees anymore.. they tend to consider them infinitely replacible.. or start to look towards outsourcing when they can't find enough "experienced" employees.
Buying a "team" is also very popular. Why invest all that time putting together a good team out of Leggos.. when you can "acquire" expertise from a startup? That's also a good place to look for a job.. at a startup.. though after a couple they can feel like a series of temp jobs.
I say these things not to put you off about your chosen Major, but just to put it into perspective and
Slashdot Mirror
.. by people, and for the people...
So your telling me, Apple has basically patented Tesla's invention?
How unoriginals, in form and function.. par for the course.. and not very innovative.
I really enjoyed the straight forward answers and the precise thought that went into them.
1. The core solution being "dendrite" free plating of the anode and solid "not" liquid electrolyte
2. The problem of current batteries being the "highly" flammable organic electrolyte
3. The catastrophy being an exploit of dendrites discharging (due to a short circuit) so fast the electrolyte is "ignited"
4. The direct point about the new Patent lawyers "being" more competent than before, and "exclusive" licensing being deliberately "eliminated"
5. He did not bury the Sodium battery tech that will follow up two years [after] this hits the market.. which will be almost immediate.. its just a matter of ramp up
6. He was flat out honest that the [key] was new plating tech.. that did not exist.. before.. that is what made the breakthrough possible.. it wasn't some random insight.. they knew exactly what the problem was all along.. it was a materials science problem.
I was also taken by his generosity and personal interest in "changing the world" for the better.. without demonizing anything as it is currently done.. he is a spot on solid scientist first.. and a pretty dedicated one at that.
The comment on energy density [never] eclipsing that of fossil fuels was also very honest.. but nevertheless practical.. seeing as how its a lot easier to transport electromotive force over long distances than messy fossil fuels.. and to maintain machines that convert that potential into kinetic energy at high efficiencies "much much" easier.. than the "chemical manufacturing plants on wheels".
He deftly moved from topic to topic like a political "Wizard" unseen since Richard Feynman's days.
Making a solution increasingly complex just continues the game.
Just cancel the game.
Why not try "importing" cheap labor from other parts of the US?
I mean sponsoring "immigrants" from lower paid workers from surrounding states.. paying them less than those already conditioned to the higher life style cost of living in California.
I think its pretty much the same solution as fixing wages for peoples incoming to the US or just moving around the US is.. about the same thing.
The H-1B visa unintentionally set a "fixed" Lower Maximum Wage.. the terms Wage contract meant if they needed to downsize they did not have to give the employee or make notice in the news or press.. two big benefits to companies seeking to control wages and headcount.
Aftershokz .. love it.. Electrocution-gate
Those things that looked like squid you wrapped around your Collar bones pre-Walkman, so nobody could hear you jammin?
ChaletOS (based on Linux Kernel 4.4, Debian 8, Ubuntu LTS) https://sites.google.com/site/...
I think for most people this will be an incredibly good deal.
The screen resolution is not great, but its good enough and will serve aging using and younger people ourside the Narrow 25-32 agre group quite well.
The point is your phone is a tether taxed, flash drive and quick access touch device. Its not a laptop.
The 'Shelltop' is a light weight cell phone "dongle" that is quick to setup, light weight, smaller than a Huge screen Retina Cinerama that weighs in like an MacBook Pro.. and it just more practical.
Its like 3.5 mm head phones, you don't have to worry about what it does and does not work with.. just plug in the USB-C or the now included USB-A full sized USB port and you instantly have a [wired and reliable] full screen display and multi-touch track pad.
You also don't have to worry about the App gap, which the MacOS, iOS, Windows and Linux continuum wannabe's try to say are not important. Their Walled gardens with payware and adware supported desktop apps.. simply the model is inverted and contained. If you want that adware supported stuff.. the app has in app purchases.. but its contained within the app.. app-walled.
Scaling is also something people forget about. Teamviewer and other web session tools will "Scale" a desktop over whatever you have.. same with this.. you can make it larger, or smaller to best ustilize your available pixels.
This is not for building a Gamers PC with a Wall of LCD monitors.. its for tanking those Hulktops that strain the straps on your undesized Backpack.
I for one would like to skip Scoliosis of the Spine.
That is an interesting ideal.
Intereference patterns being a rotation out of phase with the observable universe.
Just as electric fields and magenetic fields oscillate in perpendicular directions to a line of travel.
An interference pattern could be another direction in which we know little about.
Why is it called a Satellite?
I thought those had to be man-made.
On the path to essential we all take a few detours to learn things.. one of my favorite 'sayings'.
Scan Tailor fits your original description and price range.
http://scantailor.org/
There is a GitHub site for downloading the installer, works on Windows 7 for me, but I see no limitations to prevent it from working on OSX or Linux.
The documentation isn't great, but the software is very good, quite on par with most of the BookDrive or BookScanner types of programs.
Digital Book Collecting, or Scanning or Ripping depending on how you prefer to call the process; is basically two things:
1. Capture
2. Post processing
Capture is usually to a series of TIFF files, which are lossless compressed images files, sometimes people compile those direct into PDF files, but are usually not satisfied with the size or the results.
So the "gold standard" is direct to TIFF (although direct to large JPG is kind of becoming common)
You generally want to make sure the images are scanned at around 300x300 dpi, to make really good Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is possible. (Abby Fine reader has been the gold standard for OCR for years). Also an image is not indexable or "Searchable" which is what people start wanting when they need to search a document.
A PDF will hold multiple TIFF images and the results of an OCR scan in a single PDF file, and its a nice format in which you open and can use the built-in "Find" to skim the index and take you right to a page.
A PDF can also have a full functional Contents page and Index with clickable "hot links" to take you direct to a page.. this is also almost "expected" these days, but first you need software to OCR and index it, and usually someone to make the links for you.
A "Cross Document" searcher like FileCenter by Lucion will even index multiple PDF files in a catalog and let you search between them for references. FileCenter will also work direct with Fujitsu TWAIN scanners to let you capture and OCR everything that will fit in the scanner into arbitrary folders on your computer or home nas device.. its fairly inexpensive paperless office software (and it actually works, I use it a lot). http://www.lucion.com/
For Step #1 Capture you need some type of stable camera stand and a camera to snap a picture of a document/book, if it is a loose group of pages a Scanner can work, Fujitsu usually makes the best and still support TWAIN on their high end. They have Automatic Document Feeders (ADF) and flatbed models, and ADF+Flatbed all in ones. Fopydo makes some stiff plastic construction board type stands for very low cost that will support a book or documents and your cell phone for capturing images, and they are available on Amazon. Atiz makes very high end scanning "booths" which support professional DSLRs and flood lights to illumninate opposing sides of a 'V' shaped cradle with a plexiglass levitated platform for pressing the pages of a book flat before photography. They are somewhat combersome to use and require a permenant location dedicated to scanning. Atiz also former made a Canon Powershot model to take advantage of lesser expensive prosumer cameras for shooting images, but the Booksnap is no longer available. The Planetary or Overhead shooting tower that uses a Cell phone cam or a dedicated image sensor built-into the tower is becoming more popular, Fujitsu makes one one high quality, but it appears a bit slow and its still quite expensive.
For Step #2 you will want to break it down into Prep work before the OCR, then Post work after the OCR and finally Binding or Publishing the eBook to a format of your choice. Scan Tailor, BookDrive, and others are for Prep work before the OCR, they let you adjust contrast, tease out image artifacts or correct for under/overexposure and the "bleed through" bright lights and thin pages can bring out from the opposing side of the page that was imaged. OCR requires either the freebie copy of whatev
I've been wrestling with the same thing. Neverware is a USB boot Chromebook solution that works with older legacy hardware. You can try going Chrome without changing out their OS and still boot to the old OS by removing the USB stick if they need something that way. ChromeOS is updated automatically and has AntiVirus.. so it might be an option.
You might even think of transitioning to a Full Chromebook if they like the Chromebook and can live with Office 365 and Gdrive. My Mom regularly asks why her desktop doesn't sync everywhere.. Chromebook can do this. And at this point the only "apps" she really uses are Cloud Apps.. like Banking software or TurboTax.
The rest she either watches in a Browser Video player or goes to the DMV through a browser.. not much need to downloading a Windows 32 bit app anymore.
Right now she is using a Feature Phone, but I can see the day of a SmartPhone is coming.. If she likes ChromeOS.. a Nexus device without all that insane Vendor Add-on crap will make things really easy.. it will sync with her desktop. She'll also have a compaion to talk to (Google Now) a built-in GPS (Google Maps) and a Google Finder (Android Find my Device).
I thought iPhone.. but Apple has really gone nuts since Steve Jobs has left and catering more to fashion models and tweens.. which if the medium age of the country is drifting upwards.. really seems crazy for a company to do.
Interesting he passed at 76, for men aroun 75 seems to be the break even point where your 50/50 to living to the next year.
There are some fantastic developments in Brain Cancer treatments coming a just a few years, but they might not be effective once you get past 75 yr old.
They focus more on tagging the Cancer cells such that the bodies Immune system will focus on those cells and demolish them. The use of the Polio vaccine on 60 minutes comes to mind, but there have been others.
Several studies have focused on the seemingly mystical statistic that no one currently alive will live past 120 years old.. the simplist and most well thought out reason is the Immune system simply gives out, or shuts itself off. After that if Cancer doesn't kill you then something like Pneumonia will. Assuming of course you don't die of Little Debbies overdose or a Sugar induced Coronary... well I guess that's a psychological illness manefest physically... not breaking the carb addiction until its too late.. like smoking. Funny how lifes stressors and Seretonin levels can lead to additctions.. food or otherwise.. and ultimately to a shortened life span.
Eh? It was Home Improvement on Hiatus.. something to do inbetween Ghostbuster reboots,, a dead cat bounce
But I agree Will Wheaton has to be a Recurring Character with Crossovers from the Big Bang crew.
So drones are going to scout ahead on the race track for all vehicles now?
That's real Transcendance.. from Anime to Reality
Glad to have lived in a time when great writers like JMS passed this way.
They figured this out in 1972 on the BBC
The rest of the world is just catching up.
It will probably drive up the level of Consumer intimacy with code.
As more "experienced" end users with more time on their hand, and less tolerance for poor quality code emerges. And more "experienced" programmers reside on the Consumer end of the pipeline... with lots of surplus time on their hands.
The concepts of "open source" and "shared source" will probably grow.
Microsoft will probably even have to "open up" and may receive help with "documenting their code" for future generations... or risk irrelevance like an ancient fossil buried in time. Software archeologists will be unearthing Technet in the far flung future.. unless they adapt.
Its rather an anomaly that we currently have industries based on the idea of "software rarity, scarcity, and end exclusivity.." its more natural to consider a program and source code to be included in the Appendix of a book. Because once it looses currency or context.. the book is the only referent. Consider a niche spreadsheet like Quattro Pro 123 or Wordstar.. anybody "know" how to install or productively use those today?
Microsoft is as much like Apple and Apple is like Microsoft.. they live in the moment.. and if they slip into the past too much.. then they disconnect with the customer base willing to accept the unique ideology "pay for software".
Eventually that ideology will shrink.. as free software, documented and opensource software gets "good enough".
Google and Red Hat on the other hand will probably become even more relevant.. even if Patents are used to attempt to strangle them simple because of the "poison pill" built into making their source code available. As a support model.. they could go out of business and be forked..
Kinda of started this conceptual debate. Whether it is mechanical or biological, there is no reason to imagine we won't reach the point where a human mind could be uploaded into a synthetic brain. At which point, who shall be offered the option of skipping out on death, or extending their lives dramatically. And then, what would a twice removed or twice updated human being life's be worth? Will we treat them with the same respect and rights as a First born? Will their knowledge be viewed as a blessing or a curse, remembering things hundreds or thousands of years ago. Some say death gives meaning to life, or retirement makes way for new and fresh ideas, makes us more ready to adapt to new situations.. holding on to the past too far could spell apathy or depression.. to the point of just sitting down and dying in the face of adversity. Sparks a lot of ideas..
Cordova? Really? I want "Fine Corinthian Leather" next
How would you like to live through that. I did.
With perspective I can tell you that is probably won't matter what your degree is in.
When I was in your situation I tried, like all of us do, to solve problems with what I knew today, what I had experienced. And try to predict or control the future based on the tools I had today.
Sometimes people try to even control the future more by getting a Masters degree. I think its a waste of time, and a mistake.
The truth is it all comes down to "right time, right place" and how you interact with people.
Which has nothing to do with your grades in the 8th grade, or the 12th grade or your choice of College Major.
What did make a difference was having a solid degree in a field you have more than a passing interest in and almost autonomically keeping it up over time.. through hobbies, or self interest.
Because sooner or later, you'll get a chance to stop doing whatever your doing and try that for a while.
Credentials are useful by way of introduction.. after that people will give you a chance.
Sometimes you'll even get that chance without the credentials.. but when the times get tough, people will also use the lack of them to separate you from the people they want to keep.. so if your looking for stability.. an edge could be to have the credentials for what your doing.. otherwise just consider it a temp job.
On outsourcing.. that's just another form of people politics.. the thing is, there are bits of culture in software writing that don't translate well over seas.. consider tech support.. should an email icon look like a basket, or a postbox? How do you say Hello.. Howdy? The smallest things add up to a successful product.. or ones people just get tired of and won't buy.
My view is that Outsourcing is a fad.. and the financial reasons can evaporate as fast as a Subprime Mortgage.. its just something new they're trying this week.
Bottom line is a start up anywhere in the world based on software, or netware, will generally start with local people.. not trusting a person in a far off land, be it New Dehli or New Jersey... remember we tend to try to solve problems with what we have on hand or know.. not with what we don't have or don't know.
There's been a tremendous slow down in the last fifteen years in solving software problems.. we've tended to get bored with the problems we know.. and settled into a pattern of learned helplessness.. and that has been outsourced... confusion or frustration feels the same be it bought at the local store or a big store down the street.
But the new problems, the new startups.. are still occuring here in the US.. just look at all the Venture Capital between busts.. they are investing it here.. not there.. and that perspective is not US centric.. when an AntiVirus company based in Israel or Russia starts up.. they look for local help.. not foreign help.
So its all people politics.. just like the ones you know.
Customization of software, and turnkey solutions also tend to be stable.. for as long as there is not a generally accepted solution. They're really a lot like Plumbers in that the software has to "fit" a customers unique situation.. and big companies like Mercury, EDS, IBM, HP seem to know that and make a lot of money at it.
Speed and Experience is very important and tends to get you into a job faster. People want to pay for experience.. not your futher education. There aren't a lot of companies that invest in their employees anymore.. they tend to consider them infinitely replacible.. or start to look towards outsourcing when they can't find enough "experienced" employees.
Buying a "team" is also very popular. Why invest all that time putting together a good team out of Leggos.. when you can "acquire" expertise from a startup? That's also a good place to look for a job.. at a startup.. though after a couple they can feel like a series of temp jobs.
I say these things not to put you off about your chosen Major, but just to put it into perspective and
It's a sad sad day.. Computers everywhere have fallen silent. She was a wonderful person.