That was pretty laughable in perspective of the size of the country. Also it was almost pure military aid which doesn't have any positive economic effect.
And to top it all off, all that aid didn't do China anything good (China had a big recession during Mao's "big leap forward"), only after Mao's death China began to recover economically - and without any aid.
So the economic success of China certainly cannot be linked to Soviet aid.
If that is so, why is Linux the most common OS on the top500 computers?
I mean these are the most expensive computers in the world and most don't have any problems trusting Linux to run them.
People, realize: If you don't need MS Office, games or other Win32 apps, you run Linux.
There are no usability problems, there are no "big-company-responsibility" problems. The only problems are compatibility with legacy software and sometimes hardware.
How much do you need your media player to do beyond playing media?
Exactly. For example mplayer can be run with and without GUI. Even though I tried the GUI I usually run it without it because it just stands in the way and mplayer supports excellent navigation without GUI. (For example I can skip 15 minutes by hitting cursor-down or 5 seconds with the mouse-wheel - no other player I know supports something like that)
Colonialism ended less than half a century ago; it takes a lot longer to develop even under ideal conditions.
Ethiopia was a colony for only 7 years (1936-1943 under Italy).
Maybe, just maybe, over 60 years after that 7-year period it's time to stop waiting for handouts and start to solve the problems themselves.
Just look at China: It was much worse off than many African nations after the war (and the civil-war that followed) and the Japanese were also much more brutal. But did China wait for handouts? No. They tried to do it themselves and failed first (Mao's big leap forward has made matters even worse) but they learned from their mistakes, got the population under control and exactly those regions that were "colonized" by Japan over 60 years ago are now the most wealthy and industrialized.
Similar stories can be told for Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.
All those nations built up an industry almost from scratch in less than 20 years and a very healthy economy in less than 40 years. Actually Japan, Germany and to a lesser extent France and Italy were also almost completely destroyed after the war and also were able to built up an adequate industry in less than 20 years. (Athough the apologists will say that Western Europe and Japan had the know-how, that isn't true for Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and coastal China: All these countries were mostly agrarian 50-60 years ago)
So your claim that it takes longer than half a century is just plain wrong. It takes one human generation to develop an industry (like in today's China) and 2 generations to generate wealth and luxury similar to western standards (like in Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Japan today).
What set Africa back were slavery, first Arab and then Western slavery. Then cam colonization (read rape&pillage), and the disastrous decolonization, a process in which many countries have been carved accross tribal lines, and some, like Niger, are not really viable as countries due to geography and climate.
Some facts contradict you:
Despite common folklore most of sub-saharan Africa was a colony for a very short time (about 1900-1950, even though some coastal regions were a colony a couple of decades earlier), actually Ethiopia was never a colony except for a measly 7 years (1936-1943).
Many countries with a real colonial history that span over many centuries are doing quite well: Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, etc.
Wrong. They need contraceptives, and lots of it. No matter how much food you get there, an exponentially growing population will use that up shortly and a generation later you have accomplished nothing except to double the number of starving people.
Don't forget that Africa had less than a tenth of the population about 100 years ago.
Web developers buy significantly less MSDN subscriptions and MS development tools
Yes, you do need an OS to get to the intranet (web services usually run on intranets and not on the internet), but you don't need to upgrade as often.
And of course even though you may use Windows you may also use something else. There is no longer a lock-in.
That's why they kept Internet Explorer rotting for so long: Anything that benefits the net is bad for Microsoft.
Yes, I do know they posted record earnings and revenues, however that's because they are squeezing every penny out of their business customers and because of the weak dollar of course.
First, it's better to surprise a customer with something better than expected.
The only reason why I may buy the Mac Mini is the almos noiseless operation (at a reasonable price).
When they start to put faster and hotter CPUs (at random) in, that is no longer guaranteed and for me a faster and hotter CPU is clearly worse. When I can no longer be sure that the Mac Mini I will get will be noiseless, it just got VERY much less attractive for me.
First of all, I don't think Microsoft is competent enough to do this within say 2 years.
Then if it is more expensive than their normal Office suite (you talked about on-going revenue stream being their wettest dream - if it is a wet dream customers have to pay more, more, more) nobody will use it.
Also many already have MS Office, why should they want to pay another time for the same product?
Are supercomputers (Linux dominates the top500 computers with IIRC about 80% marketshare) enterprise enough for you?
If companies are trusting Linux with their most expensive hardware, it certainly is trusted. Trust is not the problem.
The ONLY real problem is legacy software (like Office macros and/or Win32 software) that doesn't run on Linux.
If that problem doesn't exist (like on supercomputers which run customized software anyway) or is removed (like when most 3d-modelling apps were ported to Linux) the market is moving to Linux.
They do a simultaneous worldwide launch, which will mean that in the first weeks there won't be enough XBox360s available but the factories won't be working anywhere near on capacity after the launch-hype is over.
And while xbox is a money loser in theory, it is now accepted in the marketplace which is the major hurdle (dreamcast anyone).
Are you working at Microsoft marketing or are just too young to remember the Dreamcast?
If you don't know, Dreamcast was made by SEGA, which was one of the most accepted companies in the marketplace, so "acceptance" surely wasn't it's problem.
The reasons Dreamcast failed was:
PS2 came with DVD-player, Dreamcast didn't (just like PS3 will come with BluRay and XBox360 won't)
Dreamcast used a cheap-to-develop but expensive-to-manufacture off-the-shelf desing (just like XBox1 & XBox360) while the PS2 used a highly optimized design which is hard to develop but drives down the cost per unit
Sega thought that Windows CE and it's APIs would make it sooo easy to port games and there would be a load of games (Oh, yet another XBox-analogy) but in real life PS2 had much more games
Sega thought that backwards compatibility isn't important, PS2 is fully backwards compatible which is a bid advantage (Oh, again XBox360 is only compatible to "top-selling-games" whatever that is supposed to mean)
And of course Sega had bad timing: They launched only a short time before PS2 and the PS2-hype caused many potential buyers to wait for both consoles and decide then - of course at that time the Dreamcast was already old and PS2 was brand-new. (Microsoft actually believed their own marketing lies and thinks that launching before the PS3 will help them.)
Of course Microsoft made some stupid mistakes on top of all this:
Bill Gates said that there "may" be a HD-DVD version at a later time. Now a lot of buyers will wait for that version, so XBox360 sales will be even lower
They pissed NVidia off so badly that NVidia didn't even bid for the XBox360 contract. ATI was the only contender and Microsoft had to accept their terms.
They released Halo2 just 1 year before the XBox360 launch. Those who bought a XBox1 at christmas04 are very unlikely to get a XBox360 at christmas05.
They gave away their only advantage: The only advantage the XBox1 really had compared to the PS2 was that it was newer and technically superior (at least in some areas). Anyway the PS2 was "old" and the XBox1 was "new and cool". With the PS3 being released *AFTER* the XBox360, XBox360 will be "old" and PS3 be "new and cool".
XBox360 looks like Dreamcast3 to me. They will continue to lose as much or even more money on it than with XBox1.
People are drooling waiting for the next one and I imagine by the time the 3rd generation comes out MS will own the market completely (if Sony and Nintendo's blunders continue apace).
Sony's blunder? PS2 is the most successful console of all time and it sold about 4 times as many units as the XBox.
Let me remind everyone of some past MS "failures" and company's that "Couldn't be beat".
Actually many seem to believe that Microsoft "can't be beaten".
You want some MS failures?
MSN was supposed to crush TCP/IP and HTTP and establish Microsoft's own standards. Oh what happened? Now MSN uses TCP/IP and HTTP/HTML like everybody else...
Windows on non-x86 platforms failed: On PPC, on Alpha
XBox sold only half as many units in the first 6 months as Microsoft expected and caused about 1 billion of losses per year (oh yeah, I know the MS-fanboys see that as a "success")
The "Otto"-project, the "HomeR"-project, etc.
And of course MSN never became very successful as a search engine
Sure Microsoft has insane amounts of money, but they are not as godlike as you want us to believe. They are just mere mortals.
Essentially, I agree with what you have written - however a couple of governments (Massachusetts, Peru, Brazil, Munich, many others) have standardized on OpenDocument and/or OpenOffice.
Imagine you are a contractor who has to work with that government. You essentially have 2 options: Run both OpenOffice and MS Office or run only OpenOffice. Even the most brainwashed TCO-zombie won't be able to deny which option is cheaper and easier.
So these companies will likely switch over to OO, too. Of course these companies have contact to other organizations and persons, so these will likely switch too. (For example most employees want to run the same software at home as they do at work)
Office won't be unseated anytime soon.
Depends on what you think of "soon". Not within this decade but maybe in the next.
While moving between star, open or microsoft office is trivial for technical people, the average user has major problems with the gui being slighting different and commands being in different menus.
Nonsense, it's exactly the other way around. The average Joe has no problem whatsoever to move between MSO and OO (he just uses the "F"-"I"-"U" buttons anyway), it's the power user who has macros and uses advanced functions who has the most problems.
Actually, that's the most insightful comment in the whole thread.
The problem (well, let's say *their* problem, because it sure isn't mine) is that they (Microsoft, Sony, etc.) started to believe their own marketing departments.
It may be possible that Blu-Ray has a chance to replace DVD (with the help of the PS3) but not within 5 years, probably not even within 10 years.
The point is that compatibility is the most important thing.
It doesn't matter wether KDE is similar to Windows or is more user-friendly or whatever if you need a program that doesn't run on it.
Actually without Wine, I wouldn't be able to run KDE at all. We need better Win32-compatibility. That's the single most important thing that is needed on Linux.
Is anyone else considering the possibility that this asteroid actually is on a collision course with Earth, and they don't want to panic us? Paranoia hats on, everyone.
Oh yeah, sure. ESA and NASA keep this collision secret because:
They prefer to risk their lifes with a budget-quenching mission rather than make damn sure with 2,3 or more redundant missions.
They don't want the funding they would get in face with such a collision
Also, this is ESA. There isn't nearly as much useless secrecy in Europe than in the USA.
Slashdot Mirror
And to top it all off, all that aid didn't do China anything good (China had a big recession during Mao's "big leap forward"), only after Mao's death China began to recover economically - and without any aid.
So the economic success of China certainly cannot be linked to Soviet aid.
I mean these are the most expensive computers in the world and most don't have any problems trusting Linux to run them.
People, realize: If you don't need MS Office, games or other Win32 apps, you run Linux.
There are no usability problems, there are no "big-company-responsibility" problems. The only problems are compatibility with legacy software and sometimes hardware.
Exactly. For example mplayer can be run with and without GUI. Even though I tried the GUI I usually run it without it because it just stands in the way and mplayer supports excellent navigation without GUI. (For example I can skip 15 minutes by hitting cursor-down or 5 seconds with the mouse-wheel - no other player I know supports something like that)
Ethiopia was a colony for only 7 years (1936-1943 under Italy).
Maybe, just maybe, over 60 years after that 7-year period it's time to stop waiting for handouts and start to solve the problems themselves.
Just look at China: It was much worse off than many African nations after the war (and the civil-war that followed) and the Japanese were also much more brutal. But did China wait for handouts? No. They tried to do it themselves and failed first (Mao's big leap forward has made matters even worse) but they learned from their mistakes, got the population under control and exactly those regions that were "colonized" by Japan over 60 years ago are now the most wealthy and industrialized.
Similar stories can be told for Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.
All those nations built up an industry almost from scratch in less than 20 years and a very healthy economy in less than 40 years. Actually Japan, Germany and to a lesser extent France and Italy were also almost completely destroyed after the war and also were able to built up an adequate industry in less than 20 years. (Athough the apologists will say that Western Europe and Japan had the know-how, that isn't true for Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and coastal China: All these countries were mostly agrarian 50-60 years ago)
So your claim that it takes longer than half a century is just plain wrong. It takes one human generation to develop an industry (like in today's China) and 2 generations to generate wealth and luxury similar to western standards (like in Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Japan today).
Exactly.
What set Africa back were slavery, first Arab and then Western slavery. Then cam colonization (read rape&pillage), and the disastrous decolonization, a process in which many countries have been carved accross tribal lines, and some, like Niger, are not really viable as countries due to geography and climate.
Some facts contradict you:
Wrong. They need contraceptives, and lots of it. No matter how much food you get there, an exponentially growing population will use that up shortly and a generation later you have accomplished nothing except to double the number of starving people.
Don't forget that Africa had less than a tenth of the population about 100 years ago.
That's why they kept Internet Explorer rotting for so long: Anything that benefits the net is bad for Microsoft.
Yes, I do know they posted record earnings and revenues, however that's because they are squeezing every penny out of their business customers and because of the weak dollar of course.
The walking-thing works autmatically. No need to do anything, you can use your phone just as if it weren't protected at all.
PINs, fingerprinting and most other biometrics, require user interaction and are not automatic.
The advantage is pretty obvious. I really find it hard to believe that anybody can't see the advantage.
Is there a plan or rough schedule for OpenDocument support?
Thanks for clearing that up to me.
"It was to be announced at the Apple congress. As you know the CEO loves surprises..."
(God damn, this joke actually works like a charm)
The only reason why I may buy the Mac Mini is the almos noiseless operation (at a reasonable price).
When they start to put faster and hotter CPUs (at random) in, that is no longer guaranteed and for me a faster and hotter CPU is clearly worse. When I can no longer be sure that the Mac Mini I will get will be noiseless, it just got VERY much less attractive for me.
Is it possible to underclock a Mac Mini?
Then if it is more expensive than their normal Office suite (you talked about on-going revenue stream being their wettest dream - if it is a wet dream customers have to pay more, more, more) nobody will use it.
Also many already have MS Office, why should they want to pay another time for the same product?
If companies are trusting Linux with their most expensive hardware, it certainly is trusted. Trust is not the problem.
The ONLY real problem is legacy software (like Office macros and/or Win32 software) that doesn't run on Linux.
If that problem doesn't exist (like on supercomputers which run customized software anyway) or is removed (like when most 3d-modelling apps were ported to Linux) the market is moving to Linux.
Are you working at Microsoft marketing or are just too young to remember the Dreamcast?
If you don't know, Dreamcast was made by SEGA, which was one of the most accepted companies in the marketplace, so "acceptance" surely wasn't it's problem.
The reasons Dreamcast failed was:
Of course Microsoft made some stupid mistakes on top of all this:
XBox360 looks like Dreamcast3 to me. They will continue to lose as much or even more money on it than with XBox1.
People are drooling waiting for the next one and I imagine by the time the 3rd generation comes out MS will own the market completely (if Sony and Nintendo's blunders continue apace).
Sony's blunder? PS2 is the most successful console of all time and it sold about 4 times as many units as the XBox.
Actually many seem to believe that Microsoft "can't be beaten".
You want some MS failures?
Sure Microsoft has insane amounts of money, but they are not as godlike as you want us to believe. They are just mere mortals.
Imagine you are a contractor who has to work with that government. You essentially have 2 options: Run both OpenOffice and MS Office or run only OpenOffice. Even the most brainwashed TCO-zombie won't be able to deny which option is cheaper and easier.
So these companies will likely switch over to OO, too. Of course these companies have contact to other organizations and persons, so these will likely switch too. (For example most employees want to run the same software at home as they do at work)
Office won't be unseated anytime soon.
Depends on what you think of "soon". Not within this decade but maybe in the next.
Nonsense, it's exactly the other way around. The average Joe has no problem whatsoever to move between MSO and OO (he just uses the "F"-"I"-"U" buttons anyway), it's the power user who has macros and uses advanced functions who has the most problems.
I think you misspelled "recolored and repackaged".
The problem (well, let's say *their* problem, because it sure isn't mine) is that they (Microsoft, Sony, etc.) started to believe their own marketing departments.
It may be possible that Blu-Ray has a chance to replace DVD (with the help of the PS3) but not within 5 years, probably not even within 10 years.
It doesn't matter wether KDE is similar to Windows or is more user-friendly or whatever if you need a program that doesn't run on it.
Actually without Wine, I wouldn't be able to run KDE at all. We need better Win32-compatibility. That's the single most important thing that is needed on Linux.
Nonsense.
The #1 reason why most people use Windows is because they want to use Win32 software.
Usability and user-friendlyness have absolutely nothing to do with it.
Oh yeah, sure. ESA and NASA keep this collision secret because:
Also, this is ESA. There isn't nearly as much useless secrecy in Europe than in the USA.
Does anybody know wether there are plans by Apple?