But the billions of Federal dollars that flowed into the computer and semiconductor industries as a result of the Apollo probes certainly jumpstarted the computer revolution that began in the 70's.
Its all a matter of scale. If 1% of Indians get a killer education, that's a million people. If 1% of those Indians study computer science, that's 100,000 people.
The US by comparison graduates about 20,000 Computer Science graduates per year. And a large chunk of those 20,000 are foreigners.
The high pricepoint of Windows & Unix really prevented developing companies from deploying large numbers of personal computers.
Now, free operating systems, free documentation and free development tools allow anyone to learn about writing modern software.
You may not realize it, but right now, primary schools in impovrished rural Indian areas are getting a world-class education in Computer Science and Mathematics.
Compare that to the US, where social promotion, sports and feel-good politics rule the day.
Microsoft has also made it abundantly clear that their IP makes a successful 3rd-party implemenation extremely risky from a legal standpoint.
Besides, who wants to buy a copycat implemenation? If C# &.Net are so great, why would I want to use anything other than the reference Microsoft implementation?
I got news for you -- the Perl core is maintained by one or two dozen regular contributors. The Perl5 codebase has become write-only, which was one of the driving factors for the re-write of the language (Perl6).
License has nothing to do with code quality. Look at Netscape as a guide. By the time Netscape 4 (closed source) was released, years of hyper growth and poor practices made the code undecipherable. Meanwhile IE, which was a piece of shit for years, stuck to their plan and produced a superior product.
Since hordes of curious programmers aren't busy analyzing the Java code base freely, all sorts of critical bugs are slipping through the cracks and risk the fate of humanity as a whole.
Although IBM doesn't open source any of it's key products, platforms or operating systems and they own more software IP than any other entity on the planet, that's ok. The 21st Century has brought us the softer side of IBM (tm).
They refers to xenophobic programmers who clamor for open source, open documentation, free this, free that, and then bitch that some bright Indian, Pole or Chinese "stole" their jobs.
Then the problem is with whomever is publishing the distros -- not Sun.
All of these linux companies pick and choose their moral stands. Red Hat strips MP3 playback capability and refuses to package Sun or IBM java, yet had no problem bundling Netscape with its distro for ages.
And all the while, companies like Suse and Red Hat do whatever they can to suck up to "moral" software companies like Oracle, IBM and HP.
I suppose that Gnome.org and GNU Savannah were running windows?
Software has holes, period. There was a time not so long ago that people would laugh if the words "Unix" and "Security" were used in the same sentence. At this point, there is little difference between Windows, Linux and Commercial Unix.
It's like anything else I suppose -- it depends on where you work.
My girlfriend's cousin grosses like $65-75k as a hairdresser... but she works at a "high end" shop frequented by local TV dorks and other minor celebrities and rich folk.
Plenty of IT folks are slaving away for $32-40k with $50k+ worth of student loans on their backs.
You seem to work in a more traditional, professional environment.
"IT" and office work in general is turning into factory work. Overspecialization and tight control over workers leads to unhappy people.
Notice that the more satisfying (and poorer paying) jobs allow the worker a greater degree of independence. A hairdresser or child care worker's actions aren't governed by what OU in some LDAP database she belongs to. It's frightening that a hairdresser is treated as a valuable professional, while skilled engineers are "human resources".
If the network drivers "break", you reimage the box. Of course, if you are in a well-run business network, this doesn't happen because users don't install software and IT tests new apps against common workstation images.
If you have the budget to spend lots of time dianosing arcane workstation issues, you are misspending your budget.
The most important thing in data security is policy & practices. If you or your IT people are ignorant of the system that they work with to the point that they allow anonymous users "ie local 'Administrator'" to access sensitive, encrypted data, the data never can be secure.
An administrator can reset a key, but cannot read it. When you reset a key, documents become unrecoverable.
Most places who are seriously considering using file encryption implement security policies that eliminate things like local administrative accounts and check some of the powers of administrative users.
For example, data that is protected by HIPPA law in the US can be deleted, moved or indexed by a computer administrator, but cannot be modified. Only users with a business need to view/manipulate/create data can do so.
NTFS encryption is like any other encryption scheme -- it needs to be configured properly to be secure.
Their gross margins are high for computers and probally 25-50% for monitors/accessories/etc.
Apple loses on overhead. They are always buying back too much excess inventory from retailers, they bear the brunt of hardware & software development costs.
PC makers exist in a more highly competitive environment... for PC makers that are in the black , gross margins of 5% are good. IBM typically loses money on PC sales, although they are improving. Dell is the best PC manufacturing operation by far and squeezes another 1.5%.
Slashdot Mirror
In 1850, it took six months and a year's income to travel from New york to California.
Today I can pick up and drive out there for about $300 in gas or fly out for about $200.
Transportation is all about bulk. The more stuff you move, the cheaper it gets.
Nobody's saying that.
But the billions of Federal dollars that flowed into the computer and semiconductor industries as a result of the Apollo probes certainly jumpstarted the computer revolution that began in the 70's.
Its all a matter of scale. If 1% of Indians get a killer education, that's a million people. If 1% of those Indians study computer science, that's 100,000 people.
The US by comparison graduates about 20,000 Computer Science graduates per year. And a large chunk of those 20,000 are foreigners.
Hahahaha...
Patents regulate "commercial use". So if you use Mono on your commercial website, Microsoft can sue you for royalties.
Edison did this sort of thing back in the early 1800's -- shut down competition by suing the users.
But it is Apple!
Apple is as pure and clean as the wind-driven snow.
If my iMac gave me electric shocks for looking at the Dell website, I would thank Steve Jobs for setting me straight.
While your "newsletters" or "weekly updates" are technically not spam, nobody wants them!
The "dumb AOL users" are sick of your shit littering their inboxes -- so stop sending it!
What you should be taking away from this is that 1/5 of your "customers" do not want your communications.
Isn't it obvious?
The high pricepoint of Windows & Unix really prevented developing companies from deploying large numbers of personal computers.
Now, free operating systems, free documentation and free development tools allow anyone to learn about writing modern software.
You may not realize it, but right now, primary schools in impovrished rural Indian areas are getting a world-class education in Computer Science and Mathematics.
Compare that to the US, where social promotion, sports and feel-good politics rule the day.
He claims to be a wizard, I'm suprised that he didn't cast a spell on McNealy.
Sure.
.Net are so great, why would I want to use anything other than the reference Microsoft implementation?
Microsoft has also made it abundantly clear that their IP makes a successful 3rd-party implemenation extremely risky from a legal standpoint.
Besides, who wants to buy a copycat implemenation? If C# &
IE is essentially a product that has been untouched since 2001.
Compare it against the competition of the day. IE 4-6 blows Netscape 4 out of the water.
Now since it has achieved ubiquity, IE has stagnated and is behind the times.
Have you looked at Perl sourcecode lately?
I got news for you -- the Perl core is maintained by one or two dozen regular contributors. The Perl5 codebase has become write-only, which was one of the driving factors for the re-write of the language (Perl6).
License has nothing to do with code quality. Look at Netscape as a guide. By the time Netscape 4 (closed source) was released, years of hyper growth and poor practices made the code undecipherable. Meanwhile IE, which was a piece of shit for years, stuck to their plan and produced a superior product.
Java is inherently insecure and malfunctional.
Since hordes of curious programmers aren't busy analyzing the Java code base freely, all sorts of critical bugs are slipping through the cracks and risk the fate of humanity as a whole.
Although IBM doesn't open source any of it's key products, platforms or operating systems and they own more software IP than any other entity on the planet, that's ok. The 21st Century has brought us the softer side of IBM (tm).
They refers to xenophobic programmers who clamor for open source, open documentation, free this, free that, and then bitch that some bright Indian, Pole or Chinese "stole" their jobs.
Then the problem is with whomever is publishing the distros -- not Sun.
All of these linux companies pick and choose their moral stands. Red Hat strips MP3 playback capability and refuses to package Sun or IBM java, yet had no problem bundling Netscape with its distro for ages.
And all the while, companies like Suse and Red Hat do whatever they can to suck up to "moral" software companies like Oracle, IBM and HP.
Please.
I suppose that Gnome.org and GNU Savannah were running windows?
Software has holes, period. There was a time not so long ago that people would laugh if the words "Unix" and "Security" were used in the same sentence. At this point, there is little difference between Windows, Linux and Commercial Unix.
Buy a cheap computer that is strictly for business. Don't let your wife or kids on it and don't install games or surf for pron on it.
I'd also suggest buying a smart card reader and storing all of your private keys on the card.
That is frightening.
It's like anything else I suppose -- it depends on where you work.
My girlfriend's cousin grosses like $65-75k as a hairdresser... but she works at a "high end" shop frequented by local TV dorks and other minor celebrities and rich folk.
Plenty of IT folks are slaving away for $32-40k with $50k+ worth of student loans on their backs.
Of course, most private school teachers are paid less than public school teachers and have a crappier pension and benefits.
Of course, I think not having to deal with 13 year old mothers of four is worth it.
You seem to work in a more traditional, professional environment.
"IT" and office work in general is turning into factory work. Overspecialization and tight control over workers leads to unhappy people.
Notice that the more satisfying (and poorer paying) jobs allow the worker a greater degree of independence. A hairdresser or child care worker's actions aren't governed by what OU in some LDAP database she belongs to. It's frightening that a hairdresser is treated as a valuable professional, while skilled engineers are "human resources".
A buddy of mine from high school now runs a septic pumping service.
Last week, some dumbass kind flushed all sorts of stuff down the toilet in his school, including staplers, and bags of rice.
His charge to clear the jam? $75,000 for about 5 hours of work.
The idea is to skip the duty.
You just carry your laptop in a laptop case and tell the guy that it's your work laptop.
If the network drivers "break", you reimage the box. Of course, if you are in a well-run business network, this doesn't happen because users don't install software and IT tests new apps against common workstation images.
If you have the budget to spend lots of time dianosing arcane workstation issues, you are misspending your budget.
The most important thing in data security is policy & practices. If you or your IT people are ignorant of the system that they work with to the point that they allow anonymous users "ie local 'Administrator'" to access sensitive, encrypted data, the data never can be secure.
Not true.
An administrator can reset a key, but cannot read it. When you reset a key, documents become unrecoverable.
Most places who are seriously considering using file encryption implement security policies that eliminate things like local administrative accounts and check some of the powers of administrative users.
For example, data that is protected by HIPPA law in the US can be deleted, moved or indexed by a computer administrator, but cannot be modified. Only users with a business need to view/manipulate/create data can do so.
NTFS encryption is like any other encryption scheme -- it needs to be configured properly to be secure.
Their gross margins are high for computers and probally 25-50% for monitors/accessories/etc.
Apple loses on overhead. They are always buying back too much excess inventory from retailers, they bear the brunt of hardware & software development costs.
PC makers exist in a more highly competitive environment... for PC makers that are in the black , gross margins of 5% are good. IBM typically loses money on PC sales, although they are improving. Dell is the best PC manufacturing operation by far and squeezes another 1.5%.