The term "perfectionism" is used many times in that review. But, is msft really obsessive about being perfect? Even people who claim they hate Vista, rarely call it "perfect." For that matter, I think it might be fair to say that other msft products also fall a little short of being "perfect."
When they fought the thousands of tooth-fairies, I could hardly believe they tried to shoot them one at a time. Liz was right there in the room, and even she could only think of shooting them one at a time. Are these the world's stupidest super-heros?
Same thing when they went to fight the golden army: 4900 super indestructible robot solders, so they fight them all at once with just two guys? And Prince Nuala had just asked if anybody wanted to challenge his right to rule.
Still, I thought it was a good "popcorn movie." Good looking effects etc.
I see that its the same in u.s.. someone gets a signed degree from someplace, and instantly think they are entitled to high life or guaranteed pay. well, it aint so.
How silly of us to imagine to that $80,000 in student loans, and four of the best years of our lives might actually be worth something. If a technical degree is not supposed to useful in the workplace, why bother?
The US has 304 out of 777. The US isn't the majority despite having many advantages since WW2.
USA may not be the majority, but certainly a hugely disproportionate share, when you consider that the USA only has about 5% of world's population.
If you wanted to be honest at all (and clearly you do not) then you would admit that the USA has way more than it's share of inventions, and innovation.
India was historically backwards however as I said before the gap is closing.
You indicated that is all about population, i.e. the US can not compete with the world in innovation because the USA only has a small percentage of the world's population. My point is that population has little to do with it.
Please note: that bls statistic only refers to the demand side of the equation. To see the whole picture, you also have to consider the supply side. India has 4X the US population, and India alone is cranking out 495,000 BSCS graduates every year.
Furthermore, according the BLS:
"As with other information technology jobs, outsourcing of software development to other countries may temper somewhat employment growth of computer software engineers. Firms may look to cut costs by shifting operations to foreign countries with lower prevailing wages and highly educated workers."
Also, I have to wonder where the BLS gets it's information:
"According to Robert Half Technology, starting salaries for software engineers in software development ranged from $66,500 to $99,750 in 2007. For network engineers, starting salaries ranged from $65,750 to $90,250."
Robert Half! Asking Robert Half if it's a good time to go into IT is like asking Century 21 if it's a good to sell your home.
"H-1B Visa Numbers: No Relationship with Economic Need"
According to a new study from the Center for Immigration Studies: the number of H-1B visas approved in the computers and engineering fields greatly exceeds any reasonable number reflected by economic demand.
"High Tech Industry Laying Off American Workers While Seeking Huge Increase in Guest Workers"
"Currently, the Department of Labor estimates that there are about 656,000 unemployed IT workers in the U.S. In addition, the slowing economy has led to a loss of jobs across the board including in IT. The Denver-based Rocky Mountain News reports that Colorado -- the state with the third highest concentration of IT workers -- has lost 47,200 technology jobs since 2001."
Gains in US high tech employment more than offset by off-shore worker visas
"According to the AeA Cyberstates yearly reports, "High Tech" employment experienced job losses of 945,000 in the 2001 recession. Since this drop in employment, the "High Tech" sector has recovered about 300,000 jobs, but during the period in question, a probable 669,681 H-1B and L-1 computer-related workers were added to the workforce."
IT job security plummets five times faster than nationwide average
"Job security for IT professionals plummeted more than 10% from January to February of this year, far surpassing the average job security declines seen nationwide in a rigorous analysis of U.S. employment patterns."
"These studies done at Duke aren't alone in their assessment that there is in fact no skills shortage. They're backed up by other studies conducted by RAND Corporation, The Urban Institute and Stanford University, among others, all of which settle upon the same conclusion: There is no shortage of educated IT workers."
The off-shoring and work visa scams affect other fields as well. But I think it's fair to say that IT is the field that is getting slaughtered now. In the 1980, manufactured jobs were devistated, now IT has it's neck on the chopping block.
Occam's razor: off-shore labor is a lot cheaper, therefore employers will off-shore every possible job. If you do your job sitting in front of a computer, then your job can probably be off-shored - if not now, then certainly in the near future.
Furthermore, the simple laws of supply and demand dictate that the few jobs that are not off-shored, will have a glut of qualified applicants. The experienced developers who have their jobs off-shored, will clearly try to leverage their existing training and experience into the few remaining IT jobs that can not be easily off-shored. This causes a glut, and drives down wages.
The IT worker glut will be increased even more by improved automation of information system maintenance, standardization of software, and non-IT specialists who are increasingly sophisticated with information technology.
There can be nothing to stop this devastating trend, due to the following:
1) Corrupt USA politicians 2) USA IT workers are not willing to organize 3) Influential corporations have effectively distorted the issues
So there you go, it's as simple as that.
IMO: this trend is presently in it's infancy. The present trend has very little to do with the present economic slump. In fact, when the US economy recovers, this trend will accelerate even faster. The present situation for US IT workers is much better now, than it will be five years from now.
Maybe I'm missing something, but how can you cheat someone of a tax concession.
Here is the deal: I give you a huge tax break specifically because you are going to bring tech jobs to my area. You take the tax breaks, the outsource the tech jobs to another country.
rather than complain about a job leaving the usa, why not train for a job that can't be outsourced? that makes more money?
To put it very mildly: that is much easier said than done. After spending tens of thousands of dollars, and the best years of your, educating yourself, then spending years, or even decades getting specialized experience; it is not all that easy to just turn on a dime and start a new career - especially in an ageist society.
The rebuttal is trivial actually, there are 6 billion people in the world and 300 million Americans. 6 billion will almost always innovate and progress better than 300 million
Oh? Make a list the major tech companies in the world, and notice how many were started in the USA as opposed to the rest of the world. BTW: staffing companies are not tech companies. By tech companies I mean: Microsoft, GE, IBM, Sun, Cisco, Apple, Oracle, etc. You may also want to make a list of major technologies like light bulbs, nuclear energy, airplanes, ect, and consider how much of that came from the USA, as opposed to the rest of the world. You may also want to add up Nobel prizes. In particular, consider India, India has 4X the population of the USA - compare technology innovations between the countries. My point is: there is a lot more to it than population.
That is what the h1b globalist constantly argue: capping h1bs denies the USA the "best and brightest." H-1Bs are almost exclusively Indian.
So if Indians are the "best and brightest" then why are no companies like: Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Apple, ect. started in India? It seems that all India wants to do is provide cheap staffing for other countries.
If you are a nerd by profession, then this is some of the most relevant news that slashdot publishes. The current work visa scam, perpetuated mainly by Microsoft, and a handful of Indian staffing companies, effects IT workers almost exclusively.
It is very clear to me that IT work today is going the same way as manufacturing work in the 1980s. I don't think there is anything that can be done about it. But, if you are informed, you can may be able to make better decisions with your life and career.
1) Governments will have to use an ISO approved standard, to make sure their documents can be exchanged, and that their documents will be readable in the future.
2) Since msft has a monopoly on office products, the ISO standard of choice is a foregone conclusion.
3) Anybody who does business with the governments will also have to use the OOXML standard. So those who do business with the governments will also standardize on OOXML. Those who business, with those who do business with governments, will also have to standardize on OOXML - and so on.
4) ODF will never have the slightest chance to get a toe-hold.
No established standards means developers might as well use one "standard" as another. Then we users constantly fight with browser incompatibilities, and having to install plug-ins, etc.
Bill Gate's account is obviously self serving. But, maybe msft competitors did make some big mistakes.
For a while, OS/2 really was much better than windows. But IBM did not even include OS/2 on their own PCs. And IBM kept the price of OS/2 high. I kept wondering why IBM was letting msft take the whole market. IBM should have sold their machines with OS/2 installed by default, and boxed OS/2 should have cost no more than $10 a copy.
In early 1990s, when window 3.x and the cheap clones came out, Apple should have reduced the cost of the Mac dramatically. Instead, Apple kept their profit margins high, while msft ate their lunch.
Msft put out some bad products. But, msft fundamentally understood the business better than msft's competitors. Msft's basic philosophy was/is: control the standard, and the money will follow. Apple and IBM did not fully understand the importance of controlling the standard, at least not soon enough.
Works with all my hardware and software, lightweight, fast, and reliable, no authentication, no nagging, no spying. Familiar interface, nothing new to learn. No default "fisher-price" look.
I wish I could just incrementally upgrade windows, like I do with debian.
Slashdot Mirror
The term "perfectionism" is used many times in that review. But, is msft really obsessive about being perfect? Even people who claim they hate Vista, rarely call it "perfect." For that matter, I think it might be fair to say that other msft products also fall a little short of being "perfect."
How can that be? What's next? Are you going to tell me that the political ads are biased?
Of course the ads are designed to make Apple look great and the competition look bad. That is the point of an ad. That is what's expected of an ad.
On the other hand, bogus think-tank studies, and astro-turfing, are another matter. Wouldn't you agree?
The less qualified are pushed ahead of the more qualified, just because of gender. How is this not the brazen form of discrimination?
When they fought the thousands of tooth-fairies, I could hardly believe they tried to shoot them one at a time. Liz was right there in the room, and even she could only think of shooting them one at a time. Are these the world's stupidest super-heros?
Same thing when they went to fight the golden army: 4900 super indestructible robot solders, so they fight them all at once with just two guys? And Prince Nuala had just asked if anybody wanted to challenge his right to rule.
Still, I thought it was a good "popcorn movie." Good looking effects etc.
Does this apply to everything, or just IT? Would you trust a physician who never went to school? How about a lawyer, or an accountant?
And even if you would, what about everybody else? Do you expect other people to accept your standards?
But that's not to say it's legal either.
I think Nielsen may have broken their contractual agreement, they can possible be sued. But, technically, that is not a "crime."
I see that its the same in u.s.. someone gets a signed degree from someplace, and instantly think they are entitled to high life or guaranteed pay. well, it aint so.
How silly of us to imagine to that $80,000 in student loans, and four of the best years of our lives might actually be worth something. If a technical degree is not supposed to useful in the workplace, why bother?
The US has 304 out of 777. The US isn't the majority despite having many advantages since WW2.
USA may not be the majority, but certainly a hugely disproportionate share, when you consider that the USA only has about 5% of world's population.
If you wanted to be honest at all (and clearly you do not) then you would admit that the USA has way more than it's share of inventions, and innovation.
India was historically backwards however as I said before the gap is closing.
You indicated that is all about population, i.e. the US can not compete with the world in innovation because the USA only has a small percentage of the world's population. My point is that population has little to do with it.
Please note: that bls statistic only refers to the demand side of the equation. To see the whole picture, you also have to consider the supply side. India has 4X the US population, and India alone is cranking out 495,000 BSCS graduates every year.
Furthermore, according the BLS:
Also, I have to wonder where the BLS gets it's information:
Robert Half! Asking Robert Half if it's a good time to go into IT is like asking Century 21 if it's a good to sell your home.
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos267.htm
Here are some more numbers:
"H-1B Visa Numbers: No Relationship with Economic Need"
According to a new study from the Center for Immigration Studies: the number of H-1B visas approved in the computers and engineering fields greatly exceeds any reasonable number reflected by economic demand.
http://www.cis.org/node/222
"High Tech Industry Laying Off American Workers While Seeking Huge Increase in Guest Workers"
http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=research_may08nl02
Gains in US high tech employment more than offset by off-shore worker visas
http://tinyurl.com/3pj2c3
IT job security plummets five times faster than nationwide average
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/edu/2008/033108ed1.html
Studies Indicate IT Labor Shortage is a Myth
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1081923#PaperDownload
This according to a well researched article at baselinemag.com:
http://tinyurl.com/yoy2rw
The off-shoring and work visa scams affect other fields as well. But I think it's fair to say that IT is the field that is getting slaughtered now. In the 1980, manufactured jobs were devistated, now IT has it's neck on the chopping block.
Occam's razor: off-shore labor is a lot cheaper, therefore employers will off-shore every possible job. If you do your job sitting in front of a computer, then your job can probably be off-shored - if not now, then certainly in the near future.
Furthermore, the simple laws of supply and demand dictate that the few jobs that are not off-shored, will have a glut of qualified applicants. The experienced developers who have their jobs off-shored, will clearly try to leverage their existing training and experience into the few remaining IT jobs that can not be easily off-shored. This causes a glut, and drives down wages.
The IT worker glut will be increased even more by improved automation of information system maintenance, standardization of software, and non-IT specialists who are increasingly sophisticated with information technology.
There can be nothing to stop this devastating trend, due to the following:
1) Corrupt USA politicians
2) USA IT workers are not willing to organize
3) Influential corporations have effectively distorted the issues
So there you go, it's as simple as that.
IMO: this trend is presently in it's infancy. The present trend has very little to do with the present economic slump. In fact, when the US economy recovers, this trend will accelerate even faster. The present situation for US IT workers is much better now, than it will be five years from now.
Maybe I'm missing something, but how can you cheat someone of a tax concession.
Here is the deal: I give you a huge tax break specifically because you are going to bring tech jobs to my area. You take the tax breaks, the outsource the tech jobs to another country.
How can you not see that as cheating?
rather than complain about a job leaving the usa, why not train for a job that can't be outsourced? that makes more money?
To put it very mildly: that is much easier said than done. After spending tens of thousands of dollars, and the best years of your, educating yourself, then spending years, or even decades getting specialized experience; it is not all that easy to just turn on a dime and start a new career - especially in an ageist society.
The rebuttal is trivial actually, there are 6 billion people in the world and 300 million Americans. 6 billion will almost always innovate and progress better than 300 million
Oh? Make a list the major tech companies in the world, and notice how many were started in the USA as opposed to the rest of the world. BTW: staffing companies are not tech companies. By tech companies I mean: Microsoft, GE, IBM, Sun, Cisco, Apple, Oracle, etc. You may also want to make a list of major technologies like light bulbs, nuclear energy, airplanes, ect, and consider how much of that came from the USA, as opposed to the rest of the world. You may also want to add up Nobel prizes. In particular, consider India, India has 4X the population of the USA - compare technology innovations between the countries. My point is: there is a lot more to it than population.
Nice to see somebody who understands the actual situation.
That is what the h1b globalist constantly argue: capping h1bs denies the USA the "best and brightest." H-1Bs are almost exclusively Indian.
So if Indians are the "best and brightest" then why are no companies like: Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Apple, ect. started in India? It seems that all India wants to do is provide cheap staffing for other countries.
If you are a nerd by profession, then this is some of the most relevant news that slashdot publishes. The current work visa scam, perpetuated mainly by Microsoft, and a handful of Indian staffing companies, effects IT workers almost exclusively.
It is very clear to me that IT work today is going the same way as manufacturing work in the 1980s. I don't think there is anything that can be done about it. But, if you are informed, you can may be able to make better decisions with your life and career.
Beyond a pitiful handful of GPL zealots on slashdot, who cares? My guess is that 99% or the world does not even know about the scam.
ISO may lose credibility with the groklaw/slashdot crowd, but so what? PHBs have no respect for the Linux loonies anyway.
1) Governments will have to use an ISO approved standard, to make sure their documents can be exchanged, and that their documents will be readable in the future.
2) Since msft has a monopoly on office products, the ISO standard of choice is a foregone conclusion.
3) Anybody who does business with the governments will also have to use the OOXML standard. So those who do business with the governments will also standardize on OOXML. Those who business, with those who do business with governments, will also have to standardize on OOXML - and so on.
4) ODF will never have the slightest chance to get a toe-hold.
5) Msft wins again - QED.
- Vi vs Emacs
- Windows vs Linux vs MacOS
- GPL vs BSD
- USA vs Iraq
- ?
No established standards means developers might as well use one "standard" as another. Then we users constantly fight with browser incompatibilities, and having to install plug-ins, etc.
What would expect the studies to say?
Shouldn't there be a Simpsons reference? Maybe something about that Lisa Nelson Muntz episode?
Bill Gate's account is obviously self serving. But, maybe msft competitors did make some big mistakes.
For a while, OS/2 really was much better than windows. But IBM did not even include OS/2 on their own PCs. And IBM kept the price of OS/2 high. I kept wondering why IBM was letting msft take the whole market. IBM should have sold their machines with OS/2 installed by default, and boxed OS/2 should have cost no more than $10 a copy.
In early 1990s, when window 3.x and the cheap clones came out, Apple should have reduced the cost of the Mac dramatically. Instead, Apple kept their profit margins high, while msft ate their lunch.
Msft put out some bad products. But, msft fundamentally understood the business better than msft's competitors. Msft's basic philosophy was/is: control the standard, and the money will follow. Apple and IBM did not fully understand the importance of controlling the standard, at least not soon enough.
JMHO.
Works with all my hardware and software, lightweight, fast, and reliable, no authentication, no nagging, no spying. Familiar interface, nothing new to learn. No default "fisher-price" look.
I wish I could just incrementally upgrade windows, like I do with debian.
Msft makes an OS that is such a POS, that people actually pay not to have it installed. Msft forces people to pay for a downgrade? Brilliant!
Oh boy! Another opportunity for me to pay for msft's inability to create a decent product. I can hardly wait.
I loved the idea of little linux notebook for $300. But a $750 notebook just does not seem that exciting.