Much as I hate to say it - Microsoft have it right on the money. I earn a reasonably sized wage as a web app developer, and I take home about 6 grand than more than people who earn 20 - 30 grand less than me the taxes here are screwed beyond all belief, espcially since the new GST which has taken a lot of smaller operators out of business. I mean if Ireland can operate without income tax at all - why can't we?
as far access goes - broadband isn't even really a solution here. Cable is completely controlled here, and the options available are pathetic speeds and access for incredibly high rates. You can't just wander out and buy a cablke modem here like you can in the uk or us - you have to pay huge amounts and get one form one of the two providers. No other way to do it. ALL of the current DSL plans are even worse. More money for slower speeds - in some cases the dsl speeds, which were touted a year or so ago as going to be huge) have come out at LESS THAN WHAT CABLE IS ADVERTISED TO GIVE US HERE. The advertised cable speed never becomes reality in Oz, and dsl speeds are even lower than that.
It's crap. Very very crap. The majority of us are stuck on a 56K connection for personal home use, and those that have Australia's constipated version of broadband aren't doing much better.
Our prime minister (apart from looking like a hamster) seems to see technologicl advancement as a fad, certainly not as important as rural farming in the middle of the outback, or more tributes to the "diggers". The technology officer is far past it and has neither genuine interest nor any real contact with the current industry.
Forgive the rant people - but the internet is seen by those in power here to be an amusement and an aside, instead of the future. It drives me nuts...
-- Lyric
Slashdot Mirror
Much as I hate to say it - Microsoft have it right on the money. I earn a reasonably sized wage as a web app developer, and I take home about 6 grand than more than people who earn 20 - 30 grand less than me the taxes here are screwed beyond all belief, espcially since the new GST which has taken a lot of smaller operators out of business. I mean if Ireland can operate without income tax at all - why can't we? as far access goes - broadband isn't even really a solution here. Cable is completely controlled here, and the options available are pathetic speeds and access for incredibly high rates. You can't just wander out and buy a cablke modem here like you can in the uk or us - you have to pay huge amounts and get one form one of the two providers. No other way to do it. ALL of the current DSL plans are even worse. More money for slower speeds - in some cases the dsl speeds, which were touted a year or so ago as going to be huge) have come out at LESS THAN WHAT CABLE IS ADVERTISED TO GIVE US HERE. The advertised cable speed never becomes reality in Oz, and dsl speeds are even lower than that. It's crap. Very very crap. The majority of us are stuck on a 56K connection for personal home use, and those that have Australia's constipated version of broadband aren't doing much better. Our prime minister (apart from looking like a hamster) seems to see technologicl advancement as a fad, certainly not as important as rural farming in the middle of the outback, or more tributes to the "diggers". The technology officer is far past it and has neither genuine interest nor any real contact with the current industry. Forgive the rant people - but the internet is seen by those in power here to be an amusement and an aside, instead of the future. It drives me nuts... -- Lyric