The infrastructure that the well educated people IT people however is based largely on child labor and indentured slavery.
And that "slave" infrastructure would be...?
- education
- telecommunications
- information technology
- electricity
BTW, if you want a good view of what India's IT sector is really like, I'd recommend the recent Economist survey: "Oursourcing and IT in India" 23 April 2005... they have issues but slave labor is not a factor.
Your basic premise is that we must support the proprietary software business model... or ???
I really don't think it is our "duty" to keep buying software. What is wrong with having free good software? Companies (especially abusive monopolies) may go out of business. Those people will then have to get real jobs (such as providing real software support services) rather than inventing proprietary data formats.
Copyright CAN be used to keep knowledge from anybody. I can also be used to restrict knowledge to a priviledged few which is the case with current academic publishing. If you are part of the priviledged few in the developed world (yes, we are in the minority), then you can pay and get access.
If you are in the developing world, generally you can't pay and you don't have access. Knowledge is power. We have it, they don't.
Surely you are not politically naieve enough to believe that the Chinese communist government espouses the principles of "peace, love, and freedom" or that they are anything like "the left" that is known in Western culture... or is this just an ignorant bash at "the left".
I'm looking at this from a particular usage scenario which is a clinic or hospital in the developing world where you want to run a medical records database on 10-20 clients. The "video thin client" seems a good solution in this situation. It is easy to administer, requires only one PC. The clients are potentially very cheap (video memory and a few ports are all that is required... much cheaper and more reliable than even the most stripped-down PC) and reliable.
I don't think processing power would be an issue in this situation (running LAMP). If you look at the presentation linked on the web site, you'll see that they mapped bandwidth and processor usage of 30 clients doing "extreme programming" and found no bottlenecks.
I agree that barebones PCs can be a cheap and effective solution but even they are more complex, expensive, and failure prone (for instance they will each need a UPS since power is dodgy) than the "video client".
It's an "ultra" thin client. It just reads a video stream from a server. Thus, even though the low volume prototypes are approx 100 pounds now, it all could be put on a single chip with a few ports and be very cheap.
The advantage is in group applications where you have multiple users (think schools, internet cafes, businesses). You only need one PC server for many ultra thin clients.
I'm looking at how to deploy computer systems (for health care) in developoing countries and this would be great!
I know the OS is great but what about your basic "office" applications? Word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, database. I hate to buy Microsoft Office or any other office suite when Open Office is good and free but I hear that it sucks big time on the Mac due to UI issues.
Yes, and I appreciate it.
Summertime going to Europe is great for free upgrades. Last summer I had four free upgrades on trips through Europe. Coach was packed full with empty seats in Business class.
I just flew SFO Hong Kong on United. No problems getting ticket on short notice. I even got a free upgrade to business class.
My wife also got a free ticket on Sinagpore Air from SFO to Hong Kong... so they must have some extra seats. (BTW, Singapore Air is absolutely the best airline in the world.)
I thought I should explain since I am the person who posted that question.
I am aware that there are a lot of open source medical projects. I have formally evaluated most of them. They all need a lot of work for use in Africa for AIDS/TB and health system use.
I posted the question to try to interest MS in devoting some of his time and attention to health and I didn't necessarily need a public reply.
I'm sorry if your favorite question didn't get answered.
A few months ago I was on a Dragon Air flight from Hong Kong to Dhaka on a nice new Airbus and it had 220v electrical outlets at each seat (even in economy). Used the HK (British) plug but with an adapter that wasn't a problem./Mark
Interesting that you searched for "Why are flamingos pink? and got good results but I searched for "why are flamingo pink" and got mostly irrelevant results. Just the absence of the "s" on flamingo gave quite different results./Mark
Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments -.75 oz. jar flamingo pink - $4.16 - Mister Art
Pretty Pyrex "Flamingo Pink" 2 Qt. Oven Ware Bowl - $9.00 - GoAntiques
Heisey pleat & panel-flamingo pink - Compote with lid 8 1/4" - $149.95 - Replacements.com
Farm Fresh To You... Flamingo Pink Peach Blossoms. The day felt like summer.... Flamingo pink
blossoms caught my eye and I reminisced about the smell and taste of summers...
www.farmfreshtoyou.com/farm_news/farm_news030905.s html - 13k - Cached - Similar pages
1952 Wedgewood - Six Burner Double Oven... 1951 Wedgewood - Flamingo Pink; 1950 Wedgewood - 36 Inch Stove (blue);
1953 Wedgewood - 36 Inch Stove (white); 1950 Wedgewood - 36 Inch Stove (white)...
www.vintagestoves.com/stove/52wedge604/ - 24k - Cached - Similar pages
When you have a monopoly, there is no need to innovate. Read this http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/engl_126/gramchek. htm evaluation of grammer checkers which shows that the latest versions MS Word are WORSE than Word 97 and Word Perfect.
As the author of Grammatik put it:
"I've been in a discussion with John about how the grammar checking available today, 2002, is essentially no different than it was in 1992 when I sold my company to WordPerfect and quit working on the code. Essentially, what has happened is that Microsoft has decided that its version of a grammar checker is 'good enough' and has stopped significant work on improvement. No one else in the world has the resources to build a better grammar checker.
"Who wants to try to compete with Microsoft Word's 95% market share?
I normally don't feed the trolls but...
"And remember kids, Linux is only free if your time has no value."
And remember, Clippy, your cost for Windows only starts with the license. You'll need to spend hours every week patching, updating, and fighting off viruses, etc. Every few months you'll need to reinstall from scratch when the bloat and malware takes over. Also, don't forget to add in the cost of a decent firewall and antivirus software.
WordPerfect is entrenched in the legal profession. This is similar to the Microsoft vendor lock in at large corporations. Lawyers chooing to stay with (and upgrade) WordPerfect is not news.
If the DoJ had chosen to switch to Word, that would have been news since all the other lawyers would have to follow.
Slashdot Mirror
So... where am I going to get my pornography, pills, pirated software, and fake fancy watches now?
And that "slave" infrastructure would be...?
- education
- telecommunications
- information technology
- electricity
BTW, if you want a good view of what India's IT sector is really like, I'd recommend the recent Economist survey: "Oursourcing and IT in India" 23 April 2005... they have issues but slave labor is not a factor.
India is successful in outsourcing IT jobs. These are not performed by "child slave labor". The are done by well educated people who live quite well.
Paul's point was that YOU need to be creative, inventive, focus on the customer... outsourcing is irrelevant.
I really don't think it is our "duty" to keep buying software. What is wrong with having free good software? Companies (especially abusive monopolies) may go out of business. Those people will then have to get real jobs (such as providing real software support services) rather than inventing proprietary data formats.
If you are in the developing world, generally you can't pay and you don't have access. Knowledge is power. We have it, they don't.
The only way to hide these days is to stay home, pay cash, and disconnect from the Internet... big brother is here.
Surely you are not politically naieve enough to believe that the Chinese communist government espouses the principles of "peace, love, and freedom" or that they are anything like "the left" that is known in Western culture... or is this just an ignorant bash at "the left".
I'm looking at this from a particular usage scenario which is a clinic or hospital in the developing world where you want to run a medical records database on 10-20 clients. The "video thin client" seems a good solution in this situation. It is easy to administer, requires only one PC. The clients are potentially very cheap (video memory and a few ports are all that is required... much cheaper and more reliable than even the most stripped-down PC) and reliable.
I don't think processing power would be an issue in this situation (running LAMP). If you look at the presentation linked on the web site, you'll see that they mapped bandwidth and processor usage of 30 clients doing "extreme programming" and found no bottlenecks.
I agree that barebones PCs can be a cheap and effective solution but even they are more complex, expensive, and failure prone (for instance they will each need a UPS since power is dodgy) than the "video client".
The advantage is in group applications where you have multiple users (think schools, internet cafes, businesses). You only need one PC server for many ultra thin clients.
I'm looking at how to deploy computer systems (for health care) in developoing countries and this would be great!
It looks like you are downloading the same file 50 times.
Do you need help downloading??
I know the OS is great but what about your basic "office" applications? Word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, database. I hate to buy Microsoft Office or any other office suite when Open Office is good and free but I hear that it sucks big time on the Mac due to UI issues.
Yes, and I appreciate it. Summertime going to Europe is great for free upgrades. Last summer I had four free upgrades on trips through Europe. Coach was packed full with empty seats in Business class.
I just flew SFO Hong Kong on United. No problems getting ticket on short notice. I even got a free upgrade to business class. My wife also got a free ticket on Sinagpore Air from SFO to Hong Kong... so they must have some extra seats. (BTW, Singapore Air is absolutely the best airline in the world.)
I just can't get Hibernate to work ;)... the machine just hangs up.
I am aware that there are a lot of open source medical projects. I have formally evaluated most of them. They all need a lot of work for use in Africa for AIDS/TB and health system use.
I posted the question to try to interest MS in devoting some of his time and attention to health and I didn't necessarily need a public reply.
I'm sorry if your favorite question didn't get answered.
/Mark
A few months ago I was on a Dragon Air flight from Hong Kong to Dhaka on a nice new Airbus and it had 220v electrical outlets at each seat (even in economy). Used the HK (British) plug but with an adapter that wasn't a problem. /Mark
Interesting that you searched for "Why are flamingos pink? and got good results but I searched for "why are flamingo pink" and got mostly irrelevant results. Just the absence of the "s" on flamingo gave quite different results. /Mark
Product search results for why are flamingo pink
Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments - .75 oz. jar flamingo pink - $4.16 - Mister Art
Pretty Pyrex "Flamingo Pink" 2 Qt. Oven Ware Bowl - $9.00 - GoAntiques
Heisey pleat & panel-flamingo pink - Compote with lid 8 1/4" - $149.95 - Replacements.com
Farm Fresh To You ... Flamingo Pink Peach Blossoms. The day felt like summer. ... Flamingo pink
blossoms caught my eye and I reminisced about the smell and taste of summers ...
www.farmfreshtoyou.com/farm_news/farm_news030905.s html - 13k - Cached - Similar pages
1952 Wedgewood - Six Burner Double Oven ... 1951 Wedgewood - Flamingo Pink; 1950 Wedgewood - 36 Inch Stove (blue);
1953 Wedgewood - 36 Inch Stove (white); 1950 Wedgewood - 36 Inch Stove (white) ...
www.vintagestoves.com/stove/52wedge604/ - 24k - Cached - Similar pages
1951 Wedgewood - Custom Flamingo Pink Porcelain 24k - Cached - Similar pages
On Linux and Windows, I can use OpenOffice.org but I hear the Mac version of OpenOffice is not usable.
Would I have to buy (MS) Office software for the Mac? /Mark
As the author of Grammatik put it:
"I've been in a discussion with John about how the grammar checking available today, 2002, is essentially no different than it was in 1992 when I sold my company to WordPerfect and quit working on the code. Essentially, what has happened is that Microsoft has decided that its version of a grammar checker is 'good enough' and has stopped significant work on improvement. No one else in the world has the resources to build a better grammar checker. "Who wants to try to compete with Microsoft Word's 95% market share?
I normally don't feed the trolls but... "And remember kids, Linux is only free if your time has no value." And remember, Clippy, your cost for Windows only starts with the license. You'll need to spend hours every week patching, updating, and fighting off viruses, etc. Every few months you'll need to reinstall from scratch when the bloat and malware takes over. Also, don't forget to add in the cost of a decent firewall and antivirus software.
As the great Nolan Bushnell once said "Everyone who's ever taken a shower has had a great idea." Ideas are worthless, execution is everything.
Another great inventor, Thomas Edison, said invention is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
I think we need to get back to the idea that we all should work for a living instead of living as an IP parasite.
The peer reviewers aren't paid under the current system and there is no reason to start paying them since it is an academic priviledge.
The old system of publishing is dead, it just doesn't know it yet.
Check out the Directory of Open Access Journals for the the new publishers. http://www.doaj.org/articles/about
If the DoJ had chosen to switch to Word, that would have been news since all the other lawyers would have to follow.
IBM makes money from services. That is their competitive advantage. That will always be their competitive advantage.