That was the intended political message yes, but was that the whole truth?:-) What if Manmohan and co found it politically expedient to blame the Left, so to speak, while all along, they wanted this in place?
Actually, on that note, it'd be rather interesting to find out if this was a move started by the Left or subtly instigated by the economic "Dream Team" in power now (Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram, Montek Singh Ahuwalia etc). What is their take on software patents? Did they have an opinion, or did they think this was an issue small enough to concede to the Left?
It is a known fact that Indian polity is remarkably ideology-free, remember the BJP walked out of this session coz they wanted more concessions to the pharma industry, so it is indeed very interesting to find out how opinion is really is created in India.:-)
Alas, we'd have to probably wait until someone writes another The Insider or something.
Yes, the reason why there's no satellite data available on India is 'coz till December 2003, it was illegal to shoot aerial shots of the country without governmental supervision.
Things should fast change, though, after they launch the Cartosat in May.
*sigh*. Third time I'm pointing out in this thread, but imagine driving through Harayana with a decent-resolution *satellite* map that you've just downloaded off your 3G mobile phone. You probably wouldnt have gotten lost!:-)
The point being, I'd disagree with the notion that India is not ready for Google Maps. On the contrary, I think countries like India are a perfect market for a web-based satellite atlas that Google Maps effectively is.
Actually, most, if not all, roads have at least one official name, just as every house and shed has its own unique ward number. It's just that no one bothers using it; much easier to use Zam Zam Cafe as a landmark rather than calling the dirt path to your home as Major Mohammed Abdul Karim Marg or something.
But again, all this just points to a clear need for accurate satellite maps for the general public, something that Google Maps has been doing for the US.
While I'm certainly one of those people who wishes my country's national innovation system were more productive, it is nevertheless a known fact that most countries trying to scale up a tech value-chain perforce try to loosen IPR protection, before putting brakes on after they've scaled up. The so-called Asian Tiger economies are one example; Singapore has had a see-saw experience with IPR since 1965. India's own experience with the pharma industry is another such example.
So yup, the point is that most countries loosen up IPR protection in order to encourage innovation.
Yeah, as also you get much better Acer PDA's for much less than that, and very good smartphones for approximately the same price, but dont let that confuse you. Starving families are the reason why the Simputer has failed, just as they are the reason why we arent adding 2.5 million mobile users a month.
The difference, naturally, is that Microsoft uses only Encarta for its results, whereas Google, at least in theory, uses the entire web to parse its results. (In practice of course, most of the results seem to be coming from either Wikipedia or CIA's factbook, but still)
It's a long-known fact, actually; google through Bruce Perens' site for the exact reference where it came up. Fact is, there is very little (what I call as) retail software out there; most of the code-crunching that goes on anywhere in the world is for in-house consumption.
(On a related tangent, that is also the reason why the Indian IT industry has traditionally focussed on 'services' and less on products; there's more easy money to be made in developing software for corporations than there is for SOHO use)
Not to mention, the venerable experts-exchange.com site, which was seeing a spike in transsexual visitors before a well-placed hyphen clarified things.:-)
Not true. Gmail and Yahoo still limit the size of attachments you can send to 10 MB (I think), so we're still faced with a major stumbling block out here.
Where do you suggest I learn how to read and write? That might be a big gateway into a lot more hindi related things.. Thanks!
Entirely dependent on how familiar you are with Brahmi-based scripts. Can you read/write any other Indic or South East Asian script? If you do, you won't have to learn the structure; you can merely apply that knowledge to Devnaagri. So, essentially, if you know how to type, say, Telugu using the Inscript keyboard, then learning Devnaagri is virtually an exercise in trying out different keyboard combinations. [That is how I "learnt" Kannada and Tamil scripts:-) ]
The "traditional" way to go about is, of course, getting one of those NCERT books and reading them.
Which, again, is one of the pleasures of ex-pat life in Singapore. See, Singapore is a city, state, region and country all rolled into one, and every building here has a unique postal code, so as long as I get my postal code right, I know my address can handle any mutilation by any shipping company.
The downside, of course, is that postal codes, by extension, become traceable private information, so you'd have to start zealously guarding that as well.
Oh YES baby, Americans get extremely agitated in crowds. Out here in Singapore, we often have visiting performers (musicians, comedians, buskers etc) who invariably are bemused by the local audience's reactions to their performances; they often have to say, "C'mon guys give us a clap" (or something like that) to get some sort of a reaction from the audience. Never fails to amuse me.:-)
More than the actual UI itself (which, like you, I have hard time liking), I'm impressed by, firstly, that there's a clear tradition of skunkworks projects at Google, and second, the speed in which a skunk-works project came to public notice. Now, admittedly, Google has an advantage in that it essentially sells a web-application, but still, fascinating.
Slashdot Mirror
I could give you a link, but I'd rather not pass this chance at a feeble meta-joke, and must, therefore, humbly implore you to google the site up. :-)
That said, being able to code in Sanskrit has that bit of a kick, you'll have to agree.
That was the intended political message yes, but was that the whole truth? :-) What if Manmohan and co found it politically expedient to blame the Left, so to speak, while all along, they wanted this in place?
That was a brilliant summary, my compliments; finally a post on /. that "gets" Indian politics! :-)
It is a known fact that Indian polity is remarkably ideology-free, remember the BJP walked out of this session coz they wanted more concessions to the pharma industry, so it is indeed very interesting to find out how opinion is really is created in India. :-)
Alas, we'd have to probably wait until someone writes another The Insider or something.
Things should fast change, though, after they launch the Cartosat in May.
The point being, I'd disagree with the notion that India is not ready for Google Maps. On the contrary, I think countries like India are a perfect market for a web-based satellite atlas that Google Maps effectively is.
But again, all this just points to a clear need for accurate satellite maps for the general public, something that Google Maps has been doing for the US.
Yes, which is why satellite maps, as opposed to those hand-drawn ones at MapsOfIndia are the way to go.
So yup, the point is that most countries loosen up IPR protection in order to encourage innovation.
What is particularly funny is that 'beta' in Hindi means just that, 'son'. :-)
Yeah, as also you get much better Acer PDA's for much less than that, and very good smartphones for approximately the same price, but dont let that confuse you. Starving families are the reason why the Simputer has failed, just as they are the reason why we arent adding 2.5 million mobile users a month.
The difference, naturally, is that Microsoft uses only Encarta for its results, whereas Google, at least in theory, uses the entire web to parse its results. (In practice of course, most of the results seem to be coming from either Wikipedia or CIA's factbook, but still)
(On a related tangent, that is also the reason why the Indian IT industry has traditionally focussed on 'services' and less on products; there's more easy money to be made in developing software for corporations than there is for SOHO use)
Not to mention, the venerable experts-exchange.com site, which was seeing a spike in transsexual visitors before a well-placed hyphen clarified things. :-)
I had blogged about Amida approximately a year back. The conclusion: serious marketing and pricing issues.
I remember seeing this Symbian/PocketPC app that rips a DVD into a 150-ish megs file optimised for mobile devices. I presume they'll be using this app
Not true. Gmail and Yahoo still limit the size of attachments you can send to 10 MB (I think), so we're still faced with a major stumbling block out here.
The "traditional" way to go about is, of course, getting one of those NCERT books and reading them.
The downside, of course, is that postal codes, by extension, become traceable private information, so you'd have to start zealously guarding that as well.
Oh YES baby, Americans get extremely agitated in crowds. Out here in Singapore, we often have visiting performers (musicians, comedians, buskers etc) who invariably are bemused by the local audience's reactions to their performances; they often have to say, "C'mon guys give us a clap" (or something like that) to get some sort of a reaction from the audience. Never fails to amuse me. :-)
Hasn't XMLHttpRequest been supported since v7.54? I mean, wasn't that the point of that release?
I think Hakon raised this challenge less as Opera's CTO, and more as the creator of the original CSS standards.
More than the actual UI itself (which, like you, I have hard time liking), I'm impressed by, firstly, that there's a clear tradition of skunkworks projects at Google, and second, the speed in which a skunk-works project came to public notice. Now, admittedly, Google has an advantage in that it essentially sells a web-application, but still, fascinating.
I mean, you have moved to George's Park, haven't you?