The Tata Group has been around for ages (like over a 100 years), and they own a huge bunch of businesses. Everything from Hotels to tea to steel to cars to cellphones to salt... you get the idea.. They are also very respected in India, since they actually have corporate values that seem to work... In fact, the Tata factories don't have unions, as far as I know, since the workers actually trust the management (shock!). They're pretty good at what they do, so usually when they start something, people pay attention.
I don't get the "much like oil" bit. Not trying to be a green nazi, but when we burn oil, it's changes state, doesn't it? I mean, you can't take the smoke and get the oil back? Copper stays copper, and can be melted and made pure again and all that, but how do you take a gallon of gasoline, burn it in your car, and then get it back?
Unless of course you mean that the creation of oil is a continuous process, which I'd agree with, but it takes a hell of a long time to form, and we seem to be using it up faster than new oil is being created.
In India, we have thousands (literally) of kids graduating with computer engineering degrees every year. Now, the thing is, a lot of these degrees are pretty useless since the college/university that issued them is basically a money making machine, and nothing else.
However, there are a bunch of good places that produce very good engineers. The Indian Institutes of Technology are the most well known, but there are some others that are equally good (some of the top Regional Enginnering Colleges, and so on)
I think it boils down to numbers. Say we have 30,000 comp sci grads every year. Now say 60 percent of them are hacks who know nothing much and are only good for repetitive code work and stuff like that. 20 percent will be quite good, easily as competent as a good programmer in the US or wherever. 10 percent will be skilled at code and other stuff like management, the types who end up heading into upper management, 8 percent will be very good, and 2 percent will be fantastic.
The 2 percent mostly heads off to MIT, or CMU, or $TOPSCHOOL to do an MS or a Phd, but that still leaves a pretty substantial number of good people.
No, I wouldn't agree. While at first glance, this seems like a nice idea, it will (in my opinion) end up making Slashdot a lobbying firm, rather than a place where people discuss stuff.
Nothing wrong with lobbyists, but if you put something like this on/., what's next? Suppose CmndrTaco doesn't like Fox Newsâ"does he try and get people to email them? Yes, you and I may agree that Fox News has its flaws, but plenty of people would disagree.
It's better to have a (mostly) rational discussion. Or else, make it clear what the agenda is, and push that. That's not saying that having an agenda is BAD, it's simply saying that users should be clear on what they are supporting. And I don't know about you, but I've seen that, when faced with an option of emailing/protesting, the ones who protest the loudest are always a little on the fringe. The average guy is usually a little self-effacing (this is also a cultural thing, Europeans are different from Americans, but I'd say it's largely true).
So, all in all, let's leave/. out of this.
Not to be an ass about this, but considering that your own message is full of grammatical and spelling errors, perhaps you should be a little easier on the "Indian who's English was barely understandable" ? I'm assuming here that English is your first language, and you have been speaking it since you were little.
If that assumption is false, I apologize. But still, don't knock all Indians just cause you don't get the accent.. Heck, half the world doesn't understand the other half's accent.. Ever tried talking to a drunk Scottish bloke? I have, and trust me, you can't make out a WORD! It's better when he's sober; barely.
Yes yes, I know about the whole outsourcing thing, and I agree wholeheartedly that companies should provide better customer service, rather than hand it over to poor fools who don't know anything about the product/service... But this is the company's fault, and you really should vent your ire on them. If enough people complained about crappy customer service, or even better, started voting with their cash, perhaps the Dell's and Amex's of the world would realize that we need better service.
I for one don't mind talking to a blinking Martian as long as he (she, it?) fixes the damm problem!:D
I'm a neutral third party, with no anti-Bush or pro-liberal bias. That said, I've been noticing for a while now that the US seems to be getting slightly paranoid. The whole Patriot Act, Homeland Security, TSA and all that aside, even in their international dealings, they seem to be getting very insular and closed off. This latest article sounds eerily like what happens in non-democratic states. In the former USSR, in China, in pretty much any dictatorship, you live under a cloud of fear, suspicion and paranoia. The irony is, in these countries it's getting better, in the US, it seems to be getting worse.
I read about the Indians getting killed just cause they wore turbans, the travails of travellers, and in the UK, a Brazillian kid getting shot in the head cause he was running to catch a train, and other incidents like these.
I wonder where it's all headed. If we logically extrapolate, where do we end up?
It seems like we are going through a transitional phase; similar things happened when society transitioned from a monarchical system to a system of self-government, and before that when feudalism gave way to monarchy. Colonialism gave way to independent states, and the protectionist theory gave way to the GATT and free trade. (which is in trouble again..)
The article clearly points out that VoIP is not illegal in India. What is illegal is the BPO and KPO industry using unlicensed ISP's to carry their VoIP calls. The BPO and KPO industry racks up millions of minutes a month, and the goverment naturally wants them to comply with the law, so that they can be taxed. VoIP is not illegal, is it regulated, and taxed, and if a large company tries to avoid paying that tax, then well, they will be penalized.
This DOES NOT affect home users at all. We can use Skype for as long as we like without paying any taxes or fees..
There are various tests for this. The Zippo test is the most famous, though there are many cases worldwide that have refined the principle.
Basically, in cases where the operator maintains a passive Web Site that merely makes information available for browsing, courts have been hesitant to exercise personal jurisdiction.
One end of the spectrum of judicial decisions involves holdings that financially-motivated, interactive contacts with a foreign state will give rise to personal jurisdiction; the other end of the spectrum reflects holdings that a strictly passive, informational Web Site will not give grounds to assert jurisdiction.
For cases in between, i.e where you can't put it easily in either category, the court has to apply it's legal mind to figure out whether they have jurisdiction or not.
Don't worry. A court has to have jurisdiction over you to actually affect you. There are various kinds of jurisdiction, like pecuniary (financial), writ, and territorial. The most common is territorial, where you are a citizen of, or otherwise resident in, a particular court's area of jurisdiction. This is followed by pecuniary jurisdiction, where you are engaged in some financial transaction with a person/company in the court's jurisdiction.
The point is, if you have NO connection to the place where a lawsuit is filed, it can't affect you. Most courts will throw out the case anyway, and even if an ex-parte judgement is passed against you, it can't be enforced until the other party approaches a court which does have jurisdiction over you. And if this happens, all you have to do is plead that the original order is vexatious, since the court did not have jurisdiciton.
So basically, you don't need to be afraid of suits being filed against you in far away places.. What you must NOT do is go there to say you are not there... This is often seen as you submitting to the jurisdiction of the court.
Bottom line.. Ignore such stupid lawsuits completely, as long as you are sure that there is no element of jurisdiction, which is exactly what Spamhaus did.
Damm good read, by the way, if you like well crafted space opera.. Ian M. Banks, and Alastair Reynolds fans, you have to read the trilogy..
Offtopic, I know, but would appreciate any good recommendations along the same lines.. I've got some time on my hands, and want to read some nice books.
This is actually a great Soviet Russia joke.. it has all the proper double entendres, (Party Button, pushes you..) and is short and punchy at the same time.
Good Job AC!
I bought a T-43 last july. This was just after the Lenovo takeover. This is my first laptop, and I earned every penny for it ( college student, work..), so I did extensive research before I spent my cash. I must have read over 50 reviews, browsed all the forums, went to the shops, friends laptop, etc etc. And I finally bought a T43.
Over the past 10 months, I have used my Thinkpad like a typical college guy. It's been lugged around in a cheap samsonite backpack, subjected to juddering road trips, travelled all the place with me, you know the drill.
It still looks, and feels, new. The only thing is the pentium M sticker has worn off. I love this laptop, and the HP's and Acer's that my friends bought around the same time are all looking tacky.
I love my laptop, and I will buy another T series after this one is shot, unless there's something fantastic out there. I haven't had any problems with this ( knock on wood), so I can't comment about the support.
Owning a T series Thinkpad just makes me feel good in some way. Whether it's the sexy keyboard, or the sturdy feel, or the classic black lines, I'm a fan.
I don't think Lenovo has screwed the T series up yet, and I pray fervently they never do.. I for one will be saddened the day I see a T series with a blue LED under the power button.
That said, the T series could use a few improvements.. No Firewire??? What's with that, the cheap ass R series has it. And a multi card reader would be nice too, as long as it didn;t ruin the feel of the case. I hope Lenovo improves the T series by adding valuable features, not just bling.
Not that I like Bill or his business tactics, but to be fair to him, isn't it true that the B&MG Foundation has donated a few billion dollars to worthy causes? Not to mention Bill's public and well known intention to give away as much money as possible before his death?
I mean, sure, the guy is a shark in business.. but he's not exactly Darth Vader, y'know..
I have used OOo for ages too.. In fact i used star office before OOo was launched. Here's a quick review.
First few versions sucked in terms of compatibility, ugly UI, and general bugs. Most MsOffice users, including me, played around with it and went back to Office.
The first really usuable version was 1.1. This really rocked in terms of compatibility, and though it still had some bugs, was infinitely better with word docs and general usability.
Upcoming version 2 is slated to be real good. the beta I'm using is nice, with much improved UI, better word compatibility, Database tool etc.
Writer is the best. Calc follows. Impress and Database app need some work, though impress has improved a lot in the recent version.
Office has MUCH better version tracking, sharing and collaborative features. OOo can't touch it here. Writer is catching up with Word in terms of pure Word processor features, in fact has some features that are better than word. (predictive typing)
OOo is suitable for SOHO operations where word processing is major app. Larger corporate users need to stick with Office for many reasons. You know what they are.
The article is more like a comparision of Writer with word, and it totally ignores the advanced features of word..
I love OOo, and use it every day, but that doesn't mean that I can't see where Office kicks OOo's ass...
While it may be de rigueur here on/. to bash Microsoft, sometimes one has to put the tinfoil hat away and commend them for doing something good.
Sure, you can pull out some commercial motive behind this act, but hey, so what? When they annouce their fantastic new anti spam OS, we can bash them here, but if these lawsuits do help in reducing Spam, then hooray for MS!
Apropos, I remember reading that billg@microsoft.com gets one million messages every day, 98% of which is Spam. I suppose he just got plain old PISSED OFF!!
Slashdot Mirror
HAHAHAHAHA.. That's brilliant.. I love it. Bravo, Sir, Bravo.
Since they don't sell any computers with Atom.. I don't think that you can blame them for dropping support. Tightens the code and all that.
Curious.. which iMac? the new one? 24 in or 27 in? some more detail would be nice..
This is rated + 5 Informative???!!!
The Tata Group has been around for ages (like over a 100 years), and they own a huge bunch of businesses. Everything from Hotels to tea to steel to cars to cellphones to salt... you get the idea.. They are also very respected in India, since they actually have corporate values that seem to work... In fact, the Tata factories don't have unions, as far as I know, since the workers actually trust the management (shock!). They're pretty good at what they do, so usually when they start something, people pay attention.
I don't get the "much like oil" bit. Not trying to be a green nazi, but when we burn oil, it's changes state, doesn't it? I mean, you can't take the smoke and get the oil back? Copper stays copper, and can be melted and made pure again and all that, but how do you take a gallon of gasoline, burn it in your car, and then get it back? Unless of course you mean that the creation of oil is a continuous process, which I'd agree with, but it takes a hell of a long time to form, and we seem to be using it up faster than new oil is being created.
In India, we have thousands (literally) of kids graduating with computer engineering degrees every year. Now, the thing is, a lot of these degrees are pretty useless since the college/university that issued them is basically a money making machine, and nothing else.
However, there are a bunch of good places that produce very good engineers. The Indian Institutes of Technology are the most well known, but there are some others that are equally good (some of the top Regional Enginnering Colleges, and so on)
I think it boils down to numbers. Say we have 30,000 comp sci grads every year. Now say 60 percent of them are hacks who know nothing much and are only good for repetitive code work and stuff like that. 20 percent will be quite good, easily as competent as a good programmer in the US or wherever. 10 percent will be skilled at code and other stuff like management, the types who end up heading into upper management, 8 percent will be very good, and 2 percent will be fantastic.
The 2 percent mostly heads off to MIT, or CMU, or $TOPSCHOOL to do an MS or a Phd, but that still leaves a pretty substantial number of good people.
Now, when you realize that 30,000 is a low estimate, since the acutal figure is 175,000 (source: http://www.timesascent.co.in/index.aspx?Page=article§id=2&contentid=20080930200809301249051997b5b53a, and http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/jun/09bspec.htm ) you begin to see that while we do have a huge number of terrible programmers, we have a pretty good talent pool too. It's all about the numbers!
No, I wouldn't agree. While at first glance, this seems like a nice idea, it will (in my opinion) end up making Slashdot a lobbying firm, rather than a place where people discuss stuff. Nothing wrong with lobbyists, but if you put something like this on /., what's next? Suppose CmndrTaco doesn't like Fox Newsâ"does he try and get people to email them? Yes, you and I may agree that Fox News has its flaws, but plenty of people would disagree.
It's better to have a (mostly) rational discussion. Or else, make it clear what the agenda is, and push that. That's not saying that having an agenda is BAD, it's simply saying that users should be clear on what they are supporting. And I don't know about you, but I've seen that, when faced with an option of emailing/protesting, the ones who protest the loudest are always a little on the fringe. The average guy is usually a little self-effacing (this is also a cultural thing, Europeans are different from Americans, but I'd say it's largely true).
So, all in all, let's leave /. out of this.
Not to be an ass about this, but considering that your own message is full of grammatical and spelling errors, perhaps you should be a little easier on the "Indian who's English was barely understandable" ? I'm assuming here that English is your first language, and you have been speaking it since you were little. If that assumption is false, I apologize. But still, don't knock all Indians just cause you don't get the accent.. Heck, half the world doesn't understand the other half's accent.. Ever tried talking to a drunk Scottish bloke? I have, and trust me, you can't make out a WORD! It's better when he's sober; barely. Yes yes, I know about the whole outsourcing thing, and I agree wholeheartedly that companies should provide better customer service, rather than hand it over to poor fools who don't know anything about the product/service... But this is the company's fault, and you really should vent your ire on them. If enough people complained about crappy customer service, or even better, started voting with their cash, perhaps the Dell's and Amex's of the world would realize that we need better service. I for one don't mind talking to a blinking Martian as long as he (she, it?) fixes the damm problem! :D
I'm a neutral third party, with no anti-Bush or pro-liberal bias. That said, I've been noticing for a while now that the US seems to be getting slightly paranoid. The whole Patriot Act, Homeland Security, TSA and all that aside, even in their international dealings, they seem to be getting very insular and closed off. This latest article sounds eerily like what happens in non-democratic states. In the former USSR, in China, in pretty much any dictatorship, you live under a cloud of fear, suspicion and paranoia. The irony is, in these countries it's getting better, in the US, it seems to be getting worse.
I read about the Indians getting killed just cause they wore turbans, the travails of travellers, and in the UK, a Brazillian kid getting shot in the head cause he was running to catch a train, and other incidents like these.
I wonder where it's all headed. If we logically extrapolate, where do we end up?
It seems like we are going through a transitional phase; similar things happened when society transitioned from a monarchical system to a system of self-government, and before that when feudalism gave way to monarchy. Colonialism gave way to independent states, and the protectionist theory gave way to the GATT and free trade. (which is in trouble again..)
So what comes next?!
Do you use consumer level drives, or enterprise level drives? You have not specified that. The cost varies.
Who else here thought of the Foundation Series, and the Encyclopaedia Galactica when you read this?
That's the line I loved the most too! I laughed so hard that my sides still hurt :D
The article clearly points out that VoIP is not illegal in India. What is illegal is the BPO and KPO industry using unlicensed ISP's to carry their VoIP calls. The BPO and KPO industry racks up millions of minutes a month, and the goverment naturally wants them to comply with the law, so that they can be taxed. VoIP is not illegal, is it regulated, and taxed, and if a large company tries to avoid paying that tax, then well, they will be penalized. This DOES NOT affect home users at all. We can use Skype for as long as we like without paying any taxes or fees..
Use Firefox 2.. It has a built in spell checker :)
There are various tests for this. The Zippo test is the most famous, though there are many cases worldwide that have refined the principle.
Basically, in cases where the operator maintains a passive Web Site that merely makes information available for browsing, courts have been hesitant to exercise personal jurisdiction.
One end of the spectrum of judicial decisions involves holdings that financially-motivated, interactive contacts with a foreign state will give rise to personal jurisdiction; the other end of the spectrum reflects holdings that a strictly passive, informational Web Site will not give grounds to assert jurisdiction.
For cases in between, i.e where you can't put it easily in either category, the court has to apply it's legal mind to figure out whether they have jurisdiction or not.
Don't worry. A court has to have jurisdiction over you to actually affect you. There are various kinds of jurisdiction, like pecuniary (financial), writ, and territorial. The most common is territorial, where you are a citizen of, or otherwise resident in, a particular court's area of jurisdiction. This is followed by pecuniary jurisdiction, where you are engaged in some financial transaction with a person/company in the court's jurisdiction. The point is, if you have NO connection to the place where a lawsuit is filed, it can't affect you. Most courts will throw out the case anyway, and even if an ex-parte judgement is passed against you, it can't be enforced until the other party approaches a court which does have jurisdiction over you. And if this happens, all you have to do is plead that the original order is vexatious, since the court did not have jurisdiciton. So basically, you don't need to be afraid of suits being filed against you in far away places.. What you must NOT do is go there to say you are not there... This is often seen as you submitting to the jurisdiction of the court. Bottom line.. Ignore such stupid lawsuits completely, as long as you are sure that there is no element of jurisdiction, which is exactly what Spamhaus did.
Damm good read, by the way, if you like well crafted space opera.. Ian M. Banks, and Alastair Reynolds fans, you have to read the trilogy..
Offtopic, I know, but would appreciate any good recommendations along the same lines.. I've got some time on my hands, and want to read some nice books.
This is actually a great Soviet Russia joke.. it has all the proper double entendres, (Party Button, pushes you..) and is short and punchy at the same time. Good Job AC!
I bought a T-43 last july. This was just after the Lenovo takeover. This is my first laptop, and I earned every penny for it ( college student, work ..), so I did extensive research before I spent my cash. I must have read over 50 reviews, browsed all the forums, went to the shops, friends laptop, etc etc. And I finally bought a T43.
Over the past 10 months, I have used my Thinkpad like a typical college guy. It's been lugged around in a cheap samsonite backpack, subjected to juddering road trips, travelled all the place with me, you know the drill.
It still looks, and feels, new. The only thing is the pentium M sticker has worn off. I love this laptop, and the HP's and Acer's that my friends bought around the same time are all looking tacky.
I love my laptop, and I will buy another T series after this one is shot, unless there's something fantastic out there. I haven't had any problems with this ( knock on wood), so I can't comment about the support.
Owning a T series Thinkpad just makes me feel good in some way. Whether it's the sexy keyboard, or the sturdy feel, or the classic black lines, I'm a fan.
I don't think Lenovo has screwed the T series up yet, and I pray fervently they never do.. I for one will be saddened the day I see a T series with a blue LED under the power button.
That said, the T series could use a few improvements.. No Firewire??? What's with that, the cheap ass R series has it. And a multi card reader would be nice too, as long as it didn;t ruin the feel of the case. I hope Lenovo improves the T series by adding valuable features, not just bling.
Not that I like Bill or his business tactics, but to be fair to him, isn't it true that the B&MG Foundation has donated a few billion dollars to worthy causes? Not to mention Bill's public and well known intention to give away as much money as possible before his death? I mean, sure, the guy is a shark in business.. but he's not exactly Darth Vader, y'know..
ANYTHING can fall prey to market forces! That's why they are market forces... outside anyone's control.
First few versions sucked in terms of compatibility, ugly UI, and general bugs. Most MsOffice users, including me, played around with it and went back to Office.
The first really usuable version was 1.1. This really rocked in terms of compatibility, and though it still had some bugs, was infinitely better with word docs and general usability.
Upcoming version 2 is slated to be real good. the beta I'm using is nice, with much improved UI, better word compatibility, Database tool etc.
Writer is the best. Calc follows. Impress and Database app need some work, though impress has improved a lot in the recent version.
Office has MUCH better version tracking, sharing and collaborative features. OOo can't touch it here. Writer is catching up with Word in terms of pure Word processor features, in fact has some features that are better than word. (predictive typing)
OOo is suitable for SOHO operations where word processing is major app. Larger corporate users need to stick with Office for many reasons. You know what they are.
The article is more like a comparision of Writer with word, and it totally ignores the advanced features of word..
I love OOo, and use it every day, but that doesn't mean that I can't see where Office kicks OOo's ass...
Here's a longer review I did a while back.While it may be de rigueur here on /. to bash Microsoft, sometimes one has to put the tinfoil hat away and commend them for doing something good.
Sure, you can pull out some commercial motive behind this act, but hey, so what? When they annouce their fantastic new anti spam OS, we can bash them here, but if these lawsuits do help in reducing Spam, then hooray for MS!
Apropos, I remember reading that billg@microsoft.com gets one million messages every day, 98% of which is Spam. I suppose he just got plain old PISSED OFF!!
Yup mine's up to 1114 MB. yay for google!