Would that then qualify Security patches as being "enhancements" or would they still be "bug-fixes" (irrespective of whether the bugs were hitherto known or unknown)?
Since we live in a Global marketplace and all major players are playing at the global level, the playing field is automatically leveled! Companies have to follow and adhere by a common set of rules (moral & ethical first, eventually legal)...which would remove the gray area vis-a-vis ethics and their subjectivity.
There are far better avenues of revenue-generation/augmentation than nickel&diming the user community for security patches.
This is the most absurd piece of news I've come across this year! Why on earth should I pay to have Oracle/Sun fix their own bugs? Obviously Security flaws are bugs. If any security vulnerabilities are identified, they should be ethically and morally obligated (ie assuming that the legal angle is unenforceable) to fix these and distribute the patches for free.
Isn't there anything called accountability/responsibility left any more?!? We are a huge Sun shop and one of the reasons we loved Sun so much is the fact that it was not a blood-sucker when it came to things like patches, software, etc. Unlike a company like HP, who charged for everything from multipathing software to UNIX resource mgt tools (which should be defacto standard of any mature OS).
Indeed. There is in fact an entire industry revolving filtration of water in India, using various technologies such as reverse osmosis filtration and UV radiation, made affordable to most of India's urban and well-to-do rural sections.
There are indigenous and traditional techniques being used today (as sort of a revival movement) in Rainwater harvesting etc to offset the effects of Global Warming. In India's case specifically global warming is a modern phenomenon. The British rule of India resulted in massive restructuring of India's native infrastructure systems. One such case is the destruction of a very elaborate and intricate irrigation network (using canals and small dams) to introduce the Railway system. A direct result of this was the death of millions in the Famines of Bengal in the 19th century (a holocaust-proportion extermination due to "Globalization") that no one talks about these days.
What does this have to do with Global Warming? It is simply an example to demonstrate that "Industrial" activity has been very detrimental to climate since early 19th Century (won't mass-scale Famines qualify) and is not really that new a phenomenon. What's new is that there is awareness among the victims of Global warming, which naturally draws the line between them and the culprits (and their representatives).
In my current shop, we manage close to 400 os images, about 200+ servers, >.5 Petabytes of Storage, > 20TB of backups/day and have only 5 FTEs and 2 contractors.
A lot of the FTE to Server/User ratio depends on how organized your shop is. If you have managed to automate most of your SA activities, it's not unusual for 3-4 FTEs to manage a 1000 server shop.
The key words are:
1) Standardization of platform (have at the most 2 or 3 platforms, chosen for specific roles) 2) Standardization of OS/Build (have 2 or 3 OSes you can manage well, eg: Solaris, Linux) 3) Standardized Architecture (define your architecture and stick to it -- SAN, TAN, etc) 4) Automation tools (such as a good monitoring solution, Fault Management system, etc) 5) A good analytics tool (such as splunk, which will simplify your life with automatic log indexing, parsing).
In an organization with centralized resources (trends have been gravitating towards centralized infrastructure, datacenter consolidation etc), this becomes easier. In a distributed IT shop it is harder.
one of the most profound discoveries I made in course of studying philosophy was the concept of Categorical Frameworks. A categorical framework is that which provides a primer for translating subjective experience into objective syntax. In other words, everything that we use to communicate in this world depends on a categorical framework.
The next more profound thing to be realized is that this categorical framework is not shared across the globe (or across various species). As a result, any one culture or civilization's world-view and philosophy will be significantly different from that of another. For eg the Categorical Framework of the Native Americans was vastly different from that of the European Settlers. The fact that the Europeans won doesn't automatically mean that their framework was better or more accurate than that of the Natives'.
This is the basis of the movie Avatar, and if you apply the concept of Categorical Frameworks to the story, you will see that what it's trying to do is emphasize that it is not a good idea to force one's ideas (Categorical Framework) down another's throat. And in intercultural interactions, sensitivity to the fact that there IS NO Universal common ground is very important.
We can learn from this in our interactions with the rest of the world (including the natural world) and then perhaps we will have a more respectful attitude towards those that seem different from us.
For instance, a very typical American joke (ridiculing others) is not very funny and infact considered hurtful in places like India.
The majority of humor is at someone's expense. That's why it's funny. We're just a little more upfront about it.
Different strokes and all that.
Indeed...different strokes and all. But that is a poor state of humor then...if it needs to ridicule others. Humor can be a very subtle and elegant thing...doesn't have to become crass.;)
I read a whole bunch of "wisecracks" and trolls about India and stereotypical bigoted comments about 7-11 and call centers, etc.
It is sad that geeks such as some on Slashdot choose to try and divide and disrespect
What's wrong with humor?
This is a moment to be appreciated and savored, but like all powerful moments there is room for humor. Where you see division I only see making fun of stereotypes that are being shattered by this very story - in a way a kind of slow farewell to them.
When we as a species have lost our ability for humor, or the ability to take a bit of ribbing and laugh at ourselves and others at times - well then bring in the cockroach masters, because are are hardly good for anything but foodstuff or powering giant computational engines with our body heat.
Humor is excellent. Just think the vein in which it is delivered is very important. Also, it is very imperative to understand that different cultural groups have very different ideas about what good humor is.
For instance, a very typical American joke (ridiculing others) is not very funny and infact considered hurtful in places like India.
However, the self-deprecating type of humor is appreciated.
Bawdy jokes are universally loved, unless of course you are Amish.
Jokes about Dubya are usually liked world-wide.
Jokes about 7-11s and Manning callcenters aren't really that funny -- they drip of sarcasm and poorly veiled malice.
what is surely a quantum leap in what technology and engineering
A quantum leap is actually a very small amount of movement.
As for the rest of your comment, I feel that those making jokes about this are just fine. I don't find it denigrating or bigoted. I'm American, and I have to put up with the typical "Americans are all fat and stupid" stereotype. I find jokes about us entertaining. Grow a skin.
As far as growing a skin goes -- the malice or the lack of it is evident from the posts. Those which are made in a good spirit are appreciated, those which are not are those that rankle.
I don't see too many people on/. posting about "fat and stupid" americans...
I read a whole bunch of "wisecracks" and trolls about India and stereotypical bigoted comments about 7-11 and call centers, etc.
It is sad that geeks such as some on Slashdot choose to try and divide and disrespect as opposed to integrate and celebrate what is surely a quantum leap in what technology and engineering has enabled India/mankind to do.
When technology levels the playing ground, it becomes imperative for those whose hegemony is threatened change from their jingoism to a more mellifluous tune.
An interesting observation I made in the course of the past few years is:
1) That the body gives us signals that we choose to ignore (simply mask over). 2) To offset the exhaustion we consume huge amounts of caffeinated drinks 3) The result of consuming such drinks (Coke, Mountain Dew, Coffee) is that it makes us even more oblivious to the frantic messages our body sends us. 4) A vicious cycle ensues.
A good practice (prbly an anathema to all us geeks in general) is to get good exercise (and by that I don't mean over-exerting over those gym machines, etc), proper relaxation techniques (Yoga, Tai Chi, Chi Gung, etc) and good nutritious food and plenty of hydration (not the diuretic drinks such as Coffee, Coke, etc but good old fashioned water).
The power of a command line is far superior to the initial difficulty one might face in learning to use it.
To give an analogy -- the difference between a GUI-interface and a Cmd-line interface is like knowing how to drive a car and knowing how to make it really fast or super-efficient by knowing the internals (basically automobile engineering).
A cmdline use is like the automobile engineer, the gui-user is like a joe-blow driver. If you are satisfied with what you can do from the GUI, you can perhaps stay satisfied with almost any GUI interface post CDE in the UNIX world (best I've seen is the Aqua interface on Macs).
If you want to learn to tap the potential and step up to the mantle of a productive computer user, you'd do well to learn the cmd-line.
[[[I wasn't trying to maximize my education or potential, but to simply meet requirements in order to "break into the middle" of the pack. I couldn't see any benefit in learning more than what was required to get a B to an A on the upcoming test. After that, it's gone forever. There wasn't a reward in education anywhere in sight, only punishment for failing. This encourages bare minimums of performance. If the kids are ending up at bare minimums of performance the last thing that should be done is a reduction in the level of challenge. If the kid isn't challenged then they won't even learn what they're capable of.]]]
See, therein lies the difference in "attitude". A kid in India or China knows that if he/she doesn't study hard and do well academically, no amount of natural talent will get them to even be looked at (in a way sad, but effective). If the kids in the West can get their minds out of TV, Music and pop-culture, they can probably focus a "little" better on academics. That's not to say that one should take all the fun out of growing up.
I heard an interesting statement by a russian friend once -- she said --
"In russia, kids learn responsibilities and only then have rights" (This can be thought of as being universally true in asia as well). "In the US, kids learn all about their rights, but only later discover their responsibilities" (admittedly, that was extreme generalization, but it made sense in a way).
What does the Western Popular culture teach the impressionable minds of teenagers? Does it make them cognizant of the imminent threat they face (from a socio-economic perspective) from their Asian counterparts? No, instead it fills their minds with drivel which will not benefit anyone except the winners , producers and developers of shows like "American Idol".
That's not to say that we should become "Doomsday prophets", if the fact that by studying pragmatically one will gain knowledge and wisdom is not enough, shouldn't a healthy dose of fear (of competition) be reason enough? What more incentive do we need?
I think that is a myth -- the problem is with the "dumbing down" of the education systems in the West (with the exception of Russia I believe). If the Americans or the British don't believe their students (youth) are capable of doing advanced Math or Science, you'll get generations of youth incapable of doing Math or Science. And I believe that's what has happened.
If the Western countries (and workers) complain about their jobs being "stolen" by Asians, it's because their governments aren't providing enough and timely education to allow the "local" workforce to complete with this global "Threat". While this is by no means an endorsement of the view (that some possess) that Science and Math are the end-all of education, it is important to provide appropriate education to those that might be interested. I can assure you an average High-school student in India (and possibly China) will be at a higher level of adeptness at Math and Science than your Western average Under-grad student.
If you want to compete, maintain the edge. That is paramount for survival and evolution.
Try taking the Indian IIT Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) test. Look it up on the internet and try answering some basic Physics, Chem and Math tests from it. I'm only pasting the first screening test of a multi-part exam (and all three subjects are compulsory). http://www.iitjee.org/iit-question-papers/iit-jee- 2004-screening/iit-jee-2004-maths-screening.html
That is followed by this --
http://www.iitjee.org/iit-question-papers/iit-jee- 2004/iit-jee-2004-maths-main.html
Now compare this with the US' SAT or your British Entrance test. Admittedly, the IIT JEE is for Engineering students (predominantly -- although one could study non-engineering courses such as Astrophysics, etc). But it'll tell you the level of mastery a student would need to have coming out of high-school in order to complete for the measly 20,000 seats (every year, millions of students take these tests) of which only the first 4000 ranks can even qualify (due to affirmative action). The level of difficulty in the other (lesser) entrance tests is less (compared to the IIT JEE), but it exists nonetheless.
The problem with H1B is that lot of times, not very skilled people come over. And most of the "so-so" developers you might have worked with are "Fresh-off-the-boat". They aren't familiar with the environment, linguistic and cultural nuances. To generalize that "I have to agree. I find their skills, and possibly this is due to the social environment they are raised in over there, are largely ok if you give them rote coding to do, with very explicit requirements and instructions." and state that it is due to "Social environment" is silly! The problem is lack of experience.
I think that your experience is with Junior level developers. The problem in India (especially if you're dealing with off-shoring type practices) is that Employee turnover is very high (I think it's officially 2 years average). Plus the competition is enormous (almost unfathomable by Americans -- well at least until recently).
The kids who are recruited are picked up from Campus interviews (usually top-notch students in Engineering schools) and though they have the intellectual prowess needed to do coding, lack the experience to think like say any developer who's spent 4 years working on a particular technology/platform.
Due to the turnover rate (very high), once a developer gets a few years -- 7-8 years or so, they are elevated on the Company (whichever that might be) heirarchy. You have to remember that most of the H1Bs you work with (unless you work for a top-IT firm) are consultants brought over by Indian companies, that are subject to the same employee turnover issues that I wrote about above.
So there you have it -- inexperienced people usually bungle up, need hand-holding and lack creative initiative (note the word -- usually) -- Indian or not, H1B or Citizen. Experience teaches...
My biggest concern with services like gmail is that it is "Free". As soon as that comes into picture (free-ness), all liability (of the service provider) towards data Integrity and security fly out of the window. Sure, gmail is SSL-enabled and in that context it is free. What about data storage? How does google backup and archive it's data? They said data will be available forever. How does that work?
If data storage (backups) hadn't been poor, there wouldn't have been complete loss of someone's mailbox and contacts.
When you pay someone for a service (usually a service for something you consider critical), you are binding that vendor and yourself into a legal contract and the vendor is liable to pay a penalty (in some form) in case of a breach. In short, if there is no contract, there is no assurance of Quality of Service.
I think it is more due to a lack of synergy between different groups/sub-contracting firms writing up different pieces of the code (rather than the overall design and technical specs themselves).
Eg:
Take Application myApp and break it down into 10 functional portions and give 10 different groups/firms each portion to develop (along with the individual specs). Because each of the 10 groups might not necessarily know the final purpose of the appication, and perhaps due to some really shoddy project management, what could have been an excellent product, simply turns into an inefficient, non-productive entity with 10 individually sound components but useless (or at least buggy) when working in conjunction with each other.
I believe us humans are like that too...in a social network.
That was a "Patent Clerk" -- there *must* be some difference between the two. Also, that Patent Clerk dropped out of college because his teachers thought he sucked.
Observation:
Isn't the true that a lot of the top-notch brains of the world dropped out of college (or got expelled)?
Moral of the story:
If you suck at academics, you're probably way smarter than the rest (those who do well). If you follow your instincts, you'll probably do something extraordinary.
My my! What a response? When you cannot counter anything about what has been originally posted, squirts like you will resort to name calling! Obviously no one taught you manners ya squirt!
In most schools that are either privately run or run by the Central government (there are two types of schools -- those that are governed by a Central/Federal govt. run Syllabus and education methodology, and those that are run by State govts and their idea on Education). Most of the schools affiliated to the Central Syllabi are already affluent and have full-fledged Computer laboratories where all students get to learn the basics of computing -- including learning set theory, algorithms and logic from the 5th or 6th grade.
In many of the State run schools, the education quality was much inferior to the Central schools, but they had sufficient funds to have Computer training programs as well (I don't know how things are currently).
Both these categories don't really need the 100$ laptops/child because the kids already get a reasonably sound education all-round.
The schools that might benefit from this scheme are infact (like many have mentioned here) Municipal schools (kinda like a derelict indian version of Public school system of the US) and very often are impoverished to a level where basic education becomes a problem. More so, in the remoter parts of rural India. The best solution in these cases is to revert back to Traditional schooling methods (which were forcibly shutdown by the British during Colonial rule) -- where teaching and learning was a community effort. First one has to "letter" a child before giving him/her a laptop to work on.
Moreover, astonishing as it may sound, many villages in India don't even have proper roadways, electricity etc available. What's the 100$ laptop going to be powered on? Cow-dung cakes?!? That's what a lot of poor people use as fuel.
The Indian government did what is right -- they are/must focus on getting Infrastructure problems fixed first. Once that is in place, everything else will automatically fall in line.
It has been interesting (to say the least), observing the current Indian Government. A ragtag coalition of opposing political groups, their common underlying theme is "Socialism". Their major coalition partner is the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which has influenced important policy decisions by the govt.
The Government back-pedalled on the Blogging ban because they were afraid of getting their heads slapped around by the Supreme Court. This Government is the first in recent times (past 20 years) that has been "spanked" by the Supreme court of India on various issues ranging from religious, social, economic and political pandering to offensive and "communist" style ideologies.
I don't remember who it was, but there were (are?) proponents of modifying the english language to look/sound like Sanskrit (with it's 50 basic syllables/alphabets/phenomes) which cover then entire range of sounds that emanate from the human mouth (with the tongue striking various parts of the mouth). As a result of Sanskrit basic structure and it's algebraic grammar, it is an ideal role-model for how a good language should look/sound like.
As a result, one could write, spell and speak the language without abberations/distortions (we call them accents these days)... So "but" and "put" would sound alike (or be spelt differently):)
Slashdot Mirror
Would that then qualify Security patches as being "enhancements" or would they still be "bug-fixes" (irrespective of whether the bugs were hitherto known or unknown)?
Since we live in a Global marketplace and all major players are playing at the global level, the playing field is automatically leveled! Companies have to follow and adhere by a common set of rules (moral & ethical first, eventually legal)...which would remove the gray area vis-a-vis ethics and their subjectivity.
There are far better avenues of revenue-generation/augmentation than nickel&diming the user community for security patches.
This is the most absurd piece of news I've come across this year! Why on earth should I pay to have Oracle/Sun fix their own bugs?
Obviously Security flaws are bugs. If any security vulnerabilities are identified, they should be ethically and morally obligated (ie assuming that the legal angle is unenforceable) to fix these and distribute the patches for free.
Isn't there anything called accountability/responsibility left any more?!? We are a huge Sun shop and one of the reasons we loved Sun so much is the fact that it was not a blood-sucker when it came to things like patches, software, etc. Unlike a company like HP, who charged for everything from multipathing software to UNIX resource mgt tools (which should be defacto standard of any mature OS).
Indeed. There is in fact an entire industry revolving filtration of water in India, using various technologies such as reverse osmosis filtration and UV radiation, made affordable to most of India's urban and well-to-do rural sections.
There are indigenous and traditional techniques being used today (as sort of a revival movement) in Rainwater harvesting etc to offset the effects of Global Warming. In India's case specifically global warming is a modern phenomenon. The British rule of India resulted in massive restructuring of India's native infrastructure systems. One such case is the destruction of a very elaborate and intricate irrigation network (using canals and small dams) to introduce the Railway system. A direct result of this was the death of millions in the Famines of Bengal in the 19th century (a holocaust-proportion extermination due to "Globalization") that no one talks about these days.
What does this have to do with Global Warming? It is simply an example to demonstrate that "Industrial" activity has been very detrimental to climate since early 19th Century (won't mass-scale Famines qualify) and is not really that new a phenomenon. What's new is that there is awareness among the victims of Global warming, which naturally draws the line between them and the culprits (and their representatives).
In my current shop, we manage close to 400 os images, about 200+ servers, > .5 Petabytes of Storage, > 20TB of backups/day and have only 5 FTEs and 2 contractors.
A lot of the FTE to Server/User ratio depends on how organized your shop is. If you have managed to automate most of your SA activities, it's not unusual for 3-4 FTEs to manage a 1000 server shop.
The key words are:
1) Standardization of platform (have at the most 2 or 3 platforms, chosen for specific roles)
2) Standardization of OS/Build (have 2 or 3 OSes you can manage well, eg: Solaris, Linux)
3) Standardized Architecture (define your architecture and stick to it -- SAN, TAN, etc)
4) Automation tools (such as a good monitoring solution, Fault Management system, etc)
5) A good analytics tool (such as splunk, which will simplify your life with automatic log indexing, parsing).
In an organization with centralized resources (trends have been gravitating towards centralized infrastructure, datacenter consolidation etc), this becomes easier. In a distributed IT shop it is harder.
one of the most profound discoveries I made in course of studying philosophy was the concept of Categorical Frameworks. A categorical framework is that which provides a primer for translating subjective experience into objective syntax. In other words, everything that we use to communicate in this world depends on a categorical framework.
The next more profound thing to be realized is that this categorical framework is not shared across the globe (or across various species). As a result, any one culture or civilization's world-view and philosophy will be significantly different from that of another. For eg the Categorical Framework of the Native Americans was vastly different from that of the European Settlers. The fact that the Europeans won doesn't automatically mean that their framework was better or more accurate than that of the Natives'.
This is the basis of the movie Avatar, and if you apply the concept of Categorical Frameworks to the story, you will see that what it's trying to do is emphasize that it is not a good idea to force one's ideas (Categorical Framework) down another's throat. And in intercultural interactions, sensitivity to the fact that there IS NO Universal common ground is very important.
We can learn from this in our interactions with the rest of the world (including the natural world) and then perhaps we will have a more respectful attitude towards those that seem different from us.
Er...that's because it was an UGO (Unconfirmed Ground Orifice)
Wonder what'll happen after 2012... :o
For instance, a very typical American joke (ridiculing others) is not very funny and infact considered hurtful in places like India.
The majority of humor is at someone's expense. That's why it's funny. We're just a little more upfront about it.
Different strokes and all that.
Indeed...different strokes and all. But that is a poor state of humor then...if it needs to ridicule others. Humor can be a very subtle and elegant thing...doesn't have to become crass. ;)
I read a whole bunch of "wisecracks" and trolls about India and stereotypical bigoted comments about 7-11 and call centers, etc.
It is sad that geeks such as some on Slashdot choose to try and divide and disrespect
What's wrong with humor?
This is a moment to be appreciated and savored, but like all powerful moments there is room for humor. Where you see division I only see making fun of stereotypes that are being shattered by this very story - in a way a kind of slow farewell to them.
When we as a species have lost our ability for humor, or the ability to take a bit of ribbing and laugh at ourselves and others at times - well then bring in the cockroach masters, because are are hardly good for anything but foodstuff or powering giant computational engines with our body heat.
Humor is excellent. Just think the vein in which it is delivered is very important. Also, it is very imperative to understand that different cultural groups have very different ideas about what good humor is.
For instance, a very typical American joke (ridiculing others) is not very funny and infact considered hurtful in places like India.
However, the self-deprecating type of humor is appreciated.
Bawdy jokes are universally loved, unless of course you are Amish.
Jokes about Dubya are usually liked world-wide.
Jokes about 7-11s and Manning callcenters aren't really that funny -- they drip of sarcasm and poorly veiled malice.
what is surely a quantum leap in what technology and engineering
A quantum leap is actually a very small amount of movement.
As for the rest of your comment, I feel that those making jokes about this are just fine. I don't find it denigrating or bigoted. I'm American, and I have to put up with the typical "Americans are all fat and stupid" stereotype. I find jokes about us entertaining. Grow a skin.
Quantum leap -- signifies radical jumps (I'd recommend reading some elementary quantum mechanics).
As far as growing a skin goes -- the malice or the lack of it is evident from the posts. Those which are made in a good spirit are appreciated, those which are not are those that rankle.
I don't see too many people on /. posting about "fat and stupid" americans...
I read a whole bunch of "wisecracks" and trolls about India and stereotypical bigoted comments about 7-11 and call centers, etc.
It is sad that geeks such as some on Slashdot choose to try and divide and disrespect as opposed to integrate and celebrate what is surely a quantum leap in what technology and engineering has enabled India/mankind to do.
When technology levels the playing ground, it becomes imperative for those whose hegemony is threatened change from their jingoism to a more mellifluous tune.
An interesting observation I made in the course of the past few years is:
1) That the body gives us signals that we choose to ignore (simply mask over).
2) To offset the exhaustion we consume huge amounts of caffeinated drinks
3) The result of consuming such drinks (Coke, Mountain Dew, Coffee) is that it makes us even more oblivious to the frantic messages our body sends us.
4) A vicious cycle ensues.
A good practice (prbly an anathema to all us geeks in general) is to get good exercise (and by that I don't mean over-exerting over those gym machines, etc), proper relaxation techniques (Yoga, Tai Chi, Chi Gung, etc) and good nutritious food and plenty of hydration (not the diuretic drinks such as Coffee, Coke, etc but good old fashioned water).
See the difference.
The power of a command line is far superior to the initial difficulty one might face in learning to use it.
To give an analogy -- the difference between a GUI-interface and a Cmd-line interface is like knowing how to drive a car and knowing how to make it really fast or super-efficient by knowing the internals (basically automobile engineering).
A cmdline use is like the automobile engineer, the gui-user is like a joe-blow driver. If you are satisfied with what you can do from the GUI, you can perhaps stay satisfied with almost any GUI interface post CDE in the UNIX world (best I've seen is the Aqua interface on Macs).
If you want to learn to tap the potential and step up to the mantle of a productive computer user, you'd do well to learn the cmd-line.
[[[I wasn't trying to maximize my education or potential, but to simply meet requirements in order to "break into the middle" of the pack. I couldn't see any benefit in learning more than what was required to get a B to an A on the upcoming test. After that, it's gone forever. There wasn't a reward in education anywhere in sight, only punishment for failing. This encourages bare minimums of performance. If the kids are ending up at bare minimums of performance the last thing that should be done is a reduction in the level of challenge. If the kid isn't challenged then they won't even learn what they're capable of.]]]
See, therein lies the difference in "attitude". A kid in India or China knows that if he/she doesn't study hard and do well academically, no amount of natural talent will get them to even be looked at (in a way sad, but effective). If the kids in the West can get their minds out of TV, Music and pop-culture, they can probably focus a "little" better on academics. That's not to say that one should take all the fun out of growing up.
I heard an interesting statement by a russian friend once -- she said --
"In russia, kids learn responsibilities and only then have rights" (This can be thought of as being universally true in asia as well).
"In the US, kids learn all about their rights, but only later discover their responsibilities" (admittedly, that was extreme generalization, but it made sense in a way).
What does the Western Popular culture teach the impressionable minds of teenagers? Does it make them cognizant of the imminent threat they face (from a socio-economic perspective) from their Asian counterparts? No, instead it fills their minds with drivel which will not benefit anyone except the winners , producers and developers of shows like "American Idol".
That's not to say that we should become "Doomsday prophets", if the fact that by studying pragmatically one will gain knowledge and wisdom is not enough, shouldn't a healthy dose of fear (of competition) be reason enough? What more incentive do we need?
I think that is a myth -- the problem is with the "dumbing down" of the education systems in the West (with the exception of Russia I believe). If the Americans or the British don't believe their students (youth) are capable of doing advanced Math or Science, you'll get generations of youth incapable of doing Math or Science. And I believe that's what has happened.
If the Western countries (and workers) complain about their jobs being "stolen" by Asians, it's because their governments aren't providing enough and timely education to allow the "local" workforce to complete with this global "Threat". While this is by no means an endorsement of the view (that some possess) that Science and Math are the end-all of education, it is important to provide appropriate education to those that might be interested. I can assure you an average High-school student in India (and possibly China) will be at a higher level of adeptness at Math and Science than your Western average Under-grad student.
If you want to compete, maintain the edge. That is paramount for survival and evolution.
Try taking the Indian IIT Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) test. Look it up on the internet and try answering some basic Physics, Chem and Math tests from it. I'm only pasting the first screening test of a multi-part exam (and all three subjects are compulsory).- 2004-screening/iit-jee-2004-maths-screening.html
- 2004/iit-jee-2004-maths-main.html
http://www.iitjee.org/iit-question-papers/iit-jee
That is followed by this --
http://www.iitjee.org/iit-question-papers/iit-jee
Now compare this with the US' SAT or your British Entrance test. Admittedly, the IIT JEE is for Engineering students (predominantly -- although one could study non-engineering courses such as Astrophysics, etc). But it'll tell you the level of mastery a student would need to have coming out of high-school in order to complete for the measly 20,000 seats (every year, millions of students take these tests) of which only the first 4000 ranks can even qualify (due to affirmative action). The level of difficulty in the other (lesser) entrance tests is less (compared to the IIT JEE), but it exists nonetheless.
The problem with H1B is that lot of times, not very skilled people come over. And most of the "so-so" developers you might have worked with are "Fresh-off-the-boat". They aren't familiar with the environment, linguistic and cultural nuances. To generalize that "I have to agree. I find their skills, and possibly this is due to the social environment they are raised in over there, are largely ok if you give them rote coding to do, with very explicit requirements and instructions." and state that it is due to "Social environment" is silly! The problem is lack of experience.
I think that your experience is with Junior level developers. The problem in India (especially if you're dealing with off-shoring type practices) is that Employee turnover is very high (I think it's officially 2 years average). Plus the competition is enormous (almost unfathomable by Americans -- well at least until recently).
The kids who are recruited are picked up from Campus interviews (usually top-notch students in Engineering schools) and though they have the intellectual prowess needed to do coding, lack the experience to think like say any developer who's spent 4 years working on a particular technology/platform.
Due to the turnover rate (very high), once a developer gets a few years -- 7-8 years or so, they are elevated on the Company (whichever that might be) heirarchy. You have to remember that most of the H1Bs you work with (unless you work for a top-IT firm) are consultants brought over by Indian companies, that are subject to the same employee turnover issues that I wrote about above.
So there you have it -- inexperienced people usually bungle up, need hand-holding and lack creative initiative (note the word -- usually) -- Indian or not, H1B or Citizen. Experience teaches...
My biggest concern with services like gmail is that it is "Free". As soon as that comes into picture (free-ness), all liability (of the service provider) towards data Integrity and security fly out of the window. Sure, gmail is SSL-enabled and in that context it is free.
What about data storage? How does google backup and archive it's data? They said data will be available forever. How does that work?
If data storage (backups) hadn't been poor, there wouldn't have been complete loss of someone's mailbox and contacts.
When you pay someone for a service (usually a service for something you consider critical), you are binding that vendor and yourself into a legal contract and the vendor is liable to pay a penalty (in some form) in case of a breach. In short, if there is no contract, there is no assurance of Quality of Service.
[[[Translation: I have just been chucked out of school, therefore I am a fucking genius.]]]
Sure...whatever works for you bud!
I think it is more due to a lack of synergy between different groups/sub-contracting firms writing up different pieces of the code (rather than the overall design and technical specs themselves).
Eg:
Take Application myApp and break it down into 10 functional portions and give 10 different groups/firms each portion to develop (along with the individual specs). Because each of the 10 groups might not necessarily know the final purpose of the appication, and perhaps due to some really shoddy project management, what could have been an excellent product, simply turns into an inefficient, non-productive entity with 10 individually sound components but useless (or at least buggy) when working in conjunction with each other.
I believe us humans are like that too...in a social network.
That was a "Patent Clerk" -- there *must* be some difference between the two.
Also, that Patent Clerk dropped out of college because his teachers thought he sucked.
Observation:
Isn't the true that a lot of the top-notch brains of the world dropped out of college (or got expelled)?
Moral of the story:
If you suck at academics, you're probably way smarter than the rest (those who do well). If you follow your instincts, you'll probably do something extraordinary.
My my! What a response? When you cannot counter anything about what has been originally posted, squirts like you will resort to name calling!
Obviously no one taught you manners ya squirt!
In most schools that are either privately run or run by the Central government (there are two types of schools -- those that are governed by a Central/Federal govt. run Syllabus and education methodology, and those that are run by State govts and their idea on Education). Most of the schools affiliated to the Central Syllabi are already affluent and have full-fledged Computer laboratories where all students get to learn the basics of computing -- including learning set theory, algorithms and logic from the 5th or 6th grade.
In many of the State run schools, the education quality was much inferior to the Central schools, but they had sufficient funds to have Computer training programs as well (I don't know how things are currently).
Both these categories don't really need the 100$ laptops/child because the kids already get a reasonably sound education all-round.
The schools that might benefit from this scheme are infact (like many have mentioned here) Municipal schools (kinda like a derelict indian version of Public school system of the US) and very often are impoverished to a level where basic education becomes a problem. More so, in the remoter parts of rural India. The best solution in these cases is to revert back to Traditional schooling methods (which were forcibly shutdown by the British during Colonial rule) -- where teaching and learning was a community effort. First one has to "letter" a child before giving him/her a laptop to work on.
Moreover, astonishing as it may sound, many villages in India don't even have proper roadways, electricity etc available. What's the 100$ laptop going to be powered on? Cow-dung cakes?!? That's what a lot of poor people use as fuel.
The Indian government did what is right -- they are/must focus on getting Infrastructure problems fixed first. Once that is in place, everything else will automatically fall in line.
It has been interesting (to say the least), observing the current Indian Government. A ragtag coalition of opposing political groups, their common underlying theme is "Socialism". Their major coalition partner is the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which has influenced important policy decisions by the govt.
The Government back-pedalled on the Blogging ban because they were afraid of getting their heads slapped around by the Supreme Court. This Government is the first in recent times (past 20 years) that has been "spanked" by the Supreme court of India on various issues ranging from religious, social, economic and political pandering to offensive and "communist" style ideologies.
I don't remember who it was, but there were (are?) proponents of modifying the english language to look/sound like Sanskrit (with it's 50 basic syllables/alphabets/phenomes) which cover then entire range of sounds that emanate from the human mouth (with the tongue striking various parts of the mouth).
:)
As a result of Sanskrit basic structure and it's algebraic grammar, it is an ideal role-model for how a good language should look/sound like.
As a result, one could write, spell and speak the language without abberations/distortions (we call them accents these days)...
So "but" and "put" would sound alike (or be spelt differently)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit)