Many books have an Eastern Economy Edition so that people living in developing countries can afford them. I think it does help them make the decision in favor of buying the book and not photocopying it.
Is this price difference unfair ? Hardly. Consider a T-shirt (made in Bangladesh) that sells for say $10 in the US. It costs about the same in Bangladesh. So a bangladesi earning a tenth of what his US counterpart makes pays the same. In this case the person living in a developed nation gets a "discount" because of his location, and in case of books and software the person in a developing nation gets a discount because of his location.
" Unfortuniatly, we're competing with Asia, which doesn't value things such as human rights."
Yes I hear you Sir. Asians are responsible for Guantanamo, they maintain secret prisons in Europe, have left Iraq in chaos with 30,000 civilians dead and were responsible for the only weapons of mass destruction ever used in human history.
You would be surprised to know that Asia is a continent. With that knowledge you probably would have not passed that sweeping remark. I dont hold it againts you because someone said "Never Assume Malice When Stupidity Will Suffice".
If you are born in the US, you see a lot of avenues of earning money. You can be a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer, an artist, a sports person, into real estate etc or none of the above and still make a good living. Scientific education probably plays a role in your money making ability -- but it does not play a critical one.
If you are born in India ( I am an Indian in a US grad school; don't have enough insight into Chinese system ), and if you do good in your standard X examination, you take up science -- no questions asked. Now you have two choices -- you study engineering or you study medicine. If you cannot get through either of them, you do pure sciences.
On rare occasions a good student goes for economics and arts. If you had bad grades and still want to show a degree in your matrinomial ads (damn! most marriages are still arranged), you become a lawyer.
Some of this must have changed after the emergence of call centers but these new jobs are a recent phenomenon.
There are much better job prospects if you are in the sciences than if you are in any other field. Without exaggeration, I can say that an average Bachelor of Technology would earn twice as much as an average Bachelor of Arts. Consequently, whether or not you are interested in Science, you end up studying science. No wonder, India produces so many engineers.
But there is no free food -- People in science cannot run and jump. The Indian contingent, representing a billion people -- a sixth of humanity -- earned ONE silver medal in the last Olympics. Sports does not earn you enough money in India; unless you are one of the 11 men who make up the Indian cricket team.
In summary, one cannot expect the masses to be suddenly interested in science ( in the US ) or sports ( in India ) if there is no monetary incentive.
"Because the project is being outsourced to the United States"
It might just be the opposite. Because intellectuals/planners in India fully understand that corruption can undermine the economic progress India has made since 1991, many large projects which were earlier undertaken by government bodies are now awarded based on International tenders. Same is the case with this project.
It is a pity that most Americans think that outsourcing has initiated Indian economic progress, while the fact is that we started progressing after the country was left with 15 days of foriegn reserve in 1991 and the Prime Minister invited one of the best economists in the country Dr. Manmohan Singh to join the cabinet as the finance minister. The economic growth of 6.9% that we saw this year was a result of reforms introduced in 1991.
Yes, outsourcing does boost the economy, it probaby does not drive it.
Ofcourse we are far from what we should be after 50 years of independence, but lately we have made enormous strides and things are begining to change. 15 years back Indians could not even dream of such a project and today they are talking about linking all rivers in India; a feat if achieved would be a significant engineering achievement. Whenever, there is a discussion on how India is making progress, there are be numerous who refuse to see the glass as half full and point to corruption and poverty that rots our society. While the statements are true they fail to see the winds of change sweeping India.
The change is symbolised by the following facts. By coincidence or by design, the Prime minister of India today, Dr. Manmohan Singh, an economist, is the artitect of the biggest economic reforms in the country. The President of India Dr. Abdul Kalam, a rocket scientist, is considered to be the father of Indian missile and space programs.
Slashdot Mirror
Many books have an Eastern Economy Edition so that people living in developing countries can afford them. I think it does help them make the decision in favor of buying the book and not photocopying it.
Is this price difference unfair ? Hardly. Consider a T-shirt (made in Bangladesh) that sells for say $10 in the US. It costs about the same in Bangladesh. So a bangladesi earning a tenth of what his US counterpart makes pays the same. In this case the person living in a developed nation gets a "discount" because of his location, and in case of books and software the person in a developing nation gets a discount because of his location.
Well, you never know. India is full of surprises. Read on --
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6620461.stm
Science is not done by consensus. If it were, the world would be flat with the sun revolving around it.
Yes I hear you Sir. Asians are responsible for Guantanamo, they maintain secret prisons in Europe, have left Iraq in chaos with 30,000 civilians dead and were responsible for the only weapons of mass destruction ever used in human history.
You would be surprised to know that Asia is a continent. With that knowledge you probably would have not passed that sweeping remark. I dont hold it againts you because someone said "Never Assume Malice When Stupidity Will Suffice".
Grow beyond Fox News :)
If you are born in the US, you see a lot of avenues of earning money. You can be a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer, an artist, a sports person, into real estate etc or none of the above and still make a good living. Scientific education probably plays a role in your money making ability -- but it does not play a critical one.
If you are born in India ( I am an Indian in a US grad school; don't have enough insight into Chinese system ), and if you do good in your standard X examination, you take up science -- no questions asked. Now you have two choices -- you study engineering or you study medicine. If you cannot get through either of them, you do pure sciences.
On rare occasions a good student goes for economics and arts. If you had bad grades and still want to show a degree in your matrinomial ads (damn! most marriages are still arranged), you become a lawyer.
Some of this must have changed after the emergence of call centers but these new jobs are a recent phenomenon.
There are much better job prospects if you are in the sciences than if you are in any other field. Without exaggeration, I can say that an average Bachelor of Technology would earn twice as much as an average Bachelor of Arts. Consequently, whether or not you are interested in Science, you end up studying science. No wonder, India produces so many engineers.
But there is no free food -- People in science cannot run and jump. The Indian contingent, representing a billion people -- a sixth of humanity -- earned ONE silver medal in the last Olympics. Sports does not earn you enough money in India; unless you are one of the 11 men who make up the Indian cricket team.
In summary, one cannot expect the masses to be suddenly interested in science ( in the US ) or sports ( in India ) if there is no monetary incentive.
It might just be the opposite. Because intellectuals/planners in India fully understand that corruption can undermine the economic progress India has made since 1991, many large projects which were earlier undertaken by government bodies are now awarded based on International tenders. Same is the case with this project.
It is a pity that most Americans think that outsourcing has initiated Indian economic progress, while the fact is that we started progressing after the country was left with 15 days of foriegn reserve in 1991 and the Prime Minister invited one of the best economists in the country Dr. Manmohan Singh to join the cabinet as the finance minister. The economic growth of 6.9% that we saw this year was a result of reforms introduced in 1991.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3725357.stm
Yes, outsourcing does boost the economy, it probaby does not drive it.
Ofcourse we are far from what we should be after 50 years of independence, but lately we have made enormous strides and things are begining to change. 15 years back Indians could not even dream of such a project and today they are talking about linking all rivers in India; a feat if achieved would be a significant engineering achievement. Whenever, there is a discussion on how India is making progress, there are be numerous who refuse to see the glass as half full and point to corruption and poverty that rots our society. While the statements are true they fail to see the winds of change sweeping India.
The change is symbolised by the following facts. By coincidence or by design, the Prime minister of India today, Dr. Manmohan Singh, an economist, is the artitect of the biggest economic reforms in the country. The President of India Dr. Abdul Kalam, a rocket scientist, is considered to be the father of Indian missile and space programs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/countr y_profiles/1154019.stm#leaders
In contrast, the President of United States is a cowboy. (No offense, but I could not resist the comparison).