Software prices have been falling. Microsoft isn't a good example because of their market dominance, but if you look at most business oriented softare the price for software has been decreasing. Open source will also further pressure prices lower. What the market will become is cheap off the shelf foreign software/OSS with domestic customization to further increase productivity for individual businesses.
People don't cry for the poor television manufacturers, all they care about is they can get a 51" TV with surroundsound for less than $2k. You can't "expect to get paid very well", you do what you love, or you follow the money, if the two happen to be the same, then consider yourself lucky.
If it didn't help factory workers, why should it help IT workers? It won't, but that is progress. How many middle aged people were left behind by the.com boom? You have to be flexible and retrain or get left in the dust.
In the real world the US can not keep buying more goods and services from China and India than we sell to them. It drains our reserves Actually there are no "reserves" in the sense of having a stockpile of gold or money, its not really a drain, but there is a balancing system. If I want to buy something from Japan I have to buy yen through the currency exchange, then exchange the yen for the product. Yen are a finite resource, therefore as demand increases, the price increases (costs more dollars/yen). This does 2 things, foreign goods (imports) become more expensive, therefore it may become more advantageous to produce within the country; and also makes domestic products cheaper to foreign countries, resulting in increased exports. The US has been able to have huge trade deficits for decades, it hasn't really weakened the country, it is actually just a symptom of a strong domestic economy.
OK, first of all, where is the evidence outsourcing jobs overseas makes anything cheaper? You typing this from your $3000 486 computer? By reducing the cost of labor it allows more companies to enter the market and increases competition. Competition drives down prices.
If there really were better jobs, people would already have them The higher paying jobs don't exist yet. In the 80s when electronic manufacturing jobs were outsourced, it freed up capital and intellectual resources to pursue activities that used the more cheaply made components (software, networking, etc). As software becomes cheaper it is reasonable to expect people to find ways to better utilize that software, thus creating new industries and expanding existing ones.
And people prefer to buy the "Dogs playing poker" picture than real art. The taste of the masses when it comes to any art form leans towards the bland and mindless. I think when it comes to art/entertainment most people want it as pure diversion. They don't want deep thinking, they want the cheap laugh (There's Something about Mary), the movie where stuff gets blow'd up (Terminator 2), the music that is just empty and catchy (Ace of Base), and licensed video games (Enter the Matrix) The mass market is going to keep feeding people the same stuff they want, so those looking for more intellectual art have to focus on the independent labels, studios, etc.
Yup, I totally agree with you. The important thing is to not take things personally. You should also be willing to take criticism and dish it out (which I have found is more difficult for many people). If you think somebody is BSing, call them on it. If everybody is a yes-man and always agreeing, it's pointless.
Actually geeks can use the internet to bully back. My roomate told me her little brother was getting bullied by a girl in school. So I showed him how he could have the computer call her cell phone, and her parents phone automatically in the middle of the night, during class, etc. After a week, the girl stopped bullying him because it wasn't worth the aggrivation. Y2K showed the power the geeks can have. "Upgrade all your systems or else, umm it will be the end of civilization" and people bought in, believing their toaster wouldn't know the difference between 2000 or 1900, and could end up burning down the house.
Same happens in a meeting, people can completely pick apart arguements, come up with ways to discredit data, force you into uncomfortable decisions, and be stubbornly antogonistic. But once the meeting is over and you step outside, everybody goes out for beers, talk about your golf game, and play fantasy football People are able to compartmentalize and adapt their behavior to differing situations. Business is business, fun is fun, driving is insanity on wheels.
That could get scary, just imagine your virtual girlfriend ringing your cell phone in the middle of the night, calling for pizzas you never wanted, or calling all the people in your address book and bitching to them about how bad a boyfriend you are. I could just imagine the lens of your camera phone being like HAL, staring at you, tracking you. When it discovers you plan on taking out the cellphone battery to stop it, it calls the mental institution to whisk you away. Hell hath no fury like a cell phone scorned
My best experiences in undergrad were when I had a huge workload, knocked everything out, even the bullshit work, in incnredible fashion, and reveled in it sleeplessly the next day. There's something about that "high" you get when you are in a time crunch. My senior year I took 20 credits/semester (all upper division material science courses) including senior design project. Not sure what it is, but when you are in a sleep deprived time crunch, you function in a machine like daze. Part of it I think had to do with the fact I was actually interested in all the classes. In my freshman english courses I would just half-ass my essays (didn't care enough to even cheat). Senior year I was motivated and interested in completing my solid state chem and transport homework, I was actually *gasp* having fun learning. I do have nightmares about forgetting going to class in college and not graduating. I think in part to having overextended myself that last year (I did have times when I was so busy I forgot to go to a class, luckily no missed tests). Do those ever go away?
I think it was Singapore Air (They have the best flights IMHO, they actually made Singapore->LA non-stop a bearable flight!), and it was just during a routine bag search. Actually I was surprised none of the other airports had a problem with it. Like you described, it can be annoying though with each airline having different rules for carry on bags. Usually I don't have problems flying out from the US, then I end up transferring in Asia or on my flight back, and the airline (usually Japan Airline)decides that my bag is too large so I check it in. If you have a laid back attitude flying isn't a big deal. It's those people who need to have their way all the time that get frustrated and angry.
I haven't found international flying to be a pain. I've done all sorts of "potentially threatening things" such as changed flights the day before, delayed my trip a day, flown the first leg then cancelled my return trip and switched countries I'm flying to the day before. Haven't run into any major hassles. The only real inconvenience was in the Phillipines, having to check in a big metal machine part that I need to do some equipment repairs. (For some reason the US and Japan had no issues with me bringing it in my carry on bags). I didn't think of it as a huge hassle, just explained what it was, and filled out the forms to have it checked in. I just make sure I get to the airport a couple hours early, sure I spend a little extra time at the gate, but thats what Gameboys and minidisc players are for.
Puerto Rico is not independent, but I wouldn't call it "owned" by the US. The tone of the word "owned" implies the people have no say in the matter, when I think of "owned" I think of slavemasters owning slaves, as if there was some US occupying force. Puerto Rico had been given the power to self-determination in a 1998 plebiscite (and previous ones). The resulting choice of "none of the above" meant rejection of both US statehood, and Independence. Puerto Rico chose to continue the status quo of an associated commonwealth.
Two governments. Two countries. I know there are all sorts of descriptions for Taiwan like "renegade province" but, for all practical purposes they are two separate countries. This is exactly the kind of thinking that got MS programmers into problems!
Microsoft is not going to sue IBM over it's patents just like IBM isn't going to sue Microsoft They will not necessarily sue, but they will just have the lawyers meet in a room and cross-license all their patents, thus giving legal support to each of them. I do however like the idea of making companies enforce their patents so we don't have RAMBUS type backhanded tactics.
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Software prices have been falling. Microsoft isn't a good example because of their market dominance, but if you look at most business oriented softare the price for software has been decreasing. Open source will also further pressure prices lower. What the market will become is cheap off the shelf foreign software/OSS with domestic customization to further increase productivity for individual businesses.
People don't cry for the poor television manufacturers, all they care about is they can get a 51" TV with surroundsound for less than $2k.
You can't "expect to get paid very well", you do what you love, or you follow the money, if the two happen to be the same, then consider yourself lucky.
If it didn't help factory workers, why should it help IT workers? .com boom? You have to be flexible and retrain or get left in the dust.
It won't, but that is progress. How many middle aged people were left behind by the
In the real world the US can not keep buying more goods and services from China and India than we sell to them. It drains our reserves
Actually there are no "reserves" in the sense of having a stockpile of gold or money, its not really a drain, but there is a balancing system.
If I want to buy something from Japan I have to buy yen through the currency exchange, then exchange the yen for the product. Yen are a finite resource, therefore as demand increases, the price increases (costs more dollars/yen).
This does 2 things, foreign goods (imports) become more expensive, therefore it may become more advantageous to produce within the country; and also makes domestic products cheaper to foreign countries, resulting in increased exports.
The US has been able to have huge trade deficits for decades, it hasn't really weakened the country, it is actually just a symptom of a strong domestic economy.
OK, first of all, where is the evidence outsourcing jobs overseas makes anything cheaper?
You typing this from your $3000 486 computer? By reducing the cost of labor it allows more companies to enter the market and increases competition. Competition drives down prices.
If there really were better jobs, people would already have them
The higher paying jobs don't exist yet. In the 80s when electronic manufacturing jobs were outsourced, it freed up capital and intellectual resources to pursue activities that used the more cheaply made components (software, networking, etc).
As software becomes cheaper it is reasonable to expect people to find ways to better utilize that software, thus creating new industries and expanding existing ones.
Half Life 2 encryption has been hacked and is now available for P2P downloads
There wasn't THAT much running in Blade Runner, now The Running Man, that was a movie with lots of running in it.
Yes TV is the new generation's monolith, and we've evolved past that whole thinking thing to straight action!
And people prefer to buy the "Dogs playing poker" picture than real art.
The taste of the masses when it comes to any art form leans towards the bland and mindless. I think when it comes to art/entertainment most people want it as pure diversion. They don't want deep thinking, they want the cheap laugh (There's Something about Mary), the movie where stuff gets blow'd up (Terminator 2), the music that is just empty and catchy (Ace of Base), and licensed video games (Enter the Matrix)
The mass market is going to keep feeding people the same stuff they want, so those looking for more intellectual art have to focus on the independent labels, studios, etc.
Yup, I totally agree with you. The important thing is to not take things personally. You should also be willing to take criticism and dish it out (which I have found is more difficult for many people). If you think somebody is BSing, call them on it. If everybody is a yes-man and always agreeing, it's pointless.
So you're saying I should bet my house on it? /. is good enough for me, early retirement here I come.
Hmmm a post from a stranger on
Actually geeks can use the internet to bully back. My roomate told me her little brother was getting bullied by a girl in school. So I showed him how he could have the computer call her cell phone, and her parents phone automatically in the middle of the night, during class, etc. After a week, the girl stopped bullying him because it wasn't worth the aggrivation.
Y2K showed the power the geeks can have. "Upgrade all your systems or else, umm it will be the end of civilization" and people bought in, believing their toaster wouldn't know the difference between 2000 or 1900, and could end up burning down the house.
Same happens in a meeting, people can completely pick apart arguements, come up with ways to discredit data, force you into uncomfortable decisions, and be stubbornly antogonistic. But once the meeting is over and you step outside, everybody goes out for beers, talk about your golf game, and play fantasy football
People are able to compartmentalize and adapt their behavior to differing situations. Business is business, fun is fun, driving is insanity on wheels.
That could get scary, just imagine your virtual girlfriend ringing your cell phone in the middle of the night, calling for pizzas you never wanted, or calling all the people in your address book and bitching to them about how bad a boyfriend you are.
I could just imagine the lens of your camera phone being like HAL, staring at you, tracking you. When it discovers you plan on taking out the cellphone battery to stop it, it calls the mental institution to whisk you away.
Hell hath no fury like a cell phone scorned
When does Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream take place?
I know, Nightime!
My best experiences in undergrad were when I had a huge workload, knocked everything out, even the bullshit work, in incnredible fashion, and reveled in it sleeplessly the next day.
There's something about that "high" you get when you are in a time crunch. My senior year I took 20 credits/semester (all upper division material science courses) including senior design project. Not sure what it is, but when you are in a sleep deprived time crunch, you function in a machine like daze.
Part of it I think had to do with the fact I was actually interested in all the classes. In my freshman english courses I would just half-ass my essays (didn't care enough to even cheat). Senior year I was motivated and interested in completing my solid state chem and transport homework, I was actually *gasp* having fun learning.
I do have nightmares about forgetting going to class in college and not graduating. I think in part to having overextended myself that last year (I did have times when I was so busy I forgot to go to a class, luckily no missed tests). Do those ever go away?
I think it was Singapore Air (They have the best flights IMHO, they actually made Singapore->LA non-stop a bearable flight!), and it was just during a routine bag search. Actually I was surprised none of the other airports had a problem with it.
Like you described, it can be annoying though with each airline having different rules for carry on bags. Usually I don't have problems flying out from the US, then I end up transferring in Asia or on my flight back, and the airline (usually Japan Airline)decides that my bag is too large so I check it in.
If you have a laid back attitude flying isn't a big deal. It's those people who need to have their way all the time that get frustrated and angry.
I haven't found international flying to be a pain.
I've done all sorts of "potentially threatening things" such as changed flights the day before, delayed my trip a day, flown the first leg then cancelled my return trip and switched countries I'm flying to the day before. Haven't run into any major hassles.
The only real inconvenience was in the Phillipines, having to check in a big metal machine part that I need to do some equipment repairs. (For some reason the US and Japan had no issues with me bringing it in my carry on bags). I didn't think of it as a huge hassle, just explained what it was, and filled out the forms to have it checked in.
I just make sure I get to the airport a couple hours early, sure I spend a little extra time at the gate, but thats what Gameboys and minidisc players are for.
The issue is people are breaking the law and getting caught.
You will have to pry my 2400 baud modem from my cold dead hands. Now off to download Doom 3.
Puerto Rico is not independent, but I wouldn't call it "owned" by the US. The tone of the word "owned" implies the people have no say in the matter, when I think of "owned" I think of slavemasters owning slaves, as if there was some US occupying force.
Puerto Rico had been given the power to self-determination in a 1998 plebiscite (and previous ones). The resulting choice of "none of the above" meant rejection of both US statehood, and Independence. Puerto Rico chose to continue the status quo of an associated commonwealth.
Two governments. Two countries. I know there are all sorts of descriptions for Taiwan like "renegade province" but, for all practical purposes they are two separate countries.
This is exactly the kind of thinking that got MS programmers into problems!
Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth associated with the US, not owned by the US.
Microsoft is not going to sue IBM over it's patents just like IBM isn't going to sue Microsoft
They will not necessarily sue, but they will just have the lawyers meet in a room and cross-license all their patents, thus giving legal support to each of them. I do however like the idea of making companies enforce their patents so we don't have RAMBUS type backhanded tactics.