As more countries make the transition from 3rd world, the people living there will begin to realize they are worth more then the $5,000 a year they are making
I'm afraid its not as simple as that. For you, in the US, $5000 is not much because the cost of everything around you is too much for you to support yourself and your family in $5000 a year. Even as 3rd world countries grow, their currency value doesn't necessarily appreciate. Due to this, for me, in India, $5000 a year translates to 200,000 a year, which is a decent middle class income, sufficient for me to get a two room apartment and other necessities. Add to that the fact that companies also provide other facilities like lunches and travel. So they already have what they're worth and are unlikely to ask for more.
What could be a bit discouraging for the indian BPO market though is the fact that BPO employees (especially call centers) do not always stick to that line of profession. that's not because they're not paid enough, they get paid more than what they're qualified for, much much more. its only because people who are employed are generally part-timers from college or freshers who just want to start earning first and then think about a career path. That is why you would always see a huge demand for employees for call centers in India, not necessarily because of the sheer volume of business they get.
True, they would try to get patenting everywhere. But the fact as of today remains that India has already unanimously thrown the IT Patent bill out of the window. Its not a marginal case Europe, so it can be safely assumed that we will not be seeing any patenting of S/W in India anytime soon. And India cannot be the only country that sees it so clearly. There must be other nations too who will shoot off Patent bills.
So as a result there will always be nations where patents are useless. And that also doesn't mean that the larger corporations will stop providing services or offshoring jobs to India. It is a massive consumer market as well as a hugely cost-effective and educated developer resource. These advantages are far more valuable for corporations that a measly few patents.
The medium and small businesses that generally find themselves restricted due to patents, however, will find it really favorable to move into a country like India where they can implement (or rip off) those ideas that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to.
What good is a patent law going to do for a country and, for that matter, the software industry? It is valid in only that country anyway. What is to stop people from using those patented algorithms/ideas in other countries like, say, India?
Could someone please tell how a patent law will benefit a country? (not sarcasm, genuine question)
Is 3D acceleration going to be supported for i810 in 7.0? 6.9 is pretty much a "modularization" release and there was no mention of i810 3D acceleration in those articles.
China is the second largest in the number of users on Broadband. Wonder what all these users do online with so many of their activities censored/monitored (blogs, email, sites).
Am I wrong to infer that the attempts of the Chinese government to censor internet access are not really effective. Either that or the chinese have gotten used to the restrictions and are satisfied with playing within the limits.
I would have taken the latter for granted except that my web server logs told a completely different story.
And this happens just when I was starting to think of IBM as the good guys...
Nobody's the good guy here. Everybody's doing business. If its cheaper to have operations in country X then businesses will move there. Tomorrow if China gives out more favorable conditions then many jobs will move there too.
Its just very clear that software companies can cut down costs immensely by getting an Indian programmer in India or some other Asian country to do it rather than in the US or Europe. Just look at the difference in wages: Rs 15,00,000 (approx $30,000) per annum for an experienced Project Manager. Which US or UK PM would work for that much?
Actually quite a few institutions and organisations have this kind of setup. Servers use Unix systems because of their inherent security and stability. Clients use Windows because most users find it easier to work on.
I would like to add a bit to this. Windows is what everyone as a beginner is introduced to, either as a kid, or a non-techie in office here in India. The reason for that is that here the cost of a Windows box is just as much as a Linux box -- it's free!! Why you ask? Thats because most of the PCs sold in India are through private vendors who have one copy of a Windows CD which they had bought from Lamington Road for 100 Rs ($2 approx.) and use that to install Windows on every machine they sell. For subsequent installations the CD is just copied onto the hard drive. I guess only some corporates in India have their systems on licensed copies of Windows.
Now I mention this because now Microsoft is hoping to crack down on piracy by including measures in the OS itself (dialling home to ensure validity, etc.). Once they get this right the large user base that it boasts of will face a major hit as all the users who depended on the pirated version (a million or two in India itself) will be locked back in the older desktop and will eventually look for other alternatives as their needs increase.
The incoming demand is for non-English speaking European workforce. Most of the offshoring is from the English speaking countries (US, UK most noteworthy). So getting jobs back to that side of the ocean is really not feasible yet. Take this for an example.
One can pay a senior S/w developer Rs 50000 in India (4-5 yrs of exp.) thats about $1000. How many US s/w guys with 5 years of experience would work in US for $1000 per month?
Also,Rs 50,000 per month in India means living in a posh apartment, owning a big car and living a luxurious life.
India getting European workforce into India means that it will do anything to keep the business that they have in hand till they can train people at home in European languages.
The cheapest Mac (Mac mini) comes for Rs 30000 (India) and the cheapest Compaq comes at
Rs 19000. That should address the huge difference in price; Rs 10000 (thats more than $200). So Apple may have to compromise on its profit margin to offer a price competitive to HP, Dell, etc.
Regarding development of cross platform apps, the point I am trying to make is that it won't get any easier to make apps just because they have migrated to x86. Everything else has always been the same anyways. What will change is the base architecture. And the change won't be of any more significance than for reducing the price by a bit and ofcourse, the hype of having migrated to the "commoner's platform". As I mentioned, all this will do is bring out a variation of an x86 architecture, something that works only with OSX, until the Linux (and other FOSS) guys work their asses off to develop a port for that arch.
I still don't see how it will change anything at all.
The platform that they will build around the x86 processor will be just as closed as was the case in its G5. It will still be difficult (a bit less maybe) to develop cross-platform apps with all the proprietary hardware in place. It will still be priced heavily. It was $999 before and now its $799. Still doesnt compare to a $499 or $399 or $199 for a generic x86 box. Even HP has a relatively cheaper line. Here in India you can get a decent branded HP desktop for around Rs 45000, whereas a Mac will cost upwards of Rs 60000-80000. So Apple will have to slash considerably to even fight with the HPs and Dells; linux is almost completely out of reach in this case.
The only way Apple could've cashed in was to market the x86 version right away (if they have it built that is) and cash in on the "We have come to the masses now" facade. By the time the two years pass by people will have enough time to realize that it is still the same old really really expensive Mac.
So things really don't change. The only thing that would change would probably be the list of platforms for which Debian is available, with the addition of something like a i386-mac.
Cellphones are becoming more and more like swiss army knifes, providing countless number of features - cameras, mp3 players, gaming, email, etc. If cellphones are going to end iPods and other MP3 Players then they should put an end to cameras too in the near future with increasingly efficient resolutions of phonecams.
But in reality that is unlikely. Cameras will have a place in the market, regardless of advances of phonecam technology, because there will always be people, a whole lot of them actually, who would prefer an exclusive camera that doesn't disturb with phone calls while taking a picture. Similarly there will be people who would prefer an MP3 player that doesn't disturb their listening pleasure.
It would be interesting to know the user base that took the survey. If it really is majorly "IT Decision Makers" then this really amazing result because then it means that these guys really do appreciate the real power of Linux.
Also the number of participants is also not mentioned. That too will affect the validity of the results
The only way I see google restricting its searches is through its country domains. It automatically redirects to your country domain (for example, if I'm in India I'm redirected to google.co.in). So probably searching through that domain will lead to censored results. Searching from the international domain should not lead to any censors unless google decides to explicitly modify its search algorithm to identify the destination country for each search/session.
Anyway there's tons of ways to bypass that. There's always anonymous proxies. So the effort to censor the Internet is really a vain one.
this college that had hosted a real Pacman game with 4 guys running around the block in colored ghost capes trying to catch a guy wearing a yellow Pacman face. I saw it on a gaming TV show, so I can't share any link to back me up on this one.
But inspite of the *real life* experience, I doubt if anyone would really want to *buy* this car game (probably not their intention in the first place). It probably could become a big hit in arcades and malls.
There's tons of GPL'd projects that are completely coded in Java. If Sun at all does an about face in future it will change the way the industry functions in many ways, because of the extremely widespread use of the language.
It is pointless delving so deeply into the minute details of the licensing of Java as it is much too deep rooted into the IT industry and the open source community for Sun to take any such step without facing major opposition and not to mention, a huge dent on its goodwill. Remember, its not Microsoft that it could simply *buy* support for itself.
This will definitely attract more developers to OSS. Whats more, its not just blind competition. i2p is promoting working in teams rather than competing and, I assume, sharing the bounty. So in that case there's only winners here.
But is it worth quitting your job for this?? Probably too early. Maybe experienced developers who have already made significant contributions to OSS projects could risk it.
Pretty sure people would want to know that. There's been
concerns over the color of the crash screen causing stress to users. They must be allowed to prepare themselves mentally.
Slashdot Mirror
As more countries make the transition from 3rd world, the people living there will begin to realize they are worth more then the $5,000 a year they are making
I'm afraid its not as simple as that. For you, in the US, $5000 is not much because the cost of everything around you is too much for you to support yourself and your family in $5000 a year. Even as 3rd world countries grow, their currency value doesn't necessarily appreciate. Due to this, for me, in India, $5000 a year translates to 200,000 a year, which is a decent middle class income, sufficient for me to get a two room apartment and other necessities. Add to that the fact that companies also provide other facilities like lunches and travel. So they already have what they're worth and are unlikely to ask for more.
What could be a bit discouraging for the indian BPO market though is the fact that BPO employees (especially call centers) do not always stick to that line of profession. that's not because they're not paid enough, they get paid more than what they're qualified for, much much more. its only because people who are employed are generally part-timers from college or freshers who just want to start earning first and then think about a career path. That is why you would always see a huge demand for employees for call centers in India, not necessarily because of the sheer volume of business they get.
True, they would try to get patenting everywhere. But the fact as of today remains that India has already unanimously thrown the IT Patent bill out of the window. Its not a marginal case Europe, so it can be safely assumed that we will not be seeing any patenting of S/W in India anytime soon. And India cannot be the only country that sees it so clearly. There must be other nations too who will shoot off Patent bills.
So as a result there will always be nations where patents are useless. And that also doesn't mean that the larger corporations will stop providing services or offshoring jobs to India. It is a massive consumer market as well as a hugely cost-effective and educated developer resource. These advantages are far more valuable for corporations that a measly few patents.
The medium and small businesses that generally find themselves restricted due to patents, however, will find it really favorable to move into a country like India where they can implement (or rip off) those ideas that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to.
What good is a patent law going to do for a country and, for that matter, the software industry? It is valid in only that country anyway. What is to stop people from using those patented algorithms/ideas in other countries like, say, India?
Could someone please tell how a patent law will benefit a country? (not sarcasm, genuine question)
Is 3D acceleration going to be supported for i810 in 7.0? 6.9 is pretty much a "modularization" release and there was no mention of i810 3D acceleration in those articles.
China is the second largest in the number of users on Broadband. Wonder what all these users do online with so many of their activities censored/monitored (blogs, email, sites).
Am I wrong to infer that the attempts of the Chinese government to censor internet access are not really effective. Either that or the chinese have gotten used to the restrictions and are satisfied with playing within the limits.
I would have taken the latter for granted except that my web server logs told a completely different story.
And this happens just when I was starting to think of IBM as the good guys...
Nobody's the good guy here. Everybody's doing business. If its cheaper to have operations in country X then businesses will move there. Tomorrow if China gives out more favorable conditions then many jobs will move there too.
Its just very clear that software companies can cut down costs immensely by getting an Indian programmer in India or some other Asian country to do it rather than in the US or Europe. Just look at the difference in wages: Rs 15,00,000 (approx $30,000) per annum for an experienced Project Manager. Which US or UK PM would work for that much?
Actually quite a few institutions and organisations have this kind of setup. Servers use Unix systems because of their inherent security and stability. Clients use Windows because most users find it easier to work on.
I would like to add a bit to this. Windows is what everyone as a beginner is introduced to, either as a kid, or a non-techie in office here in India. The reason for that is that here the cost of a Windows box is just as much as a Linux box -- it's free!! Why you ask? Thats because most of the PCs sold in India are through private vendors who have one copy of a Windows CD which they had bought from Lamington Road for 100 Rs ($2 approx.) and use that to install Windows on every machine they sell. For subsequent installations the CD is just copied onto the hard drive. I guess only some corporates in India have their systems on licensed copies of Windows.
Now I mention this because now Microsoft is hoping to crack down on piracy by including measures in the OS itself (dialling home to ensure validity, etc.). Once they get this right the large user base that it boasts of will face a major hit as all the users who depended on the pirated version (a million or two in India itself) will be locked back in the older desktop and will eventually look for other alternatives as their needs increase.
There goes SymphonyOS. The site has reached its bandwidth limit.
The incoming demand is for non-English speaking European workforce. Most of the offshoring is from the English speaking countries (US, UK most noteworthy). So getting jobs back to that side of the ocean is really not feasible yet. Take this for an example.
One can pay a senior S/w developer Rs 50000 in India (4-5 yrs of exp.) thats about $1000. How many US s/w guys with 5 years of experience would work in US for $1000 per month?
Also,Rs 50,000 per month in India means living in a posh apartment, owning a big car and living a luxurious life.
India getting European workforce into India means that it will do anything to keep the business that they have in hand till they can train people at home in European languages.
The cheapest Mac (Mac mini) comes for Rs 30000 (India) and the cheapest Compaq comes at Rs 19000. That should address the huge difference in price; Rs 10000 (thats more than $200). So Apple may have to compromise on its profit margin to offer a price competitive to HP, Dell, etc.
Regarding development of cross platform apps, the point I am trying to make is that it won't get any easier to make apps just because they have migrated to x86. Everything else has always been the same anyways. What will change is the base architecture. And the change won't be of any more significance than for reducing the price by a bit and ofcourse, the hype of having migrated to the "commoner's platform". As I mentioned, all this will do is bring out a variation of an x86 architecture, something that works only with OSX, until the Linux (and other FOSS) guys work their asses off to develop a port for that arch.
I still don't see how it will change anything at all.
The platform that they will build around the x86 processor will be just as closed as was the case in its G5.
It will still be difficult (a bit less maybe) to develop cross-platform apps with all the proprietary hardware in place.
It will still be priced heavily. It was $999 before and now its $799. Still doesnt compare to a $499 or $399 or $199 for a generic x86 box. Even HP has a relatively cheaper line. Here in India you can get a decent branded HP desktop for around Rs 45000, whereas a Mac will cost upwards of Rs 60000-80000. So Apple will have to slash considerably to even fight with the HPs and Dells; linux is almost completely out of reach in this case.
The only way Apple could've cashed in was to market the x86 version right away (if they have it built that is) and cash in on the "We have come to the masses now" facade. By the time the two years pass by people will have enough time to realize that it is still the same old really really expensive Mac.
So things really don't change. The only thing that would change would probably be the list of platforms for which Debian is available, with the addition of something like a i386-mac.
Look again... Its 1000 now!!!
apparently only users with common passwords, like dictionary words, are affected
I guess I'm safe then... I doubt that anyone has eU5L83Bs as their password.....
Oh wait....
Not too many but here's some I could find:
The Inquirer
HTML FixIt.Com
PCLinuxOnline
PCLinuxOnline seems to be the original news breaker as both the above articles refer to it.
There already are a few, although not as high in capacity as the iPod. Here's some links:
r ola-mpxcell-phone-pda-mp3-player-camera-allinone.a sp
http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/voip/moto
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7312
The second aticle seems to be inspired by Bill Gates' view (or vice-versa?) that iPods may be killed by cellphones (Nokia in this case).
Cellphones are becoming more and more like swiss army knifes, providing countless number of features - cameras, mp3 players, gaming, email, etc. If cellphones are going to end iPods and other MP3 Players then they should put an end to cameras too in the near future with increasingly efficient resolutions of phonecams.
But in reality that is unlikely. Cameras will have a place in the market, regardless of advances of phonecam technology, because there will always be people, a whole lot of them actually, who would prefer an exclusive camera that doesn't disturb with phone calls while taking a picture. Similarly there will be people who would prefer an MP3 player that doesn't disturb their listening pleasure.
>> Offered for sale on the websites were pornography, pills, pirated software and fake fancy watches.
> So what's the problem here?
My guess is the fake watches. They wanted *real* ones at that price.
Because if it hasn't then its not as interesting as this.
It would be interesting to know the user base that took the survey. If it really is majorly "IT Decision Makers" then this really amazing result because then it means that these guys really do appreciate the real power of Linux.
Also the number of participants is also not mentioned. That too will affect the validity of the results
The only way I see google restricting its searches is through its country domains. It automatically redirects to your country domain (for example, if I'm in India I'm redirected to google.co.in). So probably searching through that domain will lead to censored results. Searching from the international domain should not lead to any censors unless google decides to explicitly modify its search algorithm to identify the destination country for each search/session.
Anyway there's tons of ways to bypass that. There's always anonymous proxies. So the effort to censor the Internet is really a vain one.
this college that had hosted a real Pacman game with 4 guys running around the block in colored ghost capes trying to catch a guy wearing a yellow Pacman face. I saw it on a gaming TV show, so I can't share any link to back me up on this one.
But inspite of the *real life* experience, I doubt if anyone would really want to *buy* this car game (probably not their intention in the first place). It probably could become a big hit in arcades and malls.
There's tons of GPL'd projects that are completely coded in Java. If Sun at all does an about face in future it will change the way the industry functions in many ways, because of the extremely widespread use of the language.
It is pointless delving so deeply into the minute details of the licensing of Java as it is much too deep rooted into the IT industry and the open source community for Sun to take any such step without facing major opposition and not to mention, a huge dent on its goodwill. Remember, its not Microsoft that it could simply *buy* support for itself.
This will definitely attract more developers to OSS. Whats more, its not just blind competition. i2p is promoting working in teams rather than competing and, I assume, sharing the bounty. So in that case there's only winners here.
But is it worth quitting your job for this?? Probably too early. Maybe experienced developers who have already made significant contributions to OSS projects could risk it.
Mod Parent Insightful.
Pretty sure people would want to know that. There's been concerns over the color of the crash screen causing stress to users. They must be allowed to prepare themselves mentally.