The RIAA, and MPAA will want to "watch" the internet through this network and nab any Tom dick and Harry who pass music files.
Something so incredibly nefarious like a gross invasion of civil liberties and free speech somehow gets segued into yet another blathering rant about the RIAA/MIAA? They aren't the satan that so many seem to try to portray them. Then you say...
Of course, independant music won't be distinguished in order to make thier stats look better
Bwahahahaahahahahaahahahaha! Excuse me while I push my busted gut back in. You have got to be kidding. It's this sort of nonsensical, ABSOLUTELY DREAMLAND sort of defense that makes me think that the RIAA/MIAA really are the good guys in all of this. I would wager, and I would literally put money on the line if it weren't illegal, that >99.9% (yup, even including the.9) of traded music files are copyrighted "pop" songs. Indeed you only need to look to Slashdot for yet more ridiculous self-justification of people saying that they P2P because they want only the "good" (read "played on the Top 40 station") songs and not the "filler" (again, the "not player on the top 40". Ignore the fact that the "filler" is often the most profound, highest integrity music on most CDs. When I play CDs it's from beginning to end, and I can't stand when aholes put something on for the one played a million times song and then swap to the next pop favourite).
I don't use the net as much as I did because of all the popups, spam and corporate cluelessness.
I absolutely hate pop-ups, and honestly I think most commercial sites are starting to learn how despised they are (they are becoming more rare), however you see pop-ups when you are reading content and consuming resouces from someone else: Don't go there! No one is forcing you to go to teenchat.com.
Well in this case it COST $250, so it's difficult to save yourself "a coupl eof hundred bucks" having to buy all of the hardware.
However that's not my point: The original poster was asking if it was competitively priced - Well 99.99% of home electronics buyers are not systems administrators, programmers, or even really computer hobbyists. It is those people that I'm talking about, specifically that they can't throw these together themselves anyways.
I may know that it only takes a mechanic a couple of hours to fix my car, but that doesn't somehow mean that therefore I can just do it myself.
Seems to me the solution is to whack budding programmers' knuckles with a ruler until they get in the habit of using bounds checking with each and every buffer their program requires, written on the spot and not tacked on as an afterthought.
There is a downside to bounds checking though: The natural evolution of the idea is a "managed" model like.NET or Java- While they offer safe evirons, the extensive checking that they bring along with them (including garbage collection which is, to me, an absolutely ridiculous idea) is computationally costly. This is the reason why a Java applet on your super faster Athlon 2400+ feels like you're running a 486.
But considering that probably half the coders out there are self-taught and still have whatever good or bad habits they started with..
This has nothing to do with being self-taught or not: It has to do with the standards and processes that an organization sets on its code. It also has to do with a boss saying "I want all these features by next week as the top priority!" in reply to "I should probably spend some time hardening the code and auditing it for potential exploits" (a very, very common scenario).
Well firstly your solution presumes that one's time is free: If you put a value on the hours you spend putting the system together, configuring all of the software, etc, suddenly it isn't economical. Rather than seeing it as a hobbyist, think "If I were to go into business making these for other people, what would I charge?". I suspect that you'd be surprized. Of course on top of all of that is the expense and availability issues in finding a "stereo component" sized computer case that integrates into an AV system (no dropping a giant beige case sputtering away with a dozen fans isn't viable).
Secondarily, it's highly likely that they're using one of the new Sigma Designs chipsets, the new one which includes some Divx support. Indeed if I were to build a PC based playback device (the only thing holding me back is the case, as previously mentioned. For fans I'd reduce that by using a Via C3 with passive cooling), I'd base it around a Sigma Designs XCard.
I see no good reason for the OS to really get involved except for opening and reading the file and allowing it to the sound card.
The application is running in the OS, and as it's operating as your little slave, it has the priviledges that you have on your PC (and from that malicious code that spawns off when a MP3 ID, for instance, is longer than it expects and overwrites too small of a stack based buffer, also has the rights that you have on your PC). Hence if you're a user you can wipe all your user files, and if you're an admin you can wipe the machine.
This is no different than Linux, and buffer overflow exploits can be found equally on both, it just tends to be that the firms that make tonnes of publicity finding exploits (i.e. eEye) spends all their time scanning Windows applications because that gets press, whereas saying that you found a fault in some obscure Linux app gets ignored.
Sorry I wasn't trying to cast doubt on what you saw, but rather to show astonishment that they would. Even Windows CE is far more suitable for an ATM style task.
System stability is generally inversely proportional to system complexity (though time acts as a modifer on that equation...hrmm... SS=T*(1/SC)), and Windows 2000 is just way, way, way more complex than a simple ATM GUI needs. QNX, or some other extremely lightweight, very focused system would be far more appropriate.
This morning on the walk from the train station to my office I saw a internet terminal in Union Station (Toronto) running Windows 2000 with a application error dialog up...how do shoddy installations like that happen? I don't blame that on Windows 2000, but rather on a deployment team that can't do something as simple as having a background daemon that checks that the app is running properly, and kills and restarts it when it isn't.
How is that cruel? That is absolutely, completely normal administration, and anything less is gross negligence. Indeed, it should be common practice to reset any administrative password that a former employee might have had, and any coworkers password that they may have known: It has nothing to do with trust of mistrust, and even if it was the Pope who just left your employ that is standard protocol.
Is EA really that big? I mean disney seems to own or have their fingers in just about all media. EA just doesn't seem as prevalent.
If curious check out the stats on the Nasdaq page. Disney has a market capitalization of $35 billion, whereas EA is a still very respectable $8.5 billion: Much larger than I imagined (considered how massive Disney is).
Windows 2000 is thoroughly unsuited to running ATMs, and I find it very difficult to believe that they would. On the same theme, Linux is thoroughly unsuited to running ATMs as well (though I'm sure the fanatics would claim that Linux with a MySQL backend would roxxor!). ATMs need an OS like QNX.
Re:Book, benchmarks and other things...
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Professional PHP4
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Having a cross section of multiple developers from multiple platforms agreeing to common test terms would help eliminate that, I think.
I agree that something like this would be beneficial. Sort of on a tangent, I'd love to see a serious showdown between Postgresql and the heavyweights including feature lists, performance on a common platform, scalability, etc. I've found that Postgresql seems to get advocated a lot (as a natural step-up for MySQL fanatics when they realize that their MySQL advocacy is a little hollow) yet there are virtually no metrics or empirical evidence to back any superiority claims (versus Oracle, or SQL Server, or Interbase, etc).
Having said that, it is extremely difficult to make something unbiased. Bias can come into play in things as simple as "which features to list on the feature comparison list" (for instance, again segueing to Postgresql, a business associate recently pointed out a "failing" in SQL Server in that it didn't let you do XYZ, yet there is no credible reason that anyone would ever want to do XYZ in a real world situation. That sort of line item is common in feature lists).
I think you meant for the company, but I personally think it's going to mean the end of the technology sector as a job option for U.S. citizens...
Firstly, pretend that it was: Do you think that "American" firms loyally staying at home would be the answer? In the world of free trade, such a exercise would be their DOOM as "foreign" companies came in and eat their soup. Having said that, I don't think this is happening whatsoever, and again it's classic linear extrapolation. In any case you are seeing it as zero-sum: Their gain is your loss. What about the billion+ consumers in India, just picking it as an example? What happens when they all get online and need software and computers and chips and support?
North America? I hope that doesn't mean Mexico. I lurk on VW newsgroups, and people claim that VWs made there (vs. Germany) are junk. Maybe Honda has a better track record, tho....
Indeed I have heard that Mexican car quality is horrendous, and Mexico is actually a great example of globilization self-stabilizing: When free trade first took off a tonne of companies ran down there to set up shop envisioning super cheap labour, but quickly came back with their tails between their leg when they found an uneducated, unmotivated workforce with a very low quality standard, and a corrupt and unstable government. They also found that the hourly wages of employees isn't quite as big of a deal when you have a horrendous power system, poor healthcare,etc.
In any case my Odyssey was made in Ontario, though other Odysseys are made in Louisiana I believe. People have been preaching doom for Western society for DECADES, and apart from internal fluctuations I strangely haven't seen it come to fruition.
Just because some random lackey in some random office says something (BTW: I knew you would point out HP as I saw that story a week back. One random slug in one company that is barely an influence in consulting anyways) doesn't mean that it's true, and personally I find the idea of HP moving all consultants to India to be absolutely ridiculous (as consultants are usually localized...most firms won't deal with consultants in a different city, much less around the globe). It's also been shown throughout time that firms like to do this sort of posturing to get their way: Perhaps to get people to accept lower wagers, or for the government to get off their backs. Of course that sort of penny pinching is usually the beginning of the end.
Regarding companies being ready for the Asian expansion: There is a difference between a company truly being multinational, and being an "American" company with posturing sales offices in foreign countries. The former generally engenders a feeling of loyalty from the local crowd (I just bought a Honda Odyssey because I know that they have significant engineering here, and it's made here in North America. I bought a car that is as North American as any), whereas the latter is just a sales vehicle.
As for a first-rate educational system...hmmm. What's India's illiteracy rate? 50, 60 percent? Yeah, top-notch
Well generally you don't hire the entire country when you set up shop. Of those who are educated the education system is first-rate, or so I've heard.
But I *don't* see why American companies have to fall all over themselves to move jobs there, if only to boost profit margins for next few quarters or years.
And what happens when Asia explodes, which it is doing right now (indeed the telecom sector is looking at a possible huge resurgence because of Asia pushing demand)? Would you rather that French and Chinese and Japanese companies owned the market, or American companies that created a foothold get a share of the pie too?
In any case tales of mass exoduses are just that: Imaginary creations of reporters trying to make a story. Are there organizations spreading out their multinational wings? Absolutely. Are they doing so in droves? Absolutely not.
why is it's companies sending the Design/Dev jobs to other countries?
You know how many "foreign" engineering firms have engineering offices in the US? Thousands upon thousands upon thousands. Of course people ignore them and instead focus on some doomsday tech baby talking about how big multinational is opening a development office in India.
As a sidenote, there are few "American" companies, just as there are few "Japanese" companies. These are multinational corporations that span that globe. Often they set up shop in countries to basically patronize a people tha they hope will patronize them in return (i.e. No longer is it "The American Devil's Product!", but rather "That company that has the big office in Monkeytown").
India is over a BILLION people, and this wide eyed surprize about engineering taking place there just seems bizarre.
You think the administration and communications costs of running a division in India, for instance, are free? You are absolutely insane. I'm not talking about just the long distance (although that would add up), but the significant time spent on communications, naturally the increased data security costs, and losses due to communication gaps.
Once Indians get too pricey, the multinationals will move their operations and front groups to focus on poorer, more desperate people, all the while proclaiming to be "American" companies.
This is ridiculous. Desperate people who are computer programmers or engineers? That seems a little absurd. India is yielding gold on the fact that they have a first rate educational system and a motivated workforce: More power to them! The idea that this transplants anywhere that there are "Desperate" people is ridiculous.
Already, Russia and China are trying to edge out India in destroying American jobs.
You mean the American jobs making products that are used and consumed around the world? You see the economy as a zero sum game and that's unfortunately how a lot of people see it, and THAT will be the failing of America if it fails to see the potential.
This same sort of "they're stealing all our jobs!" BS comes out everytime that there is a economic slowdown...then there's a boom again and suddenly every employer is offering $100K, despite lots of desperate people in nowhere land.
It's foolish to think that any buiding in foreign lands somehow indicates the imminent demise of Western civilization (as people do classic, and as ignorant as always, linear extrapolation of trends). Firstly, if there are smart people in India, or China, or wherever, and if they represent a well education population with a stable society, then why can't they contribute in the world economy? I'd set up shop there too simply because it makes sense to have regional suppliers: The Asian area accounts for a hearty percentage of the Earth's population, so you probably should be ready to cater to them. Secondly once these shops move in a funny thing starts to happen: The wealth and wages of the people rise, they start buying the goods that they're buiding spreading the wealth, and it's a better economy for everyone. Already I've heard that a good Indian programmer costs about $22,000US/year: That's a far cry from the slave labour prices in the nasceant days of the Indian tech sector, and it makes it a lot more of a toss up if it's really worth it locating over there, but at the same time when it is it imbues the people with the wealth to turn around and buy those chips and switches and software.
Acronyms and titles on processes are often a great source of hilarity as well meaning and inferior feeling developers will go along with whatever you say just to seem like they're "in" with whatever is hip and cool (despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of these things are fringe technologies and processes that overwhelmingly people have no clue, rightly, about).
"Are you familiar with the CORAN 2 process?" "Oh yeah...we use that a lot." "Really? I use it in concert with UMX and ICBM VSLAM for maximum effect. We use Agile Extremities processes with core-duplex programming methodologies" "Ooooh...sounds awesome!" "Yeah, it's good stuff. You really need quad-programming to and read once write never methodologies to have quality code. As long as you use over the shoulder management with sycophant posterior gestulations it all turns out good."
Re:solution for one of the problems..
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Microsoft routinely sends out patches that negatively affect their own damned applications...
"Routinely"? A very small portion of patches had a very small affect on a couple of specific versions of specific applications. This doesn't stop this FUD from regurgitating perpetually though.
I think a better point to critique on his phone analogy is the implied point that the phone system isn't held together with "bailing wire" or "chewing gum."
That ignores the fact that Marc is quite late to the game: Most data centers that I've seen have gorgeous false floors with super conduit and excellently run cable, with network infrastrctures that are beautiful. His portrayal of these adhoc centers is ridiculous.
And exactly as you mentioned he's comparing something that is trivial and well-proven with something astronomically more complex.
Re:I always just "look" busy
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Mind you virtually no one is fooled by the alt-tab: When everytime you walk near somebody their screen flickers as they swap windows, or they fervently hit the keys whenever someone nears, you know that they are slacking, but to many people the thought process will be that they're looking at porn or playing a game.
If you aren't willing to do it as "research" (for instance as funny as it sounds Slashdot can be a work-related website for many tech firms. It is "putting your ear to the ground" in a sense), then I recommend what another recommended which is that you browse in a manner that is inconspicuous and requires no screen swapping: Lynx, or grahics-less.
The "niche" is that it becomes the new norm, just like every other improvement in computer technology. Did printers stop at 1 ppm because "who needs faster"?
Personally I can absolutely see the use of these. Every now and then I have to transfer large amounts of data between locations, and I usually am just about to leave at a moments notice (i.e. I'm working on something and Bob drops by) so I want to quickly spin off a backup to bring with me. The difference between 1 minute and 6 seconds and 5 minutes is HUGE in that situation, just as it's huge when you're printing off a big report, even though that 1ppm printer is great when you're only printing off the odd page.
But they are fighting an uphill battle against free-and-open in that space
One thing that should be pointed out is that with Windows PocketPC, for instance, the Platform Builder basically includes the source code for the entire platform, and you tailer the build to target your device/system (and of course you can change anything in the code that you want). Open source, in that you can modify it, but not free.
However it should be noted that this idea that Windows had the market and Linux is not taking it is incorrect: A slew of `proprietary' OS' owned embedded devices, but then Windows, and pretty much at the same time Linux, decided to get in it. Microsoft has had a hard time mostly because they're Microsoft: A lot of companies won't partner with them because they are branches of companies that compete with Microsoft in other areas (one of those pitfalls for both companies in that their strategy open remains static across the organization).
You know that points out one of the best companies for avoiding those sorts of constraints on their decisions: IBM. IBM has always impressed me in that they're looking out for IBM (which is what all companies should be doing): They push Linux from one side while building high end Windows servers in another. They'll partner with Microsoft for.NET, while on the other end they're pushing Websphere and J2EE.
I completely agree that the more the better, but the problem is that Palm has traditionally been hanging on by the hairs of their chiney-chin-chin (even when absolutely dominating the market): How can the PocketPC making huge inroads help that? The turning point for the PocketPC, in my opinion, was the Toshiba e310 and e740 (there's an Audiovox I believe that's basically the e540), not only economical but very, very small. That article hints at the fact that in a single quarter Toshiba went from virtually no marketshare to 5.5% of the marketshare (and that was before the e740 with the xScale 400Mhz and integrated 802.11b was considered). Now the e310 is quite a bit cheaper, and the e740 is selling like hotcakes. I suspect that the PocketPC numbers will be much, much higher in the next survey. Secondary to that is the fact that Dell is entering the market with a $200 PocketPC. Again, these things can't be good against Palm that already was navigating dire straights.
Slashdot Mirror
They have the internet on computers now?
The RIAA, and MPAA will want to "watch" the internet through this network and nab any Tom dick and Harry who pass music files.
.9) of traded music files are copyrighted "pop" songs. Indeed you only need to look to Slashdot for yet more ridiculous self-justification of people saying that they P2P because they want only the "good" (read "played on the Top 40 station") songs and not the "filler" (again, the "not player on the top 40". Ignore the fact that the "filler" is often the most profound, highest integrity music on most CDs. When I play CDs it's from beginning to end, and I can't stand when aholes put something on for the one played a million times song and then swap to the next pop favourite).
Something so incredibly nefarious like a gross invasion of civil liberties and free speech somehow gets segued into yet another blathering rant about the RIAA/MIAA? They aren't the satan that so many seem to try to portray them. Then you say...
Of course, independant music won't be distinguished in order to make thier stats look better
Bwahahahaahahahahaahahahaha! Excuse me while I push my busted gut back in. You have got to be kidding. It's this sort of nonsensical, ABSOLUTELY DREAMLAND sort of defense that makes me think that the RIAA/MIAA really are the good guys in all of this. I would wager, and I would literally put money on the line if it weren't illegal, that >99.9% (yup, even including the
I don't use the net as much as I did because of all the popups, spam and corporate cluelessness.
I absolutely hate pop-ups, and honestly I think most commercial sites are starting to learn how despised they are (they are becoming more rare), however you see pop-ups when you are reading content and consuming resouces from someone else: Don't go there! No one is forcing you to go to teenchat.com.
Well in this case it COST $250, so it's difficult to save yourself "a coupl eof hundred bucks" having to buy all of the hardware.
However that's not my point: The original poster was asking if it was competitively priced - Well 99.99% of home electronics buyers are not systems administrators, programmers, or even really computer hobbyists. It is those people that I'm talking about, specifically that they can't throw these together themselves anyways.
I may know that it only takes a mechanic a couple of hours to fix my car, but that doesn't somehow mean that therefore I can just do it myself.
Seems to me the solution is to whack budding programmers' knuckles with a ruler until they get in the habit of using bounds checking with each and every buffer their program requires, written on the spot and not tacked on as an afterthought.
.NET or Java- While they offer safe evirons, the extensive checking that they bring along with them (including garbage collection which is, to me, an absolutely ridiculous idea) is computationally costly. This is the reason why a Java applet on your super faster Athlon 2400+ feels like you're running a 486.
There is a downside to bounds checking though: The natural evolution of the idea is a "managed" model like
But considering that probably half the coders out there are self-taught and still have whatever good or bad habits they started with..
This has nothing to do with being self-taught or not: It has to do with the standards and processes that an organization sets on its code. It also has to do with a boss saying "I want all these features by next week as the top priority!" in reply to "I should probably spend some time hardening the code and auditing it for potential exploits" (a very, very common scenario).
Well firstly your solution presumes that one's time is free: If you put a value on the hours you spend putting the system together, configuring all of the software, etc, suddenly it isn't economical. Rather than seeing it as a hobbyist, think "If I were to go into business making these for other people, what would I charge?". I suspect that you'd be surprized. Of course on top of all of that is the expense and availability issues in finding a "stereo component" sized computer case that integrates into an AV system (no dropping a giant beige case sputtering away with a dozen fans isn't viable).
Secondarily, it's highly likely that they're using one of the new Sigma Designs chipsets, the new one which includes some Divx support. Indeed if I were to build a PC based playback device (the only thing holding me back is the case, as previously mentioned. For fans I'd reduce that by using a Via C3 with passive cooling), I'd base it around a Sigma Designs XCard.
I see no good reason for the OS to really get involved except for opening and reading the file and allowing it to the sound card.
The application is running in the OS, and as it's operating as your little slave, it has the priviledges that you have on your PC (and from that malicious code that spawns off when a MP3 ID, for instance, is longer than it expects and overwrites too small of a stack based buffer, also has the rights that you have on your PC). Hence if you're a user you can wipe all your user files, and if you're an admin you can wipe the machine.
This is no different than Linux, and buffer overflow exploits can be found equally on both, it just tends to be that the firms that make tonnes of publicity finding exploits (i.e. eEye) spends all their time scanning Windows applications because that gets press, whereas saying that you found a fault in some obscure Linux app gets ignored.
Sorry I wasn't trying to cast doubt on what you saw, but rather to show astonishment that they would. Even Windows CE is far more suitable for an ATM style task.
System stability is generally inversely proportional to system complexity (though time acts as a modifer on that equation...hrmm... SS=T*(1/SC)), and Windows 2000 is just way, way, way more complex than a simple ATM GUI needs. QNX, or some other extremely lightweight, very focused system would be far more appropriate.
This morning on the walk from the train station to my office I saw a internet terminal in Union Station (Toronto) running Windows 2000 with a application error dialog up...how do shoddy installations like that happen? I don't blame that on Windows 2000, but rather on a deployment team that can't do something as simple as having a background daemon that checks that the app is running properly, and kills and restarts it when it isn't.
How is that cruel? That is absolutely, completely normal administration, and anything less is gross negligence. Indeed, it should be common practice to reset any administrative password that a former employee might have had, and any coworkers password that they may have known: It has nothing to do with trust of mistrust, and even if it was the Pope who just left your employ that is standard protocol.
Is EA really that big? I mean disney seems to own or have their fingers in just about all media. EA just doesn't seem as prevalent.
If curious check out the stats on the Nasdaq page. Disney has a market capitalization of $35 billion, whereas EA is a still very respectable $8.5 billion: Much larger than I imagined (considered how massive Disney is).
Windows 2000 is thoroughly unsuited to running ATMs, and I find it very difficult to believe that they would. On the same theme, Linux is thoroughly unsuited to running ATMs as well (though I'm sure the fanatics would claim that Linux with a MySQL backend would roxxor!). ATMs need an OS like QNX.
Having a cross section of multiple developers from multiple platforms agreeing to common test terms would help eliminate that, I think.
I agree that something like this would be beneficial. Sort of on a tangent, I'd love to see a serious showdown between Postgresql and the heavyweights including feature lists, performance on a common platform, scalability, etc. I've found that Postgresql seems to get advocated a lot (as a natural step-up for MySQL fanatics when they realize that their MySQL advocacy is a little hollow) yet there are virtually no metrics or empirical evidence to back any superiority claims (versus Oracle, or SQL Server, or Interbase, etc).
Having said that, it is extremely difficult to make something unbiased. Bias can come into play in things as simple as "which features to list on the feature comparison list" (for instance, again segueing to Postgresql, a business associate recently pointed out a "failing" in SQL Server in that it didn't let you do XYZ, yet there is no credible reason that anyone would ever want to do XYZ in a real world situation. That sort of line item is common in feature lists).
I think you meant for the company, but I personally think it's going to mean the end of the technology sector as a job option for U.S. citizens...
Firstly, pretend that it was: Do you think that "American" firms loyally staying at home would be the answer? In the world of free trade, such a exercise would be their DOOM as "foreign" companies came in and eat their soup. Having said that, I don't think this is happening whatsoever, and again it's classic linear extrapolation. In any case you are seeing it as zero-sum: Their gain is your loss. What about the billion+ consumers in India, just picking it as an example? What happens when they all get online and need software and computers and chips and support?
North America? I hope that doesn't mean Mexico. I lurk on VW newsgroups, and people claim that VWs made there (vs. Germany) are junk. Maybe Honda has a better track record, tho....
Indeed I have heard that Mexican car quality is horrendous, and Mexico is actually a great example of globilization self-stabilizing: When free trade first took off a tonne of companies ran down there to set up shop envisioning super cheap labour, but quickly came back with their tails between their leg when they found an uneducated, unmotivated workforce with a very low quality standard, and a corrupt and unstable government. They also found that the hourly wages of employees isn't quite as big of a deal when you have a horrendous power system, poor healthcare,etc.
In any case my Odyssey was made in Ontario, though other Odysseys are made in Louisiana I believe.
People have been preaching doom for Western society for DECADES, and apart from internal fluctuations I strangely haven't seen it come to fruition.
Just because some random lackey in some random office says something (BTW: I knew you would point out HP as I saw that story a week back. One random slug in one company that is barely an influence in consulting anyways) doesn't mean that it's true, and personally I find the idea of HP moving all consultants to India to be absolutely ridiculous (as consultants are usually localized...most firms won't deal with consultants in a different city, much less around the globe). It's also been shown throughout time that firms like to do this sort of posturing to get their way: Perhaps to get people to accept lower wagers, or for the government to get off their backs. Of course that sort of penny pinching is usually the beginning of the end.
Regarding companies being ready for the Asian expansion: There is a difference between a company truly being multinational, and being an "American" company with posturing sales offices in foreign countries. The former generally engenders a feeling of loyalty from the local crowd (I just bought a Honda Odyssey because I know that they have significant engineering here, and it's made here in North America. I bought a car that is as North American as any), whereas the latter is just a sales vehicle.
As for a first-rate educational system...hmmm. What's India's illiteracy rate? 50, 60 percent? Yeah, top-notch
Well generally you don't hire the entire country when you set up shop. Of those who are educated the education system is first-rate, or so I've heard.
But I *don't* see why American companies have to fall all over themselves to move jobs there, if only to boost profit margins for next few quarters or years.
And what happens when Asia explodes, which it is doing right now (indeed the telecom sector is looking at a possible huge resurgence because of Asia pushing demand)? Would you rather that French and Chinese and Japanese companies owned the market, or American companies that created a foothold get a share of the pie too?
In any case tales of mass exoduses are just that: Imaginary creations of reporters trying to make a story. Are there organizations spreading out their multinational wings? Absolutely. Are they doing so in droves? Absolutely not.
why is it's companies sending the Design/Dev jobs to other countries?
You know how many "foreign" engineering firms have engineering offices in the US? Thousands upon thousands upon thousands. Of course people ignore them and instead focus on some doomsday tech baby talking about how big multinational is opening a development office in India.
As a sidenote, there are few "American" companies, just as there are few "Japanese" companies. These are multinational corporations that span that globe. Often they set up shop in countries to basically patronize a people tha they hope will patronize them in return (i.e. No longer is it "The American Devil's Product!", but rather "That company that has the big office in Monkeytown").
India is over a BILLION people, and this wide eyed surprize about engineering taking place there just seems bizarre.
You think the administration and communications costs of running a division in India, for instance, are free? You are absolutely insane. I'm not talking about just the long distance (although that would add up), but the significant time spent on communications, naturally the increased data security costs, and losses due to communication gaps.
Once Indians get too pricey, the multinationals will move their operations and front groups to focus on poorer, more desperate people, all the while proclaiming to be "American" companies.
This is ridiculous. Desperate people who are computer programmers or engineers? That seems a little absurd. India is yielding gold on the fact that they have a first rate educational system and a motivated workforce: More power to them! The idea that this transplants anywhere that there are "Desperate" people is ridiculous.
Already, Russia and China are trying to edge out India in destroying American jobs.
You mean the American jobs making products that are used and consumed around the world? You see the economy as a zero sum game and that's unfortunately how a lot of people see it, and THAT will be the failing of America if it fails to see the potential.
This same sort of "they're stealing all our jobs!" BS comes out everytime that there is a economic slowdown...then there's a boom again and suddenly every employer is offering $100K, despite lots of desperate people in nowhere land.
There are millions upon millions of people who DO have the skills to code this type of system.
Bwahahaha...there are maybe 10,000 people worldwide with the skills to seriously kernel program. Millions of millions...uh huh...
It's foolish to think that any buiding in foreign lands somehow indicates the imminent demise of Western civilization (as people do classic, and as ignorant as always, linear extrapolation of trends). Firstly, if there are smart people in India, or China, or wherever, and if they represent a well education population with a stable society, then why can't they contribute in the world economy? I'd set up shop there too simply because it makes sense to have regional suppliers: The Asian area accounts for a hearty percentage of the Earth's population, so you probably should be ready to cater to them. Secondly once these shops move in a funny thing starts to happen: The wealth and wages of the people rise, they start buying the goods that they're buiding spreading the wealth, and it's a better economy for everyone. Already I've heard that a good Indian programmer costs about $22,000US/year: That's a far cry from the slave labour prices in the nasceant days of the Indian tech sector, and it makes it a lot more of a toss up if it's really worth it locating over there, but at the same time when it is it imbues the people with the wealth to turn around and buy those chips and switches and software.
Acronyms and titles on processes are often a great source of hilarity as well meaning and inferior feeling developers will go along with whatever you say just to seem like they're "in" with whatever is hip and cool (despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of these things are fringe technologies and processes that overwhelmingly people have no clue, rightly, about).
"Are you familiar with the CORAN 2 process?"
"Oh yeah...we use that a lot."
"Really? I use it in concert with UMX and ICBM VSLAM for maximum effect. We use Agile Extremities processes with core-duplex programming methodologies"
"Ooooh...sounds awesome!"
"Yeah, it's good stuff. You really need quad-programming to and read once write never methodologies to have quality code. As long as you use over the shoulder management with sycophant posterior gestulations it all turns out good."
Microsoft routinely sends out patches that negatively affect their own damned applications...
"Routinely"? A very small portion of patches had a very small affect on a couple of specific versions of specific applications. This doesn't stop this FUD from regurgitating perpetually though.
I think a better point to critique on his phone analogy is the implied point that the phone system isn't held together with "bailing wire" or "chewing gum."
That ignores the fact that Marc is quite late to the game: Most data centers that I've seen have gorgeous false floors with super conduit and excellently run cable, with network infrastrctures that are beautiful. His portrayal of these adhoc centers is ridiculous.
And exactly as you mentioned he's comparing something that is trivial and well-proven with something astronomically more complex.
Mind you virtually no one is fooled by the alt-tab: When everytime you walk near somebody their screen flickers as they swap windows, or they fervently hit the keys whenever someone nears, you know that they are slacking, but to many people the thought process will be that they're looking at porn or playing a game.
If you aren't willing to do it as "research" (for instance as funny as it sounds Slashdot can be a work-related website for many tech firms. It is "putting your ear to the ground" in a sense), then I recommend what another recommended which is that you browse in a manner that is inconspicuous and requires no screen swapping: Lynx, or grahics-less.
The "niche" is that it becomes the new norm, just like every other improvement in computer technology. Did printers stop at 1 ppm because "who needs faster"?
Personally I can absolutely see the use of these. Every now and then I have to transfer large amounts of data between locations, and I usually am just about to leave at a moments notice (i.e. I'm working on something and Bob drops by) so I want to quickly spin off a backup to bring with me. The difference between 1 minute and 6 seconds and 5 minutes is HUGE in that situation, just as it's huge when you're printing off a big report, even though that 1ppm printer is great when you're only printing off the odd page.
But they are fighting an uphill battle against free-and-open in that space
.NET, while on the other end they're pushing Websphere and J2EE.
One thing that should be pointed out is that with Windows PocketPC, for instance, the Platform Builder basically includes the source code for the entire platform, and you tailer the build to target your device/system (and of course you can change anything in the code that you want). Open source, in that you can modify it, but not free.
However it should be noted that this idea that Windows had the market and Linux is not taking it is incorrect: A slew of `proprietary' OS' owned embedded devices, but then Windows, and pretty much at the same time Linux, decided to get in it. Microsoft has had a hard time mostly because they're Microsoft: A lot of companies won't partner with them because they are branches of companies that compete with Microsoft in other areas (one of those pitfalls for both companies in that their strategy open remains static across the organization).
You know that points out one of the best companies for avoiding those sorts of constraints on their decisions: IBM. IBM has always impressed me in that they're looking out for IBM (which is what all companies should be doing): They push Linux from one side while building high end Windows servers in another. They'll partner with Microsoft for
I completely agree that the more the better, but the problem is that Palm has traditionally been hanging on by the hairs of their chiney-chin-chin (even when absolutely dominating the market): How can the PocketPC making huge inroads help that? The turning point for the PocketPC, in my opinion, was the Toshiba e310 and e740 (there's an Audiovox I believe that's basically the e540), not only economical but very, very small. That article hints at the fact that in a single quarter Toshiba went from virtually no marketshare to 5.5% of the marketshare (and that was before the e740 with the xScale 400Mhz and integrated 802.11b was considered). Now the e310 is quite a bit cheaper, and the e740 is selling like hotcakes. I suspect that the PocketPC numbers will be much, much higher in the next survey. Secondary to that is the fact that Dell is entering the market with a $200 PocketPC. Again, these things can't be good against Palm that already was navigating dire straights.