Actually the iPhone has the exact same "kill switch" for the exact same purpose.
Indeed it does. The amusing thing about this situation is that Apple has never used it - even for apps that are no longer offered and that violate both Apple's and AT&T's terms of service (NetShare, e.g.). I got a kick out of the GGP's "nuking an applications without asking first is what Steve Jobs does and that Google is not supposed to do," for precisely that reason. Nuking an app from orbit is what people in the Slashdot community expect from Steve Jobs, and yet it is Google that does it first, on the darling platform of those who view the iPhone and its walled garden as "evil".
Sure, I'm not trying to defend Google here. But there is a difference between malicious apps and apps that violate the terms of service. I don't think Google has wiped any apps of off user's devices when they were removed from the market. (Such as the tetris clones that were recently removed from the market).
I'm fine with repositories and security updates, but nuking an applications without asking first is what Steve Jobs does and that Google is not supposed to do.
I hate iPhone OS policies as much as the next geek (why don't I get an upgrade for security on my original iPhone, even to iOS 3.1.4?), but even Jobs doesn't delete apps from your phone. Any apps once through the store, are yours, lock, stock, and barrel. They may prompt you to upgrade, they may stop selling an app, but they don't delete them.
What google should be doing is sending these users an email and free SMS letting them know that they "should delete app $FOO because it's potentially dangerous. For reference, please see https://google.com/android/press-release/93857293875928.html" Maybe some people wanted these apps... like the friends of the security researchers in question.
Or... you know... just using a web browser... you know you can view the apps from the Apple AppStore in a web browser... RIGHT?
Far easier than installing iTunes JUST to browse them.
How long did it take for apple to do that?
www.appbrain.com
www.androlib.com
There you go, search all you want. And with appbrain you can even mark apps to be installed later using the webbrowser and then sync them from your android device.
I see that your attitude is no different from the so called communist propagandists. I do not see any objectivity in your comment. You seem to want to selectively highlight the constructive role of the shiv sena and the RSS while downplaying their religious intolerance.
"It is precisely the objectivity of outside observation that Naipaul brings to the Indian social landscape, something which Indians in India do not possess, unfortunately. It is a sad day for the Indian intellect when an outsider like Naipaul is needed to expose the reality..."
Merely because you are unaware of Indians within India that objectively evaluate the conditions in India, doesn't mean they do not exist. Check out the many number of books and articles written by Arun Shourie during his journalistic days, read the columns by Tavleen Singh...
"What about the thugs and murderer Communists called Naxalites in India's red corridor (Bengal, Bihar, orissa and northern AP)? How well does the Indian Media report about their killings, rapes, bombings and Pakistani support? No, the Indian media is only obsessed with Hindus."
I see the Indian media report on naxalites almost on a daily basis and toe the government line of blaming everything on the ISI and Pakistan. Again you are being dishonest to try and prove your own point. I do not condone the actions of the naxalites, but I do not hate them or their idelogy either. They came into being because the 'State' failed to do its duties and instead abused the citizens. It is a well known fact that the police and the politicians abuse their power and the poor are hapless observers. This was the cause for the naxalites to come into being. Merely brushing aside the cause and condemning the consequences does not make you seem any more intelligent than the communist intelligentsia.
As to your claim that the India media is only obsessed with Hindus, they are equally reticent about any disruptive actions of the Indian military in Kashmir and the various Kashmiri leaders that are under house arrest. Such actions are no different from those of an autocratic state.
In conclusion you have brought no sense of objectivity to this discussion but merely stated views that are the extreme opposite of the "communist intelligentsia".
it seems it was more of a "fulfil our demands or we do bad things to you" than a negotiation
That sounds like "negotiation" to me. You negotiate to get the best deal and if you hold the upper hand you get to throw your weight around. That's probably what Merck would have done if there were no alternatives but them. All the talk about "good faith" in business is PR BS.
There are two sides to consider. The quality of the product for the consumer (the kids in this case) vs protecting and fostering local businesses. India was a socialist country for the first 50 odd years after independence and the level of protectionism exercised hardly fostered any innovation but the consumers had to put up with lesser quality products. Just as in the case of an individual you do not improve unless you compete against those better than you. Which is what the government is now doing slowly allowing global businesses within India at the same time allowing local businesses the time to adapt and stand up to the competition.
I just hope the government does not compromise on the quality of the end product so as to boast off a $10 computer. Given that most public schools in India probably do not have even a single computer that the kids could use, it would probably be wise to try to start out small and aim to have at least one computer per school in the short term than spew out sound bytes that probably may never take shape.
"Sure there will be a good initial blast of popularity, but unless people like lag and absolutely no privacy, I can't see web-based "solutions" taking off."
There are more and more people who value availability and accessibility than those who even think about privacy. Just look at the widespread adoption of email, with people putting out their entire personal lives in the hands of the email providers.
If there is enough exposure to such web-based office suites and folks start considering the fact that the chances of loss of data might be lesser this way than having to store it on their disks and back it up, I would think that there might be more widespread adoption.
Its been a while since I used windows, but I don't think MS Office was ever bundled with windows. There used to be a trial version of Word and Powerpoint but MS Office was always a separate product.
While it is true that Microsoft use their monopoly to push windows onto many unsuspecting users, I'm not sure they really bundle any software with windows that stifles competition (perhaps their new AV software is..but I don't really sympathize with their competitors on that one!)
The main reason that many folks in India go hungry is due to the failure in part of the food distribution system due to corruption at the lower levels nearer to the point of distribution to the masses. As a result of the Green Revolution during the 70's and 80's India has had surplus food production for a long time allowing the export of food products.
The Indian government already spends a lot of money on feeding the poor...but as I said due to corruption at the lower levels.. the benefits do not entirely reach the masses. Spending more money is merely going to make the corrupt more rich.. what is needed is to make the system more efficient, not pour more money into it.
"are you intending to gloss over the recent period of BJP-dominated politics which was, in my opinion, one of the darkest moments of Indian political history and saw aggression against Pakistan increase SIGNIFICANTLY"
Trust me there have been darker moments under past Congress governments.
Politics aside from a governance point of view the BJP led government was one of the better governments India has had... As mentioned in another post.. they pursued unprecedented peace negotiations with Pakistan but responded in kind when Pakistan launched an attack on Kashmir through terrorist proxies.
Their handling of foreign policy was bold and extremely efficient. They initiated the Golden quadrilateral project that involved creating a massive road system connecting all of India - A much needed infrastructural boost and the project's development is now in a mess under the congress government. The Indian economy did very well under them.
The only blot on the BJP government was the Gujurat riots and it is something that would have likely happened no matter which government was in power. But neverthless that is something they should take responsibility for. But as another post has mentioned they lost the elections because the poor voted against them for lack of any visible improvement to their lives even though the rest of India was flourishing.
I don't know if you meant that in general or just wrt the US but from where I come(India) most of the educated abstain from voting as they do not like any of the political candidates and consider them to be incompetent. It is the poor and uneducated folks who make up the numbers as they vote based on religious/caste based grounds.
On an average a single Indian middle class worker would make around Rs.25,000 - equivalent to $600 per month.
Most s/w engineers working in Multinational s/w companies ( think MS, Oracle, Cisco, Nortel.. ) get paid a lot more though.. around Rs. 100,000 - $2400 per month ( Which is big money around here.. Hell my mom has saved around Rs 500,000 - $11,000 working 25 yrs!! ).
"India's economy is one of the most closed in the world. Thus, India's tariffs remain among the highest in the world."
This has long been argued to be the chief reason for the low quality of goods produced by the Indian industries. ( due to lack of competition from global manufacturers ). The economy has opened up considerably in most fields since 1991 when then Finance Minister ( and now the PM ) took a bold step amidst wide spread opposition by protectionist economists in opening up the economy... and the country has reaped rich dividends due to this over the last decade.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually the iPhone has the exact same "kill switch" for the exact same purpose.
Indeed it does. The amusing thing about this situation is that Apple has never used it - even for apps that are no longer offered and that violate both Apple's and AT&T's terms of service (NetShare, e.g.). I got a kick out of the GGP's "nuking an applications without asking first is what Steve Jobs does and that Google is not supposed to do," for precisely that reason. Nuking an app from orbit is what people in the Slashdot community expect from Steve Jobs, and yet it is Google that does it first, on the darling platform of those who view the iPhone and its walled garden as "evil".
Sure, I'm not trying to defend Google here. But there is a difference between malicious apps and apps that violate the terms of service. I don't think Google has wiped any apps of off user's devices when they were removed from the market. (Such as the tetris clones that were recently removed from the market).
I'm fine with repositories and security updates, but nuking an applications without asking first is what Steve Jobs does and that Google is not supposed to do.
I hate iPhone OS policies as much as the next geek (why don't I get an upgrade for security on my original iPhone, even to iOS 3.1.4?), but even Jobs doesn't delete apps from your phone. Any apps once through the store, are yours, lock, stock, and barrel. They may prompt you to upgrade, they may stop selling an app, but they don't delete them. What google should be doing is sending these users an email and free SMS letting them know that they "should delete app $FOO because it's potentially dangerous. For reference, please see https://google.com/android/press-release/93857293875928.html" Maybe some people wanted these apps... like the friends of the security researchers in question.
Actually the iPhone has the exact same "kill switch" for the exact same purpose. http://www.iphonealley.com/node/2928
Or ... you know ... just using a web browser ... you know you can view the apps from the Apple AppStore in a web browser ... RIGHT?
Far easier than installing iTunes JUST to browse them.
How long did it take for apple to do that?
www.appbrain.com
www.androlib.com
There you go, search all you want. And with appbrain you can even mark apps to be installed later using the webbrowser and then sync them from your android device.
I see that your attitude is no different from the so called communist propagandists. I do not see any objectivity in your comment. You seem to want to selectively highlight the constructive role of the shiv sena and the RSS while downplaying their religious intolerance.
"It is precisely the objectivity of outside observation that Naipaul brings to the Indian social landscape, something which Indians in India do not possess, unfortunately. It is a sad day for the Indian intellect when an outsider like Naipaul is needed to expose the reality..."
Merely because you are unaware of Indians within India that objectively evaluate the conditions in India, doesn't mean they do not exist. Check out the many number of books and articles written by Arun Shourie during his journalistic days, read the columns by Tavleen Singh...
"What about the thugs and murderer Communists called Naxalites in India's red corridor (Bengal, Bihar, orissa and northern AP)? How well does the Indian Media report about their killings, rapes, bombings and Pakistani support? No, the Indian media is only obsessed with Hindus."
I see the Indian media report on naxalites almost on a daily basis and toe the government line of blaming everything on the ISI and Pakistan. Again you are being dishonest to try and prove your own point. I do not condone the actions of the naxalites, but I do not hate them or their idelogy either. They came into being because the 'State' failed to do its duties and instead abused the citizens. It is a well known fact that the police and the politicians abuse their power and the poor are hapless observers. This was the cause for the naxalites to come into being. Merely brushing aside the cause and condemning the consequences does not make you seem any more intelligent than the communist intelligentsia.
As to your claim that the India media is only obsessed with Hindus, they are equally reticent about any disruptive actions of the Indian military in Kashmir and the various Kashmiri leaders that are under house arrest. Such actions are no different from those of an autocratic state.
In conclusion you have brought no sense of objectivity to this discussion but merely stated views that are the extreme opposite of the "communist intelligentsia".
it seems it was more of a "fulfil our demands or we do bad things to you" than a negotiation
That sounds like "negotiation" to me. You negotiate to get the best deal and if you hold the upper hand you get to throw your weight around. That's probably what Merck would have done if there were no alternatives but them. All the talk about "good faith" in business is PR BS.
There are two sides to consider. The quality of the product for the consumer (the kids in this case) vs protecting and fostering local businesses. India was a socialist country for the first 50 odd years after independence and the level of protectionism exercised hardly fostered any innovation but the consumers had to put up with lesser quality products. Just as in the case of an individual you do not improve unless you compete against those better than you. Which is what the government is now doing slowly allowing global businesses within India at the same time allowing local businesses the time to adapt and stand up to the competition.
I just hope the government does not compromise on the quality of the end product so as to boast off a $10 computer. Given that most public schools in India probably do not have even a single computer that the kids could use, it would probably be wise to try to start out small and aim to have at least one computer per school in the short term than spew out sound bytes that probably may never take shape.
"Sure there will be a good initial blast of popularity, but unless people like lag and absolutely no privacy, I can't see web-based "solutions" taking off."
There are more and more people who value availability and accessibility than those who even think about privacy. Just look at the widespread adoption of email, with people putting out their entire personal lives in the hands of the email providers.
If there is enough exposure to such web-based office suites and folks start considering the fact that the chances of loss of data might be lesser this way than having to store it on their disks and back it up, I would think that there might be more widespread adoption.
Its been a while since I used windows, but I don't think MS Office was ever bundled with windows. There used to be a trial version of Word and Powerpoint but MS Office was always a separate product.
While it is true that Microsoft use their monopoly to push windows onto many unsuspecting users, I'm not sure they really bundle any software with windows that stifles competition (perhaps their new AV software is..but I don't really sympathize with their competitors on that one!)
The main reason that many folks in India go hungry is due to the failure in part of the food distribution system due to corruption at the lower levels nearer to the point of distribution to the masses. As a result of the Green Revolution during the 70's and 80's India has had surplus food production for a long time allowing the export of food products.
...but as I said due to corruption at the lower levels .. the benefits do not entirely reach the masses. Spending more money is merely going to make the corrupt more rich .. what is needed is to make the system more efficient, not pour more money into it.
The Indian government already spends a lot of money on feeding the poor
"are you intending to gloss over the recent period of BJP-dominated politics which was, in my opinion, one of the darkest moments of Indian political history and saw aggression against Pakistan increase SIGNIFICANTLY" Trust me there have been darker moments under past Congress governments.
.. they pursued unprecedented peace negotiations with Pakistan but responded in kind when Pakistan launched an attack on Kashmir through terrorist proxies.
Politics aside from a governance point of view the BJP led government was one of the better governments India has had... As mentioned in another post
Their handling of foreign policy was bold and extremely efficient. They initiated the Golden quadrilateral project that involved creating a massive road system connecting all of India - A much needed infrastructural boost and the project's development is now in a mess under the congress government. The Indian economy did very well under them.
The only blot on the BJP government was the Gujurat riots and it is something that would have likely happened no matter which government was in power. But neverthless that is something they should take responsibility for. But as another post has mentioned they lost the elections because the poor voted against them for lack of any visible improvement to their lives even though the rest of India was flourishing.
the more educated, the more likely you're a voter
I don't know if you meant that in general or just wrt the US but from where I come(India) most of the educated abstain from voting as they do not like any of the political candidates and consider them to be incompetent. It is the poor and uneducated folks who make up the numbers as they vote based on religious/caste based grounds.
"And that is truly the dream of the soul - to somehow touch, taste, smell that which is so beautiful :)"
You do know there are depraved geeks around here dont ya?!
FYI,
.. ) get paid a lot more though.. around Rs. 100,000 - $2400 per month ( Which is big money around here .. Hell my mom has saved around Rs 500,000 - $11,000 working 25 yrs!! ).
On an average a single Indian middle class worker would make around Rs.25,000 - equivalent to $600 per month.
Most s/w engineers working in Multinational s/w companies ( think MS, Oracle, Cisco, Nortel
"India's economy is one of the most closed in the world. Thus, India's tariffs remain among the highest in the world." This has long been argued to be the chief reason for the low quality of goods produced by the Indian industries. ( due to lack of competition from global manufacturers ). The economy has opened up considerably in most fields since 1991 when then Finance Minister ( and now the PM ) took a bold step amidst wide spread opposition by protectionist economists in opening up the economy ... and the country has reaped rich dividends due to this over the last decade.