OMG! at least! this is excellent! F*ing managers that do nothing but yell and crush good ideas! get rid of that paycheck! This is a wonderful realization -- given the nature of their jobs (decision making based on quantitative data), managers shold be replaced.
http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/americas/c olombia/3927.html
Not just the CEO of a company. The Colombian president offered to microchip travelers to the US. He did not say it in public -- but made the proposal in a conversation with a US senator, who then revealed the story.
If keeping a list of phone_num to phone_num calls is not considered eavesdropping, so they can also keep track of IP to IP connections. Watch out what websites you visit then.
I don't see the reason of their focus on "improving the open desktop". Internationalization is certainly a clear need, but I wonder about GUI design.
I hope the report (is there a link to it?) does a better job at describing deep causes of technological lag. I would like to point out some areas of needed attention:
- existing bandwidth: to download software, check documentation and contact developers and users. By just improving that part of the infrastructure, interested parties would do a lot.
- brick and mortar libraries, with decent computer book collections. You would be surprised at how often computer books get requested at libraries.
- colleges and technical schools, on the one hand, and private bussiness and government, on the other, have to improve their ties. Very often, colleges are just a bit more than social clubs where the new generations of local oligarchies get acquainted, and begin their deals. Those deals are not succesful by their technological/bussiness merits, but by the fact that their previous family ties secure them oligopolistic rents and corrupt advantages. So, systematic research and development is less important; there is no incentive for private firms or government to invest in university research, or to do in-house research.
- Paradoxically, bringing new technologies is an excellent opportunity for shady deals with government. Well connected people -- and well connected international companies -- can make millions, at taxpayers expense, greasing the hand of government officials. The companies that builds bridges to nowhere, that happens all the time in those countries. And there is less oversight than in first world countries.
- The Global Desktop page forgets to mention a very important actor: non governmental organizations, who could be very good adopters of OSS.
- different economic sectors have different needs. Opportunities for the use of OSS computing in medium size farms are different than for local telcom firms. "Developing countries" is a misleading tag.
- The computer people at the UNU have a research program, on software engineering. I wonder how relevant is that for their interest in third world development.
Slashdot Mirror
Pareto, Durkheim, Kropotkin, Simmel, Tonnies, Adam Smith, Hobbes, Jesus, Confucius, Democracy, Golden Rule. And bees.
OMG! at least! this is excellent! F*ing managers that do nothing but yell and crush good ideas! get rid of that paycheck! This is a wonderful realization -- given the nature of their jobs (decision making based on quantitative data), managers shold be replaced.
http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/americas/c olombia/3927.html
Not just the CEO of a company. The Colombian president offered to microchip travelers to the US. He did not say it in public -- but made the proposal in a conversation with a US senator, who then revealed the story.
If keeping a list of phone_num to phone_num calls is not considered eavesdropping, so they can also keep track of IP to IP connections. Watch out what websites you visit then.
- existing bandwidth: to download software, check documentation and contact developers and users. By just improving that part of the infrastructure, interested parties would do a lot.
- brick and mortar libraries, with decent computer book collections. You would be surprised at how often computer books get requested at libraries.
- colleges and technical schools, on the one hand, and private bussiness and government, on the other, have to improve their ties. Very often, colleges are just a bit more than social clubs where the new generations of local oligarchies get acquainted, and begin their deals. Those deals are not succesful by their technological/bussiness merits, but by the fact that their previous family ties secure them oligopolistic rents and corrupt advantages. So, systematic research and development is less important; there is no incentive for private firms or government to invest in university research, or to do in-house research.
- Paradoxically, bringing new technologies is an excellent opportunity for shady deals with government. Well connected people -- and well connected international companies -- can make millions, at taxpayers expense, greasing the hand of government officials. The companies that builds bridges to nowhere, that happens all the time in those countries. And there is less oversight than in first world countries.
- The Global Desktop page forgets to mention a very important actor: non governmental organizations, who could be very good adopters of OSS.
- different economic sectors have different needs. Opportunities for the use of OSS computing in medium size farms are different than for local telcom firms. "Developing countries" is a misleading tag.
- The computer people at the UNU have a research program, on software engineering. I wonder how relevant is that for their interest in third world development.