CHRONOLGY
(1) For years, illegal migration from neighbouring country.(Bangladesh).
(2) Locals suspect that over the years this has changed the population demographics of their state.
(3) So interested parties get into the act to beat up the supposed illegal migrants - who happen to be muslims.
(4) The central government has always played footsie with minority vote banks (wouldn't mind a demgraphic change since their vote bank would become a majority) and instead of addressing the main issue has always regularised their stay.
(5) Riots in far off Mumbai by muslim groups "protesting" against atrocities to muslims - in bosnia, afghanistan - everywhere.
(6) Roumour mongering by interested hindu groups that ramzan is over, muslims will retailate against north easterners (who are m ostly christians and hindus - but "slant-eyed"ish).
FACT.
(1) These north-easterners are hard working immigrants (into other parts of india) who will do jobs locals dont touch.Eg. Watchmen, menial labour - they aren't educated though english speaking.
(2) They are despised and picked upon. They are discriminated in housing and their women harassed since they mostly wear western clothes or just skirts and sarongs with tight t-shirts on top.
CONCLUSION.
(1) Its a chance for all shadowy parties to test their organisational and armoured strength (from staves upwards).
(2) A significant portion of Indian economy is dependent on bulk SMS - eg farm prices etc. These are well regulated and will not suffer since they come under authorised and registered bulk SMS rules (if your SMS sender's ID follows this pattern XX-nnnnnn). The ban probably doesn't apply to them.
(3) Peripheral to the main issues but probably true is that India's other neigbour (Pakistan) is muddying the pond.
(4) Government has once again succeeded in diverting the focus from the main issue of illegal migration into north east India.
Yeah I too heard about it. The government is going to liberalise the policy on allowing multinational brands in retail and as a consequence mars bars are going to be easily available. So people can GO MARS.
But seriously, its like the previous announcements of the government on world's cheapest laptop etc. A lot of hot air and cryogenic engines from the old sov states.
OK
Close enough to three of the four countries that you mention. But not part of draconian China or chaotic India. City state with a good standard of living. Welcomes people in the service industry.
OK
What happens if an employee changes his spouse/partner, doesn't record it and dies? What are the implications? What about a person who declares more than one current partner (as some sects might)/ How will the distribution be?
OK
When a fairly large group of assessors assess an even larger group of direct reports, then in a "normal year", the OUTCOME will be a stacked rank.
(Normal year = No recessionary trends, marked employee attrition etc)
So seeing a pattern of stacked ranking should be just a way for the HR/administration team to confirm whether their initiatives in administering assessments are OK or not.
Instead if each and every supervisor tries to fit his direct reports into an order, then it is tantamount to cooking the books. Unfortunately, almost all supervisors think that they are god's gift to the company and they have to "eff"up their reports.
It gets worse if there is an announced quota of money to go around within the department as salary etc.
OK
On a purely technical basis, maybe
But the sheer number of apps for Windows and Macs that don't run on open source desktops, makes the question a nobrainer. Take fro instance the chrome PC. Where is it now?
Counting Androids on tablets and phones may tilt it towards Open source a few years on.
OK
You might note that the B&MGF (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) donates more to aids charity in India than to the entire African continent combined. One wonders whether it si related to sale of MS products to the government departments in India.
"Defense contractors" probably comes from persons contracted by the department of defense. They could play defensive, offensive, clean the toilets, anything.
It isn't just monkey work that you will be outsourcing. As you already discovered, you will have to share at least your internal libraries. And thats just the start.
(1) Your specs have to be much more precise to an outsourced team. You are still responsible for delivering specs to the outsource vendor such that end-to-end, across programs, time periods, these programs have the desired functionality for your organisation.
(2) UAT has to be more thorough and dont be in a hurry to sign-off.
I don't think it's a two man job. Remember some one IN YOUR ORGANISATION has to write specs, test and integrate.
It can be beneficial if you find a good vendor. In my experience (been on both sides of the debate), choosing the right vendor is the key. Others also mentioned this.
Think that actually you are entering into a partnership.
OK
Number line concept is a compliance artefact.
The FACT that most number lines have ranges of standard usage means that they are compelling users to comply to a standard and be automated.
OK
Just migrated one of my clients to open office (85 PCs) purely for cost considerations. This is a hospital with a basic hospital management system and regular office use. They are still on XP and I will next migrate them to a linux based OS.
BUT unfortunately, they have a few software packages that use excel as a database so I need to find an alternative for departments that use these PCs (21 PCs in all). Note that getting the software changed isn't a practical option in this case.
I tried to load MDAC (the microsoft data access compnents) but it still doesn't work.
Just a student and only 8 books sold openly on e-bay.
An extract from the original article. While at USC, Kirtsaeng arranged for family and friends living abroad to purchase textbooks and ship them to him. He resold the copies on eBay. Eight textbooks sold by Kirtsaeng were published by Wiley's Asian subsidiary. The company sued the student in federal court in New York. eBay was among the outside parties urging the court to hear the case and decide it in Kirtsaeng's favour.
The case will be argued in the fall.
Why wait till fall to argue the case? Presumably to get more opinion or sway the opinions?
OK
Get a room in a house with a floor. With a closed, private (not common) area for your daily toilet routines.
And running water. And electricity
HOT running water.
And heat.
And a fridge.
Put food in fridge.
Get a phone. (Today's version of the internet, I suppose.)
Here is an extract from the "Times of India" article.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/FIR-against-rationalist-cops-call-him-for-questioning/articleshow/12681927.cms
Note the excuse made by those who complained.
MUMBAI: The Juhu police have registered an FIR against president of the Indian Rationalist Association (IRA) Sanal Edamaruku under Section 295 (defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) of the Indian Penal Code.
The police have called him for questioning.
The Organisation of Concerned Catholics (OCC) and the Catholic Secular Forum (CSF) had lodged complaints against Sanal at the Juhu and Andheri police stations.
Sanal had come to the city recently to investigate the issue of water dripping from a cross at Irla. Sanal, whose trip was sponsored by a TV channel, had said that the phenomenon was not a miracle and caused by capillary action.
OCC members said they were not upset with Sanal for saying the phenomenon was not a miracle. They were hurt by statements he allegedly made against the Pope and Catholic clergy.
Really a fresh take on Infosys and how IT companies work post initial contract committment.
Its not new. I am a systems analyst in India and have experience with at least three such companies (one larger than Infosys and two slightly smaller) on Indian projects for about two decades now.
When I think back, I think its really.
(a) CAVEAT EMPTOR = customer beware.
(b) Link payment to results (not to project stages) your users can see. Typically in a waterfall model the vendor has expenses throughout the project life cycle while the customer sees the result only in the end. (This includes package implementation, Saas models).
(c) Stretch it a bit. Make the vendor responsible end-to-end including data.
(d) Have your own feed back mechanism which should translate into the same metrics agreed with the vendor.
(e) Get a good team and spend time to manage the project.
(f) Never give advance. Cover the vendor for actual expenses and see that the vendor's profits are only at the end of the project - as the gains would be for a customer.
OK
Get the cops on your side. The local beat cop who is probably a semi-literate "p-w-cracker" like person and benefits from the take and bribe of regulating the crowds at the "miracle" site and his station house officer (precinct head) are told to arrest the so called perpetrator for blasphemy. When that fails, some lawyer will file a complaint against the "so called perpetrator" for hurting religious sentiments. Note that it has to be a lawyer since cops wont arrest him easily and it gives a veneer of legality.
Sounds familiar? The idea is to harass and cow down the more determined citizens.
OK
It shows commitment to prepare and I believe that practice wont significantly improve your scoring ability. It is "platform neutral" and as such a good way to filter out the unfit. Of course it applies only to freshers.
OK
I think many people just want a tablet that works. When HP announced the fire sale of their $99 tablet, I went after it and was disappointed that it wasn't available in my country (India).
The main article makes it clear that DATWIND's target market is for companies
who focus on low-cost digital products for the disenfranchised, markets like India (and China, Asia, Africa and Latin America) are what’s referred to as the “next billion.” And they are huge.
Datawind has 2 versions.
(1) AKASH (translates to SKY) is the subsidised student version that is goin to be subject to government regulation, corruption, deal making etc and
(2) UBISLATE the commercial version.
UBISLATE just might fit the Indian market place since it is a "MOBILE TABLET".
There is already a trend in India that a large mobile company (Reliance Communication) has a low priced table (three times the expected price of UBISLATE and 40% of the cost of an IPAD) This has already been standardised by many companies with roaming sales forces. They have upgraded from feature phone with (paper) note taking with day end connectivity to their head office from an internet cafe. Now they use get to use the tablet on line at practically the same communication cost.
Slashdot Mirror
Russian made and so appeals to everyone. The commissars in Kremlin and the ultra nationalistic, racist everyman. Whats not to like about this? OK
http://www.peacejam.org/news/Shirin-Ebadi-Calls-on-United-Nations-Women-to-Address-Oppression-of-Women-in-Iran-789.aspx I urge you to re-read Shirin Ebadi's letter to the UN. OK
CHRONOLGY
(1) For years, illegal migration from neighbouring country.(Bangladesh).
(2) Locals suspect that over the years this has changed the population demographics of their state.
(3) So interested parties get into the act to beat up the supposed illegal migrants - who happen to be muslims.
(4) The central government has always played footsie with minority vote banks (wouldn't mind a demgraphic change since their vote bank would become a majority) and instead of addressing the main issue has always regularised their stay.
(5) Riots in far off Mumbai by muslim groups "protesting" against atrocities to muslims - in bosnia, afghanistan - everywhere. (6) Roumour mongering by interested hindu groups that ramzan is over, muslims will retailate against north easterners (who are m
ostly christians and hindus - but "slant-eyed"ish).
FACT.
(1) These north-easterners are hard working immigrants (into other parts of india) who will do jobs locals dont touch.Eg. Watchmen, menial labour - they aren't educated though english speaking.
(2) They are despised and picked upon. They are discriminated in housing and their women harassed since they mostly wear western clothes or just skirts and sarongs with tight t-shirts on top.
CONCLUSION.
(1) Its a chance for all shadowy parties to test their organisational and armoured strength (from staves upwards).
(2) A significant portion of Indian economy is dependent on bulk SMS - eg farm prices etc. These are well regulated and will not suffer since they come under authorised and registered bulk SMS rules (if your SMS sender's ID follows this pattern XX-nnnnnn). The ban probably doesn't apply to them.
(3) Peripheral to the main issues but probably true is that India's other neigbour (Pakistan) is muddying the pond.
(4) Government has once again succeeded in diverting the focus from the main issue of illegal migration into north east India.
Yeah I too heard about it. The government is going to liberalise the policy on allowing multinational brands in retail and as a consequence mars bars are going to be easily available. So people can GO MARS. But seriously, its like the previous announcements of the government on world's cheapest laptop etc. A lot of hot air and cryogenic engines from the old sov states. OK
Close enough to three of the four countries that you mention. But not part of draconian China or chaotic India. City state with a good standard of living. Welcomes people in the service industry. OK
What happens if an employee changes his spouse/partner, doesn't record it and dies? What are the implications? What about a person who declares more than one current partner (as some sects might)/ How will the distribution be? OK
When a fairly large group of assessors assess an even larger group of direct reports, then in a "normal year", the OUTCOME will be a stacked rank. (Normal year = No recessionary trends, marked employee attrition etc) So seeing a pattern of stacked ranking should be just a way for the HR/administration team to confirm whether their initiatives in administering assessments are OK or not. Instead if each and every supervisor tries to fit his direct reports into an order, then it is tantamount to cooking the books. Unfortunately, almost all supervisors think that they are god's gift to the company and they have to "eff"up their reports. It gets worse if there is an announced quota of money to go around within the department as salary etc. OK
On a purely technical basis, maybe But the sheer number of apps for Windows and Macs that don't run on open source desktops, makes the question a nobrainer. Take fro instance the chrome PC. Where is it now? Counting Androids on tablets and phones may tilt it towards Open source a few years on. OK
You might note that the B&MGF (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) donates more to aids charity in India than to the entire African continent combined. One wonders whether it si related to sale of MS products to the government departments in India.
"Defense contractors" probably comes from persons contracted by the department of defense. They could play defensive, offensive, clean the toilets, anything.
It isn't just monkey work that you will be outsourcing. As you already discovered, you will have to share at least your internal libraries. And thats just the start. (1) Your specs have to be much more precise to an outsourced team. You are still responsible for delivering specs to the outsource vendor such that end-to-end, across programs, time periods, these programs have the desired functionality for your organisation. (2) UAT has to be more thorough and dont be in a hurry to sign-off. I don't think it's a two man job. Remember some one IN YOUR ORGANISATION has to write specs, test and integrate. It can be beneficial if you find a good vendor. In my experience (been on both sides of the debate), choosing the right vendor is the key. Others also mentioned this. Think that actually you are entering into a partnership. OK
I wonder who owns anything - product or initiative - that comes out of the 20% time? Do different companies have different standards on this? OK
Number line concept is a compliance artefact. The FACT that most number lines have ranges of standard usage means that they are compelling users to comply to a standard and be automated. OK
Also cost and the flexibility to change the OS.
Just migrated one of my clients to open office (85 PCs) purely for cost considerations. This is a hospital with a basic hospital management system and regular office use. They are still on XP and I will next migrate them to a linux based OS.
BUT unfortunately, they have a few software packages that use excel as a database so I need to find an alternative for departments that use these PCs (21 PCs in all). Note that getting the software changed isn't a practical option in this case.
I tried to load MDAC (the microsoft data access compnents) but it still doesn't work.
Any suggestions? OK
Just a student and only 8 books sold openly on e-bay.
An extract from the original article.
While at USC, Kirtsaeng arranged for family and friends living abroad to purchase textbooks and ship them to him. He resold the copies on eBay. Eight textbooks sold by Kirtsaeng were published by Wiley's Asian subsidiary. The company sued the student in federal court in New York.
eBay was among the outside parties urging the court to hear the case and decide it in Kirtsaeng's favour.
The case will be argued in the fall.
Why wait till fall to argue the case? Presumably to get more opinion or sway the opinions? OK
Get a room in a house with a floor.
With a closed, private (not common) area for your daily toilet routines.
And running water.
And electricity
HOT running water.
And heat.
And a fridge.
Put food in fridge.
Get a phone. (Today's version of the internet, I suppose.)
Here is an extract from the "Times of India" article. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/FIR-against-rationalist-cops-call-him-for-questioning/articleshow/12681927.cms Note the excuse made by those who complained. MUMBAI: The Juhu police have registered an FIR against president of the Indian Rationalist Association (IRA) Sanal Edamaruku under Section 295 (defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) of the Indian Penal Code. The police have called him for questioning. The Organisation of Concerned Catholics (OCC) and the Catholic Secular Forum (CSF) had lodged complaints against Sanal at the Juhu and Andheri police stations. Sanal had come to the city recently to investigate the issue of water dripping from a cross at Irla. Sanal, whose trip was sponsored by a TV channel, had said that the phenomenon was not a miracle and caused by capillary action. OCC members said they were not upset with Sanal for saying the phenomenon was not a miracle. They were hurt by statements he allegedly made against the Pope and Catholic clergy.
Nice signature.
Another true fact joke.
Jackie Chan refused to visit India because he didn't want to run into Amitabh Bacchan.
OK.
Really a fresh take on Infosys and how IT companies work post initial contract committment.
Its not new. I am a systems analyst in India and have experience with at least three such companies (one larger than Infosys and two slightly smaller) on Indian projects for about two decades now.
When I think back, I think its really.
(a) CAVEAT EMPTOR = customer beware.
(b) Link payment to results (not to project stages) your users can see. Typically in a waterfall model the vendor has expenses throughout the project life cycle while the customer sees the result only in the end. (This includes package implementation, Saas models).
(c) Stretch it a bit. Make the vendor responsible end-to-end including data.
(d) Have your own feed back mechanism which should translate into the same metrics agreed with the vendor.
(e) Get a good team and spend time to manage the project.
(f) Never give advance. Cover the vendor for actual expenses and see that the vendor's profits are only at the end of the project - as the gains would be for a customer.
OK
Get the cops on your side. The local beat cop who is probably a semi-literate "p-w-cracker" like person and benefits from the take and bribe of regulating the crowds at the "miracle" site and his station house officer (precinct head) are told to arrest the so called perpetrator for blasphemy. When that fails, some lawyer will file a complaint against the "so called perpetrator" for hurting religious sentiments. Note that it has to be a lawyer since cops wont arrest him easily and it gives a veneer of legality. Sounds familiar? The idea is to harass and cow down the more determined citizens. OK
Juche a religion? Its really a YA GOTTA EAT initiative practiced by clever (as in tricky) persons. END
OK
It shows commitment to prepare and I believe that practice wont significantly improve your scoring ability. It is "platform neutral" and as such a good way to filter out the unfit. Of course it applies only to freshers.
OK
First thing would be to ascertain that these people are really TSA agents. What happens if local cops are with them? OK
who focus on low-cost digital products for the disenfranchised, markets like India (and China, Asia, Africa and Latin America) are what’s referred to as the “next billion.” And they are huge.
Datawind has 2 versions.
(1) AKASH (translates to SKY) is the subsidised student version that is goin to be subject to government regulation, corruption, deal making etc and
(2) UBISLATE the commercial version.
UBISLATE just might fit the Indian market place since it is a "MOBILE TABLET".
There is already a trend in India that a large mobile company (Reliance Communication) has a low priced table (three times the expected price of UBISLATE and 40% of the cost of an IPAD) This has already been standardised by many companies with roaming sales forces. They have upgraded from feature phone with (paper) note taking with day end connectivity to their head office from an internet cafe. Now they use get to use the tablet on line at practically the same communication cost.
OK.