Talk To an Astute IT Industry Observer 275
Dan Gillmor is about as high on the IT journalist and industry pundit "respect" totem pole as you can get. Slashdot has linked to hundreds of his articles. What do you ask this veteran observer of the Silicon Valley scene? Whatever you like, one question per post. We'll email 10 of the highest-moderated questions to Dan 24 - 36 hours after this post goes up, and run his answers shortly after he gets them back to us.
Desktop Operating Systems (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Desktop Operating Systems (Score:2)
The war (if you are a zealot of either side) HAS to be won on merit alone. Both sides have been FUD-slining for a great while now, and it has had little to no impact on either competitor.
Re:Desktop Operating Systems (Score:2)
windows compatibility == impossible (Score:2)
Obviously, these updates would not be compatible with another implementation of windows, and therefore there will always be a neverending incompatibility with any software that attempts to emulate windows.
So, unfortuneately, replacing windows cannot be done by "embracing and extending" it. Which leaves Linux and other competitors with the chicken and egg problem with regard to applications.
Sooo... what we need is a really good geneticist who can build a chicken(or egg) from scratch ;-)
Re:I think you are wrong (Score:3, Interesting)
They've been doing this for years, look how much has changed from Win 95 to XP. They just keep adding new "features" that new programs will require.
And look how much software still runs under Win/95 or Win/98. But anyway, of course Microsoft is going to continue adding enhancements. But so what? It's not like thousands of features come out every week.
How many programs REQUIRE IE 4/5?
I dunno; I can't think of any off-hand. But again, so what? It's not that hard to make it think that IE is installed when Mozilla really runs.
Re:Desktop Operating Systems (Score:2)
OS/2 died because it wasn't compatible with Windows, either at the Win32 level or the hardware level.
Re:Desktop Operating Systems (Score:3, Insightful)
For Apple to become anything else WOULD be to shoot themselves in the foot.
Exactly how has it hurt Microsoft to be a software-only company? Do you REALLY think Microsoft would be dominant today if they had come out with a proprietary "Windows PC" that was completely closed?
If Apple's the ones that are too stupid and arrogant, I guess that explains why Apple still continues to be profitable [apple.com],
Yeah, and my lemonade stand is "profitable" because I made a clear $5 profit. But so what? Are you really impressed that Apple is able to cut and chop expenses enough to bring home $32 million on sales of 1.43 BILLION?
The reason the clones "failed" is because Apple didn't fully commit to the strategy. And it didn't even fail! Total Macintosh market share was CLIMBING. It was Apple's marketshare that was falling. Apple panicked and decided they couldn't compete, and shut it down. Apple could have gone two ways: a) accept that hardware was going to be a break-even or low profit proposition and make money from software, and b) forget hardware entirely and make money from software. The bottom line here is software. That's where the money is, and that's why Microsoft is dominant and Apple -- isn't.
BS industry (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:BS industry (Score:2)
If you check out other web sites devoted to other idustries, you'll find just as much BS.
Re:BS industry (Score:2, Insightful)
I just had to ask (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I just had to ask (Score:2)
Future (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Future (Score:4, Interesting)
Additionally, what do you see companies looking for in non-Silicon Valley areas? Low taxes, low costs for manpower, low utilities, access to bandwidth?
Question (Score:5, Interesting)
Activism? (Score:5, Interesting)
IIRC, back in the day you were pretty seriously activist: I seem to remember you at Usenix handing out buttons and carrying signs.
Do you still consider yourself an activist? If not, what changed? Is there still a place for activism in the geek community? What is it?
Re:Question - answer (Score:2)
Host content that people are willing to pay for.
yup that's right... you have to have something of value for them to pay for it. Many many sections of Internet industry does make gobs of money from subscribers.... Porn is the best example.. people pay for porn. If you had a information source that a large segment of the population would pay for.... Example... downloadable 320x240 Divix's of television shows that are past the air date... and I'm talking only the past 7 days worth. to hell with an extended archive of the past year/ etc..
I'd pay $2.00 to download (hear that word DOWNLOAD.. for me to copy from you and put on my computer so I can view it 90,000,000,000,000,000 times on all 30 of my computers at home) of "good eats" or "enterprise" or "junkyard wars" or whatever... and I'm a guy that despises television... the true addicts would swarm all over it and make whoever figures out how to offer it a multi quadrillionare.
you have to offer something people want. not what the 95% of all the websites on this planet offer.
you need to be innovative.. which is something htat is not common on the internet in respect to websites and the ideas behind them. get the networks to allow you to sell low-quality copies of just-aired shows 48 hours after the show was aired, and offer them hefty royalties... ($2.00 a download? the Network get's $1.00 of that!) and you can probably make it fly.
The "Big Player" (Score:5, Interesting)
Tell us how Colleen Kollar-Kotelly will rule (Score:5, Interesting)
What's your best guess on how Judge Kollar-Kotelly will rule? The Judge Jackson's ruling came as an utter and complete surprise to almost everyone who hadn't followed *web* reports on the trial. The mass media did a very bad job protraying the issues of the original trial, basically parroting MSFT and Wag-Edd's "freedom to innovate" press releases, rather than reporting on the fairly straightforward restraint of trade case that the DoJ made. This time around, the web reporters seemed a bit confused by how the case went as well.
IT Industry (Score:5, Interesting)
Employment? (Score:5, Interesting)
It's not just relative to the dotcom bubble. There are few jobs, and those that are out there process applicants via companies that specialize in resume processing. (The latter means it's all about keywords, not how good you are.) The most reliable way to get a job continues to be working your personal network; but many networks have dissolved, as everyone gets laid off in a short period of time.
What's your take? From where you sit, have you seen any bright spots, or any indications things might get better (or worse)? What coping strategies have you seen people find for sucessfully getting new jobs, or surviving unemployment well?
Re:Employment? (Score:2)
Microsoft .NET (Score:5, Interesting)
What the heck is
Re:Microsoft .NET (Score:2)
As far I can tell, it's simply a virtual machine that uses a common-language-runtime (CLR) to allow multiple languages to interact with each other via the VM with just-in-time (JIT) compiling of native
Ultimately, what you have is a cool VM technology that runs exclusively on Windows machines that are
With so many people asking "What is
Re:Microsoft .NET (Score:2)
Re:Microsoft .NET (Score:3, Informative)
Keep in mind that there is a strong incentive for Microsoft not to change the .NET API. If they did that, then there'd be the equivalent of DLL hell. This is why projects like Mono are going to be successful.
I suggest taking a look at the concept. Regardless of how you feel about Microsoft, .NET is a step in the right direction. With Mono, there is no longer a legitimate complaint that it's not Open Source.
Re:Microsoft .NET (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Microsoft .NET (Score:2)
think about it.
Re:Microsoft .NET (Score:2)
Keeping hair out of your McBurger?
How much longer will programming stay in the US? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How much longer will programming stay in the US (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:How much longer will programming stay in the US (Score:2)
There are a decent number of "US based" software companies in which design work or other is done here, and the programming itself is exported to places such as India where they will work for pennies on the dollar.
Lots of US citizens who are programmers are ticked off about that fact.
Re:How much longer will programming stay in the US (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, there are German companies outsourcing software development to the US and US companies hiring German companies to do the work for them. (We do, albeit for a very very small application and probably mostly because that American businessman is a German US-immigrant who knows us personally, but hey.)
Then, there are US companies manufacturing computers using Asian electronic parts, hiring Taiwanese engineers in Taiwan to do the electronic design.
The Microsoft keyboard I am typing on was made in Thailand, the Microsoft mouse I am using was made in China, the computer by "Apple, California" on the desk next to me was actually manufactured in the Czech republic and designed by a company based in Germany.
There are Japanese, French and German car makers who have car plants in the US, employing US workers to manufacture cars with a Japanese, French or German brand name.
There's a Coca-Cola bottling plant right next to where I live, run by a German family business for more than 40 years. They use German water, German sugar (and I presume most of the other ingredients are German too) to make a product sold under an American brand name, using advertisement controlled by their American mother-company to sell an American lifestyle.
Big deal, it's a global economy. Your point?
Re:How much longer will programming stay in the US (Score:5, Interesting)
So how are they supposed to compete with Indians who will do it for $5/hour?
Programmers in America see themselves as professionals. The ones who do it on the cheap in India, don't. If this trend continues, there won't be many (or any) programmers in America, because the work will all have been outsourced to somebody who will do it for 5 times less than s/he is worth.
If somebody living in another country is genuinely a better person for the job, then by all means, that's great. I hope that Americans get German contracts, and Germans get American contracts. And everyone pays each other a fair wage for the work.
But no German is going to work for 10 DM an hour doing programming.
If Indians were to charge the rates that are commensurate with the task, that too would be fine in my eyes. My problem is simply that it hurts everyone when workers of a certain type are undervalued.
Re:How much longer will programming stay in the US (Score:2)
You and I, we already compete with the "foreign" competition in software development, just like any other worker in any other industry does.
In your original question you implied that software development is mainly a US industry. It never was, it isn't and it won't be in the future.
Assumptions (Score:3, Insightful)
No, he didn't. He was asking specifically about the health of the US software industry, of which Dan Gilmour is a pundit.
But how is this different than the situation of the workers...
It's not--and he never said it was. I'm sure many /. readers would agree that there are equally unfair working conditions for exported steel jobs, car jobs, and hardware manufacturing. But again, the topic stated in the article focuses on a journalist who covers the US software industry. No one's trying to be short-sighted about globalism.
This is like saying back in the 70s that "US car workers see themselves as professionals, yet those who do it in the cheap in Japan don't
This is totally wrong and irrelevant. Japanese line workers during the 70s and 80s enjoyed a very similar lifestyle to UAW members. Japan was not and is not a third-world country. Cheap cars != cheap employment. The poster's talking about Indian workers who are the IT industry's equivalent of sweat-shop workers. And no, no one's saying that ALL or MOST of India's IT people are on the cheap.
Re:How much longer will programming stay in the US (Score:3, Interesting)
Programmers in America see themselves as professionals. The ones who do it on the cheap in India, don't.
I strongly doubt that. This is like saying back in the 70s that "US car workers see themselves as professionals, yet those who do it in the cheap in Japan don't." This may tickle your ego, but you evade the problem that they offer a similar or better product for a lower price.
As long as... (Score:2)
As long as... (Score:2)
until (Score:2)
Maybe they could get the head football coaching job at Notre Dame, but CIO or CEO? no way.
Re:How much longer will programming stay in the US (Score:2, Interesting)
How long before I.T. unions are as big as other unions. Or do you think that the current unions will join together to form one large union?
Being a conservative in nature it is a shame to see all these votes going to the Democrats...
On a side note, I can't wait for foreign software development to be taxed like imported cars are.
Future directions of technology (Score:5, Interesting)
Media Undstanding of Technology (Score:5, Interesting)
What impact does this have on the public's perception and awareness of new technoloy, and will this lack of understanding dissapear as older journalists are replaced by a younger, more tech-savvy breed?
Re:Media Undstanding of Technology (Score:3, Interesting)
The other possibility is that they are "encouraged" to hype stuff from particular vendors, or even all vendors. A magazine that criticizes latest trends and products is going to draw *less* advertisers than one that goes along with the hype. After all, why put in an ad for your latest greatest gizmo if the mag is just gonna bash it next month?
Thus, a variation of this question would be: "How can excess hype be counteracted in spite of the pressure to hype vendors' new stuff?"
the cycle of things (Score:5, Interesting)
Right now, most of "us" IT-workers are facing the results of "new economy" bubble and the consecutive downturn of IT.
Here in Germany, I remember that in 1991 when I finished high school, people told me not to go study computer science because back then, the career outlook was bland and many IT academics were unemployed or received low figures. Then came the internet, salaries and everything else exploded, which was nice while it lastet, yet incredibly surreal.
Right now clients are sitting on every single penny , I know highly-skilled IT workers who are nevertheless unemployed because companies stopped hiring and around us and even some of the former key players of the industry are going bust...
So, do you remember a similar economic situation in IT and how did you experience it?
Keeping up and remaining unbias. (Score:5, Interesting)
What/where/who do you read/research/ask to stay abreast of the many technical aspects you need to report on (to keep technical accuracy) without simply taking various companies words for granted (and thus loosing your unbiased approach)?
Silicon valley businessmodel. (Score:2, Funny)
1) Give stuff away for free.
2) ???
3) Profit!
Conflict of Interest (Score:5, Interesting)
What's up with the open relay? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:What's up with the open relay? (Score:4, Informative)
-davidu
Re:What's up with the open relay? (Score:2)
I didn't really start using it until 1994 or so, but I think you've got your history glasses set too much to the 'rose' tint.
Back in our day of the internet, nearly every server ran an open relay to.... "Relay email"
OK, but why? - simple, because that's the way it had always been.. any why had it always been like that? Because in the 'old days' (before you were online) mail servers didn't know how to talk to every other mail server on the planet.. so they left themselves 'open', to facilitate mail sending from two sites that didn't know how to get to each other.
Now that pretty much every mail server knows how to talk to every other mail server, we don't need it any more. If your mail server doesn't understand MX records, it's time for an upgrade (there have been GREAT advances in mail software in the past 25 years.)
You wanna send an email to the admin at server xyz? Log in and send him a mail. That's all.
OK, and this can't be done now why???
Closed relays don't stop anyone from sending mail to mail admins.
We understand the old ways.
I'm guessing you don't. If you did, you'd know the real reason why mail relays were left open.
(To answer the previous poster's question, Mr Gilmor keeps an open relay to permit anonymous mail. An admirable goal in theory, but given the spam problem, a questionable decision. I'm still not sure if it's right to be doing it in the 21st century.)
The next "next thing"? (Score:5, Interesting)
follow up (Score:4, Funny)
Is Apple truly against DRM? (Score:5, Interesting)
Your article is, however, basically speculative.
Do you have any evidence that Apple really has an anti-DRM corporate strategy? Gateway has issued a limited but significant public statement of support for fair-use rights. Do you have any ideas why Apple has not done anything like this?
Re:Is Apple truly against DRM? (Score:2)
- QuickTime Streaming Server
- Darwin Streaming Server
- iPod
- iTunes/"Rip, Mix, Burn"
Others I'm sure, I just can't think of at the moment =]Digital divide.. (Score:5, Interesting)
In hindsight... (Score:5, Interesting)
Any changes in Valley startup culture? (Score:5, Interesting)
Silicon Valley venture capitalists in the late 1990s turned their money and attentions to bear on creating dozens of companies that never had any hope of turning a profit.
From personal experience I've seen just how powerful VCs are in shaping the development of the IT market through their iron-grip control of individual startups.
Have you noticed any fundamental power shifts or changes in the way startup IT companies are being funded and created in the Valley over the past couple of years?
Market Saturation (Score:5, Interesting)
Now that the bubble is gone, Mr Bill's Corrolary has (mostly) failed, and the market is obviously saturated, when are Intel/AMD/Microsoft going to admit to this, and what are the general industry plans to deal with this, beyond the obvious software rental model?
dating tips... (Score:3, Interesting)
Databases and File Systems (Score:5, Interesting)
Microsoft's approach is to tune the database (SQL Server) to act as a file system, scheduled replace NTFS in 2006. The open source community, however, is taking the opposite approach and aiming to make the file system more database-like.
One of the most promising ideas right now for Linux seems to be coming from Hans Reiser, soon to be implemented in a future version of Reiser FS. Reiser FS will store many attributes about a file in other files, basically expanding the capabilites of the file system into a database.
Which do you see as the more promising approah? What do you think the impact of such hybrid filesystem/databases will be on DBMS such as Oracle, Sybase, and DB2?
Desktop Linux (Score:4, Interesting)
Soko
Software Patents and Law (Score:5, Interesting)
What is your opinion on this issue?
Next technology to go down (Score:3, Interesting)
Convergence or Divergence? (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously... (Score:4, Interesting)
The Re-writing of Computer History (Score:5, Interesting)
For example, in Robert X. Cringely's book "Accidental Empires", he tells the story of how the personal computer grew from a hobby toy to one of the most important devices ever made.
But it's a decidedly left-coast "californa-centric" point of view. Very little mention of IBM is ever made, except how they screwed up and gave the golden key to Bill Gates, and computer industry pioneer Commodore doesn't even seem to warrant a paragragh, although at one point in the early 80's CBM held over 33% of the market.
So, my question is: Do you feel that the number of reporters hovering around Silicon Valley have distorted the view of the rise of the industry?
While I also believe that Woz is due saint-hood, I also have tempered that view with the knowledge that both Commodore and Clive Sinclair did more to raise the bar on the Personal Computer than most others, despite the Mac being "insanely great".
When I watch "Pirates of Silicon Valley" I can't help but feel that we're cheating ourselves by allowing the "pundits" to dictate how this industry came to where it is now.
It does appear at times that the those reporting on technology are often just cheerleaders for whatever large software/hardware company pays the advertising bills for the magazine that reporter works for.
How do you feel about these issues?
Technology: Wings of wonder or chains of opression (Score:5, Interesting)
Nowadays, it seems that one can't do anything with a PC without a bunch of rules, regulations, or disclaimers. While it's understandable that many companies wish to protect their products, and also protect themselves from lawsuits, it seems that today freedom in IT is becoming increasingly narrow.
What do you think the future of the internet is, in a legal and freedoms sense? Will it continue to become a medium for free expression (quite strongly accented by sites such as here, slashdot), or will insane lawsuits and regulations put to much fear into using the freedoms which are so easily stepped on today.
As the world integrates IT more and more into our lives, what will happen with it as a medium of freedom Vs one of restriction. Will we still be able to speak our minds online, or will we live under the chains of lawsuits, speed governers, and surveillance devices.
Technology is a wonderful medium for crossing new boundries, but often it seems to also be used to impose new ones. Which usage for technology do you see being stronger in the future: the wings or the chains, and how would you see each being applied?
Apple bashing? (Score:5, Interesting)
Question (Score:2)
Sponsorship, biases, etc. affecting articles (Score:2, Interesting)
We all hear stories of different reports being paid for by corporations such as Microsoft. How are many of the current stories, newspapers, and other printed (electronically printed or otherwise) stories affected by corporate sponsorship, biases, etc.? Which industries, points of view, or otherwise get promoted heavily with regards to importance due to these biases or sponsors? Is this a way to manipulate public viewpoints, in an arena which should be impartial?
What sources are doing this the most? Are there any sources that truly seem impartial in most of their judgements? It all comes back to who do we trust?
Hidden corruption? (Score:5, Insightful)
With so much money having been tossed around, surely there was a lot of corrupt dealings; however, I haven't seen any press or other talk of such happenings.
Is it primarily because these companies weren't public and thus publicly accountable that any mini-Enron's were simply never discovered?
In some ways, corruption would be a little more comforting of an explanation than sheer stupidity.
I feel like I might be pretty naive in not realizing some of this is going on. What's your take on corrupt dealings, patronage, and such in the industry?
-me
Merger (Score:3, Interesting)
Trends in Software Quality (Score:5, Interesting)
Dinosaurs (Score:2, Interesting)
do you use (Score:2)
Open Source Government (Score:4, Interesting)
Is IT Discredited? (Score:5, Interesting)
In the 90's companies seemed to believe in IT benefits dispite this lack of a solid connection. Has the tide now turned such that companies are going to shun IT projects and revert to more traditional (manual) processes for the borderline functions that are not clear candidates for automation?
In my observation, whenever there are no clear and/or agreed-upon metrics for the usage of a given technique or approach, then its popularity is highly subject to whim, speculation, and fads.
For example, the "market-share over profits" viewpoint was popular in the 80's during the Japan boom. Now it is pretty much dead. Is IT in the same boat now?
exporting Silicon Valley over Europe (Score:3, Interesting)
you've seen a lot of things happening in Silicon Valley so far, from the VC-financed dot-com big-blow to the latest enforcement of "security" and "digital rights management" to other less known things.
Now, being an EU citizen, I fear that Europe may slowly want to catch up with the "famous" Silicon Valley in terms of technology, state of mind, rate of growth, and so on. Manager are fascinated by the possibilities of 'making money', young students in Economics are told that Silicon Valley Was A Good Thing No Matter What, et cetera.
What do you think will happen over here? Will Europe take just the good ideas from the Silicon Valley (grass-root movements, improvements in technology just for the sake of it, improvements to the whole mankind) or will we all become subject to EULAs and draconian laws imposed by some multinational company?
What can be done to avoid the dangers that a too-obtuse management class can do? (don't suggest "move to another country" please
thanks
Promises, Promises (Score:5, Interesting)
As I see it, to a large extent this is due to an over-reliance of IT journalists on industry contacts and a highly incestuous meme-pool.
Since industry contacts are driven by their own agendas to poison the meme-pool with hype and FUD, reporters typically serve only to reinforce entrenched concerns in the industry.
This is particularly troublesome given that the IT industry of uniquely reliant upon innovation which has traditionally emerged from smaller players & upstarts.
Therefore, does IT journalism really contribute positively to the industry and, if so, how?
Time to rethink patents? (Score:4, Interesting)
Should we shorten the term of patents in emerging technology fields, such as in software and other relatively new high tech industries?
Paradigms (Score:3, Interesting)
Keeping with the times (Score:5, Interesting)
Thanks.
Where are the gold-diggers going? (Score:4, Interesting)
During the dot-com boom, a big wod of "IT professionals" came out of nowhere to help with web projects.
Many of these people seemed mostly interested in money and prestige, and not true computer-lovers like us real nerds on slashdot
Some now seem to be moving toward the currently hot accounting field.
What percentage of IT workers seem to be like this and what percent are successfully moving out of IT into a more happening field?
Will enough of them disappear from IT to return computer employement to normal?
The Internet (Score:2, Interesting)
EFF. (Score:3, Interesting)
However, as much as I and many others on Slashdot agree with these causes, do you believe that as a journalist your involvement with the EFF etc, has made you biased? And if not why?
Thanks,
Primenumber
Career focus (Score:3, Interesting)
Is there a light at the end of the DRM tunnel? (Score:5, Interesting)
Philosophy. (Score:2, Insightful)
Computer Security (Score:3, Interesting)
Do you believe That Palladium is a sincere attempt on Microsofts/intel/etc part to offer secure Computing or is it merely a gimmick to cash in on security and remove the open source software as an option to the basic computer User?
Do you see any change in computing Law in the next 20 years in regard to Vendors culpability for security Flaws?
Ease-of-use, etc. (Score:5, Interesting)
I am, however, getting sick of what passes for operating systems and applications these days. Many of my tech-savy friends are taking a serious look at Apple hardware and software 'because it just works'. The company I work for runs a collection of Windows and Linux machines. With Windows machines, we have to spend far too much time keeping the system patches and antivirus software up to date and generally managing them. I love Linux and use it all the time but I am still very aware that I am using a Linux system, not just a 'computer'.
And I am tired of it. Why should I have to care about the operating system? I want to use the computer to do my job. I don't want to fight with patches. I don't want to reinstall software and spend hours tuning the configurations. I'll do that for our servers because, at the moment at least, I have to. But why should I spend large part of my day managing the computers rather than just using the damn things? Why don't they just work? Why do I even still care what operating system I am running?
The reason is, of course, fairly obvious. But how do you see this changing over the next decade? Can we get a handle on the complexity? What influence will Apple have? Do you see operating systems becoming to a simple commodity (choose what you want, all your applications will work regardless)?
on the serverside (Score:3, Funny)
Microsoft's Apogee (Score:4, Interesting)
So the question is... Has Microsoft reached its apogee? Has it seen its best days from a growth and profitability standpoint? & if so is this a good or bad thing for IT & Silicon Valley?
Hello Dan (Score:3, Funny)
If two trains are exactly 150 miles apart and one of them heads north on the tracks at 30 mph heading into wind gust of 25 mph which only occur at 15 second intervals for exactly 10 seconds and the second one heads south at 27 mph on a 15 degree incline with a crosswind of 12 mph at an angle of 42 degrees, how long will it take for them to meet?
Warmest regards,
--Jack
Will Linux price-shock for the industry at large? (Score:5, Interesting)
As linux overtakes Solaris, other Unices, and M$ Windows in the server and workstation tiers, it could be a huge boon to businesses that use this technology. At the same time, could it actually hurt those employed at various levels of the high-tech industry? For example if linux is more efficient and scalable, might it:
Please note that I'm not decrying this potential effect of the use Linux or free software. If our industry is too fat (especially on the support side) then great. . . it should be cut down and people retrained. But it seems logical that the free software movement will cause efficiencies that will force a good percentage of this work-sector to "get with the program or get off the bus". The problem is that without consistent innovation at the business layer (businesses' use of technology) then the tech industry may not expand enough to allow retraining as a saviour for disenfranchised MCSEs, CNEs, etc. etc. If most businesses are content with basic file-serving, routing and printing without investing in technology then many people will just plain lose their jobs.
It seems to me that M$ has created a bubble with their inefficient and unreliable software. A LOT of people are employed to keep that junk working. In effect, businesses are subsidizing this "ill" part of the industry by throwing employees at a series of problems M$ has created. Similarly, forced dependence, and file incompatibilites, have allowed M$ to maintain a pricing bubble for software basics such as word-processing and simple spreadsheets. If they lose the OS war to free software and some of the office-turf to openoffice won't the air go out of a lot of balloons? Should people be bracing themselves for this?
I've wondered about these issues for a while and I'm sure you have much better insight into these topics than I do. What is your take?
Security/Privacy (Score:3, Interesting)
Is security/privacy something providers of goods/services should take care of, or is it the end-users problem to deal with it ?
Publicity vs Reporting (Score:4, Insightful)
Blue Collar? (Score:3, Interesting)
Will the DMCA be overturned or changed? (Score:4, Insightful)
Typical "question".... (Score:3, Insightful)
So what do you think?