Hi Indra,
Thanks for the comments.
> I beg to differ, there seems to be an inherent flaw in our thinking.
> Whenever we think of large-scale computer users, we think of corporates.
> yet we say that this is the Information Age, we are already speaking of
> Information haves and have-nots.
We in the so-called "third world" seem to be belonging to the latter
group and the balance tilts in favor of corpos but this gap is
narrowing. Perhaps, the way we live using old items, recycling old stuff
(as Russell has once observed back in linux-india list) may be the key
to put Linux and other open source software firmly in our world as
against the developed west where almost everything is throw-away item.
That may be the reason why Micosoft's software sold there initially but
that too is changing. I find more ISPs -the heartbeats of info highways-
using more and more open source/free software. A good reference is
Charles Handy's new book "The Hungry Spirit" where he asserts and I
agree that most young people will not work in any corporate environment
in the next century.
> Looking ahead on a long-term basis, we see a more and more inter-connected
> world. It will be the ordinary people who will be the major consumers of IT
> and its by-products. Not necessarily only in the form of computers but
> intelligent appliances as well.
And lots of people will have to write the utilities and middleware for
those using java, jini, etc. I am not too sure how much will sell due to
suprior technology and how much due to price/value configuartion.
> Model T Ford...Henry Ford, the father of modern assembly-line production,
> once said about it.."People can have it (ie. Model T Ford) in any color, as
> long as it is black"
Yes, and he gave it to them at 500 US$ (even less during the depression
era, he actually countered competitors like GM with price cuts) which
translated to a value level people liked. Perhaps his best quote is "The
Model T could be priced so low because it gives us such a good profit"
His assembly line method was good for the last century i.e. 20th,
production systems for the next century are already here and they don't
pan the assembly line as it slows down people and fails to use their
actual skills.
IMHO, Microsoft's software production falls in this assembly line
method. They recruit grads to do the daily dose at low rates and gives
them a profit percentage when their product goes to the shelves. After a
few products, these people become millionaires and leave MS to do
totally unrelated work -- aka the burnout syndrome.
Arup
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