Re: Outside U.S. versus inside U.S.

Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:

>>>>>>"Taran" == Taran Rampersad <[email protected]> writes:
>>>>>>            
>>>>>>
>
>    Taran> Phil Hughes wrote:
>
>    >> Now that I have been outside the US for over a year I feel I
>    >> have a better grip on reality.
>
>    Taran> Yes, under similar circumstances in Trinidad and Tobago, I
>    Taran> am seeing that myself.
>
>Spend a year in Japan and then say those things.  I think what you
>have a grip on is not reality in general, merely the particular
>reality of relative poverty.
>
Well, I have been to Japan. Perhaps Okinawa would be a better 
comparison; I spent most of my time there on Uncle Sam's bill. Of course 
there's the dislike of the U.S. military on Okinawa (which, IMHO, is 
justified), which affects viewpoint - but one cannot miss the poverty.

>That's why Microsoft is what it is.  The (IMHO) criminal behavior made
>it more so, but the fundamental strength of Microsoft has always been
>that Bill Gates and his lieutenants grok the markets.  (Remember that
>"to grok" means "to love," "to hate," and "to understand" all rolled
>into one!)
>
>This is quite a different problem from that faced by "Southern" FSBs
>and FLOSS advocates.  Their customers are nowhere near so affluent, and
>do not generally have the alternative of outsourcing at only twice the
>direct cost of doing it in-house.
>  
>
Given that 20% of a country typically controls about 80% of the wealth 
(hard, fast and loose numbers, I know), the U.S. is not very different. 
The major factor is where the median income is, I think.

The 20% who have the money are typically the ones that have businesses, 
therefore would be more interested in cost reductions... and they are.

The challenge in Trinidad and Tobago, as an example, is that everyone 
wants what the rich people have. And the rich people have computers 
running Windows. This is non-intuitive for me, but I have to admit that 
this appears to be the way things are working. The businesses that sell 
PCs throw on MS products - legitimately if their customers will pay for 
it, or not. The latter is usually the case.

Gates and company are very goodat what they do. But here's where they 
are really slitting their own throats down here: The updates. The 
average person with a PC in Trinidad *may* have internet access - dial 
up 56k run by a government subsidized (49%) ISP monopoly - at about $50 
US/month. ADSL, whenever I get it, will run me about $100 U.S./month.

So, updates for Windows XP are a painful process, and this is what is 
irritating people. Toss in the fact that the copy protections in the 
newer versions of Windows are being enforced to a limited extent - I 
know one doctor who got a call from Microsoft regarding Windows XP 
(which he had 'bought' unlicensed with a machine). Similar audits 
conducted by a governmental office have people looking for cheaper 
alternatives.

Then, there's the training side of the spectrum. People who are trained 
at MCSE - taking out loans from local banks for about $3,400 US (about 
$20 K locally - a salary of $3k/month TT is more than most see), and 
there is resistance from the people who spent this money to use 
Microsoft Technologies.

So... it's an interesting situation. About 20% of the people control the 
wealth, and they're being advised my Microsoft certified people. 
Meanwhile, the average user cannot 'afford' the internet access to use 
for XP updates...

And the shift seems to be the home desktop market. This is fortuitous, 
in that the Linux desktop has never looked better. I suppose that the 
general strategy here would be to get people using the desktops at home, 
so that the up and coming generations grok (instead of zen) Linux.

Nothing I've been noticing in the U.S. seems to be comparable to this 
situation. It's actually very fun. But when I have the Business Manager 
for the Trinidad Express (local newspaper) bashing Open Source on the 
computing lists... well, they are answered very well by myself and 
others, but it's a symptom of the 20% being advised by Microsoft stooges.

All we can do is say: "Look. Facts.". If they don't get it, they don't 
get it.  People on the local email lists are beginning to ask the 
questions that show interest ('Wait - this sounds good, but how does 
anyone make money?'). And they're being answered.

It's a very interesting journey on a day to day basis...

Taran
http://www.knowprose.com