30/11/2003
28/11/2003
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Eli Noam (professor of economics and finance at Columbia University and director of its Columbia Institute for Tele-Information) wrote a great article about the real priorities the non-developed countries should have.
Let them eat megabits
In about two weeks, Geneva will host the World Summit on the Information Society. Government and business leaders will converge from around the globe, and no doubt proclaim the importance of spreading the availability of high-speed internet access - "broadband" - to the populations of developing countries. Broadband is regarded as necessary to prevent poor people falling behind economically and socially. But is that true, and should broadband therefore be a priority for developing countries?
Politics and economics are about choices. Of course it is preferable to have an internet connection that runs at 1 megabit per second rather than a slow dial-up service that might be 100 times slower. But such an upgrade costs about $250 of new investment and labour per existing internet subscriber. Is this money well spent? At the same time, few people in poor countries have phone connectivity of any kind. Two-thirds of the world’s population live in countries with fewer than 10 phone connections per 100 people. It costs about $1,000 to wire up a new user; wireless can bring down the cost somewhat. Thus, the money for about three broadband upgrades could instead support one basic connection of a new user to a network.
Telecommunications investments have been shown to have large multiplier effects. But should broadband or basic connectivity receive priority when investment money - whether public or private - is scarce, as it is now with the bursting of the telecoms and internet bubbles? Broadband benefits the urban professional classes; universal service benefits the rural areas and the poor. Faced with the unpalatable choice, and with the high-tech siren songs of equipment vendors and network companies, most policymakers will simply deny its existence, or defer to technology fixes as overcoming them. But avoiding a choice usually means making an imperfect one.
Even in rich countries, the migration to broadband has taken a definite historic path. First, basic telecom connectivity for everyone was achieved, a process that took a century, until the 1970s. Wireless mobile communications followed, and their universality is now in striking distance. Narrowband internet started in earnest with the web in the early 1990s, and has now reached near saturation for those likely to use it. Broadband internet began a few years ago and has reached now 6.9 per cent of the population in America and 2.3 per cent in the UK. Several countries, most notably South Korea, have higher penetrations (21.4 per cent). In other words, rich countries first expanded their basic services across society, and only then embarked on bursts of upgrades.
If residential broadband were to become a secondary telecom priority for poor countries, would they suffer for it? Not really. First, the expanding base of basic phone users would also increase the number of narrowband internet users. The extra speed of broadband is convenient but not essential. There are few things one could not do on narrowband outside its use for music and video. Yes, there are important applications, such as tele-medicine and distance education. For those, broadband may be justified in institutional settings, and they could grow into shared community high-speed access points. But that does not mean that broadband is essential as a residential service.
Second, the upgrade of the infrastructure to broadband, difficult as it is, is simple in comparison with the required improvements in the applications, content, and services that would operate on the faster network. Such applications are therefore likely to be dominated by providers in rich countries, which benefit from economies of scale and the huge drop in international communications prices, and which could therefore access the prosperous pockets of poor countries more easily. In contrast, domestic industries and content would develop better in the less demanding narrowband environment, in which they can access a larger number of small users whose needs are more familiar to them than to global companies.
The conclusion is therefore that the priority of poor countries should be to expand basic network connectivity, both wireline and wireless, through public investments and market structures that encourage private investment. It should also be to develop a base of narrowband applications and content providers that can later compete on the broadband platforms that follow.
It may be comforting to declare that one can do it all, widening service well as deepening it. This might be true one day. Until then, universal connectivity rather than broadband is the better but more boring strategy for development.
Let them eat megabits
In about two weeks, Geneva will host the World Summit on the Information Society. Government and business leaders will converge from around the globe, and no doubt proclaim the importance of spreading the availability of high-speed internet access - "broadband" - to the populations of developing countries. Broadband is regarded as necessary to prevent poor people falling behind economically and socially. But is that true, and should broadband therefore be a priority for developing countries?
Politics and economics are about choices. Of course it is preferable to have an internet connection that runs at 1 megabit per second rather than a slow dial-up service that might be 100 times slower. But such an upgrade costs about $250 of new investment and labour per existing internet subscriber. Is this money well spent? At the same time, few people in poor countries have phone connectivity of any kind. Two-thirds of the world’s population live in countries with fewer than 10 phone connections per 100 people. It costs about $1,000 to wire up a new user; wireless can bring down the cost somewhat. Thus, the money for about three broadband upgrades could instead support one basic connection of a new user to a network.
Telecommunications investments have been shown to have large multiplier effects. But should broadband or basic connectivity receive priority when investment money - whether public or private - is scarce, as it is now with the bursting of the telecoms and internet bubbles? Broadband benefits the urban professional classes; universal service benefits the rural areas and the poor. Faced with the unpalatable choice, and with the high-tech siren songs of equipment vendors and network companies, most policymakers will simply deny its existence, or defer to technology fixes as overcoming them. But avoiding a choice usually means making an imperfect one.
Even in rich countries, the migration to broadband has taken a definite historic path. First, basic telecom connectivity for everyone was achieved, a process that took a century, until the 1970s. Wireless mobile communications followed, and their universality is now in striking distance. Narrowband internet started in earnest with the web in the early 1990s, and has now reached near saturation for those likely to use it. Broadband internet began a few years ago and has reached now 6.9 per cent of the population in America and 2.3 per cent in the UK. Several countries, most notably South Korea, have higher penetrations (21.4 per cent). In other words, rich countries first expanded their basic services across society, and only then embarked on bursts of upgrades.
If residential broadband were to become a secondary telecom priority for poor countries, would they suffer for it? Not really. First, the expanding base of basic phone users would also increase the number of narrowband internet users. The extra speed of broadband is convenient but not essential. There are few things one could not do on narrowband outside its use for music and video. Yes, there are important applications, such as tele-medicine and distance education. For those, broadband may be justified in institutional settings, and they could grow into shared community high-speed access points. But that does not mean that broadband is essential as a residential service.
Second, the upgrade of the infrastructure to broadband, difficult as it is, is simple in comparison with the required improvements in the applications, content, and services that would operate on the faster network. Such applications are therefore likely to be dominated by providers in rich countries, which benefit from economies of scale and the huge drop in international communications prices, and which could therefore access the prosperous pockets of poor countries more easily. In contrast, domestic industries and content would develop better in the less demanding narrowband environment, in which they can access a larger number of small users whose needs are more familiar to them than to global companies.
The conclusion is therefore that the priority of poor countries should be to expand basic network connectivity, both wireline and wireless, through public investments and market structures that encourage private investment. It should also be to develop a base of narrowband applications and content providers that can later compete on the broadband platforms that follow.
It may be comforting to declare that one can do it all, widening service well as deepening it. This might be true one day. Until then, universal connectivity rather than broadband is the better but more boring strategy for development.
26/11/2003
At What Cost Bargains?
Las Vegas hotel worker Chastity Ferguson earns $400 a week and depends on Wal-Mart's low prices to feed and clothe her four children. Isabel Reyes, a Honduran laborer who struggles to push fabric through a sewing machine 10 hours a day, makes the bargains possible with her low salary, equal to $35 per week. The two women chronicled in "The Wal-Mart Effect," a three-part series by Times reporters in the U.S. and abroad, put human faces on the painful dichotomy being created as Wal-Mart reshapes how the retail world works.
In the Southern California supermarket strike, established grocers demand wage and benefit cuts to stay competitive as Wal-Mart lays plans for 40 "Supercenters," with full grocery sections, in California. The 70,000 union workers walking picket lines fear their middle-class comforts are about to slip away. Yet union-conducted surveys show that their members shop at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart's ceaseless pressure for lower-cost goods speeded the shift of domestic apparel production to lower-cost plants in China and Central America. Yet workers and governments in countries where $35 a week is a good wage clamor for Wal-Mart's business.
The issues are powerful and global but not new. Think of the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire in New York in 1911. The deaths of 146 people, mostly low-wage female workers, aroused the public to demand powerful workplace protections, culminating decades later under Franklin D. Roosevelt. It took that long to build social consensus on balancing business and worker rights.
The issues surrounding Wal-Mart are far less dramatic, and not all of them are clear-cut. Certainly Wal-Mart should suffer more than a regulatory slap if, as alleged, it knowingly allowed cleaning contractors to hire cheaper, undocumented workers. The same goes for charges of forcing employees to work overtime without pay and of discriminating against women in promotions. Unions must be allowed to conduct legal organizing drives.
After that it gets harder. Henry Ford's aim when he built his first automobile assembly line was to make a product that his workers could buy. Now, what good is served if low-paid labor cannot afford to buy even the cheap merchandise lining Wal-Mart's shelves? If "always lower prices" also means "always lower wages," what does it mean to the larger economy that is still being kept afloat by consumer spending? Or to overstressed public health systems caring for workers who can't afford their employers' health plans?
Asking these questions is only a start, as the long debate after the Triangle fire tells us. In the early part of the 20th century, America was deciding whether to keep accepting child labor and grueling, filthy working conditions in its cities and on its farms. The questions have grown more complicated, as have the answers. Wal-Mart is a prosperous business because it responds so aggressively to the demands of consumers. But Wal-Mart's actions fuel global wage competition. Americans must learn to ask themselves — and tell their legislators — what they want, why they want it and what the true costs of an $8.63 polo shirt are.
At What Cost Bargains?
In the Southern California supermarket strike, established grocers demand wage and benefit cuts to stay competitive as Wal-Mart lays plans for 40 "Supercenters," with full grocery sections, in California. The 70,000 union workers walking picket lines fear their middle-class comforts are about to slip away. Yet union-conducted surveys show that their members shop at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart's ceaseless pressure for lower-cost goods speeded the shift of domestic apparel production to lower-cost plants in China and Central America. Yet workers and governments in countries where $35 a week is a good wage clamor for Wal-Mart's business.
The issues are powerful and global but not new. Think of the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire in New York in 1911. The deaths of 146 people, mostly low-wage female workers, aroused the public to demand powerful workplace protections, culminating decades later under Franklin D. Roosevelt. It took that long to build social consensus on balancing business and worker rights.
The issues surrounding Wal-Mart are far less dramatic, and not all of them are clear-cut. Certainly Wal-Mart should suffer more than a regulatory slap if, as alleged, it knowingly allowed cleaning contractors to hire cheaper, undocumented workers. The same goes for charges of forcing employees to work overtime without pay and of discriminating against women in promotions. Unions must be allowed to conduct legal organizing drives.
After that it gets harder. Henry Ford's aim when he built his first automobile assembly line was to make a product that his workers could buy. Now, what good is served if low-paid labor cannot afford to buy even the cheap merchandise lining Wal-Mart's shelves? If "always lower prices" also means "always lower wages," what does it mean to the larger economy that is still being kept afloat by consumer spending? Or to overstressed public health systems caring for workers who can't afford their employers' health plans?
Asking these questions is only a start, as the long debate after the Triangle fire tells us. In the early part of the 20th century, America was deciding whether to keep accepting child labor and grueling, filthy working conditions in its cities and on its farms. The questions have grown more complicated, as have the answers. Wal-Mart is a prosperous business because it responds so aggressively to the demands of consumers. But Wal-Mart's actions fuel global wage competition. Americans must learn to ask themselves — and tell their legislators — what they want, why they want it and what the true costs of an $8.63 polo shirt are.
At What Cost Bargains?
23/11/2003
UNCTAD recomienda usar software open-source
As I just reported, the chilean government is increasingly being locked by Microsoft, a trend clearly against common sense. In fact, the United Nations just released the "E-Commerce and Development Report", recommending the adoption of open-source and free software by development countries. Some extracts of the report related to open-source are:
"The advantages for developing countries of promoting policy that will provide a positive environment for open-source IT are manifold, and any differences in comparison with the developed world are generally ones of degree, not of direction."
"ICT development may need to include an FOSS agenda. While its low cost does not drive the development of FOSS globally, in developing countries it may well speed adoption, particularly given the increasingly stringent enforcement of IPR demanded by proprietary FOSS software producers. Money spent on licenses may be better used in training ICT experts who can perform real software development, rather than just “click on the menu”.
"Finally, the increasing adoption of FOSS in the developed world is creating export opportunities for customized software from nascent IT industries in developing countries."
The full report is at http://www.unctad.org/en/docs//ecdr2003_en.pdf
"The advantages for developing countries of promoting policy that will provide a positive environment for open-source IT are manifold, and any differences in comparison with the developed world are generally ones of degree, not of direction."
"ICT development may need to include an FOSS agenda. While its low cost does not drive the development of FOSS globally, in developing countries it may well speed adoption, particularly given the increasingly stringent enforcement of IPR demanded by proprietary FOSS software producers. Money spent on licenses may be better used in training ICT experts who can perform real software development, rather than just “click on the menu”.
"Finally, the increasing adoption of FOSS in the developed world is creating export opportunities for customized software from nascent IT industries in developing countries."
The full report is at http://www.unctad.org/en/docs//ecdr2003_en.pdf
Poorer nations to reap rewards of trend to outsourcing
The outsourcing of business operations via the internet could earn some of the world's poorest countries billions of dollars over the next few years, according to a United Nations study.
and low education levels can offer basic business process outsourcing (BPO) services such as data entry.
Estimates of the worldwide BPO market, which has grown by nearly 25 per cent a year since 1999, range from $300bn next year to $585bn in 2005, as western businesses seek to take advantage of cost savings of up to 60 per cent by moving functions such as call centres and customer support to low-wage countries.In its latest annual report on electronic commerce published yesterday, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) says even countries such as Cambodia with minimal telecommunications infrastructure
Offshore outsourcing could generate some 3.3m jobs worldwide by 2015, 2.3m of them in India and most of the rest in developing nations, the report adds.
Though India's skilled English-speaking workforce and low salaries have enabled it to capture a dominant share of the international outsourcing market, the report notes that business process service providers are emerging in countries as varied as Bangladesh, Brazil, China, the Philippines, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam.
The services on offer also range widely, from banking and credit card services to marketing and web services, and from routine payroll processing to specialised graphics and animation, the report says.
Last year, internet users in developing countries accounted for a third of the world's 591m users, up from 28 per cent in 2001, and could represent half by 2008. However, internet hosts are concentrated in the industrialised countries, which account for 89 per cent of the total.
Industrialised countries also account for more than 95 per cent of global electronic commerce, now worth up to $1,500bn, of which the US share is nearly $1,000bn.
Unctad nevertheless points out that internet use depends not simply on income levels but also on government policy. "Internet penetration rates in developing countries with comparable income levels vary by as much as 25 times," it says.
In particular, the report recommends the use of free and open-source software, which it says can "dramatically improve the digital inclusion of the developing world" by reducing barriers to market entry, cutting costs and promoting the rapid expansion of skills and technology. www.unctad.org
and low education levels can offer basic business process outsourcing (BPO) services such as data entry.
Estimates of the worldwide BPO market, which has grown by nearly 25 per cent a year since 1999, range from $300bn next year to $585bn in 2005, as western businesses seek to take advantage of cost savings of up to 60 per cent by moving functions such as call centres and customer support to low-wage countries.In its latest annual report on electronic commerce published yesterday, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) says even countries such as Cambodia with minimal telecommunications infrastructure
Offshore outsourcing could generate some 3.3m jobs worldwide by 2015, 2.3m of them in India and most of the rest in developing nations, the report adds.
Though India's skilled English-speaking workforce and low salaries have enabled it to capture a dominant share of the international outsourcing market, the report notes that business process service providers are emerging in countries as varied as Bangladesh, Brazil, China, the Philippines, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam.
The services on offer also range widely, from banking and credit card services to marketing and web services, and from routine payroll processing to specialised graphics and animation, the report says.
Last year, internet users in developing countries accounted for a third of the world's 591m users, up from 28 per cent in 2001, and could represent half by 2008. However, internet hosts are concentrated in the industrialised countries, which account for 89 per cent of the total.
Industrialised countries also account for more than 95 per cent of global electronic commerce, now worth up to $1,500bn, of which the US share is nearly $1,000bn.
Unctad nevertheless points out that internet use depends not simply on income levels but also on government policy. "Internet penetration rates in developing countries with comparable income levels vary by as much as 25 times," it says.
In particular, the report recommends the use of free and open-source software, which it says can "dramatically improve the digital inclusion of the developing world" by reducing barriers to market entry, cutting costs and promoting the rapid expansion of skills and technology. www.unctad.org
El Chile que "ellos" quieren
Fernando Villegas las hace una vez másEl Chile que "ellos" quieren
Se ha perdido en la noche de los tiempos la identidad del siútico que por primera vez urdió el bautizar los encuentros empresariales de Icare con un latinajo sentencioso. O tal vez somos injustos y dicho personaje era un hombre sencillo aspirando sólo a hacer una broma transitoria y ninguna culpa tiene que su ocurrencia se convirtiera en costumbre. Como sea, el último meeting fue bautizado como "Modus Vivendi", aunque también se le ha llamado "El Chile que queremos".
Y aquí viene la pregunta. ¿Quiénes son esos "nosotros" implícito en el "queremos"? ¿Esos señores que dicen "queremos" como diciendo "todo Chile quiere"? ¿Como diciendo que luego de largo debate el país entero decidió qué diablos quería? Pero no recuerdo haber sido consultado al respecto. ¿Lo fue usted? ¿Lo llamaron para interrogarlo acerca del Chile que desea? ¿Lo ha llamado Ravinet para preguntarle siquiera qué clase de barrio quiere? ¿Qué ciudad quiere? ¿Los ha llamado Eyzaguirre para preguntarles qué presupuesto prefieren? ¿Los llamó la canciller para preguntarles qué nueva plancha ansían protagonizar con Argentina? ¿Los llamaron los empresarios para saber qué clase de relación laboral y nivel de ingresos gustan? ¿Los llamó Ricardo Claro, los llamó Luksic, los llamó Angelini?
No los ha llamado absolutamente nadie. Y nadie los va a llamar. Parece que este "queremos" no es asunto que nos competa al resto de los chilenos...
Lo que quieren los que quieren...
¿Y quiénes son esos señores que quieren y quieren y nunca dejan de querer algo más? Por cierto, insisto, no son ni usted ni yo. Son los carilindos del país. Son los acaudalados, los dueños de tierras, fortunas, islas, empresas, directorios y miembros de número -no faltaba más- de cada secta católica fundamentalista que ha asentado sus reales en Chile para elevación de las almas y santificación de los bolsillos. Son altos dirigentes políticos, ejecutivos de primerísimo nivel con jugosas participaciones, especuladores de Bolsa, financistas, dueños de navieras, de bosques, de conglomerados, de la costa, el mar, lagos y ríos, la tierra, el subsuelo, las montañas y el aire mismo que respiramos. Son los titulares personales y corporativos de fortunas y/o capitales avaluados en incontables millones de dólares. Y son también las autoridades de gobierno que tal vez no tienen dónde caerse muertos, pero a fuerza de ocupar puestos importantes se han ganado el derecho a ser invitados. En breve, es la elite política y económica del país, la cual maneja a este último con la mano firme y el poder completo con que un barón medieval manejaba su heredad.
Por supuesto, este diminuto grupo tiene todo el derecho del mundo a querer lo que se le dé la gana; es posible, incluso, que su querer sea conveniente para el resto de nosotros, a quienes nadie nos ha preguntado nada. Pero aun así este arrogarse la ciudadanía exhaustiva y exclusiva de la nación tiene cierto tufo a atropello. Por otra parte, es cierto que tal vez si se nos preguntara no sabríamos qué contestar. Ya explicaré por qué. Y ellos sí lo saben: tienen agendas empresariales y políticas muy claras. Quieren más libertad para seguir haciéndose aún más ricos. Quieren una mano de obra disciplinada, eficiente, educada, barata y que sepa cuál es su lugar. Quieren un electorado manso que siga haciendo ordenadamente filas frente a las urnas cada tantos años para elegirlos otra vez. Quieren, en suma, un negocito bien puesto, monono, que pueda lucirse con las visitas de fuera, lucrativo, tranquilo, recién pintado. Quieren seguir siendo la elite del país.
¿Y nosotros?
Nosotros contamos poco. No movemos fortunas, no invertimos, no damos empleo, no financiamos campañas, no poseemos medios de comunicación, no somos invitados a La Moneda, mucho menos a Icare. El "modus vivendi" es el de ellos, no el nuestro. No contamos sino con y por un escuálido voto. Juntos somos "el pueblo", en teoría un organismo poderoso capaz de derribar montañas; en la práctica dicho pueblo es una miríada infinita de grupúsculos e individuos a los que sólo une su común suerte de valer poco o nada.
Y aquí explico el por qué, el cual no es el resultado de una fatalidad, sino de determinadas políticas e instituciones -partiendo por la Constitución- que han terminado por baldarnos, amputarnos facultades, chances, alternativas, poder. En otras palabras, no es que no queramos nada o no sepamos qué querer, sino ya no se nos deja que ese querer valga algo y hasta se dificulta que lleguemos a desarrollarlo por la sencilla razón de la falta de práctica. En efecto, cuando la Concertación nos prometió "perfeccionar la democracia" y multiplicar los ámbitos de decisión y soberanía popular, sencillamente nos metió el dedo en la boca. No han aumentado sino los ámbitos de actividad para los dos grupos de ambiciosos, depredadores y mediocridades que gobiernan o pretenden gobernar el país. ¿Qué decide el pueblo cada tantos años sino apenas cuál de estos dos grupos poner sentados a la mesa a servirse el erario nacional? ¿Dónde están los mecanismos de opinión y decisión siquiera a nivel comunal, donde en realidad alcaldes y concejales hacen y deshacen a voluntad? ¿Los plebiscitos? ¿Las consultas? ¿O cree alguien que esas ridículas encuestas de opinión que enriquecen a media docena de comerciantes del rubro equivalen a la soberanía popular, al Vox Populi? Para empezar JAMAS son hechas para saber qué quiere el pueblo, sino para averiguar cuánto quiere o no a los figurones del poder. Es pues un instrumento para el servicio de estos últimos, no de aquél.
Fundo
Ciertamente por desuso, impotencia, frustración y todo lo demás, el pueblo, hoy, no podría ya expresar algo muy coherente sobre el "Chile que queremos". A lo más en el presente sólo podemos decir si nos gusta el hocicón fulanito de tal o nos desagrada el ladrón menganito de cual. Y por lo mismo apenas nos interesa ir a las urnas. El perfeccionamiento de la democracia, su verdadera perfección, ocurrirá el día que esos caballeros ya no necesiten que vayamos a votar y podamos interferir mínimamente en el Chile que ellos quieren. Las mesas se van a constituir sólo en Icare. Para serles franco, el país se ha convertido en aun más un fundo de mierda de lo que siempre fue. Ha diversificado su producción y los labriegos andan mejor comidos y vestidos, es cierto, pero es el mismo fundo, los mismos patrones, los mismos carilindos juntándose de vez en cuando a decidir el Chile que quieren. Lo hacían en el Club de la Unión, lo hacían en sus haciendas, ahora lo hacen en Icare, donde citan a las autoridades a poner oído.
Se ha perdido en la noche de los tiempos la identidad del siútico que por primera vez urdió el bautizar los encuentros empresariales de Icare con un latinajo sentencioso. O tal vez somos injustos y dicho personaje era un hombre sencillo aspirando sólo a hacer una broma transitoria y ninguna culpa tiene que su ocurrencia se convirtiera en costumbre. Como sea, el último meeting fue bautizado como "Modus Vivendi", aunque también se le ha llamado "El Chile que queremos".
Y aquí viene la pregunta. ¿Quiénes son esos "nosotros" implícito en el "queremos"? ¿Esos señores que dicen "queremos" como diciendo "todo Chile quiere"? ¿Como diciendo que luego de largo debate el país entero decidió qué diablos quería? Pero no recuerdo haber sido consultado al respecto. ¿Lo fue usted? ¿Lo llamaron para interrogarlo acerca del Chile que desea? ¿Lo ha llamado Ravinet para preguntarle siquiera qué clase de barrio quiere? ¿Qué ciudad quiere? ¿Los ha llamado Eyzaguirre para preguntarles qué presupuesto prefieren? ¿Los llamó la canciller para preguntarles qué nueva plancha ansían protagonizar con Argentina? ¿Los llamaron los empresarios para saber qué clase de relación laboral y nivel de ingresos gustan? ¿Los llamó Ricardo Claro, los llamó Luksic, los llamó Angelini?
No los ha llamado absolutamente nadie. Y nadie los va a llamar. Parece que este "queremos" no es asunto que nos competa al resto de los chilenos...
Lo que quieren los que quieren...
¿Y quiénes son esos señores que quieren y quieren y nunca dejan de querer algo más? Por cierto, insisto, no son ni usted ni yo. Son los carilindos del país. Son los acaudalados, los dueños de tierras, fortunas, islas, empresas, directorios y miembros de número -no faltaba más- de cada secta católica fundamentalista que ha asentado sus reales en Chile para elevación de las almas y santificación de los bolsillos. Son altos dirigentes políticos, ejecutivos de primerísimo nivel con jugosas participaciones, especuladores de Bolsa, financistas, dueños de navieras, de bosques, de conglomerados, de la costa, el mar, lagos y ríos, la tierra, el subsuelo, las montañas y el aire mismo que respiramos. Son los titulares personales y corporativos de fortunas y/o capitales avaluados en incontables millones de dólares. Y son también las autoridades de gobierno que tal vez no tienen dónde caerse muertos, pero a fuerza de ocupar puestos importantes se han ganado el derecho a ser invitados. En breve, es la elite política y económica del país, la cual maneja a este último con la mano firme y el poder completo con que un barón medieval manejaba su heredad.
Por supuesto, este diminuto grupo tiene todo el derecho del mundo a querer lo que se le dé la gana; es posible, incluso, que su querer sea conveniente para el resto de nosotros, a quienes nadie nos ha preguntado nada. Pero aun así este arrogarse la ciudadanía exhaustiva y exclusiva de la nación tiene cierto tufo a atropello. Por otra parte, es cierto que tal vez si se nos preguntara no sabríamos qué contestar. Ya explicaré por qué. Y ellos sí lo saben: tienen agendas empresariales y políticas muy claras. Quieren más libertad para seguir haciéndose aún más ricos. Quieren una mano de obra disciplinada, eficiente, educada, barata y que sepa cuál es su lugar. Quieren un electorado manso que siga haciendo ordenadamente filas frente a las urnas cada tantos años para elegirlos otra vez. Quieren, en suma, un negocito bien puesto, monono, que pueda lucirse con las visitas de fuera, lucrativo, tranquilo, recién pintado. Quieren seguir siendo la elite del país.
¿Y nosotros?
Nosotros contamos poco. No movemos fortunas, no invertimos, no damos empleo, no financiamos campañas, no poseemos medios de comunicación, no somos invitados a La Moneda, mucho menos a Icare. El "modus vivendi" es el de ellos, no el nuestro. No contamos sino con y por un escuálido voto. Juntos somos "el pueblo", en teoría un organismo poderoso capaz de derribar montañas; en la práctica dicho pueblo es una miríada infinita de grupúsculos e individuos a los que sólo une su común suerte de valer poco o nada.
Y aquí explico el por qué, el cual no es el resultado de una fatalidad, sino de determinadas políticas e instituciones -partiendo por la Constitución- que han terminado por baldarnos, amputarnos facultades, chances, alternativas, poder. En otras palabras, no es que no queramos nada o no sepamos qué querer, sino ya no se nos deja que ese querer valga algo y hasta se dificulta que lleguemos a desarrollarlo por la sencilla razón de la falta de práctica. En efecto, cuando la Concertación nos prometió "perfeccionar la democracia" y multiplicar los ámbitos de decisión y soberanía popular, sencillamente nos metió el dedo en la boca. No han aumentado sino los ámbitos de actividad para los dos grupos de ambiciosos, depredadores y mediocridades que gobiernan o pretenden gobernar el país. ¿Qué decide el pueblo cada tantos años sino apenas cuál de estos dos grupos poner sentados a la mesa a servirse el erario nacional? ¿Dónde están los mecanismos de opinión y decisión siquiera a nivel comunal, donde en realidad alcaldes y concejales hacen y deshacen a voluntad? ¿Los plebiscitos? ¿Las consultas? ¿O cree alguien que esas ridículas encuestas de opinión que enriquecen a media docena de comerciantes del rubro equivalen a la soberanía popular, al Vox Populi? Para empezar JAMAS son hechas para saber qué quiere el pueblo, sino para averiguar cuánto quiere o no a los figurones del poder. Es pues un instrumento para el servicio de estos últimos, no de aquél.
Fundo
Ciertamente por desuso, impotencia, frustración y todo lo demás, el pueblo, hoy, no podría ya expresar algo muy coherente sobre el "Chile que queremos". A lo más en el presente sólo podemos decir si nos gusta el hocicón fulanito de tal o nos desagrada el ladrón menganito de cual. Y por lo mismo apenas nos interesa ir a las urnas. El perfeccionamiento de la democracia, su verdadera perfección, ocurrirá el día que esos caballeros ya no necesiten que vayamos a votar y podamos interferir mínimamente en el Chile que ellos quieren. Las mesas se van a constituir sólo en Icare. Para serles franco, el país se ha convertido en aun más un fundo de mierda de lo que siempre fue. Ha diversificado su producción y los labriegos andan mejor comidos y vestidos, es cierto, pero es el mismo fundo, los mismos patrones, los mismos carilindos juntándose de vez en cuando a decidir el Chile que quieren. Lo hacían en el Club de la Unión, lo hacían en sus haciendas, ahora lo hacen en Icare, donde citan a las autoridades a poner oído.
Gobierno chileno se entrega a Microsoft
Mientras los paises en vías de desarrollo e incluso algunos desarrollados están optando mayormente por software open-source, Chile sigue el camino contrario. Las ventajas de open-source son múltiples, aunque generalmente se destaca solamente el precio de este tipo de software: es gratuito.
Lamentable camino está siguiendo nuestro Gobierno, demostrando que los intereses, presiones y lobby están definiendo el camino que sigue el país.
Chile firma acuerdo para avanzar en la Agenda Digital
El gobierno, representado por el Subsecretario de Economía y Coordinador Gubernamental de Nuevas Tecnologías, Alvaro Díaz y la compañía de software Microsoft, firmaron un compromiso que permitirá avanzar en la disminución de la brecha digital.
Además, el protocolo permitirá acercar la tecnología a sectores de escasos recursos y mejorar su software y la seguridad en sus sistemas gracias al acceso que tendrá el gobierno para conocer el código fuente del sistema operativo Windows.
Entre los acuerdos formalizados entre Microsoft y el gobierno se destacan tres áreas que serán apoyadas por la compañía, con el objetivo que el país en su conjunto pueda mejorar sus procesos de productividad y gestión logrando, con miras a los tratados comerciales firmados por Chile.
Lamentable camino está siguiendo nuestro Gobierno, demostrando que los intereses, presiones y lobby están definiendo el camino que sigue el país.
Chile firma acuerdo para avanzar en la Agenda Digital
El gobierno, representado por el Subsecretario de Economía y Coordinador Gubernamental de Nuevas Tecnologías, Alvaro Díaz y la compañía de software Microsoft, firmaron un compromiso que permitirá avanzar en la disminución de la brecha digital.
Además, el protocolo permitirá acercar la tecnología a sectores de escasos recursos y mejorar su software y la seguridad en sus sistemas gracias al acceso que tendrá el gobierno para conocer el código fuente del sistema operativo Windows.
Entre los acuerdos formalizados entre Microsoft y el gobierno se destacan tres áreas que serán apoyadas por la compañía, con el objetivo que el país en su conjunto pueda mejorar sus procesos de productividad y gestión logrando, con miras a los tratados comerciales firmados por Chile.
20/11/2003
Chile, número uno en acceso digital en Latinoamérica.com
El Mercurio.com
El primer índice global para alinear el acceso a las tecnologías trajo sus sorpresas. Y no sólo para Chile, que está puntero entre los países latinoamericanos. También para naciones como Francia, que generalmente no aparece en los rankings internacionales y que ahora está entre los mejores.
El estudio fue realizado por la Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones (ITU), organismo dependiente de las Naciones Unidas. Se trata de una de las mediciones más completas, ya que abarca a 178 países e incluye variables como el nivel alfabetización de los usuarios y la facilidad de uso de las conexiones tecnológicas.
La muestra se basó en cinco áreas: disponibilidad de infraestructura, costo del acceso, nivel de educación, calidad de los servicios, y el uso de internet. Los países se clasificaron en niveles superior, alto, medio y bajo.
La delantera, en el ranking superior, la lleva Suecia, con un índice de 0,85, más arriba de países como Finlandia, que tiene un 0,79. En el nivel de acceso alto, el primer lugar lo tiene Irlanda, con 0,69, y Chile está en el puesto 18, con un índice de acceso de 0,58. De todas formas, es el número uno en los países de la región.
Según la UIT, la diferencia de esta medición es que ha ido más allá del foco tradicional de la organización en la infraestructura de telecomunicaciones, como cantidad de teléfonos celulares o computadores por país.
"Hasta el momento la infraestructura limitada se ha mirado a menudo como la principal barrera digital. Sin embargo, nuestra investigación sugiere que la facilidad del acceso y la educación de las personas son factores igualmente importantes", dice Michael Minges, de la unidad de mercados, economía y finanzas de la ITU.
Este índice de acceso digital se dará a conocer en la Cumbre de la Sociedad de la Información que se realizará en diciembre en Ginebra y los detalles se pueden ver en la página web www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2003/30.html.
El primer índice global para alinear el acceso a las tecnologías trajo sus sorpresas. Y no sólo para Chile, que está puntero entre los países latinoamericanos. También para naciones como Francia, que generalmente no aparece en los rankings internacionales y que ahora está entre los mejores.
El estudio fue realizado por la Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones (ITU), organismo dependiente de las Naciones Unidas. Se trata de una de las mediciones más completas, ya que abarca a 178 países e incluye variables como el nivel alfabetización de los usuarios y la facilidad de uso de las conexiones tecnológicas.
La muestra se basó en cinco áreas: disponibilidad de infraestructura, costo del acceso, nivel de educación, calidad de los servicios, y el uso de internet. Los países se clasificaron en niveles superior, alto, medio y bajo.
La delantera, en el ranking superior, la lleva Suecia, con un índice de 0,85, más arriba de países como Finlandia, que tiene un 0,79. En el nivel de acceso alto, el primer lugar lo tiene Irlanda, con 0,69, y Chile está en el puesto 18, con un índice de acceso de 0,58. De todas formas, es el número uno en los países de la región.
Según la UIT, la diferencia de esta medición es que ha ido más allá del foco tradicional de la organización en la infraestructura de telecomunicaciones, como cantidad de teléfonos celulares o computadores por país.
"Hasta el momento la infraestructura limitada se ha mirado a menudo como la principal barrera digital. Sin embargo, nuestra investigación sugiere que la facilidad del acceso y la educación de las personas son factores igualmente importantes", dice Michael Minges, de la unidad de mercados, economía y finanzas de la ITU.
Este índice de acceso digital se dará a conocer en la Cumbre de la Sociedad de la Información que se realizará en diciembre en Ginebra y los detalles se pueden ver en la página web www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2003/30.html.
19/11/2003
Economist.com | Telecoms and airlines
THERE'S no business like show business, supposedly—but might there be a business like telecoms? It has become fashionable to suggest that there is, and that valuable lessons can be learned by comparing telecoms, a turbulent industry beset with crisis and opportunity, to another business also in turmoil: air travel.
Both industries consist of carriers serving routes on a global network. Both were dominated by state-owned monopolies that have now mostly been privatised, but remain sources of national pride.
In both cases, market liberalisation has let in new entrants. The incumbents jealously guard their inherited access rights—local-loop copper lines in the case of telecoms and landing slots for airlines. Airlines, like telecoms firms, can concentrate on local or long-distance routes, or appeal to specific markets, such as cost-conscious consumers or business customers. And in both industries there is massive overcapacity on some routes, with empty seats on planes and fibre-optic cables unused.
Another striking parallel is evident in Europe's mobile-phone industry, now organised into three camps, like airline alliances. These groupings want to provide easier roaming between mobile networks in different countries—equivalent to airline “code-sharing” partnerships.
The analogy is not perfect, of course. Henry Elkington of Boston Consulting Group points out that telecoms networks are fixed to the ground but planes can be moved to a profitable route. Quite so. But the analogy is strong enough to be useful. After years of relying on specialist consultants, says David Newkirk of Booz Allen & Hamilton, “we are now seeing the telecoms market look outside itself for lessons”. And it is often to air travel.
The two industries do differ in one crucial respect: the incumbent airlines have been undermined by a new wave of “low-cost carriers”, such as Southwest Airlines, that are now more profitable and valuable. These airlines are innovative: selling tickets online, using a single aircraft type to cut maintenance costs and scrapping assigned seating. They also open up new markets.
Some observers believe the telecoms industry could be ripe for a similar transformation. “The telcos have yet to face competitors with a disruptive power analogous to the low-cost air carriers,” says Vasa Babic of Mercer, a consultancy. “I believe there is scope for such disruption.”
What might a low-cost telecoms carrier look like? One example, suggests Mr Babic, is Telmore, a Danish mobile operator. Like many low-cost airlines, it offers a basic service and primarily deals with customers over the web. It has no high-street shops, nor does it own a network; it resells airtime on a network owned by TDC, Denmark's incumbent. Customers check their balances via text messages. There are no subscription fees or paper bills. Since its launch three years ago, Telmore has captured 7% of the Danish market with a model so potentially threatening that TDC bought a stake in the firm earlier this year.
Incumbents could also be undermined by operators, such as Vonage and Net2Phone, which offer low-cost calls routed over broadband internet connections. Vonage, for example, provides unlimited calling within America and Canada for $34.99 per month. It keeps costs down by handling billing, voicemail and other services online, and by outsourcing and partnering where possible.
The difficulty for would-be low-cost telecoms firms, says Andrew Heaney of Spectrum, a consultancy, is that the incumbents still own the wires that run into homes and offices. Low-cost airlines got around the lack of landing slots by flying from secondary airfields. Telecoms incumbents are supposed to provide access to their local loops to competitors, but most find procedural, legal and technical reasons for being slow about it. So telecoms regulators need to do more to ensure equal access for new entrants, says Mr Heaney.
Meanwhile, the new mobile-telephone alliances hope to learn from airline alliances as they shift from national to international competition, says Mr Newkirk. The bifurcation of the air-travel industry, between low-cost online sales to consumers and high-end consultancy services for business, might also provide a model. “There's no single way to apply the analogy,” he says. Perhaps it will inspire a new breed of telecoms firms. But it is also possible that, having been made aware of the threat, the telecoms incumbents will avoid the fate of their airline counterparts.
Parallel lines:
Both industries consist of carriers serving routes on a global network. Both were dominated by state-owned monopolies that have now mostly been privatised, but remain sources of national pride.
In both cases, market liberalisation has let in new entrants. The incumbents jealously guard their inherited access rights—local-loop copper lines in the case of telecoms and landing slots for airlines. Airlines, like telecoms firms, can concentrate on local or long-distance routes, or appeal to specific markets, such as cost-conscious consumers or business customers. And in both industries there is massive overcapacity on some routes, with empty seats on planes and fibre-optic cables unused.
Another striking parallel is evident in Europe's mobile-phone industry, now organised into three camps, like airline alliances. These groupings want to provide easier roaming between mobile networks in different countries—equivalent to airline “code-sharing” partnerships.
The analogy is not perfect, of course. Henry Elkington of Boston Consulting Group points out that telecoms networks are fixed to the ground but planes can be moved to a profitable route. Quite so. But the analogy is strong enough to be useful. After years of relying on specialist consultants, says David Newkirk of Booz Allen & Hamilton, “we are now seeing the telecoms market look outside itself for lessons”. And it is often to air travel.
The two industries do differ in one crucial respect: the incumbent airlines have been undermined by a new wave of “low-cost carriers”, such as Southwest Airlines, that are now more profitable and valuable. These airlines are innovative: selling tickets online, using a single aircraft type to cut maintenance costs and scrapping assigned seating. They also open up new markets.
Some observers believe the telecoms industry could be ripe for a similar transformation. “The telcos have yet to face competitors with a disruptive power analogous to the low-cost air carriers,” says Vasa Babic of Mercer, a consultancy. “I believe there is scope for such disruption.”
What might a low-cost telecoms carrier look like? One example, suggests Mr Babic, is Telmore, a Danish mobile operator. Like many low-cost airlines, it offers a basic service and primarily deals with customers over the web. It has no high-street shops, nor does it own a network; it resells airtime on a network owned by TDC, Denmark's incumbent. Customers check their balances via text messages. There are no subscription fees or paper bills. Since its launch three years ago, Telmore has captured 7% of the Danish market with a model so potentially threatening that TDC bought a stake in the firm earlier this year.
Incumbents could also be undermined by operators, such as Vonage and Net2Phone, which offer low-cost calls routed over broadband internet connections. Vonage, for example, provides unlimited calling within America and Canada for $34.99 per month. It keeps costs down by handling billing, voicemail and other services online, and by outsourcing and partnering where possible.
The difficulty for would-be low-cost telecoms firms, says Andrew Heaney of Spectrum, a consultancy, is that the incumbents still own the wires that run into homes and offices. Low-cost airlines got around the lack of landing slots by flying from secondary airfields. Telecoms incumbents are supposed to provide access to their local loops to competitors, but most find procedural, legal and technical reasons for being slow about it. So telecoms regulators need to do more to ensure equal access for new entrants, says Mr Heaney.
Meanwhile, the new mobile-telephone alliances hope to learn from airline alliances as they shift from national to international competition, says Mr Newkirk. The bifurcation of the air-travel industry, between low-cost online sales to consumers and high-end consultancy services for business, might also provide a model. “There's no single way to apply the analogy,” he says. Perhaps it will inspire a new breed of telecoms firms. But it is also possible that, having been made aware of the threat, the telecoms incumbents will avoid the fate of their airline counterparts.
Parallel lines:
Don't believe the hype
From de Online at Guardian Don't believe the hype
The best IT advice you will get this year is: don't buy on the hype, buy on the reality. The tricky bit is knowing which things are ripe for adoption, and which are being hyped beyond reason. This isn't a technology issue: it's about timing. Move too soon and you pay a high price and buy a lot of aggravation. Move too late and you suffer one or more years at a competitive disadvantage to rivals who are doing things faster and cheaper.
Gartner researchers looked at the adoption of a range of technologies at the company's European ITxpo, held earlier this month in Cannes. Sad to say, I wasn't there, but the analysis wasn't limited to the sunny south of France.
Steve Prentice, Gartner's chief of research, provides a one-paragraph summary: "We are encouraging busi nesses to evaluate migrating their telecom services to IP VPN [virtual private networks], refresh their desktops, and outsource IT services offshore right now. IT managers should also be evaluating and preparing to adopt web services, PC virtualisation and wireless services in the next three years. However, there is a lot of hype surrounding "on demand" computing, 3G, 64-bit computing, grids and artificial intelligence, which we believe enterprises should hold off until at least 2008," he says.
Gartner analysts think you should be adopting flat panel displays for desktop PCs, and sounded a warning about Wi-Fi wireless networks, to the effect that if you don't deploy them, your users will. But based on Gartner's independent research, GNU/Linux isn't ready for general desktop use.
Brian Gammage, from Gartner's client platforms team, says: "Linux on the desktop has been one of this year's most topical subjects, but the discussion is over-hyped. Most of the attention has centered on a few state-sector contracts where local authorities were looking to avoid paying Microsoft's licensing fees. The real volume of contracts signed has been low. Moreover, we believe some Linux decisions were poorly made and will have higher costs later on. Linux does have a place on the desktop, especially for structured task workers operating in closed domains. How much market share Linux takes depends on whether Microsoft lowers prices."
Prentice mentioned a number of technologies where Gartner reckons companies should "ignore the excessive hype". To those you can add the latest Internet Protocol IPv6 ("strictly for network operators") and RFID [radio frequency identification] chips outside of retail applications.
On over-hyped "grid computing," Gartner's Andy Butler says: "Vendors are motivated to sell products and services related to grids in order to participate in the high levels of funding available. This 'feeding frenzy' has caught the attention and imagination of the wider commercial markets, hoping to garner growth if grid catches on for more general needs outside of big science and defence projects. But it is currently difficult to find agreement on what constitutes grid, particularly when evaluating the marketing uses of vendors and the more long-range, visionary pronouncements of advocates."
IT vendors love to sell visionary products where you don't quite know what they are, you aren't sure what they do, and you have no idea what they will cost. You don't have to buy them. Yet.
The best IT advice you will get this year is: don't buy on the hype, buy on the reality. The tricky bit is knowing which things are ripe for adoption, and which are being hyped beyond reason. This isn't a technology issue: it's about timing. Move too soon and you pay a high price and buy a lot of aggravation. Move too late and you suffer one or more years at a competitive disadvantage to rivals who are doing things faster and cheaper.
Gartner researchers looked at the adoption of a range of technologies at the company's European ITxpo, held earlier this month in Cannes. Sad to say, I wasn't there, but the analysis wasn't limited to the sunny south of France.
Steve Prentice, Gartner's chief of research, provides a one-paragraph summary: "We are encouraging busi nesses to evaluate migrating their telecom services to IP VPN [virtual private networks], refresh their desktops, and outsource IT services offshore right now. IT managers should also be evaluating and preparing to adopt web services, PC virtualisation and wireless services in the next three years. However, there is a lot of hype surrounding "on demand" computing, 3G, 64-bit computing, grids and artificial intelligence, which we believe enterprises should hold off until at least 2008," he says.
Gartner analysts think you should be adopting flat panel displays for desktop PCs, and sounded a warning about Wi-Fi wireless networks, to the effect that if you don't deploy them, your users will. But based on Gartner's independent research, GNU/Linux isn't ready for general desktop use.
Brian Gammage, from Gartner's client platforms team, says: "Linux on the desktop has been one of this year's most topical subjects, but the discussion is over-hyped. Most of the attention has centered on a few state-sector contracts where local authorities were looking to avoid paying Microsoft's licensing fees. The real volume of contracts signed has been low. Moreover, we believe some Linux decisions were poorly made and will have higher costs later on. Linux does have a place on the desktop, especially for structured task workers operating in closed domains. How much market share Linux takes depends on whether Microsoft lowers prices."
Prentice mentioned a number of technologies where Gartner reckons companies should "ignore the excessive hype". To those you can add the latest Internet Protocol IPv6 ("strictly for network operators") and RFID [radio frequency identification] chips outside of retail applications.
On over-hyped "grid computing," Gartner's Andy Butler says: "Vendors are motivated to sell products and services related to grids in order to participate in the high levels of funding available. This 'feeding frenzy' has caught the attention and imagination of the wider commercial markets, hoping to garner growth if grid catches on for more general needs outside of big science and defence projects. But it is currently difficult to find agreement on what constitutes grid, particularly when evaluating the marketing uses of vendors and the more long-range, visionary pronouncements of advocates."
IT vendors love to sell visionary products where you don't quite know what they are, you aren't sure what they do, and you have no idea what they will cost. You don't have to buy them. Yet.
16/11/2003
Brazil Leans Away From Microsoft: an example for the rest of Latin America
The brazilian president , Lula da Silava, appointed a clear man to Brazil's National Information Techonology Institute. Silva's top technology officer, Sergio Amadeu, wants to transform the land of samba and Carnival into a tech-savvy nation where everyone from schoolchildren to government bureaucrats uses open-source software instead of costly Windows products.
Paying software licensing fees to companies like Microsoft is simply "unsustainable economically" when applications that run on the open-source Linux (news - web sites) operating system are much cheaper, Amadeu said. Under his guidance, Silva's administration is encouraging all sectors of government to move toward open-source programs, whose basic code is public and freely available.
"We have some islands in the federal government using open-source, but we want to create a continent," said Amadeu, a former economics professor who gained fame before joining Silva's team by launching a network of free computer centers in Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo.
Amadeu, who uses a Linux laptop in his office in an annex of Silva's presidential palace, authored the book "Digital Exclusion: Misery in the Information Era," which argues that the gap between the needy and the wealthy will only deepen unless the poor have easy access to the technology that the rich have at their fingertips, especially in developing countries like Brazil.
As predicted, Microsoft's Moncau (Microsoft Brazil's Marketing Manager) plays down predictions by Brazilian open-source supporters that government efforts to increase Linux use could create jobs and turn the country into a technology exporter. Open-source software could actually be more expensive than Windows programs when service costs are factored in, he said.
But try telling that to the tens of thousands of Brazilians who regularly visit the 86 free "Telecentro" free computer centers in Sao Paulo, a sprawling city of 18 million. All the centers' computers use open-source software, and the Telecentros cater to working class Brazilians without the means to buy computers. They learn how to send e-mail, write resumes and cruise the Web.
Waiting his turn for a terminal while bouncing his toddler on his lap, Francisco de Assis said his monthly salary of $200 makes owning a computer impossible. The 31-year-old security guard considers the government's plight to be similar.
"If this was a rich country, it wouldn't matter and we could buy Microsoft products, but we're a developing country and Linux is just a lot more accessible, so we're heading toward a Linux generation." Brazil Leans Away From Microsoft
Paying software licensing fees to companies like Microsoft is simply "unsustainable economically" when applications that run on the open-source Linux (news - web sites) operating system are much cheaper, Amadeu said. Under his guidance, Silva's administration is encouraging all sectors of government to move toward open-source programs, whose basic code is public and freely available.
"We have some islands in the federal government using open-source, but we want to create a continent," said Amadeu, a former economics professor who gained fame before joining Silva's team by launching a network of free computer centers in Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo.
Amadeu, who uses a Linux laptop in his office in an annex of Silva's presidential palace, authored the book "Digital Exclusion: Misery in the Information Era," which argues that the gap between the needy and the wealthy will only deepen unless the poor have easy access to the technology that the rich have at their fingertips, especially in developing countries like Brazil.
As predicted, Microsoft's Moncau (Microsoft Brazil's Marketing Manager) plays down predictions by Brazilian open-source supporters that government efforts to increase Linux use could create jobs and turn the country into a technology exporter. Open-source software could actually be more expensive than Windows programs when service costs are factored in, he said.
But try telling that to the tens of thousands of Brazilians who regularly visit the 86 free "Telecentro" free computer centers in Sao Paulo, a sprawling city of 18 million. All the centers' computers use open-source software, and the Telecentros cater to working class Brazilians without the means to buy computers. They learn how to send e-mail, write resumes and cruise the Web.
Waiting his turn for a terminal while bouncing his toddler on his lap, Francisco de Assis said his monthly salary of $200 makes owning a computer impossible. The 31-year-old security guard considers the government's plight to be similar.
"If this was a rich country, it wouldn't matter and we could buy Microsoft products, but we're a developing country and Linux is just a lot more accessible, so we're heading toward a Linux generation." Brazil Leans Away From Microsoft
13/11/2003
Telefonicas logran mantener sus privilegios y detienen el avance tecnológico
Las empresas telefónicas finalmente están logrando detener el servicio de Telefonía IP de Metropolis. Este servicio, que compite con la telefonía tradicional, había sido lanzado hace algunos meses atras y estaba disponible para los clientes de Metropolis.
La Telefonía IP es usada en gran parte del mundo desarrollado, por lo que el aplicar multas sólo demuestra el subdesarrollo en el que nos encontramos, ya que son los paises subdesarrollados los que cuentan con legislación para mantener el status-quo de grandes grupos empresariales.
Subtel Confirma Futura Presentación de Cargos en Contra de Metrópolis.
Pese a que aún la Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones, Subtel, no presenta cargos a la empresa Metrópolis Intercom por operar sin concesión de servicio público en el negocio de la telefonía IP, lo más probable es que termine haciéndolo. Al respecto, el subsecretario de Telecomunicaciones, Christian Nicolai, señaló que "yo dije que ahí hay una investigación que va a conducir a un proceso de cargos", a la salida de un seminario realizado por la empresa Alcatel.
Cabe recordar que hace alrededor de un mes operadores de la industria de telecomunicaciones expresaron su molestia por la manera en que la Subtel estaba desarrollando la investigación tendiente a determinar la legalidad del mencionado servicio de telefonía ofrecido por la citada empresa. Ellos consideraron que la autoridad debiera haber aplicado la ley a esa compañía, en vez de encargar estudios a toda la industria, precisando que la regulación es clara en el sentido que señala que todo operador que preste servicio de telefonía básica lo debe hacer con una concesión.
Metrópolis Intercom es un operador de cable, que cuenta con permiso limitado y que está ofreciendo Telefonía IP sin una concesión para ello. Telefonía IP es la entrega de servicios telefónicos usando redes de paquetes IP en lugar de las redes tradicionales de circuitos.
La Telefonía IP es usada en gran parte del mundo desarrollado, por lo que el aplicar multas sólo demuestra el subdesarrollo en el que nos encontramos, ya que son los paises subdesarrollados los que cuentan con legislación para mantener el status-quo de grandes grupos empresariales.
Subtel Confirma Futura Presentación de Cargos en Contra de Metrópolis.
Pese a que aún la Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones, Subtel, no presenta cargos a la empresa Metrópolis Intercom por operar sin concesión de servicio público en el negocio de la telefonía IP, lo más probable es que termine haciéndolo. Al respecto, el subsecretario de Telecomunicaciones, Christian Nicolai, señaló que "yo dije que ahí hay una investigación que va a conducir a un proceso de cargos", a la salida de un seminario realizado por la empresa Alcatel.
Cabe recordar que hace alrededor de un mes operadores de la industria de telecomunicaciones expresaron su molestia por la manera en que la Subtel estaba desarrollando la investigación tendiente a determinar la legalidad del mencionado servicio de telefonía ofrecido por la citada empresa. Ellos consideraron que la autoridad debiera haber aplicado la ley a esa compañía, en vez de encargar estudios a toda la industria, precisando que la regulación es clara en el sentido que señala que todo operador que preste servicio de telefonía básica lo debe hacer con una concesión.
Metrópolis Intercom es un operador de cable, que cuenta con permiso limitado y que está ofreciendo Telefonía IP sin una concesión para ello. Telefonía IP es la entrega de servicios telefónicos usando redes de paquetes IP en lugar de las redes tradicionales de circuitos.
12/11/2003
Un balde de agua fria para las pretensiones chilenas
Demostrando que finalmente la variable que más importa es el costo, el desarrollo de software de SYNAPSIS se va de Chile: Synapsis traslada división de software
La filial tecnológica de Endesa España, Synapsis anunció que concentrará en Buenos Aires, Argentina, el desarrollo de soluciones, servicios informáticos de software para los clientes que tiene en el continente. Esta área de servicios estaba concentrada en Chile. Sin embargo, debido a los menores costos la eléctrica optó por traspasar el negocio de software al vecino país.
El gerente general de la compañía en Chile, Víctor Hugo Muñoz enfatizó que la casa matriz de Synapsis continuará estando en Santiago, desde donde se manejan las operaciones de la empresa en la región en los rubros de consultoría y operaciones.
“Esto significa que sólo estamos trasladando el proceso de construcción de componentes de software, manteniendo en los países el resto de las funciones de negocio y operación. Se trata de una tendencia de bastante uso en el mercado actual, en la que las principales compañías de tecnología de la información han trasladado a países como la India, Irlanda o Uruguay sus procesos de fabricación de componentes de software”, agregó.
Según dijo el director general de Endesa Internacional, Luis Rivera, en una reciente visita al país trasandino, se tomó esta decisión luego de considerar el “elevado potencial de los recursos humanos argentinos, en relación al costo”. Esta medida implica una inversión inicial de US$ 10,5 millones.
La filial tecnológica de Endesa España, Synapsis anunció que concentrará en Buenos Aires, Argentina, el desarrollo de soluciones, servicios informáticos de software para los clientes que tiene en el continente. Esta área de servicios estaba concentrada en Chile. Sin embargo, debido a los menores costos la eléctrica optó por traspasar el negocio de software al vecino país.
El gerente general de la compañía en Chile, Víctor Hugo Muñoz enfatizó que la casa matriz de Synapsis continuará estando en Santiago, desde donde se manejan las operaciones de la empresa en la región en los rubros de consultoría y operaciones.
“Esto significa que sólo estamos trasladando el proceso de construcción de componentes de software, manteniendo en los países el resto de las funciones de negocio y operación. Se trata de una tendencia de bastante uso en el mercado actual, en la que las principales compañías de tecnología de la información han trasladado a países como la India, Irlanda o Uruguay sus procesos de fabricación de componentes de software”, agregó.
Según dijo el director general de Endesa Internacional, Luis Rivera, en una reciente visita al país trasandino, se tomó esta decisión luego de considerar el “elevado potencial de los recursos humanos argentinos, en relación al costo”. Esta medida implica una inversión inicial de US$ 10,5 millones.
11/11/2003
High and Low Disruption
Forbes.com: Disruption High and Low
"They [tthe CEOs] are charged with an awesome task. They must grow their companies with little pricing power and against tough and seemingly endless global competition. Want that job?
I may be missing something, but I can see only two general ways out of this dilemma. Call them Low Disruption and High Disruption. I don't see much of a middle way of any kind. And I see only declining success prospects for those companies unwilling to engage in the risky work of disruption.
Low Disruption means leveraging the Cheap Revolution for all it's worth to introduce products and services that are stunningly cheap yet make money because their cost basis is so low. Think Google. It's ranked third in the world in Web pages served daily. The search engine's IT infrastructure is built entirely from Linux software and computers that are so cheap they're junked instead of fixed. Ravi Aron, a Wharton professor, thinks Google's cost per Web page served is ten times below the industry average."
"High Disruption is the act of directing a premium product or service at today's affluent customers. Good news: Around the world, these customers are growing in number. Bad News: Such customers are more discerning and fickle than ever before. They have no interest in buying their fathers' Oldsmobiles, and they will not tolerate any premium brand that breaks its promise."
"They [tthe CEOs] are charged with an awesome task. They must grow their companies with little pricing power and against tough and seemingly endless global competition. Want that job?
I may be missing something, but I can see only two general ways out of this dilemma. Call them Low Disruption and High Disruption. I don't see much of a middle way of any kind. And I see only declining success prospects for those companies unwilling to engage in the risky work of disruption.
Low Disruption means leveraging the Cheap Revolution for all it's worth to introduce products and services that are stunningly cheap yet make money because their cost basis is so low. Think Google. It's ranked third in the world in Web pages served daily. The search engine's IT infrastructure is built entirely from Linux software and computers that are so cheap they're junked instead of fixed. Ravi Aron, a Wharton professor, thinks Google's cost per Web page served is ten times below the industry average."
"High Disruption is the act of directing a premium product or service at today's affluent customers. Good news: Around the world, these customers are growing in number. Bad News: Such customers are more discerning and fickle than ever before. They have no interest in buying their fathers' Oldsmobiles, and they will not tolerate any premium brand that breaks its promise."
Subtel cree que entregando martillos nos transformaremos en carpinteros
Es fácil descubrir cuando las autoridades pierden la brújula: basta con ver la cantidad de personas que serían beneficiadas con sus anuncios, estudios, etc.
En el caso de Wi-Fi, los beneficiados serán las personas que están estudiando las modificaciones a la ley, los vendedores de equipamiento Wifi y un pequeñísimo porcentaje del mundo rural. ¿Cómo se puede pretender que los campesinos que sobreviven con $100.000 se verán beneficiados con estas modificaciones legales?
"Una de las próximas medidas concretas que adoptará la Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones (Subtel) es la modificación de la norma que regula el desarrollo de sistemas de acceso inalámbrico, basados en tecnología WIFI.
Esta nueva norma permitirá la utilización de la banda de 2,4 Ghz bajo el estándar 802.11., aumentando la potencia de las redes basadas en tecnología WIFI e incrementando el acceso y la cobertura de los sectores rurales.
Esta visión para universalizar la cobertura de servicios digitales -enfatizó Subtel- es un tema de país y recoge una herramienta tecnológica atractiva para ser aplicada en proyectos sociales de interés nacional. El camino inalámbrico es una herramienta útil para disminuir la brecha digital y acercar las tecnologías de comunicación a todos los chilenos, afirman en Subtel."Subtel creará nueva norma técnica para masificar la tecnología WiFi
En el caso de Wi-Fi, los beneficiados serán las personas que están estudiando las modificaciones a la ley, los vendedores de equipamiento Wifi y un pequeñísimo porcentaje del mundo rural. ¿Cómo se puede pretender que los campesinos que sobreviven con $100.000 se verán beneficiados con estas modificaciones legales?
"Una de las próximas medidas concretas que adoptará la Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones (Subtel) es la modificación de la norma que regula el desarrollo de sistemas de acceso inalámbrico, basados en tecnología WIFI.
Esta nueva norma permitirá la utilización de la banda de 2,4 Ghz bajo el estándar 802.11., aumentando la potencia de las redes basadas en tecnología WIFI e incrementando el acceso y la cobertura de los sectores rurales.
Esta visión para universalizar la cobertura de servicios digitales -enfatizó Subtel- es un tema de país y recoge una herramienta tecnológica atractiva para ser aplicada en proyectos sociales de interés nacional. El camino inalámbrico es una herramienta útil para disminuir la brecha digital y acercar las tecnologías de comunicación a todos los chilenos, afirman en Subtel."Subtel creará nueva norma técnica para masificar la tecnología WiFi
Encuentro Nacional descubre las obviedades ya descubiertas
Gran parte del "talento digital" de Chile se reune esta semana en el evento denominado "Primer Encuentro Nacional Chile Digital 2010". Lo que puede ser una gran oportunidad para realizar acuerdos y generar estrategias en Tecnologías de la Información al parecer será derrochado en hablar de lo que siempre se ha hablado y en repetir obviedades. Es así como El Diario Financiero reporta que :
"Chile requiere contar con instituciones de calidad que sean el soporte de las inversiones en tecnologías de la información"
"Otro desafío fue [sic] la necesidad de aumentar la capacitación del capital humano en las empresas, 'que permitirán resolver una de las deficiencias de Chile en este campo'"
"Es importante identificar la aplicación de tecnologías de información en las áreas para cumplir con los aspectos básicos de la globalización que son aquellos vinculados con la productividad de nuestra economía como la factura electrónica y las compras públicas"
Chile digital requiere de calidad en instituciones públicas
"Chile requiere contar con instituciones de calidad que sean el soporte de las inversiones en tecnologías de la información"
"Otro desafío fue [sic] la necesidad de aumentar la capacitación del capital humano en las empresas, 'que permitirán resolver una de las deficiencias de Chile en este campo'"
"Es importante identificar la aplicación de tecnologías de información en las áreas para cumplir con los aspectos básicos de la globalización que son aquellos vinculados con la productividad de nuestra economía como la factura electrónica y las compras públicas"
Chile digital requiere de calidad en instituciones públicas
04/11/2003
Chile sigue atras en e-government
Chile está atras de Brasil, Argentina y Uruguay en el desarrollo de facilidades electronicas de gobierno (e-government)UNPAN E-government-Global Survey of E-government
Sexing up e-government
There is much talk of putting public services online to make life easier for us. But what do people actually want from e-government?
If the experience of one of the most connected parts of the US is anything to go by, it is to find out more about the street you live in.
In Santa Clara county in California's Silicon Valley, the most popular service is one that lets you find out how much your neighbour's property is worth. "This is our most used service as it is like gossip," said Satish Ajmani, the county's chief information officer.
Since Santa Clara revamped its internet site in 2001, average page views have risen from a paltry 600 to 900 a day to more than a million.
Mr Ajmani credits the success of the portal to the way the county approached the issue of e-government. "We looked at what people needed when something happened in their lives," he told BBC News Online, "like getting married or being involved in a car accident."
This has paid off in an area where 80% of the 1.7 million population is online and expect to be able to pay their taxes, apply for county jobs or even apply to adopt a child. "You absolutely have to think about the customer and what the customer wants," said Liz Gorgue, the county's self-declared e-government evangelist. "People come to the website with the same expectations that they have when they visit Amazon."
Work together
Part of the appeal of the site is the way it seamlessly offers services from 50 different county departments in a one-stop shop for people living in the valley. But getting different departments to work together was also the hardest part. It is a challenge facing officials as they move towards the nirvana of e-government.
In the UK, the government is rushing to put most public services online by a deadline of 2005. It is spending more than £12bn on information technology this year alone. The stakes are high, given the amount of money involved. Experts estimate that cancelled and over-budget technology project cost the UK tax-payer £1.5bn in the last six years.
While the government says it is confident of meeting the 2005 deadline, critics say it needs to look further ahead. "The priority was 'let's go online'," said Gartner analyst Andrea Di Maoi. "Now we are looking at how these services work efficiently and compliment each other."
The talk is now of joined-up government, which is a far more difficult task then simply letting you do your tax return online. "Some departments have enjoyed substantial independence in the past and they might have problems in relieving themselves of some of their power," explained Mr Di Maoi. He had a straightforward message for Tony Blair; set up an e-government tsar with the power to push through the project.
This has worked in Santa Clara, where the move towards online government was backed by the highest levels in the county. "It takes someone who is going to champion e-government as it takes a lot of political capital," said Ms Gorgue.
Official PR
All of this makes no difference unless people are willing to use the net to deal with officials.
In the UK, this could be the biggest challenge, reckons Coenraad van der Poel of EzGov Europe, which has helped put the Court Service and the Inland Revenue online. The problem, as he sees it, is the low level of trust in the government. Again Tony Blair should look abroad for advice, in this case to the city state of Singapore.
"What it has done really well is not just putting its applications online but it has hired marketing experts to sell the benefits to the public," said Mr van der Poel. "That is so far ahead from what we've seen here. There is a real connection between the public and government." Although the Inland Revenue Online is one positive UK example from which we can learn more, said Mr van der Poel.
Technology has been used to reach out to people, but also the value of such a service has been clearly pointed out to the public.
The officials from Santa Clara also have a few words of advice for their UK counterparts, suggesting a culture change in government might be needed.
"You need a strategy for e-democracy," said Mr Ajmani. "You need to get the public involved in decision-making. This takes a very long time for elected people to be comfortable with."
If the experience of one of the most connected parts of the US is anything to go by, it is to find out more about the street you live in.
In Santa Clara county in California's Silicon Valley, the most popular service is one that lets you find out how much your neighbour's property is worth. "This is our most used service as it is like gossip," said Satish Ajmani, the county's chief information officer.
Since Santa Clara revamped its internet site in 2001, average page views have risen from a paltry 600 to 900 a day to more than a million.
Mr Ajmani credits the success of the portal to the way the county approached the issue of e-government. "We looked at what people needed when something happened in their lives," he told BBC News Online, "like getting married or being involved in a car accident."
This has paid off in an area where 80% of the 1.7 million population is online and expect to be able to pay their taxes, apply for county jobs or even apply to adopt a child. "You absolutely have to think about the customer and what the customer wants," said Liz Gorgue, the county's self-declared e-government evangelist. "People come to the website with the same expectations that they have when they visit Amazon."
Work together
Part of the appeal of the site is the way it seamlessly offers services from 50 different county departments in a one-stop shop for people living in the valley. But getting different departments to work together was also the hardest part. It is a challenge facing officials as they move towards the nirvana of e-government.
In the UK, the government is rushing to put most public services online by a deadline of 2005. It is spending more than £12bn on information technology this year alone. The stakes are high, given the amount of money involved. Experts estimate that cancelled and over-budget technology project cost the UK tax-payer £1.5bn in the last six years.
While the government says it is confident of meeting the 2005 deadline, critics say it needs to look further ahead. "The priority was 'let's go online'," said Gartner analyst Andrea Di Maoi. "Now we are looking at how these services work efficiently and compliment each other."
The talk is now of joined-up government, which is a far more difficult task then simply letting you do your tax return online. "Some departments have enjoyed substantial independence in the past and they might have problems in relieving themselves of some of their power," explained Mr Di Maoi. He had a straightforward message for Tony Blair; set up an e-government tsar with the power to push through the project.
This has worked in Santa Clara, where the move towards online government was backed by the highest levels in the county. "It takes someone who is going to champion e-government as it takes a lot of political capital," said Ms Gorgue.
Official PR
All of this makes no difference unless people are willing to use the net to deal with officials.
In the UK, this could be the biggest challenge, reckons Coenraad van der Poel of EzGov Europe, which has helped put the Court Service and the Inland Revenue online. The problem, as he sees it, is the low level of trust in the government. Again Tony Blair should look abroad for advice, in this case to the city state of Singapore.
"What it has done really well is not just putting its applications online but it has hired marketing experts to sell the benefits to the public," said Mr van der Poel. "That is so far ahead from what we've seen here. There is a real connection between the public and government." Although the Inland Revenue Online is one positive UK example from which we can learn more, said Mr van der Poel.
Technology has been used to reach out to people, but also the value of such a service has been clearly pointed out to the public.
The officials from Santa Clara also have a few words of advice for their UK counterparts, suggesting a culture change in government might be needed.
"You need a strategy for e-democracy," said Mr Ajmani. "You need to get the public involved in decision-making. This takes a very long time for elected people to be comfortable with."
03/11/2003
Long queue at drive-in soup kitchen
Long queue at drive-in soup kitchen
"George Bush's America is the wealthiest and most powerful nation the world has ever known, but at home it is being gnawed away from the inside by persistent and rising poverty. The three million Americans who have lost their jobs since Mr Bush took office in January 2001 have yet to find new work in a largely jobless recovery, and they are finding that the safety net they assumed was beneath them has long since unravelled. There is not much left to stop them falling.
Last year alone, another 1.7 million Americans slipped below the poverty line, bringing the total to 34.6 million, one in eight of the population. Over 13 million of them are children. In fact, the US has the worst child poverty rate and the worst life expectancy of all the world's industrialised countries, and the plight of its poor is worsening.
The ranks of the hungry are increasing in step. About 31 million Americans were deemed to be "food insecure" (they literally did not know where their next meal was coming from). Of those, more than nine million were categorised by the US department of agriculture as experiencing real hunger, defined by the US department of agriculture as an "uneasy or painful sensation caused by lack of food due to lack of resources to obtain food."
That was two years ago, before the recession really began to bite. Partial surveys suggest the problem has deepened considerably since then. In 25 major cities the need for emergency food rose an average of 19% last year.
Another indicator is the demand for food stamps, the government aid programme of last resort. The number of Americans on stamps has risen from 17 million to 22 million since Mr Bush took office.
In Ohio, hunger is an epidemic. Since George Bush won Ohio in the 2000 presidential elections, the state has lost one in six of its manufacturing jobs. Two million of the state's 11 million population resorted to food charities last year, an increase of more than 18% from 2001.
It is hardly surprising the very poor feel they have no one to turn to. A string of local factories have closed in the past two years to relocate to Mexico, a delayed consequence of the North American Free Trade Agreement established by Bill Clinton in 1994. And two years later, it was Clinton, in cooperation with a staunchly Republican Congress, who dismantled much of the welfare system built in the New Deal and the Great Society. Clinton's welfare reform set a time limit on how long the poor and unemployed could draw social security payments. It helped force people back into work with the encouragement of an array of federally funded job training programmes.
It worked well while the economy was booming, cutting the number on welfare from 12 million to five million in a few years. But now there are no jobs. Those who went to work under welfare reform are among the first to be fired, and often find that welfare is no longer available to them. Some have used up their lifetime maximum. Some have accumulated too many assets to qualify, such as a car or a house that they do not want to sell for fear of falling yet further into destitution.
Others have had difficulty dealing with the welfare system's more demanding requirements. A few in the line at Logan said they were struggling without success to extract vital documents from former employers, who have either gone bankrupt or gone abroad.
The government still distributes food stamps, but they are worth on average only about $160 (£100) a month, not enough to buy food for a family with no other income. Furthermore, more than 10 million "food insecure" Americans, at risk from hunger, do not apply for them. Often they are unaware they are eligible. Welfare reform pushed them out of a system that they have lost contact with.
A study this year by Washington-based think tank the Urban Institute found that 63% of this forgotten category sometimes or often run out of food each month. All these factors explain why, although the current slump in America has not been as deep as the last major recession a decade ago, the food lines this time are longer. They also explain why hunger remains a largely invisible problem. The Americans in the food lines often do not show up in the statistics and usually do not turn up for elections.
"
"George Bush's America is the wealthiest and most powerful nation the world has ever known, but at home it is being gnawed away from the inside by persistent and rising poverty. The three million Americans who have lost their jobs since Mr Bush took office in January 2001 have yet to find new work in a largely jobless recovery, and they are finding that the safety net they assumed was beneath them has long since unravelled. There is not much left to stop them falling.
Last year alone, another 1.7 million Americans slipped below the poverty line, bringing the total to 34.6 million, one in eight of the population. Over 13 million of them are children. In fact, the US has the worst child poverty rate and the worst life expectancy of all the world's industrialised countries, and the plight of its poor is worsening.
The ranks of the hungry are increasing in step. About 31 million Americans were deemed to be "food insecure" (they literally did not know where their next meal was coming from). Of those, more than nine million were categorised by the US department of agriculture as experiencing real hunger, defined by the US department of agriculture as an "uneasy or painful sensation caused by lack of food due to lack of resources to obtain food."
That was two years ago, before the recession really began to bite. Partial surveys suggest the problem has deepened considerably since then. In 25 major cities the need for emergency food rose an average of 19% last year.
Another indicator is the demand for food stamps, the government aid programme of last resort. The number of Americans on stamps has risen from 17 million to 22 million since Mr Bush took office.
In Ohio, hunger is an epidemic. Since George Bush won Ohio in the 2000 presidential elections, the state has lost one in six of its manufacturing jobs. Two million of the state's 11 million population resorted to food charities last year, an increase of more than 18% from 2001.
It is hardly surprising the very poor feel they have no one to turn to. A string of local factories have closed in the past two years to relocate to Mexico, a delayed consequence of the North American Free Trade Agreement established by Bill Clinton in 1994. And two years later, it was Clinton, in cooperation with a staunchly Republican Congress, who dismantled much of the welfare system built in the New Deal and the Great Society. Clinton's welfare reform set a time limit on how long the poor and unemployed could draw social security payments. It helped force people back into work with the encouragement of an array of federally funded job training programmes.
It worked well while the economy was booming, cutting the number on welfare from 12 million to five million in a few years. But now there are no jobs. Those who went to work under welfare reform are among the first to be fired, and often find that welfare is no longer available to them. Some have used up their lifetime maximum. Some have accumulated too many assets to qualify, such as a car or a house that they do not want to sell for fear of falling yet further into destitution.
Others have had difficulty dealing with the welfare system's more demanding requirements. A few in the line at Logan said they were struggling without success to extract vital documents from former employers, who have either gone bankrupt or gone abroad.
The government still distributes food stamps, but they are worth on average only about $160 (£100) a month, not enough to buy food for a family with no other income. Furthermore, more than 10 million "food insecure" Americans, at risk from hunger, do not apply for them. Often they are unaware they are eligible. Welfare reform pushed them out of a system that they have lost contact with.
A study this year by Washington-based think tank the Urban Institute found that 63% of this forgotten category sometimes or often run out of food each month. All these factors explain why, although the current slump in America has not been as deep as the last major recession a decade ago, the food lines this time are longer. They also explain why hunger remains a largely invisible problem. The Americans in the food lines often do not show up in the statistics and usually do not turn up for elections.
"
01/11/2003
MIT Shuts Down Alternative File-Swapping
Earlier this week was announced that an alternative file-swapping technology was designed by two MIT students. Yesterday the service was shutdown:
MIT Shuts Down Alternative File-Swapping
Two MIT students who thought they'd found a way to give their fellow students access to a huge music library without running afoul of copyright law hit a snag Friday when the school shut down the service in the midst of a licensing dispute.
The "LAMP," or "Library Access to Music" system officially went live Monday, pumping music into dorm rooms over the school's cable television network. By sending the music over cable, rather than swapping files over the Internet, the system avoided making an exact copy of the music and was expected to face lower copyright law hurdles.
The students, Keith Winstein and Josh Mandel, said they had negotiated for the Harry Fox Agency, the mechanical licensing arm of the National Music Publishers Association, to grant a license to a Seattle-based company called Loudeye to sell the school thousands of MP3s for the system.
But even last week as the system prepared to go live, there was confusion. The Harry Fox Agency said no such license was complete, while Loudeye insisted it was.
On Friday, MIT issued a statement saying it was shutting down the system at least temporarily while it pursued clarifications with Loudeye and make sure the system was legal.
"We have taken it down temporarily to show good faith and because the whole point is to be very, very careful and obey the copyright law," said Winstein, 22, adding he was confident the situation could be resolved.
MIT Shuts Down Alternative File-Swapping
Two MIT students who thought they'd found a way to give their fellow students access to a huge music library without running afoul of copyright law hit a snag Friday when the school shut down the service in the midst of a licensing dispute.
The "LAMP," or "Library Access to Music" system officially went live Monday, pumping music into dorm rooms over the school's cable television network. By sending the music over cable, rather than swapping files over the Internet, the system avoided making an exact copy of the music and was expected to face lower copyright law hurdles.
The students, Keith Winstein and Josh Mandel, said they had negotiated for the Harry Fox Agency, the mechanical licensing arm of the National Music Publishers Association, to grant a license to a Seattle-based company called Loudeye to sell the school thousands of MP3s for the system.
But even last week as the system prepared to go live, there was confusion. The Harry Fox Agency said no such license was complete, while Loudeye insisted it was.
On Friday, MIT issued a statement saying it was shutting down the system at least temporarily while it pursued clarifications with Loudeye and make sure the system was legal.
"We have taken it down temporarily to show good faith and because the whole point is to be very, very careful and obey the copyright law," said Winstein, 22, adding he was confident the situation could be resolved.
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