Economic oversteering
,----[ Quote ]
| Yesterday, we saw the most extraordinary failure of economic leadership in
| recent years, when the US Federal Reserve pressed the “emergency morphine”
| button and cut Federal Reserve rates by 0.75%. It will not help.
|
| These are extremely testing times, and thus far, the US Fed under Bernanke
| has been found wantinbxg. Historians may well lay the real blame for current
| distress at the door of Alan Greenspan, who pioneered the use of morphine to
| dull economic pain, but they will probably also credit him with a certain
| level of discretion in its prescription. During Greenspan’s tenure at the
| Fed, economic leaders became convinced that the solution to market distress
| was to ensure that the financial system had access to easy money.
`----
http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/139
Mark His Words
,----[ Quote ]
| Pretty standard Economist-type analysis you might think; but what's
| interesting about this lengthy piece is that it's written by Mark
| Shuttleworth, head of Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. What struck was
| not just that it's extremely well written, but that he took the time and
| trouble to pen it. I don't think there are many CEOs who would be both
| willing and able to do so.
|
| I think we can deduce from from this is that Canonical - and hence a key
| player working towards GNU/Linux on the desktop - is in good hands.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2008/01/mark-his-words.html
Out of the Gate: Big Tech Shares Drop
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp. shares lost $1.17, or 3.5 percent, to $31.84 despite the
| software maker's Monday announcement it would aggressively beef up its
| virtualization products through an acquisition, alliance and price cut.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080122/tech_out_of_the_gate.html?.v=1
Apple Sliced as Forecast Flops
,----[ Quote ]
| Investors disappointed with Apple's (AAPL) tune slammed the stock 13% lower
| Wednesday during another wild market ride.
`----
http://www.smartmoney.com/onedaywonder/index.cfm?story=20080123-Apple-AAPL&afl=yahoo
Cisco stops hiring
,----[ Quote ]
| Sources are telling us that the outfit has recently put on an abrupt and
| unannounced hiring freeze, or at least an abrupt hiring cutback, and this is
| not for low level workers either, but the cream of the crop.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/23/cisco-stops-hiring
Chipmaker to Cut 115 Jobs in Arlington
,----[ Quote ]
| National Semiconductor Corp. will cut 115 jobs at its Arlington manufacturing
| plant, about one-fourth of the facility's workers.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080122/tx_national_semiconductor_layoffs.html?.v=1
Related:
Shuttleworth grasps open source political message
,----[ Quote ]
| In his interview today Shuttleworth also said Ubuntu will support GPLv3 and
| was careful not to criticize Linus Torvalds, who supports GPLv2, saying the
| differences in the contracts is more of a kernel issue than anything else.
|
| [...]
|
| But it’s Shuttleworth’s swipes at Microsoft and his rallying of anti-American
| sentiment which I believe will be the headlines, and should be.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=1287
Shuttleworth: Microsoft Fracturing the Open-Source Community
,----[ Quote ]
| "That's extortion and we should call it what it is," he said. "To say, as
| [Microsoft CEO Steve] Ballmer did, that there is undisclosed balance sheet
| liability, that's just extortion and we should refuse to get drawn into that
| game. On the other side, if Microsoft is concerned about its intellectual
| property, there is no one in the free software community that wants to
| violate anyone's IP. Disclose the patents and we'll fix the code.
| Alternatively, move on."
|
| Microsoft has said it does disclose which patents are being violated, but
| only in one-on-one conversations with vendors. To Shuttleworth, that is not
| disclosure, because patents are public documents.
`----
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2167193,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03129TX1K0000616
[Mark Shuttleworth Interview]
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is asking people to pay them for patents, but they won't
| say which ones. If a guy walks into a shop and says: "It's an
| unsafe neighbourhood, why don't you pay me 20 bucks and I'll make
| sure you're okay," that's illegal. It's racketeering. What Microsoft
| is doing with intellectual property is exactly the same. It's a great
| company and I have great admiration for it, but this was not a
| well considered position.
|
| So you wouldn't do a deal?
|
| No, absolutely not. But the time will come when the folks at
| Microsoft who have a clear vision for the company as a participant
| in this community, rather than as a hostile antagonist, will win.
`----
http://mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=6672
|
|
