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Comment: Re:the cloud (Score 1) 85

Seattle? The home of Amazon? Why on earth don't they just move their datacenter to Amazon Web Services? They could probably do it for less than the $2.1 million they're spending on this single part!

Migrating huge amounts of data and services is very expensive, and especially difficult to do in years when the tax revenue is down. Government is also typically more conservative with new technologies and processes than the private sector., and apprehensive about outsourcing when proper stewardship of citizens' data is their #1 priority.

Comment: US is great for IT (Score 1) 999

by musicalmicah (#40987701) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Place To Relocate?
The US might have a decently high unemployment rate right now, but in IT it's quite low. IT jobs are expanding very rapidly here, and I don't think that outsourcing has put a dent in it. In particular, Seattle and San Francisco are great places to be, with oodles of jobs, high quality of life, lots of diversity, and a very educated populace.

Comment: Re:desalination plants (Score 1) 318

by musicalmicah (#40941153) Attached to: For Much of the World, Demand For Water Outstrips Supply
Most of the places with serious water problems are poor and/or inland, both of which are problematic for desalination. You need money for the energy to desalinate, and more money for the energy to pump it upward and outward. From what I have read, desalination has been most successful in the oil-rich emirates in the Middle East, where most of civilization is on the sea and there is a lot of energy to go around. California has some desalination plants as well, but they're not that effective, especially in a state where water demand and energy demand increase dramatically at the same time (summer).

Comment: Re:Meh (Score 1) 969

by musicalmicah (#39391437) Attached to: Bring Back the 40-Hour Work Week

So completely backwards. In a regimented society, as required by socialism, people are forced to work out of their comfort zone to gain rewards they do not want, all by the dictate of their betters. I cannot think of a more assembly line culture than that imposed by socialists, the very antithesis of freedom, all for our own good, of course. Some people are more equal than others.

....what? Socialism is about using the government to produce things that meet human needs. It generally supplements capitalism rather than supplanting it.

Some examples of socialist systems in the United States are: public education, the road system, public libraries, public parks, and assistance for people with disabilities. I fail to see how these are an "assembly line culture" that is the "very antithesis of freedom."

Comment: Re:Really? The colleges are the problem? (Score 1) 841

by musicalmicah (#37967908) Attached to: Why Do So Many College Science Majors Drop Out?

A few years in the software business with good coworkers has taught me enough about requirements gathering to be effectively "un-outsourceable". I learned how to help people communicate exactly what they want, and that need is not going away in my lifetime.

Meanwhile, the top engineering schools in India are churning out a surplus of people that can make widgets just as good as us for half the price. Are you really sure that the skillset from that engineering degree isn't more easily outsourced?


by musicalmicah (#37966450) Attached to: Why Do So Many College Science Majors Drop Out?


Plus, if you're a bright young kid, which looks better to you:

1. get some random liberal arts degree and party through college, while playing with computers a little bit on your free time, then get a good-paying job slapping together PHP, OR
2. struggle through all of college, never have time for friends, face the risk of a nervous breakdown, then hunt for some aerodynamics job that would force you to relocate, if you could even get it -- after all, your competition is some baby boomer that has 30 years of experience in the field

I'll take the parties and PHP scripting, thank you very much.

Comment: Re:American rights? (Score 1) 373

by musicalmicah (#37852144) Attached to: PROTECT IP Renamed To the E-PARASITE Act

A copyright system based on the number of copies encourages popular works. A patronage system where authors seek a wealthy sponsor tends to be more elitist.

That was certainly true when both the cost of distribution and the cost of soliciting funds were high, but between the web/YouTube and Kickstarter, both are getting much cheaper. The patronage/gift economy is driving some pretty quality work from some of my friends. Moreover, the social status of creating a popular work is often more of a driver for new pop art than monetary reward (which, even in popular art forms such as rock music, ends up to be pretty low, even for successful artists).

Stellar rays prove fibbing never pays. Embezzlement is another matter.