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Friday, June 20, 2003 |
The Bug
Lots of people have commented on this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's about a bug that occurs in during the development of a database system, and the effect it has on the course of life for the company and the people involved. Great characters, and she really integrates the technical material well into the plot, making it nearly unique in fiction. These are real people, solving real problems. Set 83 & 84, the technical details seem right for the time (the bug is in some early windowing software), and I think even non-programmers will get a lot out of it. Affecting and recommended.
4:57:23 PM Permalink
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The Chinese Car
The Chinese car.
This is a fascinating post by Phil Greenspun reacting to the Economist cover story on the Chinese car, which in 10 to 20 years will be pretty much a disposable throw-away item. Think of the implications for the American economy!
Within 10 to 20 years the Chinese will be able to sell a car that is very similar to today's rental car: 4 doors, 4 seats, air conditioner, radio, new but not fancy. It will cost between $2000 and $3000 in today's dollars. With cars that cheap it will be unthinkable to manufacture in the U.S. Consumers won't bother to finance a $2000 purchase separately (maybe they'll add it to their credit card debt). Drivers will still carry liability insurance but won't bother with collision or theft coverage. With cars that cheap it won't make sense to advertise. If Ford or Toyota tried to sell the average person a $25,000 car they would simply laugh, much as a Walmart shopper would think you're crazy if you tried to persuade him to spend $2,000 on a TV.
He correctly points out what has happened to the TV industry: who goes to a repairman anymore, when you can get a 27" tube at WalMart? And he closes with this:
[Iif George W. had only declared war on urban traffic congestion instead of Iraq! We'd have sensors in the roads talking to navigation systems in the cars telling drivers which streets to avoid (London is doing this right now). We'd have computer-organized ride-sharing systems. Instead of handing out cash to people who hate the U.S. we'd hand it out to people like http://www.zipcar.com/ (I'd be a user of the service myself if not for the fact that you're not allowed to bring a dog). We might have ended up saving enough gasoline that we wouldn't have needed to add Iraq to our collection of overseas possessions.]
12:22:01 PM Permalink
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© Copyright 2004 Steve Michel.
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