There is a lot to be said - or could be said, about learning from our mistakes.
The reason for the name of thread topic is to voice opinion relating to issues that re-occur in the area of technology - as it relates to android.
I will start with a brief overview of who I am.
I have been in the technology sector for about 18 years. I have always been a geek-at-heart - fiddling and diddling with anything that could light up, make a sound, change a channel, or make noise / music, but within the last 18 years or so gravitated towards computers - consulting and programming,
I can say this at the least. I enjoy what I do, but do not know much. I do have an opinion; wish to share it, but make no claim that my opinion is worth anything...
==========================================
I have watched technology grow up a bit, especially in the last 20 years or so - witnessing the rise and fall of the tech-stock boom, Microsoft taking the lead - in triumphs and mistakes, watching the physical computer industry grow up, witnessing the trends in software - including the rise of linux, and finally the frenzy of social networking.
Part of what I will write today - is out of anger to some degree, and some out of hope - but not all of it.
Looking at android, in my opinion, over the last few years, had me scratching my head a bit...
I was excited for android, forging itself out of the anvils of open source, led by a software giant, with hopes that we are now arriving at a moment where our innovations are in the hands of the people [open source community] and not held hostage by the clutches of corporate hands...
But that is not so today.
First off, I am witnessing android roll through the same issues as microsoft did years ago - where we are subject to the same mistakes microsoft made, not only with it's product, but user community.
1. For one, why is most of our software still labeled as beta - does that by virtue of it's label give the ok - that it may not work from day to day with no guarantees? That it is acceptable to market and sell products that are incomplete yet still pay large sums of money for it's use... I guess in one sense of the word you could tag a level of honesty to it, meaning whereas Microsoft, years ago, may have called their product production-ready yet it really was not - thus you could say android - where most applications - even OSs, are still in beta - labeled as such, is honest.. maybe...
But why in this day and age has it become an acceptable practice to charge large sums of money for things that are incomplete and are forever changing with no guarantees. I really blame the user community for putting up with it more so than the developer / corproate community behind it all...
2. Do you realize, mostly out of our control - as a user community, we are subject to corporations like google - stealing information from us - like usage information, location information [where you've been, where you are going etc], with the intent to surgically market to you - that is illegal in some form or fashion - I think one day there will be further restrictions by the government - on these corporations (vendors, cell phone providers) forbidding the tracking of whereabouts, actions, information gathering from us... That contracts must not include end-user-license-agreements which state that they [providers] have a right to gather such information.
I only gripe about this as this is a fairness issue that borders on the same level as unfair trade practices, price fixing, subliminal advertising, freedom of speech, invasion of privacy, trespassing etc...
The simple fact is, that if the mfr's wish to emply such tactics - hidden from the user - e.g. collecting data, whereabouts, spending habits, and other statistcal gathering, that it be a choice of the user to turn it on an off and made fully visible - that each user be made fully aware of the business models and mechanisms to gather such data. The user should have full capabilites to turn it off - what ever "it" is... Buyer beware should be part of a contract signature - whereas in the act of a consumer signing an agreement with a cell phone company - that it is the duty - by government force - of a carrier to make the buyer aware that any or all of these activities could / will happen - with the choice to turn off ANY information gathering backed by the carrier's instructions on how to do so.
I for one have had to root my phone, to remove bloatware and turn off deep-core information gathering that the carrier and software corps choose to do / live by.
The power should be to the people... without having to wait 10 years for government to step in on our behalf or some open-source community developer coming out with a hack - voiding warranty...
3. Data prices are too expensive, and the price keeps going up n up n up n up...
When will you put a stop to it...
Do you realize that internet for the home for a quanity of 250gb / month is averaging 50 bucks, yet for the same money on a cell phone you will get 3.25gb - what is wrong with this picture. Oh, and by the way, the prices for data on a cell network keep on rising... and rising...
ok, not too much about mistakes i gather, but maybe so.
Why in this day an d age are you:
a. willing to accept low-quality software / hardware
b. some corporations making it their primary business to find out your business - privately or publically.
c. willing to pay so much for so little...
The reason for the name of thread topic is to voice opinion relating to issues that re-occur in the area of technology - as it relates to android.
I will start with a brief overview of who I am.
I have been in the technology sector for about 18 years. I have always been a geek-at-heart - fiddling and diddling with anything that could light up, make a sound, change a channel, or make noise / music, but within the last 18 years or so gravitated towards computers - consulting and programming,
I can say this at the least. I enjoy what I do, but do not know much. I do have an opinion; wish to share it, but make no claim that my opinion is worth anything...
==========================================
I have watched technology grow up a bit, especially in the last 20 years or so - witnessing the rise and fall of the tech-stock boom, Microsoft taking the lead - in triumphs and mistakes, watching the physical computer industry grow up, witnessing the trends in software - including the rise of linux, and finally the frenzy of social networking.
Part of what I will write today - is out of anger to some degree, and some out of hope - but not all of it.
Looking at android, in my opinion, over the last few years, had me scratching my head a bit...
I was excited for android, forging itself out of the anvils of open source, led by a software giant, with hopes that we are now arriving at a moment where our innovations are in the hands of the people [open source community] and not held hostage by the clutches of corporate hands...
But that is not so today.
First off, I am witnessing android roll through the same issues as microsoft did years ago - where we are subject to the same mistakes microsoft made, not only with it's product, but user community.
1. For one, why is most of our software still labeled as beta - does that by virtue of it's label give the ok - that it may not work from day to day with no guarantees? That it is acceptable to market and sell products that are incomplete yet still pay large sums of money for it's use... I guess in one sense of the word you could tag a level of honesty to it, meaning whereas Microsoft, years ago, may have called their product production-ready yet it really was not - thus you could say android - where most applications - even OSs, are still in beta - labeled as such, is honest.. maybe...
But why in this day and age has it become an acceptable practice to charge large sums of money for things that are incomplete and are forever changing with no guarantees. I really blame the user community for putting up with it more so than the developer / corproate community behind it all...
2. Do you realize, mostly out of our control - as a user community, we are subject to corporations like google - stealing information from us - like usage information, location information [where you've been, where you are going etc], with the intent to surgically market to you - that is illegal in some form or fashion - I think one day there will be further restrictions by the government - on these corporations (vendors, cell phone providers) forbidding the tracking of whereabouts, actions, information gathering from us... That contracts must not include end-user-license-agreements which state that they [providers] have a right to gather such information.
I only gripe about this as this is a fairness issue that borders on the same level as unfair trade practices, price fixing, subliminal advertising, freedom of speech, invasion of privacy, trespassing etc...
The simple fact is, that if the mfr's wish to emply such tactics - hidden from the user - e.g. collecting data, whereabouts, spending habits, and other statistcal gathering, that it be a choice of the user to turn it on an off and made fully visible - that each user be made fully aware of the business models and mechanisms to gather such data. The user should have full capabilites to turn it off - what ever "it" is... Buyer beware should be part of a contract signature - whereas in the act of a consumer signing an agreement with a cell phone company - that it is the duty - by government force - of a carrier to make the buyer aware that any or all of these activities could / will happen - with the choice to turn off ANY information gathering backed by the carrier's instructions on how to do so.
I for one have had to root my phone, to remove bloatware and turn off deep-core information gathering that the carrier and software corps choose to do / live by.
The power should be to the people... without having to wait 10 years for government to step in on our behalf or some open-source community developer coming out with a hack - voiding warranty...
3. Data prices are too expensive, and the price keeps going up n up n up n up...
When will you put a stop to it...
Do you realize that internet for the home for a quanity of 250gb / month is averaging 50 bucks, yet for the same money on a cell phone you will get 3.25gb - what is wrong with this picture. Oh, and by the way, the prices for data on a cell network keep on rising... and rising...
ok, not too much about mistakes i gather, but maybe so.
Why in this day an d age are you:
a. willing to accept low-quality software / hardware
b. some corporations making it their primary business to find out your business - privately or publically.
c. willing to pay so much for so little...
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