Alternative View on Google/China

While I understand the angst about the recent Google decision to accept Chinese conditions for market entry. I would like to point out an alternative view, (it may not necessarily be mine!!)

Yes, Google did conform to Chinese government regulations, in much the same way Google is also complying with a host of U.S. regulations, including the largest regressive tax on U.S. Business - Sarbanes Oxley, a particularly onerous set of U.S. regulations. Other foreign owned companies listed on an American stock exchanges must also comply. I am also sure that Google is complying with other foreign regulations in countries in which it operates. Yes, free speech is different and it is abhorrent that the Chinese government chooses to censor what its citizens can see. However..........................

The Internet and the free flow of information is the Trojan horse of democracy for China

For the Chinese, control of the internet is a cruel illusion and Google is rightly letting them have their ‘illusion’. Ultimately the Mandarin censors will be overwhelmed, attacked and thwarted, their illusion will quickly crumble. Information always finds a way to be free. Chinese hackers have already publicly announced hacks to get around a sophisticated network of filters. The masses will use the internet to communicate; underground networks will develop. Internet aided technologies such as IM, wireless communications, blogs, and broad access to the net will revolutionize the flow of information, once the monopoly of the Chinese goverment. The Chinese, will of course try and continue to filter, censor and block objectionable information, it won't work. Snippets of 'subversive' information will slip through, sophisticated users will find ways to reach the information they want, regardless of the Chinese authoriites attempts to stop it. The internet is a product of the U.S.A and no county has exploited it more than the United States, as much as the Chinese may like there will be no ‘Asian Internet’ thus the positive influence of America and other western culture will be felt by the Chinese. Freedom, Liberty, Democracy and Freedom of the Press is imprinted on the DNA of the internet through the inherent free flow of information.

Let the Chinese have their illusions, for their kind it is the beginning of the end. The Internet will contribute to thier demise. And Google will have helped bring it down.

Passages

I was very saddened to hear Pascal Didier, Cymer had recently lost his long struggle to overcome a serious illness.

I met Pascal maybe 5 or 6 times. Pascal had one of the driest wits out of any tech executive I know. I still remember our first meeting some years ago when Pascal asked me if I could cut Cymer's AeA dues in half, as I sputtered for a few moments, Pascal finally told me to calm down and he was just kidding. Pascal had a unique ability to put people at ease, his dry wit, vision and his ability to get right to the point made him an invaluable asset to Cymer.

IMOP, Cymer has one of the top management teams in town, Bob Akins is well known in the community and guides Cymer with a steady hand, I once joked to Bob that the cyclical nature of the semiconductor business must lead him to have a manic depressive mindset. Bob and his team has been able to 'even' out the cycles. In the semiconductor bust a few years ago, one would have thought that a company like Cymer would have been decimated, instead Cymer concentrated on R&D, and preserving their very technical workforce they had worked so hard to develop. Cymer has managed the boom/bust cycle incredibly well and probably does not get enough credit for this. Pascal was part of this and will be missed.

Pascal's passing will be missed not only by Cymer but the entire technology community.

Holy Cow, I have never seen that color before

“Holy Cow, I have never seen that color before”

Lauren Carroll
My three year old daughter on seeing her first sunset yesterday

Everyone is bothering me about when I am getting my three year old her first computer. Being the daughter of a geek would seem to make her an early candidate for her own computer not to mention her own case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I made the decision to wait on the computer as we both looked at the sunset yesterday. It was a particularly beautiful one as shades of purple and pink mingled to serve up a wonderful palette of colors. She asked me if she could touch it and I told her that if we touched it would disappear, she was surprisingly ok with this answer and sat next to me and continued to enjoy the ‘new colors’

If she had her own computer, I wonder if we would have had the opportunity to share that moment.