Thanks for updating us on your progress, buddy.
--
<:-)~MIKE~(-:>
On Sunday 26 October 2003 04:55 pm, Ed Skinner said:
~ I'm in Wuhan China, a city somewhat the size of Chicago, located 90
~ minutes flying time west of Shanghai. I'm here to present two one-week
~ seminars on embedded systems to students of the International Software
School ~ (http://www.isswu.net/) of Wuhan University.
~ Today (Sunday) was a day of jet-lag recovery. Needing to get the sun
in ~ my face to help reset my body-clock, I went out to the Xinhua
Bookstore, ~ reportedly the largest and best bookstore in the city. I headed
for the ~ computer section on the third floor to see what they had on Linux
and also ~ about embedded computing in general.
~ Not surprisingly, books about Microsoft-related products heavily
~ outnumbered the other OSs and most of the squating browsers were looking at
~ these. IT is big business here, in case you hadn't heard. From what I saw
in ~ the bookstore, they're boning up on the related subjects from
Microsoft, too. ~ I saw most of the usual Linux titles but many of
which were in Chinese ~ editions. There were also quite a few books in
Chinese that I'd never seen ~ before (in English). Overall, I'd say the
Chinese get as good or better an ~ exposure to Linux through the bookstores
and, although it is clear that Bill ~ Gates has a very solid base here,
Linux is, nonetheless, surprisingly well ~ represented. Indeed, I was
particularly pleased to see many of the O'Reilly ~ titles (including my
favorite, Linux Device Drivers, Second Edition, by ~ Rubini and
Corbet--thanks, guys) in Chinese for 69 Yuan (divide by 8 for US ~ prices).
(That sounds really cheap but is roughly in-line with the other ~ prices of
technical books here. Cheap, yes, but not out of kilter for the ~ market.)
~ In a nutshell, there is no lack of good technical information about
Linux ~ in the People's Republic. If you've been worried that you're going
crazy over ~ the off-shore move and how it is going to affect US- and
europe-based ~ software engineers over the next couple of years, you can
relax because it's ~ not a manifestation of your paranoia. It's a fact.
~ To try and offset the mood left by that realization, I picked up a
copy ~ of the book and CD for Red Flag Linux. At 38 Yuan, I viewed it as
cheap ~ entertainment especially since *all* the TV channels are in Asian
languages, ~ none of which I savvy. With the Red Flag book, although I don't
read Chinese, ~ certain things jump out from the text such as "2.4.17",
"OpenOffice" and ~ "Evolution". Bill Gates's likeness shows up almost as
much as does that of ~ Linus in the heavily illustrated text. When I get
back to the US, I'll try an ~ install of the accompanying CD on my
crash-and-burn machine just for the fun ~ of it.
~ Broadening out my search at the bookstore into RTOSs in general, I saw
~ five titles on MicroC/OS-II. In the US I think there are maybe two or three
~ still on the shelves, but the Chinese books are all new publications with
~ recent dates on what I would normally call "the rights page." Appearances
are ~ there's some interest here in the real-time segment of the computer
market. ~ And there were also eight different titles on VxWorks. I
presume that ~ none of these are available outside of China (nor probably in
any other ~ language) because of copyright issues and because of Wind
River's choke-hold ~ on the product. Copyright issues aside, that tight grip
is maybe not such a ~ good idea because, in the long run, I'm betting Wind
River will figure out ~ they've dealt themselves a pretty severe blow by not
opening up more. ~ "Closed" products think they need to be that way to
survive when competition ~ is tough and maybe that's true for a while, at
least. But when the ~ competition has been beaten, whipped, flogged, bound
in chains and thrown in ~ the dungeon, staying closed seems more likely to
accelerate the rot that ~ eventually brings about their demise. Pay
attention, Wind River. Are you ~ listening, Microsoft? With little or no
competition, "closed" means ~ "stagnation."
~ Tomorrow I start the first of the two seminars about embedded systems
~ programming I'm scheduled to present here. I'll teach the same material
twice ~ but with a shift in emphasis from theory to practice as the audience
changes ~ from undergraduates to graduates in week one and then week two. My
emphasis ~ will be on Linux, open source, how to use the Web and what to
expect from the ~ community at large, and what will consequently be expected
of them. ~ I've been told they've moved the venue for my sessions twice
to ~ accommodate the growing number of students that want to attend. I don't
know ~ how many will be there tomorrow but I am expecting the hands-on lab
segments ~ where I usually give one-on-one assistance to be, well,
over-attended. But, ~ then again, maybe their Linux expertise will be better
than I was originally, ~ and ignorantly, thinking a couple of weeks ago.
I'll find out soon enough. ~ A truck just drove past the front of the
Fengyi hotel where I'm staying. ~ Loudspeakers were blaring out loud
marching music. The sides of the truck ~ were covered with large flat panels
with yellow letters on red background ~ with advertisements for something
later this week. Unfortunately, I don't ~ read Chinese so I can't tell you
if there's a big political rally coming up ~ or if the circus is arriving.
Regardless, big things are happening in China. ~ Your man in Wuhan, Ed
Skinner.
~
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