Every now and then, these news items cross your path that simply don't need any words or imagery in order to make an impact. This is definitely one of those. You all know Amazon's Kindle, right? It's Amazon's successful e-book reader which allows you to buy a subset of Amazon's book catalogue in electronic form. Well, the term "buy" doesn't really apply here. Update: In a rare case of company mea culpa, Amazon has explained that deleting the books was a bad idea, and they assured us it won't happen again. The issue here was that the publisher behind the two Orwell books in the Kindle Store did not have the rights to sell these books, and after Amazon was informed by the rightsholder, they removed the books. Still, according to the NYT, more books were deleted from Kindles, even though Amazon doesn't have the right to do so according to its own TOS.
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Member since:2005-07-06
I can answer how I avoided it; when I went to school from the ages of 5 through till 13 I was never exposed to Windows/DOS based PC's. The first computer I saw was at primary school which was an Apple Mac (can't remember the model or anything), when I went to Australia my parents bought an Amiga 500, then I came back to New Zealand where I continued to use my Amiga, I obtained a BBC Micro and fiddled around with it, my parents then decided to upgrade to a PC, P75 with Windows 95 but I never really liked it all that much so I stuck with my Amiga.
The story goes on until bought an Apple; long story short, my first exposure by virtue of what I used full time was not a PC but an Amiga; I never had the attachment to Microsoft that some people here seem to have; I saw them as just another software company and thus I don't have the adoration that some people here have.
Member since:2006-06-02
Member since:2009-07-18
The answer is very simple.
He has been there and he is right.
From your answer it is very clear you have not been there. Basically to anyone who has been there, and has experience in how things actually work in Korea, you look like an ignorant idiot with your reply. You come off as a know-it-all who knows absolutely nothing. Maybe toning it down in the future could be recommended instead of using your ass to talk down on people who actually know what they are talking about.
Try to sign up for some activity, check a homepage for some bus schedule, or just buy something online in Korea while not using MS Windows? too bad.
Scratch that, try to buy something in Korea using ANYTHING but Korean MS Windows - and you are likely to meet mr. "too bad" (English included).
I love it there, things just work, IF, you keep within the 'walls'. Step out of the zone and you are on your own and you will face hell. This is regarding most stuff there, culture, technology and just generally everything. Culture is very Borg like and they are very good at it.
This is just fact of life in Korea and I can accept it and it's my favourite place in the world.
Member since:2006-06-02
Wow, something touched a nerve - enough for you to come out of lurk mode, or perhaps you are just in masquerade mode? Who knows,indeed.
Did you click through and read the link?
Well, I have been going to Korea since the late 1990s; half my family is Korean - other Koreans seem to recognise my estimation of Korean culture:
http://www.osnews.com/thread?372471
Note that the difference - lack of knowledge about alternatives, even where this might be stated, is not felt to be some cultural trait, and that is my point of reference for responding to fukudasan;
Kids may use Windows for games, and yes, South Korea has a massive appreciation of gaming, but how on earth do you suppose that all those government and civic authorities who have moved over to open source solutions get anything done if what you assert bears any relation to the truth?
Go look here:
http://www.ipa.go.jp/software/open/forum/north_asia/download/7thNEA...
or here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE51F2FS20090216
My point is that there are plenty of signs that Linux is being adopted and that exposure is there. And none of this has to do with the intrinsic culture of the Korean people - to suggest that it is, to me is tantamount to some quasi-racist view.
But then again, anyone who has lived in Korea for 5 years but who yet adopts a Japanese nickname, and boasts about using Mandriva downloaded from Japanese servers has to me some life issues that touch on the relationship they have with their adoptive country. I note Fukudasan remains silent on all this but lets call him out.
Member since:
2006-06-02
Ahh, well, tell me Oh enlightened one, how *you* then managed to escape this deep conditioning? What are your mental secrets to success? Did you in Korea go up to the mountain, finding your way down again through the Gateless Gate?
Perhaps a more pertinent reason for the behaviour and predilections you apparently discern is that Korean people generally just want to "get things done...and quickly", added to which there is a massively superior service culture which can get you help quickly, efficiently, and knowledgeably for little relative cost to sort any problems out.
But just to buck the trend before you create an even greater impression that Koreans are somehow mass, unthinking and uncritical drones, enslaved to Mr Bill Gates:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/17/linux.korea
You know how much the unification of the peninsula means to Korean people, right?
In other words, play out your paranoid fantasies about IT technology without besmirching an entire nation, especially one whose IT literacy strips just about anyone else's on the planet.