Letters to the Editor

Letters posted here are associated with the following article:
The early 17th century was a tough time in China -- but not as alien to our own lives as you might imagine.
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  • there is a permanent solution?

    we're working with human beings here. greed, selfishness, aggression and fear built-in to our genes- it's a wonder population manages to increase at all. but it does, and that ensures disaster.

    rich old people have to live in gated communities, otherwise everyone else would tear their limbs off. not that poor young people are any better, but they have less opportunity to indulge themselves by looting the planet.

    ming china is amusing, but the problems of human character surpass all humor, unless you're a fan of the addams family.

  • Microsoft

    Ikuiku

    If computer business is a mature business, how do you explain Apple's rising sales? And how many of Microsoft's jobs in the U.S. are H1B visas? And if Microsoft is unable to find talent in the U.S. it is because they are unwilling to pay competitive salaries, so they are importing cheap labor.

  • Microsoft isn't in the "computer" business, . . .

    . . . and I said Microsoft is a mature company. Two different things. The computer industry will never "mature" unless we lose the ability to improve processing capabilities. Though it is technologically stagnant right now.

    If computer business is a mature business, how do you explain Apple's rising sales? And how many of Microsoft's jobs in the U.S. are H1B visas? And if Microsoft is unable to find talent in the U.S. it is because they are unwilling to pay competitive salaries, so they are importing cheap labor.

    -- semionb

    Apple's increased sales, but a mere drop in the ocean of PC dominance, don't represent entirely new computer sales. A portion of them is people switching from PC to Mac.

    Computers are like refrigerators (though they are useful for a shorter period of time) - you only need so many of them. The market in the developed parts of the world is pretty well saturated.

    Relatively few of Microsoft's employees working in the U.S. are on H1B visas because they issue only so many of them. Though it is true they would like to hire more.