From: furballs@sequent.com (Paul Penrod)
Subject: Re: FCC will proclaim Microsoft is run by Communists! :)
Organization: Sequent Computer Systems, Inc.
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 92 00:27:59 GMT

In article <1992Dec21.131949.5906@ais.com> bruce@ais.com (Bruce C. Wright) writes:
>In article <1992Dec21.041125.9052@sequent.com>, furballs@sequent.com (Paul Penrod) writes:
>> In article <1h13t8INNj74@neuro.usc.edu> merlin@neuro.usc.edu (merlin) writes:
>>>>Well you can kiss American leadership in operating systems out goodbye.
>>>
>>>How much good software has been placed in the American or world market
>>>by the Japanese?  I can't think of a single package.  Why?
>> 
>> I can offer a couple of reasons why.
>> 
>> 1. The Japanese work ethic and culture does not promote
>> individualism which is one of the key elements of creativity; hence
>> the plethora of unique software packages from US/CANADIAN/EUROPEAN
>> countries.
>
>Maybe.  But another, possibly more significant, factor is that the
>Japanese language is so different from most other world languages.
>Quite a bit of software has a significant language component;  and
>English-speaking programmers have a significant advantage because
>of the aftereffects of the British Empire and the worldwide US
>economic network of the last century or so.  But other European
>languages are not so far from English that those countries are at
>very much of a disadvantage in the world software market compared
>to Japan.  Japan and other Pacific Rim Asian countries also have
>the problem that until very recently it was not very practical to use
>computers in their native written language -- various Romanizations
>and simplifications were needed to deal with the large character sets.
>

Excellent point ...

>> 2. They have just started figuring out how to produce bullet proof
>> software on a cookie cutter basis. Once they have that down cold,
>> watch and see how the market is persued, just like the
>> semi-conductor industry.
>
>The Japanese are not too bad at chip _design_, but the US chip
>foundries are generally better at it.  Where the Japanese excel
>is in chip _fabrication_;  but for the most part the production
>of software is more like chip _design_ rather than like chip
>_fabrication_.  It's not clear that this can be automated in
>quite the same way as a manufacturing process.
>

To quote an old valley hacker:

"C++ container classes are nothing more than reusable code for
disposable programmers"

			flick@flickvax.com

IF the OOPs relgion holds water, then there is merit to the
argument that software IC's will become the next wave of techincal
usage. This implies that software and algorithyms in particular can
be dealt with in the same manner as silicon, and frabricate custome
software "chips" if you will, to solve particular problems. 

But I do believe you are correct in that automating software
construction can not be persued quite the same as chip
manufacturing.

>> 3. The web of US software copyrights and patents, which are also
>> supported to a lesser degree in the international market, are a
>> deterant; only until they figure out how to work around them.
>
>This is a deterrant to _any_ company or country entering the
>software market, no matter where they're from (including US
>companies).  I don't see how it puts the Japanese at any special
>disadvantage.
>

It doesn't. They just happen to be the topic of discussion.



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