[H]omer wrote:
Verily I say unto thee, that mike spake thusly:
in addition to the outsourcing of jobs, let's not forget the considerable
number of people (outside of microsoft) who left the computer field
because they found it too much of an insult to their intelligence to be
spending all their time supporting that which is always and by far the
weakest link in any computer infrastructure -- microsoft. i've watched
over two decades the inverse relationship between prestigious jobs in the
computer field vs. the growth of microsoft such that computer science now
ranks near the bottom of the academic desires of college students. and
who can blame them, working in computers has become synonymous with
supporting microsoft and one can find a more rewarding and respectable
career as janitor at the local sewage & wastewater treatment plant.
What an excellent and poignant observation.
Academia has traditionally always been about the open and free pursuit
of knowledge, in a framework of generally accepted axioms and standards.
I've worked IT in a Big-10 school the past 9 years.
Microsoft has a stranglehold on campus, most all enterprise initiatives
are outsourced (PeopleSoft) and re-outsourced in a periodic basis. I
work at the libraries, where we have a propensity to outsource to an
Israeli company (Ex Libris) whenever at all possible. Keep in mind that
these decisions are made, for the most part, by neither academics nor
technologists. But rather a class of non-technical managers -- some of
whom, one wonders, may be personally benefiting from the arrangements
brokered? But it's extraordinarily political in nature.
There are two rigged relationships, also, to keep in mind:
(1) Publishers of textbooks totally gouge out students. They deprecate
editions quickly as to limit the used textbook market, and prices are
way, WAY out of line. This doesn't stop the Academy from relying on
them anyway, nor does it give them much cause for concern -- to select
cheaper texts for students, etc. They largely ignore the problem.
(2) Professors (tuition/tax-funded research) are encourage to publish in
closed journals -- and sign away some of their rights, which the
university then buys back (tuition/tax-funded again). It's a ludicrous
required skimming-off.
So while Academia may espouse openness and free pursuit ideals in the
classroom, the supporting and administrative structures are anything but.
It runs much deeper than just Microsoft (though they are one of the
larger offenders).
Academia is pretty much becoming a shell of its former existence, IMHO.
|
|
