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August 21 The Worst Microsoft Educational Mistake in 2008I found a horrible mistake in Microsoft .NET educational program. A one of .NET faculty in APTECH world wide institute (Valiasr Center) takes research projects to him students for each .NET course such as C# simplified, Windows Forms, ASP.net, COM+, Advanced .NET, .NET security, XML web services with .NET, etc. Now, him projects are focused on new version of Microsoft .NET framework that it’s called “Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5”.
I was one of best students in this institute and now, I am an education assistantship in it whereas many of students come to me for solving their problems. I understood from 60 percent to 70 percent of APTECH students think WPF and Silverlight are two same technologies. When they want to learn Silverlight, they study WPF e-books instead of Silverlight e-books. But it’s a big wrong. When students work practically on WPF applications instead of Silverlight projects, they will have many problems for switching on Silverlight when they work with timelines, events and animations. August 10 Don Quixote of the 21st centuryOn July fifth, on the occasion of Bill Gates’ farewell to Microsoft, an article was published in BBC website by Richard Stallman. In this article he had not only railed at the Microsoft policies but also made offensive allusion to the senior managers of Microsoft. After reading this article I contacted him and demanded his formal apology to the Microsoft officials in the public media within 30 days. Otherwise he would have to face similar situation. The 30-day deadline is missed and Mr. Stallman has not complied with my request. Hence I have decided to write an article regarding his aggressive approach. All the graduates from reputable universities e.g. MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia etc. are admittedly respectable. However their degrees do not grant them any permission to insult, slam or slander anyone. Whereas there are people in the United States who in spite of not having any academic qualifications are in control of both the industry and economy of the United States and even the rest of the world without feeling obliged to insult others or have any touch of hyperbole. But most regrettably there are individuals who on the pretext of being highly educated allow themselves to decide how people should think!!! If you simply search the keyword “Stallman” in Google you will see a picture of him wearing a robe with a halo round his head, raising his hand as if he were a prophet. The image reminds me more of the medieval priests who believed themselves to be God’s messengers nursing an ambition to change the world. But their ulterior motives were to earmark people and manipulate their emotions.
You are probably no strangers to “Don Quixote” the immortal novel by Cervantes. The story depicts a lunatic who as a result of reading too much about the Crusades’ knights is under the impression of being the savior of the nation and a prominent figure responsible for the emancipation of people and leading the society to its ultimate goal. In some part of the novel our ignorant hero attacks the windmills on the assumption that they are the true enemies of the human kind not knowing that these mills sustain people. Our little Stallman, as far as I can gather, has modeled himself after this so-called hero which makes him a real nuisance in our time. Nowadays Stallman takes his sword, straightens the barber’s basin on his head, mounts his old horse and raids today’s windmills i.e. Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, etc. His articles are so utterly lacking in logic and honesty, merely trying to intimidate his rivals and concealing the truth, that are most preposterous. For example he has for quite a long time been accusing of Microsoft of monopolizing the software market, but when Microsoft offers a contract with Novell according to which .Net programming was enabled in Linux operating system, he seems to be the first one to stand against it, although this contract could pave the way for intercompany cooperation. From open-source-specialists point of view he is an opinionated leader or untouchable God, directing a criticism at whom would be tantamount to blasphemy. Despite the fact that Bill Gates is as well deemed to be a guru by .Net programmers and IT fans in the US, he taught us that “constructive criticism and being open to criticism are the cornerstones of sustainable development. Leader, prophet or even God is meaningless in this field. Everyone should be responsible to people. If you criticize fairly and be able to accept criticism and then act accordingly to meet these criticisms, the success gates will open up to you. In my opinion, Mr. Stallman has the right to criticize anyone in any newspaper or media. But the problems arise when he contradicts himself in saying that everyone is entitled the freedom to choose and trying to impose his ideas on others whether by fair means or foul. For example there are still traces of the open source specialists’ rudimentary keynote “Why to buy Windows?” in his speeches. Whether or not people can be reprimanded for choosing the right product is in question here. In the last ten years, Mr. Stallman has turned a friendly commercial rivalry to a full-scale technological war. On the other hand, he keeps saying that the software companies are monopolistic. Here I can provide five very fundamental incontrovertible theories which cast grave doubt on the open-source philosophy. Thus far none of these theories have been refuted. Since Microsoft’s slogan is “Computers in every house” and the aforementioned company has launched an international program to spread the information technology even in the underdeveloped countries and as well taking cognizance of the fact that Microsoft has outstripped all his European competitors and remembering that IT is the legacy of politics and military development, the following theories on the existential philosophy of the “open source” are formulated: 1st: Considering the fact that Microsoft corp. has not yet taken any decisive action on sanctioning countries like Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Congo, etc the open source movement is surmised to be shepherded by the military and intelligence agencies in the US for instance National Security Agency (NSA), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Pentagon. Thus through undermining Microsoft’s credibility the American government and the Congress will stay in power. 2nd: Inasmuch as Microsoft’s activities throughout Europe has given rise financial loss or even led to the European software companies e.g. Germany’s SEB or England’s Symbian to bankruptcy and coerced them into funding open-source projects, the open-source could be considered as a tool for the Europeans not only to defy Microsoft but also to transfer the American state-of-the-art technology to Europe. 3rd: Taking the freeware usage culture into consideration and knowing that open-source community strongly deprecates making any profit on selling software and its contiguity to the communist ideology we could take it for granted that Open-Source is in a way connected to the Russian intelligence service and aims at capitalist American companies and to spread the communism. 4th: Bearing in mind that the Republic of China has strong economic and industrial ties and is America’s major financial competitor, the open-source could be part of the China’s plan to do exactly what was discussed in the second theory. 5th: Because the open-source groups have socialistic tendencies, and that the South American countries like Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela have put a great deal of money into such technologies, open source movement could be categorized under the military-political groups in the South America who are looking forward to demean the Capitalism. The open-source groups are so unidentified that none of the above allegations can be simply proved wrong and it is very easy to label such groups, especially due to their long lasting communist reputation. But Microsoft has always considered open-source as a respectable rival and has never used these allegations to pin down the opponent. Microsoft officials have never propelled the Senate and Congressmen into taking action based on any of the theories stated before, though it is now more easily attainable than in the past insomuch as the United States is more vulnerable to espionage from countries like Brazil, Cuba, Belorussia, Syria and even Israel than any time in the history. Unlike the Open-Source, manufacturing high quality, challenging products is of great consequence to Microsoft whereas the Open-Source has always been trying to exclude companies like Microsoft from the international arena using the political means. In my estimation these are the Open-Source fans who intend to deny us the freedom of choice. They contemplate telling us what software or hardware to use, how to write a program, how to think and even who to love. For instance, at the time when Windows Vista was released and reduced the cost price of the hardware, all Open-Source groups expressed displeasure that why would an operating system need such hardware. Or when for the first time in ASP .net, behavioral codes were separated from the design codes these groups aired their grievances about this approach. And now that Microsoft is resolved to stop distributing Windows XP as a stand-alone product, open-source supporters are pulling the strings in a movement called “save Windows XP”. I personally cannot afford to buy some of the Microsoft products and hardware but that is solely due to my country’s weak economy so there is no need to grumble over the prices of Microsoft products. I can simply stop using them whenever I wish to. In the end it is well worthwhile to say that they who love Microsoft products and use these to expand their business are responsible for standing up against this propaganda. I as a small part of this tremendous community of Microsoft fans have tried to settle my debt of gratitude to Microsoft by writing this article.
Author: Mahyar Esteki Translated by: Ali Rafieifar August 05 Iranian computer experts’ opinion on Microsoft policiesCurrently, the information technology market is on its wane in Iran. Although no one can deny the economic sanctions practiced by the west as one of the main causes, the lack of feasible infrastructure is the leading cause. According to Iranian experts, the problems were in situ even before any embargo placed on the Iran’s economy not to mention the lingering threat which is still looming on the country’s software designers. In line with the status quo, a number of computer experts were approached in order to shed more light on the aforementioned condition. In this interview, the author asked them the following questions:
1. If you had a chance to meet Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Microsoft top managers, what would you request regardless of the current US economic embargo? 2. Do you believe that copy right laws should be practiced in Iran? Why? Why not?
Morteza Akparpour: a high standing A software engineer with an 8 year track record in ISIRAN company with an affiliation with ministry of defense. He has also been teaching .NET for 5 years. 1. I would like the company to consider opening an office in Iran along with arranging regular seminars and training courses in order to boost up Iranians experts field experience. Besides, offering employment opportunities to Iranian experts can open up the market and extend the margin of benefit for Microsoft products in Iran. 2. I concur to the policy since the rights of software engineers will be upheld.
Alireza Zahirnia: An expert in data sites, a senior counselor, and an instructor of Oracle. 1. Establishing internet cafes in the rural areas can raise the young’s motivation and interest in IT technology. Moreover, providing Persian instructions for Microsoft products along with their English manual can facilitate their use and application for Iranians. 2. I absolutely subscribe to the law since my right as a designer is maintained. Besides, people need to respect the license placed on designers’ products.
Afshin Azadonlu: A university professor and a counselor of many it projects in public companies. 1. The main problem of our software policy is cultural and it is rooted in the lack of copy right laws. Microsoft Corp. can raise team work spirit among Iranian experts designers. Our experts are often engaged in a multiple variety of tasks and lack precise expertise. In addition, designers need to be highly motivated in order to improve the quality of the software packages they are currently producing. Last but not least, a discipline oriented policy along with team-based attitude among experts can boos up the market in Iran. 2. The customer is obligated to pay the price which includes the copy right licensing rates.
Omid Motaghy: One of the well-recommended experts in the area of open source programming, an open source instructor who is also an ex-consultant of Saman Bank has responded to the questions as follows: 1. Firstly I’d like to ask Microsoft officials to offer appropriate references and sources to Iranians. Secondly, I think it would be crucial if they pave the way for providing job opportunities for Iranian experts. In other words, the company can employ local expertise in order to dovetail Iranian manpower and expertise into Microsoft work plan for projects located in Iran. 2. By all means, because I do not like my fellow Iranians to live in jungle!
Ahmad reza Sedighy: One of the ten most brilliant Java programmers in Iran who has published a three volume book on the subject, the most complete reference for students in this area, has responded to the questions as follows: 1. Personally I think that investment in education is highly significant. In fact, education fees and tuition is quite high in this country and the majority cannot afford the quotas. Hence, there is little executive context for software production and design. However, there is a great deal of potential talent observed among students. 2. Yes, if we want to improve software industry we need to boost up job opportunities. The first step in this way is to increase the minimum wage and yearly income of software designers. On the other hand, unless copy right is followed vigorously in Iran, we cannot expect high quality software products. Hence, we need to promote copyright regulations among the public.
Pejhman Parsai: A high standing expert and instructor in .net programming who is also one of the most up-to-date software programmers in this country with a track record for public and governmental posts has answered my questions as follows: 1. I hope that the relationship between Microsoft company and Iranian experts and people is improved. And the experts here open up an out-sourcing opportunity to reach out for the betterment of this relationship. Besides Microsoft training classes in Iran requires more restricted policy so that educational centers officially register for such classes. We must look after the relationship between Indian companies and the States in opening up the vistas for a healthy international market in Iran. This can boos up the finance and benefit margin for Microsoft and Iranian IT industry. As a result the bilateral profits will be upheld. 2. Yes, as a programmer I do not like others to use my programs for free.
Aliakbar Jaffarpoor: A well-recommended web and flash designer and instructor has answered my questions quite bluntly 1. Eliminating the incompatibility of software and hardware, and the elimination of memory limitation for some of the Microsoft products can be regarded as primary concern. On the other hand, adding open source option to Microsoft products can turn around many problems. Unfortunately, the R&D phase stands after the product is applied and operated by the users. But we can refer to the improvement of the Iranian solvency regarding Microsoft products and the facilitation of Microsoft product updating in Iran. 2. No, since we cannot afford varieties of products. Our income is not compatible to foreign products; hence, we may run the risk of not catching up with the latest technology. I believe that companies can use maintenance and services in order to catch up with their expenditures. Farokh Bolandi: An expert working in ISIRAN, an affiliated company with the defense industry, a well-established expert in C, C++ and Java, has also provided me with direct responses. 1. The only favor the company can do to Iran is to lay a complete software embargo. The company can also ban its products with respect to breaking their locks and smuggling. Since by using free software, the level of national software technology takes a tumble. No one works on an expert-wise plan and everybody is on their own. But if people are invited to buy genuine software, they use the expertise and products according to their personal needs and requirements. Also they seek technical consulting before using the product. The rest depends on us. What I considered is a win-win opportunity. 2. Yes, unless copyright is upheld, the It industry is in jeopardy. As result, some problems such as the lack of expertise, the lack of investment, the lack of high quality products, the lack of export and so on will occur. Under such conditions, the product value will be lost for the users. The customer should pay the price rate for the product. Here, the maintenance is significant and hence both sides will be kept satisfied.
Payam Lalehzari: Java expert and Tehran stock share web site programmer who will be one of the ten most successful java programmer in Iran in the next decade has responded to my question as follows: 1. Certainly establishing an indirect office in Iran and running programming projects as outsource by Iranian experts under the supervision of Microsoft can solve many problems. Moreover, their products can be on display for Iranian customers and their latest news can be broadcast for Iranians. But most importantly, we should prepare the attitude of people regarding Microsoft infrastructure and their activities. Since many Iranians know the company just for the windows. Furthermore, it would be highly constructive if Iran is off the training program sanctions list. 2. Yes. The reason why many people cannot afford Microsoft products is because of our poor economy. Globalization is inextricably bound to abiding by international laws and regulations.
Amin Babai: An Iranian expert with high national spirit and .net programmer and web designer who is designing an add on suitable for internet explorer has responded to my questions as follows: 1. The company as a private company can contribute to basic computer and technology education in primary schools away from tools. It is highly necessary to pursue computer education at schools. This can be undertaken by Iranian experts so that more job opportunities. 2. Yes, copy right can help Iranian and international producers and can help to increase more opportunities for national and international investment.
Ali Rafieifar: .net programmer and expert who is also an English and German instructor has responded to my questions as follows: 1. What we need mostly is financial contribution to the IT market with high security. Moreover, extending electronic industry is highly necessary for us at this point. Establishing primary training for the public can be a basic and significant plan for Microsoft corp. in Iran. Next plan can be advanced education and training for the higher education. Moreover, improving software engineering and product standards for companies can solve many problems. Establishing private sector and offering automation standards for all guilds can be also considered as the next plan. 2. People should pay for anything they need. Undeniably, however, everyone should pay as much as it satisfies their needs and copy right will automatically take care of this assumption. On the other hand, globalization requires us that we join this law
Mohammad said khadem .net expert and remoting programmer has responded to my questions as follows: 1. It is highly significant that Microsoft provide support for is products in this country. We should eliminate non-expert sector and low quality products, so that the value of software does not take a tumble in this country. What I like to ask Microsoft managers is that if a run-of-the-mill programmer designs a program, does that lead to a high performance and quality per se? I think that software engineering for Microsoft products should be taken seriously. 2. Yes, the copy right regulation should be taken more seriously in Iran than any other country. When a person or team attempts to design a program, they want to take benefit from the marketing. However, the violation of copy right regulation can damage their benefit margin and may lead to other consequences.
What strikes us mostly from many expert’s opinion participated in this interview is the lack of job security and the lack of proper attitude. The proper attitude of use and training can be considered as a primary condition for the poor value of our market. As we have observed the participants have paid little attention to technicality and are most interested in higher order problems in it technology. This shows that the main problems in this country are mostly primitive and rudimentary. A newly made proverb is now common in Iran, namely “we import the car first then teach the public how to deal with it”. This means that many products are imported without the proper manual for them. And only after the damage is done, the officials come up with the damage control. Moreover, the judiciary responds very poorly to such charges. All these aspects compromise job opportunity and investment and job marketability. As a result sustainable development will take a tumble. As one of the participants referred to Indian relationship with the Microsoft, we can also take Iranian relationship as a counter example which having passed twenty years in the IT industry, it has failed to seek a proper role model for its it technology and industry. Although Iran is under a variety of sanctions and Iranians cannot afford many products, the red herring, which is the violation of copy right, can lead to a multiplicity of problems. This violation has also entered the Iranian film industry and is deriving it to bankruptcy. In closing, it is a highly agreed upon fact that politics and economy are two arms of it technology. And we hope that the officials and policy makers (the US and Iran) take steps in mending broken bound.
Author: Mahyar Esteki Translated by: Dr. Masoud Seid Motahhari |
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