

China Is Poised for an I.T. Golden Age - mclee
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/science/kai-fu-lee-china-is-poised-for-an-it-golden-age.html

======
kls
I think the article misses some fundamental issues with China

 _First, we are entering the age of open platforms, mobile computing, pad
devices, open-source and cloud computing. These will create many opportunities
for talented Chinese I.T. professionals._

That is all good, but so long as the verry network and the business around it
are regulated by the whims of plitics no amount of open and free systems will
correct the lack of free flowing ideas. If anything China should be a model to
the US about how restriction of access will hurt our businesses globally,
while China may be prevailing in their home market, they are not a global
exporter of software, for the very reason that I highlighted. There is a lack
of trust in the software that they produce. Until that is rectified they will
be serving a regional software market at best.

 _Second, development costs are the lowest in history. On the open platforms,
four or five good engineers can build an application and validate it in just a
few months._

Development cost are not the biggist issue, if they where we would not be
seeling the explosion in compensation in the US that we are seeing, talent in
our field can be far more valuable that a team of mediocre, cheap developers.
Please don't misread that as me saying Chinese developers are mediocre, that
is not my intent, what I am saying is that the concept of development labor
price is a none issue when one knows the dynamics of the software development
market.

 _a Chinese e-book is free at first, but once you read half of it and get
hooked, you have to pay a nominal charge per thousand words_

This is not a business practice that is scalable to other cultures, in America
we call that a bait and switch and it is considered unethical and shady, not
only would it not sell it would draw a lot of bad press from the media.

 _Chinese parents care deeply about education_

This is where I would say there competitive advantage is, they are heavily
investing in their education system and actively encouraging investment in
asset producing disciplines such as science and engineering. If they fix their
sociopolitical issues they will be able to reap the full benefit of that
investment, at which point we should all be concerned about their competitive
advantage.

------
pefavre
China will clearly become a hot place for web development and IT support. But
it must be said that web usages, concepts and-on a broader view- culture are
quite different in China. Every occidental company has broken its back trying
to breach into the chinese market. Local players and copycats still rule
China, like Weibo against twitter.

