Apologies for not being part of recent lively discussions. I have been
very much in the trenches where our digital future is being made.
Spending time in those trenches could be far more instructive than anyone
in the ivory tower might dare imagine.
I'm forwarding this item from the Informtion Technology publication:
PC-Week, not so much for the content as for the language used. At issue
is the use of term 'hegemony.' Hegemony is certainly a technical term
that this audience might claim ownership to. It certainly has a long
tradition in Marxist thought and social theory in general. Its
appearance in a computer journal, used in a manner which at best distorts
it's meaning and context, is more than a little disturbing.
In a way, these articles are about domination at two levels: 1.) one
Microsoft as dominating computing, 2.) Capitalism as dominating thought.
When Marxist technical jargon is appropriated shamelessly to describe
joisting between economic forces, it implies something about the digital
imperialism that makes Microsoft's market domination pale into
insignificance.
Peace, Edouard
**** Welcome to PC Week InBox Direct for November 20, 1998. ****
---------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft: Linux is a threat
Microsoft lawyers sparred with a government economist in court
Thursday, arguing that Linux poses a real threat to the company's
hegemony over PC operating systems.
^^^^^^^^
Read the story at
http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/pcwt981120003/www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/new
s/0,4153,373020,00.html
============================================
Edouard Lagache, PhD
Webmaster - Lecturer
Information Technologies
U.C. San Diego, Division of Extended Studies
Voice: (619) 622-5758, FAX: (619) 622-5742
email: elagache who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu
:...................................................................:
: The Lord blessed us with all about equal intelligence. :
: Alas, most people use less of it than they have, while :
: insisting that they have more than their share. :
: :
: E. Lagache, April 13, 1998 :
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