Comment Re:Hmmm... Germany is looking better and better... (Score 1) 208
Unfortunately they didn't throw out all of Windows. In fact it was quite a small move to Linux. They just decided to put Linux on all 150 server machines of the Bundestag (the german parliament and all attached facilities). The approx. 1000 desktop machines will be upgraded to Windows XP next year. But apparently it was a quite close decision to keep Windows on the desktops and mostly only because it was feared that some users would not get along with the new environment and and thus require more support resources (IT staff that is) than are available.
PGP and other free encryption software is sponsored by Germany for a couple of years now (I think PGP sponsoring started about 6 years ago).
Privacy is sort of a holy thing to us germans. There are a lot of laws protecting privacy.
For example in every goverment institution there has to be someone responsible for the protection of the privacy of the citizens (Most goverment institutions have access to huge amounts of citizen data of course and this guy has to make sure that this data is not misused).
There are also strong laws requiring companies not to misuse, distribute or sell customer information without your consent...
Unfortunately software patents are a completely other matter. The situation isn't as bad as in the US but the lobby isn't sleeping here either.
The lobby is trying to get the European Parliament and Senate to adopt and pass a law implementing software patents and stricter copyright laws. A law passed by the European parliament has then to be implemented in every single European country :-(
But as it seems France is starting to oppose this law and Germany isn't that much backing it up also - there is hope yet.
THE CATCH IS (here I can only speak of Germany not of Europe)...
The Unions are too strong in Germany. That alone is not nessecarily a bad thing but unfortunately the unions are very conservative and unwilling to move also!!!
They have sort of a dogma which says sort of "force the employee to work less long so the companies are forced to employ more people and thus battle unemployment". In the metal working branch (cars and so on) there is the 37,5 hour week and they are aiming for 35h (but with higher salaries of course).
They say that the companies make good profits every year and thus have the money to do so - of course not looking at the global picture where there are foreign companies making even bigger profits.
The worst is that they fight againt every attempt to make the job market more flexible. The basic things like tying part of the salary to the annual performance of the company and things like that.
The are so-called (badly translated) blancket-coverage-tariff-treaties requiring every company affected by the one of the unions to pay the same for a certain type of employee - and allowing NEARLY NO flexibility if one of these companies is currently in bad shape...
Also you cannot "hire and fire" but that I consider generally a good thing as it forces companies to think about business models and strategies. A manager who messed up cannot just cut costs and give the impression of "actively doing something" about the problems by just fireing of 20% of the employees. (This is one of the badest habits I know of in the US - one which might crush more companies that it rescues)
Now imagine the IT department of BMW (i.e. metal working union) where the union tries to get everybody to work no more that 37,5 hours...
Of course this is not happening (outsource the IT and it's not metal working anymore) but this doesn't say that the unions are not trying...
Also there are high social taxes on the salary of every employee (part is deducted directly from the salary, part is to be payed by the employer for every employee).
Generally the social net is a good thing but it's current structure is outdated and requires too much money for too very/bad results. There is NO "quality assurance" for the social work of the department of employment. Their job is to find available jobs for unemployed people and/or help them learn and qualify for new jobs.
And this they do very badly (and with high costs) at the moment...
So it's like everywhere - some things are much better and some are much worse. I personally wouldn't want to work (or more important live) in the US for more than a few years - (I had my experiences in working in "the Valley", thank you).
On the other side this is most likely true for Americans working in Europe, too...
... Just my ten-thousand bits ...
PGP and other free encryption software is sponsored by Germany for a couple of years now (I think PGP sponsoring started about 6 years ago).
Privacy is sort of a holy thing to us germans. There are a lot of laws protecting privacy.
For example in every goverment institution there has to be someone responsible for the protection of the privacy of the citizens (Most goverment institutions have access to huge amounts of citizen data of course and this guy has to make sure that this data is not misused).
There are also strong laws requiring companies not to misuse, distribute or sell customer information without your consent...
Unfortunately software patents are a completely other matter. The situation isn't as bad as in the US but the lobby isn't sleeping here either.
The lobby is trying to get the European Parliament and Senate to adopt and pass a law implementing software patents and stricter copyright laws. A law passed by the European parliament has then to be implemented in every single European country
But as it seems France is starting to oppose this law and Germany isn't that much backing it up also - there is hope yet.
THE CATCH IS (here I can only speak of Germany not of Europe)...
The Unions are too strong in Germany. That alone is not nessecarily a bad thing but unfortunately the unions are very conservative and unwilling to move also!!!
They have sort of a dogma which says sort of "force the employee to work less long so the companies are forced to employ more people and thus battle unemployment". In the metal working branch (cars and so on) there is the 37,5 hour week and they are aiming for 35h (but with higher salaries of course).
They say that the companies make good profits every year and thus have the money to do so - of course not looking at the global picture where there are foreign companies making even bigger profits.
The worst is that they fight againt every attempt to make the job market more flexible. The basic things like tying part of the salary to the annual performance of the company and things like that.
The are so-called (badly translated) blancket-coverage-tariff-treaties requiring every company affected by the one of the unions to pay the same for a certain type of employee - and allowing NEARLY NO flexibility if one of these companies is currently in bad shape...
Also you cannot "hire and fire" but that I consider generally a good thing as it forces companies to think about business models and strategies. A manager who messed up cannot just cut costs and give the impression of "actively doing something" about the problems by just fireing of 20% of the employees. (This is one of the badest habits I know of in the US - one which might crush more companies that it rescues)
Now imagine the IT department of BMW (i.e. metal working union) where the union tries to get everybody to work no more that 37,5 hours...
Of course this is not happening (outsource the IT and it's not metal working anymore) but this doesn't say that the unions are not trying...
Also there are high social taxes on the salary of every employee (part is deducted directly from the salary, part is to be payed by the employer for every employee).
Generally the social net is a good thing but it's current structure is outdated and requires too much money for too very/bad results. There is NO "quality assurance" for the social work of the department of employment. Their job is to find available jobs for unemployed people and/or help them learn and qualify for new jobs.
And this they do very badly (and with high costs) at the moment...
So it's like everywhere - some things are much better and some are much worse. I personally wouldn't want to work (or more important live) in the US for more than a few years - (I had my experiences in working in "the Valley", thank you).
On the other side this is most likely true for Americans working in Europe, too...
... Just my ten-thousand bits
