rpeglar@csinc.UUCP (Rob Peglar x615) (10/20/89)
In article <76700077@p.cs.uiuc.edu>, gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu writes: (stuff about Mac II's deleted) > > To keep the PC industry thriving we must produce many more technicians > and design engineers, to use high-MIPS CPUs in design optimization and > simulation. There is a big possibility that the U.S. educational > system will let us down. Science and Engineering are unpopular > subjects; everyone wants to be a business major. > > So I'm again predicting doom for the PC industry, but this time for > different reasons. Well, there are lots of possible end-game scenarios for the PC industry. Here's a few for consumption. 1) The PC industry becomes dominated by non-US manufacturers, since in the US "everyone wants to be a business major". This wouldn't be so bad. In consumer electronics, for example, the same has occurred over about a generation and has led to the social (US) dilemna between consumer satisfaction and low prices vs. lost jobs and displaced workers/families. However, I would suspect the people who used to assemble TV's for the old US mfr's, for the most part, have found other suitable work. The big-iron (i.e. mainframe) industry in the US is truly in the end-game right now; just look around for a glimpse of history as it occurs. 2) US Government intervention to protect/stabilize/support the PC industry. Don't laugh, the feds have done it in a number of other industries, the recent Republican administrations notwithstanding. 3) US/State government intervention in the form of legislation to "change the minds of all those people who want to be business majors". The high schoolers nowadays are media-saturated with big dollars being made by the financial/banking community, although that trend, thankfully, is slowing. So it is unrealistic to believe they want to be engineers and scientists, given our money-oriented society. Solutions range from laws to effectively prevent the finance and (investment) banking people to charge huge fees; regulate takeovers; etc.etc.etc. to direct subsidies for eng./science students. Lots of other possibilities. The point here is that the US as a society must (re-)place value on science and engineering, instead of placing value (read: incredible zillions of dollars for) facilitating the movement and increasing velocity of currency. Well, that's enough. Sorry to offend you "pure" comp.arch-ers out there, as this really isn't suitable (I know). But, many of us are deeply involved in the "PC" industry, either directly or indirectly, so I though it was worth commenting on. If you feel otherwise, direct it to /dev/null. I already know. Rob Rob Peglar Control Systems, Inc. 2675 Patton Rd., St. Paul MN 55113 ...uunet!csinc!rpeglar 612-631-7800 The posting above does not necessarily represent the policies of my employer.