The Cluetrain MANIFESTO

While reading this Cluetrain Manifesto I must admit, I was intrigued. Let’s start by looking at the first two words that form the first sentence: We die. Locke made the one thing that everyone will do once in life (either sooner or later) seem so simple, yet true. We do die, everyday someone new dies, just watch the news. But also, we never see it advertised, never. Although people often times bring up how life is so short, as well as the author, I must say that life is the longest thing you ever experience, think about it, what’s longer than your life? I don’t mean the things you’ve had before you were born; I mean your own life. Don’t compare your existence to someone else’s, just focus on your own world, and what you experience in life, and think about it, it’s the longest thing you personally ever have. But back to Locke, he points out a number of things people could sometimes waste their life on, or try to be a part of something that is longer than life. Like trying to please people; you’ll never please everyone because someone is always offended by something. Another point is that life is too short for worrying, which is true because if you spend all you time worrying what people think of you, or which cereal is healthiest, or which laptop is the best (Mac right Dave) then you’ve basically wasted time in your life that’ll never be restored.

Let’s fast-forward if we may to what is really important in life, or what it means to be human, and that my friends is power! This according to Locke is the greatest gift ever to seduce the powerless. This holds true to an article I read on Wikipedia’s economic power, which basically says that those with more money, have more power, and they use their wealth to get people to do what they want (i.e. this article on the website mentioned bosses threaten to fire an employee if orders aren’t being followed). The most powerful thing that has ever been invented really launched in the 1990s was the internet. Even though the internet was around since the 1960s (check out this timeline of the internet story that Joy mentioned) it didn’t start to take the world by storm until the early 90s. In fact many people weren’t into it excepts geeks, and maybe loners at first, since so many businesses ignored it, many regular people were attracted to it; not just many, but millions for some reason, and this brought the question of why are so many people interested in this “internet thing?” Probably because the internet like Locke said became a place where people could communicate, and not be censored. It was just easier also because you said whatever you wanted to, you just had to be ready to back up your answers, but in person when you’re face to face with someone you sometimes have a loss of words, or may be nervous to the point you can’t back up your argument, and people think you’re lying. On the other hand if you are telling the truth people still sometimes like to challenge you to see if you’ll fold. Like Deanna said the internet is an escape from real life issues, to a world of fun. You can go into chat rooms, make new friends, or play games, whatever! And yes Deanna it is easier to type something, rather than ever having to say it.

So what’s so special about the internet? Like I stated earlier, you could communicate without having your words, or ideas twisted. Blogs are a great example of how free we are to say what we want. It’s like anyone could have one, you don’t have to be an executive or a computer geek because everyone has one. Rosie O’Donnell, is (or at one point was) a celebrity who even shares this world of technology with regular everyday people. Not only does the internet give you denotative meaning to things we research, but as Locke stated, for every encyclopedia entry there’s a website for it, and a website for the things we just imagine (i.e. cars, peaceful places, art, etc…). Overall, the internet is a place that allows you to feel connected to the world by the click of a button. A good website that displays how people use the internet is called How do people communicate online which basically reveals the ways people communicate on the web is by sending emails, using AIM to send instant messages, there are message boards that keep people connected, and so fort, which brings me to the last point I made, the internet keeps us all connected by the click of a button. When I post this assignment, many people will be informed from what I have written, just as I’ll be informed with their posts. So the internet is not only a way of communicating, but also a way of gaining knowledge.

Rosie O'Donnell's Blog

I didn't think celebrities had time for blogs, but while getting dressed this morning before class I heard from the channel 1 news about Rosie O'Donnell having her own blog. Check it out, I mean it's really weird, at least everyone in our class has nice decent blogs, unlike hers, (lol, just joking). Although hers is weird.

Unnamed in America

When reading this piece I learn a lot about assembly lines, and the companies that support them. For example, in the beginning of this reading Barry Lynn mentioned that Dell, Ford, Motorola, and Intel were manufactured in six different countries before shipped back to the United States, WOW! This seemed odd to me for Motorola because they produce many cellular phones, and phones aren’t that massive in size to need different parts from all over the world, but apparently they do. Then the next part talked about how Dell assembles its OptiPlex in Austin, Texas (the only part assembled in the United States) in such tight workstations give the impression that workers are probably stressed out most of the time, especially since they only have three minutes to assemble their piece before the red light comes on. If the red light should come on, that could slow down, or even stop the whole operation.

The control and command model is in one way good, like for producing substantial amounts of products, but it could also be bad because goods produced in such short time could easily break down. It’s particularly bad when producing goods that are so expensive because people expect their product to be top of the line. Just five years ago Compaq took 60-120 days to do inventory for their computers, but just last year Dell past that time period with only performing it in four days, WHAT? I find this hard to do because in four days you can’t possibly do a detailed inventory.

It’s also hard for major companies such as Dell, Motorola, and Intel to rely on globalization because if there was another earthquake like the one in Taiwan, but say this time in Hsinchu’s industrial park where all the products are put together, then the economy could be put on hold because we rely on this place the most to do all of the work. Like in 2001, during those attacks, Bush used his authority to shut down all flights, which caused the US to be cut off from their suppliers. For this reason it’s important that there are US plants so that the companies can easily travel to the assembly location. Globalization was also looked at as a positive thing because it brought, “better services, lower prices, and more jobs”, but everyone knows that the only places receiving more jobs are the places overseas; the thing is to take all of the American jobs, and offer them to people who are willing to work for lower pay, which in the end produce more goods, but cause high unemployment in the United States. It's in a way just like outsourcing, but the difference is that outsourcing involves management control to the supplier, just check out wikipedia for examples of outsourcing, and also globalization, and the companies involved.

According to this website American Economic Alert the 4,500 parts that Dell gets from different countries are parts that could be found anywhere on the planet; so why do they necessarily go to other countries for them? With knowing this information, I now understand why Dell can sometimes easily break down (according to Dave, and some computer experts, Dell is considered to be crap!) Alexis' point about how Dell relies on foreign countries relates to what I meantioned above. Now Dell isn't the only company that depend on China, and Taiwan and places such as these for production. In fact according to the reading, hundreds of companies depend on them for a market place. Another source that points out how bad globalization can be is Student Stuff, which not only gave the good, but also the bad (mostly bad) side of globalization. Some students pages I found interesting were Joy's because she mentioned that companies are only concerned with getting their products out first because of the competition. Elena made great points about the Baryy Lynn piece. One point she elaborated on at the end was how companies shouldn't rely on so many international manufactuers because of what could happen. According to Barry Lynn, if China turns to violent stikes, it could take forever for the United States to receive shipments.