Thanks for updating us on your progress, buddy.
-- 
<:-)~MIKE~(-:>

On Sunday 26 October 2003 04:55 pm, Ed Skinner said:
~      I'm in Wuhan China, a city somewhat the size of Chicago, located 90
~ minutes flying time west of Shanghai. I'm here to present two one-week
~ seminars on embedded systems to students of the International Software
 School ~ (http://www.isswu.net/) of Wuhan University.
~      Today (Sunday) was a day of jet-lag recovery. Needing to get the sun
 in ~ my face to help reset my body-clock, I went out to the Xinhua
 Bookstore, ~ reportedly the largest and best bookstore in the city. I headed
 for the ~ computer section on the third floor to see what they had on Linux
 and also ~ about embedded computing in general.
~      Not surprisingly, books about Microsoft-related products heavily
~ outnumbered the other OSs and most of the squating browsers were looking at
~ these. IT is big business here, in case you hadn't heard. From what I saw
 in ~ the bookstore, they're boning up on the related subjects from
 Microsoft, too. ~      I saw most of the usual Linux titles but many of
 which were in Chinese ~ editions. There were also quite a few books in
 Chinese that I'd never seen ~ before (in English). Overall, I'd say the
 Chinese get as good or better an ~ exposure to Linux through the bookstores
 and, although it is clear that Bill ~ Gates has a very solid base here,
 Linux is, nonetheless, surprisingly well ~ represented. Indeed, I was
 particularly pleased to see many of the O'Reilly ~ titles (including my
 favorite, Linux Device Drivers, Second Edition, by ~ Rubini and
 Corbet--thanks, guys) in Chinese for 69 Yuan (divide by 8 for US ~ prices).
 (That sounds really cheap but is roughly in-line with the other ~ prices of
 technical books here. Cheap, yes, but not out of kilter for the ~ market.)
~      In a nutshell, there is no lack of good technical information about
 Linux ~ in the People's Republic. If you've been worried that you're going
 crazy over ~ the off-shore move and how it is going to affect US- and
 europe-based ~ software engineers over the next couple of years, you can
 relax because it's ~ not a manifestation of your paranoia. It's a fact.
~      To try and offset the mood left by that realization, I picked up a
 copy ~ of the book and CD for Red Flag Linux. At 38 Yuan, I viewed it as
 cheap ~ entertainment especially since *all* the TV channels are in Asian
 languages, ~ none of which I savvy. With the Red Flag book, although I don't
 read Chinese, ~ certain things jump out from the text such as "2.4.17",
 "OpenOffice" and ~ "Evolution". Bill Gates's likeness shows up almost as
 much as does that of ~ Linus in the heavily illustrated text. When I get
 back to the US, I'll try an ~ install of the accompanying CD on my
 crash-and-burn machine just for the fun ~ of it.
~      Broadening out my search at the bookstore into RTOSs in general, I saw
~ five titles on MicroC/OS-II. In the US I think there are maybe two or three
~ still on the shelves, but the Chinese books are all new publications with
~ recent dates on what I would normally call "the rights page." Appearances
 are ~ there's some interest here in the real-time segment of the computer
 market. ~       And there were also eight different titles on VxWorks. I
 presume that ~ none of these are available outside of China (nor probably in
 any other ~ language) because of copyright issues and because of Wind
 River's choke-hold ~ on the product. Copyright issues aside, that tight grip
 is maybe not such a ~ good idea because, in the long run, I'm betting Wind
 River will figure out ~ they've dealt themselves a pretty severe blow by not
 opening up more. ~ "Closed" products think they need to be that way to
 survive when competition ~ is tough and maybe that's true for a while, at
 least. But when the ~ competition has been beaten, whipped, flogged, bound
 in chains and thrown in ~ the dungeon, staying closed seems more likely to
 accelerate the rot that ~ eventually brings about their demise. Pay
 attention, Wind River. Are you ~ listening, Microsoft? With little or no
 competition, "closed" means ~ "stagnation."
~      Tomorrow I start the first of the two seminars about embedded systems
~ programming I'm scheduled to present here. I'll teach the same material
 twice ~ but with a shift in emphasis from theory to practice as the audience
 changes ~ from undergraduates to graduates in week one and then week two. My
 emphasis ~ will be on Linux, open source, how to use the Web and what to
 expect from the ~ community at large, and what will consequently be expected
 of them. ~      I've been told they've moved the venue for my sessions twice
 to ~ accommodate the growing number of students that want to attend. I don't
 know ~ how many will be there tomorrow but I am expecting the hands-on lab
 segments ~ where I usually give one-on-one assistance to be, well,
 over-attended. But, ~ then again, maybe their Linux expertise will be better
 than I was originally, ~ and ignorantly, thinking a couple of weeks ago.
 I'll find out soon enough. ~      A truck just drove past the front of the
 Fengyi hotel where I'm staying. ~ Loudspeakers were blaring out loud
 marching music. The sides of the truck ~ were covered with large flat panels
 with yellow letters on red background ~ with advertisements for something
 later this week. Unfortunately, I don't ~ read Chinese so I can't tell you
 if there's a big political rally coming up ~ or if the circus is arriving.
 Regardless, big things are happening in China. ~      Your man in Wuhan, Ed
 Skinner.
~