Microsoft is a software firm. Over the last thirty years it has made hundreds of billions of dollars writing software. It has revolutionised the world we live in and changed everyone’s lives for the better with its software. I hires some of the smartest and talented people on the planet.
So quite why everyone thinks a glider made by Microsoft staff, primarily developers, should be the best glider in the PARIS programme and the builders are losers because it isn’t is beyond me.
Big behemoths like Microsoft are more like the Government than they would like to believe. They think because they are good at one thing they can turn their hand to anything and interestingly enough the public, and journalists, think so to. I believe it is because we have this belief that if you throw enough money at something it gets done even though we now from 90 years of government that it is untrue. This shows that having bright people fromanother discipline and throwing money at something doesn’t get it done either. You need some skills in the area and then it gets done. Money helps but doesn’t enable.
I liked the quote “This is kind of like the most Microsoft thing we could do. We took a team of smart guys and girls and we built this thing from scratch.”. Smart computer tech guys where everything worked on the computer but not in real life. Who would have thunk it?
In a way it reminds me of the climate change group. They have models that show something but the real world isn’t playing along. At least the Microsoft team went away and were wondering where they went wrong. The Climate nutters still think their model is 100% right and it’s the world that is wrong.
So skills do matter. What a bummer. Politics and sex are still the only areas where no skill is required and they are similar in so many ways.
Look at Gates’ attempt at a new type of University – a technical one that crams 4 years of work into two. It has been a dismal failure. Now he is claiming that colleges will be obsolete within 5 years, thanks to the internet. I won’t hold my breath.
Timothy,
Gates is no different from anyone else. He has ideas and believes he can run them himself because he is so smart and has billions to play with.
As usual with these ideas there is merit in some of them but then they are forced to make compromises because of people like Gates. His idea would work in theory but we already do that. In the UK they are called A levels and they seemto work fine. Just keep the politicians death touch away and let schools go independant.
Lord T – I took my A-levels in 1975 (plus the special papers), and went to Exeter University, so I understand the (old) English system. However, technical subjects require a long time to sink in, which is why Gates’ ideas cannot work. I am still discovering things about the mathematics that I learnt 35 years ago.
Timothy,
I agree that technical subjects take a while to sink in but I would guess that having one of those certificates would show that they lack technical experience but have an understanding of the necessary theory. It could work and be a quick way to educate our next generation of engineers where they could gain their experience on the job. Niche areas won’t take too long for that..
You say that you are still discovering things now. Yet you are not proposing that we extent the course length to 35 years so we have fully experienced people. This is just drawing the line at a different place. Obviously the course will be worth less to employers but would be better value for students who would be educated, to a point, yet on the market quicker.
Things need to change. Our current system is failing and we need trained people working quicker.
You need some skills in the area and then it gets done. Money helps but doesn’t enable.
As in the field of education, of course.
Lord T – one method which works was the English model of the 60′s and 70′s – isolate the talented students and nurture them, starting around age 12. There are good and well-known reasons in developmental psychology for this.
James,
As in all fields except Politics. Skills matter. Education is no different.
Timothy,
Agree with you there, I’m from that education stream, although that is the generation where we really started to screw things up like by standing by while a bunch of liberal tossers screwed up what has worked for decades in a vain attempt to fix injustices.
Lord T – that’s why I used to go to Redgrave’s PRP meetings, and make fun of them in the 70′s. As you say, it’s also the generation that gave us Tony Blair and his ilk, who know how to destroy things, but not how to build anything. While I was conservative in Britain, I almost have to be a Democrat here, as the Republicans are so anti-science that I can’t stand it.
Timothy,
These two party systems are what is wrong with democracy. In theory there should be no parties and everything is decided by voting but no matter what there is always someone somewhere going to screw it up.
Hope you are all set up there as the way it seems to be going is the US is going to blow up before we do. Actually, I believe you will be the trigger for us.
Please send loads of bullets. Thanks.
One can always rely on politicians to mess things up. Here in the US, many universities are de-funding programs (like mathematics and physics) with low numbers of graduates (but for which there is a demand), and increasing funding for disciplines (like psychology and sociology) for which there are lots of graduates (for which there is no demand).
This is helped by the fact that the overwhelming number of senior adiminstrators are from education, psychology, and the other ‘soft’ subjects.