Skywalks that leaves you hanging, and other unfriendly tourist spots

After hearing news reports on the BBC, about a new tourist attraction on the Grand Canyon, it became one of those places that I'd like to see someday. It's a glass semi-circular path suspended above the Grand Canyon, which you can walk on and see your feet floating over an immense spectacular abyss. The height at which you'll be is higher than the skyscrapers of New York.



But then reading one of the first blog reports of someone who's actually been there, I would need to do a rethink. Among the many disppointments described, ticket costs turn out to be far more than advertised, and strangest of all you are not allowed to take your camera. Apparently it can "fall and crack the glass" !!??

I never understand the logic of such a rule. A 2-dimensional photographic representation hardly robs prospective tourists of the true in-person immersive 3-dimensional experience. How many copies of the 'Mona Lisa' painting must you have seen everywhere? However, that does not stop a huge number of tourists scrambling to get a brief glimpse of the real thing at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Akshardham in New Delhi is also such a place - a magnificent example of revival of traditional Hindu architecture, funded by India's new money. Last December of 2006, my Dad finally took us all there, overriding my objections. Walking through the place, you can't help but feel that you have traveled to an ancient era in Indian history when the ancient monuments were new. The place is organized more as a theme park than a place of worship, but still you can't take photographs. Being a collector of memories and enjoying reliving my experiences using photo or video, I find this very irritating. Even more annoying was the process where you are frisked and for dubious reasons, have to leave every single electronic gadget the uneducated security can identify. It's tighter than airport security, they didn't even allow my usual pocket USB thumb drive through! You are not allowed to take your cellphones, so if you get separated from your loved ones in the immense crowded temple complex (it can have upto a 100,000 visitors a day), then God help you.



There are many museums and galleries that don't let you take your camera, even though they allow cellphones. But then, what happens to cellphones which have cameras? Here's another challenge of modern convergence technology - how will you identify it and how will you control it.

In my view, in the emerging modern paradigm, the new human is (or will be) permanently plugged into a communications and information network and the devices enabling these are part of a personal identity. Any attempt at separating these from the person would be in a way a violation of human rights. If a copyright or security rule is to be implemented then mechanisms for these should not interfere with this enhanced personal identity. A person can be made aware of the rules and the responsibility should be passed on to him or her to follow the instructions.

In fact these days you can take your cellphones with you on the plane and that doesn't mean you are allowed to use them while on board. But ... you can take your cellphones with you.

Vista follows Unaffordable Suite

I mentioned in my last blog that the huge price difference between Academic and Normal versions of Microsoft Office Professional 2007 Suite is just waiting to be exploited. Now here are examples of individuals making profits off the inflated price of the Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Edition.

The following is a screenshot of ongoing auction on Trademe, considered New Zealand's most popular website.



So why are they selling it, instead of using it? Apart from the obvious profit motive, here's samples of what is described on Trademe:

"Picked this up at a Microsoft conference and have no need for it."

"I won it at a product show and I cannot use it as it needs a better computer than what I have."

"Purchased and realised it would run in the computer but with limited feature so decided to sell - make sure you have good system."

Most users don't want half-baked versions, they want everything available under the brand. Vista is a much better version of the Windows operating system, with a lot of nice features for monitoring and enhancing PC performance, not to mention the updated look. Everybody wants Windows Vista Ultimate with all the features working on their current computers. Microsoft is propagating, if not highlighting, an economic class-structure of users. And who doesn't want to climb a class-structure?

The price of Vista Ultimate in the New Zealand market is listed by Dick Smith Electronics is nearly NZ$1000. Now that's much more than you would have to pay for a current above-average configuration desktop computer or an average configuration laptop. Consider in India, it costs above Rs. 30,000, an amount many times the monthly salary for most Indians.

Vista is also working very hard to avoid piracy at all costs. I would really like to see that succeed, because if Vista becomes hard to get at anything less than the full price, people will start discovering the joy and freedom of using Open Source operating systems such as Linux. Sun Microsystems has also recently released a free version of the Solaris operating system. There are going to be exciting times ahead. There are many agencies, including the United Nations, advocating free open source software alternatives especially in economic vulnerable areas such as found in developing countries. High costs don't help the Digital Literacy Divide.

MS Office goes Academic

I went to the Warehouse today and noticed that MS Office 2007 Professional was selling for NZ$398. That made me pause and I saw a sticker saying 'Academic Only'. I checked the back panel listing and comparing all the Office Suites. The feature column for the Professional version was highlighted, and there was no column for 'Academic only'.

Even more curious, I checked on Dick Smith Electronics prices online. MS Office 2007 Professional was listed at NZ$1148 ! But Wait, there's also an 'Academic' version listed at NZ$399, again.

Hmmm ... What's the difference? I've checked the Microsoft web site, there's no clarification. I've checked Google, still can't find any confirmed clarification.

The only thing needed to buy the Academic version is a student ID card. But surely The NZ$750 difference leaves space for money under the table. Hear ye, all students, here's how you pay off those burgeoning student loans! You can accept hefty commissions from the hapless non-students, and buy the poor folks some MS Office 2007 Professional editions at prices that cost less than a laptop.

Seeing such wide margins I wonder what Microsoft's profit calculations are? Does Bill Gates want more money? But then so do we all.

See ongoing conversation initiated in Geekzone

P.S. Oh Yeah, fyi ... I'm not a student :( , but I do already have MS Office 2007 Professional edition :S