IT in Iran: Servers sold on the grey market, and the rule of FOSS

Phewww, I thought you were going to say you went in via an already crowded balcony.

I like Iranians, a very cultured lot. I once had occasion to sup mint tea with Hezbollah in South Lebanon and they were nice chaps and not crazies at all. We are living in a strabge world at the moment where the USA's declared axis of evil are all being brought back into the fold. We are indeed living in strange an interesting times where the main enemy now is a creation of the USA as were the few mutations before.

I think it is time to sanction the US!!!

Re: *Sigh*...

Sure, wasn't he already in the US, and the State dept refused a visa change that would allow his family to travel?

Dunno where he'd personally be safer from the Mossad murder-squads though, Tehran being a fucking risky place for nuclear scientists and the US being full of Israeli collaborators.

The new Persian Empires

> no one in the western world trusts the Iranian government

What the hell difference will that make when the Iranian shipping companies meet the Somali pirates?

Anyone know what the market in Greek Transport is going for?

Re: Iran in the dark ages

I live near Los Angeles, somewhere with a large Iranian community. I have Iranians among my colleagues. They're pretty smart and so they don't seem to have much of a problem getting work. Its true that they're in the US rather than Iran but they have friends and family back there that they communicate with regularly; the only thing that restricts their movements is appropriate visas.

I've always thought that the sanctions regime was pointless. A lot of stuff is made in China and the Chinese aren't that bothered who buys it.

The biggest danger Iran poses to the west is that it has the potential to be a giant Israel. (Israel, in case you don't know, has an outsized technology presence -- it sucks a lot of quality R&D out of the US thanks to its home grown talent and significant import of educated Russians.)

Re: Tragic

It's called politics. Many countries, including the US are still pissed about the deposing of the Shah... who was an all around nasty guy like Saddam, but for those pragmatics, they did keep the balance of power in the region under control.

As for the daesh now running amok.. our buddies the Sauds are responsible that nightmare. That bit of history way back when the royal family consolidated their power and started funding them points the direction this is headed. Regime changes in the mid-East are never a good thing in the long term.

Re: Tragic

We'll probably live to see the day when Iran is considered a friend of the west and whatever Saudi Arabia is called post-revolution considers the US and UK a mortal enemy, much like the Iranians did after their revolution. Can't say I really blame them, we in the US after all held a bit of a grudge against the English for a couple generations after our own.

If you consider the relative freedoms people in Iran enjoy compared to Saudi Arabia, especially where women are concerned, most of us who live in the west would probably find a lot more common ground with people from Iran on an individual level than people in Saudi Arabia.

Smartphones and laptops open up big new economic opportunities for bright people in poor locations. Proper toilets don't.

Also proper toilets require a complicated plumbing system beyond your home and a reliable water supply. Those are often lower priority than the infrastructure that makes mobiles and laptops useful precisely because of point 1.

In Bangalore where I work there are instructional design guidelines in most proper toilets explaining how to use them (don't stand on the seat and squat, etc.) . That's a good reminder that upward economic mobility comes first and posh plumbing is a trailing indicator.