tmay

GeorgeBMac said:

America's loose network or private and privately controlled data hubs makes for prime hunting grounds for international hackers.   They can pick and choose which to hack based on both the value of the data and how well it is protected.   Meanwhile, our government has little or no knowledge of the data nor how it is protected.

China though appears to be going in the opposite direction.   From Reuters:

THE FIFTH FACTOR

Plans for a state-controlled data market have been in the works for years.

In a closed-door 2017 meeting, President Xi Jinping urged policymakers to research global data governance and "propose a Chinese plan" for "opening, transacting, and confirming the ownership and property protection rights for data."

The project was supercharged in April 2020, when a State Council document declared data would be the fifth "factor of production" - on par with labour, technology, land and capital in terms of national economic resources.

That was quickly followed by the draft Data Security Law, which mandates mass auditing of big data.

So China sees data as a national asset -- on par with "labour, technology, land and capital" where the central government oversees it and protects it.  It sounds like they have a plan.

Do we? 
(Unfortunately, bluster and outrage are not a plan)

1.         We observe with increasing concern that cyber threats to the security of the Alliance are complex, destructive, coercive, and becoming ever more frequent. This has been recently illustrated by ransomware incidents and other malicious cyber activity, targeting our critical infrastructure and democratic institutions, as well as exploiting weaknesses in hardware and software supply chains.

2.         We condemn such malicious cyber activities which are designed to destabilize and harm Euro-Atlantic security and disrupt the daily lives of our citizens. We use NATO as a platform for political consultations, to share concerns about malicious cyber activities, to exchange national approaches and responses, as well as to consider possible collective responses. Reaffirming NATO’s defensive mandate, the Alliance is determined to employ the full range of capabilities, as applicable, at all times to actively deter, defend against, and counter the full spectrum of cyber threats, in accordance with international law. NATO will continue to adapt to the evolving cyber threat landscape, which is affected by both state and non-state actors, including state-sponsored. We remain committed to uphold strong national cyber defences, including through full implementation of NATO’s Cyber Defence Pledge.

3.         We stand in solidarity with all those who have been affected by recent malicious cyber activities including the Microsoft Exchange Server compromise. Such malicious cyber activities undermine security, confidence and stability in cyberspace. We acknowledge national statements by Allies, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, attributing responsibility for the Microsoft Exchange Server compromise to the People’s Republic of China. In line with our recent Brussels Summit Communiqué, we call on all States, including China, to uphold their international commitments and obligations and to act responsibly in the international system, including in cyberspace. We also reiterate our willingness to maintain a constructive dialogue with China based on our interests, on areas of relevance to the Alliance such as cyber threats, and on common challenges.  

4.         We promote a free, open, peaceful and secure cyberspace, and pursue efforts to enhance stability and reduce the risk of conflict by promoting respect for international law and the voluntary norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace, as recognized by all member states of the United Nations. We are working together as an Alliance and with like-minded partners to address these challenges. All States have an important role to play in promoting and upholding these voluntary norms of responsible state behaviour.

Japan was the most trusted country in the region, with 67.1% saying they expected it to act for the global good. The U.S. and the EU both saw marked increases in perceptions of their trustworthiness compared with the previous year, with 48.3% and 51% of respondents, respectively, saying they expected them to act in the global interest.

"The region's trust deficit in China is trending upwards. China is the only major power that has increased its negative ratings, from 60.4% in 2020 to 63.0% in 2021. China's predominant economic and political influence in the region has created more awe than affection," the report says. "The majority worry that such economic heft, combined with China's military power, could be used to threaten their country's interest and sovereignty."

Multiple countries that eagerly inoculated their people with China's COVID vaccines face devastating new case surges.

Why it matters: This revelation undermines China’s vaccine diplomacy, which Beijing has prioritized in the developing world to win influence and commercial deals.

• China loved the contrast with the U.S., which has been slow in allocating surplus vaccines abroad.
• Now, developing countries are likely to look increasingly to the West, and not to Beijing, for vaccines.

"In the Seychelles, Chile, Bahrain and Mongolia, 50 to 68 percent of the populations have been fully inoculated, outpacing the United States," the N.Y. Times reports.

• "All four ranked among the top 10 countries with the worst Covid outbreaks as recently as last week." 
• "And all four are mostly using shots made by two Chinese vaccine makers, Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech."

As may be expected, a shot across the bow is derived from a very real naval war tactic from the 1800s that was commonly used in the British navy. A ship may fire a harmless cannon shot across the end of an opposing ship to signal willingness to engage in a battle unless the ship under fire surrenders.

larryjw said:

"Lucrative" means financial processes and institutions rather than building stuff makes the money. It also means they're making money off of people who can't afford the products you're selling. 

A few years ago, Macy's reported that 40% of their revenue came from their financing side. Again, people who couldn't afford Macy's products were jacking up Macy's. 

It used to be that 10% of the US economy was the financing sector. Today, it's 50%. It's just money exchanges without building anything.

No wonder BitCoin exists. 

11. Google owns the majority of the mobile apps on the market today. (Sensor Tower)

With apps like Maps, Hangouts and YouTube, Google LLC owns the majority of apps published in both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Google is creating apps to improve the experience of users and strengthen their connection to the brand. It’s a great business move, and you don’t have to be Alphabet to do it. 

https://mindsea.com/app-stats/

and;

https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/7/22549338/apple-google-apps-comscore-study-facebook

"fIf you use an iPhone or Android phone, chances are the majority of your most-used apps were made by Apple and Google.

That’s the takeaway from a new Comscore study that ranks the popularity of preinstalled iOS and Android apps, such as Apple’s Messages, alongside apps made by other developers. The results show that the majority of apps people use on their phones in the US come preinstalled by either Apple or Google. The first-of-its-kind report was commissioned by Facebook, one of Apple’s loudest critics, and shared exclusively with The Verge."

YMMV

I would suggest that merely allowing third party app stores is not sufficient to avoid regulatory scrutiny. If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck...

bleab said:

lkrupp said:

Microsoft/Android vs macOS/iOS. Who’d a thunk it. The new duopoly. Good luck Satya and Sundar. /s

Huh? ChromeOS has a bigger market share than macOS. So it is Windows vs ChromeOS/Android vs macOS/iOS. Apple makes the profits because Google and Microsoft sell negligible hardware. (Google is dumping Qualcomm for a partnership with Samsung - who will manufacture the SOCs that Google will design with Samsung's help - because they hope to sell more phones and Chromebooks.) But in PCs it is 80% market share (Windows) versus 12% (ChromeOS) and 8% (macOS). In mobile it is 84% share (Android, including ChromeOS tablets that run Android apps) versus 15% (iOS) versus 1% (Windows 10 tablets).  

Now while not having a mobile platform hurts, Windows is the dominant primary computing platform by a mile and this gives Microsoft much more influence than most Apple fans like to admit. (Including the objective fact that Intel isn't going anywhere so long as AMD is stuck being #3 behind Apple and Qualcomm for TSMC's business.) While mobile is extremely profitable - especially for Apple - it is nonetheless a secondary computing platform. Where ChromeOS can be a primary computing platform for two widely divergent demographics - highly skilled people i.e. tech workers who can utilize Linux/SaaS/cloud apps on one hand and people who only need a browser and an occasional mobile app on the other - for most people Chromebooks are for Windows users what iPads are to macOS users. 

Meanwhile, Chrome OS skyrocketed from 6.4 percent in 2019 to 10.8 percent in 2020. Windows fell from 85.4 percent to 80.5 percent.

The trend looks to be in Google's favor here, but 2020 was far from a normal year. Last month, IDC's report on PC sales showed the first year of consistent growth of traditional PC (desktop, laptop, workstation) sales in years. Even then, IDC indicated that the increase in sales was driven in large part by the expansion of Chromebooks both within and outside of the education market.

As students in many communities have had to attend class virtually from home and their parents have had to do work remotely, too, PC sales jumped during the year. Chrome OS was a big part of that. But the entire market grew overall, not just Chrome OS. IDC also noted that gaming PCs were a big driver of growth, and it was a particularly strong year for the Mac.

As some of the world may find a new kind of post- or late-pandemic normalcy later this year or next year, new sales figures will give a clearer indication of where things will go in the future, not just how they went in 2020. But at least in the education space, the future of Chrome OS looks fairly bright."

I could also argue that Apple has been very successful with the launch of the M Series, and that should give Apple some notable sales growth in the future. 

The way I see this, is that the race for marketshare is Microsoft's to lose, and Chrome OS's to win, but Apple is quite happy just to be seeing increased Mac sales.