The CEO's of Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple were grilled by the US Congress on the fact that they have too much power and control in their own fields of influence. The next day they disclosed record quarterly profits, thanks in part to the pandemic, which added US$250B increase to their values.
We cannot fight them, but we sure can make use of their products and services to improve our quality of life. After all that in essence is what life is all about.
Sunder Pichai born and raised in Tamil Nadu, the CEO of Google and its parent Alphabet, was accused by Congress of helping the Chinese Government with Defense Secrets!
I too have along with the products of Microsoft, (mainly Windows and Word) can attest that their products and services made matters easier during this period. Apart from going to the Grocery Stores, I have not been to a shop since March 4th, and all my other purchases have been on Amazon, including the streaming service to watch movies and TV programs. In fact I purchased stuff yesterday, for delivery tomorrow!
In fact Amazon has a contract with the US postal service to deliver their packages on Sundays. So when you see US Postal Service Vehicles around delivering on Sundays, it is exclusively Amazon deliveries, such is the power of Amazon.
I only wish that the Government of Sri Lanka makes every effort to provide affordable high speed internet access through the telecommunications companies, throughout the small Island, so that all the people have access to communication. It is very cheap to do so, and the poor will benefit, more than building highways and wasting on an ineffective and incompetent public sector.
At the end of the day the key is to improve the quality of life of the public we are talking about, not some exclusive privilege of a few. Not one of the parties seeking election have mentioned this, as Island mentality thinking does not lend itself to actions in improving the quality of life of the people who live in it.
Do a deal with Huawei to distribute low cost good quality smart phones at Rs5,000 and you can be assured another 5 million smartphones will be sold in a year. With every household connected, elections can be no cost and more frequent! Instead of the Rs8B it is expected to cost, when half the people are going hungry.
Smart phones give access to Apps that improve the quality of life of rural living, from Agriculture, Education, Transport, Law Enforcement, to Healthcare. The pandemic has further illustrated the value of technology. In the UK 90% of GP appointments are done on line.
Recently the news was that a Railway Ticketing Contract was given to a Chinese Firm due to backhanders available to the Rogues In Power. Why? It only needs an app, easily developed in Sri Lanka with NO printed document and could be introduced in days, not years this will take. This from a President who was supposed to know something about IT! Shame on you. Sycophants of the ruling junta please explain without trying to find fault with others.
Come on Sri Lanka think ahead for the benefit of the people, not backwards for the benefit of the ruling class and their sycophants. Children still go hungry because of it. With an APP developed by Sri Lankans, no one needs to! Trust me. We can be leaders of the world not followers going in reverse!
1 comment:
Why? Because every member of the public who struggles to put food on the table for his family is a patriot. and every person seeking election is a traitor. This answers the question. Have you heard of the expression wolf in sheep's clothing.
That expression applies to everyone on the lists seeking political office. No one does it because they love the Country.
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