A short video with Mark Hendrickson explaining the unfairness or rather fairness of Walmart and how this leads to a prosperous society. He mentions a comparison with the old USSR but I actually think the example of US farmers is also quite good. [video=youtube;EY_C5rNf5ko]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY_C5rNf5ko[/video] Which got me to thinking about the GM bailout by the US government. Which ultimately led to the US tax payer paying for GM to build factories in China. I believe we've lost on our stocks as well. But, at least people who own stock did manage to get something thanks to the government. Most people in my family own GM stock - and have sweet Generous Motors retirement packages that together with generous SSI is allowing them to enjoy a slightly drug ladled lazy afternoon .... for 30 years. Sure, their kids and grandkids are, for the most part - completely f*cked. But, meh at least we 'saved' all those jobs at GM.... in China...... Anyhow.....
ahh the fear of socialism and communism and anything close to it, in USA, will really bring it down. You claim that GM outsources jobs, which it does, about 2/3 of all GM jobs are outsourced...but friend, this is perfectly fine with USA. Why worry? And Walmart is known for hiring most people in its stores, which are in USA, those jobs cant be outsourced.
I've trained Chinese technicians and operators to do my product line even while I was on the layoff list. But I am an American and I'm competitive. I found new product lines to work on, got off the layoff list and prevailed. It was a very competitive environment during the downsizing stage. But that was about 2 years ago. Those of us who remain are outstanding at what we do. Sure there is a time when those who are struggling need help. But communist countries are the least competitive and do the worst economically. Just look at North Korea. Oh, and communist countries suck at innovation. Just look at China which is notorious for steeling secrets and corporate espionage. Better dead than red.
Mazulu, you are out of touch with the state of technology in China. I just bought a Rigol (Chinese) 1 GHz scope with active probes and an ARB (signal generator) to go with it and they are every bit as good as the western products. I looked at Agilent (which was my first choice) and even Tektronix and the price difference was just too much. My pocket book had the biggest vote. I had to go for the Chinese scope and am very happy with it. Just like when Japan was a cheap junk good manufacturer, China is getting better fast. They probably will either drive companies like yours into oblivion or force them to move to China. Not just production, but design and management too. It is a dog eat dog world and frankly China has a better strategy. While they used to make cheap knockoffs and junk, they are now highly competitive with western products. And I have news for you. The US is also involved in espionage, including corporate. They would be stupid to not be. You can be sure that when a competing company has a new product, your company gets a hold of one and takes it apart and analyzes every component. Then they clean room develop any technology they need from it. The real problem with US products is that the corporation has too high of a profit margin to compete. It is a lie that it is about the wages of the worker. The difference in wage for an iphone made in China and an imaginary iphone made in the US is not enough to worry about. A couple bucks at most. The reason companies move their production to China is about taxes, the cost of real estate and especially the laws that they have to obey. Things like pollution and safety. And it isn't even the actual pollution and safety but the cost of the red tape and the hoops they have to jump through in the west.
Absolutely, don't spend money on capability that you don't need. If 1GHz scope meets your needs, then buy that. No they're not. They can't troubleshoot the high end products because it's too complicated. Why do Americans need to steal anybody else's ideas? It's just easier to innovate our own solutions. That is such a lie. It is true that the AWG5K was created in Japan. When that factory closed down and came to the US, the engineers had trouble understanding how it worked because their was very little documentation. So they designed the 7K which is far superior (and costs $90K). The 5K is still available for about $30K. That sounds about right. China is still busy trashing their environment. It could be a while before Chinese workers are ready to demand the right to breath clean air from the stinking communists.
Actually you should buy as much capability as you can afford. Because if you guy a lesser product and then later need the extra capability then you are screwed. I bought what I could afford. It is not really that much compared to hobbies that friends have. A nice car can cost a ton of cash. Your experience is anecdotal. It probably is more of a communication problem than actual technical ability. As you mentioned with the transition of your products from Japan. Probably many of the Chinese technicians have engineering degrees. I would bet on them in a troubleshooting matchup. Of course all I have to go on is your lack of skills. Here is a video of a teardown of the ARB I bought. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGXiS4X4Hlw Notice the quality. Performance is equally good. Give them another 5 years and they will eat your company alive. I have seen teardowns of Tektronix products and while they have nice build quality some of the design choices were questionable. Just search for "teardown MDO" to see the guts of one of your made in china scopes. But as I said the main difference is price. Western manufacturers, even the ones who manufacture in China, are 2 or 3X the price for about the same performance. I assure you that it happens regularly. I have seen it happen. It is not illegal as long as you cleanroom reengineer. At the very least you want to know what the competition is up to. You should ask someone in design engineering or marketing where you work if they do it. I would bet you that they admit to it. Everybody does it. Seriously, ask someone who would know where you work. If you remember the heyday of America, we had pollution problems too. I remember the choking smog of LA. We cleaned it up. China will clean it up too. They are just going through a transition. I am sure you love your company. But that seems to be blinding you to the truth. China is getting better fast. The same way Japan did. But the difference between China and Japan is size. As you know China is an immense powerhouse of industry, and soon they will be a powerhouse of innovation.
OMG that is a little oscilloscope. It would fit in my coffee cup. OK, I work on circuit boards that go into these. I assure you, they are complicated in ways you cannot conceive. They are the most accurate scopes on the market. Our best oscilloscope, the DSA73304D, costs $290,000 bucks. I'm sure you couldn't afford it. Those little coffee cup size oscilloscopes won't won't be used by industry leaders like Intel. Lockheed-Martin might use one for a door stop. Show me. It happens at your company? What company is that? Tektronix is owned by Danaher which has the highest standards of ethics and integrity. So maybe your company steals tech secrets. Mine doesn't have to. I wish. I hope so. Not while their red.
It is not an oscilloscope (OMG you are so clueless). It is an ARB. You might recognize the term. Arbitrary Waveform Generator. Your company makes similar size generators but they are not ARBs. This one same type of thing you plan to use for your experiment. It is not the cost that costumers look for. It is performance vs cost. If customers like to buy the most expensive, then your company will do fine. But I don't think that is how it works. I have used a 15 GHz Tek scope. It was pretty nice though not without problems. I of course would not need a $100k scope for my hobby. But as I said, in 5 years your company will be fighting for it's very life. The Chinese scopes will come up in performance and will force your company to cut costs or face a dwindling market. That is not a possibility. It is a fact. And your marketing people can confirm that if you care to ask them. I have heard (but can't confirm) that both Tek and Agilent are moving engineering to China starting with the low end products. First the production, then the engineering, then the management. But just like in the 70s with consumer products, eventually it will all move over there with the exception of some defense related stuff. Your company has already shrunk to a tiny fraction of its former size. The end is inevitable. Your problem is that you only see your own products. When was the last time you looked at an different company's catalog? I bet never. All your pride means nothing. It is the customer that chooses. And as more test equipment products stream out of China, for their own internal use they will be buying Chinese not American or EU products.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gImgpxrchI Tektronix was not happy with this review. But notice that this and the teardown show the complete internals of the scope. You can bet that this scope's capability will show up soon in other brands. This video is not illegal. Tektronix actually sent this guy the scope knowing he was going to do a teardown. You can bet that Tek does more in depth tear downs of competing scopes. Here are the internals. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9_JxRiuS5A&feature=player_embedded
