Tag: south america

Bootlegging: Knocking it up & knocking it off in Quito, Ecuador Part 2 of 2 and a case study with Windows XP for software as a service (SaaS)

Posted by J Roland Kelly – September 11, 2008

Internet Cafes. They have always been a mixed bag, but I noticed something on my trip here to Quito.

Windows XP, which powers these places, has been turned into a mess.

It’s an old operating system; yes. The problem is that its been pirated at different evolutions of its development, and then it can’t be properly updated.

Microsoft has released certain high profile security fixes to anyone, even if the OS can’t be proven to be genuine, but where do you commonly go to get those updates? That’s right, and that isn’t happening.

So, it’s common that some of the OSs are five years old.

When I go to an internet café, it’s a crap shoot as to if the computer will run anything. Come on.

I have WordPress set to use Google Gears, but anything of any complexity, a good deal of the time just causes everything to come crashing down.

I don’t like to take my laptop out of my room, so I write these posts, put them on a USB thumb drive and take them to the internet café.

Which means I can’t avoid these versions of XP, and it doesn’t stop there. I have seen many versions of XP where the Microsoft logo as been removed and replaced by another, or some hacker’s gang sign, or nothing at all.

Is this really how it is? Is XP so old and hacked that it can be de-branded or re-branded.

The other thing about all of this is viruses. Quito must have been hit hard a while back, because everyone is paranoid. There are all of these anti-virus programs running, that do no good.

First no one pays for an OS, so they are not paying for an anti-virus program. The result is that they have multiple shareware anti-virus programs running eating up resources, and the only thing that the programs do is make up viruses to try and get you to buy the program.

I bought the USB thumb drive here, took it out of the package and the first time I plugged it in, I was told there was a virus on it. Most anti-virus programs are themselves mal-ware.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the kind of guy to move from Silicon Valley where I had a T1 connection, a 30” monitor, a completely Mac environment, to Quito only to bit*h about the internet.

I’m not one of those particular kinds of as*holes.

There are many positive developments here. The entire Amazon River basin has better wireless Internet coverage then my university hometown in the United States at the end of 2006. I’ll write about it sometime.

If I paid $80 bucks a month, all this bi*thing would be for not. That just kind of violates my living on ten dollars a day rule.

But when it comes to Windows XP, I think this is an excellent case study for Software as a Service (SaaS).

-J Roland Kelly

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Bootlegging: Knocking it up & knocking it off in Quito, Ecuador Part 1 of 2

Posted by J Roland Kelly – September 5, 2008

The last time I left the United States was 2004 and it was to Asia, not South America. Things change and one thing I notice is how music and movies are pirated.

For as long as I have been traveling I have seen developing countries violating copyright, no reason to get upset it is just how things work.

In the late 1990s, in the Middle East, I remember seeing music stores where you would pick out whatever you wanted and then the guy running the place would dub it onto a cassette for you while you waited.

I doubt, that many cassettes are being bootlegged now.

Later on when CD-Rs and CD writers where cheap and commonplace, you could buy an album or movie on one CD, in the case of the movie it would have to be rendered down badly to fit on only one CD, this format being called VCD.

The quality was bad, but the format was the standard and it was possible to buy a stand-alone VCD player. Understand? Not a CD player, not a DVD player that could play VCDs, but just a VCD player. Later on it would all come together.

Enter 2008.

DVD writers have replaced CD writers. How has this changed pirating? Well, as my friend Dennis would say the future is where they have the bigger and better guns.

You won’t hear anything more true, than from Dennis.

Okay, so you get more bang for your buck. I’m used to being able to buy an album or movie in low quality on a CD for a buck, but now you can buy five VCD films or the complete Stones or Beatles discography on a DVD for a buck.

What is this noise about inflation?

All the Rocky films for $1, or the Rambo films; for a dollar f*ck it.

When it comes to bootlegging I want to say something about Windows XP but I think that will have to wait until next time.

-J Roland Kelly

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Safe.

Posted by J Roland Kelly – July 24, 2008

I´m here in Quito. I found a place for the month with free internet for $165. No problems with the visa. Don´t show up in Quito hung over as it is a very high city. Full report to come. J Roland

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Awesome Traveling Service Provided by the South American Explorers

Posted by J Roland Kelly – June 26, 2008

 

I found this thing called the South American Explorers. Sure, I joined. I don’t know what I think about the name, and definitely their website is from another time. And that time was not a simpler time, but hey, they offer a totally worthwhile service.  

They will store your sh*t. No sh*t! Backpack. Mail. Whatever.

So, get this. If you are relocating to South America you can mail yourself a package and it will be there in South America when you arrive.

I’m going to use this service to mail myself a crate of books (screenwriting, etc.) and maybe my guitar. I don’t want any hassles on the plane, books are heavy, and I don’t want go looking for a place to stay the first night with 40 pounds of printed matter.

The basic fee to join is $50 bucks. They maintain “clubhouses” in Quito, Cusco, Lima, and Buenos Aires with the main headquarters in Ithaca, New York.

Their clubhouses have wireless Internet. Boo-yeah. Apparently members are welcome to hangout at the clubhouse all day everyday until they close.

They offer travelers information on useful topics and try to create “greater awareness of this continent through the diffusion of information and cross cultural interaction,” all that good stuff… but man, I hope they can store some sh*t.

Totally worth the fifty bucks right there.

The South American Explorers Clubhouse in Quito, Ecuador.

The clubhouses look pretty cool, like old colonial. Like you might go in and someone might be smoking a sugary sweet tobacco out of a cherrywood pipe, and you might hear them say “it’s good to own land, Stevens, I tell you it’s good to own land.”

I’ll be there using the high-speed Internet, away from all the kids playing Doom 57 in the Internet cafes.

Yes, sir. And they give d*scounts to bloggers who blog about them.

-J Roland Kelly

 

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