Mwangy's Musings

The other day had an intense discussion with a friend as to what the true definition of freedom was. . . .. I argued sinc my behind aint in jail, then ama s free as a bird. . . She laughed in a way that told me ‘Boy u got a long way to go.. ‘  dint think much of it till I watched a stand up comedian defining freedom. . . long story short freedom is a state of the mind. . . not a token you are given or awarded for following some set of laws. . .

Well it seems I havent been free for a long time and the saddest part of this turn of events is that I have millions of people who share in my bliss. . . we falsely belive that an education , open access to any career and the ability of everyone making money is freedom. . . .we are worse off than our chained ancestors since our oppressors are attacking our minds , nolonger our bodies. I may sound like a loon but truth hurts. . . most of us will follow the kawaida template of goin to school, get lied to that yours is the most noble proffession, work yourself to bits to get a degree and join the job market and find out that yours may have not been the most exclusive or best placed course afterall. . . . . .mostly because we believe that money is the key to happiness. . . . .Wrong!! Wealth is the key to happiness . . . money is just paper. . and thats how Banks rack up profit after profit yet they barely do anything other than sit there and threaten you on how they will take ua land if you dont pay up their loan. . . they dont make any technology to make our lives easier, they dont enrich our minds with art or philosophy, they just give us headaches and take real property and give you some fancy papers  they call money. . . Free yourselves and live !! Atleast am trying. . . .

Of late when I asked / inquired from the various tel-co customer care services as to when they will be offering unlimited plans on mobile/wireless, they have been kinda dodgy and non committal always promising that something was cooking  and asked for my patience. . . . . .Being a not particularly rich taxpayer and needing unlimited (not necessarily Broadband) wherever I go, Zain seemed like the savior I had been waiting for with their unlimited prepaid packages. .. . . .thought Safaricom would ignore this seeing as they are synonymous with broadband wot with their #G n what not. . . .but it seems it was very unsettling for them as now they are running a promotion where you pay 200/- bob daily and get Unlimited Internet. . . . neva thot Safaricom of all telcos wud pull such a move. . . . . am assuming this is more of a pilot/trial project that may be implemented if more people take up the service  due to the advantage. . . . lets wait n see. . .

Observing the local Internet scene with the ISP’s on one end and the government on the other ,one cant help but laugh at the whole mess. . . .here we have a government that promised fast cheap access to the Internet and is being held hostage by never ending questions as to why the Internet isnt getting any cheaper and on the other hand are the ISPs who have always been in it for the money and aren’t about to register a loss just coz we have a loud mouthed government dishing out promises as usual. . . . .

In my analysis the Internet price at the grass roots wont go down any time soon until a few things are addressed. . . .Major amongst these things is infrastructure. Laying infrastructure is very expensive and any sound business man will tell you you don’t throw money into a dark hole unless it will come out multiplied. They therefore lay the cheapest networks/ in only the most high yielding areas and sit back and wait for the profits. . . .there’s really nothing wrong with such a set-up. . .after all the companies are accountable to the shareholders not the public. .. . the buck then rests on the Government. . . .They should figure out how to get a broadband capable connection into every home (even if its not being used. . . .)this way the infrastructure bit would be taken care of and it would just leave the pricing and service delivery bit. . . .They can do this by encrusting it in law that any new residential building being supplied with power should also have an internet connection . . whether the inhabitants use it or not should be irrelevnt because chances are someone down the line will need it.

Also an academic recently pointed out to me that there were two schemes of connecting to the international fiber network, one was where you pay to get connected(like we do) coz its like a favour they are doing you and one where you connect for free since its mutually beneficial for both networks to be interconnected. This I think is where Kenya and Africa in general went wrong. We did not create enought value within our countries for them to see a need to connect to us. For instance what is stopping the local universities to establish interconnections via fiber without even the need of ‘outer’ internet services?(yahoo etc). . .information exchange would be instantenious and that would be value right there. . .research bodies and academic institutions didnt need seacom to share their findings, neither did creating  metropolitan/neighbourhood networks where movies,local news,chatrooms,bulletin boards,could be shared for a minimal cost or for free as a community endeavour. . . .all this would have done what seacom does today with facebook/gmail/ebay does. . . . . . .Just my Rantings

Microsoft Yesterday released a free antivirus for its LEGITIMATE customers. This is primarily for the users who dont even bother to acquire any antivirus product. .. . including the free ones. . . .

The user base that is unprotected must be huge for microsoft to take such a step akin to the launch of theier firewall a few years back. ..  . .I personally switched from kaspersky immediately I heard of Microsoft security essentials release. It remains to be seen how companies like Avast!,Avira, AVG who offer basic protection for free while advanced protection is atained at a premium. they will have to give a good reason why a user would use their product over official Microsoft software. .. ..  .I see it being packed into future releases of windows seven such that a user has no need to scoure through hundreds of  reviews to determine which is the best antivirus. . . . .

Lets wait and see how it will play out. . . .

Just like the average kenyan . . or human being for that matter. .. .I don’t like being taken for a long bumpy ride. . .problem is our corporations have no idea how to make money if they dont resort to thuggish behavior. . . .this has led me to scrutinize all gift horses from such companies in the mouth and all other possible crevasses. . . . . .A while back I couldn’t fathom why Telkom kenya would pull their unlimited broadband wireless service just when everyone was getting excited bout it. . . .much as they would like us to believe it is because of quality of service management it is not. . . . Its because the goverment , through Telkom Kenya owns a huge stake in Safaricom. this thus puts them in a difficult position when it comes to some products eg unlimited mobile broadband which would have seriously eroded Safaricom’s 3g campaign. . . . .EVDO broadband would have provided broadband minus the obscene profits thus they had to retract and return to Mb based billing and selling the modem @ 3,990 just like the Safaricom broadband modem. . . . .

Well, the fact that our Government owns a huge stake in both firms means it is unlikely anyone will bring the costs down seeing as the regulator is neck deep in the mess. . . . .

atleast we aint as badly off as the Americas. . . .there they pay to recieve sms’s!!. . . .wud u believe it??

I just learnt over this past week that you can get paid for sitting around so long as your name is present on a particular list. Also learnt that the government is the best employer there is. .. .someone in some forum once said that the government is like a huge slow Giant . . it moves extreemely slowly, cannot have its feelings hurt and anything you throw at it simply bounces off. . . ..though its supposed to be answerable to everyone, it actually answers to no-one but itself.. . . Now this creates a perfect working environment where we can truly be multitaskers. . . .All the same the goverment is really a waster of taxes and nothing else. . . just today I was strolling in my quaint little hometown and the wind blowing in my face dried my lips to the point of  cracking!. . . . . . .now why kengen hasnt setup a windfarm here is a mystery. . . . .maybe they are waiting for worldbank funding?. . . .

This is indeed an exciting time to be a new kid on the internet highway. . . . Its like the internet boom that hit the americas at the turn of the millenium is hittng The east coast of africa now. . . . .We have a big fat pipe at the coast with thousands of strands of glass delivering Billions of bits of data a second . . . . .and guess what. . . there are two more coming!!. . .No-one is happier than Iam since all I can think of is how am gonna harness me this and ride this wave before it breaks. . . . .
well for starters, a big fat pipe(datawise) wont bring anyone broadband without an intermediary. . . . they usually call themselves ISP’s . . like an exclusive club of privileged folk. . . .well all they do is lay lastmile infrastracture and proceed to charge you for using it. . . .
Anyway. . .enough of my rambling. . .I was just musing about the future of ISP’s in this country where residences are not so permanent what with bypasses and squatters and what not. . . .traditionally the ISP would tell you, you need a phone line, or we need to drill a hole in your wall and push a cable through. . .now that few people consider the houses they live in as permanent. . . ISP’s face a problem that mobile phone companies readily solve. . . . .they give you internet on the go. . . .And we have a provider that has a 3G network, another with an EVDO network and two others who seem overwhelmed by it all. . … . .With the prospect of having my broadband with me wherever I am in the city, I would be hardpressed to explain why I would want cables running around the house. . . .
Mobile Broadband has its disadvantages like the fact that you are sure you are using the same BTS with several hundred people and that they are reluctant to give you unlimited net. . . ..So unless traditional ISP’s offer their services at dirt cheap prices It would be unlikely that they will continue to be profitable what with the onslaught of the wireless generation. . . .

Tommorow seacom have promised to launch their much touted Undersea cable which has recieved as much coverage by local press as the recent demise of MJ. .. . . . some call it a revolution, others anticipate an ‘internet boom’. . .. others think now we will be like the US complete with freeways and macdonalds at every street. . .. . . I for one cant wait to start downloading and uploading at breakneck speeds. . . .

But we may just end up as a dumping site of movies, silly streaming video and brazing attacks on financial systems amongst others by international cyber criminals. . ..

And thence comes my question. . . willl faster internet bring knowledge and further research or will it simply improve access to facebook and allow attachments to download faster?. . . .as one analyst said, University proffesors don’t need broadband to digitise their notes or make them accessible online. . . . . this whole cable business has just been an excuse we have been having for not using the internet apprppriately. Granted, internet costs have been almost insane in the past but we still forked it out to watch ntv on youtube and download all sorts of less then educative content with the same. . . ..

I may be wrong but I dont seee what all the fuss is. . . .

Tommorow seacom have promised to launch their much touted Undersea cable which has recieved as much coverage by local press as the recent demise of MJ. .. . . . some call it a revolution, others anticipate an ‘internet boom’. . .. others think now we will be like the US complete with freeways and macdonalds at every street. . .. . . I for one cant wait to start downloading and uploading at breakneck speeds. . . .

But we may just end up as a dumping site of movies, silly streaming video and brazing attacks on financial systems amongst others by international cyber criminals. . ..

And thence comes my question. . . will faster internet bring knowledge and further research or will it simply improve access to facebook and allow attachments to download faster?. . . .as one analyst said, University professors don’t need broadband to digitise their notes or make them accessible on-line . . . . . this whole cable business has just been an excuse we have been having for not using the internet appropriately. Granted, internet costs have been almost insane in the past but we still forked it out to watch NTV on you tube and download all sorts of less then educative content with the same. . . ..

I may be wrong but I don’t see what all the fuss is. . . .