100% American made computers?

In Obama's vid from this day, he spoke about computers in all schools.
Here's hoping they would be open source OS's (Linux?) and made HERE, not just assembled from outsourced components.
Are there any?
Or would this be job creation?

Linux is not American, why not windows?

by buying Windoze licenses for hundreds of thousands of new computers.
Open sourced OS seems the appropriate choice.

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If you did you'd realize that some Operating Systems (you read rights) are made here in the good ol' USA... BSD comes to mind, while others are not, MANDRIVA... comes to mind

But there is more... there are about 10 major flavors of Linux, nine of which are open source (the tenth, very technically is the MAC OS, a flavor of UNIX, which is a branch of Linux)

And if I want a computer in every school across the country, with every kid... not having to spend 120 dollars per computer on the actual OS will allow that to be possible, and create jobs, not at the production level, but at the local area, where LINUX techs, lets say BSD for the moment, to make sure the networks work

As to MS... it has some serious security problems that would make me take pause if I had to implement this at a national level, unless you want to create jobs in virus protection and detection.

I think you had it backwards in your post...my understanding is that Unix is to Linux, Mac OS X, BSD and other operating systems what DOS is to Windows. Is that not correct?

they are all branches of each other... hard to keep straight who came first

Me, running a flavor of xandros on the EEPC that is itself a branch of Xandros, which is a branch of Debian

(and not one I'd recommend for the faint of heart, but it is now running the way I want it... don't feel like loading something else on it)

I mean, they don't belong to a union or work in an auto factory so why would anyone at DU care about THEM?

The purpose of computers in schools is to teach students how to use computers to help prepare them for the workforce. Most businesses use Windows. Learning Linux is of limited value for most jobs, except maybe some high tech programming jobs. Especially in poor school districts where students may not have computers at home, it is important for them to learn how to use software that is used on college campuses and in the workplace, to help bridge the digital divide.

most kids will not use even 10% of either app, by the way

And those are the apps kids would be using

... as it is not, in and of itself, a corporation nor a person. Linux is a kernel that is used by many companies and private individuals as the basis for an operating system.

Most computers are made overseas, or as you said, assembled from outsourced countries.

I think it would be a great idea for the government to push american made products and to buy only american made products when they purchase items for use by the government. Only problem is more and more things are outsourced and more and more american companies are going out of business. I really would like to see the government promote "made in america" products instead of promoting outsourcing.

Even if the silicon is manufactured here (and I'd be surprised if anything
other than the silicon for IBM Power/PowerPC chips are manufactured
here anymore), the packaging is *ALL* likely done in the Far East.

The capacitors are *ALL* made in the Far East (Nichicon, etc.)

Maybe the motherboards are screwed into the sheet metal here,
but that's hardly "Made in the USA".

Tesha

Except for a few non-manufactured items. I argued this with Luddites 40 years ago who didn't understand that the U.S. had been buying chromium from Russia for years to make the shiny bumpers on their 1962 pigboats.

It will/would take years -- decades -- to establish the infrastructure necessary to manufacture all the parts necessary in the US.

with the amount of anger at the economic results of all the outsourcing and betrayal (imo) of multi-million dollar companies, isn't there just an automatic profit to be made for anyone brave enough to start any such 100% domestic production?

The investment necessary just to produce the first microprocessor necessary for such a thing is in the hundreds of billions of dollars range.

Big Bummer. But there's got to be a way to get these things started back up again. :-(

My system board (Asus P5Q Deluxe) alone has solid-state capacitors from Japan and was made in Taiwan, and whose processor was made in Malaysia.

Software is still made in the USA, but might be burned to disc and/or packaged in Puerto Rico or Mexico. Mind you, if "Grand Theft Auto" is a prime example of US made goods, all the stereotypes that the US does it best fly out the window get flushed down the toilet. :(

Well, GTA may not be prone to crashing, but the game is degenerate filth... and then we wonder why society is so depressing...

Everyone who works on it is British.

Society being depressing isnt caused by videogames.

What videogames do you think were played during WWII?

Most public schools that I know of run on Macs. Apple has been a very good corporate partner donating hundreds of thousands of computers over the years. These are what students and teachers are familiar with, and what a lot of education software is written for.

I would love to see an American made computer, but that simply isn't going to happen, especially since the tech industry got shipped overseas during the '90's.

used in production are very expensive to dispose of here, China etc. pretty much just dump it. The Japanese do a much better job but they are not price competitive because of that.

We need to focus on new ways to develop and produce hardware components that is less environmentally destructive.

but only from non-sweatshop firms.
Assemble them here.
Spread the wealth.
It is a global community.
Right?

Yes, microsoft employees are us. Just seems so monpolistic to favor MS.
Perhaps some of those employees could be brought in to an open code writing team fop a new OS.

and went on to other things.

The Linux kernel is the seed/basis for the best current options for several reasons.
:kick:

USA.

Is there any url available? Pretty please?

:rofl:

I wish I actually WAS joking.

And we don't have the facilities to manufacture all the parts for computers in the US, if we built them here they would still cost 10,000 a pop.

And the money involved in rolling out Linux for large organizations employs people at a decent wage in the area where the roll-out occurs, as opposed to Windows (and Mac), which involves cost that employs people at lower wages in other countries and in specific locales in the US, all at a higher cost to the consumer.

But you're right about the manufacturing. We can't do that here and wouldn't be able to for years even with a massive commitment to building the infrastructure necessary to do it.

Most businesses use Windows, and thus it makes sense for students to learn how to use Windows computers, especially in poor school districts where students may not have computers at home.

Microsoft knew what they were doing when they practically gave Windows away to schools when Macs were popular in the education environment. Students who learned Windows became the workforce that businesses needed and most businesses opted to go with Microsoft when computers became cheap enough because that is what their workforce knew.

American history.

will give them the cheapest possible tools with which to accomplish their work.

Tesha

Nor should they be. Most workplaces use Windows, and the main purpose of computers in schools is for educational value, including preparing students who may not have computers at home for the workplace.

Some districts may buy Macs, and it will probably vary by district. I doubt Obama's plan will dictate what operating system the computers will have.

Not too long ago Visiontek used to make some higher end videocards in the US while everone else was making them in Taiwan and the like.

AMD Duron processors used to be made in Austin, TX.

My first homebuild computer used both of these parts. My motherboard was asus though so it was made in Taiwan.

I'm not sure how much father back you would need to go find a production motherboard that was made in the USA, or the rest of the components.