China vs. India or Dictatorship vs. Democracy?

[Odin]

Indians have to get the caste system out of thier culture and improve thier infrastructure, if they do that they will start to become an economic superpower.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
But India has a 1 billion person marketplace, so there's not much difference there.

I am not sure how big the market is for Hindu software though.

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
Anyway, with regaads to software, doesn't India actually surpass China in software production? I think that neither China or India get top dollar for their software products.

Software production is hard to quantify. How do you count it? Number of programs sold? Revenue $$$? Lines of code? It's not clear.

I agree, neither China nor India get top dollar for programs. IIRC, neither Ireland nor Israel do, either.

[Ben Kenobi]

Did you know that upon Independence India was tops in Asia (minus Japan) in just about every field. Per capita income, miles of roads & rails, lowest illiteracy, highest exports, and so on and so forth.

I guess it does help being a former British colony.

[Mr. President]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


I am not sure how big the market is for Hindu software though.

India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh? Singapore has Hindi speakers but it's not an official language.

[DanS]

The point is that what India loses by lack of a captive audience, it gains in spades by having ready access to a wider and much more affluent audience.

[Lord Merciless]

What India needs is a cultural revolution.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by DanS
The point is that what India loses by lack of a captive audience, it gains in spades by having ready access to a wider and much more affluent audience.

The counterpoint is, the East Asian countries win by having both a captive market and ready access to the global one.

[mindseye]

like i said you might be a few pennies better off in china but the price you pay is terms of freedom and basic human rights is far higher.

Don't be too sure of that until you know something about life in China.

Where India overcomes these obstacles, and has a clear competitive advantage—as in software and other information-technology services—it can be a huge success.

Ah, but they will be crushed as well

The Chinese are at a big disadvantage in some types of software authoring (and other creative endeavors) in that imagination is not a strong suit of their national mindset.

Didn't the government of China recently announce that it was going to experiment with local free elections in some province?

Latest developments in this thread.

wouldn't surprise me. although even if china did have some 'free' local elections, do you honestly think anyone hostile to the communist authorities would get in...

China already does have free elections at the lowest village level (has had 'em for some years now), and yes, some non-Party members actually beat the Party candidates and are elected! The latest reforms concern mayors and provincial governors. Non-Party members who become elected, however, often face significant hurdles from the (Party-controlled) political heirarchy above them which can greatly limit their effectiveness.

Step by step.