RIP 3Com

HP has completed its takeover of 3Com. Sob. Memories of modems, Palm Pilots and a brief resurgence a few years back based on open standards and Linux flash by my mind.

Actually my first PDA was pre-3Com, still branded USRobotics, come to think about it.

Another tech pioneer is ingested and now remains only in our memories and as a name as part of a larger faceless empire.

...

HP Completes Acquisition of 3Com Corporation, Accelerates Converged Infrastructure Strategy

ASIA PACIFIC, April 16, 2010 – HP today announced it has completed its acquisition of 3Com Corporation at a price of $7.90 per share in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $2.7 billion.

HP will integrate 3Com’s network switching, routing and security solutions with its existing HP ProCurve solutions, creating a comprehensive portfolio for customers. Combined with HP’s global reach, the expanded portfolio solidifies HP’s Converged Infrastructure strategy, which is built on the integration of servers, storage, networking, management, facilities and services. With this integration, customers will be able to simplify their networks, deploy an edge-to-core network fabric for the enterprise and improve IT service delivery capabilities.

The acquisition of 3Com expands HP’s Ethernet switching offerings, adds routing solutions and significantly strengthens the company’s position in China. 3Com also brings to HP network security capabilities through its TippingPoint portfolio. Together, HP is able to deliver one of the broadest network technology capabilities in the market to meet customer needs well into the future.

Further details on product integration will be announced at a later date.

About HP
HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

Democrat disillusion and the silver lining

Every cloud has a silver lining and in this case one of the potential benefactors of the disillusion of the Democrat party over finance, if it happens, voukf be the PAD, or rather the New Politics Party.

Of course, the end of Thailand's oldest party is not a foregone conclusion and it still has to go through both the attorney general and the courts. The immediate future will be a mess but beyond that there is some good news.

The professional politicians will need a new party to go to. TRT became PPP became PT after two disillusions. But in becoming Pua Thai parts splintered off. Actually I always argue that they did not separate as much as just return to their natural state. Thai Rak Thai was never a party but rather an amalgamated coalition of smaller parties That were merged into the fold.

So the former Democrats will need a new party. Some will no doubt form a new party like other parties have. Others might opt to join the NPP.

It makes perfect sense. One of the biggest fears of the PAD was that an election that saw Democrats and NPP fight it out would only work to the benefit of the Thaksin party as there is a broad overlap in demographics. If Democrat MPs in PAD strongholds in the south instead join NPP then the problem is solved.

Many Democrat heavyweights frequented the PAD protests. Korn and Kraisak are two, but they may face a ban from politics for five years as they are on the executive board. But others such as Kasit, Khunying Kalaya and Thavorn are not. Joining the NPP and turning it into what they want it to be could be a good career move.

Of course, the Democrats have to be disbanded first. But I am sure many are already thinking of what their next move might be if that should transpire.

Interesting bits roundup of the day.

New York Times slideshow. Lots of pictures of armed protesters here.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/04/11/world/20100411THAILAND2_index.html

Normally vehemently pro-Thaksin Economist's take on the 10th April event. Even they concluded the existence of insurgents. http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15868034&source=features_box_main

And yet some people claim that the protesters were all unarmed and harmless.

Armed militia firing heavy ammunition and mortar shells is not a political problem. It is a security problem. The Redshirt leaders are no longer protesters, they are terrorists.

A tiny bit of editing

Take a look at this Straits Times piece:

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_513612.html

... and then this one by Reuters.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63B25A20100412

Amazing how much of a difference a little bit of editing can make to the story and turn the tone of the story around almost entirely. The Straits Times story is simply a cut down version of the original Reuters one but the tone could hardly be more different.

Rest in peace, Hiro Muramoto

CAT CEO kidnapped

Arisman has just kidnapped CAT Telecom's CEO according to the Nation.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationmultimedia.com%2Fhome%2F2010%2F04%2F12%2Fpolitics%2FCAT-Telecom-CEO-taken-away-by-red-shirt-motorcycli-30127075.html&h=692c9261e1781cace6e4440d7598e1d9

Reports were that they were angry at the interference on their PTV signal which they want broadcast.

IMHO, it is time to blow up Thaicom and stop this anarchy. With nothing to negotiate for, they have no reason for the hostage. Blowing up Thaicom's ground station would only be money. Lots of money, but just money. How much is the cost to let these lies continue?

PM Abhisit's address, translated

My fellow citizens. As an update, after the events on the 10th until now, news is coming in and the picture is becoming clear. It is now clear that a number of people, terrorists, are using the peaceful protesters as tools to create unrest as they want to instigate a revolution. COPA and the government want to separate the terrorists from the innocent protesters. When we can see a delineation between protesters and terrorists, we can do something about it.

Your views and calls re: inequality and democratic reform are heard. Have been talking about plan that was tabled to UDD on day one of the negotiations.

We are doing two things in parallel. One is dealing with with the terrorism threats. Two is answering the political calls. The Government, military and coalition are united and in discussions to find a way out.

The events of the 10th are being investigated. A committee has been set up, like April last year. We are ready to cooperate with relevant independent bodies, such as the Human Rights Committee.

The Govern will help the injured, wounded, relatives of dead and businesses affected. We will continue to work to solve this problem.

2 PM, Monday 12 April 2010.

Reflections from yesterday

April 10th was the bloodiest day in recent history. But was it the bloodiest political turmoil as they say? Define political.

I had PTV and a couple of other channels (usually ASTV, Nation and / or Channel 11) on at the same time. I shall let others journal the history of today as they see fit, but a few things come to mind, in no particular order.

The event at Kok Wua was a setup. Yes, people can retaliate rather harshly, but setting up a gas tank bomb is not on-the-spot retaliation. Someone had to plan the ambush, create the bomb and, of course, someone had to detonate it. It was premeditated murder.

Lots of videos have been uncovered of men in black with machine guns firing. Laser pointers have been used to guide M79 fire to the unit commanders to create chaos. Videos have been shown on channel 11 of wounded soldiers on the ground, unable to get up, being hit by an M79 shell.

And yes, a video has been shown of redshirts having their head blown up. But who did it?

But as the chaos unfolded, PTV clearly showed the Redshirt leaders calling for reinforcements. The reinforcements, mostly volunteers sitting down, were rushed into a warzone to be slaughtered.

Slaughtered by whom? By panicking soldiers shooting indiscriminately as the Reds want us to believe? Or by the snipers and blackshirts captured in quite a few videos.

Major General Kathiya has gone on the record to claim responsibility for the M79 attacks on the army and has threatened the army that his Ronin team will strike again if they try to disperse the protesters. Other Redshirts claim that it was Newin's Blueshirts who fired the live ammunition to discredit the Redshirts.

Bottom line, the Redshirts gained a lot of sympathy at the cost of their followers. But if Kathiya did bring in the M79s, did he not tell the other leaders? And were those leaders so black-hearted as to send their followers into a trap just for political gain? With that thought in mind, my hatred of the Redshirt leaders grows even more, but not of the followers. They are the victims, used as pawns in Thaksin's cold game to further his cause; tricked into dying thinking they are martyrs, slain at the hands of the leaders they believed in.

But perhaps the only ones I hate more than the Redshirt leaders now are the Whiteshirt academics who just want world peace and seem to have had a field day today calling for peace and for the Government to step down. The smugness was there to be seen. I used to call this the Burtos Butros-Ghali syndrome. It is easy to call for world peace if you are just a figurehead (or a powerless academic) without having to take responsibility for the consequences. Giving in now means legitimising violence; giving into terrorism as it were; and sending out a clear signal that killing people for change works and is legitimate.

To quote M in James Bond, we do not and never will negotiate with terrorists. Abhisit should keep that in mind as he thinks of his next move.

Ah, Abhisit. What of our Prime Minister who has disappeared and run away to think, not showing strong leadership in a time where the nation requires it most? I liked what PAD Prapan Koonmee had to say of him.

Abhisit's indecision and incompetence led to the death of those soldiers and protesters.

I am sure that sentence will not go down well among my friends, but Prapan had a point. He argued that it was Abhisit's arrogance and denial of PAD that led him to be so alone. Prapan said that Abhisit had blocked his appointment as Advisor to Science Minister Khunying Kalaya but that Kalaya had insisted. Abhisit also blocked Samran Rodpetch's appointment to the Ministry of Culture.

Prapan argued that it was this arrogance; a desire to keep his hands clean at all costs, that led to him being surrounded by wallflowers: brainless nobodies who were clean alright, but incompetent, and that incompetence has shown deadly results this weekend.

Intelligence and planning could have been much better f the PAD were involved; making statements and fighting the propaganda war would have stood a chance against the Thaksin juggernaut, but no. He was Mr perfect, Mr inclusive. He could not be seen to be associated with the PAD; he could not be seen to show favouritism.

And it is this arrogance; this narrow mindedness that has left Abhisit to stand alone today.

Many people, many PAD did not agree with Prapan. Anchalee is one who clearly is pro-Abhisit. Prasong also suggested today that Abhisit's micro-management style and reluctance to let the military do the planning of what was a military operation was what led to the lives lost. If anything PAD are now split with many supporting him, others blaming him for the loss of life.

Personally I blame him for indecision; for lack of guts. There is so much he could have done in a firm way, non-lethally to stop things spiraling out of control. Take Thaicom. If I were in charge, I would have seriously considered signing an order to seize it from Shinsat and then blow up the satellite dish to prevent it falling into enemy hands. It is just money, albeit lots of money, but obviously worse less than life. Water cannoning the amplifier system at Rajdamnoen is another idea.

Someone needs to see that justice is done. Not justice only for the slain soldiers, but justice for the Redshirts sacrificed by their own leaders, too. They may have died believing it was the evil government that did but, but such belief, such lies do not mean that they do not deserve justice. Someone. Abhisit? Prayut? Someone else? Who knows. But someone needs to see that justice is served and that the truth is told.

Giving in now will mean the end of civilisation as we know it; would be tantamount to letting bullies have their way, only for a bigger bully to come along and displace him in the future. But giving up, making a dumb looking "Peace" sign and smiling like an idiot is so in-trend now. As Dr Seree said, the country is a mess because good people believe they must not take sides and have moral conviction.

These are just my ideas. You have the right to disagree with me.

Heavily armed Reds caught on camera

Haven't been blogging much. But here are some links I'd like to note for the record.

3.04 or thereabouts. If you can't understand Thai, the guy says,"It's just like a war movie... both sides have weapons, we do, too, they do." Or something to that effect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYgNi6m5Bc4

0:56 sees a red monk trying to pummel a soldier with a paving stone
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlJazeeraEnglish#p/u/14/rIR6XqQWz_M

Redshirt eyewitnesses say the shots came from elsewhere / from blackshirts, not soldiers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6p1YP3wUzI

Fallen soldiers at 6:50
http://www.youtube.com/user/thaifaq#p/a/u/1/ztF6hUryt88

2:25 to 2:35 Redshirts with AK 47 and other weapons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJt8K8Scalk

Third parties with AK47
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHNrn9btDWA

And some pictures:

Some sort of machine gun.


M16 and TAR21

The computer misuse act

A lot of flak has been levelled at the Surayud government and the military as of late for the cybercrime law, or as it is more formally known, the computer misuse act. Well, Surayud may be guilty of many things, but on this one, it is not his fault.

Perhaps the redshirts who are quick to blame Surayud and the military appointed National Legislative Assembly for the arrest of the Prachathai webmaster should realise that while it was passed by the NLA, it was drafted much earlier and took shape during the Thaksin era. The fact that it was the very first law passed by the NLA was a coincidence as the law was in already in the pipeline and due for reading then.

No, it is not a good law, but at least the NLA had the common sense to remove the death penalty in it that was included in prior versions.

IMHO the worst part is that everyone using the Internet can be found guilty of not being able to provide "and any other relevant information" to the authorities. Such a vague interpretation opens up the possibility of selective enforcement; where anyone can be witch-hunted on a whim.

As one of my friends said, the NLA had the choice not to pass it at all. True, but it is not without merits. Stealing information fell into gaps in the law before it as nothing was actually stolen. Yes, they should have amended the criminal laws to make them up to date with technology rather than embark on this, but that is not what happened.

The Redshirts should get their facts right and stop blaming Surayud for this.

Yellows, on the other hand, can take some comfort in playing a part in stopping Thaksin before this law was passed. Had TRT stayed in power and passed the law without the modifications, just think of how society would be like today with a cybercrime law with a death penalty in it. Peaceful, for sure, but how many more people would have died to achieve that peace?

This is my opinion. You do not have to agree with me.

P.S. Here is a link to an old story with one of the people originally on the project that became the Computer Misuse Act.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/20th_database/07Feb2007_data50.php