Flames of Arab Spring Flickering In China?

Although it’s way too early too early to hope for the same kind of upheaval and shaking up of the regime in China that occurred in parts of the Arab world, some news reports allowed out from that country draw some interesting comparisons.

Here’s one. Internet activist “Huaguoshanzongshuji” recently said that his research had been erased from the popular Chinese microblogging Weibo site after he did some work on Chinese government officials wearing luxury watches. Although the work was erased from the site, the official Chinese Xinhua news agency said the fight against corruption there should follow this online method. As long as any facts proving the corruption are censored, it would seem.

Closer to home, it looks like Microsoft is getting ready to step up to the plate with Windows 8, or at least they’re getting closer. The latest version of Explorer, IE 10, was released this week for Windows 8 testers only. The new Metro interface that won’t be available until some time in 2012 will be what the releases describe as ‘touch only.’ Although you will still be able to use a mouse and keyboard, many industry insiders are already talking about a time that’s approaching when the touch screen will be as familiar as the built in web cam is today. Let’s hope the whole thing doesn’t fall into that all too familiar Vista Rabbit Hole.

There might not be an imminent internet based uprising happening in China just yet, but a version of the Quiet Revolution is taking place in the halls of academia across the world.  A recent report from the New York Times states that many librarians in hallowed halls of learning are refusing to renew their subscriptions to expensive academic publications since they have found they can get compatible information on the internet for free. In the world of academia, the worth of a published article is measured in the number of times it is cited and the Internet offers few restrictions except for the obligation to cite the work.

Back to China for the last bit here. A consulting firm there has just reported that Internet based companies have been flourishing in the second quarter. A list of 37 internet based firms there saw their profits rise 38.7 percent year on year. The company that reported the numbers, China Venture, is hoping the surge will carry over into bigger numbers on the American stock exchange.

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