Notice the snickering remarks of this writer:
"And here we thought the World Economic Forum in Davos was supposed to be all about cooperation. Someone tell that to Vladimir Putin. After the Russian Prime Minister delivered a didactic 40-minute speech to fellow Davos attendees that touched on everything from the place of the US dollar in global financial markets to Russia's role as an energy producer, he agreed to take a few questions." (...) "And, in a final dig at Dell, he talked about how Russian scientists were rightly respected not for their hardware, but for their software. Touchy touchy. Especially considering how we can't recall using Russian software for anything since Tetris."
And then see the kind of replies presumably from Americans (the last three down the list are mine, so I won't paste those here).
1. "putin is a lying thug and his country is an oligarchic kleptocracy whose only contributions to technology are viruses, credit card thefts and DoS attacks... that said, some of the chicks are hot."
2. "Always nice to be lectured by a former KGB agent who's greatest contributions to capitalism would be innovations in torture devices. While Dell was a teenager at University of Texas at Austin around 1984, he started his company, which pioneered the manufacture and direct sale of the PC - this at a time Putin was bashing in the skulls of some poor Russian Refuseniks who held up signs asking for more religious freedom."
3. and the icing on the cake: "Moscow is the biggest pile of shit I've ever visited. The only place where you get searched for weapons when you get off the plane, the only place where a 20 minute cab ride will cost you $140 bucks, the only place where the 'police' will stop you and demand to see your passport and visa, and then ask for $100 for you to get them back. "
What is surprising is that the free snickering remarks abuot "the last russian software we used was Tetris" come from http://www.alleyinsider.com/Eric_Krangel whom due to his experience should know better.
I think I have leveled the playing field a bit with my three comments left there :-)
CIA slipped buggy software to Russia during Cold War http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4394002
"Ronald Reagan approved a CIA plan to sabotage the economy of the Soviet Union ... including software that later triggered a huge explosion in a Siberian gas pipeline"
OH RLY?
Winrar? Russian author http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Roshal
Kaspersky Lab? (IT security firm) Russian... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaspersky_Lab
Elcomsoft password-recovery software (and PDF cracking)? Russian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elcomsoft
Top-notch translation software? Russia http://eetimes.eu/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208801549
Handwriting recognition software? Russian http://www.allbusiness.com/electronics/computer-equipment-handheld-computers/5836161-1.html
:-)
FC