Edwin's Corner

CLARITY IN A VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF EAST AFRICAN COUNTRIES: A STORY OF BUDGETS, ECONOMIES AND INFORMATION COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY. Global economy As the global economy sways like a tanker in high seas, I would like to imagine a domino player stacking domino chips evenly spaced on a straight line, each preferably representing a European country, starting with Greece and ending with the most stable Nordic country, then I would imagine if the first domino was pushed over depending on the prevailing global situation, they would all fall, with or without austerity measures. Such a picture may be crude, but there is credence in it, according to the World Economic Outlook April 2012, published by the IMF, global economic growth is expected to constrict from 4 % in 2011, to about 3.5% in 2012, mainly due to the sliding pendulum oscillating between the meltdown in Europe and the momentous growth prevailing in some Asian economies, having said that the optimism is contagious in

What would you say fundamentally is the difference between, Apple Inc; arguably the most valuable company in history based on market capitalization in August 2012, and Microsoft Corp; the most valuable company back in December 1999.  Might it be the fact that Apple continues to i nnovate cyclically despite its monstrous size? Or is it the fact that Microsoft might end up being the utility firm of the future based on its cloud strategy, which handles the backend of all your essential services;   from banking to shopping, from education to entertainment.    I prefer to look at the people who were at the helm of these firms to do an analysis. I think the visions of both firms are intrinsically driven by the founders of the organizations, the late Steve Jobs and the highly regarded Bills Gates.  Steve Jobs was driven by sublime design and wanted to merge art and high end technology, which he managed to do so many times while breaking ethos barriers; with the Macintosh in the 8

Information Technology is one of the most dynamic professions to be in; it seems that there is change every few minutes, due to a young boy in Shengjing, Sao Paulo, Manila, Nairobi or California coming up with the next big “killer” application. While a few individuals are constantly considered the vanguard of this advancement, many others are left to play catch up and retool every few months in order to remain relevant. Every few months, thousands upon thousands of IT professionals take time, to re-certify, to re-skill and hopefully get a promotion, a business deal, a pay hike or just advance in life. And many a shrewd entities come up with IT oriented certificates to match the insatiable hunger for advancement. You simply have to do a simple search for the top 10 IT certificates globally, they are plenty a bunch. After all this there is always the nagging question; if I acquire all these certifications, do they leave me a better technology person? Do they enhance me as a bran