Let me give you an example from my personal travels of one way China is winning the tech race. I travel everywhere with my laptop computer and hook up to the Internet with a wireless connection. Access has invariably worked fine worldwide -- except in SEATTLE, home of Microsoft!
I was in Seattle to attend a recent Red Herring global conference when the troubles began.
The wireless network at two Seattles hotels where I stayed absolutely refused to recognize my computer -- which meant no access. After several lengthy tries to get on without success, finally one of the tireless technicians advised me that the problem had to do with an incompatibility between the wireless network and the Internet protocol address in my Toshiba's Windows Vista operating system.
We finally got it to work once we both powered down our systems at the same time and then synchronized the restart. Voila! A connection. Never enountered these troubles in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Nanchang, or Wuxi. As proof, check out this rainy day scene of my perfectly connected laptop and the smoggy view of the Bund across the river in Shanghai.
