In the past i wrote about US control of domain names and how the system may annoy other countries. Remember: The USA is the only country that does NOT need a country code in the domain name - we get Amazon.com not Amazon.com.uk or Amazon.com.tw. I happen to feel this system is inconsistent and confusing and said as much on Confab.
Today the issue is the GPS system, another American product that the rest of the world depends on. What i didnt know was that Bush threatened to suspend GPS functionality (in the name of terror of course) and that this threat understandably made the Europeans uncomfortable.
So they packed up their Freedom Fries and are building their own GPS system. Hmmm.
These issues make me think that this is a global world and national systems just wont cut it. What is even worse is taking a national system global and then pulling it back, or threatening to
Going global means your global stakeholders are just as important as your national stakeholders. If that isn't true then you arent a global system, and people have every right to desire and to build their own system.
EU Satellite Fuels Rivalry With U.S. Over Navigation
December 29, 2005
PARIS – A European satellite shot into space, launching the European Union's €3.4 billion ($4 billion) planned rival to the U.S.'s Global Positioning System.
"Galileo is made in Europe by Europeans," European Space Agency spokesman Franco Bonacina said. "If the Americans want to scramble GPS, they can do it whenever they want...whereas our system is a civilian-based system run by a civilian authority and would be completely autonomous."
Galileo -- which is interoperable with GPS -- will more than double existing GPS coverage, providing navigation for people from motorists to pilots to emergency-rescue teams. It is expected to improve coverage in high-latitude areas such as northern Europe, and in big cities where skyscrapers can block signals.
Galileo will also be more exact than GPS, with precision of one meter, compared with five meters with GPS technology, Mr. Bonacina said. With Galileo, for example, rescue services will be able to tell ambulances which lane to use on a highway, he said. For average users, like bikers or motorists, the precision will be three meters.
Three non-EU nations -- China, Israel and Ukraine -- have signed on to the program set up by the European Commission and European Space Agency, the EU says. Discussions are under way with India, Morocco, South Korea, Norway and Argentina.
