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Layoffs at OSDL
daria42 writes "Open Source Development Labs - which employs Linus Torvalds - has apparently cut nine of its fifty-seven staff (although Linus has retained his job). The cuts come as the organisation re-structures. It will establish a European office and expand into Asia. "We're a small enough organisation that what would be a small change in focus for a bigger company has a large effect on us," said a spokesperson."
- No brainers: the people who most deserve to go, and who everyone agrees
- The group of tough choice cuts, generally 60% of the first round, and not often based on performance but more so on overshadowing
- The painful cuts who don't deserve to go but they have to cut 40% of the last round numbers, so these will have to do
But of course since this is to enable the company to move into Europe, and not due to financial problems -- then perhaps this will be the only round as they will be rehiring these positions in a new office. I like the idea that they will be hiring new locals.The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
That's precisely why there's very little significant OSS coming out of India. Read The Cathedral and the Bazaar and Homesteading the Noosphere and then read The Magic Cauldron. Take particular note of the bits about 'massive independant peer review', the ownership, tenure, customs and in particular the discussion of the quality of the programmers that make it in open source.
When you're done there, pick any forum on any web site anywhere in the world and look at the discussions of outsourcing to the third world and the devastating quality, communication and reputational problems that companies that make the mistake of outsourcing to India and similar third world countries suffer. Look at the standing joke that IBM, Dell, and Telstra technical support have become as a direct and specific result of their corporate decision to outsource to India.
Then come back here again and explain to us how exactly OSDN opening an office in darkest India would be a good thing.
this oughta be good.
I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
If you were fired by a company that paid you to write Open Source, would you still develop it? If so, I can see how management would say, "what's the point of paying you, exactly?"
When you have a small shop, you don't need extra receptionists. When your main function is to turn out code, all that matters is that you have talented programmers and someone with a direction for the company.
I never said that receptionists were useless. On the other hand, if a company doesn't need receptionists then it isn't thier duty to hire them just so they can pay rent. If you need to downsize, you get rid of non-critical personnel first. Receptionist are definitely in that category, especially since they are most easily replaced out of any staff members.
Downsizing is never a fun thing, but there is a clear pecking order.
/. ++
"We had some dead weight around here, and we wanted to avoid lawsuits for firing them. So, we decided to call it a layout due to restructuring."
That's a common one too. I worked for a startup that laid off about 20% of their workforce because the CEO was an idiot and didn't get enough business. To save face, he told some of his buddies that ran the other programming firms in the area that he cut out some dead weight. The 20% of the people let go were mostly really good developers that were let go because they weren't on any projects. They had a hard time getting new jobs because some of the other area companies thought they were dead weight. If it were me, I probably would have sued my previous employer for slander.
/. ++
Yes because everyone knows that Open Source Software is only developed in the US and Europe and Asia offer cheaper developers.
What the fuck? I mean seriously this got and insightful mod? People get a clue here!
You do know of course that many of the finest mathematicians on the planet are Indian.
;) )
With respect, the population of India is absolutely massive, so of course there are going to be more great Indian mathematicians than those from Malta. (You don't need to be a great mathematician to figure that out
That having been said; yes, the Indians do have a good reputation for mathematics and the like.
I can think of one other country that seems to have a disproportionate amount of technically gifted people... Iran.
Anyone want to take *that* ball and run with it?
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Not that I'm paranoid or anything.
You can have your god back when you are old enough to handle the responsibility.
... of software patents?
It would be very interesting to OSDL to be on countries that doesn't acept software patents.
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