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Google Lawsuit Exposes Microsoft Offshoring Deal
2old2rockNroll writes "In more news from Microsoft's Google lawsuit, it appears that Ballmer's 2003 trip to China may have had as much to do with Microsoft moving jobs as selling software. It seems that the Chinese are not pleased with the number of jobs being moved to China, and one of Lee's duties was to identify jobs for export. Although hiring in Redmond has slowed, a Microsoft spokesperson admits they are "growing their work force" in China. Is it possible that Bill Gates' recent lament over the decline of US CS graduates and research spending was merely crocodile tears?"
It is fitting that you should say that cause Bill Gates is quite an accomplished Go player. Anyone who wants to understand how Go is used as a strategy particularly how that strategy influences strategic thought should read this paper.
Microsoft can't keep buying the U.S. government off forever; eventually, someone is going to assume the U.S. presidency who will actually allow the department of justice to enforce antitrust law and hold it for long enough for a case against Microsoft to be litigated.
It would be good if before that happens, Microsoft could hedge their bets with a nation that can truly understand and respect them. China understands that capitalism should be used as a tool of oppression, not a tool to fight it, so they're the perfect escape from any other nation who might sit up once in awhile, remember that monopolies hurt markets, and try to meddle in the internal affairs of a company just because they're committing injustice or breaking the law or something. Rupert Murdoch is big on China for the exact same reason.
So this is the 2nd or 3rd time this lawsuit has produced interesting titbits about M$. This thing is going to be the gift that keeps on giving. Get the popcord and sit back and watch.
I somehow suspect that M$ will continue coming off as anti-human, anti-worker and just plain nasty.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
I offshored myself.
:-) And, no joking, I'm off to hear RMS speak here in a few minutes - I'm interested more in the reaction to him from the audience than what he has to say - not because I'm not interested in what he has to say, but because I've heard him say it before...
Until early this year, I worked for Sun in the UK. They decided, in their infinite lack-of-wisdom, to close my office and lay everyone off (and have been trying to hire some people back ever since realising what a stupid move that was), pretty much because they thought they could replace us with much cheaper employees in Bejing.
So I went and got myself a job in Hong Kong - like Bejing, only a lot more expensive, widely English-speaking, and bloody civilised
Paranoia isn't an infectious condition, it's a way of life
I think Microsoft has had a very bad influence on CS job prospects (note: MCSE is not a CS job). However, the fact that they are now having to go to China is a case of being hoisted by their own petard; after they destroyed most of the interesting R&D jobs, they don't have a choice but to go to China. So, I think Gates's lamentations are sincere; he probably doesn't even understand what he has done to CS research in this country.
In any case, even without Microsoft's destructive influence, Chinese high-tech workers would still be competing with US high-tech workes. And the Chinese government is fully within its rights to demand that any company doing business with/in China move jobs there--the US government is doing the same thing.
Wish I could use the mod points I've got to give you a raise in there.
A lot of valid points coming to light.
The best team I've worked in, way back when was multidisciplinary. A PhD mathematician (who could take sections of the implementations I'd made and fine tune them to a level that left me boggling), myself (Real Time Systems Bsc), a couple of experience bods who'd worked their way up over time, and the boss who was an Elecronic Engineer (Msc).
I ended up doing the software engineering (as we didn't need formal spec) and systems architecture (along with a fair bit of coding afterwards), the mathematician took areas where the algorithms were inefficient, and optimised them away.. The experience coders did a good job of the coding..
And the boss knew exactly what management processes to use for engineering a project (from extensive experience).
A lot of the problems with software today are simply caused because people don't engineer them.
Commerce is trying to make a fast buck, and, in the bridge analogy, is saying "We can put up a couple of ropes and tie them to a tree. What do you need a proper footbridge over the road for?".
So, a lot of software is built like the ropes over the road. It's cheap, shoddy, but does the job, with the odd few bits falling off and causing no end of consternation.
I'm behind you all the way on saying that a mathematician or an engineer (my first degree was in Chemical Engineering by the way) can apply the same processes as a CS grad, and will (in the longer term, which is where you should always be aiming anyway) be just as good.
I was pointing out that the properly educated CS grad will from the word go have a better instinctive grasp of what to do as concerns the tools and methods of engineering as applied to software.
First choice for me on software hires is Computer related degree plus good experience and track record. Very closely followed by Engineering/Math/Philosophy/Science degrees with the same level of experience and track record.
Then comes long track record and extensive experience with no degree, followed by Computing related degree with no/little experience, then the science/engineering degrees with little or no experience.
For someone with a small track record, and no degree, I'd not really go for that. They may be good. They may be highly skilled.
But if they're up against someone who's proved they have a high ability to learn, and has a good knowledge of a wide spectrum of theories in the field that they can bring to bear, they're just not going to get the job.
For much the same reason, I suspect, that you may find someone who knows how to build a bridge really really well.. You're just not going to hire him unless he's done that degree..
Really, I think it all boils down to me wanting to see that degree to prove someone's serious. I just have a slight preference for CS over the other disciplines (having done both, and seeing how my perspectives were altered slightly by doing the computing degree).
Last Wednesday I see this:
China Daily covers an anti-Linux FUD campaign being run by the China Software Industry Association. "Sun Yufang, a Chinese scholar who has long been researching Linux software, says most Linux developers cannot make a living under the current business model. Most of these developers 'either have died or have focused on other businesses in past years,' Sun says."
And then today:
Google Lawsuit Exposes Microsoft Offshoring Deal.
I wonder if these two events are in any way related?
Hmmmmmm..... Deep fried and look like Squirrel.