Slashdot Mirror
Open Source Globalization?
Carl Rosenberger asks: "In this article at IT Managers Journal [which is another part of OSTG, Slashdot's parent publishing company], db4objects CEO Christof Wittig speculates about the future effect of open source globalization on organizations and individuals. According to his opinion 'Engineers like globalization', although it may mean tougher worldwide competition for jobs. What is the opinion of Slashdot readers on this article? Is open source globalization going to happen? Will it make our jobs better or worse?" As the referenced article puts it, open source globalization is the ability to hire programmers from all over the globe to collaborate together on a single project with low overhead. Heck if it works for open source projects, why not for corporate software? Do you see the corporations you are familiar with embracing or fighting this concept?
The thing is, as he starts to learn more, he'll be worth more. We're learning that in India right now as more IT professionals are becoming competitive, threatening to take their knowledge elsewhere if companies don't pony up. While this is still considerably less than workers in the US, it just underlines the fact that knowledgeable people are a commodity and the more you know, the more you're worth.
People in the First World complain because we are driving their wages downward, but what is being lost is globalization is driving wages and employment standards in the third world upward.
Sure, the wages are low compared to here. Sure, the employment standards are lower. But change does not happen overnight - the amount of improvements seen over the last 25 years are more than were seen in the first 50 years of the industrial revolution in the first world.
Eventually, what will happen is the wages and employment standards of the entire world will meet somewhere in the middle. Then, they will only go up, as competition for skilled labour drives them that way.
You have to think long term - like on the 50-100 year scale.