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MS Moves R&D To Canada Due To Immigration Problem
telso writes "Microsoft will be opening a new software development center in Vancouver because of difficulties getting workers into the US. The company said the center will 'allow the company to continue to recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by the immigration issues in the US' It seems possible that shrinking immigration quotas have affected America's tax and knowledge base."
I call H1-BS.
I wonder if the democrat controlled congress has anything to do with this? I know Microsoft and others are constantly lobbying to import more slaves^H^H^H^H^H^H H1-B visa workers to get around paying the wages necessary for skilled domestic labor.
Or maybe Microsoft management just watched Sicko and have decided to take Moore's advice and move to a country with a real health service.
If this was a cost saving move they would have increased their setups in India and China.
There is no universal law that says that software can only be produced in the US
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Pride goeth...
"Gastown is the historic centre of Vancouver. But after the 1920s, Gastown became a quiet backwater of deteriorating buildings. It wasn't until the 1960s that the public began to appreciate Gastown's distinctive architecture and role in the city's history, and undertook to revitalize the area.
Posted - 6/10/2007 1:01:27 AM: Having recently spent some time in London UK, coming back to Vancouver was a shocker. "Yes the air was cleaner and the people laid back here but woah, Vancouver felt like a rural back water."
Ocean Cement is one of the last tenants of its kind here; its lease on Granville Island expired in 1999. The occasional tugboat still makes its way in and out of False Creek with a load of sand for the city works yard, but otherwise this sheltered backwater is the playground of kayakers and canoeists...
Expo 86 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"It remains to date the biggest event in British Columbia history and is viewed by many as the transition of Vancouver from a sleepy provincial backwater to...
Vancouver Courier.com 'SOUL FOOD FOR FESTIVE SEASON'
Whether it's music, theatre or ballet, the city has no shortage of festive entertainment to temporarily ward off the winter blahs and infuse the soul with Christmas spirit. So bah, humbug to all the Eastern Canadian culture snobs who think Vancouver is a backwater."
Mod this up +10 insightful. For the life of me, Bangalore English is a challenge to understand.
"There is nothing to do it. But to do it." -Floyd Pepper
Your arguments would also apply to Mexico.
Several of them would not. One is enough. B-)
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Microsoft is not having trouble finding "employees", it's having trouble finding "employees at the wage they want to pay".
No, Microsoft is having trouble finding employees that are worth hiring at any wage. Even without salary, an average employee costs Microsoft about $400k/year. If you can't generate that much new revenue, you aren't worth hiring even if you work for free.
You missed one more which is specifically R&D and specifically science related and relevant only at the highest R&D levels (we are not talking H1B slaveshop labour here):
Do we like it or not, but our thought process and the means of its expression are largely defined by the language, followed by culture, upbringing and education. I would approach a problem differently compared to an American and an Indian, Chinese or Japanese. There will be cases where the American will find the most appropriate architecture and solution. There will be cases where it will be one of the "foreign devils".
Currently, hiring foreign devils on non-slaveshop rates and for non-slaveshop jobs in the US is extremely difficult. First of all you cannot hire them on H1B. At all. If you want to hire staff that is above the industry average you end up having to pay above the industry average. The H1B program is adverse to this concept as it is invented to import cheap labour and mandates "pay by the average". Going for other means of importing highly qualified labour with the US immigration service is hell. While universities have means of bypassing this hell using various post-doc/student/lecturer programs, corporations do not. Add to that the current level of bigotry that is manifested all over every second thread in this slashdot article. Add to that the overall image US currently has abroad. Add... Ad naseum.
So if Microsoft really wants to get a world class research facility going I am not surprised that it is shipping it to Canada. More will follow. It makes business sense. The only other option is founding a private university and using the educational shortcuts in the system to get the best staff and that is not perfect.
So overall, I will give them the benefit of the doubt. It may end up in fact that they are doing exactly this - founding a first class research facility to attract staff way above the H1B level. Let's wait and see.
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