Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft On US Immigration: It's Our Way Or the Canadian Highway
theodp writes Even as it cuts about 14% of its workforce, Microsoft is complaining that the company might be denied some of the "roughly" 1,000 H-1B visas for foreign workers it intends to seek, and made it clear that the company could shift some work to Canada or overseas if it can't get talent on its terms. "If I need to move 400 people to Canada or Northern Ireland or Hyderabad or Shanghai, we can do that," said William Kamela, a senior federal policy lead at Microsoft, who later explained that about 60% of Microsoft's workforce is in the U.S., yet it makes 68% of its profits overseas (where it also stashes its cash out of IRS reach). Kamela made the statements on a panel at a two-day conference on high-skilled immigration policy, where he sat next to Felicia Escobar, special assistant to President Barack Obama on immigration. The day before the conference, Mark Zuckerberg's FWD.us PAC — which counts Bill Gates as a Founder and Steve Ballmer and Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith as Major Contributors — posted its "MythBusters" video on H-1B visas.
Nothing new there.
That's the problem with liberals like Gates. They are very good at telling others how to be responsible citizens but consider themselves exempt from that
The only reason politicians pretend to listen to arguments like Microsoft is making is the money passing under the table. The only reason Microsoft needs to argue this point at all is to present the pretense that politicians are uninformed, as opposed to corrupt.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
its a problem with ANY group or individual that want to decide what's "best for you."
what's best for you never seems to be very good for them.
never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
so please let us hire more overseas. Please?
Pretty Please?
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
Wait, why do you think that Gates thinks he's exempt from being a responsible citizen?
I'm pretty sure he thinks he's doing a pretty good job. What with the fight to end malaria, the public library funding, and helping to put a pc in every home. Sure he's profited hansomly, and broke some rules along the way, but you can't say that he hasn't done some good.
(This coming from someone who detests microsoft products these days, and is writing this from Fedora).
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
who later explained that about 60% of Microsoft's workforce is in the U.S., yet it makes 68% of its profits overseas
Which is pretty much irrelevant when it comes to software. There is no need at all in software to match development costs to geographic locations. It's one of the beautiful things about being in that industry. That's why you can have a development team in India for a product that isn't even sold there and it still makes sense. It's not a tangible good you export.
Now if they cannot get the right talent for the right price domestically then sure they might have to look elsewhere but frankly I doubt that is really the core problem for Microsoft. If they are having trouble getting good talent I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that people are well aware they have a pretty toxic corporate culture where everyone has to have their knives out at all times and so much of the best talent decides to work elsewhere. Microsoft is just not an attractive place to work compared with Apple or Google or some of the other top IT firms.
It's also a little disingenuous to claim you need cheaper talent when you have net profit margins well above 20%. Microsoft's problems are not rooted in their cost structure but in their revenue streams. Their problems are that their key revenue streams (Windows and Office) are tied to tightly to the PC market and they haven't been able to translate them very well to the mobile market. They spent so many years trying to maximize their monopoly on the PC they they found it difficult to acknowledge that mobile devices have different requirements and to relax their grip so that they could grow. Microsoft saw the opportunity in mobile 10-15 years ago but kept trying to cram a PC into a mobile device with predictably bad results.
He's one of the richest men in teh world. A 1% of a 1%. There are no liberals like Gates, or conservatives for that matter. When you're standing in the rarefied atmosphere atop the layer cake, you're political ideology is bent to maintain your position.
Robber barons usually do try to leave a legacy that doesn't make them look like horrific monsters, but that doesn't change the fact that they are robber barons.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
If you incorrectly believe that _everyone_ pays the US 35% corporate tax sure, the US has the highest corporate tax rate. You would have to be extremely ignorant or gullible to believe that anyone pays the base rate. 70,000 pages of tax code are currently ensuring that anyone that can afford an a loophole has a loophole.
If we had any legitimacy in the Government, I would expect the Government to be asking why Microsoft just terminated 18,000 employees (including no-competes preventing their hire at MS or anywhere else) and is now requesting 1,000 more foreign workers.
For those that claim that H1Bs have nothing to do with wages, I'd ask the same exact question.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Implying that "doing good" and "making money" are mutually exclusive... I believe this to be a false assumption.
If you don't let me not employ Americans in America, then I'm going to go not employ them outside of America!
Then why bother capitulating to them?
oh bullshit.
-bullshit, if your school doesn't have differentiated curriculum, it sucks, not common core
-bullshit, exploring how math concepts evolved is not that same as "going back to"; "showing your work" has been a part of education forever
-bullshit, the only people introducing politics are ones like you (who tend to introduce politics or religion into anything they don't like or understand)
-epic bullshit, doesn't merit a response
-bullshit, the Texas school board does this
I lived through New Math decades ago enduring binary, octal, and hexadecimal in 3rd grade, so I have every right to be skeptical of CC. I find it a vast improvement over what was there, but I recognize the consternation of parents who suddenly realize their snowflakes aren't quite so precious.
Gates has nothing to do with Microsoft cash handling and has not since a long time. Public companies are driven by director board who seek the maximum returns for share holders, using whatever legal means it take. And as there is legal loopholes allowing big companies to shuffle cash around, the accounting use it to maximize profits.
Most large tech businesses are following this strategy.They are just responding to our illogical tax and immigration policies. The US can compete, or try to be a self-sufficient island. Like it or not: Workers compete for jobs. Businesses compete for customers. Governments compete for businesses. All three compete for capital.
COE
Come on Microsoft, stop the horseshit and just hire workers from within the US. You fucksticks have had it your way too long.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Does it matter? Malaria researchers are getting more money from him than anyone else, regardless of his motives. If there are people who genuinely care more about malaria, they sure as hell aren't even close to keeping pace with this "false" philanthropist. Given that, maybe more people should be greedy pigs, motivated only to increase personal wealth. The world might be a better place for it. Perhaps you could put up a few $billion to prove him wrong?
I'm fine with H1B sponsorship, so long as a company can show they put an equal about of time, money and resources into college hire and training programs. When I first started programming it was very common for me to see programming interns and college hires. I consult with many mid and large companies, and I haven't seen a programming intern in 7 years. I've seen two college hires in that time as well. At some point in the 2000s some bone headed bean counter figured they could pay an H1B about the same as a college hire. If that's the case, hire the "experienced" resource. The problem is that created a devastating hole in Junior level programmers for almost a decade. Now companies are finally starting to hire college folks again they want to increase the H1B levels again, and repeat the cycle over again.
Semantics. "How math is taught is completely up to each school." - This is the talking point of common core defenders. "It's not a curriculum, it's a standard." But of course to meet this standard you need a supporting curriculum generated by Pearson or McGraw-Hill. So, while it's not technically a curriculum, it is a curriculum by any practical measure.
I'm no tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorist, and the basic idea of a "core" standard sounds good, but the implementation is classically bad big government screw up. The big text book/curriculum companies have this bought and paid for and the product they are selling is garbage. Most of the stuff my kid has brought home has just been very poor quality, and often politically biased. It is yet another attempt to reinvent the wheel. I sat and listened to school administrators talk about how things change and evolve and the cell phone we use today doesn't look like the dial phone we used as kids....BS. 4th grade math is (or should be) exactly the same in 2014 as it was in 1940 or 1960 or 1980. But that doesn't sell too many new text books does it?
Standing alone sure, but the comment was not standing on its own. The comment was about Bill Gates who is a known liar (See the US vs. Microsoft Antitrust cases for easy to validate examples) and made his fortune on thievery, manipulation, and lies. Ignoring known immoral behavior in determining someone's "character" would be asinine correct?
To further believe that an obvious narcissist would do anything for purely altruistic purposes is also asinine correct?
So the statement that was made does not equate to your gross oversimplification. The statement made was that roughly that "Bill Gates is not altruistic and/or of high moral character".
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.