Good 'ol Bill claims that there aren't enough talent programmers in the States so he needs more than 65,000 foreign workers. I find that hard to believe as I can't go a day with out seeing something on the internet about software engineers with no jobs or offshoring etc etc. It obviously comes down to cost. Offshoring is cheaper. Maybe because they work for less, or maybe American programmers demand too much. I don't know the answer.
Do I want them to ignore their own products? No.
In the past physical products were cheaper to get from other locations because they were more abundant there or didn't exist where you were, i.e. silk, spice, cotton whatever.
Software development doesn't have those geographical advantages/disadvantages. It doesn't need to grow in a certain climate or be siphoned out of the ground where a bunch of dinosaurs used to live. If it can be made in texas just as easily as it can be in India/china/mars why not get it from texas (assuming you're in the states). Again, cost is the biggest factor.
Needing more employees is one thing, but going off shore to get them because "We're just not seeing an available labor pool" is crap
I'm excited that the PS3 is going to be backwards compatible, because I have a ps2 now and I still play Tony Hawk 2 and FFVII which are both ps1 games. I always wanted an Xbox, pretty much only for Halo, but being in college didn't have cash to throw away for both, so I chose ps2 so I could play my ps1 games still. So why now that I have a job would I even bother buying anything xbox knowing that the games that are backwards compatable are limited and I would need to re-buy games I loved or keep my old xbox around. I certainly don't have my ps1 anymore.
Who here is really surprised that xbox 360 isn't completely backwards compatible? If people will dish out $400 for a system, they WILL rebuy games so they can play them on their new system, ergo MS makes more money. Coincidence? No young padawan, the dark side it is. Why would MS make it cheaper for you? That certainly doesn't benefit them.
Last I heard there might be a system in place to download games with the xbox 360 right? I might be wrong, but lets say there is. You pay $50 for xbox live right? Wouldn't you pay $100 if you got to play or download re-released games? Or say $5 per game you download? Not that those numbers are accurate or anything, it is the idea that is important. MS knows that if you have something expensive, you'll shell out $$ to get more use of it.
Does anyone remember Gates complaining about not being able to hire enough foreign workers? I'm an American software engineer, and personally I'd rather work for a company that is hiring bright American minds rather than on that is lobbying to be able to bring more foreign bright minds to take my job.
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Good 'ol Bill claims that there aren't enough talent programmers in the States so he needs more than 65,000 foreign workers. I find that hard to believe as I can't go a day with out seeing something on the internet about software engineers with no jobs or offshoring etc etc. It obviously comes down to cost. Offshoring is cheaper. Maybe because they work for less, or maybe American programmers demand too much. I don't know the answer.
Do I want them to ignore their own products? No.
In the past physical products were cheaper to get from other locations because they were more abundant there or didn't exist where you were, i.e. silk, spice, cotton whatever.
Software development doesn't have those geographical advantages/disadvantages. It doesn't need to grow in a certain climate or be siphoned out of the ground where a bunch of dinosaurs used to live. If it can be made in texas just as easily as it can be in India/china/mars why not get it from texas (assuming you're in the states). Again, cost is the biggest factor.
Needing more employees is one thing, but going off shore to get them because "We're just not seeing an available labor pool" is crap
I'm excited that the PS3 is going to be backwards compatible, because I have a ps2 now and I still play Tony Hawk 2 and FFVII which are both ps1 games. I always wanted an Xbox, pretty much only for Halo, but being in college didn't have cash to throw away for both, so I chose ps2 so I could play my ps1 games still. So why now that I have a job would I even bother buying anything xbox knowing that the games that are backwards compatable are limited and I would need to re-buy games I loved or keep my old xbox around. I certainly don't have my ps1 anymore.
Who here is really surprised that xbox 360 isn't completely backwards compatible? If people will dish out $400 for a system, they WILL rebuy games so they can play them on their new system, ergo MS makes more money. Coincidence? No young padawan, the dark side it is. Why would MS make it cheaper for you? That certainly doesn't benefit them.
Last I heard there might be a system in place to download games with the xbox 360 right? I might be wrong, but lets say there is. You pay $50 for xbox live right? Wouldn't you pay $100 if you got to play or download re-released games? Or say $5 per game you download? Not that those numbers are accurate or anything, it is the idea that is important. MS knows that if you have something expensive, you'll shell out $$ to get more use of it.
Does anyone remember Gates complaining about not being able to hire enough foreign workers? I'm an American software engineer, and personally I'd rather work for a company that is hiring bright American minds rather than on that is lobbying to be able to bring more foreign bright minds to take my job.