Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] .NET on the Mac and BSD

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

[snip]

On Wed, 13 Nov 2002, Mike Miller wrote:

> My programmer's opinion is that Microsoft is *not* doing this
> work in India because they want to destroy Linux.  They are
> doing it because they want cheap Indian labor -- programmers who
> will pump out the code at very low cost.  The brains back here
> in the US will plan/design/organize projects, but the coding
> will be done on the cheap with Indian workers. This is already
> largely how things are working, or so says my programmer.

Microsoft is not alone in doing this; I was told that IBM has sent
some of its projects that are in "maintenance mode" (e.g., AFS) to
India as well.  I still find the whole scenario fairly curious.  
Most industries that move "production" overseas are those where
margins are slim and where competition is intense.  MS is notable
for having almost absurdly high margins and little competition in
their most profitable niches.  In other words, MS is the kind of
company that will stand the least to gain from this kind of move in
the current environment.  MS is ruthless, of course, so this might
just be a case of squeezing every dollar of profit out, but I wonder
whether it is a sign that they are seeing the the tunnel ahead,
(rather than the light at the end of the tunnel) where it's hard to
see how they can possibly maintain either earnings or revenue growth
from their traditional markets.  Realistically, they had to come to 
a point where they would run out of steam in this way; maybe they 
are planning ahead for a world where Windows won't be a sure sale at 
a high price anymore.

jking

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