Microsoft Outsourcing High-Level Work 660
philistine writes "The Seattle Times reports
A Seattle labor group said it has new evidence that Microsoft is shifting high-level work to foreign contractors, including work on the next version of Windows. The evidence is a cache of Microsoft contracts with Indian technology vendors that were leaked to the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, an AFL-CIO affiliate that has focused on outsourcing in its effort to organize tech workers."
A Seattle labor group said it has new evidence that Microsoft is shifting high-level work to foreign contractors, including work on the next version of Windows. The evidence is a cache of Microsoft contracts with Indian technology vendors that were leaked to the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, an AFL-CIO affiliate that has focused on outsourcing in its effort to organize tech workers."
More workers (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Come on! (Score:2, Interesting)
Dear slashdot editors, please remove this color scheme.
Thank you.
I don't understand this.... (Score:4, Interesting)
It's good for corporations to expect Open Source zealots to write it all for free.
Cheap software takes away more jobs than free software?
I thought the whole point of the OS movement was to make the programmer completely irrelevant.
Re:Outsourcing is evil.. (Score:1, Interesting)
Of course, the VP already got his bonus from all the money he "saved" outsourcing.
The Puzzling Reality (Score:4, Interesting)
Not a lot of these companies are hurting for cash. They outsource for more money. I wonder if people would support such companies if they knew where the workers were from. I mean sure, the consumer saves a buck or so because of the cheaper labor...but will they be willing to pay that extra buck knowing they're supporting a competing but an absolutely "Made in the (insert country here)" product?
Re:Come on! (Score:2, Interesting)
It's a pattern that repeats itself every time the "editors" dick around with the fucking productions servers like this was still their little blog running on a 486 under their desks instead of a "serious" site that sells subscriptions and advertising and is supposed to make money for a company.
Well, at least now they can't use the "you're more than welcome to ask for your money back" witty retort because some people (like you) actually pay for it. Hey, if anything you do have the right to complain - except that there is nowhere to do that. So I think you'll be modded down "offtopic" (or better yet, overrated) and put in one of their blacklists.
Welcome to Slashdot!
Re:Money is the heart of the matter (Score:3, Interesting)
Microsoft has no written obligation to hire only American workers, I'll agree. But there is a certain "nationalism" which one expects a company to have.
As for Texas, I can't imagine anyone voluntarily moving to Texas being labelled as "smart."
Re:Come on! (Score:2, Interesting)
You know that the entire system is open-source, right? Why not fix it yourself. Make Slashtod XHTML 1.x compliant (DTD of your choice) while you're at it, eh? Thanks a bunch.
Actually, this wouldn't make such a bad project if I didn't work 50 hours a week... Maybe we should do this.
At least Bubba Gump is Safe (Score:1, Interesting)
Now... (Score:1, Interesting)
I'd like to see that analyst, whoever it was, eat his words.
The United States should be using an open source platform developed in the United States and created for the United States.
Maybe some variant of *BSD?
Re:saying-good-bye-to-the-middle-class dept. (Score:3, Interesting)
I think the best that can said is, we don't know how it will play out. What good is a change that benefits consumers, if those consumers can't consume because they're out of work and have no money? Or to put it another way: When the Steel Belt died, retail in the Steel Belt died, too. It had to -- with no one working, who was going to buy?
Ironically, there is some evidence that companies like Wal-Mart -- which bring admittedly low prices, but through in part very low wages -- are being hoist on their own petard, as demand declines even for the bargains. Lit the other way: Henry Ford understood that his workers, paid well, would become some of his best customers.
Re:Come on! (Score:3, Interesting)
I haven't figured out why they thought Slashdot needed an "IT" category in the first place. Let's think this through... this is Slashdot, right? There's nothing on here that isn't IT-related! Even the Science articles usually have an IT slant.
"IT" is clearly a "default" category. In that case, call it "Main-2" or something. Otherwise, it just looks silly. Or should I say, IT just looks silly. Whatever, IT is driving me nuts. And I just paid up my subscription... I do have a right to bi^H^Hcomplain.
Did you notice that they saved the halfway-decent color scheme for the new Linux [slashdot.org] section?
Pardon me (Score:3, Interesting)
This is notable not because it went to India. That's where everything is going these days, which is good for them. They are really booming... And they need it too.
What is notable is that Microsoft is doing the exact thing that people touting MS have been saying about open source.
I want those people to eat their words now. What will they say is better about MS over open source solutions now? That we can't see their source code?
Re:Thank goodness RedHat is coded in America (Score:5, Interesting)
That being said I'm sure there are people just as bright in india as there are here. There are also
inexpensive codemonkeys in both countries and if window source is getting sourced to them it'll suck even more.
I don't understand... (Score:1, Interesting)
Without jobs, there are no consumers. So what the bloody hell are these economists talking about that I'm missing?
Re:Easy Fix to colour Schemes (Score:2, Interesting)
What I said above was just a variation, as many are commonly used
Re:Outsourcing is evil.. (Score:1, Interesting)
History repeats itself. (Score:2, Interesting)
What is the condition of the US auto industry today? Did they not outsource production? Do you think the Big Three gave the same reassurances that M$ and all the other companies are making? Shouldn't be to hard to find someone with that information. Do you think its easy to get a job with GM, Ford or Chrysler? Sorry, its not exactly easy even if you've got a family member thats been working with the company for 30 years. Unless you consider a lottery for who gets to put their family member on the list easy.
How about getting a nice job with a local company that does outsourced work down the street from a big three plant? Sorry, those are almost gone too..gone to where might you ask? Well, its not India but its close enough.
If you're going to complain about outsourcing, pay attention to it all across the board. Oh, you like your jetta? You don't like outsourcing to India? Perhaps you should reconsider your argument. I drive an american vehicle and it makes me angry that so much of it is manufactured overseas. But the big boys need their profit margin.
Oh, P.S. Don't start sputtering crap about how the prices go down (or stay down) from overseas manufacturing. The only thing that changes by shipping overseas is the profit margin for the folks on top.
Re:Maybe this is a good thing... (Score:3, Interesting)
To further increase profitability, why not offshore their highest paid employees, Steve and Bill?
First, let me say I've suggested offshoring highly paid executive jobs before. Also I do enjoy bashing Microsoft, and I have the troll points to prove it, but this is one thing I can't fault these two really rich guys for. Compared to CxOs of other large American companies, their salaries are paltry. The real reason their jobs should be outsourced is because they want to replace the workforce that made the company what it is today (while enjoying profit margins around 80%) to *save money*. Now, I'll get nailed by both sides. :)
Re:I want some of that you are smoking. (Score:3, Interesting)
Do you always start an argument with ridicule? Not a harbinger of honest motives, I would say.
What you are advocating is that we become a subsistence farmers society, or what, is our plot of land going to feed us in autopilot mode or what?
Why would a distribution of land to families lead to subsistence farming, pray tell? Would farming technology be any different than it is now, just because ownership has changed hands. There is no reason that the new owners cannot lease their lands to others if their want to. They just should not be allowed to sell it, as this would eventually lead to the same conditions of slavery that we see now, with the land in the hands of a few robber barons. The land should not be divided for a price. It should be an inheritance. Even the lease duration should be limited to, say forty years, so as to guaranteee the next generation an inheritance.
We can choses what we want to do for a living (horror of horrors, we have to work to obtain life necesities. Point us out to your golden age when this did not happen).
It makes no difference where you go. This is the genius of the new slave system. Whereever you go, you must work for someone else for a living and pay your taxes. True liberty is when you don't have to work for someone else if you so choose.
But somehow, in your dope induced haze we are slaves and the machines are out to get us.
You are worse than a slave. You are an ignorant slave, slaving away under the illusion of being free. I can't stand it when politicians try to get votes by promising jobs to the people. The threat of unemployment is precisely why you are slaves. They can hold the threat above your head as a way to motivate you to work for them, like the good little slave that you are.