[PLUG] Requium for HB 2802

Dylan Reinhardt plug at dylanreinhardt.com
Wed May 28 21:05:02 UTC 2003


Ed Sawicki <ed at alcpress.com> wrote:
> The specific group
> of people being harmed are those people who have strong
> technical skills but now have difficulty finding work
> because technical knowledge and technical excellence is
> no longer in high demand. 

[ snip ]

> Many American companies that need these skills in
> their workers have to hire foreign nationals who still
> know the stuff because their schools and Universities
> can't afford the cutting-edge technologies.

It's an odd situation, isn't it?  Linux gurus at every corner with "will
grep for food" signs and yet American companies act as though they can't
find qualified tech workers without going outside our borders.

I've had a chance to hear both sides of this seeming paradox.  There is
simultaneously a shortage of work and a shortage of talented workers. 
It's weird, really.

Again, I feel the best explanation is that much of the the open source
talent pool simply isn't offering what the market is looking for. 

The market is not looking for free (as in freedom) nor free (as in
beer).  The market is looking for easy (as in to use) and familiar (as
in brand names). Technical excellence will not carry the day... stronger
focus on human factors in communications and product design will.  

If the state government needs HB 2802 / SB 589 to evaluate software
intelligently, so be it.  I suppose it takes laws to do just about
anything in state government.

But the larger prize of Northwest business IT dollars will not be won by
activism, legislation, nor by technical distinction.  Business (and
jobs) will come around to open source only when we have begun to
communicate clearly and become more focused on effective marketing.

The ball's in our court, really.

Dylan





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