[Search-l] Short interview with Jeremie Miller

[John McCormac]

Terry Jones wrote:
>>>>>>"John" == John McCormac <jmcc at hackwatch.com> writes:
> 
> John> Seth's point about Wikia programming jobs being outsourced to Poland
> John> is an important one. I wonder how American programmers feel about
> John> having their jobs "Open Sourced" to Poland in the name of Wikia's
> John> profit.  Despite all your happy clappy cheer leading Jer, that is a
> John> sad betrayal of American programmers by Wikia.
> 
> You're talking about positions that are (I gather) not yet filled. It's not
> as though a bunch of Americans are happily working for Wikia and are about
> to be made redundant by a sudden decision to outsource their jobs to
> Poland.  If what I've just written is accurate (I should know more about

I guess it was all this talk of Open Source and things being done for
the  good of humanity that triggered it Terry,
It is the gulf between the idea that all this search stuff is being done
for the betterment of the human condition and the reality of jobs being
outsourced because the same job can be done cheaper elsewhere just so
that Wikia and its investors can make a profit. I don't have any
objections to Open Source being used to make a profit. It would be
better if it was made clear how this venture intended to make a profit.

> In summary, I don't think those to-be-created jobs belong to Americans
> (i.e., are not "their jobs") in any sense, I don't see any betrayal, and I
> don't see anything at all sad.

Perhaps. But all the other major search engines seem to grow outwards,
starting small, hiring people locally and then expanding into other
markets and hiring people there. Wikiasearch seems to wrap itself in the
flag of Open Source and community while its primary objective is profit. 
It seems to want to use the work of the community of enthusiasts as 
unpaid sweatshop labour to make itself and its investors rich or richer. 
   The sad part is that the decision seems to have already been made and 
the (notional) American programmers hadn't even a chance.

A lot of people here in Europe would know people who have lost their 
jobs through outsourcing. It can be quite an emotive topic.

The ironic thing is that with the falling US Dollar and the rising Euro, 
the Polish programmers may turn out to be more expensive than American 
programmers. But that is business. My core objection is to the hypocrisy 
of claiming that this is all being done for the betterment of humanity 
when it is really just a business that intends to use the time, wisdom 
and expertise of the crowd for its own enrichment and, most importantly, 
for free. And those Polish programmers might, in turn, find themselves 
being replaced because Indian programmers could be even cheaper still to 
employ.

Regards...jmcc
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