Comments

• Dr. Roy Schestowitz

  2010-08-09 17:43:55

  Microsoft seems to have deflected the H1B issue from themselves at the expense of their contractor. Microsoft is the biggest H1B employer in the US, constrained only by their share of the number H1Bs that the US will issue. Every year Bill Gates and other softies insult the US workforce by calling US education “inadequate” in order to raise the number of H1Bs that can be issued.

  
  
  An unfortunate outcome of this is that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. By refusing to hire those “inadequate” computer scientists in the United States, Gates et al. depress desire for people to study computer science.
  
  If Microsoft wants inexpensive workforce on a short leash, then it ought to just say so.

• twitter

  2010-08-09 17:35:05

  Microsoft seems to have deflected the H1B issue from themselves at the expense of their contractor. Microsoft is the biggest H1B employer in the US, constrained only by their share of the number H1Bs that the US will issue. Every year Bill Gates and other softies insult the US workforce by calling US education "inadequate" in order to raise the number of H1Bs that can be issued. It's so bad that about 33% of their Puget Sound workforce are exploited foreigners. Yet this new bill passes US outrage onto contractors like Infosys that do the dirty work of recruiting and policing the work force. Behold the downside of working with Microsoft, partners are always treated as sacrificial pawns and one night stands. If Infosys tries to pass on the costs to Microsoft, Microsoft will find someone else to do the job.
  
  The H1B program is an injustice and is the opposite of what a good immigration policy should be. H1B workers have little choice but to take whatever deal is offered to them. If they are fired, they have to find a new job in two weeks or be deported. Companies that use them are only interested in getting the job done at slave labor prices, so valuable experience is passed onto foreigners instead of US employees and everyone's wages are cut. It is a brain drain in reverse. Good immigration policy puts people with valuable skills where they can be productive without undercutting the rights of existing citizens. Everyone is paid what they are worth and the economy grows in ways it should.
  
  We should not be surprised that Microsoft influenced immigration policy is so bad. Microsoft's business is built on the injustice of non free software, screwing the users for the benefit of the company. A company that screws its customers will also screw investors and employees.