All hail the god, "business". I don't think so. David Phillips wrote: >Sam MacDonald writes: > > >>The problem I see in all these browser based tools. The fact that the >>administration can be done in India or Brazil at 1/3 the cost of US >>workers. The tools make it so easy to administer servers that an >>untrained person can do the work. >> >> > >That argument is ridiculous. Why do I want to do a job that an untrained >monkey can do? I don't. If my job is so simple that it can be replaced by >a better piece of software and a monkey, then I'm worthless. I deserve to >get replaced. When that day comes, it's time to do something else. > >Suppose I'm a system administrator and have a task to do every day that >takes me an hour. If I write a program to do that job for me, does that >make me less valuable? No, it makes me more valuable. That means I now >have an extra hour a day to do things that make my company money. Not >writing the program is wasting my company money, assuming the amount of time >it takes to write the program is reasonable. > >Jobs get sent out of country because no one here wants to do them. Very few >people want to stand in a factory all day and do the exact same repetitive >task. Those jobs are either replaced by a machine or given to a foreigner. > >Don't be upset because your job was to push a button, and we found a way to >eliminate the button or get someone cheaper to push it. > > > >>All these companies need to do social impact studies before they >>decide to write software. >> >> > >Better technology will always put people out of work temporarily. That >doesn't mean we shouldn't create the technology. It enables far more jobs >in the future. What if computers weren't created because it put typists out >of work? > >My job consists of solving problems by writing software. There are three >scenarios that would force me to do something else: > >- No one needs new software or needs existing software to be modified >- Cheaper people can do the same job as me >- Computers can program themselves > >As long as computers exist, there will always be a demand for new software >to be created and for existing software to be modified. > >I don't just write software. I solve problems. There are a number of >steps: understanding a problem, talking to the right people, engineering a >design, writing the software, testing the software, deploying the software, >etc. Software also has to be maintained and modified. Software must meet >business requirements, be secure and be robust. These things don't happen >by accident, and they don't get any cheaper by sending them outside the >office, much less outside the country. > >Programming requires creativity, which is a part of sentience. As soon as >computers have that, the game is over. Having to find a new line of work >will be the least of my worries. I don't know if that day will be good or >bad, but it will certainly be interesting. > > > _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list