HP expands open-source support

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Agreed; open source is not the worst problem

But when IT in general and the Unix side in particular are under such stress, any burden is magnified.

And in addition to the direct job losses, there are also ways in which open source contributes indirectly to attacks on employment.
Look at IBM. They replace their own paid with free programmers. That's both in Unix and in Linux development. Then they leverage open source to win bids to outsource IT. Total employment is going to sink afterwards; that's how IBM makes money.
So the problem is bigger than might first appear, though still not the major cause of salary reductions and jobs lost.

Also, Microsoft is not the best example of a company sending jobs overseas. They have sent some, but Ballmer has promised the most important jobs will stay in this country. He appreciates the value of close collaboration. Even if that's not going to help uptake of net meeting software.


Finally, on health care and pharmaceuticals, at least the jobs involving patient care can't be sent overseas, not without sending the patient.

And on the cost of prescriptions, there's been some trimming back of restrictions on producing generics. Also, with the lack of new drugs in the pipeline, the average prescription price will decline eventually.
The other good news is the start of a widespread system of comparing drug effectiveness. That means Doctors will know that if an older, cheaper drug does as well as or better than a newer drug, and they can save some money.
About the only other thing to be done is to assure Doctors don't benefit too much by prescribing particular drugs. Ethical as medical practitioners may or may not be, the temptation of a lot of money on the table should be avoided.

These things aren't enough, but they're positive.

Posted by: Anton Philidor   Posted on: 06/01/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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