__/ [Ian Hilliard] on Sunday 11 December 2005 18:32 \__
> On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 11:36:27 +0100, Roy Culley wrote:
>
>>
<http://news.com.com/Prize+in+Indian+talent+search+A+year+on+Bill+Gatess+team/2100-1001_3-5990123.html?tag=nefd.top>
>>
>> BANGALORE, India --- Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft,
>> announced a contest Friday to identify promising software students
>> in India, offering as top prize an internship with his technical
>> team for a year.
>>
>> Now I wonder what the contest will be called?
>>
>> Addressing 5,000 developers gathered at the Palace Grounds here
>> Friday, Mr. Gates said the nationwide talent hunt, called
>> "Code4Bill," would offer the winner an opportunity to study
>> Microsoft's product development and innovations.
>>
>> Code4Bill! MS innovations! I didn't realise Bill was a stand up
>> comic. :-)
>
> Quite likely the plan is to stop the best and brightest from going over
> to OSS. On the other hand, I'm working with a lot of Indians on my current
> project. These people don't really want to go to the USA any more. The
> cost of living is high and they don't get paid all that well, being
> Indians. They also know that they can get thrown out the country at a few
> day's notice.
>
> Chances are that Bill will get some takers, but probably not the best and
> brightest.
>
> Ian
I spotted the following in the KDE Web site this morning:
http://dot.kde.org/1134244310/ ( KDE India Founded )
My initial thought: "all right, hordes of enthusiasts contributing to FOSS
and deploying it all in businesses where software cost is a matter of
business survival."
Despite the timestamp, it only appeared last night. If you take a glimpse at
kde-look.org, you'll see that India contributes a lot to KDE already.
Ultimately, where cheap software is needed the most, more passion will be
put into it. Everyone benefits.
If the card are played right, 4999 disappointed and bitter programmers will
cross over the the bright side.
Roy
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