WTF Moment: Bill Gates on the economy

I want to preface this article with some comments by a manager at Microsoft Redmond on his visit to the Microsoft India Campuses.

"... huge concern is about quality of hires at IDC. I see pathetic hires walking into the product teams. The PUM/GM put a lot of pressure on HR and they end up fast tracking the hiring process. On top of that, you always have internal poaching which is very unhealthy. While quality of hiring at Microsoft India IDC may be bad, the new hires in MS SMSG India is even worse. The interview process does not even exist, exit interviews dont exist, people get into jobs that are way above their abilities or interest and we have Neelam Dhawan to inspire people to join Microsoft. "

So in other words when it comes to Americans, Microsoft has to grill it's new hires and there is not enough talent in the USA to fill their positions. Yet, where the labor is cheap (India) Microsoft doesn't care who they hire.

He goes on to state:

"...meanwhile, a few exceptions aside, the quality of the work is abysmal. Components that came back to Redmond had to be completely rewritten. ...There is a serious lack of thought leadership in this group [India Complex]." Part of me thinks this is a cultural issue; generally India does not innovate; they follow instruction (and sometimes very badly; I've seen corrections get rolled back because they want to do things how they have always done when its clearly wrong); and if it's a cultural issue then it will not be solved by having people from that culture in charge; that simply reinforces the problem. "

Isn’t this where much of the .NET framework and Visual Studio is developed? As a matter of fact I believe the individual in the pictures is the senior programmer working on Linq and Microsoft's data access strategy in Visual Studio 2010.

You can read the full post here http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2008/05/whats-up-with-microsoft-india.html

There are numerous reasons why his comments are important and raises red flags, but for Bill Gates to speak on Wednesday to CNN’S Wolf Blitzer and whine about the America economy left me speechless, when Bill Gates and Microsoft is a huge part of the current economic problem. Bill Gates - Microsoft has outsourced thousands of jobs to India and China. These jobs include management, programming, and customer service positions. Furthermore, Bill Gates has continued to lobby congress to increase the amount of HB-1 visas companies are allowed, this action allows foreigners to come to the USA to fill American jobs. Soma is proud of the fact he was largely responsible for moving a portion of Microsoft’s research and development programming group from America to India.

We need to also consider the ripple affect of outsourcing; Indians not American's built these large campuses. Bill talks about education, what about the city and state tax revenue that could have went to education that are lost because his new campuses are in India not the USA! The list just goes on and on and on ....

Not only is Bill responsible for the exportation of thousands of jobs, by killing Visual Basic and Visual FoxPro Microsoft has literally crippled two development communities costing additional jobs. Given Visual Studio’s high cost of ownership, Microsoft is draining funds from small and medium size businesses, money that could have been used to hire employees instead these Medium and Small businesses are feeding Microsoft’s shareholders returns.

Bill Gates begging for a “TAX-PAYER” based economic stimulus package is absurd when his actions and other CEO'S like Micheal Dell caused this problem. Bill you want a solution I will give you one: stop outsourcing, close your 54 acres India based campus(s) and move the jobs back to America. Then Microsoft can bring back Visual Basic and FoxPro so small and medium size business can be given the correct cost effective based solution for the their business technology needs. Bill quit being a problem and start being part of the solution and do us all a favor stop your whinning about something you caused! Actions speak louder then words and your actions speak volumes.

When you export a significant size of your workforce to where the “CHEAP LABOR” exists no one should question why America is in a recession. Is Bill really that stupid or does he simply think we are? The trickle down policy at Microsoft of spin and arrogance, apparently starts at the top.

Bill you want help the American economy why dont start by looking in the mirror, analyze your business decisions and their impact on the American economy!


GOD Bless America!
.Mark