Outsourcing may reverse itself, experts believe
The export of white-collar jobs known as “offshoring” to such lower-cost countries as India, China and Russia may be a reversible trend that could ultimately benefit U.S. workers, the authors of a new book say.
By 2015, the United States could recapture a large amount of outsourced projects, they argue. That counters recent studies by technology research firms.
Roughly 830,000 U.S. service-sector jobs — ranging from telemarketers and accountants to software engineers and chief technology officers — will move abroad by the end of 2005, and 3.4 million additional jobs will leave over the next decade, forecasts Forrester Research Inc.
But Douglas Brown and Scott Wilson, authors of “The Black Book of Outsourcing,” say many executives they’ve interviewed are reconsidering offshoring because of the high price of fuel and airfare, management challenges, customer complaints and the increasing cost of labor in foreign technology hubs such as Bangalore, India, and a simultaneous lowering of some white-collar salaries in the United States.
By 2015, Brown and Wilson say, the United States will likely rank as the No. 3 destination for outsourced work, behind only China and India.
Internet Explorer share below 90 percent
Microsoft Corp.’s share of the U.S. browser market has slipped below 90 percent as the Firefox browser continues to grow in popularity, according to independent tracking by WebSideStory.
Firefox, an open-source browser collectively developed by the Internet community under the Mozilla Foundation, had a 6.8 percent share as of April 29, an increase from 3.0 percent since WebSideStory began tracking Firefox separately in October.
Other browsers based on the Mozilla code, including America Online Inc.’s Netscape, had a 2.2 percent share, while Microsoft’s Internet Explorer share was 89 percent, a drop from 95 percent in June.
Company tries to purge Web criticism
The developer of a spam-fighting service is trying to airbrush the Web, asking some Web sites to remove references to criticisms that it sent out spam two years ago.
Brian Cartmell, chief executive of Spam Arrest LLC, said the posts in question reflect past practices, but people who read them today might mistakenly believe the policies are current.
“Sometimes people cancel their subscriptions because they believe it’s some sort of ongoing practice,” Cartmell said.
Spam Arrest takes a challenge-response approach to fighting spam. When people send e-mail to a Spam Arrest customer for the first time, they get a message asking them to prove they are human by clicking on a link. The original e-mail then goes through.
In early 2003, Spam Arrest sent unsolicited marketing pitches to some of the people who had e-mailed Spam Arrest customers, prompting complaints on several Web sites and e-mail discussion lists that have been archived.