Thread: Microsoft opens office in Vancouver to get more cheap labor

Good riddance -- Gates wanted the H-1B cap raised to 300,000!
In Canada, they can import lots of cheap foreign workers without having to deal with H-1B visas. Too bad for Canadian citizens in tech fields.

Interesting how the article ends with propaganda from the cheap labor lobby.

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From Information Week:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/sho ... =200900554


Microsoft Looks To Dodge Visa Limits With Canadian Software Center

The company says the new center will allow it to "recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S." and station them near its Washington headquarters.

By Paul McDougall, InformationWeek
July 5, 2007
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/sh ... =200900554

Among the more vocal advocates for the defunct immigration reform bill was software maker Microsoft. The company, led by chairman Bill Gates, has long argued that the U.S. needs to raise caps on the number of visas it grants each year to foreign high-tech workers.

The immigration bill would have doubled the number of so-called H-1B visas, but it died in the Senate last week. Now, Microsoft appears to be taking a different tack.

The company on Thursday said it would open a new software development center in Canada this fall and stock it with "highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S." Microsoft said it plans to open the center in the vicinity of Vancouver, B.C. -- about a two-hour drive from its Redmond, Wash., headquarters.

Only a handful of other, major Microsoft software development facilities -- in Ireland, Denmark, and Israel -- are located outside the U.S. Microsoft maintains an office in Toronto primarily to oversee Canadian sales and marketing efforts.

Microsoft did not disclose how much it expects to invest in the Vancouver site. A company spokesman said the facility will initially house 200 workers, "with room to grow." The spokesman said the Vancouver workers would likely develop software for the full range of Microsoft's products.

Microsoft in a statement said the Vancouver center would attract workers "from all parts of the world."

"The Vancouver area is a global gateway with a diverse population, is close to Microsoft's corporate offices in Redmond, and allows the company to recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S.," Microsoft said.

Virtually all major U.S. tech firms have been pushing for a relaxation of limits on the number of foreign high-tech workers allowed into the country, arguing that the U.S. faces a shortage of such individuals. Conversely, worker groups such as the Programmers Guild claim that no such shortage exists and say tech vendors simply want to import cheap labor.

Microsoft's spokesman said the timing of Thursday's announcement is not directly related to last week's demise in the Senate of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, which would have roughly doubled the current 65,000 H-1B visa cap. "It's not a direct response, but we're being upfront about the fact that immigration issues factored into the decision," said the spokesman.

With a software center in Vancouver, Microsoft could bring programmers from India and other low-cost countries to North America and place them within a two-hour drive of Redmond without having to obtain H-1B visas for them, assuming the workers could obtain Canadian employment authorization. It would also offer a place for Microsoft to station foreign workers already in the U.S. whose visas are close to expiration.

Microsoft's spokesman said the Vancouver center would be staffed with "a mix" of Canadian-born workers and workers from other countries.

In March, Gates told the Senate that he would like to see the H-1B visa cap eventually increased to 300,000. But with no cap raise imminent, Microsoft is looking north. The big question: will other U.S. tech giants follow suit?

Too bad linux didn't have greater support to compete with MS, but for now im not buying their new Vista platform or any other microsoft product

Originally Posted by Reciprocity

Too bad linux didn't have greater support to compete with MS, but for now im not buying their new Vista platform or any other microsoft product

My sentiments exactly! I just wish it were possible to not use ANY Microsoft products. How greedy can one be? Gates is already filthy rich and has more money than he could ever spend in a lifetime. He should be ashamed of himself. That's 200+ jobs Americans could have.

That's 200+ jobs Americans could have

YES THEY COULD...BUT THEY WOULDN'T.

MICROSOFT LEAVING DOES NOT AFFECT US SINCE THEY WERE NOT HIRING AMERICAN WORKERS ANYWAY....NO LOSS TO US.


AND WE DONT HAVE TO PAY FOR THE HEALTH CARE AND FAMILY MEMBERS IF THEIR EMPLOYEES. LET CANADA SUPPORT THEM

IT WONT LAST LONG ANYWAY BEFORE THE CANDIANS START SQUAWKING ABOUT IT. THEY CAN SEE WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN...THEY LEARNED FROM US.

There is a new OS making a bit of a buzz in the market right now called Ubuntu, dell computers as well as HP is offering it as an alternative to windows. Interesting stuff.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

FYI... I found this on /. (slash dot) in a forum posted by someone who claims to be a former MSFTie (former employee of microsoft).
He stated that MS was simply opening a new campus in Canada for building games on the xbox. There is a large talent pool in the area that they are building and instead of importing them all into WA they decided to build a campus there for this operation.

Having said that, I think too this is nothing more than an opportunity for MS to screw Canadians just as much as they have screwed Americans.

Originally Posted by Dagmar

FYI... I found this on /. (slash dot) in a forum posted by someone who claims to be a former MSFTie (former employee of microsoft).
He stated that MS was simply opening a new campus in Canada for building games on the xbox. There is a large talent pool in the area that they are building and instead of importing them all into WA they decided to build a campus there for this operation.

Having said that, I think too this is nothing more than an opportunity for MS to screw Canadians just as much as they have screwed Americans.

I heard yesterday that there are problems with the MS xbox...I hope so for little bill's sake.

If any of you have an older computer, you have nothing to lose by trying Linux. I have a dual boot machine and have tried several "flavors" of Linux including Ubuntu and Mepis. I'm using Linux Mint right now.
Anything you can do with Windows can be done in Linux with alot less effort and without the constant patches and upgrades. Give it a try!

Originally Posted by WesternMA

If any of you have an older computer, you have nothing to lose by trying Linux. I have a dual boot machine and have tried several "flavors" of Linux including Ubuntu and Mepis. I'm using Linux Mint right now.
Anything you can do with Windows can be done in Linux with alot less effort and without the constant patches and upgrades. Give it a try!

One of my Towers in now Windows free, i installed Ubuntu and it works fine, here's a Vid on some of Ubuntu's capabilities

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYsxaMyF ... ed&search=

Originally Posted by Reciprocity

There is a new OS making a bit of a buzz in the market right now called Ubuntu, dell computers as well as HP is offering it as an alternative to windows. Interesting stuff.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Ubuntu is a flavor of Linux. we switched totally over to Linux about 5 or 6 years ago. it works great! it is no longer the operating system for geeks, it has gone main stream. everyone should look into it.