Readers comment ... In your reply to "What's an American programmer to do?" you said, among other things, that maybe it's the Americans who want more money who are greedy. However, everything you said assumes an even playing field, and it's not even close! Have you ever been to the developing world? Do you know why they can charge a fraction of the price for IT services? There are many reason, and here are just Readers comment …In your reply to “What’s an American programmer to do?” you said, among other things, that maybe it’s the Americans who want more money who are greedy. However, everything you said assumes an even playing field, and it’s not even close! Have you ever been to the developing world? Do you know why they can charge a fraction of the price for IT services? There are many reason, and here are just a few: many live or work in government housing, they can purchase products and services at a fraction of what we pay (have you ever seen the price of drugs in India??), they do not adhere to similar tax laws, no OSHA, no EPA, forget about retirement benefits, they can join organizations like the ACM for $17 (I have to pay $99), and the list goes on. Obviously these are blanket statements and don’t apply equally everywhere, but I am just scratching the surface of the myriad differences between American IT professionals and those in many other countries. The playing field is nowhere near even.By the way, my employer recently sent some highly sensitive data to an Indian firm for processing. We have heard from colleagues that the Indians are trying to sell that data to them.It would seem that there are hidden costs to outsourcing our IT offshore. To sum up, the playing field is not even, and the costs are greater than they appear.Bob’s Last WordAnd an offshoring firm might complain, “Do you know the advantages American firms have? It isn’t even close to a level playing field. First of all, they’re located just down the street from their clients. They can take the decision-makers to play golf any time they want. Beyond that, there’s still a lot of cultural bias in the United States, and it’s a lot easier for a U.S.-based company to place people who know the culture in front of their clients than it is for us. “Not only that, but all the code, and the entire user interface for every application that runs in a U.S. company is written in English. For American programmers that’s their native language. For all of our staff it’s their second or third language, but it all still has to be written as if we were Americans. And speaking of language, Americans speak a wide variety of them. Have you ever tried to communicate with a New Yorker? They speak so fast it makes my ears hurt … and they’ve apparently never encountered the letter ‘R’, either.”Get the picture? It’s smart for companies to exploit their natural advantages over their competitors. That doesn’t mean the playing field is tilted. It means American companies … and individual programmers … had better wake up and start finding ways to exploit their own advantages, of which there are many if we only had the wit to use them.Regarding the misappropriated data … I imagine that’s a contract violation, and should result in the imposition of severe penalties. It also suggests that anyone signing a contract like this should include a provision for regular security audits. I’d say, though, that given the events of the past few years I wouldn’t think American companies are immune from engaging in similar unsavory business practices. – Bob ——– Technology Industry