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eWeek coverage spans the globe to bring you the latest on IT, and another report from international waters. And what a diverse world IT is: Executive Editor Stan Gibson traveled to Russoft Associations Russian Outsourcing & Software Summit in Moscow May 31 to June 2 and found that Russian developers take quite a different approach to outsourcing projects than that of their counterparts in India, where Gibson traveled in February.
Whereas Indian companies can be compliant to a fault, Russian companies are not afraid to speak their minds when tackling a project. After all, outsourcing companies are partners. “In Russia, the good news is that you have very creative and strong-willed people. And the bad news is that you have very creative and strong-willed people,” said Daniel Marovitz, chief technology officer at Deutsche Banks investment banking unit, in London. “In India, people want to say yes … that can create problems.”
More good news: Both styles get the job done. Though Russia is far behind India in software development revenues and still has to overcome obstacles in its education, political and business systems, Gibson reports that the country does boast some natural advantages, including a skilled programmer base and close proximity to western European countries.
Taking advantage of the current trend toward multisource outsourcing, CIOs may find it beneficial to move certain projects to different parts of the globe to meet the strengths of the local IT talent: a strategy that could turn the agony of defeat into the thrill of victory.
Closer to home, Microsoft will descend on Boston June 11-16 for its annual TechEd conference, where the company will announce several new or upgraded development platforms, including Windows Live and the Microsoft application platform, a back-office bundle of SQL Server, BizTalk Server and Visual Studio, report Microsoft Watch Editor Mary Jo Foley and eWeek Senior Editor Peter Galli.
Attendees also may see the second beta for WinFS, the advanced Windows file system technology that was pulled from Windows Vista and “Longhorn.” Meanwhile, company officials announced on June 5 that they have cut another feature from Vista, PC-to-PC synchronization, due to quality concerns.
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