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Steve,

Welcome to the new world - the one that is global.

Your narrow perspective is disappointing. I encourage you to read Thomas Friedman's book The World is Flat. IMHO, it is designed to educate people with the same perspective you have. If you get one thing out of the book, it would be that for every dollar invested in India - whether technology, jobs, infrastructure, etc - the returns TO the US are tenfold. With your inability to see beyond the borders of the US, your perspective can only be a detriment to the US of now and the future - the one that plays ~well~ in the global economy, and leads the way. Your narrow view would have the US as an economic follower - not the rightful place, according to recent history.

To add to that, your one-man personal view of the world does not sit well in regard to COMMON. Not being an active member, your view of COMMON is simply that of an outsider. The current incarnation of COMMON is a global user group. People come from all over the world to be educated, to be updated with the latest technologies, to talk to the leaders in the System i world. By your assessment, it would be best for COMMON to ignore these people. With someone like Rajan on the board, COMMON will have a first hand understanding of the new global economy, the place that System i has in that new global economy, and how COMMON can attract people from all over the world to attend conferences and be part of the user community.

I am disappointed in your narrowmindedness in this regard. A personal hot button of a non-active member should not have an impact on a vote for a board member. Slinging mud from the sidelines does nothing but stir the pot of ignorance (and by that I mean, lack of knowledge, not stupidity). Steve, if you want this to change, I encourage you to become an ACTIVE COMMON member, and if you think the board needs a change of direction, then run for a board seat. This would at least be a pro-active stance, and you would be someone who would be an activist for change and growth. At the same time, you would not be making personal attacks on a prospective board member who brings real System i and management experience to the table, and who appears committed to adding value to the board. I would hate to think your narrow perspective and personal attack would result in a the election of a nominee who is running for personal glory and has little to contribute.

I encourage you to read Thomas Friedman. I encourage you to become active in the COMMON community.

Yours,
Trevor
tperry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Landess" Subject: [CPF0000] The globalization of COMMON,or is this the right direction?


All -

I have not been to a COMMON conference in quite a while, but I had heard that the next conference is being held in Miami. As I was looking at COMMON's web site yesterday, I happened to click on the link that shows the candidates in the next board of directors election ( http://www.common.org/about/candidates.html ).

As I read the candidate's statements, I noticed that one candidate (Rajan Narayanan) is a senior VP for a company named Mindtree that promotes the outsourcing of work to India ( http://www.common.org/about/rajan.html ). That, of course, immediately pushed one of my hot buttons. This candidate apparently earns his salary by taking jobs from North Americans and giving them to workers in India. If this is not the case, I would surely like to see his employee list!

In fact, a quick visit to his employer's web page to view current job openings ( http://www.mindtree.com/crs/opngs.php ) confirmed what I already suspected - that Mindtree probably does NOT hire technical people in the United States! Of 73 positions being advertised, only ONE is in the USA - and it is for a "Manager of Business Development" in Schaumburg, Illinois.

It's no secret to anyone who subscribes to midrange-L or midrange-jobs how I feel about outsourcing American jobs overseas. Does anyone see anything wrong with the message that COMMON seems to be sending with this nomination?

COMMON purports to be an education provider, and it has programs designed to work with schools to bring young programmers into the midrange community. It even has a group calling itself the YIPS (Young iSeries Professionals). Ostensibly, this education is intended to benefit the iSeries community in North America. The last time I checked, COMMON was still based in Chicago, Illinois, and not in Bangalore, India.

I have heard that not many people vote for the board candidates because only those with individual memberships and the member representatives for a company are entitled to vote. It is my understanding that with people moving around in the industry and within their companies, COMMON has had trouble figuring out exactly who the member reps actually are.

If I am allowed a little conjecture here, a candidate with a large IT labor force could actually "buy" a seat on COMMON's board by telling his employees to purchase individual memberships and that the company would provide reimbursement. Also, the prospect that COMMON's membership list could then be available to an outsourcing firm really bothers me.

I am planning to buy a membership so that I can stand up for what I believe. If you also see a problem with COMMON's direction, I urge you to join COMMON and vote too.

By the way...I'm sure that Rajan appreciates IBM for their ongoing investment in India. See http://news.com.com/IBM+to+pour+6+billion+into+India/2100-1014_3-6080346.html?tag=st.ref.goo or http://tinyurl.com/eengr

On that note, I'm wondering why IBM doens't just pull up and move their headquarters to India! They could get rid of hundreds (or thousands) of overpaid executives in Armonk and Rochester and replace them with far cheaper workers in Bangalore...

Thanks for your time,
Steve Landess
Austin, Texas
(512) 423-0935


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