Posted on 07/21/2009 12:45:38 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BANGALORE (Reuters) -
At Microsoft's research center in a leafy lane in India's tech capital, a new generation of researchers are being groomed half a world away from the software giant's sprawling headquarters in Seattle.
Complete with beanbags and coffee served in steel tumblers, the center is helping change the perception that India is no place for top-end research and development.
Staffed with about 60 full-time researchers, many of them Indians with PhDs from top universities in the United States, the center is at the cutting edge of Microsoft's R&D. It covers seven areas of research including mobility and cryptography.
Its success, including developing a popular tool for Microsoft's new search engine Bing, underscores the potential of R&D in India at a time when cost-conscious firms are keen to offshore to save money by using talented researchers abroad.
Showing off the Bing tool which enables searches for locations with incomplete or even incorrect addresses, B. Ashok, a director of a research unit at the center, said the innovation would never have taken root if the R&D had been done in the United States.
"It was completely inspired by the Indian environment, but is applicable worldwide," he said.
While India might seem like a natural location to expand offshoring into R&D, it is hampered by some serious structural problems that range from not enough home grown researchers to a lack of government support.
India produces about 300,000 computer science graduates a year. Yet it produces only about 100 computer science PhDs, a small fraction of the 1,500-2,000 that get awarded in the United States, or China, every year.
(Excerpt) Read more at tech.yahoo.com ...
Another great thing about India is EVERYONE is named Bob, Tom, or John.
India needs to write a “thank you note” to the obamanation... he’s done a lot for them...
A lot of R&D work on the Intel Centrino line of processors was done in India.
If you have an R&D dept or medical office full of Indian PhDs and MDs, thank a teacher’s union. Most American students are so poorly educated and unmotivated that the US has to import scientists from India and China. University and Research labs are FULL of them. We simply cant find enough well educated Americans to fill the positions. They are too busy learning how to put condoms on bananas or learning to celebrate gayness.
The anti-American outsourcing continues....there are plenty of Americans willing and able to perform the same work.
If companies are unable to pay competitive American wages....let them go under.
>> Another great thing about India is EVERYONE is named Bob, Tom, or John.
And on the telephone support line, they speak english with a pleasant, lyrical, lilting tone.
It’s quite soothing to the ear. What would make it really cool is if I could understand what they were saying.
What would be really REALLY cool is if they knew what they were talking about.
I am most very pleased to be telling you that my name is Joe…
Somebody's a glass-half empty guy.
>> Somebody’s a glass-half empty guy.
Yeah, guilty. I realize I’m overly demanding, expecting support from a support line. I’m taking aggression management classes to try and get better.
touche’ algernonpj
The 80’s: We need technical people who understand the business. No more backroom programmers. We want people who can dialogue with the customers without confusing them.
The 21st century: Shoot, I don’t care if they even speak English. Just get it done cheap.
India is not a joke. This is the rise of a middle class in India, and they are lean and hungry.
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