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Welcome to the world of the Global Economy, where the economic arguments in favour of no trade barriers and ease of movement of jobs, staff, and products overwhelmingly convince Top Management of their benefit; but which turn normal citizens into a simple resource, unworthy of further consideration. Where elected governments have to bow to the pressures of unelected (by the people) international merchants, or else find their country attracts no investment. Where any desire to protect one's country's citizen's interest is frowned upon as attempting to reduce the potential wealth that the multinationals can attract.

In any equitable solution there is usually an element of balance. But if one side is powerful enough to force though their own interests then the, "this is good we need it everywhere at any cost", argument tends to hold sway.

@AC 15:47 and @ the article

AC 15:47 - I agree. But not in such a fundamentatist way. The reduction of trade barriers means that the work can easily flow to the cheapest place, or (as we have seen at places like JCB) pressure and threats can reduce the cost of labour where the jobs ~currently~ are. There are few barriers to this behaviour and while it creates opportunities for some, it creates disadvantages for others.

@ the article... Apple's Leopard OS is reaping the benefits .. really? with Apple's giant 6% of the dektop and 4% of the laptop market? Making around 5% of the overall 'PC' market, that's not exactly ''reaping''. That's not to say it isn't better than Vista....

Watch out for Dell in the UK too..

Given the way things are going for Dell, there's a strong possibility that they could also close their UK facilities too. They have centres in Glasgow (employs 810) and Bracknell (employs 1410). A review is currently taking place and is expected to be completed in 6 months!

Glasgow is unlikely to close as it only opened in 2005 and closure would result in the requirement to repay a load of grant aid.

Bracknell however, is expensive to run and it could be a fairly big hit to the local area if it closes.

The PC industry simply isn't viable at UK or Irish (or US or Western European) wage levels anymore. They're a generic product that is simply churned out at the cheapest price. That kind of large scale electronics manufacturing will go east.

@ The Irish Penguin

Yes, that's true. But 'up 61%' took them from 4% of the market to 6%. So while it looks like a great number, they're still way down there. And let's not forget that their 'desktop' products were cannibalised somewhat, which is why their overall market share is around 5% and holding.

I'd say that if anything is 'reaping benefits' it's Linux.

Skilled workers and degrees

As more people move to degree level educational institutions there is, it seems, an inevitable decline in the overall quality of the graduates. Many degree programs in Canada now produce "graduates" who would not have managed to pass twenty or thirty years ago. The programs that seem to suffer the most from this degradation in the quality of the graduates are those that require, or did in the past require, a strong math/science background; especially true in the computer science field.

Ireland would do itself a huge favour by not allowing their Universities to succumb to the everyone needs a degree so we'll just change the course material so that everyone can pass mentality.

Now, as a master of stating the obvious, the problem with a weakened curriculum is that those one supposes can do the job they were employed to do either take much longer, produce lower quality work, or simply cannot do the job. High-tech employers are now leaving Canada to find University graduates with the skills to do the job at hand, not to pay lower wages. Some are moving to America, because even with their, overall, low standard of primary and secondary they are still able to produce many quality university graduates.

Good Luck to Ireland. Don't succumb.