The New York Times has an interesting interview with Shirish Netke, who helped develop Java and who now is chief strategy officer of Aztec Software. Two quotes of note:

1. “[T]here are two aspects of the ability to innovate. One is knowing the customer. I don’t think that can be taken away from the Americans. But creating a process by which they can cater to customer requirements – the systems, the engineering and the thinking – that can be outsourced to somebody else. It’s almost like saying that when you’re building a house, the architecture is something you have to take care of yourself. But the plumbing is something you can have somebody else do. They can do it more efficiently than you can.”

2. “In the 21st century, the half-life of an engineer is four or five years. What I learned in my final year of engineering school, my daughter learned in the seventh or eighth grade.”

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