I am not sure if you have heard of digg's other co-founder Jay Adelson (http://www.spock.com/Jay-Adelson). Jay started Equinix, that does require some technical skill
He did farm out the work to a random person on ELance (for $2k), his name is Owen Byrne. But he's a Canadian I think, so maybe "nearshore" would be more accurate.
Nearshore is also wrong because there isn't a shore between Canada and the US. The term is "outsourcing" to anyone in the US and Canada. If it's to another continent, then it's "offshoring."
Or, we could stop being xenophobic and call it all outsourcing, and leave "offshoring" to refer to things that have been moved out of the US specifically because doing it on this continent would be illegal or impossible, like gambling, drilling for oil, etc.
Hiring someone else to do remote work is agnostic of location (in general). So, the term "offshoring" seems likely intended only to confuse or inflame the reader based on politics rather than facts.
"Offshoring is defined as the movement of a business process done at a company in one country to the same or another company in another, different country. Almost always work is moved due to a lower cost of operations in the new location. Offshoring is sometimes contrasted with outsourcing or offshore outsourcing. Outsourcing is the movement of internal business processes to an external company. Companies subcontracting in the same country would be outsourcing, but not offshoring. A company moving an internal business unit from one country to another would be offshoring, but not outsourcing. A company subcontracting a business unit to a different company in another country would be both outsourcing and offshoring."
So there is a small semantical difference between the two, offshoring is broader.
Edit: Offshoring is not necessarily broader than outsourcing, except offshoring applies to internal and external business processes.
If you have a Canadian make a logo for you, are you offshoring? NO--there's no shore by my definition, and there's no moving of an existing process according to Wikipedia.
I think for startups, outsourcing is the best term to use.
In this case the distinction between outsourcing and offshoring gets fuzzy because making the logo was not something that was previously done by Kevin Rose's company, because Kevin Rose's company didn't do any internal logo development or hire any local companies to do logo development. I don't think a correct use of the word offshoring requires crossing an ocean, it seems to be accepted that it just means a different country, even if the word itself doesn't imply this meaning.
I'll agree that outsourcing is a more appropriate term, I used the word offshoring in my initial post without thinking because I thought (incorrectly) it was less politically charged than outsourcing. I'm going to agree with SwellJoe and say that there's something inherently xenophobic about the word offshoring.
You guys. We all know you are all super intelligent and well educated, but this is exactly the problem that comes with being too smart. You make things a bit more complicated. Outsourcing = letting a third party handle a piece of your production. Offshore = outside defined geographical limits. The expression is offshore outsourcing.
"... this is exactly the problem that comes with being too smart. You make things a bit more complicated. Outsourcing = letting a third party handle a piece of your production. ..."
Your mistake is equating development to production. Making software is difficult because designing upfront and then expecting the result to reflect "what users want" is an oxymoron. Instead think "just-in-time" design and creation of a software product in very close communication with users.
'... total outsourcing leads to delayed and inferior products due to human factors and mis-communication ...'
The real "value add" here is being able to "optomise employee face-time" with your "unit profit generators" (users) through "space-time" savings of costs per "CSM" (cubicle square meterage), delivering superior "user expectations".
Outsourcing in this context is just another business fad. Feel free to insert your own business "Buzz words" in place of place of the ones inserted.
With all due respect for your accomplishments, next time you want to generalize that people are xenophobic, please speak for yourself.
Nobody made any value judgements on either word. It's quite clear the word offshoring doesn't make sense for United States companies outsourcing to Canada or Mexico, just like the Germans can't offshore to France. However, Italy can offshore to the United States and vice versa.
Maybe I'm wrong about the semantics (people are free to vote the post up or down), but it's not fair to imply that rms, staunch, or I feel there's anything wrong with people who live in other countries.
"Maybe I'm wrong about the semantics (people are free to vote the post up or down), but it's not fair to imply that rms, staunch, or I feel there's anything wrong with people who live in other countries."
I didn't intend to imply that any of the other comments were xenophobic in nature.
It's just a more sensitive area than anyone here would like to admit, and there are political motivations at work in the use of these terms, and by following the lead of xenophobic folks, we might be working for their political ends despite not having those desires ourselves. I'm actually assuming that the vast majority of people here are educated and lacking in bigotry or xenophobia, and based on the number of startups started by non-US natives in the current web 2.0 economy, more likely to be literally "off-shore" than most English-speaking community website contributors.
In short, I was merely wanting to point out that by using the word off-shoring, people might be indicating political positions they don't endorse (which is just what anti-immigration and protectionist supporters want). I don't really care what terms folks use, and I'm wholly non-PC. I just know enough to know that there has been a subtle shift on border issues in the US in a direction I don't like at all, and I know that language is a tool that the reactionary new Right uses extremely well. I'm not saying the word "off-shoring" is the reason immigration or import/export issues are about to become a shitstorm in America, but I can't help but think Fox News would rather I use "off-shoring" than "out-sourcing", because "off-shoring", in some Americans minds equates to "non-white, non-American, workers stealing my job". So I'll use "out-sourcing", thanks.
Apologies to rms, staunch, or vlad, for any hurt feelings. Just remember that I'm an insensitive clod, and I'm sure you'll feel better. ;-)
I am not sure if you have heard of digg's other co-founder Jay Adelson (http://www.spock.com/Jay-Adelson). Jay started Equinix, that does require some technical skill