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However, given Labour's appalling performance of late and their complete and utter mis-handling of critical issues such as the seabed and foreshore, I had been mulling over whether it might be time to look beyond Maurice's shortcomings and consider National as a potential recipient of my vote.

Unfortunately for National, they've just blown any chance of that by announcing that they're backing the Commerce Commission's decision to reject unbundling of the local loop.

One can't help think that Maurice may have had a significant role in forming the party's policy on this issue -- sigh!

And while on the subject of politics, it will be very interesting to see if/how this proposed new Maori Party will harness the power of the Net to get its message across.

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Or will they simply opt to use the Maori TV Service as their primary promotional vehicle?

If so, I suspect that Labour will rue the day that they poured tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers' money into a vehicle that might ultimately be used against them.

Indeed, one can't help but feel that if it weren't for Labour's incredible lust for political correctness, the situation they now find themselves in, might not have occurred at all and Helen may have actually been able to score a third term as PM.

Outsource to NZ?
The other buzz today is the news that NZ is being touted as a viable outsourcing option for overseas IT companies.

Okay, so what would encourage an offshore company to choose NZ over more traditional countries as its IT outsourcing supplier?

• I guess our dialect of English is a little more understandable to the US or European ear.
• Our timezone displacement may be an advantage in some cases (and a disadvantage in others).

Hmm... now I'm stumped!

Will we be cheaper? I don't think so.

Will our work be better? Probably not.

Sure, we have some very good IT professionals here in NZ, but so does India, and I'd wager that they have a higher percentage of graduate workers than NZ.

Quite frankly, I think we're selling ourselves short if we focus on the provision of IT labour to the rest of the world.

The strength of our IT industry, as witnessed by the numerous success stories, is not in just cutting code but in coming up with innovative ideas and concepts in the first place. Just look at how many NZ-designed IT products have been snapped up by overseas companies and dragged offshore.

It doesn't make a whole heap of sense to me for us to spend time, money and resources, trying to compete with a country such as India in the IT outsourcing business, especially when we have so much more to offer.

Will IT sweatshops soon become a feature of the NZ landscape I wonder?

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