@jacquesm

Strange that you use GlusterFS as an example.Yes they are technically sophisticated but then I know the CTO of ZResearch (the company offering commercial support for GlusterFS), Anand Babu, personally and he is a good friend. Some of the people who wrote the core code are Indians (including Anand) who live in the United States.

Do they have an office in Bangalore? Sure they do. This is the "ODC" model I referred to, where development is done in India because it is cheaper.

With that disposed of,

"The stereotypes you are referring to exist but they are not the one and only rule."

(a) I didn't refer to any "stereortypes" (b) I never claimed this was the "one and only" rule.

"you could simply take your own medicine and do your research yourself, then eat some crow."

Sure! I'll be glad to when any of my claims is refuted.

meanwhile, may I suggest you do the same for using GlusterFS as an example of an Indian startup? ;-).

ZResearch (the company offering commercial support for GlusterFS) is very much an American company which has some Indians among its founding members. It was founded in the United States by people who were living there at the time. If any startup having an Indian amongst its founders is an "Indian startup" then sure ZR is "Indian". The decision makers (irrespective of ethnicity) all live in the USA and the core of the code is written in the USA == "American Company" to me whether they have an office in India or not. I suspect this is where we differ.

I am confused. you say

"The Indian software landscape is too large and too diverse to make such sweeping generalizations by one person with a possibly limited view of things."

and then

"India is not doomed to be an outsourcing venue for ever, they'll be a force to reckon with (and in fact, already are).

Expect a large wave of startups from the region in the next 5 years,"

Isn't the latter an example of the former? In this case the "one person making generalizations" (about the future in tis case) being you. Nothing wrong with that of course. There are always exceptions to almost any "rule" one can think of.

Have you lived or worked in India? How would you know what the "Indian software landscape" looks like? What facts support your contention that list is very "diverse"?

I agree that in the future technically sophisticated startups may emerge out of India. In the present
such startups are VERY rare.

One example of such a startup is "guruji.com" - an Indian search company (I know people who work there). They don't have much traction yet but they do some interesting work . I know a couple of unfunded startups trying to do interesting things.

All this doesn't change the fact that the Indian softare industry is largely about outsourcing and most Indian startups largely do not try to do technically sophisticated things. THIS was my contention not "there isn't a single technically sosphisticated startup in India"

I maintain there is nothing "offensive" about that idea. it is just the truth. I am surprised people get "offended".

If I had ever said "India is doomed to always be an outsourcing destination", I can see how it could offend. Since I never claimed anything like that, (vs people randomly getting "offended" but offering no real counter examples) I don't feel the need to defend an obvious strawman.

As to "weasel words" I never knew "most" was a weasel word ;-). I look forward to the day when we all speak in absolutes ;-).

OK that said, this argument is now degenerating (indentation depth is a good metric) and so I'll withdraw. (My email is available in my profile for those who would like to take this offline)

Anyone reading this please list any great Indian startups you know who are looking for great engineers. This would be very helpful.