But it also doesn't mean we should give up. "It would be scary if we reacted that way," Kriens said in an interview with Network Computing. "That would be like if we said in the '70s, it's over. Let's just give it to Japan."
U.S. companies and their employees can win on the global playing field. The U.S. software industry, for instance, actually increased its trade surplus during the tech recession, to $21.5 billion in 2004, because its people continued to innovate and adapt in the face of massive, often destructive changes--not because the government coddled them as foreign competition grew more menacing. There has been carnage along the way--mergers, layoffs, bankruptcies--but the net result is a stronger industry.
More broadly, the U.S. IT profession is doomed only if we give up. Adapt, learn, innovate. Embrace change. It's your only choice.
Rob Preston is editor in chief of Network Computing. Write to him at [email protected].
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