Speaking of Michael, join me in congratulating him on his 20th anniversary with DDJ. In both his "Programming Paradigms" and "Swaine's Flames" columns, Michael has helped us keep an eye on the future, while acknowledging the past. Throughout it all, Michael has always reminded us that a dose of good humor is a good thing—and he's managed to do all this on time, more or less.

Over the years, DDJ has been blessed with great columnists. Al Stevens, Jeff Duntemann, Ed Nisley, Dennis Shasha, Kent Porter, Allen Holub, Michael Abrash, Jon Bentley, and Ray Duncan immediately come to mind. As anyone who has ever done so will tell you, it's hard work cranking out a column month-in and month-out for a couple of decades. It is a testament that Michael could maintain the pace, while keeping you engaged, entertained, and informed throughout.

As for others who deserve recognition, I'd like to throw Norm Matloff's name into the hat. A professor of computer science at the University of California at Davis, Dr. Matloff's technical expertise is in the areas of parallel processing, networks, data security, and mathematical and applied statistics. However, Prof. Matloff also finds time to track the business side of software development, most recently the cause and effect offshore outsourcing has in the U.S. and, well, offshore. Unlike what you likely encounter elsewhere, Dr. Matloff's coverage of outsourcing is fair and balanced, unfettered by bias or big bucks.

That said, here's my take on the subject [flame on]: Offshore outsourcing of software development isn't about creating better service or better products. It is only about greed—pure and simple. Few, if any, of the companies jumping on the outsourcing bandwagon are in danger of folding, so decision makers aren't trying to save their companies. They're opting for outsourcing only to line executive pockets. Nor, for that matter, is outsourcing necessarily fair and equitable to offshore countries, which have made huge investments to entice potential outsourcers. As the outsourcing fad begins to fade—and there's every indication that's already happening—these countries will be stuck with equally huge bills to pay. In a recent survey by DiamondCluster International, for instance, reportedly 78 percent of the companies contacted claimed that they had prematurely terminated one or more outsourcing contracts. Likewise, TPI Inc. reports that, in 2003, the number of large outsourcing contracts was flat, while the number of smaller ones actually dropped [flame off]. That said, you can get more and better outsourcing information from Prof. Matloff (http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/nm.html).

Okay, that takes care of famous, sort of famous, and infamous men. As for the other stuff, we're launching a new project that you need to know about. Some background: As you'd expect, we hear from a lot of you about a lot of things. Accolades (which I share with my boss). Complaints (which I blame on the crew). Suggestions (they're always welcome). Demands (don't worry, the check's in the mail). In particular, a recurring theme is "you publish too much Windows and .NET stuff," along with "you don't publish enough Windows and .NET stuff." Both comments are fair, depending on who you are and which issue you're reading. (Likewise, we also hear we publish too many C/C++ articles and that we don't publish enough of them. It's all a matter of perspective.)

So what's an editor to do? Well in this case, we're passing the buck back to you. In a nutshell, we'll be publishing two versions of DDJ—one with extra Windows./NET coverage, one without. You make the call by picking which version you want to receive. Don't worry, there's no extra cost—the additional articles, if you opt for them, are part of your regular subscription.

Signing up for the at-no-extra-charge additional content is simple—just go to http://www.neodata.com/cmp/ddj.html. If you have any questions (or suggestions), drop me a note. In the meantime, I'll be talking to Michael about that list of his.

Jonathan Erickson
editor-in-chief

[email protected]