It's not as though Linux were enough different from any other operating system to make application of skills impossible.

The trouble is that executives are too picky, too reluctant to relocate talent, resistant to cross-training talented and knowledgeable people. They're so inundated with capable applicants that they typically withhold e-mail addresses, voice telephone numbers, contact names and street addresses from job ads.

And besides, guest-workers are cheap and readily available. It's interesting that firms have made applications for only about half of the 20K H-1b visa quotas for FY2005 and now FY2006 for people with advanced degrees from US colleges and universities.

It's also interesting how few colleges and universities firms typically deign to visit on their recruiting jaunts, and how few applicants they call back, let alone fly in for interviews.

The fact is that there has been a glut of software development talent going back to at least the early 1990s.