Being a corporate developer (vs being a software developer) for the past 15 years, I have seen the landscape change with each new paradigm or pop-tech-culture shift that has come along. The most recent and frustrating is the outsourcing of programming jobs to places like China and India.
I am not the type of programmer to wave the American flag and complain just because American jobs are going over seas. Is this a disturbing trend, I would have to say yes, but not for the reason specified above.
If you are unfamiliar with the corporate culture, let me clue you in. Fast paced does not begin to describe what it is like to program in a Fortune 500 or even a Fortune 200 company. Specifications (if any are even presented) change faster than a politicians stance on any given subject. I have litterally begun coding a top priority project, had the specifications change 2 hours after starting coding, received the final specs 2 days before release and they were nothing like what was first given. Thank god for caffine.
So what does this have to do with out-sourcing? Out-sourcing is a good idea for companies who are developing software with clearly defined specifications and do not need a great deal of interfacing with clients.