Where are all the Programmers?

I have a routine when it comes to starting my day on the internet. I visit about a dozen sites before I visit any other. This list of sites contains among others, download.com, softpedia.com, Warez-SL.com, and Filenetworks.blogspot.com. As you can see, all these sites are software related, and I usually download new software through these sites (Directly and Indirectly). But almost all the software I've downloaded in my entire lifetime were written by people outside the country. What I mean is, there is not enough software of Sri Lankan origin swapped around on the net.

There are exceptions to this of course. The new web browser xAurora was made by a Sri Lankan, and there is also another software called Suduputha. And there are many Sri Lankan contributors to many Apache Foundation projects, like Geronimo and Apache Axis. But apart from these, I haven't come across any others of Sri Lankan origin.

Is it because our programmers aren't good enough? But then again, xAurora is said to be written in Win32 Assembly. Maybe the courses offered don't cover the high-end stuff needed? But courses can only teach you so much. At degree level, students are supposed to be independent in their learning. They have to pursue knowledge on their own, without waiting for it to be spoonfed to them, which wont happen at that level.

Maybe they don't have enough time. Most of these graduates go into companies like Virtusa and MIT, and get a full time job. I don't know what kind of software they create in these companies, but most probably they are specialized software tailor made for different companies (I don't see at least a general Accounting software offered by Virtusa). And most of them learn Web 2.0 technologies, to give them the edge in the new service driven market. With all of these going on, they probably don't have enough time to even think about writing a general purpose software.

Maybe there is no need to for us to create new software. There certainly are enough free software out there to get most of our jobs done. Maybe, with the changing face of IT, the desktop might become a thing of the past, taking along with it software like Windows and Linux.

Whatever the reasons may be, I definitely would like to see the presence of the Sri Lankan IT people felt more strongly on the internet. Perhaps not software, but the next Generation MMORPG? How about 'SLA Vs. LTTE - The Battle for Elephant Pass'? Now that is a title to get the attention of all the Sri Lankans out there!