The nature of programming is changing.
For lot's of applications, particularly those in well-known domains specifiying the software and outsourcing the development is definitely the way things will be done. In these situations, software development behaves like any other process and just needs bodies in seats doing the work.
BUT
There is still great value in producing good, innovative software that helps people do more work in an easier way. For this work creative minds are more important than lines of code and a programmer needs to be focussed on the user experience.
This kind-of thing is very very hard (if not impossible) to outsource.
The new iPod Shuffle is a classic (non-software) example of the new "world order". Apple came up with the original design, the interface and the "experience" and in fairly short order factories in China were producing rip-offs.
A factory in China can quickly and cheaply manufacture a device, but designing it in the first place is another story altogether.
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