A couple of enterprising chaps have launched a new venture called SeaCode which aims to offer an offshoring software production service based on a cruise ship permanently stationed 3 miles out to sea off the San Diego coastline. It’s a genius idea, but of course there’s going to be a whole heap of hoo-haa reaction once onshore programmers start losing contracts to these peripatetic programming pirates.

They’re calling it Hybrid-Sourcing, and the plan is to house 600 top class foreign software engineers out at sea on a luxury cruise ship, just out of immigration law range, but close enough to bid on big US contracts. Clients can visit the ship by helicopter to check on progress, and the coders work four months on, two off. No visa hassles at all. But why stop at programming we say?

Why not close-source everything from rug weaving to toy making? It’s one way to make use of all those redundant cruise ships now the downturn is making them a luxury no-one can afford, surely? [Thanks Tom]

 SeaCode presents Hybrid-Sourcing an innovative engineering service which creates high-end software engineering jobs in the U.S. while still providing lower overall costs for our clients. This approach combines the capabilities and convenience of our San Diego-based software engineering center with the proximity and reduced costs of our unique ship-based engineering facility. The result of this completely new business model is the creation of U.S. engineering jobs and lower blended costs for U.S. clients.