Freelancing out of necessity?

I’m not sure I agree with all of this article, but it’s a fascinating perspective on outsourcing, freelancing, and virtual corporations.

A brief sample:

Novel concept here – we generally do business with people we trust, and we generally don’t do business with people we don’t trust. The people who are the actual producers in the technology sector have developed a fairly healthy mistrust of those who come with promises of cash and large contracts written in tiny type. On the other hand, they feel they can trust those people that are in their own networks, largely because the web of favors and obligations applies just as readily to those other people as they apply to them.

Read the whole thing: Is Web 2 causing the dissolution of the mega-corp? – O’Reilly XML Blog

The trust issue is fascinating. We have strong relationships with many of our customers, but I think my most trusted relationships are with other consultants — in other words, with the competition.