That looks like a great tool! I recently took a class in programming language design where we had to implement a simulated Treadmill garbage collector using a circular linked list in Java. It taught us the basics of how the algorithm works but not really how it functions within the context of an actual programming language implementation.
The proposed framework looks like it has a lot of potential.
I absolutely agree. Companies like TCS, that get the highest number of H1B visas already, will easily be able to bid high enough at an "immigration auction". Nothing would change at the high end - only at the low end small companies would be crowded out.
Taking this further, the big corporations could potentially (and probably will) play strategically and outbid most start-ups.
A fantastic piece of work - one of the very few HTML books that I read cover to cover without getting bored. I would love to see Mark Pilgrim's literary take on other topics.
It's surprising that most commenters are concerned about immigrants from India who are taking away jobs from Americans at artificially low wages.
What about skilled engineers from a less represented region such as Europe? There's plenty of us who are gladly hired/sponsored by Silicon Valley start-ups and paid the same wage as the American employees. In the current climate it feels that start-ups are hiring every skilled person they can find, no matter if US citizen or not. I, personally, really don't feel like I'm taking away anyone's job. Yet, we still have to compete for visas with the huge corporations that "import" cheap labor from elsewhere.
Merely increasing the number of visa wouldn't help - the big corporations would just flood USCIS with even more applications.
I think an H1B reform is absolutely necessary, but maybe in the form of a quota. Either on a per-country basis (such as the diversity greencard lottery) or, better perhaps, on a per-company basis so that only a certain proportion of visas can be allocated to a single company.