Offshoring and localization projects, Part III

Here's a souvenir from one of my first offshore localization projects:

Ramesh,
We are exploring the possibility of you taking over all the localization activities from John White. Keep this confidential for now but start working on taking over in one week's time. On my part, I will forward mails as appropriate to keep you in the loop.
Thanks,
-Sunil

Sunil and Ramesh worked in the Bangalore development center of one of my former software clients. What struck me as amusing about this is that Sunil had intended to send the message to Ramesh, but sent it to me by mistake. (At least, I think it was a mistake.) This was a classic, if ham-handed, example of localization jobs and expertise (mine) going offshore with little likelihood of returning.

Once I had stopped laughing, I toyed with several potential responses.

1. Should I let them know that I knew what they were up to? Not much to gain there.
2. Should I leave the project preemptively? It was a comedy of errors anyway, but I don't like quitting.
3. Should I suddenly start billing madly to beat the axe? Not very sound ethically.

In fact, I did 4. None of the above. Instead, I went to the library and started reading "The World is Flat," by Thomas L. Friedman.

This book and its concepts are trendy and salient these days, but I got the following out of it:

Globalization and interdependence are not going to slow down for anything,
so those of us in the industry would do well
to think of localization in those terms from now on.

A few questions for you readers:

• Have you read the book?
  
• What did you get out of it that relates to localization?
  
• Most importantly, have you received your e-mail from Sunil yet?