Portland wants to transform its software culture into an industry

On paper, software seems a good match for Portland.

It’s a clean, do-it-yourself industry that thrives on countercultural notions and gives individual developers increasing autonomy.

Somehow, though, software and the city have never really hit it off.

Oregon technology continues to be dominated by computer hardware, and the metro area has been unable to grow a big software or Internet company in well over a decade — even as they sprouted by the score in Seattle and the Silicon Valley.

So as Portland works to rebuild its recession-ravaged economy, Mayor Sam Adams considers its software community an untapped resource and he’s made it a key focus of his economic planning.

Mike Rogoway, The Oregonian

Full Story: http://blog.oregonlive.com/siliconforest/2010/12/portland_wants_to_transform_it.html