The author really gets the underlying issue, and it's an issue that is extremely common amongst software, hardware, and vendors, tech and non-tech alike: trust.

The author really gets the underlying issue, and it's an issue that is extremely common amongst software, hardware, and vendors, tech and non-tech alike: trust. Almost every major issue with software boils down to trust. Do I trust this browser, or more specifically, the people that develop it? Do I trust this database / people that develop it? Do I trust technology X? These are the types of decisions we have to make everyday and that the tech world is forcing upon billions of people, most of whom are simply not informed enough to make them. Free software is about trust. Open source is about trust. So many "tech" issues boil down to trust, that I'd say trust is the primary issue in tech and has been for quite awhile. Therefore, it's interesting to see that companies simply ignore this issue, don't care about it, and openly violate the trust of their customers, employees, partners, etc. I see very few organizations that consider the implications of lost trust to their business. Just like car mechanics who lie and say they fixed something they didn't, companies break users' trust by hiding malware in their products, spying on them, collecting data without their knowledge, releasing bad products etc. In the end, it doesn't matter how trust is broken because once it's broken, it's extremely difficult, if not impossible to reestablish. That's something a lot of companies don't think about with the philosophy being that lost customers will be replaced by new waves of ignorant customers who don't know any better and don't know who to trust. Then they wonder why their market share slips when the company's main purpose is to scam people.