5 ms·

If the asshole says they've changed because they got their brain swapped out with someone else and is now literally a different person, then yes, I'd give them

If the asshole says they've changed because they got their brain swapped out with someone else and is now literally a different person, then yes, I'd give them some more leeway. Satya Nadella is not Steve Ballamer. Humans don't get to literally swap out the part of their brain in charge with time.

jacquesm 6y ago
But Nadella was there during the Ballmer (not Ballamer) years and apparently did not feel that this was a problem enough to pack it in and go work somewhere else. That says a a lot about Nadella in my opinion.
- marcinzm 6y ago
  There's very very very few large companies that aren't doing something unethical somewhere. If you're looking for executives who will sacrifice everything due to how someone else in the company is acting then you're going to be down to very few saints.
  - vikramkr 6y ago
    Are they really saints? Nadella has done a lot more good by changing microsoft's business model from the inside from EEE to one that embraces open source and collaboration than he could have if he quit. Even while he was at Microsoft he was working in the cloud division laying the groundwork for what the company managed to transform into. They're also clearly not focusing their efforts on EEE now - why would they embrace Apple and get office to work on their platform if that was the case? They're not going to extinguish apple - its too powerful, and their collaborations with groups as powerful as Apple, Google, Linux users, etc would be a waste of time if they were still operating with their old strategy. These are immensely powerful rivals, not weaker/fragmented standards that can be extended and extinguished just like that.
    - WalterGR 6y ago
      They're also clearly not focusing their efforts on EEE now - why would they embrace Apple and get office to work on their platform if that was the case? Microsoft Office for Mac was first released 31 years ago. It’s nothing new and hence is orthogonal to anyone’s subjective impression of Microsoft’s engagement in EEE. Microsoft has been the largest ISV in the Apple ecosystem by far, for decades.
- WalterGR 6y ago
  But Nadella was there during the Ballmer (not Ballamer) years I have to imagine that that was an innocent typo. Do you think so? Or do you think that it wasn’t, and so pointing it out helps to discredit the author?
  - jacquesm 6y ago
    I have to imagine that it was an innocent correction. Do you think so? Or do you think that it wasn't and that so pointing this out is a way to discredit me?
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - WalterGR 6y ago
      Ah yes, the “I know you are but what am I?” school of civil discourse. Do you think that style makes the level of discourse here better or worse? The Principle of Charity is mentioned a lot here. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19450731 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19450731 Are you invoking that principle? Or are you lashing out at people who attempt to encourage you to follow HN guidelines?
srean 6y ago
Companies has far more deeper institutional memory and behavior than one person at the top. Habitual abusers of relationship always promise that they will be better the next time and for a few days they are indeed better behaved. After a while they fall back to the same patterns

jacquesm 6y ago

But Nadella was there during the Ballmer (not Ballamer) years and apparently did not feel that this was a problem enough to pack it in and go work somewhere else. That says a a lot about Nadella in my opinion.

marcinzm 6y ago
There's very very very few large companies that aren't doing something unethical somewhere. If you're looking for executives who will sacrifice everything due to how someone else in the company is acting then you're going to be down to very few saints.
- vikramkr 6y ago
  Are they really saints? Nadella has done a lot more good by changing microsoft's business model from the inside from EEE to one that embraces open source and collaboration than he could have if he quit. Even while he was at Microsoft he was working in the cloud division laying the groundwork for what the company managed to transform into. They're also clearly not focusing their efforts on EEE now - why would they embrace Apple and get office to work on their platform if that was the case? They're not going to extinguish apple - its too powerful, and their collaborations with groups as powerful as Apple, Google, Linux users, etc would be a waste of time if they were still operating with their old strategy. These are immensely powerful rivals, not weaker/fragmented standards that can be extended and extinguished just like that.
  - WalterGR 6y ago
    They're also clearly not focusing their efforts on EEE now - why would they embrace Apple and get office to work on their platform if that was the case? Microsoft Office for Mac was first released 31 years ago. It’s nothing new and hence is orthogonal to anyone’s subjective impression of Microsoft’s engagement in EEE. Microsoft has been the largest ISV in the Apple ecosystem by far, for decades.
WalterGR 6y ago
But Nadella was there during the Ballmer (not Ballamer) years I have to imagine that that was an innocent typo. Do you think so? Or do you think that it wasn’t, and so pointing it out helps to discredit the author?
- jacquesm 6y ago
  I have to imagine that it was an innocent correction. Do you think so? Or do you think that it wasn't and that so pointing this out is a way to discredit me?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - WalterGR 6y ago
    Ah yes, the “I know you are but what am I?” school of civil discourse. Do you think that style makes the level of discourse here better or worse? The Principle of Charity is mentioned a lot here. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19450731 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19450731 Are you invoking that principle? Or are you lashing out at people who attempt to encourage you to follow HN guidelines?

srean 6y ago

Companies has far more deeper institutional memory and behavior than one person at the top. Habitual abusers of relationship always promise that they will be better the next time and for a few days they are indeed better behaved. After a while they fall back to the same patterns