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I understand the temptation to root for New Microsoft, but we should all remember that large corporations are extremely powerful psychopaths. Anything they do t

by smt88 5y ago

I understand the temptation to root for New Microsoft, but we should all remember that large corporations are extremely powerful psychopaths. Anything they do that seems ethical is self-serving, not part of a moral code that they will follow even when it hurts them.

tracker1 5y ago
I understand, but disagree with the sentiment... Companies are a collection of different people, with differing actual personalities, including agreements, disagreements and meaningful conflict and negotiations. To some extent it comes from leadership down, to another it starts at the ground floor. In the end, I think most MS movement has been self-serving, that doesn't make it inherently bad or good. I'm not liking the OS-shift, which seems to be following Apple/Google in a lot of ways. That doesn't mean everything MS does is poison.
- smt88 5y ago
  > That doesn't mean everything MS does is poison. Of course not. I love New Microsoft's products and customer/dev support. I vastly prefer Microsoft over any other FAAMG. I trust them more and think they're far less harmful than any of the others. All that said, I don't believe any of this is because of ethical principles. It's because they make more money by being "good" than by antagonizing their own society and customers. > Companies are a collection of different people, with differing actual personalities, including agreements, disagreements and meaningful conflict and negotiations. Yes, but as we've seen throughout human history, morals disappear as soon as people are part of a large group. You can participate (and even lead!) while telling yourself that the things you're doing as a group are totally out of your control. For example, I have a Jewish friend at Facebook who is appalled by their enablement of conspiracy theories, but he still works at Facebook. If everyone at Facebook who objected to their company's behavior would find another job, I guarantee the behavior would change or the company would collapse. > I think most MS movement has been self-serving, that doesn't make it inherently bad or good I guess it depends on your definition of "bad". I have never observed a large corporation take a huge hit to its bottom line in order to stand up for something moral. I don't think I ever will. To me, that's "bad" -- a group of people who exercise an enormous amount of power without feeling that they're personally responsible for the consequences. That's why I described it as psychopathy.

by smt88 5y ago

tracker1 5y ago

I understand, but disagree with the sentiment... Companies are a collection of different people, with differing actual personalities, including agreements, disagreements and meaningful conflict and negotiations. To some extent it comes from leadership down, to another it starts at the ground floor. In the end, I think most MS movement has been self-serving, that doesn't make it inherently bad or good. I'm not liking the OS-shift, which seems to be following Apple/Google in a lot of ways. That doesn't mean everything MS does is poison.

smt88 5y ago
> That doesn't mean everything MS does is poison. Of course not. I love New Microsoft's products and customer/dev support. I vastly prefer Microsoft over any other FAAMG. I trust them more and think they're far less harmful than any of the others. All that said, I don't believe any of this is because of ethical principles. It's because they make more money by being "good" than by antagonizing their own society and customers. > Companies are a collection of different people, with differing actual personalities, including agreements, disagreements and meaningful conflict and negotiations. Yes, but as we've seen throughout human history, morals disappear as soon as people are part of a large group. You can participate (and even lead!) while telling yourself that the things you're doing as a group are totally out of your control. For example, I have a Jewish friend at Facebook who is appalled by their enablement of conspiracy theories, but he still works at Facebook. If everyone at Facebook who objected to their company's behavior would find another job, I guarantee the behavior would change or the company would collapse. > I think most MS movement has been self-serving, that doesn't make it inherently bad or good I guess it depends on your definition of "bad". I have never observed a large corporation take a huge hit to its bottom line in order to stand up for something moral. I don't think I ever will. To me, that's "bad" -- a group of people who exercise an enormous amount of power without feeling that they're personally responsible for the consequences. That's why I described it as psychopathy.