3 ms·

heck, microsoft seems sketchy AF, i reported em to the department of justice today, here's a link to the evidence of microsoft's anticompetitive conduct https:/

heck, microsoft seems sketchy AF, i reported em to the department of justice today, here's a link to the evidence of microsoft's anticompetitive conduct https://i.postimg.cc/MGqPvPz5/cartel-microsoft-microsoft-openai-microsoft-github-nvidia-cartel-customer-noncompete-clauses.png https://i.postimg.cc/MGqPvPz5/cartel-microsoft-microsoft-ope... just seems really serious and makes me not want to have anything to do with microsoft microsoft openai, microsoft github, or nvidia ever again. the timing seems suspicious since i sent the email to DOJ today, but im a nobody so hey, what do i know? tried a billion ways to remedy by contacting them directly before i sent that. you know it's a stressful workday when you're sweaty from making a google drawing! Ironically, Mistral cofounders just took down their similar clause. Google has nothing like this. Anthropic and Inflection both do. I'm sick of it, but I feel morally obligated to keep speaking out about this. Satya could just go into the codebase and delete it, but he didnt, I asked him to, multiple times. A WS also has such terms, really bad because they're in charge of Rust Language. Conflict of interest. TL;DR: I meekly suggest we boycott these companies because they are heavily and explicitly anti-competitive and this goes for all their businesses (Microsoft OpenAI and Microsoft GitHub) also it all runs on NVIDIA chips which have similar terms. Great job on Phi, but this is not for me!

abeppu 3y ago
IANAL, and I'm genuinely curious -- are these customer non-compete clauses actually illegal? These clauses do seem clearly anti-competitive, but is that enough? Your complaint mentions attempts to "acquire and maintain monopoly power" which seems like a stretch given that no company seems within reach of a "monopoly" ... which is why you're able to rattle off a list of companies in this space. Like, if they're not actually conspiring, but they're each trying to squash competition, and a likely result is that only a small number of rich organizations have the means (including user data) to continually improve LLMs ... is that competition-blocking a crime?
ctoth 3y ago
There really isn't a respectful way I can say this. Please reach out and speak to a therapist or similar professional. This stream of consciousness where you talk about personally reaching out to random CEOs and expecting them to do things for you and being surprised when you don't get a response reminds me strongly of when someone close to me was going through a manic period of delusional breakdown. Please, talk to someone.
- abeppu 3y ago
  I dunno if this is a fair reading of the situation. - Microsoft is famously a company that has engaged in anti-competitive practices in the past - I think the norm of trying to directly contact a party and ask them to fix something before contacting authorities is a common one at more personal scales, and it's not unreasonable to apply more broadly. - they're not reaching out to a "random" CEO, they're reaching out to the CEO of a company which has put forward these anti-competitive terms, which they find objectionable (possibly illegal? see my question above) - bionhoward doesn't necessarily seem 'surprised' at not having gotten their desired response. The phrasing in "but im a nobody so hey, what do i know?", "tried a billion ways to remedy by contacting them directly", "I meekly suggest" all can be read as someone who _recognizes_ that they're a single person being ignored by giant companies (and by other HN commentators). The fact that you're likely to be ignored doesn't mean that you shouldn't try, if you have some deontic view of "should". I think that post could be read as a very casual, perhaps slightly rant-y style, of someone objecting to anti-competitive practices by some big tech organizations, and trying to do the "right" things (of requesting them to change, and then raising the issue with relevant authorities), and being understandably unhappy with the brokenness of the system.
  - dwaltrip 3y ago
    Something seems off. Look at the website in their HN profile and their LinkedIn. They may need help. Bion, if you are reading this, I hope you are doing okay buddy. It’s never too late to ask for help. As someone who has been through the absolute ringer myself, I know how hard it is. But it is worth it and you deserve it. Sending love your way.
  - stavros 3y ago
    For what it's worth, I got worried reading that as well. There's nothing wrong with saying "that cough sounds bad, you should see a doctor", what's wrong with saying "your thought process sounds off, you should see a doctor"? The only thing wrong with that is if you're of the opinion that mental illness is bad, and therefore that implying that someone is mentally ill is bad. I'm not saying your intent is bad, I'm saying we should make mental illness enough of a non-taboo that we can acceptably tell someone "hm, maybe you should see a doctor for that".
matmulbro 3y ago
I just went to your website and then visited your linkedin profile. Respectfully, you might be struggling with a case of undiagnosed schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Please reach out to psychiatrist - you can find them on psychologytoday, that's where i found my psych. If you are not insured you can apply for BMR sessions.
- smcleod 3y ago
  Hey I’m sure you mean well but maybe contact the person directly rather than diagnosing them in public which could be counter productive. Again I’m sure you mean well.
- garganzol 3y ago
  To ordinary people, a genius is often indistinguishable from an illness. We should keep this in mind before jumping to immediate conclusions.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - stavros 3y ago
    Are you saying the symptoms of genius and schizophrenia are the same? Because that contradicts my experience with either.
    - garganzol 3y ago
      Genius tells a factual truth, a schizophrenic lies and is delusional. Usually, both types are highly intellectual. To an uninitiated external observer, there may be no difference between the two because the observer may be unaware of the truth yet.

abeppu 3y ago

IANAL, and I'm genuinely curious -- are these customer non-compete clauses actually illegal? These clauses do seem clearly anti-competitive, but is that enough? Your complaint mentions attempts to "acquire and maintain monopoly power" which seems like a stretch given that no company seems within reach of a "monopoly" ... which is why you're able to rattle off a list of companies in this space. Like, if they're not actually conspiring, but they're each trying to squash competition, and a likely result is that only a small number of rich organizations have the means (including user data) to continually improve LLMs ... is that competition-blocking a crime?

ctoth 3y ago

There really isn't a respectful way I can say this. Please reach out and speak to a therapist or similar professional. This stream of consciousness where you talk about personally reaching out to random CEOs and expecting them to do things for you and being surprised when you don't get a response reminds me strongly of when someone close to me was going through a manic period of delusional breakdown. Please, talk to someone.

abeppu 3y ago
I dunno if this is a fair reading of the situation. - Microsoft is famously a company that has engaged in anti-competitive practices in the past - I think the norm of trying to directly contact a party and ask them to fix something before contacting authorities is a common one at more personal scales, and it's not unreasonable to apply more broadly. - they're not reaching out to a "random" CEO, they're reaching out to the CEO of a company which has put forward these anti-competitive terms, which they find objectionable (possibly illegal? see my question above) - bionhoward doesn't necessarily seem 'surprised' at not having gotten their desired response. The phrasing in "but im a nobody so hey, what do i know?", "tried a billion ways to remedy by contacting them directly", "I meekly suggest" all can be read as someone who _recognizes_ that they're a single person being ignored by giant companies (and by other HN commentators). The fact that you're likely to be ignored doesn't mean that you shouldn't try, if you have some deontic view of "should". I think that post could be read as a very casual, perhaps slightly rant-y style, of someone objecting to anti-competitive practices by some big tech organizations, and trying to do the "right" things (of requesting them to change, and then raising the issue with relevant authorities), and being understandably unhappy with the brokenness of the system.
- dwaltrip 3y ago
  Something seems off. Look at the website in their HN profile and their LinkedIn. They may need help. Bion, if you are reading this, I hope you are doing okay buddy. It’s never too late to ask for help. As someone who has been through the absolute ringer myself, I know how hard it is. But it is worth it and you deserve it. Sending love your way.
- stavros 3y ago
  For what it's worth, I got worried reading that as well. There's nothing wrong with saying "that cough sounds bad, you should see a doctor", what's wrong with saying "your thought process sounds off, you should see a doctor"? The only thing wrong with that is if you're of the opinion that mental illness is bad, and therefore that implying that someone is mentally ill is bad. I'm not saying your intent is bad, I'm saying we should make mental illness enough of a non-taboo that we can acceptably tell someone "hm, maybe you should see a doctor for that".

matmulbro 3y ago

I just went to your website and then visited your linkedin profile. Respectfully, you might be struggling with a case of undiagnosed schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Please reach out to psychiatrist - you can find them on psychologytoday, that's where i found my psych. If you are not insured you can apply for BMR sessions.

smcleod 3y ago
Hey I’m sure you mean well but maybe contact the person directly rather than diagnosing them in public which could be counter productive. Again I’m sure you mean well.
garganzol 3y ago
To ordinary people, a genius is often indistinguishable from an illness. We should keep this in mind before jumping to immediate conclusions.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- stavros 3y ago
  Are you saying the symptoms of genius and schizophrenia are the same? Because that contradicts my experience with either.
  - garganzol 3y ago
    Genius tells a factual truth, a schizophrenic lies and is delusional. Usually, both types are highly intellectual. To an uninitiated external observer, there may be no difference between the two because the observer may be unaware of the truth yet.