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1. This is not a zero-sum game. The incremental value gained by a large company defrauding their employees may be the same dollar amount, but to the employees i
by sounds 13y ago
1. This is not a zero-sum game. The incremental value gained by a large company defrauding their employees may be the same dollar amount, but to the employees it makes a much larger subjective difference. Also the company that gets caught colluding once will have a much harder time regaining its good name.
A tech employee gets offered $300k/year + options? He jumps.
Google's "double irish" has $3 billion more in revenue? Ho hum, just another day.
2. Since it is not a zero-sum game, it makes sense to avoid the corrupt, lazy actions that Jobs, Schmidt, et al. have embraced. Hackers don't need to "band together" – all that means is appointing some PHB and blindly following him. Society's behavior just serves to convince us that the hacker ethos was right after all.
Each of us will make our own decisions.
Each of us will weigh the costs, benefits, and ethics.
Feel free to start a union or just go straight to a political party.
We are decentralized. No thank you to all forms of government.
- acdha 13y ago> Society's behavior just serves to convince us that the hacker ethos was right after all. … We are decentralized. No thank you to all forms of government. Well, I'm certainly convinced that pure optimism will trump powerful interests with huge financial reserves and far more influence with lawmakers and the media. How could this not succeed?
- sounds 13y agoWhat exactly are you proposing? An alternative credo for hackers to ascribe to? Please specifically mention whether you are pro- or anti-union and whether you live and work in the US or not. Edit: I see you're using Windows, so would you mind also listing your tech experience?
- Stratoscope 13y ago> I see you're using Windows, so would you mind also listing your tech experience? WTF? Please explain your comment. If I take it literally it sounds like sheer unadulterated bigotry. I am hoping that I completely misunderstood you. If that's the case, I very sincerely apologize and owe you a beer or two.
- sounds 13y agoMy responses should lead to more discussion, less flamewar. I have strong feelings against Windows. I should have restrained myself. I think you pegged me, but to my credit I'm no bigot, I just have a personal bias against Windows.
- Stratoscope 13y agoFair enough, I have strong feelings against Windows and a personal bias against it too, and I use it every day! I think what triggered my hot button there was the feeling that other tech people have looked down on me because I use Windows. I don't like Windows either, I just dislike it a bit less than the other operating systems. :-) Sincere apologies if I overreacted, and if you're in the Bay Area feel free to take me up on that beer!
- acdha 13y ago> What exactly are you proposing? An alternative credo for hackers to ascribe to? I'm proposing a basic understanding of how markets work, specifically in this case how they can be distorted by a power disparity. Huge companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, etc. have an incentive and the means to do so, which means there needs to be some form of collective pressure to prevent that. This could be government regulation (i.e. what happened here), unions or something else but no ideological cult is going to make the problem magically disappear. > Edit: I see you're using Windows, so would you mind also listing your tech experience? I wasn't aware that pointing out the logical flaws in someone's argument required passing a shibboleth. I would also note that your observation could both be trivially answered if you put any effort into it so perhaps you should not be in the business of challenging the expertise of others.