* Peter Corlett <[email protected]> [2008-09-22 18:40]:
> Did anybody seriously think that Apple would be any
> different once they got their feet under the table?

I am continuously puzzled that people attribute human
characteristics to legal constructs like corporations.

F.ex. I am completely convinced that very nearly every
single Google employee takes privacy issues to heart,
and that even the upper echelon in the company wants to
do the right thing. But the fact that I would trust
personal data to any one person at Google does nothing
to convince me to trust Google with my personal data.

Likewise it's silly to use terms like employee loyalty
or such because a corporation has no loyalties which is
because it's not a human. These things are true of any
group entity once you move up the scale past ten or so
people.

Where groups differ is in their cultures; that is highly
dependent on the personalities of the founding members.
Microsoft was particularly bad because at least two of
its founders are unapologetically blatant about their
predatory ambitions to the extent of using illegal means
to their ends.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t be predatory within
legal bounds (which is what Apple gets much of its bad
press for) or that someone won’t be tempted to see how
far they can bend the law when no one is looking (see
Google and tax manipulation).

But anyway, this is rather far removed from software and
the hating thereof.

Regards,
-- 
Aristotle Pagaltzis // <http://plasmasturm.org/>

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