RE: ...and some thoughts (was Re: Xy on Mac)

[Brian.Henderson@xxxxxxxx]

I don't dislike M$ (or Apple) because I have problems with their
software, I just don't like them as a "person". They've got a bad
attitude and I don't want them getting any more of my money.

It all comes back to the corporations-as-sociopath idea. If you take it
as a given that they have absolutely no concern for your well-being,
except as a sort of a soulless need to avoid causing you to stop giving
them money, then the question becomes, "Which corporations selfishly
consider a healthy society to be good for the company?".

Common sociopaths, who are unable to take another's welfare into
account, might recognize that getting along with others causes the
fewest problems for themselves, and while a reasonable person might not
want to socialize with them they would be willing to tolerate their
existence.

Sociopathic extremes (psychopaths) tend not to be able to subsume their
unbridled selfishness. With no regard for their own social comfort (or
surrounded by a culture that doesn't hold them accountable), they're
free to express their naked greed and cause harm to as many people as
their influence can touch.

Leaving aside the melodrama for a moment (as much fun as that
is)...Microsoft is not quite a psychopath (as opposed to, say,
Haliburton), but it does behave as though "social comfort" is not a very
high priority (or pathetically, they don't understand the concept). And
Apple has been, from the beginning, insanely over-controlling...to their
own detriment. I believe it's the reason Steve Jobs isn't the world's
richest person instead of Bill Gates.

Hmmm...it might be interesting to put together a list of companies that
are serial killers. But what a huge job that would be.

-BrianH.

-----Original Message----- From: Russ Urquhart

> As for the others fears of Big Companyitis. I can understand that. My

initial distaste for M$ prompted me to first look at Linux as an
alternative. (OS X, G4 Cube, and VPC where what brought me over to
the Mac.) After all this time, using a Mac at home and all the
various incarnations of WIndows at work, i'm just about convinced
that, with the growing complexity of software available, myriad of
third party hardware peripherals, and desired functionality from the
growing user base (people other than my demographic) ANY OS has a
difficult time of completely supporting everything, interacting
together, well. The MS-DOS days were a really fun, simple (compared
to now) time for users and their computers. Pretty much any machine
could be put together and work pretty well with the software and
hardware out there. (Of course things got more difficult as more
software and hardware were added.) Windows came along at this time
and offered a unifying umbrella for software and hardware... for
awhile.)