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The Evil Corporations - (Microsoft, Oracle, Apple, etc.)
As a person who follows tech news and keeps in touch with upcoming electronic advances, I've noticed that the common opinion is that companies like Microsoft and Apple are out to get us all. Chock it up to my youthful ignorance, but I don't quite understand how those types of companies are more evil than any other corporation, like Google. This opinion is so prevalent, I've began to adopt it as common knowledge, without fully internalizing the reasons behind it.
I understand that Microsoft overtook lesser-known software, and Apple constantly puts limits on their proprietary devices, but are these the only reasons that people are giving them the label of "Evil Corporation"?
Are there any other companies that would count as "evil"?
I understand that Microsoft overtook lesser-known software, and Apple constantly puts limits on their proprietary devices, but are these the only reasons that people are giving them the label of "Evil Corporation"?
Are there any other companies that would count as "evil"?
Comments
Then again Non-profits are pretty much where it's at.
Pretend we are kids trading baseball cards. We will only agree to trade if its a fair trade. If it's not a fair trade, then one of us is ripping off the other guy, and that's not cool. If you buy something at a store, you are paying more than what it cost. Unless it's a loss leader, you are getting ripped off on everything you buy that is generating profit for someone else. If you buy that logic, then all profit is evil regardless of what it took to get that profit.
But in terms of companies that get a lot of profits without doing anything that generates nerd rage, there are plenty. The Italian guys who make Arduinos and the related companies like Adafruit and Sparkfun are all non-evil. etsy is pretty nice. The board game publishers that aren't Hasbro/WotC are pretty nice. The comic publishers that aren't Marvel/DC are mostly non-evil. All the video game makers that aren't Microsoft/Nintendo/Activision/EA/etc. are mostly not evil.
Really what it comes down to is that a company that is small enough, or private enough, can control its entire self. Once a company is public, it will necessarily do things in the interest of profit that are going to be evil in the eyes of some or many. And any company that is too big becomes an organism in and of itself that is no longer entirely under complete control of any one person, so it becomes incredibly difficult to prevent evil from happening.
Profit alone is fine and dandy. Arbitrage is also fine. Direct societal or physical harm is not.
/Godwin!
Come on that title is very misleading. It makes you think google is dodging $60B in taxes in the US, but in reality the sum total of everyone doing this is about $60B, which given the $3000B or so budget really isn't worth getting wound up over or called people the E word. The rules are what they are and they're just playing by them. It's not like they aren't paying any taxes like say Exxon Mobile.