[Edu-sig] Low Enrollments.

[Dethe Elza]

On 17-Oct-05, at 12:45 PM, Kirby Urner wrote:
> In microcosm, I suppose I'm not that different from Microsoft (I'm  
> just a
> lot smaller).  I want to survive in a business that interests me.   
> So that
> brings me to a philosophical question:  what's wrong with that?

There is a difference across such differences in scale.  Microsoft is  
a convicted, but unpunished and unrepentant, monopolist with goals  
which go beyond simply making money (i.e., extending their monopoly  
further to make more money in the future, as well as ideological  
goals of having a Microsoft computer on every desk).

> I don't see my goal as in principle unethical.  It's what teachers  
> have
> always wanted:  to teach, to have brilliant students who make a  
> difference
> in the world, and to receive food and shelter while doing some  
> honest work.

It is not unethical to earn an honest living from honest work.  Many  
of Microsoft's business practices *are* unethical, and sometimes  
illegal (i.e., a former Microsoft accountant was fired when he  
revealed some of their shady bookkeeping).

I don't view that as Microsoft-bashing, just old news.  On the other  
hand, I have no interest in using Microsoft products or building on  
their platforms as I would personally feel like I was enhancing their  
monopoly and abetting known criminals.  And yet, that's exactly what  
I do at my day job.

Apple has also been less than ethical at times, certainly they have  
been known to prey on their own developers, but they don't operate  
from a position of monopoly, they contribute back to the open-source  
community, and they genuinely innovate, so while I think Jobs is kind  
of a jerk and wouldn't want to hang out with him (no risk there!), I  
don't mind building on their platform.

IBM went through its own monopoly trial and was found not guilty, but  
they changed their business practices anyway.  They also innovate and  
give back to the open source community.  I don't have a problem with  
writing for them or getting paid to do it.  Maybe I should, because  
of the part they played in the Holocaust, but it's hard for me to  
make the connection between today's management and business practices  
and those of 60 years ago.

Everyone has a different place where they draw the line between  
ethics and making a living.  I don't like where Microsoft draws  
theirs, although there are certainly worse corporations in the  
world.  But I don't refuse to drive a Ford because Henry Ford was a  
flaming anti-Semite (I refuse to drive a Ford because they make crap  
cars).

Hmmm, starting to ramble.  I think there was a point in there, I hope  
you can find it.

--Dethe

"All spiritual paths have four steps: show up, pay attention, tell the
truth, and don't be attached to the results."  Angeles Arien