Microsoft hits new ethical low point?

[khuede at otto.harvard.edu (Patrick Ohiomoba)]

I don't want to start a political argument, but I think the fact that it's
engrained in people's consciousness that they didn't have choice in the
last election is sad, and I think it's a biproduct of a media that was
really looking for charismatic, interesting candidates (not candidates
with distinctive personalities).  I don't think that there was any less
difference between Bush and Gore than between Clinton and Dole, Clinton
and Bush, Dukakis and Bush, or any number of previous elections.  If you
consider stances on the environment (including energy policy), abortion,
gun control, campaign finance reform, taxes, health care policy, and the
role of government in peoples lives in general, for example, you'd find
the candidates had noticibly different stances.  And now that Bush has
eliminated federal aid to family planning groups that present abortion as
an option to overseas women, started work on an energy policy that would
include drilling for oil in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge, and begun putting
a 1.6 trillion dollar tax cut through Congress, (things that a Gore
administration  would not have done) you can't say that these differences
don't impact people's daily lives.  

Since the person likely in charge of the Microsoft case in the Bush
administration sides with Microsoft in terms of government antitrust
interference in the software industry, you can't even say it doesn't
affect our lives (Gore would have likely had a different person in
charge more amenable to the antitrust case brought agains M$ by the
Justice Dept.)

The whole argument that the two party system holds back our political
system and disinterests people is also not fully valid.  Major countries
with multiparty sytems (e.g. Israel, India) also tend to make major
choices (i.e. Prime Minister or President or even legislative control) 
between two major parties.  There is large variation within the Dems and
Reps in the US; and the last election had a greater turnout than the last
4 or 5.  If the two choices were so similar, and people so disinterested,
then the trend of diminishing voter participation would have continued. 
It's the media who put that spin on this election.  

If we bought the things the media had to say about open source vs
commercial software without investigation, we'd have a different view of
our beloved free software.  We similarly shouldn't take this whole no
diference between the two parties without similar investigation and
substantiation for our opinions.  In both software and politics,
substance, not marketing should prevail.


On Sun, 18 Feb 2001, Niall Kavanagh wrote:

> On 18 Feb 2001, Derek Atkins wrote:
> 
> > You know, it's amazing how many people thought I was really serious
> > in my "devil's advocate" argument.  But the problem is that M$ does
> > put forward these arguments (or at least similarly inane arguments ;)
> > and the public seems to lap it up.  The real question is: how do you
> > fight a PR machine that get thirsty people to drink their sand?
> > 
> 
> You don't. Choice is good. When your choices have drastic fundemental
> differences, so much the better.
> 
> Look at how homogenous the politcal climate is in the US, and the apathy
> it has induced in the populance. Did it really make any difference in the
> day-to-day lives of most Americans that Bush beat Gore? No, it didn't.
> Neither party has any incentive to think outside the box because they're
> both following the same course. Fortunately we have other voices gaining
> more exposure, like the Libetarians and Green Party.
> 
> I for one am very glad Windows exists. It provides a powerful example to
> compare alternatives against.
> 
> --
> Niall Kavanagh, niall at kst.com
> News, articles, and resources for web professionals and developers:
> http://www.kst.com
> 
> 
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