shady business practices

[ron.peterson at yellowbank.com (Ron Peterson)]

On Wed, 11 Apr 2001 ccb at valinux.com wrote:

>
> > > That's capitalism.
> >
> > That's disgusting.
> > Here's a simple question: did the manufacturers tell their customers
> > that they made this modification?  I'd guess not.  Why not?
>
> Because it was none of the customer's business?  Did the printers not
> print at the speeds advertised for each of the two models?  Did the
> buyers get the mix of features that they expected given the honest
> marketing of each product?

That's the whole point, this was /not/ honest marketing.  They were being
deceptive.  What do you mean, "it was none of their business"?  What I
purchase is, by definition, my business.

You could itemize countless other examples of shady business practices,
I'm sure.  This will not convince me that it's o.k.

I'm sure that many of Microsoft's practices which have been mentioned are
among the reasons many in this group are using Linux/BSD/whatever.

I'm really confounded by this "it's o.k. if you can get away with it"
attitude about making money.  Is there nothing more precious than a
dollar?

I also resent any implied association between this particullarly base
concept of capitalism and American patriotism: the notion that if you
don't exhalt the almighty dollar, you must be a communist.  (I'm
responding to a whole bunch of comments at once, nothing personal about
this one...)

I have no problem with capitalism whatever.  I think it's great.  What the
market will bear.  Super.  People can and should ask whatever they should
get for their goods and services (with some oddball exceptions).  But they
shouldn't /lie/ about what they're selling.  That's my point, and that's
my only point.  They shouldn't say "These are two different printer
models.  If you spend a little extra, you can get the better model." when
for all practical purposes /they are the same damn printer/.

And if they get caught, they shouldn't be surprised that people no longer
trust them.  And no longer want to buy things from them.  That's
capitalism also.

> Man, this hits a nerve.

I think you're maybe reading more into my comments than warranted.  I
really don't think I'm being very radical here.  (I'm not crazy, everybody
else is crazy... ;)

-Ron-
GPG and other info at: http://www.yellowbank.com/


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