Microsoft business ethics
I took a month off from blogging. Mom and dad visited me in the US for the first time. This was their first visit outside India and we all had a marvellous time. It felt great to arrange a vacation for them for the first time in my life and they loved every minute of it. I drove 2000 miles in the past month - partly because we visited a lot of places on the East coast and partly due to my tendency to get lost on US freeways. Now I'm back to work, with a vengeance. Lots of stuff to work on - its summer, the season of reasearch. (People in academia get most research done during the summer because there are no teaching/course obligations).
But, coming to the topic of my rant - Microsoft. I've never liked MS or their products particularly. In college, I used an IBM laptop and Windows because other technology was not widely available. When I started grad school I had the opportunity to start afresh, I could have chosen a MacBook or an iBook. But I rejected Macs for two reasons, the first one being a rather silly one and the second one slightly more legitimate. 1) I thought the learning curve for using a Mac would be steep and I didn't want to deal with it on top of all the other kinds of learning that starting grad school required of me. 2) I wasn't confident that all the software I would need to install for the next four years would be available for Macs. Most of my more experienced friends advised me to get a Mac, but I was not convinced.
So, in the fall of 2004, I spent $1700 (after a Univ discount) to buy an IBM laptop which originally costs $2100. And I've regretted that decision ever since. Within a year my laptop was attacked by many an Internet virus and I got the 'blue screen of death'. IE would throw up the nastiest of pop-up windows with half-naked women during school presentations. The fan stopped working a long time ago, so I get second-degree burns everytime I set my laptop on my bare thighs. The battery died in less than a year and so my laptop has to ALWAYS be plugged in. My Mac-loving friends couldn't help saying "I told you so".
Since I'm a poor grad student, I don't want to invest money into buying an iBook now. So i'm stuck with this laptop till I finish grad school atleast. However, I've come to accept that I made a wrong decision (as opposed to MS and/or IBM should design better products - classic case of Norman's users-blame-themselves-for-bad-design) and am trying to live with it.
Except when I read about Microsoft's bad business ethics. As if designing bad products and monopolyzing the market were not enough, Microsoft does not have a good business ethic. When I read articles like this one, it makes my blood boil. That is the time I am most ashamed to be a user of MS products.
Which makes me wonder about how MS employees feel about the lack of ethics? Do people think about the business ethics of potential employers? Does that influence their decision to join a firm or is it all about the money and benefits? I have friends who will never shop at Walmart because they are against how Walmart treats its employees. But do people take such stands when it directly affects their well-being? It is easy to not go to Walmart and go to Target or CVS instead for a bar of soap. But what about when one's livelihood is concerned? Would one decline a job offer from MS because their business ethics do not align with their values? I don't know what I would do. It would be too idealistic I guess to turn down a job offer from MS because I dislike their lack of ethics.
But, coming to the topic of my rant - Microsoft. I've never liked MS or their products particularly. In college, I used an IBM laptop and Windows because other technology was not widely available. When I started grad school I had the opportunity to start afresh, I could have chosen a MacBook or an iBook. But I rejected Macs for two reasons, the first one being a rather silly one and the second one slightly more legitimate. 1) I thought the learning curve for using a Mac would be steep and I didn't want to deal with it on top of all the other kinds of learning that starting grad school required of me. 2) I wasn't confident that all the software I would need to install for the next four years would be available for Macs. Most of my more experienced friends advised me to get a Mac, but I was not convinced.
So, in the fall of 2004, I spent $1700 (after a Univ discount) to buy an IBM laptop which originally costs $2100. And I've regretted that decision ever since. Within a year my laptop was attacked by many an Internet virus and I got the 'blue screen of death'. IE would throw up the nastiest of pop-up windows with half-naked women during school presentations. The fan stopped working a long time ago, so I get second-degree burns everytime I set my laptop on my bare thighs. The battery died in less than a year and so my laptop has to ALWAYS be plugged in. My Mac-loving friends couldn't help saying "I told you so".
Since I'm a poor grad student, I don't want to invest money into buying an iBook now. So i'm stuck with this laptop till I finish grad school atleast. However, I've come to accept that I made a wrong decision (as opposed to MS and/or IBM should design better products - classic case of Norman's users-blame-themselves-for-bad-design) and am trying to live with it.
Except when I read about Microsoft's bad business ethics. As if designing bad products and monopolyzing the market were not enough, Microsoft does not have a good business ethic. When I read articles like this one, it makes my blood boil. That is the time I am most ashamed to be a user of MS products.
Which makes me wonder about how MS employees feel about the lack of ethics? Do people think about the business ethics of potential employers? Does that influence their decision to join a firm or is it all about the money and benefits? I have friends who will never shop at Walmart because they are against how Walmart treats its employees. But do people take such stands when it directly affects their well-being? It is easy to not go to Walmart and go to Target or CVS instead for a bar of soap. But what about when one's livelihood is concerned? Would one decline a job offer from MS because their business ethics do not align with their values? I don't know what I would do. It would be too idealistic I guess to turn down a job offer from MS because I dislike their lack of ethics.
No comments:
Post a Comment