[GLLUG] Novell -- open source Judas goat?

[Ross Smith]

On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 11:39 AM, Ross Smith <rsmith1916 at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 1:11 PM, Michael Rudas <audiotech50 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Stories like this make me pretty sure that Novell is nothing more than
>> a pawn in Microsoft's overall game.  The terms "cat's paw" and "Judas
>> goat" both seem appropriate...
>>
>> >From Groklaw's "News Picks"
>> "SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell Meets U.S. DOD Internet
>> Protocol Standards"
>> <http://www.techweb.com/showPressRelease.jhtml?articleID=X702614>
>>
>> ~~ Mikey
>> _______________________________________________
>> linux-user mailing list
>> linux-user at egr.msu.edu
>> http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user
>>
>
> IMHO, a corporation's only goal is this: to categorically make money,
> specifically take your money, at any cost within the laws of the governing
> land or what they can get away with, and nothing else (which is not
> something I see as a good thing, just to clarify).
>
> Even though that does not make all the people who work at a corporation
> evil, it does, it should not be that much of a surprise that a company like
> Novell is doing whatever it can to make money - regardless of it's mission
> statement.  Just another company who makes themselves out to look like
> something they are not - a non/not for-profit organization.
>
> This reminds me of how people used to love AMD over Intel, claiming that
> somehow they where a more ethical company and treated their employees with
> the greatest of respect and dignity.  Unforunately, when it came down to it,
> they cut a huge percentage of their work force and hired them back as
> outsourced contract workers - making $10/less an hour and with no benefits.
> The cost, of course, was double for AMD to pay contract companies for this.
> However, the benefit was huge in the pockets of the people at the top.
> Operational flexibility, the art of making your head count appear to shrink
> while increasing productivity and output to your share holders (because you
> don't have to report the contracted), which thus improves your look to
> shareholders and forecasters.
>
> Of course, I don't blame people who work for these companies to make a
> living.  I think I heard it best when I heard something like, "...the number
> one freedom that you and I have is the freedom to enter into a subservient
> role in the workplace. Once you exercise this freedom you've lost all
> control over what you do, what is produced, and how it is produced. And in
> the end, the product doesn't belong to you. The only way you can avoid
> bosses and jobs is if you don't care about making a living. Which leads to
> the second freedom: the freedom to starve."  A bit extreme to be true across
> the board, certainly that doesn't hold water to small business owners and
> such, but with respect to workers you get the idea.
>
> Alright.. I'll stop writing a book now :P
>

Yikes!

>>Even though that does not make all the people who work at a corporation
evil, it does, it should not be that much of a surprise that a company like
Novell is doing whatever it can to make money - regardless of it's mission
statement.  Just another company who makes themselves out to look like
something they are not - a non/not for-profit organization

Should be:

>>Even though that does not make all the people who work at a corporation
evil, it should not be that much of a surprise that a company like Novell is
doing whatever it can to make money - >>regardless of it's mission
statement.  Just another company who makes themselves out to look like
something they are not - a non/not for-profit organization

...or something that is somewhat coherent.
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