Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: monocultures (Anti-Microsoft sentiment)

Author:David McCusker
Posted:9/17/2000; 10:19:55 AM
Topic:Debunking the OSS Bazaar?
Msg #:21440 (In response to 21431)
Prev/Next:21439 / 21441

Josh Allen: Sometimes companies eat other companies to become stronger, sometimes in a hostile way.

Yes, either eat them or starve them. Of the two, eating is a better fortune for the victim. In either case, the marketplace context around the companies sees a net decrease in operative memes.

In business we pursue monoculturism much too strongly. Memes get retired after preliminary sallies that show nothing very conclusive. It brings to mind a Monty Python sketch about the black plague, where a victim must say, "But I'm not dead yet!"

Josh Allen: Sometimes companies find symbiotic relationships with other companies.

Works for me. More memes in collaboration. Of course this is sometimes merely oligarchy, with companies acting as divisions of a larger organism. This was the intended meaning of the term Wintel.

Josh Allen: Often the rotting of a dead company provides nutrition (in the form of talent) to other growing companies.

Rotting and dead are usually forced metaphors here. And this metaphor is a bit chancy, since we don't eat our dead. :-) We might find humor here. When your uncle Ralph is dying, is it okay if I claim dibs on his spare parts when he's done with them?

The whole view of companies as potential spare parts is a mindset motivating the Borg metaphor, which is exceptionally unpopular. The images showing Bill Gates as a Borg operative are not complimentary.

Companies exist to make things, not just to give folks a living salary. When everyone works for the same monoculture, less is created and we are deprived of useful variety. Though folks as spare parts are not killed, a larger creative pattern still dies when a company folds.

When a rabbit eats a carrot, the carrot becomes a rabbit and not the other way around. This is what I tell young folks who tell me they are considering a job at Microsoft. The US Army doesn't change when you sign up, no matter how bright you are.

A great many Stephen King stories are about eating and being consumed, and one of his short stories even explicitly discusses this theme. It's strange to see this staple of the horror genre used as a justification for good company hostile practice. :-)

Josh Allen: Of the fortune 500 companies on the list in 1970, 20% no longer exist in any form. All the same can be said of animals. All of these we tolerate.

Companies are not animals, and pursuing that metaphor can hinder you as much as help you. That we tolerate things does not mean they are desirable. In fact, much progress occurs when we selectively stop tolerating some things in our environments.

I'm not talking about green earth stuff, about which I don't care. This is about something I care about much more than that. I'm concerned about human culture in patterns (among others) of corporate structure.

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