The sharecropper analogy reminded me of a 'Father and Son' cartoon by Peter van Straaten. The cartoon is set in the 70s with an arch-conservative father and his rebellious son with socialist ideals:
Son:"But dad, if only you would see how the capitalists become rich at the expense of the workers, it'd be enough to make anyone become a socialist."
- Father: "That is a rather unhealthy response. A healthy Dutch lad will work hard and become a capitalist himself!"
All that means is that this particular group of coders got lucky. Microsoft bought their software instead of creating their own software or purchasing from a competitor. The point is that Microsoft has all of the cards, and you are literally at their mercy. The best that your friends could hope for was that Microsoft would be merciful and purchase their software (at a price that was convenient to Microsoft). In short, you are sharecropping. You do the work, and if you get lucky and your business starts
So, um... if you find anything fitting that description in the software industry, please let me know. The search has been difficult and fruitless.
Either way. I'll start worrying about commies when the IT industry begins to run out of jobs, and I'll start worrying about capitalist pig-dogs when I see folks thrown in jail for giving away code.
Unix is the worst operating system; except for all others.
-- Berry Kercheval
Join the Democratic People's Collective OS Farm (Score:5, Funny)
Rise programming proletariat, rise and be free!
Re:Join the Democratic People's Collective OS Farm (Score:2)
Son:"But dad, if only you would see how the capitalists become rich at the expense of the workers, it'd be enough to make anyone become a socialist."
- Father: "That is a rather unhealthy response. A healthy Dutch lad will work hard and become a capitalist himself!"
This happens in the software industry as
Re:Join the Democratic People's Collective OS Farm (Score:2)
All that means is that this particular group of coders got lucky. Microsoft bought their software instead of creating their own software or purchasing from a competitor. The point is that Microsoft has all of the cards, and you are literally at their mercy. The best that your friends could hope for was that Microsoft would be merciful and purchase their software (at a price that was convenient to Microsoft). In short, you are sharecropping. You do the work, and if you get lucky and your business starts
Re:Join the Democratic People's Collective OS Farm (Score:1)
Re:Join the Democratic People's Collective OS Farm (Score:0)
And if anyone was to ask what my religion is, I would say, Debian.
Bah! I just use what works. (Score:2)
Either way. I'll start worrying about commies when the IT industry begins to run out of jobs, and I'll start worrying about capitalist pig-dogs when I see folks thrown in jail for giving away code.