What if Microsoft Shrugged?

Watching only the most recent lawsuit against Microsoft unfold, in which the software giant is being told by courts and legislators what it can and cannot put in its operating system, I cannot help but be reminded of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

In this classic novel, the companies that produced things of value were hampered by lawsuits and legislation that the antagonists claimed were designed to level the playing field. Eventually, those who the readers were led to believe were the heroes of the story for their perseverance against such opposition were revealed to be enemies of the cause, because they were the ones responsible for rewarding the populist looter mob and giving them the capital to operate.

But upon meeting the mysterious John Galt, even they decided to shrug off the burden of carrying society and allowed them to fend for themselves, to disastrous results. Although they hid, the powers that represented the mob would use any method of coercion at their disposal to find the businesspeople and scientists in hiding and force their talents be put to use, for they had none of their own.

The question made famous in the novel reflected a sense of helplessness. "Who is John Galt," really meant, "I will take no responsibility to change this injustice."

Microsoft deserves much of the criticism it gets, but the most effective criticism we can offer when we object to a company's actions comes not in the form of lawsuits, but in the refusal to use their products. We ought to be ever suspicious of attempts by all companies to use the courts to broker innovation. If we have learned anything over the last 100 years, is that such attempts are usually marred in failure and inefficiencies.

I've given Microsoft a lot of grief in the past, but I've always maintained that I admire them as a company. I also own several Microsoft programs. I have to wonder if they would be free to fix the problems that cause me to be critical of them if they didn't have to spend so much money fighting off lawsuits and protecting its right to innovate.

Ah. What am I saying? Who is Bill Gates? - Cam Beck

Comments

[mvellandi]

Industrial superheroes to the rescue! "indiana jones music in the background"...Captain GE and capitalist pals Citigroup, 3M, Kellog's, Cisco, and Tyson Foods will come to save Microsoft from those pesky collectivist Eurocrats.

[ian]

I re-read Atlas Shrugged at least once a year, to stay sane.

Mr. Gates, if you shrug, please take me with you.

[abbas saleem khan]

well i've always been divided as to microsoft's influence in the world as it is. there are definitely places where it shouldnt belong - for example making the xbox as a trojan horse video game after their previous interactive television endeavours had failed.

should companies be allowed to dominate so many fields in a way old MS has - i would say definitely not. i think XBOX live service should have been pulled over by the Feds ages back since it gave MS an incredible ability to keep statistics and draw conclusions from user behaviour.

[Cam Beck]

If Microsoft suddenly disappeared, we would persevere, but not without considerable financial pain and difficulty. I don't think it is a matter of being rescued by any big corporation, because they do, after all, seek their own interests. Those interests just happen to be better fulfilled when they serve ours.

Abbas -

I don't know the extent to which Microsoft collects data on users, but in principle I don't think it's morally wrong to collect data about those who are accessing their servers.

I know this isn't an option for you since you work in the gaming industry, but for most people, an XBox is an optional piece of equipment. No one is obligated to buy one. I do not own one and am thus immune from any such effort to collect personal data through XBox Live. If I did have a moral problem with that behavior, I would choose to not patronize them on those grounds. If I felt strongly about it, I would campaign against them and exert whatever influence I could muster to compel them to stop.

That's just the free market at work. They're free to run their business and I'm free to shun the company altogether on account of whatever criteria I choose.