Innovation
Tuesday
Tuesday 22/07/2003One of the things that gets my goat on a regular basis is the suspicion that any large organisation comes to despise the individuals with whom it has to deal. I think it's some sort of corporate jealousy because us humans get to have a good time at weekends and don't have to take ourselves seriously.
Tuesday 22/07/2003
One of the things that gets my goat on a regular basis is the suspicion that any large organisation comes to despise the individuals with whom it has to deal. I think it's some sort of corporate jealousy because us humans get to have a good time at weekends and don't have to take ourselves seriously. But recently, just going about your normal life seems to be enough to bring down the wrath of companies big enough to know better. It's no fun being a l33t hax0r running Linux and peer-to-peer file sharing if you get a writ from the RIAA in the morning and a licence fee demand from SCO in the afternoon. The RIAA is getting so heavy-handed that even Michael Jackson's on record as saying "Hey, leave the kids alone," while SCO's decision to threaten anyone who might one day have otherwise bought some product from them is proving as popular as you might expect. Meanwhile, Vodafone's been writing to old people who don't use their pay as you go phones as much as Vodafone would like, and saying "If you don't use your number, we'll have to take it back because there's a shortage" -- only not so politely. All ballcocks, of course. Voda -- like all mobile phone companies -- really, really dislikes people with the temerity to get a phone on the 'it won't cost much if you don't use it' plans and then not use it. Orange seems dedicated to frightening off anyone on its network who doesn't spend around ten grand a day, while T-Mobile has a different attitude. As I discovered when I got home from Sweden to find that my eight phone calls made while roaming cost me more than the air fare. Doesn't anyone out there with a payroll of more than 100 people like us?
One of the things that gets my goat on a regular basis is the suspicion that any large organisation comes to despise the individuals with whom it has to deal. I think it's some sort of corporate jealousy because us humans get to have a good time at weekends and don't have to take ourselves seriously. But recently, just going about your normal life seems to be enough to bring down the wrath of companies big enough to know better. It's no fun being a l33t hax0r running Linux and peer-to-peer file sharing if you get a writ from the RIAA in the morning and a licence fee demand from SCO in the afternoon. The RIAA is getting so heavy-handed that even Michael Jackson's on record as saying "Hey, leave the kids alone," while SCO's decision to threaten anyone who might one day have otherwise bought some product from them is proving as popular as you might expect. Meanwhile, Vodafone's been writing to old people who don't use their pay as you go phones as much as Vodafone would like, and saying "If you don't use your number, we'll have to take it back because there's a shortage" -- only not so politely. All ballcocks, of course. Voda -- like all mobile phone companies -- really, really dislikes people with the temerity to get a phone on the 'it won't cost much if you don't use it' plans and then not use it. Orange seems dedicated to frightening off anyone on its network who doesn't spend around ten grand a day, while T-Mobile has a different attitude. As I discovered when I got home from Sweden to find that my eight phone calls made while roaming cost me more than the air fare. Doesn't anyone out there with a payroll of more than 100 people like us?