M$ has been the *Model* for the growth in rapacity.
IBM's crimes were in another generation.. for most in techno today. Undoubtedly there are ugly parallels but.. IBM did not train an entire generation of greedy, minimally-educated folks - who could only make it in basketweaving or bus-ad courses - to follow Billy's perfect example.
The combo of Billy n'Bally are ICONS. No one at IBM ever was, unless you want to imagine that Watson was beloved (except.. by that generation's bus-ad wannabes too). He had 0 Charisma. Also, there was zippo social awareness when Watson did his dirty deeds.
Billy only Markets Others' ideas: stolen outright, retained after a 'partner' is run into bankruptcy via orchestrated premeditated lies [Ed Curry] - or when those ploys have failed: bought. Often that which was bought was buried because it was too Good ergo, a threat to hegemony.
And all with nondisclosure agreements at every step. So we will never know the depth and breadth, except by inference. Nope.. B n'B are the ICONS. IBM never created emulators throughout all of business.
Bn'B created a New Thing: Bizness. Now it is everywhere, like a virus, superseding the remaining small more-nearly ethical holdovers. That is a social devolution, and there is no reversal of the mindset anywhere in sight.
Ashton
