Microsoft in hot water over China factory conditions

crunchgear.com

7 points·jacquesm··6 comments

> Again, Microsoft is the biggest company implicated here, with some of its components being constructed in said factories. Other companies include HP, Samsung, Acer, Logitech, and Foxconn.

Interesting how MSFT gets the bad press, yet it's not clear they're the primary buyer of parts from these factories. They're just the "biggest."

In Dutch we have a proverb that says something like 'High trees catch lots of wind'.

Dutch proverbs as a rule are hard to translate but you get the idea.

MSFT got the press because AAPL isn't one of the buyers.

Having worked in various factories, mainly in Europe, I completely disagree that these kind of hellish working conditions are just "the nature of the beast". Many factories have good working conditions and high safety standards, thanks in part to adequate and scrupulously enforced regulations and also the awareness that mistreatment of any sort can lead to significant legal compensation claims.

The period alluded to is the beginning of the industrial revolution.

But even so, today there are people that take terrible advantage of others, even in rich European countries: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/investigations/24725/

Read it and weep.

"A couple years ago you’d have stories about kids in Manchester textile factories putting up with pure hell. It’s simply the nature of the beast."

"A couple of years ago" in this case would be a figure of speech. ;)

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