Hacker News Reader

Comment by clort | Hacker News Reader

That reminds me of the Microsoft of 20+ years ago, I remember reading an interview with Bill Gates where he had been frustrated with something in the new software and tried to pursue getting it fixed, but was stonewalled and diverted until he simply gave up. Contrasting this with Steve Jobs reportedly being a massive dickhead, barging into developer offices, shouting and screaming and firing people who didn't jump to do what he wanted immediately, but the Apple software worked and didn't have the cruft in the end.

View on HN

Possibly “Bill Gates tries to install Movie Maker” (https://www.techemails.com/p/bill-gates-tries-to-install-mov...)

Something that amuses me is that this method demonstrably works, but is unpleasant to almost everybody involved. Fundamentally, kicking people up the ass is... not nice. However, it must be done, because otherwise large organisations have a natural tendency towards disorder and indolence.

Whenever you hear people bitching about CEOs like Jobs, Bezos, or Musk, just keep in mind that most people's opinions are second-hand from people who got their arse kicked.

Meanwhile, these CEOs got fabulously rich by having this exact attitude.

> Meanwhile, these CEOs got fabulously rich by having this exact attitude.

Everything is permitted if someone gets fabulously rich in the end. Got it.

Why is this a surprise? Do people really drink the democracy equality kool aid

Haha isn't that how Americans measure happiness? Like how in Eastern Germany the news always talked about increasing grain harvests American news always talks about how many billionaires get invited to Trump's inauguration party.

You can live in a trailer park next with your meth addicted family but Musk is getting richer.

Oxy, not meth. Get your facts straight. That’s just hurtful:

After their recent legal troubles, the Sacklers only have $10B left. They need all our support to get through these trying times.

Plenty of meth where I live !

Yep and this is why many modern organizations are going to shit. Nowadays this behavior is not only heavily shamed but also very often punished. You need to have a lot of power to get away with it. In my opinion all of this comes from submitting from the feminine way of working. Most women get shit done from men just by asking nicely (even when it's not really in their interest). Then they wrongly assumed that is how everything should work and pushed the "asking nicely" way of working everywhere.

Here is some anecdote. In in youth, I learned/played the french horn. Most of my teachers where nice feminine men, I was making progress but very slowly. But one year I got a guy that was out of the army music, he didn't take bullshit and forced me to work in a way the others never did. This year my progress was orders of magnitude better than any other year. At the time I thought he was a bit of an asshole, but now I know that if I had to choose, I would rather have someone like him. I quit french horn 3 years after, there were many reasons but not having a strong inspiring teacher was one of them for sure.

>Nowadays this behavior is not only heavily shamed but also very often punished.

Well the pendulum is swinging back. But it is going to take at least 10-15 years. As with everything we need both, and use them when ever it is appreciate.

I'm not sure it's going to be enough; the ones holding powers in organisations are not ready to let go of it and it's more of a systemic problem.

I think a shock is needed for real transformation, politics are just a show, what really happens is dependent on the sentiment of the executants.

Otherwise, it's going to take a very long time like you said but it's not clear whether the system will survive that long, at least in the EU.

It's funny that I got downvoted and you as well. On HN the white knights outnumber people with a realistic world-view heavily. I don't blame them; when your earnings/power depends on you not asking too many questions and subscribing to the dominant ideology this is what you do.

I got quite used to downvoting. That is why I have in my bio being contrarian. It is not that I want to be one so I go for the opposite opinion.

I agree it may not survive that long in the EU, especially in the UK I am not even sure which one is worst.

I'm not well informed on the precise situation in the UK, I only get bits here and there from remarks in media (I don't consume much mainstream media) but it looks like it's getting pretty bad.

Don't worry, France (where I'm from) is following very closely in the massive destruction happening under the weight of the dominant ideology.

Metternich, the Austrian chancellor once said: "When France Sneezes, the Rest of Europe Catches a Cold". So maybe we should worry a bit but at the same time France is nowhere near as relevant as it once was, so maybe we are just spectators of the fall of a once dominant culture.

The problem with downvoting is that it's just people refusing to engage in a productive debate because it hurts their feeling about what is supposedly good or bad. It ends up being a massive popularity contest which is exactly the pitfalls that Aristotle warned about democracy.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com