Saturday, March 05, 2011

Steve Jobs: The Agony and the Ecstasy | Identity Theft Tips:

While Apple is the focus of Daisey’s carefully constructed rant, his tale most likely could be told in some form about any company that designs and sells electronic devices. What makes Apple particularly culpable in Daisey’s allegations, in my eyes, is its very own history, intertwined with Jobs’.

Apple, lest we all forget, was once the upstart of the computer industry. Born in the shadow of IBM, and long languishing behind Microsoft, Apple is the company that announced its arrival with a legendary 1984 Super Bowl ad paying homage to the George Orwell classic novel “1984.” The ad depicted a revolutionary woman using a hammer to stop the broadcast of a brainwashing overlord being watched by throngs of expressionless drones. Fast forward 27 years, and Jobs appears to have assumed the overlord role.

In working toward his goal of making Apple devices the best designed and most ubiquitous in the world, Jobs at some point appears to have decided that supporting one of the most reportedly inhumane labor environments in the world is an acceptable trade-off. The hypocrisy is, to be blunt, alarming.