Linux Geeks To Take Over World

B'Trey writes "According to this story by Rob Enderle of TechNewsWorld, Linux geeks are one of the most powerful forces in the world and are set to become the next Mob. Does this mean I get to wear a cool fedora and carry my distro CDs in a violin case?"

Comments

A story without much of a point

[Raindance]

The article tells a good story about how Linux is at the center of a massive nexus of script-kiddies who are eager to destroy anyone standing in their way. And how unions are powerful things.

I don't think, however, that this has much to do with IT unionization.

There will always be vandals. There will always be workers who would benefit from a union. The story failed to connect these ideas.

Meh.

Joking aside

[Dancin_Santa]

Let's look at the whole concept of an IT union. That's what the article is really trying to get at, though it seems to be unable to connect the dots.

Unions have historically been necessary in professions where the employees have been at a severe economic disadvantage to the employer. In such cases, the employee would suffer more greatly by being punished by the employer than by doing some odious task. A great example is the auto industry where thousands upon thousands of workers would be literally unable to support themselves if the factory left town. The management is able to use this knowledge and leverage it into forcing longer hours for worse pay upon the workers. It is only through unionization and the threat of collective/mass work stoppage that the management is kept in check.

In the modern age, unions have been a device to demand better treatment for worse productivity. They have ceased to be helpful guardians of employee rights and have become oppressive bureaucracies in their own right. This is not really a good direction, IMO.

If the primary goal of a union ought to be the protection of worker rights and the establishment of a partnership in which both management and the employees receive favorable outcomes. It should seek to balance the power of the employers with the needs of the employees.

However in the software world, the employees are not hamstrung by monetary concerns. Any Joe Programmer can pick up a cheap $200 bare bones PC and a copy of Linux and be programming the next great thing. He doesn't need management to do this.

So management, despite its seeming power, does not actually have very much leverage over any IT employee. It is not the case that if the company packs up and leaves town that the computer engineer is suddenly out on his ass. Rather, he still has the tools at his disposal to continue productive work on his own.

Because of this natural balance in the IT industry, it will never make sense to have an industry-wide union.

Re:Joking aside

[benjamindees]

There are great examples of useful unions for people who make more than the average salary, especially in highly technical jobs.

Aircraft mechanics, for instance, have fantastic unions. They guarantee their members have the necessary skills and training, as well as pay, that they need to perform their highly stressful jobs well. They know that, without a union, the money would not be spent on important aspects of their jobs, and that, when things went wrong, the mechanics would be the first ones to take the blame. So, they band together to say "If you fire the guy who cleans parts, or replace him with your retarded son-in-law, you fire all of us," and this makes sure the job is done correctly.

This sounds like the most useful aspect of a technical union, imho. Managers and PHBs will cut costs until wires are sparking and nobody is left working at the company who knows how to use whatever program the business is 90% dependent upon. Traditionally, consultants have filled this niche by providing a reliable supply (at inflated prices) of technical knowledge and fire-fighting services for when the cost-cutting goes a little too far and the last competent IT guy quits to become a BMX biker. Normally, at this point, a consultant would come in with the newest version of $BIG_BIG_SOFTWARE and switch the entire company, or at least provide transition services until new staff can be found and trained.

With Open Source, that model doesn't work as well. Yet, there is still a need for highly competent technical know-how of the types of things that only come up every couple of years. How does an Open Source shop guarantee that the boss doesn't fire the only guy who knows how to debug a kernel?

Re:Joking aside

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahem. I'm going to pick on part of what you said.

Before you or any other keep on going with the anti-union stance, let me tell you something. I've been in IT for 20+ years, contracting, consulting and working in corporate IT depts. before the Y2K meltdown. I think I've essentially seen it all, from the last days of punched card systems to the current M$ techno dead land (or desert, whatever. It's worse than the bad old days of "Snow white and the seven dwarfs", something the younger crowd here on /. will never know).

Anywho, I've ended up in my current position with less pay than what I was making back in '98, but unionized for the first time in my life. While I recognize that some unions are not much more than legalized mob (sorry for the extreme expression), not all are like that. For me and surprisingly many of my current colleagues, it means that we are now paid for our overtime for the first time in our lives, amongst other things.

And this comes from the fact that the union negotiated a collective agreement that governs how things happen and what benefits we get. It is something that a non-unionized workforce could never do, get all the rules put down on paper and all the "kitchenwork" defined to avoid any misunderstanding and abuse by any party.

So you might want to think about that. Some unions can actually do good.

AC

Re:You still won't get a date on Friday.

[Profane MuthaFucka]

Well how about this: a mailing list to inform members of when it is time to write e-mails to their bosses, and when it is time to strike. Otherwise, it doesn't do anything.

Basically when IBM decides that it's time to take pensions away, the mailing list activates, and all employees send an e-mail to Sam Palmisano at the same time, threatening to strike if the pensions are taken away.

It's just coordination, that's all. If just one guy sends the e-mail to Sam, he gets fired. If everyone sends an e-mail at the same time, nobody gets fired.