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Google Sought To Hide Political Dealmaking
A blog entry by Michael Kanellos at ZDNet links to and expands upon an article in the Charlotte Observer. Last year Google was apparently throwing its weight around in North Carolina, seeking tax breaks from state and local legislators. When the company didn't get what it wanted pressure was brought to bear on legislative aides, journalists, and politicians. The search giant was especially touchy about keeping the negotiations secret: "Executives didn't want anybody even to mention the company's name for fear that competitors could learn of its plans. Most involved with the negotiations were required to sign nondisclosure agreements ... That posed challenges for elected officials, charged with conducting the public's business in the open. As the tax measure wended its way through the legislature, some lawmakers began linking it to Google." The results of this deal are extremely lucrative for both sides. Google brought some $600 million in investment and as many as 200 jobs to the state, and legislation enacted with Google's help is projected to save the company some $89 million in taxes over 30 years.
Microsoft was a savior from the 'iron-fisted data processing overlords' for quite some time. There were years and years where non-networked (or workgroup networked) PCs and Macs were a godsend. The IT drones would bring out their big fanfold printouts and dump them on managers' desks, but the real spark of innovation was happening in tech-space. Contrary to the now-popular belief, the 'IT' culture is simply an updating of gray filing cabinets and huge rooms filled with filing clerks.
The early Microsoft 'a PC on every desktop' mantra was about regular people taking over the data. I think it may have it's origins in the strong dislike of authentic 'hacker' types for the straight-laced authoritarians of the mainframe era. You know who I mean. Those fucking twits in the lab coats pictured by all the cool ancient mainframes in historical photo collections WERE fucking twits. Just like the IT people you have to work around now to get anything useful done with the PC on your desk at work.
My apologies in advance to anybody stuck in an 'IT' type job. Maybe you should go back to school and get a degree in Engineering that is real engineering. You know what I mean.