I am not a lawyer either, but it seems that when infringement is willful (ie not by mistake), you may be liable for the damage you've done even if you stop when slapped with a C&D Letter.
Since the facts state that OLPC actually bought one of their keyboards with an implied intention to copy the layout, the infringement, if any, was willful.
You are absoutely correct that compartmentalizing responsibility is counter-productive, where the knowledge and influence on the "big picture" are important to success of each individual task. Specialization is a tool just like any other and can certianly be misused to the detriment of the entire enterprise.
Yes, often comporations to misuse specialization because of their inability to attract talented people. With a worker of mediocre skills/talent, the best you can hope for is to teach him just one kind of thing as opposed to the understaning of the entire enterprise. Also, the only people who could be trusted with decision-making are the ones who have a big picture in mind, and that again requires skills/talent.
Given the lack (and, therefore, considerable expense) of highly skilled/talented employees, the corporations have to use specialization to optimize for total costs (those "hiddne" costs that you mentioned included).
The only solution to avoiding detrimental specialization (where it is detrimental) is improving our education system and encoraging immigration of highly educated people from the rest of the world.
Yes, cost is a huge factor. By having cheaper meat, we can feed a lot more people, although, of course, the meat overall would be of a lesser quality than if it were "lovingly handled by a Master Butcher every step of the way".
The meat packing factory, again, is very similar in this respect to a hospital. Yes, you are more likely to avoid complications and medical errors, if your entire care were handled 24x7 by one dedicated Attending Physician (a very experiences doctor). However, the cost of such care would be immense, and, therefore, much fewer people would be able to afford it. That would cause a significant decline in the health of the entire population.
Specialization increases productivity and, therefore, enriches the entire nation.
P.S. Your IT shop example is mostly an illustration of an inept organization structure. Normally, you will have a few people in your organization who are very good and capable of the big picture. The rare problems that cannot be solved by specialized peons ought to be escalated to those people. Yes, this setup would not had prevented the problem from occuring and would slightly delay the resolution, but the problem would not require "dozens of matrixed people".
"introducing a new division of labor that eliminated the need for skilled butchers"
That's just a good example of optimizing workforce utilization.
One would hardly find a problem with Doctors not being used to change patients' sheets. Same thing with skilled butchers not being used to do jobs that a person with no skills and no English can perform.
Anything with low elasticity of demand (like how much electricity or gas will be used given a price) will be exploited in a free market.
Say, CA needs X Kwh of electricity or Y gallons of gas per day. If the price were to double, would you half your gas and electric demand? If so, how fast? I bet you'd curse but pay up, since you do need to go to work (gas) and need to heat and light your house (electric).
If the supply for electricity were suddenly 0.9*X or 0.9*Y, what would happen? 10% of the population cannot just decide to stay home instead of going to work (or switch off their heat and lights). So they'll frantically bid up the price to a very high level (so high that some people might reluctantly chose to car pool or turn off the lights). The price will increase by much more than 10% (the reduction in supply).
Of course, in the LONG run, you'd buy a Hybrid car, switch to energy-efficient light bulbs and appliances, and new suppliers might want to join the bazzar, too.
But with energy, this will be a LONG run. In the short term, you will just pay up. Hence, it makes all the sence for the suppliers/traders to limit the supply of electricity/gas and watch the prices spike and bank accounts fatten. It works especially nicely when there are only a few larger suppliers.
That's why we need regulation in such low elasticity of demand/high cost of entry markets.
Slashdot Mirror
I am not a lawyer either, but it seems that when infringement is willful (ie not by mistake), you may be liable for the damage you've done even if you stop when slapped with a C&D Letter.
Since the facts state that OLPC actually bought one of their keyboards with an implied intention to copy the layout, the infringement, if any, was willful.
You are absoutely correct that compartmentalizing responsibility is counter-productive, where the knowledge and influence on the "big picture" are important to success of each individual task. Specialization is a tool just like any other and can certianly be misused to the detriment of the entire enterprise. Yes, often comporations to misuse specialization because of their inability to attract talented people. With a worker of mediocre skills/talent, the best you can hope for is to teach him just one kind of thing as opposed to the understaning of the entire enterprise. Also, the only people who could be trusted with decision-making are the ones who have a big picture in mind, and that again requires skills/talent. Given the lack (and, therefore, considerable expense) of highly skilled/talented employees, the corporations have to use specialization to optimize for total costs (those "hiddne" costs that you mentioned included). The only solution to avoiding detrimental specialization (where it is detrimental) is improving our education system and encoraging immigration of highly educated people from the rest of the world.
Yes, cost is a huge factor. By having cheaper meat, we can feed a lot more people, although, of course, the meat overall would be of a lesser quality than if it were "lovingly handled by a Master Butcher every step of the way".
The meat packing factory, again, is very similar in this respect to a hospital. Yes, you are more likely to avoid complications and medical errors, if your entire care were handled 24x7 by one dedicated Attending Physician (a very experiences doctor). However, the cost of such care would be immense, and, therefore, much fewer people would be able to afford it. That would cause a significant decline in the health of the entire population.
Specialization increases productivity and, therefore, enriches the entire nation.
P.S. Your IT shop example is mostly an illustration of an inept organization structure. Normally, you will have a few people in your organization who are very good and capable of the big picture. The rare problems that cannot be solved by specialized peons ought to be escalated to those people. Yes, this setup would not had prevented the problem from occuring and would slightly delay the resolution, but the problem would not require "dozens of matrixed people".
"introducing a new division of labor that eliminated the need for skilled butchers"
That's just a good example of optimizing workforce utilization.
One would hardly find a problem with Doctors not being used to change patients' sheets. Same thing with skilled butchers not being used to do jobs that a person with no skills and no English can perform.
This is a BS argument, too.
Anything with low elasticity of demand (like how much electricity or gas will be used given a price) will be exploited in a free market.
Say, CA needs X Kwh of electricity or Y gallons of gas per day. If the price were to double, would you half your gas and electric demand? If so, how fast? I bet you'd curse but pay up, since you do need to go to work (gas) and need to heat and light your house (electric).
If the supply for electricity were suddenly 0.9*X or 0.9*Y, what would happen? 10% of the population cannot just decide to stay home instead of going to work (or switch off their heat and lights). So they'll frantically bid up the price to a very high level (so high that some people might reluctantly chose to car pool or turn off the lights). The price will increase by much more than 10% (the reduction in supply).
Of course, in the LONG run, you'd buy a Hybrid car, switch to energy-efficient light bulbs and appliances, and new suppliers might want to join the bazzar, too.
But with energy, this will be a LONG run. In the short term, you will just pay up. Hence, it makes all the sence for the suppliers/traders to limit the supply of electricity/gas and watch the prices spike and bank accounts fatten. It works especially nicely when there are only a few larger suppliers.
That's why we need regulation in such low elasticity of demand/high cost of entry markets.