Perhaps your problem is in your whole premise that "getting to the top" is the prime directive of your career. If that truly is your goal and you're willing to step on whoever is in your way to get there, then more power to you. I hope it's worth it to you, because I'd be pretty damn miserable with my life if that's what I did.
Substantial material gain and obtaining prestige are not very attractive to me when I consider their cost. I desire a fuller life, one that is more balanced and not centered around money alone. Because I recognize the value of people and the advantages of personal relationships, developing friendships and fostering trust at work is important to me, much more so than lonely "success". I'd imagine that being a manipulative sonofabitch around your coworkers is a great way for you to hinder the progress of your business, and likely your career as well. With the philosophy you're promoting, you'd have to get pretty lucky to ever be in a position for advancement. If your supposed teammates are aware that you'd sell them out in a heartbeat, who in their right mind would do you a favor?
Rights are not earned. Read the Declaration of Independence - it says clearly that mankind is endowed with certain unalienable rights. When you say "We have earned our rights", you imply we had to undergo some rite of passage to obtain them. On the contrary; they are given to us. We are born with them, as all human beings are (whether or not some governments happen to recognize them - it's a basic tenet of our belief system as Americans). Don't lose sight of the fact that rights are unearned. Privileges may be earned, but not our basic freedoms. Human rights are (or ought to be) guaranteed constants in the equation.
Man... I just finished ripping apart my Hotmail account and deleting messages and addressbook entries. Just stuff I'd classify as "not intended for prying Microsoft eyes." Perhaps a bit reactionary, but I think any license agreement that leaves open the possibility of that kind of abuse is unacceptable.
Of course, now that I practically dumped my account, they "fix" the agreement. I should have seen that coming.
I believe Yahoo Messenger is based on iChat Pager, formerly made by Koz. Apparently it's been making some big waves in the last six months. Can't say I like it as much as AIM, and I don't know how open the Yahoo (or I guess iChat) protocol is. Is there anyone who has looked beyond the surface of this app? Something tells me that the outcome of the ongoing "IM standard" consortium (which I am fairly sure is NOT attended by AOL) is going to be an open standard heavily based on the iChat method.
Slashdot Mirror
Perhaps your problem is in your whole premise that "getting to the top" is the prime directive of your career. If that truly is your goal and you're willing to step on whoever is in your way to get there, then more power to you. I hope it's worth it to you, because I'd be pretty damn miserable with my life if that's what I did.
Substantial material gain and obtaining prestige are not very attractive to me when I consider their cost. I desire a fuller life, one that is more balanced and not centered around money alone. Because I recognize the value of people and the advantages of personal relationships, developing friendships and fostering trust at work is important to me, much more so than lonely "success". I'd imagine that being a manipulative sonofabitch around your coworkers is a great way for you to hinder the progress of your business, and likely your career as well. With the philosophy you're promoting, you'd have to get pretty lucky to ever be in a position for advancement. If your supposed teammates are aware that you'd sell them out in a heartbeat, who in their right mind would do you a favor?
Rights are not earned. Read the Declaration of Independence - it says clearly that mankind is endowed with certain unalienable rights. When you say "We have earned our rights", you imply we had to undergo some rite of passage to obtain them. On the contrary; they are given to us. We are born with them, as all human beings are (whether or not some governments happen to recognize them - it's a basic tenet of our belief system as Americans). Don't lose sight of the fact that rights are unearned. Privileges may be earned, but not our basic freedoms. Human rights are (or ought to be) guaranteed constants in the equation.
Of course, now that I practically dumped my account, they "fix" the agreement. I should have seen that coming.
I believe Yahoo Messenger is based on iChat Pager, formerly made by Koz. Apparently it's been making some big waves in the last six months. Can't say I like it as much as AIM, and I don't know how open the Yahoo (or I guess iChat) protocol is. Is there anyone who has looked beyond the surface of this app? Something tells me that the outcome of the ongoing "IM standard" consortium (which I am fairly sure is NOT attended by AOL) is going to be an open standard heavily based on the iChat method.