While it sounds nice in theory, most of what you've said doesn't work well in reality. If what you said had any truth, we'd never hear stories about shitty job conditions, because people would have left them all. Seeing as how we still hear those stories, there must be some reason people have to stay in shitty jobs.
You can "demand" it all you want, but it's far easier to actually get it when you band together with your fellow co-workers. Management is organized and bands together; why shouldn't the employees?
Bullshit. When you hear shit about unpaid overtime being forced on developers, especially in "Crunch Time", then yes, some form of organization is needed.
Really? How? Are these people being forced to work?
Unless you think they don't need some kind of income stream, then yes, they are forced to work to survive.
and all you're trying to do is remove their choice
While you're trying to remove choice from people here. I fail to see why your situation is better.
Further, I fail to see why giving people overseas jobs is better than giving people here jobs. Sure, it's great that they have jobs, but people here need jobs too, and I care more about my countrymen than those halfway across the world. Mainly because the condition of my countrymen affects me far more than the condition of people around the world.
Government worker unions are the only sector where union membership has increased over the past 10 years.
Probably because they're the only sector where the employer isn't doing everything they can to destroy them?
The only reason I am in the union is because the union voided the contract under which I used to work, threatened me and told me I had to join the union or I would lose my job (this was in 2010, when the unemployment rate was well over 9% in my state). So rather than face unemployment, foreclosure and poverty, I accepted the union job
So you CHOSE to join the union. You had the choice not to, and you decided to join instead. Thus you CHOSE to accept all of the things you claim are bad. And by the logic of conservatives who are against unions, and who say that bad things happening in the workplace are not the fault of the employer, but the employee for staying there, nothing you listed is bad, otherwise you would have left.
Again, people like you seem to bitch and moan about bad unions, but you seem to gloss over bad employers. Sounds extremely hypocritical.
Because not everyone wants to do that. Lots of people have no interest in doing something like that, due to the immense bullshit that comes with being in business for yourself. And I'm not even talking about stuff you've mentioned. I'm talking about the overhead in running something like that, and in dealing with many of the clients out there.
Further, there's the uncertain levels of work from month to month. You might claim, "Well, I've never had a dry month because I'm so awesome!", but the fact of the matter is, most contractors would go through dry spells from time to time, especially in a recession. Many people don't want to be bothered by it.
I've nothing against making it easier for people to strike out on their own, but don't think it's a valid solution to this problem. It's something only tangentially related.
Not really. Most manufacturers aren't interested in competing with the iPod Touch (which is basically the type of product you're thinking of). I think Samsung makes one, and Sony has one.
The ARM version of Windows can only install applications from the Microsoft store, much like the iPad/iPhone can only install applications from the iTunes store.
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I like how being treated like an actual person makes someone "uncompetitive".
While it sounds nice in theory, most of what you've said doesn't work well in reality. If what you said had any truth, we'd never hear stories about shitty job conditions, because people would have left them all. Seeing as how we still hear those stories, there must be some reason people have to stay in shitty jobs.
The corporation they're organized against enjoys all kinds of government protections. So why shouldn't the people organizing?
Funny how most the "lobbying" stuff you complain about is stuff that the business does themselves.
You can "demand" it all you want, but it's far easier to actually get it when you band together with your fellow co-workers. Management is organized and bands together; why shouldn't the employees?
Today unions are obsolete.
Bullshit. When you hear shit about unpaid overtime being forced on developers, especially in "Crunch Time", then yes, some form of organization is needed.
Really? How? Are these people being forced to work?
Unless you think they don't need some kind of income stream, then yes, they are forced to work to survive.
and all you're trying to do is remove their choice
While you're trying to remove choice from people here. I fail to see why your situation is better.
Further, I fail to see why giving people overseas jobs is better than giving people here jobs. Sure, it's great that they have jobs, but people here need jobs too, and I care more about my countrymen than those halfway across the world. Mainly because the condition of my countrymen affects me far more than the condition of people around the world.
Because it's better to have people starving in our own country?
You're assuming you've got management that realizes that. There are a lot of places where management does consider developers to be interchangeable.
Once you get high enough, more money isn't that important.
Management tends to not look long term enough to care.
As the need for IT labor increases so does the amount you can ask to be paid, and the greater the opportunity to switch jobs for higher pay.
The ability is there, but it is generally met with a "Fuck off and get back to work" response.
Government worker unions are the only sector where union membership has increased over the past 10 years.
Probably because they're the only sector where the employer isn't doing everything they can to destroy them?
The only reason I am in the union is because the union voided the contract under which I used to work, threatened me and told me I had to join the union or I would lose my job (this was in 2010, when the unemployment rate was well over 9% in my state). So rather than face unemployment, foreclosure and poverty, I accepted the union job
So you CHOSE to join the union. You had the choice not to, and you decided to join instead. Thus you CHOSE to accept all of the things you claim are bad. And by the logic of conservatives who are against unions, and who say that bad things happening in the workplace are not the fault of the employer, but the employee for staying there, nothing you listed is bad, otherwise you would have left.
Again, people like you seem to bitch and moan about bad unions, but you seem to gloss over bad employers. Sounds extremely hypocritical.
Except for many people banded together.
Bull fucking shit. This idea that employers don't have economic power over most of their employees is idiotic, and extremely dangerous.
Because not everyone wants to do that. Lots of people have no interest in doing something like that, due to the immense bullshit that comes with being in business for yourself. And I'm not even talking about stuff you've mentioned. I'm talking about the overhead in running something like that, and in dealing with many of the clients out there.
Further, there's the uncertain levels of work from month to month. You might claim, "Well, I've never had a dry month because I'm so awesome!", but the fact of the matter is, most contractors would go through dry spells from time to time, especially in a recession. Many people don't want to be bothered by it.
I've nothing against making it easier for people to strike out on their own, but don't think it's a valid solution to this problem. It's something only tangentially related.
Not really. Most manufacturers aren't interested in competing with the iPod Touch (which is basically the type of product you're thinking of). I think Samsung makes one, and Sony has one.
Because you're going to have to pay them that extra $30/mo anyways for the privilege of tethering.
Only really works if you have an unlimited data plan, or are on wifi everywhere.
That's still more work than just uploading it to the Google Play store, and perhaps the Amazon store. More work for very little benefit.
The ARM version of Windows can only install applications from the Microsoft store, much like the iPad/iPhone can only install applications from the iTunes store.
I've experienced the beer that Google serves in the office. To be fair, I'm a big beer nerd, but I haven't found that beer to be satisfactory.
I regularly meet Google employees in bars.
They should've done like Holy Apple did and send in the police to raid his house instead.
You mean to the guy who sold the prototype, knowing it wasn't his, and knowing that the people he sold it to would publish photos of it?
Being a little pushy isn't a shocking crime.
And yet everyone here would condemn Apple for doing the same thing.