And You Hate Microsoft Because?

There’s a little regarded saying that goes “those who fail to learn history are destined to repeat”, which can only mean that Bill Gates has never heard of John D. Rockefeller. Back in John’s day, the late 1800s to the early 1900s, the most feared and hated company in America, and the world, just happened to be the one he controlled. In the Economist article, Professor George David Smith of NYU’s Stern School of Business, states:

“Throughout our history we don't mind that people become rich but we do mind that people become powerful. Standard Oil had the first real problem with that among public companies."

Jump to the present, and John D has been replaced by Bill G.

"Type “hate Bill Gates” into Google even now, and you will probably get over 15,000 hits. Type “love Bill Gates”, and on a good day (for Mr Gates) you may get 2,000."

But no matter how much people despise Billy G, or his products, Mr. Softie's actions are princely compared to those of the one modern day company which came to be dispised the old fashioned way: it earned it. Of course, I'm talking about Enron. From there, the jump to WalMart is more of a hop, or even a shifting of the weight. Nevertheless, Microsoft and WalMart, much like Standard Oil, provide goods and services that people want, or even feel they need. Cannot fault the companies for being there for its consumers, can we? No, but, as Prof. Smith said, we can certainly hate them for getting too powerful. Maybe Aussie rules should apply when America's poppies grow too tall.