Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on September 27, 2006 01:36 AM
They weren't 'computers,' they were very (for their time) sophisticated tabulating machines that were originally used in the first US Census that entirely tabulated by machine and then extended and refined for the Nazis to catalog Jewish ancestry.
Unfortunately, while the rest of the post was basically a pseudo-countercultural piece of shit (all corporations are evil and stupid reactionary bullshit like that), IBM really was very very closely involved with the extermination of Jews. The Nazis absolutely could not have done it without IBM. There's actually a very good book on it which I own and have read and for the life of me can't remember the title.
But using that as a justification to say that corporations are evil is stupid. Nearly everything we own is made by a corporation and certainly not all of them can be 'evil.' It just happens to be the best vehicle to get goods and services to people who need them.
It's not like we can fucking download an open source toaster and make open source toast. Idiot.
Are you going to stop driving your hippee Volkswagens because the design was commissioned by Hitler? I doubt it. For your rich folks, are you going to stop driving your Mercedes? Middle income folks: gonna stop driving your Mitsubishis?
The German subsidiary of Ford used slave labor during WWII. Going to stop buying American cars? If we were still in the 1980s, would you stop using audio cassettes and VHS tapes because magnetic tape was developed by the Germans as part of the war effort?
For that matter, are you going to boycott the entire Internet because it was invented and implemented by DARPA for defense purposes?
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Re:Open Source vs Free Software
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on September 27, 2006 01:36 AMUnfortunately, while the rest of the post was basically a pseudo-countercultural piece of shit (all corporations are evil and stupid reactionary bullshit like that), IBM really was very very closely involved with the extermination of Jews. The Nazis absolutely could not have done it without IBM. There's actually a very good book on it which I own and have read and for the life of me can't remember the title.
But using that as a justification to say that corporations are evil is stupid. Nearly everything we own is made by a corporation and certainly not all of them can be 'evil.' It just happens to be the best vehicle to get goods and services to people who need them.
It's not like we can fucking download an open source toaster and make open source toast. Idiot.
Are you going to stop driving your hippee Volkswagens because the design was commissioned by Hitler? I doubt it. For your rich folks, are you going to stop driving your Mercedes? Middle income folks: gonna stop driving your Mitsubishis?
The German subsidiary of Ford used slave labor during WWII. Going to stop buying American cars? If we were still in the 1980s, would you stop using audio cassettes and VHS tapes because magnetic tape was developed by the Germans as part of the war effort?
For that matter, are you going to boycott the entire Internet because it was invented and implemented by DARPA for defense purposes?
No. You're not. Because it's STUPID.
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