Sunday, March 15, 2009
Republican .NET
I used Facebook to find someone I knew in High School. His name is Jeremy, and I haven't heard from him since 1987.
Well, it turns out Jeremy majored in Computer Science, just like me.
It also turns out that Jeremy is a far-right Republican and very conservative Christian. (I did not know that in High School)
Wanna guess what kind of software development he does? He does Microsoft .NET...and he specializes in Microsoft Sharepoint.
I think I had a blog post about this some very long time ago, but it continues to puzzle me as to how politics play into technology, and why Republicans seem to have a bias in favor of Microsoft, and Democrats have a bias against Microsoft.
(Of course I would argue it's not a bias to be against Microsoft if you are right.) :)
Is there something about the actual technologies that excites the Democrat or Republican mind? Or is it simply that Republican love big powerful rich companies (like Wal-Mart and Microsoft) whereas Democrats resist so much money and power being concentrated on so few?
Maybe Republicans always want to go with the safest and most conservative choice, whereas Democrats like to be experimental?
Maybe it's a combination of all these things and more. I don't know.
I hate to stereotype people...but I see this pattern so often that surely politics has found it's way into technology.
I find that very disturbing, because surely technology people have enough "religious" wars as it is without bringing politics and REAL religion into the debate.
So sad.
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3 comments:
I'm having an argument with someone via email that thinks Macs are the best thing since sliced bread. I think Macs are good at certain things, but don't do everything. To me computers are tools and the use of them depends on what you're trying to do. I don't mind Microsoft. I like personal computers and as a game player a windows system gives me the most flexibility. But that doesn't mean I'm not very irritated by Microsoft on their decisions. I refuse to use Vista due to the integrated DRM. I want a machine that will do the things I want it to do, not a machine that will lock up my content and treat me like a criminal.
Ya, Mac fanatics are a category onto themselves. Macs are a technology item that is also a fashion statement and perhaps even a political statement.
For some Mac users, it's a sense of elitism, and those Mac users can get on my nerves.
But for other Mac users, it's the rebellion and style that a Mac represents. And I think that's cool, but at the same time I don't like it when emotion plays too strongly into a rational debate about technologies.
Mac fanatics are sometimes called Evangelicals for their rabid devotion and proselytizing...and I think we have enough Evangelicals as it is. :)
I've had a number of people I grew up with post that they're "conservative" and "christian." Both are a lot easier to say than do.
Sometimes it just means they go to church, hate gays and oppose abortion -- all without much information or insight.
Don't be sad, he's striving for moral superiority, it sounds like you're striving for personal openness.
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