The ethics of consumption
If you feel strongly about what direction technology should go, you should put your money where your mouth is. For your own good.
Tech Consumers
As a consumer you have the opportunity to not support a company if you feel that such company is sabotaging the free growth of new standards, open source projects, universal technologies, etc, . Buying products from a business falls in the same category as investing on it (except that you get your dividends right away when you walk out of the store).
Tech Professionals
Professionals should also think twice about their platform of choice. Jumping on the wagon of opportunity to create new apps for an emerging market can be rewarding in the short term. In the long term, though, we should consider what’s the impact to the product design landscape as a whole. Are we undermining our future if we support proprietary technologies and platforms that put restrictions in to our creations and products?
Think of it as buying products from China -aside from quality and price- you are sending your money to a very “particular” market. In other words, you are investing in such ideas, you are supporting and promoting the policies of that organization and you are directly influencing the job market imposing strict conditions in work and salary.
Use your money to help grow the technologies that you support and, if nothing else, invest in yourself.
February 5, 2010 ☼ thoughts