Other Software > Developer's Corner

"competitive upgrade" - is it ethical?

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vlastimil:
40hz  :), I guess, I am mostly annoyed about him calling it an "upgrade". Also, no one in this niche has ever offered something like this. While I doubt the effectiveness of such offer, I feel threatened by it. It is a clear move against the competitors. In the past, it was about product features and such, but in the later months, I saw more aggressive marketing.

I did not know what would be the proper reaction, so I started this topic to learn what people think about similar marketing techniques.

Eóin:

Ethical? Not in my view but then who said business is ethical - the definition and obligations of a US corporation is to be as unethical as it can get away with.-Carol Haynes (January 13, 2011, 11:31 AM)
--- End quote ---

Interesting...

I've been operating a US corporation since the mid-80s.

I wasn't aware that "unethical as it can get away with" was both its definition and obligation.

 :)-40hz (January 13, 2011, 12:09 PM)
--- End quote ---

It's a common misinterpretation of the law regarding public companies stemming from this case: Dodge v. Ford Motor Company.

40hz:
Oh, I think your reaction is quite understandable. That's the easy part. The big question is what you're going to do about it.

FWIW I've long since stopped trying control how I feel about things. The most I'm able to do is control how I behave in response to them.  That and accepting the fact there are benefits to be gained from exercising both 'careful consideration' and restraint.

  ;D  :)

Carol Haynes:
The obligation of a US Corporation is to maximize profit for the shareholder.

Most companies interpret this obligation as do anything you can get away with to make money and WTF are ethics anyway (or the law come to that).

You only have to look at the way the oil companies behave around the world to see how much influence law and ethics have on their behaviour.

40hz:
It's a common misinterpretation of the law regarding public companies stemming from this case: Dodge v. Ford Motor Company.
-Eóin (January 13, 2011, 12:43 PM)
--- End quote ---

Commonly misinterpreted by whom, if I may?

I haven't heard anybody ever seriously try to make that arguments since it's been a considered a non-precedent setting case with US courts almost immediately after the ruling got handed down. It's right up there with the Dred Scott decision as a glaring example of bad jurisprudence.

It does crop up from time to time with politicians of the yahoo stripe. But few in business or the community ever take it seriously.

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Note: I'm actually very familiar with that particular case. My management school's required corporate law course spent two class periods on it. And its required ethics course spent the better part of a week examining the arguments and decision from every conceivable angle.

What came out of the law course was: regardless of the ruling, the decision is neither respected by the US courts, nor has it set any precedent for subsequent legal cases. So don't even try it.

What came out of the ethics course was: the decision was both immoral and ethically in error.

-----

I see the Wikipedia article says this case is widely mistaught. I wonder who is supposedly misteaching it?

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