Petter Nilsen

The arrogance of larger companies

Friday, 7. April 2006, 14:31:06

It seems that the larger a company gets, the more arrogant it seems to be. Maybe it's not really arrogance, maybe it's just bad internal communication?

I don't know, but the article written about D-Link's arrogance is kindof scary. I truly pity the guy, and I don't see myself getting any D-Link router in the foreseeable future.

Opera, memory usage and the working setOpera visit to Microsoft in Redmond, WA

Comments

scipio # 7. April 2006, 17:39

That's pretty bad, especially considering that the guy's losing money either way.

ResearchWizard # 7. April 2006, 21:23

The popular German ticker www.heise.de published a summary of the story today
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/71816

scipio # 8. April 2006, 18:39

This story reminded me of your post above, but the parties involved have assumed different roles.

Jud # 23. April 2006, 01:43

"Maybe it's not really arrogance, maybe it's just bad internal communication?"

Neither, I think. "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence." Some idiot who doesn't understand NTP is told the products need to know what time it is, he finds a list of time servers (late one night, rush before product release, no time or inclination to read any messages/warnings...), puts the list in the firmware, good! The work's done, no reason to revisit that bit of code for the next few years....

D-Link gets a communication from PHK (who doesn't mince words, particularly in situations like this), reacts like they do all the other times someone says "You're costing me money," i.e., right to the lawyers, why bother the technical folks?

Must've surprised them and their counsel a bit when they got a worldwide "You a**holes!" :-)

Now PHK says chances of a settlement in the near future are looking good, fortunately.

silverton # 29. July 2006, 18:48

The page now links to a nice little "everything is all better now" page.
That's fine, but I think it would be nice to have access to the original complaint, as well. Just because they took care of a relatively high profile guy like Poul, does not mean everyone would gain such satisfaction. My point is that it is important that companies be held accountable for these poor behaviors, whether attributed to arrogance or incompetence. Satisfactory resolutions are a great testimony, but seldom fully compensate for the inconvenience and time wasted in the process of seeking and maybe or maybe not gaining that satisfaction.

Just my two cents.

kala261 # 1. August 2006, 03:54

A big company is a pest at the best of times because they are working to a set of rules which are not necessarily yours and they have the clout to make theirs stick while you do not have the same privilege............Navorser