

Microsoft Responds to Abusive Labor Conditions at Chinese Manufacturer - pinstriped_dude
http://www.fastcompany.com/1617116/microsoft-chinese-suppliers-ncl-kernaghan-kye

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Tichy
I wonder, are the reporters here genuinely concerned about improving workers
lives, or are they mostly enjoying having some leverage over a mighty,
powerful company?

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dca
They are interested in generating controversy, which generates buzz, which
generates ad revenue.

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zooey
On this site a large chunk of people think about life and world and people
_just_ in an economic way. Maybe _maybe_ , there are others who just live
their life following different patterns.

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dca
I guess in my experience with this site, the vast majority of folks are
capable of viewing life and the world around them from many different
perspectives, which is why the conversations are so engaging, and why I keep
coming back frequently.

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cubicle67
If you're interested in this sort of thing, may I encourage you to watch a 3
part BBC series "Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts".

It follows 6 young fashionable Brits as they travel to India to spend 3 weeks
living and working (almost) as the Indian people who make the clothes they
wear. It was made in 2008, but is showing now in Australia on ABC2

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Tichy
What is a good way to watch it, if you don't live in the UK? The web site only
seems to have a trailer?

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cubicle67
Sorry, couldn't find a link, but it's on TV here (Aus) at the moment.

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shin_lao
Do you want to pay your mouse 200 € ?

I submit you do not.

That's why companies like Microsoft work with companies like KYE.

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gaius
Well, there's the crux of it. I have a friend, an Irishman, who is livid that
Dell is closing their operation in Ireland and moving it to Poland, putting
lots of Irish out of work. But when he wanted a PC, he shopped around for the
cheapest one, that's how he ended up with Dell in the first place. It's the
same with a lot of people I notice. All about the worker's rights but they buy
their clothes at Primark, their food at Lidl, their MP3 players are brands
you've never heard of from China, everything as cheap as they can.

If you want to see what people believe, look at how they spend their own
money.

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chaosmachine
_"If you want to see what people believe, look at how they spend their own
money."_

More along the lines of:

"If you want to see what people are blissfully ignorant of, look at how they
spend their money"

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gaius
c/blissfully/wilfully/

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Keyframe
Companies can automatize build process of chips with nanoscale precision, but
somehow mice build+assembly can't be automatized or at least semi-automatized?
Same goes for other users of chinese manufacturers like Apple/Foxconn. They
consciously knew where they were getting their stuff from because it was
cheaper and they knew why it was cheaper.

I don't know the economy behind it - but I can guess that robotization of, at
least, most of the process would calculate itself in nicely over time. Come
on, it's 2010 - Robots, where art thou?

