Sooo, will we be seeing a repeat of the Eich-like public outcry?
Though I may understand the business rationale for this hire, I certainly wont trust founders, board or anyone else at Dropbox who is OK working with a person that is partially responsible for deaths of thousands(arguably hundreds of thousands) people in the Iraq war based on false premises about "WMD".
Oh, and we shouldn't forget about her role in "enhanced interrogation techniques", too.
EDIT: Thinking a little more about this I will be cancelling my Dropbox subscription.
EDIT2: Yes, we are seeing an outcry. I am incredibly happy that coolness factor in tech is now more connected to ethical behavior of its top management and board members.
Your forgetting she's not only on the record supporting anonymous bulk data collection, AND warrentless wiretapping. She was a key figure of the administration that created such legislation to start with.
An outside explanation is that political and corporate powers tend to cross-pollinate and operate with revolving doors.
Think of what doors have opened for Dropbox now that they've got Condi. Any door that Condi could open (which is quite a few) could now be opened by them.
Well she is a prominent figure in America. Just not for a lot of good reasons. The bet is likely that future government business she could bring is larger then the major exodus of people who supported them early on.
Yeah, that may be their calculation. I don't think this will sit well with german users or french users, for example though. Could really hurt their international b2c business.
I don't see how it'll sit well with anyone in the tech community, other then people who prioritize sexual equality above data integrity. The problem isn't her race, or her sex. Its her opinions, and political past. Its very damning to the company and their goals.
That seems directly counter to the goal of her helping them expand internationally. The person behind that legislation doesn't seem like the person who'd talk China etc. into opening up.
I am also considering cancelling my Dropbox account. However several of my clients use it to share designs with me making that tricky. Can you suggest anyway around this other than asking the clients to use Google Drive/Box instead?
Nope. At this point, people have either forgotten about Iraq or just come to accept it.
The gay marriage issue is a current one. It's a fight that's being fought right now. Protesting someone who is against gay rights has an actual impact in today's politics. Protesting against someone who supported going into Iraq over 10 years ago does not.
Yes, there will be public outcry, because many people view her as a deceiver, and others will think she is a tool of the NSA. But the outcry will not be the same as it was for Eich.
I've been looking at MEO Cloud[1]. It's by Sapo.pt, a part of Portugal Telecom. I first saw it recommended by Rui Carmo of Tao of Mac[2], who I've generally thought offers good advice. (He also is Portuguese...) And, they offer a Linux download unlike most other alternatives.
JottaCloud[0] is based in Norway. 5 GB free, supports win, osx, ios and android currently. Linux client development starts Q2 2014 (now) according to their user forum [1].
They sorely lack an API though. Hopefully they will adress this soon.
Why would it help? ELI5 it for me. American influence is at a low ebb, and adding figures from a disgraced and frankly laughing-stock administration seems a horrible PR move. Will this help with domestic US government contracts?
Oh please. Are we really going to do this to every normal person who tries to enter the tech industry? "Excuse me, sir/madam, you were a Republican recently. Please publicly disavow all past actions, thoughts, beliefs, and interests, donate to the HRC three times, throw salt over your shoulder five times, and take out an Obamacare-Approved® Health Insurance Policy(TM) before you even think about helping these pimply-faced 25-year-olds run their companies."
Eich was worse just because of his background and the immense debt that we all owe to him, and that we betrayed him because we're idiots, but you guys really need to get it together.
WTF? She is not a "normal person" by a long shot. She is arguably a war criminal, a proponent of dragnet surveillance and was partial to implementation of torture, oh sorry, "enhanced interrogation".
Comparing Eich and Rice is misleading. By any sensible rationale, their "past actions", both positive and negative, aren't in the same ballpark, zip code or measurement scale.
You're overreacting. Rice is not a "normal person" whose political beliefs I disagree with.
She was one of the architects of a useless war that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. I understand that in large organizations individuals may not be able to stop the machine, but they can always choose not to be part of it.
She is one of only a few people in history who have had that much influence, and who have used it to such devastating effect.
Though I may understand the business rationale for this hire, I certainly wont trust founders, board or anyone else at Dropbox who is OK working with a person that is partially responsible for deaths of thousands(arguably hundreds of thousands) people in the Iraq war based on false premises about "WMD".
Oh, and we shouldn't forget about her role in "enhanced interrogation techniques", too.
EDIT: Thinking a little more about this I will be cancelling my Dropbox subscription.
EDIT2: Yes, we are seeing an outcry. I am incredibly happy that coolness factor in tech is now more connected to ethical behavior of its top management and board members.