Dean, you know how much I respect you and your work.
But you already made your point in the original post.
Most of us with decent reading comprehension already got it...piling on with another post wasn't necessary.
All I can add is that some of the most decent people I know in this business (including me) are wrestling with a lot of ethical issues these days. (And I'm not talking about outright content theft, CP, or the stuff we would all agree are wrong.)
Ten years ago we could let the people without any ethics go their way, and we could go ours - there was plenty of money for both (more money for them, of course lol).
Now there isn't that huge pot of dough in the middle of the table that anyone can just scoop up anytime they took a few minutes off from partying.
And that's causing people who are completely ethical people to say, "Google can do it. Yahoo can do it. XXX (insert name of ginormous company here) can do it. But I can't, because I'm too ethical?"
I'm not saying anything about specific people, specific decisions, or anything else. And I'm not condoning content theft or anything of that nature (even though the Google not only condones it, but actively practices it.)
I'm just saying that the economy and state of the business has a lot of people rethinking their strong ethical stands on some issues - when the landscape around them has changed almost 180 degrees; and almost every single person around them, big AND small, sees nothing wrong with the things they've always thought were ethically questionable.
Being the one person on a barren desert island sinking slowly into the ocean, holding a flag labelled "ethics," is not likely to ensure long-term survival. I wish it was, but it's not.
If you want to discuss this further, I'd be happy to - but not here. I think you know how to reach me.
I'd say that I hope things are going well for you, but I know they are
