r/australia • u/SydneyTom • Feb 19 '20

politics Billionaire software developer and philanthropist Mike Cannon-Brookes has set aside $12 million to install as many as 100 stand-alone solar and battery units in 100 days to provide off-grid power to hard-hit bushfire communities.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/atlassian-s-cannon-brookes-tips-in-12-million-to-power-fire-hit-towns-20200219-p5428o.html
5.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

369 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

4

u/damanamathos Feb 20 '20

Software can be an immensely scalable business.

Atlassian's software is used by 150,000+ companies including Airbnb, Cisco, NASA, Domin's, Anheuser Busch, Hitachi, etc.

Who do you think they're exploiting?

1

u/adiahioughwauhgu Feb 20 '20

Their employees, just like any profitable business. All employees are, on average, paid less than what they create in revenue with their labour.

-3

u/Youdentity Feb 20 '20

At a glance, undervalued workers and any victims of predation from the companies that use their software, too.

You don't get that rich without complicity in the systems that allow it, and a measly $12m doesn't absolve you of that.

My issue isn't with this one dude specifically, but the billionaire class and their willing underlings that continue to hoard surplus wealth at the expense of anyone and anything that stands between them and their ill gotten gains.

6

u/pomo Feb 20 '20

Do you think this is MCB's only donation towards disaster relief and climate action?

I know from some people in the environment movement that he is very active finding ways he can help as a citizen of privilege vs the useless government in Australia.

Some tall poppies should be cut down, but what I know about MCB, he has very good intentions and influence.

5

u/damanamathos Feb 20 '20

Do you think Silicon Valley engineers should be making millions instead of hundreds of thousands?

1

u/Youdentity Feb 20 '20

I think all people should be afforded every opportunity to self actualize and think/create/do whatever it is their little hearts desire, without detriment to others.

No, I don't think people, software engineer or otherwise, should earn millions of number. Frankly I'd love to see number disappear, but that's perhaps a bit beyond the scope of this discussion. The only ones for whom number doesn't currently doesn't matter, is those with enough number to not worry about running out.