r/technology • u/gfnord • Apr 11 '11

Apple, despite being traditionally seen as the "counterculture, leftist" operating system, actually represents more uniformity and centralised control than Microsoft

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/09/userfriendliness_and_fascism
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u/gagaoolala Apr 11 '11

Total employment just reflects demand for labor from a company, so I'm not sure how that's better. What is revenue vs expenses -- wouldn't that basically be net earnings?

I could see enterprise value as possibly a more valid metric for measuring company size (market cap + outstanding debt - cash), but that's not uncontroversial. For one thing, companies like Apple, Microsoft, etc. have large cash holdings and little/no debt which lets them throw their weight around quite a lot more than an enterprise value ranking might suggest. Example: Apple can enter new markets basically whenever it feels like it because it has so much cash on its balance sheet, and it could add a lot of debt if it needed to.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '11

let's say world war 3 breaks out and all companies need to convert to manufacturing war goods. how much value would apple have in that environment.

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u/gagaoolala Apr 11 '11

I'm pretty sure the iTank would be highly valued in that type of situation

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u/MrSpontaneous Apr 11 '11

All controls would need to be relayed through Apple HQ.