Trade shows are great places for picking up jargon. Interoperability was a case in point. The ambition of many in IT was to make all devices work together seamlessly. This was before Android and was at the dawn of Linux, an operating system where the code was available to all .
Companies controlled by individuals who had a different vision, kicked against the pricks. Microsoft had done well by making their operating systems and suite of office software available on muultiple platforms. Apple went down a different road, tying in users to their hardware products.
Fast forward to the Covid 19 pandemic, and you see the results of a failure to deliver on open systems. The UK wanted the NHS to have an app that would make tracking those infected and their contacts available on all platforms. The Android devices worked fine, the Apple devices did not.
You might think that the seriousness of a world pandemic would create an opportunity for cooperation between multinational IT corporations. It did, Apple and Google came up with their own app which worked fine, up to a point. There were limitations that had been addressed by the UK’s NHS version that had been trialled in the Isle of Wight.
There were merits to both versions of the tracking software, but no willingness to share knowledge, see the bigger picture, and move forward with an app for all smartphone users that would help to save lives and protect communities from the deadly virus. True interoperability.
This is not the first time that corporate interests have outweighed public health considerations. Pharmaceutical companies have refused to release information about drugs that were needed to treat people with the Ebola virus, they kept prices high for drugs to treat people infected with HIV and unfortunately, there are myriad examples of profit before compassion in the corporate world.
Why should we expect corporations to behave responsibly? We have not evolved into some new era of social responsibility. The very word ‘social’ probably has CEOs frothing at the mouth.
Yes, there are exceptions and examples of good deeds to support local communities by corporations. The Quakers have shown themselves over the centuries to be philanthropic in their endeavours, and socially aware in their treatment of their employees. Bill Gates and the Rothschild family have been generous in their philanthropy. But in a dog eat dog world, there is little to feel proud of.
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