9to5mac is featuring a fantastic article on lack of innovation by big companies. This particular article is about Microsoft, but ultimately, it’s a bigger statement about the United States of America. In fact, it reveals everything that is wrong with American business.

The concept of “distrust the customer” is growing, and it’s forcing people to do the “wrong” thing more often. Who is most inconvenienced by anti-skip technology, FBI warnings, and CSS, the DVD content protection technology? There is no doubt: it’s the legit DVD consumers! Because pirates crack that in seconds, so only the real, paying customers even have to see it. Who is put out by the online activation of Microsoft products? Not the pirates – the real customers!

How do big dinsaur companies like AOL and Verizon and Discover Card, who have lost their ability to innovate and serve, gain customers? They don’t, they just refuse to let their customers leave. And that is what’s missing from life today: no one gives a shit about their customers anymore.

Yes, these are the days of restrictive cell phone contracts, where military men leaving for duty abroad are fined $200 by their carriers for terminating their contracts. These are the days when voting machine manufacturers, those doing the work of the nation, refuse to allow their software to be audited. This is the age where police, who once served at the pleasure of the public, scare law-abiding citizens like we’re in the Commuist Block.

Because in place of customer satisfaction, we have inflexible rules.
And, as a result, in place of protection, we have proactive litigation.
And, as a result, in place of common sense, we have strong government lobbies.
And, as a result, in place of the USA, we have a shell of liberty.