Being Obedient or Doing the Right Thing
Over the years we've had to deal with greedy, reckless, careless people. They issue threats to us, they libel us, they try to ridicule us and - failing that - they start harassing family members. It's not a new problem. It is not limited to Microsoft, albeit Microsoft is by miles the worst.
When I was about 20 I already knew I didn't want to pursue money. I had friends who felt the same way. Remember this was after the dot-com bubble had already burst and the world was getting worse every year (we're talking about the post-9/11 world). Not just politically by the way.
So I spent many years working in universities; the salary was always a lot lower than my level of skills/experience allowed me to get, but I didn't mind.
It was also around that time - maybe 2003 - that I did plenty of advocacy for "alt-tech" (alternative technology) in USENET, in my Web site, and years later in "social" sites (when those were a relatively new thing). It felt like doing the right thing.
I know people who choose to follow the "normal" way of life. Most of them aren't happy. Some are getting by, some are stressed and/or dissatisfied. They feel like they're being used and made to do things they lack a genuine passion for.
When Linus Torvalds was a student he was tinkering with systems - same as many Finns around that time (including the Finn who pioneered IRC a few years earlier). Going further back in time, a "last true hacker" in Boston decided to quit his job at MIT and built GNU. He chose the "difficult" way. A similar story can be told by Matt Mullenweg and WordPress.
Society gravitates towards conformity and people get pressured, even berated, for going "astray". But the world needs more people who are nonconformist.
There are things one can obey (the law for example) because it is common sense, but at the same time adopting a "lifestyle" recommended by "the system" isn't obligatory. People need to think "Outside the Box" to avoid becoming just a cog.
What's most loathsome is the extent to which cogs would go out of their way to bully, demoralise, and sometimes defame those who think "Outside the Box". In many cases, this is done because of envy, sometimes it's the fear of having to accept that being a cog is the wrong way to live.
The world always changes for the better because of people who think "Outside the Box", not the cogs. █