"What's dangerous is not to evolve." ~Jeff Bezos, Founder, CEO Amazon.com
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard (HP) office, Palo Alto, CA, 1939,
CA State Historic Landmark and the “Birthplace of Silicon Valley."
For some it felt like a home invasion when Amazon.com removed paid for copies of George Orville’s 1984 and Animal Farm from their Kindle Readers the other day. Amazon also had removed the books from the Kindle store and in emails told customers that the books were illegal copies given to amazon.com by a publisher. Many customers were shocked and outraged by Amazon’s invasive action. Of courses they refunded customers the previous charges for the books.
Not long ago at Amazon a number of gay and lesbian books had sales ranking information removed from the online catalog that also caused a bit of uproar. Amazon said it was a “glitch,” and quickly corrected it.
Here is what Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO has posted at his Amazon Kindle Store:
“This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our "solution" to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we've received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.”
“With deep apology to our customers,
Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com”
But hey, I buy most all my books (and other things) at Amazon and have for many years now even though some of Amazon’s actions have not always made authors happy. But I like Jeff Bezos. I love his humor. He always makes me laugh when I see him interviewed, and I really do admire what he has done with his company. He is such a visionary. He proved you didn’t need bricks and mortar to build a gigantic bookstore. It’s amazing what people can do starting out in their bedrooms or their garages.
Not long ago at Amazon a number of gay and lesbian books had sales ranking information removed from the online catalog that also caused a bit of uproar. Amazon said it was a “glitch,” and quickly corrected it.
Here is what Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO has posted at his Amazon Kindle Store:
“This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our "solution" to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we've received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.”
“With deep apology to our customers,
Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com”
But hey, I buy most all my books (and other things) at Amazon and have for many years now even though some of Amazon’s actions have not always made authors happy. But I like Jeff Bezos. I love his humor. He always makes me laugh when I see him interviewed, and I really do admire what he has done with his company. He is such a visionary. He proved you didn’t need bricks and mortar to build a gigantic bookstore. It’s amazing what people can do starting out in their bedrooms or their garages.
~Linda
4 comments:
i have an award waiting for you at my place. Mind coming over to pick it up? ;)Reflections!
Just wanted to let you know that i am thinking of you too.
hugs,
Silver
Hi Silver,
How nice of you. I'll stop by. Thanks. :-)
HI Linda,
It is coincidence, but Jeff Bezos bought thousands of acres in West Texas, near the town of Van Horn, in order to construct a space launching center, much like the one Richard Branson is building in New Mexico. Van Horn is about an hour and a half north of some land I own near Presidio Texas. I recently got a letter from a Texas electric company, which T. Boone Pickens is associated with, and they want to place 100 ft. tall megavoltage towers on my land, which is alongside the road between Marfa and Presidio. Odd how if you own something, eventually someone with big money will want to take it ... and hopefully you can make them pay a premium for it.
As for nowhere else being less corrupt than here.. well, the thing is that I would not be expecting as much as I do of my own home country and so I would be more detached. I would not be so upset at the slimy things that are done here.
How utterly Orwellian. I think we have truly entered the era that Orwell prophesied.
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