Jeff- <div><br></div><div>While I think your actual e-mail is rather incitement, the quote you used is pretty silly. Socialism is a 'failed experiment'? Not only is European Socialism alive and (relatively) well, but the software we're 'consulting' in was created while Dries enjoyed the fruits of the socialist experiment (the evil Socialist threats known as free education and health care). By any rational comparison, American workers are much worse off than their European counterparts, and yes, that includes artisans. </div>
<div><br></div><div>To give one example of how I think--as a business owner--small businesses are far worse off as a result of a lack of 'socialism' is healthcare. We have to pay anywhere from 5-20% of our employees wages (depending on if they're single or married and how many kids they have) to a broken healthcare system that gets more expensive and broken by the day. I wish more than anything else that healthcare would be taken out of the hands of private industry- not only is it is hugely wasteful, and insufficiently available, but it is also one of the single largest drains on US startups.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Anyway, that quote aside, I think what you are saying in regards to being an artist/artisan is spot on, and that's exactly why I think a guild would be a perfect fit. I fully believe that skilled Drupal/Open Source 'laborers' (including development shops, contractors, and workers at larger orgs) should organize themselves to leverage their collective expertise to the benefit of ourselves (the artisans that make it happen). Within that context I do believe that many of the same items discussed under "unionizing" would still apply: helping to standardize rates across the nation as well as across the globe, helping to define what it really means to be an "artisan", and hopefully helping to foster more working relationships between members. </div>
<div><br></div><div> </div><div>--<br>Alex Urevick-Ackelsberg<br>Partner | Business Lead<br>Zivtech, LLC<br><a href="http://zivtech.com" target="_blank">http://zivtech.com</a><br><a href="mailto:alex@zivtech.com" target="_blank">alex@zivtech.com</a><br>
office: (267) 940-7737<br>
cell: (215) 866-8956<br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 7:52 PM, Jeff Greenberg <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jeff@ayendesigns.com" target="_blank">jeff@ayendesigns.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
"Both communism and socialism are failed experiments in perpetual<br>
motion, the latter fueled by the inertia of propaganda, and the latter<br>
by other people's money." -Ben Avram<br>
<br>
Unions serve their purpose, which is primarily to protect workers of<br>
rote. Unions have never been a force in fostering outwardly-facing<br>
innovation. Most Drupal developers, and most freelancers in general, are<br>
innovators, not rote programmers.<br>
<br>
Odesk seeks to treat programming as a commodity, an hourly wage for an<br>
activity no longer differentiated by talent or innovation, so ensured by<br>
keeping framed diaries of activity that must fit into the single-tasking<br>
mold rather than a value-priced product. The Odesk model applied<br>
elsewhere would have us pay for a meal based solely on the time spent<br>
preparing it.<br>
<br>
I am an artist, not a manufacturing line worker or a plumber. Like<br>
painters, sculptors, writers and architects, my rate is based on the<br>
final product, the innovation, quality and skill I bring to its<br>
creation, not how many lines of code I generate per hour, and that's<br>
what clients here prefer.<br>
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