Pando Daily, which covers Silicon Valley and startup news, says the non-compete collusion between tech giants shows what once made the Valley a mecca for innovation is now dead and gone. The Techoptopus colluders will pay what for them are microscopic penalties then continue to pretend that are somehow wonderfully different and special innovators or some such Randian rubbish. In reality Silicon Valley giants are corporate exploiters using their DC juice to avoid being criminally prosecuted. They are no better than the Koch Brothers.
These giants of Silicon Valley [lost] all sense of decorum, respect for talent, legality, and appreciation for what made the Valley unique and successful.
The most egregious example of this shift is the Tectopus wage fixing scandal, which artificially suppressed tech wages for millions of engineers. It was simply shocking boldness, as Mark Ames has reported in leaked email after leaked email.
Compare even the outrage that exists now to the public sentiment around Microsoft during its antitrust investigation. The once-beloved company was vilified and it acted alone in unfairly using a market position to tank a single competitor. This was seven companies – Apple, Adobe, Google, Intel, Pixar, Intuit and LucasFilm – conspiring against potentially a million users.