Hacker News Reader

You don't bother to list new principles if you're already living up to them. Charitably, they are an attempt to refocus the company so these are lived up to in the future. Cynically, they are an attempt to use words to avoid needing to change anything in how Amazon operates.

With a new CEO, the more charitable version seems not impossible.

View on HN

> You don't bother to list new principles if you're already living up to them.

ah, ok, now Don't Be Evil makes more sense

Don't Be Evil was always on the cynical, "words over actions" side.

It wasn't always that way. It's had a pretty good run.

Fun fact: they scrapped that motto without fanfare just around the time the company went full speed towards where it's going now.

Google hasn't listed Don't Be Evil as a principle in many years now.

Don't Be Evil wasn't a new principle. It was a foundational one, on which the company grew.

That's why it was scrapped, and the following new principles were listed:

* Respect the opportunity (wtf?)

* Respect the user (lol)

* Respect each other (ahahaha)

Hope it makes sense now :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com