A lot of the issues people see with remote work or in this case multiple jobs, I've already seen solved at IBM. IBM is something like 70% remote work for its 350,000 employees. Every problem anyone has seen with remote work, IBM has probably already seen it and solved it.
In this case, my group at IBM is a consulting group and we work with multiple clients at the same time. I've had two (sometimes three) clients with production down issues at the same time. It's a solved problem, and we solved it by eliminating single points of failure. Every project we have a lead and a backup, and some bigger projects we have multiple backups. We also keep good documentation for projects in a standard template, so even if the person knows nothing about the project, they can step in, spend five minutes reading the docs, and then jump straight in.
Same thing with scheduling. We have to do a scheduling dance when we're putting out meetings because clients can't see our calendars and we can't see theirs, but it works. Is it perfect? No. But it's not a show-stopper either. Business still gets done. Work gets done. The only friction is the mindset of "that job will be your primary commitment". That is the only thing that's holding it back.
But like you said, it can be easily overcome by just saying you're a contract employee instead of a full time employee.
Everyone has choices to make. Martin could have easily not been an asshole to cancer patients or investors at his fund. You want to let him off the hook just because he said "yup I'm a dick" while he was making the choice to be a dick and profited massively from being a dick?
Acknowledging the fact that what you're doing is wrong does not suddenly make that thing right. It's still wrong. And you're still an asshole for doing it.
Unfortunately it won't happen. As an IBMer, I see how quickly IBM sheds anything that is not a top earner, and hardware (especially consumer hardware) will never be a top earner again. The recent partnership with Apple (replacing employee ThinkPads with Macbooks) doesn't look favorably on them making consumer goods anymore either.
If you want IBM approved consumer hardware, it's not even the Thinkpads anymore. Apple makes the modern day IBM hardware.
I hear you on the support side. I used to work for a company that used a product that was bought by IBM. Before that, you could pick up the phone and talk to the lead developer. After, you opened a support ticket online and waited 24-48 hours for a response from someone in Costa Rica or India. Now I work at IBM with this same product, and even I as an employee who supports the product, even I have to go through the same Level 1 tech support crap.
However, the cash injection made the core product worlds better, and it was good to begin with. Support got worse, the product got better. It's almost an even balance.
As an IBMer, many of the complainers I've heard and much of the heartburn around layoffs come from outside of CAMSS. It's like folks at Apple complaining that the iPod team isn't treated as well as the iPad team. Of course, your group isn't making money.
I had no idea IBM pulled the plug on OpenOffice either, because I'm sitting here with my IBM-issued Red Hat laptop and I'm doing project documentation in OpenOffice, which came pre-installed.
I think what they mean is "IBM stopped developing their own fork of OpenOffice (called IBM Lotus Symphony) and switched back to regular OpenOffice".
In this case, my group at IBM is a consulting group and we work with multiple clients at the same time. I've had two (sometimes three) clients with production down issues at the same time. It's a solved problem, and we solved it by eliminating single points of failure. Every project we have a lead and a backup, and some bigger projects we have multiple backups. We also keep good documentation for projects in a standard template, so even if the person knows nothing about the project, they can step in, spend five minutes reading the docs, and then jump straight in.
Same thing with scheduling. We have to do a scheduling dance when we're putting out meetings because clients can't see our calendars and we can't see theirs, but it works. Is it perfect? No. But it's not a show-stopper either. Business still gets done. Work gets done. The only friction is the mindset of "that job will be your primary commitment". That is the only thing that's holding it back.
But like you said, it can be easily overcome by just saying you're a contract employee instead of a full time employee.