"The FSF today launched a campaign with a twofold mission of exposing the harms inflicted on computer users by the new Microsoft Windows Vista and promoting free software alternatives that respect users' security and privacy rights. "Vista is an upsell masquerading as an upgrade. It is an overall regression when you look at the most important aspect of owning and using a computer: your control over what it does. Obviously MS Windows is already proprietary and very restrictive, and well worth rejecting. But the new 'features' in Vista are a Trojan Horse to smuggle in even more restrictions. We'll be focusing attention on detailing how they work, how to resist them, and why people should care", said FSF program administrator John Sullivan."
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Member since:2005-07-15
>Programs, on the other hand,are tools to perform work or play, and can be proprietary if they want.
Here i could use the same argument that you have used for OS:
"First of all, I look at an program as part of the machine, not an add-on. The computer without it is just a really big paper weight. Therefore, I would like the right to know what it is doing and how it is doing it. ALL programs should be open for public viewing."
Lets face it, unless you are a programmer you need more than a computer and a operating system (+ texteditor + compiler) to do something usefull with it. For most people a computer is a "paper weight" until they have the hardware, the OS and the programs! And they depend on the programs like on the hardware and on the OS. So i don't think you can draw the line between OS and programs. We are depending more and more on computers _and_ programs in our daily life and work so if we want to have control over this (raising) part of our life and want that everybody have the right to participate in this part of our life than programs have to be free (as in freedom!) too.
Member since:2006-04-21
Don't forget that you have a choice as to whether to buy Fujitsu, Dell, HP, or a host of other manufacturers, sometimes all from the same shop. Even whole companies, who might well choose to equip everyone from server staff to laptop-bearers with the same manufacturer's machines, can opt for that one company to be any of the above.
So why, in the majority of PC shops can't I:
(a) Get a laptop with a non-Windows OS on it?
(b) Get a laptop with a non-Windows OS on it if I ask for one, without being fed bull like "it's illegal to sell computers without OSes";
or at least:
(c) Get a laptop with the option of putting my own OS of choice on it, at my risk and at my own expense?
Member since:2006-04-21
Member since:2006-09-24
This comment wasn't directed at me but since I have a DELL at work I'll throw in my experience. I don't know if you mean laptops or desktops, but I'm going to assume you mean both. Right now I'm using a DELL Optiplex GX520 N series (no OS by default, hell yeah). I'm currently running OpenBSD on it and every little inch of hardware is 100% supported. At least 50+ people here are running the same machine with various Linux distros and so far there have been no issues. I can't speak for all DELL hardware but the GX520 is about as UNIX/Linux/BSD friendly as any box you'll ever run across.
Member since:2005-07-25
My Dell is pretty old, a 2001 Dimension 4300 1.5GHz with some upgrades... 512MB RAM, NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200 w/128MB VRAM, Hauppage TV Card, Lite-On DVD-RW/CD-RW drive, SoundBlaster Live! sound card, etc.
Linux is pretty good on an older system, plus anything that didn't work well with it back then, I replaced with something that was compatible (modem, integrated sound). The only distribution that didn't work well with it was Mandrake (now Mandriva, of course). Mandrake 8.1 - 10.1 would only see USB devices if they were in the first plug of the first USB socket. No other distro had any problems with the Dell.
@pinky - I agree there's a fine line between the OS and programs as it becomes pretty useless, like you said, without basic programs. I guess it just depends on where you draw that line. Kernel, GUI, Communication protocols... things like that to me are part of the OS. Web Browser, Media Player, Mail Program (specifically Outlook Express) to me are definitely not essential to the OS itself and I should have the choice to remove them. Microsoft doesn't allow that. I realize they tied them into the OS, but that wasn't absolutely the only choice they had. They did it to specifically to try to gain market share and hurt competitors. I just don't like that and wish I had the choice.
Member since:
2005-07-25
First of all, I look at an operating system as part of the machine, not an add-on. The computer without it is just a really big paperweight. Therefore, I would like the right to know what it is doing and how it is doing it. ALL operating systems should be open for public viewing. However, I also believe that code is ~a work of literature and should be protected from plagierism.
Programs, on the other hand,are tools to perform work or play, and can be proprietary if they want. As long as they aren't part of the operating system. I also reserve the right to add or remove them if I wish. Here is where Microsoft fails me. I don't like IE (6 or 7) and would like to remove it. I can't. I like WMP10, but WMP11 is a convoluted mess so I don't want it. In Vista, I can't remove it.
Mac OSX has a similar problem with it's operating system being closed, but I don't have to keep iTunes or Safari if I don't wish. I wish I could put OSX on a PC, but Apple doesn't have to allow it if they don't want, and I can understand their point of view on that. OSX is better and faster than WindowsXP in my experience, and the programs, although fewer to choose from, are simply much better. Love NeoOffice!
FOSS has a valid position, but so does Microsoft. If FOSS doesn't take the extreme left to counterbalance Microsoft's extreme right, any compromise would end up in Microsoft's favor. My wishes aren't worth much, so I can only exercise choice.
My choice was to move my Dell PC to Fedora Core (KDE is more responsive than Gnome on it), bought a Mac (used 20" G5 iMac running OSX Tiger $875), and keep the pair of HP laptops running WindowsXP until they die. I don't see Windows Vista in my future.