It’s MY Computer
,----[ Quote ]
| Dear Software Vendor: It’s MY computer. If I want to uninstall your
| software, please don't claim ownership of any part of it. If I have chosen
| to sever any relationship with you, it is behoven upon you to also sever the
| relationship by permitting a full and complete uninstall of the product, not
| to leave behind sneaky little markers in the hope you’ll catch me out at some
| time in the future.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16566/1054/
On the other extreme end:
XML People: Tim B on TimBL
,----[ Quote ]
| Like RMS's, TimBL's greatest contribution is not actually technical: it is
| ethical.
|
| Had he not put his code into the public domain - after briefly flirting with
| the idea of licensing it under the GNU GPL - the Web would not have become
| the greatest invention of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It is for
| his inspired altruism that we salute Sir Tim - not for anything so trivial as
| a markup language.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2008/02/xml-people-tim-b-on-timbl.html
Related:
Open Source: The Only Software One Really Owns
,----[ Quote ]
| Bill Gates once called the open source community a bunch of
| communists, thinking the open source ideal was against anyone
| owning the fruits of their programming labors. However, he has
| missed the real point of choosing open source. It's about not
| being held to ransom and having the freedom to switch suppliers
| with impunity -- freedom to modify, extend and supplement your
| technology as you see fit.
`----
http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/55987.html
Irish music industry goes open source
,----[ Quote ]
| The purpose of open source labels is to allow artists to retain
| copyright over their material rather than sign it over to a major
| label in a record deal.
|
| SonikDub does not claim copyright nor does it take money from the
| sale or use of music, and the band is not obliged to sign a
| contract to provide the company with exclusive content.
`----
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single8049
Who "owns" Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| If you ask anyone in the Linux community the answer is simple: The
| community owns Linux. A collective of minds, users, and enthusiasts
| all working (in one way or another) to continue to push the Linux
| operating system as far forward as possible.
`----
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/opensource/?p=17
The Birth of Restrictive Computing, Thanks Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| The idea of owning software isn't what it used to be. In the past, you'd
| have to run out and buy the boxed version of the software that you
| were looking for or download and register a shareware application off
| of the Internet in order to gain possession of that program.
|
| [...]
|
| Consumers just don't like having restrictions on things that they pay
| good money for, and that's why DRM is so stinkin' annoying. I don't
| want to pay to download a song that I can't make full use of, and the
| same thing applies with an OS...
`----
http://www.osweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2387&Itemid=449
http://tinyurl.com/yyfwvx
Forbidding Vistas: Windows licensing disserves the user
,----[ Quote ]
| It is unlikely that a home user looking for a
| computer operating system has any of these "features"
| of the Vista EULA in mind:
|
| # Self-limiting software
| # Vanishing functionality through invalidation
| # Removal of media capabilities
| # Problem-solving prohibited
| # Limited mobility
| # One transfer only
|
| and a bonus,
|
| # Restrictions on your rights to use MPEG-4 video
|
| [...]
|
| Users never asked for these impossible limitations.
| Microsoft decided unilaterally to add them, claiming
| it could abrogate personal ownership, fair use, and
| first sale rights because "The software is licensed,
| not sold." If Microsoft faced real market competition
| on the home desktop, users could vote with their
| wallets, but anticompetitive practices and network
| effects make Microsoft a like-it-or-not
| proposition for most users.
|
| While Carroll's Humpty Dumpty might have been able
| to choose the meanings of his words at will, on this
| side of the looking glass, software vendors shouldn't
| be able to redefine the meaning of "buying software"
| by the simple attachment of a click-wrap license.
`----
http://wendy.seltzer.org/blog/archives/2006/10/19/forbidding_vistas_windows_licensing_disserves_the_user.html
|
|
