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Should the Gates Foundation support Mac, Linux PCs
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| Let me tell you a little story about the imbalance of computer platforms in
| public libraries. The year was 2005. Fairfax County Public Libraries, in
| Fairfax, Virginia, started offering free audiobook downloads in Windows Media
| Audio (WMA) file format. These audiobooks could not be heard on any Linux
| computer, Macintosh computer, or iPod. Not only were the audiobooks in WMA
| format, they were under DRM (Digital Rights Management.) So if you happened
| to be blind and you owned an iPod, you could not listen to these audiobooks.
| Then again, blind people don't need to listen to audiobooks, right?
|
| I engaged in a friendly dialogue with the folks in the Fairfax County Public
| Libraries, who insisted that these audio files could play on Macintosh
| computers. These audio files most decidedly could not play on Macs. I know.
| I've spent about 20 years of my life earning a living as a Mac trainer and
| consultant.
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http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9137423/Should_the_Gates_Foundation_support_Mac_Linux_PCs
Recent:
British Library fears loss of history
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| Lynne Brindley, director of the British Library, said that data and
| information on our time that has been entrusted to the web is being lost as
| some sites close or the technology they have stored the information on
| becomes obsolete.
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http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/623/1050623/british-library-fears-loss-history
Related:
No need to burn books you can't read - DRM and public libraries
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| As my correspondent says: "After all that I still couldn't open the document
| (which I've only opened once before) and got this. Now I know I haven't
| opened the document at another computer because this is my only computer with
| a printer - so I didn't open it anywhere else. I am never using this service
| again. The British Library, Microsoft and Adobe can go shove their DRM up
| their document delivery service exit. "
|
| This, let me reiterate, is a public body providing publicly paid-for research
| to a highly-qualified professional engaged in impeccable work for the public
| service.
|
| It is hard to imagine something more expensive, condescending, inaccurate,
| frustrating and enraging â nor something better calculated to restrict
| knowledge and broadcast ignorance.
|
| It's almost as if the parties involved actively want to prevent people
| learning. It certainly feels that way.
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http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10009526o-2000331777b,00.htm
Amazon ate my homework, or why DRM stinks for education
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| The phrase âAmazon ate my homeworkâ may certainly have been uttered on more
| than one occasion since the New York Times reported on Amazonâs deletion of
| specific editions of George Orwellâs Animal Farm and 1984 from Kindle e-book
| readers (and no, the irony wasnât lost on anybody). Unless you live under a
| rock, you know that this has been a bit of a discussion topic in the
| blogosphere. However, the first time Iâd heard it put that way was in an
| email exchange on which I was lurking today, when Daniel Dern, an independent
| technology writer, made specific reference to the notes/annotations lost by a
| particular student.
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http://education.zdnet.com/?p=2827
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