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Free Software Better Than Similar Software That is Paid For

  • Subject: Free Software Better Than Similar Software That is Paid For
  • From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:07:21 +0100
  • Followup-to: comp.os.linux.advocacy
  • Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
  • User-agent: KNode/4.4.8
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FLOSS: Accept no substitutes

,----[ Quote ]
| Free-as-in-freedom software is very often free-as-in-beer, too. This is 
| normally a good thing. But one open source project developer is calling out a 
| troubling problem with free software: counterfeit applications.
| 
| The problem, according to VideoLAN developer Ludovic Fauvet, is this: 
| VideoLAN's highly regarded VLC Media Player, which is licensed under the GPL, 
| is being redistributed by various organizations' websites, some of which claim 
| that VLC is actually their application to distribute. These websites attract 
| users with paid Google AdWords ads that come up in various media-player 
| related searches.
| 
| Right off the bat, this would be a clear violation of VideoLAN's intellectual 
| property, but it gets worse. Many of the sites that redistribute VLC have 
| wrapped the binary in installers that also install malware in the form of 
| adware and spyware on unsuspecting user's computers, too.
| 
| "What bothers us the most is that many of them are bundling VLC with various 
| crapware to monetize it in ways that mislead our users by thinking theyâre 
| downloading an original version. This is not acceptable. The result is a poor 
| product that doesnât work as intended, that canât be uninstalled and that 
| clearly abuses its users and their privacy," Fauvet wrote in his blog.
`----

http://www.itworld.com/security/182757/floss-accept-no-substitutes
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