hello world
this is just me chucking in my two pennies worth.
who am I?
well i'm just this guy who happens to like the idea of the GPL, open source, and the linux world.
ok, so i don't know much about computers, or the big bucks business ideals of how to make more money than the next guy (or gal) like microsoft and all the other big corporations out to make big bucks.
but then i don't need to be an astro physicist, to know that " it is better to nurture the course of the human race than to destroy it" now do i?
to me it is the shear greed of these big corporations now, which is driving me nuts.
all they want is more and more money, to lock you into plans and deals that mean you are tied to them
even if the "new" software or operating system is completely flawed with security leaks and holes and all sorts of other dangerous problems, they want to legally ensure that you can do nothing about it and have to continue to pay them?
this is totally unacceptable!!
if i buy something new, i expect that item to be in perfect working order, if it is not i can return it for a replacement or a refund, either way i do not expect the company to turn around and say "well tough you'll have to wait untill our engineers can think of and work out a fix for you?"
take a car for instance, you go out and spend thousands of whatever currency you use to buy a brand new car, and when you get home you find the locks are faulty and don't work!!
you ring the dealer and say" the locks don't work", and the dealer replies "oh no sir they don't on that model, the manufacturer is aware of the fault but couldn't be bothered to sort it out before putting the model on sale".
what would you do?
complain, seek a replacement (different model), demand a refund, seek legal advice (all would be available to you (plus others i'd expect).
however with microsoft none of these things are available!
you could complain but we all know where that would get you, absolutely nowhere!!!.
seek a replacement? well what's available, that is compatible with where you work?
as regards a refund, what from microsoft ha ha ha aha you must be joking.
and who knows of a lawyer who could take on the mighty microsoft corporation legal department!!!
(even the american government thinks twice before attempting that one)
you see!, where are your consumer rights now?
you gave them up when you agreed to the microsoft licensing agreement.
now don't get me wrong, i'm not just bashing microsoft out of hand, i happen to think microsoft has done a terrific job of bringing computers to the masses, making using a computer easier.
but the animal (read family pet) which did these wonderful things, has now become a pack of african wild dogs (ie a real beast) totally out of control in the midst of a feeding frenzy.
i believe the time has come to tame the beast, and the gpl and the open source movement is a good step in that direction.
it puts forward the idea of community, say i develop a programme and it works for me, and i license it under the gpl.
you see that programme and like it but want to tweak it just for you, well under the terms of the gpl you can so long as you make the tweak available to me as well.
there is the true way forward.
because anyone who is able to develop a programme (write the code) can add to or improve my programme to the point where it becomes more and more useful to many many people and it constantly evolves at an exponential rate (providing the interest is there in my programme).
i personally think that in the end microsoft will lose out purely because it won't be able to keep up with the speed of development in the IT industry (microsoft can only employ so many coders) whereas the open source world has many working all over the world and the number is growing rapidly (indeed rumours abound that even some microsoft employees are working on open source software in their spare time!! (and not to the detriment of it either)).
microsoft is diverging into many different areas and has been for some years now, i think the reason for this is the open source movement.
i think the big guns at microsoft know the games up and changes need to be implemented in order to survive.
microsoft can twist and turn down every legal loophole they can find but in the end they know they have lost before they even begin the fight.
it may take three years, it may take ten years, but eventually microsoft will lose the operating system battle and then maybe while its sitting back licking its wounds it may just stop and think, like george michael "i have made more money than i need thanks to my fans, maybe its time to give something back".
maybe they will go open source?, maybe they will become a niche product?
maybe they will lose the battle and go back to the coders bench and produce the best damn operating system ever and make a come back (but hopefully with a different business model (as regards customers rights)).
who knows ?
certainly not me! after all what do i know, i'm just this ordinary guy sitting in my bedroom at midnight
using my computer which is running mandrake linux 9.2 and typing this using kword.
(damn, if i'd used openoffice.org writer it would have been compatible with microsoft word ;0) ).
still as i said at the begining, what do i know? this is just my two pennies worth.
regards to you and your family, take care and good luck
may you be happy, healthy, and rich in spirit (if not in pocket because you've just payed out for the latest microsoft system).
reb2
