MESSAGE
| DATE | 2002-06-03 |
| FROM | Adam Kosmin
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [hangout] Resopnce to some wwwacs threads
|
amen!
On Sun, Jun 02, 2002 at 03:09:18PM -0400, Ruben Safir wrote:
>
> Well written
>
> On 2002.06.02 15:02 Marco Scoffier wrote:
> >
> > Why do I get so upset about these issues. Because the computer is
> > not just a tool. Is email a tool? Is your web identity a tool?
> > I can't start to count the number of months or years I have spent
> > creating digital products. Term papers, digital videos, interactive
> > installations, web pages, emailed love letters, my wife and I fell
> > in love over email. How the hell can you not care about such an
> > important part of your life, and one that is probably only going
> > to get more important. These are not issues to take lightly, and
> > definitely not issues to leave in someone else's control. It just
> > dawned on me one day, that I wanted control over what I was producing.
> > What good is a video I can only watch with certain software because of
> > patented restrictively licensed codecs. What good are my term papers
> > locked in a proprietary dead format? What good is a website which
> > can only be viewed properly by installing a particular browser from
> > a particular vendor. Even if that vendor is giving me the right to
> > use this browser for free now. For free is not freedom. You can't
> > take this too seriously. How much control do I have when the only
> > possible solution to a problem, must come from the sole vendor of a
> > software product I have been trapped into using, or just used because
> > that was what was available and I didn't know better. Or even bought
> > because it was the only solution to a particular problem.
> >
> > There are incredible free alternatives for most of your or your
> > business' computing needs. What does not exist now could exist very
> > shortly, and is probably already in development. But the needs of a
> > vast majority of users are met now. Only shortsightedness could keep
> > you from learning about these alternatives and starting to integrate
> > them into your entire computing environment and working to better
> > these tools by using them and adding or even just commenting on the
> > particular features you might need. This discussion continuously
> > takes the point of view of the individual, because I believe that
> > is how people understand issues of rights. All the same applies to
> > businesses and government. You cannot call their entire computing
> > infrastructure "just a tool". A businesses data and man-hours are
> > what yours are : it's whole identity, it's whole self.
> >
> > When you are dealing with proprietary software and media formats
> > you are sand-boxed. When you write Javascript for a browser you
> > are writing to the limits of that browser. It doesn't matter what
> > the Javascript spec can do. It's what the browser will do with
> > that Javascript. If the browser is a proprietary browser, issued
> > closed source, with non-free licenses. It can become a tool for
> > manipulation by the vendor. He can change whatever he wants and
> > create any type of mess he wants, if the mess is in his interest.
> > Perhaps he wants to sell you a tool to create Javascript which more
> > fully utilizes the capabilities he has decided to make available
> > to you, who knows, the fact is that you have no control. I really
> > don't understand how anyone could find this an exciting prospect, or
> > be proud of being led around by the nose. This is the fundamental
> > problem in dealing with a proprietary system. You are completely
> > at their mercy. You can only do what they decided you could do.
> > How can anyone seriously think of their history with a proprietary
> > software system, and say the vendors act in the interests of their
> > clients? The viruses alone should make you a free software fanatic,
> > but you have been lulled into the complacency of television viewer.
> > That's just the way things are. Software has viruses and crashes
> > and my data gets lost, and I'm never in control, like there are 7
> > minutes of ads per half hour of programming. Ho hum....
> >
> > Javascript in photoshop and illustrator is of course just as limited
> > as it is in the browser. When you control the Gimp with Perl or
> > Scheme, no part of the program is hidden from you. You can control
> > any part of the application, from menus to whatever, if any part of
> > the system changes you can see exactly what, where and probably why.
> > You are dependent on no one. When you program for a free operating
> > system no part of it is hidden from you. There is, for example, some
> > exciting work going on in the Linux sound architecture. A group of
> > developers have finished the lowest latency sound architecture on
> > any multipurpose operating system, and the end-user killer-app is
> > quickly on its way to completion ( http://ardour.sourceforge.net ).
> > There are also numerous exciting 3D applications because ideas can
> > get hashed out quickly and optimized well when all the information
> > is out in the open. The TiVo is another example. Of course it's
> > running Linux. Get a couple developers together and you create
> > a revolutionary new product, because it gives the client control.
> > Control over his television experience, the way my ad-zapping software
> > and spam-filtering gives me control over my internet experience.
> > And free software gives me control over my computing experience.
> >
> > Someone on this list who had trouble installing Linux asked, "is
> > debugging xfree86 my idea of a good time?" I wouldn't exactly say
> > a good time, but often yes, it sure beats the hell out of trying to
> > get a broken proprietary application to work. I bought Norton for
> > my Mac about two years ago, I have a dual 500 G4-- which to this day
> > is the worst purchase I have ever made. Norton crashed every time.
> > After _three_ weeks of no replies from Norton. I dug up a message
> > on their email bulletin board which another client had written saying
> > that by turning off the low-level media checking, the other parts of
> > the program would work. Norton finally said that Apple wasn't giving
> > them enough information to fix this, so their clients would have to
> > wait, and that yes the workaround the client had found was the only
> > fix available. I spent easily five times as much time getting to
> > this non-solution as I have ever spent fixing an xfree86 problem.
> >
> > Why is the situation so fundamentally different? Every X problem I
> > fix helps me to solve the next one: X won't boot without the mouse
> > being properly configured, or the font path properly configured,
> > a usb mouse needs the mousedev modules in the kernel, useful facts
> > I can use to help someone else, or to get my next machine running.
> > I learn what is going on when the machine boots, or when X starts up
> > and can jump in and fix any problem. Not only that, the error messages
> > in free-software are so informative, 90% of the time they lead you
> > right to the problem-- there's nothing to hide remember. Most problems
> > with X (and with free-software installations in general) are due to
> > uncooperative hardware vendors. Same problem as Javascript, you are
> > led around by the nose and have to take the scraps of information the
> > vendor decides to deliver. This should make the vendor look bad and
> > encourage people not to buy their products, but too often the blame
> > goes to the free-software developers.
> >
> > My Norton problem, and I would venture to say more than 90% of the
> > proprietary work-arounds are one-shot deals. You are just as ignorant
> > as to what is really going on in the machine as before. You only
> > know how to fix that particular problem. That is why your skills go
> > out of date so quickly and why most of the Mac examples I give are
> > dated, because I haven't actively touched the Mac in about two years.
> > The debugging skills of anybody working in a proprietary sandbox are
> > _that_ worthless. The one-shot deals, apply to one version of one
> > program, that is it.
> >
> > These last examples were sort of aimed at someone who is a bit of
> > a power-user. What about end-user problems?
> >
> > My hard-drive crashed how do I fix it? Proprietary answer : buy the
> > magic box, perhaps you need to reformat your CPU or pay someone to do
> > it for you. If you took our Linux_1 class you could fix the (fixable)
> > crashed hard-drive on any Linux machine, and probably most of the other
> > free Unixes. The partitioning and filesystem creation and recovery
> > tools come with the system. There is no need for a third party.
> > Realizing that there is a lack of affordable training in free
> > software, we, a group of free software enthusiasts, have put together
> > two training tracks. One in Gnu/Linux and Unix system administration,
> > and one in programming using Perl. If you have read this far, and
> > are interested I would urge you to check us out: http://www.nylxs.com
> > (free software institute)
> >
> > The only limitation in free-software is your imagination and your
> > ability. But any skills you acquire are applicable to a wide range
> > of problems, and enough of them added together are powerful enough
> > to be earth changing skills. I would never want to take a class
> > from hens because it is obvious that he is the type of teacher whose
> > only real goal is to prove that he knows more than his students.
> > He lives in a sandbox. He is proud that he knows his way around it,
> > but he has a chain around his ankle and he wants this to be everyone's
> > playing field. Perhaps his sandbox is golden and he feels he can do
> > all sorts of things in there right now. But I have a beach, perhaps
> > it's a bit irregular and even dirty, the development is just beginning,
> > but it's already amazing and rivals many many proprietary products.
> > And it's a G_dam_ beach, the possibilities are endless. Unless,
> > of course, the government and all the sand-boxed individuals decide
> > that beaches are too dangerous. Chains for everyone. This is really
> > troubling many people in free-software right now, and will account
> > for more outbreaks in the future.
> >
> > If someone came into your house and started regulating what you could
> > and could not do, what kind of furniture you were allowed to use,
> > or faucets, what books you could read and how, what you could use
> > to view digital media and what you could not. You would do good to
> > make a huge stink about it so that this would stop and others would
> > come to your side and realize the injustice even if they are already
> > using the "approved" furniture.
> >
> > --Marco
> >
> > I'll take graffiti over advertisements any day. Both are unwanted.
> > Only one is manipulative.
> >
> > --
> > Save the libraries. fight Draconian Media Copyright Abuse.
> > ____________________________
> > New Yorker Linux Users Scene
> > Fair Use -
> > because it's either fair use or useless....
> >
> --
> __________________________
>
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> __________________________
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>
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>
>
>
> ____________________________
> New Yorker Linux Users Scene
> Fair Use -
> because it's either fair use or useless....
____________________________
New Yorker Linux Users Scene
Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
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