MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-01-15 |
| FROM | From: "Steve Milo"
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [hangout] Re: ogg tutorial
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> more functional, but it is not good enough because it is not free
> (as in
> speech) and therefore, damages to our society's ability to
> collaborate,innovate, and protect our privacy.
Actually, more functional is much more than good enough, if the better
more secure product is available from Microsoft then by all means it
should be used. Not because it isnt 'free'..as in whatever. But
because it does the job that is required of it. If the Open Source
community can come along and create an equal or better product then that
software has earned its positions. If we are talking about widgets then
the only thing that MS or any other proprietary company is guilty of is
defending their products secrets. They havent infringed on freedom of
speech, they are using freedom to persue 'life and liberty'. If MS were
to go out and seek a court order to silence its critics that is
infringing on freedom of speech. But as far as the widget is concerned,
MS has everyright to create its product, they can run around and let
their sales people tell you anything they want to get their product in
your hands. The fault is not with MS when a network crashes due to a
virus, but the IT director who chose to use MS. In turn compromising
the security of their organizations system. No, simply because MS is
closed source is not a good enough reason to not purchase their product
and anyone in this day and age will tell you that. The reasons to go
with Open Source is simply because its better. Its better on price
point, its better on security, its better on maintenance, its better on
support. Simply put, GNU/Linux/Open Source is just better and for those
patriotic souls, is so very American. Open Source got its start in this
country and is based on the same principles and values that were used
when this country was founded. But using a better product is common
sense. If MS creates a better OS than GNU/Linux I would go out and buy
it. But it doesnt make a better OS, it only has a stronger marketing
machine. The problem with the Open Source community is that too many
people are hung up pining away at how MS is bad. We're focusing on all
the wrong points, the focus has to be turned away from MS and back onto
Linux. If MS makes a better product thats fine the problems are the
limitations imposed on reverse engineering for a better product. The
auto industry does it, the hardware manufacterers do it, McDonalds does
it. Everyone reverse engineers, its a normal patter of critical
thinking. But the DMCA law doesnt allow reverse engineering, not even
to *not* make a profit.
Steve M
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