[mdlug] Freedom on the OS level

[Wolfger]

On 1/9/07, Ingles, Raymond <Raymond.Ingles at compuware.com> wrote:
>
> > From: Wolfger
>
>> Well... here's the question. How often do you need to worry about freedom
>> at the OS level? I don't find it to be much of an issue.
>
> Don't worry. With Vista, you will, as has been cited before:

Oh, I already fear Vista. I'm sticking with XP until it no longer works,
or until something better comes along (until Linux plays games?), or until
I stop gaming.

> ...well, I think they are making a similar mistake as IBM. They came out
>with the Zune, which is like all the other PDA/mp3 player units out there,
>except it's rigidly controlled... and isn't terribly attractive.

Yeah, the Zune was great, wasn't it? The "iPod killer" that practically died
in the womb. I actually think it was fantastic! We needed a DRM-heavy product
to flop mightily in the marketplace.


>> If I'm using (mostly) F/OSS apps, I'm still experiencing freedom at the
>> app level, which is more important to my way of thinking.
>
> The good news is that, the more people who use OSS apps on Windows, the
>easier it is to move to Linux.

F/OSS and Google. Gmail works great under any OS.

> That's what I did with my parents, after all.
>Moved them from IE/Outlook to Firefox/Thunderbird, and then when it was time
>to upgrade, I put them on Linux. Their main comment was that Linux had better
>screensavers. :->

Linux has better in many ways. I think I could have even kept my wife happily
running Linux.... if it wasn't for the games.

-- 
Wolfger
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