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On Friday 10 December 2004 9:40 am, Rob Beard wrote:
Quoting paul sutton <zen14920@xxxxxxxxx>:I think aiming these systems at perhaps linux user groups, would be better,or even students, going to uni (however even then they may need both Windows and Linux). He also said it was difficult to sell blank systems because of piracy, etc.It isn't illegal to sell 'blank' systems. This is just a Microsoft thing,
"The Redmond Tax".
they want every PC to be sold with a licence, I think Dell got round this by installing MS-DOS on their servers or something.
But the user is still paying for that licence in the total cost of the machine. That's what MS want - they don't care what happens after the vendor has bought yet another licence on your behalf. Vendors need to be free to sell systems without ever buying a Windows or other MS licence for that machine. MS will do everything in their power to prevent exactly that. It's not law, it's stronger than that, it's profit. :-)
At the end of the day, once the user has bought a PC they can do what they like with it.
And MS will do what they usually do with the payment for the licence for software that may never see the light of day. Currently, one option is to buy a Mac. OK, it's an Apple Tax but it's far less irksome to support a proprietary company that in turn supports the free software community. That's why my most recent machine is an iBook.
I know some people who have bought PCs with Windows 98 or ME on it and they don't have any concerns about borrowing and installing a pirate copy of Windows XP Pro corporate on their PCs, so if the PC has an OS or not, it still happens.
And MS still get upset. In the above scenario, as vendors of proprietary software, they have every right to be upset and as free software proponents, we should be just as upset that people are so eager to move to piracy instead of freedom.
I think there is a lot of good reports on Linux and it's made out to be a great alternative to windows and will do everything (perhaps over hyped), what people fail to mention is the extra work that goes into getting it too work, (e.g dvd drivers, nvidia, drivers etc), not much for us, but for some will not be good enough.
What people fail to mention is the *community* and that 'nasty' word *freedom*. Too many GNU/Linux users: 1. Don't appreciate the work done by GNU. 2. Don't understand the freedom they enjoy. 3. Don't appreciate how that freedom conveys responsibilities onto every single GNU/Linux user to do whatever they can to contribute to the community. It doesn't have to be much - just replying to emails on a list like this is perfectly adequate. I don't reply as much as I used to - but there's a good reason for that; other (often newer) members have taken on the mantle and the questions I would have answered are being answered without my help and that's fantastic. Do what you can to make the lives of developers easier if you can't develop stuff yourself. Report bugs, help on mailing lists, write about your experiences on mailing lists and on Wiki's like ours - ones that get indexed by Google on a regular basis - think about others, not necessarily on this list, who would benefit from knowing what you have discovered about GNU/Linux in your own way. These are all tasks that get left to the developers if no-one else is free, so helping out makes it easier to develop the next release, the next feature, the next bug fix. If you couldn't find the answer you needed easily, write about it and put the URL. This mailing list archive is regularly indexed by all major search engines and just mentioning something here will make it easier for someone else to find the answer they need. Remember: it's not just Devon and Cornwall that read our list archive, everyone gets a bite and your contributions should reflect this side of the community. Just because nobody here particularly needs to know something specific, doesn't mean you shouldn't put it either on the Wiki or on the list. Who knows when you might need to refer to that message later on when someone does ask about exactly that issue? Use this list, the Wiki and the archive as a tool, as a reference, as an encyclopedia that you can update and correct. http://www.dclug.org.uk/wiki/ -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.dclug.org.uk/ http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/isbnsearch/ http://www.williamsleesmill.me.uk/ http://www.biglumber.com/x/web?qs=0x8801094A28BCB3E3
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