RIP: Linux Community (1991-2007)

[Darrin Chandler]

On Thu, Mar 29, 2007 at 04:38:03PM -0700, Andrew Harris wrote:
> gNewSense looks like a joke to me. It's just Ubuntu, but minus anything that's not under the GPL (or that's how I understand it to be anyway.).

That's pretty much what it is, and it's not a joke.

Having all this wonderful free software is great until you start
mangling it with proprietary stuff. It seems ok now, but it WILL get
worse. That's the normal way that freedoms are eroded - trading a little
temporary convenience for essential freedoms (to paraphrase a much
better quote).

Recently on this list there was some fuss over the MS/Novell deal. In
reality this isn't that much different that running those nifty nVidia
drivers in FC5 or whatever. MS may be the biggest and baddest on the
block, but they are merely the highest profile company trying to lock
you in, tie your hands, and take away your freedoms. All the other
companies like Adaptec and nVidia are the same way. This isn't
conspiracy theory, it's just business on their part. That doesn't mean
we have to accept it.

So don't accept it. If what you're after is a no-cost Windows then
forget the above. Except that in the end they'll have you paying again.

If you care about actually owning your own data, and having actual
control over the computer you supposedly own, then you should give a
hoot about these issues. If you care about security then you should
worry about these issues.

-- 
Darrin Chandler            |  Phoenix BSD User Group  |  MetaBUG
dwchandler at stilyagin.com   |  http://phxbug.org/      |  http://metabug.org/
http://www.stilyagin.com/  |  Daemons in the Desert   |  Global BUG Federation