On Fri, 2007-11-16 at 10:24 -0700, der.hans wrote: > Am 16. Nov, 2007 schwätzte keith smith so: > > > Okay, however other than limited academic programs I have not seen M$ give away the OS. I think if they did that would be proof that they are using their monopoly power to keep and gain even more market share. > > > > So lets hope they do give away the OS. > > They do. Through Gates' foundation. Through lawsuit settlements. For > marketing. m$ uses OS licenses to pay debts. When it does this for > publicly owned debt, e.g. lawsuits brought by a government entity, it > rips off the taxpaying public. ---- gosh - that would be a first ---- > Trump gets government subsidies for his whacky ideas. ---- OK - Trump - you're fired ---- > The oil companies complain about the cost of oil and want federal money > to holp recover from Katrina as eXXon sets new worldwide records for > corporate earnings. ---- duh - you got 2 oilmen as Pres and Vice-Pres, the price of oil rose from $26 per barrel to almost $100. The price of gas...you know. you can't say that this is actually surprising ---- > The RIAA paid a settlement by donating old stock they couldn't sell to > public libraries. Anybody need 50,000 copies of "A Debbie Boone Groundhog > Day"? ----- Phil ? Phil Connors ? Don't go slagging one of my favorite movies. You made me google 'A Debbie Boone Groundhog Day' - couldn't locate it ---- > > The airlines get paid day in and day out to have certain parts of their > fleets ready to be used for the military in a time of war, then complain > when they actually have to turn over aircraft as required by the contract. > > Toy manufacturers keep feigning surprise when the media finds out that > some toy is unsafe. ---- of course the CPSC (Consumers Product Safety Commission) has shed more than 50% of their payroll since Bush took office and then recess appointment (because even Republican controlled Senate wouldn't approve the stooges Bush nominated), who travels at the expense of corporations/lobbyists - hardly surprising ---- > Many corporations intentionally don't do the right thing in order to > create profits. m$ is definitely knee deep in that movement and have > billions and billions dollars as a result. The government isn't going to > require m$ give it back or pay fines. ---- not this administration ---- > So... > > 1. We can complain about illegal and unethical business practices. It > won't get anything changed. If people dying due to bad toys and drugs > doesn't really get change don't count on people caring about the m$ tax. > > 2. We push for requirement of Free and Open Standards. Suddenly we find > we can get assistance from big companies like IBM, Google, Intel and AMD > and from small companies that have had their data held hostage by m$ > proprietary formats. > > 3. We can continue working on, supporting and promoting Free Software that > absolutely rocks over the proprietary software equivalents. This is how I > think we'll have the biggest impact, especially if we can get people and > governments using Free and Open Formats[0]. > > Buy products that support Free Software and Open Standards. If you find a > way, let the companies know that you bought the product due to its support > of Free Software and Open Standards. Avoid buying from companies that > continuously threaten Free Software and Open Standards. > > Donate to organizations like the Free Software Foundation and Software > Freedome Lay Center. Donate to Free Software projects via organizations > like the GNOME, KDE and Apache foundations or via 'donate now' mechanisms > or whatever on project web sites. > > Donate by submitting thourough bug reports. Donate by providing patches if > you can. > > Donate by helping user groups have interesting events that will help > local ground roots support for Free Software. A good way to do that is > bring people to the Free Software Stammtisch, this Tuesday, or to PLUG's > annual end of year party next month. The latter should be easier as there > will be cheesecake :). > > Does Apple care if a bunch of geeks don't go buy an ipod? No. They don't > even care if the geeks don't update to the newest one every 6 months like > everyone else. They might care if we all buy and iAudio, which advertises > ogg and flac support as well as support for GNU/Linux, or an insignia > player, which advertises ogg and flac support, especially if we get our > music downloads from www.Magnatune.com rather than some vendor-lock-in > music site. ---- I hate myself for buying/using/loving my iPod...guilty pleasure ;-) ---- > [0] Yesterday I verified with the state's new information security officer > that they understand GNU/Linux is not Windows. I also got confirmation > from the head security officer for the department of health that they use > a lot of *NIX and have some GNU/Linux geeks playing with stuff. Now we > need to find out who's on the proposed project oversight committees and > get them to understand the benefits of Free and Open Standards. ---- thanks Craig --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss