Comments

• JohnD

  2009-09-10 12:07:04

  Apparently that "Freedom of choice" doesn't extend to using a combination of open and closed source software.

• Roy Schestowitz

  2009-09-10 14:06:15

  Right. Should we also protect the freedom to be chauvinistic for example?

• JohnD

  2009-09-10 14:50:57

  As a matter of fact, yes we should. I don't agree with what the KKK spews forth, but I will defend their right to say it. If you don't like what you hear - don't listen. Tolerance of differing viewpoints is the essence of freedom. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin: Those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither.

• Roy Schestowitz

  2009-09-10 15:13:35

  Right. And the FSF, for instance, retains the right to criticise those whom it thinks are danger to freedom. There is no contradiction here, it's just cyclical.

• JohnD

  2009-09-10 19:12:26

  There's a big difference between stating that there are potential dangers with using Mono and trying to put out free software and advocating against it's use altogether.

• glen

  2009-09-09 10:46:54

  Any chance in decreasing your output to relevant quality stuff . Too many tenuous and repetitive articles .I have this on RSS and your starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist with a bad case of paranoia. There's some stuff here thats good reading but I think you've become a bit too manic. "Deletes feed"

• wallclimber

  2009-09-09 14:55:42

  @glen,
  
  When a company doggedly persists in its (well documented) efforts to maintain and illegally extend its monopoly, by hook or by crook, worldwide, day after day, year after year, decade after decade, it would be foolish for those who see it to remain silent about it.
  
  You're welcome to close your eyes and cover your ears and shut off the BN RSS feed, but the rest of us would rather do something about it. Shining a light on the dark side of Microsoft is essential to the task of stopping the bad behavior.
  
  The US DoJ apparently hasn't the gumption to stop them, the EU tries, but there is only so much they can do. The only REAL solution left is for ordinary people to leave Microsoft's shoddy products behind, in massive droves. I believe that well informed computer users will do exactly that once they see Microsoft's goals and behavior brought into the light.
  
  I believe that because I've seen it happen many times. In fact, I've helped it happen, one friend, neighbor and family member at a time. Linux has a true grassroots popularity, and it's growing steadily, year after year. It's a grassroots movement the likes of which Microsoft can only pay a lot of money to try to emulate, but all they can muster up is a lot of soul-less astroturf.
  
  Perhaps the output of this website can decrease when Microsoft decreases the amount of bad behavior they exhibit.
  
  And, by the way, conspiracy theories require a considerable amount of imagination and fear to maintain. People who just want some Freedom of choice when it comes to the software that runs on their computers aren't theorizing, they are documenting. There's a difference. If that strikes fear into Microsoft, so be it. Personally, I don't see that as a bad thing.