Re: GNU/Linux in a binary world... a doomsday scenario

Florian Weimer
2005-12-11T16:27:54Z

* Jeff V. Merkey:

> I'm married to a German citizen and I visit Germany for 3-4 week stints
> once a year. Last year I went to Aachen and Amsterdam on vacation.
> Every computer store I visited sold pirated copies of Windows XP and
> Microsoft Office

Usually, they sell unlicensed OEM versions, which is fine because you
don't need a license to sell CDs once they've legally entered the EU.
If Microsoft itself distributed them to

Theoretically, the situation is the same in the U.S., but maybe
Microsoft has just better means to enforce the OEM/end user price
discrimination.

> Even the republic countries which have democratic governments are
> very much socialist in terms of the lifestyle and the governments,
> and the way people live, so it's no surprise the whole concept of
> free software and the GPL are so natural to the culture of Europe in
> general.

Maybe we are all socialist bastards (I doubt it, some of us are too
good at playing capitalist), but it's not our respect or disrespect of
IP laws that makes a difference. It's things like social security,
mandatory health insurance, etc., which are backed by actual law, not
very limited private-sector initiatives promoting copyleft schemes.

> I have been very dismayed at how FOSS has been used as a vehicle to
> promote anti-american attitudes into our own culture.

I don't see what's anti-American about free software. I assume that
being an American encompasses more than promoting a certain, very
narrowly scoped IP-related agenda. On the contrary, putting free
speech over IP protection is a very American thing, and most Europeans
do not value freedom of speech that high.

> It's sad. I have lived in all these places and the only place where
> people have guaranteed rights as individuals and true freedom is
> America.

I'm not sure if Mr Padilla agrees.

> I was in Germany in the late 1970's and earlt 1980's when the
> Bater-Meinhoffs were killing Americans in the streets and the
> Grune-Gehfahr (Green Party) was having demonstrations burning
> effigies of Uncle Sam in the Hauptewache District in Frankfurt.
> This younger generation has no concept of what they are supporting
> or how bad things can get. It is the doom of men that they forget.

*shrug* You have your own troubles with militias on the far right
(ignoring this WOT thing, which is beyond rational debate anyway).

> At any rate, Stallman needs to in the next GPL incorporate
> capitalist provisions which will allow FOSS to become a self
> sustaining model. The US markets are abandoning Linux as a
> commerical offering and Windows is continuing to get stronger and
> stronger.

So what? The Microsoft monopoly is only a temporary thing. Breaking
it shouldn't be the highest-ranked item on the FSF's agenda.
Eventually, Microsoft will commit a fatal mistake (or a series of
minor ones) which will seal its fate. Free software matters in the
long run, and short-term considerations shouldn't alter our course too
much.