Tuesday, June 03, 2003

Linux Desktops: Pirate Playground? So I was reading this perfectly innocuous story on CNET about IBM selling a desktop PC loaded with an unnamed Linux distribution in India. Perfectly nice story, refers to both the Asian Linux stories mentioned here recently. Says the box is too expensive for the market (at 39,000 rupees). Then, in the last two grafs, we get this:  An IBM representative said the desktop is unlikely to be sold outside India, according to a report in The Australian daily The Sydney Morning Herald. Analysts have said that major hardware makers have been cautious about introducing desktops loaded with Linux as it opens the doors to piracy--many buyers will want to overwrite the operating system with illegal copies of Windows. Huh? Well of course it makes perfect sense! Linux boxes just beg to be overwritten with Windows. Why would anyone in their right mind want to buy a computer loaded with a stable OS, an endlessly customizable GUI or two, with great gobs of stable, tested applications that do practically anything you'd want to do with a PC, and do it for free -- when they can replace that OS with an illegal copy of buggy, insecure Windows, MS Office and Zeus knows what else? And of course, because Linux is under the GPL, a user can claim that since the box had Linux on it, anything else you put on that box is GPLed too, right?  </satire> Seriously, some technical people in India might want to run Windows to develop their programming skills for the largest installed base in the world. Little doubt about that. It will be the Linux boxes, however, that hold the key to further development (economic and technical) of the underdeveloped (once known as the Third) world. And all the FUD that appears in the press just won't stop that.   9:10:57 PM

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Protect and Expand the Public Domain From Larry Lessig, by way of Jonathan Peterson: Here's a petition to sign to support what may someday be called the Public Domain Enhancement Act. Note that the bill has not yet been introduced, or even has a sponsor, so this is semi-premature. Setting up an online petition to demand "There oughta be a law" is easy. It's wonderful that all these people (2555 in just two days!) signed up. In reality, though, these petitions will not wind up in the hands of decision-makers unless some Congress-creature agrees to put the bill in the hopper. Then, as a movement, we can badger our individual representatives to co-sponsor Senate Bill 1787 (or whatever number gets assigned to it when it is introduced). This may be close, but it's better if it's there. While the online petition is gathering momentum, this movement needs to expand beyond the blogosphere and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It needs to bring together organizations like the National Writers Union, American Society of Journalists and Authors, and two new organizations: Free Press and the Creators Federation. These are just a start, but nearly essential if it's really going to happen. So please do sign the petition, but realize that this is perhaps the least important thing you do on its behalf! 4:34:26 PM

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