That title ought to get some attention, eh? Well, what about this:
While Google/Youtube is not fully Open Source, they are doing more than just about any other company out there to push for a more Open Source friendly software and OS world, and a freer and more competitive internet; on that last score alone, look at their 4.6bn dollar bid for the wireless spectrum up for auction.
If they succeed, then it will put a huge crimp in the plans of Microsoft, AT&T, the RIAA/MPAA cartels to control exactly what you can or cannot get streaming over the internet--imagine wireless at a low cost that allows you to do what you want, and doesn't set some insane prices (ala the telcos) that consumers have no choice but to adopt. It's absolutely unacceptable that there are US citizens that are denied the high-speed connectivity that is available throughout the rest of the developed world, all because the big monopolies want to milk everyone for that last thin dime, while delivering piss-poor service.
No doubt that sites like this will be blocked--which would be the ultimate irony--it's located inside China, and for all the scare talk about the 'Great Firewall of China', computer users are actually freer to share content and information than the great ole US of A. Yeah, yeah, I know--'Piracy!!!!' is worse than anything out there, and costing the monopolies 'billions and billions', is more serious than theft, bank robbery, mugging, and armed assault (not to mention downright evil) or so they claim; witness the efforts made to let students know that one strike and you're off the net forever (???)--wtf is wrong with Kansas? I wonder how that will impact next year's enrollment. I wish I could attend there--NOT.
Folks who work hard can't afford to pay those premium prices for sub-standard goods anymore; you buy the album, the tape, the CD, and then download a single mp3 of the same material, rip a stream from the radio or the internet, or just stream some internet content, and you are a criminal. If they have their way, then sites like this, this, this, this, and this will all be blocked or forced off the net, denying consumers and citizens a chance to access shared human culture, culture that costs close to nothing to deliver, and is getting easier and easier to access and store.
Six months ago, I bought a one Gb USB flash drive for around $15; last week I went back to the same vendor and picked up a four Gb drive for $25 that is no longer than the tip of my pinkie and about a quarter inch thick--around 10% the size of the one I first bought. Internet speeds keep picking up, as do CPU speeds, and there is a veritable explosion of free content (that's legal, most of the stuff the cartels peddle is crap) that we simply cannot access out of fear of a few tech tyrants holding us all back so they can sit atop their cash heaps a bit longer. The war on drugs has morphed into the war on bytes, giving a whole new meaning to 'intent to distribute', with bigger fines to boot.
Copyright law, patent law, and 'intellectual property' law are all seriously flawed or just outright broken, used as tools to screw over consumers and citizens so they can deliver 'The Hulk, Part III', or the latest pop hit from a singer that is going into rehab for the fifth time. Stuff nobody wants to listen to or watch is being forced down our throats, and the free and legal stuff is increasingly unavailable due to no or poor internet service, the latest and most secure operating system targets the user for infringement, Linux='Piracy!!!', and if you want something better you are SOL. You can't even access all the features on your shiny new cellphone, for crying out loud.
Without much funding, and all the arrayed forces of the big monopolies and cartels joined against them, the Open Source community is still able to come up with things like this:
and this:
and this:
It's the power of the Open Source community, one of transparency, openness and sharing, all geared towards forwarding technological progress and increasing shared human culture that make those possible. Projects that increase human knowledge, and offer educational opportunities to the poor in developing and third world nations.
A bit from the link above:
If you thought adverts on the web have become more offensive and more intrusive than ever before, then it might be time to find alternatives to using software from Microsoft.
Microsoft has filed a patent (here) that threatens to breathe life into Bill Gates' and Ray Ozzie's Frankenstein-like Windows Live "vision", unveiled in November 2005, for putting annoying, in-your-face internet adverts inside your most important Windows applications.
Click here to find out more!
The giant has claimed what it calls an "advertising framework" that would suck "context data" from your PC so advertisers can display ads on the client, and to split revenue with the advertiser and the owner of the application supplying the data.
Lovely, eh? Snooping inside your emails, inside your private documents, so can they can display ads on your computer, while turning a tidy profit at it. I'm guessing that this will be quietly slipped into Vista SP2.
And all those patent covenants that Microsoft signed with Xandros, Linspire, and Novell, promising not to sue the users of those systems for violating their alleged 235 patents (claimed but never named)? Well, perhaps they told a wee bit of a fib. They're not going to honor anything released under the GPLv3.
Just hard to see the attraction for 'upgrading' to something like that; I got sick of one OS, so I switched to another, played around with it, went on to another one, then on to another, noting the differences and strengths of each one, and trying to find a perfect match for my machine and my needs; if you go the vendor lock-in route, all choice is taken away from you, and not only that, but you are a target for adware that will be part of the system? Talk about broken, insecure, and shoddy! Using Open Source software not only enables you to have a better system, but an actual choice, and no one profits from digging through your email. Choice, what a concept.
I screwed up an install just today (adding a too cutting-edge software repository) and I installed another one in just under twenty minutes. No EULAs, no DRM, no spyware, no 'targeted' adware. Just a nice solid system that never bugs me for genuine activation, and does what I tell it to. Where do you want to go today (TM)?