[PLUG] Can we file PIL (Public Interest Litigation)

[श्रीधर नारायण दैठणकर]

On Saturday 11 November 2006 12:18, Aditya Laghate wrote:
> On 11/11/06, YAGNESH N DESAI <ynd at hzw.ltindia.com> wrote:
> > Friends;
> >
> > PIL came to my mind 'cos of provided limited choice by
> > Indian Service providers and manufacturers.
> >
> > Can one file PIL saying all the Generic Hardware vendors & generic IT
> > service providers
> > need to ship drivers for at least one other os (preferably Linux) so that
> > the consumer
> > is not forced to "buy" Windows.
>
> Hello Yagnesh,
>
> That is a good thought. I had never thought of the support from this point
> of view.
>
> I think we can surely file PIL for favouring a certain company or
> something.

I would like to say 2 things.

1. Court matters drag. The intention here is to raise public awareness and not 
to obtain a verdict, IIUC. If you are not interested in verdict, the court 
will slam you with a contempt and there goes everything you were hoping out 
of this activity.

2. As they say, be careful of what you ask for. Asking for drivers to be 
released does not help. Manufacturers will release the drivers that are of 
low quality and will turn linux into another windows clone. Infested with 
unknown things. Binary blobs classify as drivers but they don't bring any 
value to freedom.

Better thing to ask for is specifications. 

Community maintained drivers often turn out to be more stable and they are 
automatically maintained by the community. The company does not have to 
invest into maintaining the driver.

I think making a petition on net, asking for freedom in services, which 
includes hardware and public ISP services, creating a hall of shame for 
things/services/companies that does not provide the freedom of speech could 
fetch similar publicity and awareness. It would cost less too. 

At worst it could be databases of what works and what not with linux/bsd etc. 
At best companies can look forward not to be blacklisted there..

And one more thing. Stop using ndiswrapper. Say no to drivers from windows.

Idea is good but we differ on implementation.. :)

 Shridhar