[PLUG] PLUG meeting April 2007 Saturday 7th April,4 pm @ SICSR

[Nishit Dave]

On 4/7/07, Nawaz Patel <nawaz.patel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
>      *Forcing* some one to use a particular software sounds like a
> micro$oft culture not much appretiated in the open src community, just
> my thought, you can protest anyways.
>
> Cheers.
>

You are gravely mistaken.  The Free software movement does not force anybody
to use open source or even Free software.  That choice is left to every
individual.  It is closed source software vendors that force users, in more
ways than one, to stay with them.  For example:

1.  Compromising interoperability
2.  Trampling on standards
3.  Suffocating and extinguishing competition (Embrace, Extend, Extinguish)
4.  Forcing upgrades
5.  Bribing or coercing decision makers to choose one software above the
other
6.  Bundling software to nip choice in the bud
7.  Forcing the system vendors' hand
8.  Catching 'em young
9.  Keeping 'em hooked
10.  Colluding with media/entertainment companies to enforce DRM to get
their software recommended (Ha ha, imagine the gall of mobile phone
manufacturers, listing DRM as a 'feature' instead of a 'limitation'!)
11.  Spreading FUD
12.  Bribing the media to make it look like choice *does not exist*

Contd..