Linux exec: PCs will be free, like phones

If Zemlin thinks Microsoft has "embraced" the GPL, wait until they "extend it."

After extend comes extinguish... Like I said in the other thread about Mr. Zemlin's comments, he is now the last person I want representing Linux to the rest of the world.

Quoting:he is now the last person I want representing Linux to the rest of the world.

You and me both :-/

RE:

Quoting: ... wait until they "extend it."

From past performance, my guess is he will be all for it.

YBT

I don't know where Zemlin's fascination with free PCs is coming from. He is continually talking about how the OS is irrelevant.

He must be on someone's payroll (besides the Linux Foundation) to keep saying the same over and over...

Quoting:call my family or people at work and ignore the text spam.

Doesn't it feel good to pay for the privilege!

I unpay for the privilege by getting the SMS Text service removed. Doesn't cost me a cent for SMS spam after that.

I've been happy with my AT&T prepaid plan on my Freerunner. :)

$25 every 90 days, $0.20/min or text (and I barely use my phone for anything anyway - the occasional call in or out from/to family/clients).

Not that I'm all that thrilled to use AT&T considering, well, AT&T..., but there aren't exactly choices in GSM providers (T-Mobile doesn't cover our area).

I do get a sadistic pleasure though when I consider what the iPhone users have to pay. hehehe.

Quoting:Doesn't it feel good to pay for the privilege!

You have to pay to receive text messages? There is spam? Thank god I'm in The Netherlands. Receiving text messages is free and there's no spam here.

The difference between a cell phone and a "free" netbook is that the netbook is still a perfectly usable mini-laptop. Netbooks are only "underpowered" for Windows. They run just fine with Linux, thankyouverymuch. So, if what moopst suggests begins to happen expect me to have a little business recycling those machines and keeping them out of the landfills. Reload OS, resell for a small fee, cheapo laptops for everyone who wants them :) Sounds good to me...

Otherwise, I agree with everyone's take on Mr. Zemlin's um.... interesting... opinions. This is the spokesman for the Linux Foundation? He's the last person I'd want representing Linux to the world at large.

Quoting:So, if what moopst suggests begins to happen expect me to have a little business recycling those machines and keeping them out of the landfills. Reload OS, resell for a small fee, cheapo laptops for everyone who wants them :) Sounds good to me...

Thank you caitlyn. That's my point exactly, the Cue Cat folks thought that they could give away a device, and then lock the users into using nothing but their software. Their business model was the classic "free razor, expensive blades" model. The problem was that everyone turned around and said "but we don't need your blades."

Here we go again. Someone thinks that they can lock the public into a little box where they are forced to give the vendor money in order to just use a device. It ended badly then, and most likely it will end badly now. The only fly I can see in the ointment is DMCA might make it illegal to "jail break" these devices.

> The only fly I can see in the ointment is DMCA might make it illegal to "jail break" these devices.

Short of a trusted boot scenario, where only their binaries will boot the system, I don't see that happening. The precedent of "you bought it, you own it" is too well established with physical items. The DMCA really only applies to "intellectual property".

Quoting:The precedent of "you bought it, you own it" is too well established with physical items. The DMCA really only applies to "intellectual property".

Even that is being torn down.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/tech/Cal-State-Student-Faces-10-Y...

Maybe I'll have to launch my netbook recycling project in Israel. (I picked on Israel because I already hold citizenship and it would be easier for me to move there than to Canada or Europe.)

Seriously, the link gus3 provided is really worrisome.

> Even that is being torn down.

It sounds like he was modifying other people's boxes, not just his own.

But yes, the anti-modding laws are troublesome, and that's one of the reasons I've never purchased a console.

@ gus3: That was the instance I thought of as well.

In that particular case I think that the guy was arrested for the fact that he was making a product specifically meant to pirate games - as opposed to e.g. installing Linux on the console. But still, the precedent is scary.

Personally, my thought would be that what this individual does should not be a problem. The owners of the modded consoles should be responsible if they actually pirate something.

(On a side note, sheesh - I need to proof read better. I to edit this twice to get it to make sense. Kept leaving out words...)

@jdixon:

It isn't like he was modding it without the owners' permission.

People should keep in mind how much the copy controls in video game consoles are like the "trusted computing" initiative that Microsoft has been trying to push into x86 PC hardware for a few years now. If they are ever successful at getting all the hardware vendors to build only "trusted" hardware and this is extended so that only "trusted" software can be executed, then Linux will be forced to submit to those controls (probably not royalty free either) or potentially be made illegal under the DMCA.

Now, I think its unlikely that Microsoft will succeed with this any time soon, but they and their cronies are putting a lot of muscle behind it, with the backing of the DoD, so I don't think it is completely a "tin foil" hat conspiracy issue to be concerned about it.

Quoting: It sounds like he was modifying other people's boxes, not just his own.

That's still none of the business of the original manufacturer or seller. Once an item is purchased it is out of their control. Or should be, if the tech industry weren't overrun with petty controlling tyrants. If these bozos had their way there would be no second-hand market in anything, no after-market custom vehicles, you could never remodel or repair your own house, or alter your own clothing....

@tuxchick Couldn't agree more.

Quoting:Some estimates indicate that 5 percent to 8 percent of all the goods and merchandise sold worldwide are counterfeit.

Wow, that counterfeit stuff sure is eating the big boys lunch

Let's see what we can do with the 5 to 8 percent counterfeit goods number.

Ok, by currency [claimed value] price it jumps well above 50 to some saying 75 percent.

Now by real value, ah much, much less. What are used discs worth? Land fill fodder.

YBT

Here's another "you may use this only as we say you may":

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/08/06/apple_working_...

They (Apple) say they'll use it only to make sure the warranty wasn't voided. But what kind of warranty is there on the warranty-validating equipment?

Pass the tin foil, please.

Just another example of how the most important member of the relationship between customer and vendor is not the customer. The customer is merely a source from which money flows, not the entity that receives service. The product the vendor provides needs only to be good enough, and if the product doesn't work as the customer expects then that's their problem.

Quoting:and if the product doesn't work as the customer expects then that's their problem.

And if the customer complains, (s)he gets a cease and desist order if lucky, and a law suit if not. Sigh.