Comments on: OS Enemy of State

By: Jake Hawkins

Jake Hawkins — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:05:53 +0000

Not just the money that could be saved (software AND maintenance), but the efficiency that would be gained as well.

By: Izba

Izba — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:37:26 +0000

@ Steve, or unix? True! to pay money for Apple hardware is of course ok but they asked me to pay for upgrade also to Snow Leopard OS (just another huge corporate system oriented that way.) Posting this from my Macbook and, I too use mostly open source programs. Cannot wait for Chrome OS !!!!!

By: Deyson

Deyson — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:44:20 +0000

Very interesting video, thank you.

By: Deyson

Deyson — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:24:56 +0000

Imagine how much money could go back into the taxpayers pockets if every government clerk that uses a computer used open source software, I wonder how much we spend currently on software alone on a national budget level.

By: Jake Hawkins

Jake Hawkins — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:53:10 +0000

Now that I think about it……

My entire website was/is developed with nothing BUT open source software. Who want s to pay Microsoft $400 for an OS, then another $500 for Office with PP and FP?

Pardon my French but — Effe that. :p

By: Jake Hawkins

Jake Hawkins — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:51:05 +0000

I think that this is ridiculous. I support Open Souce software as much as I can. As a matter of fact, my whole house is OS. Both laptops, all the software on them, even my PS3 has Yellow Dog Linux on it.

Does that make me a socialist? No. I firmly believe in free market capitalism. The fact that they want to ‘outlaw’ OS is a direct infringement on capitalism at its very core.

By: Noemi

Noemi — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:46:18 +0000

The revolution will not be blogged about

By: John James Jacoby

John James Jacoby — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:45:47 +0000

There’s no possible way this will fly.

Even if you had to try and defend things, on paper anyone contributing to an open-source project is technically interning, and they receive as much credit as the effort is they put in. Volunteering to a collaborative effort that isn’t already rooted in illegal activity can’t suddenly become illegal for no reason.

If worse comes to worst, hire everyone to work on open-source projects as freelancers for $1 a person per year. Now it isn’t “open-source” but rather “crowd-sourced,” and I’d gladly accept a $1 paycheck to avoid having part of my job become illegal.

It seems like this is just big business posturing against something that is perceived as a threat by people that have no idea what to do next.

By: Trace Mayer

Trace Mayer — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:09:07 +0000

Deyson, when was government ever about benefiting ‘The People’. Perhaps you have not seen Statism Is Dead part 3. In essence, governments are forms of human livestock management practices. The ‘benefit’ to the livestock is only relevant to the degree it increases the amount of milk and meat the livestock produces.

By: goofydg1

goofydg1 — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:17:21 +0000

It may be more accurate to call it the enemy of proprietary system and outrageous consultant fees.

By: bambang catur

bambang catur — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:05:03 +0000

I’m an Indonesian and I completely disagree with that. We were for a long time considered as one of the biggest users of illegal software. But choosing the right and legal choice to use OSS makes us get more hated, I think those guys are lost their mind.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:33:00 +0000

It’s ironic that Apple is on that list, Zeke. Isn’t their OS based on Linux?

By: Kate Mag

Kate Mag — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:05:24 +0000

That’s bad news.
I live in Indonesia, the goverment is encouraging FOSS, because many people couldn’t afford Licensed Softwares, even government itself couldn’t afford it.

Those companies need to lobby Indonesia government for affordable softwares. It may works instead pushing law to punish Open Source users.

By: Matthew Gerring

Matthew Gerring — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:28:12 +0000

I see we’re now into the “then they fight you” stage.

By: moja izba

moja izba — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:03:12 +0000

How could open source system model dealing purely with non-illegal activity be an enemy?! Simply like with a nature’s chains, parts of which cannot be removed. If any was, other leaning on systems would start collapsing as a consequence.

By: Kirk M

Kirk M — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:16:43 +0000

It’s always follow the money…or at least try to keep what they have already which seems to be more and more the case these days.

They must feel threatened or something?

I’m not surprised at the companies listed in Zeke Weeks’ link. I would have been more surprised if some of those companies hadn’t been listed to be honest about it.

Of course, the real surprising thing about all this is all these bad boys seem to have forgotten about one minor thing–the Internet (the majority of which runs on open source software, btw). Awful hard to hide these types of back door manipulations in this day and age with that pesky Internet thing hanging about.

And here I am running Linux Mint 8 as an OS, using WordPress to power my 3 sites and typing this comment into a WordPress powered blog via an open source browser. Guess I’m destined for the scrape heap, huh?

By: Deyson

Deyson — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:30:47 +0000

When will ever get a break?
Is this why we work so hard to pay taxes for?

I do not see how this benefits ” The People” in any way.

By: Open Source. Hardly The Downfall Of The West. « Dante's Inferno and Firing Range

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:18:51 +0000

[...] H/T to Matt [...]

By: Zeke Weeks

Zeke Weeks — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:21:22 +0000

What's really unfortunate is that the companies behind this get to shunt the bad P.R. onto the lobbying firm. I went through and picked out some of the big names behind the IIPA; the companies funding it should be held responsible for its actions.

By: Darren

Darren — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:35:41 +0000

I guess some companies feel threatened by this new business concept. And are trying to bite back. Its a ptiy though