[OLPC-Philippines] Stallman and OLPC

James Shields james at marasbaras.com
Sat Oct 11 00:59:47 EDT 2008


Is this Microsoft hatred going to continue?  Because, as someone who gets
paid to write software for Windows, it's really getting fucking old.  It's
the primary reason I've participated so little.

Getting people to use your product and want to use it in the future is
called GOOD MARKETING.  Yes, getting people hooked is the same tactic that
drug dealers use.  Drug dealers use good marketing, too.  It works.  MANY
companies use this technique.  Ever go to the store and get a sample of
food?  It's the same technique.

For the record, I have two XO's here I got through the B1G1 program.  I was
planning on trying to help.  Honestly, I've been completely put off by the
Linux-loving, Windows-hating zealotry.

James Shields


-----Original Message-----
From: olpc-philippines-bounces at lists.laptop.org
[mailto:olpc-philippines-bounces at lists.laptop.org]On Behalf Of Mj Mendoza IV
Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2008 11:28 AM
To: Jerome Gotangco
Cc: OLPC Philippines/Pilipinas grassroots
Subject: Re: [OLPC-Philippines] Stallman and OLPC


> Stallman is likening Windows to a drug?

It was Bill Gates that first spoke of 'addiction' to Windows
(written in Fortune Magazine, July 20, 1998 --
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1998/07/20/245683/ind
ex.htm).

"Although about three million computers get sold every year in China, people
don't pay for the software. Someday they will, though. And as long as
they're going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of
addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the
next decade." -- Bill Gates

I say, it is an apt comparison because Windows and addictive drugs both get
the user hooked. That comparison helps us understand why Microsoft offers
such a low price to students and schools -- I saw Microsoft posters in Cyber
Zone (SM West) Microsoft Philippines have set Windows XP's price to around
3,000 pesos for "students".

> but how things are going lately, with Stallman at the forefront, and
raiding Apple Stores, etc.

RMS have always been president of the FSF, but one change in recent years is
that they now have a team of clever people that think of ways to campaign
against abusive practices such as DRM and Software Patents.

The campaigns team has made the FSF far more effective, but this
effectiveness has brought about a change in how their adversaries respond:
they make false statements about what they are doing.

For instance, when they asked their supporters to go, one by one, to make
complaints at Apple Stores, an article appeared on Slashdot misrepresenting
the campaign.  Many people were misled by that falsehood.

I am subsribed to DefectiveByDesign.org and it gave accurate information
about the protests and have seen how the Slashdot article have misled lots
of people to the real motive of the action.

> they've become fundamentalists looking to cull the infidels.

If you visit DBD and read about their past protest actions, you'll see they
are nonviolent and lawful. This criticism equates their peaceful protests.


Yes, I might sound RMS fanatic here but I believe in what RMS believes, and
I can't force you to believe what I believed in -- evidences shows it
anyway.


Regards.

Mj Mendoza IV,
Developer, KonsolScript
http://konsolscript.sourceforge.net




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