Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2012 18:21:53 +0200 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: Matthew Seaman <m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Is this something we (as consumers of FreeBSD) need to be aware of? Message-ID: <20120606182153.3cc2ee07.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <4FCF352F.7030509@infracaninophile.co.uk> References: <CADy1Ce7MihpmMowc265%2BS_RKorMO3KEKsCgr=pdnjg2jzq-dYQ@mail.gmail.com> <20120605203717.5663bdf7.freebsd@edvax.de> <Pine.GSO.4.64.1206051653120.5642@nber6> <20120605181055.4af65fdb@scorpio> <4FCF0772.8000609@FreeBSD.org> <4FCF1891.9020006@cran.org.uk> <4FCF2521.6090006@FreeBSD.org> <20120606062437.41f48a9e@scorpio> <4FCF352F.7030509@infracaninophile.co.uk>
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On Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:47:11 +0100, Matthew Seaman wrote: > Having to pay Verisign instead of Microsoft makes no difference: the > point is why should I have to pay anything to a third party in order to > run whatever OS I want on a piece of hardware I own? Maybe a common marketing and sales model comes from software to hardware too: You don't actually own the hardware! When you give money to the manufacturer (maybe through vendors or retailers), you receive hardware _plus_ a limited set of rights which you may exercise on that hardware, maybe for a limited time. By purchasing the hardware that way, you may even have "implicitely signed" a kind of agreement (cf. EULA) that you accept those "licensing of hardware". You do _not_ own it in order to exercise your free will on it, like "I have the right to wipe 'Windows' and install something else", which might result in a loss of warranty. You may only run what the manufacturer allows you to run (by providing the proper boot mechanism for it that "just works"). If the manufacturer may decide that you shouldn't boot that system you bought anymore, he can retract the permissions and the device you paid money for will be rendered into a shiny brick. This _is_ possible, and as human nature teaches: Everything that is possible _will_ be done, no matter if we recognize it immediately or not. And the worst solution prevails, so whatever we may assume about the future, the future will be much worse. :-) Note that flats are a familiar example of this model. You may live in the flat, but by paying a rent you don't own it. What you may do is limited. Another valid interpretation of this problem is of course "defective by design" and "planned obsolescense". -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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