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Date:      Tue, 21 Apr 1998 12:02:38 -0700
From:      Don Wilde <dwilde1@ibm.net>
To:        "Dag-Erling Coidan Smørgrav" <dag-erli@ifi.uio.no>
Cc:        Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Nader paper mentions FreeBSD
Message-ID:  <353CED4E.652BD872@ibm.net>
References:  <199804201425.IAA20391@lariat.lariat.org> <xzp4sznjae7.fsf@hrotti.ifi.uio.no>

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<Tomorrow can't die if it's already here!!!>

I posted this to HWG-servers, but the LG squashed it before it ever made
the list.

I would like to put forward my personal nightmare scenario. There are a
whole lot of businesses out there that depend on Micros**t Windows-based
PC's, mine being one of them. Remember that now M$ is close to
controlling the server market as well as the PC market. Remember all the
license terms of the Agreement you sign by breaking the seal on the
package:
	* You own nothing
	* Company warrants nothing except the media
	* Company promises nothing about what software does
	* You absolve company of liability for _any_ actions of software.

What if there's a time-bomb or internet-enabled trigger that goes out
and checks your network for licenses? The latest NT Service Pack
requires installation of IE4 with all its little ActiveX snoops enabled.
Even if you don't have IE on the desktop, surely it's trivial for M$ to
have put a little bootstrap hook into Windows a long time ago. Remember
too that cloning is not acceptable to them, even if you own the proper
## of packages on the shelf.

Perhaps he wouldn't lock up the PC's, but it would be a major irritant
if DLL's disappeared, or the display didn't work anymore, or... Just
those little things, you know, that keep us from having time to learn
and configure FreeBSD because we're too busy fixing users' PC's...

I'd investigate more, but my users are calling! Something about Word
that won't display once it loads? ~~~8(

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