On Mon, 4 Nov 2002 00:08:28 +0530 (IST) Frederick Noronha wrote:
"BILL to bill: Why India is a Critical Battleground in the War between Microsoft and Linux."
Dear Luggers
It's been months since I last played Quake III and my DM instincts are kicking again. There's been a series of events in the recent past that have brought me to the conviction that _we_need_to_fight. For our freedom, that is, and in the vast arena of computing machines and software.
Most of you must be aware of the concept of DRM, the DMCA, "Trusted Computing" and Microsoft Palladium, the support of such restrictive practices from chipmakers Intel and AMD (yes, my beloved AMD) and the media giants like Sony that are pushing for these restrictions. If this sounds like greek, please go through my post"Can you Trust your Computer", dated 23 October '02.
Interestingly, Microsoft has had a huge victory in the Anti-trust case (see "Microsoft Antitrust Judgement" post dated 2 Nov '02) and the final order not only allows MS from developing software that would enforce DRM and "Trusted Computing" but also exempts such software from the minor restrictions that have been imposed on other"Middleware".
So far, it's only the Americans who are affected and the public is not keeping quiet there either. The possibility of such restrictive practices being supported in India through legislations in India is not too far-fetched as you, Fred, pointed out in one of your articles following the top ET headline that GoI is pushing for OSS.
With all the above considerations in mind, I would like to propose that we, as members of a LUG, kick off the "Refuse to Use Microsoft Products (RUMP)" Campaign. Please visit http://www.angelfire.com/rebellion/rump/ for details of what this would be about.
Trevor, Philip, Dr. Nag, Dinesh, I waited for your response but....
Thank you and Happy Diwali to you all!