Putting in "Swindle" instead of "Kindle" is painfully childish.
lal
Reasons not to buy from Amazon
71–80 of 152 posts
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#72Stallman raises some interesting points, but calling the Kindle a "Swindle" doesn't make for a very rational argument.
I think it's counterproductive, but this page explains his rationale:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-call-it-the-swindle.html
I sometimes make a point of saying "copy prevention" rather than "copy protection," or "digital restrictions management" rather than "digital rights management," but I don't go for stuff like "Swindle" or "Losedows."
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
Restrictive in that it prevents you from fucking people over. This is like saying laws against slavery restrict freedom (freedom to own slaves). https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/freedom-or-power.html
That's a strawman. It could also be like saying laws against gay marriage restrict freedom. You aren't making a point about reality, you're just comparing two things that have one thing in common. You lose your rights to your code if any of your code includes GPL code. Many people who write code necessarily avoid the GPL because of this.
You don't lose the rights to your code. The original copyright owner still owns the copyright on their code. That's why you have to follow the rules of the license they gave you. You can still distribute your code under whatever license you want.
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#74Some of these arguments are just kind of weird, but I did read the study by the undercover worker about working conditions at their distribution plants. They claimed that they are given an impossible workload, are routinely verbally abused, they get fired for almost any infraction, and they are paid poorly for the privilege.
I'm not sure B&N is so much better. I haven't heard anything either way. I usually look up books and review on Amazon, then buy them elsewhere.
I do like that they are trying to make all e-books cost less than $10.
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#75> "Amazon cut off service to Wikileaks, claiming that whistleblowing violates its terms of service. It had no need to go to court to prove this, because if you rent a server from Amazon, you have no rights." I find it highly amusing that RMS doesn't seem to agree with Amazon's restrictive ToS agreement but his GNU software license is one of the most restrictive licenses out there. If I include a GNU licensed library…
Sweet fucking Jesus, do we need to talk about the GPL here? It's an utter derail here, and the way comments are ranked here means that the top pages of this thread are going to be the same hashing out of pros and cons and it's incredibly tedious.
Since the only reason anyone ever listens to anything Stallman says is the GPL, it's on-topic.
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "his GNU software license is one of the most restrictive licenses out there." Of "open source" licenses perhaps. In the grand scheme of software licenses, it is pretty fucking permissive. Most software licenses don't let you anywhere near the source, don't let you modify the code, and don't let you redistribute or share the software.
> Most software licenses don't let you anywhere near the source, don't let you modify the code, Are there any software licenses where the source code is provided but you are prohibited to view or modify it?
[deleted]
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#77Stallman raises some interesting points, but calling the Kindle a "Swindle" doesn't make for a very rational argument.
Stallman strongly believes that the language you use in large part frames the debate you have. This belief is supported by a century of marketing research. Stallman's limitation in this regard is that he's not a marketing genius, and lacks the funds to hire one, so he's forced to resort to clunky puns like 'Swindle'.
> Stallman strongly believes that the language you use in large part frames the debate you have.
And he is correct: for instance, if you replace the names for things that your audience uses with your own hostile epithets that insert the conclusion of your arguments into the names you use for the things they refer to, you will have no debate at all, because the only audience that will bother to pay attention to you is the audience that already agreed with your conclusion when they encountered your argument.
> Stallman's limitation in this regard is that he's not a marketing genius, and lacks the funds to hire one, so he's forced to resort to clunky puns like 'Swindle'.
If the FSF can't afford to hire someone even modestly capable in the realm of communication and advocacy to advise its public faces, including its President, on their public advocacy efforts, maybe it ought to close up shop as an advocacy organization.
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#78> "Amazon's on-line music "sales" have some of the same problems as the ebooks: users are required to identify themselves and sign a contract that denies them the freedoms they would have with a CD."
I find this amusing, music CDs don't give you a whole lot of freedom, considering the CD itself will eventually stop working (whether due to time or scratches) and they employ copy protection methods.
Lesser evil?
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "his GNU software license is one of the most restrictive licenses out there." Of "open source" licenses perhaps. In the grand scheme of software licenses, it is pretty fucking permissive. Most software licenses don't let you anywhere near the source, don't let you modify the code, and don't let you redistribute or share the software.
> Most software licenses don't let you anywhere near the source, don't let you modify the code, Are there any software licenses where the source code is provided but you are prohibited to view or modify it?
I can't think of any where you can't view it, but there are several licenses that allow you to view but not modify.
Microsoft is in the habit of letting development partners view their source but not publish or modify it, and then there's software like UW Pico that have licenses that allow viewing by the general public but not modification.
Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon
#80It's awfully convenient, though.
Yes. And it's a shame that in the modern world convenience appears to be more important than ethics.