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Reasons not to buy from Amazon

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Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon

#131

Post by scrumper »

bougiefever wrote: post #86
scrumper wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This does ring true; I'm sure I remember a study of retention of read material comparing paper books with e-readers which supports that point. I think it was something to do with not having an easy way to intuit position in a book with e-readers.

I think it sounds ridiculous. I read both hard-copy and electronic books on a variety of devices. The only device this would hold true for (sample size of one here) is on the computer. The angle of my eyes is wrong, and I need to hold it in my hands. Once I get immersed in the plot, I don't care what is serving it up.

I meant 'ring true' as in 'I vaguely remember some research which supports the point.'

Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon

#132

Post by GFK_of_xmaspast »

gesman wrote: post #96
GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the fuck. Why would you post this kind of thing.

This is an analogy to explain why many people are willing to sacrifice many things for sake of convenience. Granted, a bit of a spicy analogy for some.

It's 2015. You don't do that anymore. Get with the program.

Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon

#133

Post by amyjess »

jakobegger wrote: post #122
amyjess wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I was going to put something in my post like "and that's why a good argument will make it clear which one you're talking about", but I ended up forgetting to put it in. Also, tax avoidance is just plain smart. Any for-profit business that doesn't practice tax avoidance is just throwing away money.

Paying taxes is not throwing away money, its contributing back to the society that you profit from. Contributing as little as legally possible is not 'sensible' it's greedy.

They're a business. A business is obligated to make money.

Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon

#134

Post by eveningcoffee »

meepmorp wrote: post #55
cgag wrote: post #44

Earlier 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

> Restrictive in that it prevents you from fucking people over. Restrictive in that it controls how you must license derivative works and release source code. It imposes an ideology on others. > This is like saying laws against slavery restrict freedom (freedom to own slaves). No, really, it's absolutely nothing like saying that, and if you care about free software (however defined, but in particular along the lines…

I think you are free to not to use GPL libraries.

Your options are at least as:

1) acquire a licence of some commercial library, 2) use library with different open source licence, 3) develop your own library.

Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon

#135

Post by dkuntz2 »

forthefuture wrote: post #59
cgag wrote: post #44

Earlier 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.

Laws against gay marriage actively restrict freedoms, if you can somehow make a counter argument specifically specifically related to freedoms, please try.

Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon

#136

Post by dkuntz2 »

Lawtonfogle wrote: post #100
cgag wrote: post #44

Earlier 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

>This is like saying laws against slavery restrict freedom (freedom to own slaves). They do. Because at current, corporations (aka private prisons) are allowed to own slaves, but I as an individual am not. We can either increase freedom by banning anyone from owning slaves or increase freedom by allowing anyone to own slaves.

Actually, allowing anyone to own slaves is not an increase in freedoms, it's a net decrease in freedom.

Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon

#137

Post by dkuntz2 »

Crito wrote: post #27
specialk wrote: post #16

> "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…

> "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.

I mean, the GPL technically isn't an open source license. It's a Free Software license.

Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon

#138

Post by FireBeyond »

eveningcoffee wrote: post #134
meepmorp wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Restrictive in that it prevents you from fucking people over. Restrictive in that it controls how you must license derivative works and release source code. It imposes an ideology on others. > This is like saying laws against slavery restrict freedom (freedom to own slaves). No, really, it's absolutely nothing like saying that, and if you care about free software (however defined, but in particular along the lines…

I think you are free to not to use GPL libraries. Your options are at least as: 1) acquire a licence of some commercial library, 2) use library with different open source licence, 3) develop your own library.

Whereas you are forced to use an Amazon Kindle (sorry, Swindle)?

Your options there are similar, acquire a license for a commercial book (that you like), hit Project Gutenberg for an open source book, or write your own book...

Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon

#139

Post by teddyh »

bdcravens wrote: post #69

RMS is supporting buying the book directly from the publisher. But what if they are running IIS on the server, or Flash on their front-end? Doesn't this mean that he is recommending the use of proprietary software?

Suppose that RMS supported something like buying organic food directly from farmers. Would you then pose the question “What if a farmer is a mass murderer or a terrorist? Would that mean that RMS is supporting terrorism?”

Re: Reasons not to buy from Amazon

#140

Post by dragonwriter »

teddyh wrote: post #139
bdcravens wrote: post #69

RMS is supporting buying the book directly from the publisher. But what if they are running IIS on the server, or Flash on their front-end? Doesn't this mean that he is recommending the use of proprietary software?

Suppose that RMS supported something like buying organic food directly from farmers. Would you then pose the question “ What if a farmer is a mass murderer or a terrorist? Would that mean that RMS is supporting terrorism? ”

I think what you miss is that RMS has argued against other things on the exact kind of indirect support for non-free software argument as was directed at his recommendation to buy directly from publishers; it rests on RMS's use of that criticism rather than the assumption that the criticism is valid.
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