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FSF Launches "BadVista" Campaign

FrankNFurter writes to note the launch yesterday of the FSF's BadVista campaign against Microsoft's new operating system. BadVista's aim is to inform users about the alleged harms inflicted by Vista on the user and about free software alternatives. Quoting program administrator John Sullivan: "Vista is an upsell masquerading as an upgrade. It is an overall regression when you look at the most important aspect of owning and using a computer: your control over what it does. Obviously MS Windows is already proprietary and very restrictive, and well worth rejecting. But the new 'features' in Vista are a Trojan Horse to smuggle in even more restrictions. We'll be focusing attention on detailing how they work, how to resist them, and why people should care."

16 of 607 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Would've been nice if... by rob1980 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Looks like they did:

    - Vista is a Microsoft product
    - Vista is bad

  2. Re:Would've been nice if... by tonycheese · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, they just launched the site yesterday, so I guess it's a work in progress. I guess they'll be posting things as they think of them.

  3. Re:FUD??!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Kind of reminds me of the jews that ran to the USSR in WWII... why can't they just be told to use Mandrake or Ubuntu? Better then getting them locked into someone else, who is actualy worse as far as DRM goes then MS. At least MS doens't have hardware control.

    Wow, your analogy is as inappropriate as screwing a puppy in church.

  4. Re:Vista is Bad. Use Linux. Use GPL software. by pchan- · · Score: 5, Funny

    Vista is Bad. Use Linux. Use GPL software.

    Forget Linux, I'm waiting for GNU/HURD. Any day now...

  5. twilight zone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I must of entered the twilight zone..

    I never thought I'd see so many rabid slashdotters ATTACKING the FSF and DEFENDING Microsoft.

    It's the beginning of the end!!!

  6. Re:Would've been nice if... by totally+bogus+dude · · Score: 2, Funny

    And like Google's "Upgrade to IE7" page!

  7. Vista and Global Warming by Baldrake · · Score: 2, Funny

    An issue that has received little to no press is Vista's environmental impact. If Microsoft succeeds in convincing users to upgrade to powerful graphics cards to handle its new Aero user interface, power consumption will dramatically increase on hundreds of millions of computers around the planet.

    It is ironic that the Gates foundation has been performing such good works in Africa while at the same time, Microsoft is on the verge of releasing a disastrous contribution to global warming.

  8. Let people flock - we are free flock to freedom by Famatra · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Seems to me people are flocking to be 'a tenant in a system where someone else retains ultimate control'."

    Just because there are not free alternatives for everything, yet, or that some people will choose to give up their freedoms for extra features does NOT mean that the FSF fighting for freedom or trying to inform people isn't a worthy cause.

    So let the other people 'flock' towards systems where others are in control, if they do not put a premium on their freedom then that is their choice - the best anyone can do is try to inform people of the short comings of non-free software, and the alternatives, which is exactly what BadVista is doing.

  9. Re:Would've been nice if... by yo_tuco · · Score: 2, Funny

    "No, if it was launched yesterday then it should have been finished some time before then."

    They are modeling the site's schedule after Vista. Vista was suppose to be finished years ago too.

  10. Re:Speculations and guesswork by stewby18 · · Score: 2, Funny

    9. Storage Space: With Vista taking as much as 10 Gbytes of hard drive space, big and fast hard drives will be a must.

    Hardly relevant, any hard drive sold within the last few years will allow > 100GB.

    Yes, everyone knows that every laptop sold in the last few years had a >100GB, wicked-fast drive in it.

  11. Vista stands for: by quakehead3 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Viruses
      Intruders
        Spyware
          Trojans
            Adware

  12. Re:Speculations and guesswork by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not using hard drive space is a much bigger waste than putting stuff in it. What did you buy it for? Using it for the OS is a waste. I bought it for porn.
  13. Re:Would've been nice if... by RAMMS+EIN · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yesterday? When it's on Slashdot? That website must have been up for a couple of months!

    --
    Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
  14. Re:Would've been nice if... by RAMMS+EIN · · Score: 2, Funny

    ``Well, they just launched the site yesterday, so I guess it's a work in progress. I guess they'll be posting things as they think of them.''

    Alright. I guess I'll wait for the dupe, then.

    --
    Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
  15. Re:Speculations and guesswork by RAMMS+EIN · · Score: 2, Funny

    ``A sticker does not enable some magic compatibility.''

    And here I was thinking that "Designed for Windows $version" meant "We threw in the crap winmodems that won't work with anything else".

    --
    Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
  16. Re:That Big? by ultranova · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why does any OS need roughly 10 GB for its own files?

    So it can store The Microsoft Sound in all its symphonic glory with the bitrate it deserves.

    --

    Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.