Slashdot Mirror
Free Software Foundation Announces 2013 Holiday Giving Guide
An anonymous reader writes "On Cyber Monday, millions of Americans will take to the Internet in search of the newest gadgets to bestow upon their loved ones. Most of these 'gifts' are trojan horses that will spy on their recipients, prevent them from doing what they want with their device, or maybe even block access to their favorite books or music. The Free Software Foundation is proud to introduce a map through this minefield: our 2013 Giving Guide. The Giving Guide features gifts that will not only make your recipients jump for joy; these gifts will also protect their freedom."
Think Penguin laptops are garbage. A FSF membership? Any zealot who wants that already has one... A phone running Replicant? Gimme a break.
After reading through the list it seems they want me to give my non-techie family a bunch of shit they'll never figure out or have no use for anyway. How cute
Hum, none of the presents I would really like actually.
When the software or content is given away for free, then the apparent value as a gift seems to be approaching zero, as well. "It looks like a cool game, but can't I just (legally) download this from the Internet for free?" That's probably why several of the FSF's recommendations are hardware/software packages.
Isn't there a law against cruel and unusual punishment?
I wouldn't wish most of the items on that list upon my worst enemies.
In fact, no ties, nor chains neither. You can be the the owner of those gifts, not being owned by them.
1. trojan horses that will spy on their recipients: Xbox 360, Xbox One, all cellphones, Smart TVs.
2. block access to their favorite books: Kindles, iPads/iPhones.
3. block access to their favorite music: iTunes hasn't used DRM on their music files since April 7, 2009 and as far as I know Amazon sells plain MP3 files so I'm not sure what they're talking about in the case of music.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Jump for joy? Sure, if the jump is leading up to them roundhouse-kicking you in the face for buying them a shitty gift.
An anonymous reader, eh? I reckon it's Bennet Haselton.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
If you are unable to make your point without flat-out lying then perhaps you should reevaluate your... Wait, it's RS. Never mind.
"MacBook Pro: Planned obsolescence: business model forces you to buy new devices frequently." I'll mention that to my friends carrying various laptops that aren't worth enough to sell but completely functional and in use. My wifey uses a MacBook and she's never been forced to upgrade.
"iOS: The company claims to take away your freedom". I'm sure RS can tie that back to something that makes sense to him, but damm.
From the Lulzbot webpage:
-------------
LulzBot TAZ 2 3D Printer
SKU: 817752014304
$2,395.00
Pre-Order: All current orders are pre-orders. Pre-orders are expected to start shipping before the end of the year (this does not include the Fundable backers, which will start shipping sooner). Expected lead times for shipment are currently 7-8 weeks.
-------------
So not only are they suggesting that people BUY a 3D printer instead of making their own in the true open hardware/open source spirit, they're listing one of the most expensive 3D printer out there and it's not even going to start shipping until after Christmas/early next year.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
sorry, i just had to type that. lol
When you can't beat them ... lie.
Why is it half the shit on that list of comparisons is flat out lies or exaggerations beyond acceptable?
Even if you take the GNU fanboy side, its just full of flat out lies.
Pretending Linux some how magically doesn't even need upgrading ... but windows does. ... when it isn't even actually available. ... EXCEPT the biggest part of the iTunes store. (not that there isn't plenty of DRM on there in all the other stuff)
Pretending this 3d printer is open source/libre
Pretending a Mac can't run Linux for some reason, and that somehow Apple laptops are prone to planned obsolescence but magically the Linux laptop isn't because?
Pretending everything on iTunes is DRM'd
Giving the gift of a donation to the FSF? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SMOKING? Thats about the most fucking selfish thing you can 'give'. You aren't even fucking giving anything, just tell the person you don't give a fuck about them, you're more concerned with getting your chance to suck RMS off next year. (its a long line)
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Many of the comments here seem to insinuate you have to be delusional to enjoy and desire 100% free software. I'd like anything on that gift giving guide. I'm not a paranoid delusional. My paranoia is based on plenty of evidence, and is tempered by practicality. However, that's the tiniest of concern compared to the other benefits offered.
I wouldn't necessarily gift that stuff to folks who wouldn't appreciate it, but I'd recommend the guide to folks looking to allocate resources on my behalf. I also know several young folks that would appreciate the gifts. My niece really loves tinkering with technology, and is always "pestering" me to play with our toy languages, toy OSs and electronics and robotics projects. She wouldn't have known where to begin if it wasn't for the gift of free software.
Having an OS and supporting software that's fully free and open source has been a huge benefit in our learning and teaching endeavors, especially as references to how stuff works. Doesn't anyone remember the joys of discovering how to code? While some kids took apart dad's drill, I took apart my boot sector and had no one to look to for help. I wasn't lucky enough to have a mentor or access to an open source OS -- or even a free & open compiler -- when I was trying to learn how the CS wheels were invented. I was amazed when I discovered I could just use the DTR pin of a serial port (instead of the then incomprehensible to me RS232) to control switch on a model train set. I'd have been ecstatic to have working source code for something like LIRC or blown away by a 3D printer, and I know my niece will love them too. I know for a fact she's get plenty of enjoyment demonstrating to her friends her creations via her own portable OS shaped like a key.
What's best is knowing that unlike on proprietary systems, when I'm asked, "but how does it do that?", I can always say, "Hmm, I don't know. Let's see!"
Top of the list of suggested gifts:
"Help your parent or sibling upgrade to a laptop that comes preinstalled with GNU/Linux. "
Why would I want to give myself an endless tech support nightmare for the next several years (or until the user gives up) for the holidays?
Give GNUCoin, the community currency by the full faith and power of the GNU developer's council
-and not-
Bitcoin, which is backed only by one Nakamoto-san, who hasn't been around much or seen since... well, ever actually.
Believe me, I tried. I scoured the Internet for a Linux laptop that did not run Ubuntu but ran Fedora. No luck. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right place, but I could not find a laptop that had Fedora preinstalled. I definitely don't want Ubuntu, for a long list of reasons.
You just can't build your own laptop from parts at Newegg the way you can a desktop, and the Mac is an awesome UNIX development laptop that needs no setup. You buy the thing, and it's a fully working UNIX laptop out of the box with no drivers crashing it and so on. (Unlike Linux.) I don't use 99% of the Mac stuff like the movie editing and so on, don't give Apple a penny for their iTunes content, and don't buy software. I use the Mac as a software development machine. If I'm going to have to learn something new (because I can't use Fedora), I might as well learn BSD, not Ubuntu.
Laptops are not desktops, and probably will never be upgraded. Frankly, the Mac is good value for your money. I've never wanted to upgrade one. I have a 17" MBP from many years ago that still works great. I got a 15" retina MBP just to have a lighter-weight laptop. You get what you pay for, and these machines seem to last a long, long time. By the time the machine stops functioning, the new ones are much more powerful.
I'm very happy with the value I'm getting from my MBP, and don't think my freedom has been affected at all.
From the Giving Guide: "Project Gutenberg over Amazon". The problem with relying exclusively on Gutenberg is that you'll end up with an impression that nothing happened after 1922 because that's the cutoff for U.S. perpetual copyright. This means, for example no World War II to spur the development of electronic computers in the first place.
I'm not going to bother looking because the FSF is essentially a cult of narrow-minded extremists, but I can imagine that it's full of suggestions like giving sticks and rocks and other things which don't contain anything proprietary in them.
Seriously - why on earth are you suggesting half those products? While I respect and am aligned with the goals of the FSF, half those "products" are going to change nothing (at best), or backfire (at worst). If you gave a list of decent products, that would be different - I can feel good about giving gifts that people (who don't care about FSF) can appreciate. This just seems like a set of gifts that make me feel good, while my non-techie friends spend hours trying to return the gift for refunds. And what is the point about "free, secure" software, when my family is just going to log on to Facebook and give up their details voluntarily?
Seriously, if this is the best FSF can do, it illustrates the problem: Non-techies really don't care about privacy. Instead, maybe an educational book could be offered? I'd pay for that. These gifts are going to either increase my tech support work or be ignored - the problem is, I want my family and friends to want to use these products; without education, that won't happen. A good reference for the dangers and fixes of proprietary stuff would be useful.
Breakdown of what the page offers:
Trisquel: Modifiable is a selling point? No one in my (or most) family are going to modify the OS in any (significant) way - changing desktop background doesn't count. And I have a intel web-cam from early 2000s that is supported in Windows, but I couldn't find out how to get it to work on my Linux box.
3D printer: Can't comment, so I'm not sure what the free vs. proprietary debate on the printer is about - is it the 3D print file format? Or is it just because the company is evil (hint: my friends don't care, so long as it works. They shop in Walmart and Amazon)
Gift card: This doesn't seem to be a gift card - 20% discount on other merchandise using the membership card? Why not give an apples-to-apples comparison and offer a gift card instead?
Laptop: Well, this is a fair enough. If my friends could use Linux, I might just save the Windows/Mac tax and give them a PC with Linux.
E-book: Again, a fair enough point. But I can give them an Amazon card that will allow my family to get books directly from Amazon and read it on their Kindles. I will not gift them a Kindle, but if they have one, they already don't care. And how do I get Gutenberg books onto a Kindle without having access to their device?
Phone: This is a shot at Apple. Seems like the Android will still tie them to Google's store.
Online storage: Hmm... Can't find any phone app or client application (hint, most non-techies aren't going to use SSH/SFTP - they want something like dropbox or SkyDrive mount).
Media hosting: Most people I know use XBMC, which is open source.
Under youtube
Imposes advertising on your uploads and polices copyright harshly
You decide on ads, they are not forced.
Policed copyright? Oh no, one of the largest tech companies in the world actively obeys the law?
Seriously.
While there is the occassional comment pointing out some actual problems, most of the commnents are from people who apparently hate freedom and whose comments can be summed up "free software/open hardware means: it's terrible" with exactly zero justification for their "opinion" or just "trolls" who aren't even trying and go straight to spewing insults for no reason.
Is there a reason to keep reading the comments here or is it just a waste of time nowadays?
No, sorry, the economy is bad these days, so all I'm giving this year is the kernel. The user land will have to wait till next year.
As I see it, the FSF's biggest problem is that their obsession with "not-proprietary" actually seems to overshadow their focus on "legally free".
However, at least this list has a couple of actual things on it that actually would be generous gifts (Heck, yeah, if somebody bought me that 3D printer, I'd cope with waiting a week or two after christmas to get it, and a nice laptop computer would always be appreciated). I was half-expecting it to be ALL "Give the FSF money and tell then you did it for them!"
Optimist that I am, I actually clicked hoping for a list of hackable routers, toys, phones, etc. Silly me.
Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
It tastes like toejam.
As a great proponent of software freedom, digital (and other) privacy etc... I can applaud the FSF for bringing to light the issues with common software and hardware and offering alternatives. However, from a practical standpoint, as others have said - these items are only alluring to those who value software freedom above all else. Why? These items typically will be less functional, easy to use, or are otherwise encumbered for all but those who see the value of software freedom and are willing to put in the effort to use it despite the above.
While I know the FSF needs to have uncompromising ideals and push for them - , I do think this can be a starting point for the Linux, FOSS, privacy/security etc... community to use as a learning experience for how to mate the ideals we value to the pragmatic needs of others, especially non-gurus. Taking the items provided as a basis, perhaps we can go a little further..
OS: The FSF suggests Trisquel and an alternative for Windows. While the idea of submitting a Linux distro as a substitute OS is a good one, the difference in experience between Trisquel and Windows for a Windows user may be staggering. This is a distro that does not include, even as an option, anything with a license that doesn't meet FSF standards of freedom. Thus, you're losing a lot of things there even compared to other Linux distros. Telling someone "Oh hey, try this new OS out on your laptop, it respects your freedom and privacy. But uh... your wireless card may not be supported. Sorry. Here's a list of additional dongles you can buy that are supported, through!" isn't going to go very far. There are many distros that may be a better compromise out there. Linux Mint Debian Edition for instance (or even plain Debian) protects a user's freedom/privacy (something Ubuntu sadly, does not), but gives many more options including things like the use of 3D binary GPU drivers etc.
3D Printer - While I'm not versed in depth regarding the state of 3D printing comparisons, it seems like the Lulzbot is a great alternative to the Makerbot; competitive in cost and functionality, while being Free hardware and software. However, it does not seem to be currently available, instead being on backorder. Hard to consider a holiday gift item that may not make it by the holidays! The bigger issue with this item instead is that a 3D printer is a very niche device, especially one as expensive as this. There could probably be a lot of other options for this entry instead; I'll go into that later.
Gift Cards - This was just a missed opportunity. While I do think that a FSF donation/membership gift could be mentioned, this is again a very niche community that is best sought out by those who are most interested. Those without the technical interest and know how, will probably think "gee...thanks" and look at it the same way as if someone bought them one of those "congratulations, someone has purchased a cow for some impoverished people somewhere in your name!" - unless the person is very into the "cause", its not so much a gift for them as it is spending money on something the buyer values but the recipient may not. However, there are tons of alternatives for an iTunes giftcard that would be a good FOSS analog. How about one of the DRM-free media stores, like Magnatune or 7Digital? Even FSF's own Defective By Design campaign lists many of them - http://www.defectivebydesign.org/guide/audio - wouldn't this be a better alternative, showing people that they can buy music unencumbered by DRM elsewhere?
Laptop - This is where I get a little frustrated. I'd love to go out of my way to buy a Libre laptop, or even just one that comes with Linux installed and supported natively. However, so many of the Linux system integrators..well, just don't cut it. Consider that we're increasingly pushing towards "tablet convertible" laptops, ultrabooks, and even luxe power/aesthetic balanced models. 10 point multitouch screens, glass trackp
I ignored the guide (well I didn't know about it at the time) and got a Kindle Fire. Guess what, you can't even install the free apps without a credit card. And is not like it comes with a lot of apps, it is basically unusable without a credit card!
:) I enjoy the way that 'anonymous reader' writes this review.
Rwe obliged 2 save our future by choosing:O3 hole-greenhouse effect instead of accepting everydays gossip-nonsense chat?