This is good because I'm one of the people that novice users pay to remove the software.:-) I'm sure many of you have made money off of this, too.
Bonzi Buddy and other spyware/malware/crapware may not be good for the Internet, but it certainly pads my wallet a bit. And I get to introduce more people to Ad-Aware.
I'm sure normal Linux distributions used by you and me won't have DRM -- if they did, we wouldn't be using them. I think this is talking about Linux, mostly embedded as well as software running on top of Linux, being used for copy protection. If the software is to be truly free, everyone should be able to do what they want with it, even if it is against the interest of others. It's just like how free speech is compromised when pornography, etc. is banned. The GPL doesn't restrict use at all, so why should it in this case?
Please tell me if I misunderstood the article.
Fair use isn't mentioned in the Constitution, and I don't know if there's a law about it. It came about in court, since copyright laws are there to promote "science and the useful arts," and without fair use they wouldn't meet that goal. Fair use includes not only making copies for personal use and research, but also anytime it is necessary to use the copywrighted work, which would include copying it onto a hard drive and into RAM, swap, etc. EULAs are only there to restrict the customer's use of software (MS), give the customer more rights than copyright law allows (GPL, BSD), or to intimidate (MS).
In my computer toolbag, I carry a CD case with copies of every Windows CD I have, since most users use Windows and can never seem to find their CD when I need to install drivers and things. Also, I have common video drivers, MS patches and service packs, lots of free (some as in beer, some as in speech) software. I also have a Win98 boot floppy, since it comes with a CD-ROM driver, a Linux boot disk that can reset any password on an NT system, and various other boot and rescue disks. A couple of blank floppies are in there, too, for when I need to make boot floppies to install OSes when an old computer won't boot from a CD. Of course, there are also some Linux distros in my CD case, for people who want to try something new.
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This is good because I'm one of the people that novice users pay to remove the software. :-) I'm sure many of you have made money off of this, too.
Bonzi Buddy and other spyware/malware/crapware may not be good for the Internet, but it certainly pads my wallet a bit. And I get to introduce more people to Ad-Aware.
I'm sure normal Linux distributions used by you and me won't have DRM -- if they did, we wouldn't be using them. I think this is talking about Linux, mostly embedded as well as software running on top of Linux, being used for copy protection. If the software is to be truly free, everyone should be able to do what they want with it, even if it is against the interest of others. It's just like how free speech is compromised when pornography, etc. is banned. The GPL doesn't restrict use at all, so why should it in this case? Please tell me if I misunderstood the article.
Fair use isn't mentioned in the Constitution, and I don't know if there's a law about it. It came about in court, since copyright laws are there to promote "science and the useful arts," and without fair use they wouldn't meet that goal. Fair use includes not only making copies for personal use and research, but also anytime it is necessary to use the copywrighted work, which would include copying it onto a hard drive and into RAM, swap, etc. EULAs are only there to restrict the customer's use of software (MS), give the customer more rights than copyright law allows (GPL, BSD), or to intimidate (MS).
I thought it was "rip, mix, burn." Ripping, mixing, and burning are completely legal.
In my computer toolbag, I carry a CD case with copies of every Windows CD I have, since most users use Windows and can never seem to find their CD when I need to install drivers and things. Also, I have common video drivers, MS patches and service packs, lots of free (some as in beer, some as in speech) software. I also have a Win98 boot floppy, since it comes with a CD-ROM driver, a Linux boot disk that can reset any password on an NT system, and various other boot and rescue disks. A couple of blank floppies are in there, too, for when I need to make boot floppies to install OSes when an old computer won't boot from a CD. Of course, there are also some Linux distros in my CD case, for people who want to try something new.