Yeah, I like that quote. But in this case I'm not giving up any freedom; yes, I'm compromising (perhaps for cheaper products in the future), but until they're actually telling me how to use my computer and what files I can or can't have, I don't have any problem with what they do.
Even the whole Palladium scare is a joke. If Microsoft gets so far that they control everything that I do on a PC then I just stop buying their products. I move to a Mac, that simple.
MS isn't going to be allowed to control the whole PC universe and the internet and be able to control and see all the files that people have, that's just asinine. It would be too obvious of a monopoly and there would be too many people complaining to the government about it. The other monopoly suit was pretty much over IE and Netscape as far as I knew and MS just barely won; when MS is controlling all PC's, all software, the things people can do and have on their PC, and the friggin' internet you don't think the American government will be all over them?
Let's say they do end up controlling the whole internet, you can't resort to a Mac or anything else, and the government doesn't care; at this day of doom we would just live without it. The whole human race for thousands of years has done fantastically without the internet, and we could do just fine without it.
Or even better, with such a dilemna we would be forced to develop something new and better. It would make us stronger, it would be our war. It's a war already started with Linux and open-source programs; with what would be such a huge science-fiction type enemy, can you imagine what this war would turn into and the force that would be mustered against the enemy?
I'd fight that war.
But stay down to earth and you'll know none of that will happen.
They aren't controlling anything I'm doing right now, so I have no beef with MS especially since their OS has finally improved instead of getting worse. Product activation protects the producst they make; MS may be a huge corporation but there are still people behind it and these people and their corporation have rights. It may not help me as a customer but it sure isn't hurting anything I'm doing, and it's allowing them to protect their work.
But as soon as they are not letting me use my PC as I wish, I'm right behind you. That is actually taking away my freedom, and I'll have none of that.
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