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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/gates.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/gates.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0669a71 --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/gates.html @@ -0,0 +1,187 @@ +<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> +<!-- Parent-Version: 1.77 --> +<title>It's not the Gates, it's the bars +- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> +<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/gates.translist" --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> +<h2> It's not the Gates, it's the bars</h2> + +<p>by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/"><strong>Richard +Stallman</strong></a><br /> +Founder, Free Software Foundation +</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><em>(This article was <a +href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7487060.stm">published by +BBC News in 2008</a>.)</em></p> +</blockquote> + + <p>To pay so much attention to Bill Gates' retirement is + missing the point. What really matters is not Gates, nor + Microsoft, but the unethical system of restrictions that + Microsoft—like many other software companies—imposes on its + customers.</p> + + <p>That statement may surprise you, since most people interested in + computers have strong feelings about Microsoft. Businessmen and their + tame politicians admire its success in building an empire over so many + computer users. Many outside the computer field credit Microsoft for + advances which it only took advantage of, such as making computers + cheap and fast, and convenient graphical user interfaces.</p> + + <p>Gates' philanthropy for health care for poor countries has won + some people's good opinion. The LA Times reported that his + foundation spends five to 10% of its money annually and invests + the rest, sometimes in companies it suggests cause environmental + degradation and illness in the same poor countries. + (2010 update: The Gates Foundation is supporting a project with + agribusiness giant Cargill on a <a + href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2010/sep/29/gates-foundation-gm-monsanto">project + that could involve pushing genetically modified crops in Africa</a>.)</p> + + <p>Many computerists specially hate Gates and Microsoft. They have + plenty of reasons. Microsoft persistently engages in anti-competitive + behaviour, and has been convicted three times. (Bush, who let + Microsoft off the hook for the second US conviction, was invited to + Microsoft headquarters to solicit funds for the 2000 election. In the + UK, Microsoft established a major office in Gordon Brown's + constituency. Both lawful, both potentially corrupting.)</p> + + <p>Many users hate the “Microsoft tax”, the retail + contracts that make you pay for Windows on your computer even if you + won't use it. (In some countries you can get a refund, but the effort + required is daunting.) There's also the Digital Restrictions + Management: software features designed to “stop” you from + accessing your files freely. (Increased restriction of users seems to + be the main advance of Vista.)</p> + + <p>Then there are the gratuitous incompatibilities and obstacles to + interoperation with other software. (This is why the EU required + Microsoft to publish interface specifications.) This year Microsoft + packed standards committees with its supporters to procure ISO + approval of its unwieldy, unimplementable and patented “open + standard” for documents. (The EU is now investigating this.)</p> + + <p>These actions are intolerable, of course, but they are not + isolated events. They are systematic symptoms of a deeper wrong + which most people don't recognize: proprietary software.</p> + + <p>Microsoft's software is distributed under licenses that keep + users divided and helpless. The users are divided because they + are forbidden to share copies with anyone else. The users are + helpless because they don't have the source code that programmers + can read and change.</p> + + <p>If you're a programmer and you want to change the software, for + yourself or for someone else, you can't. If you're a business and you + want to pay a programmer to make the software suit your needs better, + you can't. If you copy it to share with your friend, which is simple + good-neighbourliness, they call you a “pirate”. + Microsoft would have us believe that helping your neighbour is the + moral equivalent of attacking a ship.</p> + + <p>The most important thing that Microsoft has done is to promote this + unjust social system. Gates is personally identified with it, due to + his infamous open letter which rebuked microcomputer users for sharing + copies of his software. It said, in effect, “If you don't let me + keep you divided and helpless, I won't write the software and you + won't have any. Surrender to me, or you're lost!”</p> + + <p>But Gates didn't invent proprietary software, and thousands of + other companies do the same thing. It's wrong—no matter who does + it. Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, and the rest, offer you software that + gives them power over you. A change in executives or companies is not + important. What we need to change is this system.</p> + + <p>That's what the free software movement is all + about. “Free” refers to freedom: we write and publish + software that users are free to share and modify. We do this + systematically, for freedom's sake; some of us paid, many as + volunteers. We already have complete free operating systems, including + GNU/Linux. Our aim is to deliver a complete range of useful free + software, so that no computer user will be tempted to cede her freedom + to get software.</p> + + <p>In 1984, when I started the free software movement, I was hardly + aware of Gates' letter. But I'd heard similar demands from others, + and I had a response: “If your software would keep us divided + and helpless, please don't write it. We are better off without + it. We will find other ways to use our computers, and preserve our + freedom.”</p> + + <p>In 1992, when the GNU operating system was completed by the + kernel, Linux, you had to be a wizard to run it. Today GNU/Linux + is user-friendly: in parts of Spain and India, it's standard in + schools. Tens of millions use it, around the world. You can use + it too.</p> + + <p>Gates may be gone, but the walls and bars of proprietary software + he helped create remain—for now. Dismantling them is up to + us.</p> + +</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> +<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> +<div id="footer"> +<div class="unprintable"> + +<p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to +<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. +There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> +the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent +to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> + +<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, + replace it with the translation of these two: + + We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality + translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. + Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard + to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> + <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> + + <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of + our web pages, see <a + href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations + README</a>. --> +Please see the <a +href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations +README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations +of this article.</p> +</div> + +<!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to + files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should + be under CC BY-ND 3.0 US. Please do NOT change or remove this + without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. + Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the + document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the + document was modified, or published. + + If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. + Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying + years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable + year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including + being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). + + There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers + Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> + + +<p>Copyright © 2008 Richard Stallman</p> + +<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" +href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative +Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>.</p> + +<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> + +<p class="unprintable">Updated: +<!-- timestamp start --> +$Date: 2014/04/12 12:40:08 $ +<!-- timestamp end --> +</p> +</div> +</div> +</body> +</html> |