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+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+<!-- Parent-Version: 1.86 -->
+<title>Is Microsoft the Great Satan?
+- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
+<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/microsoft.translist" -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+<h2>Is Microsoft the Great Satan?</h2>
+
+<div class="announcement">
+<blockquote><p>This article was given a major rewrite in 2009.
+The <a href="/philosophy/microsoft-old.html">old version</a> is also
+available.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<p>Many people think of Microsoft as the monster menace of the
+software industry. There is even a specific campaign to boycott
+Microsoft. This feeling has intensified since Microsoft expressed
+active hostility towards free software.</p>
+
+<p>In the free software movement, our perspective is different. We
+see that Microsoft is doing something that mistreats software users:
+making software <a href="/philosophy/categories.html#ProprietarySoftware">
+proprietary</a> and thus denying users their rightful freedom. But
+Microsoft is not alone in this; many other companies do the same thing
+to the users. If other companies manage to dominate fewer users than
+Microsoft, that is not for lack of trying.</p>
+
+<p>This is not meant to excuse Microsoft. Rather, it is meant as a
+reminder that Microsoft is the natural development of a software
+industry based on <a href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">keeping
+users divided and subjugating them</a>. When criticizing Microsoft,
+we should not focus so narrowly on Microsoft that we let other
+proprietary software developers off the hook.</p>
+
+<p>When we reject Microsoft's proprietary software, that is not a
+boycott. The word &ldquo;boycott&rdquo; means rejection, as a
+protest, of products that are otherwise acceptable. Rejecting a
+product because it hurts you is not a boycott, just ordinary
+rationality. To maintain your freedom, you need to
+reject the software that takes away freedom, regardless of who developed
+it or who distributes it.</p>
+
+<p>There is no need to reject Microsoft non-software products, or
+services that you can use without proprietary software. (When you use
+a web service, whether Microsoft's or not, watch out for
+<a href="/philosophy/javascript-trap.html">non-free JavaScript
+programs</a> that it may try to slip into your browser.) When
+Microsoft releases free programs, which it occasionally does, they are
+acceptable in theory. Alas, most of them depend fundamentally on
+Microsoft proprietary software, which we do need to reject, and that
+makes them useless for anyone that chooses to live in freedom.</p>
+
+<p>In the &ldquo;Halloween documents&rdquo;, leaked in October 1998,
+Microsoft executives stated an intention to use various methods to
+obstruct the development of free software: specifically, designing
+secret protocols and file formats, and patenting algorithms and
+software features.</p>
+
+<p>These obstructionist policies were not new: Microsoft, and many
+other software companies, had been doing them for years. Secrecy
+and patents have obstructed us greatly, and they may be more damaging
+in the future. For the most part, the companies' main motivation in
+doing these things is to attack each other; now, it seems, we are
+specifically targeted. Microsoft is using its patents directly to
+<a href="http://www.redhat.com/about/news/archive/2009/9/microsoft-and-patent-trolls">
+attack the free software community</a>, and our community is fighting
+back.</p>
+
+<p>But Microsoft's patents are not the only patents that threaten us
+(and software developers and users generally)&mdash;consider the harm
+that the MP3 patents have done. Thus, defending against specific
+attacks is necessary but not sufficient. The only full solution is
+to <a href="http://endsoftpatents.org/">eliminate software
+patents</a>.
+</p>
+
+<p>Other Microsoft practices specifically harmful to the adoption of
+free software are the ones designed to build up social inertia that
+obstructs migration to GNU/Linux. For instance, when Microsoft
+&ldquo;donates&rdquo; copies of Windows to schools, it converts these
+schools into tools for implanting a dependence on Windows. There are
+indications that Microsoft systematically plans these
+activities <a href="http://boycottnovell.com/wiki/index.php/EDGI"> as
+a campaign against the adoption of GNU/Linux</a>.</p>
+
+<p>Each Windows &ldquo;upgrade&rdquo; augments Microsoft's power over
+the users; Microsoft plans it that way. And each one is a step
+forward in malicious features, which
+include <a href="http://DefectiveByDesign.org">Digital Restrictions
+Management</a> and back doors. So the FSF runs campaigns to warn
+users against &ldquo;upgrading&rdquo;
+to <a href="http://BadVista.org/">Windows Vista</a>
+and <a href="http://Windows7Sins.org">Windows 7</a>. We aim to reduce
+the amount of inertia they will create.</p>
+
+<p>We don't hate Microsoft, and we don't consider it the Great Satan.
+But we do recognize it as the company that has separated more users
+from their freedom than any other, and a powerful avowed enemy of
+computer users' freedom. We act accordingly.</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 &amp; GNU inquiries to <a
+href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org">&lt;gnu@gnu.org&gt;</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">&lt;webmasters@gnu.org&gt;</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">
+ &lt;web-translators@gnu.org&gt;</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 4.0. 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 &copy; 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2017, 2018 Free
+Software Foundation, Inc.</p>
+
+<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
+href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative
+Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p>
+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->
+
+<p class="unprintable">Updated:
+<!-- timestamp start -->
+$Date: 2018/12/15 14:02:38 $
+<!-- timestamp end -->
+</p>
+</div>
+</div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include -->
+</body>
+</html>