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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/microsoft.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/microsoft.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab3867d --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/microsoft.html @@ -0,0 +1,163 @@ +<!--#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 “boycott” 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 “Halloween documents”, 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)—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 +“donates” 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 “upgrade” 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 “upgrading” +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 & 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 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 © 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> |