From 1ae0306a3cf2ea27f60b2d205789994d260c2cce Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christian Grothoff Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2020 13:29:45 +0200 Subject: add i18n FSFS --- .../blog/articles/en/microsoft-verdict.html | 106 +++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 106 insertions(+) create mode 100644 talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/microsoft-verdict.html (limited to 'talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/microsoft-verdict.html') diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/microsoft-verdict.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/microsoft-verdict.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f98483c --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/microsoft-verdict.html @@ -0,0 +1,106 @@ + + + +On the Microsoft Verdict - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation + + + + +

On the Microsoft Verdict

+ +

+Many +GNU/Linux +users think of the system as competition for Microsoft. +But the Free Software Movement aims to solve a problem that is much +bigger than Microsoft: proprietary, nonfree software, designed to +keep users helpless and prohibit cooperation. Microsoft is the +largest developer of such software, but many other companies treat the +users' freedom just as badly; if they have not shackled as many users +as Microsoft, it is not for lack of trying.

+

+Since Microsoft is just a part of the problem, its defeat in the +anti-trust lawsuit is not necessarily a victory for free software. +Whether the outcome of this suit helps free software and promotes +users' freedom depends of the specific remedies imposed on Microsoft +by the judge.

+

+If the remedies are designed to enable other companies compete in +offering proprietary, nonfree software, that will do the Free World +no particular good. Alternative possible masters is not freedom. And +competition could lead them to do a “better” job, better +in a narrow technical sense; then it could be harder for us to +“compete” with them technically. We will continue to +offer the user one thing those companies do +not—freedom—and users who value freedom will continue to +choose free software for that reason. But users who do not value +freedom, and choose a system based on mere convenience, might be +enticed away to “improved” proprietary systems.

+

+Splitting Microsoft into separate companies could also endanger free +software, because these smaller companies, no longer held in check by +the public readiness to condemn Microsoft, might see fit to attack +free software more harshly than the present unified Microsoft does.

+

+I've +proposed remedies +for this case that would help free software compete with Microsoft: +for example, requiring Microsoft to publish documentation for all +interfaces, and to use patents only for defense, not for aggression. +These remedies would block the use of the weapons that Microsoft plans +to use against us (according to the “Halloween documents” +leaked from within Microsoft which spelled out how they plan to impede +development of the GNU/Linux system).

+

+When we see what remedies the judge chooses, we will get an idea of +whether the case has been helpful or harmful to the Free Software +Movement.

+ + + + + + + + -- cgit v1.2.3