Why Microsoft XP is good ... for Linux
Imagine a commercial operating system with annoying anti-piracy features built right
in:
" A co-worker sent him a copy of a message from a Microsoft person
suggesting that the number of licenses they had didn't match their
number of users, and it needed to be addressed. This request offers
motivation to decrease the number of users of Microsoft software there. ""Then I got to thinking. Many people pick commercial software because,
well, it is easy to steal."
A Healthy, Helpful Epidemic
by Phil Hughes <phil@ssc.com>
10-September-2001
Why are we about negative on Windoze XP?
This morning I received e-mail from an friend who uses MS Windows.
His systems had another crash and lost a lot of data.
It made me realize that I really like Windows XP with it's new
invasive licensing schemes.
My friend's biggest problem was that he lost his pirated copy of
Adobe Photoshop.
Without really thinking about all the ramifications,
I suggested he get the GIMP instead--because it was free.
Next I received e-mail from a friend in Costa Rica who works for the government.
A co-worker sent him a copy of a message from a Microsoft person
suggesting that the number of licenses they had didn't match their number of
users, and it needed to be addressed.
This request offers motivation to decrease the number of
users of Microsoft software there.
Then I got to thinking.
Many people pick commercial software because,
well, it is easy to steal.
It gets marketed, so they know it exits.
Then they find someone or somewhere that they can "borrow" it from.
Another data point was from El Salvador.
There used to be two Linux users registered with the Linux Counter.
Microsoft did a license crack-down and the number jumped to 141.
If commercial software vendors did their job better--that
is, enforced their licensing--it could help the free software movement
a lot.
We owe it to the computer users of the world to stop complaining about
restrictive licenses for Microsoft software, and get on with the
development of open solutions.
Before you say there is no chance for income in free software, let me
address that.
First, computers need to come from somewhere.
Someone needs to install those machines, train users and support the
system.
In Costa Rica, for example, the Caja (the Costa Rican equivalent of
the US's Social Security Administration) pays about $1,000,000 per year to
Microsoft for support.
While that may not sound like a lot of money to the billionaire who
lives across the lake from me, it is a lot of money for a country
whose population is the same as the state of Washington and dependent on
Intel's manufacturing plant and food exports for much of their GNP.
That $1,000,000, recycled back to the hands of locals who could support
free software, would be a step in the right direction for their
economy.
Further, the result would be more people trained to use and
maintain free software.
Thus, that initial change in one agency in a small Central American
country could start a free software epidemic in Latin America.
I know I'm ready to help.
Phil Hughes is the publisher of Linux Journal.
