Issue 22 Bulletin June 2013 Contents millions, of people who are interested in GNU/Linux but have never tried it and don’t know where to start when it Friends don’t let friends 1 comes to changing operating systems. use Windows 8 The good news is that we can change Why call it the 2 these curious bystanders into die-hard Swindle? free software users; all we need is your Video streaming at 4 help. LibrePlanet 2013 You can’t make a good 5 software idea patent FSF polo shirts, plus 6 internship opportunities FOSSBangladesh 7 Stop the Hollyweb 8 A short recap of RMS’s 10 recent adventures Licensing & Compliance 11 Lab update Friends don’t let friends use Windows 8 by Libby Reinish Windows 8 was released last fall. Campaigns Manager Right now, a lot of people who’ve been using Windows 7 are wondering s FSF members, you know that if they should switch to its expensive Athere are a million reasons to use new replacement. To many, it seems GNU/Linux. There are the ethical like the only option. What’s worse, reasons along with the practical ones, Microsoft is leading the way in im- and of course there’s the vibrant com- plementing Secure Boot, which makes munity of free software users around it harder to upgrade Windows 8 ma- the world. So why isn’t GNU/Linux chines to free operating systems. And the #1 operating system out there? that’s nothing compared to Restricted Mainly because of a lack of knowledge Boot, which makes certain machines— and a lack of experience. There are like tablets—completely impossible to probably hundreds of thousands, if not upgrade. Restricted boot is not good 1 for software freedom, but it gives us a good opportunity to highlight the The Free Software problems with nonfree operating sys- Supporter tems and get people excited about switching to GNU/Linux. More than 8,500 people receive this Receive our monthly email Bulletin and tens of thousands more newsletter: fsf.org/fss. will read this article on fsf.org. If each of you were to help one person install GNU/Linux for the first time, it would transform the free software Why call it the movement. So this summer, talk to Swindle? that friend who seems fascinated by all by Richard Stallman the mysterious stuff you’re typing into President your terminal. Help a friend who can’t go out of my way to call nasty afford a new computer rejuvenate their Ithings by names that criticize them. current, virus-laden one. Rescue some- I call Apple’s user-subjugating com- one with a Windows 7 computer who is puters the “iThings,” and Amazon’s distraught at the prospect of switching abusive e-reader the “Swindle.” Some- to Windows 8. Better yet, find five of times I refer to Microsoft’s operating these people and host an install party. system as “Losedows”; I referred to Make sure to show these friends our Microsoft’s first operating system as infographic at upgradefromwindows. “MS-Dog.”1 Of course, I do this to org. It’s is a great tool to help get peo- vent my feelings and have fun. But this ple excited about ditching Windows fun is more than personal; it serves an and upgrading to GNU/Linux. important purpose. Mocking our ene- As free software advocates, we can mies recruits the power of humor into write FAQs and pamphlets til the cows our cause. come home, but when it comes to in- Twisting a name is disrespectful. stalling GNU/Linux for the first time, If we respected the makers of these there is no substitute for in-person as- products, we would use the names that sistance from a friend. they chose . and that’s exactly the Friends don’t let friends use Win- point. These noxious products deserve dows 8! Sign our pledge to help our contempt, not our respect. Every someone upgrade to GNU/Linux at proprietary program subjects its users upgradefromwindows.org. Then, to some entity’s power, but nowadays write to [email protected] and tell most of them go beyond that to spy us how it went. We’ll choose a success on users, restrict them and even push story to include in the next Bulletin. them around: the trend is for products Software freedom for all is just an to get nastier. These products deserve install party away. Happy hacking. to be wiped out. Those with DRM ought to be illegal. 1Take action against these products: u.fsf.org/ithings, u.fsf.org/swindle, u.fsf.org/ebookslist, upgradefromwindows.org 2 For instance, DRM refers to building technology products to restrict their users for the benefit of someone else. This inexcusable practice deserves our burning hatred until we wipe it out. Naturally, those responsible gave it a name that frames the issue from their point of view: “Digital Rights Man- agement.” This name is the basis of a public relations campaign that aims to win support from entities ranging from governments to the W3C.2 When we mention them, we should To use their term is to take their show that we condemn them, and side. If that’s not the side you’re on, what easier way than by twisting their why give it your implicit support? names? If we don’t do that, it is all We take the users’ side, and from too easy to mention them and fail to the users’ point of view, what these present the condemnation. When the malfeatures manage are not rights but product comes up in the middle of restrictions. So we call them “Digital some other topic, for instance, explain- Restrictions Management.” ing at greater length that the product Neither of those terms is neutral: is bad might seem like a long digres- choose a term, and you choose a side. sion. Please choose the users’ side and please To mention these products by name let it show. and fail to condemn them has the ef- Once, a man in the audience at my fect of legitimizing them, which is the speech claimed that the name “Digi- opposite of what they call for. tal Rights Management” was the offi- Companies choose names for prod- cial name of “DRM,” the only possi- ucts as part of a marketing plan. They ble correct name, because it was the choose names they think people will be first name. He argued that as a conse- likely to repeat, then invest millions quence it was wrong for us to say “Dig- of dollars in marketing campaigns to ital Restrictions Management.” make people repeat and think about Those who make a product or carry those names — usually these market- out a business practice typically choose ing campaigns are intended to convince a name for it before we even know it ex- people to admire the products based on ists. If their temporal precedence obli- their superficial attractions and over- gated us to use their name, they would look the harm they do. have an additional automatic advan- Every time we call these products tage, on top of their money, their me- by the names the companies use, we dia influence and their technological contribute to their marketing cam- position. We would have to fight them paigns. Repeating those names is ac- with our mouths tied behind our backs. tive support for the products; twisting Some people feel a distaste for them denies the products our support. twisting names and say it sounds “ju- Other terminology besides prod- 2 uct names can raise a similar issue. u.fsf.org/drm 3 venile” or “unprofessional.” What help prepare the system.3 they mean is, it doesn’t sound hu- George brought an Elphel 353 cam- morless and stodgy — and that’s a era to stream video of the sessions in good thing, because we would not have one of the Science Center’s large lec- laughter on our side if we tried to ture halls. Along with it he provided a sound “professional.” Fighting oppres- custom-built case containing a router sion is far more serious than profes- and a computer running gNewSense, sional work, so we’ve got to add comic a free GNU/Linux distribution. The relief. It calls for real maturity, which other lecture hall used George’s Canon includes some childishness, not “acting FS22 camcorder with analog output like an adult.” and a USB adapter called EasyCAP If you don’t like our choice of name 60+, which makes it simple to capture parodies, you can invent your own. video in GNU/Linux. The more, the merrier. Of course, there are other ways to express con- demnation. If you want to sound “pro- fessional,” you can show it in other ways. They can get the point across, but they require more time and ef- fort, especially if you don’t make use of mockery. Take care this does not this lead you to skimp; don’t let the pres- sure against such “digression” push you into insufficiently criticizing the nasty things you mention, because that The conference’s three remaining would have the effect of legitimizing rooms were each equipped with a them. regular webcam and a Lenovo X60 ThinkPad laptop running the free GNU/Linux distribution Trisquel. We Video streaming at had X60s on hand because we are in LibrePlanet 2013 the process of flashing them with core- boot, a free software BIOS replace- by Nico Cesar ment.4 Senior System Administrator GStreamer was the program used bout 150 people came to Cam- for video capture and transmission to Abridge’s Harvard Science Center our streaming server.