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My school now has Chrome. I feel like this is a trap.
Wednesday, 19-Dec-12 14:19:56 UTC from web-
@omni chrome master race.
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@omni Exactly. My school has never ever chosen a good alternative to anything tech wise (Every computer in the school is a Dell running Windows XP, with the really important staff using 95)
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@unhipdruid Chrome is not free software, I'm pretty sure you know where this is going, go Firefox (or, even better, IceCat or IceWeasel)!
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@omni funny, i just got out of the shower and sat in front of my computer... and i dont understand, its not free?
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@unhipdruid He's not talking about free as in free beer. He means free as in "I use lunix and that entitles me to have every right to do whatever I want with whatever software I use".
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@redenchilada right, i get you. i think. is it like apple or warranty and "Look inside the computer, and we wont deal with you at all!" kind of thing?
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@unhipdruid @redenchilada No, I'm talking about "Free as in Freedom": https://www.fsf.org/about/what-is-free-software
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@unhipdruid That kind of thing.
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@redenchilada Ahh yes, thats why i build my own computers. i like to TOUCH IT...
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@omni So exactly what I just said.
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@redenchilada I think every computer user should have that right, not just Linux users. It is a fact that users of Free operating systems obviously get that right more often than users of proprietary operating systems, but I do think Windows users should have the same rights.
Montgomery William Richard Spee likes this. -
@unhipdruid Pretty much that but then on the software side, yes. How are you doing, by the way?
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@omni i feel like my brain is melting down my spinal column. (i know that wouldn't even be possible... but..)
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@unhipdruid Well, that doesn't sound good. Are you, like, still alive?
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@omni yes, i need bed. now... so im off. night everypony!
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@unhipdruid Okay, sleep well!
Montgomery William Richard Spee likes this. -
@omni I'm just sick of the people promoting free software making the BS claim that everything propietary is either spying on you or looking for a reason to put you in jail. It's turned me off to the whole concept.
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@omni We kind of do, in that Apple will brick your computer if you touch it, but Microsoft doesn't care what we do, all it does is void our warranty.
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@redenchilada I'm not saying everyone does, that is simply not true and I thoroughly agree that a lot of people are just abusing fear to give their point more strength there. There are enough companies that do, though. They most likely won't be using it to put you in jail, but to collect information about you which is quite valuable to advertisers and governments. Besides that, Free software has a practical reason for me: If a program is great, except from one tiny thing, I can fix that myself. I did this to Hotot, which was a nice StatusNet client (albeit buggy), but which only supported a 140 character limit. Because it was Free software, I could go into the code and edit that limit to 1000 characters myself, making it a lot more suitable for RDN, without breaking any laws. Besides that, free software has often proven to be safer, because companies can't get away with leaving security holes in it for years when they are aware of it until someone actively abuses it.
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@zeldatra That's no more true than FOSS software being the solution to world hunger and the path to global peace and harmony. You can mess with the internals of an Apple machine just as much as you can any other off the shelf machine of the same class.
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@zeldatra hah, my macbook pro was indestructible, i threw EVERYTHING at it, physically and software... even a concrete floor at some stage... (it was a Unibody, so it held up better than a laptop should have...)
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@zeldatra Microsoft doesn't let you edit or even look at how Windows works (freedom 1), and it also doesn't respect the other essential freedoms. Also, I think it's insane that it voids your warranty if you do stuff (albeit I think you're talking about the hardware here, and not the operating system). Unless you go and hit your hardware with a hammer, I see no reason why you should lose your warranty.
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@omni or it falls down the stairs...
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@unhipdruid I would think it would fall apart, no matter the casing.
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@zeldatra so did i as it was falling to the ground, but it still played the movie i was watching. didnt skip a frame...
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@unhipdruid I did that to my Samsung Android phone, which I dropped down two stories of stairs. I had to search a bit to find my battery and SIM card back, but it worked just fine.
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@omni ok, this time i have to hit chromes X to leave and sleep, so i dont die... HAHA yea, phones are mysterious...
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@omni And most Windows users /don't need/ to know how it works. Windows is an entry-level OS meant for the everman who isn't interested in customizing their OS.
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@ceruleanspark Just so I can somewhat prove I'm not completely insane: I'm fully aware that FOSS does not solve world hunger or give complete peace and harmony. The only thing it somewhat does is improving the privacy of users, enabling people to help each either when it comes to computing and improving system security (I am one of the people who only slightly believes in "security through obscurity" (I do use it a bit. For example, I run SSH on a non-standard port) and more in "with enough eyes, all bugs are shallow").
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@omni I really don't see that manufacturers should be expected to repair your equipment for free if you damage it trying to modify it outside of their specs. Not even people like the Raspberry Pi project or the OLPC people will cover that.
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@zeldatra Not every user of a Free operating system (which can also be entry-level, look at the OLPC project) need to know how it works or be able to change stuff. They do also get the good results of others doing this, though, and they should have the opportunity to learn how it works, must they wish to know. You probably don't need to know how the hardware in your computer works, but does that justify me saying you can't open the box? If you want to know, I should not have the right to prevent you from knowing.
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@ceruleanspark I think we're having communication issues here, I probably misunderstood the post I was replying to and poorly stated my words. I'm talking about stuff like Samsung dropping warranty for phones if you flash another OS (most likely another version of Android) on them.
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@omni If someone wants a customized OS, they can easily download a Linux distro for free. I specifically have not because I'm perfectly fine using an OS where I can use my programs.
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@zeldatra You're missing the point. If you buy a plush, you're allowed to do with it whatever you want. If you buy something like Windows, you are not allowed to change it according to your needs. I believe you should have that freedom.
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@omni Sure, we should have that freedom, but again I would like to point out that Windows is not targeted toward users who are going to take advantage of those freedoms.
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@omni Their argument is that they do not want to be responsible for replacing hardware damaged by poorly implemented alternate operating systems, which is actually fairly reasonable.
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@zeldatra That's fine. You don't have to use those freedoms, and you shouldn't be forced to use them, but you should have the opportunity may you wish to do so. That's all I think.
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@ceruleanspark That sounds reasonable, yes. Is there any way that one could detect that the operating system in question would be responsible for that?
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@omni Not that I can think of. They'd have to extract the flash from every device sent in and examine the operating system on it, which would be time consuming and costly. (Warranty repair would go from being something you can do with cheap labor to something requiring computer forensics)
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@ceruleanspark Ah, I see. Well, I will need to think my opinion on this through later, as I was obviously misinformed. I will keep flashing my devices, though, I'm never happy with the stock ROMs =/
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@omni I think even Google requires you to void your warranty to unlock the bootloader on nexus devices.
