Microsoft's Software Is Malware - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation
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I was curious what the Linux people think about Microsoft and any bad practices that most people should know about already?

  • BaumGeist@lemmy.ml
    60·
    7 months ago

    They tried to destroy linux and free/libre software, and when that didn’t work, they started cornering the market and pushing for a move from “Free” to “Open Source.” They also support SaaS model, and have made it next to impossible to get a new computer without their mediocre OS. On top of that, their OS is full of spyware, and is starting to become adware too.

    But that all pales in comparison to the fact that you do not own your own OS: you can run Microsoft’s OS, but you can’t modify it or share it.

    Oh, and this falls more in the realm of personal preference, but the deliberate lack of customizability is a real pain in the ass.

    4/10 OS, only slightly better at disguising its capitalist greed than Apple.

    • AlexanderESmith@social.alexanderesmith.com
      2·
      6 months ago

      You left out that they refuse to let end users control updates on the system unless they resort to hacky bullshit (and even that doesn’t work consistently). As far as I know (and have experienced on Windows Server) this extends to enterprise as well.

    • scratchandgame@lemmy.mlTiếng Việt
      13·
      7 months ago

      pushing for a move from “Free” to “Open Source.”

      Can you explain more? Is that related to the clown gpl guys criticizing BSD/MIT/ISC license and laugh on FreeBSD for letting Apple to do whatever I can’t remember?

        • scratchandgame@lemmy.mlTiếng Việt
          12·
          7 months ago

          Thanks.

          Open source software has its source code published. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re able to copy some or all of it, modify it, distribute it, etc.

          GPL as an example.

          Free software can be freely copied, modified, distributed, etc

          If you are citing the GNU’s website, you should remove the “modified”. I’d quote a mailing list user:

          Say if OpenSSH was licenced under (A)GPL, companies would likely not use it because they wouldn’t be able to incorporate it into their IP, they would then try to code a shoddy implementation, and have numerous security bugs which would affect the end user. In other words, you are just shooting yourself in the foot.

          • BaumGeist@lemmy.ml
            1·
            7 months ago

            I couldn’t find any primary source on OpenSSH’s licenses, but wikipedia says “BSD, ISC, Public Domain.”

            Both BSD and ISC explicitly grant permissions to modify the software (and redistribute the modified software), and Public Domain means no rights reserved whatsoever, so the mailing list user’s points aren’t relevant to any of the Four Freedoms (aka the Sacred Texts).

            Without access to the source email: it looks like it’s a debate about using copyleft licensing instead of BSD/ISC, which is sometimes considered the Fifth Freedom. If you want an argument about that, I’m happy to do so (later), but it isn’t a valid reason for saying some piece of software fails to meet the definition of Free Software.

            • scratchandgame@lemmy.mlTiếng Việt
              1·
              7 months ago

              (A)GPL restrict the modification of the software. I’m sharing an example how that restriction works.

                • scratchandgame@lemmy.mlTiếng Việt
                  2·
                  6 months ago

                  It requires any modifications to be under GPL.

                  And it also requires anything that incorporate GPL codes also be under GPL.

                  And the code must be published to the copyright holder as far as I know.

                  How it harms the end user are described.

                  • BaumGeist@lemmy.ml
                    11·
                    6 months ago

                    While I’m not gonna argue the merits of GPL—it is technically restricting modification, even if there is no practical difference for those only interested in adding/removing functionality—I disagree with the assessment that using the GPL causes harm to the users.

                    The reasoning seems to be that a 3rd party’s refusal to use the software because of the license, and suvsequent use of a shittier product is somehow the (hypothetical GPL-using) OpenSSH dev’s fault.

                    The problem is that accepting the premise that the devs are responsible for what people who choose to not use their software do entails that they are then responsible for everyone who uses any type of software tangentially related to OpenSSH’s functionality. It also means that it’s their fault for whatever consequences of using the licenses they currently do, which inevitably drive some people away for various reasons. It also means any potential license (or even lack thereof) is open to the same criticism.

      • BaumGeist@lemmy.ml
        6·
        7 months ago

        Did you mean

        Is that related to the gpl advocates who criticize BSD/MIT/ISC license and laugh at FreeBSD for letting Apple do something (I can’t remember what)?

        I’m not trying to be a grammar nazi, I just want to make sure I’m interpreting you correctly and not putting words in your mouth.

        Afaik, BSD and MIT licenses qualify as Free Software licenses. I could be wrong; I am not a lawyer, nor am I Richard Stallman.

        As for your first question:

        Can you explain more?

        @[email protected] did a good summary of the distinction, so I will expand on m$'s role:

        By most Free Software advocates’ accounts, the rise of the term “Open Source” was a deliberate move to make proprietary software less of a bitter pill for us radical digital anarchists: “look, our code is Open and Transparent (but you still can’t reproduce or modify it, even if you buy a license).” At the same time, Open Source advocates argued that this was the “Shoe-In-The-Door” for Free Software into the corporate/capitalist landscape—it’s not, because it doesn’t actually advocate any of Free Software’s Four Essential Freedoms (Five, if you consider Copyleft to be essential, as I do).

        So basically the corporate world took the concept of Free Software, which was starting to be a threat to their businesses, sanitized it of any actual freedom, and sold it back to devs and users as some kind of magnanimous gesture that they were letting us look (but not touch) the code they wrote. Open Source.

        M$ has been essential in this shift. Perusing their github, they make it clear that they’re willing to toss projects onto the pile, but make sure as hell to keep the Freedom from infecting any of their larger, popular software (e.g. Office, Visual Studio, Windows). And in return, they get access to whatever code you host on their service, assuming they can interpret vague phrasing in their Privacy Policy loosely enough.