[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]
On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:34:14 +0100 Julian Hall <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > I think that's the real issue. Murdoch is trying to do a Gates and > be the only effective player in digital entertainment. In that > context Branson can be viewed as the Jobs of entertainment. It's no > secret that Murdoch hates Branson and with the combination of dirty > tricks and forced monopoly Murdoch is trying to make us accept I'll > go with the Branson model any day. > > Isn't Linux all about freedom to choose? In that context I'm > surprised anyone here would support Sky since your freedom to choose > is exactly what Murdoch is seeking to deny to you. It's very difficult to extrapolate from GNU/Linux to TV - just as it is to music and other media. GNU/Linux is about the freedom to operate the OS as you want - without denying those same freedoms to those around you. (This is where the GPL was termed 'viral' because you cannot restrict free software, if you distribute it or combine your code with GPL code, you must preserve the freedoms as you received them.) This is the problem the FSF had with the FDL - it is hard to apply free software terminology to non-software items because the GPL and the definitions of free software concentrate as much on 'software' as on 'free'. Making a free documentation licence is/was difficult - the FDL is still not genuinely free but that is a different discussion. http://mjr.towers.org.uk/blog/2006/fdl (but the server appears to be down right now.) http://home.twcny.rr.com/nerode/neroden/fdl.html Despite those problems, I haven't found a better documentation licence so I still, reluctantly, use the FDL. > I *do* appreciate that you have no choice given that Virgin haven't > laid cable down in your area yet, but in the other thread > (getgnulinux.org) people are advocating writing to hardware > manufacturers. The exact same thing would actually work here. The > more people who write to Virgin and ask for their services in Devon > and Cornwall, the more commercially viable it will look to Virgin and > the more likely they will do it. As you know BT had/have a threshold > of requests above which they converted exchanges to DSL support. It > may well be that Virgin have a similar system, but not enough people > have requested it yet. There has to merit in that. I'm in Plymouth, home of Eurobell before they became Telewest - I can't get cable despite living within 5 miles of what was Eurobell HQ. Even where cable exists, support is patchy at best. -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.data-freedom.org/ http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/ http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/
Attachment:
pgpTsGIgoLBmD.pgp
Description: PGP signature
-- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html