5 ms·

I'm in two minds over this. First, it's ridiculous that someone is being jailed for 15 months for trying to make it easier to keep using older PCs and reducing

I'm in two minds over this. First, it's ridiculous that someone is being jailed for 15 months for trying to make it easier to keep using older PCs and reducing waste. On the other hand that's the risk one takes when dabbling in the world of proprietary software. Where discouraging people from upgrading is seen as a threat to revenue and is attacked accordingly. Had he printed 34,000 Linux disks we'd never have had this case and sentence, but then perhaps no one would have used those old PCs. It seems that someone has to lose.

ada1981 9y ago
Does the license prevent people from downloading and distributing it explicitly? Curious what is going on there. I wonder if one could sell a USB configured to simply connect to the internet and download the software automatically.
- gowld 9y ago
  The discs exist because they work on broken computers. A USB downloader would be useless for the tech-unsavvy customers of the CD
  - AckSyn 9y ago
    If the USB drive booted to an internet based restore method, this would work the same as the CD but instead of the CD "pirating" windows (it wasn't), it would grab the iso from MS or dell directly (possible).
- PeterisP 9y ago
  If the licence doesn't explicitly permit downloading and redistributing copies, then that's illegal. The default position of copyright law is that it's forbidden with some exceptions (depending on jurisdiction) for personal use and such. I can download Ubuntu, burn it to CDs and sell or give them to others because GPL explicitly permits me to do this. However, downloading the comment you just made, filling a CD with copies of it, and selling or giving it to others would violate your copyright to it.
  - ada1981 9y ago
    Thank you. I’ll release my previous comment to the public domain if you’d like to distribute it.
mannykannot 9y ago
The reasoning in your second paragraph seems circular - this punishment is reasonable because unreasonable punishments are the norm in this matter.
- dwighttk 9y ago
  neither the paragraph nor comment says this punishment is reasonable... reasonably expected perhaps, but not reasonable.
fuball63 9y ago
My first response was "he should have used linux", but I came to a similar conclusion as you. People are scared of linux, despite it now being almost as easy as Windows to install/use for typical usage. E-waste is the result of computer transitioning from the role of "tool" to role of "disposable consumer good". The effort to provide people with the ability to easily repair their machines to a familiar state (being Windows), to me, seems the most effective way to combat e-waste. EDIT: added 'being Windows' to second paragraph
- pc86 9y ago
  Well the entire goal of this operation was to allow people to continue using their old Windows computers. The same people who are taking them in to physical stores to be refreshed, since that was the original customer for the disks. In that instance "just use Linux" is not an available option.
  - fuball63 9y ago
    I clarified in my second paragraph that I think extending the lifetime of Windows machines is probably the most realistic way to combat e-waste, and is a noble endeavor. I have two desktop computers, one is my primary machine and the other a home server that are 10+ years old and run Kubuntu and FreeBSD, respectively. Its easy to forget that some people don't want to swap out a CPU or add RAM over time, and that by using *nix there is a slower rate of resource bloat. Meeting people halfway by elongating Windows machine lifetimes is a great start.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 9y ago
  > My first response was "he should have used linux", but I came to a similar conclusion as you. People are scared of linux, despite it now being almost as easy as Windows to install/use for typical usage. People aren't any more scared of Linux than they are of Windows. Not to go on yet another rant about all the problems with Linux as a desktop, but refusing to acknowledge that they exist and instead blaming users is part of the reason people don't use Linux.
  - 9y ago
larkeith 9y ago
I'm not sure how this leads to being "in two minds over this" - the fact that this is an expected or accepted result for someone dabbling in the world of proprietary software, to me, shows that there is something fundamentally broken about our modern tech industry.

ada1981 9y ago

Does the license prevent people from downloading and distributing it explicitly? Curious what is going on there. I wonder if one could sell a USB configured to simply connect to the internet and download the software automatically.

gowld 9y ago
The discs exist because they work on broken computers. A USB downloader would be useless for the tech-unsavvy customers of the CD
- AckSyn 9y ago
  If the USB drive booted to an internet based restore method, this would work the same as the CD but instead of the CD "pirating" windows (it wasn't), it would grab the iso from MS or dell directly (possible).
PeterisP 9y ago
If the licence doesn't explicitly permit downloading and redistributing copies, then that's illegal. The default position of copyright law is that it's forbidden with some exceptions (depending on jurisdiction) for personal use and such. I can download Ubuntu, burn it to CDs and sell or give them to others because GPL explicitly permits me to do this. However, downloading the comment you just made, filling a CD with copies of it, and selling or giving it to others would violate your copyright to it.
- ada1981 9y ago
  Thank you. I’ll release my previous comment to the public domain if you’d like to distribute it.

mannykannot 9y ago

The reasoning in your second paragraph seems circular - this punishment is reasonable because unreasonable punishments are the norm in this matter.

dwighttk 9y ago
neither the paragraph nor comment says this punishment is reasonable... reasonably expected perhaps, but not reasonable.

fuball63 9y ago

My first response was "he should have used linux", but I came to a similar conclusion as you. People are scared of linux, despite it now being almost as easy as Windows to install/use for typical usage. E-waste is the result of computer transitioning from the role of "tool" to role of "disposable consumer good". The effort to provide people with the ability to easily repair their machines to a familiar state (being Windows), to me, seems the most effective way to combat e-waste. EDIT: added 'being Windows' to second paragraph

pc86 9y ago
Well the entire goal of this operation was to allow people to continue using their old Windows computers. The same people who are taking them in to physical stores to be refreshed, since that was the original customer for the disks. In that instance "just use Linux" is not an available option.
- fuball63 9y ago
  I clarified in my second paragraph that I think extending the lifetime of Windows machines is probably the most realistic way to combat e-waste, and is a noble endeavor. I have two desktop computers, one is my primary machine and the other a home server that are 10+ years old and run Kubuntu and FreeBSD, respectively. Its easy to forget that some people don't want to swap out a CPU or add RAM over time, and that by using *nix there is a slower rate of resource bloat. Meeting people halfway by elongating Windows machine lifetimes is a great start.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 9y ago
> My first response was "he should have used linux", but I came to a similar conclusion as you. People are scared of linux, despite it now being almost as easy as Windows to install/use for typical usage. People aren't any more scared of Linux than they are of Windows. Not to go on yet another rant about all the problems with Linux as a desktop, but refusing to acknowledge that they exist and instead blaming users is part of the reason people don't use Linux.
- 9y ago

larkeith 9y ago

I'm not sure how this leads to being "in two minds over this" - the fact that this is an expected or accepted result for someone dabbling in the world of proprietary software, to me, shows that there is something fundamentally broken about our modern tech industry.