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>How would you feel if the car manufacturer attached locks to the hood of your car? Why would I care? I don't know anything about what's under the hood and I

by danssig 15y ago

>How would you feel if the car manufacturer attached locks to the hood of your car? Why would I care? I don't know anything about what's under the hood and I don't want to. You know what would be great about them locking the hood? If they do that they can't expect me to do maintenance things like pouring in oil, windshield wiper fluid or any of that stuff. The more "freedom" you have on a computer the more maintenance you have to do. Linux is the most "free" OS and it also takes the most effort to administrate. Every second I spend administering a computer is a second I'm spending on something I don't care about and doesn't get me any closer to what my business is about.

rdtsc 15y ago
However you fail to see that if you can open the hood of the car so can a mechanic. You are free to go and sign a contract that is just between you and him, that says that you will not open the hood of the car, but they will on any sign of trouble. As soon as something is wrong, you call them and they will come and do maintenance for you. Congratulations, you just bought and installed Redhat Linux. Have problems configuring your software, call them up and they will be happy to help you. They are great, actually But then someone wants to fix their car but they don't have the money to pay a mechanic. Instead they have all the time they need, so they can read through manuals and try to fix things themselves. Congratulations, you just downloaded, installed and configured CentOS. Have fun playing with it, tearing its guts out, recompiling its kernel and doing whatever you want with it. Now you are focused on features. "Oh look, super user friendly interface! Never have to open the hood of my car". That is great! What about anti-features. Now that you can't open the hood of your car. One or two car manufacturers can start installing tracking systems that report your position, record all your conversations, all your phone calls, etc. Why? Well because maybe they were approached by the FBI or because they decided they could sell all this as marketing info to third parties. Now only that, there was legislation proposed to make it actually illegal to open the hood of your car. Think about that. You bought it, you open the hood, and police come to your door to arrest your for it.
- nkassis 15y ago
  let's not forget that it would kill the entire car service industry in favor of the dealerships. Thinking of the financial impact on society as a result is already scary but it also doesn't let me choose between getting a cheaper oil change at quickylube or paying twice the price at my dealer. (You get to decide how valuable the dealer guarantee is).

by danssig 15y ago

rdtsc 15y ago

However you fail to see that if you can open the hood of the car so can a mechanic. You are free to go and sign a contract that is just between you and him, that says that you will not open the hood of the car, but they will on any sign of trouble. As soon as something is wrong, you call them and they will come and do maintenance for you. Congratulations, you just bought and installed Redhat Linux. Have problems configuring your software, call them up and they will be happy to help you. They are great, actually But then someone wants to fix their car but they don't have the money to pay a mechanic. Instead they have all the time they need, so they can read through manuals and try to fix things themselves. Congratulations, you just downloaded, installed and configured CentOS. Have fun playing with it, tearing its guts out, recompiling its kernel and doing whatever you want with it. Now you are focused on features. "Oh look, super user friendly interface! Never have to open the hood of my car". That is great! What about anti-features. Now that you can't open the hood of your car. One or two car manufacturers can start installing tracking systems that report your position, record all your conversations, all your phone calls, etc. Why? Well because maybe they were approached by the FBI or because they decided they could sell all this as marketing info to third parties. Now only that, there was legislation proposed to make it actually illegal to open the hood of your car. Think about that. You bought it, you open the hood, and police come to your door to arrest your for it.

nkassis 15y ago
let's not forget that it would kill the entire car service industry in favor of the dealerships. Thinking of the financial impact on society as a result is already scary but it also doesn't let me choose between getting a cheaper oil change at quickylube or paying twice the price at my dealer. (You get to decide how valuable the dealer guarantee is).