The price of GNU/Linux is good ? [LWN.net]

The price of GNU/Linux is good ?

Posted Nov 13, 2003 14:32 UTC (Thu) by coriordan (guest, #7544)
In reply to: The price of GNU/Linux is good ? by khim
Parent article: Microsoft Loses to Linux in Thailand Struggle (LinuxInsider)

First, thanks for describing the situation to me.

> The big question is when.

Sadly, I think the answer is "whenever they think the time is right". In Korea, copying the work of an author was seen as a compliment, encouraged by the government, until the US Trade Representative but Korea on the 301 "Watch list". This is a list of countries where the US is concerned about "Intellectual property" enforcement. When a country goes on the watch list, the International Monetary Fund don't roll over their loans, the World Bank stop loaning them money, and the US Govt. raises it's import barriers. This can cripple a developing economy instantly. And it's all legal since the World Trade Organisation has already tricked these countries into promising to enforce "Intellectual Property" regulations.

> I will not go and will not say that someone
> is using pirated version of Windows

This is good. Copying software should not be a crime, I wouldn't like anyone to go to prison or be fined for it. Also, it's sad that a developing country should be using the peoples taxes to enforce these stupid laws.

> copyright is something developed by americans to suck our money

This is true (for the current version of software copyright). Using GNU/Linux and FreeBSD etc. is a way to take this power away from them.

By using Free Software, a country can stick two fingers up at Microsft & associates, and no one can accuse them of not enforcing copyright.

Moving to Free Software will indeed take years, but every step towards Free Software is lessening the copyright problem. Using Microsoft (or any other proprietary software) is like trying to dig your way out of a pit.

I'm trying to get the govt. to use Free Software in my country. Most representatives I talk to are useless, but some of them do understand Free Software and are really interested.

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