Vista is shipping: The 'Ow' starts now

Georg C. F. Greve greve at gnu.org
Tue Jan 30 12:18:54 UTC 2007


FYI. When seeing the official marketing message of Microsoft for Vista
("The 'Wow' starts now.") I could not resist:


[ http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/the_ow_starts_now ]

The 'Ow' starts now

   Tuesday 30 January 2007

   Today is the day when Microsoft Vista starts shipping, and this
   operating system may indeed turn out to be quite painful for
   governments, companies and users around the world.

   The main problem is not the graphical user interface. If you are
   interested in those you might be interested in the Technology Review
   article "[24]Uninspiring Vista -- How Microsoft's long-awaited
   operating system disappointed a stubborn fan" by a self-declared
   Microsoft champion who concludes on purely technological grounds:

     Ironically, playing around with Vista for more than a month has
     done what years of experience and exhortations from Mac-loving
     friends could not: it has converted me into a Mac fan.

   It is the underlying technology strategy and its consequences that
   will be a severe source of pain. Central in this is the one feature
   that has truly been perfected in Windows Vista, the
   mass-incapacitation of users, also known as [25]Digital Restrictions
   Management (DRM). DRM brings with it severe political issues, as I
   also explained in [26]earlier posts. But of course the cost is not
   only political, there is also a financial cost to DRM, which Peter
   Gutmann calculated in his essay "[27]A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista
   Content Protection."

   But it doesn't end there. As the [28]European Committee for
   Interoperable Systems (ECIS) points out in a 26 January [29]media
   release : "With Vista Microsoft continues its illegal practices.".

   Not only is Microsoft trying to impose its own proprietary OpenXML
   format in order to marginalise the existing true multi-vendor Open and
   ISO-certified Standard, the Open Document Format (ODF) -- please
   follow these links for more information: [30][1][31][2][[32]3][33][4].
   You should also read the analysis of Cory Doctorow: " [34]How Vista
   Lets Microsoft Lock Users In"

   Largely unnoticed due to the discussion around the OpenXML attack on
   ODF, Microsoft also introduced a new markup language in Vista, called
   "XAML." This language seems designed to attack the existing Open
   Standard HTML and is ground-up dependent on Windows.

   If companies started using this language in their intranet, they would
   no longer be able to run heterogenous environments and will be locked
   into Windows much more effectively than before -- at a high price in
   finances and freedom to make the necessary business decisions. This
   will be bad for those companies, but others should be able to take
   their place.

   But if the internet providers were to start using this markup language
   for their pages, it will no longer be possible to access those pages
   with anything but Microsoft Windows. Governments using XAML will force
   their entire population and economy into dependence on the Windows
   monopoly, and if it spreads far enough, it could mean the end of the
   multi-platform heterogenous environment that is the internet.

   People who do not use Microsoft Windows might find themselves unable
   to communicate with their governments, to fill out tax declarations,
   to access news sites and do shopping online. The whole internet will
   truly have become a "Microsoft Network" -- similar to the one shipped
   with previous versions of Windows that was abandoned for internet
   support because it did not raise sufficient interest.

   In essence, XAML is Microsofts attempt to deliver on the [35]statement
   made by Steve Ballmer towards the German Manager Magazin in 2005:

     "We needed the first years to conquer the PC and those following to
     be ahead in the server business. In the upcoming years we'll
     conquer the Internet."

   Seeing the internet replaced by a single-vendor controlled proprietary
   network would indeed be painful -- and that 'Ow' starts with Vista.
   But you can also choose this moment to end your pain. As the [36]FSFE
   pointed out in [37]its press release today, there is another Vista
   message:

                         Upgrade to GNU/Linux now!

   Such a migration will be no more expensive than migrating to Vista. It
   will also provide vendor independence, control over your own
   infrastructure, true support of Open Standards, which will ensure your
   ability to read your own files in the future and with the application
   of your choosing, and much, much more.
   [38]Creative Commons License 
   This work is licensed under a [39]Creative Commons
   Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

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References

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   7. http://www.fsfe.org/en/layout/set/print/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/the_ow_starts_now
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  10. http://www.fsfe.org/en
  11. http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/the_ow_starts_now
  12. http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/the_ow_starts_now
  13. http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/the_ow_starts_now
  14. http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/the_ow_starts_now
  15. http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/the_ow_starts_now
  16. http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/the_ow_starts_now
  17. http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/the_ow_starts_now
  18. http://www.fsfe.org/en
  19. http://www.fsfe.org/en/fellows
  20. http://www.fsfe.org/en/fellows/greve
  21. http://www.fsfe.org/en/fellows/greve/freedom_bits
  22. http://www.fsfe.org/en/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/call_for_letters_to_iso_re_openxml
  23. http://www.fsfe.org/en/fellows/greve/freedom_bits
  24. http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/17992/page1/
  25. http://drm.info/
  26. https://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/copyright_perspectives_obligation_to_publish_and_drm
  27. http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html
  28. http://www.e-c-i-s.org/
  29. http://www.e-c-i-s.org/news/2007_jan26.htm
  30. https://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/call_for_letters_to_iso_re_openxml
  31. https://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/why_criticise_openxml_now
  32. https://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/openxml_wrap_up_after_d12k
  33. https://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/novells_danaergeschenk
  34. http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196601781
  35. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39264632,00.htm
  36. http://fsfeurope.org/
  37. http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2007q1/000166.html
  38. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/
  39. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/
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  51. http://www.fsfe.org/en/forums
  52. http://www.fsfe.org/en/fun
  53. http://www.fsfe.org/en/supporters
  54. http://www.fsfe.org/en/contact_us
  55. http://www.fsfe.org/en/faq
  56. http://www.fsfe.org/en/order
  57. http://www.fsfe.org/en/content/view/full/19870/month/12/year/2006
  58. http://www.fsfe.org/en/content/view/full/19870/month/2/year/2007
  59. http://www.fsfe.org/en/events/gpl_e_liberta_del_software
  60. http://www.fsfe.org/en/events/gpl_e_liberta_del_software
  61. http://drm.info/
  62. http://ez.no/
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