[Foundation-l] OLPC & Windows

[Gregory Maxwell]

On 12/5/06, Anthere <Anthere9 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Uh ???
> But...
> How disappointing if true. And what about the cost of the windows
> licence on top ?
>
> Maybe sj has a clue ?

A cynical person might write ... in the US we say "The first hit is
free".  (a reference to illegal drug use and the addictive effects of
drugs)

...More seriously, illegial software copying in less wealthy nations
is an important part of maintaining the [[network effect]] lock-in for
proprietary software.... Just like the generally lackadaisical
prosecution of non-commercial copyright infringers probably slows the
creation of Free Content and probably facilitates the creation of
unreasonably long copyright terms.

Ultimately, I don't think it will matter..  The commoditization of the
basic software underlying computing is too powerful a force.  But I
wonder what we will say if someday we find that an enhanced copy of
the Wikipedia content has been Zuned
(http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,72172-0.html?tw=wn_index_3).

I think it's important to understand that Microsoft is not evil,
Microsoft is simply Microsoft and they will behave according to their
nature so far as the world will allow and reward them. This is why it
is good that our license includes at least a basic amount of
protection from digital restrictions, ... So we are already doing our
little part to ensure the freeness of our work is conserved and that
our work isn't turned into a mechanism for proprietary lock-in.

So long as we are all careful to set the rules correctly I'm confident
Microsoft can contribute productively to the world and be a net force
for good.