[News] Boston Public Library Sells Out to the Monopolist, Blocks Mac and Linux Users
Roy Schestowitz
,----[ Quote ]
| the BPL [Boston Public Library] has launched a new service powered by a
| company called OverDrive. The system gives BPL patrons access to books,
| music, and movies online -- but only if they use a Microsoft DRM system.
|
| There are lots of problems with the introduction of this system: it bars
| access to users of GNU/Linux and MacOS and creates a dependence on a single
| technology vendor for access. These are important issues, certainly. The
| worst problem, however, is much more fundamental.
|
| By adopting a DRM system for library content, the BPL is giving OverDrive,
| copyright holders, and Microsoft the ability to decide what, when, and how
| its patrons can and cannot read, listen, and watch these parts of the BPL
| collection.
`----
http://mako.cc/copyrighteous/20080207-00
Someone ought to investigate this. The government should intervene because it's
a public facility.
Related:
British Library books go digital
,----[ Quote ]
| Digitised publications will be accessible in two ways -initially through
| Microsoft's Live Search Books and then via the Library's website.
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7018210.stm
Britain: E-Mail Time Capsule in Works
,----[ Quote ]
| Now the British Library is appealing to ordinary Britons for their
| e-mails, saying it wants to create a snapshot of British life in 2007.
|
| [...]
|
| The e-mails will be collated and indexed by Microsoft Corp., which
| has previously partnered with the library to digitize books from
| its archive, and they will be available to researchers before
| the year's end.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070503/britain_e_mail_archive.html?.v=1
Vista and British Library put da Vinci online
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft and the British Library have digitised two of Leonardo da
| Vincis' notebooks.
|
| [...]
|
| The British Library has created an updated version of its application
| called "Turning the Pages" which allows people to browse parts of
| its 150 million piece collection via a web browser. We heard how
| this works better using Vista.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/30/vinci_notebooks_vista/
Publish And Perish
,----[ Quote ]
| Alexander Rose, the executive director of the futurist Long Now
| Foundation, worries about the impermanence of digital information.
| "If you save that computer for 100 years, will the electrical plugs
| look the same?" he asks. "The Mac or the PC--will they be around?
| If they are, what about the software? " So far there's no business
| case for digital preservation--in fact, for software makers like
| Microsoft, planned obsolescence is the plan.
|
| "The reality is that it's in companies' interest that software should
| become obsolete and that you should have to buy every upgrade,"
| Rose says. We could be on the cusp of a turning point, though, in the
| way businesses and their customers think about digital preservation.
| "Things will start to change when people start losing all of their personal
| photos," Rose said.
`----
http://www.forbes.com/2006/11/30/books-information-preservation-tech-media_cx_ee_books06_1201acid.html?partner=yahootix
http://tinyurl.com/yyjqoh
British Library calls for digital copyright action
,----[ Quote ]
| In a manifesto released on Monday at the Labor Party Conference
| in Manchester, the United Kingdom's national library warned that the
| country's traditional copyright law needs to be extended to fully
| recognize digital content.
|
| "Unless there is a serious updating of copyright law to recognize
| the changing technological environment, the law becomes an ass,"
| Lynne Brindley, chief executive of the British Library, told ZDNet
| UK.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6119043.html
BBC Corrupted
,----[ Quote ]
| Today the BBC made it official -- they have been corrupted by Microsoft. With
| today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most basic of
| duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line distribution
| of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a Microsoft operating
| system to view BBC programming on the web. This is akin to saying you must
| own a Sony TV set to watch BBC TV. And you must accept the Digital
| Restrictions Management (DRM) that the iPlayer imposes. You simply cannot be
| allowed to be in control of your computer according to the BBC.
`----
http://defectivebydesign.org/blog/BBCcorrupted
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6265976.stm
Microsoft’s 4th of July Trans-Atlantic assault on document standards
,----[ Quote ]
| With OOXML and XPS, Microsoft has chosen to not work with existing standards,
| but to create new ones, as they have in their recent announcement on Web3S
| instead of working with the rest of the industry on the Atom Publishing
| Protocol. In the case of OOXML, this is a logical move on Microsoft’s part,
| since it is an evolution of Microsoft’s XML strategy started with the
| Microsoft Office 2003 version and ODF will be a technology diversion from
| that strategy. With Microsoft controlling 90% of the office productivity
| tools market and OOXML being the default file format for Microsoft Office
| 2007, OOXML is likely to be widely-used.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Newton/?p=16
Microsoft criticized for Open XML petition
,----[ Quote ]
| The petition is an attempt to make it appear that Open XML
| has "pseudo-grassroots" support, argues Mark Taylor, the
| founder of the Open Source Consortium.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6173625.html
Microsoft calls on UK public to raise the Office standard
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is calling on the Great British public to join its campaign
| to get the XML Office format adopted as an international standard.
|
| [...]
|
| It is not clear if the UK is an opponent. However, a representative
| of fellow member the Bureau of Indian Standards recently reportedly
| complained to the IndiaTime.com over Microsoft's decision to dump
| 6,000 pages of documentation on them.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/04/microsoft_office_standards_petition/
Mark Kent
> Protest DRM at the Boston Public Library
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| the BPL [Boston Public Library] has launched a new service powered by a
>| company called OverDrive. The system gives BPL patrons access to books,
>| music, and movies online -- but only if they use a Microsoft DRM system.
>|
>| There are lots of problems with the introduction of this system: it bars
>| access to users of GNU/Linux and MacOS and creates a dependence on a single
>| technology vendor for access. These are important issues, certainly. The
>| worst problem, however, is much more fundamental.
>|
>| By adopting a DRM system for library content, the BPL is giving OverDrive,
>| copyright holders, and Microsoft the ability to decide what, when, and how
>| its patrons can and cannot read, listen, and watch these parts of the BPL
>| collection.
> `----
>
> http://mako.cc/copyrighteous/20080207-00
>
> Someone ought to investigate this. The government should intervene because it's
> a public facility.
>
If it's been paid for using public funds, then it is corruption in
action, and should be stopped. If it's privately funded, then it's just
daft.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
| My (new) blog: http://www.thereisnomagic.org |
![[H]omer's profile photo](http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a-/ALV-UjWMQWyYwHeIwxhG3nGUeGWmLQD0R8TeZrvdWDiv5-2S_z3rHg=s40-c)
[H]omer
> Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> espoused:
>> Someone ought to investigate this. The government should intervene
>> because it's a public facility.
>
> If it's been paid for using public funds, then it is corruption in
> action, and should be stopped. If it's privately funded, then it's
> just daft.
Well regardless of how it's funded, this is supposed to be a /public/
library, with open access to /all/, not with some information open to
some people, and some information withheld from others, depending on
whether or not those people choose to financially support Microsoft.
--
K.
http://slated.org
.----
| "[Microsoft] are willing to lose money for years and years just to
| make sure that you don't make any money, either." - Bob Cringely.
| - http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2007/07/cringely-the-un.html
`----
Fedora release 8 (Werewolf) on sky, running kernel 2.6.23.8-63.fc8
16:55:27 up 51 days, 14:31, 5 users, load average: 0.00, 0.01, 0.00
DFS
> Verily I say unto thee, that Mark Kent spake thusly:
>> Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> espoused:
>
>>> Someone ought to investigate this. The government should intervene
>>> because it's a public facility.
>>
>> If it's been paid for using public funds, then it is corruption in
>> action, and should be stopped. If it's privately funded, then it's
>> just daft.
>
> Well regardless of how it's funded, this is supposed to be a /public/
> library, with open access to /all/, not with some information open to
> some people, and some information withheld from others, depending on
> whether or not those people choose to financially support Microsoft.
Here's the official response from the BPL. I'm quite sure he would like to
tell all cheap-ass,
demand-everything-be-free-but-refuse-to-pay-for-a-damn-thing, Linux/OSS
wacks and cola "advocates" to personally kiss his ass, but he's a public
person.
"One of the most popular new services provided by the Boston Public Library
is OverDrive, a vendor-supplied lending system for electronic books, audio
books, music, and videos. Digital Library Reserve, the vendor from whom we
license this content has secured thousands of popular, high-quality titles
from many major publishers under the condition that digital rights
management (DRM) measures are taken to ensure that the material cannot be
redistributed. Furthermore, the specific DRM schema used on OverDrive titles
allow material to circulate for distinct periods of time, permitting the
library to honor its licensing contract and to provide a service paralleling
the loan of physical material. No personal patron information is shared with
OverDrive or other third-parties in the download or DRM process. Please see
the BPL privacy policy for more information.
(http://www.bpl.org/general/policies/privacy.htm)
While we are well aware of the frustration DRM schema can cause end users,
we feel that the high numbers of use (nearly 100,000 downloads since
September, 2005) send a strong signal that our customers want access to the
material OverDrive provides. For many years, the BPL has offered material in
a variety of formats that require specific hardware and/or contain
copy-protection technologies (DVDs, Macrovision-protected VHS tapes), but we've
never been asked to discontinue circulation of this material because not
every customer has the ability to use them.
Almost all of the titles available through OverDrive are also available in
other formats. Customers who are unable to use DRM-protected content can
certainly access the same content via CDs, DVDs, print books, and magnetic
media. We also provide links to several other sources for digital eBooks,
audio, and video that are in the public domain, and therefore do not require
DRM.
Boston Public Library is committed to providing free access to
community-owned resources and will continue to search for partners who can
provide material to the most number of users possible.
Scot Colford
Applications Manager
Boston Public Library
scol...@bpl.org"
Matt
> Protest DRM at the Boston Public Library
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | the BPL [Boston Public Library] has launched a new service powered by a
> | company called OverDrive. The system gives BPL patrons access to books,
> | music, and movies online -- but only if they use a Microsoft DRM system.
> http://mako.cc/copyrighteous/20080207-00
>
> Someone ought to investigate this. The government should intervene because it's
> a public facility.
It's not all bad. I expect the backlash from thousands of Mac users and
hundreds of Linux users will have anti-MS effects on the Massachusetts
IT community. See also:
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/53656.html?welcome=1202622563
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
> Massachusetts: State of Open Source
>
> By Jay Lyman
> LinuxInsider
> Part of the ECT News Network
> 10/16/06 4:00 AM PT
>
> Massachusetts' plan for adoption of open standards has been in place since 2003, according to Tim Vaverchack, manager of shared services for Massachusetts' information technology division. "Our main focus is to bring in as many open source products as we can and also [to promote] an open source mindset."
>
> Massachusetts' embrace of open technology, open standards and open source Latest News about open source software was simply routine strategic planning, the way Tim Vaverchack tells it. However, the state's stance to strongly consider alternatives to proprietary solutions -- such as the Open Document Format -- has fueled one of the biggest technology firestorms in government IT history.
>
> The controversy around Massachusetts and ODF, an open standards-based computer document alternative to Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Webroot AntiSpyware 30-Day Free Trial. Click here. Latest News about Microsoft Office, resulted in the resignation of the state's former chief information officer. It has also triggered a tremendous amount of scrutiny -- not only over Massachusetts' decision, but also over the adoption of open standards and open source by other states and governments, including foreign nations.
>
> Vaverchack, manager of shared services for Massachusetts' information technology division, actually recognized the ODF furor, including it under the heading "firestorm of controversy" in his slide presentation at last week's Government Open Source Conference (GOSCON) in Portland, Ore.
))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Moshe Goldfarb
I'll bet the SOB Linux community is DDoS'ing the libraries servers as we
speak.
And [Homer] is nothing but a hypocrite..
http://www.abiword.org/~abi/expo99/expo_02_010_full.jpg
When are you going to release the source code to your weekly
comp.os.linux.advocacy statistics program [Homer] ?
You expect others to do it.
Why don't you follow your own advice?
[Homer] = [Hypocrite] != Linux Advocate.
--
Moshe Goldfarb
Collector of soaps from around the globe.
Please visit The Hall of Linux Idiots:
http://linuxidiots.blogspot.com/
scol...@gmail.com
and I don't want to tell off the Anti-DRMers. I'm just thrilled that
everyone in the BPL management team agree with me and encouraged me to
spread the word far and wide in the cybersphere.
It's interesting because this one service is causing so many people to
demand things that are not part of our mission. (Our mission is to
bring content to the people of the Commonwealth and the City, not to
redesign the whole publishing industry.) I've had some good initial
contacts with the Defective By Design folks and hope to make some
headway that will benefit us both. We'd *love* to offer DRM-free
downloads, but they simply aren't available for the material that
patrons want. Can anyone tell me where I can legally obtain a download
of Stephen King's latest audio book without DRM? And one that can be
*loaned* to people? See what I mean?
But I'm very grateful for the DBD group for bringing awareness to the
issue. I think they are partially responsible for the recent changes
in retail music downloads and I'm hoping this will carry over into the
library world.
Scot Colford
Applications Manager
Boston Public Library
scol...@bpl.org
On Feb 10, 2:04 pm, "DFS" <nospam@dfs_.com> wrote:
> Here's the official response from the BPL. I'm quite sure he would like to
> tell all cheap-ass,
> demand-everything-be-free-but-refuse-to-pay-for-a-damn-thing, Linux/OSS
> wacks and cola "advocates" to personally kiss his ass, but he's a public
> person.
> "One of the most popular new services provided by the Boston Public Library...
Roy Schestowitz
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>> Protest DRM at the Boston Public Library
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | the BPL [Boston Public Library] has launched a new service powered by a
>> | company called OverDrive. The system gives BPL patrons access to books,
>> | music, and movies online -- but only if they use a Microsoft DRM system.
>
>> http://mako.cc/copyrighteous/20080207-00
>>
>> Someone ought to investigate this. The government should intervene because
>> it's a public facility.
>
> It's not all bad. I expect the backlash from thousands of Mac users and
> hundreds of Linux users will have anti-MS effects on the Massachusetts
> IT community. See also:
They have the Binary Freedom group over there. After Microsoft was caught
corrupting against ODF in MA, there's plenty of anger -- and anger that's
justified. In recent years Microsoft was not so capable of hiding its dirty
(sometime illegal) deeds.
--
~~ Best of wishes
"The danger is that Microsoft is using strategic monopolistic pricing in the
education market, with the government’s assistance, to turn our state
university systems into private workforce training programs for Microsoft."
--Nathan Newman
Martha Adams
<scol...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:db7eff4b-3495-4397...@i12g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
I certainly have a few things to say about the above discourse.
The first is, I need to apologize for my remote similarity to
the author of certain abusive, inexcusable, and very
far-off-topic text that I see here. Such language surely
reflects thinking that cannot promote any progress on this
difficult topic of "DRM."
My second point is, I recognize the need for people who make a
work to have some return from it; and the easy copying that is
possible in cyberspace appears to the author as a complete loss
of control of the work. Thus the author is not supported to do
more such work; much less to survive and prosper.
However, any such controls are as accessible to malevolent and
ideological forces, as to the producer of the work, i.e.,
censorship, news programming, and the like. Thus the idea that
all computer gear should be crippled by including controlling
hardware into it, leads directly to social controls identically
like Orwell's '1984' piece. And to citizen dossiers that would
leave the East Germans in a state of complete envy. This issue
is serious: I think I see it today. For instance, if you follow
the political news, who do you see out there besides the
Democrats and the Republicans? Where are the other political
parties? This is significant not least, because a strictly
two-party political system is going to devolve into a
one-party/two-faces system. As seems to be happening now.
So I conclude, BPL has made a very bad mistake in using any DRM
technology, in using Microsoft technology at all; and over the
long run, doing this will lead only to a BPL that is degraded
from a mission of open and free access to all people of all
information.
If BPL is serious about libraries as instruments of open
societies, then in my view, BPL should disabuse themselves of
this risky, too-easily-abused technology, starting *tomorrow
morning*. That they can point to people using this technology
is beside the point: you can find users for strychine, crack,
and many other such substances: the users argument is not
relevant to the issue. Which is, BPL, you of all people should
know better, *don't do that* DRM / Microsoft thing.
Sincerely -- Martha Adams [cola 2008 Feb 10]
Moshe Goldfarb
> ____/ Matt on Sunday 10 February 2008 19:14 : \____
>
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>> Protest DRM at the Boston Public Library
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | the BPL [Boston Public Library] has launched a new service powered by a
>>> | company called OverDrive. The system gives BPL patrons access to books,
>>> | music, and movies online -- but only if they use a Microsoft DRM system.
>>
>>> http://mako.cc/copyrighteous/20080207-00
>>>
>>> Someone ought to investigate this. The government should intervene because
>>> it's a public facility.
>>
>> It's not all bad. I expect the backlash from thousands of Mac users and
>> hundreds of Linux users will have anti-MS effects on the Massachusetts
>> IT community. See also:
>
> They have the Binary Freedom group over there. After Microsoft was caught
> corrupting against ODF in MA, there's plenty of anger -- and anger that's
> justified. In recent years Microsoft was not so capable of hiding its dirty
> (sometime illegal) deeds.
Why not reply DIRECTLY TO THE GUY IN QUESTION, ROY SCHESTOWITZ?
Scott Colford responded right here in COLA, so why not offer your opinions
directly to him?
This is your big chance Roy.
Here is his message:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/msg/3fc113ac44dc1ea5
DFS
> I certainly have a few things to say about the above discourse.
> The first is, I need to apologize for my remote similarity to
> the author of certain abusive, inexcusable, and very
> far-off-topic text that I see here.
Don't say that about [H]omer. He works hard to think up the cruel taunting
and ridiculously immature anti-MS/anti-DRM/anti-proprietary hatred he posts
to cola.
> Such language surely
> reflects thinking that cannot promote any progress on this
> difficult topic of "DRM."
DRM, as it pertains to Linux/OSS/cola, isn't a difficult topic. You have
various "free software" and Linux/OSS morons (the FSF, Richard Stallman,
local idiot [H]omer) who believe they should have the right to do with as
they wish the private intellectual property of any and everyone. They feel
slighted if they can't make endless copies, give them away to everyone, make
backup copies, play them when and where and on what device and as often as
they want, for as long as they want. In short, they have NO respect for the
creations of others, and for those person's desires to maintain legal and
financial control over their own creations. They try and hide behind the
term 'fair use' - but they decide what's fair for themselves.
Not only are they disrespectful fools, but they're hypocrites that maintain
everyone should adhere to the terms of the GPL.
> My second point is, I recognize the need for people who make a
> work to have some return from it; and the easy copying that is
> possible in cyberspace appears to the author as a complete loss
> of control of the work. Thus the author is not supported to do
> more such work; much less to survive and prosper.
This should be end of your message. If you don't like the terms under which
you can access material covered under DRM, boycott the material. (for
instance, I'll never buy a copy of the Windows game BioShock until they
relax their licensing/DRM policies so I can re/install the game as many
times as I want on my computers, for my personal use only, forever, without
having to beg them and explain I had a system crash. It's their creation
and they can do as they wish and control how often it can be installed - was
2 times at first but now it's 5 - but I won't reward them.)
> So I conclude, BPL has made a very bad mistake in using any DRM
> technology, in using Microsoft technology at all;
Shame shame shame, Martha: X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express
6.00.2900.3138
What software do you use at work? What software skills do you have?
> and over the
> long run, doing this will lead only to a BPL that is degraded
> from a mission of open and free access to all people of all
> information.
The BPL holdings ARE open for free access to all people. Linux users are
free to walk in and check out whatever they want.
Mark Kent
> Verily I say unto thee, that Mark Kent spake thusly:
>> Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> espoused:
>
>>> Someone ought to investigate this. The government should intervene
>>> because it's a public facility.
>>
>> If it's been paid for using public funds, then it is corruption in
>> action, and should be stopped. If it's privately funded, then it's
>> just daft.
>
> Well regardless of how it's funded, this is supposed to be a /public/
> library, with open access to /all/, not with some information open to
> some people, and some information withheld from others, depending on
> whether or not those people choose to financially support Microsoft.
>
Apparently, and this is just *how bad* the situation is in Boston, they
seem to be confused between accessibility (ie., for all, not just
Windows users), and "content management". Presumably nobody told them
about Helix... It amazes me that these people manage to keep their
jobs.
[H]omer
> On Feb 10, 2:04 pm, "DFS" <nospam@dfs_.com> wrote:
>> demand-everything-be-free-but-refuse-to-pay-for-a-damn-thing
I'm sick to death of you repeating that stupid bloody lie, DooFuS.
*Freedom* has *nothing* to do with *paying*.
Got it, you ridiculous; brain-dead moron?
I am, and always have been, more than happy to remunerate people for
their work, just as I expected to be for my official work. That has
bugger-all to do with open access or licensing.
As for public libraries, AFAIK they are /paid/ for with taxpayers'
money, which makes restricted access all the more condemnable IMO, since
/taxpayers/ who refuse to use Microsoft's slop will be denied access to
a service that /they/ contribute towards financially. IOW they /already/
pay, but get less than others because they're not in bed with the Vole.
> Oh, DFS. Believe it or not, I truly mean every word in that statement
> and I don't want to tell off the Anti-DRMers.
It's easy to spin this as an Anti-DRM crusade, and paint those who
oppose DRM as loony-bins who want to "steal" other's work, but this is
not about /theft/, it's about giving taxpayers ... *all* your taxpayers
... what they *paid* for. It's about open access to /everyone/ who is
entitled to it, which AFAICT is everyone in the Boston municipal area at
least ... *including* those who do not wish to support the Microsoft Mafia.
Personally I don't care /what/ solution you use, provided it is
interoperable.
> It's interesting because this one service is causing so many people
> to demand things that are not part of our mission. (Our mission is to
> bring content to the people of the Commonwealth and the City, not to
> redesign the whole publishing industry.)
Currently your mission seems to be discrimination by withholding
services from those who pay (tax) for them, simply because they refuse
to financially support a third-party enterprise.
> I've had some good initial contacts with the Defective By Design
> folks and hope to make some headway that will benefit us both. We'd
> *love* to offer DRM-free downloads, but they simply aren't available
> for the material that patrons want. Can anyone tell me where I can
> legally obtain a download of Stephen King's latest audio book without
> DRM? And one that can be *loaned* to people? See what I mean?
Please answer these simple questions:
. What form of DRM do you use to "protect" the physical books that you
lend every day, to prevent their contents being scanned or manually
copied down? How do your "content providers" rationalise the hypocrisy
of insisting on DRM for content that is already published en clair in
other forms (books)?
. How sure are you that the DRM system you have in place even works?
Most DRM schemes that I'm aware of have *already* been broken (e.g
FairUse4WM), in which case you are wasting your time, and only
punishing those with good intentions, rather than those who /wish/ to
violate copyrights, and already have the technical means to do so.
. How can you justify withholding services based on library members'
choice of operating system. Does the Boston Public Library condone
discriminatory policies in general? Will those who do not use
Microsoft Windows be entitles to a partial tax rebate in compensation
for withheld services?
--
K.
http://slated.org
.----
| "[Microsoft] are willing to lose money for years and years just to
| make sure that you don't make any money, either." - Bob Cringely.
| - http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2007/07/cringely-the-un.html
`----
Fedora release 8 (Werewolf) on sky, running kernel 2.6.23.8-63.fc8
10:16:15 up 52 days, 7:52, 4 users, load average: 0.28, 0.18, 0.13
Mark Kent
Bear in mind, Homer, that you are likely to be communicating with
the person who made this appalling decision, and has now to try
to defend it in order to keep his job.
You're quite right, of course, the excuses provided are appalling, and
the fact that he would align himself with DFS really does show that he's
in a panic, and looking for support for his huge mistake anywhere he can
find it, including Microsoft trolls in a linux group.
There is no excuse for this act in Boston, any more than there was at
the BBC.
Furthermore, as the record companies are all busily dumping DRM, even
the DRM argument is looking very weak indeed.
I suspect that this chap doesn't even realise that there are
cross-platform DRM solutions, but, if he's reading, he might now be
beginning to realise the magnitude of his error. I hope his CV is up to
date, he's likely to be needing it.
Hadron
> It's easy to spin this as an Anti-DRM crusade, and paint those who
> oppose DRM as loony-bins who want to "steal" other's work, but this is
> not about /theft/, it's about giving taxpayers ... *all* your taxpayers
> ... what they *paid* for.
What they paid for was for a service to be administered and provided in
a cost effective manner.
You seem to think they should somehow provide this service to people
with broken PCs too? Or no PC at all?
Moshe Goldfarb
>>> demand-everything-be-free-but-refuse-to-pay-for-a-damn-thing
>
> I'm sick to death of you repeating that stupid bloody lie, DooFuS.
>
> *Freedom* has *nothing* to do with *paying*.
But it's not a lie.
It's the truth.
> Got it, you ridiculous; brain-dead moron?
Time to take your meds [Homer].
> I am, and always have been, more than happy to remunerate people for
> their work, just as I expected to be for my official work. That has
> bugger-all to do with open access or licensing.
Yet you expect companies like Nvidia to give away their code so you Linux
loonies can use it in your own programs.
Just like you've apparently done with your closely guarded COLA stats
program.
> It's easy to spin this as an Anti-DRM crusade, and paint those who
> oppose DRM as loony-bins who want to "steal" other's work, but this is
> not about /theft/, it's about giving taxpayers ... *all* your taxpayers
> ... what they *paid* for. It's about open access to /everyone/ who is
> entitled to it, which AFAICT is everyone in the Boston municipal area at
> least ... *including* those who do not wish to support the Microsoft Mafia.
I rest my case.
Observe the Linux loony toon in action.
Like I said, if you libraries computers get overloaded with DDoS attacks,
you know where to start looking.
Moshe Goldfarb
> Bear in mind, Homer, that you are likely to be communicating with
> the person who made this appalling decision, and has now to try
> to defend it in order to keep his job.
So now you loony toon Linux advocates are going to start the letter writing
campaign to get him removed from his job.
Real nice.
You guys are a miserable bunch.
At least he *HAS* a job, which is more than can be said for many of you.
Roy Schestowitz in particular.
The lifetime student taking up space at 'Whats-a-matter-U".
> There is no excuse for this act in Boston, any more than there was at
> the BBC.
The BBC determined that the Linux user base was about 0.6 percent, and that
includes the various spamming attacks you Linux loonies have been hitting
them with in recent months.
By your reasoning, I'm a tax payer and I use a Commodore 64 so why doesn't
my library work with that?
> Furthermore, as the record companies are all busily dumping DRM, even
> the DRM argument is looking very weak indeed.
That was a public relations move because they know the real reason for lack
of sales is lack of talent and a terrible state of music.
Most of today's mainstream music, ie:the RIAA's cash cow, is pure noise.
> I suspect that this chap doesn't even realise that there are
> cross-platform DRM solutions, but, if he's reading, he might now be
> beginning to realise the magnitude of his error. I hope his CV is up to
> date, he's likely to be needing it.
More threats from the Linux whacks.
Moshe Goldfarb
> Apparently, and this is just *how bad* the situation is in Boston, they
> seem to be confused between accessibility (ie., for all, not just
> Windows users), and "content management". Presumably nobody told them
> about Helix... It amazes me that these people manage to keep their
> jobs.
So says Roy Schestowitz who doesn't have a job other than that of a PAID
SPAMMER.