Microsoft trying to prevent Linux on ARM hardware
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This seems very dangerous indeed. But ARM is an important platform for phones and possibly some other mobile devices to run on. Google will very likely do something against it, it can't be in their interest to loose the battle for mobile devices so soon.
Even if secure boot on ARM hardware will be implemented in that ridiculous way, Google will have to be able to get the keys or something to make Android work. If Android will be bootable even with Secure Boot, distros that run with Linux might be too someday.
The best solution to this whole mess would ditch Secure Boot entirely, but unfortunately it doesn't look like it's going to happen...
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Looks like it shoulda been Balmer instead of Jobs that croaked. Bastards.
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I can understand how you feel, but consider what a jerk Balmer is and how his acting impacts Microsofts image ;) Jobs was a much better leader than Balmer, actually likeable if you aren't aware of freedom issues with the software. Jobs being not there anymore is a big impact on Apple, Balmer going away would imho strengthen Microsoft, no one can possibly be a bigger jerk than he is.
The current problem here in the US with computers is that if someone buys one, it is usually through a major store like Best Buy or Walmart while some turn to Amazon or Dell.com for online sales. Of course there are Apple Stores and Microsoft trying to expand on their Microsoft Stores outside of Bellevue, WA.
People say that desktop Linux failed because Microsoft essentially took control of those types of distribution channels with Windows PCs and the custom Linux machines were repressed to a hidden page on Dell.com or small online stores located in Europe that no one knows about.
Where does Linux stand for the future? Can we try to get businesses that do not like the upcoming Windows 8 UI to give us a chance? Even if they do, the desktop environments are so fragmented and all over the place. Do they want XFCE? MATE? Cinnamon? Unity? Gnome Shell? What I really like about Trisquel is that the default Gnome 2 look is one of the better looking ones out there and easiest for Windows Vista/7 users to transition to. Especially with the transparent bottom panel.
With Ubuntu testing the waters with their own ARM compatible version, it makes you wonder if Trisquel ever thought of doing an ARM version with Ubuntu's code like they do currently with the main desktop. I know Trisquel's resources are much lower than big companies and there has to be a way to make it more popular.
Microsoft can buy their way into people's homes. Trisquel and Linux in general has to win their hearts and get a frickin' break.
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The way GNU/Linux moves forward is by improving the product (funding the development of free software), making it readily available (ThinkPenguin.com, catalogs, TV, phone, brick and mortar availability with sales people dedicated exclusively to a product line), and marginalizing non-free software (exclusion or otherwise putting it at a disadvantage). Non-free software is the Achilles' heel of GNU/Linux. It is what makes all platforms hard to use. GNU/Linux distributions, Microsoft Windows, and Apple's OS X all included. Each non-free component brings with it problems and eliminating those components can be hard. We don't have perfect replacements. Ultimately though free versions are better and easier for users and developers alike.
You've explained the situation well. As you've said, the problem is how to persuade more people to use GNU/Linux. One way is what I call micro-marketing. By that I mean showing GNU/Linux to friends, family and co-workers and sharing the benefits. Then if they like GNU, offering to help them make the switch.
I've been doing this kind of micro-marketing for the past three or four years, mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area suburbs. I had grand dreams of seeding an explosion in GNU/Linux adoption, but I've started to grow disheartened lately.
The people I've shared GNU/Linux with have adapted well to their new operating systems, and that's great, but they don't do much to continue sharing with others. I think they're content with just using it, perhaps even taking it a little for granted. Maybe the only time people talk about their computers is when something goes wrong. These people have had relatively few issues, all minor (usually related to the web browser).
Last week, a friend of mine was pretty quick to blame GNU/Linux when she couldn't send attachments through the hotmail live.com website. As it turns out, Microsoft's live.com server was having issues, and it had nothing to do with her browser or with GNU/Linux. I think she naturally wonders if she would be having this issue if she were using Microsoft Windows.
It was like pulling teeth to get my cousin to try out GNU/Linux. He finally caved, and now he has a dual-boot setup. He seems to like the GNU/Linux system, but maybe for all the wrong reasons. He doesn't seem to really care about the freedoms, and he doesn't ever talk about software freedoms with others.
He told me that he was sitting with a bunch of San Francisco MUNI bus drivers a few weeks ago, and he observed one man helping another with a decision on what computer to buy next.
The man, who gave his advice with a great deal of confidence, said that Windows is for people who are technologically savvy, Apple looks nice, but is for people who don't know how to use computers, and "Linux is just old."
What does that even mean -- "is just old"? Does he mean it's old as in out-of-style? Old as in mature? I was disappointed that my cousin did not interject and enlighten these people a little. I don't think I'm disappointed in him. I'm disappointed in myself for not being able to inspire him to care about software freedoms as much as I do. I'm also disappointed that the people being asked for advice about computers don't know what they're talking about.
On a more positive note, even though I have not seeded an exponential spread of GNU/Linux in the San Francisco Bay Area, the people who were convinced by me to try GNU/Linux have stuck with it (with just one exception). These people include an elderly Carnegie Hall concert pianist, a construction worker, a yoga instructor, a cosmetologist, an immigrant family with young kids, an elderly Church event organizer, an English instructor at an art college, my cousin, a storyboard artist, and a charter school that allowed me to set up a computer lab for them on a bunch of old, donated, beige-colored desktop computers. I volunteered at the charter school after an elementary school in San Jose rejected my donation of a GNU/Linux desktop.
The IT guy at the San Jose elementary school had posted a craigslist ad in search of computers for the school's students, and I responded with an offer to give him my GNU/Linux desktop if he promised to keep using only free software on it.
His reason for the rejection was that the school had already paid for a contract with Microsoft for Windows licenses. It was as if the guy had gone out and bought spoiled milk for a bunch of starving kids. Then, along comes a cow full of milk. The man looks at the cow, pauses for a moment, an then resumes feeding the kids the spoiled milk. The spoiled milk is already paid for, he reasons, so the kids will damn well drink it.
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Advocating for free software is really hard, I can't manage to get the message accross to most my friends too. People are too used to think in practical terms about software, that's the problem. Schools should start using free software in IT classes and tell kids something about free software in philosophy classes.
When that's happening, we have basically won, because from then it will be only two generations at most until everyone demands freedom while using a computer.
Agreed. Case-in-point was this past Thursday at my "Authorized Mac Reseller" store on my campus. I cringed listening to a poor student salesman pitch why a student needed a $1300+ Facebook machine; the only reason why I didn't intervene was because I knew she needed the commission and I tend not to do such a thing to fellow sales people. There was, however, one gentleman who was eying a copy of Microsoft Office for Mac while standing at the checkout desk with me. I politely interjected (after hearing the ludicrous price Microsoft demanded users to pay) and discussed LibreOffice and the Four Freedoms. The man was so blown away he said he was seriously going back to his dorm room to look it up.
There are ways to make compelling cases for the Freedoms rather than the Functionalities; it's part of the fun of being a can-GNU kind of person.
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It is possible to get people up and running on free software or mostly free software. The trick is to make sure they have the support for it. Most users don't know any better. You can stick a GNU/Linux system in front of them and it is easier to figure out than a new version of whatever they had prior (assuming they owned or used a computer in the recent past).
The thing to remember is you alone won't achieve much. The best thing you can do to help achieve massive adoption and promote free software is to commercialize on it. There is nothing wrong with earning money from it. The goal is freedom. Charging for free software is OK. I probably wouldn't attack it that way from a business perspective though. Some people have done it that way with success although probably for the wrong reasons. However not everybody is technically adept at downloading or installing software. Burning an ISO is technical! So there is a great opportunity here to charge for your time. I wouldn't suggest installing GNU/Linux on old/new computers that weren't designed for it though. There are just too many issues you will run into. Even where everything works initially.
My advise is to advertise computer repair services. Get business cards printed. Prints LOTS. Charge for your time and sell people computers, hardware, etc. If something doesn't work with free software tell them it isn't supported any more. Then sell them something that is.
Places you can distribute business cards: pizza shops, family restaurants, grocery stores, cafes, barber shops, and hundreds of other types of places.
If anyone wants to do this let me know. I've got plenty of marketing materials, inexpensive sites for cheap and quantity printing, etc. I can literally give you a business plan. I can pretty much guarantee within three years you will have sufficiently built up the business to quit whatever job (if you are working and out of school) you have now. Maybe slightly longer if you are making $80k+ USD a year.
Chris,
I'm planning to start offering computer repair services, and have eyes on start teaching IT & related stuf, within the principles of Free Software. I'm studying for that.
I'll be grateful to you for any help in this matter!
Gustavo C. Manzochi
P. S.: Indeed, what would be the best way to contact you?
Hello Chris,
This is very encouraging advice and intriguing. I'd be very interested in your business plan. What would be the best way to contact you?