Re: The problem with not owning the software

On 12/31/2024 5:10 AM, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:

Le 31-12-2024, DFS <guhnoo-basher@linux.advocaca> a écrit :

On 12/21/2024 7:26 AM, CrudeSausage wrote:
>

The moment you require an online account to verify if you are the person
who bought the software, you don't own it.

>
>
You don't own GuhNoo-GPL software either.  The only sofware you actually
own is stuff you write for yourself, or that you get copyright to.
>
You don't own public domain stuff, either.

 It means nothing to own an immaterial stuff in a general sense. Nobody
owns any software, music or book. Some own the right on it, it's not the
same. Or some own a digital copy of it. It's still not the same.

It means a LOT to own digital and intellectual property: software, music, books, videos, patents, blueprints, even recipes such as the Coca-Cola formula.  Any intellectual property can and almost always is owned by a legal entity, be it you or me or Microsoft or Paramount Pictures (movie studio).  I'm not telling you anything new.
"This software is licensed, not sold" is the basis for Microsoft's immense wealth and power.

Now, you can own the exclusive privilege to manage what's on your own
computer (in a large sense, a smartphone is a computer, too). With FOSS,
you can be the master. With Windows and Mac, you can hope they won't do
anything bad, but you have no certainty.

Linux users THINK they can be the master, but since virtually nobody audits FOSS code it's easy for a bad actor to mess with Linux systems. For instance, until I told him about it, the pathetic and smug Feeb didn't know his precious Cooledit spyware program phoned home upon install to tell the developer about the computer it was being installed on.
Open or closed source, it's all based on trust.  I trust MS, but I feel a little more certain Linux distros and FOSS developers won't mess with my software installation.
But day to day, I don't even think about it.

Microsoft already changed
Windows behaviour putting the config files on their cloud. You can tell
as long as you want, that without proof we can't accuse them of
anything. The fact remains that never doing anything bad in the past is
no certainty they won't change in the future.

Yes.  The situation that MS can and has mistakenly deactivated valid Windows license keys is a travesty.

Look at what Amazon did, when people believed they managed the kindle
and the books they bought. Before, there was no proof. After, there is
proof, but it's too late:
<https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html>
You can say that they removed illegal stuff refunding the customers, but
the fact remains: people discovered Amazon, not they, manage the kindle
they had in their hands and can interfere.

ALL this is a battle between good and evil:
Good: content creators and Windows users
Evil: pirates and Linux people