If you use Open Office or Linux you may be a Communist

[Anlushac11]

Open source software is a communist plot - The Inquirer

This is enough to make me punt Windows off my PC and run Ubuntu as my main OS.

I already use Firefox, Open Office and Win7z so that apaprently makes me at Communist at worst and a Socialist at best because by not buying expensive bloatware I am harming the software industry.

What a crock of shit.

Build better software that works, isnt bloatware, and doesnt cost your first born male child to use, get rid of the draconian user agreements, then there would be no need for open source.

[Admiral Donutz]

Originally Posted by Anlushac11

Open source software is a communist plot - The Inquirer

This is enough to make me punt Windows off my PC and run Ubuntu as my main OS.

I already use Firefox, Open Office and Win7z so that apaprently makes me at Communist at worst and a Socialist at best because by not buying expensive bloatware I am harming the software industry.

What a crock of shit.

Build better software that works, isnt bloatware, and doesnt cost your first born male child to use, get rid of the draconian user agreements, then there would be no need for open source.

IS this an other piece of news that must be from some satire or humour show or what?!

Just... ugh. Sure, non-proft, open software... a community effort is something social and unselfish. But being social and unselfish isn't generally seen as something bad. Labeling them as commie or socialist is rather farfetched, those ideologies may have social equality/fairness as a main pilar but that doesn't make it the same. Infact itpretty much discredits whoever is making these statements as an uninformed, misguided person.

Even with commercial products, offering fair quality and a fair price under fair conditions (= quality. Ofcourse the balance may lay elsewhere from perosn to person depending on budget, use, experience, knowledge etc.) you'd still have people setting up a hobby project of their own. But yes, if enough people don't find the quality they are looking for, don't eb suprised that they will look elsewhere or setup their own program (hobby/non-profit or profit orientated).

[Dragonelf68]

Wow. This is just really fucking stupid. Put India on a watch-list just because they want to use free-ware? That's complete bullshit. Obviously they're doing it to save money and because the free-ware is almost as good or better as the stuff you have to pay for.

[Schofield]

So basiclly, anyone who uses a good OS is a commie? The only reason I use Windows is for games, literally the only reason, its a POS for everything else. In my opinion.

[Rich19]

The whole point of capitalism is that consumers get the best deal for themselves that they can. If there is a free version of software out there, then forcing people not to use it would be harming capitalism.

[Roaming East]

capitalism = making money. Not helping consumers.
Consumers NOT paying money to get a product is a fine example of Communism you Leninist bastards.

[Nittany Tiger]

I love the wording used in this articles. The RIAA and MPAA cartels.

Anyway, I don't the Free Software Foundation will let them get away with this.

Anyway, though Ubuntu 9 doesn't run well on my old machine (in fact, it's more unstable than Vista), I'm happy to be red for the advancement of the scientific front. I'm using Linux with its free text editors and compilers for my Master's project.

EDIT: After scanning this page more, I really wonder if this story is factual.

[Pethegreat]

Quick someone summon Richard Stallman!

There are some cases where FOSS software is superior to commercial products(firefox, FLAC, VLC, ect), in other cases commercial software is better(MS office, engineering programs). If companies want to kill FOSS they need to do 2 things; offer a superior product and have it priced reasonably. Pricing products reasonably also reduced piracy. Some people would be willing to pay $250 for Photoshop, but not $600+. Because they don't have the money or feel like paying that much they pirate it.

I got to see Stallman last week when he came to my university to give a talk about copyright. He said that copyright is useful because it gives people incentive to make new things. However he against the idea of extending copyright beyond what it is now, and he does not like the lengths to which companies are going to protect copyrights because they are hurting consumers and hampering development.

[Commissar MercZ]

I'm not to sure of the reliability of this article, but it's safe to say a lot of the larger business concerns are not supportive of open source software. Not just for the fact that it's free, but that it may be used as a back door for illegal software.

I had posted a thread awhile back about the ACTA, which is very much something that could squeeze out open source software. With the concentration of software into a small number of companies who can cry infringement on anyone else, they can definitely monopolize things.

The defenders of those measures argue that by having copyright protection, it gives incentive and rewards hard work. On the flip side however, it can squeeze out new innovation and petrify the industry.

But does it make one a communist or socialist for supporting it? I don't think so. Some of the proponents of open source have views that these things should be a public good of sorts, to be freely shared and improved upon by the people, but I think the benefits of open software can be appreciated by anyone. They have also given potential for third world areas who can't otherwise make software accessible to the people, either due to price or language concerns.

[*The.Doctor]

Well i guess i'm a commie then since every bit of software i have installed right now besides games and Windows itself are either open source or free.