Just a reminder-- the meeting is in 90 minutes!
How did the meeting go? Sorry was unable to make it then...
Title: Proprietary operating systems have a majority market share
Description:
Proprietary operating systems have a majority market share in the new desktop PC marketplace. This is a bug, which Ubuntu is meant to fix. As the philosophy of the Ubuntu Project states, "Our work is driven by a belief that software should be free and accessible to all."
<<Ubuntu software is free. Always was, always will be. Free software gives everyone the freedom to use it however they want and share with whoever they like. This freedom has huge benefits. At one end of the spectrum it enables the Ubuntu community to grow and share its collective experience and expertise to continually improve all things Ubuntu. At the other, we are able to give access to essential software for those who couldn’t otherwise afford it – an advantage that’s keenly felt by individuals and organisations all over the world.>>
* http://www.ubuntu.com/project/about-ubuntu/our-philosophy
Non-free software is a form of subjugation for computer users, taking away control over their own machines. Additionally, proprietary software is restricting innovation, creating artificial scarcities that exploit less wealthy populations, and limiting software developers from being able to create new tools to benefit the world.
This bug is widely evident in the PC industry.
Steps to repeat:
1. Visit a local PC store.
2. Attempt to buy a machine without any proprietary software.
What happens:
Almost always, a majority of PCs for sale have a proprietary operating system like Windows or Mac OSX. In the rare cases that they come with a GNU/Linux operating system or no operating system at all, the drivers and BIOS may be proprietary.
What should happen:
A majority of the PCs for sale should include only free software.
* http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
* http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines
* http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd