Re: [Fsfe-uk] M$ jump on the poverty bandwagon

[Paul Tansom]

On Sat, 2005-07-02 at 15:50 -0400, Martyn wrote:
> Is it just me, or did it rile anyone else that Mr Gates appeared on Live8?
> 
> I didn't catch his entire "speech", but to me, it just gets my goat that 
> someone whos company spends such an amount on advertising products, 
> spreading FUD about Free alternatives to expensive software which keeps 
> people in poverty or piracy is claiming to be against poverty.
> 
> I can appreciate that the big names lending their support might impact 
> on the G8, but to me it just reeks of a publicity stunt to make people 
> think that M$ actually have morals.
> 
> Just wondering if we can use this two-facedness in pro-FS literature, 
> and felt like a bit of a rant, hope noone minds.

Two things immediately leaped out at me relating to Live8 and Free
Software. First was the sound bite from Bill Gates:

"if you show people the problems and you show people the solutions they
will be moved to act"

it came across as a wonderful one to use for free software (although the
original context may make this a little tricky). The problems -
unreliable and insecure software, tied in to single source, high cost of
entry for developing countries, etc., etc.; the solutions - free
software, Linux, BSD, etc. ;)

The second one was when I looked at the downloads section of the
live8live.com site. They have the option to download a video or audio
(not sure, this wasn't clear) of a couple of the songs performed (first
and last with Paul McCartney I think). The trouble is since I don't use
Windows and don't have Windows Media Player I was completely scuppered -
well according to the text I am, it may be possible to download and use
the files, but there's no further details.

On one hand not a cause to use to make a point, on the other hand could
they have raised more by making it more open to more people (although
raising awareness not money is the stated aim).

-- 
Paul Tansom | Aptanet Ltd. | http://www.aptanet.com/