TCPA and the War effort

[Bill Kendrick]

On Mon, Dec 16, 2002 at 10:12:26AM -0800, Christopher Wagner wrote:
> The very thought of the government having the ability to shutdown my
> computer (or do anything else with my computer) without my consent or
> knowledge at there whim disturbs me greatly.  If I was forced into a
> situation like that, I would no longer use the computer.  I'd find something
> else to do with my life.  I trust the government with that power about as
> much as I trust M$ to make a secure, stable and powerful OS.

That's the crazy thing.  Microsoft (and so many other proprietors
of proprietary software) are already doing stuff like this!
I'm shocked that people even still use Windows.  I guess this proves
people really rarely read EULAs!


  Check the Fine Print

  http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/02/02/11/020211opfoster.xml 

  "Microsoft has found a creative way to obtain authorization from users to
  access their workstations at will. ... 'The idea that Microsoft can change
  our software without notifying us is totally unacceptable,' said one
  corporate IT manager. 'Any alteration to our standard configuration can
  only be rolled out after careful evaluation and testing. Does Microsoft
  have no clue?'"


  Windows XP may steer users' Web choices

  http://public.wsj.com/sn/y/SB991862595554629527.html

  "Wouldn't that be something?' [Gartner analyst Michael Silver] said.
  'You spend millions of dollars designing a Web site, and Microsoft has
  a Smart Tag that sends (users) to one of (Microsoft's) own sites.'"



Other nice articles on Microsoft, and reasons to avoid it, are here:

  http://www.lugod.org/microsoft/


-bill!