The future of Ubuntu Linux.... Will it make Micky$oft go bankrupt?

[Graham Todd]

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On Tue, 12 May 2009 21:25:38 +1000
Karl Auer <kauer at biplane.com.au> wrote:

> Given that Skype is also free, it's a bit of a slam-dunk. Most people
> couldn't care less about free-as-in-freedom, as long as a) it works
> and b) they don't pay for it.
[snipped]

Well, in that cases its up to the Linux community to educate them.

I don't mind paying for an application if it works, but what I dislike
is the limiting of my freedom with regard to the software I use, and
that is why I dislike the fact that the Skype protocol is bound to the
one brand of software.  And because it is limiting the software
development of Skype to a restrictive OS (which seems to me a very
dangerous principle), and hardware development is being progressively
locked in to that one OS, the Linux community has a legitimate
complaint in regard to the erosion of our freedoms.

Progressively, more and more information is held digitally and
transferred via the internet.  We are continually in danger that at any
time access to that information could be restricted even more than it
is now, by people who are not answerable or accountable to anyone for
doing so.  Think what would happen if our institutions of learning had
information restricted in this way.

There is an alternative VoIP protocol to the Skype protocol which is
"free-as-in-freedom": its called the SIP protocol.  It transfers voice
messages over the internet and there are a great many service providers
which use the SIP protocol with added bonus facilities.  For those who
wish to use VoIP services and use Linux, using SIP is the obvious way
to assert their wish not to be fettered by restrictions.

- -- 

Graham Todd
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