Unfair competition

[David Fletcher]

On Wed, 2011-09-28 at 12:29 -0700, Ernest Doub wrote:
> 
> 
> On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 10:29 AM, Nathan Bahn <nathan.bahn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>         On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 2:38 AM, Tim Hanson
>         <tjhanson at yahoo.com> wrote:
>                 On Tuesday, September 27, 2011 12:34:22 pm Nathan Bahn
>                 wrote:
>                 > On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 3:16 PM, David Fletcher
>                 <dave at thefletchers.net>wrote:
>                 > > The thread "Windows 8's use of the UEFI Secure
>                 Boot" has been referred
>                 > > to the Vice-President of the European Commision
>                 > >
>                 http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/almunia/index_en.htm
>                 > > where the word "antitrust" appears six times.
>                 > >
>                 > > Other members of the Linux community in Europe may
>                 like to contact
>                 > > Joachim Almunia themselves about this matter.
>                 Hopefully other regions of
>                 > > the world will have similar bodies intended to
>                 defend freedom.
>                 > >
>                 > > Dave
>                 >
>                 > I'm afraid that I don't get the joke.....
>                 >
>                 > :-(
>                 
>                 Joke? Please explain.
>         
>         
>         
>         
>         The 1st sentence makes no sense; so if it's not a joke, then
>         what is it?  I certainly don't know.
>         -- 
>         Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments.
>         See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html &
>         http://www.libreoffice.org/ (Nathan Bahn)
>         
> A.  Makes perfect sense if you have been following the thread from the
> beginning.
> B.  It isn't a joke.
> Concerns have been raised about dual-boot configuration machines and
> the ability to install Linux on new motherboards employing the UEFI
> Secure Boot technology.
> There was a very widely publicized case in the EU where Micro$oft was
> prosecuted for illegally attempting to restrict competition through
> their interdependent bundled software.
> They paid a massive fine and had to make unbundled operating system
> software available throughout the EU.
> This new technology raises the same concerns and the OP is advising
> that the appropriate EU official be notified ~now~ while it is still
> easy to fix instead of after it is already deployed.
> 
> Any more questions?
> 

Thanks for that, Ernest. I knew common sense would emerge eventually.

The person who I believe used to deal with issues such as this is Mrs
Neelie Kroes. I sent my message with a link to the thread to her, and
within a few hours got a reply telling me that Joachim Almunia now deals
with such matters and that my message had been passed to him.

So, what should in theory now happen is, all of those who are passionate
about free software will be bombarding Vice-President Joachim Almunia
with their concerns and demanding that free software be protected from
any attempts at eradication by these means. Of course, after seeing the
apathy that led to the abandonment of the Wiltshire LUG monthly
meetings, I won't be holding my breath until it happens, but I can say
that I am trying my best to help protect that which is dear to us all.

Dave