Neither side is interested in what’s in the user’s best interests: software freedom (meaning users are free to run, inspect, share, and modify the software at any time for any reason), paying for ongoing service such as post-sale service for hardware and help, and buying hardware the users can fully and completely own. Continue reading
Apple got caught infringing copyright again. Whether it’s GNU Go, GCC, or distributing VideoLAN Client in ways they deny themselves, Apple (or in the case of GCC, NeXT later owned by Apple) has quite a history of commercial copyright infringement. … Continue reading
This list was originally featured on another post. If you needed a complete list of reasons why you shouldn’t do business with Apple, Richard Stallman tracks such reasons. Apple’s Rotten Core mistreated workers from Apple’s own employees to the workers … Continue reading
Background In May 2010 Apple distributed copies of a computer version of the classic board game Go through its App Store. This GNU Go variant is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 (GNU GPL) which does not … Continue reading
Apple is currently distributing an electronic version of the centuries-old board game “Go” called GNU Go. GNU Go’s copyright holder is the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and part of the GNU operating system. GNU Go is licensed to everyone under … Continue reading
As if you didn’t already have enough reasons to avoid doing business with Apple, here’s one more—read The iPhone Developer Program License Agreement (versions 20100127 and 20100302). The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties organization based in San Francisco, … Continue reading
Cory Doctorow is an award-winning author of many books. He simultaneously distributes his work online at no charge and commercially through traditional book vendors. He also knows what DRM means for the reader/listener. Now he’s up for two Hugo awards, … Continue reading
Apple says they’ll drop the DRM on all iTunes tracks. Other music distributors (some which sell the same tracks as iTunes) have already done this. Dropping DRM on iTunes tracks would be less onerous than the current arrangement where some … Continue reading
The latest change to iPod software that rendered the audio listening device less interoperable has been broken. This isn’t the first time iPod and iTunes-related algorithms were broken and it won’t be the last. Read more about the news or … Continue reading
Background Apple has changed the way iPods work so that only Apple’s software can successfully manipulate the songs on an iPod. Until the new arrangement is reverse-engineered, Apple has locked in iPod users into their software, transforming a more useful … Continue reading