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Free Software Foundation Demands That Microsoft Release Windows 7 as Free Software

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday January 30 2020, @02:07AM   Printer-friendly
from the pull-the-other-one dept.

takyon writes:

Upcycle Windows 7

On January 14th, Windows 7 reached its official "end-of-life," bringing an end to its updates as well as its ten years of poisoning education, invading privacy, and threatening user security. The end of Windows 7's lifecycle gives Microsoft the perfect opportunity to undo past wrongs, and to upcycle it instead.

We call on them to release it as free software, and give it to the community to study and improve. As there is already a precedent for releasing some core Windows utilities as free software, Microsoft has nothing to lose by liberating a version of their operating system that they themselves say has "reached its end."

Also at The Register and Wccftech.

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  • (Score: 3, Disagree) by barbara hudson on Thursday January 30 2020, @03:49AM (2 children)

    by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Thursday January 30 2020, @03:49AM (#951019) Journal
    Even Linux now sucks too much to be freeware. Just try giving it away. Seriously, try. I gave up more than a decade ago. People don't want an operating system , they want to run their programs and use their peripherals. For most people , that means Microsoft or Apple.

    Last time people actually got excited was the release of Windows 95, where they camped outside stores on release day and would come out with a stack of 10 CDs. Those days are gone. They don't give a shit about operating systems, they just want to use their computers . Linux doesn't let them.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @04:59PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @04:59PM (#951268)

    Yea, no one ever needed support for a Windows machine.

    • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Thursday January 30 2020, @05:56PM

      by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Thursday January 30 2020, @05:56PM (#951292) Journal

      Yea, no one ever needed support for a Windows machine.

      Most people who need "Windows support" just ask their kids, or their neighbour's kids.

      But if you install linux on their computer, guess what? YOU become the support person, because the neighbour's kids can't fix it.

      Are you really ready for the endless stream of "why can't I run/do $what_i_want_to_run_or_do", why doesn't my printer, scanner, etc., work properly, I just bought this new game and it doesn't work, how come my boss can't open the spreadsheet/document I sent them?

      Linux is the desktop computing world's red shirt. It's dead, Jim.

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