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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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Free Software Foundation Demands That Microsoft Release Windows 7 as Free Software
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Can anyone remember when the times were not hard, and money not scarce?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday January 30 2020, @05:00AM (1 child)
Your view is extremely biased. What you don't understand is that their use of GPL precludes any copyright protection for them. So we can take what they don't release and disassemble it ourselves. Copyright law is too corrupt at this point to deserve any respect.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Thursday January 30 2020, @03:55PM
When anyone uses the GPL, they are not "precluded" from copyright protection. In fact, the copyright protection, which they actually have, is the only legal force of power to enforce the GPL.
Now maybe you interpret "preclude copyright protection" to mean "preclude certain business models". But that is NOT what copyright protection means.
When you create a creative work fixed in tangible form, you automatically have copyright protection. Copyright law gives you certain exclusive rights over your work and the ability to recover civil damages against anyone unauthorized who exercises any of your exclusive rights -- such as copying, distribution, performing, sale, etc. To initiate a lawsuit you do need to register your copyright.
While I have little love for copyright law, and what it has become, I very much love the ingenious hack which the GPL represents. It uses the full force of law to ensure the GPL's goals.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.