[seul-edu] [Fwd: Re: Request for critique of a MS rebuttal]

[Douglas Loss <drloss@suscom.net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Request for critique of a MS rebuttal
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 17:32:41 -0500
From: Dean Pannell <dinotrac@dinotrac.com>
Reply-To: dinotrac@dinotrac.com
To: Douglas Loss <drloss@suscom.net>
References: <3CD2FF9E.5040107@suscom.net>

Here are some ideas of how I might approach it (up to about halfway 
through your piece).  Feel free to steal as much or as little as you'd 
like.

Dean

  LINUX ENABLES SAFE COMPUTER DONATIONS TO SCHOOLS

The Internet, Thursday, 02 May 2002: In an official announcement from 
the SEUL group today, spokesman Leon Brooks cleared up confusion 
created by Microsoft's misleading draconian statements on the 
acceptance of donated computers by schools and other needy organisations.

"Microsoft claims that it is a legal requirement that pre-installed 
operating systems remain with the computer for the life of the 
computer,"he said.  "Like viruses and security issues, that problem is 
a Microsoft problem, not a computing problem."

Nobody should use any  Microsoft software in violation of the 
Microsoft license and the easiest way to avoid that, especially for 
someone working with donated equipment, is to avoid Microsoft software.

The reasons become clear when you think about the nature of donated 
equipment.  First, you can never be completely sure that a donated 
computer is in compliance with its license.  Has the mother board been 
swapped out? Did the installed OS start out on another machine 
altogether?  Microsoft's policy of tying software licenses to machines 
and their aggressive enforcement practices combine to make
Microsoft software a poor and dangerous choice for powering
donated computers.

Fortunately, there is a safe, powerful and flexible alternative. 
Better still, it's free.


Using Linux, OpenOffice.org and other Open Source  software, you...

and so on and so forth.


-- 
Doug Loss          As long as I have you there is just
drloss@suscom.net  one other thing I'll always need--
(570) 326-3987     tremendous self control.
                           Ashleigh Brilliant