Re: [gentoo-amd64] Re: How To Play WMV (thread drift - slaveryware)

[Bob Sanders]

felix@×××××××.com, mused, then expounded:
>
> It absolutely is just like a car, or a house, or anything else.  If my
> house could only be modified by the original builder, it would never
> be modified -- I'd never even get a picture hung for want of being
> able to put a nail in a stud.  Now maybe I can't add a drawbridge to
> my house myself, I can't do the welding or design, but my friend
> could, and did.
>

And this points out some of the irony I find amusing.  If I or someone
else wants to add a piece of hardware to a motherboard supporting an
Intel processor, not only does it cost lots of money,  I have to sign
away certain rights for the privledge to do so.  And even then, I
may not be allowed to do anything at all because it's of no interest to
Intel - won't sell enough platforms, or Intel may choose to take my
idea and do their own.  On the other hand, I pay my money to the
HyperTransport Org, agree to contribute bus specific IP back to the
the organization, and I'm free to do as I please.  Even, with a bit
of NDA and some loss of rights, use AMD's cpu socket.  But AMD isn't
going to stop me from persuing most things.

Yet, in all of this, I read that folks most sincere about "freedomware"
will gladly go out and by Intel platforms simply because they, or
someone else can write code for Intel's graphics chip or because
Intel's current platform has great benchmark numbers, even though
it limits their choice of hardware - Intel chips, and vendors -
only those blessed by Intel with the secret knowledge of their bus.

While this isn't meant to be Intel bashing, nor trying to portray
AMD as some kind of saintly corporate enitiy.  Given the stances
that have been expounded here, if it's really good to have choice
and freedom in software to avoid lockin, why doesn't this thinking
extend to the hardware?  Or is it just fine that your Corporate
Master is a hardware company?

> There is a HUGE difference between slaveryware and freedomware.  A
> vital essential difference.  It is why I run Linux myself.
>

I run Linux, and Gentoo specifically, because I dislike being told
what I can do on my computer and how I am to do it.  I run an AMD platform
because I dislike being told there is one way my platform shall operate,
and from whom I shall buy my chips from.   (Note, the what and how,
for me doesn't include going without a package manager, nor is
messing with CFLAGS of interest to me.)

Bob
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