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From: Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch>
Subject: Re: cpu-x
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Date: 15 May 2024 18:15:43 GMT
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On Wed, 15 May 2024 13:49:34 +0000, RonB wrote:

> On 2024-05-12, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>> On Sun, 12 May 2024 18:07:49 +0000, RonB wrote:
>>
>>>> The agreements are seemingly made in such a way that the corporations
>>>> behind them can, whenever they want, come after us whenever they
>>>> want. It's unlikely that they will, and that's why most people don't
>>>> bother to read them, but the power to do so is still in their hands.
>>>> That understanding is one which should push people to use free
>>>> software instead, but I think that most people won't bother unless a
>>>> corporation does, indeed, eventually come after them.
>>> 
>>> Yep. That's why I don't take it seriously. It's all skewed against the
>>> customer. A contract is supposed to be an agreement between two
>>> parties,
>>> but these corporate wonks change the contract constantly, and it's
>>> always "take it or leave it." In other words you buy the software,
>>> plan to use it for several years and they pull the rug out from under
>>> your feet by demanding you agree to a new contract (not the one that
>>> came with the software in the first place). I think I use about two or
>>> three proprietary applications (maybe more, but I can't come up with
>>> more right now). One of those applications is Fade In. Basically one
>>> man. I've mentioned a couple times to him that such and such tweak
>>> would be nice — within a couple weeks there's a new version with that
>>> tweak implemented. The license agreement is basically, don't give it
>>> to anyone else — you can use it on your own computers (as many as you
>>> want) and they can be any combination of Linux, Windows or Mac OS.
>>> Updates are always free.
>>> 
>>> The other proprietary software (that I can think of now) is office
>>> suite that comes with TextMaker. They provide five licenses that can
>>> be divided between any combination of Linux, Windows or Mac OS
>>> machines. They're a German outfit, and seem to be well liked. But I've
>>> never read the fine print in their EULA. Maybe they have the "right"
>>> to take one of my kidneys with two hours notice, who knows?
>>> 
>>> I would imagine that a lot of these EULAs could be challenged in court
>>> if anyone cared enough to do it.
>>
>> I imagine that corporations would make the excuse that if their EULAs
>> are challenged and they can no longer set whatever conditions they
>> choose on the user, they will simply stop producing software. They tend
>> to play with that kind of stuff quite a lot, telling whoever is in
>> charge that lots of people will lose their jobs, their livelihoods and
>> by extension lots of tax income if they don't play ball. The power
>> corporations have with governments, by itself, is a good reason to
>> avoid proprietary software if you can manage it. Companies aren't all
>> bad, but the bigger the company, the worse it gets.
> 
> Agreed. If you absolutely need the application there's not much you can
> do. But just by using Linux I have very little proprietary software.

Even though I can afford to buy proprietary software, I usually find that 
the open-source ones are either better or good enough. As long as they 
don't eventually kill themselves as useful applications the way that 
Thunderbird just did, I continue using them forever.
   
>>>> I recall one woman refusing to use proprietary software because her
>>>> financial information had repeatedly been stolen. The loss came as a
>>>> result of bugs in proprietary software and malware, and she swore
>>>> that she would never allow herself to be a slave of such
>>>> easily-compromised software again. I know that she has a blog, but I
>>>> don't remember what it was.
>>> 
>>> I believe that. My wife's credit card has been compromised five or six
>>> times. She uses Windows and Windows applications.
>>
>> Mine was compromised a lot in the 2000s, but it seems to have had a lot
>> to do with the machines used at gas stations more than anything else.
>> My wallet also did nothing to block RFID signals at the time. The last
>> time it was compromised was when I bought this laptop. My wife
>> eventually let me know that Best Buy, where I bought it using a credit
>> card, had a number of complaints over the years. Whoever purchases
>> there is basically give his credit card away to thieves... I don't know
>> if it's BestBuy itself or the terrible security on the site, but it was
>> compromised soon after the purchase.
> 
> It could be a coincidence. And she uses her card a lot more than I use
> mine.

Yeah, you don't have much of a choice other than PayPal if you're making 
online purchases though.