[sclug] Who has the key to your Vista PC?

[Stuart Major]

Well we all knew this already!

Perhaps it's time to get political and join the only party that is 
interested in Free and Open-Source Software?


NEWS: Green Party in England & Wales

Green Party asks: who has the key to your Vista PC?

Green party slams Vista Landfill nightmare

Microsoft's latest operating system, due for release tomorrow, is  
defective by design, putting Microsoft and the corporate media in  
control of your computer. (1)

Beneath the gloss they have hidden traps that take away important  
consumer rights, force expensive and environmentally damaging  
hardware upgrades and hold back the promise of information technology.

Consumers, businesses and government bodies should protect their  
interests by migrating to free software, rather than upgrading to  
Vista, says the Green Party.

Derek Wall, Green Party Male Principal Speaker, said: "So-called  
'digital rights management' technology in Vista gives Microsoft the  
ability to lock you out of your computer. Technology should increase  
our opportunities to consume media, create our own and share it with  
others.

"But Vista helps the corporate media take away our consumer rights.  
Silence in government betrays a shocking complacency in the face of  
this latest attack on our rights."

He continued, "Vista requires more expensive and energy-hungry  
hardware, passing the cost on to consumers and the environment. This  
will also further exclude the poor from the latest technology, and  
impose burdensome costs on small and medium businesses who will be  
forced to enter another expensive upgrade cycle.

"Free software can run on existing hardware, reduces licensing costs  
for small businesses and affords important freedoms to consumers. The  
UK Government should capitalise on this opportunity to promote the  
use of free software in public bodies."

Si?n Berry, Green Party Female Principal Speaker added:

"There will be thousands of tonnes of dumped monitors, video cards  
and whole computers that are perfectly capable of running Vista -  
except for the fact they lack the paranoid lock down mechanisms Vista  
forces you to use. That's an offensive cost to the environment.

"Future archaeologists will be able to identify a 'Vista Upgrade  
Layer' when they go through our landfill sites.

"We should remember that this is about Microsoft trying to dictate  
the way that video content gets delivered - much as Apple are trying  
to do with iTunes - in order to corner the market.

"Now is the time to act, if we want to see the Microsoft monopoly  
kept out of the video market."

She added that Green Party also supported complaints by computer  
manufacturers that XAML, a Vista-only internet mark-up standard,  
would be another attempt to extend Microsoft's virtual monopoly.(2)

"Microsoft are determined not to play fair and we hope the EU stand  
up to them. The best way of course is to insist that we purchase  
products that work with open rather than closed standards."


ENDS

Notes for Editors:

(1) http://www.microsoft.com/events/executives/billgates.mspx

(2) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM. 
20070126.gtmsfteu0126/BNStory/Technology/home

Please contact the Green Party press office for further information

Green Party Press Office
020 7561 0282
http://www.greenparty.org.uk

Published and promoted by Jim Killock for the Green Party, both at
1a Waterlow Road, London N19 5NJ.






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