UEFI … Is Not Anti-Virus, It is Anti-Trust

Whether you like it or not Microsoft is committing antitrust measures again to attempt to gain your usage of their OS. Yes ladies and gentlemen that is correct what I just stated. UEFI is supposedly designed to “prevent” anything that looks lika a boot virus from attacking your computer. However this is not the case. UEFI will prevent you the user from being able to make an informed and deliberate choice to use or not to use Windows on your machine. Microsoft is basically making your choice for you by locking the hardware and telling you it is for your own good.

Say No To UEFI

There you can say no to this kind of activity. Right now if you go to the Free Software Foundation’s site you can sign the petition to stop UEFI from being implemented on future hardware.Do not be lied to about what you the user can and cannot do with the hardware that you, the user own.

www.fsf.org/campaigns/secure-boot/statement

Raiders of The Lost Audience Part 2 …. Where is My Content ..

If you see this title you will know immediately that this is about the DRM problem. I was home watching something on Netflix the other night when suddenly and without warning the show just disappeared. Yes, that’s right, it was removed from my instant cue without so much as a how do you do from the content provider. So I called Netflix to find out what the issue was. Originally they told us it was a server issue. Well I went searching for the content, the next day, only to find that it was still gone, not a trace anywhere in their website either.

I called them again, and found out the real reason. Not server issues, not outages that cause issues. No, it was a decision made by someone in the chain that for DRM reasons decided it needed to be taken down. Now this is the deal, I paid for their service. I paid for the content. The content I paid for was removed because of DRM and the unwillingness of media companies to learn a completely new and better way of doing business that will not only get you revenue but keep your customers supplied with the content that they pay for. Like I said in the last posting, remove the DRM and put your content under a commons license that provides for free as in freely distributive over a broad range of broadcast means.

If You Can’t Innovate … Litigate.

The idea of patenting ideas is archaic. There I said it. Patents for anything is not a viable way to innovate. Especially in this day and age of code creation and software patents run amok. Did I mention it, software patents run amok. Yep that is right this whole thing is about software patents. Microsoft, and Apple have lost their collective minds. Instead of really innovating the new craze is to be litigating. Put an idea in the minds of the masses that anything, I do mean anything that someone creates is suddenly violating a patent.

Now this is where it goes wrong, putting a patent on code means locking it down to never being able to correct errors or innovate from that code. You do that and you have just destroyed any chances of being able to help the future of the economy where software is concerned. Put a patent on it, scare off the competition with lawyers and then use the code for your own personal gain, that is the name of the game here.

This is where we the user and advocates of Open Source come in. In order to combat this sort of thing we must and I mean must never stop writing good code and sharing ideas not only among each other but with those we can help with those ideas. Never believe for one minute that corporations like Apple and Microsoft have a monopoly on invention or innovation. They do not, and we do not have to buy any of the FUD that they spread about it either.

 Please sign the petition to abolish software patents. http://wh.gov/bbn

The Raiders of the Lost Audience …

I have noticed frequently in media a problem. It is not the lack of content, no we have plenty thank you. It is another type of media problem. It is DRM and corporate FUD surrounding it.

If you are, like me, a Linux/BSD user, then you may have seen it as well. You go to a website to get some content to watch and or listen to and get the ever persistent, ‘Go to iTunes to get this ________’. Personally I do not need nor do I want iTunes. I use gpodder for all my content needs.

My whole point is the fact that because of DRM things like certain TV shows and Movies have but one point of access. Ladies and Gentleman this is the era of the Internet. By now getting Movies, Music, Educational content should be a mouse click away. For most people this is not a problem but truth is, corporations that produce content have lost a great number of viewers and listeners in the name of “anti-piracy”.

Here is the deal, if you want better inflow of customers stop locking down your content and don’t just point people to the useless and ever-growing monster that is iTunes. Get with the times and get a clue. We are out here, “The Lost Audience”, people who watch movies, read books and listen to good music, and we would gladly pay you for services that reach our demographic too. Drop DRM and go with Creative Commons. Stop using a broken archaic method of delivery and listen to your potential audience, when you do there will be a payoff for everyone.

Security Is Not Just An Option.

I don’t care what your computing situation is, security is not just an option, it is an absolute must. When you are told by a website to remove parts of your security in the name of getting something like winning a prize or printing a coupon remember that your security should come before anything else and no you must not install that toolbar no matter how much they insist on it.

Same situation goes for updating software. You really must in every situation run updates and patches. It is not just an option. Opting out of updates is dangerous and can be very risky. So can the so called automatic updates. As convenient as they appear they can be a risk when you cannot see what is going on with your machine. Truth is it is “YOUR” machine not Microsoft’s or Apple’s, but yours and because it is yours you must take care to watch what is going on with it. If you cannot keep up with it yourself then hire someone who can help you with the upkeep just make sure that the person you get to help will stand by their work.

All in all a secure computer equals a happy and comfortable user. So keep secure, keep your software up to date and Happy Computing for all.

Also recommended for your secure computing needs:

Clam Antivirus For Windows Clamwin