[governance] Verisign to control what operating systems you can run on your computer

[Deirdre Williams]

I suppose that in the way that the world looks at these things I'm "your
mum".
I had a disaster a couple of months ago - my dog jumped onto my desk and
pee-ed on my laptop.
So I had to buy a new laptop.
Which came with two trial versions pre-installed - Norton anti-virus which
told me 30 days and gave me frequent reminders of when it would expire
And Office 10 - which didn't - it simply said it was a trial version.
I had a serious backlog of work to deal with so foolishly just used the
Office "because it was there".
Every time I opened the program it reminded me that it was a trial version
only.
Until the middle of a Sunday afternoon, while I was working on an urgent
reference letter for someone, when the program suddenly went dead in my
hands.
While I was still hitting the ceiling I wrote to Microsoft, and, among
other things :-), asked for help to retrieve my intellectual property on my
computer which was apparently locked by their software.
After I calmed down I downloaded Open Office and the world steadied again.
The next day my reply from Microsoft was instructions for buying their
software - no other help.
Perhaps the message is - remember Confucius - if you're going to be raped
just lie back and enjoy it!
Deirdre


On 7 June 2012 08:47, Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org> wrote:

> On 07/06/2012, at 8:21 PM, Daniel Kalchev wrote:
>
>  I believe this is a bit misleading...
>
> It is not Verisign, but Microsoft, who are trying to lock computer
> hardware to their OS.
>
>
> But the money goes to Verisign, and they are Verisign certificates (issued
> underneath Microsoft's root).  (Though as I have almost equal contempt for
> Verisign and Microsoft, I don't mind blaming either of them.)  The reason
> why it is Verisign rather than any other CA is just because that's the one
> that Microsoft requires you to use to participate in this programme.
>
> For the desktop, because of existing Windows versions that apparently do
> not support this "secure boot" technology, this restriction is optional.
> You will be able to switch it on or off in the BIOS.
>
>
> But, of course, only technical users will do that.  It's just enough of a
> stumbling block to prevent ordinary computer users like your mum from
> trying any other operating system than Windows.
>
> None of this will impact Linux or other OS running on "PCs". And it is not
> really anything to involve Verisign with.
>
>
> So I disagree with your conclusion.
>
>    --
>
> *Dr Jeremy Malcolm
> Senior Policy Officer*
> Consumers International
> Kuala Lumpur Office for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East
> Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur,
> Malaysia
> Tel: +60 3 7726 1599
>
> Follow @ConsumersInt <http://twitter.com/Consumers_Int>
>
> Like us at www.facebook.com/consumersinternational
>
> Read our email confidentiality notice<http://www.consumersinternational.org/email-confidentiality>.
> Don't print this email unless necessary.
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________
> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
>     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
> To be removed from the list, visit:
>     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing
>
> For all other list information and functions, see:
>     http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
> To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
>     http://www.igcaucus.org/
>
> Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t
>
>


-- 
“The fundamental cure for poverty is not money but knowledge" Sir William
Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize Economics, 1979
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20120607/50a16e12/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t