Archive:Free markets

See the blog post about a car only Microsoft can fix.

Quote(from said blog):

"When you buy a computer that runs Windows, itâ€™s like buying a car with the hood welded shut. Thereâ€™s no way to tell what is under the hood. There could be a car bomb under the hood, or a leaking gas line, but there is no way for you to tell until the car explodes.

A computer running open source software is like a normal car, where you can open the hood and look inside, and identify problems yourself. Even if youâ€™re clueless about cars, you can at least change the oil, and if youâ€™re a car hobbyist you can tinker with it, replace parts, or even hot rod the car. If you donâ€™t have the time or knowledge to fix your own car, you can take a normal car to your mechanically inclined neighbor, or any car repair shop in the nation.....

Truth is stranger than fiction.

As our cars become more computerized, the battle between proprietary, closed structures and free, open structures, between Microsoftâ€™s worldview and the Linux worldview, expands into the automotive market. As mentioned on Stephen Lanielâ€™s Unspecified Bunker, car companies are closing off the computer interfaces that mechanics need to repair cars, and itâ€™s destroying the business of independent mechanics.

We are standing at a critical turning point in history: either the system of proprietary control will expand to engulf everything that digital technology touches, or digital technology will result in an flourishing Internet Renaissance, where ideas can travel freely, and people are independent because they are able to help one another. It will be a sad day when we cannot help our neighbors, and when we need help we can only turn to the corporate machine and consume, consume, consume."