Posted on 11-11-2006
Filed Under (rant) by Pete
I've got into reading Boing Boing again. Today I read a (by now probably quite old) piece on the EULA for Windows Vista. I have ranted about EULAs before on this blog, but this piece hits the nail on the head on one particular aspect of it: that a unilaterally-dictated license cannot be meaningfully described as an "agreement".
Real agreements are negotiated. You and I sit down at a table and hammer it out. Real agreements aren't "subject to change without notice." Real agreements don't make you agree not to sue for negligence. Real agreements don't make you agree to treat your property as if it still belonged to the guy who sold it to you.
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Posted on 08-11-2006
Filed Under (QOTD, computing, legal) by Pete

Debian Etch will include a browser called “IceWeasel,” which is simply Firefox rebranded with open source artwork, whereas Ubuntu Feisty will include a browser called “Firefox” which is a little bit pregnant.

Mark Pilgrim again. "A little bit pregnant" here is code for "a little bit non-free". (Apparently Firefox isn't free software because it contains non-free artwork; you can distribute it without the non-free artwork, but then you're not allowed to call it Firefox. That's what Debian is doing.)

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