Originally posted by synthil
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- Here, in Chile, a license of Windows 7 Home Premium can cost one third of one family's income. And Chile is a middle-income country. Please, imagine African families. Would you buy a license of Windows if it costs $4,000?. In purchasing power, it's something like that for a lot of families here. And we can't afford anything Apple-made (the most basic iMac can cost here $2,000, thanks to the marvel of freight, and that doesn't include the translation into purchasing power). So, our choices are Linux and Windows XP Unattended Edition (a very popular pirate distribution of cracked Windows and a lot of cracked software). And as you may know, that's illegal. We need Linux in the desktop.
- How can you develop a software industry, in a developing country, with proprietary software? In the Windows world, you must update yourself or die. In Linux world, you can learn C and be a powerful developer for years to come. Obsolescence isn't an issue with Linux. We need free software, so developers can study the code, learn to code, and code their own solutions. With five Windows' licenses you can cover the wage of a full time developer here, so it's cheaper too for our industry. We need Linux in the desktop.
- How can you respect the rights of your people? I'm doing my thesis to be a lawyer, and, really, open source is, like a Peruvian deputy said, a need for a State respectful of human rights. In Brazil, the voting system is electronic and powered by free software. A government entity holds the source code, and anyone can request a copy and review the whole system. Tell that to Diebold. For electronic government, and for a strain of savings along all the not-so-well-funded government offices here, we NEED Linux on the desktop.
- How can you introduce your children into the world of computers? For the price of four Windows Starter licenses, you can build a computer here. So, every four computers here you can have a fifth one with the savings, perfect for a country with a computers deficit. And, since the epoch of Windows XP Angelical, BioWindows and the like is fading thanks to Microsoft, we'll start to see massive Linux defections very soon. WE NEED LINUX IN THE DESKTOP.
I know that NVidia's is a less than ideal solution, but it's a good solution, because NVidia is enabling a lot of free software to work at its fullest. They maintain a good working Linux driver, and in exchange, every computer I have has a NVidia graphic system. And don't forget their driver is free (as in price), so they aren't charging a dime for it. And that makes all the difference for us, people who lives in a country less developed than your beloved USA.
If you want serious 3D gaming, please, forget about the computer and buy a console. They come with the same kind of DRM that PC games, so, there's almost no difference. Maybe better graphics, but if you are into that, buy yourself a PS3. Gaming is not cheap. And NVidia efforts can convince a lot of independent game writers to write their games also for Linux, make them free software (as in freedom) and release them. For one, I seriously doubt that Nexuiz could exist if the blob released by NVidia hadn't been released at all.
NVidia has started the Linux gaming trend. And we must thank them for that. Let the Nouveau team have the torch of the reverse engineering efforts, and recognize the nv driver as a useless piece of crap that, thanks to God, is now dead.
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