I was mildly interested to see if Joe “Zonker” Brockmeier would continue to spread his special brand of so-close-to-a-lie-why-not-just-call-it-that distortions once he left Novell. Well, now we have an answer:
Yes.
And – brace yourself for a shock here – he is targeting the FSF. Again. This time around, though we are treated to simple poor reason instead of the previous gross misrepresentations of Monsieurs Stallman and Moglen.
Fail the First
In his latest excretion, Mr. Brockmeier takes the FSF to task for daring to chastize Apple over DRM in the iPad. Here’s a bit of his nonsense:
But guess what? People like to consume content, and they’re going to flock to a device that lets them do so easily. Despite all the “Tivoization” complaints from the FSF, people aren’t flocking away from Tivos. Despite complaints of DRM in the Amazon Kindle, people haven’t rejected it in droves for DRM — but they very well may switch to the iPad because it’s better than the Kindle for what people want.
But guess what? People like to consume unhealthy food, and they’re going to flock to a resturant that lets them do so easily. Despite all the “eat more healthy” complaints from the doctors, people aren’t flocking away from McDonalds. Despite complaints of HFCS in every product in the supermarket, people haven’t rejected it in droves for less refined sweeteners – but they very well may switch to another product with even more HFCS because it’s better than this other product with a milligram less HFCS for what people want.
Mr. Brockmeier absolutely (intentionally?) misunderstands Defective by Design as a “marketing campagin”, when it is an educational campaign. The FSF is not conducting a “marketing campaign” because it is not trying to sell a product. It is conducting a educational campagin, because the FSF already knows what people like, and it wants to change what people like by educating them about the consequences of their actions.
Fail the Second
While Defective By Design highlights legitimate problems with the iPad (and other products) where are the alternatives? Stop telling people what they shouldn’t buy, and make it easier for them to get hands on some kit that lets them do what they want to do with free software. In other words, stop groaning about Apple and deliver a DRM device of your own, already.
When exactly did the FSF enter the hardware manufacturing business? Do you expect doctors that tell their patients to eat healty to come home and prepare meals for them too?
It would be nice if the FSF had the resources to produce a totally Free version of the iPad. But that’s not their bag, baby. It’s not a failing they don’t have the resources to single-handedly create an economic ecosystem, supply chain, and manufacturing and distribution channel to produce a consumer product they would like to see – because that is not the business they are in.
This is like chastisting Thomas Jefferson for only writing the Declaration of Independence, but not going on to win the Revolutionary War single-handedly.
#1 by saulgoode on January 29, 2010 - 6:05 am
As a programmer, I prefer my lists to zero-indexed, so I would insert the following:
Fail #0 (Fail The Zero-th?)
The hypocrisy/hubris/solipsism of denouncing others’ actions of denouncing others’ actions… If one were to accept Mr Brockmeier’s argument as valid, I should think that same argument (i.e., the problem ‘is that they are taking an entirely negative and counter-productive approach to the problem’) would equally apply to Mr Brockmeier’s “marketing campaign” opposed to Defective By Design’s.
If he believes it wrong to denounce that with which one disagrees then he should not have expressed his own objection — unless it’s only wrong if other people do it (or perhaps only when the Free Software Foundation does it).
#2 by Jason on January 30, 2010 - 4:40 am
Saul,
Quite so. As I have said quite frequently, it is not the disagreement in views that its troublesome – it is the dishonesty in the support of those disagreements that offends me.