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Re: [PLUG] Fw: Revolution OS
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On Sunday 19 May 2002 04:43, gabriel rosenkoetter wrote:
> On Sat, May 18, 2002 at 11:58:07PM -0400, Paul wrote:
> > (Just and opinion. Feel free to attempt to change my mind.) Why
> > bother boycotting Amazon? I would never use the one-click option
> > anyway! They can have the idea and the code behind it. As long as I
> > get good prices on books that are shipped quickly, I don't care.
>
> Um. Well, I disagree, but not enough to try to change your mind, I
> guess.
An appeals court lifted the injunction against B&N, which doesn't bode well
for the survival of this specious patent.
It brings up some interesting points, though. If Amazon loses (which is
certainly possible now), would you stop boycotting them? I mean, okay, they
no longer have the patent, but they tried. How long should punishment be
meted out?
Also, I believe boycotting a company does nothing. Since companies listen to
their customers more than people who wouldn't buy from them anyway, it makes
no sense.
I used to sell my CD on Amazon because at the time they had the only such
program for independent artists on a nationally-recognized site. I never
bought anything from them because their service sucked, not because of their
one-click patent. I always buy from B&N, when I have to buy new books
(half.com is my friend), but I have friends who refuse to use B&N because
their brick and mortar stores were seen as bullies toward independent
booksellers.
So the "boycotting" mentality is really pointless since nearly every company
has done something to piss someone off, but which may have done something
else which is quite commendable. Where is the line drawn? IBM was the evil
empire not too long ago, and lots of people still think they are-- should
they still be boycotted? What about other companies? Oracle? Sun? The FSF?
Boycotting is something we have the right to do but, at the end of the day,
it's just a reactionary technique and requires very little of the
participant. Better to work toward reforming patent laws than sensationalize
individual abuses of a flawed system. Of course, it's the harder path and
very few people have that kind of discipline and drive.
-Beldon
--
Brain, n.:
The apparatus with which we think that we think.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
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