This is probably the last “Why I Use Linux” story that I will be posting for now. Thanks again to everyone that has submitted a story. I am so happy with how well this series has turned out. I may resurrect this series in the future. Until then, check out Lofton’s story below. It’s a great fitting to a (temporary?) conclusion to this series, as Lofton tells an interesting tale of trying to keep academic honesty going in a climate that wasn’t very friendly to honest users. Read on!
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I came to work in Asia about ten years ago, in 2000. I had a Dell laptop with windows 98, brand new lappie, new job as an English teacher, new diploma in linguistics and a new family with a wife and two step-daughters. (I’m 54 years old now, so this is phase two of my life). We arrived in China to start a new life.
Asia is like this: totally Windows, totally pirated. Every Chinese university uses a pirated, ghosted copy of Windows and MS Office. The original CDs came from Russian crackers, or so I was told at one point. Imagine the difficulty of a foreign English teacher trying to explain why attribution and citation is necessary for my students. Imagine the giggles (not really, the Chinese students don’t giggle in class) when you explain copyright and trademarks and patents in this environment.
Two years later I went to Thailand. It was, if anything, worse. Every computer in Thailand ran a pirated copy of everything. Every computer plaza had a number of software stores that sold anything you wanted for $2.50 a CD. Some CDs had thousands of dollars of software. Adobe CS 3 I remember was available within hours of its release for $6.00 for the DVD. How can you teach honesty, IP, copyright and all the rest of the framework of intellectual honesty in an environment like this?
It was my first year in Thailand when I bought a copy of Red Hat Linux, 4 I think, at one of the software places. It was a mess. I just didn’t have the time to devote to it. The second or third year, right after it came out in fact I got a DVD of Fedora core 4. It was cool, but still I had a family trying to use this and they were used to pirated Windows based stuff. Still, I was spending 4-6 hours a week keeping the laptop and an old iMac running and was getting sick of it.
I downloaded Core 5 when it came out and dual-booted for a few months before I switched entirely. In the last few years I have switched the entire family (now a total of 5 computers) over to various Linux versions, mostly Debian based, while I still use Fedora at work and Ubuntu at home (for ease of the rest of the family when they want to use my computer). The important part of my story is the why. First I want to say why I don’t do it. I don’t do it to save money, pirated versions of Windows are cheap. As well as all the other software, I don’t have to worry about cost. I don’t do it to reduce my worry over malware. I still run an anti-virus, and a root-kit check and a firewall and encryption and all the rest which takes some attention and therefore time.
Then why? It is very simple: intellectual honesty. How can I teach students about IP rights and responsibilities if I am using pirated and stolen IP based tools in class or in my office. I point out to them that I use FOSS tools, that they don’t interfere in any way with my work and are less expensive even than a pirated copy of anything. It is still difficult for the simple reason that Microsoft wants Asian piracy and actually encourages it in many subtle ways. It gives them an excuse to create ridiculous and ineffective controls that give them power over your property. They are using their “IP” (I use quotes because their ideas of IP and mine are wildly variant) rights as an excuse for intrusive property claims based on very shaky legal ideas. If you doubt how this plays out in the world then read the recent stories about “Green Dam-Youth Escort” here in China (yes I came back to China). Green Dam is based, fundamentally, on the MS idea that you don’t own your computer per se, you have the use of it through the controls built in to Windows and therefore MS actually controls your computer and thereby your access to data.
By using Open Source softwares and exemplifying them as intellectually honest ways to work and perform my duties I introduce and reinforce the idea that being intellectually honest is easy and can actually save time and money as well as giving the students a new understanding of what intellectual honesty really is.
Jeremy is a Certified IT Technician that blogs at ITNewsToday.com in his spare time. He has over ten years of industry experience, and studies the IT industry every single day. Jeremy has become an open source enthusiast over time and is studying for his Linux+ certification. He lives in Waterford MI with his wife Krystal and son Alan.
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Hi,
I am one of Thai people using Linux, Ubuntu actually.
What Lofton wrote in the article is true. In Asia especially Thailand, the “totally Windows, totally pirated” way is like the tradition of using computer software.
This issue, however, is getting better. Thanks to BSA. Thai people now know that they have to pay the software price, otherwise they would be arrested and be fined. As a side effect, Linux as well as other opensource projects are getting more attention.
Good series of articles.
I spent a few years in Brazil and software piracy was rampant there as well. I started using Linux (Ubuntu) several months ago and am pretty excited about it. It’s come a long way from the days of “dependency hell.” I’m currently considering how I might help encourage open source software in Brazil.
Brazil has a strong tradition of open source – Mandrake was more or less saved by its merger with Conectiva, a brazillian linux house. They have a government office for encouraging FOSS – called CISL.
Yes, lets all use ubuntu. There are better things out there like mepis and pclinuxos. But, god forbid. At least in the story the dude used fedora (thumbs up to not ubuntu or ubuntu derivate).
What’s with the ubuntu hate shamil?
I mean, you hate it, ok, it’s your right, but I didn’t see any ubuntu evangelism here that would require you to answer like this.
Why do you “hate” Ubuntu?
You’re missing the point. This isn’t one of the “Ubuntu sucks, use this ‘real’ distro instead” fanboy arguments.
The point is that in whatever form it takes, Linux makes more sense and precludes vendor control over your data. His point wasn’t to assert that “we all should use Ubuntu.” Grow up and stop searching for reasons to hate Ubuntu for the sake of it.
Oh, and it’s “derivative”, not “derivate”, of which Mepis and PCLinuxOS both are. I think we all need to finally just admit that without a particular corporate sponsor making headway and clearing the path for the rest, then the Distro wars ultimately will not matter.
I moved to Linux as I wanted similar separation tot he pirated market. I wanted to distance the excuse for the likes of Microsoft spying on my computer and what software I had installed. Now I have full autonomy, when using Linux. I also wanted a hobbyist community feel which Windows doesn’t have.
Everything is happening on Linux!
You are absolutely right. The hobbyist community feel is one of the most important aspect of GNU/Linux and that is probably what pulling a lot of young people into it. Truly GNU/Linux is the future
Do not see anything wrong in using Ubuntu, it is Linux and it is open source. Do not see anything wrong in using any other distro either.
Question of intellectual property and honesty is very interesting one. Should question of fair redistribution of wealth be addressed? Maybe one who working and making few Dollars daily doesn’t need to support one who is sitting on billions? Should mathematicians protect with patents their formulas and theorems? It would be really bad if people of third world must commit ‘crime’ and use pirated copies of proprietary software to gain access to knowledge and jobs. Luckily there is choice and we can try to present them with honorable alternative.
Excellent post!
Everyone should note this post.
I also work in (South) China as a teacher. I use only Linux net/notebooks in class on the projector. A fair amount of students have become interested in Linux. Hundreds of them have seen Ubuntu now so it’s sometimes routine for me. (There is a QQ group of hundreds from nearby universities) There are several angles to get people interested. All of our home pc’s run Linux including my personal HD TV. Linux user since 1997 I still enjoy getting the word out. Never buy anything with the “made for Windows” stamp anymore. Agree with everything said by author. Viruses are a huge concern here among Windows users too and it’s one way people get real interested in Linux. I advise many Chinese to think twice about using Windows for the Internet.
And here we go again. Ranting from the jealous, under-represented distros out there jealous at everyone that has just a bit more success than those RPM-based distros no one ever liked anyway. If Mepis and PCLinuxOS were THAT good they’d have a greater user base than reality shows. Get real shamil – Ubuntu IS the most widely used distro, and is so for a reason.
In Venezuela is even cheaper than asia, 50 cents a CD for a Vista Ultimate or the most expensive Office or Photoshop. The reason I use Ubuntu is similar as the exposed above, but here is a curious thing, if you want to buy a legal copy of windows, it’s so hard to find one that you probable end up with a rigged version even if you buy a supposed “legal one”; they sell fraudulent volume license key versions that they pose as OEM versions, in order that you can have all the legal updates. Microsoft free toll numbers most of the time doesn’t work, there is no way that you can buy or find a legal XP, because it was discontinued. The only way to be legal here is use linux or Mac or buy a new system with a legal Windows preloaded, but if you want a legal office your chances are dim. In Venezuela there is a strong restriction, to use your hard earned money to buy stuff over the internet (less >$400 a year)…
It’s not really honesty either. It’s fairness and justice. FOSS is just one of the tools that disenchanted people are using to combat companies like Microsoft. Microsoft, along with its business model, which is copied by innumerable companies in innumerable industries, is just a thinly disguised monopoly. The funny thing is that most people know it, but don’t seem to be bothered by it- a pretty sad state of the world.
@Jimmy, I agree with your sentiment. However for the sake of factual accuracy it should be noted that Mepis is Debian based and so uses *.debs through dpkg with an apt-get front end. PCLinuxOS although uses *rpms also uses apt-get to manage dependences and so does not act like a typical rpm based distro. And for the record I have been a Linux user for 10 years and now use Ubuntu, why… because I can:)
I used Fedora since I think Core 2 and liked it. About 6 months I thought I’d see what all the noise about Ubuntu was about and guess what, I like it too. They are more alike than not. To me, Linux is not about the desktop images that ship with the distro, it’s about freedom (from that other OS that is hateful to use) and freedom to install all the FOSS I could wish for (yum vs synactic, it matters not).
Good article
It the same case in India also.But now more and more people are turning to FOSS
The problem with closed software is that it’s very often overpriced if you take a close look at usability. Taken also in account it’s a known problem people in named country’s (and ceartainly the third world country’s) just do not earn enough money to purchase named software. They just really want it or need it, but it’s out of reach. This can only lead to lowering the mental hindrance to pirate software. When they have crossed the border between legal and pirated software the step to take anoter piece of pirated software is easy to make. They are allready on the wrong side of the fence.
Using open source software gives those people (and you and I) free and legal acces to a wide range of software. The (maybe strange) side effect is that knowing you legaly can do almost everything with open source software raises the barrier to pirate software. I have seen this happening many times. People using Linux (and other open source software) often stop using pirated software. Even expensive software running on Linux (Maya, Houdini, LightZone etc.) is rather bought than pirated. It is to far-streched to conclude the use of open software leads to beter behavior, but nevertheless I have noteced this phenomen.
About Ubuntu… Please people, don’t be so harsh. Altough Ubuntu is a very nice distro, it is not the only one. The idea of using Ubuntu soley is not so great. Using a monoculture is dangerous. Look wat happned to Microsoft software. If people come too dependent to only one branch of software, and something “happens” to that software the results are very harmfull and expensive. We have all seen it happening. So please – let there be a lot of distro’s based on several package managers. This not only avoids the dangers of monoculture, but also raises a very healtly competition. It’s this competition that brought Linux to it’s present quality – make no mistake about that…
And myself? I am using Mandriva 2009.1 and think it’s onone of the best disto’s….. for me
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I use Mandriva 2009.1 which is a lot better than the 2009 version and a lot less buggy. I have friends using Kubuntu 8.04 and the Missus & kids use Kubuntu 8.10 so a good all round founding in Linux. I looked at PCLinuxOS Gnome 2009 and liked that a lot but it still has a bug where if you have an iolder Intel graphics chip you have to do a lot of work to get your screen working, but again a very nice distro. We all have a role to play in our various distro so lets not get to in fighting. I like Linux because my machine is mine. I do not get hassled by my OS about anything. Good post on what is happening in other countries and the level of piracy that can be justified by the population their. I do understand the level of pay that third world countries are receiving in comparison to cost of software (Windows/Office etc) but can we really excuse piracy in any form when we have a free option?
A very disappointing article.
I expected it to be an analysis of how the concept of “IP” /itself/ is dishonest, but it turns out to actually support the misconception of “piracy”, and simply expounds the need to blindly obey corrupt laws without dissent.