Vista gets slated by the Green Party
We put out a press release today laying into Microsoft Vista (digg it!). Quoth the release:
Microsoft's latest operating system, due for release tomorrow, is defective by design, putting Microsoft and the corporate media in control of your computer. Beneath the gloss they have hidden traps that take away important consumer rights, force expensive and environmentally damaging hardware upgrades.
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Derek Wall, Green Party Male Principal Speaker, said: "So-called 'digital rights management' technology in Vista gives Microsoft the ability to lock you out of your computer. Technology should increase our opportunities to consume media, create our own and share it with others.
"But Vista helps the corporate media take away our consumer rights. Silence in government betrays a shocking complacency in the face of this latest attack on our rights."
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Consumers, businesses and government bodies should protect their interests by migrating to free software, rather than upgrading to Vista, says Wall."
Coverage on the day before the Vista release is already filtering in. There's a nice article on BBC News that includes Derek's quotes at the bottom. Slowly the idea that upgrades aren't necessarily good, that DRM and new hardware requirements aren't part of a sustainable society, and that the Green Party have a strong position on this issues filters through :)
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What the heck is a "Male Principal Speaker"?
DRM isn't a left/right issue. Technology issues like this need to be kept clear of party politics, particularly when party spokesmen have such silly titles.
Hi Brandybuck, it isn't left/right, you're correct, although that "one or the other" way of characterising politics is pretty primitive. Are the Greens left or right? Well there is a whole lot more to the party's politics than that question!
Would you rather political parties kept quiet on DRM, leaving it to companies and citizens groups to tackle the issue? To my mind any noise from political parties is a good thing, putting more pressure on companies and governments to act. Since the Green Party has very strong views about the role of copyright, DRM and IT generally in a sustainable society it makes sense that we voice our concerns, doesn't it?
Finally, the Green Party in England & Wales have two Principal Speakers, male & female. We don't have a leader with authority to make decisions on our behalf, unlike other major national parties, because we don't think it's very democratic having people like Blair changing the party's direction without proper debate and votes. We have a man and a woman to address one of the most basic inequalities in British politics that still persists today -- we have one of the lowest proportion of female MPs in the developed world :(
What do you think about the principal speaker/leadership motions at the Spring conference?
If you're going to put out a press release, it would help if you greens at least used proper grammar.
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