Forget the Cellphone Fight — We Should Be Allowed to Unlock Everything We Own

[SecularMotion]

While Congress is working on legislation to re-legalize cellphone unlocking, let’s acknowledge the real issue: The copyright laws that made unlocking illegal in the first place. Who owns our stuff? The answer used to be obvious. Now, with electronics integrated into just about everything we buy, the answer has changed.

We live in a digital age, and even the physical goods we buy are complex. Copyright is impacting more people than ever before because the line between hardware and software, physical and digital has blurred.

The issue goes beyond cellphone unlocking, because once we buy an object — any object — we should own it. We should be able to lift the hood, unlock it, modify it, repair it … without asking for permission from the manufacturer.

But we really don’t own our stuff anymore (at least not fully); the manufacturers do. Because modifying modern objects requires access to information: code, service manuals, error codes, and diagnostic tools. Modern cars are part horsepower, part high-powered computer. Microwave ovens are a combination of plastic and microcode. Silicon permeates and powers almost everything we own.

http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/03/you-dont-own-your-cellphones-or-your-cars

[CrispyQ]

1. IIRC, I read that Microsoft is going to go to licensing software to an actual device.

So if your computer dies & you buy a new one, your old software license isn't any good for the new device. I wish I'd saved the link. At first I thought, No way! But they've already done away with 'upgrade' pricing. If you want the new version of Office or VS, you pay full purchase price. No more half price because you've been a loyal customer for years. Fuckers.

And they wonder why PHP is so popular.

[SecularMotion]

2. I've heard the same, it seems they backed off after a number of complaints

But as was often the case with earlier Office versions, the interesting story isn’t really about the new features – which in this case are fairly minor. Instead, the real story is about how Microsoft would like you to buy Office and how they’d like to have you pay for it again and again. (And even though Office 2013 is a Windows-only product, this story affects Mac users as well).

Office 2013 refers to the new Windows Office suite. If you purchase this, you make a one-time purchase that (as with previous versions) is good for life. Let’s call this a perpetual license.

There are some differences this time around, though. Microsoft is no longer offering Office as a set of discs in a box; instead you get a serial number good for download and installation of that single version. Previously, though, if you bought a new computer you could uninstall your copy from the old system and install it onto the new one. Update (March 6) - in response to lots of complains, Microsoft today announced that users can now move their Office 2013 license to a new system if needed. And single purchases could be legally used on several systems – in the case of older copies of Office Professional or Office Home and Business edition, for instance, you could install one copy on both a desktop and laptop or a work computer and a home computer, as long as only one was in use at a time. An Office Home and Student 2010 copy could be installed on up to three computers.

Office 2013 copies are licensed for use on one computer only. And that means you can no longer move it to a new computer when you get one – the license stays with the old hardware – as has been the case with so-called OEM copies, the ones pre-installed by a computer manufacturer. Mac-users will find that pricing of the Mac Office 2011 has been raised (by 10-17%) to bring it in line with the Windows pricing to US$139 for the Home & Student edition and US$219 for the Home & Business edition. As with the Windows editions these are now for use on a single system.

http://www.zisman.ca/blog/2013-02-21_MSOffice.html

[sir pball]

3. I get it, and support it fully

I have a rooted, boot-unlocked (different than carrier unlocking and 100% legal) Samsung running AOKP along with my Nook, my WRT54G router was promptly wiped and loaded with Tomato, I was saving for a MegaSquirt programmable ECU when I ended up selling my Nissan...but why on earth would I want to reprogram my microwave or fancy touchscreen fridge or even digital camera? If I can extend the capability of the hardware by hacking it, I most likely will, but if there's no purpose to it, why demand the ability?

I'm not saying that the information needed to do so should be copyrighted by any means, but there's a growing movement (I'm a bit involved in this culture - not a hardcore modder, but I'm active in their circles) that insist all the information be provided, even for black-box devices like appliances. Which probably weren't ever even designed to be reparable, let alone upgradeable. Anyway, for the hardcore hardware hacker, half the fun is taking it apart and finding out how it works w/o the docs; having the interface data fed to you is boring!