The FSF's Campaign Against the Nintendo 3DS 187
Max Hyre writes "The Nintendo 3DS's terms of so-called service, and the even more grotesquely-misnamed privacy policy, make it clear that you are in the service of Nintendo. Specifically, anything you do, write, photograph, or otherwise generate with the 3DS is Nintendo's possession, for them to use however, whenever, and for as long as they want. On the other hand, if you do something they don't like, they're prepared to turn your device into a doorstop — and you gave them permission when you started using it. And if you have a child's best interests at heart, don't give it to anyone too young to know to never use her real name, type in an address or phone number, or take any personally-identifiable photos. They might, at best, end up in a Nintendo ad."
Negative campaigns (Score:0, Interesting)
The FSF seems to have given up both advocating and developing free software as their primary field of activity. As of late, they seem to be focusing primarily on negative campaigns, designing would-be witty negative logos, and uselessly protesting. All the talks they give dont focus on the FSF itself but on somebody else. I have a (bitter) feeling that more and more they are evolving into some kind of Westboro Baptist Church of the software world.
Re:Negative campaigns (Score:3, Interesting)
It's sad but it does seem to be the case. Maybe they have become disillusioned after years of trying to raise awareness and finding that the common folk just didn't care. If they speak about the importance of free software principles, their words will fall on deaf ears. But if they aggressively raise these red herring issues that the average person can relate to, they will get some much wanted attention. It's hard to tell whether they will win any permanent mind share this way.
Even though Stallman is absolutely right about free software, the message of bright red colours, screaming slogans and extreme statements does paint the FSF in a bad light and will probably put many people off.
FSFe seems to be much more reasonable: maybe the two are playing a game of good cop/bad cop?
We're screwed no matter what (Score:4, Interesting)
Virtually all services and products produced which are useful or fun in some way have got dodgy ToS' or EULAs or other disclaimers that screw the user's rights. At this rate if I boycott each and every company who's been or is currently being a dick towards the consumer, there'll be nothing left.
Not that it's a bad thing for the FSF to make such hostile agreements public of course. But having said that, I doubt the FSF would support buying any modern console given they are all from dodgy companies and/or have dodgy terms/EULAs. So what's left? Certainly not the PC - the prime platform is Steam these days, and I find it hard to believe the FSF could support something like Steam for a multitude of reasons.
Might as well just not play any games... except for the FLOSS stuff. If that's the case, I'd get a new hobby. The FSF sure makes life fun. Maybe the solution is to realize things are fucked, and just go with it. Better to not be ignorant of the state of the world, and at least get some enjoyment out of it. It's the only reason why I can stand using Steam - don't want to sound like a bitter old bastard later on in life while every else is enjoying themselves. :)
Re:the horrible effects of homogenisation (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, the FSF are neither hip nor slick, and I guess politics is at the point where no-one really engages in straight-talking rhetoric - so those who try to "say it like it is" in the style of mainstream politicians even three decades ago are now dismissed as "kind of lunatic". I'm not sure how to solve this problem, but I don't know that being as bad as the rest of them is the solution either.
But certainly a campaign like this needs to illustrate viable alternatives. The FSF has, of course, had a big hand in the "make viable alternative" goal, but
in this particular case it does seem to be telling you what's bad rather than what's better.
Who's the Real Fan Boy? (Score:4, Interesting)
This comment is all kinds of stupid.
No, it's a fairly common viewpoint among rational Nintendo customers. But it does omit Nintendo's battle with pirates [escapistmagazine.com]. I think the DS and its latest incarnations is a neat little device and so I purchased a certain cartridge for it recently for $5 from some Chinese site. Unfortunately upon visiting the site to retrieve the latest firmware for their cart, I noticed that they were also hosting movies and roms for the latest games (of all regions) in their file directory tree. This is reality. You might not see it here but you can walk down the street in some Asian nations and pick up every game for the DS on a tiny little cart for very little money ($50?) [desmume.com]. On the other hand, I want to tinker with what I paid for [double.co.nz]! My device? Then I'll run what I want to run on it.
Nintendo does well because their business model is sensible. They make money on their hardware.
So that's interesting because if they make money on their hardware, why do they care what I do with it after I buy it? Why don't they market it as a gaming/development platform? Why don't they just release all their tool chains for everyone to use to develop on their systems if they already make money on the hardware? I mean, you'd probably sell more platforms that way, right? Why do I need to pay some absurd amount of money for a developer's license and a kit to play with them? Perhaps because their business model also relies on a walled garden and though they may make money on the console, the real money comes from sales of games for that console. I think if you had the numbers, you'd see that their profit model is not a whole lot different than Sony or MS. Everyone plays that game.
They also offer things that everyone wants. MS fanboys need to realise that not everyone wants to play as a big fat space marine or some other "extreme" character doing the same damn thing in every sequel while spurting out god awful dialog that sounds like it was written by the 13 year olds play the game.
Having just played through Beautiful Katamari and Rapala Bass Pro Fishing on my 360 last night, I have to question this statement (not that fishing games don't exist for the Wii). I think your statement works well generically. Observe: (MS|Nintendo|Sony) fanboys need to realise that not everyone wants to play as a (big fat space marine|big fat Italian plumber) or some other ("extreme"|"cute") character doing the same damn thing in every sequel while spurting out (god awful dialog|It's a me, a Mario|PikaPikachu) that sounds like it was written by the (13 year olds|racists) play the game.
So I'm not seeing how you feel Nintendo is worse than the competition. Your comment is uneducated fanboy verbal masturbation at best and not surprisingly all the other little uneducated xbots gave you a +5 interesting for spouting crap.
I think the key here is that the three big names have their ups and downs. Why on earth do you act like there are no "downs" with Nintendo? If price is important to you, go with Nintendo. The Wii was the first of the three I bought. If graphics are important to you, go with the PS3. If online FPS is important to you, go with the XBox 360. If offline multiplayer is important to you, go with the Wii. Etc, etc. I own all three. And I play all three. Your post ironically makes you look like the fan boy and RogueyWon look like a well tempered gamer. Some of your acclamations for Nintendo are more than questionable ...
NOT go with it. (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe the solution is to realize things are fucked, and just go with it.
No. the real solution is to change the fact that these stupid things are lawful. FSF has a nice example, but the wrong target. They should target the law and politics for making these absurd situations possible. The law should protect you from these situations, not encourage them. Nintendo is only guilty of using the possibilities they were given. Target the people responsible for giving Nintendo these possibilities.