Abstract
The big closed-source suppliers are often adversarial toward the interests of their customers. For example, this site, http://www.lugod.org/microsoft/, lists 198 articles published by many different companies in 2002 alone that discuss Microsoft's adversarial behavior. We will discuss this problem, the reasons for it, and what to do about it. Users have not been sophisticated in the way they deal with adversarial behavior. Generally, those who criticize are too shrill and their criticisms are ignored. The author wrote the article, "Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going" (http://www.futurepower.net/microsoft.htm), which Bruce Schneier, well-known computer security analyst, said is "A well-written analysis of the major security/ privacy/ stability concerns of Windows XP." The adversarial behavior of closed-source suppliers is a strong motivation to move toward open sourcesoftware. |
