Declare your rights and assert them through personal choice

When I blogged the other day about how I don't like the trend towards computers being locked boxes rather than freely-reprogrammable machines, I had no idea Microsoft was about to lock things down even quicker than I had feared.

OSnews.com Managing Editor Thom Holwerda writes today about how the next version of Windows, which will be known as Metro, will require all applications to be loaded through the Windows Store, but only after winning approval from Microsoft:

I hadn't yet thought about all this yet, what, with the massive shift from the desktop to Metro in Windows 8. However, as MSDN explains, Metro applications in Windows 8 can only be installed through the Windows Store. Sideloading will only be enabled for enterprises and developers. I'm also fairly sure the relevant registry key will be easily toggled for us geeks.

"All roads, as the saying goes, lead to the Windows Store," Microsoft writes, "For Metro style apps, that is, the Windows Store is the only means of general distribution (enterprise customers and developers can bypass the store to side-load apps)."

Will this mean Metro users will be forbidden from installing the OpenOffice application suite on their own machines? What about Firefox? Or that funky game your cousin Lenny homebrewed with his pals at college?

We keep hearing about how computer technology is becoming further embedded into every facet of our lives, and in this regard decisions made by companies like Apple or Microsoft can have just as much of an impact on us than anything passed by politicians at any level. Who needs regulatory bodies when some corporation can dictate your choices through source code you are forbidden to see?

Part of the problem here is that the vast majority of computer users think of themselves as consumers rather than citizens, and as such are inclined to click ACCEPT on whatever End User License Agreement pops up without stopping to consider if they have any rights against which the terms of the agreement should be evaluated. Instead, they thoughtlessly surrender those rights so they can get to the slick new shiny stuff that much quicker. Afterall, they just want their money's worth.

Because there are no laws protecting you from software that limits your choices and activities unnecessarily, it is up to you to first declare your rights (if only to yourself) and then assert and enforce those rights through the choices you make as a consumer.

In other words, don't buy and/or install operating systems or programs that tell you what you can and can't do. And if your local computer store won't sell you a computer without an offending operating system pre-installed, take your business to a store that will. If no such stores exist in your area, then purchase a second-hand machine and cut the so-called "free enterprise" crowd out of the picture altogether. Free and open source operating systems (such as GNU/Linux and BSD variants) aren't as demanding on system resources anyway, so having the latest piece of hardware isn't a necessity. (Maybe you'll feel a little out-of-step with your peers. Taking a stand can be like that sometimes.)

Then again, perhaps you like having this done to you.