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23 September 2001, 15:51 GMT
It has been said that the Web is made up almost entirely of three types of site: porn sites, anti-Microsoft sites, and those sites that are, specifically, www.microsoft.com.
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"Now where's my copy of DreamWeaver?"
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In light of this, it has been rather difficult for the vast majority of websites to practise free speech, given the somewhat restrictive nature of MS' end-user license agreement for FrontPage 2002.
The license for this popular web-authoring tool states in part:
| "You may not use the Software in connection with any site that disparages Microsoft, MSN, MSNBC, Expedia, or their products or services, infringe any intellectual property or other rights of these parties, violate any state, federal or international law, or promote racism, hatred or pornography." |
Given that many sites (even those that are overtly "pro-Microsoft" or agnostic in the matter) will occasionally have something bad to say about the Redmond behemoth, this puts a serious gag on the web in general. For example, what if a website hosts open message forums? If someone posts a message complaining that their copy of Windows just crashed, that instantly puts the site in violation of their agreement. We must all tread carefully, like little field mice with the stern Redmond giants standing over our field, leering threateningly down at us.
Meanwhile, enterprising website Give Me Strength Dot Com, who have integrated Frontpage into their web publishing process, have made a valiant attempt to circumvent this problem, with typical editorials such as:
| "That company that we dare not mention, that may or may not have released buggy software in its time, and may possibly have been the instrument of occasional, though unstated and unproven, blue screens of near-death experience (or Windows XP?), shall today have announced its latest security patch for its Internet server, which some (though certainly not us) may dispute its selling-point of being wonderfully secure. It has been suggested that entire websites have been at risk of being deleted from that thing that may or may not be the Internet, through an alleged security hole in IIS' URI handler, allowing (and this may astound some, but not us, for we don't believe a word of it) simple DOS commands (e.g. DELTREE /Y C:\, FORMAT etc.) to be run, or not, on the server, perhaps." |
It has been suggested that free speech now exists only in our minds, and is now controlled almost solely by the various predatory software vendors' sternly worded license agreements. Ulp!
Elsewhere - Related Sites and Stories:
Slashdot: MS Frontpage Restricts Free Speech
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