Comment Re:Who should we take this up with at IBM? (Score 2) 192
Will our boycott really matter?
Yes, although it probably won't change much. It will however make them think, and here is why.
Do you ever get those free industry papers and magazines sent to you? In the UK there are ones like Computer Weekly and "Computing" (imaginative titles, eh?) and I get one from the US called "tele.com"... I suspect most people who read /. do get these things at work. Why do you think they get these things at work? Purchasing power. They know that you probably have the influence of perhaps several hundred thousand or maybe even millions of dollars of purchasing power over the next few years. In other words, there are some people on slashdot whose spend on disks (RAID arrays, etc.) are going to be equivalent to 100s of ordinary home users. I'm likely to spend to have influence over around $1 million worth of RAID arrays and disks over the next few years on my own... and that's just me...
Let's suppose that IBM introduce this system for their drives. We all decide to boycott IBM and buy Matrox instead. We end up with crappier drives, but we feel good inside. IBM may possibly turn around and say "Hey, where did that $20 million worth of RAID business go?" and we can all turn around and wave at them saying "Over here! We're with the nice boys from Matrox who haven't put copyright-protect on..." and IBM may just possibly re-consider.
I agree with another poster that in a day and age when you can't make a disk read-only in hardware that manufacturers should be considering protecting the "copyright" as laid down by an institution that exists in another country to my own (I live in the UK), and telling me what I can and can't have on my disks.
There is also the whole can of worms about how this is actually going to work, and as to whether it could all get a bit Big Brother down in the firmware...
Yes, although it probably won't change much. It will however make them think, and here is why.
Do you ever get those free industry papers and magazines sent to you? In the UK there are ones like Computer Weekly and "Computing" (imaginative titles, eh?) and I get one from the US called "tele.com"... I suspect most people who read
Let's suppose that IBM introduce this system for their drives. We all decide to boycott IBM and buy Matrox instead. We end up with crappier drives, but we feel good inside. IBM may possibly turn around and say "Hey, where did that $20 million worth of RAID business go?" and we can all turn around and wave at them saying "Over here! We're with the nice boys from Matrox who haven't put copyright-protect on..." and IBM may just possibly re-consider.
I agree with another poster that in a day and age when you can't make a disk read-only in hardware that manufacturers should be considering protecting the "copyright" as laid down by an institution that exists in another country to my own (I live in the UK), and telling me what I can and can't have on my disks.
There is also the whole can of worms about how this is actually going to work, and as to whether it could all get a bit Big Brother down in the firmware...
