What RMS and others aren't acknowledging is that you are already part of the cloud. You can set up your own web server, running whatever open source server you want. If you don't trust Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc. with your email, you can set up your own mail server however you like, and you're running on the cloud. Sure, some (most) web apps aren't open source, but it doesn't have to stay that way - instead of compiling source to run natively, you can throw a web app on your server, and access it anywhere in the world using ChromeOS (or any other browser)!

Cloud computing doesn't have to rely on giving up your data - it's just moving to a thin client model. Maybe this is an opportunity to promote open source web-based applications that take advantage of the cloud based computing concept while leaving you in charge or protecting your own data, as RMS is advocating.

I assume there is some way to spoof the OS response in FireFox to return a Windows response regardless of the actual operating system. Has anyone tried this? I haven't used the NY Times video service, but maybe they use a different technology for the video page (i.e. not macromedia) than the front page. Although it sounds like a dumb idea, perhaps it has DRM, or uses a different technology that requires Windows Media Player.

In either case, it is simply be poor website design to use browers/OS detection to redirect to an "error" page. If there is an incompatibility, let it be shown as best it can instead of denying access. Or even better, use open standards to prevent the problem in the first place. Preventing paying customers from accessing their site reflects poorly on the NY Times technical and web development staff.