El 13/12/16 a les 04:28, Mart Rootamm ha escrit: > I agree with Daniel Quintiliani upthread. > > In addition, > There are many computers with UEFI and some machines with Windows, that > won't allow installation or running of alternative (aka non-Windows) > operating systems.
I still haven't found any x86 computer where I couldn't install GNU/Linux. > Some machines are tablet computers, where changing the default OS is > more difficult, and which internal hardware is specific enough, that > drivers for free operating systems are non-existent. Incompatible devices with FOSS (no Cyanogenmod/OmniROM/Replicant possibility): bad device choice. > Suppose the UEFI BIOS is password-protected by the employer, for > example, making it impossible to run an alternative OS from removable > media, while the employee is permitted to run FOSS software on said PC. Employer can be part of the malware policy here. Better to use another device than employer's provided one. > Other people who have purchased computers, might not remove the > pre-installed operating system; since a proprietary OS is present, and > that's considered part of the purchase price. A proprietary system is > often required to be present for study—in order to support friends, > family, and potential customers. Incompatible devices with FOSS again? bad computer choice. And 99% of proprietary software can be run under a virtual machine or Playonlinux/Wine. > For yet others, changing the default operating system is a lot of work. > Repartitioning a main storage to install an alternative operating system > does entail risk; especially for people who are not experienced with that. It's true the freedom becomes more difficult as more freedom and independence you want. > Several manufacturers have chosen not to support computers where the > main OS is not Windows. Here wins a good user policy: devices & software choices, and Playonlinux/Wine or virtual machine. FOSS community provides a lot of help, much more than privative/proprietary "community". > Yet other people want a Free Software Gecko-based browser for general > browsing, hoping to get funtionality that's not present in Firefox > anymore. Lack of a Windows version thus reduces exposure. > > btw, I just discovered in GMail, that if I click on the main field of > e-mail recipients, I can drag and drop recipients from CC and BCC fields > to the To: field. Convenient. > > -M. -- http://gnuzilla.gnu.org