 | This articlerelies excessively onreferences toprimary sources. Please improve this article by addingsecondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "Free Software Foundation anti-Windows campaigns" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Free Software Foundation anti-Windows campaigns are the events targeted against a line ofMicrosoft Windows operating systems. They are paralleling theDefective by Design campaign againstdigital rights management technologies, but they instead target Microsoft's operating systems instead of DRM itself.
BadVista was a campaign by theFree Software Foundation to oppose adoption ofMicrosoftWindows Vista and promotefree software alternatives. It aimed to encourage the media to make free software part of their agenda.[1]
The campaign was initiated on December 15, 2006 with aims to expose what it views as the harms inflicted on computer users by MicrosoftWindows Vista and its embeddeddigital rights management (DRM), as well as providing a user-friendly gateway to free software alternatives.[2][3]
BadVista activists teamed up withDefective by Design members on a Vista launch party on January 30, 2007 atTimes Square. Protesters inhazmat suits held their signs explaining the restrictions Vista may impose on computer users.[3][4][5][6]The campaign ended on January 8, 2009, when "victory" was declared after Microsoft released itsWindows 7Beta.[7]This victory claim was based on the tepid adoption of Vista, compared to those sticking with the less-DRM infusedWindows XP or moving to the FSF-defined less restrictiveMac OS X or largely freeLinux orFreeBSD. A minority of Linux distros are recognized as completely free,[8] however like kFreeBSD vanilla Linux kernel containsbinary blob device drivers. This is solved byLinux-libre.
In 2009, a campaign targeted towardsWindows 7 was launched by the Free Software Foundation under the name "Windows 7 Sins".[9] The campaign's site uses graphics from thefree software video gameXBill.
In October 2012, the Free Software Foundation began another campaign called "Upgrade from Windows 8", this time targeted towardsWindows 8.[10]
During theWindows 10 release, the FSF issued a statement urging users to reject it due to its proprietary nature. The Foundation also cited other sources of concern, such as forcing lower-paying customers to test less-secure updates before higher-paying users, Microsoft's implication in the2013 global surveillance scandal and the new privacy policy enacted by Windows.[11]
In the "Life's better together when you avoid Windows 11" statement, FSF criticized the use ofTrusted Platform Module (TPM) onWindows 11, and the operating system in general; they described TPM as "slightly misleading", adding that "its relationship to the user isn't one based on trust, but based on treachery" when deployed by Microsoft.[12]