Como activistas, tal vez nos imaginemos a nosotros mismos, siendo un poco mas precavidos que aquella famosa rana esperando a que la sopa hierva. Sabemos que la evaporación de la libertad tiende a acercarse a un lento y deliberado ritmo, y que esos que buscan su evaporación, esperan que esta receta aumente su eficiencia al mismo tiempo que minimizan nuestras objeciones.

Pero a veces los cocineros se vuelven codiciosos. Aumentan la temperatura porque se les hace tarde, sus invitados los esperan, y necesitan que se hagan las cosas rápidamente. En momentos como este, o saltamos de la olla o cedemos una parte importante de nuestro espacio vital repentinamente. Ahora nos enfrentamos a un momento como este, con la llegada y la posible adopción de Microsoft Vista, un momento en el cual podría haber una masiva y súbita reducción de la libertad de los usuarios de computadoras.

En Marzo, Microsoft anunció una campaña de publicidad de 500 millones de dólares, siendo la mayor de todas. Gran parte de este dinero será dedicada a la promoción de Vista. Para cuando leas esto, muy probablemente estará siendo enviado a los grandes puntos de venta (aunque al escribir esto, estamos subestimando su capacidad para demorarse). Estará disponible para su imposición sobre los usuarios individuales a finales de enero del 2007.

En los últimos meses, periodistas técnicos han estado analizando las versiones Release Candidate (RC) de Vista. El éxito del movimiento de software libre y de campañas contra la DRM (Digital Restrictions Management, Gestión de Restricciones Digitales) como DefectiveByDesign.org puede ser visto cuando vémos la prioridad que, al criticar el producto, le han dado los periodistas a temas como las nuevas restricciones y limitaciones impuestas por Microsoft.

Para oponerse a este movimiento, la Fundación de Software Libre (FSF) ha lanzado BadVista.org, una campaña con dos objetivovs: cuestionar a Vista y enfocar distintas alternativas de software libre. La campaña abarcará la organización de partidarios en efectivas e inusuales acciones directas: protestar contra el robo a plena luz del dia de nuestras libertades por parte de Microsoft, el informar con noticias historias e información críticas sobre Vista, así como también la provisión de un amigable pasaje hacia la adopción del software libre.

Microsoft Vista está enmascarado como una evolución, cuando en realidad no es más que una involución y un retroceso. No es más que un truco para forzar a la gente a entregarles el control total de sus computadoras a una externa y misteriosa autoridad de certificación, con peculiares estándares y conceptos de “genuino”. Es un trabajo para artificialmente motivar la compra de costoso e innecesario hardware.

Con esta campaña, nos aseguramos de que cada vez que periodistas y reporteros mencionen a Vista, no estarán comparándolo con Windows XP o Mac OS/X, sino a gNewSense y otras distribuciones de software libre. Haciendo nuestras críticas desde una posición de “libertad”, nos aseguraremos de que las comparaciones se enfoquen en la relación ética entre el usuario y el software—no sólamente mirar cual sistema tenga una mejor transparencia gráfica o una mejor puntuación en benchmarks (aplicaciones de pruebas de rendimiento). Nuestras publicaciones acerca de todas las malas noticias sobre Vista, serán un recurso de mucho valor para aquellos que intenten redactar una honesta evaluación.

En el pasado, hemos frecuentemente encontrado que el primer obstáculo cuando le proponemos a un amigo, a un familiar, o a un grupo de trabajo probar un sistema operativo libre, es definitivamente el esfuerzo requerido para cambiar de sistema lo que no permite este cambio. Pero en el curso de los próximos meses, esta sugerencia lucirá más razonable junto a la alternativa: una complicada y dolorosa involución a Vista.

Respecto a este tema, suele ser difícil para usuarios con poco conocimiento técnico el poder relacionar concretamente las razones por las cuales nosotros, en el movimiento del software libre, estamos tan preocupados por las éticas de distribución de software. Pero por los análisis que hemos visto hasta ahora, es debido a su alta privación a los usuarios y sus exageradamente invasivos mecanismos de “seguridad” por los que en efecto efecto,Vista promoverá nuestro argumento persuasivamente.

Puedes ayudarnos a desenmascarar la campaña de marketing de negocios de Microsoft como la “mayor de todas” en cuanto a abuso de poder. Visite BadVista.org y únase a la activa conversación sobre las mejores prácticas para promover al software libre durante este critico momento de propaganda y revelaciones. Crea y participa en acciones directas para mantener la libertad como punto clave de debate mientras este llega a su punto de ebullición. El movimiento del software libre, por supuesto no es simplemente un movimiento contra Microsoft. Pero asegurémonos que su sopa de 500 millones de dolares, termine siendo un banquete para el software libre.

Translators: k0001 and Edgar Antonio Rodrí­guez Velazco

Welcome to BadVista.org, the Free Software Foundation campaign opposing Microsoft Vista adoption and spotlighting free software alternatives.

The official industry release day for Windows Vista was November 30. Vista will be released on users in January 2007 (or so the story goes).

With your help, we will:

• Organize supporters into effective actions protesting Microsoft's daylight theft of our freedoms
• Aggregate news stories cutting through MS Windows Vista marketing propaganda
• Provide a user-friendly gateway to free software adoption

You can help the campaign and stay up-to-date by signing up for the BadVista mailing list. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to get involved, so there are two ways to do this.

The recommended way is to have an account at fsf.org. If you've already set one of those up, maybe by donating in the past as an associate member, or in order to leave comments on the GPLv3 drafts, then you can just go to your mailing settings and check the new box for the BadVista mailing list.

If you don't have an fsf.org account yet, then it's easy to set one up. We're using a single sign-on for everything we do now, so you'll only have to go through this once. It only takes a minute, and most of the information is optional (please just leave any fields you don't like blank instead of telling us your address is 123 asdf St.).

This is a blog, and we want it to be a conversation and a community—once you're registered, you'll be able to leave comments on posts here, and we hope you will. Test it out with a "Hello" at the bottom of this post if you want.

But if you're a wallflower or none of this appeals to you, or if you are a Microsoft employee and don't want us to know that you're keeping tabs on us, then feel free to use this form.

Welcome!

Boston, MA—December 15, 2006—The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today launched BadVista.org, a campaign with a twofold mission of exposing the harms inflicted on computer users by the new Microsoft Windows Vista and promoting free software alternatives that respect users' security and privacy rights.

“Vista is an upsell masquerading as an upgrade. It is an overall regression when you look at the most important aspect of owning and using a computer: your control over what it does. Obviously MS Windows is already proprietary and very restrictive, and well worth rejecting. But the new 'features' in Vista are a Trojan Horse to smuggle in even more restrictions. We'll be focusing attention on detailing how they work, how to resist them, and why people should care”, said FSF program administrator John Sullivan.

The campaign will organize supporters into effective and unusual actions drawing attention to this daylight theft of computer users' rights, aggregate news stories cutting through the Vista marketing propaganda, and provide a user-friendly gateway to the adoption of free software operating systems like gNewSense (http://www.gnewsense.org) and Ututo (http://www.ututo.org).

Peter Brown, executive director of the FSF said, “Whilst Microsoft embarks upon its largest ever product launch, its marketing dollars will be spent in an effort to fool the media and user community about the goals of Vista. Our campaign will ask the important questions. Can you set yourself or your company free? Can you ever be free from Microsoft? As with our campaign against Digital Restrictions Management, we aim to demonstrate that technologists can be social activists, because we know the harm that Vista will cause”.

Among other harms, BadVista.org will focus on the danger posed by Treacherous Computing in Vista. Commonly called Trusted Computing in the industry, it is an attempt to turn computers from machines controlled by their user into machines that monitor their user and refuse to operate in ways that manufacturers don't authorize.

Supporters can sign up to receive more information and participate in the campaign at http://badvista.org.

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software—particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants— and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software. Their Web site, located at www.fsf.org, is an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support their work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.

Press Contact: For more information about this announcement or to schedule an interview, please contact Peter Brown or John Sullivan at +1-617-542-5942 or <pr@fsf.org>.

(This story is on digg.)

Try a Google search for Windows Vista. You'll find us on the first page, only a few notches below the official Microsoft site.

That's a measure of the amount of attention we received after the December launch. But we're not seeking this attention for its own sake. We want the attention so we can make sure the world knows about the new restrictions and problems that lie beneath the Vista eye candy, and about the benefits of the superior free software alternatives.

We spent the holidays catching up on all the feedback and press we received after the launch. One of the most common questions heard was, “How can I get involved? How can I help?” Here's how:

• Show your support for the campaign by creating an account at fsf.org and subscribing to the BadVista mailing list. If you also enter your geographic information, we'll be able to contact you about campaign actions in your area.
• Suggest news stories. You can help BadVista.org be the most effective first-stop site on the web for Vista news by letting us know about stories we have missed. Send the links to <info@badvista.org>, or leave them in the comments here.
• Get artistic. With the name Vista, we want this campaign to have a strong visual element. If you have GIMP/Inkscape skills, draw your own "vistas" (maybe taking the pile of discarded computers at the bottom of this page as an inspiration), or campaign logos and promotional materials. Send us the info on how to get the images from you at <info@badvista.org>. Right now we could especially use some web banners that people can post to advertise the campaign, and some smaller images to go along with the blog categories as they develop.
• Send us a blog post. We already have plans to publish the work of many others from the free software community here. If you've written something that fits as a blog post with one or both parts of our mission statement, send it to us at <info@badvista.org>.
• Send us translations of any of the material you see on the site. We have a framework ready to go for making multilingual content available.

The second most common request we received was for a prominent area on the site listing specifically the reasons people choose free software over Vista. The beginnings of our Vista FAQ will appear shortly. And we want to hear what you think about it—what reasons and examples should we be stressing?

We are working on producing some t-shirts of our own, but in the meantime, an enterprising supporter has independently made a BadVista logo shirt available at cafepress.com.

Note that sales of this shirt do not fund the campaign, but wearing the logo does help.

BadVista shirts are now available! Purchasing them helps support the campaign and the work of the Free Software Foundation. It's also a great way to get the BadVista message out to people who don't spend quite as much time on the Internets as some of us do.

Choose freedom:

Put Vista where it belongs:

You can now keep up with both of the campaign's mailing lists via gmane.org.

• gmane.politics.activism.badvista.advocate
• gmane.politics.activism.badvista.getready