This is a rant. I’ve earned it.
For years, I have made the long, hard slog to Washington D.C. I have written to my Congressional representatives, made phone calls to local and national offices. I have dug into the political process, thought hard about modern democracy, and tried to work within the rules of society in order to make a better society.
Now Microsoft is pissing me off. First, they develop Silverlight, a new web video technology available only on Windows and Mac. Despite the HEROIC efforts of a few people to create an open-source Silverlight interpreter for Linux [1], neither the Olympics website (an NBC/Microsoft partnership) nor the Democratic National Committee website (a DNC/Microsoft partnership) will allow me to use the open plugin to view their Silverlight video.
First, they detect that I am on Firefox and/or Linux. If I use the user agent switcher plugin to fake my browser/OS combo, they still require me to download the Windows binary Silverlight plugin.
I refuse to pay for a private operating system in order to gain access to my democracy. Let me say this one more time. I REFUSE TO PAY A PRIVATE COMPANY FOR ACCESS TO MY DEMOCRACY. I am offended that a national media agency like NBC closed the Olympics to the open-source community. I am DEEPLY offended that the Democrats have also made it impossible for the open-source community to access this aspect of our democracy.
The Democratic party represents a huge number of voters in this country, many of whom are open-source liberal thinkers like myself. To shut us out, to shut out the people that gave them the technology to create a fund raising EMPIRE on the internet, is offensive to the core. The Obama machine wouldn’t be what it is today without LAMP – Linux, APACHE, MySQL, and PERL – the foundational open-source technologies that make most of the web possible. I hope that when they post video from the convention, it’s in a more accessible format. Even flash is available to the masses, something Silverlight is not.
I am so offended by this, if I find out that the Obama website doesn’t offer a more accessible form of video I plan to switch to being a registered independent again. I refuse to participate in a party that separates me from my access to the democratic process by a proprietary wall. A government by the people, for the people, should not suffer the prohibitions of a private company.
I say to the Democrats and the Republicans – don’t lock our democracy in the closed silos of proprietary technology behemoths. Since both parties seem so caught up in religion these days, let me offer the following. Remember that the devil makes some pretty tempting offers in the desert. Can’t you show the same fortitude in your decision making process over something as simple as open technologies that was once shown by a lone man in the desert. Or, have you so quickly abandoned the very moral model that you espouse from podiums and podcasts?
Rant, concluded.
4 thoughts on “Microsoft and the closing of democracy”
In America, anyway, the democracy is always farmed out to private companies. They manufacture our voting machines, build our roads, schools, congress buildings, and military, and generally have no mandate other than to make money.
The Olympics is a giant money machine. They like to portray themselves as some kind of savior of mankind, but the International Olympic Committee is an unabashed profit machine. They control everything, carefully license rights, and manipulate host countries to spend tremendous amounts of money so they can make even more. It is not even remotely a democratic organization, and they certainly have no idea of “equal access” to their product.
I just ignore the Olympics. It’s a product, and I generally disagree with their tactics. For access to democracy however I agree with you wholeheartedly. The ideal that one should not pay for access to democracy is far from being realized however. Consider all the different ways the government forces you to pay for one thing or another. Car insurance, passport photos, various taxes, voter registration. Perhaps the best example is campaign fundraisers. Those with more money get more access, and candidates are decided by money long before their names see a ballot. And, the Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld this on the grounds of first amendment protection (i.e. money = speech).
So, I agree with the ideal, but that’s not America. We can either fight for equal access and publicly funded elections (a long road), or accept the situation and start donating to those with whom we agree.
Most importantly, call the DNC and complain! 😉
My particular objection is the following – even if I donate $200 to the DNC, I don’t get access to the video. I have to actually shell that money out to a company who holds the keys to the kingdom, just so I can watch a speech. And it’s not even that I’m paying for the video, right? It’s not like I am sending money to the DNC and they let me watch the video. It’s that as an OSS user I am barred fundamentally from participating in the democratic process. That’s my very narrow complaint.
We agree, of course, but your comments helped me focus the specific problem I am having. As I said in my follow-up post, I see Obama’s people have more sense than their DNC overwatch. Applause!
And, as you note, ultimately you have to complain to the people in charge. I signed and sealed my letter to the DNC tonight, and I’ll send it in the morning. I also sent an e-mail, which I expect them to disregard because e-mail is cheap.
I knew this one would get under your skin, Bob. 🙂
I understand wanting to watch the video on your Linux box, and I definitely support your complaint to the DNC. I can’t quite support the logic of your offense, however.
Consider my grandmother, who doesn’t own a computer. Or my parents, who have a 56K modem – they refuse to pay for a broadband internet connection. They have all been deprived of access to the same videos you have, and for much the same reason – a refusal to pay private companies for tools of access. Should they all register as independents? What if a person lived in an area with no broadcast reception, and so had to order cable to watch the videos live – have they also been wronged by the DNC?
Putting these videos online for free constitutes a public service, but I don’t think it’s a right. The DNC needs to strike a balance – it was probably cheaper and less labor-intensive to get the videos posted with Silverlight (probably a promotional deal from Microsoft). I don’t think they were obligated to show up at your house with a video player, for example …
Nonetheless, good point – I sincerely hope future events are more accessible to the OSS community!
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for commenting on this post. I agree that not everybody is already afforded the access to these videos on the internet, and you give some excellent examples. In one of the articles I cite in a later post, criticizing others who’ve made my complaint, the author points to TV or newspaper as alternatives to getting the same information. I can only speak an an open-source user who has chosen a particular platform to exploit my computer, for both personal and work use. With so many alternatives on the internet for access to this information, many of which are accessible to UNIX, Windows, Mac, and Linux, I found it strange that a party of inclusion like the Democrats partnered with a big silo like Microsoft.
Fundamentally, I understand the motivation for their need to make this choice. They wanted high-quality, HD video delivered on-demand without interruption on the internet. Clearly, the DNC’s in-house webmaster is not the go-to person for solving a difficult problem like this! You have to partner with somebody. The DNC chose Microsoft; as a Democrat using Linux, I disapprove and I made my complaint known (most importantly to the DNC). The RNC has chosen Google, which means (I hope) a YouTube-style solution that is more open than Silverlight.
I was also frustrated because there is an OSS solution for Silverlight – moonlight – which was ignored by Microsoft when they offered their video only to Mac and Windows. Neither NBC nor the DNC’s software platform acknowledged the availability of a solution for Silverlight + Linux; their software detected I had Linux and denied me out of principal. I don’t like that. Give OSS a chance! 🙂
As for becoming an independent, that was a personal choice I thought I would propose as my stand on the topic. I don’t ask others to make the same choice; I only wished to impart that I feel so strongly about OSS that I am willing to do this over this issue. The way I see it, if the DNC can make this kind of lock-down silo decision on something as trivial as DNC convention video, what kinds of decisions will they make with a DNC-controlled Presidency and Congress? Independence from the party was my way of protesting, and I don’t ask anyone else to follow.
I’ve not received a response from the DNC, nor did my worry that Obama would simply link to the DNC video come true. As a result, my party membership remains intact. I am definitely interested in how “form letter” the DNC response is, if I ever get one. Nonetheless, Obama’s campaign seems to get the idea that open access is important to open government, and I hope he eventually influences the DNC on this.