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It really does not seem to mater that the RIAA has billions of dollars and a small army of lawyers. When majority rules, history has always shown us that the people get their way when they truly want something. This is why when people have power over us, it is our fault for not banning together and doing something about it.
The Boycott RIAA Website might not be the best place to coordinate efforts, might not have piles of money to attack the RIAA directly nor has it made it's way to your local TV news. It is however good for the most important thing of all -- spreading the word.
Without this website, DRM would still be a menace. I'm going to be so bold as to make an OFFICIAL PUBLIC STATEMENT that Boycott RIAA is directly responsible for the destruction of DRM. Why? The RIAA has been so kind as to make the problem so publically prominent that all of the stories you can hear and see on local news and radio has had people of all ages searching the Internet to find out how they can avoid and fight against the menace that is the RIAA.
Any Google Search one might do containing the words "boycott riaa" or "riaa sucks" or "riaa lawsuits" or "i hate drm" or anything to that effect -- this website is listed on all of the first page results. This website is linked to by countless activist groups, blogs, news sites, bands and other people as a highly recommended source for Music News and to find out what you can do about the problems.
This sort of world wide collaboration by way of this wonderful network that we call "The Internet" is the number one means for people to do the research and get the truth about many things.
The truth about things regarding the Bush Administration, the war in Iraq, Microsoft's latest folly and countless other things can be found on this World Wide Network we've all come to depend on. It gives the people a voice.
The last decade has been a very interesting time to be alive. As we see more power to the people as corporations such as the RIAA seem to be losing massive amounts of power. The ability for Independent Musicians to get their music out to fans, podcasting, internet radio, mp3 enabled cell phones and all sorts of affordable portability technology that the average person can use to obtain and release content.
Of course the syndication of information is incredibly important as is convenience. Following the "KISS Rule" (Keep It Simple Stupid) can make or break an application, piece of hardware or online service -- as your average end user always chooses the most efficient option that is also the easiest to understand and use.
Nick Andre, the author of "D'Bridge" is currently facing some very interesting challenges. D'Bridge, utilizing mostly FTN (Fidonet Technology Network) platforms has proven to be most skilled at adapting modern 21st Century Technology to what is currently a 16-bit MS-DOS Based Application coded in the Assembler Language.
Though things are in motion for a Multi-0S Rewrite to be able to support Operating Systems beyond that of 16-Bit Legacy Dos (Win32, Linux, MAC, BSD, Unix, OS/2, eComstation, etc...) what this sucker is currently capable of even within it's limited architecture is enough to blow your mind.
Being primarily a software used for Syndicating Public Message Network Forums (Echomail) as well as Usenet Newsgroups, it allows your average individual to use this in conjunction with a BBS Software on their home (or home office) broadband connection. The ability to freely control what content comes in and out of your system, eliminate spam problems and the ability to have better independent control over your PC is becoming more and more a popular idea as the public at large not only is taking more interest in computers -- but computers are becoming as common of a house hold tool as a microwave or coffee machine.
The freedom D'bridge gives you is including but not limited to: The ability to be able to send and receive public forum messages on your cell phone via SMS -- even if your cell phone is NOT Internet Capable. Imagine any type of networked forums what so ever -- Echomail. Usenet or otherwise -- being an easy button press away on your cell phone or blackberry -- even if Internet Access is not included in your cellular package. Future features also planned for a cellular interface to be able to login to bbses, chat, play games and more -- again -- even if your cell totally lacks an internet connection! As long as you've got SMS, you're good!
Right now cellular access to services like Yahoo and Google are all the rage. However, could we be seeing a new trend being born? One that would allow your average joe or jane to have their computer capable of the same services as the corporate big boys by way of applications that cost absolutely no money what so ever?
The RIAA might not be the only ones who have something to worry about.
(For more information, please see:
http://www.nickandre.com)
Operating Systems such as the various flavors of Linux are becoming more widely known about and used by regular people, which has also sparked an uprising of community development as well as corporate development. Linux flavors such as Ubuntu, Freespire, Linspire, Sabayon, Fedora, Redhat and many others have become accepted choices in preference over Microsoft Windows in both the private sector and the business world.
Small businesses now have a means to try to compete against the corporations because it does not cost much to have a broadband internet connection and an in-house server machine on that connection.
For those Windows Applications that some of us absolutely must still have -- softwares such as WINE and VMware (and others) allow Windows Applications as well as Windows itself to be run under Linux, Unix and MAC.
Websites such as Facebook, DeviantArt, DMusic and many others are becoming accepted standards for social networking and content syndication.
Places like SourceForge allow individual programmers -- be it a part time side job or even high school students -- to create and continue to develop free and open source applications that are every bit as good as their commercial counterparts.
Corporations and entities that might seek to control us can not fight The Internet. It gives people a voice, a choice and a chance.
Power to the people!
Dave
nitedreamerxp
