CyberSnare虚拟空间的陷阱

CyberSnare by Roberto Di Cosmo LIENS-DMI Ecole Normale Supérieure 45, Rue d'Ulm - 75230 Paris CEDEX 05 E-mail: dicosmo@ens.fr Web: http://www.dmi.ens.fr/~dicosmo The original French version of this text has been available on the web since March 20, 1998 at http://www.mmedium.com/dossiers/piege Contents Introduction Chests of drawers and brainwashing An information tax The characteristics of software Manufacturers ambushed The Land of TechnoCretins... ... is closer than you think Dubious practices Getting around the law A look at the possible future of education The stakes: controlling the information An opportunity for Europe and employment A possible alternative: freely accessible software In conclusion Acknowledgements Copyright Notice End Notes References During the last Christmas holidays, I was once again struck by the growing fascination of the media with the obscure object of desire hidden behind the CyberSnare http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html 1 of 23 05/24/2010 04:26 PM words "computer", "multimedia", "web", "Internet", and the like. According to the media--as well as scores of self-appointed experts--one is a second-class citizen unless one possesses the latest (and most expensive) computer equipment to access the Promised Land of "cyberspace". It is also hard to ignore the strange and ubiquitous notion that there is only one kind of computer: a PC with "Intel Inside" running one unavoidable piece of software: Microsoft Windows. ( 1 ) This is all the more peculiar considering that this intellectual bowing to two American giants is reaching its peak just as the US seems to be emerging from a long sleep that allowed Intel and Microsoft to attain an almost total monopoly. In the process, an impressive number of companies, whose products were far superior, were destroyed. All this is thoroughly documented in several books available in the US, such as [1], [2], and [3] . For instance, I am thinking of the campaign started by Ralph Nader (the renowned consumer advocate who once succeeded in forcing GM to stop producing one of their vehicles deemed unsafe), as well as the suit the US Department of Justice has filed against Microsoft. I am especially thinking of the surprising reaction of the American public to recent polls on the Internet: an overwhelming majority is in favor of the DoJ's actions, even when the polls are conducted by companies like CNN who are predominantly pro-Microsoft in their articles. (CNN [4] and even ZDnet polls [5]; the latter was arbitrarily stopped at a certain date which was displayed on the page only after many letters of complaint.) On the other hand, the French public is far from waking up. Lulled by the sweet voice of global conformism, it sleeps more and more soundly in the arms of Microsoft. People are dreaming of a joyful world in which a great philanthropist distributes free copies of Windows 95 to school children, with the only intention of helping them overcome their technological lag. They smile as they think of blue screens filled with reassuring messages explaining how a particular program caused a certain exception in a specific module--not because of Windows, of course, but due to an error in the program itself. They sleep soundly without wondering why a computer much more powerful than the one that helped send men safely to the moon and back, is not capable of properly handling a document of a few hundred pages when it is running Microsoft Office, the favorite product of the pundits. Chests of drawers and brainwashing On several occasions, I have witnessed the depth of this hypnotic trance. The most amusing example occurred while travelling on a high-speed train some CyberSnare http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html 2 of 23 05/24/2010 04:26 PM time ago. Laptops (those embryonic computers which cost as much as a small car, can be carried around in one's briefcase, and are frequently used for playing Solitaire) are proliferating these days--almost as much as mobile telephones, particularly on trains and in airplanes. During one of my trips, I was seated next to a very nice gentleman, a dynamic young executive, who was running the catastrophic (we shall soon see why) application Defrag on his computer. This program displays a pretty matrix filled with squares of various colors that scuttle hither and thither while the hard disk works overtime. I could not resist the temptation (I hope this gentleman will forgive me should he recognize himself in this story); after complimenting him on his fine laptop, I asked him with feigned ignorance what this beautiful software was that I did not have on my own machine. With an expression combining condescension and pity, ("The poor man doesn't have this beautiful program!"), he answered that it was an important utility one needed to run once in a while "to make the machine go faster" by "defragmenting" the disk. He went on to recite the words from the Windows user manual by heart: the more the disk is being used, the more it becomes "fragmented". The more the disk is fragmented, the slower the machine runs. That is why he dutifully uses Defrag every time he gets the chance. At this point, I took out my own laptop computer, which is not running Windows but GNU/Linux (an open and very powerful version of UNIX available for free and developed through the joint efforts of thousands of people on the Internet). Sounding very surprised, I said that all this puzzled me a great deal. On my laptop, the disk is barely fragmented, and the more I use it, the less fragmented it is. Our young executive, less comfortable now, replied that his laptop was running the latest version of Windows 95, produced by the greatest software company on the planet, and that I had to be wrong in some way. I then tried to make him forget the propaganda that had intoxicated him thus far by explaining the fragmentation problem in a simple way. What follows is a short summary of a pleasurable conversation that lasted over half an hour. You probably know that your data is saved as "files" memorized on the hard disk of the computer. This hard disk is like a gigantic chest of drawers; each drawer has the same storage capacity (typically, 512 bytes ( 2 )). Nowadays, each disk contains a few million drawers. If the data you want is stored in contiguous drawers, it can be accessed faster than if it is spread out (or "fragmented") all over the chest. There is nothing amazing about this; we experience it every day when we have to find a pair of matching socks: it is much faster if they are both in the same drawer. We can therefore agree that a tidy chest of drawers is more convenient than a messy one. The problem is finding a way to keep the chest arranged neatly when it is used. CyberSnare http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html 3 of 23 05/24/2010 04:26 PM Let us now imagine an administration that keeps its folders in an enormous filing cabinet with millions of drawers. For the reasons mentioned above, we would like items pertaining to the same file to be stored in contiguous drawers. You now need to hire a secretary, and two candidates apply for the job, each with their own way of working. The first candidate just empties the drawers when a file is removed, splits up any new file into smaller piles of documents the size of a drawer, and randomly stuffs each pile into the first available empty drawer. When you mention that this makes it rather difficult to find all the files belonging to a particular case, the response is that a dozen boys must be hired every weekend to put the chest back in order. Instead, the second secretary maintains a list of contiguous empty drawers; every time a file is closed and removed from the drawers, the list is updated. When a new file arrives, the list is searched for a sufficiently long row of empty, contiguous drawers, and that is where the new file is placed. In this way, provided there is enough activity, the file cabinet is always tidy. Without a doubt, it is the second secretary who should get the job, and our young executive very much agreed. At this point, it was an easy matter to point out to him that Windows 95 was acting like the first secretary who needed boys to clean up the cabinet (the Defrag program), while GNU/Linux, acting like the smart secretary, had no need for them. By the time the train entered the station, our nice gentleman was not so happy any more: he had been taught that Defrag "makes the machine go faster", while we had just seen together that it is more accurate to say that Windows is slowing it down! In fact, the problem of efficient disk management is quite old, and we have known for a long time how to deal with it (UNIX is much older than Microsoft, and it has had the "smart secretary" since 1984!). However, there is much worse than Defrag. Unfortunately, we do not have the time to relate all the juicy details that concern it in this space, but the Scandisk software, which is supposed to repair disks, presents unintelligible choices, the result of which is too often the downright destruction of the folder structure, even though the data would have been recoverable before running the program. Not only is this impossible under UNIX, unless you crush the disk with a hammer, but proper disk management methods have been part of basic courses in computer science for the last decade. The mere existence of a program like Defrag, or worse, the damages produced by one like Scandisk in Windows 95, ought to be enough reason for any intelligent IT manager to scratch Microsoft's name from his or her list of suppliers. But no, the brainwashing has been so effective, the sleep so deep, that in France we are ready to shift our banking systems over to Microsoft products and even choose them for the education of our children. CyberSnare http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html 4 of 23 05/24/2010 04:26 PM The marketing power of certain companies distorts reality to such an extent that one is led to firmly believe that the serious defects of some software products are, in fact, the latest must-have functionality. (Incidentally, the computer world has a fitting expression for this: "it's not a bug, it's a feature!"). Another part of the problem is that the specialists who have the knowledge necessary to undo these traps and point out the dangers and manipulations without being mistaken for "bashers" or, in the case of competitors, sore losers, have kept their mouths shut for too long. It is a strange phenomenon: on one hand, no serious-minded scientist wants to publish an article in today's so-called computer press, lest his reputation become tarnished for having mingled with hucksters. On the other hand, without the support of serious scientists, the computer press has become a questionable mirror of the computer industry's advertising campaigns, and thus, even more peddler-like and less likely to be approached by real experts. An information tax Even so, the Wintel monopoly that is settling in France and other parts of the world is so extensive--and not only economically--that one cannot remain silent any longer, no matter what the circumstances. The issue is not only accepting to live with bad technologies and disregarding that we could have much better ones; this has already happened many times, for example with VHS killing Video2000 and Betamax, both of which were of much higher quality ( 3 ). It is also about our governments accepting a takeover of information by, and for the sole benefit of, Microsoft and Intel. I am sure that those of you who have some knowledge of economics can already see what I am getting at: for several years, this monopoly has managed to impose a true monopolistic tax , i.e., to exploit the monopolist's power to sell at inflated prices, thus milking consumers who are forced to buy in one place only. And this tax is truly enormous. Worse, it leaves the European marketplace practically unnoticed, without creating any resources, and in fact destroying quite a few (for examples, see [6] and [7] ). Now let's see how this monopoly is gaining strength every day, keeping in mind the various risks, both economic and otherwise, it exposes us to on a daily basis. When dealing with computers, the possibilities afforded to ruthless companies are quite daunting. We will try to understand this, starting with all that does not necessarily qualify as downright illegal practices. The characteristics of software To begin to see how we pay a hidden tax every time we buy a PC ( 4 ) or Windows software, we have to become familiar with an aspect of the computer industry which distinguishes it from any other technological domain: the cost CyberSnare http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html 5 of 23 05/24/2010 04:26 PM of duplicating products. Once a piece of software has been written, often at very high cost, it can be duplicated onto a CD-ROM for less than a dollar per copy. It may also be transmitted over a network at an expense that keeps shrinking; all this is completely independent of the quality and production cost of the original. The only items which are not of near-zero cost are the thousands of pages of paper manuals, and the dozens of disks necessary to store the software in the absence of a CD-ROM drive. Software editors, to whose advantage it obviously is to minimize this cost, have already found a solution: PCs sold in department stores come with bundled software, but seldom include any documentation on paper, except perhaps for some flimsy "Getting Started" leaflets. There are, of course, so-called online versions of the manuals; technically, nothing prevents you from spending a few hundred francs to print them out if you like. I have even noticed that a well-known Japanese company that sells some of the most expensive laptops on the market, does so without including the CD-ROM containing the operating system software. Everything is pre-installed on the hard disk, and it is up to the user to buy the forty or so diskettes needed for a backup and play the floppy shuffle for a day if he wants a permanent copy. Today, it is safe to say that with this procedure, the cost of copying software is practically zero. A second important point is the legal status of software. For reasons which, upon reflection, are not very hard to grasp, software, this high technology marvel used by millions of people throughout the world in their daily professional life, this most complex object revered as the linchpin of a new industrial revolution, benefits from the same liability protection as a work of art. (Indeed, software industry firms are called "editors".) For example, there is no legal guarantee that shrink-wrapped software will serve any purpose, not even the one for which it is advertised. This situation may be acceptable when one buys a novel or a painting (de gustibus... said the Romans), but is absolutely unacceptable when it concerns software. It means that you cannot sue Microsoft for malpractice after discovering that Windows 95 is not designed in accordance with established and proven technologies, while you can sue an electrician or plumber whose work is not up to professional standards and norms. Even worse, no one is responsible for any damage that the software could cause. Once again, it is reasonable that you cannot sue a musician if his latest techno CD bought by your son causes a family dispute in the course of which you break a very expensive piece of Chinese pottery. But it is totally unacceptable to be left without recourse if you were to lose 200 megabytes of valuable commercial data on your hard disk because of Windows 95's antique file system and its horrifying program, Scandisk. This is especially true since you could easily prove in court that the technology needed to design a vastly superior product, with which you would not have lost your data, has been CyberSnare http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html 6 of 23 05/24/2010 04:26 PM available in the public domain since the 70s, and that the code itself, as used in the AT&T version of UNIX, has even been acquired by Microsoft. On the other hand, you can drag your electrician to court if he runs electrical wiring through the wooden moldings in your home ( 5 ). Finally, a very serious consequence of this lack of accountability is that the "editors" of the software are in no way legally bound to correct errors and recognized failures in their products, even if those mistakes are voluntary. This means that the software "editors" can sell whatever they like, or rather, whatever their marketing departments make you buy, with no obligation as to the products' fitness to purpose, while enjoying full legal immunity, even in the case of blatant dishonesty. Better still, the customer may be forced to pay as much as the original product price for "updates" that in reality are nothing more than bug fixes. These surprising legal aspects, which were probably justified when software was written by engineers in their garages, are absolutely baffling today when we have several international software corporations of astronomical financial clout. Moreover, the legal immunity does not benefit all software editors, only the most powerful ones. Indeed, a large company can and must force a software provider to sign a contract that clearly defines the deliverables in addition to certain guarantees. Alas, this is neither within reach of the average consumer, nor of most small businesses that run the risk of being purchased or destroyed in a short time if the editor they are dealing with has sufficient financial leverage. I can very well imagine that, just like the young executive mentioned earlier, you are feeling slightly less comfortable by now: the Promised Land of cyberspace is starting to reveal many unfriendly dark sides, and that wonderful humanitarian company that was always presented to us as the finest in computer technology, and the living success of market economy, looks less and less philanthropic. Unfortunately, all this is only the beginning of our journey to the dark side of planet Microsoft. The worst is yet to come. Manufacturers ambushed Microsoft's monopoly allows it to easily get rid of yet another source of software marketing cost: technical support and distribution. Regarding the former, one can imagine that even though a company may not be legally bound to help install its software, it will still do so in order to retain its market share. Not to worry, Microsoft has the solution. Just take a look at the license agreement for Windows 95, of which I include this excerpt: 6. PRODUCT SUPPORT. Neither Microsoft Corporation, nor its CyberSnare http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html 7 of 23 05/24/2010 04:26 PM affiliates, offer support for the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. For support, please contact the support number of the Computer Manufacturer included in the documentation of the COMPUTER. Clever, isn't it? The burden is squarely put on the shoulders of the hardware manufacturers who are not responsible for items like Defrag, blue screens, and so on, but who will pay--literally--their consequences (I know something about this, given the number of times I have unsuccessfully tried to obtain telephone support for the installation of Windows onto the aforementioned Japanese laptop). If Windows 95 did not enjoy a monopoly position, computer manufacturers would happily rid themselves of such an arrangement. As for the distribution of the software itself, once again, it is the manufacturers, assemblers, and resellers who pay: they have to "pre-install" Windows 95 on your machine. But there is an even better solution: the distribution, over the Internet, of software without any physical support. This is a stroke of genius: you pay for the programs and download them at your own expense (and quite an expense it is, considering the size of Microsoft Office these days), thus effectiv