This is why I only use & support Free & Open Source Software in my personal life. This man is going to prison. Prison.
"A California man who built a sizable business out of recycling electronic waste is headed to federal prison for 15 months after a federal appeals court in Miami rejected his claim that the “restore disks” he made to extend the lives of computers had no financial value, instead ruling that he had infringed Microsoft’s products to the tune of $700,000."
“I don’t think anybody in that courtroom understood what a restore disk was,” Lundgren said.
This is key. Most folks don't understand tech. The whole "You wouldn't steal a car!" ad campaign is an example.
If that car was open sourced, and I could download it and print, yes... I'd "steal" a car. But that isn't stealing.
A jury of your peers means your average lay person. They think in a corporate mindset. Arbitrary "losses" equal prison time.
@tinker I remember a really, really long time ago reading an article with an anecdote about going to Best Buy and asking to boot an Ubuntu Live CD to test before buying. The staffer said "Microsoft wouldn't allow that."
From my limited recollection, I don't think it was a policy thing, the staffer just couldn't conceive of a non-MS OS existing. This would have been before Apple's '00s revival and Microsoft's slow decline.
@Riley - Crazy.
