FSF Ethical Tech Giving Guide v14

Well, since you put it that way, no; I have no toleration for wasteful practices. Others may and will see the act of giving differently, even if the other person does not want the gift.

A different perspective could be though that the recipient does not start out with an absolutely fixed position of wanting or not wanting the item, and hence is seduced by convenience and other factors, and hence the item ends up not being wasted.

So itā€™s like giving a future drug addict his or her first hit free. Which is clearly not ethical. :frowning:

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I donā€™t want to tarnish anyoneā€™s credibility, but I felt the need to enforce consumer rights because we are those consumers.

I was looking around with thinkpenguin and technoethical are in any way, scams or overcharges/ripoffs in any nature. One thing for sure, these two companies would benefit from a Better Business Bureau (bbb.org) listing and review board.
According to a reddit post/topic, question circulates on wheter the thinkpenguin business can uphold integrity.
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/199zg3/can_anyone_recommendwarn_against_thinkpenguin/

One comment mentions a eventual failure of the wifi card. Of course, there is also the warranty coverage mentioned on the order page, but for three years as performance/service sustainablity in exchange for 50 dollars? I will have to think about it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/199zg3/comment/isk81rn/

Thereā€™s also a dubious (troll) website that claims that you can purchase the very same hardware for 1/10th of the price that both thinkpenguin and technoethical have been charging for, minus the warranty coverage. I wouldnā€™t post this website as it is not exactly professional in context. Nevertheless, I canā€™t really ignore any claims of defective or overcharged products/services.
Iā€™ll just mention cheap FSF compatable wifi cards and cheatpenguin, thatā€™s all.

So how are you enforcing consumer rights with your post?

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Certainly, there are risks involved with such markets. Purism is no exception when it comes to the hardware. Of course, the PureOS is an operating system with a high coinfidence level. I didnā€™t even buy the companyā€™s USB drive.

I know I am just casting doubt (like a magic wizard) when Purism also have saving face moments. I feel that thinkpenguin and technoethical (its URL address redirects to tehnoetic; is that a misspelling? itā€™s not much of a problem) is just like another Purism startup. Itā€™s like a retail store without the validity of the GNU/Linux community. The community has been going with its principles for so long. I donā€™t think that a store with a seal of approval will guarantee the very same free software standard. I was just there to pout, ā€œIā€™m sure that thereā€™s a free software background check in the free software movement.ā€ Part of the movement involves inspection for technical and philosophical/social defects. It is not just source code, there are the licenses as well.

I admit that I may not have the de facto power to enforce consumer rights. However, all I can say is to put a healthy does of skepiticism when a matter of uncertainty comes into play. Surely one can prove oneā€™s point?
From the past, GNU/Linx development havenā€™t really touched on wifi cards for a while. I recall that there is one brand with a dongle antenna, but thatā€™s about it. All of a sudden, there are supported wifi cards? Since when? Maybe my previous post was not clear enough, but it does point out a possible failure rate with wifi cards. Yes, itā€™s true, if you work with Linux, something is bound to bear fruit. That fact is why I like Linux. Of course, I should be keen enough to assume the risk of failure. Such risk may involve defective products/services or a lack of support of services.

Below is the said aftermarket works:

Unix & Linux: Wifi Think Penguin USB and Debian 9 wonā€™t work

You just canā€™t take in the reel by hook, line, and sinker. Complete acceptance without questioning would be a contradiction to the GNU/Linux guidelines. Look at the Purism blog posts. It post videos that says, ā€œLook, look, look! Progress!ā€. A (video) demostration of a product/service wouldnā€™t hurt. So will a manual and tech support (at the very least, the two narratives will distribute other communication outlets to share the same/similar instructions). Marketing with a sense of genuinity may inspire trust, which leads to acceptance.


I think I was a little bit harsh like the Scrooge character when I mentioned ripoffs, defective products, and such. This market and community involves a bit of work and counting losses, thatā€™s the expectation. It was a unfortunate moment that placed me with a sales pitch talk. If I ever had a debate, it would been hot air versus hot air, both sides without substantial evidence to prove oneā€™s claim.

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