A complex subject. Stallman makes valid points, we do need fair laws that keep corporations from bad behavior while otherwise staying out of their way to do business.
I vote with my wallet at two extremes. Locally, I enjoy spending money at the small businesses in my neighborhood that I really hope stay in business and make a fair profit. At the other end of the business-size spectrum, I love the convenience of Amazon for ordering physical goods and having them delivered to my home in the mountains.
I understand the negative aspects of DRM but I really like the Kindle platform. It is true that I may not always have access in the distant future to what I have bought, but in most cases I won't want a lot of what I buy to read in 10 years (and it will probably be available for as long as I live anyway). I pay a lot less (usually) for Kindle format books and they are available on all of my devices, with automatic syncing to furthest location read. Also, my study/home office is already filled to capacity with bookshelves - now I just buy really special books (on Go, Chess, Art books, some classic computer science, etc.) as physical books and enjoy otherwise saving the space on my bookshelves.
I vote with my wallet at two extremes. Locally, I enjoy spending money at the small businesses in my neighborhood that I really hope stay in business and make a fair profit. At the other end of the business-size spectrum, I love the convenience of Amazon for ordering physical goods and having them delivered to my home in the mountains.
I understand the negative aspects of DRM but I really like the Kindle platform. It is true that I may not always have access in the distant future to what I have bought, but in most cases I won't want a lot of what I buy to read in 10 years (and it will probably be available for as long as I live anyway). I pay a lot less (usually) for Kindle format books and they are available on all of my devices, with automatic syncing to furthest location read. Also, my study/home office is already filled to capacity with bookshelves - now I just buy really special books (on Go, Chess, Art books, some classic computer science, etc.) as physical books and enjoy otherwise saving the space on my bookshelves.