Group: Defective by Design/Ideas

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This is a page inspired by a conversation on Diaspora about the DBD 2011 Holidays page. In it there are very few alternatives presented for those wishing to partake in ethical consumer choices during this season.

The following list are not suggestions. Instead they are ideas which need to be reviewed to decide whether or not they should be added to the Holiday Buying Guide on defectivebydesign.org.

Promotional material / advocacy

  • Show your colors! Help promote software and technological freedom by getting or giving out FSF campaigns stickers.
  • Visit your favorite free software project and get their merchandise (T-Shirts, stickers, etc.)
  • Make your own! Remix existing artwork and print your own T-Shirts, stickers, mugs, etc.
  • Consider joining or sponsoring a membership to one of the many organizations out there - why not start with the Free Software Foundation ? Sponsoring a student membership is U$60.

Books

  • Try to always get your ebooks in an open, standard format, without DRM - ePUB being the preferred format
  • Don't miss [Free Software, Free Society (2.0) Free Software, Free Society, 2nd edition] by Richard M. Stallman en ePub format
  • Project Gutenberg offers over 36,000 free ebooks to download
  • http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Free_eBooks has an endless collection of links to free ebooks. Remember to always choose DRM-free, epub formats.
  • A quick search for keywords such as "non-DRM epub ebook gpl cc" should turn up more options
  • Give an online subscription to 2600 magazine (DRM -free)

Media players, Music

Movies

  • Beofre buying a media player check Xiph.org's lists of [audio and video players
  • Keep in mind all Android devices Ogg Theora media although battery time will be impacted as this does not currently use hardware acceleration
  • Record your own free Off-the-air (OTA) digital broadcasts or record from any analog source using hardware like the HD Homerun
  • Archive.org Moving image archive has a huge collection of classic and recent movies and videos. From timeless classics like The Boy in the plastic bubble to recent videos like The Story of Stuff including full feature movies like The Yes Men and Home, there is always something new to discover
  • The Miro free, open source music and video player lets you view, convert and share your media - and gives access to thousands of video feeds
  • Creative Commons Films

Video Games

  • List of Open Source Video Games at Wikipedia
    • Take the subset of that page which is both Free Software and the content is also a Free Cultural Work (some on that list aren't)
  • Review these sites to see if they have free software games:

Computers and Laptops

  • Buy your next computer or netbook pre-installed and including support for Gnu/Linux at one of the following manufacturers:
  • Ask your local non-chain store to build your own computer from compatible parts & compomnents

Smart Phones and Tablets

Although Android is often described as being "open source", current devices include non-free drivers and software that implement many restrictions making such devices essentially non-free.

However, several devices can use alternative firwmare (also referred to as "ROM") like CyanogenMod which combined with the following simple advice brings as much control as you can have today on such devices:

Current source code for CyanogenMod can be used to build such ROMs for Nexus S, with other devices coming up. The Replicant project also aims to have a 100% free implementation of Android, watch its site for compatible devices.

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