Ever since Microsoft started extorting money from open source vendors/OEM's with bogus patents, I've started dropping Microsoft's products as soon as I could.
The only one left is Windows 7, which I can't wait to get rid of in 2-3 years, once either Ubuntu or Android come into their own as more mature mainstream operating systems.
I jumped ship from Microsoft when Vista came out, switching to Ubuntu in 2008. It was good enough for mainstream production use then, albeit with some warts - but it was already a hell of a lot more polished, functional and user-respecting than Vista.
Ubuntu has continues to improve in polish, stability and usability since then. There's no reason for you not to start making the jump now.
My recommendation is to start by replacing the applications on your Windows machine with cross-platform FOSS equivalents, if you haven't already. That way, the OS transition will be a lot easier because you will already be familiar with the software.
I am assuming you're changing your vote next time for the Green/Constitution/Libertarian party as well? Since I assume you'll treat the congressmen and their political parties who take the lobbying money the same way you treat the corporation that is giving the bribe.
I don't live in the US. I turned down a job at Google not because of anything to do with Google, but because it means living and paying taxes in the US. I work remotely from a tax haven, have no debt, and I'm on track to retire with a million in savings by my mid thirties. You'd have to make a quarter million a year to pull that off in the US. In Panama I can do it on a lower salary than what Google pays. I have freedom and you have big brother and big banker. You can't pay me to accept a green card to the land of "freedom and opportunity."
Ha, I don't live in the US, I live in a some times worse nation - India. We don't pay as many taxes though. I made my comment as an assertion of the fact that people blaming corporations must also blame the participating government as well.
Good to know you're a dollar vigilante! I always wanted that lifestyle; can't get it, not yet anyway.
Sounds like a classic cop out. I'd wager that my surroundings aren't terribly much worse than yours, but the difference is you'll have to work for 30 years more than me (if you're average), while I will be free to change my surroundings as often as I feel like. If you optimize for money and focus on long-term goals you can end up with a much higher quality of life overall.
It's nice. There's a number of rough edges but not hugely more than in the developed world. Learning Spanish was the biggest problem for me, because I've never committed the time to it. I met a great girl (model) here that I intend to marry (I think I would have had great difficulty meeting a loyal old-fashioned girl in my home country, nevermind that girls as pretty as her never used to give me the time of day.) I can't complain.
If you want something more recent, along with Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, and Ericsson, they are one of the backers of Rockstar, which is currently suing Google using old Nortel software patents that claim the concept of matching internet search terms to advertising.
Apple is bordering on patent troll, too. They may not have bothered to oppose this legislation, but they recently exerted some of their patents via the Rockstar thing.
Patent trolls make me see red. I hate them with every fiber of my being. They're the bully that used to beat you up and take your lunch money. Except here it's worse, because you can't go the principal for help (here the principal is called the law and it is on their side.) You're left to fume powerlessly against the injustice being done.
What if Sony was also in that bunch? Genuinely curious: I had to make a similar decision a year ago, and since Sony had been on my shitlist because of DRM-related prosecutions, I went for the Xbox.
