Simon

Cumbria

IT

@ George Preston
Your analogies are wrong. If you don't like your car you can sell it and buy a different one - nothing else will change, you can still drive to work, drive to the shops, etc. Now imagine if you change your car but all the data on your laptop goes with it, all your family photos, all your music - THAT is the sort of lock-in Stallman is talking about.

Actually, perhaps a better analogy might be music. You can play CD's in your car, and when you change your car you can transfer them to the new one. But suppose instead of having your own music, you get it delivered over a wireless connection directly to the car's stereo - you come to sell the car, but all the music you've bought is now lost. Just as if you decide you don't like (say) Hotmail and move to GMail - your stored emails will be lost.