nihil39 wrote:

WoundedFoot wrote:There are quite a few business/organizations I will not support:
Microsoft (I've pirated all my copies of windows.)

Doing so you help them to widen their monopoly.

If possible use GNU/Linux or another free (as in freedom or as in free beer) OS, instead.

....Raikes, speaking last week at the Morgan Stanley Technology conference in San Francisco, said a certain amount of software piracy actually helps Microsoft because it can lead to purchases by individuals who otherwise might never have been exposed to the company's products.

"We understand that in the long run the fundamental asset is the installed base of people who are using our products," Raikes said. "What you hope to do over time is convert them to licensing the software."

Raikes said Microsoft isn't about to abandon efforts to track down those who illegally copy and use its products. However, he said Microsoft has to balance that approach with the recognition that users of purloined software could one day become legitimate customers.

NOW IF ONLY THE RIAA WOULD FIGURE THIS OUT

United Airlines
circuit City

Farmers
Mitre 10
Star Fuckas

Wal-Mart
McDonalds
Taco Bell


But why The Empty Bottle? Is there something of which I should be aware?

WoundedFoot wrote:
All big name clothing stores (GAP, American Eagle, Urban Outfitters, A&F, etc.)
Blockbuster (You don't carry VHS tapes? I don't rent from you, motherfuckers!)
Starbucks (Fuck them. Their coffee is terrible)
Clear Channel (Radio Monoploy. Fuck that shit.)
Ticketmaster (Absurd fees.)
Wal-Mart
McDonalds
Microsoft (I've pirated all my copies of windows.)
The MPAA
Big Theater Chains (Lowes, AMC, etc.)
Television (Television sucks. I'd rather read a book.)

There's some good ones in there.

of course fuck the clothing stores. Urban Outfitters is a hipster tradition here in philadelphia. it's kind of like scientology in LA. you find out that the cute chick you like works for them and it just ruins it.

Blockbuster with their late fees. they abused their customers because they weren't prescient enough to see into the future that their little monopoly would be undone.

Starbucks ain't so bad. pricey, and the starbucks "settlements" omnipresence is shameful...but nice when driving late at night on the turnpike.

Clear Channel? coors for your ears.

ticketmaster sometimes you have to feed this bitch. sucks, but perhaps the answer is just to boycott the bands who use them. okay I will.

microsoft ain't so bad. yes their software kind of sucks. yes they stamp out innovation...but their leader is inoculating Africa. all apple's does is create a stupid little contraption that isolates people, makes them superficial trendoid sneetches and saved the record industry. I guess you should consider them the starbucks of computers. they commodified liberal identity and sold it. if you buy this, you will be an individual. check out the baffler.

the last three are all the same. MPAA, TV, movie chains. there's some good and some bad. when dvds become as easy to copy as cds the mpaa will turn into the RIAA.

nihil39 wrote:If possible use GNU/Linux or another free (as in freedom or as in free beer) OS, instead.

I've been using ubuntu on my server and while with xfce it still runs slow as shit, command line, it blazes!

it's a beautiful interface and I like how there's no tiers like there is with windows. you can do anything with it. looking forward to the ubuntustudio release.

The only non linux app I still use is photoshop, but I want to move to GIMP. Anyone use GIMP?

http://www.gimp.org/

kenoki wrote:

tipcat wrote:I boycott the Decemberists.

me too... wait, there's a difference between hate and boycott though, right?

Not in this thread! I was interested until it just turned into "list stuff that you don't like."

I'm not just curious who everyone boycotts, but why they do so. So, thanks to everyone who gave their reasons, especially if they were legitimate. I think it's funny that several people boycott products/companies (a lifetime commitment/effort) without making the one-time effort to check to see if your reasons for the boycott were even valid. "I heard that they make twinkies out of kittens" "apparently, starbucks refused to send coffee to the troops because they don't support the war!"

It's not a boycott if you don't use a product because you hate it. "Fuck, I hate the Decemberists! They're so goddamn precious, but they've never done me any wrong, or anyone else to my knowledge, so I guess I have to buy all their records. Fuck!"

I realize it's a joke, but a lot of this thread just strikes me as listing shit you don't use because, well, it sucks. Maybe you have good reasons for why you don't buy certain products. This thread would've been a lot more interesting if more people had shared those reasons.

I'm shocked at how many people really claim to not eat fast food. If you do, congratulations. I don't care enough, even though I'm not proud of eating at these places, and I don't do it often. It's also funny how some people boycott starbucks but not mcdonald's, as if one were really worse than the other. Maybe you just don't like coffee. I buy starbucks. They're coffee isn't great, but it's better than anywhere else in maybe a 10 mile radius of my house.

If the "no onions on hamburgers" people are still reading: am I missing something? Can you not just ask for no onions? I understand the allergy thing, especially since you'll get onions about 1/4 of the time, even if you ask without. But if you just don't like onions, what's the big deal? I dislike ketchup, but sort of enjoy having a qualifier with my order, as I know they have to make it fresh.

What is the obvious reason to boycott the metro?

Earlier in the thread, both Bob and Steve professed to boycotting the Empty Bottle...the Steve complained about the Metro too...

Is there something about the business practices of these places that is offensive, or is there a different reason to boycott them? Here's looking at you kerble...

The House of Blues boycott...now that seems obvious.

google

I'm an ex-Ecology major, so there arose a point in the evolution of my environmental knowledge base where almost everything could or should theoretically be boycotted for contributing detrimentally to the ecosystem. It was a very depressing, angst-filled period of time for me, what with being faced constantly with ethical dilemmas whilst also spending the majority of my time reading about, talking about, and watching films about how the blight of humanity was raining hell down upon the earth.

Anyway, I eventually came to a sort of balance about what I boycott or merely avoid.

I try to choose non-genetically engineered or organic foods if available, which they usually aren't during the wintertime up here. We have a huge garden in the backyard that helps out, and we freeze and can produce and fruit for the winters.

I avoid certain types of seafood that are being subject to non-sustainable fishing practices (or contributing to the disruption of a marine or aquatic ecosystem's overall health). I don't eat shark at all, for instance, because it's A) incredibly unhealthy for you considering the toxins have moved all the way through the food chain between organisms by the time the shark feeds on its prey, gathering and winding up in your body. B) sharks are being overfished and, as one of the top predators on the sea, their dithering populations effect the carry capacities and disease among other marine life.

I boycott McDonald's for using a loophole in the USFDA regulations which allows them to import cattle from other countries and still have it be considered "meat from the U.S.," including that from cattle raised on former rainforest grazing lands procured through shifting agriculture. The fact that they save roughly $.05/lbs. through this process is repugnant, and while I'm sure that other fast food places engage in similar processes, the largest fast food chain in the world earns more of my loathing than usual for being such greedy douchebags. Besides, I hate fast food anyhow so it's not as though the boycott is difficult for me to uphold.

I refuse to shop at my former employer, Younkers, anymore because of their illegal disposal of toxic chemicals, which they refused to alter despite my informing them many times that they were doing something harmful (I'm thrilled that I spent so many hours there on the dock floor, breathing in mercury from the crushed lighting units in the compactor).

Unfortunately, living where I do, it's difficult to completely avoid some of the other evils that I would like to veer clear of completely. I sort of live in a sprawling, ugly, corporate-Hades of an area of the state (north of the Green Bay, WI area, where the favourite local restaurant is "The Olive Garden"), and sometimes it's 2 AM, you need an item badly, and nothing else is open. For instance, I would shop at the local non-corporate chain grocery store in my town more rather than driving to Green Bay, but they close early and rarely have the items that I need (flat-leaf parsley or cilantro, for instance).