======================================================================== THE GRIPE LINE: ED FOSTER http://www.infoworld.com ======================================================================== Tuesday, November 9, 2004
LATEST WEBLOG ENTRIES ======================================================================== * Playing Games With Customer Rights * Pay-Per-Click Perils * Countering Sneakwrap ADVERTISEMENT -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Grand Central's Linthicum and InfoWorld's Dickerson Discuss SOA's Service Oriented Architectures promise increased IT efficiency, better response times, new business models, and enable cross-company platform agnosticism. Nevertheless, there are also significant inhibitors. Where do you begin? This webcast from InfoWorld and Grand Central Communications not only provides tips and trends on SOA's, but also provides a framework for building an SOA at your organization. Register and view now at: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9D75F9:2B910B2 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- PLAYING GAMES WITH CUSTOMER RIGHTS ======================================================================== Posted November 9, 1:31 AM PST Pacific Time My new microwave won't work because it objects to the brand of refrigerator I have in the kitchen. And the aspirin bottle has detected a rival brand in the medicine chest and therefore can't be opened. And my mattresses tag-removal alarm system is ... Well, OK, maybe things haven't gotten quite that bad yet, but it's certainly the direction that software Digital Rights Management schemes are taking us. Most distressing is the trend by game software publishers to use DRM that refuses to let the game play if software it doesn't like is detected on the user's system. "They really have gone too far this time," one reader recently wrote. "Check out the links in this Slashdot discussion ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9D75F0:2B910B2 ). Sims 2 checks your computer and will not run 'when active CD Emulation software is detected by the copy protection on the game CD.' That means Electronic Arts wants us to remove perfectly legal programs like Nero and Clone CD that are often pre-installed by the PC manufacturer! This can't be legal." In past months, readers report encountering ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9D75F2:2B910B2 ) similar DRM restrictions on CD/DVD burning software with other games such as Activision's Doom 3 and Ubisoft's Far Cry. One reader had resorted to getting cracked versions of the games instead of the CDs he had purchased, but this meant that they could not be played on-line. "Doom 3 was something I was really looking forward to playing on-line, so I relented and uninstalled the Clone CD and Daemon Tools software in an attempt to get Doom 3 to work with the store-bought executable," the reader wrote. "To add insult to injury, Windows XP decided that I had made a hardware change when I uninstalled the virtual DVD/CD-OM software and told me I had to re-activate. When I tried to re-activate it told me I had re-activated too many times ... So then I had to call Microsoft and convince them I wasn't trying to install Windows XP on more than one computer so that I could use the operating system I bought and paid for over two years ago. As a software engineer myself, I understand the need to protect your code but to make copy protection so stringent that legitimate users can't use the software they paid for encourages piracy or at the very least discourages future purchases." As is always the case with copy protection, the DRM the games are using can easily be circumvented by those who want to make illegal copies but can cause problems for honest users. "My version of Clone CD is so old that it doesn't do any emulation, probably wouldn't beat any modern copy protection, didn't have any services running, and was solely used for a few personal CD backups," wrote another frustrated Doom 3 customer. "I actually had to uninstall Clone CD to even be able to run Doom 3. Meanwhile, friends of mine downloaded and were playing days before I bought it - totally hassle-free. Why bother anymore? Why should paying customers ... For the full story: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9D75F4:2B910B2 PAY-PER-CLICK PERILS ======================================================================== Posted November 8, 12:36 AM PST Pacific Time Pay-per-click ads are a driving force behind the Internet these days, but not all click-throughs are real. And what if the search engine company says the click-throughs are valid when you think they're phony? That's what reader was left wondering after his Overture Content Match traffic experience an unusual spike. "Our website has been promoted via Overture's pay-per-click program for several years," the reader wrote. When Overture added the Content Match contextual advertising feature to his service, he decided to at least give it a try. "It didn't seem like a bad idea, although the number of websites that might mention the kind of items we have to sell would pretty much be restricted to our competitors. So I watched it closely to see how much it was costing us." The reader's company sells a fairly specialized set of products, so the amount of click-throughs generated by Overture's Content Match were generally not very heavy. "Imagine my surprise when I found that two terms we have pay-per-click campaigns on went from very little action to a huge amount of action - for only two days," the reader wrote. "Over the course of six months, the first product description ... For the full story: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9D75F5:2B910B2 COUNTERING SNEAKWRAP ======================================================================== Posted November 6, 10:21 PM PST Pacific Time Is there a way to turn the tables on the purveyors of sneakwrap? At least in some instances, it might very well be possible to take matters into our own hands by sending service providers back our own "terms and conditions" for them to keep our business. You've probably noticed how virtually every utility bill or financial statement you get in the mail each month comes with a whole new set of fine print terms that you are supposedly agreeing to by continuing the service. William Woodward, a law professor at Temple University, has noticed this too, and a few years ago he decided to try a little legal exercise with some of his service providers by sending them back his own "Terms and Conditions of Continuing Service" form along with his check. "There is no reason that a consumer cannot have her own form and do battle with a business that has tried to take away important rights by sending out its one-sided form to the consumer," he wrote. "There even seems to be a little poetic justice in it." Woodward's specific concern was the dispute resolution terms many vendors employ to prohibit class action lawsuits and/or mandate arbitration. His terms ... For the full story: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9D75F3:2B910B2 Contact Ed Foster at [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Ed Foster's "Reader Advocate" column, http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9D75F6:2B910B2 , can be read exclusively at his GripeLog Web site: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9D75FA:2B910B2 ======================================================================== ADVERTISE ======================================================================== For information on advertising, contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] UNSUBSCRIBE/MANAGE NEWSLETTERS ======================================================================== To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your e-mail address for any of InfoWorld's e-mail newsletters, go to: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9D75F1:2B910B2 To subscribe to InfoWorld.com, or InfoWorld Print, or both, or to renew or correct a problem with any InfoWorld subscription, go to http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9D75F8:2B910B2 To view InfoWorld's privacy policy, visit: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9D75F7:2B910B2 Copyright (C) 2004 InfoWorld Media Group, 501 Second St., San Francisco, CA 94107 This message was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
