======================================================================== THE GRIPE LINE: ED FOSTER http://www.infoworld.com ======================================================================== Tuesday, December 21, 2004
IN THIS ISSUE * A Fatal Blow to Shrinkwrap Licensing? * A Real Rhapsody-Roadrunner Runaround * If Holiday Greetings Were EULAs -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ADVERTISEMENT RESEARCH STUDY: THE KEY TO BUSINESS SERVICE MANAGEMENT Today's enterprise is increasingly dependent on IT, to the point that operating without its services is nearly impossible. Are you on the shortest path to IT-business alignment? Find out when you download this complimentary benchmark study from Filigree Research, sponsored by BMC Software. You'll learn about the current state of IT-business alignment in 565 IT organizations around the world. http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A8D087:2B910B2 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ======================================================================== A FATAL BLOW TO SHRINKWRAP LICENSING? Having so often been the bearer of bad news from the legal front, I am thrilled to have some good news to report for a change. The old-fashioned shrinkwrap license appears to have suffered from what may well be a mortal wound. Microsoft, Symantec, Adobe, CompUSA, Best Buy, and Staples have agreed in the settlement of a California lawsuit to change their ways, and you can already see the first results at the software retailer nearest you. In January 2003, California resident Cathy Baker walked into her local CompUSA store to return copies of Windows XP and Norton AntiVirus she'd purchased there. When trying to install the programs, she had of course been confronted by all the obnoxious terms in the Windows and NAV End User License Agreements. Instead of clicking OK, she took them back to the store for a refund, as the EULAs said she was supposed to do if she refused to accept the terms. At CompUSA, however, Baker was told the store's policy was that it could not give refunds for software once the customer has opened the package. Even though Baker had no way of seeing the EULAs until after she purchased the products, took them home, opened the package and tried to install the software on her computer, she was now told she could not get her money back even when she rejected the terms. (In a somewhat bizarre twist, after she protested enough, one CompUSA employee told her that they had "secret instructions" from Symantec to provide refunds in such circumstances.) So, like many others before her, Baker was confronted with the classic shrinkwrap license conundrum ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A8D07F:2B910B2 ): She could only see the terms by opening the box, and opening the box meant she was stuck with it. But Baker did something most others before her had not - she went and got a lawyer. "When Miss Baker came to us, we felt it was an important case to bring for the benefit of the general public," says Baker's attorney, high tech litigation specialist Ira Rothken ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A8D089:2B910B2 ). "In our research, we found that it hadn't been discussed before - there was no guidance on it in the literature. Here you have a multibillion-dollar industry that is using improper business practices as a consistent policy, in violation of federal and California consumer warranty statutes. As a practical matter, the consumer couldn't review the terms and conditions prior to the sale and couldn't reject them with any certainty they could get all their money back." After Rothken first filed the lawsuit in February of 2003, ensuing news coverage brought more consumers forward with similar stories of their own. An amended complaint to the case Rothken filed in May of that year added a second plaintiff along with Baker and also included Adobe, Staples and Best Buy as defendants with Microsoft, Symantec and CompUSA. Ultimately the parties entered a mediation process and in April they reached a settlement under which the six defendants had up to 120 days to ... http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A8D080:2B910B2 ======================================================================== A REAL RHAPSODY-ROADRUNNER RUNAROUND Does any company ever give customers a straight answer to an e-mail asking for help? One reader's recent experiences prompted him to ponder that question. "I've begun to realize lately that no customer 'service' organization is able to successfully answer email support questions," the reader wrote. "No matter who it is, the first email to request information or to report a problem always comes back with an answer that has nothing to do with the question asked and often is just a repeat of easily-found information from the vendor's own Web site. They must think that we are unable to find this information on our own or the response is from a robot based on matching -- poorly -- words within the support request. EBay is the worst and there is no other way to communicate with them other than their support Web forms." What really got the reader thinking though was the runaround he experienced when trying to use a free trial offer for RealNetwork's Rhapsody music download service that was sent to him by his cable modem service, Road Runner. "I've been a fairly happy Time-Warner/Road Runner customer for several years now, and this Rhapsody offer was ... http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A8D081:2B910B2 ======================================================================== IF HOLIDAY GREETINGS WERE EULAS Reader Mark Mailloux recently e-mailed me his best wishes for the season, and he has generously granted me license ... so to speak ... to share his tidings of comfort and joy with you: Dear Ed, With the holidays fast approaching and EULAs pretty much a fact of life, please accept -- with no obligation, implied or implicit, on behalf of the wisher or wishee -- my best wishes for an environmentally-conscious, socially-responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice, practiced within the traditions and/or within the religious or secular belief(s) of your choice and with respect for the traditions and/or religious or secular beliefs of others or for their choice to not practice traditions and/or religious or secular beliefs at all; and for a fiscally-successful, personally-fulfilling, medically-uncomplicated recognition of the onset of what is generally accepted as the new Gregorian calendar year, but with due respect for calendars of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great*, and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, sexual orientation, political affiliation, or choice of computer operating system of the wisher. DISCLAIMER By accepting this greeting you are accepting the terms of the greeting and all responsibility ... http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A8D082:2B910B2 Contact Ed Foster at [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Ed Foster's "Reader Advocate" column, http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A8D084:2B910B2 , can be read exclusively at his GripeLog Web site: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A8D088:2B910B2 ====================================================================== INFOWORLD SMB NEWSLETTER Sign up today for the latest news, reviews, and product information essential to the smooth running of your SMB's IT operations. http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A8D083:2B910B2 ====================================================================== ADVERTISE To advertise, 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=A8D07E: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=A8D086:2B910B2 To view InfoWorld's privacy policy, visit: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A8D085:2B910B2 Copyright (C) 2005 InfoWorld Media Group. 501 Second St., San Francisco, CA 94107 This message was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
