Yes, you may know what you really want (but not always) and
really need (not nearly so often the case). You are the guy with
the money, and you are the guy who makes the decisions, and none of
this guarantees that you are not about to make a totally stupid
decision, or one that is severely lacking, or one that could be
much better if you would listen to the professional in the area
instead of fighting him.
This coming from the guy who regularly rants about having to stop
using decades-old software because somebody else decided, in their
vast wisdom, that something newer is better.
None of us is perfect, and none of us is perfectly consistent, and we
are all driven more than we like to admit by emotional responses to
frustration and pressure when we respond to others. That includes me.
Still, I continue to refuse to accept the notion that software is a
service that the service provider is allowed to change without my
permission, and then stand there with a mercenary smirk and tell me I
will really be better off if I buy his latest and greatest, even if
his latest and greatest is slower, or harder to use, or less reliable
than what I had before.
I buy a hammer. It works great for pounding nails. Somebody invents a
jackhammer. I don't need a jackhammer to pound nails. If I find I
need a jackhammer, I will buy a jackhammer, separately.
The guy who invented the jackhammer has no right to break my hammer
and force me to buy a jackhammer, even if the jackhammer, and subtle
variations on it, is the only thing he is capable of inventing for
the rest of his life, or the life of his company, and the only way he
can continue to feed himself and his stockholders is to take my stuff
that I paid him for away from me and force me to buy something else.
And for anyone who tells me that I only bought a "license" to use the
software, I would simply point out that common law in most places
doesn't allow the creation of contractual arrangements that don't
provide equitable benefits to both sides. A EULA is a contractual
arrangement in which the user pays money in return for which they are
allowed to attempt to use something that may or may not work, and may
or may not damage their data, in return for which the manufacturer
guarantees nothing and incurs no obligation whatsoever. Unenforcible
almost anywhere, if push comes to shove. In other words, pffffffft on yer EULA.
Ken Dibble
www.stic-cil.org
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