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I just read a very disturbing artilce in the local paper. Microsoft is not the only overbearing software giant in the woods.
(This info is from a column by Dan Gillmor in the San Jose Mercury News of May, 26, 1998.)
Software "license" agreements are governed by the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). Software companies are promoting an amendment (2B)
to this code which basically lessens their liability and increases the restrictions on users.
According to Gillmor, "The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and the American Law Institute are responsible
for drafting the lanuage of these uniform laws, and state legislatures generally turn their proposals into law."
Some of these items are currently part of license agreements, but this amendment would make them law.
1. It allows the product to be sold "as-is" with all risks borne by the user, even if the product is defective and the manufacturer
knew it. (End run on Y2K problem ?)
2. It creates liability for consumers in Internet transactions. If someone uses your credit card to order software, you'd have to
prove that you did not order it. (I'm not sure why this is a problem, unless it eliminates the current limitiation on liability for
stolen cards/numbers.)
3. The WORST. It will allow the vendors to prohibit releasing test results without the approval of the vendor ! Evidently testing
is now considered a form of reverse engineering.
We can see where this would lead. I have no doubt that Omega would have their lawyers actively participating in this list whenever
someone points out a possible bug in TradeStation, or exposes how TS really works - the perpetual alarm problem, the MaxBarsBack
problem, the incorrect formulas, the bouncing tick problem, etc, etc.
Vendors would not allow test results to be published unless their products did well. They would perhaps demand that certain
parameters or configurations be used in the tests to "tweak" their performance. I think this would be ultimately found to be
unconstitutional, but it would cost many companies and individuals millions of dollars to fight the software companies.
BASICALLY _ SOFTWARE VENDORS GET EVERYTHING THEY'VE ALWAYS WANTED AND WE GET BETA SOFTWARE. LEGALLY.
There are resources to combat this nefarious law. Several websites of interest:
www.badsoftware.com/uccindex.htm
www.softwareindustry.org/issues/guide/index.html
Be prepared to fight this thing when it reaches your state.
Thanks to Dan Gillmor and the San Jose Mercury News for exposing this egregious limitation on freedom and commerce.
donc
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