The BBC News website today reported proposals to change EU rules governing consumer rights regarding software guarantees. In amongst the article was a gem of a statement from the Business Software Alliance which represents Microsoft, Apple, IBM and many other software giants: "(Digital content) is contractually licensed to consumers and not sold."
Read on in the full article.
Nice argument, and reasonably accurate. Nice that somone actually came out and said it. And frankly, unless a person wants the code along with the application, technically, it is a lease.
This has always been the case, and the fact that nothing has been done about it is astonishing. Some Microsoft stuff simply did not work. I speak from experience as I battled for a couple of years with Small Business Server v4.3. The way that vendors have progressively wriggled out of support is similarly incredible. If I buy a new car and something's wrong with it, am I expected to get onto some forum or newsgroup, hoping for help from somebody who has already experienced and fixed the problem? No, I take it back to the vendor.
This has always been the case, and the fact that nothing has been done about it is astonishing.
Well, the EU is now trying to take action by forcing software makers to be subject to the same consumer laws as other manufacturers.
Unfortunately the BBC's article seems to have bought the spin put on this by the software industry, and its headline implies that consumer rights would somehow cripple software because it would force publishers to make sure it has no major bugs.
Did I miss something? How can forcing publishers to remove bugs cripple software?
All other manufacturers (including complex stuff like medicines, cars, computers etc) have had to cope with consumer guarantees for decades, why on earth can't the software industry cope?
Computer hardware is just as complex as computer software, there is no practical reason why just the hardware should be covered by consumer guarantees.
I'm sure this smarta*s idea will be crushed by a consumer court sooner or later. Next thing you know they'll start asking for a yearly license fee. They need to be put into their place.
And they wonder why software piracy occurs!? Come on... people are not fools. Despite being a software producer myself (with my own company), I will continue to defend the right of people to file share and "pirate" at the very least as a try-before-you-buy-system (remembering that it has been proven conclusively more than once that music "pirates" spend considerably more money on music and related content than non "pirates"😉. Indeed this attitude by the software industry only increases the legitimacy of "piracy" as a way to rebalance the injustices brought on the consumer.
> the BBC's article seems to have bought the spin put on this by the software industry
Yes Tzer2, this is no surprise. The BBC's editorial staff are astoundingly ignorant (unlike their tech staff) when it comes to technology and almost always adhere to the mainstream establishment view. And I say this as an ex BBC technical staff member, so I know what I'm talking aboout 😊
If you say not having the code constitutes a lease then the same should be said of any other commercial item. I don't have the code to the electronics in my truck so that is a lease. Just more FUD from a dying breed of companies. It may seem dim but the future is bright. Just remember during an eclipse the "corona" is the only light you see.