The Haus

Tuesday, February 22, 2000

UCITA-lemon protection? -- 6:47 pm CST, Update by The Master

VERY interesting opinion piece in Computerworld yesterday. Check this out: Win 2K or Win63K?. Basically, this is a review of WHY Microsoft is such a fan of the UCITA law that just went into place in Virginia. What does UCITA mean to you? It makes all software licenses legally binding, which means that the "we are not responsible for anything at all" clauses in all software contracts would protect software makers from ANYTHING that they could possibly be sued for. Even gross negligence. Nice.

J.t.Qbe comments: UCITA has been in the works for a while now, but you've probably never heard about it. Along with the features mentioned above, UCITA gives software publishers the right to disable software remotely if they determine that you haven't paid for it properly. UCITA also will forbid you from reselling your used software and will give you no right to complain when software doesn't work. It gives software makers all rights and takes all rights away from software users. No wonder they haven't let you hear about it!

It's been said that UCITA will drive people to free software like Linux, which is a Good Thing. However, UCITA will also prohibit reverse engineering, which will put a damper on free software interoperating with enslaved software. However, UCITA is a USA-only thing. . . so far. . . . Check out The Anti-UCITA Resource Page for more info. UCITA will become law. The future of software will be interesting.

The Master comments: The good thing in all this is that laws that try to take all consumer rights away have been overturned in MANY states, and the precedent will get this tossed out as soon as someone has the money to challenge it.

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