Matthew@MSN

/me ranting about technology, MSN and stuff

EULAs are important! [rev0]

From $5 to $1000, EULAs [or end user license agreement] are starting to offer cold hard cash!  Most people dread reading all this legal mumbo-jumbo and simply click yes when installing software.  I actually do scan through them if they're not that long or I simply just read the titles of the different paragraphs [unless I'm in a hurry].

Anyway, the $5 refers to a clause in Microsoft's AntiSpyware *cough* AntiAdware */cough* Beta in case Microsoft makes a mistake and the software's definitions start erasing personal files.  Of course Microsoft has to actually find and admit the error themselves, which they recently did.  I think that's a little generous since the software is free and will remain free.  I have GIANT's software myself since it has more features, but Microsoft recently released an update that increased performance among other things, which was true when I uninstalled GIANT on a slow machine and installed the new Microsoft build.  I compared the boot times and there was a decrease in 10-15 seconds on a 2:30 boot time [yeah, it's a slow machine].  Anyway, it kind of makes me angry that Microsoft isn't updating the GIANT build, they're only updating the definitions for it.

The $1000 check was cut by PC Pitstop when Doug Heckman was the first of over 3000 downloads to actually read the EULA and e-mail the company for compensation.  If only I used their software...  Interesting to note that this article was first on Slashdot.org and then News.com used it.

@Matthew

Posted: Feb 25 2005, 11:59 AM by matthewsoft | with 3 comment(s)
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Comments

TrackBack said:

^_~,pretty good!csharpsseeoo
# May 19, 2005 5:41 PM

TrackBack said:

EULAs are important! [rev0]ooeess
# July 22, 2005 8:40 AM

TrackBack said:

EULAs are important! [rev0]ooeess
# August 2, 2005 8:21 PM
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