Slashdot Mirror
Why Can't Microsoft be Sued Under the Lemon Law?
briant97 asks: "Microsoft is sitting back making all this money by charging for desktop and server operating systems. If you go for a server, they also add additional charges through client access licenses. Well, now that they've charged you all this money they leave their software open to viruses and exploits beyond belief, which will cost your company even more money. When will it stop? When will Microsoft become liable for their actions? I mean they are making billions while costing other companies billions. Ford, Chevy, and all other car manufactures get held liable if they make a defective product, why not Microsoft?" One can argue that you sign away your right to seek damages from Microsoft, by agreeing to the EULA, however there is still this issue as to the strength of a EULA since they've never been tested in court. How do you feel about this subject? Should software owners be allowed to "sign" away their basic rights via click-thru licensing, or should software manufacturers be liable for the critical defects that show up in their software?
They don't need to be, unless their decision affects actual lives, or the safety of some vital component.
Are you honestly going to sit there and insist that a normal, home PC is somehow worthy of lemon laws which are designed to protect the lives of citizens like you and me?
What about the firmware in your PS2? The software sitting on the hard drive of your XBox? PCs are so important they deserve the kinds of regulations and protections that vehicles do (which kill many thousands of people yearly.)
Negligence in one doesn't translate to negligence in the other, you fucking twit.
You wanna start regulating the quality of the writing in books? How about the quality of a hanging piece of art on the wall? That's *exactly* the same thing. Moron. There's a reason why software is protected speech and why people who write it call it "art": because that's exactly what it is. Software IS art. There are thus so many subjective opinions as to what "good" software is that regulating it would be a complete, speech-stifling waste of fucking time.
So why are you even fucking arguing about it?
The Better Business Bureau is a joke. They're not a pro-customer organization -- they're a *business* organization. Their job is to make complaints go away. Any complaint which isn't immediately quantifiable as directly lost money will be dismissed out of hand. And any complaint which does involve money, they'll try to resolve -- as the company's advocate, not yours.
Several years ago, I tracked down a spammer with a clearly fraudulent make-money-fast scam, and filed a complaint with the BBB. They didn't accept it as valid, and the company continued to show a completely clean record.