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Microsoft Will Pay If Its Bugs Damage Your Data
RMX writes "CNet is reporting on
a new Microsoft policy where
they will pay if their software damages your data
. There's a pretty low limit on what they will cover and "it also applies even if Microsoft knew or should have known about the possibility of the damages" but at least it's nice that they're specifying exactly to what length they'll go to cover their customers. Is this the "support" from proprietary vendors that corporations like so much?"
Dammit .. I was hopeing that this would mean I could sue them every time installig one of their brain-dead OS's into an empty partition destroyed the data in the MBR, thus making the system unusbale , and a PITA to fix.
.. oh well.
Then I remembered I've never even attempted to run it on my machines for five years+
See, *this* is the kind of added value that could make commercial software
really worth the money, at least potentially. (I'm assuming here that the
blurb accurately reflects what's actually being done... which is probably
assuming too much, but there's always that, isn't there?) This is the sort
of thing Microsoft should be talking about when they talk about the value
they can provide. Assuming they're willing to actually do it.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
This seems like a weak, thinly veiled stab at open source.
E.g., Microsoft: "You run Debian? Great! But who'll pay if your data gets damaged?"
To which the obvious reply is: well, gee, my operating system hasn't ever really damaged my data -- as a matter of fact, last time my hard drive went bad, I was able to recover most of my data. Thanks anyway, though!
Assume I was drunk when I posted this.
Anyways by that time I will also have restored the data from a backup. You DO have a backup strategy ... don't you?!?! ...
...now do you back up your work?
I want a new world. I think this one is broken.
I believe that commercial software is, and should be treated as, an engineering discipline. Similarly, I think we need to accumulate some "best practices" that require commercial software to meet standards of robustness, stability, and functionality. We then need to crush, kill, and destroy anyone who fails to meet those standards.
Software's not a game teenagers play in their basements anymore; it's used on airliners, in cars, in hospitals, and all sorts of other places where a system crash is Not Acceptable. While you can find rare examples of folks who are willing to stick their companies on the line when it comes to the stability of their software, this is the exception, not the rule. Accepting financial liability for bugs in software is a good start. It's also, interestingly, something that only a commercial entity can do.
Acius the unfamous
They offer a ridiculously small amount of cash for a narrowly defined kind of damage where no one will ever see the offer. Then they can turn around and say "Who will pay if Linux damages your data? No one, that's who!"
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
I'm not sure about any other states, but here in Texas if you agree to any settlement then you cannot go back and sue regarding the same issue. For example, lets say you request the 5 dollars and find out later it costed you 5 million in damages. Too bad sucka, you settled for the orignal 5 bucks.
Very sneaky of MS. I gotta hand it to them for that.
Life is not for the lazy.
Scam is a little harsh. They are doing this for the PR and FUD value, pure and simple. "Microsoft stands behind its products. We'll even pay you if we damage your data. Do you other vendors offer this?" Of course, this offer applies only to their spyware tool, but they'll still make the claim, and it will be true. Nobody will bother to make the claim (who wants to spend an hour filling out forms, etc. for $5 ?), and they'll use THAT as evidence of their software's reliability.
Seriously, calling Microsoft for $5 is the last thing on your mind after working on a project for a whole day and having Windows magically lose it. I was building a data parser for the raw outputs from a lab machine one time. The code was fairly simple and straight-forward, but it still took a day to build and ensure that it handled everything properly. After compiling at the end of the day, I went back to the source code to add a few more comments and it was gone. Just up and gone, no evidence of what had happened or anything. This was on my own personal computer that no one else uses, so no one else had messed with it. Immediately after it disapppeared I used some recovery tools, assuming a program had deleted it somehow. But nothing, not a single trace. It really baffled me for a while and I never did find it or figure out what had happened.
This may be one of those things where on the surface it reflects well on Microsoft, good PR and all, but rarely will they actually pay out.
Look at rebates. People buy something thinking that they are going to get a $5 dollar rebate, but then there are too many steps, too much hassle to fill out the forms, or they just forget about it. Only a small precentage of the rebates are actually claimed.
Plus, who knows what kind of hoops you might have to jump through to prove that you are eligible for the $5. Maybe this is yet another way for them to get you to verify to them that you have a valid (legally paid for) OS. No valid OS, no $5.
Sig cancelled due to lack of interest
Rather than Microsoft Will Pay If Its Bugs Damage Your Data, the headline should have read Microsoft Says Your Data Is Only Worth $5 .
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
I think this is more to cover Microsoft's own rear-end than it is to make us feel warm and fuzzy.
I just went through helping a company incorporate as a Limited Liability organizationin the UK last fall, and included in the articles of incorporation is a section that states that each member is only liable for 1 UK Pound. I think This is similar, If Microsoft states that they WILL cover up to $5 for data loss, they can't be sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars instead.
Of course, to claim your 5 dollars, you'll probably have to call MS's support line which will charge you 35 dollars per incident unless you have some sort of support contract (which you probably paid too much for in the first place).
TFA (and presumably, TFEULA) forgot to mention that you'll need to hire a lawyer and sue them to get that $5. Most lawyers charge slightly more than $5 for their services.
(I am not a lawyer, for $5 or any other amount of money.)
You know $5 is outright insulting. I don't know about you, but the idea of paying me for lost data at such a low price is horriable. The 140 page paper, that I spent 90 hours a week for five weeks writing -- yeah, $5 isn't going to cover that. Especially when the crash killed 20 hour of continuous work. I mean, come-on. This is just assinine. $5 may cover the incidental, 1 page document that is lost once in a while. But $5 isn't going to do it for me when it comes to lost emails, important documents. I backup, and store things on another computer, but still.
The views expressed are mine own and do not express the views of my employer.
Okay, and how many of the potential EVER users of Linux will be able to "fix it yourself". First, they'll have to recognize it's a software problem and identify the program. Then they'll have to locate a consultant who will charge $30/hour minimum with 3 hours minimum. I don't see the benefit for most Linux end-users.