1) Never implied other firms did not put broad disclaimers on their sites. 2) Specifically noted that it was a boilerplate disclaimer. 3) Protecting oneself from random litigation is reasonable. Making assertions about how one treats customers and then stating your assertions have no meaning is simply amusing.
After reading the MSFT disclaimer at the bottom of their comment on the alleged backdoor, it is hard to take anything they say seriously.
For those who didn't read the small print, here it is:
September 03, 1999: Bulletin Created.
THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.
Now, this does read like standard lawyer CYA BS, but when they're telling you to trust them and following the statement with an overarching disclaimer...well, I don't have to be a crypto expert to know *my* security is best served elsewhere.
I'm a SuSE-based newbie who's put a lot of time into loading and learning Linux, and this article is 100% dead-on.
After using computers for more than 20 years, I shouldn't lose a full day learning to mount a drive, or trying to untar something.
Yes, that means I'm not as savvy as a lot of you guys, but people like me (or, perish the thought, dumber and less patient) will determine the OS propagation path going forward.
Alas, Bill Gates figured this out a long time ago.
I was a newspaper editor in a prior life, and one of the oldest ways to spark interest in a publication's opinion section is to get a flame war going.
Infoworld has a Linux advocate on their back page, so Metcalfe rolls a grenade into our tent from the bottom of the inside-of-the-back page.
He is so hilariously off-base, and has been so spectacularly wrong in the past with his internet-gonna-crash-real-soon-now forecasts, that his rant can be safely ignored.
Like many folks on Wall Street (my current career) he is a "fade" - someone whose trades you take the other side of, because they are so likely to be wrong!
Slashdot Mirror
RMS is providing an important service to everyone
who uses software by *being* the difficult, nit-picky guy who keeps everyone on their toes.
The software world is a better place for his
efforts, whether they seem over-the-top or not.
*I* will be elected President before Buchanan,
fear not. He only gets attention because he makes
it easy to lampoon brainless nativists.
You're describing most Wall Street shops!
I have 6.1 and their email support
and user mailing list were very very
helpful to this newbie.
I would definitely recommend SuSE.
I look forward to 6.3!!
I love SuSE.
YAST is a great installer for those
of us who are not Linux Jedi.
The e-mail support, though not
instantaneous, was upbeat and genuinely
helpful.
1) Never implied other firms did not put
broad disclaimers on their sites.
2) Specifically noted that it was a
boilerplate disclaimer.
3) Protecting oneself from random litigation
is reasonable. Making assertions about
how one treats customers and then
stating your assertions have no meaning
is simply amusing.
After reading the MSFT disclaimer at
the bottom of their comment on the
alleged backdoor, it is hard to
take anything they say seriously.
For those who didn't read the small
print, here it is:
September 03, 1999: Bulletin Created.
THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.
Now, this does read like standard lawyer
CYA BS, but when they're telling you to
trust them and following the statement
with an overarching disclaimer...well,
I don't have to be a crypto expert to
know *my* security is best served elsewhere.
I'm a SuSE-based newbie who's put a lot of
time into loading and learning Linux, and
this article is 100% dead-on.
After using computers for more than 20 years,
I shouldn't lose a full day learning to mount
a drive, or trying to untar something.
Yes, that means I'm not as savvy as a lot of
you guys, but people like me (or, perish the
thought, dumber and less patient) will determine
the OS propagation path going forward.
Alas, Bill Gates figured this out a long
time ago.
I was a newspaper editor in a prior life,
and one of the oldest ways to spark interest
in a publication's opinion section is to get
a flame war going.
Infoworld has a Linux advocate on their
back page, so Metcalfe rolls a grenade
into our tent from the bottom of the
inside-of-the-back page.
He is so hilariously off-base, and has been
so spectacularly wrong in the past with his
internet-gonna-crash-real-soon-now forecasts,
that his rant can be safely ignored.
Like many folks on Wall Street (my current
career) he is a "fade" - someone whose
trades you take the other side of, because
they are so likely to be wrong!
I surfed all around Compaq's site and found nowhere to post my, er, lust for this type of unit.
I use a RexPro now, and I love it. It's the size of a pcmia card.
But Franklin/Starfish have informed me they have no intent/plans to port the product over to Linux.
Idiots!