While I agree with you wholeheartedly, and find this practice rather slimy, I'm not so sure that this particular case would be considered unreasonable, (at least not by a court). IANAL, but one could argue that the company isn't really depriving you of anything, they are just bartering their "free" postcard service in exchange advertising time on your computer.
Interestingly enough, acording to some people, the Dvorak keyboard isn't noticably more efficient than QWERTY in terms of typing speed. This article from the economist discusses the issue. It's mostly a light summary of this paper. Anyway, it's something to think about. Especially when you consider how long it must take to retrain yourself to type on a new keyboard.
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I was always fond of the Happy Fun Ball EULA myself.
While I agree with you wholeheartedly, and find this practice rather slimy, I'm not so sure that this particular case would be considered unreasonable, (at least not by a court). IANAL, but one could argue that the company isn't really depriving you of anything, they are just bartering their "free" postcard service in exchange advertising time on your computer.
Not to be anal, but I believe the metaverse was from Stephenson's Snow Crash.
When you see an ad on TV for herpes medication, do you think that person really has herpes? Of course not
Damn it! I knew I should have slept with that girl from the herpes commercial.
Interestingly enough, acording to some people, the Dvorak keyboard isn't noticably more efficient than QWERTY in terms of typing speed. This article from the economist discusses the issue. It's mostly a light summary of this paper. Anyway, it's something to think about. Especially when you consider how long it must take to retrain yourself to type on a new keyboard.