InfoWorld: A Fair Job on the FEULA

======================================================================== THE GRIPE LINE: ED FOSTER http://www.infoworld.com/ ======================================================================== Tuesday, March 1, 2005

IN THIS ISSUE

* A Fair Job on the FEULA * HP/Compaq Won't Cover Battery * What Kind of Sense Does Phone-Only XP Activation Make?

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A FAIR JOB ON THE FEULA

I'm not entirely happy with the beta version of the FEULA -- the Fair End User License Agreement. But, then, if I were thrilled with it, that would no doubt mean that it isn't fair enough.

Last Friday I posted version .90 of the FEULA ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=BEABAE:353CA35 ) in the EULA Reviews of my website so that we can start getting feedback from all concerned. You might recall that a few months ago I asked for volunteers ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=BEABAD:353CA35 ) to help me design a model Fair EULA that is reasonably balanced between the interests of software publishers and software customers. Since then, I've been circulating a draft to experts on both sides of the fence and have gotten some excellent ideas and suggestions.

And, like me, I'm sure most of those who participated are looking at the FEULA and noting all the things that aren't in it that they hoped to see there. Naturally, those of us on the customer side have quite a laundry list of things we think need to be changed in your standard license agreement. But those with experience writing these things have a lot of EULA provisions they believe are necessary to protect the publisher. So sticking to the middle ground between those positions never figured to be easy.

Plus, the more I tried to find compromises that would keep everybody happy, the more a bigger problem loomed. One participating attorney who I think was a bit more of a true neutral observer than the rest of us made the point early on that my original draft was already pretty long. Adding the things that I and other consumer advocates wanted to put in there, and then balancing it with more of the industry language, threatened to turn the FEULA into as long and complex a document as the EULAs we hate. And that definitely wouldn't be fair.

So in the end I took a minimalistic approach, trying as best as possible to boil it down to just those things that each side feels it has to have and no more. The software publishers get their limitations on their liability, a disclaimer that their product might not be bug free, and a reaffirmation of their rights on copyright law. The customer side gets a limited warranty that the product basically does what it's expected to do, rules that allow transfer and concurrent usage, and a reaffirmation of our rights under copyright law. (We do have some, you know.) It's still not as short as I'd like, and there's still too much legalese, but I think it's a start.

Even if the FEULA were perfect, I harbor no illusions that the major software publishers will be beating a path to our door to adopt it any time soon. In the current legal and political climate, I'm not sure a large public company will see any point in cutting customers an even break unless forced. But, as we've seen, some smaller software companies do eschew one-sided EULAs, and perhaps with the FEULA we can encourage ...

http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=BEABB0:353CA35

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HP/COMPAQ WON'T COVER BATTERY

The cover for a laptop battery is one of those little things you don't even think about ... except when you don't have it.

"My Compaq laptop was still in warranty and it was not charging its battery properly," a reader writes. "So I called Compaq, got a case number and sent it in for repairs. When it came back, it was missing the battery compartment cover! I first called on Feb. 11 and was told I would receive the part in a few days. I have been promised one from Compaq over and over again since, and they still haven't sent me one."

Since the lack of a cover was rendering his portable computer virtually useless, the reader purchased a replacement part on eBay. But while his laptop is now working again, the way he was treated still rankles. "Whenever I call I get somebody in India who says there's nothing more they can do," he writes. "I found a corporate ethics page on HP's web site with a mail address for HP's Office of Business Practices. I am drafting a letter to them with a chronology of what happened, including all the promises of calls ...

http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=BEABB2:353CA35

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WHAT KIND OF SENSE DOES PHONE-ONLY XP ACTIVATION MAKE?

One reader's recent experience reactivating Windows XP takes on added meaning in light of Microsoft's decision ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=BEABAF:353CA35 ) to begin eliminating Internet activation. What seemed like a strange system to him then is about to get even stranger.

"Ed, I avoided it for a long time but I finally had to deal with the Microsoft reactivation process for Win XP," the reader wrote in January. "I switched out a faulty motherboard/power supply with no problem. Upon reboot, Windows thought it needed to be reactivated. So first I try to do the reactivation over the web. No luck. Then I try the phone reactivation. It tells me my installation number is invalid and hangs up on me. Is this the way you treat customers? So in desperation I call Microsoft's main number and finally get redirected to the reactivation people. So we play read and enter numbers for a while and then I have to get transferred to yet another person to finally do the activation. Am I nuts or is this an insane way to run a business?

"Now, here's the part that really left me scratching my head," the reader continued. "At ...

http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=BEABB1:353CA35

Contact Ed Foster at Foster@gripe2ed.com .

Ed Foster's "Reader Advocate" column, http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=BEABB3:353CA35 , can be read exclusively at his GripeLog Web site: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=BEABB7:353CA35

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