25 December 2023

When is a Perpetual License Not a Perpetual License?

When a software company decides that they don't want to let you continue to use that software that you "purchased." Why the scare quotes? You only think you purchased the software. You didn't. You bought the rights to use the software for as long as they want to let you use the software. Which may not be as long as you want to use the software.

This is the same issue that came up recently with Sony Playstation and Discovery "removing" a lot of video content that users had "purchased."

Louis Rossmann covers Reason Studios removing access to software to which they had sold a 'perpetual' license. He also covers how if you buy 4K access from Netflix, they may not actually give you 4K video if you are not using Windows, running on Intel, using specific graphics modules, etc. Why? Because they said you have to use Windows, running on Intel, that's why. There is no technical reason for the constraint, except their personal prejudices against Linux, and AMD, and ...

This is Louis Rossmann's video Reason studios demonstrates why piracy is completely justified.

3 comments:

  1. IDK about The Messages others got as they were growing up, but I got Trust, until someone gives reason to Not trust ,which I'm still working to undo, and Deal with others Honorably, which is Fine, unless you're dealing with snakes. I'm not okay with Situational ethics, where right and wrong are, ( if I could think of a different word, I'd use it) fluid. But once it's been shown to be true that They are not dealing in good faith, well,, the rules we use to guide our behaviors are subject to change. A glaring example what John Deere has done. They lost in court, thankfully. Owners of J.D. equipment were being forced to have Their equipment repaired by the dealerships, or have the warranty voided. The right to repair, which seems like common sense to me had to be fought for in court.

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    Replies
    1. This is one reason I am buying physical copies of all the movies that I love, because they will "edit them for a modern audience" as soon as they are deemed "problematic" by the woke scolds.

      As for Deere, the warranty was written so that you had to take the equipment to the dealer for routine maintenance, like an oil change. That is not practical during harvest, when machines run 24 hours a day. Make an appointment. Contract a trucking company to transport your combine to the dealer. Wait a day. Reverse trip. For a freaking oil change when you are racing against time to get your crops in.

      I believe they did relax that particular bit of insanity when it was pointed out to them that they were being idiots.

      It is almost as if they moved corporate HQ to suburban Chicago and lost all knowledge of what farming is really like.

      Delete
  2. Further proof that if you can't physically touch something you do NOT own it. This applies to bank accounts, "safe" deposit boxes or pieces of paper called "stocks and bonds", electronics and the software that run it plus "digital" property stored ANYWHERE but your own hard drive.

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