
Richard Dreyfuss' dramatic reading of the iTunes EULA - iwwr
http://www.cnet.com/8301-30976_1-20068778-10348864.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Crave
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DanielStraight
The "termination" one highlights a particularly absurd aspect of the EULA. You
are supposed to do something specific on termination of the license, but they
aren't required to tell you it's terminated?

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peterwwillis
Can you imagine if companies did this regularly? If people actually "listened"
to what they're agreeing to when they use common software? They might actually
look for alternative software.

New idea: A table on Wikipedia of software and the rights you give up by using
it, compared to Free software and the rights you retain.

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mirkules
"New idea: A table on Wikipedia of software and the rights you give up by
using it, compared to Free software and the rights you retain."

IMO, an obscure table on Wikipedia is not going to make anyone stop using
software. EULAs were designed to make people "click through," and even if they
DID read them, they generally wouldn't care if the software did what they
needed it to do. I propose instead that whoever is interested in making Free
software that they make quality software that people want to use. Apache,
Firefox, and FileZilla are good examples of this (ok FileZilla may be
stretching it, but see below). GIMP and OpenOffice are not.

Personally, I will jump through _some_ hoops to get stuff working, but if it
seems like it's going to be a time-sink just to edit a photo, open a .docx
file or some other trivial task, I'm going to download and use whatever gets
me there faster. I might get downvoted for saying this, but I'm just not going
to waste my time configuring half-baked software when there are quality
commercial alternatives available (and same goes in reverse, in the case of
Apache, for example).

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s-phi-nl
In complete honesty, what are some of the weaknesses of OpenOffice? Lest I
seem like an OpenOffice fanboy, I will say that I expect that I will agree
with a number of its weaknesses, but simply be unaware of them since I have
not used Microsoft Office much since moving to Linux a few years ago. One
weakness I do know of is that its .doc converter is not perfect.

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netcan
IMO, its main weakness is that it feels like an outdated version of MS Office.
It also makes users need to think a little but more. For example, it
encourages you to make an informed decisions regarding your file format
preference and be aware of their consequences with regards to file sharing,
freedoms, etc. Something most users prefer to keep hidden. Spreadsheets and
presentations aren't as pretty and even less pretty when opened in MS which
means OO.org is pretty useless to anyone who uses these for work or school.

Basically its software for people who want free software or for people who
don't want to pay for software, won't/can't pirate it, and either don't mind
tiny inconveniences or have pretty basic needs.

Office is a software package that for many people, represents a big part of
their computer literacy. Being a little different can be the same as making
them a little dumber.

That said, its perfectly fine. IF MS fell off a bridge tomorrow most people
would use it without much issues.

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kissickas
I'll have to disagree with two of those statements. To me MS Office
(admittedly I haven't owned any version since the ribbon toolbar) looks much
worse now than LibreOffice does (and as far as I know it hasn't deviated too
far from OO.o).

As far as the file formats go, I like it to remind me to convert back to .odt
when I'm done using a file in .doc because it uses less of my Dropbox.
However, I've given LibreOffice to both of my parents now and they can barely
tell the difference- once I set their initial preferences it stopped prompting
them about file formats.

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netcan
Sure _you_ do. Most people don't want to know about file formats. Neither do I
honestly. To people who have been using the ribbon toolbar (newer versions),
OO feels like going back. And sure you can give it to your parents or anyone
else, especially for home use. I did say it was perfectly fine.

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kissickas
What I'm saying is that by default it prompts you about file formats, but it's
easy to set it once (as .doc, even) and never bother with it again.

Do you like the ribbon toolbar? I was under the impression that pretty much
everyone hated it. Honest question.

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netcan
Everyone hated it originally. Now people like it. It's just like most changes.
I haven't used it much myself. I usually use Open Office.

Sure, setting is a possible "solution" but that implies there is a problem.
Most people will do fine with it but most people probably also just wish their
son would just install pirated Office for them like their neighbors.

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leftnode
There's a recent South Park episode parodying the length and absurdity of
Apple's EULA's and terms of agreement. The whole episode is great and does a
pretty good job of goofing on Apple fanboyism.

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brudgers
Link: [http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-
episodes/s15e01-humance...](http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-
episodes/s15e01-humancentipad)

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kleiba
"Due to copyright and other legal reasons, South Park video content cannot be
viewed outside the United States."

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rickmb
Now add the fact that Richard Dreyfuss' fame and fortune comes mostly from the
entertainment industry with its ridiculously restrictive licensing (which
doesn't allow me to see his film work online, since I'm in a "wrong" country),
and the irony comes full circle.

Personally, I'd rather click "Ok" on a absurd (and unread) EULA than to not
have access to the product at all.

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carussell
Your "no access to the product" of course includes a caveat, which is that you
haven't paid for the product.

If you apply the same caveat to the EULA-bound Apple products, the net effect
is the same: "no access to the product".

So no irony here, not even Alanis's flavor.

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dave84
I imagine this is what Wil Wheaton hears in his head when he's reading EULAs.

With that out of the way, would it be possible to represent EULAs in a simpler
manner while still satisfying a company's legal department?

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scott_s
Probably - there's an excellent Planet Money story on doing the same thing
with credit card agreements. I can only find two segments online. One where
they talk to someone who writes them
([http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/04/21/134633336/why-
are-...](http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/04/21/134633336/why-are-credit-
card-agreements-so-long)), and one where they get 4th graders to read them
([http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/03/18/134664249/the-
frid...](http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/03/18/134664249/the-friday-
podcast-4th-graders-read-a-credit-card-agreement)). That latter links to a
simplified notice.

It takes a lot of effort, and they're only going to do it if required by law.

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edkennedy
I find the link at the end of the article most interesting of all.
<http://www.thedreyfussinitiative.org/>

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felipe
Richard Dreyfuss is an outspoken civics activist and scholar. I believe he
even lectures at Oxford. And it's no coincidence that he played Dick Cheney on
Oliver Stone's W.

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pornel
I do not want to accept iTunes EULA, but I feel like I'm blackmailed to do it:
if I don't, I'll loose ability to synchronize/activate/restore my phone, I
won't be able to update or download any applications for it. With cable-free
iOS5 it looks like there isn't even a choice — you either accept iTunes EULA
or you won't get past Welcome screen.

I'm locked-in and I have to perpetually "agree" to whatever Apple comes up
with.

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dspillett
> I'm locked-in and I have to perpetually "agree" to whatever Apple comes up
> with.

If it bothers you, get out before you are locked in further. Stop buying new
content via Apple's store, don't buy any more Apple (or Apple licensed)
products and buy yourself something else to replace the functions the device
has for you.

If the people who don't like being locked in but just accept it anyway and
keep paying, Apple will never change as they won't need to. People like me who
refuse to even join the game obviously don't seem to be a concern for them.

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cpg
Hilarious. What we need is Shatner reading it, with bongs and all, a la Palin
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpbSwSlP4Yc>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mLvzARScak>

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michaelfeathers
I'm aching for someone to put a dub beat behind this, bongos, or some Greek
Bouzouki.

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duggan
How bout this - <http://soundcloud.com/rduggan/richard-dreyfuss-battle-cry>

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itswindy
Stop bashing Apple if you are using a MAC. Read its EULA, you agreed not to
say anything bad about Apple when you first bought your Mac. :)

God knows what I agreed to when I installed XP.

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danssig
So when is he doing one for MS, Adobe, Oracle, ....

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pama
Excellent! This is the best answer to the question: "Who reads the EULA?"

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napierzaza
Does he take requests, I'd like to hear him do the "Think Different" ad again.

