Re: [Fsfe-uk] Cheats!

[Alan Pope]

On 30/01/06, Ian Lynch <address@hidden> wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-01-30 at 18:29 +0000, Chris Croughton wrote:
>
> > Well, if it's in a shop you can take it back and complain (especially if
> > you have paid for it, even if all you really paid for was the
> > packaging), if you download it there's no one to sue.
>
> Ever tried complaining to the person you bought software from that it
> had a bug in it? Ever tried suing a software company eg MS because their
> product wasn't fit for purpose?
>

This certainly happens when customers buy large complex software
products which don't work as expected. In addition customers negotiate
reductions in licence costs where appropriate. My experience of this
is with very large UK retail chains, and Top-10 software vendors.

> Talk of suing is in practice marketing rhetoric. I know of know
> successful lawsuit against a shrink wrapped software supplier of any
> real size so its not a practical possibility. Its useful for software
> suppliers to give the perception that you might be able to sue them ;-)

The instances I'm aware of don't end up in court. The threat of such
action resulted in all parties gathering around the negotiating table.
It's certainly a big stick to wield though.

Cheers,
Al.