On 12/1/05, Noel Yap <noel.yap@gmail.com> wrote:
> Also, I'm surprised you hadn't mentioned one of the largest management
> reasons not to use open source -- CYA. Management doesn't have anyone
> to sue if something goes wrong.
Not to bash you personally, but this is a fallacious argument I grow
tired of hearing. Please show me a closed-source license that does
not include a disclaimer of warranty and a limitation of liability
clause analogous to the following:
----------
In no event shall Obscenely Large Software Company or its suppliers be
liable to you for any consequential, special, incidental, or indirect
damages of any kind arising out of the delivery, performance, or use
of the software; even if Obscenely Large Software Company has been
advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event will Obscenely
Large Software Company's liability for any claim, whether in contract,
tort, or any other theory of liability, exceed the license fee paid by
you, if any.
----------
In layman's terms, "If anything goes wrong, we'll give you your money
back. And that's all." Most aren't even that nice; they inform you
that your only remedy is to uninstall, and you get nothing. I'm sure
someone will mention that these clauses are not enforceable in some
jurisdictions, but considering the abject stupidity of the American
tort system at present, I'm not sure the law actually matters in this
situation.
If management is going to use that as ammo against you, you might tell
them to actually RTFL and learn just how many rights they don't have.
--
Stephen Clouse <stephenclouse@gmail.com>
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Received on Fri Dec 2 21:03:41 2005