Seriously, why do all of you people get so bent out of shape? I'm honestly asking here.
If you don't like a type of food, do you go on a personal crusade to ensure no one ever eats it ever again? Probably not.
If you don't like Real's business strategy, DON'T USE IT. I personally don't like the real player, never have, probably never will. I do, however, use Rhapsody and I think it's a fantastic service for the price. But that's off topic.
The real question is why Real (or any other company for that
by Anonymous Coward writes:
on Tuesday September 14, 2004 @01:08PM (#10247522)
I'm honestly asking here.
Assuming you are honestly asking, and not just snivelling "It doesn't mean they are evil. Grow up.", here's your answer.
If I don't like a type of food, I avoid it. If I'm a doctor, and I find that many of my patients have eaten a certain type of food and gotten sick, I would advise them to avoid that food in the future. If the majority of patients that had eaten that food subsequently got sick, I might well "go on a personal crusade to ensure no one ever eats it ever again".
Add to this the fact that my patients aren't generally paying me anything, say, because they're family and friends that I don't want to charge. Suppose that I treat them during my spare time, because my day job is surgery, not general practice.
So here I am, a highly-skilled surgeon, spending my free time doing general practice, helping out these patients who are sick from eating this Real brand food. All the while, I have to listen to the manufacturer of the food blither on and on about how wonderful it is, and deal with restaurants encouraging people to eat the food, without warning them about the side effects. Is it any wonder that I'd consider the manufacturer evil?
You make a point, but it's hardly a fair comparison. Getting "sick" and "not liking something" are rather different. Personal preferences are one thing, side effects are another.
Yes, I understand that real installs what can be considered spyware. I hate it too. But I guess what it boils down to, is I'm just not sure where it's written that Real has a responsiblity to customers who installed free players. If you installed it, you did it of your own free will. Sure it's shady, but it's hardly maliciou
You downloaded that email out of your own free will. Surely it couldn't be considered the virus authors fault that you ran it and it completely messed up your system?...
I think it's fair that people should be able to expect certain qualities from software they download from a software firm. At the VERY least it should be easy to remove it. At least in the past, this hasn't been the case with Real's software.
Getting "sick" and "not liking something" are rather different. Personal preferences are one thing, side effects are another.
I'm not talking about not liking the tray icons or the desktop icons or what have you - I'm talking about real side effects, like broken MP3 playback, app crashes on startup, or system slowdown because of the memory-hogging background tasks. I would equate that sort of thing, in a computer, to a cold or flu in a human being.
I think all the personal angst stems from the fact that most of us grew up in the hacker subculture. Programs that install stuff on the sneak violate an unspoken code of ethics. Vendors that aggressively lock in with proprietary codecs and stuff are A Bad Thing(tm). We are used to going to open forums and *Flame On* writing long diatribes about how much they suxor and why. These are the bad guys. They always have been the bad guys. They are now desperately trying not to be the bad guys. Apple and Real have been battling about online media for ages ! They were the two original players.. quicktime and realplayer.
Glaser acts like this is the first time they have butted heads.. Oh we approached apple, we wanted to make a deal. Bah that was just a show for the media. That is like osama and bush sitting down for tea. This war is in its second decade, and don't you forget it.
But I Digress........So, in conclusion, it is because we like to go onto online forums and talk about evil software that violates hacker ethics.
Whats with all the personal angst? (Score:4, Insightful)
If you don't like a type of food, do you go on a personal crusade to ensure no one ever eats it ever again? Probably not.
If you don't like Real's business strategy, DON'T USE IT. I personally don't like the real player, never have, probably never will. I do, however, use Rhapsody and I think it's a fantastic service for the price. But that's off topic.
The real question is why Real (or any other company for that
Re:Whats with all the personal angst? (Score:2, Insightful)
Assuming you are honestly asking, and not just snivelling "It doesn't mean they are evil. Grow up.", here's your answer.
If I don't like a type of food, I avoid it. If I'm a doctor, and I find that many of my patients have eaten a certain type of food and gotten sick, I would advise them to avoid that food in the future. If the majority of patients that had eaten that food subsequently got sick, I might well "go on a personal crusade to ensure no one ever eats it ever again".
Add to this the fact that my patients aren't generally paying me anything, say, because they're family and friends that I don't want to charge. Suppose that I treat them during my spare time, because my day job is surgery, not general practice.
So here I am, a highly-skilled surgeon, spending my free time doing general practice, helping out these patients who are sick from eating this Real brand food. All the while, I have to listen to the manufacturer of the food blither on and on about how wonderful it is, and deal with restaurants encouraging people to eat the food, without warning them about the side effects. Is it any wonder that I'd consider the manufacturer evil?
Re:Whats with all the personal angst? (Score:1)
Yes, I understand that real installs what can be considered spyware. I hate it too. But I guess what it boils down to, is I'm just not sure where it's written that Real has a responsiblity to customers who installed free players. If you installed it, you did it of your own free will. Sure it's shady, but it's hardly maliciou
Re:Whats with all the personal angst? (Score:1)
Do you feel the same way about viruses?
You downloaded that email out of your own free will. Surely it couldn't be considered the virus authors fault that you ran it and it completely messed up your system?...
I think it's fair that people should be able to expect certain qualities from software they download from a software firm. At the VERY least it should be easy to remove it. At least in the past, this hasn't been the case with Real's software.
Re:Whats with all the personal angst? (Score:1, Informative)
I'm not talking about not liking the tray icons or the desktop icons or what have you - I'm talking about real side effects, like broken MP3 playback, app crashes on startup, or system slowdown because of the memory-hogging background tasks. I would equate that sort of thing, in a computer, to a cold or flu in a human being.
Sure it's shady, but it's hardly malicious.
"Evil" isn
Re:Whats with all the personal angst? (Score:4, Interesting)
These are the bad guys. They always have been the bad guys. They are now desperately trying not to be the bad guys. Apple and Real have been battling about online media for ages ! They were the two original players
Glaser acts like this is the first time they have butted heads.. Oh we approached apple, we wanted to make a deal. Bah that was just a show for the media. That is like osama and bush sitting down for tea. This war is in its second decade, and don't you forget it.
But I Digress........So, in conclusion, it is because we like to go onto online forums and talk about evil software that violates hacker ethics.