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Microsoft Bug

Microsoft Will Pay If Its Bugs Damage Your Data 330

Posted by Zonk from the microsoft's-two-cents dept.
RMX writes "CNet is reporting on a new Microsoft policy where they will pay if their software damages your data . There's a pretty low limit on what they will cover and "it also applies even if Microsoft knew or should have known about the possibility of the damages" but at least it's nice that they're specifying exactly to what length they'll go to cover their customers. Is this the "support" from proprietary vendors that corporations like so much?"
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Microsoft Will Pay If Its Bugs Damage Your Data More

Microsoft Will Pay If Its Bugs Damage Your Data

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  • 5 Bucks??? (Score:5, Funny)

    by lecithin ( 745575 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:40PM (#11783266)
    "Microsoft will reimburse direct damages up to $5 for problems associated with the new downloadable tool that wards off spyware, adware and any other "potentially unwanted software."

    That is a very low price for data.

    I don't think that corporations would care about this.

    • a low price for something you got for free. It's a free world man, if you don't like their tools don't use em

      • Re:5 Bucks??? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Baricom ( 763970 )
        TFA (and presumably, TFEULA) forgot to mention that you'll need to hire a lawyer and sue them to get that $5. Most lawyers charge slightly more than $5 for their services.

        (I am not a lawyer, for $5 or any other amount of money.)
      • a low price for something you got for free

        It's not a low price for data loss because of XP though. The same boilerplate is in that EULA as well.
    • Hey, if Microsoft wants to pay, sounds great. For all the data you have lost me you owe me around $10,000 dollars.

      • Re:5 Bucks??? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by utlemming ( 654269 )
        You know $5 is outright insulting. I don't know about you, but the idea of paying me for lost data at such a low price is horriable. The 140 page paper, that I spent 90 hours a week for five weeks writing -- yeah, $5 isn't going to cover that. Especially when the crash killed 20 hour of continuous work. I mean, come-on. This is just assinine. $5 may cover the incidental, 1 page document that is lost once in a while. But $5 isn't going to do it for me when it comes to lost emails, important documents. I back

        • Re:5 Bucks??? (Score:3, Informative)

          by KevMar ( 471257 )
          Hold on. They are not giving away $5 for lost data, they are capping the damages. $5 is the most you can get. You accepted the EULA that says $5 is the most you can get from them.

          The insult is not that they think you data is worth $5, but telling you that $5 is all you get.

          --
          Kevin Marquette [blogger.com]
          Antispyware [blogger.com]

    • Re:5 Bucks??? (Score:4, Funny)

      by Quasar1999 ( 520073 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:46PM (#11783327) Journal
      I once had Visual Studio crash, and take out my filesystem completely while I was working on a network driver at work... it blew away close to 2 days worth of work... I had to come in and work on the weekend instead of going on a roadtrip with my friends as I had planned... What if that would have been the one time I'd have met a woman drunk enough to have sex with me? There isn't enough money in the world to cover that... although... I think $5 will tide me over... do you think I meet their criteria?

    • Re:5 Bucks??? (Score:5, Informative)

      by ron_ivi ( 607351 ) <sdotno@cheapcomp ... s.com minus poet> on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:54PM (#11783395)
      I don't think that corporations would care about this.

      Well. Then what is it they pay for?

      • Bug fixes? Not a chance - when I called Oracle or Microsoft about bugs / crashes in their databases the best answer I get is "Wait for our next release" and the worst answer I get is "ok, i've logged your report". When I ask the same to Postgresql's mailinglist, I get a patch the next day.
      • Risk of end of life software? Not a chance - when a commercial software vendor does poorly (HP) support for much of their software is killed, when a commmercial software vendor does well (peoplesoft) many of their product lines are killed. When a product is open source, regardless of if it does well (Ximian) or poorly (Blender) it's products survive.
      If it's not for this generous monitary guarantee, what is the appeal?

      • Re:5 Bucks??? (Score:4, Informative)

        by r0ckflite ( 63420 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @08:54PM (#11783857) Homepage
        Bullshit on oracle. we have support, yes we pay for it. When our data was corrupted we spent 8 hours on the phone with oracle support and they got it back for us. When we find a bug, we get a patch quickly or a work around.

        Yes, MS provide no support. Oracle actually does.

        • Re:5 Bucks??? (Score:3, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward
          2nd on the Oracle bit.

          Maybe the org. poster paid for Standard Edition?

          If you have enterprise level support, you can get Oracle Experts (and yes, capitial E-experts -- these guys are _bad asses_) onsite in four hours.

          We had a netapp crash -- not Oracle's fault -- and they were onsight like *that*, helping us get everything back up.

          T

    • Re:5 Bucks??? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by bleckywelcky ( 518520 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @08:11PM (#11783518)
      Seriously, calling Microsoft for $5 is the last thing on your mind after working on a project for a whole day and having Windows magically lose it. I was building a data parser for the raw outputs from a lab machine one time. The code was fairly simple and straight-forward, but it still took a day to build and ensure that it handled everything properly. After compiling at the end of the day, I went back to the source code to add a few more comments and it was gone. Just up and gone, no evidence of what had happened or anything. This was on my own personal computer that no one else uses, so no one else had messed with it. Immediately after it disapppeared I used some recovery tools, assuming a program had deleted it somehow. But nothing, not a single trace. It really baffled me for a while and I never did find it or figure out what had happened.
    • Yeah, I mean, being generous, that would pay for about 3 minutes of my time. Which is probably half of what it would take to fill out the claim form. So the only reason I would do this would be to piss off Microsoft and exact a miniscule form of revenge the next time Excel mysteriously eats five hours of work on my spreadsheet and VBA code.
    • I think what Microsoft is doing is recognizing that software makers are liable for damage their software causes. So they are trying to cap their damages to $5.00 by including that contractual provision.

      It is smart on a shallow level as it makes the EULA look less one-sided (hey, we agreed to pay damages Microsoft will say). But at the same time it is capping those damages at an absurdly low level. But it still looks more reasonable than a provision that says we are not liable for any damages - which wo

    • $5

      That's way more than Knuth gives you for bugs in his books... :-)

      I'm guessing they want the same thing Knuth wants when they give you money for bugs. Nice strategy.
    • If I had five bucks for every time a Microsoft product lost my data, I'd be a very rich man.

  • WOW!!!!! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by kikta ( 200092 ) * on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:40PM (#11783272)
    Five whole dollars???

    Why would anyone migrate away from Microsoft products now?

    P.S. On a serious note, doesn't this potentially open them up to being sued for damages? I know they're claiming otherwise in the EULA, but once the door is open...

    • Re:WOW!!!!! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Auckerman ( 223266 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:57PM (#11783419)
      Let me tell you a secret. People have simple and short memories. Structured sound bites is the way things are remembered. If you pay close enough attention, you can see it at work all around you.

      Boss: "Why should I go with Apple, Microsoft will pay me for my lost data?"

      Peon: "Sir, they will give you $5"

      Boss: "Shutup boy, that's so wrong as to be stupid."

      Remember, the "absurd" is ignored, the "favorable" is repeated.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re:Legality (Score:5, Interesting)

        by kikta ( 200092 ) * on Friday February 25, 2005 @09:39PM (#11784134)
        Which I think is fair. However, Microsoft is now admitting responsibility for the bugs and that they can cause damage sufficient to warrant monetary compensation.

        This is opposed to their previous stance of claiming that their software has no fitness for any purpose or merchantability. This new policy goes against that previous claim. That's why I think the door may have creaked open for the right lawsuit to succeed in claiming, "No, we suffered a loss that should be compensated by one million dollars, not five." And when Microsoft tries to get it tossed out on the basis of their claims in the EULA, this policy will be shoved in their face.

        Just a thought.

        • Re:Legality (Score:5, Interesting)

          by ari_j ( 90255 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @09:54PM (#11784254)
          I was going to mod you up, but I'm going to agree with you explicitly instead.

          Settlement agreements are generally contracts that say "A gives B $X and B promises not to sue A for Y."

          So if you accept the contract from Microsoft which says "Microsoft gives Joe $5 and Joe promises not to sue Microsoft for the loss of Joe's data," you can't sue them later for the loss of your data. But if you refuse the $5, you can.

          The question is, however, whether the EULA includes a term saying that "If you lose your data, your only remedy is to accept a $5 settlement from Microsoft." And, if it does, would a court rule it unconscionable, meaning that it's so apalling and unfair that they will refuse to enforce that term of the agreement.

          But yes, they are definitely apparently admitting some degree of responsibility for lost data, though, and that's step one.
          • "So if you accept the contract from Microsoft which says "Microsoft gives Joe $5 and Joe promises not to sue Microsoft for the loss of Joe's data," you can't sue them later for the loss of your data. But if you refuse the $5, you can."

            Depends on the terms of the agreement. "Oh, gee, damn, Microsoft, I guess I just didn't see that clause in the EULA. Oh well, here's your $5 back." After all, they can't hold you liable for anything else beyond that, can they?
        • And there it was, right in front of our noses all this time ... the perfect reason to switch to another operating system. "Microsoft Windows has no fitness for any purpose." Damn, I can't believe I missed that the first time I read the EULA.
    • "Why would anyone migrate away from Microsoft products now?"

      So... how much do OSS developers pay up?

      Not asking because I want to file a claim, but since MS wouldn't want to bleed $5 towards millions of users...

  • Great! (Score:2, Funny)

    by sgant ( 178166 )
    1. Buy XP and install.
    2. Start building up data on your computer.
    3. Have it all damaged by XP.
    4. ????
    5. Profit!

    Great business model, gonna write this up and submit it to my bank for a business loan!

    Me rich...me REALLY rich!!!

  • About time (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lisandro ( 799651 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:43PM (#11783299)
    I swear, if i had a buck for each time a Microsoft product damaged my dat...

    Oh... wait...

  • MBR (Score:3, Insightful)

    by datajack ( 17285 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:44PM (#11783306)
    Dammit .. I was hopeing that this would mean I could sue them every time installig one of their brain-dead OS's into an empty partition destroyed the data in the MBR, thus making the system unusbale , and a PITA to fix.

    Then I remembered I've never even attempted to run it on my machines for five years+ .. oh well.

  • Added value (Score:3, Insightful)

    by jonadab ( 583620 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:44PM (#11783313) Homepage Journal
    See, *this* is the kind of added value that could make commercial software
    really worth the money, at least potentially. (I'm assuming here that the
    blurb accurately reflects what's actually being done... which is probably
    assuming too much, but there's always that, isn't there?) This is the sort
    of thing Microsoft should be talking about when they talk about the value
    they can provide. Assuming they're willing to actually do it.

  • Greaaat (Score:2, Funny)

    by robyannetta ( 820243 )
    How do I make a claim? I should be getting 76 of these checks.

  • Stefanie Olsen: Sarcasm Queen? (Score:5, Funny)

    by bigtallmofo ( 695287 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:45PM (#11783322)
    "Microsoft offers $5 windfall for errant software"

    Did anyone else find it extremely funny to see such flagrant sarcasm in this news.com.com headline?

  • Anyone know WHY they are doing this? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rokzy ( 687636 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:46PM (#11783325)
    $5 is nothing, probably doesn't even cover cost of applying for it. so why bother?

    advertising scam about "financially backing" their software as opposed to OSS?

    tax scam?

    stock scam?

    come on, it's got to be some sort of scam.

    • Re:Anyone know WHY they are doing this? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Software ( 179033 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @08:04PM (#11783463) Journal
      Scam is a little harsh. They are doing this for the PR and FUD value, pure and simple. "Microsoft stands behind its products. We'll even pay you if we damage your data. Do you other vendors offer this?" Of course, this offer applies only to their spyware tool, but they'll still make the claim, and it will be true. Nobody will bother to make the claim (who wants to spend an hour filling out forms, etc. for $5 ?), and they'll use THAT as evidence of their software's reliability.

      • Re:Anyone know WHY they are doing this? (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Scam is a little harsh. They are doing this for the PR and FUD value, pure and simple. "Microsoft stands behind its products. We'll even pay you if we damage your data. Do you other vendors offer this?" Of course, this offer applies only to their spyware tool, but they'll still make the claim, and it will be true. Nobody will bother to make the claim (who wants to spend an hour filling out forms, etc. for $5 ?), and they'll use THAT as evidence of their software's reliability.

        So basically, yeah, it's a

    • So if a crash is reproducible, does that mean you can set it up in an infinite loop, stick a camcorder in front of your monitor, and... ??? profit?
    • This may be one of those things where on the surface it reflects well on Microsoft, good PR and all, but rarely will they actually pay out.

      Look at rebates. People buy something thinking that they are going to get a $5 dollar rebate, but then there are too many steps, too much hassle to fill out the forms, or they just forget about it. Only a small precentage of the rebates are actually claimed.

      Plus, who knows what kind of hoops you might have to jump through to prove that you are eligible for the $5. Ma

    • For the same reason you would leave someone a dollar in your will. Better to mention some ridiculously small amount then to leave it unmentioned entirely.

      It becomes the agreed-apon limit to their liability.

  • Disclaimer (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    even if Microsoft knew or should have known about the possibility of the damage

    This is the part that covers them for deleteing gigs worth of MP3s because the MP3s didn't have Windows Media(WMA) Digital Rights Management(DRM) signatures.

    Oops. Our bad.

    Have a nice day.

  • Probably obvious, but (Score:3, Insightful)

    by jcuervo ( 715139 ) <cuervo.slashdot@zerokarma.homeunix.org> on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:47PM (#11783331) Homepage Journal
    This seems like a weak, thinly veiled stab at open source.

    E.g., Microsoft: "You run Debian? Great! But who'll pay if your data gets damaged?"

    To which the obvious reply is: well, gee, my operating system hasn't ever really damaged my data -- as a matter of fact, last time my hard drive went bad, I was able to recover most of my data. Thanks anyway, though!

  • restore backup (Score:2, Insightful)

    by icepick72 ( 834363 )
    By the time the $5 rebate process is completed (minus cost of postage and what-not), I think I will rather have just scrounged up the change from my car floor and sofa seats.

    Anyways by that time I will also have restored the data from a backup. You DO have a backup strategy ... don't you?!?! ...

  • Heh... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Azh Nazg ( 826118 )
    This is a clause that has been included in the EULA since 1995, IIRC...
    "In the case that the software product causes damage, Microsoft Corp. is liable for either $5, or the cost of the product, whichever is higher"

    From memory...

    • I assume you meant, "...whichever is lower."
    • Not sure why this was modded funny - it's true. From the Windows 2000 EULA (oldest one I have handy):

      14. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY AND REMEDIES.
      Notwithstanding any damages that you might incur for any
      reason whatsoever (including, without limitation, all
      damages referenced above and all direct or general damages),
      the entire liability of Microsoft and any of its suppliers
      under any provision of this EULA and your exclusive remedy
      for all of the foregoing (except for any remedy of repair or
      replacement elected by
  • Menos mal que hay papas fritas...

    Just enough money to eat at Mickey D's... ...or buy some lotto tickets ...or ammo.
  • If you have only 20,000 employees your $5,000,000 loss of productivty will net you a whopping $100,000 from Microsoft! Why that's a whole 2% of the money your business lost. That should be just enough money to add a "free tuition at Yale for 3 years" deal for the CEO's kid as part of the CEO's golden parachute when the company goes under after losing all of its data!

  • Well, it's a start (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Acius ( 828840 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:49PM (#11783354) Homepage
    I believe that commercial software is, and should be treated as, an engineering discipline. Similarly, I think we need to accumulate some "best practices" that require commercial software to meet standards of robustness, stability, and functionality. We then need to crush, kill, and destroy anyone who fails to meet those standards.

    Software's not a game teenagers play in their basements anymore; it's used on airliners, in cars, in hospitals, and all sorts of other places where a system crash is Not Acceptable. While you can find rare examples [fastcompany.com] of folks who are willing to stick their companies on the line when it comes to the stability of their software, this is the exception, not the rule. Accepting financial liability for bugs in software is a good start. It's also, interestingly, something that only a commercial entity can do.

  • Fine print... (Score:5, Funny)

    by LoverOfJoy ( 820058 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:49PM (#11783357) Homepage
    Please send in your request along with $4.99 for shipping/handling...

  • WOW! 5 Dollars... We are going to get rich! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CharonX ( 522492 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:51PM (#11783368) Journal
    I always understood the standart "if something bad happens to your PC while using our software it will always be your fault and not ours" clauses.
    The companies honestly didn't care about you. Go call their support hotline, if they can help you, fine, if not, tough luck.
    But Microsoft's 5$ offer kinda gives me the feeling they are mocking us.
    "Sorry our tool mis-identifed your tax data as spyware and deleted it. Here are 5 bucks. Enough to drown you in 2 bottles of cheap booze till IRS arrives."

  • Damaged data rarely occurs (Score:4, Informative)

    by simetra ( 155655 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:52PM (#11783375) Homepage Journal
    Really, the only way any software could damage data would be a) if it deleted it, b) if it took a data file, mangled it, and wrote over the original, or c) did something wacky to the hardware to cause drive/media damage. I truly cannot recall having data ever mangled by a bad piece of software. MS stuff is also pretty good about making backup copies of whatever, prompting the user for saving, deleting, etc.

    I think this is a pretty safe bet on their part. So much so that they'd probably be safe upping the ante to like $50 or $100 or more.
  • Do we need a drm liscence to spend it?

  • Nice FUD From M$! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by spun ( 1352 ) <loverevolutionary&yahoo,com> on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:56PM (#11783404) Journal
    They offer a ridiculously small amount of cash for a narrowly defined kind of damage where no one will ever see the offer. Then they can turn around and say "Who will pay if Linux damages your data? No one, that's who!"
  • If I post a file on my FTP site, that, say, 50,000 people all want to download. And my box blue-screens, and the file is gone. Can each of the 50k people get $5 from Microsoft? Probably not, but it'd be nice.

  • linux admins may scoff (Score:5, Funny)

    by matthewg42 ( 646725 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @07:58PM (#11783420) Homepage
    It's easy for all you Linux admins who cost so much to scoff at 5 bucks, but for the average windows professional, it's a lot of money!
  • This is a great opportunity for OSS advocates to shove MS BS about "accountability" right down their throats. As long as their accountability was just a vague PR statement in their Linux FUD, they couldn't look anything but good, even though the reality is that no one can get the $40B giant to do anything it doesn't want. But now that they've quantified their accountability as the ludicrious $5, that number can haunt their PR flacks forever.

  • It's not Microsoft products in general... (Score:5, Informative)

    by norminator ( 784674 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @08:10PM (#11783502)
    According to the AntiSpyware Beta end-user license agreement (EULA), Microsoft will reimburse direct damages up to $5 for problems associated with the new downloadable tool that wards off spyware, adware and any other "potentially unwanted software."

    They are talking only about the Beta for the MS Anti-Spyware. Everything in this /. post seems to make it look like it's MS software in general. Sorry, you only get money if the Anit-Spyware program screws up your stuff.
  • See? Microsoft pays YOU for bugs. Open Source leaves you high and dry.

    That's the Microsoft(tm) difference!

    It's the only thing that makes sense. Why start paying for bugs now? It's also interesting in that I think this is finally acknowledgement that their monopoly on the computing industry is in jeopardy.

  • $5? (Score:2)

    by JustNiz ( 692889 )
    A whole $5? well woop-de-doo.
    That will just abot cover the cost of the phone call and stamps to write to them to claim the rebate...

  • Microsoft Will Pay If Its Bugs Damage Your Data (Score:5, Insightful)

    by frovingslosh ( 582462 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @08:20PM (#11783572)
    Rather than Microsoft Will Pay If Its Bugs Damage Your Data, the headline should have read Microsoft Says Your Data Is Only Worth $5 .

  • Seen it before in MS EULAs (Score:5, Informative)

    by DaveM753 ( 844913 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @08:21PM (#11783579)
    I've seen that $5 liability limit before in other Microsoft EULAs. It's nothing new -- been there for years. I wonder why CNet is only now mentioning it???

  • To Cover Microsoft's own ASSets. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by daitengu ( 172781 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @08:25PM (#11783608) Homepage Journal
    I think this is more to cover Microsoft's own rear-end than it is to make us feel warm and fuzzy.

    I just went through helping a company incorporate as a Limited Liability organizationin the UK last fall, and included in the articles of incorporation is a section that states that each member is only liable for 1 UK Pound. I think This is similar, If Microsoft states that they WILL cover up to $5 for data loss, they can't be sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars instead.

    • I can offer you the $5, but you don't have to take it. If you take it, then you can't sue me for hundreds of thousands of dollars. (More precisely, you can sue, but you will lose because of the $5.)

      So the rule is: Always turn down the $5. Why? Well, it keeps your options open, and it's not like $5 is so much money...

      Unfortunately, to win the court case, you not only have to not take the $5, you also have to render the EULA legally null and void...

  • Of course, to claim your 5 dollars, you'll probably have to call MS's support line which will charge you 35 dollars per incident unless you have some sort of support contract (which you probably paid too much for in the first place).
  • So every time something seems to go wrong, you pay a consultant who is able to find the source of the problem, and if he can prove it's Microsoft's fault, they pay for your data? And who pays the consultant's time?

    Reminds me of my experience with hard disk warranties. Sure these 10 GB disks are still under warranty. But you have to
    - take it out of the computer to see it's brand, model and serial number.
    - find the manufacturer's website, and their RMA form.
    - Download their DOS program to check the disk
    - Put
  • The latest is this:

    A New Cyber-Security Breach Bank of America says at least 1.2 million federal employee credit card accounts may be exposed to theft or hacking [time.com]

    I don't know if Microsoft software and the associated security holes are behind any of these very serious hacks, but if they are, what about that new Microsoft policy? They do have buckets of cash after all.

  • ...It was like, beep, beep, beep, and my report was all gone. Now you mean to tell me that you're willing to give me five dollars for that lost report?

  • Well... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Cytlid ( 95255 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @09:29PM (#11784085)
    "$5 should be enough for anybody."

    Or was that 640k? I can't remember.

  • Sweet! (Score:3, Funny)

    by bushidocoder ( 550265 ) on Friday February 25, 2005 @09:33PM (#11784104) Homepage
    XP only has to corrupt my disk 40 times before it pays for itself!
  • they cover? Worse, it appears that they only value customer data at USD$5.00. What a deal.

    Now, if they would offer as much coverage on theft of data caused by MS's screw up, I would be impressed.
  • Lost your data? Use that $5 for five double cheeseburgers from McDonalds, perhaps that will make you feel better!
  • Ok, so I install their spyware removal software, it corrupts my hard drive and causes me to lose 2 days of coding... so figuring I make $150/hr, 16 hours... that's $2400 in direct losses, and MS is gonna give me $5? and I'm supposed to be impressed??!

    How about the really pony up and say they'll cover all direct costs because of virus infections on their platform. That would be extremely impressive, but will never happen cause MS would go bankrupt if all the businesses I contract for sent all my bills for

  • My guess... (Score:4, Informative)

    by tkrotchko ( 124118 ) * on Friday February 25, 2005 @09:53PM (#11784248) Homepage
    My guess is that this is Microsoft's way of saying they don't think your data is worth anything.

    $5? That doesn't pay for a case of soft drinks these days.

    They seem to be saying that even if everything is wiped out, they only owe you $5. What's more now that you know this, you legally acknowledge this is all the liability MS has.

  • does that count if they damage my stylesheets (ive spent a week trying to work around ie's crappy css implementation)

    if so, i'l be rich!
  • The article jumps to the conclusion that this warranty covers lost data. That's not what it says. It says "DIRECT" damages, up to a $5.00 cap - Someone in a stingy mood might argue that this covers the replacement cost for the defective software, and that any "data loss" would be INDIRECT (and not covered). Take film as an example - the mfgr will cover you for the cost of new film, not for the value of your lost wedding pictures.
  • This would be smart for Microsoft if they were afraid of getting sued. If you accepted the money, it would legally constitute a settlement.

    I wonder if Microsoft is afraid of somthing?

    5 dollars just seems an odd price to offer. I can't imagine that it'd be worth that much to even apply for the money.
  • The Anti-Spyware, that is. It is spyware itself, of course, but it is still an awfully nice piece of software. I have been cleaning my one remaining Windows machine manually - this found a lot of crap I had not caught. Sure feels good to stamp this stuff out. People ought to stop whining and try this one. To be sure, this is MS covering its tail, because I think there is a lot of potential liability for them to do nothing about Spyware. Since they are ultimately doing this for their protection (not yo
  • So now MS is paying us for its "features". Sweet.

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