News and Observations
Friday, August 30, 2002Astounding. Apple is using the DMCA as a club in a case that has about as much to do with copyright as my big toe does.
News.Com: Apple: Burn DVDs--and we'll burn you. At issue in the legal threat is Apple's well-received iDVD application, which permits users to burn DVDs only on internal drives manufactured by Apple. In unmodified form, it does not permit writing to external drives manufactured by third parties. [Tomalak's Realm]
Q4 Good For Apple?
Jaguar release catapults Apple sales [CNET News.com]
Banks To Rely On Tissue Paper For Security
It's thought the new measure will be an improvement over existing techniques. Sigh. Expert demonstrates MS hack [ZDNet Tech News]
Brand Management: The Long, Long View
So, how do you keep a century old brand interesting? Personally, I'd vote for better prrizes and more peanuts...Cracker Jack: A Survivor in the Snack Business [NPR News (Audio)]
NAI Buys Big Brother Technology
NAI to buy Net monitoring software company. Company will integrate DragNet software into its Sniffer products [InfoWorld: Top News]
Controlling Market Direction, Dominence Through Standards
Steering the course. Vendors struggle to control the direction of Web services standards [InfoWorld: Top News]
Buyers Fight Back On Licensing Negotiations
Software buyers have begun to rely on consultants to help negotiate software licensing deals, driven in no small measure by the economy. Times are tight, and buyers are looking much more closely at costs.
Negotiating the software pact maze. Faced with increasingly complicated licenses, technology buyers are turning to third-party negotiators to squeeze the best deal out of software makers--and to avoid the contract tender traps. [CNET News.com]
Vendors Face Support Charge Backlash
Technology vendors are increasingly turning to a fee-based model for technical support, but the odds are excellent they'll live to regret the move. Buyers view this as a zero sum game - first, products are difficult to use or suffer from poor quality, driving the demand for technical support. Second, the quality of support - be it self-help or external - is decreasing. It's a recipe for bad feelings and frustration.
Support Has Its Price. Once, customers with software problems could count on free help. These days, companies are turning product support into a source of additional revenue. By Rogier Van Bakel. [New York Times: Technology]