Saturday, April 9, 2005

Thomas Jefferson on blogging and journalism Dan Bricklin's Log asks Are bloggers journalists? Looking to history. "There has been a lot written about Apple going after bloggers and the question about whether or not bloggers have the same protections that journalists do. I just saw a little different answer... My next door neighbor Chris Daly is an Associate Professor who teaches journalism at Boston University. Previously, he has been the New England correspondent for the Washington Post, a features writer, and an AP editor. On the web he is best known as the main idea person behind the old Good Documents website that I created back in 1999 that was quite popular at Netscape and around the web." "He just weighed in with an essay titled "Are Bloggers Journalists? Let's Ask Thomas Jefferson". I found his perspectives helpful." Read Dan's commentary here, including links to the original essay. I thought the distinction between reporting and journalism was an important one - the former one is "just the facts" while the latter includes opinion enforced by facts. 10:17:24 AM    comment []

Akron student sells unused software on eBay, gets sued, From Paul Thurrott WinInfo Short Takes: Week of April 11: My guess is that you're going to hear a lot more about this case in the weeks ahead. The short version goes like this: Microsoft sued an Ohio college student last year for selling two pieces of unused Microsoft software on eBay. Microsoft has won numerous cases like this in the past by default (who wants to square off against Goliath?), but University of Akron student David Zamos decided to fight back. He won-- or at least settled after Microsoft realized the danger--but there's a lesson to be learned from this story. Zamos argued, quite effectively, that he couldn't agree to Microsoft's sales and licensing terms because the company wraps its End User License Agreement (EULA) inside the unopened software. I expect this bit of legal chicanery to be tested again in the future. In the meantime, this is a bellwether case that all Microsoft customers should be aware of. The "Cleveland Scene" ran the full, and interesting, story: http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=719D:2280B I've always wondered what would happen if I bought a name-brand box for the hardware and tried to sell of the pieces I didn't want. What kind of obligations are you under for the physical parts of your purchase? Can you sell off the sound card? The CD drive? The manuals? How about the CDs for the software you don't use, don't start and don't break the shrink-wrap on? 9:45:55 AM    comment []

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