On Catfood and Software

Concern writes: imagine if you order a box of catfood to be delivered that’s worth about $10. And then the next day a crowd of 15 attorneys in suits arrive at your door with a 20 page contract, and the box. They won’t give you the catfood until you agree to their “license.” You can either call your own attorneys, if you have any, and spend several weeks evaluating their contract at the cost of several thousand dollars of your own money, or, they say, you can simply agree to the contract by blinking your eyes.

It turns out that there were worms in the catfood and now your cat is incredibly sick. Amazingly, the attorneys did this on purpose. If you take her to the vet, it will cost you hundreds of dollars to cure her. You don’t remember blinking, but they swear you did.

The government has sent an angry letter to the catfood guys, but no one looks like they have any intention of paying your vet bill – or even sending your cat a get well card.

In response to the government, the catfood people announce they’ve “solved” the problem, because they’ve agreed to temporarily stop shipping worms in catfood. However, they’re still shipping spiders, ants, and leeches – and they have “big plans” to expand the practice.

You don’t know exactly how long your cat has left to live, but after watching all this, you get the feeling its days are numbered one way or another.

Ain’t it fun to buy software? Oops, it was a music cd. Music? Oops, it contained software. Euh? ….. Mummy!!!!