Copy Protection EULA & Us, the Consumer

[jtm55]

Hi All,

I wanted to get your take on Copy Protection & EULA. As I'm sure you are all aware of, Windows XP64 Bit is finally released, however for those of us who play Silent Hunter III, we would not be able to play that Simulation because Starforce, the Copy Protection Scheme used isn't compatable with 64Bit code.

In addition, if you have Service Pack 2 installed on your machine, chances are that you will not be able to run Silent Hunter III sucessfully on your machine. It's not the simulation that's not compatable with Sevice Pack 2 or Windows XP64Bit It's the Copy Protection used that isn't.

Here's where things really get good, according to the EULA from UBI Soft, Publisher of Silent Hunter III "if you don't agree to these terms, return the Software to where it was purchased."
As we all know,once software is opened you can't return it for a refund. So what can we as consumers do. It's my understanding that the Enthusiast Community is one of the most influencial groups in the computer industry. Isn't there something we can do? I realize that Companies want to protect their intellectual property, however, why must we as consumers be held up by them?

[bliSSter]

well - for starters, i've heard that starforce is possibly the worst of any copy-protection available...which really sucks b/c that crap should be labelled on the outside of the box before you purchase the product...supposedly, some versions of starforce have been known to disable cd-burning software via a hidden device driver that isn't removed even when you uninstall the app and i virtually unremovable...so if you install a game that uses starforce encryption and it breaks your cd-burning utility - you may be headed for a reformat...but that still doesn't answer your question...

when i purchased halo for pc, i thought the game sucked so much ass that i wanted to return it about 3 hours after i bought it...luckily it was a MS product and i took advantage of their 30-day satisfaction guarantee...the big problem we have with returning software lies more with the retailers themselves, IMHO....but that may be due to the software distributers not offering the retailer credit for opened software - i don't know what the practice is...you might be able to pursue something along these lines with ubisoft tho for a refund...not sure what their policy is...

i'm still unsure why companies aren't called on the carpet for this practice myself, considering they have already shipped a product with copy-protection built in and are simply punishing the honest consumer even more with not accepting a return...

for what it's worth - i seem to recall reading somewhere that some type of class-action suit has been filed against a company over the EULA wording recently and several companies (including those house in Redmond), are supposedly addressing their fubar EULAs....but i don't remember the specifics....maybe change is finally on the horizon, but i'm not holding my breath...

P.S. i wouldn't expect much from ubisoft customer service on this one...i'd personally go direct to their mid/upper management or legal dept...the cust. service reps are reading from a manual and are simply cattle...ask the cattle what they're doing tomorrow they'll tell you eating at the farmer's expense...ask the farmer what they're doing tomorrow, he'll tell you their headed for the slaughter house...never ask the cows, they don't know - talk directly to the farmer....

- bliss