Linux Foundation opposing software defect warranties
BetaNews | at | by Mike
If someone sells you a defective piece of software, what rights do you have? If the retailer doesn't offer a return policy, as you may very well know -- especially if you ever read the End-User License Agreement, wherever it might be located -- your ability to hold the manufacturer liable may be very limited, if not non-existent.
Since the 1990s, Microsoft has been an active opponent of changes to laws and regulations that allow the sale of software to be treated as an exchange of services rather than a sale of goods -- changes that one software development lawyer in 1997 warned would "have a far more damaging effect on software publishing competition and on the quality of software products than anything being done solely by Microsoft today."