First things first, i spent most of today working on getting my own "Virtools BBs in VS.net 2003" tutorial working - but finally managed to get it working - lot's of deleting the old project and starting from scratch - one false move and it's back to square one. Anyway, the updates are available and underlined at: Virtools Building Blocks in Visual Studio net 2003

When i was done updating the tutorial Windows Media Player asked to be updated (i was listening to Harddisken while "coding" http://dr.dk/harddisken) and of course i clicked yes please (knowing that keeping a system up-to-date is almost, if not more, important than choosing something else than <enter> for your password).

Anyway, it started downloading as massive 13 MB update, i guess it was updating from version 9 to version 10 - although when it was installed (and i got it back to "skin" mode - which by the way is the least "skiied"), i didn't see any changes. For the fun of it i tried reading the EULA that was displayed to see what i had to put up with this time round, and i found some pretty fun things.

First and foremost: 3.1 The Client OS Components may include the Microsoft .NET Framework. You may not disclose the results of any benchmark test of the .NET Framework to any third party without Microsoft's prior written approval.

Hmm, so i can't say if their software is crap - goodbye free speech! I guess the home of democracy, the US-of-A doesn't care about that anymore.

I seem to remember that a certain MS Frontpage EULA stated something similar - and i made Slashdot.org headlines, maybe it's time to get slashdotted for the first time :-)

The next is more of a "hmm" thing: 3.4 NOTICES REGARDING THE MPEG-4 VISUAL STANDARD. The Client OS Components include MPEG-4 visual decoding technology. This technology is a format for data compression of video information. For this technology, MPEG LA, L.L.C. requires this notice: USE OF THIS PRODUCT IN ANY MANNER THAT COMPLIES WITH THE MPEG-4 VISUAL STANDARD IS PROHIBITED, EXCEPT FOR USE DIRECTLY RELATED TO (A) DATA OR INFORMATION (i) GENERATED BY AND OBTAINED WITHOUT CHARGE FROM A CONSUMER NOT THEREBY ENGAGED IN A BUSINESS ENTERPRISE, AND (ii) FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY; AND (B) OTHER USES SPECIFICALLY AND SEPARATELY LICENSED BY MPEG LA, L.L.C. If you have questions regarding these Notices, please contact MPEG LA, L.L.C., 250 Steele Street, Suite 300, Denver, Colorado 80206; Telephone 303 331.1880; FAX 303 331.1879 www.mpegla.com

So i'm agreeing to a license i can't read - hmm, i went to http://www.mpegla.com to find the MPEG-4 Visual Standard, i clicked on it, clicked on agreement - and there it was, a power point presentation. Ok, first of, i'm not goind to read some marketing bulleted list of all the fine things about their license - i wan't to read the license itself. Secondly, why can't i read it online, i have to waste trees to read the damn thing! But i let them have it their way and requested the license printed on dead trees. Only problem is i have to leave the installer open for three days - so long laptop-with-bad-battery portability.

The last thing i wan't to point out from this EULA, is the part where it says that if i use this on something else than a Microsoft Client OS all my rights are taken away. I don't have a problem with that per se, i mean, they are a big corporation why should they care about me. But there is a fun little paragraph at the end of a LOOONG CAPS-ONLY UN-READABLE PART: ... (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS OR CONFIDENTIAL OR OTHER INFORMATION, FOR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, FOR PERSONAL INJURY, FOR LOSS OF PRIVACY, FOR FAILURE TO MEET ANY DUTY INCLUDING OF GOOD FAITH OR OF REASONABLE CARE, NEGLIGENCE, AND ANY OTHER PECUNIARY OR OTHER LOSS WHATSOEVER) ...

It's the part about personal injury i like, if i personally injure myself from excessive masturbation due to watching pr0n using their player - i can't sue them ;-) I think that is the most fair part of the deal.

To increase the "license feel" all license quotes are written in 30-character columns, even though they were actually wide enough but i could only see about 8 lines at the time - when will it just be an HTML document you open in your browser - or just an text file that i can grok in emacs?