[LINK] Microsoft Live Mesh

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Craig Sanders wrote:
<snip>
>> However, why is this any different to Google, myspace, youtube,
>> amazon, and no doubt a range of other sites offering all kinds of
>> services.
> 
> correct. it's no different. the whole concept of trusting some third
> party with all your data & documents is completely broken. it's dubious
> even when they have a statutory duty of care and confidentiality (e.g. a
> lawyer), but it's absolutely insane when it's just some company in some
> other country with nothing but a take-it-or-leave-it, non-negotiable
> contract.
> 
> this idea keeps on getting pushed by software companies and internet
> startups and the public keep rejecting it - BECAUSE there's little or
> no benefit to the end user, little or no protection for them, and the
> benefits are almost entirely in favour of the service provider.
> 
> in any case, computers are cheap. this reincarnation of the time-share
> idea might have made sense decades ago when computers were expensive but
> it makes no sense at all now.
> 

The take it or leave it approach to Software licenses predates the Internet. I 
would also suspect that International Computer Company lawyers ran circles 
around Australian Customers' Lawyers, let alone the customers, when it came to 
negotiating contracts.

I've done sysadmin, network admin and worked on timeshare computers, in my time, 
but I outsource the hosting of my website and my email. And would recommend this 
to others. I have never met my ISP, but I have a strong impression they are 
somewhere in Sydney. My previous ISP was in Melbourne, got bought out and 
deteriorated in quality. I switched but it was difficult.

I don't disagree with you about the protection, but I think there have to be 
other mechanisms and they have to cross national boundaries.

Marghanita
-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: (+61)0414 869202