[LINK] More on OS advertising patents

[Ivan Trundle]

On 17/11/2009, at 12:34 PM, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:

> Ivan Trundle wrote:
>> On 17/11/2009, at 10:23 AM, Marghanita da Cruz <marghanita at ramin.com.au> wrote:
>>> or the default
>>> signature "Sent from my iPhone"
>>> (though I don't believe there is any free
>>> or reduced cost to the user for this
>>> advertisement)
>> No, there isn't, because it's just the default .sig for iPhone users too lazy to remove it and/or use their own .sig - many are blissfully unaware of the sig in the first place (I was for months until I saw an unedited cc of my message).
>> iT - possibly sent from my phone
> 
> The default could/should be left blank.
> It is blatant viral marketing,

Of course it is. So is the advertising that comes with Hotmail accounts, and elsewhere. But the difference here is instead of spruiking a product or service, the sender is saying where their message was composed. I get the same from blackberry users, but I'd hardly call it viral marketing. Marketing, yes - viral, no.

I don't find it offensive. Indeed, it is far less offensive than the multi-line disclaimers that clutter up my inbox replies from government and corporate employees.

iT