[kwlug-disc] One way to kill open source

[Rashkae]

Richard Weait wrote:
> On Mon, 2009-05-11 at 14:00 -0400, john at netdirect.ca wrote:
>> http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-300769.html?tag=nl.e589 
> 
> The article suggests: 
> "Software companies could be held responsible for the security and
> efficacy of their products, if a new European Commission consumer
> protection proposal becomes law."
> 

It depends exactly what they mean by liability, and this can be tricky.
 From reading the article summary, it looks like they only 'liability'
being discussed is simple consumer protection. If I buy a piece of
software, and it doesn't work worth crap (and indeed, this has often be
the case) I should be able to bring it back to the store and say "This
is crap and doesn't work, I want my money back." Currently i can't do
that however.  (I love how all the stores claim this is because of
'copyright law'.   I've yet to see a copyright statute that says I can't
return an unfit product.)