Best Buy 'Geek Squad' Accused of Pirating Software 476
Alien54 writes "Texas software company Winternals Software LP has sued Best Buy Co. Inc. in federal court, alleging that the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer was using unlicensed versions of its diagnostic equipment. Best Buy's Geek Squad, is alleged to be using pirated versions of the software since talks on a commercial licensing agreement broke off. A restraining order has been granted."
Ha (Score:3, Insightful)
What do you expect... (Score:1, Insightful)
Bies Buy's Mistake (Score:5, Insightful)
They based their diagnostics business on a licenced piece of proprietary software that can be, and was, withdrawn completely at the discretion of its owner. "What's that? Business needs it? Well pony up then. It's a free market. Take it or leave it."
Such is the fate of any business that relies on an outside party for its most critical infrastructure. If private companies smell weakness, they'll go for the jugular, or at least for as much as they can gouge without putting themselves at risk. If you want to avoid this fate, either use FOSS software, or commission your own.
If you're too FOSS adverse or too broke to do this, then you can either drop the whole idea, or just take the risk. But if that horse hair strand snaps, don't expect the rest of us to be too sympathetic.
Re:Bust Buy creates business for others (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Geek Squad my ass (Score:5, Insightful)
It was only a definite fake if the girl was hot. That would be the true "tell".
Re:Bust Buy creates business for others (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Bust Buy creates business for others (Score:5, Insightful)
Then again that might be a reason why I don't fix home pcs.
Where I worked ... (Score:3, Insightful)
1) If I am not given the tools to do my work properly, I won't go and steal them. If it is a hammer, or software... it doesn't matter. It is not my responsibility to source tools for myself. I do use OpenSource utilities all the time, but I tell my manager what I am using and that it is GPL'd.
2) If I am not clear about a licensing issue, or if I am allowed to use software, I will ask someone to clarify it.
2) If my manager asks me to pirate software, I won't do it. I'm not sure who would be liable for it, but I wouldn't risk it.
So far none of these things have ever caused me any problems whatsoever.
Re:Bust Buy creates business for others (Score:5, Insightful)
Thats the biggest issue I have with Windows. I can run tools to get a pretty good idea if an issue is hardware related (memtest, burn-in tools, power monitoring, hard disk diagnostic, etc..) but if it is *not* and it *is* a Windows problem, where do you honestly start?
Close to 90% of all non-hardware issues w/Windows is the result of malware. Sure running a "magic utility" *might* get it -- a few years ago, it seemed to do a pretty good job.. nowadays, it is largely useless.. run a handful of anti-spyware tools, anti-virus tools and at the end of the exercise, it might *seem* clean only to have the issue reappear soon after (either from attaching to an app or user (going to website or receiving infected email)).
The remaining 10% end up being a mix, including startup issues where there is a lack of any information on how to address the issue. Unlike Linux where it is quite verbose as to what is happening with Windows your stuck with a list of things that already happened successfully (safe mode, command line mode).. quite pointless.
Then there is the random issues that cause occasional crashes or other abnormal operating behavior. Once again, without apps that have logging or debugging facilities, tracking down the case of these issues is once again very painstaking (perhaps a regmon/filemon might work.. most of the time you feel like your searching for a needle
Bottom line -- troubleshooting a Windows machine is largely a guessing game. Occassionally you might get lucky and have an easy issue that can be solved within a few guesses. Most of the time, I'm left scratching my head. It ends up being easier (And usually faster) to simply reinstall. Sad but true. Even for issues that should be relatively simple to resolve are difficult due to the lack of feedback from the system.
Things taken for granted on Linux like verbose debug information, verbose startup/shutdown (w/logging), ability to checksum the installed binaries to verify they haven't been tampered with, ability to view *all* running processes, minimal areas in the system for something to startup, users running underprileged by default (a huge one), etc make it much easier to troubleshoot.
I'm not saying that learning how Windows works is not helpful and *might* provide insight as to how to troubleshoot *some* issues quickly -- but ultimately *most* of the common problems end up being things that cannot be sufficiently fixed without a full restore/reinstall from a known, verified source.
Re:Bust Buy creates business for others (Score:3, Insightful)
Our practice was to keep a copy of every breed of OS at the bench (including Dell and Gateway versions which use unique Product ID schemes). As long as the customer had a PID stuck on the box it would get reloaded. If it didn't have a PID they were informed to produce the entire packaging or pony up the cost of the software.
It was always Windows systems that involved these headaches. I occasionally did work on Linux or MacOS boxes but those were very rare as Linux users already know how to do their own work and Mac users didn't have the typical windows problems (spyware, viri, registry, ect.).
It has always been my understanding that the EULA of Windows is associated to the PID not the physical media. This assumes one installation per PID per machine (excepting corporate editions). I'm sure it's not that simple in the end but I've never known anyone who could actually clarify the matter. This is why corporate volume licensing is preferable... and more expensive.
Re:Bust Buy creates business for others (Score:5, Insightful)
In some cases, you can do a Google and somebody has figured out what went wrong, or at least a smart way to fix it. In many cases, a reinstall is the ONLY way to get Windows back in operation.
With Linux, almost always fixing one config file or doing some other minor file juggling will fix the problem. Failing that, an upgrade to a later version of the particular failing software will. You almost NEVER have to reinstall to fix Linux. Admittedly, sometimes it is VERY hard to figure out where in the maze of config files (usually due to the desktops) the problem lies. But the underlying services are usually fixable without too much searching. You might have to suddenly become an expert on, say, Linux font servers, but that's easier than figuring out the Windows Registry.
The Windows Registry is at fault (Score:5, Insightful)
The primary reason they invented the registry was to allow software vendors to hide data about their program. Some of it had previously been in
Well, people can and did write everywhere they could in the registry to hide some inner function of their program, and what we have now is a mess. If you give a program the ability to access the registry, they can affect system parameters, other programs...anything. And if they try to fix this in Vista, they'll break even more stuff, so we'll have that little legacy running around forever.
All because they wouldn't use tried and tested methods of saving information. MS was too smart for everybody else, and now we have to install windows every year or so to clear the crap out of the registry because the OS lacks the facility to monitor changes made by applications, sandbox them, and then forcibily remove registry changes at installation.
I'd love to hear the "genius" who thought this was an improvement over a text file, because he/she is the only one.
Re:The Windows Registry is at fault (Score:4, Insightful)
When used properly, the registry really isn't all that bad. While I think .ini files were better, the registry isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, the security sucks. It is too easy to change things that shouldn't be changed. It is too easy to hide and bury things where they don't belong. Essentially, Microsoft was betting that application developers would be well-behaved when they wrote to the registry. They were, and are, very wrong.
I much prefer the idea of having two sets of .ini files. Put one in Program Files for global settings. This should be locked down just like the rest of Program Files, so admin/root is the only one who can make changes. Put per-user settings in Documents and Settings/username/Application Data. This is one of the things that Microsoft borrowed from Unix that works very well, but the real problem is that not all application developers give a shit about it. For example, both Doom 3 and World of Warcraft insist on placing configuration settings, save games, mods, etc. in Program Files. What the fuck? That is soooo last century, dudes. This is what makes it so difficult to run as a non-privileged user in Windows, which in turn leads to other problems: spyware, viruses, malware, etc.
Blame Microsoft all you want, but they really aren't to blame here. Granted they had a half-assed solution to a problem they didn't understand, but the thousands of application developers out there still don't have a clue even in 2006.
Re:Bust Buy creates business for others (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Bust Buy creates business for others (Score:2, Insightful)
Sometimes a re-format and re-install just needs to be done (as well as re-installing windows), even if you can show your elite skills by solving a problem.
if you were working for me and were taking an extra week to solve a problem that could have been solved in a day by re-installing windows or re-formatting the system, I would have fired you.
most computers are cheap these days (under $500). By taking that extra time, you are losing money (well, your company is) (because a customer will not pay $600 for labor).
Re:You don't know much about Windows. (Score:3, Insightful)
So... are YOU willing to do that for $10-15/hour?