It seems to me like basic business common sense not to attack your software’s users, because they’re people who might fund your future development work, when they want some new feature adding or some adaptation making. We should hope that this audience will become co-promoters, co-developers or co-producers of free and open source software in the future.
Indeed, one of the basic lessons at our webmaster cooperative is to try to direct enquiries about software we’ve co-produced to somewhere useful, even if the question isn’t really much to do with us (because it’s about some part we didn’t produce or it’s something we’re no longer funded to work on), or even if we suspect the questioner has done something very silly. This approach has worked well so far. So, just don’t attack your users. It’s not on. Don’t do it.
This basic lesson of not attacking users doesn’t seem to have been learned in software industries in general. Most software comes with a very restrictive “End User License Agreement” that seems to treat the user as if they are a potential criminal and grabs as many rights as possible for the software producer. I expect that Microsoft’s new post-Windows operating system will continue this approach and that the user-tracking possibilities of internet-centred operation will be exploited as far as legally possible. Hopefully, we’ll continue to see pre-installed Linux growing strongly in UK as Bristol Wireless describe.
However, this pales into insignificance compared to many media companies. One of the worst offenders is Bristol-based TV Licensing who send us a “pay up or else, you potential criminal”-style letter each year. If there’s ever a reform that makes BBC subscription voluntary, they will probably reap the seeds of hatred that TVL have sown by attacking their audience.
I have quite a lot of admiration for people like Martyn Drake who are fighting a noble fight in things like TV Licensing – the war begins! but I wonder whether media companies will learn not to attack their users before they cease to exist.
You should have seen it in Glasgow about 8 years ago. They bought advertising space on hoardings and put up signs like, “There are 3 people without a TV licence in and we know who they are.” To which I had to deface by adding, “And I am one and I do not own a television.” The campaign did not last long. Did not stop them calling at my door at least once a month demanding entrance, which I refused. Remember they have no power of entry.
TV Licensing are the scum of the earth.
Their people – who are all on commission for selling TV licences – aren’t bothered how low they have to stoop or how many lies they have to tell in order to bully non-TV users into buying a licence.
Thankfully there’s a growing army of us out to give them a taste of their own medicine!
In Germany we have the GEZ that sounds very similar to the TVL. The GEZ collects money from each owner of a radio or a TV set. (And nowadays computers also count as TV sets, since you can receive TV via the Internet …) They are also very aggressive about collecting fees and send threatening letters, even if you pay. Which is very unfortunate, since I really like Germany’s public TV and radio stations and their quality programme, but the GEZ is giving them a bad name.
Are TV Licensing Enforcement Officers really on commission? That’s not mentioned on their website. I’ve dropped them an email to ask (and I wonder what that will do… my house’s TV license isn’t in my name).
I had a reply at 13:01 today from TV Licensing which said “Our officers do work on an incentivised basis, should you require more then please make a request in line with the Freedom of Act 2000 […]”
Live and learn! (Minor kudos to TVL for actually owning up to this, too.)
Further news – support for TV Licensing has dropped below 50% according to reports in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/18/bbc.television2
Bizarrely, The Guardian doesn’t seem to suggest the bully-boy tactics of TV Licensing (as in the brand/consortium that collects it) as one of the reasons for loss of support.