🚀 go-pugleaf

pissed off wrote:

> "Criswell The Psychic Weatherman" <ssenate@mindless.com> wrote in message
> news:3E4C2611.43F5184B@mindless.com...
>
> > Yes, Intuit has paid, is paying, and will continue to pay dearly for this
> C-Dilla
> > mistake.  They didn't learn much from MSIE in 2001.  I doubt they'll learn
> much from
> > C-Dilla in 2003.  Unsold boxes on store shelves, boxes returned to stores,
> boxes
> > returned to the factory, how much louder does the message need to be?
>
> Obviously the message needs to be louder. Eventually, when  the message gets
> loud enough, it will be too loud to ignore.
>
> > [Mossler?] wrote in the Wall Street Journal practically suggesting a
> boycott of
> > TurboTax because of the C-Dilla.  The topic of this thread is "PC Mag Tax
> Software
> > Review".  If the word were not getting out to Intuit, we would not see a
> C-Dilla
> > remover, in fact we would see no response at all.
>
> The question is what "getting out to Intuit" really means. Do they regard
> this as a mere distraction that can be deflected with a non-responsive
> response, or do they think it's serious enough for an authentic response? To
> date, it's clear that they don't respect the seriousness of the problem.

Given their past record, I suspect not respecting the seriousness of the problem
is business as usual for them.  Intuit's response to the MSIE problem was
silence - nothing - zero - ostrich.  This time, the outcry is already so large
that they can't respond with silence.  But, I have to agree with you.  I find a
C-Dilla de-acivator which also de-activates TurboTax is sending messages to its
customers saying, "You bought it, dummy.  Deal with it, fool."  That is rather
arrogant, disrespectful, irresponsible, and stupid on their part.  All of the
work to build a good product, get it out quickly, keep it updated, have repeat
customers, all of that work to build up a good reputation, and they feel they
have to add a copy protection scheme that runs in the background, uses up
resources, and has by my count a total of ZERO customers happy about it.  You're
right.  It's more than copy-protection.  It's a trust issue.  You trust Intuit,
because they put out a good product, and you've used it for years, and can rely
on it to be good, and still they don't trust you, because you can copy it.

> Now that they've truly shot themselves in the foot with C-Dilla, and shot

> themselves
> > in the other foot with the removal tool, what's next?  Will they shoot
> themselves
> > again somewhere else?  Will they just stand there and bleed all over the
> place?  Or
> > will they do the smart thing and work to heal these gaping wounds they've
> created?
> > I'd like to believe otherwise, but Intuit's actions lead me to suspect
> more
> > self-inflicted damge.
>
> Beats me, but I think the thing to do is keep the pressure on them to force
> the issue. It is not a sign of "immaturity" ot "repressed anger," or
> "excessive anger" or "misdirected anger" to vigorously protest a sleazy,
> unethical, stupid action by a corporation. We're Americans, and when
> corporations try to screw us it is squarely in our tradition to tell them to
> shove it where the sun don't shine.

Nothing wrong with channelling anger to where it will be effective.  You and I
have different defintions of what constitutes effective protest.  You feel you
are effectively channeling that anger, and protesting where you feel it's
effective, and that's what's important to you.  My opinion is just that, my
opinion, for what little it's worth.  I don't claim to represent anyone else's
opinions but my own in this thread.

But, I have to concede, you make very valid points.  Intuit isn't listening to
their customers, isn't trusting their customers, isn't respecting their
customers.  As I see it, their past record shows that this isn't news.  But the
C-Dilla mess has put something in their face that they shouldn't be ignoring,
but are delivering the weakest possible message they can by responding as they
did.  Gotta admit, I'd be damn pissed off too.

Worldcom went bankrupt, but 10-10-220, 1-800-Collect, and MCI The Neighborhood
are all Worldcom divisions, and all actively soliciting new customers.  They are
doing their best to deliver the best possible prices to win back what they've
lost.  They aren't very effective, as I see it.  "Over 1 million customers have
switched to The Neighborhood" sounds impressive at first, until you remember
that MCI used to the #2 phone company.  1 million?  That's a drop in the bucket,
but you know that Worldcom had better do everything it can to make those 1
million customers happy, or else over 1 million customers will leave The
Neighborhood in droves.  Intuit is, I feel right at that same crossroads, and I
think we'd both agree that they're making the wrong turn.

If Intuit survives at all from this C-Dilla thing, it will need to pull its
ostrich head out of the sand, listen to its customers, and then give them what
they want, which is what their customers have been giving Intuit for years -
trust, respect, loyalty.  Intuit needs to learn this is a two way street.
Otherwise, they might as well be playing Chicken with a telephone pole.
--
"A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses;
it is an idea that possesses the mind."  Robert Bolton
Criswell The Psychic Weatherman
ssenate@mindless.com