🚀 go-pugleaf

"Criswell The Psychic Weatherman" <ssenate@mindless.com> wrote in message
news:3E4BD4BD.8C511CE0@mindless.com...
>
> I see it now.  Just because I have an opinion that you don't like, even
when I'm
> agreeing with you, I must also be a shill.  In fact, everyone in the
entire
> world is an Intuit shill.  Paranoia is an interesting worldview, as
everything
> in the world continues to reinforce it.
>
> Who do I work for?  Read my posts.  I've made no secret of that.

When my experiences with Intuit's software are misrepresented, and the act
of complaining about corporate abuse is labeled as "immature," I am
appropriately suspicious of those who are doing this.



> The C-Dilla issue has been posted to the taxes newsgroups by just about
> everyone.  PC magazine wrote about it.  The Wall Street Journal wrote
about it.
> The word is already out on C-Dilla, but perhaps not yet in
alt.biz.accounting,
> as that is not a newsgroup I normally read.
>
> If you feel you must add your voice to the thousands that are already
screaming,
> go right ahead, but one screaming voice in a crowd of thousands isn't
likely to
> make the screaming thousands any louder.  Intuit is already getting the
> message.

Oh, so now there are *too many* people "screaming." And if I were one of
five or 10 people, then we would be isolated malcontents. See, this is how
corporate shills work. They will use any possible tactic to discredit anyone
who has the effrontery to object to unethical, arrogant corporate behavior.

If Intuit is "already getting the message," then why don't they back the
hell off of this stupid, arrogant, unethical betrayal of the trust that
their longtime, loyal customers have placed in them? Seems to me that Intuit
is treating this as a tempest in a teapot that will blow over soon.

They are so typical of corporate America, and especially of high-tech
corporate America. The software companies seem to think their shit doesn't
stink, and as a result they can treat their customers as adversaries. Too
much has been said about Intuit? No way. Not enough has been said about
Intuit.



> Can you imagine how many they must process every day as more and more
> people decide that they don't want C-Dilla?  Your single individual refund
will
> have little impact, as will your single individual complaint here.  What
will
> have impact is the multiplied factor of all of those complaints directed
towards
> Intuit and the multiplied factor of having to process all of those refunds
> individually.

Are you trying to make me feel sympathy for these jerks? I'm doing what I
can. I'm going to be returning their spyware-infected crap for the refund. I
have complained directly to the company. I'm complaining on the Internet.
For the moment anyway, we have free speech, although to judge by the way
that high-tech companies like Yahoo, Cisco and Microsoft have climbed into
bed with countries like China to sell them the electronic means to repress
their populations, one wonders what is in store for Americans once they
think they can get away with it here.

It looks like we're about to go to war with Iraq, and quite possibly be
attacked here in this country, all in the name of "freedom." Well, god damn
it, what the hell is any of this about if we are to define a complaint as
"immaturity" and hand over to corporations the right to spy on us as we do
our taxes? Christ almighty, if you want to cut off your balls and hand them
to Intuit, go ahead. But I won't.




> In a world where
> everyone abided by license agreements, we wouldn't need C-Dilla.  However,
there
> is nothing preventing me from making copies and selling them myself,
> undercutting Intuit, and pocketing the cash.  In fact, someone in this
thread,
> or a similar one has admitted to doing this for several years.  [This is
in the
> taxes newsgroups, and you may not have seen it]

>You feel it's betrayal, and I
> would agree, but you fail to realize that Intuit would like to protect
some of
> the investment that they put into making TurboTax.  Do you feel they don't
have
> that right?  Should Intuit provide tax software just so everyone could
copy it,
> and they would lose money from lack of sales?  Is it Intuit's fault that
CD
> burners are rather common and cheap and so are blank CD's?  If you were
making
> the decisions at Intuit, how would you protect your licensed property?
What
> would you, as the decision maker at Intuit, do?

As the decision maker at Intuit, I would find a means of protecting my
software without defining my customers as criminals in the process. There is
no excuse whatsoever for what they are doing. They are proclaiming longtime,
loyal customers as guilty until they prove themselves innocent. I object,
and I will keep on objecting! It is arrogant, unethical; and deeply
unAmerican. The people who run Intuit ought to move to China or something.



> Again, you have trouble with reading comprehension.  I did not say to
abandon
> your protest.  I said it would be more effective if it was more directly
pointed
> towards Intuit.

I have written directly to the company, and they are about to get their
software back with a refund request.



> You're free to complain to anyone anywhere, but if you complain
> where no action can be taken to resolve the complaint, you have just
wasted a
> lot of energy, achieved nothing, and probably increased your own
frustrations.
> If I had a problem with a particular store in a particular mall, would it
make
> sense to protest in a different mall that didn't have that store?  Or in
that
> other mall where the store in question did not have that problem?

It is *never* a "waste" to protest abuses by corporations, governments or
other people. This is part of the process of seeking justice, in ways large
and small. And that's what we are about in America. Apparently you've been
so addled by cable TV and Big Macs to realize it.



> In my opinion, the word is out on C-Dilla.  The damage is done.  Intuit is
> already feeling it, by having to process the refunds, and realizing that
every
> published article gets the word out.  I don't know how many people read
this or
> the other newsgroup.  I just feel that the amount of people you will reach
by
> this method will be small, and likely already know of the problem.  Thus,
I feel
> your protest is ineffective.  Is that so hard to understand?

The word is not adequately out, because Intuit hasn't done anything about
it. And now is the best time to make them feel the heat because it's tax
season when people buy the software. What would you prefer, complaining in
July? Maybe so!



> Did you suggest "Flood Intuit's website with e-mails of protest for
C-Dilla"?  I
> didn't see you call for such an action.  That might be more effective.
You feel
> Intuit should re-engineer TurboTax this year without C-Dilla.  Intuit is
more
> concerned with getting tax updates out as some of the laws are very
recent.

What do you know about Intuit's concerns? Do you work for them?



> They have actually lagged behind the other software packages in their
updates,
> and I suspect dealing with C-Dilla is the reason.  They can't re-engineer
it out
> this year.  They spent too much time and effort incorporating it.

Let me give you a little slogan they have in the U.S. Marine Corps that I
think applies very well here: "CAN'T MEANS WON'T"



> The two different versions of TurboTax [with and without C-Dilla] would
not be
> compatible, and would you want two different TurboTax's on your same
computer?
> They will almost certainly not use it next year, but the question remains,
what
> if anything will they use next year to protect their license agreement and
> investment?  [Assuming that C-Dilla hasn't permanently poisoned the
TurboTax
> name]
>
> Instead of calling everyone a shill, ask yourself what you would do, as
decision
> maker at Intuit, to protect your license and investment and profits from
being
> destroyed by CD-burners.  I'd like to hear your answer.

I am not a software engineer. I'm not qualified to tell you what copy
protection scheme they should use. I don't object to copy protection in the
least. But if they insist on spyware as a form of copy protection, they are
out of line. The arrogance, disconnection, hostility and stupidity of the
top management of Intuit utterly boggles my mind. It is surrealistic. Why or
earth would a company that I have trusted with the most sensitive
information I have insist that I install software capable of spying on me as
a condition of its use?

This is beyond bizarre.