The times they are a-changin’.
This post seems to be older than 18 years—a long time on the internet. It might be outdated.
It’s actually more of smack, but in either case Sony is now on my ban list for two, count ’em: 1-2 years. What does this mean for me and Sony? I will not buy anything from Sony, including divisions of Sony (such as BMG, Tristar, etc). The exception for this is items given to me free of charge or when purchasing a product does not profit Sony. I will no longer recommend any Sony products and services to anyone.
Why? Because Sony sucks. They are invasively proprietary and damagingly intrusive.
How? Sony Memory Stick, UMD, BluRay. Need I say more? The Memory Stick is probably my biggest issue. Sony decides to develop a portable memory unit instead of just adopting one of the standards. Their new memory stick does nothing different then any other memory stick. It’s just a different size and Sony uses it exclusively on all devices. Good marketing, but also very monopolistic.
As for being damagingly intrusive. This one really takes the cake. As you should know by now, Sony is getting their ass kicked around by just about everybody (except their friends at the RIAA) for installing a root kit on computers that played select music CD’s. Many companies, including Microsoft, are now updating their definitions list to of malicious code to include Sony’s root kit. Event the Department of Homeland Security is kicking Sony with the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Stewart Baker, saying “It’s very important to remember that it’s your [Sony’s] intellectual property — it’s not your computer. And in the pursuit of protection of intellectual property, it’s important not to defeat or undermine the security measures that people need to adopt in these days.” Buh-yea! DoHS is finally useful for something!
But as always, there is a way for Sony to get me back. How? We’ll set the bar high: $10,000 donation to EFF, my entire college tuition paid (including current loans), and the biggest, best, flattest video display Sony has at the time. Doubt that will happen, so check back in two years [postdated URL for the future]!
Update: Saw this on Sory Electronics via BoingBoing:
[tags]sony, ban, proprietary, intrusive,sory,boingboing[/tags]
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