Lamentablemente una práctica que es legal y se está volviendo común en compañías que manejan una larga clientela y démosle la bienvenida a Microsoft en mi lista de las empresas “con los pantalones bien grande.”
Un movimiento que se queda en segundo lugar, comparando que las computadoras con arquitectura ARM con boot loader cerrado de fábrica, ahora el End-User License Agreement (EULA) de Microsoft incluye la cláusula que el cliente está de acuerdo en que a Microsoft no se le puede demandar por acción por clase o un grupo de clientes y representantes de clientes con cualquier queja que se considere masiva.
El email notificando los cambios debieron recibirlo de sus cuentas de Live Hotmail o Outlook diciendo:
We’ve updated the Microsoft Services Agreement, which governs many of our online services – including your Microsoft account and many of our online products and services for consumers, such as Hotmail, SkyDrive, Bing, MSN, Office.com, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Mail Desktop, and Windows Writer. Please read over the new Microsoft Services Agreement here to familiarize yourself with the changes we’ve made.
The updated agreement will take effect on October 19, 2012. If you continue to use our services after October 19th, you agree to the terms of the new agreement or, of course you can cancel your service at any time.
We have modified the agreement to make it easier to read and understand, including using a question and answer format that we believe makes the terms much clearer. We also clarified how Microsoft uses your content to better protect consumers and improve our products, including aligning our usage to the way we’re designing our cloud services to be highly integrated across many Microsoft products. We realize you may have personal conversations and store personal files using our products, and we want you to know that we prioritize your privacy.
Finally, we have added a binding arbitration clause and class action waiver that affects how disputes with Microsoft will be resolved in the United States.
Thank you for using Microsoft products and services!
Tim Fielden, asistente del consejero general de Microsoft anunció los cambios el pasado fin de semana mencionando:
When a customer in the United States has a dispute about a Microsoft product or service, many of our new user agreements will require that, if we can’t informally resolve the dispute, the customer bring the claim in small claims court or arbitration, but not as part of a class action lawsuit. Many companies have adopted this approach, which the U.S. Supreme Court permitted in a case it decided in 2011.
Lo cierto es que esto se está volviendo común y no hay ley al momento que prohíba esta práctica, pero la historia nos ha enseñado que esto pasa cuando hay algo mal o algo que pasará mal que no será del gusto de todos.
