Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Re: ACI

. . just agreeing with the basic point.  The information protection can be troublesome.  I have an obsolete laptop under my desk that I keep around solely because it contains a couple ASME pdf's that I can't transfer to another machine.  I was allowed to print them out once - however I printed the one single sided and the result ended up so thick it's a pain to use as well.

Rich Kipke
616 866-6944



On Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 6:50 AM, Scott Maxwell <smaxwell@umich.edu> wrote:
Bill,

Just so it is clear, I was not referring to you...both because you were not asking for it to be free (which was clear from your previous messages) and because I believe that you have some justification to your complaint about onerous copy protection schemes (it annoys the crap out of me that I get treated like a criminal just because a bunch of other people have chosen to use stuff they don't pay for while I have paid for my codes...and movies and music, etc).

About the only way that I was maybe referring to you was your penchant for running wild with any opportunity for going off topic with politics.  <grin>

Regards,

Scott

On Dec 21, 2011, at 12:47 AM, Bill Polhemus wrote:

> No one disputes the fact that nothing is free - unless, apparently, you're an "Occupy Wall Street" type.
>
> My POINT is simply that this was a p*ss-poor example of value received. My opinion, period, and you are free to disagree.
>
> If ACI wants to charge me the same to read a document on a computer screen as they charge someone who purchases the PDF from their website - and in so doing allows them to copy-and-paste content from it, print a hard-copy, etc, which I'm not allowed - then they have every right to do so.
>
> But I have the equal right to complain as a consumer. Simple as that.
>
> And might I say in passing, that it would be great if the People would begin to demand the same level of goods and services of all levels of government for what we pay, as we do business.
>
> But complaints like that are taken to be "radical" and "extreme". Can you imagine the hilarity that would ensue if bank officers told us to stop demanding a reduction in all the niggling fees they charge, the way that certain political factions react in (feigned) horror that politicians agree to sign a pledge not to raise taxes?
>
> William L.  Polhemus, Jr. P.E.
> Sent from my iPhone 4
>
> On Dec 20, 2011, at 9:27 PM, Scott Maxwell <smaxwell@umich.edu> wrote:
>
>> And, of course, nothing the "government" does is actually free...there is that pesky thing called taxes that no one ever likes to pay...but they still want the stuff from the "government".
>>
>> Sorry if that creates a political $hit storm...it is not in ANYWAY meant to be a political statement but rather a remind of all those fans of "free stuff" that is still takes money to produce those documents...
>
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