Posts by Fred Dibnah 788 publicly visible posts • joined 29 Oct 2008
”UK retailer Marks & Spencer has replaced Tata Consultancy Services as its IT service desk provider following a procurement process that began in January”
When I parse that sentence, it says to me that M&S are now M&S’s IT services provider.
I also chuckled at the photo used on the article - it’s M&S’s Oxford Street store, the listed building they want to demolish and replace with a new one. There’s an ironic parallel with IT in there somewhere.
True, although other countries have implemented anti-circumvention rules along similar lines to DMCA 1201, under threat of sanctions by the USA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-circumvention#
Cory Doctorow has written at length about this.
https://pluralistic.net/tag/dmca-1201/
If the Pye TV is currently in use it will almost certainly have an external UHF aerial which is already able to receive DVB broadcasts, so all they need is a STB with UHF output and an extra coax cable.
Anyone trying to reverse engineer the Bose system is likely to fall foul of DMCA section 1201, particularly if they share their code.
https://www.eff.org/issues/coders/reverse-engineering-faq
"It's really not unreasonable to expect people to know what they're buying."
At what level should they "know what they're buying"?
When they buy a fridge, should they know the about setting the correct temperature and putting food on the correct shelves, or should they know the thermodynamics of the refrigeration cycle?
When they buy a lawn mower, should they know how to add petrol and use it safely, or should they know how the Otto 4-Stroke Cycle works?
Joe and Jane Public already think their home wi-fi is their broadband and Google is the Internet, so IMHO it's reasonable that they expect audio products to just work, without needing to know in detail how the sound comes out.
The correct parallel with Bose bricking their hardware isn't the Sonos app debacle, bad as it was. It's what Sonos did five years ago, where they said all their older products would stop working after May 2020, but which they tempered with a truly generous 'offer' of a discount on new hardware if you sent the bricked units to them. Understandably the customer backlash was swift and vigorous and they quickly backtracked, introducing the S1 and S2 apps for controlling older and newer hardware respectively. I still have the email from CEO at the time (see below). I notice that my copy of the email has British English spelling, which is nice :-)
If Bose customers are able to generate a similar amount of noise, perhaps the company will back down (although I doubt it).
"We heard you. We did not get this right from the start. My apologies for that and I wanted to personally assure you of the path forward:
First, rest assured that come May, when we end new software updates for our legacy products, they will continue to work just as they do today. We are not bricking them, we are not forcing them into obsolescence, and we are not taking anything away. Many of you have invested heavily in your Sonos systems, and we intend to honour that investment for as long as possible. Whilst legacy Sonos products won’t get new software features, we pledge to keep them updated with bug fixes and security patches for as long as possible. If we run into something core to the experience that can’t be addressed, we’ll work to offer an alternative solution and let you know about any changes you’ll see in your experience.
Secondly, we heard you on the issue of legacy products and modern products not being able to coexist in your home. We are working on a way to split your system so that modern products work together and get the latest features, whilst legacy products work together and remain in their current state. We’re finalising details on this plan and will share more in the coming weeks.
Whilst we have a lot of great products and features in the pipeline, we want our customers to upgrade to our latest and greatest products when they’re excited by what the new products offer, not because they feel forced to do so. That’s the intent of the Trade Up programme we launched for our loyal customers.
Thank you for being a Sonos customer. Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. I hope that you’ll forgive our misstep and let us earn back your trust. Without you, Sonos wouldn't exist and we’ll work harder than ever to earn your loyalty every single day.
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Patrick
Patrick Spence
CEO, Sonos"
There are ads on iPlayer and BBC Sounds, they call them ‘trailers’. Not as annoying as YT ads, but still.
Also, the BBC being called Auntie isn’t out of affection. It dates from the time when the BBC had the prudish morals and condescension of a frightening aunt.
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