WHO WAS FIRED FOR THIS MESS? WHO?!?!
No one? Right.
November 15, 2005To Our Valued Customers:
You may be aware of the recent attention given to the First4Internet XCP content protection software included on some SONY BMG CDs. We have learned that the software includes a feature that may make a user’s computer susceptible to a virus written specifically to target the software.
We share the concerns of consumers regarding discs with XCP software, and we are instituting a program that will allow consumers to exchange any CD with XCP software for the same CD without copy protection. We also have asked our retail partners to remove all unsold CDs with XCP software from their store shelves and inventory. We will make further details of this program available shortly.
We deeply regret any inconvenience this may cause our customers and we are committed to making this situation right. It is important to note that the issues regarding these discs exist only when they are played on computers, not on conventional, non-computer-based CD and/or DVD players.
Our new initiatives follow the measures we have already taken, including last week’s voluntary suspension of the manufacture of CDs with the XCP software. In addition, to address security concerns, we provided to major software and anti-virus companies a software update, which also may be downloaded at http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/updates.html. We will shortly provide a simplified and secure procedure to uninstall the XCP software if it resides on your computer.
Ultimately, the experience of consumers is our primary concern, and our goal is to help bring our artists’ music to as broad an audience as possible. Going forward, we will continue to identify new ways to meet demands for flexibility in how you and other consumers listen to music.
Sony gets no link from me. None.
I hope those artists leave Sony-BMG and find new distribution with labels who don't use DRM. They're the real losers in this saga.
Just wait another 3-6 months when we hear of another DRM issue from another branch of Sony. That company JUST DOESN'T understand that DRM only treats their legitimate customers as pirates wheareas the real pirates ROUTE AROUND the DRM.
It looks like the EFF is considering whether they can file a class-action lawsuit.
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004149.php
Of course no one was fired. This is gonna ruin their end of year sales and really hurt the retailers who would have planned on those sales as well. You can pretty well bet that Sony or one of the other majors is gonna do this again in the near future.
Gen, you'll love this one: http://soryelectronics.com/ ;-)
Here's why no one was fired, at least according to my speculation. Coding is done my mid-level and junior-level guys, and is a fabulously complex process, at least as I've seen it done. And while it's their fault, after a fashion, MOST of their code was probably good. In intellectual pursuits of any complexity, perfect execution is just about impossible. Witness the muck about "dark matter" and you'll get my point. Does it exist? Doesn't it?
So as a practical matter, who are you going to fire? The 25 year old guys who wrote the code? The project manager? The Director or VP who passed it through?
Very hard to assign blame for things like that...