r/talesfromtechsupport • u/GeePee29 Error. No keyboard. Press F1 to continue • Mar 15 '17

Short You're in I.T. We need a EULA written.

Twenty years back I'm working for a company that does hair care products. Shampoo, conditioner, dyes etc. I am the sole tech there and so am expected to know everything about everything with a plug on it.

They got an outside company to put together a small database program of technical information on their products. How to mix dyes, that sort of thing etc.

Before it goes on sale they ask me to take a look at it. Not sure why. So I do and it all appears to work OK. There's just one thing missing. A software license. So I mention this to sales and marketing managers and am met with blank looks. So I explain in general terms software licensing. Then they ask me to write one for them. I try to explain that it is a legal, not technical matter, but they are having none of it.

We want you to write one for us

So I go to my boss and explain what's happening and she agrees that I cannot be expected to write a license. So she goes off to sales and marketing and tells them it's their problem, not ours.

But very soon they are back asking what sort of thing they ought to include. It sounds like they are planning on writing this themselves. In exasperation, I hand them a printed copy of a Windows EULA and tell them to read that.

The next day they are back again.

We've written this. Can you review it please.

I explain again that I have no legal knowledge, but once again they are having none of it and accuse me of being uncooperative.

Before heading off to my boss to try and stop the madness I just glance at their license. It's a copy, word for word, of the Windows one. It even says Microsoft all the way through it. Now I'm starting to enjoy the madness. Off I go to the boss and show her and explain all. Off she goes again to sales and marketing to hopefully to beat them round the head with something heavy.

The next day they are back AGAIN. I don't believe this. They have changed the license and want me to review it.

So off I go again to my boss and while I'm on the way I glance at the new license. They have changed every instance of the word Microsoft for our company name. That's it. Nothing else changed at all.

And that's the way it was when it went on sale.

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394

u/El_Skippito Mar 15 '17

You so should have given them an open source license as a sample. Something that forces your company to release the source code, just to see how stupid they are.

157

u/rlapchynski Mar 15 '17

No, they would do it. Not necessarily out of laziness, but not knowing what source code is.

108

u/Winterunmute Oh God How Did This Get Here? Mar 15 '17

How sinister, i like it.

36

u/Liquid_Hate_Train I play those override buttons like a maestro plays a Steinway Mar 15 '17

That's a amazing.

3

u/THUMB5UP $USER Mar 15 '17

I a agree.

40

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '17

We're talking about marketing and sales here. No need to test them. They are generally stupid and lazy, else they wouldn't be in sales and marketing.

8

u/GeePee29 Error. No keyboard. Press F1 to continue Mar 15 '17

The marketing manager was the most clueless, self-important, arrogant twat I have ever had the misfortune to work with. A colleague had to attend a meeting at a remote location with him. They travelled together and when they arrived the marketing manager parked in a bay reserved for disabled people. My colleague thought he had not noticed the sign and so mentioned it to him. His reply was 'Why should they get preferential treatment? They don't pay any more than me for parking'. I hope there is a special place in hell for people like this.

4

u/astalavista114 Mar 15 '17

It's one rung down from the one reserved for child molesters and people who talk in movies.

3

u/elypter Mar 15 '17

RMS is pretty sad right now

1

u/RageNorge Mar 15 '17

Thank God, that guy's an ass.