posted December 30, 2009 9:21 AM PST

broad assumptions

It's all about managing expectations and assumptions. When you sell software that interfaces with hardware, like we do, then you have to realize that it may not work for a large portion of your potential customers. Short of spending a lot of money and time on R&D, there's no way to make any kind of guarantee. So to manage expectations, we SAY THAT SHIT UP FRONT:

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___________ is an easy-to-use low cost alternative to purchasing one of our pre-built and simple-to-install upgrade kits. Although the technical knowledge required to use ___________ is relatively minimal, you must have a working PC with two IDE interfaces, and be comfortable connecting standard IDE drives to your computer so that ____________ may be properly installed.


You must also be capable of configuring your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM as a bootable device for the ____________ CD, and you must be comfortable burning a bootable CD from a standard ISO image.


____________ has been tested on a variety of PC's and should work on most commonly-used systems. Your PC does not need to be particularly fast or special in any way, but please note that we cannot guarantee that this will work on your PC. If this is something you are concerned about, please consider our kits or professional installation services.


__________ is provided without warranty or support from ___________. With that in mind, we do provide limited support, as well as additional help on our free user forums, and of course, there are always the instructions and release notes.


Due to the nature of downloadable software products, please understand that there are no refunds on purchases of this product and no exchanges should you select the wrong version of software for your DVR or unsuccessful in downloading the product for any other reason than a problem with our servers.


If however, for any reason, you are unable to use the product in your environment, we are happy to credit you the full purchase price of your download, towards the purchase of a standard drive recertification, or any of our pre-packaged upgrade kits.

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Do you have any idea how much time I spend talking to people who try to get this software to work on computers that don't have two IDE interfaces? I understand that SATA is pushing IDE out, and that it's hard to find computers manufactured in the last year or so with one IDE interface, let alone two. (we're in the process of converting all the software to work with SATA and USB, but it's slow going) However I find it hard to believe that somebody willing to use bootable linux software to hack their dvr doesn't have access to a computer somewhere that fits the bill. It doesn't have to be the latest and greatest PC. Fuck, I've got a 486 in my garage that will fucking work with this software.

And suppose you do have a computer that works. Awesome. But guess what? We also can't guarantee that the software will work with whatever no-name white label hard drive you bought off of pricewatch. We know for a fact that there are certain drives that will not work with our software. But guess what? We also know that if it doesn't work with our software, it's not going to work in your DVR.

So Mr. 6 year old 80GB Quantum Hard drive, when you call me on the phone and keep me on the line for ten minutes arguing about whether or not the software actually works, and whether I think it's ethically okay to sell something with no guarantee or support, my only answer is yes.

Yes, because we tell you all of these things up front and we explain why it is that way. We do not try to mislead you into purchasing the software. Far from it. We do everything we can to convince you not to buy the software, and just buy a hard drive instead.

It's only an ethics problem if we said "Yeah sure, works on any computer with any hard drive, safe as houses"

so go fuck yourself. I hope you do call the BBB

last updated December 30, 2009 9:44 AM PST