Thank you Chris, Jim, Erlend and many others who have privately replied it
to me for the great insight into this rather difficult subject (at least to
us technocrats).
I'll like to mention one thing,
The aim of any software vendor is obviously to bring out the best product
with features that are most beneficial to their customers. The intention is
never to "falsely" document features and have it disclaimed. I have bought
"Technology Agreements", seen several "EULAs" and my arguments were on the
basis of disclaimer mentioned in the these agreements and one such was
"disclaimer w.r.t non-conformance with the documentation". Again, the
problem is not that we (as software vendor) do not want to conform to the
documentation, rather the problem is more of being a "paranoid" and
"deterring" the user (can't prevent them) from challenging the
"interpretation" of the "documented feature" through courts (that's what
lawyers are paid for, right) and hence the disclaimer, otherwise, we may
have to soon start involving a lawyer for finalising product documentation
too ;-).
Jim Divosky writes:
"I find the idea of using a license for pre-packaged software as a model for
commercial software curious. These licenses have been found to be
unenforceable in some states at least in part."
Jim, I have with me a "model license agreement with commentary". At some
place, it mentions what you say. Then the commentary on it says that for
implied warranty to be effective (i read it as "in such states"), it should
be made part of the contract before the transaction is completed (software
delivery).
Regarding engaging a lawyer, an unfortunate scarcity that we have in the
subcontinent is that there are not many "software-products" from the
subcontinent (that is fast changing but the dot-com craze has i guess slowed
it down globally), and hence very few attorneys for the same. I basically
give our attorney these model agreements (bought from USA) and have them
alter it to suit us.
I once again thank all of you for helping me with better insight. I'll be
pleased to discuss this offline with anyone who would like to, and
subsequently post a summary (or refer it by a URL) if the list so desired.
Thank you very much and regards,
Ajay
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