LMG Sponsor Complaints

[CPotter]

On 8/25/2023 at 9:37 PM, Brayman30 said:

Not sure if this is completely the correct place but I will put it here anyway sinceore appropriate threads are locked.

 

Regarding the LMG Sponsor "Do Not Work With List," are dietary supplements intentionally left off of the list. I seem to recall this being Linus' personal policy and he said so here in this thread that he would talk to the business team and follow-up next week. However, there was no follow-up that I could find. But, I may have missed it depending on where it might have been posted.

In the recent interest of transparency, I was wondering if LMG would be willing to share the official policy regarding dietary supplement sponsorships (or make it more visible if there was already a policy posted somewhere since I was unable to find it.)

 

Edit: I will be more than happy to make a separate thread in general discussion or some other sub-forum if that is perferred.

They are intentionally left off the list. Linus did talk to us, and the reason its not on there is because there are some products we would be open to promoting. Quite a few members from our team use products like Athletic Greens. We've actually partnered with them before, and would be open to doing so again based on our experiences and current knowledge of that product. 

[Agall]

1 hour ago, CPotter said:

They are intentionally left off the list. Linus did talk to us, and the reason its not on there is because there are some products we would be open to promoting. Quite a few members from our team use products like Athletic Greens. We've actually partnered with them before, and would be open to doing so again based on our experiences and current knowledge of that product. 

Somewhat suggestion regarding sponsorship with a product like Athletic Greens, I'd be far less likely to care about the opinions of a tech Youtube channel regarding those type product than someone like Derek at MPMD or Joe Rogan. Both of which are fitness/wellness channels in comparison to a technology channel.

 

Hey, if they're willing to sponsor, sure. I would just be careful how those sponsorship segments work when doing it on a non-tech product like AG1. Especially if you're attempting to avoid the wrath of a somewhat whiny consumer base. I personally don't care who gives LTT money because any responsible consumer should do their own research than trusting what a commercial says.

[HeyThatsIllegal]

On 8/26/2023 at 7:40 PM, HeyThatsIllegal said:

Hey everyone,

 

Over the past three months I have had an absolute nightmare of an experience with ASUS support, regarding damages to the structure of the G14, damages which have been proven by the reddit and other online communities to be an issue of the design. However, my experience goes beyond that.

 

I have now been through 4 RMAs regarding the same 2022 G14 unit. Through three months, they have managed to not repair anything which I have explicitly told them were issues in email communications with their support teams, or on the RMA slip that they, by the way, require, to be included in the box with the RMA. Not only they did never repair anything that I asked them to, they managed to do more damage, such as smudges all over the body of the computer, to white goo stuck in the heatsink of the laptop. 

 

However, the worst was a few days ago, when I finally had enough and requested a replacement unit from ASUS so I could go back to doing my daily work on my computer. ASUS, in our emails, promised that I would receive a "suitable" replacement unit, but what I received in the mail was nothing short of utterly ridiculous. The unit was dirty, it had smudges and stains all around the body, there was a white hair sticking out of the heatsink, the screen was bent in to the point where the keyboard left a mark on the screen, there were cracks present all around the unit, especially around the bottom case and the hinges, and there was even a chunk of the bottom case missing near one of the major cracks. And the worst insult? They couldn't even be bothered to supply a charger that was the correct wattage.

 

I have started my 5th RMA now with ASUS and have expressed my disappointment, but further courses of action are still up in the air. At this rate, I no longer feel that I can trust ASUS's support or repair services to repair my unit, supply me a "suitable" replacement, or even supply me a new unit. I'm really out of options here as I spent a lot of my money on that computer last year to last me through school, and now I am left with no work computer at all. I'm currently awaiting a response from their support team, but I have little to no faith they will manage to get it right this time. Shame on you ASUS. Shame.

UPDATE 8/28/23

ASUS has blamed the problem on me. To you ASUS, how dare you. You sent me a damaged unit as a "suitable replacement", and now it's my problem. How dare you. This is all your problem, not mine. Shame on you ASUS.

[gerradynn]

Keeper Password Manager, as advertised in this most recent LTT video seems like it is a good service, but there is no information regarding pricing available on the landing page linked in the video nor is it available through any of the links on that page, just information about the 50% off offer for signing up via the link. It CAN be found when clicking from the landing page, going to pricing, and then to the pricing page for each of the products mentioned on the landing page. I am not sure of the ramifications for not listing pricing, or making it quickly accessible, but I genuinely feel it is in bad taste not to make the price of the service readily available to the consumer, or at least make it accessible on a prominent location on the page.

 

[rabidkitty]

33 minutes ago, gerradynn said:

Keeper Password Manager, as advertised in this most recent LTT video seems like it is a good service, but there is no information regarding pricing available on the landing page linked in the video nor is it available through any of the links on that page, just information about the 50% off offer for signing up via the link. It CAN be found when clicking from the landing page, going to pricing, and then to the pricing page for each of the products mentioned on the landing page. I am not sure of the ramifications for not listing pricing, or making it quickly accessible, but I genuinely feel it is in bad taste not to make the price of the service readily available to the consumer, or at least make it accessible on a prominent location on the page.

 

To add to this, if you click the "BUY NOW" button on the sponsor link landing page it takes you here.

 

So not only does it not show pricing, if you click buy now it still doesn't show pricing and wants your email address before going any further. If you put your email address in and click next, it then asks you to verify the email. Only until you have verified your email address will you be presented with pricing.

[Skipple]

1 minute ago, rabidkitty said:

if you click buy now it still doesn't show pricing and wants your email address before going any further

To be fair, the pricing is fairly easy to find from their homepage. It's not particularly obfuscated, just a single click from keepersecurity.com. They just don't have that link on the affiliate landing page for some reason. You don't need to enter your email to find the price if you look hard enough. It is needlessly annoying however not to simply have the price listed. 

 

https://www.keepersecurity.com/pricing/personal-and-family.html

 

[gerradynn]

Thanks for looking into it. I appreciate it.

[Xenon_]

Someone brought up this throne page:

(https://storefront.throne.com/linusmediagroup/sponsors-affiliates-partners)

I didn't know about it, or at least don't remember it existing, but noticed PIA is still listed despite you guys no longer working with any VPN providers. 

 

[mtrantalainen]

On 5/20/2022 at 11:38 AM, PeachGr said:

Manscapped lawnmower 3.0 

...

Photo of their waterproof. I ve washed it a few times in low pressure water from a sink. They did a good job keeping the water inside I guess

It appears that they put screw holes *inside* the compartment with the sealing! Unsurprisingly it got water inside if you get any water to the screw holes.

 

Maybe LTT should do teardowns for all the products they are going to promote?

[TheoNDS]

Hey everyone!

 

First time posting here, just wanted to share my experience with one of the recent sponsors popping up on some of the videos, namely SolidWorks and their parent company Dassault Systems. 

 

I want to preface this that I am aware of my own fault in this, just think that it speaks to their intransigent and pretty much blackmail-y business practices.

 

Bit of backstory: I work for a Dutch company that deals with Directional Drilling for Geothermal wells. We have no CAD or engineering activities, no R&D, nothing that would require the use of CAD software.

 

Earlier this year, after the algorithm had served me 3D print videos, design videos and eventually CAD videos, I started looking into what CAD is about, what's the best software for it and discovered SolidWorks. I make about 50k EUR a year (I work in the Netherlands, my family lives in Romania, I basically support two households), I was not aware of SolidWorks for Makers, and obviously I couldn't afford the thousands or tens of thousands for a license. So I downloaded a pirated PRO version on my work laptop (Ryzen 9 5900HX, 3050Ti, 32GB DDR4 - not like my 5th gen i5, GTX 850m, 8GB on my personal laptop), from 2021. Started learning the basics and modeling silly things like a screw, a car wheel, a sword (Zabuza's sword from Naruto). Nothing commercial, nothing for profit, just trying to learn. 

 

Sometimes I work late, my job is in Ops support so I am on call 24/7. Between solving issues coming in, I would unwind with this, sometimes at the office (dual monitors, yay).

 

Few months go by, I would say at this stage I have maybe a total of 24 hrs of usage over this span of time, and a cease and desist letter comes to our office from Dassault Systems saying that their software has been used illegaly and they're requesting 30k EUR in damages or they will sue the company.

 

Fortunately, I have a very understanding manager (so I didn't get fired, altough it was in discussion with the CEO, it's a small company). I explain the situation, I showed him what I had been doing and he writes back to them informing them that this was not a case of commercial use, just a guy trying to learn, that I'm willing to show them that there was no commercial goal, and asking what can be done?

 

Their response was that they can lower the cost to 9.3k EUR, to be paid personally by me in 30 days (70% in two weeks, the rest until 30 days), but nothing less. 

 

I'm not going to get in to the sobby details of my personal life and financial situation, let's just say I didn't have 9.3 EUR in my pocket, let alone 9.3k. But I was forced to agree, I can't get sued and I can't loose this job. In the end, it was actually 11.235 EUR (with tax). I ended up borrowing money from multiple family members, I'm not solvent enough for a loan and now I'm even more in debt than I was before (again, too many sobby details, I can explain privately).

 

The final nail in the coffin? I found out after agreeing to this that they were giving me a perpetual Standard license (about 7.5k's worth) and the rest up to 9.3k were a couple of useless tack on's (some network features to interact with members of your "team", but they also need to have licenses.... ). Pretty blackmail-y,right?

 

Anyway, @CPotter, I can provide all of the e-mail communications, proof of my usage and anything else... I tried writing to their head offices (all of the conversations were had with their legal firm), no luck...

 

Maybe this can help someone else not get in the same situation.

 

Thank you for reading!

[Skipple]

2 hours ago, TheoNDS said:

I was not aware of SolidWorks for Makers, and obviously I couldn't afford the thousands or tens of thousands for a license. So I downloaded a pirated PRO version on my work laptop

Hold up hold up hold up. Let me get this straight. You pirated commercial software on to your WORK computer on your WORK NETWORK. You have brought your company under the threat of litigation and are costing yourself and employer thousands of dollar's.

 

Then.... you have the AUDACITY to come to the forums and onto a sponsor complaint thread and complain about the software manufacturer?? The same company is threating legal action against your employer because of something you did... and you are going to come publicly complain about them?

Are you actually insane?

 

2 hours ago, TheoNDS said:

Pretty blackmail-y,right?

NO. NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT. THAT'S NOT BLACKMAIL-Y AT ALL.

IT'S COMPLETELY REASONABLE TO ENFORCE YOU PAY FOR THE SOFTWARE YOU STOLE FROM THEM.

 

2 hours ago, TheoNDS said:

Anyway, @CPotter, I can provide all of the e-mail communications, proof of my usage and anything else... I tried writing to their head offices (all of the conversations were had with their legal firm), no luck...

What the hell do you want Colton to do, unpirate the software for you? 

 

There is absolutely no way.

My brother in Christ you are lucky you still have a job and not to mention not being sued personally by your employer, although I suppose there's still time for that. Honest to God, shut up, sit down and take your medicine for your absolute and utter negligence. 

 

This absolutely has to be one of the most insane and amazing posts I have ever seen in my time on online forums. Do the LTT forums have a Hall of Fame?

I'm out of fucking breath with this one holy shit.

[Nota Games]

This is not a complaint per se, I am enquiring about how the term "end-to-end encryption" would work for Keeper.

 

Quote from the latest video

[Agall]

3 hours ago, TheoNDS said:

Hey everyone!

 

First time posting here, just wanted to share my experience with one of the recent sponsors popping up on some of the videos, namely SolidWorks and their parent company Dassault Systems. 

 

I want to preface this that I am aware of my own fault in this, just think that it speaks to their intransigent and pretty much blackmail-y business practices.

 

Bit of backstory: I work for a Dutch company that deals with Directional Drilling for Geothermal wells. We have no CAD or engineering activities, no R&D, nothing that would require the use of CAD software.

 

Earlier this year, after the algorithm had served me 3D print videos, design videos and eventually CAD videos, I started looking into what CAD is about, what's the best software for it and discovered SolidWorks. I make about 50k EUR a year (I work in the Netherlands, my family lives in Romania, I basically support two households), I was not aware of SolidWorks for Makers, and obviously I couldn't afford the thousands or tens of thousands for a license. So I downloaded a pirated PRO version on my work laptop (Ryzen 9 5900HX, 3050Ti, 32GB DDR4 - not like my 5th gen i5, GTX 850m, 8GB on my personal laptop), from 2021. Started learning the basics and modeling silly things like a screw, a car wheel, a sword (Zabuza's sword from Naruto). Nothing commercial, nothing for profit, just trying to learn. 

 

Sometimes I work late, my job is in Ops support so I am on call 24/7. Between solving issues coming in, I would unwind with this, sometimes at the office (dual monitors, yay).

 

Few months go by, I would say at this stage I have maybe a total of 24 hrs of usage over this span of time, and a cease and desist letter comes to our office from Dassault Systems saying that their software has been used illegaly and they're requesting 30k EUR in damages or they will sue the company.

 

Fortunately, I have a very understanding manager (so I didn't get fired, altough it was in discussion with the CEO, it's a small company). I explain the situation, I showed him what I had been doing and he writes back to them informing them that this was not a case of commercial use, just a guy trying to learn, that I'm willing to show them that there was no commercial goal, and asking what can be done?

 

Their response was that they can lower the cost to 9.3k EUR, to be paid personally by me in 30 days (70% in two weeks, the rest until 30 days), but nothing less. 

 

I'm not going to get in to the sobby details of my personal life and financial situation, let's just say I didn't have 9.3 EUR in my pocket, let alone 9.3k. But I was forced to agree, I can't get sued and I can't loose this job. In the end, it was actually 11.235 EUR (with tax). I ended up borrowing money from multiple family members, I'm not solvent enough for a loan and now I'm even more in debt than I was before (again, too many sobby details, I can explain privately).

 

The final nail in the coffin? I found out after agreeing to this that they were giving me a perpetual Standard license (about 7.5k's worth) and the rest up to 9.3k were a couple of useless tack on's (some network features to interact with members of your "team", but they also need to have licenses.... ). Pretty blackmail-y,right?

 

Anyway, @CPotter, I can provide all of the e-mail communications, proof of my usage and anything else... I tried writing to their head offices (all of the conversations were had with their legal firm), no luck...

 

Maybe this can help someone else not get in the same situation.

 

Thank you for reading!

Pirating, its bad, mkay?

 

Technically they should've fired you if their Acceptable Use policy for their network/devices has "please don't pirate" in it, so luckily for you, SolidWorks seemed to let your employer off the hook.

 

Now if this was a 'free trial' non-commercial version they tried to extort you of money with because they thought having it on your work laptop = commercial use, then that's a different story.

[mynameGeoff]

20 hours ago, gerradynn said:

Keeper Password Manager, as advertised in this most recent LTT video seems like it is a good service, but there is no information regarding pricing available on the landing page linked in the video nor is it available through any of the links on that page, just information about the 50% off offer for signing up via the link. It CAN be found when clicking from the landing page, going to pricing, and then to the pricing page for each of the products mentioned on the landing page. I am not sure of the ramifications for not listing pricing, or making it quickly accessible, but I genuinely feel it is in bad taste not to make the price of the service readily available to the consumer, or at least make it accessible on a prominent location on the page.

 

20 hours ago, rabidkitty said:

To add to this, if you click the "BUY NOW" button on the sponsor link landing page it takes you here.

 

So not only does it not show pricing, if you click buy now it still doesn't show pricing and wants your email address before going any further. If you put your email address in and click next, it then asks you to verify the email. Only until you have verified your email address will you be presented with pricing.

 

Hey, thanks for bringing this to our attention. We're in the process of emailing our contact at Keeper to see if pricing can be shown from the landing page versus hunting it down yourself. This is also the final deliverable we have remaining with Keeper, so we'll wait for a response from their end before we renew any future spots going forward.

[mynameGeoff]

1 hour ago, Nota Games said:

This is not a complaint per se, I am enquiring about how the term "end-to-end encryption" would work for Keeper.

 

Quote from the latest video

A quick Google search brought me to this page:
https://docs.keeper.io/enterprise-guide/keeper-encryption-model

Hopefully that helps!

[Rumble]

I'm going to also voice concern about ASUS here.

ASUS used to be a brand I was heavily invested in.  Bought ASUS motherboards, laptops, video cards, even some peripherals.

They had a stellar CS history with me.   Until the past 3 years.

Now ASUS won't fix or replace anything.    

My most recent problem was with my Zephyrus M16.  I had it 11 months and the Thunderbolt 4 port died.  When I contacted support they told me that I bought the laptop from Best Buy so I would need to handle my support through Geek Squad.   Seriously!?!?

In the end ASUS continued to push me to Best Buy even with my pushing back about 1st party repairs while under warranty.

In the end when I did approach Geek Squad I was told I would have to pay for the repair even though it was under warranty.

 

I have sworn off buying any more ASUS products because of this.    I build 20-100 PCs a year for people and while I don't expect my moving away from their products for future builds are going to hurt them I hope LTT/LMG will think real hard about continuing to work with ASUS.  Their behavior lately has been extremely anti-consumer.

[jubjub]

Is there any reason ASUS was missing from here:

 

They've shown a significant pattern of malicious behaviour over a long period of time now with no indication of change. What would they even have to do at this point in order to be dropped as a sponsor? It also doesn't help that the secret shopper rating they got was complete bullshit. I'm not attributing malice to that rating but when given in context to how Asus has been acting for the last few years it really doesn't come off well. Then adding on that Gary Key was the Sr director of marketing at Asus while a lot of these issues were starting to pop up already I don't see the justification for such softball treatment. Maybe I see the justification if you'd rather try and convince Asus to change as it'd be a benefit for the community but at what point have they gone too far to justify still working with them? The unintentional implication here is that Asus are receiving unfair treatment and there's been nothing from LMG to indicate otherwise. Even the statement in this thread about Asus was softball and comes off more as an excuse for them than anything. How long will you wait for a reply when these issues are ones that needed to be actioned on 3 months ago (or arguably years ago)? As big as Asus are they should have hard answers in terms of a plan by now (ideally including public acknowledgement of the issues but they'd never do that) and if they don't I don't see how LMGs sponsor relationship with them is salvageable. They're not fixing their brand image and continuing to have them as a sponsor only brings LMGs image down with them.

[TheoNDS]

On 8/30/2023 at 10:45 PM, Skipple said:

Hold up hold up hold up. Let me get this straight. You pirated commercial software on to your WORK computer on your WORK NETWORK. You have brought your company under the threat of litigation and are costing yourself and employer thousands of dollar's.

Hey man. 

 

I did point out I am aware of my own fault in this. While yes, it was on a company computer, it was not over the company network and it did not cost my employer anything, just me.

 

I came here to complain about the way that they handled it, not the company as a whole. That's the point of this specific thread, as Linus has pointed out many times, to bring to their attention how companies handle different matters. 

 

I had no commercial gain from it, I wasn't planning on having any commercial gain and if at any point they would have had a look at what I was doing, it would have been evident what my "threat" level was.

 

On 8/30/2023 at 10:45 PM, Skipple said:

My brother in Christ you are lucky you still have a job and not to mention not being sued personally by your employer, although I suppose there's still time for that.

Guess I'm lucky I don't live in the US and people can make honest mistakes without the threat of loosing their livelyhood or jail.

 

It's quite clear you're somewhat of a troll, I'm glad I could keep you entertained. Next time try and understand what things (like this forum) are supposed to be used for.

 

Peace!

[TheoNDS]

On 8/30/2023 at 11:42 PM, Agall said:

Pirating, its bad, mkay?

 

Technically they should've fired you if their Acceptable Use policy for their network/devices has "please don't pirate" in it, so luckily for you, SolidWorks seemed to let your employer off the hook.

 

Now if this was a 'free trial' non-commercial version they tried to extort you of money with because they thought having it on your work laptop = commercial use, then that's a different story.

Indeed, pirating is bad.

 

They couldn't fire me, as Netherlands actually has protections for employees. While there's no specific policy for "please don't pirate", even if there was, it's not one strike and you're out system. I do good work for this company, I've actually saved them tens of thousands of dollars over the course of my employment (developed processes and procedures for training field personnel, implemented inventory tracking software and a whole bunch of other stuff that decreased costs and increased productivity and service quality), and I handled this swiftly and without any cost or impact to them.

 

While it was definetly not a "free-trial", SolidWorks tracks local client usage through activity logs which I offered to provide to them (and which they most likely had already) to prove that there was no commercial use, but they refused.

 

Again, this is not me excusing myself, I am fully aware what I did was wrong. It's just a case of the punishment fitting the crime...

 

Have a good one mate, thank you for not shouting at me:D 

[Skipple]

51 minutes ago, TheoNDS said:

I did point out I am aware of my own fault in this. While yes, it was on a company computer, it was not over the company network and it did not cost my employer anything, just me.

 

I came here to complain about the way that they handled it, not the company as a whole.

...

Again, this is not me excusing myself, I am fully aware what I did was wrong. 

You accused a company, a company you stole from, of blackmailing you when all they did was ask for the money for the product that you stole.. No, I don't think you are taking proper responsibility for this. 

 

Edit: By the way, blackmail isn't even the right word for what you are attempting to describe. Blackmail means they would be holding something over your head, unless you pay up. What you are implying is extortion. (it's still not true by the way)

[Erioch]

On 8/30/2023 at 12:37 PM, TheoNDS said:

paraphrased:  {I pirated software and got caught}

 

[jubjub]

6 hours ago, Skipple said:

You accused a company, a company you stole from, of blackmailing you when all they did was ask for the money for the product that you stole.. No, I don't think you are taking proper responsibility for this. 

 

Edit: By the way, blackmail isn't even the right word for what you are attempting to describe. Blackmail means they would be holding something over your head, unless you pay up. What you are implying is extortion. (it's still not true by the way)

I wasn't going to get into it but you're completely ignoring some insanely important context here and parroting bullshit.

First one, the civil legal system generally isn't accessible to most people requiring significant time and money just to be present in proceedings. The simple act of using the threat of legal process against someone who can't even afford to participate is an incredibly shitty thing to do. Small claims exists in most western countries for a reason and could have very fairly been solved using that process.

Second, copyright damages are complete bullshit. What are solidworks damages here? $99. That's the most a reasonable person would have paid for the software (maker version) if piracy wasn't an option. This guy was never going to buy the software so they never lost an actual sale. Arguing otherwise is just parroting the same bullshit games publishers have argued for years. They're wrong and you're just as wrong with them.

 

Third, Solidworks as a company have been going after small individuals for YEARS now. Way before hobbyist options were available. Back then they targeted people in poverty who literally had no way of paying for software that was the only way to participate in the hobby. This was so stupid and damaging for the industry that even solidworks took a step back and said "maybe we should make this software more accessible".

Fourth, Solidworks are choosing to spend more money on lawyers to threaten people than they actually retrieve. They are actively choosing to abuse the legal system and cause harm in order to create a perceived threat. Ethically those lawyers are pieces of shit and know exactly what they're doing. It might not be blackmail exactly but it is a threat and it's understandable why they described it that way.

Sure in a bubble what you're saying is right but you're not in a bubble. The world exists and Solidworks are abusing unfair processes that exist in the world. They're not to blame for the processes existing but they are to blame for abusing them. While they have a legal right to do what they've done we can criticise them for doing so alongside criticising the processes that allow it to happen. The same way I can criticise you for defending the abuse of a copyright system that is intentionally unfit for purpose.

Justice requires a proportional response. This was not a proportional response. Fuck Solidworks.

[RTX 3090]

3 hours ago, jubjub said:

I wasn't going to get into it but you're completely ignoring some insanely important context here and parroting bullshit.

First one, the civil legal system generally isn't accessible to most people requiring significant time and money just to be present in proceedings. The simple act of using the threat of legal process against someone who can't even afford to participate is an incredibly shitty thing to do. Small claims exists in most western countries for a reason and could have very fairly been solved using that process.

Second, copyright damages are complete bullshit. What are solidworks damages here? $99. That's the most a reasonable person would have paid for the software (maker version) if piracy wasn't an option. This guy was never going to buy the software so they never lost an actual sale. Arguing otherwise is just parroting the same bullshit games publishers have argued for years. They're wrong and you're just as wrong with them.

 

Third, Solidworks as a company have been going after small individuals for YEARS now. Way before hobbyist options were available. Back then they targeted people in poverty who literally had no way of paying for software that was the only way to participate in the hobby. This was so stupid and damaging for the industry that even solidworks took a step back and said "maybe we should make this software more accessible".

Fourth, Solidworks are choosing to spend more money on lawyers to threaten people than they actually retrieve. They are actively choosing to abuse the legal system and cause harm in order to create a perceived threat. Ethically those lawyers are pieces of shit and know exactly what they're doing. It might not be blackmail exactly but it is a threat and it's understandable why they described it that way.

Sure in a bubble what you're saying is right but you're not in a bubble. The world exists and Solidworks are abusing unfair processes that exist in the world. They're not to blame for the processes existing but they are to blame for abusing them. While they have a legal right to do what they've done we can criticise them for doing so alongside criticising the processes that allow it to happen. The same way I can criticise you for defending the abuse of a copyright system that is intentionally unfit for purpose.

Justice requires a proportional response. This was not a proportional response. Fuck Solidworks.

Yeah, even if they charged the cost of a full licence divided by the timeframe he used it for, that could be argued as reasonable. But a full years licence and add ons on top of that is extortion. 

Responses from companies like Solidworks and Adobe just make people want to pirate their software even more, to the point where a surprising number of people consider pirating adobe software as ethical, and I don't blame them

[dalekphalm]

15 hours ago, TheoNDS said:

Indeed, pirating is bad.

 

They couldn't fire me, as Netherlands actually has protections for employees. While there's no specific policy for "please don't pirate", even if there was, it's not one strike and you're out system. I do good work for this company, I've actually saved them tens of thousands of dollars over the course of my employment (developed processes and procedures for training field personnel, implemented inventory tracking software and a whole bunch of other stuff that decreased costs and increased productivity and service quality), and I handled this swiftly and without any cost or impact to them.

 

While it was definetly not a "free-trial", SolidWorks tracks local client usage through activity logs which I offered to provide to them (and which they most likely had already) to prove that there was no commercial use, but they refused.

 

Again, this is not me excusing myself, I am fully aware what I did was wrong. It's just a case of the punishment fitting the crime...

 

Have a good one mate, thank you for not shouting at me:D 

I would suggest if anything like this happens again, that you instead consult with a legal expert in your country first. You could have gotten a consultation for free perhaps, but at worst, you could have paid a lawyer to review the details for a few hundred Euros. For something that ended up costing you $10,000 Euros, a lawyer probably could have negotiated that down significantly.

 

I'm not going to say what Solidworks did was "good", but I hope you learned a valuable lesson to not use your work computer for piracy, and definitely don't use the pirated software at work, on work time. Regardless of whether it was for personal use or not.

 

Most employee contracts have a clause where the things you create while on work time are often considered property of the company. Maybe this doesn't apply to you, but what you did, regardless of Solidworks' response, was very foolish and was a risk to your livelihood.

[jubjub]

1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

I would suggest if anything like this happens again, that you instead consult with a legal expert in your country first. You could have gotten a consultation for free perhaps, but at worst, you could have paid a lawyer to review the details for a few hundred Euros. For something that ended up costing you $10,000 Euros, a lawyer probably could have negotiated that down significantly.

 

I'm not going to say what Solidworks did was "good", but I hope you learned a valuable lesson to not use your work computer for piracy, and definitely don't use the pirated software at work, on work time. Regardless of whether it was for personal use or not.

 

Most employee contracts have a clause where the things you create while on work time are often considered property of the company. Maybe this doesn't apply to you, but what you did, regardless of Solidworks' response, was very foolish and was a risk to your livelihood.

+1 billion on the legal consultation that should be everyone's first response to legal contact

Solidworks likely would have come after him if he only used the software at home it just would have taken a little longer. Definitely bad to risk your job and could have ended far worse but it's not like it would have changed the outcome here. The company has no chill when it comes to piracy and their lawyers don't give a fuck about your personal situation.

Generally there are guidelines for blocking networking features when you pirate Solidworks to avoid the situation. He made a lot of mistakes and didn't do any due diligence throughout the whole process constantly making it worse. A basic google search should have revealed this information. Still shitty from Solidworks though and both parties acted very poorly here.