2 ms·
"Rent" is the wrong word. But so is "buy"
by Kon-Peki 3y ago
"Rent" is the wrong word. But so is "buy"
- _trampeltier 3y ago"Licence" a product
- CaptainFever 3y agoI'd go with "Rent Indefinitely"
- Kon-Peki 3y ago"Indefinitely" is a vague term. I'm serious - if we really want the FTC or some other more appropriate agency to step in and force a change in terminology, we must have something that is very clear and precise. Otherwise it would never survive a legal challenge.
- thaumasiotes 3y agoWhy is it a problem that it's a vague term? It's defining a vague clause in the contract. You get certain rights until such time as the company decides you don't get them anymore.
- Kon-Peki 3y agoLook it up in the dictionary. In some interpretations, "rent indefinitely" has effectively the same meaning as buy. In others, it could mean what you described. Such transactions would now mean different things to different people. That's not an improvement, and it is unlikely that the federal judiciary would agree that the federal government has the authority to force corporations to make such a change.
- lotsofpulp 3y agoHow is it the wrong word? Renting means to pay to receive temporary use of something.
- alistairSH 3y agoRent usually has an explicit end (like a home lease is for a year or two, sometimes with an auto-renew clause). I posted in a sibling, but I'd do something like "buy" (actually buy, can download, use offline), license (implied forever, but streaming and revokable), and "rent" (streaming, explicit time period). Not set on those phrases, but something like that framework makes more sense that what we have today.
- unsui 3y ago"rent" is the most common mental model that most accurately describes the transaction. It may not have 100% fidelity, but people understand what renting means instinctively. A different term, even "licensing", loses that impact (which is precisely why different language is preferred by the contract holders, to hide the true intent).