Don't trust "lifetime" (was: Lisp/Unix impedance [a programming challenge])

> From: Robert Uhl <eadmun...@NOSPAMgmail.com>
> freeshell.org has free shell accounts

Do they provide all the services that I already have with my current
shell account?
http://www.rawbw.com/~rem/NewPub/mySituation.html#isp

> ($36 lifetime to avoid auto-deletion).

When I was a child, my parents fell for that sucker line. They paid a
bunch of extra money for a lifetime subscription to the annual
supplements to Collier's Encyclopedia. The very next year Collier's
declared bankruptcy and neither returned my parent's money nor ever
sent another annual supplement as promised. Recently I see they're back
in business, still not honoring their old contracts. Is that legal?

More recently:
- I bought an umbrella from Macy's, while it was on special, with a
manufacturer's lifetime warrantee. After a few years it was getting
ragged so I took it in per warrantee, but Macy's said they wouldn't
replace it, they would only refund how much it originally costs, which
was much less than it'd cost for a replacement. So I kept the bad
umbrella instead of getting a $5 refund and having no money to have any
umbrella at all.
- I bought a backpack from a bike shop on University in Palo Alto, yeah
the one everyone around there knows, the big main bike shop in that
part of town, whose name escapes me at the moment. It had a lifetime
guarantee from the store. After a few years it had gotten ragged, so I
took it in to be replaced, but they refused, saying they were referring
to the lifetime of the backpack, not my lifetime, and as far as they
were concerned the backpack was dead now, so the warantee no longer
applies. I'll never shop at that store again.

If a stable company like IBM (or Macy's) offered anything lifetime, I'd
be suspicious, but might take a chance, but not with Macy's ever again,
but when some unknown organization with flaky financial background such
as freeshell.org offers anything lifetime I disregard it as worthless.

On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 13:00:15 -0700, rem642b@Yahoo.Com (Robert Maas,
see http://tinyurl.com/uh3t) wrote:

>When I was a child, my parents fell for that sucker line. They paid a
>bunch of extra money for a lifetime subscription to the annual
>supplements to Collier's Encyclopedia. The very next year Collier's
>declared bankruptcy and neither returned my parent's money nor ever
>sent another annual supplement as promised. Recently I see they're back
>in business, still not honoring their old contracts. Is that legal?
>
>More recently:
>- I bought an umbrella from Macy's, while it was on special, with a
> ..
>- I bought a backpack from a bike shop on University in Palo Alto, yeah
...

Is this about Lisp?...

A.L..

On Robert Maas, see http://tinyurl.com/uh3t <rem642b@Yahoo.Com> wrote: 
>
>  Do they provide all the services that I already have with my current
>  shell account?

Can you read?

>  If a stable company like IBM (or Macy's) offered anything lifetime, I'd
>  be suspicious, but might take a chance, but not with Macy's ever again,
>  but when some unknown organization with flaky financial background such
>  as freeshell.org offers anything lifetime I disregard it as worthless.

Unknown organization? Flaky financial background?

An entire newsgroup bends over backwards to provide helpful information to
you and you turn all of it down, often with shaky "arguments".

I'm starting to see why you've been unemployed for 10 years.