INTERACT FORUM

So, are we (the paid users / independent of the "Big Deal" customer target base) locked into the terms & conditions of this "Big Deal"?

Are we forced to become targets of this "Big Deal's" marketing?

Are we going to be limited to only the "Big Deal" version of Media Center, or will there be an independent version for paying customers who wish NOT to be involved or affected by the "Big Deal"?

Please let us know this, because if this is the case it will definately affect my choice of media software as we move forward.  I do NOT wish to be involved in using software that links me with any type of music service (etc) without my consent.  In the meantime, my firewall will suffice.

All your base are belong to us.

I don't let any programs make Internet connection without my permission. So when a program calls home or anywhere else and my firewall asks if it's OK, the answer is no. If that connection is needed later, I must restart first to make my firewall ask again.

I really don't like the idea about Media Center & firewall asking permission to connect Internet when I am in between something else. There are already enough annoyances with other software products.

Actually, I have not seen any information about how this check is going to take place. Only when starting MC or also when MC is already running or how?

Besides, there are others in my household too. They can use MC while I'm away, but they are not allowed to install any software.

I'd like to vote yes for "Off". It doesn't have to be too obvious. It could be hidden behind some advanced options tab. Just to keep expert users happy.  

Jim, can I buy you a drink?

Thanks.  I could use one.

As is blocking the redirector's address at the firewall.
when was the last time you went to file->library->update library, ticked "remove files which no longer exist and pressed OK? you should try it. there are other times this happens too.
I used to have a nice, local, custom start page configured here and I miss that too.
All these things are a matter of personal choice, and given the choice, I'd choose my custom start page every time over having MC call home whenever "start" is selected in the tree.
If you're happy, then I am happy for you.
For me, the "phone home" start pages are only a minor annoyance. I can live with the hassle of controlling my internet gateway, it would just be nice to have a tick box in the options that made the job easier. The end result is, after all, exactly the same. (ie. when I land on start here, I don't see the start page)

-marko.

So a hassid comes to his rabbi and says: "Rabbi, I have a wife and six small children, and we all live together in this one room - it's very small, and always noisy. It's awful. What can I do?"

The rabbi asked: "Do you have a goat?" "Yes", the hassid replied. "Very well", said the rabbi. "Now have the goat live with you in the room, and come back after a week".

The hassid did that, and after a week he comes to his rabbi crying. "It's impossibly crammed, it's smelly, and the noise! Oh! Please, Rabbi, help me!" "Very well", said the rabbi. "You can take the goat out now".

After a week the hasid comes back to the rabbi to thank him: "Now we have so much room, it's unbelievable!".

This feels like a twilight zone episode.

MC shows webpages sometimes.  If you consider viewing a webpage hosted by JRiver "phoning home", the world must be a scary place for you.  Viewing Interact (or any other webpage) would be "phoning home" by that same logic.

The good news for the less paranoid is that we don't collect usage information.  We're too busy building software to care that King listens to Bananarama 18 hours a day

Name of the rabbi-You have it?

It is cruality to animals ....

Agreed, as implemented, it was a small issue, but it heads in a direction that is very scary.

Understood on your concerns and your post however we agree that Jim/JRiver have come up with a solution that's fine right?

Its the piling on after a reasonable resolution is stated that drives me a little crazy.

(Matt please feel free to check on how many times I listen to Bananarama.  Some (not all) of this privacy stuff is a little over-the-top IMHO, I could care less who knows what music I listen to, programs I run or photos I've take, they're boring, trust me on this!)

-=Tim=-

Dear JRiver.

I want to hearby officially thank and congratulate you with the very good solution you have chosen for a certain problem that recently arose. The swiftness and willingness to find a solution that will work for you customers as well as yourself and your partners speaks volumes of a way of thinking that really should be more prevalent in the business world, and especially in the software business.

Sincerely Mad Dog Mastiff