Catchy Title

A comment on the BBC News article ‘Yahoo chief Carol Bartz sees trouble for Google’ - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10090449.stm

I have just spent a couple of hours browsing blogs, vlogs and comments. Now usually this activity makes me smile. I love the innovative new ways people all over the world, find to engage and entertain. However the sheer level of shockingly bad grammar, and atrocious spelling on the internet, has got the point that my head exploded.  Seriously, if you check your seismograph (you all have one right?), you will see a rather large blip about 20 minutes ago; THAT was my head exploding.

I’m a consistent user of text/web slang myself, so I’m not talking about that; but as an example, all of the words in the title of this post were in the comment section of just one YouTube video.

Comment sections should have spelling checkers built in, at least that way the user will be informed in advance that they are a grade-A douchebag.

Jeez!

“Fair Usage policy of 750MB applies. Usage above this amount will constitute abuse and Orange may monitor usage, apply Network protection controls which may result in reduced speed of transmission and/or withdraw the Offer from your account if the fair usage policy is abused. Not to be used for other activities (e.g. using your handset as a modem, non-Orange internet based streaming services, voice or video over the internet, instant messaging, peer to peer file sharing, non-Orange internet based video).“

Quoted from the Orange iPhone terms and conditions.

Well, there it is.  I feel like having a rant, but what would be the point.  It is all there in black and white.  The mistake they have made is obvious, the result of it is obvious, the inevitable backlash is obvious, and the stupity is of course obvious.

There are a couple of points I would like to mention though:

1)  My O2 iPhone came with YouTube pre-installed.  Was that an Apple thing or an O2 thing?  I would guess it was Apple, which would suggest the Orange one would be the same.  Hardly fair to dangle it in front of your nose. ‘Hey valued customer, look what EVERY other iPhone user in the world can do! ….What?  No, silly!  Of course you can’t!!  You have to use OrangeTube, there are only a few vids at the moment, but I’m sure you’ll love it!’

2) Will they put a restriction on the App Store?  This is only a guess, but I’d think approx 70% of the App Store applications would fall into the “streaming services, voice or video over the internet, instant messaging, peer to peer file sharing, non-Orange internet based video” categories.

3) Finally, these fair usage policies only apply when on BT Openzone and 3G.  So stay at home and use your new Orange iPhone….or you could just….you know….use your computer.  Orange haven’t grasped the full meaning of ‘mobile’ yet it seems.

I can’t speak for anyone else but I can sometimes be found guilty of acting like a spoiled child.  If I see something shiny (like a whizzy new iPhone app), I want it, and if I can’t have it when others can, then the people around me suffer (imagine a ‘toys out of the pram’ scenario).

I’m guessing that the powers-that-be at Orange copy and pasted that text from a previous Terms & Conditions file and forgot to edit it, and that we’ll find that after a few days of media attention they’ll skulk away and have a re-jigg of the rules.

Until then, the likes of FB, Twitter and YouTube will find a small increase in their traffic as Orange is lambasted, further tarnishing its reputation.

I am also an Orange customer, I have been for 12 years (or there abouts).  I went to O2 just for the iPhone.  I was originally irritated when Orange announced that they were buying the iPhone.  Now I’m pleased I took the plunge.  Ever since France Telecom bought Orange I have suffered a loss in Service reliability and Customer Service.  I am also paying more, for less features.   This is a shame, because before the company was bought, Orange was by far the best customer oriented company I had ever experienced.   Leave it to the French to balls things up for me again….

Aurevoir.

Related Articles:

Orange iPhone Terms & Conditions: http://www1.orange.co.uk/mobileterms/pay-monthly-iPhone-terms.html
BBC Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/11/oranges_unlimited_iphone.html

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