EULA

Every time I install a new version of our free music management software, eLyric, I am asked to agree to the EULA before I can use it. It's annoying and I never read it. In fact, almost all software requires the user to agree to some lengthy legal agreement called a EULA which stands for the End User License Agreement. I believe these were created at a time when software was new and the software companies were worried that a business relying on their software might sue the software creators if that software did something to harm their business - like losing all the data. We added the EULA simply because ourattorneystold us it is the "safe" thing to do and we never much questioned it. I know it's a small point, but I wonder if any of these tiresome agreements still have any value? I routinely agree to all sorts of things I haven't any clue about: credit card agreements, warranty agreements, and so on. I think most of us never read what we're agreeing to and, if that's the case, who much value can any of these nuisances be? The world sure seemed to keep going just fine when none of these existed.