(A short aside here: the Graffiti 2 on my Palm T|X really sucks compared to my Palm Vx's (original) Graffiti. The original expresses everything pretty much unambiguously, but 2 makes many glyphs double strokes...such as "K" is basically lowercase ell (a vertical, downward stroke) and less than. Similarly, "T" is ell/dash. This has the effect of delaying input because the device does not know whether I am meaning "L," "K," or "T," and will time out, or worse yet, if not done very precisely (such as not crossing the ell with the dash, thus interpreting it as ell-space) it is recognized wrong. Unfortunately, I think there was some sort of IP legal problem in being able to use the original Graffiti in the T|X.)
So I have been fervently searching for Graffiti for Android for the past few days. Unfortunately, searches for that were mired in results with various doodling or painting programs. Switching tack from "graffiti" to "handwriting IME" was not so helpful either, as there are many, many IMEs specializing in Asian inputs (Chinese, Pinyin, Hangul, Japanese...you name it, none of which which I understand of course). Understandably, this is much more vital, as Asian scripts are much more like drawings than Latin ones. The search was rather disappointing...until today.
Imagine my excitement when I found there was someone who has already implemented a Graffiti-like IME for Android, ACCESS Company. The first disappointment was the original link I found was to Play (formerly Market). Unfortunately, my Android tablet didn't come with Play, and it is problematic to install. (Updated 2013-Sep-30: I have since gotten the original 16GB Nexus 7, and I have put Graffiti on there too.) Even more unfortunately, "everyone" would rather put something on "the Market" rather than handling hosting, payments, etc. themselves, so it's really, really popular. Also, many if not most Android devices ship "locked to" Play for support liability reasons, especially phones. Thankfully, this Graffiti IME package was also noted as being available in the Amazon Appstore too, which I went and fetched it from there.
(Another aside: I know that Amazon are just using the same methodology and programming for paid and free apps. But gosh dangit, if it's free, do you really have to email me about every "purchase?")
The first thing that made me go "whoa! Hang on there, buckaroo!" about this package is its declaration of needed capabilities: "full access to the network." Every time one activates an IME into Android in the language settings, the system warns you about the fact that IMEs could be mere keystroke loggers, sending your credentials for who-knows-what back to IME Author Central. However, it is extremely commonplace for free apps to have Internet-served ads. Still...I've been generally trusting with this sort of thing. I have GO Keyboard, which has the absolutely essential inclusion of arrow keys, because precise cursor positioning with the default IME is very frustrating to say the least, especially on a resistive touchscreen. So much of the free software is also ad supported, and the ads come from Internet connections, so many free packages will declare the need for network access.
Not surprisingly, they're a Japanese company, probably using one of the aforementioned Asian scripts in their daily lives, so they're naturally a good candidate for making a handwriting/stroke/gesture IME. However, they seem to have some folks in the company who understand English, at least its form (but not precise meaning, as we shall see). Many help files, manuals, and yes, sometimes end-user license agreements (EULAs) written by Asians are choppy and hard to understand...kind of like the dialog in many Jackie Chan movies. Thankfully, this EULA is very understandable English.
Let's just start with the fact that the vast majority of EULAs are exceedingly long. I believe this length is the primary reason people extremely rarely actually read them before agreeing to them. That's why when I authored Tk Web Form Buddy and I wanted to host it on SourceForge, and therefore had to choose an approved open source license, I chose the shortest one I could find at the time, the MIT license. We humans are an impatient lot. "Let's just get to the fscking software already; I'll basically behave" most people think. If we weren't such a litigious society, I'm sure EULAs would boil down to the ten words, "Play nice. You basically know how. Now go do it." Cheerful ones would also include the imperative "Enjoy!" But instead we are faced with pages and pages or screens and screens of mind-numbing, sleep-inducing language. And yes, there is a certain amount of irony here in that I tend to be wordy too, and this piece is on the long side. But basically it is for information and, particularly, entertainment. Actually, that's why it's here on the IHeartLibertarianism blog instead of directly on Google+.
In the first paragraph, they talk about "concluding the said Agreement" with them. "Conclude" in this context more means "terminate" or "end" in the sense of be over and no longer in effect, except I guess they mean something more like "complete." It's subtle, but I think a poor choice of words.
Next, we have the last sentence of that paragraph:
If You do not agree with all the provisions of the License Agreement, You will not be able to use the Software.It's a clear confusion between ability and permission, much like people seem to confuse "can" with "may" a lot.
The Software is confidentialHuh? It's hardly confidential. I basically didn't have to do anything except provide an email address to Amazon; there was no vetting process per-se. If you really wanted it to be "confidential," you'd be very careful about to whom you give the software.
Next the EULA talks about using the software on only one device. Hmmmm...it's fine to use the software, and it's no charge, but if I had multiple tablets/phones/whatever Android devices, I can't use it on more than one? In that paragraph, it also talks about personal, noncommercial use. OK, so I am not entitled to use this software provided I'm using my tablet in conjunction with running a business? I think that is kind of absurd, especially for a no-charge product.
Let's see...what other crockery do we have? Under "prohibitions," I apparently can't copy the software, despite it being no charge and the fact that I will back up my tablet (thank you, Titanium). We also have the usual crap about reverse engineering (decompiling, etc.), which in many jurisdictions, if I'm not mistaken, can't be prohibited. In #4, we finally get to not including it "into a hardware product." Again, we have usual stuff about other expropriations, modifying it to remove notices and such (which is likely illegal anyway under copyright law), and not leasing and such.
And of course, we have the usual, shouting, ALL CAPITALS paragraph or two about we're not responsible, no matter what, if your Android device happens to turn into a pile of unusable slag. This is also pretty much untrue; if their product really does do something nasty, they deserve to make it right. But I thoroughly understand (again, in this litigious world) they must have this "pushback."
Next we have the absurdity that since Software accesses the Internet, I am to accept some nonspecific additional terms and conditions of other Web sites (presumably their ad engine backend). Piffle. If I get cheesed enough, they will get iptables'ed and ip6tables'ed essentially out of existence. I shouldn't have to agree to terms and conditions recursively without end.
If I thought I was foolish for actually taking the time to go through these things to become cognizant of what rights I have, what rights I'm giving up, and any responsibilities I may have due to my actions, I can barely imagine what these poor sots who just handwave it away by checking "I agree" and getting on with life, are in for.
Thankfully, there is an acknowledgement that they absolutely cannot limit the GPLed/FLOSS parts of their software (such as libraries linked to and such). Prima facie, if that weren't there, I'd think that'd be grounds for invalidating large portions of the agreement anyway. Unfortunately, I would say it looks like they're also in violation of the GPL by not including the GPL/LGPL nor links/references to it/an offer to provide it.
Next, they talk about their advertisers. Sure, we'll stick these advertisers in your face, but we disclaim all liability in conjunction with them. In other words, you're lazy and don't feel like vetting the ads that your software puts on my device. And once again, they're saying I have to agree to whatever terms, conditions, privacy policies, etc. of these unspecified third (fourth?) parties. Meh...just like mentioned before, if motivated enough, you will get firewalled. If it somehow stops working, you gain very bad karma, and I will toss your software on the electronic trash heap.
Oddly enough, there doesn't seem to be any language in here that would prohibit me from doing such firewalling. It's not modification of their product. It's not subverting their copyright notices (I don't think).
Next, we have rather unnecessary inclusion of language about not complying with other laws...specifically export laws. Duh. It's illegal for me to do these things anyway; it's just filler to include this in your agreement. It also seems kind of silly too to include countries by name in this document. Those countries to which exportation would be illegal may change.
Tell me, ACCESS...why is it you have put "Agree Disagree" in the license? You know, oddly enough, I tried for about five minutes or so to find an EULA (at least one specific to Graffiti) on your Web site, and I'd expect that text to appear on some Web form buttons, but this is text in a piece of software. Also oddly enough, the actual buttons in this portion of the app are "I agree" and "I do not agree."
Well...despite some rather poor word choices and ridiculous statements, at least for now I'm jamming my index finger on "I agree."
P.S.-- I've been intrigued by Quikwriting too. Maybe someday I will find and use a Quikwriting IME for Android. Hopefully it will have less onerous and and easier to read (shorter) terms for its EULA :-) . UPDATE: Apparently there is a Slovakian hacker who has implemented it.
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English is a difficult enough language to interpret correctly when its rules are followed, let alone when the speaker or writer chooses not to follow those rules.
"Jeopardy!" replies and randomcaps really suck!
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