SendOfJive wrote:
The Licensing Agreement which everyone affirms has been read, understood and agreed to before the product is even installed is quite clear on this: "The Software may automatically deactivate and become non-operational at the end of the Service Period..." I am sympathetic to the notion that the product used to remain functional, and so some long-time users are being tripped up by the software suddenly shutting down completely for the first time - it happened to me last year. But the issue is not that there is a lack of disclosure.
That's right, the issue isn't about a lack of disclosure.
The issue is about the ambiguity of the wording in the Subscription Alert dialog box. As you've mentioned, Norton has moved from an 'expired software functional but no updates' model to an 'expired software is completely disabled' model. Software vendors that use the 'software disabled' model typically remind their customers in their 'imminent software expiry' reminder notices that the software will no longer function at all if the product expires. By doing so, both the software vendor and the customer are clear on where they stand and what happens should the product expire. If the customer wishes to continue using the software, they need to renew the software before it expires.
So, to elaborate, the current Norton Subscription Alert reads:
"If your subscription expires, you will not be protected against viruses and other security risks."
Contrast this with a hypothetical Subscription Alert that reads:
"If your subscription expires, you will not be protected against viruses and other security risks because your Norton Internet Security software will no longer function."
From the above, which statement would prompt you to take action, or at least, flag the NIS renewal as a non-trivial issue? I'm sure that you wouldn't have been caught out had the Subscription Alert been up-front about what was going to happen if the subscription expired.
The purpose of the Subscription Alert is to encourage the customer to take action and re-new their subscription, if they are happy with the protection that the Norton Internet Security software provides. Why do you think the OP places emphasis on this as a fail from a 'marketing perspective'?
This thread would not have existed it the Subscription Alert reminder had properly informed the original poster of what happens when the subscription expires...
Incidentally, is the NIS Licence Agreement stored on the local disk during installation? If so, what is the name of the file?