>> almost bordering on legally actionable negligence
Good luck with that, and please do call us when every single kernel contributor gets sued because someone accidentally overwrites their Windows partition when installing Ubuntu.
Good luck with that, and please do call us when every single kernel contributor gets sued because someone accidentally overwrites their Windows partition when installing Ubuntu.
YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT USE OF THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK AND THAT THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO SATISFACTORY QUALITY, PERFORMANCE, ACCURACY AND EFFORT IS WITH YOU.
and
TO THE EXTENT NOT PROHIBITED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL APPLE BE LIABLE FOR...LOSS OF DATA.
and for good measure,
THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS, LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES OR OTHER EQUIPMENT IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE APPLE SOFTWARE COULD LEAD TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.
Bottom line is that these licenses don't mean much anyway - they just make it slightly harder to sue someone, in the same way that those personal liability forms you sign before doing anything are just to scare you. In the absence of an explicit contract - as in Apple guarantees "this will not cause any data to be deleted" - they've got a very good case that while it's sad you lost your data, it's not their fault.
Paying for something may create more of an expectation, but does not (in and of itself) guarantee you anything or increase liability.
I knew that these disclaimers were in both licenses. However I think that the fact that Linux is given away for free and that OS X is a product makes a difference in the clause TO THE EXTENT NOT PROHIBITED BY LAW. I mean, you can't buy an Apple computer without OS X on it. Are they really allowed to disclaim all liability for everything? In my legally uneducated mind that seems unlikely.
That said, maybe I've missed something in the marketing that Apple have done for the product - your comment seems to indicate that. Do you have any specific examples of false claims made in marketing TM by Apple?