Okay, after reading this thread so far, with particular interest to betaboy's posts, and thinking about it a few minutes, I'm left with this question: what is their
aim in cutting the functionality back after a period of disconnect?
I understand the fix/upgrade deployment, I understand the meta-data update thing, I totally grok the non-continuation of updates (duh!) ... but in my limited knowledge/experience I just can't come up with a business reason to
reduce functionality like this.
I'm thinking about my DirectTV boxes, if they don't phone home for a while (mine never have, in fact) I lose access to buying PPV stuff (big whup), but it doesn't stop decoding the broadcasts just 'cause I don't keep it plugged into the wall, I just lose any updates that might occur. So, what's driving
this being set up differently?
It seems to me (as others have said) that if I buy something like this, it ought to work
the way I buy it for as long as I like, regardless of what sort of communication it has with the company that made it, the mother-ship, Elvis, or anyone else in this, or any other world. This sounds like the original Librie' time-limited content service, except it's for the
application instead of the
content!
Does someone else see a reason for it? Or can betaboy comment on that, please?