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Is it the kind of tool that you would have to disclose that you
normally use it in your work, if you offered your contract services
to certain companies or government entities?
Not so long ago there was a certain "i" authoring application that
came with "you agree to these terms" fine-print that said
Apple owns what you write in their app, and the only place
you can try to sell it is via their store, and if they don't approve
of your masterpiece as a good fit for their store, it gets shelved forever, etc.
Not that I think that's specifically applicable with Evernote, but people
who didn't invoke a lawyer, with a magnifying glass, were dismayed
when they found out what they'd agreed to, with Apple.
But generally, since you use it, you must have agreed to their
terms. Anything in there about protection and about them
sharing with third parties?
OK, I'm not really trying to get Tony to do the work. If I'm
interested, I'll read the contract for myself. But so many
people blithely click-through Terms-and-Conditions these days
that I thought it worth highlighting a possible hazard with any
online or cloud-ish service.
Here's another thought. Users of Google Docs and of Microsoft's
cloud-based Office apps, as examples, pay attention:
It might be worthwhile to SAVE a copy of the agreement text
at the time that you agree to it. Then occasionally save a new
copy and run a "dif" comparison, to see what might have subtly
changed.
My reasoning is that many such agreements give the provider
license to change the terms of the agreement at their whim,
often without need to tell you.
"Your continued use of The Service constitutes your agreement
with the new terms when they come into force."
So what they are allowed to do with the output (and source?)
of your work might be perfectly acceptable to you on the
day you sign up, but might be modified to inflict crushing loss
on you a few months later when the provider's revenue model
changes, ever-so-slightly.
Don't just think about "greedy capitalists". What if the service
was taken over by evangelists, and the terms changed to make
all material that passes through the service public domain?
Or CopyLeft. Or...
If your comparison of the new agreement with the version to
which you agreed shows some uncomfortable changes, then
you can pull your source docs down to earth and continue
working without using the service.
<Giant-service-provider> could have no claim, because no new
work was done via their service after they put their new agreement into play.
You'd think that such possibilities could never come to pass, but
just look at the recent history of screwball policy blunders by
certain giant social-network corporations that had them wearing
plenty of egg on their faces.
Just sayin'...
-kevin
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tony Chung
> Sent: September-13-12 11:38 AM
> To: Mike McCallister
> Cc: TechWhirl (techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com)
> Subject: Re: Favorite note taking application?
>
> On Thursday, September 13, 2012, Mike McCallister wrote:
>
> >
> > extensions and mobile apps (I'll note that you need the premium
> version to
> > allow the iOS app to work wirelessly).
> >
> >
> Michael means, "to enable offline note synchronization". Evernote
> free is
> all about connecting to the net. The iOS app stores notes in the device
> you
> create them on, and uploads them to the server when the device
> connects to
> the network. However, notes created elsewhere won't automatically
> download
> to your device. You have to download them.
>
> The $5/month premium model increases your storage and
> bandwidth, and
> synchronizes notes so they are available on your devices. It also
> indexes
> text stored in images.
>
> If you need a tablet note taking system, Evernote bought Penultimate
> earlier this year, so we can expect improvements to the seamless
> integration between handwritten notes and Evernote.
>
> That said, I use free, and am blown away by the flexibility of note
> taking,
> photos, and audio. Notebooks can be organized into stacks, and
> individual
> notes can be tagged in ways that make sense to you.
>
> I wrote my blog posts and Techwhirl articles in Evernote. I would have
> shared the notes for editing and collaboration if more were on board.
> Instead I copied the notes into Google Docs for working with others.
>
> -Tony
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