>>>>How would you like to be able to put a little indemnity clause on everything you did, like this one MS has -
>>>>
>>>>You can recover from Microsoft and its suppliers only direct damages up to U.S. $5.00. You cannot recover any other damages, including consequential, lost profits, special, indirect or incidental damages.
>>>>
>>>>This limitation applies to
>>>>
>>>>anything related to the Original Software or Derived Software Works, services, content (including code) on third party Internet sites, or third party programs; and
>>>>claims for breach of contract, breach of warranty, guarantee or condition, strict liability, negligence, or other tort to the extent permitted by applicable law.
>>>>It also applies even if Microsoft knew or should have known about the possibility of the damages. The above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you because your country may not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental, consequential or other damages.
>>>
>>>The last sentence is the important one. Does the U.S. allow the exclusions?
>>
>>The US probably doesn't, but what this does is keep the lawsuits to a minimum. Most people will look at the disclaimer and say, well, it says I can't sue, and they will not. I had a professor in college who told us about the signs in parking lots that say, "not responsible for ...." were not enforceable, but they kept lawsuits to a minimum.
>
>All of which begs the question: Does MS think a large proportion of its customers are stupid :-}

No. MS knows that a large proportion of its customers:

- don't read EULAs, and/or

- aren't lawyers, and/or

- are functionally illiterate