Watch Your Chrome! Options

[ChuckMoore]

Scott McCloud was hired to explain how the new Google Chrome browser could be used for comic adaptation. You can check out his complete guide here...

http://books.google.com/books?id=8UsqHohww...ntcover#PPA1,M1

Neat stuff, BUT while you're considering using the software be sure you know what you are giving up. Here's a snip from Chrome's end-user license agreement...

"By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any content which you submit, post or display on or through, the services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the services and may be revoked for certain services as defined in the additional terms of those services."

They're taking a lot of heat for their IP grab and I think it's important for everyone to know what they're agreeing to up front!

Source on the IP issue: Slashdot and CNET
Initial pointer to Scott McCloud's guide: The Beat

[ChuckMoore]

The story continues...

"Google on Chrome EULA controversy: our bad, we'll change it"
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080...-change-it.html

Given the heat they were taking yesterday, I'm not surprised they're retracting it.

Google's Rebecca Ward, Senior Product Counsel for Google Chrome, now tells Ars Technica that the company tries to reuse these licenses as much as possible, "in order to keep things simple for our users." Ward admits that sometimes "this means that the legal terms for a specific product may include terms that don't apply well to the use of that product" and says that Google is "working quickly to remove language from Section 11 of the current Google Chrome terms of service. This change will apply retroactively to all users who have downloaded Google Chrome."

(Thanks to Mike Luoma for sharing a link to this followup!)