A
company that had the
idea that it might be possible to make
money by selling
cheap computers in a manner simlar to how some companies sell
mobile phones. Unfortunately the went about it rather poorly and didn't make the purchasers sign a contract for their
ISP. Since the
hardware was sold at a loss and someone found a way to
modify it in such a way as to be useful without Netpliance's ISP they started to lose money quickly. In a rather bumbling but necessary move they instituted what seems to be a potentially
illegal retroactive sort of
contract. While I'm sure they'll get things sorted out eventually, as of this writing they're being
criticized by a whole bunch of
geeks who are dissaponted to find out that they won't be able to get
something for nothing.
Those who think Netpliance should be labeled as
evil should see
Hanlon's Razor.