dog
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Remedial Math KillerPings.com Goes
Under Norton’s Three-User License
didn’t just sell the company to him. Phallen went
on to say that the 80 or 100 KillerPings.com cus-
tomers still being hosted on Art of War Central
hardware will be contacted and offered a chance
to sign up with his company.
The possible sale of KillerPings.com also
came as a surprise to former employee Tom
Smith, who told the Dog that he had no idea the
company was in trouble. Smith, who also runs
the game support site Alliedwarclans.com, said
that if KillerPings.com’s owners knew they were
going to shut down the company, why not let the
employees and its customers know in advance
so they could back up their files first?
Smith said many people lost gigabytes of
custom maps, websites, and customized server
scripts when KillerPings.com folded. Even
worse, some customers are unable to move their
domains away from KillerPings.com
“I’m really pissed off at the way they treat-
ed their customers,” said Smith, who also said
he believes the company was still processing
new orders in December as things were falling
apart. Smith went on to say that as far as he
knew, the business was going well, and he esti-
mated the company had close to 1,000 clients
at one point. He said the owners had invested
in custom applications and had just finished
doing a redesign of the site. Support had been
top notch and the pings were truly killer. Smith
said KillerPings.com did have a setback when
Electronic Arts did not select it as one of the
companies to host ranked Battlefield 2142
servers. The company also didn’t make the cut
to host ranked servers for Enemy Territory:
Quake Wars either.
Smith hasn’t had any contact with the own-
ers of the company since the meltdown and said
the handful of other employees were also kept
in the dark about a possible sale to Art of War
Central. Smith said there was chatter that a fall-ing out occurred between the owners, but no one
really knows.
What do the owners have to say? Nothing.
The Dog’s phone calls and emails to Lowney and
co-owner Alec Kopman were not returned.
Rob, the Dog believes you are sadly out of
options. Customers who paid with credit cards,
however, may be able to get refunds through
their credit card companies.READING THE FINE PRINT
I want to warn people about Norton AntiVirus
retail packs with a “three user license.” I went to
install my third license last night on my mom’s
PC, and it had only 43 days remaining! I contacted
Symantec support only to be told that all three
licenses start on the day you install the first one!
How big a scam is this? According to Symantec,
this policy is spelled out in the EULA. Too bad I
can’t find it on the box. Long story short, I’ve got
a three-user license that is totally worthless. I
thought I was being a smart consumer. Shame on
you, Symantec!
—Greg GarrettThe Dog spoke with Symantec officials
who said that while they feel your pain, the
company does actually spell out its policy
quite clearly on the box. Printed on the box for
a three-PC license of Norton AntiVirus 2008 is
this statement: “1 YEAR PROTECTION—With
this service you receive the right to use this
product on one PC or on the specified number
of PCs during the service period, which begins
upon initial installation.”
The writing is small, but even the Dog has a
problem faulting Symantec since the front of the
box directs the consumer to the top of the box
for more information. Just under where it says
“1 year protection for up to 3 PCs per house-
hold” it also says: “See top for details.”With Symantec’s products, all
licenses start on the day you first
install the product.ing out occurred between the owners, but no one