From the “Cutting Off Our Nose” Files, and A Slap to the Facebook?

As many of you know, I’m something of a gadget freak.  I could fly the space shuttle (or at least one of the Apollo missions) with my phone.  So I recently purchased the Garmin Mobile XT software for GPS-enabled phones.  The software, which is very nifty, comes pre-installed on a 2GB microSD card.  Knowing my propensity at destroying small electronic implements, as well as my desire to consolidate everything on the 6GB card I already own, I decided to try to copy the software.  Bad idea.  After tinkering with the software and searching the web, all indications were that the software was locked to the card on which it was shipped.  That sounded like a bad idea, for a variety of reasons.  Who really wants to carry around a handful of cards the size of a fingernail to swap out for various uses?  So I decided to contact Garmin tech support.  This was their response:

Dear Jack Napier,

Thank you for contacting Garmin International,

This is something you cannot do. The Garmin XT Card is what it is a 2
gig pre-programmed card. You cannot change this or copy the card to a
larger card. It may seem inconvenient but it is the only way we can
protect our software from being pirated without requiring you to use one
of our receivers. This is one of the sacrifices that must be made in
order to use your built in GPS. Hopefully in the future this will be
available in a larger card but since this is a first of it's kind
product from us this is the size of card it is right now.
With Best Regards,

Jason S
Software Support Specialist
iQue Team
Garmin International

Was it just me, or did that make about as much sense as David Sedaris’ little brother on a tear?  If I leave the software on the card on which it was installed, I can use it with my phone’s built-in GPS chip?  If I copy it, I have to use it with a Garmin GPS receiver?  As Judge Judy says, “Don’t pee on my leg and tell me its raining!”.  Fair use arguments aside, this situation occurred because Garmin’s developers are either too lazy or too fucking inept to develop a copy protection scheme that relies on some unique and unknown variable like, oh, I don’t know, a cell phone’s IMEI number (or an MEID number for my CDMA brothers)?

Anyone else glad to see that Facebook is getting a raft of bad publicity?  I’m certainly not a 23 y/o hotshot Harvard droput who’s created the greatest thing since worm poop, but I’m tired of .com bubble 2.0 and the scads of money being thrown at this new wave of marshmallow fluff wrapped in buzz words and media hype.  I thought, no, I knew that Mark Zuckerberg was an insufferable twat when I read this piece in Fast Company.  What exactly does Facebook do?  Great, it connects people.  But what does it do?  What is its business model?  How do you propose to make money off the deal (aside from acquisition or VC/angel investors)?  How do you commodotize Facebook?  How do you extend its capabilities to make it useful to corporations?  Mom & pop businesses?  Anyone with more important things concerning them than the great “Ninja vs. Pirate” debate?