Slashdot Mirror
Tricked Into Buying OpenOffice.org?
mldkfa writes "Recently I told a friend about OpenOffice and how it was a great alternative to the big name pay office suites. She went home and searched on Google for it and thought she found the website, filled typical registration information, and downloaded OpenOffice.org 3.0. The next time she opened her e-mail she found a request for 98 [Euro] for her 1-year subscription to OpenOffice.org 3.0 from the company that she downloaded it from. Apparently the EULA stated this cost and here in Germany she is required to pay up. So I thought I would ask Slashdot, should she pay? On the OpenOffice.org German website there is a warning of these schemes being legal. Shouldn't Sun change the license of OpenOffice.org to protect their fans or are they doing this to protect someone else? It has really made me think about recommending it to any more friends." Below, read Google's translation of the warning; it wouldn't be the first time that open source software has been lightly repackaged and sold in ways that should raise eyebrows among anyone familiar with the wide, free availability of the same apps.
Google translates the warning message thus: "WARNING before downloading from any third party: The download of OpenOffice.org is free from this page possible. These are not personal data. In recent times, however, we can reach more complaints about companies that the program for a fee for downloading. Among other leading search engines to search for OpenOffice.org to pay "download subscriptions. We want to emphasize that we have these offers are not affiliated and is not responsible. Due to the open-source philosophy allowed our license, but also the sale. When you download OpenOffice.org under no circumstances disclose your personal information!"
Submitter: your friend should just stick it to the man and pirate it from Bittorrent. That'll teach those money-grubbing bastards!
Do they take flooz?
It was someone else; she was drunk; she clicked no and her computer malfuctioned; she can't afford it; she can simply refuse to pay and to respond to requests to pay ... I'm sure there are other things she can attempt to get out of it, or to make it not worth the companies time to try and collect the money.
thought she found the website
I think the next /. article should have a goatse link randomly thrown in there, for those not so close readers.
Disclaimer: I am not god.
We may not be created equal
But we can be treated equal.
IMO, IANAL, etc.
It's your opinion that you are not a lawyer?!? : p
Otherwise, agreed with your post. Unless she gave them some way for them to try to collect from her (other than by sending emails), she should be in the clear. However, I'd check out the site she actually downloaded from to see what their claims supposedly are.
This guy's the limit!
Man.. if only there was an easy way to remember what the website is to download OpenOffice.org...
Yes, I remember once getting a phone call for a Mr. Obregon Weirdhat.
I almost felt sorry for the person on the other end of the line trying to say "Obregon"... until I remembered that I was pretty sure that they were scam artists. (I think I used one of those disposable cell phones I was planning to get rid of anyway once it ran out of minutes.)
A terrorist crashed a plane into the Hudson River declaring Jihad on American Water and you guys are talking about Open Office!?!? George W Bush in his last week has declared North Eastern Geese enemy combatants. Get out of the basement guys. This is WAR!
We actually are diverse in our knowledge of 'legality'. Any country, any system, we're covered. We graduated from "Law & Order" University, "CSI" College (Vegas, Miami, and New York campuses), and "NCIS" School of BS. Some of also received a medical degree from "ER" school of Medicine.
How do you return a download?
Are you saying that OpenOffice isn't kickin'?
Easy, send it back like this guy requested ;o)
Deleting it would not be the same as a return, would it? Perhaps she should send it to them as an email attachment!
98 Euros isn't such a bad price. I paid $699 for my whole Linux distribution.
duck season!
You young whippersnippers! I use Linux since the last millenium!
Ah, but how could they be sure it wasn't a scam?
Yeah, you can tell someone's a real lawyer when they prefix IANAL with IMO ;)
Apologies for the rambling nature of this comment, I'm quite drunk.
As in beer?
And in speech!
"What if I got hit by lightning while walking with an umbrella? Ban umbrellas! Fight the menace of lightning!" Doctorow