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Tricked Into Buying OpenOffice.org?

Posted by timothy on from the sucker-born-jede-Minute dept.

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!"

3 of 543 comments (clear)

  1. Re:We're all lawyers here by gad_zuki! · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Im from the "Man vs Wild" survival school. When lost and starving in the woods I just instruct my production crew to drive me to the nearest Pizza Hut. When sleepy I got to a 5-star hotel.

  2. Re:What if she doesn't want to break the law? by FishWithAHammer · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    [citation needed]

    --
    "You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
  3. Re:Delete it & forget about it by paulthomas · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Wall Street Journal article about the ditching of a US Airways flight into the Hudson.