Tricked Into Buying OpenOffice.org? 543
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!"
Easy solution (Score:5, Funny)
She is required to pay up (Score:2, Funny)
Do they take flooz?
Re:Easy solution (Score:5, Funny)
Submitter: your friend should just stick it to the man and pirate it from Bittorrent. That'll teach those money-grubbing bastards!
A strongly opinionated statement on Slashdot promoting the legal use of BitTorrent?!
These are indeed strange times in which we live.
It wasn't her (Score:2, Funny)
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.
Re:Erm? (Score:3, Funny)
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.
Re:Delete it & forget about it (Score:4, Funny)
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.
The website (Score:5, Funny)
Man.. if only there was an easy way to remember what the website is to download OpenOffice.org...
Re:Easy solution (Score:5, Funny)
whoooooosh.
Re:Easy solution (Score:5, Funny)
Is your window open? You may have missed a wooshing sound in all the noise from outside ;)
Re:Easy solution (Score:2, Funny)
whoooooosh.
http://www.google.com/search?q=whoooooosh.&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a [google.com]
Please to help, I cannot find "whoooooosh." Require help immediately appreciate fast response cheers.
Re:Easy solution (Score:1, Funny)
It means that a joke just went sailing over someone's head.
Re:Easy solution (Score:2, Funny)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=define%3Awhoosh&btnG=Search [google.com] It means that a joke just went sailing over someone's head.
How do joke sails? Is it a boat or bird? And how do I send one over another person's head effectively? Please! I need positive karma here badly to promote my products, help me to be insightful! And tell me when in American culture this is appropriate to use!
Re:Delete it & forget about it (Score:1, Funny)
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.)
Re:Delete it & forget about it (Score:0, Funny)
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!
Re:We're all lawyers here (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Easy solution (Score:2, Funny)
Pirate Open Source software from BitTorrent???
Well, if you refuse to seed the source code, it is technically piracy.
Re:What if she doesn't want to break the law? (Score:1, Funny)
How do you return a download?
Re: Typical Registrations (Score:1, Funny)
Re:What if she doesn't want to break the law? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Cost in the EULA? (Score:2, Funny)
98 Euros (Score:1, Funny)
98 Euros isn't such a bad price. I paid $699 for my whole Linux distribution.
Re:Delete it & forget about it (Score:2, Funny)
duck season!
Re:Delete it & forget about it (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Delete it & forget about it (Score:2, Funny)
Ah, but how could they be sure it wasn't a scam?
Re:Delete it & forget about it (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, you can tell someone's a real lawyer when they prefix IANAL with IMO ;)
Re:Delete it & forget about it (Score:2, Funny)
Apologies for the rambling nature of this comment, I'm quite drunk.
As in beer?
Re:Delete it & forget about it (Score:2, Funny)