Free Software, Sold

There are thousands of websites that tell you how to make money on Internet. There are thousands of people who actually make money everyday by selling information on the Internet. Selling software online is as old as the Internet itself. What is surprising is people sell free and open source software to those who are technically less qualified. There have been numerous cases where people have sold information and commodities freely available for general public. People who don't know how to obtain free software and information are exploited very often. In the information age ignorants are taxed.

On the openoffice.org user's mailing list there are few reports of such incidents. Johhny goes to Microsoft site or contacts some Microsoft reseller and gets to know the price for Microsoft Office suite. He thinks the price is way too much and currently not affordable. Johnny now looks for alternatives. Spends some time Googling around and finally visits ebay.com. A quick search for office suite gives him few interesting links. His eye now catches the cutting edge software with a price tag of only $49. He finds another item with similar specs for only $10. After weighing pros and cons of the two competing software he decides to buy the one with the price tag of $49. He completes the transaction by paying from his credit card.

After couple of hours Johnny gets an e-mail from the ebay vendor confirming his order. After another couple of hours he gets the product download link. Johnny downloads and installs the software on his computer which is superior to Microsoft office. What more, he can also open documents saved in Microsoft office file format. He can save files in Microsoft office file format, too. All these features for a fraction of the price he had to pay to Microsoft otherwise keeps Johnny extremely happy. Johnny considers himself a genius and pats on his back for his researching skills on the Internet.

The other side of the story goes like this. The download link e-mailed to Johnny was http://openoffice.bouncer.osuosl.org/?product=OpenOffice.org&os=winwjre&...
Johnny did not realize that he downloaded OpenOffice office suite from www.openoffice.org. Johnny also did not know that OpenOffice is an open source software and can be downloaded free of cost. Johnny paid for the software he did not have to.

Although it is legal to sell OpenOffice for a fee, it's downright stupidity to buy it when it is available as a free download. These kind of transactions are ridiculous. I would pay for the same vendor who sold OpenOffice to Johnny, if there were any value additions that I couldn't get from openoffice.org. when users like Johnny run into technical problems with the software, they obviously go back to the vendor from where they bought it. Now the smart vendor directs these users to send an e-mail to users@openoffice.org to obtain technical support. Again Johnny doesn't know that users@openoffice.org is a volunteer mailing list. These volunteers on users@openoffice.org mailing list support other users of OpenOffice in their free time. They are not paid to for their contribution to the mailing list.

The moral of the story: Before you buy any software check who is the original developer. Check out the license under which the software is sold or distributed. Find out what kind of after-sales support is provided. Use google.com and try to validate the information provided by the vendor. There are hundreds of forums where people discuss buying and selling software. Make use of information available on the Internet or consult a friend who knows more about software. Don't get ripped and regret later.