I happened to be shopping at my local Microcenter
today, and as i was walking to the register, i noticed all these Cd in white jackets, and and sign advertising "VALUE SOFTWARE" All listing at $2.99
but to my shock it was all 100% Freeware anyone can download for free. I did not have my Cell phone with me at the time. so I did not take a picture.
BUT.. i searched and found someone who created a video of the same thing I saw....
I suspect it's technically legal but immoral, whether anything can be done to stop the profit making remains to be seen.
I suppose piriform and other companies could take legal action for TOS abuse but would it be worth the time and effort though??
Richard S.
I wonder if they could simply say "the CDs cost us $2.99, we're not selling the software"
Actually doesn't surprise me that some shops would do something so underhanded with the bad economy, then again it could all be the store manager that's doing it, who knows really. All those freeware companies need to team up and sue them out of business in a huge lawsuit, and some of those companies aren't so little and have deep pockets and could probably afford a long drawn out court battle.
So it's CCleaner, SpywareBlaster, ZoneAlarm, some Symantec software, etc., and the list just keeps going on and on.
That's the sort of thing you might expect to see at a car boot sale, not in a legit business. Can't be right.
i am going to go back this week some time and take pics with my cell.
I don't know which state and store that video was from, but I am In Michigan.
The discs I saw also had Firefox and Thunderbird. along with Google's Picasa... crazy...
If Pirform needs my help please feel free to contact me...
I think you will find their story will be: a fee for time taken to gather the software, fee for time and materials used to produce the CD and cover, package it up, transport it to the sale point. Somewhere they will state that the software is "Freeware" and the price of $2.99 is only for the cost of providing the service.............a brokerage fee as such.
However I agree with all comments that is this practice is not only immoral, but stinks, lousy and a concentrated effort to boycott those shops partaking in this "lower than a snake belly" practice.
I will now be keeping my eyes open here in Aus, thankfully I have not seen this happening here (yet)
I think they should only sell CD's or DVD's with as many different freewares on it as possible. Then the cost should only cover the materials/efforts.
People with very slow download speeds or no internet connection will appreciate a low cost way of getting some of those programs, I am sure
People with very slow download speeds or no internet connection will appreciate a low cost way of getting some of those programs, I am sure
A very good point you make, we tend to forget those with slow or no internet access.
A very good point you make, we tend to forget those with slow or no internet access.
That argument doesn't hold. Remember Windows SP2 was shipped for free?
If a company is going to do something like this, it should at least tell the buyer that the program can be obtained via a download for free.
Agree with Talldog and MikeW!
I doubt that these softwares are up-to-date.
I also doubt they have any of the authors's permission to do that.