[amsat-bb] Re: Selling "free" software.

[Alexandru Csete]

On Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:53:09 +0000
Nigel Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF <nigel at ngunn.net> wrote:
> I realise the legal aspect but have been to several times by
> software  authors not to charge more than, say, $5 to cover media
> costs. I guess anyone who pays $20+ for something he can get free is
> a bit of a fool.

Hi guys,

Just a clarification... these ebay sellers are NOT the software
authors. I am the author of several GPL software that has ended in
the claws of these ebay scammers. I have never charged for my
ham radio software and I will never do. It has always been available for
free download.

While what these ebay scammers do is not illegal I strongly question
their motives and business moral. The "product description" is a
complete ripoff from my websites. This includes the screen shots. The
only difference is that they have been altered to remove any traces of
the original software name and authors. These scammers don't contribute
anything back to the software development. They don't even provide
proper customer support as they promise on ebay; people end up sending
me emails requesting my help since they paid for the software... Very
encouraging...

The reason that people are willing to pay $20+ is because they don't
know what they are buying and they don't know that they can download it
for free. What makes it even more pathetic is that it would take much
less time to download the software than to to complete an ebay
transaction.

What's puzzling me is all these 99.9% AAAAA++++++ feedback the
ebay scammers receive. Surely something is not right on ebay.

73
Alex OZ9AEC