Another day in IT paradise
It's amazing how, in the modern computing world, an average workday can go to hell with no apparent warning. Check this out.
I woke up this morning with the usual list of 30 things I needed to get done, knowing full well that I wouldn't get to most of them. Just another day in the working world, right? Not exactly.
When I logged onto my relatively new Sony VAIO SZ780 notebook and opened Outlook, I was greeted with a message telling me the trial version of Microsoft Office 2007 Small Business Edition had expired. That 60 days sure went by fast.
There was no "your trial version will expire in 7 days" warning or anything like that. Just a nice message telling me that certain features would no longer work. That sounded relatively benign, but it didn't take long for me to figure out that Outlook and Word were effectively crippled.
Okay, fine. I got online and guess what? Microsoft actually gets $449.95 for this version of Office. Major sticker shock. So I did what any cheap consultant does: I bought the OEM download version from an authorized online reseller for hundreds less.
I thought I was a clever shopper until I read the payment confirmation message:
Due to past fraudulent orders, we need to process all orders manually. It typically takes up to 12-24 business hours or even less for your order to complete and for you to receive an email with download instruction and links plus the license key.
I couldn't believe it. I checked the website's Live Support. OFFLINE. Contact Us consisted of an email form which they will reply to in, you guessed it, 12 to 24 hours. No phone number.
For $50 more I could have bought the software from a bigger online reseller that doesn't process orders manually and actually has a phone number. But I was in a hurry and this place came up in Google Shopping so I figured, why pay more?
What the hell was I thinking? It's not like I don't know better. I've been buying online since Amazon just sold books.
Now I feel like an idiot. An annoyed, frustrated idiot.
Oh sure, I'm not completely dead in the water. There's Microsoft Works, Gmail, even my old Dell notebook if I get really desperate. I'm entering this post directly on CNET's online tool, so that's not a problem.
Still, I think I'd rather wash my car, pay bills, or even go for a run instead of trying to be productive under these circumstances. What a day.
Lessons learned
1) When you get a new system with trial versions of anything that you actually intend to buy, just buy right then and there; don't wait.
2) When you do buy, even from an authorized online reseller, pay the extra bucks and buy from a reseller that's been in business since before last Tuesday.
3) The old expression: "you get what you pay for," doesn't just apply to the quality of a product. It also applies to the customer service experience.
4) Don't be such a cheapskate. Penny wise and pound foolish is still alive and well in the 21st century.
Steve Tobak is managing partner of Invisor Consulting LLC. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. 
I DID go to OpenOffice and have been a strong user of Zoho.Writer and Zoho.Sheet. Check out some of my learnings here on my blog. But I did take your advice about getting Avast! anti-virus rather than staying with the 30 day OEM trial license of McAfee!
- by mario83092 July 10, 2008 7:50 AM PDT
- I myself am a program junkie. I was, at one point, so fed up with spending so much on software that I tried to learn linux so I might have a shot at making or cracking some for free. (nope.)
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(3 Comments)Basically it's like this-
Certain programs are, yes, around $500, and some even go beyond the 1K mark. For everyday prices, I use the everyday method and just buy the prog's. But for skyrocket price stickers, I can offer some advice.
Bittorrent.
It's somewhat of a Taboo I guess on the Cnet community, because of the whole legality stuff, but for someone like you who is obviously a bargain hunter, look into it. It's great in the sense that there is no obligation for torrent hosters such as http://www.thepiratebay.org/ to cooperate with any kind of law enforcement agency, and by clicking on a torrent, it is completely legal. However the act of downloading the piece from the host(s) is the part that is considered "improper". The good thing about this is that (unlike most P2P file sharing prog's) you can read reviews from other peers who have downloaded the same programs, and if there's anything sketchy about the program or the bundle of files, your peers will say so in the discussion section of each download.
That's great, but I'll still have to use the trial version unless I purchase.
No, there you're wrong. :)
Another completely illegitimate way to bypass the trap of the corporate robbery business is a little trinket called the Keygen. (Short for Registry Key Generator). You copy and paste your version number (given to you when you chose to register) and press the button to generate, and viola- you're provided with a new, valid number in which, when copied and pasted into the registration form in the program, you now have the registered version! And if this doesn't work the first time, it may be because someone has already taken that number. No worries, it says you're incorrect and lets you retype. So just repeat the process and you're set.
But what about my I.P. address??
What about it? Unlike limewire, you can't view the IP of your downloader or uploder, let alone "chat" with them or "browse" their collection.
Don't get me wrong, I love limewire, but I only use it for downloading songs. I can't trust it for anything else, quite frankly. But Bittorrent can be used for anything- but its best applied in terms of bundles of software/files. E.G. Programs, Movies, Music Albums/Collections, Games, etc.
I hope this opens a brand new door of discovery for you.
Happy pirating. =]