Why do people pay for software...

... when there is so much available for free?
Probably the most important reason is that companies that charge for software pay someone to ensure that it installs properly and has a manual that actually describes the version you're using.

I upgraded the version of troubled open-source project OpenOffice on my main machine to 3.0 recently. After a lengthy process, the installer spends about ten minutes checking itself. The user is then presented with this:

While it's inexcusable that an upgrade should require the user to shut down Explorer and the quick start utility of its own previous version, this is made worse by being impenetrable to the majority of users. Note the use of the term "process id" and the lack of any description of how to use one to shut down either of these close-button-less processes. I was unwilling to try the "Ignore" button, which is probably related to memories of what horrors invariably happened when you chose that option in pre-historic versions of MS-DOS.

The next step was worse. After I did its bidding, the installer started its ten-minute checking procedure again. This time the message was even more obtuse:

What?

As one of the 1% or so of users who wouldn't give up at that point, I shut down all those "applications". They included several of the VMware services and a few other things that really shouldn't impede a word processor from installing. This time, the ten-minute check worked, but my patience was gone – converting any important documents I have in OpenOffice's format to Microsoft's .docx is now on my task list.

Comments

[Jesse Smith]

Funny. I need to buy a copy of PowerPoint and a colleague asked "you don't just want to use OpenOffice"? I used OO about 5 years ago and there was a lot of trouble with subtle compatibility issues with Microsoft Office, so my gut inclination was to just spend the money and be done with it. Still, I was considering giving OO another chance first. I don't think I will now - sounds like things haven't changed much in 5 years.

Thanks for confirming my instincts!