When Free is too Expensive

One of my tasks this weekend was to configure a new laptop for my wife. This wasn’t a big job; her “must have” requests were pretty simple, on paper. But the experience reminded me of many of the things I have come to hate about software. High on that list is the oversight of some really simple features; I am not going to dwell on this, but I will talk briefly about one: ‘Migrate’. Why is it so hard for software developers to realize that, if we like their product, eventually we are going to want to move it (or at least our data) to a new machine? I feel like I am standing on solid ground asking that question, as I have been a software developer for over 30 years. I absolutely fail to understand why FireFox and Thunderbird don’t have an “import from my old machine” option. I know, they are free products, and they are great products, but when I searched for instructions for moving her Thunderbird profile from her old machine, I was convinced that “…cross the river Styx” was going to be one of the steps. I am grateful to Paul at KKoncepts for his blog entry, although I question his opening statement “it is actually quite easy…”

Later in the installation process, I installed the Adobe Reader, another great free product. Fortunately, I am more comfortable with Internet Explorer, so I started my journey from that browser. Several steps into the process, I received a message that presented itself as part warning and part error. “…cannot install the Google Toolbar because Internet Explorer is not your default browser.” My first thought was “what a great technique!” Seriously, why would I want the Google Toolbar to be installed with the Acrobat Reader (or at all for that matter)? I am sure that Adobe gets some payment from Google to bundle this installation, thereby funding the delivery of the otherwise “free” product. Personally, I’d rather pay $9.95 for the Reader than have that toolbar installed.

Earlier this year, I was helping my mother-in-law clean-up her machine. The process brought a night of mixed emotions. First, I got to spend several hours talking to a person I don’t often talk with; that was actually nice. Second, I was working remote using GoToMeeting fixing a computer that is 1,500 miles away; that was very cool. Third, I spent most of the time uninstalling software that she never intended to load, that was no longer working – that was frustrating. She had so many “toolbars” installed in Internet Explorer that her browser window was almost too small to use. Most of the toolbars were associated with trials of software she did not want, had never purchased and no longer worked. The trial installations had been checked as part of the default settings during the installation of other software; settings she was uncomfortable turning off. That type of product bundling should be a criminal offense.

We learned a long time ago to say no to the “extra undercoating” and “UV protection coating” applied by the dealer when we buy a new car. We learned to carefully consider extended warrantees that almost equal the replacement cost of an item. We are gradually learning not to “supersize” those fries and that soda. We need to become equally vigilant when it comes to software. Unfortunately, vigilance isn’t enough; we also have to learn more about our PCs. If we have anti-virus software, and we should, we need to realize that we don’t want a free trial of another anti-virus product. If we are not given a choice during the installation of Product A and Anti-virus Product B is installed, we need to know how to “remove” that program. Fortunately, there are blogs like Paul’s to help, but we need to know enough to put that help to use. If you are uncomfortable with your PC, take an adult education class in your area. Our small town offers these at the high school for a modest fee and at the Senior Center for free; your town probably has similar offerings. Also, we need to start demanding better products from the people we do pay. Why should you pay service techs to remove free trials that are making your computer run slow when the store they work for sold you the computer with those trials loaded? Ask them to remove those items when you buy the computer.