open this package and you're stuck with it

[Scott Hankin]

nelson_p at apollo.HP.COM (Peter Nelson) writes:

>   If I spend $350 on a TV and I'm not satisfied I can return it; if
>   I spend $350 on a C++ compiler I'm stuck with it no matter how
>   dissatisfying it is.  This has to change.

    Sometimes it's just a matter of where you get what you get.  MacConnection,
    for example, lists lots and lots of items (the overwhelming majority, in
    fact) which come with 30, 60 and 90 day guarantees - if you don't like
    them, return them for a refund.  I know that MacConnection is run by the
    same folks who run PC Connection (at least at some level) so perhaps they
    do the same thing.  This is their response to customer demand.  It makes
    them more competitive than others in the same business.

    I don't know how they work this out with the actual producers, because some
    of them don't offer any guarantee at all (MacInTax, for example - although
    I might be able to see the reasoning there) and I believe that it is up to
    the vendor just how much guarantee they offer.

    Legislation is seldom the answer to problems eventually solved by the
    marketplace.

- Scott

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Scott Hankin  (hankin at osf.org)
Open Software Foundation