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An interesting full page ad in The West (24 Sep 2011) from Harvey Norman:
It looks like an ad for Microsoft Office.
Just after the last words, "1 USER" is footnote "*2": "for non-commercial use only. Available to personal and educational users, i.e. kindergarten to Year 12 and higher education students, faculty and staff. Conditions apply. See in store for details.
It looks like a good deal for educational students, faculty and staff.
It looks as though you can buy MS Office for $88.
The truth is in the fine print... As long as you understand what the fine print actually means. Can you read the fine print? See it, just under the words "Product Key Card"? Okay, in the newspaper ad it is readable: perhaps 8 point font. Here's what it says:
Designed for purchase with a new PC preloaded with Microsoft Office 2010
But what does this really mean?
It means that you must buy a new PC, to take advantage of the offer.
Of course you can buy the Product Key Card for $88. Download the MS product from the internet. Use your Product Key Card to get it working... perhaps. But that is not for "a new PC preloaded with Microsoft Office 2010". You have just ignored the licence agreement.
So what? You have (perhaps) a working copy of MS Office!
So. Next time to start your PC and connect to the internet, Microsoft will check your version of Office. You will get a message. "Oh dear," it will say, "You appear to have an illegitimate copy of MS Office. Do you want to pay the full licence cost for a legitimate copy?"
Of course, you can ignore the message. Every time that it comes up. You can live with a copy of MS Office which will not be allowed the automatic updates via the internet. You can live with the knowledge that you have just broken the licence agreement.
Of course you could be building your own, new PC. After all, surely every Harvey Norman customer could be doing that... Yeah, sure.
Of course, when you offer to buy the $88 Product Key Card, the sales person is sure to tell you, "Conditions apply. Here are the full details." Yeah, sure.
Why do I care? Because I had the same internet message about Microsoft Windows: "You appear to have an illegitimate copy of MS Windows. Do you want to pay the full licence cost for a legitimate copy?" Pay the money or pirate the software.
Of course it's not just Harvey Norman that is vague on the small print. Search the web for "microsoft windows student edition" and you'll find lots of cheap offers. Very few will mention the need to also buy a new PC.
Clever marketing? Or pure ripoff.
Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware.
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