Web Sites Trade on Users Ignorance by Selling Unneeded Support for Free Software

[mandy]

Hundreds of new sites are trading on web users' ignorance by selling inadequate or unnecessary technical support for free software...

Austelle describes herself as "a frequent internet user" who checks her email daily, participates in forums, and has multiple online accounts. But that did not stop her falling for a new loophole by which sites provide software that's available free elsewhere - and charge for "support" that may be limited or even nonexistent.

Austelle paid a website $33.90 for the Limewire peer-to-peer (P2P) client - which is available free from sites such as limewire.com. She found the fee-charging site after searching for file downloads in a search engine. "As soon as I joined, like within 10 minutes, I realised that I had been had, and that Limewire is a free download and is so easy to use that hardly anyone ever needs any assistance."...

full article: http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/...54,00.html