Shopping the Old Fashion Way

Picture this. You are a consumer in the market for a new software program, fully confident that you know what you want to buy. So, you get into your car, fighting traffic as you drive across town to the nearest store that sells software. Once in the store, you try to get the attention of one of the sales clerks to point you in the direction of the software you are interested in purchasing. You make your way to the shelves indicated and what do you find? If you are lucky, you will find a variety of software programs to meet your needs. Or, maybe you are not so lucky.

As you read box after box of software, each claiming to be the best of its kind, you start to go brain dead. Each software program starts blending into the next one. When you ask the sales clerk to answer some questions, what happens? The clerk will probably talk techno-geek, put subtle pressure on you to buy something you may not really need, or not have any clue how to properly answer your questions at all. Finally, you decide to buy a software program, plunk down your hard-earned money and drive home. You install the software and once you start trying to use it, you find it is way too complicated. And, product support is hard to get, or you have to wait too long for it. Maybe you decide this was not the software you had in mind to purchase after all. Do you really think you can go back to your local retailer for a refund? Think again. In most cases, once you purchase software off the shelf, and the packaging is opened, no refunds are allowed. So, you are stuck with software you can’t use, out hundreds of dollars, and back to square one. Now what do you do?