Recently, while I was poking around eBay (both US and European auctions), I came across several auctions that are similar to ones I’ve seen over the years involving open source software. If you weren’t familiar with the software that they are “selling”, you might be more than happy to spend money for a family tree application that looks legitimate (and technically is legitimate), without realizing that you could have downloaded it for free (and put the money towards something else, more on that later in this post).
What Software are we Talking About?
Usually it’s open-source software, such as Gramps, and the reason why is that with open source, the software licenses (and there are many different open source licenses) can have some ambiguity in terms of whether you can profit from the software (and how you can profit from it), since open source software can be freely distributed, and anybody can take the software and modify it to their tastes.
This is in contrast to say the “Essentials” version of RootsMagic, where there is are copyrights and a company behind the software, and said company can have their legal team send out a cease-and-desist letter if somebody should try and sell RootsMagic Essentials, which RootsMagic, Inc. provides as a free version of RootsMagic.
What is Happening?
Basically, it goes something like this: They will have a photo of what looks like a generic/plain boxed copy of software, usually with “Family Tree Software” or “Genealogy Software for Windows and Mac” or something like that printed on the front cover, with a generic graphic related to genealogy (a family tree, either an actual tree or a chart, or perhaps some leaves), and maybe a screenshot or two. Sometimes the auction will only have a screenshot. They may try to disguise what software they are selling, and use a lot of words in the description to say that it’s legitimate software, etc., and you will even see phrasing to the effect of “we are not actually selling you the software, we are selling you the USB drive or CD-ROM with the software on it – we are providing a distribution service.” Some auctions will even mention that it’s software like GRAMPS.
I’m not going to link to any specific auctions for “reasons” but if you are browsing genealogy software, and you are seeing boxed applications like “Family Tree Maker” and “RootsMagic” and then you come across a generic entry that does not specifically identify the software, you have probably stumbled across one of these sales.
Note: You won’t get an actual boxed copy of the software, complete with a manual. You will (usually) instead get a cheap USB drive or a CD-ROM (maybe with a printed label on the CD-ROM, but sometimes in a sleeve with a printed piece of paper). It’s actually a somewhat clever, if easy, way to make a lot of money, since they only have to stock a supply of USB flash drives and blank CDs on hand, both of which are extremely cheap these days. Both USB flash drives and CDs are also cheap and easy to ship. Somebody selects the “Buy-it-Now” option, the “seller” gets a notice, they spend a few minutes to copy the software onto the USB drive or make a CD with the software on it, and then ship it out. They don’t have piles of USB drives and CDs sitting around with the software already burned, it’s basically “burn/copy on demand”.
It’s not just genealogy software – if you poke around, you’ll see them “selling” other open source software such as Stellarium (open source astronomy/planetarium software) which is usually a big clue about what they are doing. And they do not provide any kind of support or updates either, you are basically getting a copy of that software as it existed at that moment in time, so at some point you will have to visit the original application’s website to receive any updates or ask for help.
Speaking of screenshots, if you look carefully, you’ll usually see the name of the program they are selling, in some cases you’ll see “GRAMPS” in the title bar. In other cases, they may crop that portion of the screenshot out or blur it, which makes it feel like they believe what they are doing is shady (even if it’s not technically illegal).
Is it Illegal?
There are various licenses that open source applications are released under that allow for the software to be handled/distributed in many different ways, and the way in which many of the auctions are actually being conducted would be legal under those licenses (otherwise eBay would shut them down). It can even be as simple as claiming that they not actually selling the software, but instead being compensated for their distribution (i.e. you are buying a USB flash drive or CD-ROM that happens to have the software on it).
Why does it Matter?
On the surface, it’s your money, if this is how you want to obtain the software, there’s nothing wrong with that, and some people may not have a decent internet connection at home and are relying on their smartphone. With that said, if you are on eBay and are on a desktop or laptop computer, you probably have the capability to obtain the software immediately from the original source (and the most current version). Using GRAMPS as the example, you can head over to https://gramps-project.org/ and download it.
And instead of spending the $10 or $25 or whatever the seller is offering for the “service”, you could directly donate that money to the GRAMPS Project (link) which helps fund their website and various expenses.
Again, it’s your money, but just be aware that you maybe able to instantly download the software for free, and if they are not explaining what the software actually is in the description, you should be extremely careful, because it may not even be the latest and greatest version of GRAMPS or whatever (and GRAMPS is a great piece of genealogy software by the way).