Pay up or else

A word of warning about sneakwrap licenses: what really counts is not so much what the fine print says as what the vendor says it says.

Late last year a reader we’ll call Mr. Warner received a letter from Network Associates that seemed to be saying his organization’s subscription to the McAfee VirusScan security suite was about to expire. This surprised him, as he knew only a year had passed since he’d renewed for another two-year subscription. “On inquiring, I was assured that it was merely our PrimeSupport (maintenance) agreement that was expiring, as one year of PrimeSupport had been included as part of the subscription,” Mr. Warner says.

After polling his staff, Mr. Warner decided that access to PrimeSupport’s KnowledgeCenter and other support resources wasn’t worth the price he was quoted, and he informed his Network Associates account manager he would let the maintenance agreement lapse. “I was very surprised when he told me that failure to renew our PrimeSupport agreement would mean that we were no longer entitled to download updated virus definition (DAT) files and software updates, in spite of the fact that we still have a year remaining on our subscription license,” Mr. Warner says. “In support of this, he e-mailed me a .PDF file that confirmed what he told me, [but] I was not able to find that file or any similar information on McAfee’s Web site. Considering that without access to updated DAT files, our VirusScan software is virtually useless for the second year of our subscription license, I think they would at least notify us of this change.”

Ultimately, Mr. Warner felt he had no choice but to pony up for a second year of PrimeSupport, but he was very unhappy about it. “In effect, this policy change amounts to an almost 20 percent retroactive price increase for us,” he says. “While it is not impossible for me to find the money to cover this unexpected cost, I budget very tightly, and I don't appreciate having to do this with no notice whatsoever.”

When Mr. Warner alerted me to this situation, he sent copies of all the documentation he had, including the original end-user license agreement for the two-year subscription and the .PDF file his account manager had sent him. The former stated clearly that he was entitled to download revisions, upgrades, or updates throughout the two-year period, but it was completely contradicted by the .PDF document.

“Customers must have a current PrimeSupport agreement in order to be entitled to download product updates and upgrades, including engine and DAT updates for both subscription and perpetually licensed software,” it read. “At this point in time, DAT files and engine updates may be downloaded without entry of a valid grant ID; however, this does not legally entitle a customer to do so.”

In other words, Mr. Warner would have been physically able to continue downloading virus update files without PrimeSupport, and his original license gave him the right to do so, but he was now being told it would be illegal.