Tim, old man... there are a few things you should probably understand before you continue:
1. OpenOffice is a big program created and maintained and by thousands of programmers, writers, organizer-managers, and other interested people, all around the world. They do this for free. They have all sorts of reasons why they contribute their skills and effort, but they do, and we benefit. The result of their effort is the OpenOffice suite, with the word processor application, the spreadsheet app, the drawing app, the database app... and so on, and it's all free. No cost. 2. The OpenOffice program can be run on any of several operating systems. You call your operating system "Microsoft Windows" (I'm betting), but there are several others that you have never met, such as Mac OSX (from Apple Computer), Linux, and a bunch of others. 3. Programs that are created for a specific Operating System (OS) do not directly work on another OS. They have to be "ported" - which means, re-designed and re-compiled for each operating system. (Keep reading - this part will make sense in another moment) 4. The primary way in which OpenOffice office suite (the big program) is made available (absolutely for free) to people all around the world is by download from the central website called http://openoffice.org . 5. On that site, the friendly and helpful people who created the program, and who created (and tested) specific versions of it that can be installed and will work on the different operating systems, have separated the different versions, so that you can download only the one that works on your operating system (we assume that's Windows in your case). 6. However!! There are still people in this world who do not have fast internet connections. Or, there are people who use strange internet "services" that make big downloads difficult. For them, it is very inconvenient and time-consuming to download the huge files that constitute the latest versions of OpenOffice. So, to answer that difficulty, some helpful persons have done the downloading and have created CDs or DVDs that can be sent via surface mail or courier to the persons desiring to load OpenOffice on their computers. Some of those nice people perform this service for free. Some charge just the (minimal) cost of the blank CDs or DVDs, plus the postage charges - that is, they cover their costs, but don't make a profit. Some charge extra, because they believe that customers will pay a premium for convenience. All of them are taking something that you can have absolutely for free, and providing the extra service of downloading it to their own computers and burning it onto CDs that they make available. 7. You probably paid one of those latter two groups. You got some disks in response. I can think of two likely reasons why they don't work: a) somebody got careless and just sent two blanks, forgetting to burn the OpenOffice software onto them. OR b) somebody sent you disks that DO have software, but it's for a different operating system... so Windows tells you that those disks are blank (even if they have hundreds of files on 'em). 8. If somebody actually went to the trouble of sending you the disks, then it's unlikely they were intentionally ripping you off. So you are left with a mistake on somebody's part. If you don't know about other operating systems, you might have inadvertently ordered the wrong version, thinking it didn't matter (or being entirely unaware of the distinction). If it wasn't you, then it might have been an error on the vendor's website or an error by the person fulfilling your order. 9. In any case, your beef (which is legitimate - we just need to discover in which particular way it's legitimate) is with the people with whom you placed your order, and to whom you sent your money. You have sent your e-mail complaint to a group of several thousand USERS of OpenOffice, who are on this list to help each other get the most out of the program. We are not the people who took your order and sent you wrong/bad disks. We probably don't even know who did. It could be anybody in the world. 10. In other words, we (all the other OpenOffice USERS on this mailing list - users@openoffice.org) are in no position to help you, except to explain things. And we can help explain only how to install the program and how to use it. We have no influence with the people who sold you your disks. 11. You can try to re-trace where you placed your order and sent your money, and contact those people directly, to get working disks that are intended for your operating system. 12. If you have a reasonably fast internet connection, you can do your own download and avoid any more shipping hassles. Just - go to http://openoffice.org , - click the big green button that says "get openoffice.org version 2.2.1", - when that page opens, click the big green bar that says "Download OpenOffice.org Select your operating system, and off you go" - when the next page opens, the big green bar has gotten really big and has links for seven different platforms -- pick the one that most closely matches the computer you are using (because you are an AOL user, I'm guessing that your computer is running Windows, or maybe Mac OSX) - you'll get yet-another-page with a green button, because these OpenOffice.org people are just like PBS on television... always asking for donations... it's something you put up with (you could even donate later, if you like the OpenOffice program, but for now...) just click that green button that says "continue to download". 13. If your computer has at least 100MB of free space, the files will be downloaded, and when it's finished, you can start clicking and installing. 14. - ADDENDUM You might have noticed, on the way to getting through all those steps, that on the second page (above) there was an option to purchase OpenOffice on CDs, instead of downloading. That's just a convenient list of people (not part of the OpenOffice.org team) who offer CD-burning and shipping service. It says right on that page that the links are just a convenience, and that OpenOffice.org can't vouch for any of the people on the other end of those links. Some of them are nice people. Some of them are efficient business operators. Some of them might be well-intentioned, but not very organized or meticulous... And some of them might be crooks. You take your chances. But if you already used one of those links and paid somebody some money, then follow that link again to find the people you were dealing with. Those people, as I said above, are not us. We are just people who installed the program (OpenOffice) on our own computers and use it, and are helping each other with technical questions on this mailing list. 15. AND FINALLY With your e-mail (below) you just broadcast your physical address and snail-mail address to the entire world. Are you sure that's a good idea? There's no privacy on a public mailing list. If I were you, I would be checking my bank, credit-card, and other statements really carefully for evidence of identity theft... for about the next ten years or so. You OK with all that, Tim? (AOL might have "protected" you from a message this long... :-) Hope this helped. Is anybody still awake? Anybody read this far? Did I tell any lies? :-) Kevin somewhere in Ottawa, Canada > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 16:25 > To: users@openoffice.org > Subject: [users] [moderated] YOU MUST GIVE A SUMMARY HERE > > I purchased an OpenOffice with extras last week. I received in the mail 2 > blank discs. > > May I please be sent discs with the programs I ordered (and paid for). > > Tim Ebert > 605 Periwinkle Circle > Barefoot Bay, FL 32976 The information contained in this electronic mail transmission may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected from disclosure. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer without copying or disclosing it.
