On learning that Amazon.com is offering downloads of Apache OpenOffice, I was curious enough to go through the purchase ($0.00) and download process at <http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008XAXAC4/>.
Here's everything I noticed: 1. OOPS #1: It says the product is for Vista / XP, with no other versions of Windows listed. 2. It points to an Apache OpenOffice 3.4 for Mac [Open Souce Download} as also available. 3. It has been offered since 2012-09-10 and was #352 in Software when I looked yesterday. Just now it is #188 in Software and #71 in Software > Business & Office. There are no reviews yet. 4. The www.openoffice.org/why page is used for the Product Description. 5. OOPS #2: What's not so thrilling is the Sponsored Links that are offered as being also of potential interest. These refer to openoffice-3.4.downloadster.net, openoffice.fm/suite, and openoffice.help-experts.com. (That one is called OpenOffice 2012 Download.) 6. Amazon has a Games and Software Library for users. This can be used to re-download the software and also get product keys (not applicable for this one). Out of curiosity, I followed that link and found that they are still holding tax-return software for the US 2008 tax year that I purchased and downloaded in 2009. Now the Apache OpenOffice 3.4 is there now too. 7. Amazon has their own downloader. It is needed to retrieve software from the Games and Software Library. I didn't install that, although it is needed to download from the library. 8. Going through the one-click purchase of the $0.00 software, I was not sent the executable. Instead, I was sent an "Amazon OpenOffice 34 by Apache" downloader executable. I ran it. It is a simple dialog with a progress bar, the gull button, and a message that the item can be downloaded again from my software library. It downloads the software. It doesn't say where. 9. When the downloader has completed, there is only an "Install" button and also a little pull-down button for viewing the download location. 10. OOPS #3: I checked the download location. The Windows download is to the User's desktop. 11. OOPS #4: I used the option to open that folder. The downloaded file is named "OpenOffice.exe". That's it. It needs to have a more distinctive filename, seems to me. 12. I closed the download dialog, and was given an "Are you sure you want to quit without installing?" dialog. I clicked the "Quit Now" button. 13. I moved the "OpenOffice.exe" from my desktop to a shared-server folder where I keep all of my AOOi downloads and screen shots. The file is 135,933,721 bytes and I presume it is the same as Apache_OpenOffice_incubating_3.4.1_Win_x86_install_en-US.exe that is the AOOi 3.4.1 release. The gull-button download icon is shown with directory listings of the file. 14. I checked my list of installed programs and the "Amazon OpenOffice 34 by Apache" downloader is nowhere to be seen. My only Amazon software consists of the Amazon MP3 Downloader, the Amazon MP3 Uploader (the pair for transferring from/to Amazon Cloud Player) and Amazon Kindle. 15. The next time I ran an e-mail check, I received an Amazon.com Order Confirmation for my $0.00 purchase. It also reminds me where I can go to download the software from my Games and Software Library at Amazon.com. The use of the desktop for a temporary locations is pretty awful. This is in addition to the fact that the default installer location of the setup files folder is also on the desktop. I expected better of Amazon. Bonus Experiment 16. I decided to go back to My Games and Software Library at amazon.com and install the Amazon Games & Software Downloader (for Windows XP/Vista/7), and see what that provides that might be better. I got the usual IE warning about this not being downloaded much and also an administrative permission that indicated the code is not signed. I got to name my PC (sort of what happens with Kindle software too). This lets me set the download location. The default on Windows 7 is "C:\Users\Public\Documents\Amazon Games & Software". I changed it to my user account Downloads folder. It started my most-recent purchase or download (AOOi 3.4.1) again, and I cancelled out of it. 17. The Amazon Games & Software Downloader 2.0.2.0 is now in my Control Panel programs directory. This strikes me as a superior solution to having the transient downloader that uses the desktop without giving me any control or even knowing in advance what would happen. - Dennis
