"I’ve noticed a discrepancy in the information provided on the Extension Warehouse page regarding the AIM for SketchUp plug-in. While it is listed as “free”, it is important to note that its full functionality requires a paid subscription. Without an active plan, operations within the plug-in are restricted.
This presentation may mislead users, as the “free” designation does not reflect the need for payment for full use. Additionally, the lack of clarity on costs and functionality could raise concerns about the plug-in’s security and reliability.
I would recommend reviewing and updating the plug-in’s description on Extension Warehouse to accurately reflect its pricing model and functionality, thus ensuring a transparent and trustworthy experience for users."
This is typical of extensions offered in the Extension Warehouse but which are sold directly by the author from their own website. It’s free to download from the Extension Warehouse. The fine print and links provided make it clear that a subscription to their extension is required. Have you contacted them to point out that it isn’t clear to you that they require a subscription?
This is one of my “favorite” topics, I have been fighting for years to get someone to change this blatant lie, which is - at least a “legally grey” marketing ploy that I morally reject.
This problem is unfortunately not unique to this extension. It has been reported for years. In fact, one of the Trimble’ employees added it to the their bug list. Since no progress has been made to fix the clearly misleading content - which is illegal in many countries - the conclusion can be drawn:
Avoiding misleading users is clearly not a high priority.
As long as the main Price field says Free, that means the extension is free to me. Period. Any fine print saying differently, just reinforces that they’re trying to trick me.
Maybe their lawyers can explain this, but by my moral standards, it’s a clear deliberate deception.
I agree that the word Free is misleading and should be changed for those extensions that aren’t free. I also think that users should take a few moments to read the rest of the text on the page to get more of an understandfing of what it is they are looking at.
Yes, I have strong feelings about this.
But I’m not the kind of person to report my friends. Instead, I’m trying to raise awareness here. I know I’m not alone.
Yes, I consider the people who work at EW to be my friends - even though I’m not sure who they are, we haven’t met or only met once in Vancouver -, and I feel it’s my duty to warn them that what they’re NOT doing is wrong.
As you can see, they know it, but they’re not doing anything about it. I guess their bosses won’t let them to do.
Well, I don’t actually know how Trimble works, I am not aware of the legal background, but by my moral standards, the “we don’t have time to not lie” strategy is wrong.
Whoever is responsible for this deception should be ashamed of themselves if they don’t do something about it!
Well, I think in the U.S., the legal standard in order to have some enforcement action is that the mislabeling (or deception) needs to have caused harm to consumers. The legal definition of “harm” may differ from the everyday use of the word. Consult a legal dictionary like “Black’s” for the definition.
I don’t know as the issue has caused legal harm, although it certainly may have cause anger or resentment. The “optics” of it are not really good for the “SketchUp” brand.
