99.99% of users will never have an issue. […] Sure, false positives can happen, but simple cooperation and polite, respectful dialog are usually enough to fix those situations.
It all comes down to trust. How much does the software maker trust the software user? It’s easier said than done, because where the user need only sacrifice some pocket change to trust one individual, the maker has to put his/her blood, sweat and tears on the line against a collective – a collective notorious for stealing.
However, contrary to what David says in his blog post, “polite, respective dialog” was not enough in my case. A year ago when my email was tagged a false positive, it took 5 (polite and respectful) emails and a not-so-polite blog post to get his attention. Then, it took an equal number of email exchanges to convince him that I was a rightful license-holder and didn’t mean any harm by my post. (I think he’s just a touchy guy, to be honest.)
The bottom line (for us users): NewsFire is awesome, and, if you can wager the potential headache of being in the .01 percentile, well worth the price.