---
title: "\"Buy first, ask questions later\""
url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2005/1/16/quotbuy-first-ask-questions-laterquot.md"
canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2005/1/16/quotbuy-first-ask-questions-laterquot.html"
published: "2005-01-16T02:14:00"
updated: "2005-01-16T02:14:00"
tags: ["Regex"]
author: "Roy Osherove"
description: "Jeff likes RegexBuddy , and I'd like to believe it's that good. I'd like to try it out. Unfortunately, their web page says the following: \" There is no free evaluation version of RegexBuddy. You can safely buy…"
usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)."
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
---

# "Buy first, ask questions later"

By Roy Osherove January 16, 2005 In [Regex](https://osherove.com/blog/category/regex)

**Historical article** · Originally published January 16, 2005; technical details may be outdated.

[Jeff likes RegexBuddy](http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000027.html), and I'd like to believe it's that good. I'd like to try it out. Unfortunately, [their web page](http://www.regexbuddy.com/download.html) says the following:

"_There is no free evaluation version of RegexBuddy. You can_ [_safely buy RegexBuddy_](https://osherove.com/blog/2005/1/16/buynow.html) _right away. Our online purchase form is secured with strong encryption, and your purchase is guaranteed by our_ [_three month unconditional money-back guarantee_](https://osherove.com/blog/2005/1/16/guarantee.html)_. Where other companies quibble about software not being returnable and all that, we stand firmly behind our products. I am sure that as soon as you start using RegexBuddy, you will find that at US$ 29.95, RegexBuddy offers excellent value for money."_

Sorry - I **hate** being forced to "_Buy first, ask questions later_". I just don't work that way with software of this kind. It does look pretty cool, but what's the motivation for not being able to download and try?

## More in Regex

[All posts in Regex](https://osherove.com/blog/category/regex)

- May 2, 2005

    ### [Regulator 2005 & GUI threads goo- news on both?](https://osherove.com/blog/2005/5/2/regulator-2005-amp-gui-threads-goo-news-on-both.html)

- Apr 13, 2005

    ### [Blogs.RegexAdvice.com - smells like community spirit](https://osherove.com/blog/2005/4/13/blogsregexadvicecom-smells-like-community-spirit.html)

- Jan 11, 2005

    ### [The Regulator now hosted at Regex.osherove.com](https://osherove.com/blog/2005/1/11/the-regulator-now-hosted-at-regexosherovecom.html)

- Jan 10, 2005

    ### [Q&A - Greedy matching in regular expressions](https://osherove.com/blog/2005/1/10/qampa-greedy-matching-in-regular-expressions.html)


---

## About the author

**Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery.

### Sites

- [RobotPaper](https://robotpaper.ai/): This blog: AI patterns and anti-patterns, AI and coding agents, and engineering leadership.
- [osherove.com](https://osherove.com): Roy's personal site. Author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership; consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery, plus about 20 years of blog posts.
- [The Art of Unit Testing](https://www.artofunittesting.com): The Art of Unit Testing, 3rd Edition (Manning): readable, maintainable, trustworthy unit tests, plus TDD workshops in C#, JavaScript, Java and Kotlin.
- [5whys.com](https://www.5whys.com): Roy's writing on software team leadership: self-organizing teams, surviving chaos, learning mode and the Elastic Leadership model.
- [Pipeline Driven](https://pipelinedriven.org): Continuous delivery and DevOps practices: build patterns, pipeline-friendly testing, DevOps metrics and enterprise DevOps.
- [Elastic Leadership](https://www.elasticleadership.com): Elastic Leadership, Roy's framework for software team leaders (survival, learning and self-organizing modes).

### Social

- X: https://x.com/royosherove
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osherove/

### Contact

- Contact form: https://forms.gle/jQSx5KoXvrVA1JCK7

### License

Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/