I downloaded Omnigraffle today, and as for most software, you must agree to an End User License Agreement, or EULA, before installing the software. However, Omnigraffle does something unusual, with their EULA. The beginning of the EULA is a short paragraph that starts out:

The document that follows this paragraph is a license agreement. Why do we need such a thing?  Well, to be perfectly honest, our lawyers have told us that we need to protect ourselves. …

It’s a very friendly type of beginning, implying that of course the makers of Omnigraffle do not to make you deal with software licensing, but you know how lawyers are.  It then has the usual explanation, about people suing in different jurisdictions, and people misusing software.  But it is the closing of the first paragraph that caught my attention.  This is how they close:

Obviously, if you disagree, click “Disagree.”  But, don’t just stop there.  Let us know.  Send some email to <info@omnigroup.com> telling us what you find unacceptable about our license agreement.  We can’t promise to change anything, but we will do our best to get back to you.

Now this is a wonderful idea. Not only does it make me want to read the license, it makes me want to communicate with them, and makes them feel much more reasonable than the usual EULA types.

Given that I often have issues with Software EULAs online — primarily because anything security oriented cannot include a clause that says “and we can change all this at any time without notice to you” — having a EULA that invites me to explain my concerns is a breath of fresh air.  Well done OmniGraffle!