Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!rpi.edu!kudla From: kudla@pawl.rpi.edu (Robert J. Kudla) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Software thieves (was Re: Software theives) Message-ID: <6876@rpi.edu> Date: 20 Aug 89 18:32:48 GMT References: <30706@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <6846@rpi.edu> <2361@raspail.cdcnet.cdc.com> <6865@rpi.edu> <58013@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> Sender: usenet@rpi.edu Distribution: usa Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY Lines: 73 In-reply-to: martens@calorie.cis.ohio-state.edu's message of 19 Aug 89 20:17:06 GMT In article <58013@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> martens@calorie.cis.ohio-state.edu (Jeff Martens) writes: So I guess you'd say that if I were to photocopy a copyrighted book and sell photocopies for less than the publishers price, I haven't committed a crime. So what if I broke the law? Nothing physical was stolen, so no crime was committed. Ahh, but our survey says "EHHHHHHH". You would be making a profit off of someone else's work. Piracy makes no one a profit; on the contrary, the point is *not* to pay. Then again, anyone who pays for pirate anything (unless the original is unavailable) gets what they deserve. I guess I don't see how you can justify stealing software, especially if you've worked professionally as a developer. The salaries of the designers, programmers, marketers, etc. have to be paid somehow. If a large segment of the potential market is getting the product for free, then the business becomes less profitable. What does this mean to Joe User? Well, the developer's resources are cut back, so expect fewer new products, fewer upgrades, less customer support, etc., simply because immoral dweebs feel justified in stealing copyrighted software (or books, or films, or recordings, whatever) and justify their theft by saying, "Duh, uh, but nothing physical was stolen." Yeah, this kills me, because I'm a comp sci major and I like to program a lot. I don't know what I'm ever going to do to make money, because most people knowing my attitudes on piracy ("Shh! Here's a beta-test copy of my latest work. Don't spread it around.... too far!") wouldn't touch me with a ten foot pole. However, I honestly don't believe piracy makes much of a measurable dent at all, since as I've said a billion times, 90% of piracy is done by people who would never have bought it in the first place. (Retort: "Well, what if someone couldn't afford a car? Would that give him the right to steal one?" Counter-retort: "No, because then someone else would have to go without that car. Such is not the case with Arkanoid IV.") So, given a reasonable price, good documentation and solid programming (not to mention effective marketing) piracy will only have an effect on bozotic companies/developers. Certainly not me. (ego, ego) Maybe the cretin who regularly walks off with free software wouldn't buy 180-odd software packages per year. But, maybe he should have to pay for the ones he actually uses, just to keep the companies producing useful software afloat and active. Life ain't fair, is it. Bummer. When you start spouting "should"s you get into very dangerous waters, because I can just as easily say "no one SHOULD have to pay for anything". I have no real problem with someone borrowing software for a test drive -- I've been burned by bad software purchases myself -- but I feel that someone who does this has a moral responsibility to buy the package if he's gonna keep it. Otherwise, he's just a parasite. That actually makes a bit of sense. I've only once or twice (and that was in my Commodore 64 days) pirated something I've used every day. Usually I pirate some game to divert me for a day or two since there's no such thing as software rentals. (Hell, we've got 2 vcr's here most of the year and I've still never copied a tape I've rented....) The other option is that yes, I take a piece of productivity software (MicroFiche comes to mind) for a test drive. When I can afford it, if I've decided it's not a piece of crap, I buy it. However, as I said before, if he can't afford it and it makes his life more convenient to have it, what does the author lose? And don't say "if he gives it to one he must give it to everyone" because the choice is not his- it's people like you and me, and people who run the pirate boards, and people who have gotten SneakerNet down to a science, who make that decision. -- Robert Jude Kudla Pi-Rho America \\ /// Blah 2346 15th St. \\ /// Troy, NY 12180 /X\ \\\/// keywords: mike oldfield yes u2 r.e.m. new order (518)271-8624 // \\ \XX/ steely dan f.g.t.h. kate bush .....and even Rush