Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!uccba!ucqais!pmartin
From: pmartin@ucqais.uc.edu (Paul Martin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Software theives (FLAME ON!!)
Summary: Paranoid Software Vendors
Message-ID: <1783@ucqais.uc.edu>
Date: 23 Aug 89 23:53:07 GMT
References: <30706@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <6846@rpi.edu> <21818@cos.com>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Univ of Cincinnati, College of Business Admin.
Lines: 84



Well, I really resist getting into these discussions but I could not let
the following go without a comment or two.

In article <21818@cos.com>, andrews@cos.com (Andrew R. Scholnick) writes:
> In article <6846@rpi.edu>, kudla@pawl.rpi.edu (Robert J. Kudla) writes:
> > In article <30706@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> mitchell@janus.berkeley.edu (Evan Mitchell) writes:
> 
> > [about people coming in and installing viruses, stealing actual disks,
> > copying disks in-store, killing freely-redistributable stuff, etc]
> 
> > (Some people might think this to be a shift in attitudes coming from
> > me. Most people probably don't care one way or the other. But, I
> > consider actually lifting product from the shelves to be a crime. I
> > don't consider, say, an employee taking a piece of software home,
> > copying it, bringing it back and re-shelving it with new labels and
> > all to be a crime in the slightest.)
> 
> 
> Thanks, I will keep your name and address on file so I can circulate it with
> the lists of known and/or admitted SOFTWARE THIEVES which several developers I
> know maintain!  Stealing is stealing!  If you take the original from the store
> and do not return it, that is stealing.  (I assume this is why you return the
> original to the store.)  By copying the original, you are ILLEGALY DUPLICATING
> COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL!  YOU ARE STEALING! YOU ARE A SLIMY, LUMP OF BILE-RIDDEN
> EXCREMENT WHO SHOULD BE LOCKED AWAY WITH THE WORST REFUSE OF HUMANITY!  I HOPE
> YOUR BOSS FINDS OUT ABOUT YOUR LITTLE PILFERING PROJECT AND HAS YOU LOCKED UP.
> I AM TEMPTED TO REPORT YOU TO THE NY STATE POLICE AND THE FBI AND ASK THEM TO
> INVESTIGATE YOU BASED UPON YOUR PUBLIC ADMISSION (reprinted above).  
> 

Ok, ok you can call people names.   But do you really believe that the
FBI is going to waste alot of taxpayers money to hust down someone who
copies a few games?  I think not.  Software piracy (not for money) is
tha same thing as copying an article from a magazine from a friend or
recording a movie off of cable for you brother-in-law and I would be
willing to bet that 99.9% of the people reading this article would be
guilty of some sort of piracy.  So lets cut this nonsense of "I think
software pirates should be shot!" because almost all of us would be
facing a firing squad if this were the way things were done.

> I FOR ONE WILL *NEVER* PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM Pi-Rho America, Nor will I sell
> or allow to be sold to you any of my products.  Should it *EVER* come to my
> attention that your company has sold one of my products I will take great
> pleasure in seeing you and your company dragged through the courts and prosecuted!  

My guess is that if Pi-Rho had something you needed, you would not be so
quick to say that.  Also, if Pi-Rho placed an order for 5 million dollars, 
your morals would change about who you would sell to.

> I don't like you!  

I think you are really paranoid!  The best way to prevent piracy is
to put out a quality product and people won't feel bad about paying
a few dollars for it.  If you are a good programmer, people will buy
your software, even though many people will pirate it, you will still
make a much bigger percentage of sales.  I am a programmer myself and
have sold many a program, and the least of my worries is piracy, because
I figure that 99% of the pirated copies would not have been bought
no matter what.  The only programmers who should worry are the 
programmers who can't sell their programs so they blame it on those
damn pirates, HEY BUDDY, LOOK IN THE MIRROR!

> 
> I urge everyone who reads this to mail a request to the postmaster at
> pawl.rpi.edu (whose address is: usenet@rpi.edu) to have your login
> canceled or, at least, your USENET privaleges revoked.  You are a
> stinking theif!  You are publicly advocating theft!  You break the
> law and urge others to break the law; you should be locked up!
> 

I urge you to read the rules for this group about flaming!
Instead of calling people names, why not try some constructive
critisism.

God I feel much better now!


-- 
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| Paul Martin                 | Yes I am serious, and       |
| pmartin@ucqais.uc.edu       | don't ever call me Shirley. |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+