Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mailrus!csd4.csd.uwm.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 theives Message-ID: <6932@rpi.edu> Date: 26 Aug 89 03:08:13 GMT References: <30706@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <6846@rpi.edu> <2361@raspail.cdcnet.cdc.com> <6865@rpi.edu> <574@halley.UUCP> Sender: usenet@rpi.edu Distribution: usa Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY Lines: 59 In-reply-to: san@halley.UUCP's message of 25 Aug 89 16:15:51 GMT In article <574@halley.UUCP> san@halley.UUCP (Steve Sanderson) writes: Well... after finding out that our product was stolen/copied illegally much more than it was sold, it really hurt me. Two things: One, did you have a software house publish it? If so, would you have still been hurt had those who copied it paid you your cut (which, assuming a $50 product and a 5% commission, would have been $2.50)? Two, did you do well despite the pirates? If so, what you felt was not hurt but greed. If not, I'd say you probably wrote an inferior product. A vast majority of Amigans I know with liquid assets are more than willing to purchase what they hear and see is a decent product. What I saw was that my personal work was not respected by a bunch of people, that people would rather steal my work and argue legalities rather than just respecting me and my work. (Speaking for myself, I find that arguiing legalities is a dead-end street. I do it only to amuse myself and to provoke responses to try and understand why in the world someone would possibly consider duplication and stealing to be identical. Is lighting a candle off of your neighbor's stove stealing fire? Should you have to pay a service charge for the privilege?) I am not some huge company, trying to make megabucks, I'm not some shyster trying to rip someone off, I'm just one guy trying to do some creative work at home, find people who appreciate my work and get enough support to continue doing what I believe in. As I've said before, it's the rare home software enterpreneur who can make it at all. There's too much deadwood commercial software and too much good F.R. stuff for anything but the absolute best to succeed. Consequently, I've stopped developing for the Amiga because it appears to me that what I need from people who would buy my software, i.e. honesty, is not available enough around the Amiga. Praytell, which computer *is* it around? Most of my friends with 5-1/4 inch machines have boxes and boxes and boxes of pirated stuff. (Yes, this applies to PClones as much as if not more than the 8-bits. The only pirate boards I'm currently aware of in this area are both PC boards.) The Mac? You've got to be kidding. Software for that thing is so expensive most people can't *afford* to not pirate, especially undergrads who go and buy Mac II's. ST's? Not only are they all but dead machines on this continent, but the game-to-productivity ratio in its software base is such that piracy is automatically a BIG problem. The only system I don't see much piracy on is UNIX, and that's only because almost everything useful other than the OS itself is F.R. Don't tell me you've started developing for the Nintendo.... -- Robert Jude Kudla Pi-Rho America \\ /// Constitution: A piece of paper designed to 2346 15th St. \\ /// fool people into thinking they are not owned. 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