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From: plouff@kali.enet.dec.com (Wes Plouff)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: An issue for the entire Amiga Community.
Message-ID: <12457@shlump.nac.dec.com>
Date: 14 Jun 90 13:16:09 GMT
Sender: newsdaemon@shlump.nac.dec.com
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 37


In article <1377@madnix.UUCP>, perry@madnix.UUCP (Perry Kivolowitz) writes...

>>I do not know of a company with a superior product that has folded due to
>>PD competition.  
>In  the  above,  lies the theory we hit on a long time ago which helps keep
>ASDG's doors open.  That is:  Escalate far beyond your competitor's ability
>to counter.

Exactly why ASDG products enjoy such a good reputation.

>... Competition from PD is not our problem.  We put enough into our
>products to provide genuine worth for money paid.  What *IS* our problem is
>when  people  acquire  our  products  without paying.  Call it whatever you
>want.   It  is plain ****ing out and out theft.  And yes, it literally does
>take food from my nine month old son's mouth.

What do you estimate is ASDG's revenue lost to piracy?  How do you 
arrive at this figure?  It's not at all clear from the ongoing piracy 
threads here just what is the extent of the problem, and there is much 
evidence that software companies do not consider piracy a major problem. 
I point to the large number of titles without copy protection. (Games, 
however, seem to live in a different world.  I don't want to get into
the topic of copy protection on games.)  In "No Deposit, No Return," an 
article in _Midnight Engineer_, May/June issue, the argument from a 
sometime software entrepreneur goes that a) most pirates are collectors 
who don't actually use their stolen software for anything useful, and 
b) people who ask for refunds, or technical support while unregistered, 
are by and large honest.

Factual comments?
-- 
Wes Plouff, Digital Equipment Corp, Maynard, Mass.
plouff%kali.enet.dec@decwrl.dec.com

"Who came out with that term, 'MULTIMEDIA', btw???
I prefer amiga's old slang: DEMO."	-Viet Ho in comp.sys.amiga