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From: philip@Pescadero.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Software piracy
Message-ID: <1990Jun12.214833.24440@Neon.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 12 Jun 90 21:48:33 GMT
References: <137121@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <56447.2673B586@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG>
Sender: news@Neon.Stanford.EDU (USENET News System)
Reply-To: philip@pescadero.stanford.edu
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Lines: 49

In article <137121@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>, fiddler@concertina.Sun.COM (Steve
Hix) writes:
> In article <56447.2673B586@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG>,
Chuck.Arelei@f31.n343.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Chuck Arelei) writes:
> > "The best way to prevent illegal software piracy is to lower the
> > softwares' prices, you hear me out there? Mr. Adobe & Mr. Letraset?"
> 
> This explains why shareware authors rake in so much cash.
> 
> Perhaps it explains why, for instance, there is so little piracy of
> of Commodore 64 games, or Apple// software...
> 
> Pirates don't seem to need much encouragement to steal software or
> accept it from others.  Price doesn't seem to be much of a factor.
> 
> > I welcome any remarks and comments of my statement, put it in my mail
> > box, or let's talk it out loud in the public.
> 
> One should be careful of what one asks for...one might get it.

The problem is not limited to software - think of photocopying books, or
copying music. The temptation to do so is proportional to the lack of
necessity of the original materials + ease of copying. Software happens to
be at the "easiest" end of the copying scale, especially if you don't need
the manuals. So what's the problem? We have a concept called "copyright",
which is based on the obsolete notion that media are hard to copy. What's
needed instead is a notion of the service you are buying (e.g., technical
support, easy access to upgrades), which should be unbundled from the
distribution/media costs. Wouldn't it be much easier to sell software if
anyone could copy it free of charge (hard to prevent, much more efficient
than sending 50000 copies to the dealers, then finding a bug), but had to pay
for tech support (which everyone has to pay for now, whether they need it or
not)?

One negative: if tech support is the main commodity being sold, there's some
incentive to make things more complicated than they need to be. However,
"support" doesn't have to be restricted to hand-holding, but can include
professional advice. Imagine this: pick up the latest copy of PageMaker free
of charge off the network. Discover having the software doesn't give you
design skills you previously lacked. Phone Aldus's support number and subscribe
to their expert advice service (maybe an e-mail mailing list).

Positive outcomes: no more piracy, no more spending good money on software
that doesn't work for you. Lots of potential for alternative sources of
advice/support on a popular product (I'd expect the developers to get their act
together fastest, but not be the cheapest).

Philip Machanick
philip@pescadero.stanford.edu