Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!noao!arizona!mldemsey
From: mldemsey@cs.arizona.edu (Matthew L. Demsey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Software piracy
Summary: but, still...
Message-ID: <331@caslon.cs.arizona.edu>
Date: 14 Jun 90 17:49:27 GMT
References: <56447.2673B586@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG> <1990Jun14.070422.17363@lth.se>
Organization: U of Arizona CS Dept, Tucson
Lines: 22



  Yes, I sympathize with software engineers who work and sweat over
a good piece of software.  But somewhere down the line some bastard
in the bueracracy gets a hold of it and jacks the price up far beyond
the cost to make/cost to pay engineeres salary.  I defy anyone to justify
they $750+ software costs of PM 4.0, etc. (in terms of paying the engineers
technical writers, and printing fees, marketing,etc.)  As with any active
example forms of capitalism - someones pocket is becoming filled by others
work.   Apple, I would say, is a very good example of this.  Even the student
discounts are in no-way discounts, (2 meg upgrade for $600+, the least 
severe of these).  I am 100% sure that if the means of creating the
Mac II motherboard were easily available to the general 'hackers', the
Mac II's would be quickly and efficiently pirated; this is theft, but
it is also a statment to Apple saying 'Hey, there's no way you can justify
the outrageous CPU prices... and we're doing something about it.'  Apple
realizes their overpricing, but has assured their monopoly by copyrighting
their motherboard...

Everyone is socialistic until they begin making real money...

anyway. Loki