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From: nather@utastro.UUCP (Ed Nather)
Newsgroups: net.followup,net.news,net.legal
Subject: Re: Copyright Violations - how can software people do this
Message-ID: <76@utastro.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 23-Mar-84 16:30:35 EST
Article-I.D.: utastro.76
Posted: Fri Mar 23 16:30:35 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 25-Mar-84 11:39:37 EST
References: <778@nsc.UUCP>, <140@looking.UUCP>
Organization: UTexas Astronomy Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 58

[]
From brad@looking.UUCP Sun Feb  6 00:28:16 206

	I am amazed to see people on the net, most of whom work in software,
	actually defending copyright violators.
	Don't you have any interest in your own welfare?

	Nobody know how much microcomputer software is stolen by people
	who "just copy it", but I would expect that conservatively one copy
	is stolen for each legitimate copy sold.  Microcomputer software is
	a billion dollar industry (at least, probably more), so we are talking
	about probable billions in theft.  Billions that were stolen from US.
	If people paid for the software they steal, I know I would be a great
	deal richer and so would many of you.  Either salaries would be higher
	or prices of software would be lower due to the increased volume.

It is the common perception that an object is valuable if it is natural but
very scarce (diamonds) or manufactured and a lot of work went into making it
(automobiles).  It is also the common perception that if you can make a copy
of something for $5 that is indistinguishable from the original, that copy
is worth maybe $5, but not $5,000 no matter what anybody else tells you.

I agree with the common perception.  The scream that "...it took me two years
to write and debug that program, I wanna be paid!" is no different from the
scream of the novelist or textbook writer under similar circumstances, and
many of them get no real return on the time invested if their product is not
bought by a large number of people.  Why should software writers be coddled
with a guaranteed income?  If you want to try it on your own, fine -- but
take the risk of failure along with the risk of profit.  If you want to work
for a salary, fine -- but don't expect to get rich.

Once the original software author is paid for his work -- at reasonable wages,
let's assume -- then his program is worth just about the reproduction and
distribution costs, and no more than that.  Part of the fury directed at the
Arab countries and their oil cartel came from the perception that they were
getting paid a whole lot for doing nothing.  They just lived there -- they
didn't drill their own oil wells, build the oil tankers, even turn the
valves:  they just sat there and raked in the dough.

So long as the software industry insists on raking in the profits by selling
and re-selling software long ago amortised, there will be software "piracy".
In my view, the software industry is itself seriously guilty of piracy, and I
bitterly resent it.  I don't think *any* program should cost more than $100
and any higher price is a rip-off. 

There's a simple, direct answer to "software piracy" -- give the customer
the benefit of "cost reductions" after you've paid off the original
development cost of the program.  Sell it to them for the cost of the copy
and handling, plus a sensible ( <25%) profit.  Then there would be no real
incentive for anybody to steal a copy.  Better yet, do a decent job on the
documentation, publish it as a (copyrighted) book, and *give* the program
away.  Then you won't look quite so much like Ebeneezer Scrooge.

-- 

                                       Ed Nather
                                       ihnp4!{ut-sally,kpno}!utastro!nather
                                       Astronomy Dept., U. of Texas, Austin