Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site spp2.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!whuxl!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwspp!spp2!jhull From: jhull@spp2.UUCP (Jeff Hull) Newsgroups: net.games,net.micro.apple Subject: Re: Software Piracy (loooong) Message-ID: <498@spp2.UUCP> Date: Mon, 25-Mar-85 23:24:43 EST Article-I.D.: spp2.498 Posted: Mon Mar 25 23:24:43 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 28-Mar-85 01:13:20 EST References: <296@unm-cvax.UUCP> <485@cadovax.UUCP> Reply-To: jhull@spp2.UUCP (Jeff Hull) Organization: TRW, Redondo Beach CA Lines: 115 Xref: watmath net.games:1769 net.micro.apple:1804 Summary: Let's look for positive solutions. Rather than demeaning ourselves & destroying our personal integrity by stealing the stuff, let's find a positive solutions to the challenge. I like the one practiced by Borlund. They saw a market & filled it with a product that does its job at a price anyone can afford. >Of similar interest, here is a letter found in the mail section of >Unix World, Oct. 84: > >...vendors' claims ... have all the sophistication >and economic insight of a sales representative calculating a commission. >A more thorough analysis is needed. You bet it is, & the combined smarts of the people who created the system (that's us, folks) can find creative solutions to anything we want to find solutions for. If we don't, it's just because we don't choose to. >...Only as it becomes uneconomic to pilfer software will it cease. >Do moral preachments and draconian threats have a good track record?... This is the real cruncher. We have no business trying to stop people from doing whatever they choose to do, but we can make it easier to buy than to steal. >Others use pilfered software as a result >(they say) of bad experiences with the deplorable quality of software >which they legitimately purchased. Paying several hundred dollars >for a highly touted product to discover that a far less expensive >has far greater functionality can reduce one's good will toward all >manufacturers. Clearly, the answer here is to encourage software vendors to price their products competitively & to offer user support. How do we do that? With our pocketbooks. Buy only from companies that support us. Another powerful tool is reverse engineering. If the only companies that offer a product price it too high, that leaves a market slot for someone else to take advantage of (a la Borlund). >Authors response: > >...what we have is the rest of us supporting these Brooks Brothers >buccaneers by having the losses attributed to piracy added to the >price of our legitimate purchases. This is only half the cost & it is far too high. The rest of the cost is loss of our own self-esteem (that's right, you are too inadequate to ever be able to get that software honestly. You had to steal it. Even if you had the money, you aren't worth having it honestly; you don't deserve to have it.) >Regarding the value of vendor-offered support, it is important to remember >that the software vendor decides what the product is and how much he thinks >it's worth. If you don't agree with the vendor's valuation, you don't >have to buy it. But one of the options upon disagreement of valuation is >not the right to steal it. Certainly a case can be made for "no-frills" >software, similar to a self-serve gas station, but remember, you still >pay for the gas. An example of a positive solution here is the myriad of companies offerring dBase classes & pre-processors. The same solution is available to all other software markets. >Software piracy is just as much a crime as is shoplifting a pair of >Calvin Klein jeans from Macy's. However, because of our inability to >fully comprehend the concept of intellectual property, there is no >social stigma attatched to the rape and pillage of a software program. >Instead the hackers that rip us all off are condescended to: "My, how >bright! Isn't that clever?" Indeed. Just as clever as the people >who engineered the Brinks robbery or the thugs who robbed the local >7-11 store. > >- Steve Auditore Steve hits the nail right on the head; the highest cost of software piracy is the destructive effects of our attitudes about it. In article <485@cadovax.UUCP> keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle) writes: >P.S. I wonder how Steve figures you can know whether or not you agree >with the vendor's valuation of his software if you haven't ALREADY >bought it. I agree with Keith's complaint about valuation, so let's encourage (by shopping at) stores that offer in-store (& at-home) testing of software packages. >Personally, what I object to most, is the fact that if I upgrade my >computer system to new and better hardware, I have to throw my old >software away. After you've bought that same spreadsheet or compiler >or whatever enough times, you really begin to wonder what you're getting >for your money. I agree with Keith's complaint about upgrading our computer systems, so let's encourage companies to develop upgrade & enhancement policies that will let us return our existing software for the comparable product for our new system. Realize that the company will have to charge an upgrade fee. Be willing to pay it while we encourage the company to keep it reasonable. Sorry for rambling on so long, but this seems important enough to warrant it. -- Blessed Be, Jeff Hull {decvax,hplabs,ihnp4,scdrdcf,ucbvax} 13817 Yukon Ave. trwrb!trwspp!spp2!jhull Hawthorne, CA 90250