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From: BRAIL@SEISMO.CSS.GOV
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: Copy Protection
Message-ID: <223@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 28-Jul-85 03:26:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.223
Posted: Sun Jul 28 03:26:00 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 31-Jul-85 08:19:47 EDT
Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA
Lines: 34


	Actually, computer software is not equivalent to a car, a
carton of eggs, or whatever, despite what othervax!ray pointed out.
Computer software is not, or at least not yet, a simple household
commodity. It can often mean millions of dollars in cost as well as in
work lost (if it doesn't work) to a company.
	The car/tires argument can be used here if necessary. A car
without tires as about as useless as a computer without software. If
someone buys tires for their car, there is no law stopping them from
selling them to a friend, or putting them on another car. This is not
considered theft. 
	If something goes wrong with the car, it can almost always be
fixed anywhere. If worst comes to worst, one can always rent a car.
Finally, if a car is produced with a defect, the company must offer to
fix the defect for free on all cars.
	Software is different. A misunderstanding of software, which
is as frequently caused by inadequate documentation as it is caused
by inadequate understanding of the product, is not always easy to fix.
Frequently, valueable time must be used talking to technical support
people. And defective software is as common as defective cars. Like
cars, the software is usually updated, although not always for free.
	Let me also point out that, legally, 'shrink wrap' licences
are not valid. They do not allow the buyer an opportunity to find out
the conditions of the purchase before the purchase. There was an
excellent article in Byte a few months ago about this.
	Basically, I feel that software should not be treated as a
carton of eggs should be. It is a very different subject. In real
life, disks do crash, die, wear out, get lost, or whatever. Backups
must be made, just as a car must carry a spare tire. Being towed (by a
wrecker or by the software company) can be expensive and a real drag.

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