Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bbn!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!cadre!pitt!cisunx!mike
From: mike@cisunx.UUCP (Mike  Elliot)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: lotus chairman makes 26 million
Message-ID: <9463@cisunx.UUCP>
Date: 5 May 88 13:05:16 GMT
References: <9160@cisunx.UUCP> <1801@uhccux.UUCP> <807@netxcom.UUCP> <9360@cisunx.UUCP> <810@netxcom.UUCP>
Reply-To: mike@unix.cis.pittsburgh.edu (Mike  Elliot)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Comp & Info Sys
Lines: 43

In article <810@netxcom.UUCP> ewiles@netxcom.UUCP (Edwin Wiles) writes:
[Lots of stuff deleted]
>What I'm interested in is if
>this product is worth the price *to* *me*.  Which, with something like a
>compiler, I'm going to need at least a solid month of working with it before I
>can come to a decision.  An expenditure of over $200 for one software product
>is a major purchase for me!
>
>The only 'legal' way that I would able to do this sort of testing, would be to
>borrow such products from friends for a period of time.  Since they wouldn't
>want to be left without their software for an extended period, this would
>involve copying.  Understand, I'd only do this to decide which of several
>packages did everything I wanted, the way that I wanted.  When I came to a
>final decision, which would take some time, I WOULD purchase one of them.
>The others would be destroyed.
>
>Is this a 'justifiable' usage of 'copied' software?
>Or am I asking for a lawsuit?
>

As far as legal, its not. Once a person buys software X, he is allowed to
make backup copies. However, he is not allowed to have more than one copy
of the software running at a time. Therefore, if you are both running this
software, you are violating the copyright.

Now justifiable, is another story. I won't speak for all of the software
vendors out there, but if you were to do this with software that I was
marketing, I wouldn't take you to court over it.

Your other option is to talk with trusted friends who have used the soft-
ware in question and to check out reviews in PC Magazine and the like.


			Mike Elliot
			{allegra|bellcore|cadre|psuvax1}!pitt!cisunx!mike
			mike@pittvms.bitnet

It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more
doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage, than the creation of a
new system.  For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by
the preservation of the old institutions and merely lukewarm defenders in
those who would gain by the new ones.
			-Machiavelli