Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!looking!brad
From: brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: Commercial software in comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Message-ID: <2989@looking.UUCP>
Date: 22 Mar 89 02:54:59 GMT
References: <6260@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Reply-To: brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton)
Organization: Looking Glass Software Ltd.
Lines: 22

In article <6260@bsu-cs.UUCP> dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi) writes:
>     Should illegal use of shareware be considered a benefit?

There is no answer.  There are two forces I can't reconcile.

One is the fact that the shareware author lets out shareware expecting
large scale piracy.  In fact, if the author is asked, they will usually
say they are willing to tolerate exposure to extra pirates to get
exposure to extra honest users.   So on one hand, since it's with
(in a very roundabout way) the permission of the author, it's acceptable
to consider this.

But the roundabout way is too roundabout.  The shareware author accepts
the high probability of piracy, but certainly doesn't like it.  I can't
condone considering illegal use as a benefit because that contributes
to making the probabilty of piracy high.

But if we follow that, we're really going against the author's pragmatic
wishes.  Ugh.  No answer.  Infinite loop.

-- 
Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd.  --  Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473