Piracy was Re: HH drives

From: Dwight K. Elvey <dwightk.elvey_at_amd.com>
Date: Tue Apr 15 19:11:00 2003

>From: "Paul Berger" <sanepsycho_at_globaldialog.com>
>
>On Mon, 2003-03-10 at 16:46, Lawrence Walker wrote:
>> Why does this legalistic crap with high moral tone
>> forever come up on the list. For the most part almost
>> all old computer collectors are using programs illegally.
><snip>
>> a thousand others sitting on a program which they won't
>> put into public domain due to not giving a shit about the
>> end user.
>
>I usually take the extremely legalistic point of view to highlight to
>people that the current system of copyright is broken, and only getting
>more so to protect the interests of a few.
>
>Whenever I catch somebody I know doing something that is technically
>illegal I point out this fact most strenuous and let them know they can
>get a criminal records, do jail time and receive millions in fines if
>somebody takes offense at what they are doing. I will then suggest that
>if they think this is wrong they should contact their representative and
>suggest things be changed.
>
>Most shrug, figure I'm a kook (probably right) and don't do a damn thing
>... this is why things won't change.
>
>> Why is there not an similar outcry about companies like
>> Lotus or Borland that put out products that were obsoleted
><snip>
>> companies it's tit for tat. Apple and a few others do the
>> decent thing but they are the exceptions not the rule.
>
>Borland has released some of their old dos compilers on their community
>site, so I would not knock them too much. They sold off the rights to
>many of their applications so I would not expect them to release them to
>the public.
>
>I'm hoping that the shareware type idea will come back with the rise of
>open-source software creating new niches, and the big software companies
>charging for support & updates. You don't want support, the software is
>free, but if you want somebody to answer questions, you need to pay the
>author something.

Hi
 The only problem here is something I saw done ( and
admitted to ) in shareware. The product was release to
shareware with a known bug. In order to get it fixed,
simply pay for the support/upgrade. I chose to delete
the original and not use either.
 I had a couple of shareware programs that I released.
They were used by many hundreds of people. I only had
4 people send me the $5. I'm not complaining. Actually
I'm happy that so many found them useful. I'll have to
admit that most were college students so they have a good
excuse.
 I've also used several shareware programs without sending
any money in so I can't complain about others. There were
a couple that I did send money in for and used quite a bit.
 My only complaint is with abandonware. When the code is
no longer relevant, why hang onto it as though it were
of some value. I can see that one could make a point that
there might be something in the source that was of value
but the application is different.
Dwight

>
>Regards,
>Paul
Received on Tue Apr 15 2003 - 19:11:00 BST