Author: Rick Schummer
Posted: 2007-08-26 at 13:27:09
>> Giving me a product that incorrectly refuses to work is stealing.<<
Definitely, no argument from me and there are consumer laws that will protect you as the consumer.
You can go return the product and ask for your money back. Done. You also have the right to choose
not to buy the product in the first place. Done.
>> If a zillion copies of your software were made, how much does that reduce your bank account?
Zero.<<
That makes it completely right then. What was I thinking?!?
We should ignore the fact that we all make a living making software and we get paid for our hard
work crafting the software, and people can steal it much faster and easier than anything else on the
plant. While my bank account does not have a penny removed, it also does not get a penny added when
someone copies it and uses it without authorization. This is also stealing Ed. Stealing is not right
either way. You can say one is worse than the other, but in the end they are both wrong.
And in case you don't recall, we consume resources to build the software. You just can't see
brainwaves without a machine. Also used monetary resources to purchase the computer, the software,
and the electricity. If I spend one day building something and it never gets purchased more than
once, and copied millions of times I would consider my bank account going negative. I am not even
addressing lost opportunity costs because some thief decides buying one license justifies installing
it on numerous computers.
My favorite example of this is the most obvious one: WinZip. I can't tell you how many developers I
have worked with over the years start up WinZip and it prompts with the number of days since it was
installed and where to go pay for a license. $30 is cheap and most people cannot live without a tool
like it because we all use ZIP files. Stealing and Stoopid, by people who should know better.
Rick
White Light Computing, Inc.
www.whitelightcomputing.com
www.swfox.net
www.rickschummer.com
-----Original Message-----
From: profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com [mailto:profoxtech-bounces@leafe.com] On Behalf Of Ed Leafe
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2007 01:44 PM
To: profoxtech@leafe.com
Subject: Re: [NF] Windows Genuine Advantage suffers worldwide outage, problems galore
On Aug 26, 2007, at 1:17 PM, Rick Schummer wrote:
> staying ahead of evil
Ooohh, oooh! Evil-doers!!! ;-)
I consider a company that would make a product that incorrectly
prevents me from using a copy I legitimately purchased to be much,
much more evil than someone who uses an unlicensed copy. Why? Because
in the former case, I've actually paid for the thing, and money is
not a digital resource, so my resources have been reduced. Giving me
a product that incorrectly refuses to work is stealing. Copying a
digital resource does not reduce anyone's resources; what's 'taken'
is the potential sale, which is at best nebulous. If a zillion copies
of your software were made, how much does that reduce your bank
account? Zero.
-- Ed Leafe
[excessive quoting removed by server]