bradhaak
Member
Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 380 |
quote:
Originally posted by homer
After your diatribe about stealing is stealing, you then justify yourself doing it? What's the price of the software have to do with anything?
Read carefully. I have said that yes I have done this. Yes I have installed software illegally. The difference is that I have never knowingly stolen the use of any software.
The only difference that the cost of the software makes as far as the law is concerned is whether you (or I) am guilty of petty theft or grand larceny. if a program is less than a couple of hundred dollars, I usually just buy it and take the luck of the draw. If it is good I use it. If it isn't, I throw it away. If it is more expensive, I can't afford to just try it and trash it. In this case, I will try a demo version (if available). If the demo version answers my questions, I either buy it or look for another program. If the demo is inconclusive or not available, I will try to find someone with a legal copy installed and evaluate it on their equipment. If I can't find any other way, and I have real doubts, I will install an illegal copy of the commercial package to evaluate. This has happened maybe three times. This is illegal. However, I do not and will not use the software that I have installed for evaluation to perform any of the actual work that made me look for the software in the first place.
At a basic level, Doing some quick math, I would guess that I have spent more than $50,000 for software in the past fifteen years or so. A large percentage of it has been unsatisfactory and not been used for the purpose that was intended. There are some very expensive products that can only be evaluated with crippled versions. I freely admit that I have installed these illegally to verify functionality that was not exposed in the crippled version. A good example was an expensive desktop publishing system for the Atari ST. About a dozen years ago, I installed a full version of the software because the crippled version didn't expose the full printing capabilities of the package. I tested the program, and found that it didn't suit me. I called the developer and told him what I had done and discussed my concerns about the printing feature and told him that I would purchase the program when my needs had been met. A couple of months later, I received a disk in the mail that was a full version of the program with the features added. I tested it, called the author to thank him and bought the full version before I hung up the phone.
Very few, if any developers will care if you try before you buy if you really will buy. The issue is that most people will just use the free version. or they will download a time-limited evaluation version to perform a one-time task and then never pay for the functionality that they have used. If you have done this and not paid for the app, chances are that you violated the license agreement and you have certainly taken income from the developer.
I have never used any software for any task that the software was intended for without paying for it. Yes, evaluating it is illegal. The difference is (to me) a moral issue. If I actually use software in any constructive manner I pay for it. I have never cheated a developer out of his (her, it's) income. This is what I was talking about in my previous post. Self-honesty.
To me, there is a huge difference between stealing the use of a program for a limited test to make sure that it meets your needs and stealing it for extended use because you don't like the terms that the owner is selling it for.
BTW - I have a number of ebooks that I have downloaded that other people have scanned from copyrighted sources. In every single case, I have a print-copy of the book in question. This is a violation of copyright law in that copies have been made that have not been paid for. However, I have paid for legal copies, so that the copyright holder has been compensated. To me, this is illegal, but not immoral. from coversations with a number of the copyright holders, they tend to agree.
If you are perfect, congrats. More likely though, you are just deluding yourself. Have you ever forwarded a news story that someone emailed to you? That is illegal unless what you forward is just a reference to the original story. How about making a copy of a copyrighted picture that you found on the web so that you can use it as your desktop background or as an avatar on a site like this.
Oh, you've done these things but no harm was done? Well the law was broken. You are a thief just like me and just like everyone else.
Congratulations
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Do you believe in trying out "full version" aps & games
12-10-2001 09:52 PM
Simply not worth what they charge.
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