Does piracy make us bad people?

[Numberzz]

And this board full of morons fall for it every time.

If that's the way you feel, then do us all a favour and leave.

 

Spelled favor wrong

[Alessandro17]

Wow, we had piracy back then too?

 

Actually Bill Gates had started complaining much before that:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists

 

At the time paying for software was not the norm.

[nagal]

Um yea. I would. I would say I have a copy of your software that someone gave me. And then if they were negative, I would tell them to kiss my ass.

Like Bofors said. Its propaganda. And this board full of morons fall for it every time.

 

Whats propaganda? That if the software the company I work for gets pirated enough to affect sales some one is going to loose there job? Thats not propaganda thats the world of business.

[Rez.]

What makes you think those pirating your software would have bought it had they not had the chance to pirate it in the first place?

[OryHara]

If that's the way you feel, then do us all a favour and leave.Perhaps we should be democratic about this and have a vote if you want

Vote all you want. The flight plan doesn't change.

 

Whats propaganda? That if the software the company I work for gets pirated enough to affect sales some one is going to loose there job? Thats not propaganda thats the world of business.

 

How did you loose a sale in that process?

How do you know that person would have bought it?

I never have, and never will pay for something that is not a tangible object.

 

If your business model is unstable, that is your problem.

The government can't help you no matter how many laws your company illegally lobbies them to pass.

 

And THAT is the world of business.

[Paranoid Marvin]

At the time paying for software was not the norm.

 

Shame it didn't stay that way

[Shrimp]

Of course it doesn't make you a bad person.. I think of Pirates more as Rebels myself.. Especially us Hackintosh users.

[aspirina750]

Basically for me, installing OSX in a PC doesn't make us the bad guys. How many of you would buy Leopard if it was available for PC? I would, and I bet that many of you would. Apple doesn't loose any money because of us! They may be earning more in the long term, cause after trying Leopard my next computer will be a proper Mac.

 

Aspirina for all!!!

[Azurael]

No. There's a substantial difference between software piracy and stealing a physical object and that is that by stealing a physical object, I am preventing somebody else having it. I am taking it from them.

 

However, by downloading Photoshop, I am not 'stealing' it from somebody else. There is no loser. You can't use the argument that I am having an indirect effect by eating into Adobe's profit margin - I would not buy Photoshop, no matter what, even if I was filthy rich. It's overpriced. If it were impossible to pirate it, I would simply use something else.

 

I buy software from companies that deserve my money. I have bought numerous shareware games and apps. I own legal copies of OS X 10.2-10.5. I have never bought Microsoft software.

[SDRacer48]

Does piracy make us bad people?

 

NOPE, it just makes us clever...

 

:)

[OryHara]

No. There's a substantial difference between software piracy and stealing a physical object and that is that by stealing a physical object, I am preventing somebody else having it. I am taking it from them.

 

However, by downloading Photoshop, I am not 'stealing' it from somebody else. There is no loser. You can't use the argument that I am having an indirect effect by eating into Adobe's profit margin - I would not buy Photoshop, no matter what, even if I was filthy rich. It's overpriced. If it were impossible to pirate it, I would simply use something else.

 

I buy software from companies that deserve my money. I have bought numerous shareware games and apps. I own legal copies of OS X 10.2-10.5. I have never bought Microsoft software.

 

I agree.

[fatshitcat]

No, first of all, I don't look like a bad person.

 

I have a theory about this.

I'm 17. I downloaded a pirated Photoshop CS3 through the Bay. And use it regularely. Also downloaded e-books about it, and after 5 years I become to master it(potentially, of course ). Then(-in the future), after completing university, I've become a designer at a magazine. Since I use it, now I buy a legal license for let's see, Creative Suite 6 and pay thousands of dollars.

So, by me pirating PSCS3 back then, I've got to actually buying it. If I wouldn't have started experimenting with it I'd have never bought it.

 

I know it's lousy, but it's my only excuse.

[stevedude]

bad, illegal, wrong r neither exlusive nor inclusive of each other necessarily. may not b bad or wrong but it is illegal. b careful of boasting about it openly. i purchased a copy of leopard 4 the day when i can get a decent copy of it going on my hardware.

[fatshitcat]

I was talking hypothetically, of course.

Also, I use Linux most of the time.

[Alessandro17]

No. There's a substantial difference between software piracy and stealing a physical object and that is that by stealing a physical object, I am preventing somebody else having it. I am taking it from them.

 

However, by downloading Photoshop, I am not 'stealing' it from somebody else. There is no loser. You can't use the argument that I am having an indirect effect by eating into Adobe's profit margin - I would not buy Photoshop, no matter what, even if I was filthy rich. It's overpriced. If it were impossible to pirate it, I would simply use something else.

 

I buy software from companies that deserve my money. I have bought numerous shareware games and apps. I own legal copies of OS X 10.2-10.5. I have never bought Microsoft software.

 

Very good points. I have also paid for "good" software, mainly Linux distributions, either by buying a copy or by donating.

[gwprod12]

If I believed in morality, I would probably think stealing software/books/movies was wrong. But since I don't believe in morality, I don't. The only thing that keeps me from doing anything are the consequences I perceive. I perceive no consequences with downloading whatever I like. If that changed tomorrow, you can bet I'd not be doing it.

 

The only things I've ever felt bad for downloading are ebooks from some of my favorite authors. Why? Because I like the authors and believe they deserve to profit. And they aren't obnoxious {censored} about the piracy issue. I only feel bad for a little bit, until I realize how much of my money they already have (for the same books, even!). Ultimately, downloading books and movies is the same as going to the library. When I check out a book, no one who produced that media sees a dime from me.

 

In fact, if there was a service where I could give money that would be slipped under an author's door instead of milked half-to-death by the publishing industry, I'd be much happier doing that.

[Ongeloof]

I have mixed feelings myself. I think that we are not bad people for downloading software that does not have proper protection because at the end it is the company's fault. But sometimes i do feel a little guilty.

 

Please post your opinion and keep posts clean!

Wow: IMF looks peculiar on the iPhone

 

I agree that it the company's fault for their level of protection on their products bu twhen you get nothing for free in this crazy 3G mad world.. you have to make the most of it, and al least try to get something free. the are a lot of people who buy legit products and if a few get it priate then the big corps are not going to feel it...

[aduffbrew]

I have mixed feelings myself. I think that we are not bad people for downloading software that does not have proper protection because at the end it is the company's fault. But sometimes i do feel a little guilty.

Perhaps we should be democratic about this and have a vote if you want

I guess they really DO think it's the company's fault they have no integrity. I don't know about you but I think I would enjoy a world where I didn't have to lock my doors, shred my trash, not talk to strangers, endure security check points, have my shopping receipts checked, and deal with all this DRM {censored}. So are these apologists advocating MORE security measures be implemented? Has humanity really sunken to the point where it is no longer enough to just do what's right but now we have to be compelled? Nice.

 

This whole argument on the real economics of stealing something "intangible" you wouldn't purchase anyway is like hearing a rebuttal regarding the theory of relativity given by the average 9th grader. They are missing the point intentionally or otherwise. In case some of you never quite learned ethical behavior from your parents, piracy is stealing and stealing is bad. Good people sometimes do bad things. It's called making a mistake. Of course, if you don't want to learn from your mistakes, then yes. That makes you bad. Any questions?

[Azurael]

This whole argument on the real economics of stealing something "intangible" you wouldn't purchase anyway is like hearing a rebuttal regarding the theory of relativity given by the average 9th grader. They are missing the point intentionally or otherwise. In case some of you never quite learned ethical behavior from your parents, piracy is stealing and stealing is bad. Good people sometimes do bad things. It's called making a mistake. Of course, if you don't want to learn from your mistakes, then yes. That makes you bad. Any questions?

 

Err. Yes. You didn't read my post, and you failed to provide an explanation of why I'm wrong before you began ranting incoherently about 9th graders.

[vbetts]

Stealing is different from pirating imo. It's not stealing when someone openly shares a file with you. It's stealing when you force it out of them and take it. There are some filesthat I won't pirate because it's worth the money. Example, I pirated quake wars, which the main point of that is online play. Have you played Quake wars with bots? PFFT. Poo. Hamachi servers for quake wars suck too. So, I bought it. But for a game like Halo 2PC or gears of warPC where I'm not interested in online play, I'm gonna pirate them. Halo 2 I have on xbox already, same with Gears of War. However there are also some other circumstances.(all of my examples involve games) Let's take Infernal. I can't get a patch to work for Infernal at all. I've downloaded a D2D version, and an actual CD version, and no patch I download works. So what do I do? I buy it. ONLY because I found the game for $5.99 which the demo was amazing.

[aduffbrew]

Err. Yes. You didn't read my post, and you failed to provide an explanation of why I'm wrong before you began ranting incoherently about 9th graders.

Yeah, I read them... along with all the other posts here. I went back and re-read them. I still find the logic disturbing. Pirates are entitled to their opinion as I am entitled to be appalled.

 

Honestly though, I didn't mean to single you out personally and call you a 9th grader. I thought I was only making commentary on the argument itself. I guess I could have just said "I find it silly" or something even less argumentative.. and possibly more coherent.

[nagal]

Vote all you want. The flight plan doesn't change.

How did you loose a sale in that process?

How do you know that person would have bought it?

I never have, and never will pay for something that is not a tangible object.

 

If your business model is unstable, that is your problem.

The government can't help you no matter how many laws your company illegally lobbies them to pass.

 

And THAT is the world of business.

 

You seem to be supporting the idea that all software should be free. If the company I worked for did not charge for its software I would not have a job. I do not write software to be kind and loving but to pay the bills and put food on the table. Maybe I am in the wrong line of work then according to your reasoning because I should not be expecting people to pay for software which then in turns pays my salary. And if we take that a step further, would we have OS X if Apple did not pay its developers and ask them to work for the love of it? How about Photoshop if Adobe did the same?

 

And for the record, anyone using the software the company I work for IS using it to run a business. No one does video sewer inspections for the fun of it or in their spare time because it is fun. Someone not paying for our software by piracy IS costing us or one of our competitors money.

 

How does this reflect an unstable business model?

[SticMAC™]

It is a hard one!

 

We had a Software company that provided us with VERY expensive CAD/CAM software, $4700.00 but their filosophy was if you are making money with it Or you are going to make money with it, you SHOULD buy it!

 

This was great as it allowed us in the startup stages to recover our initial cost, and later on buyback the software from them and not just get a cheaper option of software as our budget would have allowed, this also gave them a gauranteed sale!? We even had the software engineer at our company to assist us in setting it up!

 

Free advertising for SOLIDWorks!! the BEST CAD design software!!!

 

SticMAN

[nagal]

It is a hard one!

 

We had a Software company that provided us with VERY expensive CAD/CAM software, $4700.00 but their filosophy was if you are making money with it Or you are going to make money with it, you SHOULD buy it!

 

This was great as it allowed us in the startup stages to recover our initial cost, and later on buyback the software from them and not just get a cheaper option of software as our budget would have allowed, this also gave them a gauranteed sale!? We even had the software engineer at our company to assist us in setting it up!

 

Free advertising for SOLIDWorks!! the BEST CAD design software!!!

 

SticMAN

 

The company I work for is similar in that we provide fully functional demo version for the clients to use to make sure it is going to do everything they need and provide free support during that demo period. There is only one feature we do not include in the demo as it requires a 3rd party license that cost $500. If the client already has the license, then they can demo it. Most demos are 30 days, some 90 days and we have been known to do a 180 day demo.

[Then there were none.]

To be honest, I don't believe some piracy is wrong, such as music piracy, as musicians can earn money elsewhere, but Software piracy is wrong because you don't see programmers doing live gigs. The only way programmers can make money is by selling their software, while musicians and actors have many different money making routes.

 

Some piracy is ok, but other forms are wrong.