Thread: Software piracy

  1. #1
    Mayor of Awesometown Govtcheez's Avatar
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    Question Software piracy

    Alright, I think I could kick off the great debate forum here...

    What's everyone's feelings on software piracy? Sure, it's technically illegal, but it's really difficult for some people (especially younger ones) to afford most software. It's also oh-so-easy to just yank the newest version of whatever off the Internet that it almost seems worthless to try and fight it. Who out there is totally piracy free? Who out there wouldn't pay for software if their lives depended on it?

    Another angle on this is the money issue from the corporate side. They all claim to be losing tons and tons of money due to this. Do you think these claims are overblown or legitimate?

  2. #2
    C > C++ duders ggs's Avatar
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    given that

    I am a teenager and a lot of my friends do this kind of stuff, I know that the claims are probably not all that exagerated. Sometimes I do it too, even..

    I believe that piracy without the intention of paying is wrong (heh), and in most cases I eventually buy the product I've pirated. In all the others I've deleted when my conscience starts nagging me. Most of the time it's just to try something out a bit farther because the demo is too short to properly appreciate the product.

    I know that software development companies need every penny they get and I also know that when I pirate software I want to use but don't want to pay for that it hurts the companies that make these games. And even if they are very well off, like M$ and Id, I believe it's still wrong to pirate their stuff, to a certain extent. (For instance, I think the prices on M$ products are over the top.. If I have one copy of Windows '98, I think I should be able to install it on two computers in my home. Not that that's any problem for me anymore... all the computers currently have legal copies of Windows on them in the cases where they do use Windows).

    For some tools, like 3DS Max and heavy duty rendering software, development tools, etc.. piracy only hurts if they are used by professionals. I don't think it's really wrong if a friend of mine picks up a copy of one of these tools to play around with unless they start making money with it. Still, they're getting free training for nothing with these things... but for the most part my friends don't get very far with them anyway

    Some things that are considered piracy are also pretty ridiculous. Why are NES roms illegal? That's the stupidest thing on earth.. For me, the line is between Abandonware and Warez.

    whew, that was pretty long winded
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  3. #3
    Just one more wrong move. -KEN-'s Avatar
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    my 2 cents..

    I do it sometimes too, as well. I understand everyone's side. On one hand we have LilCompany.com who's made one program that you need to use a bit farther than the demo will allow you, so you find a crack for it and forget about it. On the other hand, poor LilCompany.com just lost 19~30 dollars, and will probably go bankrupt anyway (which could be another argument for warez-ers).

    So what're you gonna do? let's give you an example of something I'm havin to deal with:

    Am I gonna pay 19~30 bucks on a program to undelete my bro's MP3's (which I 'accidentally' deleted) Hell no! I'm gonna play around with warez until I find what I want (which I haven't found yet...)

  4. #4
    C > C++ duders ggs's Avatar
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    You know...

    while it may seem like lilcompany.com will die even if you pay for the product, it may not be the case.

    check out http://www.spidweb.com.

    they sell small but excellent rpgs to a particular niche market. if you take a quick look at what they do you'll think that there's no way that guy is depending on this stuff for a living.

    but he does. he makes a comfortable living by creating small shareware rpgs with tile & turn based engines and huge worlds w/ many subquests and storylines. I once saw once of his games, "Exile III" for d/l at a warez site. I didn't take it, I felt that no matter how much the odds were against him I shouldn't.

    A couple of years later now I've bought that game along with another, and they have provided me with great gameplay at a pretty low price. I'm proud to say that I've helped support the little guys..

    ----

    Ken, as for little utilities like that, rather than go through the warez you should try sourceforge and all of the open source web sites. There are tons of free open source utilities that handle fs work, dev, just about anything. You don't need to pay, and you don't need to pirate.
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  5. #5
    Just one more wrong move. -KEN-'s Avatar
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    Eh, I gave up on piratign for it, actually. I tried looking through ZDNET and WinSite and all and all I found were things like "Can only recover files up to 10kb" or "Cannot save file" demo programs...I'll try sourceforge, I guess...

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    teenage point of view

    I pirated paint shop pro 6 for a while.. once i started to program i realized how complex that program truly was. I hate to see how so many warez people are also "programmers" i don't think that if you don't have enough respect for a fellow programmer then you have been ousted from the club. I also blame microsoft for pricing Visual C++ so high. (talk about discouraging competition, how would i compete with you if i can't afford a compiler ) Borland has tons of full version compilers available for 0$-70$. Microsoft charges 110 for a lame VC++ missing tons of features and ANSI standardization. Bleh!

    by the way, i'm 14 so i see warez deals a lot at school and stuff, it's insane how many people (teachers included) are willing to rip someone off.

  7. #7
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    Heh. Ggs, I'm a proud owner of a registered copy of Exile I.

    I'm against pirating but for abandonware.
    All generalizations are false

  8. #8
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    those exile games were fun..

    i haven't played any exile in a while, i almost forgot about them.. i don't even think i've played 3.

  9. #9
    Registered User mfc2themax's Avatar
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    The company i work estimates they loose $1-$5 million a year from piracy (in the enterprise space) so yes it does have an impact. Even though the majority of our software goes to big businesses. Im sure consumer software providers take a much bigger hit.....

    (We had revenues of $290 million+ last year.)
    mfc2themax-Creator of all that is.

  10. #10
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    piracy is best used when jerky companies don't put out demos of there product when its $900,000,000 for the full version AND NO REFUNDS!! F THAT im not gonna pay that much for a product i can't even try and then if i don't like it can't get my money back... if ya like it then buy it...

  11. #11
    Has a Masters in B.S.
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    that last post was mine BTW just got loged out for no reason...

  12. #12
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    I was thinking I've never pirated but then I realized the
    first software I used was shared (pirated).

  13. #13
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    Here in Colombia, it's tough to find a computer with only legal software!

    for example, a friend of mine has

    Windows XP pro
    Windows 2000 pro
    Windows 2000 Advanced Server
    Windows NT Server
    Windows 98 SE
    SCO Unix
    Solaris
    Microsoft Visual Studio 6 Enterprise edition
    Microsoft Visual J++ 6
    Microsoft MSDN library from Aug 1999 to October 2001
    Microsoft Office 2000 Deluxe edition
    and lots of games...

    all pirated!, well, this is the extreme, but most computers (specially personal ones) have only pirated software, that's because you can find any program for $10000, $15000 or $20000, $30000 in some extreme cases (that's Colombian Pesos and it translates to: U$4.25 , U$6.40 , U$8.50 , U$12.75), and I mean ANY software that exists...

    As for myself, I prefer to buy software worthy of being bought, such as most games.

    Oskilian

  14. #14
    Piracy. Interesting thought.

    Well, I like to think of it this way. You can get it through piracy, but if you every make a multi-billion dollar piece of software with it, BUY A FREAKIN LICENSE.
    What will people say if they hear that I'm a Jesus freak?
    What will people do if they find that it's true?
    I don't really care if they label me a Jesus freak, there is no disguising the truth!

    Jesus Freak, D.C. Talk

    -gnu-ehacks

  15. #15
    _B-L-U-E_ Betazep's Avatar
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    I buy my games.

    I am borrowing Photoshop 4 and Flash 4. I just don't understand why they don't give it away when they have upgraded so much. Or at least make it really cheap for licensed copies. I would pay ten bucks for Photoshop 4 because they are at 6 now, right.

    I don't know. If I owned a company that relied on it, I would purchase everything. There is a distinct learning curve to these programs, though, and I feel it is ridiculous to keep poor people out of the loop of learning because the software is highly priced.

    I use borland's free compiler just the same, and have a licensed copy of VB 6.

    So I believe in a little piracy for learning only, but for actual developing and/or making money... buy the product.
    Blue

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