I think Larry is right on target. I'm more of a hardware guy than a software guy, but I analogize software with a work of art. If someone is talented enough to be able to paint like Rembrandt and copy one of his works and sell it as an original; most would agree that there is theft and deception involved. If one were to reprint books by contemporary authors and resell them without permission or licensing most would agree that too would be theft. However when it comes to software many attitudes change about theft. Whatever the intention stealing is stealing. I believe many of us have this attitude because software is ubiquitous. We all use it, almost all day. Some of us even write little hacks or snippets of code, therefore how difficult can it be to craft? Because it is everywhere if I illegally use just a couple *little* programs no one really gets hurt. Larry shows us how that attitude can cause real damage to people. I'm not intending to moralize. Just pointing out that no matter how much we might rationalize our unlicensed use of some software. It is still theft and one needs to accept the consequences. Mark. > On the other side of the coin ... > > /soapbox on > > I'm a software developer. I used to have a vertical app that I was > trying to sell. It was a small marketplace and people copying my > package would have made it very hard on me. I spent considerable time > and effort combating people's efforts to use my package without paying > for it. > > Another developer I know went out of business because every time he sold > one copy, ten other people in the area would suddenly have his program. > And this was for churches! > > Copying commercial software is stealing! Just because it can be easily > copied, doesn't give everybody (or anybody) the right to do so. > > While you may not think it is "taking anything away" from them, it is > depriving them of the income they should get for your usage of their > product. > > If you want free software, stay with the FOSS packages. If you want to > use commercial software, pay for it. > > That said, have I ever used a commercial package without purchasing it? > Yes, I have. But I try to restrict it to trying software to see if it > will do what I want or using it for a small one time need that doesn't > justify purchasing an expensive package. (But that still doesn't make > it right.) > > /soapbox off > > Larry R. Pint > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org [mailto:tclug-list-bounces at mn- >> linux.org] On Behalf Of Mike Miller >> Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 5:04 PM >> To: John J. Trammell >> Cc: tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> Subject: Re: [tclug-list] Poll topic- I use linux because... >> >> On Mon, 28 Aug 2006, John J. Trammell wrote: >> >> > On Mon, Aug 28, 2006 at 10:07:22AM -0500, Mike Miller wrote: >> >> On Sun, 27 Aug 2006, Bob Hartmann wrote: >> >> >> >>> 3. Stealing from Microsoft and Adobe is wrong. >> >> >> >> (A) It isn't "stealing" because you are not taking anything away > from >> >> them when you make a copy of something. It's not like taking > someone's >> >> purse. It's more like taking a photo of someone's purse. >> > >> > Utter nonsense. In today's legal climate, regardless of your > opinion of >> > the matter, it is a prosecutable offense, and it is irresponsible of > you >> > to say otherwise. >> >> It might be hard for you to accept this, but a law that equates > copying a >> file with stealing a purse is a very bad law. >> >> Mike >> >> _______________________________________________ >> TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota >> tclug-list at mn-linux.org >> http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Get a free email address at http://www.ippimail.com and support your favorite charity without it costing you a penny. Email for the good guys!