Knisely@his-phoenix-multics.arpa (04/17/84)
RE: transactions by Lauren at Rand-Unix, Ewing at Yale and BILLW at SRI-KL. ..... I hoped it would come, and it did; some reasonable, well thought out discussion of this issue. Thank you. I may not agree with some/all of what any/all of you have to say, but I am interested to read your comments and thoughts. And, I appreciate BILLW's taking the time to enter the data on costs, the numbers seem reasonable to me altho' I have no factual basis to support them or attack them. As for me, yes like almost every home micro owner I know, I possess some pirated software, all games. Why? Well, temptation getting the better or good intentions is part of it. And the other part is that I haven't found any way to consistently be able to try the programs before I buy them. On numerous occasions I have gotten pirated copies of games, tried them and erased them. On several occasions, I have bought copies on the strenght of of having found that I do use them more than just once or twice. I do not and will not pass copies of what I have around except for a few whose feelings roughly match mine. Wrong? Yep. Unjustifiable? Maybe. From what I've seen on the BBS', I'm probably in the minority in at least attempting to stay honest, as has been mentioned before, many don't see anything wrong or just ignore the moral issue (I want it and I'll get it, but I cannot/will not spend the money). I do think software is overpriced, especially the non-game home products, but I've had to bite-the-bullet and either pay their price or do without. I value good software of this kind too much to pirate it, and I want to see the writers/developers properly rewarded. And I have very strong feelings about the protection schemes that prevent me from making the backups I should be able to legitimately make. No, I can't just not buy their product -- there are virtually NO programs still unprotected for home use on my machine. Do we perhaps have two kinds of problems, one business related and one home/personal related? Should we have two sets of rules, or can we make one set work (not necessarily what is right, what can we make WORK)? How do we balance the need for the producers to make a profit on the product, with the customers' rights and needs? .....Dick (Knisely.DSP1%pco at CISL)...