Piracy, warez and You. - Page 10

chaser74 · #1 (**permalink**) 04-29-2008, 01:48 PM

i see everyone pointing out how piracy is bad but yet i find all over this site where i can download or am linked to area that are using HTC software that has been "stolen" from another device to be used on their own. yes piracy is a bad thing but it seems to be a necessary evil in a digital society.

tbhausen · #2 (**permalink**) 05-01-2008, 06:04 PM

Open Office wasn't available all the years your brother needed, and thus stole, Office. And if you were a developer seeing your work stolen rather than purchased, you wouldn't believe pirates have "very little impact on the market"... Weak rationalization all around.

Todd/Indy

Quote:

Originally Posted by badutahboy

You're totally wrong. Piracy has very little impact on the market, because most "pirates" would use a different program or go without if they couldn't pirate it... Just as an example, my brother used a pirated version of office for years and years, until he was put in a position where he needed a legit copy. Rather than buy it, he simply switched to open office.

Obviously there are people who'd still buy something, but pirate because it's free, but those people are a relatively small minority. Since pirates are a significant minority of the overall computer population, you're now talking about a minority of a minority who are actually "hurting" the software companies.

badutahboy · #3 (**permalink**) 05-01-2008, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbhausen

Open Office wasn't available all the years your brother needed, and thus stole, Office. And if you were a developer seeing your work stolen rather than purchased, you wouldn't believe pirates have "very little impact on the market"... Weak rationalization all around.

Todd/Indy

Actually, openoffice, or it's predecessor staroffice WERE available for most of the time he was pirating microsoft office. Additionally, there have always been other alternatives..

As for your comments about "if I was a developer"... EVERYONE, in every industry has had their work stolen, copied, or used without permission. I've had far worse happen to me than someone who wouldn't pay for my software anyway downloading a stolen version. That's just part of life.

Again, Piracy is a simple part of a developer's life, just like theft is part of a storeowner's life. There's no use complaining about it, because there's no way to stop it. The people who are "victimizing" you most likely would never buy your product in the first place.

I do like the fact that you never remotely addressed the meat of my post.. That being that pirates are a minority of the computing public, and only a very small minority of pirates are people who do it because they're too cheap to buy a program that they actually NEED.. the only people who are hurting the developers are a minority of the minority of computer owners.

**[sammich]** · #4 (**permalink**) 05-01-2008, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by badutahboy

only a very small minority of pirates are people who do it because they're too cheap to buy a program that they actually NEED.. the only people who are hurting the developers are a minority of the minority of computer owners.

Exactly! If you think about it, how many people know how to use a computer well? How many know how to use one well enough to be familiar with torrents, trackers, and P2P, .nfo's, keygens, risks that come with piracy (viruses, hackers etc)?

Photoshop is an excellent example. People are NOT going to spend $1500 on software that they don't need. They might use it once or twice, but they aren't going to pay that price in the first place! Only those who truly know the potential of the program and need it for their hobby/field of work will pay for it.

tbhausen · #5 (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by badutahboy

I do like the fact that you never remotely addressed the meat of my post.. That being that pirates are a minority of the computing public, and only a very small minority of pirates are people who do it because they're too cheap to buy a program that they actually NEED.. the only people who are hurting the developers are a minority of the minority of computer owners.

Murderers are a minority of the population, too. That justification was too weak, on its face, to merit response--but since you asked...

Todd/Indy

**SomeGuyMMS** · #6 (**permalink**) 05-02-2008, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by badutahboy

Again, Piracy is a simple part of a developer's life, just like theft is part of a storeowner's life. There's no use complaining about it, because there's no way to stop it. The people who are "victimizing" you most likely would never buy your product in the first place.

All software developers have to right to complain and will continue to complain. Thats hard earned money you are taking from their children. Soon all apps will be web-based, this will help prevent users from pirating.

Quote:

Originally Posted by badutahboy

I do like the fact that you never remotely addressed the meat of my post.. That being that pirates are a minority of the computing public, and only a very small minority of pirates are people who do it because they're too cheap to buy a program that they actually NEED.. the only people who are hurting the developers are a minority of the minority of computer owners.

This maybe the case with large companies like Microsoft and Adobe, but us small guys need every sale that we can get. Companies that develop apps for PDAs are generally small in size and only charge $5-$10 for their apps. This is because that is what the market can bare. I'm sure companies like Resco can not survive off of selling applications alone. And I'm sure it is because you can go to the Newsgroups and download every Apllication that sell.

Take Arcsoft's MMS for example, it was not licensed to Sprint users, but it was still installed on every Windows Mobile device Sprint users had. That is well more than a minority of users.

**[sammich]** · #7 (**permalink**) 04-29-2008, 05:32 PM

The software isn't stolen from other devices. We already own the OS, and there is no price for it. We are usong different/upgraded/tweaked/ versions of the same drivers/2tilities etc...

chaser74 · #8 (**permalink**) 04-30-2008, 02:53 PM

so if i own a pc running windows visat i can use it on every pc and tweak it a bit and give it out to everyone? I don not see the logic in your statement nor do i understand it. since you purchased the device and you cannot buy the software it is ok to tweak it and give it out to everyone? All i was pointing was a different way to look at piracy, some things are ok others are not. i am sure that they guys that wrote the software for the phones would like some credit. if i can get the look and feel of a HTC Touch without buying the phone then would i not be taking money fromthe developers ther by comiting piracy at is basic level.

just athoguh

bkhoste · #9 (**permalink**) 04-30-2008, 03:24 PM

Also remeber, in the USA you can sue anyone for anything at anytime. So, if a developer feels you stole their software and were giving it out they could sue the people who own this website. Just another thought.

**[sammich]** · #10 (**permalink**) 04-30-2008, 08:54 PM

But in all reality, we are not taking away credit. We are just modifying it so that it runs better on our devices. Most of the corporate ROM developers don't even bother following up on our issues. You can't just expect those with brilliant minds to stand by and do nothing.

And @ the vista comment - it costs about $399 for a full version of Windows Vista. It costs $0 to purchase a ROM. they aren't for sale. They aren't banned for sale.