Software Piracy Policy - with alternatives!

[grimtraveller]

More the latter though. I agree that in some parts of the world where there really is stark poverty, there'll be use of pirated software and one can understand this. But I'd happilly bet that many of those users don't carry on using cracked stuff once they're able to make a little money.

Well, it's very simple for me. If it hadn't been for the cracks, I'd never have got into electronic music at all. It just never occurred to me I'd ever want to do music ever. But someone gave it to me, it was there and I found I enjoyed using it. Now the software company has a new customer. And so do some hardware companies, as when the bug bit me, there was plenty of other stuff to buy. Did I feel bad then? Not in the slightest. Do I feel good now? Hell yes! Paying for it was the only way to get upgrades and all the new features and I'm delighted with what I've got for the money. Should they feel bad towards me? No, because in my case, it is precisely because of a crack they gained a new customer.

That's kind of the point I was making above. You shouldn't feel bad about it because you haven't carried on down that path. I'd be saying something different if you were of the opinion that you ain't paying for anything.

[rayc]

I'm impressed by Reaper/Cockos business model: Trust, Honest & Value For Money.
It certainly won't make them super rich but it may make them a living.
That used to be the plan once upon a time: set up shop & make a living. These days it's "make a killing" get out & get away.
I downloaded Reaper and used it for a complete project.
I found I really liked it.
I paid for it.
Simple.
I could afford to pay for it.
I appreciated their approach to the distribution of their stuff.
I liked it. I sort of needed it.
I made paypal a few cents in the process.
I have de/evolved to a state where I haven't many qualms about "try before you buy" in a lot of instances - well, those instances are where it's an option I suppose.
That is predicated on buying if I like it/need it/require it & so forth.
I can see that I leave scope for piracy in doing that way.
I also buy second hand quite a bit. There's a problem with that business model - not with the law so much - but with the businesses involved in producing & selling the item when new.
Digital music distributors seem to have worked that one out - a track bought from iTunes belongs to the buyer but cannot be reproduced, copied for other machines or passed on to ones friends or family when one reaches one's use by date, (I hearby bequesth my entire MP3 collection to my great nephew Reginald whom, I am certain, will relish the 4003 Irish Accordian Tango tracks I have legitimately acquired).
Smuggling is about getting it for less and maximizing profit with the "on sale" of the item.
Sometimes the cost to the end consumer is a little less.
Sometimes, if the commodity is restricted, it carries an insane price.
The smuggles prices based on actual cost to them and profit to cover on costs and justify the risk. Rarely does that add up to much of a discount - just enough, in fact, to temp.
The more modern online pirate/smuggler is about a state of mind.
It is about sticking it to "the man".
It's also much more about the reduced risk emboldening the smuggler.
There are some fine balances people take with themselves.
there are those who buy the commodity then make it available to others.
Those who acquire the commodity via smuggling/piracy and pass it on and there are those who begin with actual physical theft and proceed from there.
Of course there is also the growing number of people who have a few toes in the blackmarket of non GST/VAT compliant cash in hand/bartering etc processes.
The world is a complicated place and very few of us live a life in which our values/conscience/morals/upbringing aren't compromised before we nod off to sleep each evening.
People will do what they can live with I suppose.
The acquisition of the goods being somewhat easier than the obtaining of the values these days.
Just call me Water Muddier.

[Rusty Nuts]

I believe that the person/s or company who create these programs deserve there asking price. (most)
Support our cause..... Monkey.gif

[grimm560]

Try Mixpad from NCH software. They claim to give you a free trial...but if you start the free trial, then use it for a few days...go to uninstall it, they give you the option of using the software completely free with some components stripped. Its only $50 to buy the license. NCH Software has a ton of free, cheap, yet incredibly powerful software between audio, video, business, broadcasting, Podcasting...the list goes on. Any dummy that can navigate their recording software can use their video software. They're damn near the same as far as usability goes. Do a search for free Izotope Ozone Alternatives to find mastering software that costs you nothing. I am posting a thread about all of this stuff.

[Doctor Varney]

Try Mixpad from NCH software. They claim to give you a free trial...but if you start the free trial, then use it for a few days...go to uninstall it, they give you the option of using the software completely free with some components stripped. Its only $50 to buy the license. NCH Software has a ton of free, cheap, yet incredibly powerful software between audio, video, business, broadcasting, Podcasting...the list goes on. Any dummy that can navigate their recording software can use their video software. They're damn near the same as far as usability goes. Do a search for free Izotope Ozone Alternatives to find mastering software that costs you nothing. I am posting a thread about all of this stuff.

Which of the components are stripped from Mixpad when you do this?

[BlaineBird]

fl studio is what i use.$100.00 and free updates for life.comes with great plugins stock!

[Doctor Varney]

fl studio is what i use.$100.00 and free updates for life.comes with great plugins stock!

Same here. Fantastic value for money and has advanced features which can put some other DAWs to shame, considering their prices. If I think I'm being treated fairly, I don't mind paying and I'm only too happy to contribute to their development.

[Jay Tee 4303]

I don't live like a Boy Scout, even tho I am, Eagle, OOA, Firecrafter, 1974. I still don't lie, cheat, or steal, rules be damned, its a practical matter.

I can barely remember the pertinent details of events or conversations a week ago, much less fabricate AND KEEP STRAIGHT an alternate version of reality.

I'm just too lazy to lie.

I don't steal cuz there's way more of you than there are of me.

Stealing is a losing proposition.

I don't cheat cuz I'm bored most of the time. Surrounded by people who seem perpetually mired in simple problems, can't work a computer file system, who watch and are apparantly consumed by televised video aimed at 12 year old intellects, interspersed by advertisements epitomized by Hardees thinking I want to eat their food cuz they show some loser wiping coffee off a disgusting, fouled countertop with a dirty rag and drinking it. MMMM BOY!

Their attention spans are dictated by a lifetime of watching all problems solved in 30 minute, 60 minutes, or 60 seconds, on TV, and if they did try to solve a problem once and for all, the research would stop at 60 minutes and they'd have to start all over again the next day. There are people who have avoided this situation, but they have things to do besides entertaining me 24/7, so I'm on my own a good bit of the time, and I hate monotony, so I do things the hard way just to stretch them out and provide an occasional challenge.

I'm just a practical guy. I do the right thing for my benefit and I'm damned selfish about it. It lets me look people in the eye and know I can match or come close to their best, and deal with them on a similar level instead of begging favors. By applying similar standards to what I see in others, its quick and easy to know who I can trust and who is going to mess up the whole world the minute my back is turned.

This, in turn, allows me the luxury of not having to do everything myself. I don't have to build my own roads, practice brain surgery, brand cows, distill liquor, or solder circuit components...I can focus on the things I like, and have some skill at, and let people I know i can trust do the same.

For all of our benefit.

If you ask me, THIS is why The Rules got invented in the first place. Not a bunch of commands from power weenies to harsh your buzz....just a big picture view of how intelligent people can make things work a lot better than a bunch of solo artists always at war.

All that said...and I'm gonna be a bit careful exactly how I put this....once upon a time there was a businessman bent on cornering the computer operating system market, by fair means or foul. He...improved his product, to release a version we'll call...Skylight 1998.

It crashed on national TV on launch, and crashed on every system it ran on, so he improved it and released another version....Skylight 1998 SE.

Unfortunately, he screwed every person who bought and could not use the first version by charging full price for the fix...and...unfortunately for him in this anecdotal fairy tale, he failed to secure access to his product, and the moral of the story is that he no longer owes me a dime.

Quite the other way round as a matter of fact.

Hypothetically...

Otherwise...you invent it, its your's, and I'll pay your price for it, if it serves my needs. Treat me right and you'll get the same in return.

Gouge me senseless...and well...two can play at that game.

Got oxygen?

[Doctor Varney]

I like that.