TerraMortim said:
glen...physical property and intillectual property are two different things, with completely different results, even if you consider pirating software stealing.
Property is property. The fact that one is in the form of metal and plastic and the other in magnetic ones and zeros is irrelevant.
Do you guys who advocate piracy really believe that software just falls out of trees? Do you believe that the software you steal has no value just because it's so damn easy to make a copy of?
Software - and intellectual property in general - has intrinsic value the same way that physical property does. The ease in which the final product can be duplicated does nothing to dilute that value.
When you buy a compressor, you're not just paying for a pile of metal and plastic and ceramic. If you were, even a Manley or a UA would only cost a couple of dollars. No, you're paying for the idea, the design, the work, the skill and the labor that went in to turning a small pile of raw materials into a functioning tool. The better the tool functions for you, the more value it has, and the higher the price. This is why an LA2A costs so much more than a dbx160.
It's no different with software. There are real people that put just as much - if not more - of their blood, sweat, and tears into creating the ones and zeros that you've burnt into that pirated copy of Cubase on that CD-R you're holding in your hands as the ones who developed and built that precious compressor you saved up to legitimately buy. There is real value in those ones and zeros the same way as there is real value in those tubes and wires.
While there may be no physical theft of product, and maybe even sometimes no theft of sales, there will always remain the
theft of service. You are stealing those developer's time, their effort, their skill, their work...their life.
I've witnessed first-hand lead developers and managers who, after already putting in a 60 hour week, *still* came in on a holiday to finish "one last debugging", and actually suffer literally everything from nervous breakdowns inthe office hallway to divorces at home because of it. Why? Not because they are geeks who just love to do nothing but program. Its because they are entrepeneurs under the pressure of competition, because they care about what they put their name on, because they really want to do their best to put out a great product, and because if they fail, the company goes under and their kids go hungry; all the time having to deal with ridiculous idiocies of business life that would make your average Dilbert cartoon seem more like a Family Circus.
Is there no value in that?
Go back and re-read the options in this poll:
1. I buy it. I like to support the creator.
2. I download it. To hell with the creator.
Somone please tell me how piracy is supporting the creator?
Someone please explain what they'd say if they had to meet that developer face to face, who after going through all that to provide that product to you, you decide that the product has enough value for you to desire but his efforts in creating it have no value at all. Explain to me how you can tell him (or her) with a straight face, "Thank you for your fine product, I will use it and enjoy it. Now go fuck yourself, I'm not giving you a dime for it."
And don't give me that bullshit about it being some form of free advertising for them because all it's really advertising the the idea of piracy itself. Rare is the instance where someone says, "Gee, that software that Chauncy stole looks great. I think I'll buy it." No, instead it's, "Hey Chauncy, burn me a copy too, will ya?"
And keep the "I'm just trying it out, I'll buy it later when I can afford it" excuse in your pockets too, because we all know that almost no one goes back and buys something they've already gotten away with stealing.
Commercial software comes with a social - never mind legal - contract of barter built into it. I will create this product and offer it to you inder these terms and conditions. These terms and conditions include this price and this set of rights. If you accept these terms, then you give me money and I get to put bread on the table; you, in turn, get the fruits of my labor and get a tool that'll help you make your life at least a little better.
If you don't accept the terms, if you think the price is unfairly high for the product and rights your getting, then there's not deal. There's no trade of my product for your money. If too many of you say that, then either my product isn't good anough and I have to improve it or my price is too high and I'll have to lower it.
But don't just decide that it is valuable enough to desire and to posess on your end then claim it has no value by not paying for your copy of it. That inequality in value, that
inbalance in the transaction is the very definition of theft itself. And it hurts both the creator of the product and the receiver of the pirated material, even if there is no loss of physical inventory or loss of potential sales involved.
G.
. You want to move, you could do worse than Chicago...though we have seasons here too, I'm afraid 
. The message I'm getting is that if I put out a good product, you'll give me money. But if put out a great product and get lots of money, I'm a cad. In that case, I guess I'll just cancel the good stuff and keep putting out medeocre stuff so you'll keep paying for it. Sucker.
