A very commendable attitude. Having programmed a few things in my time and
been continuously ripped off by friends and associates for free versions, I
thought it would be wise to give up on the whole programming thing and
become a musician. This is now proving to be a dumb-ass idea too, when
people like Oasis and Steps dominate the charts and hardworking, original
musicians are left at the sidelines. Why don't I start a covers band and
start remixing Donna Summers songs? I'm sure there would be more money in
it. Or alternatively I could upload all of my games to the internet and
charge people small fees to buy them. Same ***ing thing.
Why bother when you can find a mug who'll do it for you and save you a whole
30?
It's not really the fault of the people downloading the games, it's the
people uploading them. If you found 20 on the floor you'd pick it up,
without thinking that it could be somebody's housekeeping money and they
would starve without it.
Well, that's enough ranting.
Chris
--
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http://www.racesimcentral.net/
|
|> Hiya
|>
|> Listen, you don't want to know where to get it as once you go down the
|> dark side, it will consume your life. Warez is no good, buy it and try
|> it or if they have rental shops over where you live, try it that way.
|>
|> Dave
|>
|
|Somehow I have to agree. In the good old days of C64s, I had literally
|fileboxes full of copied discs. I think every 15 year old kid did at the
|time, and I really wonder who actually bought the games. I imagine I
bought
|a few, because this was before the days of easy net access and a 300baud
|modem was a speedster, so we had to form some sort of supply chain. But in
|the end, I had many copies. I was raised "well", and yet I had no m***
|qualms about this. Perhaps it was my age, or perhaps it was because it was
|a faceless crime - I didn't have to sneak the discs out from under the nose
|of the programmer. I'm hoping the statute of limitations on these past
|misdemeanours has long since run out... I repent!
|
|Right into university it was still possible to make rationalizations for
|software piracy ("I'm a starving student; let the large companies pay Lotus
|full bucks for their over-priced 1-2-4 software"). It didn't immediately
|dawn on me that perhaps I was part of the reason why Lotus 1-2-3 cost 400
|bucks. Even after my first job change, there was that moment of
uncertainty
|when you ask yourself "do I really *have* to uninstall the program that I
|was running under the previous company's license". The piracy mindset is
|insidious and difficult to shake.
|
|In a way, shaking the attitude requires a concerted effort. I had to wipe
|my harddrive and vow to rebuild it with my own software. Buying bargains
|helps, like finding Corel 7 for 80 bucks instead of Corel 9 for 300 etc.,
|resisting the urge to upgrade office suites every year etc. Demos
|(official, from the company) helped a lot with my game buying choices. And
|I am sure that if I, in a moment of weakness, downloaded a warez version of
|a game, I might not follow through on the purchase, even if I liked it.
|Perhaps a lot of the people in this group will, but I suspect a lot will
not
|(ask yourself why people want the intro movie to "evaluate" the software).
|If I end up buying a dud of a game, I forget about it, consider it a little
|bit of social economics by prolonging the employment of some overworked
|coder who most likely had to submit to the whims of the marketing
department
|:-)
|
|This is just one person's opionion, of course, but my own stand on the
issue
|now is to wait for the official demo, or do without. Most purchases are
|based on the same level of "sampling" as a demo allows, if that much. You
|read the back cover of a book before you buy, you hear a song on the radio
|and decide to buy the CD, you taste a wine before deciding to accept the
|bottle. I approach this not as an unblemished example of an upstanding
|software user, but rather as a repentant sinner. By the way, if anyone
|knows who programmed Electronic Arts' "Drol" back in the 80's, let me know
|so I can slip him a few bucks - man I liked that game. I've already vowed
|to go buy the updated version of "Lode Runner" just to make amends.
|Conscience... funny thing.
|
|Stephen
|
|
|
|
|
