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Pirated Software and Viruses? Ahem... No. I don't want to help you...

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Curt:
Regarding the thread's subject.
I think Renegade reacted well - I disapprove very much with pirating.

Nevertheless I am in theory willing to adopt a pirated version of an abandoned program that is no longer for sale.

------

I was just thinking about this the other day:
I'm not allowed to video record a concert of my favorite signed artists and post it, even if ... -superboyac (May 02, 2011, 12:52 PM)
--- End quote ---

I guess this problem is bigger in USA (and England) than elsewhere. The American music industry has made an enormous effort to make new laws created. The old law did of course not include digital copies, but was strictly for analogue media. All over the world we could enter a second-hand shop and purchase books, cassette tapes, or LPs, without anyone but the shop owner making money on the deal. Personally, I don't see any difference between a (one) low density YouTube music video or an (one) old LP - but the real difference is no longer the age or quality of the media, but the Internet. One copy is no longer one copy, but in theory a zillion copies. Tricky.

40hz:
I guess what I'm saying is that I'm utterly confused and frustrated about the balance between legality, ethics, and freedom at this point...just in life and America in general.  I get a little freaked out and depressed about it occasionally, like this weekend.
-superboyac (May 02, 2011, 12:52 PM)
--- End quote ---

I think you hit it on the head.

We're all confused and frustrated. And most of us are trying our best to do what's right by our own individual ethical standards. And trying to balance fairness and reasonableness against selfishness and greed.

Not an easy task, no matter where you stand on the topic.  :huh:

app103:
You know, you could offer to help him, but maybe not with the kind of help that he originally had in mind.  Ask for a list of the software titles he wants help with and return him a disk full of high quality open source and freeware alternatives. 

Explain to him that this software is good, needs no cracks, and doesn't come loaded with malware...and best of all, it's legally free.

Ask him to do a favor for you...that since you bothered to take the time to create this collection for him, he should bother to take the time to try every single application on your disk.

Because if you don't help him in some way, he will find someone else that will. And they are likely to do exactly what he asked you for. And if you can do this before he asks someone else, maybe he will still ask someone else, but maybe he won't pirate all the things he originally planned on.

If he keeps just one of the free apps and uses that instead of pirating something on his original list, consider it a partial victory, and maybe it will make him just a little more open to the idea of using free legal alternatives in the future, if he doesn't feel like paying for it.

Or you can prepare the disk and then clean the malware off his pc and install everything for him, placing the shortcuts on his desktop like this:


* OpenOffice (MS Office)
* GIMP (Photoshop)
* xchat (mIRC)
* etc.
That way he knows what he has and what it compares to when he wants to accomplish a task, and he won't get lost trying to figure out what all that new stuff is.  ;)

vlastimil:
... he bought a CD of pirated software ...
-Renegade (May 02, 2011, 12:14 AM)
--- End quote ---

This really sounds absurd to me. He is OK to pay for software, but not to the authors.

I think this is ours (software authors') fault. We cannot sell the software properly. The deal does not seem fair to a lot of people. And so they pirate the software. I don't hate them...but helping them? No.

superboyac:
I've spent a lot of time thinking about this.  The core of the problem is that it doesn't seem like writing software (on a small business level) is life-sustaining profitable.  I've seen too many talented programmers write good stuff only to give up after realizing they can't support themselves.  As a result, they are forced to make a living doing other things.  Society pays the price because the innovative software is not readily available, and the software that is successful is usually big company software that is bloated, has poor customer service if any, and not all that great to use.

On the other hand, I also feel that a lot of the small guy computer programmers would be served well to learn a thing or two about business.  You can't be such idealists and expect to make a living.  I often fall into the same trap myself, and I'm only now learning how to think differently.

Instead of complaining about Apple, look at what they are doing and see if you can learn a thing or two about business from them.  Same with any other successful company, like Microsoft and Google.  I'm not saying copy them, I'm saying learn from them.

But ultimately, I truly believe that these are difficult times.  No matter how smart or talented you may be, there probably isn't much of an opportunity to "make it" as a solo programmer.  With Apple, apps, cloud computing, the increasingly disturbing lock between mobile computing and wireless service...there is not much room at all for a person with strong ideas and skills.

Too many people, too much competition.  Apps are going to destroy the shareware market pretty soon.  Obliterate it.  Most of the developers will be forced to start designing apps or cloud computing applications.

It's crazy.  All Microsoft has to do is create a decent antivirus suite, like they just did.  I think that is extremely bad news for the commercial AV products like Kaspersky, NOD, McAfee.  After almost a decade of using Kaspersky, even I switched to MSE.  This is all bad news for individuals who are reaching for success.

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