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General Software Discussion / Re: Why is so much software cracked?
« on: May 31, 2006, 06:00 PM »
I'm against pirated/stolen software.
I sort of believe that most companies must be intelligent enough to do their sums to calculate pricing to maximize their profit (profit including monetary, prestige, market share etc) and so if prices are high for some product, there must be a logical reason.

But I do have trouble with this:
They determine fair market value
and this
Because they can get it, that's why.
These seem rather contradictory to me. Also, I have a great deal of trouble understanding "fair market value" - Is it touchy feely code in business circles for "what we can get away with" or fair for everyone or fair for whom?
What is fair anyway?
I don't think "fairness" enters into 50% of the coporate world's thinking really, only a "protect our own interests" thinking, which I can understand, whether I like it or not

377
General Software Discussion / Re: Why is so much software cracked?
« on: May 30, 2006, 05:08 AM »
OK there are issues but even at academic license prices it must be horrendously expensive.

I can understand your students dilemma thought - both MS Office and Photoshop even at Academic prices are not cheap.
-Carol Haynes (May 30, 2006, 04:14 AM)
The state government education department buys licenses for the whole state from microsoft for some of their products, but not so for photoshop/dreamweaver et al.
 I thought of you because I reckoned you might have some sympathy for a harried network manager trying to keep all manner of product running with minimal external support (must be very lonely at the top :)  )
jgpaiva, I understand exactly what you're saying and that's the manager's worst nightmare I reckon. Maybe there's a middle path though ... for example why not a simple screen shot program that is easy to use, doesn't bog students down with a zillion un-needed features and is low maintenance? Same with several other types of app - and our needs are modest because we're not a university

378
Living Room / Re: PDAs - any use?
« on: May 30, 2006, 05:04 AM »
Are the applications built into PDAs generally good, or does just about everybody immediately start adding third-party software, just like the PC?
-rjbull (May 30, 2006, 04:31 AM)

Mine came with docs to go (word proc, spreadsheet) and an organizer , browser, pdf reader, jpg viewer and email client which met my needs. It had sundry other stuff which I didn't use much.
I purchased a database and then went on a search - never-ending - for freeware which met my needs. Have found a lot which Ive been happy with.



379
General Software Discussion / Re: Why is so much software cracked?
« on: May 29, 2006, 09:30 PM »
My perspective on this is coloured by being a teacher. At the school I'm at, we use ms office, photoshop, snagit etc etc - all our software is fairly expensive (it is all licensed and legit). So, all our students use it and hence want it themselves at home, either for compatibility reasons or because it might be "top of the line" software. So what are they to do - they are almost all 18-24, migrant, and poor as in living on their own, maybe with a child and on govt support. A big temptation to resist and I'd say its the school's fault.
My suggestion is for schools to use open source/freeware alternatives to help students avoid the lure of pirated software. If "industry standard" software is needed for a vocational course, so be it, else don't use it and students would then have compatabilty as an incentive to use open source / freeware at home, as well as having their consciousness raised on this issue.
I'm sure this is the same in schools everywhere in principal.

I'm not the network manager and so haven't any responsibility for it at my school - Carol might have a different perspective to me.

380
Living Room / Re: PDAs - any use?
« on: May 28, 2006, 05:17 PM »

If you are in the arena for a PDA, I would suggest moving to the pocketpc line of products. Not only do you get a familiar interface (windows based in most cases, although there are some linux-based ones), but you get a wider variety of apps and far greater compatibility. I recommend the HP iPaq, they are great little machines.
-Josh (May 28, 2006, 03:26 PM)
Not too sure I agree with that. In the past palms have had a much greater reliability factor (lost count of the number of times Ive read of ex pocket-pc people who moved to palm and said they had been freed from incessant crashes) Maybe that's changed but it would be worth reading forums to try to get a feel for it.
Wider variety of apps? That's definitely debatable.
On the other hand though, it is that my impression is that the world is (sadly) moving to pocket-pc and if you're worried about not being mainstream, they are the way to go. (A linux based palm sounds kinda nice tho)

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