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Is bootlegging really so bad?
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[Andy Field] “Hey, I can’t afford a Mercedes – guess I’ll go to the lot and steal it. Would have paid for it if I had enough money”
No, no, no. Please stop with these entirely asinine comparisons.
“Hey, I can’t afford a Mercedes…guess I’ll download a 3D schematic and print it out on my MakerBot!”
Perhaps those of us who are not delusional about this issue would take your point more seriously if you don’t resort to illogical points?
Would love that sirloin steak — but my boss doesn’t pay me enough. Time for the five fingered discount.
Again, not even a comparison.
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[Clint Wardlow] “I agree with this. I bet piracy of FCPX took it on the nose with the drastic price drop.”
I have no idea what the piracy nose of FCPX looks like, I only have evidence of Photoshop and Windows because I have read about it in the past.
[Clint Wardlow] “Still the analogy of bootlegging with theft is right on some marks and wrong on others. If companies use ownership to drive prices up and gouge the consumer, where is the ethics in that? That is why we have anti-monopoly and price-fixing laws.”
Yes, it is why we have laws. Are you suggesting that Adobe is breaking a law, fixing prices, or gouging? If so, I’d like to hear about it.
No matter how I feel about “the man”, I don’t think that I can provide an honest, for pay, service using software that I have intentionally cracked. For me, it is not about whether or not I am helping to line the pockets of executives, it’s about how I live my life, and how I would want others to treat me if I put a whole lot of work in to something in exchange for money.
I don’t know if a major corporation “deserves” to be stolen from, or what level of ethics you are talking about, but I know that, personally, I don’t like being robbed. It truly sucks. I don’t deserve it.
Stealing software does devalue this business, although I probably can’t show you on a hyperlink.
David Lawrence will link you to article about how DRM doesn’t work and how DRM only serves to punish they paying user. Guess who I am in that equation?
[Clint Wardlow] “And as to bootlegged software –perhaps I am just being more honest here and perhaps not. Are you guys really saying you have never used a friend’s licence to get a software that was expensive (Jeremy at least fessed up)? Are we all really all that pure? Right or wrong I have a feeling more people that will admit have dirty hands in this respect.”
Yeah, many years ago, I had a hand me down computer and someone let me use their copy of FCP. Very quickly after seeing it, I bought my own copy. If FCP was available for $20/mo back then, I would have paid for it after I used the free trial for 30 days.
My first copies of Adobe software I owned, I paid the student rate and was allowed to upgrade to a full version after that and I have been upgrading since.
If you are asking if companies should price their products fairly and treat their customers ethically, then yes, they should and should be taken to task if they are not leading ethical practices. I would love to hear any evidence that Adobe is straying from ethical behavior.
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When musicians received 50 cents of a 20 dollar cd.
Now that was theft!!
And now those big record labels are not needed anymore and they will sue a family for 100k because the son of the family downloaded an illegal copy of his favorite artist.
He did go to the concert by the way…
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[David Lawrence] “What I find interesting is that by eliminating perpetual licensing, Adobe actually creates a new incentive for piracy. The same hack that eliminates reliance on Adobe’s authentication servers is also a safeguard against future price gouging and guarantees future access to files. I’m not advocating piracy here, but if a goal of Creative Cloud is to combat illegal copies, I think it may have an unintended opposite effect.”
Like a lock on the front door of your house, it’s a deterrent. It’s not designed to make Adobe products unhackable. It’s designed to help combat things like the casual ‘loaning’ of discs and people selling computers on ebay/craigslist ‘fully loaded’ with thousands of dollars of pre-installed apps.
Anyone can already download the 30-day trial + a hack to make it work indefinitely so I don’t think CC opens the door to a new wave of pirating of Adobe’s products.
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[Andy Field] “Hey, I can’t afford a Mercedes – guess I’ll go to the lot and steal it. “
Can you pick me one up too. Maybe in red. And, you know, make mine a Porsche.
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[Chris Harlan] “you know, make mine a Porsche.”
Ah, the elusive Porsc-edes.
Is that like a liger?
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[Andrew Kimery] “Anyone can already download the 30-day trial + a hack to make it work indefinitely so I don’t think CC opens the door to a new wave of pirating of Adobe’s products.”
I think it does…for people who want it to just work and not have to worry about the software being unable to call home for whatever reason.
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Gary, you are quite the diplomat
Andy Field
FieldVision Productions
N. Bethesda, Maryland 20852 -
[Clint Wardlow] “My question was if it was harmful? And if so, just how harmful?”
This is a much better question.
It only hurts people like me, the middle of the road dude who is trying to make a living by doing the right thing.
Ya feel me?
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[Gary Huff] “I think it does…for people who want it to just work and not have to worry about the software being unable to call home for whatever reason.”
I guess I’m wondering how many business owners who currently pay for Adobe products will now pirate Adobe products vs how many people who currently pirate Adobe products will continue to pirate Adobe products.
I know of a few facilities, rather large places, that used to pirate software as a matter of course (not sure if they still do or not) but by and large the people I know and the shops I’ve been all have legit copies of their software. I could see them moving to another vender but not pirating software as a common practice.
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