From: szatezal@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Shane M Zatezalo)
Subject: Re: The Perennial Piracy Debate (was Re: Bilestoad)
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 13:46:25 GMT

In article <6u7PoB1w165w@bluemoon.rn.com> cmcurtin@bluemoon.rn.com (Matthew Curtin) writes:

>
>As a Procyon customer, I feel I must speak my peace on this. 
>
>GNO, is, I believe, worth much more than its sticker price. Consider what 
>a similar product on an Intel box (eek!) would cost. However, Procyon has 
>made every effort to keep the price of their software from becoming too 
>much for the average GS user to buy. If I remember correctly, when the 
>announcement was made about the formation of Procyon, this was something 
>specifically stated. In any case, Procyon has given us a tremendous 
>product at a price that is more than reasonable.
>
>Someone mentioned earlier that they are going to buy GNO now, because they 
>downloaded a copy from a pirate BBS and liked it.

 That /might/ have been me. And yes, I did download the beta of GNO that got
out (quite a while ago), and was impressed, even though it did bomb out quite
a bit. (hey, it was a beta). (and, incase you are wondering, I have purchased
GNO)

 Believe it or not, I think that beta of GNO getting out rather helped
Procyon. (I can see the heat from the flames coming :) ) Why would I think
that? From the people that I know that tried that beta out, all of them went
on to buy the product. (and most of them, for the most part, buy software
only after trying it out...) Granted, the beta hardly worked, but it was more
like a demo of what you'd get /after/ you paid for it... and it showed people
that GNO did infact exist, and work.

 Besides, its not like anyone can /really/ use a pirated version of GNO. What
is someone going to do, call up and ask them questions about it if they
haven't bought it? Yeah, right. (that would take some stupidity or balls,
which I'm not sure) The same thing is probably true with packages such as
Proline and Metal... you will need support to use the product.

> He then justified piracy for the purpose of giving software the chance
> to be used and tested before it's purchased.

I see nothing wrong with this, as long as if its going to be used, it is
then purchased, or its deleted. (Yeah, I know, not many people do that, but
it'd be nice....)

> Some people don't seem to understand that a commercial product is
>"shareware" for them just because it costs more money than they 
>have sitting in their wallet at the moment. The fact of the matter is 
>this: Pirates, regardless of their intent, are killing the machine they 
>claim to love.

Oh, give me a break. Apple killed the II, not pirates. And if it weren't
for the installed school base, Apple probably (IMHO) would have dropped the
II by now.

> If they do not pay for the software they use WHEN THEY SHOULD (in
>the case of Shareware, after they've tested it; in the case of 
>commercial software, before they take it home to use it), the developers 
>will not be able to get the money that is due to them for their efforts.

No way... so you are telling me you walk into a computer store, look at
the package of a program, read the description, and say "Oh, it sounds nice,
I'll buy it, open it (hence it can't be returned) and try it out then."
You're nuts! There is just too much software out there that isn't good.
Hey, if you're rich, you can do this, but I doubt the normal joe american
could ever afford to do it. (I know I can't)

>Please allow me to quote from the GNO documentation:
>
>"...We are Apple II programmers born, bred, and raised
>... In short, support us and we'll support you."

>We cannot expect great programmers who could make tremendous amounts of 
>money programming other machines to write great software for us IIgs users 
>out of the goodness of their hearts.

We can't???? :)

>I think that a problem we might be having with this argument is this: Few 
>pirates are willing to come forward with any reasons why they steal 
>software.

No... if people do come forward and say exactly why they do it (especially
here on csa2) they are /hounded/ and totally ridiculed, and basically driven
away from the discussion about it. (please, no opinions on whether or not
this should happen, ok?)

>Many of us who speak about piracy do so against it, and, 
>therefore, do not understand the mindset of the pirate. The issues 
>involving piracy are many; perhaps we are not addressing the right ones to 
>cause pirates to think twice about what they're doing...

No, the normal "joe pirate" seems to be buying more these days. (IMHO)

>Thank you, Procyon, for continuing to support us with your great software.

here here!

 _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
:   Shane M. Zatezalo         : i-net> szatezal@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu :
:   CIS Eng Ohio State        :  Who'd ya expect, Elmer Fudd? - M. Jordan :
:GS:::: Apple II forever!! ::::::GO BUCKS!::::::: Play Lacrosse! :::::::GS: