From: phill@nebula.equinox.gen.nz (Phillip Coxon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: I found a pirate - what shall I do?
Date: 9 Nov 92 11:28:41 +1200
Organization: Editor, Amiga Christchurch Inc.
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

Joel Kolstad (kolstad@cae.wisc.edu) wrote:

> You're quite right.  I don't feel so great when I've just gone out and paid
> good money for a program and come back to a person who says, "Oh yeah!
> I got that a long time ago!  It's a really great program!"  I still know
> that the program really is worth the money, but it seems sort of unfair
> to those of us with decent MORALS out here.  I suppose I could simply
> compromise my morals... :-)

 I  used  to  be a right little pegleg myself, but I've changed my ways over
the  last  couple  of  years.   There's nothing I find more satisfying than
looking  at  my  bookshelf  and  seeing  an  increasing amount of it filled
with original software titles.

 Yeah,  it is disheartening when someone says "You bought xyz for how much?
I  could  have  given  you  a copy for free!", but being able to refer to a
manual  or  receive  backup/updates  makes up for the cost.  Still, I often
wish  software  wasn't  so  expensive  -  there's much I'd like to buy, but
little I can afford when I have to pay for Uni fees, hardware etc first...

IMO there are three types of piracy:


Ignorant  piracy:   those  people  that copy software without ever thinking
about  what  they  are doing.  I remember the days of my Speccy and C64 - I
copied  and used games aplenty without the slightest realisation that I was
contributing  to  a  problem  and  cheating  numerous authors out of a hard
earned  source  of  income.   These people need to be educated - shown that
someone  spent  a great deal of time and effort producing that software and
if it is going to be used, then it should be payed for.


Diliberate  piracy:   those people who know full well that they are ripping
authors off but just don't care.  Worse still, they spread it as far and as
wide as possible.  I recieved this a few days ago:

-----------------

                FEDERATION AGAINST STEFAN BOBERG
                --------------------------------
 
                           presents

             LHA 1.40r "Extended ShareWare Version"


The concept of Extended ShareWare:
----------------------------------

Extended ShareWare means _real_ ShareWare - you share the program
with your friends and everyone willing to join in the FEDERATION
AGAINST STEFAN BOBERG (FASB).

To register your copy, just get a picture of Stefan Boberg and
take a shit on it - then you're licensed to use his fucking
programs without paying any fee.

If you're interested in further information on FASB or if you want
to get Stefan's new releases just before the registered users
know that there's a new release, write to:

FEDERATION AGAINST STEFAN BOBERG,
[Address deleted]

Installation of LhA 1.40:
-------------------------

Just copy the l/LhA.key file to your l: directory, and the
LhA executable to your c: directory.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Look out for our next releases - soon coming LhA 2.00 and others..
-------------------------------------------------------------------

These  kind  of idiots really, really piss me off.  Obviously they use LhA,
but feel no obligation to pay the *very* reasonable shareware fee requested
by Stefan.  $US 20 is awesome value for what the LhA utils can do - I can't
wait for my registered copy to arrive.

 Of course, these are the same fools that will be moaning about what a dead
machine  the  Amiga  is once they force such talented programmers as Stefan
out of the Amiga community.


Commercial  piracy:   These  guys  are the lowest of the low.  Making money
selling software other people have written.  Here in New Zealand we have at
least two Amiga mail-order companies selling the latest titles for $US 2.5.
They  even  advertise  in  the  main  newspapers.  What can we do about it?
Stuff  all - no organisation seems willing to take a stand against it.  And
then  we  have individuals here selling software (for a copying fee) on the
pretence it is PD or shareware...

After saying all that, I have to admit piracy isn't _all_ bad. How many of
us bought our first computer(s) just because we knew how many freely
available games we could get right away to play? Piracy has helped Amiga
and other computer sales immensely. I wonder where the Amiga would be
today if piracy was near non-existant?

Remember:
      *	A program WORTH using is WORTH buying!
      *	Support Shareware & PD!