Message 3/35
Date: 13-Jun-03 @ 12:47 PM Edit: 13-Jun-03 | 12:59 PM -
RE: Software piracy: good guy gone bad?
Its a tricky one that for sure.. Its an argument that's raged on and on and on....
To follow some of Micks points though; what other products would one be expected to pay for, with the justified expectation of receiving a fully working/fully functional product, only to find that it had not in all truth been quality control tested to the point where it can be deemed as fully fit for use? There aren't many that's for sure (if any at all)
This arguement alone doesn't advocate the use of piracy by a long shot, but clearly there are many things wrong with the model/attitudes in place within the software industry that has allowed this situation to worsen. Worsen to the level that some people DO genuinely feel justified in "evaluating" the software by any means necessary before chosing to make a purchase.. In some cases there's shareware, or demo copies but that doesn't really come close to covering it.
To be honest, I've gone off topic from Mick's original post to comment on the state of the industry, but what's also as important as talking about piracy, is that we should be asking ourselves about the quality of the software we ARE buying... Its all well and good eulogising about how good Logic, Sonar and SX are.. its another when those tools do NOT offer all of the promised functionality straight out of the box.. More often than not, the user pays for the developers/publishers testing costs, costs which should have been factored into the original project estimate and have since been swept aside..
Developing patches to fix the *occasional* bug or improve functionality is one thing. Developing patches the rectify major problems or flaws in the original design spec and developement is something else entirely..