Original Message                 Date: 13-Jun-03  @  08:36 AM     Edit: 13-Jun-03  |  09:30 AM   -   Software piracy: good guy gone bad?

Mick

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Anyone who's been here awhile knows my views on people bragging about using warez and copies or looking for such on K's site but, if he's not averse to an academic discussion on the matter I'd like to pose something of a question.

Some time ago a friend of mine mentioned that his father, a very successful business man, would "acquire" software and use it over a period of months, sometimes up to a year, to determine if it was stable and truly useful to him in his business. After a period of time he would make a decision and either move on to evaluate another piece of software or call the software company and request a license and documentation. Usually he would get some sort of a discount since he didn't need a packaged product. Also, he was never challenged regarding his somewhat unusual request. Some of the things my friend attributed to his father's financial success was honesty, integrity and an unwillingness to invest money in anything that didn't work or contribute to his business.

Considering how much software for professional use costs I have a hard time being critical of this approach. In addition, the current trend of releasing software that hasn't been thoroughly beta tested has softened my attitude (I'm reminded of my difficulties when Cubase VST32 was released). The key, obviously, is in the purchase of software that one intends on keeping after a thorough evaluation. If such purchases are not made then the software determined to be truly useful will go away and the user may be forced to turn to an inferior product, all becuase of not paying up after evaluation. The flip side is that software companies that choose to foist beta testing onto paying customers would be forced to reevaluate such practice or go out of business. So, what say the good folk of DT?

I know this may sound cheesy but I'd rather this thread not continue until K gives it his blessing (hopefully he'll see it) as an academic discussion especially considering his desire to sell product through DT. And please don't get on me about even bringing the subject up if I have doubts regarding its propriety. I bring it up because I respect the differing opinions here and believe it to be especially relevent considering the proliferation of file sharing and the aforementioned trend in the software industry. If K deems it inappropriate I would hope he simply deletes the post. Thanks.

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Message 31/35                 Date: 27-Jun-03  @  10:48 PM   -   RE: Software piracy: good guy gone bad?

RagnarOk

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Part of the problem is that these days we want software with LOT of functions. Just simply doing a task isn't enough anymore. Not that you can blame anybody for wanting flexible music software anyways  

Point is, for this complexity, you've go to hire a lot of people. As software evolves and gets more and more complicated, you'll need more and more people to make it, test it, make possible for others to work together, etc. And the bigger your team is, the bigger the chance for having incompetent/unmotivated staff being involved. And while complex software needs a lot of hands to make, even one of them can fuck it up completely.

Thre are only a very few exceptions, when software does what it should do, no more, no less, and you can actually stop worrying about saving every 5 minutes. Just have a look at Reason. Closed architecture, limited number of modules, and surprisingly, the concept works. As soon as your SW must work together with 3rd party plugins, etc, you'll face the endless problems of bably implemented/specified interfaces.

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Message 32/35                 Date: 27-Jun-03  @  10:54 PM   -   RE: Software piracy: good guy gone bad?

RagnarOk

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No, I'm not saying we should't want plugins, not at all   But makers ans users of music SW WILL have problems, until they realise that there are too many plugin formats, and that forces plugin vendors to have different versions of their plugz to remain competetive (which often means converters, and wrappers), and effort that could've been spent on improving quality.

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Message 33/35                 Date: 29-Jun-03  @  12:08 PM     Edit: 30-Jun-03  |  12:52 AM   -   RE: Software piracy: good guy gone bad?

Mick

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Simple single function software does seem to end up being more stable. I would actually support a company, like Steinberg or Twelve Tone Systems, to begin releasing their software in single function modules designed by teams who would each focus on a specific one, ie., a MIDI seqencing module, an audio sequencing module, a rack module (to handle processors only), an instrument module, (for softsynths & samplers only), etc. Maybe music software would end up being more reliable.

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Message 34/35                 Date: 29-Jun-03  @  12:24 PM   -   RE: Software piracy: good guy gone bad?

k

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i dont think there's any excuse apart from finances... s/w costs alot for what people percieve as the better-end of the market.

BUT, ORION & FRUITY-LOOPS both come with lots of gear included and work great.

I still maintain the problem is the way it is retailed.

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Message 35/35                 Date: 30-Jun-03  @  01:25 PM   -   RE: Software piracy: good guy gone bad?

dubmunkey

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agreed, being essentially hardware-centric i must say Fruityloops was one of the best examples of cheap software out there....it does rudimentary things that even cubase doesn't...

Greg

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