* Replying to a message originally to Kalman Daniel on 05-15-97
CM>     Oh-oh! Deom programs. Like "Press a key! You see, if you'd
CM> have bought the full program for only all your money, that key would've 
CM> work".
CM> Demos are a pain in the bottom. Only when I think of a message around 
here CM> that offered a DOS 6.0  with upgrade to 6.2 for _only_ 10$. If I 
have to CM> pay 10$ for DOS, what would I have to pay for Borland Pascal?
CM>     And speaking of protection of software: program in Windows!
CM> Nobody even bothers to start the damn thing up, how could anyone crack a
CM> program in that catastrophy?
CM>     Hey! What is that "pirate from a friend"? If he is a friend
CM> of yours, then
CM> you _take_ from a friend. And you erase it in an hour if you
CM> don't like it...
Still taking "from" the author!  One less copy *sold*.  It's not taking from 
your friend or off the internet that constitutes the piracy.  It's using 
something that the author wasn't paid monies for.  Same as someone making 
bootleg tapes/cd's and selling them without submitting the proper paperwork 
so the composer/publishers can get paid.
CM>     To make a program you need a lot of other little useful
CM> programs. If you'd
CM> have to pay for ll of them you'd get broke before you even get
CM> started. Of
CM> course nobody pays for everything, only for software they can't
CM> crack...
I had a problem with some supposed copyrighted stuff.  The creator of some 
graphics had given a non-profit organization the 'right' to use a logo he had 
designed for it, even to include the website.  He knew at the time that I and 
my fiance were the webmasters of the website.  At the time there seemed to be 
no problem.  Nearly a year later, he decided we were enfringing on his 
copyright, and demanded we remove the logos from the organization's site, 
stating we had it on our personal business page (wrong).  The only place we 
ever put the logo was on the organization's page.  All links from our page 
only were text links, with no graphics. Even on the org.'s page, there were 
at least two credits to his name and hyperlinks to his page.  He still ranted 
and raved for nearly a month until the organization got a separate webspace 
and put him in as webmaster (which I think was the bottom line he had been 
going for all along.) Frankly, it was a stink that was unnecessary, since all 
copyrights were being observed from the start.  No where on the org.'s page 
was there a statement saying the graphics were designed by my company... only 
that the page had been designed by us.  The logo's design had ben credited to 
him, along with a hyperlink to his page, as has been normal.  The guy simply 
wanted to be webmaster (must have been a big 'ego-trip' for him!); but *now* 
the organization has to pay for the same amount of web space that was once 
donated to it (with us doing page monitoring for the server in exchange for 
the organization's space on the server.).  Go figure, they're rather pay for 
space and move the page (which had been cross-linked with at least several 
hundred sites on the net)... and our email folders are full of requests for 
information about the problem with the org's page (the one that no longer 
exists!).
CM>  ML>> Give me a break. The only time a pirate only has
CM> something on
CM>  ML>> their computer for a few days is when they don't like it
CM>  ML>> otherwise they keep it for free.
CM>  KD> I'm only saying that this trial should be free, and not
CM> considered a
CM>  KD> crime. If they keep it, they do commit a crime.
That's what "demos" are for!  I've had several demo's that weren't crippled 
to the point that the user couldn't at least see what the registered/paid for 
version would do.  Like a business card program I got off the net the other 
day.  It was VBC (virtual Business Card).  It allowed me to create the 
business card, including the background .bmp's that came with the demo 
(claimed more than 100 comes with the registered version, and gave at least 
25 for the demo).  Everything went fine, and it even printed the card.... 
with "TEST VERSION" randomly printing on each card.  It allowed me enough 
versatility to know that it was a program that I probably would include in my 
files and one that I will probably purchase.  If it hadn't printed, I would 
have been reluctant... although I couldn't hand out the cards, I still got an 
opportunity to see what it was capable of doing, from onset to completion of 
the program.
The demo's I hate are the ones that are so crippled that I still don't know 
if, without registering or purchasing the full-version, they will do what I 
need them to do.  At least with VBC, I know it will... and that, in itself, 
is enough reason for me to purchase the registered version.
The bottom line to piracy:  If it were *your* design/program, something you 
had worked on developing, wouldn't you want what you figure was rightfully 
yours - being the sales of all copies (other than the ones for purchaser's 
backup protection)?  If the shoe were on the other foot, you'd probably feel 
the same way as the software designer/programmers...
Nancy
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