CHOOSE RANT

Title:   Software Piracy Day:    January 25th, 1998 Author:  Ruiner				Boy, talk about running out of steam (and time). This page hasn't seen the light of day in a while. But I have thought about it some. I'm still figuring out in which direction I want to take this. I really want to write some things and put them up for public consumption, but I haven't even taken the time to write, let alone design pages... Anyway, let's rant. Piracy is my new thread of discussion. Software Piracy to be exact. The 'borrowing and selling of programs by so-called hackers', etc. A fun, fun thing to talk about. In my career of working around the internet and computers, it's naive to think I haven't run across any hacked programs or even tried something out. Face reality, the stuff is out there, and if you have any wits about you, you can get ahold of a variety of programs without having to pay for them. But by all means, that is illegal. Yet you see sites that have illicit software on them, all types of programs to crack the security codes on the latest games. Groups of hackers and couriers who band together to market out the latest professional software, most of them for free, or just for the thrill of it. Are these the same guys portrayed in media films, geeky guys with taped glasses that constantly look over there shoulder, but can crack any known government database? I don't know, but I doubt they're the same. It's a sad state of affairs today with the way things have gone in the software industry. Have you recently walked through your local software store and looked at the price on some of the high-end software packages? Art programs for example. I believe CorelDraw 8 was just released for somewhere around $400 dollars, rivalling that of it's competitor Adobe PhotoShop which usually runs around $500. I've had the luxury (and I would use that term... luxury) of using someone's copy of Photoshop, and it is a fine program. Someone with only a medium amount of know-how can accomplish some sweet graphics with this program and the right Plug_Ins. Of course, you have to shell out the cash to do that. Else you can be like me and get your nice low-end copy of PaintShop, which is a respectable program in it's own right. I seem to remember the software companies saying that it was the hackers' fault that their prices had skyrocketed. For every one program they sold, about five had been gotten for free. And yes, some of these programs are very high-end, designed in mind of companies that can afford to pay five or six hundred dollars for a package. I seem to think that the drastic escalation of prices has led to a rise in the amount of software piracy out there. Today's young college youth may want to get their feet wet with a program that could help them on down the road, but what college student can fork out that amount of cash? Not any I know. I don't want to seem insensitive to the programmers. Heck, that's one of the reasons I wrote this. Years ago when I was doing the college thing, I was striving to become just that, a computer programmer. And I can understand not wanting everyone 'stealing' something that I worked hard on, that my livelihood depends on. It just seems that a more proactive approach could be taken than jacking up the prices to make it hard for the average person to buy into it. I give kudos to the person who thought up the trial versions. You know, those small (?) downloads that let you try out a program and see if you like it for 15 days or so? I've found some decent programs that way and actually made the purchases. Of course, I've also downloaded things, and by the time I get around to using them, the time limit has already expired. C'est la vie. I may have seemed a little soft on the 'pirates' out there, and I shouldn't. I would much rather see these guys with all this know-how developing their own programs to compete with the moguls out there instead of ripping off every new thing. To a degree, you can romanticize the whole thing (especially if you love the concept of pirates on the seas and all that) and say they're fighting against the system. But in reality, they're not. Most of them are joyriding, getting their kicks at giving the finger to big brother. Oh well, perhaps I ask too much. These guys are too busy trying to get ahold of the new version of Quake II. I think a lot could be learned from companies like Sun Microsystems. These guys last year mass marketed their then-new version of Java for free, I believe. If there was a charge it was a small, negligible amount. They wanted to better the community and get their software out there so all could use it to their advantage. I'm sure there was more behind the scenes, plans for profit down the line and all that, but it still seemed a good idea. Of course, Microsoft responds by saying that Sun was trying to undermine all of their past efforts, and of course they respond by developing their own version of the program. (don't let me get off on a Microsoft rant now). It figures that the makers of Office (which costs how much by the way?) wouldn't want anyone giving away something they could make a killing off of. Anyways, I guess my words of wisdom would be to be conscientius when dealing with programs. Follow my examples. If I do try out a program that I see myself using a lot (like my HTML editor) and really like it, bite the bullet and purchase it. To me, it's a measure of respect to the guys who slaved over the code and got this product out. But if it's too far out of your price range, maybe send some feedback to the company. See if they have any toned-down versions or special offers you can get. Obviously, I won't advocate theft, and I think anything like that should be a last resort. Hopefully, one day in my big cyber-utopia we won't have to piddle with bothersome things like this anyway... But that's just my opinion. B.Mooney