Will you keep on getting free software?

[fguy64]

When I said will you keep getting free software...I meant illegal free software, pirated software. Yea there are many free legal programs out there, ....but it is the guys that pirate software that they can't buy with money that do harm others in a way.

Can't argue with that. I don't mean to be moralistic, but it's really just stealing. But I don't feel too sorry for companies like Microsoft though.

The losses associated with pirating software, music, movies, are overstated though. Industry guys will make an estimate of the value of the pirated software out there, and say this is our losses, but it makes an incorrect assumption that if the software wasn't pirated, then it would be purchased.

 

[chingola]

I know a bit late. I think I wound up with some a while back that I used to see how good it was and then wound up recommending it to about 100 of my customers of which about 70 or so bought it. Mmmm so if I didn't pirate it ...no 70 sales....
Ok, now I just call the companies and they will in about 80% of the time send out free full working software for my use.
I do have a company.

 

[chingola]

Oh, and if EA wrote a better game and supported it fully they would have less layoffs as more people would have jobs. Anyway in many of there online games cheaters are caught and wind up buying many copies of the game they cheat at. ups there sales a bit.

 

[xav0989]

That is some pretty intense necromancing Anyway, here is my opinion, since I am here. I usually get free software because I can't afford paying software, and most of the times, you can get similar or even better results using free open-source software. I do, however, believe in giving back to the community, so I myself am doing some free open-source development.

 

[fractalfeline]

That is some pretty intense necromancing Anyway, here is my opinion, since I am here. I usually get free software because I can't afford paying software, and most of the times, you can get similar or even better results using free open-source software. I do, however, believe in giving back to the community, so I myself am doing some free open-source development.

Go you! I agree with this sentiment, if you're going to take something, give something back. If I were better at programming, I might do this myself!

 

[redoakranch]

You don't have to be a programmer to give back to the FOSS community. Share links to the various legitmate sites, like Open Office. Participate in the various user forums - if you're a crackerjack with Ubuntu, offer to help out someone who isn't. Write a blog post or put up a page with some "how to" tips for Gimp (and send ME a link when you do, lol). And spread the word, share the love! ;-)

 

[CWeb Creative]

Well here are my reasons:

A. the company's are trying to sell 1's and 0's for almost a thousand dollars when it should be little more than the disk costs to make.
edit: they will sell more copies if it is cheaper thus they dont lose anything and it doesnt cost as much as we have been lead to beleave to develope software because most of the tools that are used to develop them are inexpensive or free.
B. i have been laid of work due to the idiot company's screwing themselves over so i feel that they deserve it
C. i have to have it to complete school but have a lot of school loans left and will get the software when i can
D. i hate big businesses
E. software should not be written to rip off the consumer but to help them.
F. i feel that there is no need for software to be proprietary

Edit: i have only ever used 1 pirated software for about 1 hour
Edit: pirated software has specificly lead by experts estimation to about 500 workers being laid off in the last 5 years thats not much! (in the us)

 

[newtown11]

I never pirate software.

Instead, I go with freeware and FOSS alternatives, because they're out there and because some times they are better than the paid apps.

Of course, I do take advantage of giveaways when ever they happen.

That's the whole of my argument.

 

[xav0989]

One thing that I like, is that some compagnies are starting to see the value in such free systems. For exemple, Microsoft's Office 2010 is free in it's beta version, and is not restricted at all. I agree that not all features are complete, but Word, Powerpoint and Excel are, so I am happy

 

[descalzo]

I figure, if they want to charge for it, I either pay for it or don't use it.
If they want too much, I find a cheaper/free alternative.

I don't want my stuff stolen, why should I steal theirs?

 

[phazzedout]

This is all great and all but many of the programming jobs are going to India.

You could say that it is because we pirate software, Yes and No. Companies are in business to make profit. If there is a chance to make a larger profit margin they will jump on the chance to go on it. Ok so now tell me, if you have a chance to fire 6k employees who have a wage of probably 60k a year each compared to 4k employees in India who probably work longer hours and probably hard (maybe) for 20k-30k a year. Talk about profit.

Also pirated software is not good, the only time I used pirated software was Adobe Suite CS2 in my high school years. Sorry but I do not have thousands of dollars to spend on software. I'll never buy any software that expensive, which is why I am grateful for open source software.

I have been learning to use GIMP because I know I will never get to afford a luxury such as Photoshop CS4.
I never bought or even thought of buying MS Office in my life, NEVER. I remember in my Communications Studies class I had to present anything. I present Open Source and Freeware alternatives. I was talking about how AVG Free and Avast! Home Edition do just about the same as Norton Antivirus, how OpenOffice is a free alternative to MS Office, and GIMP to Photoshop. I had many more, it was an hour presentation so I had a bunch. In the end I had so many questions, and after all that someone still asked me how to get MS Office for free. Some people just don't get it. Oh well.

 

[espfutbol98]

I tried to look through all of the posts to make sure I'm not making a point already made but:

First of all, pirating is bad, weather just by law or your beliefs, it's still wrong. However, it does differ depending on what you are downloading. If you are torrenting photoshop for your new business, this is obviously wrong. But in my case, if I WERE TO torrent something like a language program that I would otherwise not buy in the first place, I do not see how this harms the creating company. It is also a lot more worthwhile and ethical then torrenting a $20 game you can get down the street.

Also, referring to leviathon's posts, software companies get most of their money from corporate sales, not really from home sales. Perhaps this is why Adobe products are so easy to pirate, and they don't seem to care (so I hear) ; )

 

[kennyg10101]

I always buy the initial version of the software.

But then it seems some software companies 'improve' the software... until it sucks.

So I do not buy into upgrades.

 

[C0ldf1re]

True story:-

Chap buys computer from company that shall be nameless, but for the sake of argument we'll call them Dill.

Accidentally damages disk partitions and needs to re-install Vista Home.

No recovery disks, and recovery partition does not work.

Dill gives him run-around, eventually promising to send re-install disks. They don't.

He doesn't feel it "right" that he need go to a store and pay for a new O/S disk.

Only practical way of self-help is to download a pirate O/S on a pal's PC. Not "dishonest" in most people's eyes, surely?

But seeing he's going illegal, he might as well download pirate Vista Ultimate.

Unfair to Micro$oft? Well, M$ let Dill be an OEM without insisting on proper standards, so M$ seem partly responsible. He had had a lot of wasted time and paid for needless phone calls, so he deserved compensation perhaps?

The point is that if honest users have to go pirate to get a fair deal, they will stay pirate perhaps.

 

[xav0989]

To follow your post, espfutbol98, we can see that some companies have realized that the people are pirating sometimes because the software is to expensive for their current situation. Adobe could be an example, as we can see, by one of danielx386's post, giving free licenses of some of it's programs to students.

 

[callumacrae]

I have no money. The software people are not losing any money from me because I wouldn't buy it if I didn't download it.

Of course, I download legally wherever possible

~Callum

 

[satubis arkon]

I get free software because i have no money, and even if my mother and father is working they don`t get enough money to to give me not even 5$ a month for my own expenses. all the money are getting to the energy, meal, water and some candys from time to time. The world is not fer, there are people that don`t lift a finger and get thousands of $ and people that works night and day and even then they don`t have enough money to sustain themselves. That is why a lot of people get this kind of software...

 

[fractalfeline]

Two cents to the pot:

As a student, I get discounts on software all the time. Adobe, Office, even Windows 7 is discounted for students, at least, in the US. Generally, you have to get it directly from the vendor or go to a student bookstore type of shop, and provide proof of enrollment (typically school email or student ID). You get the student version, instead of the professional version, but so far, I'm happy with the student versions of these things. I currently own Student CorelDraw Graphics Suite x4 and Student Windows 7 (not installed yet, waiting for $$ to upgrade to a Desktop first). I also use many FLOSS applications like OpenOffice (as good as Office for my purposes), GIMP, and Avast.

@ Coldfire
Been there... It took a whole hell of a lot of constant hassling to get HP to send me re-install disks when my hard-drive crashed, and needed a replacement. Oops, someone sold me a used hard-drive... when I paid the New Laptop Price... tsk tsk tsk. I could even name the previous owner... that sure got their attention real fast And Big Biz is wondering why customers are getting angry enough to pirate...?