Who do you support? Pirates or Leeches?

[iQing]

Leeches : Software companies who sell thier stuffs at high price without concerning people's purchasing power.

Pirates : Steal Leeches' stuffs and give them free / cheap to everyone

[Ic3b3rg]

Well. I think that the costs can/should be cut down but I don't think that it is fair for the people who work /has the talent to create something and not be paid for it. :? plus these companies probably generate a lot of money to donate to my university. :P

[iQing]

Well. I think that the costs can/should be cut down but I don't think that it is fair for the people who work /has the talent to create something and not be paid for it. :? plus these companies probably generate a lot of money to donate to my university. :P

You should have a look at the balance sheet of microsoft.
You can view it somewhere online.

microsoft has tonnes of fluid cash, more than enough to support years of R&D and Salary and they are still charging us like hell, providing crappy software like anti spyware and firewall that are useless.

after looking at it,
tell me who you support ;)

[budakkerek]

pirates.
it's personal
enough said
hahha :lol: :lol: :lol:

[digimushu]

Since I am one of those who do software, I must say I support the software developers. Think about those who develop software for the ECU of your car, microwave, plane autopilots and control towers. These people spend countless hours debugging and fixing the codes and I think most of them deserve the pay they get.

[__earth]

Heh, I thought when you said leeches, you meant ppl that don't share but still dl stuff off p2p, pirated or legit.

anyway. there is an ongoing debate that patent discourages innovation with regard to software technology. I find that hard to believe since I'm an econ grad but I've seen how open source expands in absence of patent.

What do you engineers think? are you for or against patent in the software industry?

[misled_youth]

I pay for my money's worth.

E.g. I'm paying for Opera v8.01, despite the fact that Firefox is 100% free, and IE6 is "somewhat" free.

[vseehua]

haha..if you want to use software at no cost.then use linux la..got tons of free and great softwares that works on this platform...hehe..ditch microsoft without being a pirate..that's the way...for first timers, try xandros..quite nice and user-friendly

[deRame]

i don't really support pirated software industries. ironically half of the softwares installed in my laptop are pirated softwares... hahaha :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Zeroth]

Ponder: does software piracy actually contributes to the development of IT literacy in the people? Why? it makes it accessible to the public?

[vseehua]

haha...me think so too...its an irony...but quite true for most of us here in malaysia...perhaps software publishers can have a look at our posts here and think about it...

well, i've been replacing my software in my computer with open source or free alternatives of propretary and popular ones...and i have to say..most of them can offer performances on par and sometimes even outclassing the paid-for versions..for a start, mozilla firefox is a good alternative for internet explorer and openoffice.org seems on par with ms office... :)

[MarquisX]

i pay for technology advancement and creativity.

i.e: new p2p softwares.

[iQing]

macromedia Flash = about 400 USD

Windows XP OS = I think about 500 RM

so....

You can download Lime Wire Pro using Lime Wire

[DecentMerson]

kinda hippie's idea to me...

actually, u can get pretty useful softwares for a pretty reasonable price...

i got my Microsoft Office Basic 2003 (student and teacher edition) for RM199 last year. And it is legal to install it on 3 computers(as long as it is for personal use). so, i shared it with 2 other friends, making it RM66.67...

So, i got the original version of 2003, Microsoft Word, outlook, excel and powerpoint for RM 66.67.

what can i ask for more?

if u don't want to pay really expensive software, don't get the latest... wait for it a year or two... and wait for it to be slightly (much, can be up to 80%) cheaper...

so, instead of complaining how expensive things are, be smart and go for the best bang for ur bucks...

[Zeroth]

So, i got the original version of 2003, Microsoft Word, outlook, excel and powerpoint for RM 66.67.

haha, i rather use that money to donate to someone else.

[iQing]

I just found out that Microsoft XP Professional cost about 240 euro.

[Thirdshifter]

It all depends what kind of software. Some softwares are designed to help business make money. So those kind of software should cost a bomb because its a tool for making money.

Some software are tagged with outrages prices when in reality there a hundreds of similar softwares that do the same thing and the cost is free.

I guess some software developers are a little over their head when it comes to pricing. However if i can;t find a good cheaper alternative to an expensive software i'll resort to piracy.

But in the last few years i haven;t used one yet. All legit for me expect the couple of thousand music files i downloaded over the years. Also many of those music files are not available anywhere else online expect on file sharing networks. Mostly Malaysian,Indonesian and old Rock Kankang english songs.

[DecentMerson]

So, i got the original version of 2003, Microsoft Word, outlook, excel and powerpoint for RM 66.67.

haha, i rather use that money to donate to someone else.

that's our mentality of being too comfortable with privacy...

[iQing]

I support Ori if and only if the price is reasonable.

Ori-leech sucks but Ori- good price gains my support.

So it is not that we are against Ori,
but many of us are against Ori-leech

[vseehua]

i would support ori only if i think the software commands my reapect....which means in terms of performance, interface and many other factors...but so far the softwares that deserves my money are the free and nice softwares all over the net :twisted:

[yuckfou]

I only buy original only if I have to. Microsoft makes too much money by selling all their licenses. Do you know that there are many types licences for for each of their software?

For example, Windows Xp has single user and mulitple users licences. These licenses cost a lot. I bet schools and corporations have to pay a lot of these licences. I even heard a license where you can only install Xp on one PC and only one person is licensed to use it. There is also a multiple user license where everyone can use Xp, but it can only be installed on one PC. I think this is how Microsoft make a lot of money.

So, I won't donate my money to Microsoft unless I have to.