🚀 go-pugleaf

Hmmm.... TenthStone definitely has some interesting things to say.  Here's my rebuttal 
to the things that don't make sense:

TenthStone wrote:

> Why can't corps be victims?  If someone killed Bill Gates, he'd
> be a victim.   If someone torched the MS campus, the corp
> would be the victim.   If someone steals the big MS sign
> from the MS campus, the corp would be the victim.  Very simple.

OK, so corps can be victims. What does this prove? Just because they're understandably 
pissed about piracy cutting into their profits, does that make it automatically wrong? 
Suppose I cut into their profits by competing with them, would that also be unethical?


> Let's say you write somethin', or make somethin', or do whatever you
> do.  Suddenly, someone comes along 'n' copies, exactly, what you
> just did (if your product was somethin' intellectual;  otherwise they
> just took whatever you made).  They don't give you anything, 'n' they
> hand that somethin' to your boss 'n' get credit for it.  You've been
> robbed:  your work went into somethin', 'n' somebody else stole
> your effort.  Your problem is that of many pirates:  you fail to see
> the corporation as people.  It's not just a corporation, it's
> a bunch of people who put a lot of work into somethin'.  Pirates
> are more than stealing some abstract string of data... they're
> stealin' thought.

Good argument, wrong place. This arguement is the basis for copyrights and patents, 
which only apply to commercial use and stuff like that. Piracy is rarely a bussiness, 
and they generally don't take credit for what they allegedly "steal"(If they do, may 
God have mercy on them, for I will have none). They're just making "replicas" of 
something they bought and rightfully own, and are using it for personal use(Giving it 
to friends and such). If this is stealing, then so is drawing a picture of Snoopy and 
hanging it on your bedroom door.
 

> Oh, so all pirates are doin' is protestin' high prices?
> THEN DON'T USE THE SOFTWARE.  It's up to you whether or not
> you use something;  however, if you use somethin', ya should pay
> for it somehow.  Money made things so complicated...
> You don't like the quality of the software?  Fine:  boycott and write
> your own, or use something old that's proven to work.  Like
> WordPerfect 5.1, or somethin' like that.
> I agree with you on one point... the U.S. tax system ain't workin'.
> This is partially 'cause of the fact that large corps are the ones
> with the lobbies.  Anyway, that's beside the point.
> But the pricing levels are not set.  C'mon, there's an infinite price
> diff 'tween IE 'n' Navigator (no, that's not an exaggeration)
> There's software out there for 20-25 bucks;  there's
> software out there for 70-75, 'n' that's just the price
> range for newer games. 
Very true. There ARE other, legetimate ways to protest. HOWEVER, is it entirely our 
responsibility to resolve this conflict? I mean, maybe if the corps actually sat down 
and said, "This isn't working, we need to discourage piracy somehow," instead of 
running off crying to their lawyers and politicians, we'd have more simpathy for them.

> Let's take the pretty-standard (but not fixed) price
> of $50.00 (actually $49.95 or some shit like that)
> Modern games... Figure 20-person team, averaging
> $20K a year and a half-year project. (pretty low salaries,
> pretty short time)
> Price $50
> - Packaging/Manufacture = about $10 each
> - ($200K for personnel / total number of sales)
> - profit for seller = about 5$ each
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> = amt corp receives.
> 
> I look and I see that the entire line of King's Quests
> (up to 6) has sold 1.5 million copies... I'd say
> a pretty successful piece of software would sell
> about 15K copies.  That means the corporation
> receives about $20 per copy, or $300K for this
> cheap-to-make, fairly successful piece of work.
> That ain't much, when you figure in advertising
> and taxes (which corps must pay on ALL
> the money they receive, not just the $300K)

I'll take your word for it. Interesting stats. 

> My moral platitudes say one thing simply:  you may remember it
> as the preamble to our wonderful Constitution (of America).

DON'T EVEN PRETEND TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION!!!!
The "licenses" that make piracy a crime are the most unconstitutional thing since 
affirmative action. Let's take a look at id softwares license, and what's 
unconstitutional:

	1. They ban you from making copies for any use; It's your property, so you can 
do whatever you want with it as long as you don't use the copies for commercial use, 
which would violate copyright laws(a whole different issue). Unless you sign a contract 
when you buy the software, you shoudn't have any restrictions on how you use it.

	2. They disallow dissasembling the data of the game; Again, how DARE they tell 
you what to do with your own property! Does this mean that taking apart your toaster is 
also a crime?
	
	3. They ban selling add-ons; I guess the guy who invented the car radio is now 
a big crook.

	4. They tell you how many computers you may install it on; Refer to #1 and #2
	
	5. They say that you only bought the "right" to use the software; Sorry id, 
games aren't classified documents, you don't need exclusive rights to use them.

And my personal favorite...

	6. They say that you've already "agreed" to everything in the license; WHAT A 
LOAD OF CRAP!!! Do you read this b.s. and sign a contract when you buy a game? Of 
course not! You just hand the guy cash and walk out with your software. Simple trade: 
cash for software, no strings attached. Why is this so dang hard for those snobby 
executives to understand? If you want there to be strings attached, you MUST specify so 
at the time of the transaction, and sticking it somewhere on the CD doesn't cut it. I'm 
sure that some lawyer is working on making it so that when someone crashes into your 
car, you've already agreed to pay for the damages.