Piracy was Re: [announcement] SYSAPI and SYSSVC for Windows

["Robert I. Eachus" <rieachus@comcast.net>]

Somewhat off topic, but very on-topic as well for those who want to sell 
software...

Georg Bauhaus wrote:

> : Is it really that much to buy just the stuff you need?

But that is just it.  I can't buy the stuff I need.

> It is a question of percentage. I cannot squeeze a number different 
> from 100 out of 100%. If you have spent nn% or your money on music, but
> mm% time on listening to music, mm > nn is possible as long as
> somehow you have enough CDs, some of which might be copies.
> If you can't have CDs for mm% of time any longer, then you
> will listen to less CDs, or you will buy less CDs. In the latter case,
> the music industry will earn less.  What's likely?

That I no longer listen to CD's, but I buy them?  That actually is the 
case.  In many cases I have bought CDs of music, in some cases music 
which I already had purchased on LP or tape, fed the CD into my 
computer, ripped the tracks, and put the CD on a closet shelf, just in 
case I needed to rerip a track at a different rate or something.  But as 
I said.  I no longer listen to CDs, I don't even have a CD player.  At 
home, I have playlists in WinAmp (right now a list called NC (for 
non-commmercial) Christmas. (I also have a Santa playlist, and one with 
both.) Do I still have all the CDs the music on the list came from? 
Probably, but in a number of stacks of CDs in no particular order.

> : So, as an individual person, I'm free from any unlicensed or pirated
> : content or software. And it wasn't hard at all. I simply don't buy
> : the stuff that I cannot afford, nor do I use it.

My attitude as well on software.  In fact there is one shareware program 
I bought several copies of because I liked it so much, and my kids did 
too.  But when it comes to Microsoft, I have literally bought several 
hundred copies of various flavors of Windows that were never used--and a 
dozen that I have used. (Computers bought with Windows 95 or Windows 98, 
then installed Windows NT or Window 2000, set up with multiple disk 
partitions, etc.) For me, a personal "site license" for all versions of 
Windows might make sense--if Microsoft offered a family license that 
covered my immediate family.  This particular box has Windows 2000 
Server, Windows 2000 Workstation, and Windows 98 SE all installed, with 
the CD-ROMs in a rack, along with Red Hat Linux disks, all in the same 
color (Red) jewel box cases.

Next year I expect to switch to Windows XP, but it still isn't ready 
enough for me. (No kidding, of course, the version I am waiting to 
install supports AMD64 in long mode. ;-)  The beta exists, but some of 
the (64-bit) drivers I need are not available yet.

> Thats what I'm trying to say. You don't buy more than you can
> afford. But people do in general listen to more than they can
> afford. I don't think they are not willing to buy music they like,
> its just a maladjusted price that keeps them from buying CDs instead
> of coping.

> : Well, some software manufacturers will see the need for dongles,
> : and some don't. 

Ah, but I see a distinct need for non-dongle versions.  Just like I 
often apply the hacks to games so I don't need the CD-ROM present when 
playing.  I don't want to have to search for the "right" CD to play a 
game from hard drive.  Even less do I want the game to use the CD when 
the disk is much faster.

So in my experience, the dislocation is not really piracy, it is vendors 
who don't want to sell the products that people want to buy.  Would I 
prefer to buy music in MP3 format on CompactFlash compatible cards 
rather than on CD.  Definitely, and I imagine that if the product was 
offered, the volume sold would soon be such that the media price would 
be comparable.  The music vendors could try to copy protect the devices, 
but why? If they did it right, they would be selling non-programmable 
versions of CF cards that cost considerably less to manufacture than
actual flash cards, and the difference could/should go to the musicians 
and the music distributors.  If someone wanted to "pirate" the music and 
sell it on real CF cards, the media costs would kill them. (Depending on 
the compression level used, I can fit several CDs on one 8 Meg card, but 
I usually use 64 Meg cards, and I have never to my knowledge actually 
filled one--other than in my digital camera. ;-)

The situation is getting much better.  There are now services selling 
MP3s on-line.  Comcast as a free offer for Rhapsody, but I am not sure 
it is quite what I want.  $9.95/month, plus charges to "burn" CDs.  I 
don't want to burn CDs, but it may be that I can't use the music as 
presented.  I'm still trying to sort that out.

-- 
                                           Robert I. Eachus

"The war on terror is a different kind of war, waged capture by capture, 
cell by cell, and victory by victory. Our security is assured by our 
perseverance and by our sure belief in the success of liberty." -- 
George W. Bush