>OK, I'm about to get controversial here...
We'll see...
>I wouldn't say that the original author is losing sales because of the
>_means_ by which the freeware was produced -- he's losing sales because
>there is a free equivalent to his product. A fine distinction, but an
>important one, IMHO. That is to say, if the freeware author duplicated
>the functionality and quality of the commercial author's work, but
>infringed no copyrights, the commercial author is no less "damaged".
Sure, it's a fine distinction, but if it weren't for the unethical means,
the other authors wouldn't be affected. And that's what's not fair. It is
using the unfair means that is most damaging; the original author set up a
BARRIER TO ENTRY by being innovative with UI and functionality, and if
someone rips that off then they are stealing the original author's
intellectual property.
Imagine that 2 people have the same TV. One guy's house is broken into and
the TV is stolen. The other guy accidentally cracks the TV Tube somehow.
They are both damaged the same amount (they no longer have a TV). You seem
to think that they are both in the exact same position. But they're not!
One guy got robbed!
>Now, if the freeware author broke laws, then obviously this is a bad
>thing. HOWEVER, if the freeware author simply provided an equivalent
>product at no cost, this is, in fact, a _good_thing_, isn't it? It's
>this kind of thing that keeps the state of the art advancing. True,
>it's not so great for the commercial author that is affected, but it
>simply underscores what all of us already have learned (usually the hard
>way) -- if you aren't constantly upgrading your product, you're going to
>lose users...
I agree with this completely. If someone makes a free application that has
the same functinality (say a calculator or something) and it is completely
unique; as unique as I tried to make my calculator when I started out, then
that IS a good thing. A freeware author (or even another commercial author)
has raised the bar, which means that everyone must improve and innovate.
This is the natural way of market forces.
I don't think that it matters if it's freeare or shareware or whatever, so
keep that in mind. I'm not against freeware, just cheap, illegal, unethical
imitation.
Alan Pinstein
Synergy Solutions, Inc.
http://www.synsolutions.com
1-800-210-5293
