On Aug 26, 2007, at 10:57 AM, Ted Roche wrote:
> To everyone who's asked if I have every been robbed or mugged or had
> my car or house broken into: yes. (I've been shot at and even
> depth-charged, too.) Equating physical property with intellectual
> property is a lazy way out of this discussion.
Yesterday we bought a basket of peaches from the local farmers
market. When we got them home, two of them turned out to be damaged
and rotting, and had to be thrown away. I immediately reported the
farm stand to the police, since they "stole" from me by charging me
for a full basket when I didn't get a full basket that was edible.
Why is this laughable? Because everyone knows that it's the nature
of fresh produce to occasionally spoil, and a couple of bad pieces in
a basket is not unusual. In fact, one of the reasons that produce is
so much cheaper at these markets than at a grocery store is because
the likelihood of a few bad pieces is accepted, and that the price
reflects that fact.
It is the nature of digital products to be able to be copied
infinitely without degradation. It is expected that some copies will
be made that we didn't authorize. Every attempt to stop this ends up
doing more harm than good. Smart developers, rather than fighting the
nature of digital products such as software, learn to use that to
their advantage. One of the first successful software programs for
microcomputers was VisiCalc. The authors credit pirated copies for
getting a foothold in most companies, and these copies were later
turned into fully-licensed copies later on as company bean counters
recognized the value it brought to their business.
-- Ed Leafe
-- http://leafe.com
-- http://dabodev.com
_______________________________________________
Post Messages to: [email protected]
Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox
OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech
Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox
This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the
author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added
to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
