What's your opinion about Macwarez?!

[AppleWatcher]

to be precise, i live about 25 miles south of SF on the coast, about one mile inland from the beach (7-8 mins to walk), about an hour's drive from apple HQ although i have never been there

That's what I wanna hear guys

AppleWatcher

[Bluefusion]

I have an odd sort of affinity with warez. I mean, I know there are many many reasons why it's not the right thing to do and all, but honestly, there are just as many reasons why, in my mind, it makes sense.

See, there are many companies that I hate far too much to buy software from. For instance, I cannot STAND Microsoft, but because Word is a standard and I really need to use it, I have copies of Microsoft's Office v.X. I would never buy it, so to me it really doesn't seem like such a bad thing. Either way they're not making any money from me. However, I can also say that this same pirating of Microsoft software is really not right because I'm using a program that I should have to pay for in order to use.

This is where it gets a bit sticky.

As far as Microsoft goes, they have far too much money as it is. At least to me, of all the companies in the world, Microsoft is the last one I'd care about stealing from. But this isn't always the case, and so this argument doesn't always work. For example, I respect Adobe tremendously and feel that their products are utterly amazing. I try to support them if I can. I bought LiveMotion for $300 when it came out. But I'm 15 years old and there's no way I'm going to pay again to get an OS X-ready version of LiveMotion. I've spent a HUGE chunk of my money once, and I'm not doing it again. I know this is less of an arguable point, but it's how I feel.

I feel that I would never have been able to create the things that I've been able to create without the programs I've used to create them. I've done amazing work with my collection of programs, work that would have been impossible any other way. I could never have paid for this stuff. I just wouldn't have been able to do much of anything. I wouldn't be able to embrace my creative side, and learn these amazing programs in the process.

See, by being able to switch my program suite as easily as I can download a program or two, I can decide exactly what I want to do with my life. I'm trying to decide what it is that I want to accomplish in life. If I bought the $600 Photoshop 6, I'd be stuck with that and locked into one "mode", if you will, of creativity. But I'm learning After Effects at the same time, and discovering lots of great things in digital video. It is because of this that I feel that the people who pirate warez are the people most excited about the unique opportunities the software offers. We're the ones fumbling in the dark without a manual, staying up late at night trying to understand these complex beasts--and having a hell of a good time in the process.

I will pay for what I use, having learned the entire program's feature set. But in the meantime, I'm learning what I'm learning. I couldn't possibly have paid $500 for Cubase VST and discovered I don't like it... I have yet to even find a multitrack music editing program I actually like using, and if I had to pay for them all I'd never be able to get anywhere.

I feel that warez are a good way to learn programs, and a good way to discover what works best for you. I do not support outright stealing, (except from Microsoft), but I do feel that there ISN'T anything inherently wrong with the way that I'm using warez.

What do you guys think?

[edX]

hmmm, i 'm not sure any new arguments have really been presented here, but they have certainly been presented more articulately and with more thought behind them than i can ever remember seeing. especially from a 15 year old.

you've almost got me saying you're right. and i can't really think of any new arguments to give you. It sounds like you see both sides, which is more than most pirates are willing to do. I've already made my point about why not to steal from m$ and you still don't get that, but hey, you're young - there's still time.

so maybe it is time that software developers took a different approach and just made software free ot really dirt cheap for high school ages and below. Maybe the day will come when you enter your birthdate on a website and they give you a download version that is set to expire on your 18th bday. the age at which we are generally expected to beccome responsible. I personally think something like that would be more than fair. I really think it is the only way that small companies that want to really compete could ever sway enough people to create new industry standards.

while your arguments may not be new, i think you have put enough of a new wrinkle into them to deserve a pause to think about them.

[AppleWatcher]

That's a nice fresh point of view, bluefusion.
I'll have a look at it and post my reply...

AppleWatcher

[AppleWatcher]

This is what I meant...
Maybe you don't want to believe me but I'm also 15 years old and I totally agree with Bluefusion.

This two alineas are very, very true I think:

As far as Microsoft goes, they have far too much money as it is. At least to me, of all the companies in the world, Microsoft is the last one I'd care about stealing from. But this isn't always the case, and so this argument doesn't always work. For example, I respect Adobe tremendously and feel that their products are utterly amazing. I try to support them if I can. I bought LiveMotion for $300 when it came out. But I'm 15 years old and there's no way I'm going to pay again to get an OS X-ready version of LiveMotion. I've spent a HUGE chunk of my money once, and I'm not doing it again. I know this is less of an arguable point, but it's how I feel.

Maybe you understand this, Ed! Everybody works with Word, Excel, etc... And if you want to make some nice pictures, Photoshop would be nice because MacPaint doesn't deliver the options Photoshop does....

And then, if you are a student and you've bought some legal software (take Photoshop 6), it's exactly as Bluefusion says:
There's no way I'm gonna pay for Photoshop 7 for Mac OS X.
But you don't wanna start Classic all the time...

Great point, Bluefusion

AppleWatcher

[AppleWatcher]

Workin' in the garden again Ed

AppleWatcher

[Bluefusion]

Well, I'm glad some people like my idea, at least :P

[theed]

This is my belief. I don't care what policy a company has about its software, it's shareware to me. I'll use it first and then decide if I want to pay for it, and sometimes I decide how much I want to pay for it. I keep writing to M$ and begging for them to write a free .doc viewer app so that I can stop pirating their software just to read incoming messages, but they don't really care. And so, neither do I.