What really interests me is how this whole thing came into being. I remember 'the beginning' quite well (or at least _my_ beginning). I was a little child and my father had some LPs. I wanted to listen to them in my room, and all I had was a tape. It was natural, from the beginning, to copy the LPs to tapes. Soon I would make copies for a friend and vice versa. I think 'sharing', that old way (personally), was something that was quite usual. And right THERE it didn't harm the artists at all. In fact THERE it was good for them, because quite a few friends of mine later on _bought_ the album. Copying to cassettes was free promotion for the record labels. Why? Because the quality sucked. I was never able to create a tape copy that came near the original vinyl record.
Then my first computer. There was a _LOT_ of free- and shareware for the Atari ST. I couldn't afford the games at the store, so I played the free ones, or the first three levels of a demo. I even coded some myself (with a pirated copy of GFA Basic 2, later I bought GFA Basic 3).
But I _bought_ my word processing application (Script! by ASH, a simpler and nicer Signum).
Now... That software cost 60 to 200 CHF, which is around 40 to 150 USD. When I bought my first Mac, it had Claris Works on it. So I used that for a long time. AppleWorks still comes with consumer Macs. (Just a side note: Your teacher/professor wants you to have MS compatibility? Tell him to give you a few hundred bucks, for chrisssakes!) But Photoshop interested me. I wasn't a college student, when I started to do graphics design. I was something like a highschool scholar. I had _no_ money. I was _given_ Photoshop 2.5 by a friend (not donated, a pirated copy). And I learned that thing. Didn't even KNOW what it cost (or that I did something wrong).
When I heard what Photoshop costs, I had two options: Stop using the copy already on my computer or become instantly rich. I guess you know that becoming rich instantly is something quite difficult. What did I do? I kept on using pirate copies and became IT admin and graphics designer in a small company. I was the one who urged them to buy enough licenses for all the workstations.
I think it's still a personal decision. (Mostly because BSA won't come after you if you have unlicensed copies of, say, three software titles for your personal use.) Even though I am all for legal copies of the software you use, I say: DO get pirate copies. DO learn the software. Trash it if you're not gonna use it, any way. Buy it if you're using it.
But heck! Much too much software is much too expensive. I'm not talking about Photoshop here. Those tools are very advanced. But there SHOULD be something like AppleWorks (but better) with good Office compatibility for less than 100 USD.
And I'd love to see Photoshop Elements be improved, also for the Mac. Because _that's_ the way to go for Adobe. PS Elements is not crippled, it's only lacking the Pro features. Do the same for Illustrator and InDesign. Do the same for GoLive. And yep: Finally Adobe can a) get more customers and b) make piracy less attractive by doing POSITIVE thinking.
Then my first computer. There was a _LOT_ of free- and shareware for the Atari ST. I couldn't afford the games at the store, so I played the free ones, or the first three levels of a demo. I even coded some myself (with a pirated copy of GFA Basic 2, later I bought GFA Basic 3).
But I _bought_ my word processing application (Script! by ASH, a simpler and nicer Signum).
Now... That software cost 60 to 200 CHF, which is around 40 to 150 USD. When I bought my first Mac, it had Claris Works on it. So I used that for a long time. AppleWorks still comes with consumer Macs. (Just a side note: Your teacher/professor wants you to have MS compatibility? Tell him to give you a few hundred bucks, for chrisssakes!) But Photoshop interested me. I wasn't a college student, when I started to do graphics design. I was something like a highschool scholar. I had _no_ money. I was _given_ Photoshop 2.5 by a friend (not donated, a pirated copy). And I learned that thing. Didn't even KNOW what it cost (or that I did something wrong).
When I heard what Photoshop costs, I had two options: Stop using the copy already on my computer or become instantly rich. I guess you know that becoming rich instantly is something quite difficult. What did I do? I kept on using pirate copies and became IT admin and graphics designer in a small company. I was the one who urged them to buy enough licenses for all the workstations.
I think it's still a personal decision. (Mostly because BSA won't come after you if you have unlicensed copies of, say, three software titles for your personal use.) Even though I am all for legal copies of the software you use, I say: DO get pirate copies. DO learn the software. Trash it if you're not gonna use it, any way. Buy it if you're using it.
But heck! Much too much software is much too expensive. I'm not talking about Photoshop here. Those tools are very advanced. But there SHOULD be something like AppleWorks (but better) with good Office compatibility for less than 100 USD.
And I'd love to see Photoshop Elements be improved, also for the Mac. Because _that's_ the way to go for Adobe. PS Elements is not crippled, it's only lacking the Pro features. Do the same for Illustrator and InDesign. Do the same for GoLive. And yep: Finally Adobe can a) get more customers and b) make piracy less attractive by doing POSITIVE thinking.
