Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 14:18:40 07/22/98
Go up one level in this thread
On July 22, 1998 at 06:23:48, Enrique Irazoqui wrote: > >In context, and much as I hate saying it, this is a most unintelligent >statement. Fernando is considered as an excellent customer by software dealers. >He buys every single piece of chess software that comes to the market. He admits >having an illegal copy of Sargon V. Calling him a thief (connotations of morally >degraded, personally disqualified) because of this is as valid as calling idiot >someone that makes an idiotic remark. So if I buy 10 pieces of software, and only steal one other one, that is "OK"?? I'd bet that most thieves around the world buy *most* of what they own. They might steal a car after they buy a house, or they steal money after they work to make money to buy groceries. And that is somehow "ok". I'm not on Fernando's case about Sargon... you didn't read deeply enough. He made the statement that "it is ok to give friends copies of software he bought, regardless of what the license agreement says." *that* I disagree with. Because instead of stealing, it is a conspiricy to steal, which is generally the same thing. > >> There's no middle ground here. Just check the license agreement that comes with your copy of Rebel and then explain how you justify your ridiculous stance here. > >Again, legal = moral (always). This is ridiculous. Get a book of History, read >the papers and you ll find out how often this rigid equation has been laughable >when not directly criminal. what does "moral" have to do with this? This is about a legal contract between you and the software producer, commonly called a "software license agreement". There is no moral issue, it is a purely *legal* issue. You are given certain rights pertaining to using the software package you bought the license to use for, if you exceed those rights, it is illegal. > >What s Fernando s crime? Worse than having a free copy of a program, the fact >that he dared to say it here, in public. In my book this is a sign of honesty >that I personally value. > (a) owning a copy of a commercial product not paid for. (b) buying commercial products and then giving them to his friends. (c) taking copies of commercial products from his friends when they offer them to him. All violate any license agreement I have seen in recent years. I'd be happy to quote rhyme and verse from my Rebel and Mchess Pro license agreements, or from Win95, or WinNT, or Microsoft Office, or MS Word, or any of several hundred other packages I have bought for our labs here... >As a rule, piracy should not happen for the simple reason that it hurts (my >morals). For the rest, I find much more immoral calling Fernando a thief than >having an unpaid copy of Sargon. > as I said, it is more than the copy of Sargon. It is the idea that it is "ok to give copies to your friends." That is illegal. >It is a pity that an issue that started as a debate about the general issue of >software piracy ends up in insults. This, which I also consider immoral, should >never happen. > >Enrique > >>There's no middle ground here. Just >>check the license agreement that comes with your copy of Rebel and then explain >>how you justify your rediculous stance here.
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