4 ms·

Identity theft is still called "theft", even though nothing is actually stolen. Piracy is more like counterfeiting. It's much worse than stealing. Stealing a

Identity theft is still called "theft", even though nothing is actually stolen. Piracy is more like counterfeiting. It's much worse than stealing. Stealing a TV only deprives someone of that physical value. Pirating software has the ability to destroy the value of the entire product line (why would someone pay $99 when they can just get it for free). The same concept also applies to things like the app store. Now that games are 99 cents, it's not easy to create a game and charge $30 anymore (because the value is what people are willing to pay. If everyone were giving these games away for free or they were pirated and everyone knew these games could be downloaded for free, that value would be $0).

jlgreco 14y ago
If you cannot make spending $99 dollars more appealing to your target audience than going to the pirate bay and messing around with sketchy-ass cracks, then frankly you just suck at selling software and really have little business doing it. The people actually in the market for $99 dollar software in the first are not going to do all that nonsense (unless you have done something terribly wrong with your legitimate distribution channels...), and who cares if people who aren't in your target audience pirate it? Photoshop is the classic example. The people who pirate it are jobless students, while the target audience for Photoshop is undeniably professionals (who buy it). This is evidenced by the lengths that Adobe doesn't bother to go to to prevent piracy. Similarly, with video games people either pirate them because they are not in the market for things that cost $50, or because someone royally fucked up the legitimate distribution (with draconian DRM, or by not offering it on Steam, or whatever). Gamers who are in the market for games buy games.
- paulhauggis 14y ago
  "If you cannot make spending $99 dollars more appealing to your target audience than going to the pirate bay and messing around with sketchy-ass cracks, then frankly you just suck at selling software and really have little business doing it." So..I should be forced to compete with someone making an exact copy of my software and giving it out for free? Does this make any sense to you? Should hackernews.com be forced to compete with hackernews2.com, which is an exact duplicate? "The people who pirate it are jobless students" Do you have any evidence to back this up? Adobe has a student edition that can be purchased for almost nothing from many sites and it's all legitimate. Microsoft has these programs and also things like the bizspark/webspark programs. You can get free Microsoft software and all you need is an LLC (costs very little to create). Your reasons don't really make sense anymore. "with draconian DRM, or by not offering it on Steam, or whatever)" Wow, we sure are in an entitlement generation. If you can't get exactly what you want, you take it upon yourself to just take it. I also can't really take anyone that uses the word "draconian" seriously. The problem with your logic is that it never ends. Look at the music industry: At first, it was because CDs were too expensive. The record companies responded by having 99 cent singles and very cheap music. Next, it was because the artists weren't being treated fairly. With the Internet, you can now release your music without any label. Hell, even the infamous louis CK $5 comedy special was pirated like hell the day after it was released. It's very cheap, DRM free, and people still pirated the hell out of it. How do you explain this? The "Draconian" DRM? Too expensive? The bits weren't in the right order for the pirates' specification? Piracy came first, not "Draconian DRM", so this is not a valid excuse as to why people are pirating, sorry. "Gamers who are in the market for games buy games." Your mindset isn't new and as a software developer (and business owner), I just need to change my business plan. Now, you will need to pay a monthly fee for my service instead of owning it outright. It stops piracy dead. I hope you enjoy paying a monthly fee for all of your software, because it's a world piracy helped create. I'm sick of people like you that just can't be honest: you want free stuff and you aren't willing to use you hard earned money to get it.
  - jlgreco 14y ago
    I really have no idea what you are on about. You aren't competing with somebody giving your software away for free. They are giving it to a completely separate audience. Those people were never going to be your customers. If you lose customers to it, then you have failed to make them your customers in the first place. You seem to think that I am defending pirating; offering up a moral justification of sorts. I am not. I am not interested in the slightest in the morality of the topic, one way or the other. I offer them no moral defence, nor do I morally condemn them. Rather I am telling you that you should not get bent out of shape over it. And for the record, despite your insinuation, I pirate neither software, nor music, nor movies, nor whatever else there is to pirate. Why would I? I think you are taking my response too personally for some reason.
Symmetry 14y ago
Pirating software has the ability to destroy the value of the entire product line. Given that Photoshop is still profitable for Adobe, this is objectively false.

jlgreco 14y ago

If you cannot make spending $99 dollars more appealing to your target audience than going to the pirate bay and messing around with sketchy-ass cracks, then frankly you just suck at selling software and really have little business doing it. The people actually in the market for $99 dollar software in the first are not going to do all that nonsense (unless you have done something terribly wrong with your legitimate distribution channels...), and who cares if people who aren't in your target audience pirate it? Photoshop is the classic example. The people who pirate it are jobless students, while the target audience for Photoshop is undeniably professionals (who buy it). This is evidenced by the lengths that Adobe doesn't bother to go to to prevent piracy. Similarly, with video games people either pirate them because they are not in the market for things that cost $50, or because someone royally fucked up the legitimate distribution (with draconian DRM, or by not offering it on Steam, or whatever). Gamers who are in the market for games buy games.

paulhauggis 14y ago
"If you cannot make spending $99 dollars more appealing to your target audience than going to the pirate bay and messing around with sketchy-ass cracks, then frankly you just suck at selling software and really have little business doing it." So..I should be forced to compete with someone making an exact copy of my software and giving it out for free? Does this make any sense to you? Should hackernews.com be forced to compete with hackernews2.com, which is an exact duplicate? "The people who pirate it are jobless students" Do you have any evidence to back this up? Adobe has a student edition that can be purchased for almost nothing from many sites and it's all legitimate. Microsoft has these programs and also things like the bizspark/webspark programs. You can get free Microsoft software and all you need is an LLC (costs very little to create). Your reasons don't really make sense anymore. "with draconian DRM, or by not offering it on Steam, or whatever)" Wow, we sure are in an entitlement generation. If you can't get exactly what you want, you take it upon yourself to just take it. I also can't really take anyone that uses the word "draconian" seriously. The problem with your logic is that it never ends. Look at the music industry: At first, it was because CDs were too expensive. The record companies responded by having 99 cent singles and very cheap music. Next, it was because the artists weren't being treated fairly. With the Internet, you can now release your music without any label. Hell, even the infamous louis CK $5 comedy special was pirated like hell the day after it was released. It's very cheap, DRM free, and people still pirated the hell out of it. How do you explain this? The "Draconian" DRM? Too expensive? The bits weren't in the right order for the pirates' specification? Piracy came first, not "Draconian DRM", so this is not a valid excuse as to why people are pirating, sorry. "Gamers who are in the market for games buy games." Your mindset isn't new and as a software developer (and business owner), I just need to change my business plan. Now, you will need to pay a monthly fee for my service instead of owning it outright. It stops piracy dead. I hope you enjoy paying a monthly fee for all of your software, because it's a world piracy helped create. I'm sick of people like you that just can't be honest: you want free stuff and you aren't willing to use you hard earned money to get it.
- jlgreco 14y ago
  I really have no idea what you are on about. You aren't competing with somebody giving your software away for free. They are giving it to a completely separate audience. Those people were never going to be your customers. If you lose customers to it, then you have failed to make them your customers in the first place. You seem to think that I am defending pirating; offering up a moral justification of sorts. I am not. I am not interested in the slightest in the morality of the topic, one way or the other. I offer them no moral defence, nor do I morally condemn them. Rather I am telling you that you should not get bent out of shape over it. And for the record, despite your insinuation, I pirate neither software, nor music, nor movies, nor whatever else there is to pirate. Why would I? I think you are taking my response too personally for some reason.

Symmetry 14y ago

Pirating software has the ability to destroy the value of the entire product line. Given that Photoshop is still profitable for Adobe, this is objectively false.