At 08:07 AM 7/10/02 +0900, you wrote: >My impression is that they are very easy >to work with.
And when they are out of business? They will be, of course. Then where will your years of work be? And, as I said, what about your archivists, correspondents, or clients? You're a composer; I'm a composer, too, not an engraver, so I have a more long-lasting relationship to the material I produce. I've also been involved with computers since 1977, and most (not some, but almost all) of the companies whose products I've used over the years to create my work are gone. That means many of the compositions and installations created with these products have been stored as archived collections -- that means the computers, the printers, the software, and the interfaces (one is here: http://maltedmedia.com/people/bathory/bocca/), and I rent commercial storage just to keep it all. But none of these products were protected, because if they had been, everything I had created would have been gone completely. That's because the companies, together with their unlock codes, are also gone. I have always been philosophically opposed to protection because it treats me as if I were a criminal -- guilty until proven innocent by the my ID papers. My government can't do this, so why should some collection of corporate dumbbunnies get to do it? And along with that, I cannot imagine buying something from Sibelius or Graphire or Antares or any other company, only to watch the company go down in flames during their next period of, um, instability. Companies won't tell you. They never do. And the *last* people that get consideration during failure are the loyal customers. You will be screwed. Count on it. I recommend an alternative. If you must buy a protected program, also get a warez copy. A cracked copy will keep your work accessible, and you can still genuflect to the company who thinks they own you in the meantime. Once they're dead & buried, you'll still have your work, and so will your clients, as you can put that warez copy out there for their use. I *despise* companies who demand copy protection. I won't use warez copies of their extortion because I don't want to give them any publicity whatsoever. My website identifies all the software I use. None of it is protected, and all of it is paid for -- even the shareware, piece by piece, as I can afford it. That's how it should be. Maybe that's what being an artist involves -- standing up against unethical behavior, which is what these companies engage in. A company that has to put the legitimate user in copy protection prison should go down in flames, the sooner the better. Cheerfully, Dennis ======================================================== Malted/Media http://maltedmedia.com/ Kalvos & Damian's New Music Bazaar http://kalvos.org/ NonPop International Network http://nonpopradio.com/ Ought-One Festival http://ought-one.com/ ZipThree Festival http://zipthree.com/ Erzsebet The Vampire Opera http://bathory.org/ ======================================================== Accessibility Reports http://orbitaccess.com/ The Transitive Empire http://maltedmedia.com/empire/ ======================================================== My Resume http://maltedmedia.com/bathory/bathres.html My Music on MP3.com http://www.mp3.com/bathory/ My Downloadable Scores http://maltedmedia.com/scores/ Buy "Detritus of Mating" http://www.cdbaby.com/bathory/ ======================================================== The Middle-Aged Hiker http://maltedmedia.com/books/mah/ ======================================================== _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
