Tom C wrote:
I have to say I don't buy into pirated software or any other pirated intellectual property, especially not 'just because millions of other people see nothing wrong with it'. As a software developer myself, I recognize the hard work that goes into writing software, especially quality software. As a photographer I would hate to see a photograph I was selling and could make a profit on, be distributed without permission, depriving me of rightful income.
I agree in principle but.....
Let's say you are a member of a large orchestra. You take years to learn your instrument and weeks to learn a particular piece, along with your colleagues. A huge investment of time and effort. It is recorded and released on CD. Why is it $6, not $600? The answer, of course, is the effect of scale. At a cheap price, you can sell more and make the same, or better, profit. I know there are other factors involved in the argument but, for me, software is _grotesquely_ overpriced. It would be really interesting to see if any company had the mettle to reduce their price by a couple of orders of magnitude to try to corner the market.
m
