Re: Operating systems
 

It is theft I agree.

Re: Operating systems
 

To be fair, it's not the same.. You're breaking copyright laws etc, but you're not actualy STEALING the product.. They still have the original, and can still sell this to somebody else. If you steal a TV, then the person who owns the TV can't use it anymore, it's not there, they havnt produced a copy for them.

Now i'm not saying by any means that copying software is right, just in my opinion, it dosnt harm anyone if you never intended to buy the product in the first place. if I didn't have any legit Win Xp serials due to various pre-built products i've bought in the past I'd use a cracked copy because I certainly won't be paying £80 or whatever for the OS.
If cracked copies were unavailable, I'd use a free version of Linux (Infact i'd even pay for Linux disks because they actualy charge what I deem reasonable prices).

Re: Operating systems
 

You may not see yourself as stealing the product itself, but you are stealing money from the owner of said product.

As Entwisi says, people train for years and work hard to get these products to the general public.

I can't help but feeling that the reason why software is so expensive is due (in part) to piracy.

They have to recover their costs somehow.

And as a postscript, you are actually stealing the product. You didn't have it before, and you obtained it illegally.

What would you call that?

Re: Operating systems
 

You would think they could make it work properly then wouldn't you.

There is no come back to the software companies for selling half working software.

If you bought a new car and the brakes failed just because you were steering and indicating at the same time you would not be too happy. :D

Re: Operating systems
 

There is a slight difference between a piece of software and a serious safety issue.

That is why I can't see software running our lives in the near future, and here I am referring to things like Skynet in the Terminator films

Re: Operating systems
 

If you have modern ABS brakes you rely on software every time you press the brake pedal. :eek:

Re: Operating systems
 

I agree that Microsoft do get away with selling a product that is sub standard. However there is an option available to you. Don't use that software.

Cars are often released with problems and have to be recalled. In fact in one instance despite a serious safety issue Ford did not recall the cars because 'it is cheaper to deal with any ensuing law suits than to fix the problem'

Re: Operating systems
 

Again, i'm not saying it's right to break copyright laws, because it's not.

Now, how am are people stealing money from the owners if they never intended to buy it in the first place?

Re: Operating systems
 

Because you are using a product that costs money, but you have not paid for it.

The money that you would have spent, if you were using the product legally, would have found its way up the supply chain back to the owner of the product.

If you never intended to buy it in the first place, you shouldn't really be using it, especially as there are other similar products that don't cost anything (see Entwisi's post)

Re: Operating systems
 

If people never intend to buy the product then the owner wouldn't get any money regardless of if it could be downloaded or not.
It's the same with Music, when the music industry claims that all the songs downloaded would have been bought if people didn't download them..

and like I said, I own several Win xp cdkeys, and use Linux, just saying I don't agree with a lot of stuff.