[Ocean]

Originally Posted by Dean C

I have to say Ocean, I disagree entirely with what you said about piracy. As a software developer myself there is nothing more undermining than working for so long, just to literally have people come along and pirate your work.

If a person pirates your application - but would not have been able to afford it even if they didn't pirate it - what money have you lost?

And if by doing so, they are able to spread the word that you have an application that's really good - aren't they giving you free advertising?

And if by word of mouth from this user who pirated your software, other users come across it and purchase it from you - isn't that money you gained that you otherwise might not have had (since without the word-of-mouth from the pirater in question, they wouldn't have even known that your software existed)?

And even if this person couldn't afford it him/herself - but they were able to recommend your software to the company they work for, and you gain sales that way - isn't that also money in the bank that you also would not have had were it not for this one pirate?



These are not some ambiguous hypothetical scenario. I see it happen every week. It's happened to me. I have made a huge amount of money for companies that would never have made those sales were it not for a pirated copy of their software that I ran across.

How does this harm them? (This scenario specifically) It doesn't. It's done them good and put money in their bank.


Remember, I didn't say that *all* piracy was good. I just said that good things can come about as well as bad.