Re: Freeware vs PD (was: filesystem programs)

[Gabriel Morales <Togega@concentric.net>]

Chad Choi Lin wrote:
> 
> Don't apologize; it was well worth reading. Actually, there's another
> reason why people should buy software -- when it's priced so reasonably
> low that it isn't worth stealing. I'm currently amazed at the massive
> number of IBM PC programs (mostly games) being redistributed on CD-ROM
> for $9.95 or less; five years ago such a thing would be considered a
> crazy hacker's drug dream.
> 
> As much as I like the idea that someday all software *will* be free, I
> can see the programmer's side of the issue. It isn't unreasonable for
> someone who took the effort to conceive, plan out, implement, test, and
> finally distribute a piece of software to expect some form of
> compensation for his or her labors. From this perspective, the act of
> buying a program is a way of thanking the programmer for providing a
> needed product (likewise, tipping a waiter is not just following
> restaurant tradition but also telling the waiter how much their service
> is appreciated; the better the waiter, the larger the tip should be).
> 
> What I strongly object to is the practice of charging outrageous prices
> for software (two hundred dollars? Three hundred? Four hundred?? FIVE
> HUNDRED?!? Someone call an ambulance -- I'm experiencing sticker shock!)
> and then screaming about ethics when people resort to pirating. Excuse
> me, but if you wouldn't demand an arm, a leg, and the firstborn of every
> user who wants your product, maybe software piracy wouldn't be so
> rampant.
> 
> Once again, especially if you think I'm being unrealistic, I recommend
> you read the story of Altair, Bill Gates, and Tiny BASIC in the book
> "Hackers" by Steven Levy. It describes how one computer programmer was
> upset over how Bill Gates was charging high prices for a BASIC
> interpreter for the Altair computer, and decided to do The Right Thing
> by writing a better version (called Tiny BASIC) and asking customers for
> just *five dollars* to purchase a copy! To find out how that venture
> turned out, read on.

	I totally agree with you. Charging $1000 for some software is really unfair.
Software is one of the most inexpensive, yet and purest, things that can be
produced. At just $10 multiplied by the thousands, even only hundreds, that
will buy the cost of production is more than compensated.
	Oh, and about that book you mentioned. Although I haven't read it, I can
guess what happened: Gates and company somehow cheated and lied their way to
discouraging potential customers to buy the product. Either that, or they
absorbed, they assimilated, the company/product. Am I on the right track?