🚀 go-pugleaf

irving@Happy-Man.com (Irving_Wolfe) writes:
: In <810@rtbrain.rightbrain.com> glenn@rightbrain.com (Glenn Reid) writes:
: 
: >Prices for software are still high because of piracy.
: 
: Glenn really has a blind spot here.  Piracy is still high because 
: of improperly high prices.  
: 
	Wrong.  Piracy is high because people get away with it every day.

: Ah, but books cost $5 to $50, because the publishers want to sell a 
: lot of copies.  The inconvenience of copying a book, together with 

	A VAST MAJORITY of the population can read, and that makes for
	a much larger market.  If you book is only going to be of interest
	to a slight slight fraction of the population like Next software
	is going to be, you must charge more for it.
: 
: Records are priced like books, and suffer only a modest amount of 
: pirating.  Videos are priced a little less fairly, so it's more of 
: a problem in that market, but still not a big one.  
: 
	I think it is you that has a blind spot.  Records and CDs are 
	widely pirated.  Video even more so.  Video is available in 
	a pre-recorded form that is priced fairly from the day of 
	original release.  Its called VideoDisc.  The reason that it
	is priced fairly from day one, is because there is almost
	no rental market for it.  That means there is less loss to 
	pirates.

: Software typically costs $50 to $2,500 (or more).  This 10 to 
: 50-fold excess over other publications' pricing is much more 
: responsible for piracy than ease of copying is.  The typical 

	How much support does the average book require?
	How often is the average book updated?
	How often is there some sort of incompatibility when you are reading 
	two or more books?


: 
: >Users are responsible for piracy
: 
: Software producers, with their obviously excessive pricing, are the 
: culprits.  The users are just leveling the playing field to get a 
: fair break.  

	What you are talking about is theft.  Plain and simple.  If you
	want to "even the playing field" don't buy their software.
: 
: Glenn, if RightBrain Rulers cost $10, with source code, and with 
: only a "fair play request" on the diskette's label to discourage 
: copying. there would be little or no copying and lots of people who 
: don't use the program now would be using it.  
: 
	Gee, you are selling "Samples" of your information for SOLID VALUE
	for $20 dollars.  From what I understand, thats just output from your 
	software.

: Remember that these "laws" were not designed to help the people, 
: they were lobbied aggressively for by the publishing industry for 
: its private gain.  One day, the American people will get wise and 
: do something about this.  In the meantime, it's at least as 
: important for you to be on the side of morally-low pricing and for 
: the user to be on the side of morally-low piracy.  
: 
	The idea that software being priced at a level that you find
	excessive being immoral is nuts.  Taking actions into your own hands
	and stealing software that you feel is overpriced IS morally wrong and
	illegal.


: Unfortunately, the price cuts in RightBrain's August sale may not
: be quite big enough to cause the 10-fold or more increase in unit
: sales that can reasonably be expected from fair pricing.  I
: congratulate Glenn on taking the first step, but I wish it were big
: enough to make him and others see the huge contribution they could

	This all leads towards that screwed up FSF/Stallman thinking that
	all software should belong to all mankind.

	If that was the case, I guess Happy-Man.com would not be
	in business today as a Next Developer.

	How about we all offer "Happy-Man" $10 for his software and
	his source code?  After all, if he feels so strongly about
	this point, maybe he will put his money where his mouth is.

	And at the same time, why doesn't someone give the Software 
	Publishers Association a quick ring, I'm sure they would
	be interested in learning more about this method of "leveling
	the playing field".



-- 
- Scott Anguish -
sanguish@digifix.com (NextMail)