}TCP{SLAPHEAD wrote:I believe that alot of software has alot of malicous code in it that we know nothing about!
That is true, and I believe that most of this malicious code is in proprietary software, such as Microsoft Windows. With free software, one can simply look in the source code to find and take the malicious code out, with proprietary software that is not possible.
I would be more concern about all you peeps out there that use peer 2 peer and bittorrant,you are just asking for trouble.
Why do you think that files on P2P sites are corrupted? I believe that is mostly propaganda spread by the games industry to scare the users of P2P.
Of course, if you search in kazaa for a crack, you are likely to get a virus. But there are smarter ways to get releases than searching in kazaa...
}TCP{Coco wrote:Yes, it's really awful what happens there. But on the other hand, the software companies are forced to do something against software piracy. In a certain sense, it's the fault of the users themselves who simply copy everything that is not protected. The sad thing about it is that once more, it hits the honest customers. The gamers using cracked software will sooner or later get a version with the DRM being removed, so it doesn't really bother them.
As a customer, I can only say: Keep your hands away from such software! The companies must learn that they will sell even less with "protections" like these. To the pirates, I can just say: Find out what you really want (instead of collecting everything) and buy it!
(there we go again...)
First of all, I ask you kindly to stop using the term "software piracy". The use of this term implies that you equate coping information with attacking ships and killing people. A neutral term would be "copyright infringement", a positive one "helping and sharing with your neighbor".
The problem is not that people are sharing. Sharing is part of the spirit of good will, and should be promoted.
We need to realize that information (like a program that tells a computer how to do something) and hardware (like a car) is not the same thing. If you want to build a car, that costs you a certain amount of labor. If you want to create two cars, you have to put in more labor. If you want to have 100.000 cars, you have to work much more for it. The costs depend on the amount of cars you want.
On the other side, if you want to write a computer program, you need work. But once that program is created, copying takes only a tiny amount of work. Basically it makes no difference if you want a certain program only once, or 100.000 copies.
Now, let's imagine the following situation:
You have limited amount of money (or work), and your aim is to help society. In the case of cars, it'd be unwise to give everyone a car, even those who might use it only once a year. That's because each car has its own costs. In the case of software, that is not true. Once you have written the software, you can hand it out to everyone. Why limiting the software only to a minority, when it can help everyone? Doing so would just be a waste of work and money.
There is only one reason why copyright exists, and that is not "a natural right to creators", but a very practical one: to modify the behavior of creators, to make them create more. Creators who are threatened to starve to death, are not likely to produce something that helps society.
That is the _only_ reason why there is copyright (at least I know that about the USA).
Now, there is a big difference between starving and being unable to get a 3rd villa or island for private amusement. I don't think that musicians are starving, and if they do, then only because record companies keep 99% of the money they gain themself.
It is against my ethics to support organizations that spend their money on
suing children and destroying the spirit of good will.
Is there an alternative to the current copyright model? Yes, there is. There are numerous free projects, like the GNU project or the Wikipedia project. They finance themself through donations. I use what they created, and I contribute and help them. I also donate money to those projects, because they really need it, and they really deserve it, to show that another world is possible.
