piracy and oss

[Edward Glowacki]

Quoted from Mike Rambo on Thu, Jul 26, 2001 at 08:41:27AM -0400:
> Interesting thread. It would appear that there are probably a couple of
> camps most folks would generally fall into. I have to admit I tend to
> agree more with Marcel though. I know that I _routinely_ ignore new
> software because I'm unwilling to pay what they ask for it. So far
> anyway, I've not run across anything I had to have so bad I was willing
> to pay full price. Just a little patience and it'll be 1/3 to 1/2 the

I don't think the problem with commercial software is paying full
price for it, it's paying full price for it before you really know
if the product is any good.

I've bought many games over the years, and a lot of them turned
out to be losers that I'd play once or twice (that's playing
sessions, not completions of the game).  Nothing like spending $50
for a few hours spent installing, trying to play, then ultimately
deleting a game.  I'd love to take the game back, but of course
you can't do that.  So some third-rate software company got money
for a bad game, which only encourages them to make more bad games
like it.

Then there's Windows Commander, a shareware file manager (for MS
Windows) that I used for years and finally paid $30 or whatever it
was to register my copy.  This is an example where I'm getting a
real bargain for my money.  I feel that Windows Commander is worth
far more than most of the games I've purchased. [1]  It's usually
the first piece of software I think of installing on a new Windows
box, before MS Office, before any games, before WinAmp, before even
trying to install most drivers off CD.  Ahh, if only half of the
money I wasted on bad games were to find its way into the hands of
the guy who wrote WC, I'd jump for joy knowing I'm encouraging
someone who actually writes good software instead of the dimwits
who created some of those games...

I actually think shareware is a good concept.  In the case of
Windows Commander, I formed an attachment to the product, a loyalty
that has (and probably will continue to) outlasted that of other
products I've purchased.  I eventually paid the author to register
the product, though the registration price is less than my perceived
value of the product.  This hits upon one of the same flaws that
commercial software sales has: the price you pay does not usually
reflect the consumer's perceived value of the product.  Shareware
also fails in larger scales because of a company's need to recouperate
costs ASAP, meaning they can't wait for the customer to become
attached to the product and maybe decide to send in money someday.
Business just doesn't work like that.

It's an interesting paradox, the way that works best for the consumer
(try before you buy) works worst for the seller, and vice-versa.

Then of course there's free software.  Unfortunately here there's
no way to financially encourage software authors to continue working
on their products or start new ones.  Say you think Apache is worth
$100 to your business.  Who do you send the money to?  Which authors
get paid and how much?  Basically there's no good business model
for working on "free" software full-time, except in some cases
where companies fund people to work on the project in general so
they can have expertise in-house.

It's a crazy world...


[1] If only Midnight Commander, or Konqueror (the file manager
part), or any any other Unix file manager (commander type or
otherwise) were as good as Windows Commander...  I'd have to say
Windows Commander is one of the best (and most useful) pieces of
software I've come across, for any OS.


-- 
Edward Glowacki				glowack2@msu.edu
GLLUG Peon  				http://www.gllug.org
Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.
                -- Jules de Gaultier