blog: property is theft... not!

[nikos]

here's the comment area for today's blog post on software piracy
http://www.zabkat.com/blog/01Jul07.htm

[RickyF]

Nikos I do believe you have created something of great value in xplorer2. I have paid and will continue to pay for your work partly to reward your prior effort and partly to encourage future effort.

Here comes the "but". You knew it was coming, didn't you?

I do not believe in the concept of intellectual property. Suppose math had been treated the way we treat software and biology today. Archimedes might still own the rights to lots of what is in the public domain today. Should Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-khwārizmī's descendants have the exclusive rights to Algebra?

Should the Assyrians still have the rights to written language? Should the Romans (modern Italians) have the IP rights to the alphabet I use?

How can we allow people to patent genes? They didn't invent them.

All art, all knowledge is derivative of prior art, prior knowledge. Information wants to be free and should be. Humankind advances further, faster if we don't place restraints on knowledge.

If I were able to, I would do away with all IP laws.

Warez is wrong because it harms people like yourself but I think in the United States crimes and punishments are not properly matched to the crimes. People here are at greater risk when they "illegally"copy a DVD or an application than they are when they commit armed robbery. This is due to the concept of IP. If the big studios and the big application companies didn't have the lobbying muscle no one in their right mind would make the "theft" of a DVD the greater crime.

[nikos]

i've read that the reason why some vista can't copy files (it takes ages) is down to the new DRM protection systems. That's IPR protection gone bezerk

what is really wrong in the US and elsewhere and I think that's what you're trying to say, is all these patent laws. Imagine if pythagoras got a patent for the theorem, all greeks would be millionaires

i agree that patents have gone too far but electronic theft is a separate matter. It's here that I make my point

[wasker]

I do not believe in the concept of intellectual property. Suppose math had been treated the way we treat software and biology today. Archimedes might still own the rights to lots of what is in the public domain today. Should Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-khwārizmī's descendants have the exclusive rights to Algebra? Should the Assyrians still have the rights to written language? Should the Romans (modern Italians) have the IP rights to the alphabet I use?

Even with current patenting system nobody can have rights "forever". After some period of time the invention is always released to public domain.

[RickyF]

Current American patent and copyright law sure feels like "forever". If Shakespeare had been covered by current US copyright law his estate would still be protected here in the US:D

The current IP laws are not in the public interest. They are in the big content companies' interest.

My major point is not that some IP laws are okay but that there should be no IP law. Knowledge should be freely available. We all benefit.

I do believe that application authors should be paid for their work. However, I don't think this should be covered by patents and copyrights. Activation schemes seem to work just fine and we don't need laws to make or break them.

[matt2971]

I come from a similar standpoint to RickyF. I'm not comfortable on the whole concept behind the idea of intellectual property, from both a theoretical standpoint and a practical one, because I feel it often prevents true innovation and optimization of ideas, which should be for the good of society as a whole.

That said, my tolerance (and even advocation in certain circumstances) of  pirating activities certainly doesn't extend to those who make a profit from it in any way.

[Mr.Pleasant]

It's all very nice, knowledge and information free for anyone, and I sympathise with that, but on the other hand, there are people working for this, in the same time you are making money with commerce or factoring. Now, would these people continue doing so on a daily basis, if their products can't gain them a living? Archimedes probably had a king or other noblemen paying for him, but if there is no king or government to pay, then, most obvious, it will be the user of the knowledge who should pay.

On the other hand, in some cases of severe Vendor lock in (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in) I can't bother much about piracy. For instance, you bought a office suite, and used it to be able to exchange documents with collegues or clients. You are happy and don't want to pay for more features or new shiny looks. But then one or more people in your economical network starts working with some kind of new document format imposed by a software vendor: now you are forced to upgrade. Not because it really adds something new, but just because you can't open their documents anymore, and you would become an outcast if you won't upgrade. Either way, you lose money on this software developer.

Another example: a client had built an expensive plugin for some application. For me to be able to cooperate in his work, I need to have this application in this particular version, to plug in his plugin. The software vendor in a rat-race to dump a new version every year, doesn't sell this software version anymore, because it is 'obsolete' one year after its release. Both my client and I are screwed. My client for devaluation of his plugin, and I for not being able to work for this client. Developers like this drive you in the arms of software pirates.

[ckit]

xplorer2 pro needs to be added to the new FileMirrors v2.0 - http://new.filemirrors.com/submit.php it will need a PAD file.

This should help promote xplorer2 pro

[jwalantsoneji]

Dear sir, I liked the article and would like to tell u that i use the free version of this software for my personal use.
I can not afford to buy the software licence as being in India if I convert the price to INR it goes around 1200 Rs.. wihch is almost the tenth of my montly salary, but putting it after a software is not a trend here.
but i like to be honest and not wasting the efforts of a person who created magics like yours.
I admire the efforts by you and I also praise all such developers to my friends.
thanks,
Jwalant Natvarlal Soneji

[nikos]

Jwalant, I understand that situation that's why I can give you a discount, just send me an email. There are alternative "in kind" payments too, e.g. you can become a lifetime promoter of x2 to friends, foes and relatives for a free licence

i've just read a great article on register about the london "terrorists" (more like bolek & lolek muppets) which hilights how these counter-terrorist measures end up hurting plain people and no terrorists

this reminds me of the knee=jerk reaction of all the music & software houses against piracy, with increasingly annoying activation schemes, rootkits and the like. The crackers never have a problem and individual honest users get their life harder with no reason. I believe that's why so many people turn against the "big companies" and somehow justify software piracy.

but down deep, despite the inconveniencing, there is no justification for piracy, especially against "companies" like zabkat.

[nikos]

here's a relevant one, if you need convincing about the dodginess of keygens: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/31/hacking_tools/