[thelist] [OT] cfdecrypt, was: (Gift Culture)

[Raymond Camden]

> on.  You aren't renting the use of a product, you are *buying* the
> product.  That means that you *own* it.  By and large, when you own
> something, you get to do what you want with it.  Software companies don't
> seem to understand that they aren't special.

Um, no, your not. If you buy the license to use the software, that's all you
get. What's crazy about this? There are _plenty_ of things in the world that
are like this. For example, you buy membership to a gym. There is nothing
tangible about the purchase (well, maybe an ID card), there is really just a
license to use the gym for a period. Other example - movie tickets. You
purchase the right to watch a movie. You can only watch it once with that
ticket.

> If I buy a hammer, the hammer company doesn't get to tell me I
> can only use
> it to pound on nails.  I get to pound on anything I damn well please.

Correct. But consider the gym example. They can dictate how often you use
the gym, or certain facilities. Ie, maybe you only buy a "Simple" membership
and can use the gym 2 times a week and you can't use the pool. Or you buy a
one month membership. Right there they are telling you how you can use your
'product'.

> In spite of the fact that I create software, I'm going to reiterate my
> point:  Software isn't special.  If you sell a product, its a

Hogwash. (Sorry for cursing. ;) You can't compare a software product to a
hammer or a book. It would take a lot of effort to copy the book and resell
it. You _cant_ copy a hammer, you have to make it from scratch. It takes
little to no effort (sometimes) to copy and redistribute software.

Anyway - consider this. Who cares WHAT it is - if I come to you and say, "I
will sell you this hammer but you can only use it on Microsoft nails" and if
you agree to it, then that's a contract. Yes, it's a silly contract. Yes,
it's not fair. But if you agree to it, that's your problem, not mine.

<tip type="ColdFusion UDFs" author="Raymond Camden">
Do not forget that when you create a variable in a CF UDF, for example:
  for(i=1; i lt 10; i=i+1)
i will exist in the local page scope, and, if i already existed, it will be
overwritten.
ALWAYS use VAR statements with variables in UDFs.
</tip>

=======================================================================
Raymond Camden, Principal Spectra Compliance Engineer for Macromedia

Email   : jedimaster at macromedia.com
ICQ UIN : 3679482

"My ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is." - Yoda