[thelist] To those ones who can't wait (is: IP theft)

[Chris George]

Hi Miriam,

<soapbox>
I can't speak for John, but I know that after creating publicly available
products myself, I developed a deeper understanding and respect for what it
means to have your intellectual property stolen.  I'm not sure if it's
affected you, but the outcome can be devastating; not landing a large
contract, your competitor beating you to the punch, not being able to sell
enough copies of a piece of software 'cause someone else already burned
copies for their friends, etc. etc.

In this particular case, if the person who generated this screencap is
indeed allowed to use the Beta version of PhotoShop 7, I'm willing to bet my
lunch money that they signed an NDA - which this person just broke. It's not
that they posted a screencap of the new features, or of an error message, or
of anything other than what we see - it's that they did it at all.  It's all
about the principle of the matter.

As for the whole equating it to violence, I think that you may need to take
a step back and realize that there are such things as economical, social,
mental, physical and emotional violence.
</soapbox>

on 12/20/2001 2:15 PM, Miriam Frost at miriam at members.evolt.org wrote:

>>> Whoa, let's chill. While I agree with you that it wasn't so
>>> kosher... please let's not call it "an act of violence."
>>> That's a bit *too* hyperbolic.
>> No, it was a forced, non-consensual relationship. It may not be physical
>> violence, but it is a use of force: "I can do this, and I bet you can't
>> stop me."
> 
> 
> Errrm. OK.
> Nevermind.
> Forget it.
> If you're going to equate someone stupidly posting a screengrab - which they
> shouldn't have done - with someone knocking my teeth out with their fist?
> Well. Allllllllrighty then.
>